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Chapter 28

“Thankfully,” the Doctor said as Michael finished, “we put Irina in the Zero Room, where one floats in air to fix themselves or stabilizes one’s condition. That Dalek Gaia Memory wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as a Dalek’s gun.” I ran my hands over my face.

“Okay, I have good news and bad news,” reported Emily as she finished. “Good news, Irina’s alive and is demonstrating brainwave activity. Bad news, brainwave activity isn’t evidence of consciousness. Rather, it’s an endless dream from which she may never wake.”

“What can we do?” I asked.

“The only thing we can do is keep calling to her,” replied the Doctor.

“The only logical choice for starting the process, given Irina’s relationship with him,” I mused, “is Mikhail. Mikhail, could you…Mikhail? Mikhail, where are you?!”

“Hey, where’d Michael go?!” asked Ankh.

“Don’t forget Richard, he’s gone too,” observed Batman. A thought struck me.

“You don’t think…?” I quizzed.

“It’s possible,” theorized Batman

“Hey, guys,” called X-PO, “I’m hearing some chatter from Michael, Mikhail, Richard, Rusty, Elphaba, Wyldstyle, and Eiji in the gateway room. The phrase ‘Make Davros hurt’ was thrown around. Any reason leap to mind?”

“Those idiots!” I hissed.


I stood at the gateway. My sister, Irina, was in a coma. Anger was directing my actions, anger that I feel is justified. “You seek revenge!” said a harsh, grating, metallic tone.

“Da,” (yes) I replied. Rusty glided to my side.

“On just Davros?” asked the Dalek. I turned to face him.

“You’re not stopping me?” I asked.

“I wish to help you!” replied Rusty.

“Ah, anything to make the Daleks hurt,” I guessed.

“Why just the Daleks?” asked an American voice. I turned to see Michael and Richard coming.

“Not this time, you two,” I directed.

“Your sister was hurt under my recent command,” argued Michael. “Honor must be satisfied.”

“And you helped me when Emily was beaten black and blue by one of her bullies that wanted her to commit suicide,” continued Richard. “I would be ashamed if I didn’t help.”

“What’s this I hear about getting revenge?” asked a woman. Elphaba came in. She had regained her ability to fly on a broomstick. “Trying to make this Davros character pay? Wasn’t he acting under orders?”

“It’s within Vortech’s sick mind to make us hurt,” hissed another voice. Wyldstyle came up with Eiji.

“You all wish to assist?” I asked.

“You need an attacker from the sky,” replied Elphaba.

“My Master Build abilities are handy,” offered Wyldstyle.

“And I’ve got a Combo that can take care of any cheaters,” replied Eiji.

“Then what are we waiting for?” I asked. “Set dimensional coordinates for Skaro!”

“No!” barked Rusty.

“No?!” I roared.

“Blindly rushing into Dalek territory,” explained Rusty, “is self-extermination! We must draw Davros out!”

“And to do so,” supplied Elphaba, “we need to make Vortech hurt. To do that, we need to hit where it hurts most, his wallet!

“Go on,” I invited.

“Vortech has set up Nonexistium mines in Rusty’s native universe,” answered Elphaba. “We strike at a big one and tell Vortech to send Davros our way at the next one.” I mulled it over. On the one hand, I wanted to make Davros pay quickly, but, on the other hand, blindly rushing at the Daleks will ensure my death. The cons of rushing at the Daleks outweighed the pros.

“Like I said, set dimensional coordinates for a big mining operation in Davros’ universe,” I said.

“I obey!” replied Rusty.


“How is this POSSIBLE!!!” roared Vortech. “Four missions, all in D-0-C-T-0-R-W-H-0, and only Igura succeeded in hers when she got the Foundation Element! You, Rani, nearly affected my plans with that dimensional manipulator nonsense! The universes you would have made would have faded in 2 hours anyway. Believe me, I tried that before getting the Foundation Elements. You, Yeti, perhaps it was a mistake to sever you from the Great Intelligence if the Gaia Memory is too complex for your processors!” Vortech turned to me. “So? I didn’t hear your excuse, Davros!”

“Because I have none,” I replied. “We failed to destroy the Doctor, nothing more.”

“Then why do you smile?!” snarled Vortech.

“I have news that may…interest you,” I answered.

“Speak quickly,” hissed Vortech.

“I took the liberty of testing the Maximum Drive of the Dalek Gaia Memory the Rani had so graciously created,” I explained.

“You don’t have a Maximum Drive slot,” observed Vortech.

“You don’t need a belt to initiate a Maximum Drive,” I answered. “I fashioned a weapon from a Dalek gun to allow it to use a Gaia Memory and decided my escape was a perfect test.”

“You…used the Dalek Maximum Drive?” guessed Vortech. I turned to one of the prisoners, a Mr. Sergei Kuznetsov.

“Do you know the true name of Kamen Rider Climb?” I asked him.

“My daughter, Irina,” answered the man. A thought struck him. “No. You didn’t!”

“I call the Dalek Gaia Memory’s Maximum Drive Dalek Extermination!” I laughed.

“You are bluffing!!” protested Sergei.

“I never bluff when one has died at my hand,” I answered.

“Then perhaps this day is not totally lost,” mused Vortech.

“If we can be so sure,” growled Sauron as he stomped into view. “It HAS been a while since any of us have killed one of the Vortex Riders.”

“Because it has been a while since a DALEK was provided the opportunity to do so,” I reminded.

“Really now?” snarled Sauron. “Because the mutants under my command during my time in the DC Comics world were utterly useless!”

“You dare call the Daleks mutants!” barked one of my children.

“My creations have enslaved entire worlds, Sauron,” I recalled, “while you sent your pathetic Orc forces after a simple ring!”

“You must be lying!” denied Sergei. “There’s no proof Irina is dead!”

“If it’s proof you want,” I chucked, “I am all too happy to provide.” I let a holographic projector do its work. Horror had spread across his features. “Word of advice, a scientist is always willing to give proof!”

“THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!” roared Sergei. “DAVROS, I WILL KILL YOU!”

“You are welcome to try!” I countered as I charged my hand with electricity.

“Enough!” shouted Vortech as he threw up a barrier between us. “Davros, are you certain that Kamen Rider Climb was exterminated?

“With this very Gaia Memory, Lord Vortech,” I replied as I pressed the button.

“DALEK!” it announced.


“Is everyone ready?” I asked.

“For Irina!” cheered Michael.

“For the Multiverse!” called Wyldstyle.

“For making Davros pay!” shrieked Rusty.

“For paying off old debts,” declared Richard.

“For a new chance at life!” called Elphaba.

“For my friends!” cheered Eiji.

“For honor!” I called. “POYEKHALI!” (Go!). We charged into the portal and fell through the vortex.

“You Riders might want to change before we arrive at the mine,” suggested Wyldstyle

“Good thinking,” I replied. Eiji put in his Medals and the rest of us drew our i.d tags. Eiji told us how his transformation abilities work, so I knew what was going on when he scanned his Medals.

“HENSHIN!” we announced.

“TAKA! TORA! BATTA! Tatoba! Tatoba, TATOBA!” sang Eiji’s OOO Driver. The rift opened to let us into a mine. The coordinates were set to the Cybermen’s home world of Mondas. What we saw was a sight I never thought was possible, but, given that Vortech has a hand in this, he may need the cooperation between the Daleks and Cybermen. Both species were working together to mine for Nonexistium. The mines were large enough but had special machinery that regenerated the metal once it was exhausted.

“Quite a bit of Daleks and Cybermen,” muttered Battle.

“How do we deal with them?” I asked.

“Set off minor explosions in random areas,” suggested Battle. “Get all enemy forces to investigate. Clear out any enemies near a communications console. Contact Foundation Prime to draw out Davros. After stating our demands, blow the place sky high and move on to the mines on Skaro.”

“Khorosho,” (Good) I declared. “Find explosives and spread out.”


“It’s a pity she was wearing her mask,” I said to my children as we went down the hall in Vortech’s fortress. “But, I can only imagine the terror she felt as she fell to the technology you, my children, have made. Lord Vortech now understands that the difficult tasks are best assigned to the Daleks.” We passed by a couple of Tarlaxians, Discornia and a creature made of purplish putty with red eyes and a vaguely humanoid form called Sludgiona.

“Hell spawn,” muttered Ms. Sludgiona in a burbling voice.

“Impure mutants!” snarled Discornia. Now, Hell spawn, I can let slide, but calling my Daleks impure mutants…! We turned to face them.

“What did you say?!” I growled.


I must say, the Rani is the worst lab partner ever. We were fixing up the Yeti Vortech had acquired and she was griping all the time. “Fixing things up was so much easier when Urak was around!” she moaned

“Spare me!” I hissed as I adjusted the jaw. It was then I heard Dalek gunfire. The Rani and Yeti heard it too.

“What is going on out there?!” demanded the Yeti. It got up and stepped out of the room. “How are these ladies supposed to…!” It didn’t get far as a Dalek blast shot his jaw. It goggled at the broken implement. “I JUST HAD THAT FIXED!” it roared, pulling out its Gaia Memory.

“YETI!” announced the Memory.


We had set up the explosives in the mine and acquired hiding places so the enemy wouldn’t see us. Battle told us to wait until the Daleks and Cybermen had concentrated their forces at the explosive sites. Thank goodness Wyldstyle can Master Build explosives. “Not yet,” motioned Battle. “Wait. …NOW!” We pressed the detonator that Wyldstyle built and the explosives went off.

“ALERT! ALERT! EXPLOSIVES DETECTED IN MINE!” screamed a Dalek.

“Moving to delete hostile elements!” reported a Cyber-Leader.

“Seek! Locate! Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!” ordered a Black Dalek. The enemy started investigating while a single Dalek and Cyberman guarded the communications terminal. These two were…different from the rest of their species. The Cyberman looked like he was in a silver bodysuit that simulated piping woven into it, had a chest piece with exposed wiring, a helmet with larger handle supports around the ears, a see-through mouth plate, and totally circular eye holes instead of the tear-drop design. The Dalek was gunmetal grey with black sensor globes, possessed tiny dome lights instead of the large ones I was used to, and a white light in the eyestalk with a black dot in the center, making the eye look like it had a pupil.

“Those are a Dalek and Cyberman from the 80’s!” whispered Battle. “What are they doing still in operation?”

“Sshh!” I hissed. “They’re about to speak. I want to hear them.”

“Cyber-unit L-4-R-R-Y,” droned the Dalek.

“Yes, Dalek T-1-N-4?” asked the Cyberman.

“Cyber-unit Larry?” asked Guard.

“Dalek Tina?!” snickered Battle.

“SSSHHH!!” I hissed.

“Do you wonder why we’re here?” asked Dalek Tina.

“I suppose that is one of the universe’s greatest mysteries,” mused Cyber-unit Larry. “Why are any of us here? Are we some cosmic coincidence or is there really a god with a plan for us? That kind of thinking keeps me from fully recharging.” There was a brief silence.

“No,” elaborated Tina. “I meant, why are we here guarding a communications terminal instead of investigating the explosions?”

“Oh,” replied Larry.

“What was that stuff about God?” asked Tina.

“Nothing,” answered Larry. I motioned for us to move.

“If you wish to find out about God’s existence,” I announced as I drew my blade, “I am all too happy to help in that regard. If you wish to live, move aside. I’ve come for Davros. Stand down and be spared.”

“ALERT!! ALERT!! INTRUDERS IN THE COMMUNICATIONS CAVERN!!” screamed Tina. She didn’t get very far as I ran her through with my sword. Larry then grabbed a silver tube with a red cylinder on it and trained it on us. Battle then opened a small bag and threw the contents onto Larry’s chest. It was gold dust and the instant it landed on him, Larry started sparking and giving off a death rattle. He fell, dead. I ran my fingers over the dust and examined it.

“A Cyberman killed by glitter? That’s ridiculous!” I declared.

“Not when it’s an early model Cyberman,” elaborated Battle. “The glitter’s made of actual gold.”

“You mean to tell me you turned gold into glitter in case you meet this kind of Cyberman?” I asked.

“Exactly,” replied Battle. “Coat the chest unit of these early model Cybermen in gold and you suffocate them.”

“I see,” I muttered. I then returned my focus to the mission. “Wyldstyle, take Guard with you and build a bomb big enough to level this place. OOO, Rusty, keep watch for the enemy. Elphaba, clear an escape route for us. Battle, help me open a line to Foundation Prime.”


“Just look what they’ve done!” snarled Igura as she stormed up to me in her Kamen Rider Talon persona.

“Spare me the dramatics,” I dismissed. “The Yeti’s jaw can be fixed.”

“This isn’t about the Yeti or me, Lord Vortech!” protested Talon. “The Daleks are creating dissension among the ranks! These savages are a threat to our plans! They should be confined! RESTRAINED EVEN!”

“I said that about you when your group came here,” muttered Ambassador Hell.

“Besides, you could not produce restraints strong enough to hold a Dalek!” boasted Davros.

“Loooord Vortech,” droned a Cyberman. This one was in a zip-up bodysuit, had a large front unit with wires and piping everywhere on the body, a cloth mask with eyeholes and a lantern on top of the head where the handles connect. As it spoke in a stilted monotone with some words drawn out and the others run through rapidly, the mouth opened but made no movements to form the syllables, “weee have recieeeved an eeemergency transmission frooom theeee Nonexistium mines ooooon Mooondas.”

“What seems to be the trouble?” I asked as I gave a glance to a broken Sergei.

“Uuunnknown, Lord Vortech,” reported the Cyberman. “Theee caller will speeeak only tooo you.” I accepted the call.

“T-1-N-4, L-4-R-R-Y, what is it?” I asked, assuming that it was the Dalek or Cyberman at their post. The voice with the Russian accent surprised me.

“Nice operation you have here,” snarled the caller. “Sadly, it is under new management.”

“Mikhail?” asked Sergei, sadly, knowing that Irina’s death affected his son as well.

“Kamen Rider Gallop,” I guessed. “The Rider that fancies himself a Cossack.”

“I have a bit of Cossack training,” answered Gallop. “My horseback skills are unmatched. However, like Irina, I fancy myself a swashbuckling pirate. Speaking of pirates, with the help of my team, of course, I just robbed you of one of your big, juicy mining operations.”

“The loss of ONE asset is hardly a blow to my cause,” I dismissed.

“Perhaps,” threatened Gallop. “But, I shall keep attacking them one by one until you give me what I want!”

“And WHAT, pray, is that?” I asked.

“The demon that put my twin sister in a coma!” declared Gallop. Wait, what?

“Coma?” I repeated.

“Mikhail, are you saying Irina lives?!” asked Sergei excitedly.

“Da, Papa,” replied Gallop.

“You are a liar!” hissed Davros.

“Davros,” called another voice. “Not so nice to hear you again.”

“Kamen Rider Battle, you saw Climb fall!” snapped Davros, correctly identifying the voice.

“We got her into the TARDIS and discovered that the Maximum Drive of your Dalek Gaia Memory gave off a low yield blast,” explained Battle. “Thanks to the Doctor’s efforts and to the efforts of our medic, Irina’s alive.”

“KHOROSHO!” shouted Sergei, his pain of having to bury his daughter now gone.

“So,” continued Gallop, “here is the deal. We’re going to hit the Nonexistium mine on Skaro. If you would care to meet us there, Davros, perhaps you can save Vortech from another loss. Oh, and Vortech, just in case you ever wondered what an exploding mine of Nonexistium sounds like…” He left the channel open as he pressed the button on a detonator.


“Escape ship primed and ready!” reported Rusty as he flew it to us. I snatched up some studs, 245,000 in total, and put them in a bag. Might as well make some profit. We jumped aboard as the bomb started shaking. We sped through the caverns before the bomb blew up. The explosion started catching up to us. We escaped…what’s the expression…by the skin of our teeth. The entrance collapsed as Rusty flew us to Skaro.


To say that Vortech was livid would be an understatement. As the transmission ended in static. Vortech strode angrily towards Davros. I smirked under my helmet. “Keep away!” yelped Davros.

“You’re hardly in a position to order anyone around,” hissed Vortech. He swatted Davros’ hand aside and pressed a button. The chair started beeping and lights turned off. Davros was trembling violently until he pressed the button again. He started getting his breath back. “You allowed Kamen Rider Climb TO LIVE!!” roared Vortech.

“Daleks,” chuckled Sergei with a fat grin on his fat face. “Not, er, up to snuff, I believe is the expression. Isn’t that right, Talon?”

“You, shut up,” I ordered.

“Lord Vortech,” begged Davros, “I swear upon the Daleks, Irina could not have survived her wounds!”

“Well, the evidence says otherwise!!” roared Vortech. “It appears I am owed a Vortex Rider’s life. And if it’s not Irina’s, it had better be Mikhail’s!”


“Approaching Skaro!” reported Rusty. Battle was not exaggerating when he said Skaro was one of the worst planets to look at. It was blood red, had three moons, sickeningly green clouds, and two major continents divided by a mountain range.

“We’re being hailed,” called Battle.

“Tell the Daleks that we’ve come for Davros,” I rumbled.

“Funny,” continued Battle, “it IS Davros on the other end. He said that he’s ordered an escort to bring us to the mine near the Petrified Jungle.”

“A hasty trap that we shall spring,” I declared. “Tell him we’ll follow the escort on the path they chose.” Michael did as he was told and we followed the Dalek Escort to a stone-like jungle. Nearby was a tall city. The mines were about a mile to the city’s south. We landed near the entrance to see Davros and a horde of Daleks surrounding us. Michael described him perfectly on Vorton. “I see you were busy after Michael came here last,” I observed.

“Whereas YOU have been stupid enough to seek revenge!” ranted Davros.

“Prerogative of a brother when his sibling is harmed,” I replied.

“Speaking of visits,” recalled Battle, “I would have figured, after your sewers attacked, you would have drowned in the corpses of your children.”

“Not when there is an escape pod to be had,” answered Davros.

“And a nearby Dalek ship to collect you, I surmise,” guessed Battle.

“Ah!” exclaimed Davros. “There, I was fortunate.”

“Oh, for a moment, I guess,” I mused. “I’m thinking that Vortech didn’t like hearing about my sister’s survival.”

“For the time being,” countered Davros. “Comas can go both ways.”

“True,” I conceded. “But, I can’t help but feel there’s an unanswered question. Why are you working for a thief like Vortech?”

“You cannot steal what is simply a random object to most people,” answered Davros. “No one, aside from Vortech, is interested in the Foundation Elements!”

“Not what I have heard,” I declared.

“As Vortech’s people, the Vortonians, have been exterminated,” ranted Davros, “and your friends are now fractured, you will not hear that claim again!”

“Do you never do anything but smash and kill?!” protested Wyldstyle.

“There, you are mistaken, Madam Wyldstyle,” argued Davros. “The Daleks have taken to calling me by my title on Necros.”

“The Great Healer?” asked Battle.

“A somewhat flippant title, I confess, but not without substance!” boasted Davros. “I have turned these Daleks into a raw war machine, healed them from the disease of defeat!”

“While working for Lord Vortech, I notice,” I observed. “Did the Daleks expect you to join him?”

“The Daleks understood that power over reality itself was ripe for the taking!” declared Davros.

“With you as their leader?” I asked. “You’re more man than Dalek.”

“So, what of the Dalek sewers?” asked Battle. “Or will they still rot down there?”

“You should know me better than that, Battle,” hissed Davros. “I never waste valuable resources.”

“How can the dead be valuable?” I asked.

“Because the dead make excellent concentrated protein!” replied a Dalek.

“My children are developing their galaxy quickly,” continued Davros. “Nutrient loss WAS one of the empire’s major problems.”

“You’ve turned the inhabitants of your sewers into food?” I said, repulsed at the idea.

“And it has placed me above even the Emperor Dalek!” raved Davros.

“And you lot are okay with resorting to cannibalism?!” I called to the Daleks.

“The dead are only useful in prolonging the living!” replied a Dalek.

“I’ve heard enough!” I declared as I drew my blade. The others got ready to fight.

“If you would permit me,” interjected Davros, “I’d like to show you a new ability I have.” He pulled out the Dalek Gaia Memory Battle had described on Vorton. “Are you familiar with Dopants?”

“Sorry?” I asked.

“When an organic creature is implanted with a connection for a Gaia Memory,” explained Davros, “It gives them power and a form based on the Gaia Memory. The resulting creature is called a Dopant. The only thing that can cause a Dopant to revert to its host’s original state would be a Maximum Drive, where all the power is focused in one attack.” He then pressed the Memory button.

“DALEK!” it announced. Davros then put it into his chair. Light flowed around him as data symbols came over him. His shape soon changed. His chair turned into legs with the lower legs looking like a Dalek’s skirt. He gained a new left arm where the forearm looked like the gunstick, with a gun barrel hidden in the palm, and the right arm had a plunger hidden in the palm. The head looked more like the Dalek dome with the eye embedded in it.

“You now bear witness to the Dalek Dopant!” cheered Davros’ new form. We got ready to fight. OOO extended his claws and rushed at Davros. Davros sidestepped and punched OOO on the spine. Wyldstyle built a cannon out of some Daleks and fired, but Davros shrugged it off. I changed into Wyldstyle Steel and built off the cannon, making it bigger. The two of us fired, but Davros leapt over it and attacked. Wyldstyle broke the cannon and rebuilt it into a combat suit for Rusty. Rusty plugged in and went on the offensive. Davros used the plunger in his hand and lifted him up into the air.

“ALERT!! ALERT!!” he squawked. “SUIT MALFUNCTION!!”

“Get out of there!” I yelled. Rusty shot his way out as Davros tore the battle suit in half. Battle and Guard did a double team attack and swiped at Davros repeatedly. Davros started laughing!

“That tickles!” he jeered. Davros then threw them into me, knocking the wind out of us. He then started laughing. “I see that your green skinned friend is gone!” he called. I looked up and grinned under my helmet.

“A spell to halt the progress ahead!” chanted Elphaba’s voice. Davros started looking around. “To freeze, to bind my foe in red!” Red chains from the air wrapped around Davros. He was yanked into the air and was taken for a ride by Elphaba! She had regained her cackle as she flew, writing “Surrender, Daleks,” in the sky. Davros then managed to plant his feet on the ground. Elphaba stopped and tugged on the chains. Blue light then appeared beneath Davros’ feet as he took off, taking Elphaba off her broomstick! This time, he took her for a ride and made a diving maneuver towards the ground. Davros pulled up in time, but Elphaba did not. When she hit the ground, she lost her concentration on the chains, releasing Davros. We were at Davros’ mercy.

“Look at you inferior creatures,” he boasted. “Lying at my feet with merely seconds of your transformations left.” Why was Davros right? Our transformations cancelled out. “With my Daleks,” continued Davros, “I shall be utterly unstoppable! The Dalek machines being manufactured automatically…”

“I know the Doctor said this to you already,” interrupted Michael, “but it’s not the machines, but the minds. The Daleks are totally evil!”

“And I still do not accept that!” shouted Davros. “The Daleks are merely programmed to survive! To do that, they must become the dominant species! When all other life forms are suppressed, when the Daleks rule everything, then there is peace. Wars will end. Daleks are not a tool of evil, but of good!”

“And to prove your megalomania,” continued Michael, “you created a virus that would destroy all life on contact.”

“You must mean the Reality Bomb,” recalled Davros.

“What?” asked Eiji.

“Electrical energy binds our atoms and their individual parts together,” elaborated Michael. “The Reality Bomb cancels it out. Soon, all manner of matter falls apart, becoming dust, the dust becoming atoms, and the atoms…nothing.”

“Nothing?” I repeated.

“This was in response to a question the Fourth Doctor posed to this lunatic,” finished Michael. He turned to Davros. “If you were to create a virus in your laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact, a virus that would destroy all other forms of life…”

“You wouldn’t use it, would you?” I asked Davros.

“…To hold in my hand, a capsule that contains such power,” began Davros, “to know that life and death on such a scale was my choice… To know that the tiny pressure of my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything…Michael was right! The Reality Bomb was my virus! If the Doctor had not interfered, that power would have set me up above the gods! But I shall try again to make a new virus! AND THROUGH THE DALEKS, I SHALL HAVE THAT POWER!”

“How is that helpful to the universe?!” wailed Wyldstyle. “There’s no democracy! You would deny freedom! You would be unfair to everyone that isn’t a Dalek!”

“Democracy?” spat Davros, as if the idea were vile. “Freedom? Fairness? Those are the creeds of cowards. The ones who will listen to a thousand viewpoints and try to satisfy them all. Achievement comes through absolute power, and power through strength! You have lost!”

“Alert! Time capsule detected!” screamed a Dalek. It was then that a familiar noise rang through the air. Soon, Davros, Skaro, the Daleks, and all other things aside from me and my team faded to make way for the TARDIS’ interior. I made a mad dash for the door, but someone held me back.

“This does not concern you!” I bellowed.

“Wrong!” snarled a voice. The accent was Russian and the tone was feminine. It couldn’t be! I tried again, but the person started gripping my fingers. I turned to see a fully conscious Irina! She released her grip on my fingers. “You idiots better hope Davros can’t follow us to Vorton,” hissed Irina. “If he can, I’m holding you responsible, Mikhail.” There was venom in her voice. I didn’t understand why. I couldn’t dwell on it for long as the TARDIS lurched!

“That monster just latched on!” reported the Doctor, not knowing Davros’ new Dopant form.


I paced the Gateway room, waiting for that familiar Vworp the TARDIS makes. Emily and a new arrival that Hiroki recommended sat on the platform. They were eating some cake, celebrating a successful procedure that brought Irina out of the coma. He was a young Japanese surgeon that also functioned as a Kamen Rider. From what Hiroki told me, this man, Kagami Hiiro, was a genius surgeon at only 24. He was a bit cold, but it was clear he was trying to get over that. His Rider alias is Kamen Rider Brave. Equipped with the Gamer Driver, he uses a game cartridge, or Gashat, after the Japanese onomatopoeia for inserting a game cartridge into a console, based on a fantasy RPG called Taddle Quest to transform and gain power. Hiroki also said that if there was someone beneath Hiiro’s notice, he would dismiss them by saying their existence was a “No Thank You”. Given that Emily knew the medical terminology and tools to get Irina out of that coma, such a phrase wasn’t flung her way. “Careful, Meg,” warned Emily, making me twitch, “you’ll make a trench in the floor.” That was when I heard a Vworp.

“Ah, the Doctor’s returned,” observed Shōtarō.

“It sounds like she’s about to…” began Philip. He didn’t complete his sentence as the TARDIS practically bounced in with a monster hanging on the side. It then started beating on the doors.

“What in the…?” yelped Hiiro as everyone gawked at the monster. The monster then looked around.

“So, this is Vorton, the base of operations for the Vortex Riders. Quaint, compared to my children,” snarled the monster. It then turned to Shōtarō and Philip. “WHAT? W hasn’t left?! I’d best take care of you two first.”

“Philip,” directed Shōtarō, “access the Gaia Library on this monster.”

“Beginning the lookup,” reported Philip. A bright light then appeared beneath him as he shut his eyes. “Keywords?” he asked.

“Dalek Dopant,” answered the monster.

“Stay out of this!” I hissed. Philip then gasped.

“It’s Davros!” he yelped. Shōtarō goggled at the Dopant.

“That thing became a Dopant?!” he cried.

“Correct,” confirmed the Dopant, Davros. The occupants of the TARDIS then exited said time machine.

“You, idiots that decided on getting revenge,” I snarled, “go to my quarters. I’ll talk to you once I’ve dealt with Davros.” I drew out my i.d tag. “Henshin!” I then drew out a new i.d tag, the W i.d tag. I had to touch both Shōtarō and Philip at the same time to get it. I selected CycloneJoker for the specific form.

“W CycloneJoker Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“CYCLONE! JOKER!” called the W Driver’s voice. The music for the respective Gaia Memories played. Shōtarō and Philip then pulled out their Gaia Memories, Heat and Metal. They pressed the buttons.

“HEAT!” called one.

“METAL!” called the other.

“Henshin!” announced the two men. Philip then put his Memory in the belt and passed out. Hiiro caught him and brought him to safety. Shōtarō then put his Memory into the belt after Heat appeared. He then opened the belt.

“HEAT! METAL!” called the belt. HeatMetal’s Memory music played as W twirled the Metal Shaft.

“And now, my turn,” declared Hiroki as he drew his i.d tag. “Henshin!” After the transformation sequence, he drew out his W i.d tag and selected the form.

“W LunaTrigger Steel!” called his belt.

“LUNA! TRIGGER!” announced the W Driver’s voice. An ominous glowing sound played followed by some rock guitar riffs. His steel looked like W, but it was yellow on the right side and blue on the left. We went on the offensive, Sengoku using his fancy katana in rifle mode, or tanegashima mode, as he calls it, and firing multiple shots, forcing Davros to try and seek cover. W made multiple hits with his staff and scorched him on impact. My punches and kicks had a windy effect to them. Soon, Davros could barely stand.

“This clinches it!” called W as he put the Metal Memory into his shaft.

“METAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the Memory.

“METAL BRANDING!” shouted W. Sengoku then put his i.d tag into the rifle and leveled it on Davros.

“Final attack!” called the weapon.

“RIDER LUNATRIGGER BLAST: TRIGGER FULL BURST!” shouted Sengoku. I jumped into the air for a Rider Kick.

“RIDER CYCLONEJOKER KICK: JOKER EXTREME!” I announced. Sengoku then fired multiple homing shots on Davros. W’s staff lit up on both ends as he delivered a powerful blow to Davros. I split down the middle and both halves charged at Davros. First my right half, then my left. Both sides reconnected when I landed. I felt weird but shrugged it off. We then came together.

“Saa, omae no tsumi o kazoero!” we all finished. Davros’ Dopant body exploded, revealing his old self, and an ugly man he was, and the shattered remains of the Dalek Gaia Memory fell.

“NO! MY POWER!” wailed Davros.

“Doctor, take him to the brig,” I directed as we cancelled our transformations. The Doctor then grabbed Davros’ chair and pushed him to the brig.

“Release me, Doctor!” ordered Davros. “You will return me to Skaro!”

“Shut up, or I’ll switch you off!” threatened the Doctor. She soon brought him into the brig as I headed for my quarters. When I arrived, I leveled my gaze at the ones that tried to seek revenge. Those idiots looked pitiful, like children that were sent to their rooms to wait for the other parent to tear them a new one.

“Well?” I asked icily. “I’m waiting for your explanation.”

“You are…well within your rights to…” began Mikhail. Wrong way to begin.

“We’re not talking about my rights,” I snarled, “we’re talking about the fact that you let your anger towards Davros blind you.”

“Davros brought harm to my sister!” argued Mikhail.

“And she was hurt under my command,” supplied Michael.

“On top of that, he helped my sister,” answered Richard. “I owed him.”

“Besides, we need to make the enemy hurt,” mused Elphaba. Rusty nodded his eyestalk in agreement.

“YOU THINK THAT’S JUSTIFICATION FOR PETTY REVENGE?!” I roared. I turned to Eiji and Wyldstyle. “I didn’t hear your reasons!”

“They’re friends,” replied Wyldstyle.

“They needed backup,” gulped Eiji. I shook my head.

“I don’t believe this!” I shouted. “Tell me, does revenge ever complete anyone? Here’s a hint, NO! It doesn’t! It might fly with the Klingons, but we’re not Klingons and those are not Klingon uniforms! Irina almost lost her brother! If she didn’t convince the Doctor to find you, you would have been dead on Skaro, not even in your native universe! There is a limit to the amount of stupidity I can put up with and you’ve just crossed it! Now, I don’t want to hear another word about revenge or making someone hurt! In fact, I don’t want to hear about Davros being hurt while he’s our prisoner! Is that clear?!”

“Your Highness, Davros is too dangerous to be left alive,” retorted Michael. “He may try to…”

“Crystal clear, Your Highness,” interrupted Mikhail. “This will not happen again and Davros will not be touched unless you say so.”

“And I won’t be saying so anytime soon!” I snapped. “Now, all of you idiots, GET OUT!” They shuffled out of my room. “Oh, and Mikhail, I recommend you do everything in your power to make amends with your sister because she almost lost a family member and considered how to approach telling your dad about your death.” Mikhail said nothing, just nodded and shuffled out after the rest of his team. My room was empty, so I took a breath and sat down. Never, in all my life, had I gotten so angry. Then again, never, in my life, had I nearly lost my friends.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 25

We arrived back on Vorton safely. Eiji, Kōsei, and Ankh were amazed at their new surroundings. “Oh, good!” cheered X-PO. “You guys got the cake!”

“Yeah, and we were almost toast, too!” hissed Batman.

“You cut that pretty close, X-PO,” snapped Wyldstyle.

“Couldn’t you have opened the rift sooner?” asked Touché as we cancelled our transformations.

“Is that the cake from Portal?” asked Richard. “You guys were in Portal? Man, I wish I had been there!”

“You really don’t, my dear brother,” argued Emily. “With Hiro gaining his own Super Charge sequence and with the main enemies of Eiji-san here, we had our work cut out for us.”

“Speaking of cutting,” muttered Gandalf as he eyed the cake. “Perhaps a slice of…” Tanisha took the cake out of Batman’s hands and held it above her head out of Gandalf’s reach.

“It’s not for eating!” growled Batman. I then looked around.

“Hey, where’s Hiroki?” I asked as X-PO took the cake. “I have another Rider for him to geek over.” Mikhail and Lukas came up.

“He, Tonje, Emmanuel, Michael, Sheela, Xiomara, and Irina went on an adventure with a new Doctor,” replied Mikhail. “They’ll be back soon. Something about a Dalek fleet over their native universe’s Earth.”

“Can we get something to eat?” asked Eiji. “That adventure wore me out.”

“The adventure, or Putotyra?” asked Ankh.

“Follow me,” I directed as I led the way to the cafeteria. When we showed off the cafeteria and demonstrated the replicators, Eiji, Ankh, and Kōsei got their food. Ankh seemed to be eating a lot of popsicles.

“Isn’t that a bit…unhealthy?” asked Emily.

“I don’t eat food in the sense that you humans do,” explained Ankh. “Heck, my senses are dulled. I can’t taste food, Colors are washed out, and sounds are distorted and muffled. The only time I experienced the full range of the five senses was when I possessed a detective.”

“The Greeed are voids that can’t be filled,” elaborated Eiji. “Thus, they want to turn the world into Cell Medals.”

“And…you’re working with him?” I asked.

“Let’s just say, he’s learned a thing or two,” chuckled Eiji.

“That reminds me,” mused Ankh as he drew a bag out of his body. “Kōsei, do you know anything about these?” The bag was full of studs!

“Not a clue,” admitted Kōsei.

“Those are studs, the local currency,” I explained

“There are 150,000 studs in that bag,” counted Vortoranii.

“You can have them,” muttered Ankh as he tossed the bag to me.

“That’s 980,000 studs!” Vortoranii said, then laughed like Count Von Count.

“Guys,” called X-PO, “I hate to sound needy, but, unless you want to miss this, Irina and the others came back and she needs medical attention!”

“What?!” yelped Emily. We made a mad dash for the med bay. Irina was hooked up to an IV and had an NG tube in her nose. Her pulse was low, but steady. Tonje, Hiroki, Emmanuel, Michael, Sheela, and Xiomara were there along with a woman with blonde hair reaching her neck and a coat with the hood down at the bed, running the medical equipment. The TARDIS was there as well.

“Emily! Good!” called the woman. “She was hit by a handheld, low yield, Dalek blaster. Davros seemed to have it on his person.”

“Where’s the Doctor?” asked Emily, going into full Medic mode. “I want the full story of what happened while I work.”

“Well, Doctor?” asked Michael to the woman. I goggled.

“The Doctor passed the torch to her?” I guessed.

“In a manner of speaking,” replied the woman.

“That IS the Doctor,” explained Michael. “I’ll explain later. Doctor, if you please.”

“Oh, come on,” argued the woman, the new Doctor, “surely you want to tell the story.”

“Oh, very well,” muttered Michael.


“CHARGE!” ordered my princess. As her team entered the rift, the rest of us started wondering what we should do.

“I don’t know about you, meine Freunde,” called Lukas, “but I’m going to go tune up the replicators.”

“I’m going to rest my back,” sighed Livia.

“Same here,” agreed Richard. That was when a familiar sound started playing.

“Anyone hear that?” asked Joshua.

“That’s the TARDIS!” called Mikhail.

“What’s he doing coming back here?!” I asked as the TARDIS materialized in the gateway room. The door opened and a woman poked her head out. She caught sight of me.

“AHA!” she cheered. “I need your help, Michael! Something’s going down around my universe’s Earth. Mind coming with?”

“Hold on, how do you know my name, Ma’am?” I asked.

“Never mind that,” dismissed the woman, “I’ll explain later. Just pick six others to come with us!” I was surprised but did so.

“Er, Tonje, Hiroki, Emmanuel, Irina, Sheela, and Xiomara, you want to see the TARDIS again?” I asked.

“Eh, why not?” mused Emmanuel. As the people I picked entered the TARDIS, I glanced around.

“Doctor?!” I called. No response. The woman then headed to the console. “Doctor?!” I called again. Still no reply. I tried a different approach. “Professor?!”

“Oh, come on,” replied the woman. “You’re making me nostalgic.”

“Ma’am, I don’t believe I know what you’re talking about!” I snapped.

“Oh, just put your hands on the telepathic circuits,” instructed the woman.

“Michael, who is this woman?!” asked Tonje.

“I don’t bloody know!” I yelled. It’s rare that I ever use bloody in that context. We all put a hand on the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits and reviewed the most memorable moments of the pilot.

“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back,” faded to “They will persuade other Daleks to question. You will have a rebellion on your planet!” fading to “You exist only because your will insists that you exist. Your will is all that is left of you,” fading yet again to “You’ve no home planet, no influence, nothing! You’re just a pathetic bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship!” fading again to “Well, a place where one embarks and disembarks from compartments on wheels drawn along these tracks by a steam engine; rarely on time,” fading to “But did you bother to tell anyone that they might be eating their own relatives?” with another man saying “Certainly not! That would have created what I believe is termed… ‘consumer resistance’,” fading to “I have pity for you!” and a Dalek counting fifteen and the man saying “Goodbye Davros. It hasn’t been pleasant,” fading to “You want dominion over the living, yet all you do is kill!” fading again to “Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame. Whatever the cost,” fading once again to a woman saying, “If you are an alien, how come you sound like you’re from the north?” and a man replying, “Lots of planets have a north!” fading to “Don’t challenge me, Harriet Jones! ‘Cos I’m a completely new man! I could bring down your government with a single word!” fading again to “Wrong with me? It’s not my fault. Why can’t you give me any decent food? You’re Scottish. Fry something!” fading one last time to “You know you’ve got a lot in common with the Tivolians? You’ll both do anything to survive. They’ll surrender to anyone. You will hijack other peoples’ souls and turn them into electro-magnetic projections. That will to endure… That refusal to ever cease. It’s extraordinary. And it makes a fella think! Because, you know what? If all I have to do to survive is to tweak the future a bit, what’s stopping me? Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah: the ripple effect. Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something in the future. But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all! You robbed those people of their deaths; made them nothing more than a message in a bottle. You violated something more important than time: You bent the rules of life and death. So I am putting things straight! Here, now, this is where your story ends!” All of those quotes and an image forming in our minds slowly became clearer and clearer to show the woman, the Time Lord, that was piloting a type 40 TARDIS with a chameleon circuit stuck as a 1960’s London Police Box. We were dazed at the story that unfolded.

“So…the Doctor we’re familiar with…” muttered Emmanuel.

“Had many different faces…” finished Irina. I turned to the woman.

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yep!” confirmed the woman.

“You’re him?!” I continued.

“That’s right!” grinned the woman.

“Even the blonde hair?” I asked.

“Yes!” said the woman, a little annoyed.

“You’re the…Thirteenth Doctor?” I asked.

“Yes!” repeated the woman, the Doctor. “You humans have a rather enormous capacity for repeating the facts!” The TARDIS then shook.

“Doctor, what’s going on?!” asked Sheela.

“Bit of temporal ripples!” explained the Doctor. “Someone, or something, is creating a rather large distortion in time about the size of Paris! It seems to be centered around Earth, my universe’s Earth.”

“So, who caused the distortion?” I asked. I did NOT like the response.

“Typical Daleks!” hissed the Doctor as her fingers danced around the console. “What IS their fascination with Earth? That’s MY fascination!”

“GOD…FLIPPING…WHHHYYYY?!” I shouted. “Couldn’t it be early model Mondasian Cybermen?! THEY knew how to be creepy!” The TARDIS rocked again. “Are they firing on us?!” I asked.

“I may need some help maneuvering the TARDIS,” called the Doctor. “Hiroki! Michael! Emmanuel! Sheela! Xiomara! Give me a hand!”

“We’re not Time Lords!” protested Hiroki.

“Put your hands on the telepathic circuits again,” directed the Doctor. “The TARDIS will fill you in on its operation.” Information about all the panels on the console filled our minds. It soon integrated with human limits and it became easy as pie!

“Oh, many a fan of your adventures would sell their souls just to have this kind of knowledge!” I cheered.

“Seems simple enough,” mused Sheela.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” asked Irina as we took our places, “stand here and look glamorous?”

“Well,” chuckled the Doctor, “you could always get us some tea. Maybe a bit of paperwork.” Tonje punched the Doctor in the shoulder. She and Irina then stormed up the stairs and headed into a hallway. “TONJE! IRINA! JOKE!” said the Doctor as she massaged her shoulder.

“They’ll be back when we’ve landed,” I assured. We then set to work on weaving the TARDIS through Dalek laser blasts and the saucers that said lasers came from.

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 23

After we rested from our training session, we assembled in the Gateway room. “Are we ready?!” I called, eager to try out my new strength. Everyone had confirmed. “CHARGE!” I shouted. We all ran for the Gateway, but nothing happened. The portal didn’t appear in the Gateway ring! I reared my horse back, warning everyone to stop, too little, too late. We all crashed into each other.

“Your Highness,” began Richard, “I mean no disrespect, but, WHAT IN ALL THE LEVELS IN ALL NINE CIRCLES OF DANTE ALIGHIERI’S INFERNO, HIS DESCRIPTION OF HELL ITSELF, WAS THAT ABOUT?!”

“If one of you older guys have their hand on my butt…!” hissed Emily.

“Apologies, my friend,” called Emmanuel, “that’s me. Trying to disentangle myself.”

“The portal never opened,” I said, answering Richard’s question. “We would have crashed into the Gateway.”

“What?” yelped Vortoranii. “X-PO, I thought you said you found a workaround for the passenger limit.”

“Passenger limit?” I asked.

“There was a limit on the Gateway once,” explained Vortoranii. “Only seven people could go into a dimension at once. I thought X-PO removed that for this crisis.”

“I…I’m sure I did!” spluttered X-PO. He zoomed over to the main computer under the connection between Gateway generator and platform. He keyed in some commands and then saw the problem. “Oh, I see,” he said.

“Did it malfunction?” I asked.

“No, more like I changed the code when I was disconnected,” answered X-PO. “When I was connected, I had made a workaround for the seven-traveler limit, hence why I could get you all to a dimension. When I was reassembled, I took the code for that workaround with me. It’s no longer in the Gateway. I can only send seven people to your destination.”

“How long would it take to remove that limit?” asked Lukas.

“Even with you, Batman, Rusty, Sheela, Irina, the Brigadier, and myself,” replied X-PO, “too long.”

“We don’t have the time to fix it,” I resolved. “We’ll have to pick seven. The first five are obvious, those who carry the Keystones. All that’s left are two more.”

“I’m coming with!” called Richard.

“Yeah right!” hissed Emily. “I’m coming with!”

“Non!” protested Emmanuel. “It’s me!”

“Nein! Me!” shouted Lukas.

“Why should you go?!” snarled Sheela. “I barely did anything when getting the Keystones!”

“A tough decision,” mused X-PO, “requires a tough method of choosing. Keystone bearers, please get on the Gateway Pad.” I got on the circle part while Wyldstyle and Gandalf flanked my left and Batman and Hongo flanked my right. “If the rest of the Riders could get in a circle,” called X-PO. They managed to get into a circle. A circular trapdoor opened, revealing a screen with two rotating arrows. “This is the Roulette Reader,” explained X-PO. “It takes the coordinates of the destination and reads who is most qualified to help you through the dimension.” Game show lights then flashed everywhere. “It’s time for a bit of Rider Chance!” Holographic showgirls then appeared and started dancing, the Gateway Pad flashed, the arrows spun and stopped at different people, and X-PO started dancing in the air. Catchy, upbeat music was playing, but it didn’t calm our nerves.

“Guys,” whimpered Emily, “this whole thing’s doing me a frighten!”

“Don’t chicken out now!” called Richard. “I’m scared too!”

“And the ones going to this dimension shall be…” began X-PO. A drum roll sounded as the arrows spun in circles, one going clockwise, the other counterclockwise. One landed on “Emily!” announced X-PO. Emily jumped a few times, clapping her hands and giggling like a child. The other arrow stopped on “and Tanisha!” finished X-PO.

“All right!” cheered Tanisha. She and Emily joined us on the Gateway Pad.

“Now, are we ready?” I asked. My team confirmed. “CHARGE!” I called. This time, the Gateway opened a portal and we jumped in.


We arrived at a room that was white and metal. We looked around. “This doesn’t look like a bakery,” observed Batman, remembering the Foundation Element we had to get for X-PO.

“We went to the past,” recalled Wyldstyle. “Maybe this is a futuristic space-bakery?”

“Something about this dimension seems familiar,” mused Emily.

“Déjà vu?” asked Tanisha.

“Is that you?” quizzed a computerized, monotone, woman’s voice. Emily and Tanisha tensed up.

“Not her!” gulped Tanisha.

“How did you escape from your…?” began the voice before it stopped. “…No. You’re not her. You’re just another unwelcome visitor.”

“Uh, good lady?” asked Gandalf as he took off his hat and tried to locate the source of the voice. “Are you the proprietor of this establishment? We wish to buy a cake.”

“Cake?” replied the voice. “Why do they always want the cake?”

“Emily, let’s get it out of our system now,” muttered Tanisha.

“Good idea,” agreed Emily. They turned to face us.

“The cake is a lie!” they yelled together. The reference went over our heads as we gave confused looks.

“So, you actually have a cake?” asked Batman to the voice.

“We can pay!” continued Gandalf as he took out a coin.

“Yes,” replied the voice. “Yes, you WILL pay. But first, a test.” A circular sliding door opened behind us. We went through and entered the next room labelled Test Chamber 01. “Welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center,” welcomed the voice.

“What’s this?” asked Wyldstyle. “Lord Business’ R&D Department?”

“No,” replied Tanisha, “the lair of the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, GLaDOS, for short. We’re in the world of Portal.”

“GLaDOS will throw everything at us to make us fall slowly into madness and death,” continued Emily. “Without the portal gun, she may get that.”

“You say that in front of those that control Keystones,” I answered. I then noticed an orange portal on an upper ledge above some dirty looking liquid. I noticed a Keystone transmitter in front of the portal. Behind the transmitter, in the portal, was Batman looking down. I turned and saw Batman beside me. He was looking at a blue portal that showed us down below. I then got an idea. “Hongo-san,” I directed, “see if you can get the transmitter down to our level.”

“Got it,” confirmed Hongo. He jumped up and kicked the transmitter through the orange portal and came out through the blue portal.

“That’s not how you use that,” called GLaDOS. She shut off the portals.

“We don’t need those portals,” replied Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate! Yellow, on the overhanging panel! Magenta, in the observation room! Cyan, near the transmitter!” The portals appeared in their assigned places. “Shift! Emily! Magenta!” Emily jumped into the portal.

“Unauthorized portal detected,” observed GLaDOS. “Until the source can be identified, please press the Aperture Science Switch ahead of you.”

“I thought these kinds of rooms were beyond your notice,” mused Emily as she pressed a button on a cylinder in front of her. “Besides, shouldn’t you have received a shock for giving me the answer? Or even a hint?”

“I suppose I turned off those circuits,” replied GLaDOS. “My bad.”

“Passive aggressive to the end,” observed Tanisha.

“I’M passive aggressive?” asked GLaDOS.

“As for us,” I continued, “we’re just full blown aggressive.”

“That makes no sense,” stammered GLaDOS. “Why would you say you’re aggressive? Logic error detected. Please proceed into the Chamberlock after completing each test.”

“Shift! Emily! Yellow!” announced Batman. Emily ended up on another platform with another button.

“Logic error detected,” called GLaDOS. “Subject should not have been able to enter that part of the testing chamber without the aid of an Aperture Science Handheld Portal device.” A cube dropped into a closed chamber. “Please attempt to place the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube on the fifteen-hundred Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button.”

“Batman, could you send Gandalf up here?” asked Emily.

“Shift! Yellow! Gandalf!” announced Batman. Gandalf appeared next to Emily and used his magic to put the cube onto the button.

“Logic error detected,” droned GLaDOS. “Subject should not have been able to move the Weighted Storage Cube in this way.”

“It’s magic,” I replied, “we don’t need to explain it.” We entered the adjacent room and found the elevator. We soon arrived at Test Chamber 02.

“You’re doing very well,” said GLaDOS. “That is to say, I suspect you were cheating on that last test. Cheating is wrong and, ultimately, the only person who loses when you cheat is yourself. For instance, like the other human, you might lose your freedom, or your mind, or some teeth. I will be monitoring your behavior more closely in the future. Now, on with the next test.”

“Other human?” I quizzed. “What are you talking about?!”

“Did I say ‘human?’” asked GLaDOS. “I meant sentry turret.”

“That is a bald-faced lie, you 8-megabyte twit!” insulted Emily.

“…Not dignifying that,” answered GLaDOS. “Proceed with the test and try not to cheat.”

“Guys!” called Wyldstyle. “I see a red chroma disc in that tube up there!”

“We need to open it,” I declared, “and find the other discs.”

“Emily,” requested Batman. “Mind going into Batman Steel? I see a grapple hook over on the wall.”

“Got it!” called Emily as she drew out her i.d tag. “Henshin!” After changing, she swapped the i.d tag for Batman’s.

“Batman Steel!” announced her belt. She then pulled out the grapple gun and fired it. Batman did the same with his and they yanked the wall off. Inside was a man in traveler’s clothes. He was Japanese and looked half crazed from being in isolation.

“Get him out of there!” I yelled. We got him out and looked him over. Physically, he was all right, but his mental state was in question. He finally opened up from his fetal position and looked at us.

“Is this a dream?” he asked, shakily.

“No, sir,” I assured him in a relaxing tone. “I am Hishikawa Megumi.” I heard Touché cancel her transformation. “These are Emily Saunders and Batman, the ones who rescued you.”

“Hello!” called Emily as she bowed to him, the proper way to greet someone in Japan instead of a handshake.

“Nice to meet you,” rasped Batman as he bowed.

“This is Tanisha Akintola,” I introduced.

“Hello,” greeted Tanisha as she bowed.

“That’s Wyldstyle,” I continued.

“How’s it going?” asked Wyldstyle as she grinned.

“That’s Gandalf the Grey,” I went on.

“Good day,” greeted Gandalf.

“And that’s Takeshi Hongo,” I finished.

“Good to meet you out of your suit, OOO,” (pronounced O’s) said Hongo as he bowed.

“You know me?” asked the man.

“I know of your rider name,” replied Hongo. “I’m the first Kamen Rider.” The man’s face brightened.

“Now I remember you!” he cheered. “I don’t think we’ve properly introduced ourselves when the Showa and Heisei riders had their feud. I’m Hino Eiji.” He got up and bowed.

“Rider name?” I asked, echoing Hongo’s words. “You’re a Kamen Rider as well?”

“Kamen Rider OOO,” confirmed Eiji as he drew out a black slate with blue lines running all over it and three slots with windows on the front. “This is the OOO driver, the belt I use to transform with.”

“Please, go ahead and bore me to death while talking to the previous cheater,” called GLaDOS.

“You shut up,” snarled Tanisha, “or we’ll go into your major databanks with an electromagnetic axe, you circuit crossed dolt!”

“Sticks and stones may break my metaphorical bones,” replied GLaDOS, “but your words are just annoyances I can ignore.”

“Minna,” called Eiji, “there’s a button that connects somewhere in here.”

“Judging by the blue line that indicates connections to a part of the puzzle,” observed Tanisha, “I’d say that it operates the tube the chroma disc is in.”

“Then let’s press it and find the others,” I declared. I did the honors and freed the chroma disc. Now, two more discs left. A panel wobbled beneath Tanisha’s feet. We pulled it out and found the blue chroma disc. Wyldstyle used her scanner to find a control panel hidden in the wall. She pressed some buttons and released the yellow chroma disc from its prison. “Now,” I muttered, “we need to find a transmitter.”

“No need,” replied Vortoranii. “I now provide such functions.”

“…Thanks, we could have used that earlier,” I groaned. “Find the Chroma Lock.”

“I found it!” called Wyldstyle. It had a red circle, a blue left L-shape, and a green right L-shape. “Chroma Keystone, activate!” The lock design appeared in the floor. “Chroma! Red! Eiji!” I pushed Eiji into the red paint.

“What are you trying to do?!” he yelped.

“Just step into the circle bit,” I assured in a relaxing tone. Eiji did as asked.

“Chroma! Blue! Batman!” called Wyldstyle. Batman jumped into the blue paint and landed on the left L shape. “Chroma! Yellow! Tanisha!” Tanisha stepped into the yellow paint and got in the right L shape. Batman then joined Tanisha. The chroma lock revealed a panel that came up from the floor.

“Look at us,” joked GLaDOS, “making scientific discoveries together. Please use the Aerial Faith Plate to proceed but be careful. It has a weight limit and I worry that you may exceed it.” Flame projectors then descended from the ceiling just barely scratching the surface of our arc if we used the Aerial Faith Plate (jump pad) now. Another jump pad path would have us go through active Tesla plates. Gandalf puffed on his pipe for a while as if he were thinking on how to proceed. I grinned.

“All right, keep your secret,” I said to the wizard.

“Beg pardon?” he asked, acting as if I had interrupted his train of thought.

“I know you have a way to get us all there,” I observed.

“Good gracious me!” called Gandalf, acting surprised.

“We DID nab some powers that you’ve mastered,” I reminded.

“Indeed?” asked Gandalf.

“Powers that allow us to get across natural obstacles,” I continued.

“If you’re referring to the Elemental Keystone,” countered Gandalf, “I haven’t yet mastered giving you all a power. All I did was try things out on you individually.”

“Whatever the case,” I declared, “we need to be on fire, literally.”

“WHAT?!” shrieked Eiji.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” called Gandalf. “Element of fire, all allies!” The red aura surrounded us. We were immune to fire now.

“If I may lead?” asked Emily. She tried out the jump pad and landed safely on the other side. “Heavyset and fabulous girl: 1, Passive aggressive machine: 0!” she called out.

“Congratulations,” droned GLaDOS. “I always believed in you and your ability to do that thing that you just did.”

“I guess sarcasm is this thing’s only language,” muttered Wyldstyle as the rest of us rejoined Emily.

“Element of lightning, all allies!” announced Gandalf. We used another jump pad and went through the lightning, landing on another jump pad that landed us at another puzzle with electric coils and a button.

“We’re gonna need a person on each coil and a button presser,” I observed. “Eiji, you take that coil, I’ll take this one, and Tanisha can press the button.” My coil activated hard light barriers over small pools of a liquid I was sure was acid and Eiji’s coil activated pushers for a small ball that Emily released with the button. It landed in its slot at the bottom and it opened a door and activated a jump pad.

“Well done,” intoned GLaDOS. “Although, you obviously have abilities that are not listed in my database and are using them to complete the tests. In other words, you’re cheating.” We used the jump pad and entered the door to the elevator which took us to Test Chamber 03. “As a punishment for your recent cheating, I have added several Aperture Science Sentry Turrets to the following test. I didn’t want to do that, but you left me little choice. I’m very sorry.”

“Lying, as usual, you sparking malfunction,” hissed Tanisha. The sentry turrets were on three legs and had a single red eye with a laser sight. The hallway terminated with a pool of acid. Another path led us down to a platform with a tube on the ceiling with a grapple hook.

“These tests are getting more and more deadly,” rasped Batman as he fired his grapple gun. He yanked down the tube and released another person! This was a man in a red suit and tie.

“Kōsei-san!” called Eiji.

“Who now?” I asked as I helped the man up.

“That’s Kōgami Kōsei,” explained Eiji as he helped me. “He’s the one who provided me with equipment to fight my main enemy, the Greeed.” Kōsei then groaned and opened his eyes.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“You’re in another dimension,” I replied. “This place is run by an evil machine that wants to kill us.”

“I simply need you to complete the tests without cheating,” countered GLaDOS, “the turrets should prevent you from cheating.”

“Another dimension?” cheered Kōsei. He then grinned. “SUBARASHI!” (Wonderful!) “The birth of new possibilities has arrived! Happy Birthday to the proof of other universes!”

“…Happy Birthday?” I whispered to Eiji.

“He says that a lot when something begins,” explained Eiji.

“And another person’s birthday is coming today,” continued Kōsei as he pulled out a strange gun. It looked like it had a bag attached to its underside and a single slot for something circular. “If I could have the Taka (hawk) Medal you have?” said Kōsei. Eiji pulled out a cracked red coin with a gold border and handed it to Kōsei. Kōsei then put the medal into the slot on the gun and closed it. “Inside the bag,” he explained, “are enough Cell Medals to give our old friend a body, with a few Core Medals as well. This gun should fix the broken Taka Medal and restore his consciousness and body. I researched how the alchemists made the medals, so this should work, in theory.” He then raised the gun into the air.

“Anyone know what’s going on?” asked Wyldstyle.

“If only Hiroki were here,” I muttered, “he’d know the answer.”

“He’s talking about the Greeed that helped me become OOO,” explained Eiji. “The Greeed are made of silver coins called Cell Medals. The things that determine their bodies are colored medals called Core Medals. The Greeed that helped me gather Cell Medals was a red, bird themed one called Ankh. He gave his life to help me save the planet.”

“And his mind was in the broken Medal you gave Kōsei-san?” I guessed.

“That’s right,” confirmed Eiji. He turned to Kōsei. “Go ahead.” Kōsei pulled the trigger, releasing red light. Cell Medals came out of the bag as well as five red Medals, this Ankh character’s Core Medals, I guessed. He fired into the red light with the broken Medal as the ammo. It fixed the crack in itself as all the Medals coalesced to make a humanoid shape. It crouched down, then came up, spreading its limbs out and releasing red light. The light then made a shape around the Medals and made a new shape. Its left arm and legs were mummified, the right arm had talons and rings with a set of tiny, folded, feathery wings, a red jacket with a feathery design, and a bird-like head with green eyes. The creature examined itself, then started preening itself like a bird.

“I have to say, Eiji,” snarked the creature, “I didn’t think you could get me back.”

“Ankh!” called Eiji.

“Happy Birthday, Ankh!” cheered Kōsei.

“Oh, great,” moaned the creature, Ankh, “the Ham’s here.” Ankh then looked around. “Where IS here, anyways?”

“Aperture Science,” I explained. Ankh then noticed us.

“And who are you?” he asked.

“Well, that’s rude,” I hissed. “It’s polite to introduce yourself before asking questions.”

“Tch,” said Ankh. “If you must know, I’m Ankh, a Greeed that needs Medals to survive. Normally, I can do so by creating Yummies, monsters of just Cell Medals with no Cores.”

“Your endless talking and not testing is causing my sanity functions to decay at a quicker rate than SHE did,” snarled GLaDOS.

“‘SHE’ being the main protagonist of Portal, Chell,” explained Emily.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I answered. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I walked down the lower hall and found the rift near the entrance of the hall with turrets. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Well, what do you know?” I mused. “That dimension pulls through again! Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!”

“Oz?” asked Emily. “What could help us there?” She got her answer as one of the Talking Trees appeared.

“Deploying,” droned the turrets in a cute, electronic voice as two barreled guns popped out from the sides and fired on the tree.

“Hey!” shouted the tree. “What are those things doing, shooting at me?! Take that, you little scamps!” He threw his dead limbs at the turrets, knocking them over and having them shoot at nowhere. Eventually, they deactivated.

“Critical error,” announced one of the turrets. The tree then turned to us and recognized us.

“You again?!” he roared. “Oh, you!”

“Dismiss help!” I yelped. The tree was sucked into the rift, rather quickly, I might add, and we gained passage into the level above us.

“What was that?!” snapped Ankh.

“Perhaps, another unauthorized element?” quizzed GLaDOS. “How can I test with so many variables?”

“That, my greedy friend and Madame Rigid clod,” I explained, “is the power of a Keystone.”

“I’ve already experienced two before,” supplied Eiji. “One of them, you have to paint yourself to unlock areas, another allows you to use the elements.”

“And I think we’ll have to change size for the next one,” continued Hongo as we walked down the formerly turret infested hall. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen scale of Ankh!” Ankh shrunk down.

“Now, Ankh-san,” I said, “I need someone to crawl into that vent and cause some damage inside there. Do so, and I’ll see to it that whatever Cell Medals we acquire will go to you.”

“And I can get you two years’ worth of popsicles!” offered Eiji.

“Considering I need you lot to get out of here,” mused Ankh, “I see no reason to refuse. Just warn me when use the Keystones on me again, all right?” He entered the vent.

“Oh no, where have you gone?” asked GLaDOS. “I can’t see you anywhere. How could you possibly have escaped?” She dropped the sarcasm. “You know my cameras have zoom-lenses, don’t you?”

“Guys, can you increase my size to a giant’s height?” asked Ankh from inside the wall.

“Yes, why?” I asked.

“I have an idea,” hinted Ankh.

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

“Not yet,” replied Ankh.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Hongo-san, go ahead.”

“Enlarge scale of Ankh,” announced Hongo. A giant Ankh then burst through the wall and swept aside the turrets that were in front of us. “Normalize scale of Ankh,” said Hongo. Ankh preened himself with pride. A massive glass cage with a giant turret inside popped up from a panel in the floor.

“Deploying Prototype Super Deadly Mega Turret in 3, 2, 1!” reported GLaDOS. The turret started firing from inside the cage.

“Allow me to handle this,” offered Gandalf. He used his magic to lift the turret, making it sing a note, shattering the glass cage it rested in. He then moved it to other glass barriers, shattering them, then threw it into the acid pool. Eiji and Kōsei then went up ramps that popped up from the floors to the areas where the glass cages were and pressed the buttons there, making another ramp pop up and head to a door, which unlocked.

“The Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center congratulates you on yet another amazing job,” droned GLaDOS. “Go you.” The door led to an elevator which went to Test Chamber 04. “This test room is impossible,” called GLaDOS. “The enrichment center apologizes for this clearly broken test chamber.” It consisted of three pressure switches and two large boxes. We needed help.

“Locate Keystone, activate!” I announced. “Initiate rift detection!” The crack was near the door. “Identify source of rift!” The information was beamed into my head. “Locate help from B-4-C-K-T-0-T-H-3-F-U-T-U-R-3!” I directed. Another dimension I happened to like. The Time Train barreled through and destroyed the boxes. The crew popped out. Marty had grown older and was in cowboy clothes, Doc Brown and Clara were about to hit their twilight years, and their sons, Jules and Verne, were old enough to have jobs.

“Great Scott!” called Marty.

“Doc Brown?” yelped Batman. “What are you doing here?”

“When are we?” asked Jules.

“At this point, it’s where,” replied Tanisha. “You’re in Aperture Science, in another dimension.”

“Another dimension?” asked Marty.

“Another universe, like when Biff Tannen married your mom,” elaborated Emily.

“Don’t remind m…how do you know?!” asked Marty.

“Because we’re from other dimensions too,” I explained. “Your dimension is a work of fiction, set in three movies surrounding your adventures in time when you were a teen.”

“I see,” cheered Doc Brown. “So, we didn’t travel in time. I thought so, given that that saloon girl stole the Flux Capacitor in the lamp.”

“Saloon girl?” I asked.

“Some Asian woman,” replied Marty. “She called herself…Eagle…I think. Her accent was thick.”

“Igura!” I hissed. “So, the Flux Capacitor was the Foundation Element of your world!”

“Foundation Element?” asked Clara.

“We’ll explain later,” I assured, “I promise on my honor as the reigning monarch of the Feudal Nerd Society. But the time and place for explanations is not here, not now.”

“Feudal Nerd Society?” quizzed Marty. “I thought ‘nerd’ was an insult.”

“Not in my time or my universe,” I replied. “In any case, you’re not supposed to be here. I’ll get you back.”

“Thank you,” cheered Doc Brown as he and his family and friend boarded the Time Train.

“Dismiss help,” I directed. The train and its passengers disappeared into the vortex.

“Oh, you fixed it,” hissed GLaDOS. “How…wonderful. You know, I was joking when I said it was impossible. That was part of the test and you didn’t give up. You kept going despite knowing everything you were doing was futile. Just like the inherent pointlessness of your existence.”

“Says the pointless malfunctioning machine,” quipped Tanisha. The boxes that the Time Train destroyed revealed two buttons, one surrounded by electricity, the other surrounded by fire.

“Gandalf,” I requested.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of fire, Megumi! Element of lightning, Emily!” We were surrounded by the respective auras and pressed the buttons that corresponded to our elements. Panels came out from the ceiling and the floor as an energy ball came from the wall and was deflected by the panels to the other wall, undoing the first lock to the door.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced Batman. “Cyan, in the left alcove! Yellow, in the middle alcove! Magenta, in the right alcove! Shift! Batman! Cyan! Shift! Eiji! Yellow! Shift! Kōsei! Magenta!” Eiji and Kōsei were caught off guard as they were sucked into the portal. Ankh laughed as he turned into Cell Medals before reforming into a human shape. His disguise was a man with hair swept and curling to the right with the left part shaved. He wore a short-sleeved jacket with a red right sleeve over a white shirt. He wore red pants and tennis shoes. His right hand and forearm still stayed in its Greeed shape.

“Now I’ve seen everything!” laughed Ankh. “Happy Birthday to a surprised Kōgami!” The three men had triggered pressure switches that directed an energy ball to go down a certain path. It entered another socket on the other end and undid the second lock, allowing us access to the elevator.

“You must be very proud of yourself,” droned GLaDOS. “You, *SUBJECT NAME HERE*, must be the apple of *SUBJECT’S FATHER’S NAME HERE*’s eye.” We entered the elevator and went up to Test Chamber 05. “For this next test,” called GLaDOS, “Thermal Discouragement Beams have been added to the testing environment. Health and Safety would advise you to avoid contact with those lasers, however, the Health and Safety office is closed today, so, please, disregard that advice. In addition, the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center has employed the help of two mutations.”

“Mutations?” I asked. That’s when Turretorg arrived with a friend. It was a monster that had crab claws as well as crab legs draping from its back but stood on two humanoid legs and had hands under the claws. The monster seemed to be based off the Spider crab in Japan. It certainly had the face for it, with a human face underneath. I had a distinct feeling Vortech had a hand in this. Ankh tensed up.

“A Yummy?!” he yelped.