Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 37

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why you here?” asked Daisuke.

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

“My help?” asked Daisuke.

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

“Another Rider need my help?” quizzed Daisuke.

“Exactly,” I confirmed.

“Where she?” asked Daisuke.

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

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

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

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

“Princess?” quizzed Daisuke.

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


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

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

“Target coordinates set!” reported Rusty.

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

“That just leaves us,” muttered Batman.

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

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

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

“You guys are up!” called Elphaba.

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

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

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

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

“The Lion Temple!” called Tonje.

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

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

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

“You want fight?!” snarled Daisuke.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Something you wish to share?” asked Ewald.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Tanisha,” I whispered.

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

“Is he the leader?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Go on,” invited Breezor.

“Megumi, you explain,” directed Crominus.

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

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

“That was quick,” I mused.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You, shut up!” snapped Hiro.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 36

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Not a breaker!” wailed X-PO.

“A what?” asked Emmanuel.

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

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

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

“Don’t feed him!” wailed Emily.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, absolutely not!” I confirmed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“AH! MY TIPS!” he yelped.

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

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

“You mean studs, right?” I asked.

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

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

“What else is there?” asked Deadpool.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“There’s a money dimension?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

“Excuse me?” I protested.

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

“Yes, Lord Vortech,” I mumbled.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 35

We arrived at Test Chamber 92. Some platforms were retracting and coming out repeatedly. GLaDOS spoke again. “Oh well,” she remarked, “if it isn’t the grand return of King Moron, his Mute Princess, and the Huntress. You’ve come ‘Back to the Future’ of science, I see. As I said earlier, not that you were listening, I’m still fixing up the place. So, hold on a moment.” She managed to fix the platforms to make a bridge as we headed to a rather open chamber.

“Oh, OH! I remember this test!” cheered Wheatley “I tried it once, couldn’t do it, and, well, I simplified it! See if you can do it, go on!” In the middle of the chamber was a weight switch that opened the door in the middle of the wall ahead. I assumed it triggered a ramp once unlocked. I summoned the Companion Cube and put it on the switch. It did as I assumed. “Yay!” called Wheatley. “You did it! Well done you!” I was about to approach the ramp, but Chell put a hand on my shoulder. She shook her head.

“You think GLaDOS would change the test back to its factory settings?” I guessed. Chell nodded. “I can see why you would say that,” I continued, “but, maybe, she won’t notice this one.”

“NO!” snapped GLaDOS. “This is NOT an acceptable Test Chamber! Nor is it acceptable to ruin perfectly good testing scenarios! Here, let me fix it to how it was!” The ramp went down and the weight switch flipped over. An energy ball emitter and its acceptor ran along the wall on the right of the door. Above them was a platform with turrets blocking the way to an excursion funnel leading to a weight switch. On the door’s left, there was an Aerial Faith plate leading to the turret platform and a panel on the ceiling facing one on the floor with a target switch nearby.

“Then again,” I wailed, “I could be the victim of wishful thinking!”

“I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so’, but I told you so!” signed Chell.

“I MAY have been a little hasty in thinking GLaDOS would let it slide,” I sighed as I summoned the turret and cube. I sighed as Chell made a portal from the wall panel to the ceiling panel. She got me to press the button to release the energy ball. Chell then got the turret to fire on the target switch. The panel on the floor tilted towards the acceptor. The energy ball went through the portal and was directed to the acceptor. It made the part of the bridge the turrets were on tilt to let them fall into a pit. Chell then grabbed the cube with the portal gun and used the Aerial Faith plate to get onto the platform once the bridge came back.

“Have you ever had a fly buzzing around your head that won’t leave you alone?” asked GLaDOS. “No matter how hard you try, you can’t get rid of it. It just keeps coming back time and time again.” Chell then put the cube into the Excursion Funnel and it floated up to the weight switch. The door unlocked again and the ramp came back.

“YaHEY!” cheered Wheatley. “That’s it! Simple, isn’t it really, once you’ve figured it out?” We went into the elevator and went up. Test Chamber 93 was our destination.

“This is one of my most recent chambers,” reported GLaDOS, “and you’ll be glad to know I’ve completely reinforced the Aerial Faith plates to account for your bubbly personality.” A target switch was near the door, connecting to an Aerial Faith plate on the wall. There was one on the ground as well. We explored further to see a light bridge connecting two areas. There was an energy ball emitter and a white panel facing it on the bottom. Chell made a blue portal on the panel. I summoned the turret and got it to fire at the target switch. It tilted the Aerial Faith plate on the wall. I used the one on the ground to reach the wall one and I went to the rightmost area. I saw an Excursion Funnel with a weight switch on the ceiling, summoned the cube, and placed it in the Funnel. It floated upwards, activating the switch. It connected to the Energy Ball transmitter and released a ball. Chell came up as well.

“Just a quick FYI,” warned Wheatley, “those High Energy Pellets are NOT candy and actually really hurt if you come into contact with them. Best to just use them to solve the Test Chamber and not try to eat them.”

“Did he try to do that?” signed Chell.

“This IS Wheatley we’re talking about,” I reminded her. Chell went to an area where there were two moving platforms to stand on and a white panel beside them. Chell made a blue portal, thus making the portal tunnel complete, and the High Energy Pellet went through and into an acceptor. It activated a piece of wall that allowed a white panel to appear on the side. We went on the moving platforms and went into the new area. Chell saw a tilting panel and made a portal between the two panels in the area. I went down a flight of stairs and summoned the cube again. I put it on the weight switch and it brought the tilted panel up and we went into the portal to get to the elevator.

“That wasn’t so hard,” signed Chell.

“Even SIGNING that is a bad idea!” I protested. We entered the elevator and went up, right into GLaDOS’ chamber. She had remodeled it after our last encounter and was humming to herself while looking through a door.

“Can’t even solve the test I sent them!” she hummed to herself.

“Hello!” called Wheatley. Idiot! We were going for stealth! “What are you hiding there?”

“You?!” snapped GLaDOS as she turned to face us. “I thought the elevator from Test Chamber 93 went to the incinerato…Party…Cake…Location! But, this makes sense. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime! And look who else showed up.” She tilted her “head” to a core on the ground. Cores are machines like Wheatley, but this one had an orange eye instead of Wheatley’s blue.

“Space is my favorite color!” it called.

“The Space Core?” I asked. That specific core was a corrupted one obsessed with Outer Space.

“Spaaaaace!” laughed the Space Core. “Spaaaaace! Spaaaaace? Space. Spaaaace.” Wheatley groaned.

“That guy is really annoying,” he moaned. “I mean, honestly, you wouldn’t believe how annoying he is. Very annoying, annoying, annoying.” He started flying around GLaDOS, the Space Core, and us! “Annoying! Annoying!” I think you get the picture. “And I just, I can’t even be bothered. I’ll explain what I mean later, but he’s…he’s annoying!” He started repeating that word again, for a while, until Chell whacked him without looking like Bruce Lee.

“GLaDOS,” I demanded, “I’m giving you one last chance! Surrender the rift tech you have or Chell and I will take it!”

“I’m surrendering NOTHING!” snarled GLaDOS. “You have embarrassed me for the final time, meat-sack! If I obeyed you, my credentials as a computer more powerful than anything Black Mesa could dredge up would be at stake!”

“I appreciate that your reputation might be a little shaken,” I conceded as I drew my i.d tag, “but not letting me have the tech now will be an action you’ll regret later! Henshin!

“I’m sorry,” taunted GLaDOS as I changed, “but there won’t be a later. Because, here’s another old friend of yours: neurotoxin!” The gas came up!

“Kamen Rider Hunt!” I called. “I shall always get my prey!” Chell looked at me. “Well, don’t you have a catchphrase?” I asked.

“No,” she signed, “because my vocal cords are paralyzed!”

“I love space!” remarked the Space Core.

“Neurotoxin level at capacity in five minutes,” said an announcer program.

“Time for round three, is it?” asked GLaDOS.

“Okay,” suggested Wheatley, “here’s my plan, I think we should try and force a good old-fashioned Core Transfer. Classic, okay? If we can find a way to damage her, then we can force that space monkey into her body!” Maybe I have a dirty mind, but that couldn’t have been what Wheatley meant. “Why not take a look around and see what we can use?”

“Keep it down!” I snarled.

“I will NOT have my core transferred!” shouted GLaDOS. “Can’t you learn some new tricks?” We found a weight switch. I summoned the cube and placed it onto the switch while Chell used the portal gun to make a portal going from a panel in front of a High Energy Pellet emitter and a panel behind GLaDOS. The energy ball came on and went through the portal. “OUCH!” protested GLaDOS as the pellet hit her. “What is it with you?!” The panel fell, revealing where the Space Core wandered off to.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey Lady!” it called. “Space! Lady! Gotta go to space! Lady! Hey…space.”

“Warning,” announced the announcer program, “Core Corruption at 25%.”

“Yes!” cheered Wheatley. “Yes, this is it! You’re on to something! You’re on to something! Keep going with this! I like it! I love it! You look great, by the way, have you been working out?” We went up a ramp made from the wreckage and summoned the turret to shoot at a target switch. It activated an excursion funnel and I used an Aerial Faith plate to launch myself into it. I used it to arrive at a button which, when I pressed it, activated another panel behind GLaDOS. Chell made a portal between the new panel and the panel in front of the emitter. The cube was put back on the weight switch and the High Energy Pellet was thrown into GLaDOS’ backside.

“I let you go!” she snapped to Chell once she recovered. “I sent you away!! Why won’t you leave me alone?!! FOREVER!!!!” An explosion made a pipe full of repulsion gel spill its contents.

“Warning,” called the announcer program, “Core Corruption at 50%.”

“Oh, she does NOT like that!” mused Wheatley.

“One more should do nicely,” I pondered, “and then we can initiate the core transfer.”

“You cannot force me to agree to th-,” GLaDOS was cut off by static. “My voice?! What” more static “to my” more static. She regained her vocal processors. “All you need to do is turn around and leave! There is NOTHING for you here anymore!” I bounced on the Repulsion Gel and landed on the platform with a button. I was about to press when…it happened! At first, I didn’t want to believe it, but, there, delivering a kick to my ribs, was Igura!

“YOU?!” I snarled, remembering her involvement in Vortech’s plans.

“Me,” confirmed Igura. “And YOU are trespassing in Shocker Rift territory.”

“Shocker Rift?” I scoffed. “That’s what you guys call it?”

“Not my first choice, but the troops like it,” replied Igura as she revealed her belt, with the symbol of Shocker on it, an eagle holding the earth. “I don’t think I told you the name of my belt, did I? I call it the Talon Typhoon, so much better than the ‘Shocker Driver’ that Ambassador Hell wanted to call it.” She then did her henshin sequence like in the DC Comics world. She crossed her left arm in front of her, with the hand in a clawed fashion, and slowly moved it across the front with her right hand at her hip. “Nova…” she began. Her left hand then went to her hip as her right hand moved across her front with a clawed hand. “HENSHIN!” She opened the wings to split the Earth it had in its talons to reveal the fan. She ran to make enough wind pressure to make it turn and activate the suit. She became Kamen Rider Talon again. She drew her foil and we clashed. We were fighting over who stayed on the platform. I kept up the attack and switched my blade to gun mode. Talon leapt out of the way of my shots. She kept her distance, my intention, as I went for the button.

“STOP HER!” roared GLaDOS.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?!” screeched Talon. She leapt on me, we dropped our blades, and we grappled each other. I was doing everything I could to get to the button, but Talon was holding me back. We were in a tight spot. Soon, we were trying to push each other off the platform, then Talon got me in a better position. My back was to the button! When she pushed harder, I let go and side stepped to allow her to stumble towards and accidentally press the button. Another panel behind GLaDOS popped up and Chell made the portal again. She fired off one last High Energy Pellet. It caused damage.

“Warning,” alerted the announcer. “Core Corruption at 100%

“YaHEY!” cheered Wheatley. “Get in! That’ll teach her.”

“Manual Core Replacement required,” reported the announcer program.

“Quick!” called Wheatley. “Stick Spacey in there before she figures out another way to stop us!” GLaDOS tried flipping the panel the Core rested on, but Chell made a portal and grabbed it. She then installed the Space Core into the Core Replacement terminal.

“Alternate Core detected,” reported the announcer program. “Substitute core accepted. Substitute Core, are you ready to start the procedure?”

“Oooh! Yes! Yes! Let’s go to space!” answered the core.

“Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?” asked the announcer program.

“NO! NEVER! I AM NOT CORRUPTED!” shouted GLaDOS.

“Stalemate detected,” reported the announcer program. “Transfer procedure cannot continue unless a Stalemate Associate is present to press the Stalemate Resolution Button.”

“Don’t do it!” shouted GLaDOS.

“I would listen to her!” supplied Talon.

“Can’t do that, sorry,” I called. A button popped up.

“No!” roared GLaDOS.

“Yes!” I countered.

“Īe!” (No!) called Igura.

“Ndiyo!” (Yes!) I replied. I pressed the button. GLaDOS gasped.

“Stalemate resolved,” reported the announcer program. Panels popped up around GLaDOS and machinery started their work. The Core Replacement terminal brought the Space Core down. As the machinery did its work, I heard GLaDOS screaming.

“A beautiful sound, really,” signed Chell.

“I’m gonna have to debate that,” I gulped.

“As would I!” snarled Talon as she attacked us. The attacks went so rapidly that Chell couldn’t sign her thoughts. We ended up in the room GLaDOS poked her head into earlier. Inside, the was a gateway, like the one on Vorton! It didn’t have the Keystones, so, no powers for her. Thank goodness. Talon shoved us out of the room and back into the main chamber. The Space Core then spun around, screaming “SPACE!” and whacked a corner pipe off and sent it flying at Igura’s head. She didn’t duck fast enough.

“Vent system compromised,” called the announcer program. “Neurotoxin offline.”

“Oh, that was close!” sighed Wheatley. “I mean, not for me, but you two were almost done for. All right, now, let’s see what she was hiding. I bet she’s got tons of skeletons in her closet. Literally, there used to be loads of staff here. I’ve not seen hide nor hair of them.” Wheatley entered the room with us as I cancelled my transformation. He found something near the gateway. “Oi! What’s this then? Some sort of flash drive? Valuable stuff is on it, I bet! We could use it!” He then saw boxes with “Black Mesa” on them. “Well, I never! Where do you suppose she got these then?” While Chell face-palmed, I got to work on the gateway. Chell tapped my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she signed as she retrieved the flash drive.

“I’m setting this thing to blow once we use it to get to Vorton,” I replied.

“What is V-O-R-T-O-N?” Chell had to spell out Vorton.

“The base of operations for me and my team,” I answered as I put the finishing touches to the program.

“Nice, what are you up to?” asked Wheatley, proving he hadn’t paid attention. The rift opened. “That answers that, then. After you?” Chell went first. I looked at Wheatley. “Go on, ladies first.”

“No, I need a brave knight to scout ahead with Chell,” I purred. I had to stoke his ego.

“Well, if you insist!” called Wheatley. He went in, then I followed. The truth is, I wanted to keep an eye on him since he betrayed Chell a while ago. The rest, you know, Your Highness.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 34

This was a few minutes after you left, your Highness. As we shuffled off to do our own thing, Tonje and I headed to the top of Vorton. On top, there are multiple gateways to different dimensions spread out over two levels. We usually go there just to get some alone time. We sat up top, our feet dangling over the edge. I had a blanket with me as the upper levels are pretty cold. I wrapped us up and we leaned into each other. After a few minutes of just staring out into space, we had a quick smooch. We were about to wrap our arms around each other when an alarm went off. At least it happened AFTER we kissed. We darted down to the Gateway room to see Hiroki, Rusty, and X-PO there as well. “X-PO,” called Hiroki, “what’s the problem?”

“Unlawful experiments in vortex technology, that’s what!” reported X-PO. “The psycho A.I of Dimension P-0-R-T-4-L had caught on to how we travel through the vortex!”

“GLaDOS? With our tech? How?” yelped Tonje.

“Probably from when Hiro was in that universe last,” I mused.

“And with that universe claimed as enemy territory and given how close it is to us,” replied X-PO, “we’re sitting ducks!”

“Tanisha, I need you and Emily to stop GLaDOS now!” directed Hiroki

“Emily is busy with Emmanuel and Joshua in their medical practice,” reported Tonje. “Let me go with her.”

“I can’t have someone with little to no experience of a certain universe stumbling around,” said Hiroki, a little harsh, may I say. “Tanisha, since time is of the essence, you must go now.”

“But, what about backup?” I protested.

“There’s no time. You need to go,” directed Hiroki.

“But…!” I floundered.

“Thank you, that will be all!” snapped Hiroki with finality in his voice.

“Tanisha, you can handle GLaDOS,” assured Tonje. “You’ve done so in the games and in real life. You can do it again.” I released a breath.

“All right,” I replied. “Open a rift.”

“I obey!” obliged Rusty. He plugged in and got to work. “Target coordinates set! Proceed!” I jumped into the rift.

——————————————————————————————–

When I landed, I was in a storage facility. I made my way to a Test Chamber door and heard GLaDOS’ voice. “Well, well, well, look who’s back,” she droned. “You must love science almost as much as me. Which is good news because I’ve almost finished rebuilding the test chambers after Wheatley’s incompetence.”

“Hello?” called a voice I came to loathe! “Did someone say my name?”

“YOU!” hissed GLaDOS.

“Hiya!” said Wheatley. “Yeah, it’s me! Um…can I…do you mind me saying, I love those new blue portally things, they’re yours, right? Anyway, I have been on quite an adventure. Look at this, I even got fitted with anti-gravity!” It was then I saw the giant turret go into a rift. “Check this out, I can move up! And I can move down, opposite of up! Uuuup! Look at that! Doooown! Up-down-up-down! Up-down! Up-down! Left and right probably as well.”

“Wheatley, shut up!” I accidentally said aloud.

“Who was that?” asked GLaDOS. I was confused.

“Weren’t you talking to me earlier?” I quizzed.

“Oh, the huntress,” moaned GLaDOS. “No, I was talking to an unloved mute.” I then realized Chell was here. I opened the door and joined Wheatley and Chell.

“Hey! I remember you!” called Wheatley. “You’re that…Rider…thingy…that rides…the vortex! Yeah! You didn’t see me show off the anti-grav, so…”

“Be quiet!” barked GLaDOS.

“Oh dear,” muttered Wheatley, not listening. “Someone booted up on the wrong side of the BIOS this morning, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You test my patience,” hissed GLaDOS.

“Whatever patience you have,” I said to myself.

“What are YOU doing back here?” GLaDOS demanded of me. “Haven’t you caused enough damage already?”

“GLaDOS, it’s come to my attention that you’re experimenting in rift technology,” I hissed. “Surrender it at once. That kind of power is not to be trifled with!”

“After the damage you and your friends caused, I think I am owed this technology,” replied GLaDOS. “You, on the other hand, owe me a lot of testing.” It was then that the Test Chamber sign turned on and showed it as Test Chamber 89.

“Of course, you won’t surrender it,” I muttered.

“Well,” mused Wheatley, “as I really don’t know how I got back here, what we should do is crack on with these tests and try and retake over the faci…I mean, escape, by that, what I mean is escape, just…yeah…just escape. Let’s get going.”

“That kind of power is intoxicating, isn’t it?” I observed. Chell then tapped my shoulder.

“Can you use Sign Language?” she signed.

“Fluently,” I signed back. She grinned.

“You have no idea how refreshing it is to meet you,” she signed. “That stupid computer kept calling me all sorts of names and I knew she would just shrug off what I was saying if I used sign language. She would make bad charades guesses, I bet.”

“So, you’re not deaf?” I asked.

“No,” she signed, “just mute. In any case, we have to beat her!”

“You read my mind!” I replied. “Quick question, though, is your name pronounced with a hard ‘Ch’ or a soft one?”

“Hard, why?” she signed. “And how do you know what my name starts with?”

“Someone owes me $500 dollars,” I explained. “And, to explain, I come from another universe where your exploits are done up in a computer game franchise called Portal.”

“My suffering was done up for entertainment?!” she signed.

“I’m afraid so,” I replied. “Let’s just beat GLaDOS and get you out of here.”

“Good idea,” she signed. “And I have a way.” She whipped out her portal gun and made an orange portal on a white panel near us and a blue portal near the top of a ledge. “After you,” she signed. I curtsied and went through the portal. Dear God, that was awesome! I then saw that the door was locked and required something. I went to the blue portal and spoke to Chell.

“We have a weight switch up here and no Companion Cube,” I reported. “Can you find one down there?”

“One minute,” signed Chell. She disappeared and I heard something fall. I then looked over the edge and saw her get a Companion Cube. She used the portal gun to grab it and went through the portal to get to where I am. She set the cube onto the switch, unlocking the door.

“And open sesame!” called Wheatley. “We really are quite the formidable team. I got the brains and beauty, and uh, you two are also involved.” I snorted. We went to the elevator and entered Test Chamber 90.

“Did I mention I’m still getting around to cleaning the facility up,” droned GLaDOS, “after Captain Moron nearly blew it up with his stupidity?”

“So, um, still a bit bitter about that, are we?” mumbled Wheatley. We went up a ramp to see the door connected by some new sort of panel. It looked like some sort of target.

“So, do we need a turret?” signed Chell.

“Yeah, let’s go ask one to shoot at that repeatedly,” I muttered. I then looked around to see if inspiration would come. My eyes then stopped on some part and a glimmer of an idea formed, then it went from glimmer to full blown idea, and then it took off. “Then again,” I mused, “we could make our own.” I drew out my i.d tag. “Henshin!” I said. I then went through the whole sequence and donned my persona as Kamen Rider Hunt.

“Erm, how’s that gonna help?” asked Wheatley.

“Thank you for proving GLaDOS’ point, you moron,” I hissed. I ignored Wheatley’s protests as I swapped out my i.d tag for a certain Master Builder’s.

“Wyldstyle Steel!” announced my belt. I then donned the Wyldstyle armor. Chell was surprised when she saw the whole sequence.

“Doesn’t it hurt when that…thing slams its sides onto you?” she signed.

“Not at all,” I answered. “There’s enough space for a human to stand in and then some.” I then took my fist to the parts, making them into Lego bricks, built a turret, and it solidified into the real thing. This one looked at Chell but didn’t fire on her. Chell looked at me. “I programmed Sign Language into it,” I assured. She then turned to the turret.

“Could you shoot that target?” she signed. The turret turned and fired repeatedly. It undid a door lock. Chell went up a ramp, fired an orange portal near her and a blue portal at a panel on a ledge across from her. She went through and saw a laser beam.

“That Thermal Discouragement Beam is not part of this test,” relayed GLaDOS, “please disregard it.” Chell did so and pressed a button that released an energy ball from the wall. It traveled to a socket and activated a ledge for the door, unlocked it, and allowed a panel to tilt down. She went through the portal again to join us before moving the blue portal to the panel above the door.

“Away we go!” I called.

“It appears that your unparalleled ability to solve even the simplest of tasks has not deteriorated,” droned GLaDOS. “You must be very proud of yourself.” We ignored that comment and went through the portal to use the elevator. I pressed the summon button on my belt and got the turret with us into the elevator. We traveled all the way to Test Chamber 91. There were rows of turrets along a large gap. Chell used the portal gun to get us across. She rode the turret through the portal, I was surprised it held up an average human’s weight, and I followed behind. Wheatley stayed, thankfully, silent. The turret found another target switch and Chell ordered it to fire. It let a panel tilt down, so Chell changed the orange portal’s position to the one on the newly tilted panel. She went through, then came to view again.

“There’s a weight switch up here,” she signed. “Is there a Companion Cube button down there?”

“You mean there’s none up there?” I asked. She shook her head. “Sorry,” I said as I cancelled my transformation, “there’s none here.” She folded her arms in annoyance.

“How are we supposed to solve this now?” she signed. A light went off in her head. “Can you try summoning the Companion Cube from the first test chamber?”

“I can try,” I muttered. I pressed the summon button and a Companion Cube popped up.

“Not another unknown variable!” wailed GLaDOS.

“Put up or shut up!” I called, swapping accents to the Brooklyn one I got when I moved to America. “Coming up!” I warned Chell. She got out the portal gun and I tossed it to her. She caught it and set it down on the switch. It activated some sort of energy transporter; the wiki calls it an Excursion Funnel. That was when Wheatley spoke.

“That over there looks interesting, doesn’t it? I would point, but, you know, no arms. We discussed it.” He muttered. We went into the energy beam and floated along it.

“Aperture Science cannot be held responsible,” reported GLaDOS, “for anything occurring as a result of leaping aimlessly into Excursion Funnels. These include (but are not limited to) missing limbs, unconsciousness, and in some extreme situations, thinking you can escape the testing facility.” When we landed, a ramp came up, leading us to the door. It was locked and needed a Companion Cube to open it. I summoned it and we got it onto the weight switch. The door opened and we entered the elevator. It was at that point Wheatley decided to talk.

“Look at us, eh?” he chuckled to Chell. “Like old times. Completing test chambers together…and…doing other things together. Yes sir!” He got a little too close to Chell. “The old band, back together. Back on the road. Playing the hits. Talking to the groupies and uhhh…you know…well, just talking to them.” Chell pointed her portal gun at Wheatley, then the elevator stopped. “Um, heh, one quick question,” asked Wheatley, “are elevators meant to do that? It’s just that I’ve not had much experience with them, on account of not having fingers for any button pressing, which seems quite fundamental if you want to move a lift…elevator.” The floor then opened up beneath us.

“No, and they’re not supposed to do that, either!” I yelped as I got my i.d tag out. “Henshin!” As I transformed, gravity caught up to us and we fell. Chell grabbed onto Wheatley and I grabbed Chell’s legs. “PULL US UP, YOU IDIOT!” I shouted. “YOU HAVE ANTI-GRAVITY!”

“Not enough…for all…three…of us!” strained Wheatley. He then sparked. “Oh bother!” he said. We fell again with Wheatley repeating “bother” over and over. We reached the end and landed as a cat would. Chell and I were lucky as we had shoes designed to soften the impact. Wheatley bounced to the bottom. “Cheers, thanks for catching me,” he said, sarcasm heavy on his voice. We looked around and saw a run-down place. I’d say we were below the facility.

“Oh,” droned GLaDOS, “you were in THAT elevator. I must not have got around to fixing that one yet. Whoops.”

“Oh! Old Aperture!” gulped Wheatley. “We’ve gotta get out of here, I’ve heard this place is full of vicious birds!”

“Can we leave him?” signed Chell.

“No, we need him,” I sighed. An intercom crackled to life.

“Cave Johnson here!” called the voice. “Remember me? C.E.O., I kind of own this place and, by extension, you. Anyway, here at Aperture Science, we want to push you beyond your limits in order to further mankind’s potential. Speaking of which, we also went beyond our bank account limits, so, until I can secure us a small, multi-billion dollar loan or government grant, just pretend that any leaking pipes or broken platforms are all part of the tests.” Speaking of leaking, blue goo was dripping from a pipe.

“Oh, the bouncy goo!” signed Chell. “What did Cave Johnson call it?”

“I think it’s called Repulsion Gel,” I guessed. “After you?” Chell then jumped down and bounced higher than she fell. She landed on a platform and waved me up. I indulged a bit as I cancelled my transformation and bounced up in my civilian form.

“You just wanted to bounce in a dress,” signed Chell.

“The F.N.S has a trampoline back at our castle,” I answered. “Sometimes we dress wearers indulge ourselves.” I then saw something. “What is this, Geonosis?” I quipped. There was a crusher blocking our path.

“I think we need the turret again,” signed Chell. She pointed out a target switch. I summoned the turret and it started firing on the switch. The crusher stopped and allowed us passage. There was a portal accepting floor at the bottom and another platform with an overhanging panel.

“Looks like we’ll have to take the plunge,” I replied.

“I couldn’t agree more,” signed Chell. She made a blue portal at the bottom and an orange portal at the overhanging panel. We then jumped into the orange portal and ended up on the platform across. We went through an energy barrier and saw a ledge that was too high up for us.

“My kingdom for Repulsion Gel,” I sighed. I then saw a blue tube over a platform and a tilting panel before the ledge. A switch could open the tube. “Maybe I DON’T need to go that far,” I mused. “Chell, could you make a portal under the tube and leading to the panel? I have an idea.” Chell nodded and did so. I stepped on the switch and released repulsion gel through the portal. It landed below the ledge. After I made sure the area was completely covered, I stepped off the switch. The gel tube closed, cutting off the flow and we bounced up to the top of the ledge.

“Oh, look,” called Wheatley, “another elevator. Hopefully, that one will go right back to the top.” Cave Johnson’s voice rang through the facility again.

“Caroline,” he told his personal assistant, “I think I’ll have extra cheese on my four-cheese burrito today. Throw in a side of coleslaw too. Oh, wait, is this thing on?” We entered the elevator and went up to another level in Old Aperture. “Cave here!” boomed Cave Johnson’s voice when we arrived. “Remember, there is no ‘I’ in science. At least, not a capital one, except, maybe, if you shout. But, throw in a ‘w’, and there IS a ‘we’. And together, WE can do anything WE put our minds to. And, by WE, I mean YOU. By the way, there’s no ‘u’ in science, either. Another thing there aren’t any of are limits, thanks to that contract you signed on the way in, so get moving! Caroline, they DID sign it, right? Good. Okay, good talk. Goooood talk!” The voice switched off. There were crushers blocking our path in front of pipes. There was a button there, so, I HAD to press it. The pipes released orange goo and coated the floor.

“Propulsion Gel!” I called. “Wanna race?!”

“Unfair for you, really,” signed Chell. “Your dress will trip you up!”

“Wanna bet?” I challenged. “First one to the end of the crushers wins!”

“Let’s do it!” signed Chell. We got into running positions.

“Three! Two! One! GO!” I said. We raced along at top speed and reached the end when I skidded to a stop, causing Chell to bump into me. There was a gap between us and another platform! “ARE YOU KIDDING?!” I yelled. I looked over the edge and saw a pipe pointing to a tilted panel. There was another tilted panel above us. Chell made a portal between the two panels and pointed below a walkway past the crushers. I saw a button below us. “Let’s hope it leads to the pipe,” I gulped.

“Considering it’s the only one,” signed Chell, “I should hope so.” I went down the walkway and pressed the button. It released Repulsion Gel through the portal and onto the platform we needed. We walked to the beginning of the crushers and sped through them, this time, ending up bouncing on the Repulsion Gel and onto the ledge. There were two platforms up high that needed a target switch and a button press. Behind us were pipes, one with an orange label and one with a blue label.

“Umm,” mumbled Wheatley, “just wanted to say…um…hopefully, no hard feelings about the whole ‘trying to bump you off’ thing, which, let’s be honest,” Chell decided to use a walkway to find the button for the blue pipe, “it DOES seem like a rather common occurrence around here,” continued Wheatley. “But, anyway, um, hope that’s all in the past,” I caught up with Chell, “and, um, that we can be…BFF’s! Can we BFF’s? Can we? I will take, from your deafening silence, that we are now BFF’s! BFF forever!”

“You have no intention of putting that incident in the past, do you?” I whispered to Chell.

“That moron tried to kill me!’ signed Chell after she pressed the button. “No way am I letting that go!” We went up the walkway to see that the pipe we opened released Repulsion Gel on the floor near the platform with a weight switch. Chell then pointed out a button hidden by a cage with a white panel and pointed out another panel under the target switch ledge. She made a portal between the two areas and pressed the button to release Propulsion Gel. I bounced up to the weight switch and summoned the Companion Cube. It set down on the switch and tilted a panel on my ledge up. Chell then changed one end of the portal to go onto the panel I released. Cave Johnson spoke again.

“The next bi-yearly raffle is nearly upon us,” he announced. “The Grand Prize is whatever shower curtains I can dig out, a true piece of our company’s history.” I jumped down, leaving the cube on the switch and raced along the Propulsion Gel to go through the portal at high speeds and land on the target switch ledge. I summoned the turret and it fired. It powered down a force field and allowed us to get through. I jumped down as Chell changed one end of the portal to go onto a white panel behind the former force-field. We went through and approached an elevator!

“Ah, another elevator!” called Wheatley. “And I still don’t have fingers for the buttons, so, that’s not gonna…hang on, I’ve got an idea!” He bashed himself into the elevator. “Ow! No? Hang on, I’ve got another idea.” He turned himself around and put his back to the controls. “I should’ve thought of this sooner,” he said. “I’ll just plug myself into the controls.” He tried various ways, none of them succeeding. Chell rolled her eyes and used the Portal Gun to ram Wheatley into the controls. “And away we go, ladies!” Chell and I entered the elevator and we ascended back into modern day Aperture Science.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 33

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

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

“I worry about him sometimes,” whispered Gandalf.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You’re smirking!” she observed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No,” I said, guessing her request.

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

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

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

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

“It was the Palantír,” I explained.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That’s troubling,” muttered Emmanuel.

“Is it, really?” quizzed Tanisha.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

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

“Right,” I confirmed.

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

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

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

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

“You mean, Daisuke Yamamoto?” quizzed Hongo.

“Kamen Rider Amazon, himself,” confirmed Hiroki.

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

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

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

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

“I wanna go too!” pleaded Richard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

“And what of our new ally?” asked Vortech

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why you!” I exclaimed.

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

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

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

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

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 32

Dear Lord, the courtyard on the cliff was in utter ruin. Fire peppered once green grass patches. Purple question marks were scrawled on statues. A troll snoozed in front of the Tower of Ecthelion. The White Tree was bare. Orcs and Worms were playing games. Some kneeled mockingly at us. “Sōji-san,” I gulped, “did your grandmother say anything about destruction?”

“She did say this,” replied Sōji. “Destruction is evil when used incorrectly. When used correctly, something beautiful emerges.”

“I rather think this is the former option,” mused Gandalf. Wyldstyle looked at some green graffiti.

“Riddle…me…this?” she read.

“Why, I’m only too happy to, little lady!” called the Riddler’s voice. “Well, I guess you DO deserve another go. So, riddle…me…this!” He then gave his riddles again.

The first is cast, but not a stone. It flees from light, the dark, its home.

The second breathes, dances, and bakes, yet has no lungs, legs, or cakes.

Third’s deep below, veiled from sight. It dwells where dwarves find their delight.

“It’s okay,” called Wyldstyle as she whipped out her phone. “I got this. The dark, my home…”

“Fräulein Wyldstyle, no!” wailed Lukas.

“Oh, come on, no signal?!” protested Wyldstyle as her phone beeped.

“Serves you right!” hissed Sheela.

“Cast…” muttered Gandalf. “…Flees from light…could it be a shadow?”

“Yeah,” agreed Batman. “And the third one sounds like a mine.”

“Dwarves work in mines?” asked Sōji.

“Middle-Earth Dwarves and Snow White’s Dwarves do,” I replied. Lukas got an idea.

“Wait, could the second one be fire?” he asked.

“He’s right,” muttered Sheela as she adjusted her gloves nervously. “Fire ‘breathes’ air and flames kind of dance.

“Shadow,” I mused.

“A mine,” pondered Wyldstyle.

“Fire,” muttered Gandalf. A horrible thought struck the wizard, then I remembered something and got the same idea.

“Wasn’t there a creature in a mine that was wreathed in shadow and flame?” I gulped.

“Ooh!” called a voice. Gollum then popped between Sheela and me. “We knows it! We knows it! Shut up!”

“Nobody said anything,” said a confused Batman.

“Wasn’t talking to you!” hissed Gollum. I pulled Sōji, Batman, Wyldstyle, and Hongo aside to explain Gollum’s condition.

“All that loneliness just for a piece of jewelry?” asked Sōji.

“You didn’t see the power the original owner had with said jewelry on,” I muttered, remembering Sauron in Metropolis.

“The Ring really IS a device of evil,” sighed Hongo, pitying Gollum.

“Moving on from that,” muttered Sōji. Rude! “you and Gandalf found the answers and connected them, what is it?”

“If I’m right,” I gulped, “Durin’s Bane is behind those doors.” Lukas and Sheela understood what I meant.

“A fallen Maiar spirit bound to the will of the first Dark Lord, Melkor, later called Morgoth,” gulped Lukas.

“Not that thing!” wailed Sheela.

“Hongo-san, you met this creature after pursuing Batman,” I reminded him. Hongo then remembered.

“You mean…” he gulped. The doors to the Tower burst open! The Troll and Gollum were sent flying! A bunny hopped out!

“…A bunny?” asked Wyldstyle.

“No, no, no!” I snapped. “Not the Killer Rabbit!”

“Ah, Monty Python,” sighed Sheela. That’s when the bunny hopped off to reveal the REAL danger. The creature burst through the doorway, destroying it. It was wreathed in shadow and flame, and the F.N.S met it before. The Riddler was sitting in a chair on its back.

“A Balrog of Morgoth!” called Gandalf.

“That thing again?” hissed Batman. “Didn’t it fall down a big hole?” That was when a metal thing tripped us up and flew into an Orc’s hand. It turned out to be a metal Praying Mantis.

“The Kiri Zecter,” explained the Orc. “Taken from the word Kamikiri, the Japanese word for Praying Mantis. A Zecter of Vortech’s design. Now, it belongs to me, Gorshagh” He then pointed the rear of his Zecter to his left. “Henshin!” He slid the Zecter into the belt, rear first.

“Henshin!” repeated the Kiri Zecter. The armor that appeared had arm cannons under the forearm, a triangular helmet, and triangular shoulder pads.

“Kamen Rider Kiri,” introduced Gorshagh. “Cast in the name of Darkness, ye guilty. The sentence,” he then slid his finger across his neck, “off with your heads!”

“Vortech won’t win this one!” declared Hongo as he got into his pose. We got out our i.d tags and Sōji’s Zecter flew into his hand. “Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we all announced.

“Henshin!” repeated the Kabuto Zecter.

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

“Kamen Rider Claw! My weapons shall turn you into ribbons!”

“Kamen Rider Royal! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“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!”

“Obaachan ga itteita, ten no michi o iki, subete o tsukasadoru otoko. Ore no na wa…Tendō…Sōji, Kamen Rider…Kabuto.”

“And I am the Riddler!” called Mr. Nigma. “Congratulations on solving my riddle! You’ve just won-first class tickets…to the afterlife!” The Balrog roared. “Oh, I hope you like my new pet! Watch out for his fiery temper!”

“This is no joke, Riddler!” warned Batman as he dodged the Balrog’s fist. “That thing is dangerous! Shift Keystone, activate! Cyan…”

“No, you don’t!” yelled Kiri. He moved his Zecter’s arms up, making the armor come off a little. “Cast Off!” He extended the arms and put them to the left of his belt strap.

“Cast Off!” repeated the Kiri Zecter. The armor flew off and hit us. Kabuto shielded his visor as the armor bounced off his. When we picked ourselves up, the slimmer form was bright green, the eyes were red, there were orbs for mantis eyes, and the gun barrels were handles for reverse grip swords on his forearms. “Change Mantis!” announced the Kiri Zecter.

“Clock Up!” called Kiri as he slapped the side of his belt.

“Clock Up!” repeated his Zecter.

“Not today! Cast Off!” shouted Kabuto as he swung the horn towards his right.

“Cast Off: Change Beetle!” announced the Zecter.

“Clock Up!” called Kabuto as he slapped the side of his belt.

“Clock Up!” repeated his Zecter. Both Riders vanished. I could guess what Kabuto’s doing now. Batman continued without interruption.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced again. “Cyan, on the leftmost roof of the tower! Magenta, on the balcony below the roof! Yellow, near the base of the tower! Shift! Gandalf! Cyan!” Gandalf landed on the roof and started using his magic to throw things at the Balrog. The Balrog caught one, then another, and Gandalf was about to throw one more when…

“Hello, sweeties!” called a high-pitched voice. It was Discornia! She was underneath Gandalf!

“Batman!” yelped Kämpfer.

“Shift! Kämpfer! Magenta!” announced Batman. Kämpfer was taken to the balcony.

“Clock Over!” announced the voices of the Zecters. Kabuto and Kiri were still locked in combat. They were on the same balcony as Kämpfer and Discornia. While the two Zecter Riders were fighting, Discornia spoke to Kämpfer.

“You wouldn’t hit little, helpless me, would you?” she spoke in a disarming tone. I beamed her name and status over to Kämpfer.

“I don’t want to,” he sighed, “but I have no choice. I WILL defend myself.”

“Your gentleman credentials are at stake,” warned Discornia.

“I pray that I am forgiven for this,” muttered Kämpfer. He then went on the offensive. He swung his sword, but Discornia blocked with her staff. She then swung the staff with the disco balls on either end flashing. She started laughing, but Kämpfer scored a punch to her shoulder. She started rubbing it.

“You WOULD hit a lady!” she snapped. “In all seriousness, how are you still fighting?! My staff should have blinded you!”

“You forget that we liberated your fiancée,” reminded Kämpfer.

“That traitor!” hissed Discornia. “He told you about my staff and you updated the helmets with automatic light adjustments!”

“I only mentioned your future husband and you put two and two together,” mused Kämpfer, “you’re more clever than you let on.” Discornia then started fighting with the fury of a wild lemur. Kämpfer stayed on the defensive until he saw the slave chip on her shoulder. He then used a palm strike on her chin, knocking her off balance and slashed at the chip with his sword. It exploded and knocked her out. When it was confirmed she was alive, Kämpfer knelt and clasped his hands in prayer. “Almighty God,” he prayed, “please understand, I had no choice but to strike. My life was on the line. These were not normal circumstances. She was not herself and I had to get her out of the spell Vortech had used. I pray for your forgiveness even if I do not receive Discornia’s.” He then turned to Discornia. “Madame, I apologize for striking you, but I had no choice. I pray you can forgive me.” He then heard the Riddler cry out in pain.

“Hey, that hurt! A lot!” he whined as he got rubble off of the Balrog and himself. The Balrog then knocked Gandalf off the roof. Kabuto and Kiri fell, but continued their fight once they were on the ground. Gandalf used his magic to land safely, dodging the Balrog’s fists on the way down. Wyldstyle then managed to see something, specifically, Chroma Discs.

“Well,” she said, grinning, “what can you offer to beat the Balrog? Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma Lock, reveal! Chroma! Red! Royal!” I jumped into the red paint and Wyldstyle directed me to the circle. “Chroma! Yellow! Gandalf!” A paint covered Gandalf was told to stand in the right L-shape. “Chroma! Blue! Ichigō!” Ichigō stood in the left L-shape. The Chroma Lock opened a door on the right side of the tower that unleashed the troops of Minas Tirith. They swarmed the Balrog and climbed to get to the Riddler. He screamed like a little girl!

“Get them off, get them off of me!” he shrieked. The Balrog shook the troops off.

“Well, it slowed him down,” I observed.

“I see a way to slow him down a little more!” called Ichigō. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen scale of Batman!” Batman shrunk and saw a vent for him to climb. He got in and went to the top. He then fired his grapple gun and undid the locks on some speakers. They started playing music.

Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team!

Everything is awesome when you’re living out a dream!

“WHAT IS THAT NOISE!?” shouted Kiri. He was on the ground, writhing in pain and holding his ears. His Zecter automatically ejected and he transformed back into Gorshagh.

“THIS IS TOO MUCH!” wailed Wyldstyle as she covered her ears. I was dancing along. “MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!” said Wyldstyle. The Balrog listened to her and smashed the speakers.

“My ears!” cried the Riddler. “What was that horrible, HORRIBLE noise!?”

“Hey, I like that song!” I called.

“Grandmother said this,” waxed Kabuto. “Good music must never be interrupted. It leads to discontent.”

“Well, your grandmother wouldn’t know good music if it bit her in her rear!” snapped the Riddler.

“All right, just for that,” I called, “I’ll find something to teach you to insult a friend’s family! Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!”

“No, you don’t!” roared Gorshagh. He grabbed the Kiri Zecter again and a device that had a big red button and a small lever on top. “Henshin!”

“Henshin!” repeated the Zecter. After the armor appeared, he moved the front legs again.

“Cast Off!” shouted Kiri.

“Cast Off: Change Mantis!” announced the Zecter as the armor flew.

“Is that a…Hyper Zecter?” asked Kabuto. “Funny, I have one too.” He then drew out the same device and attached it to the left of his belt, with the lever pointing up. “Hyper Cast Off!” called Kabuto. Kiri did the same.

“Hyper Cast Off!” announced Kiri. Both Riders pushed the lever down.

“Hyper Cast Off!” repeated the Hyper Zecters. Armor appeared on both Riders, giving them a slightly bulkier appearance.

“Change Hyper Beetle!” called Kabuto’s Zecter.

“Change Hyper Mantis!” announced Kiri’s Zecter.

“Hyper Clock Up!” shouted both Riders. They slapped the red buttons on their respective new Zecters.

“Hyper Clock Up!” repeated both Zecters. They both vanished.

“With that out of the way,” I muttered as I found the rift near the courtyard edge, “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “I’ve…never heard of you,” I mumbled. Oh well. “Locate help from L-3-G-3-N-D-5-0-F-C-H-1-M-4!” I said. A caterpillar treaded tank with arms and a lion motif came into this universe. The pilot poked his head out. It was a male anthropomorphic lion in armor and a blue cape. He had a crown on his head and had a red mane. The poor guy looked confused.

“Where am I?!” he yelped. “Who are you?!” He heard the Balrog roar. He turned to see it prepare to swipe at him. “On second thought, I’ll find out later. It’s time for the Fire Lion to fire!” A missile array launched its arsenal at the Balrog. It knelt to the ground as the “Fire Lion” ran over it.

“What’s your name?!” I asked the pilot, then mentally chided myself for being rude.

“Laval, prince of the Lion Tribe,” introduced the lion. “You?”

“Megumi Hishikawa, Princess of the Feudal Nerd Society and leader of the Vortex Riders! Known throughout the multiverse as Kamen Rider Royal!” I replied

“Then I hope we meet again!” called Laval as a portal opened for him.

“Where’d THAT come from?!” wailed the Riddler. “You’re not playing fair!” The Balrog then went to the cliff part of the courtyard. “Enough play, it’s time for a classic showdown!”

“Get back here, Riddler!” shouted Batman as we pursued the Balrog.

“We need to douse the Balrog,” I realized. “Gandalf, if you please?”

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” called Gandalf. “Element of Water, Gandalf!” Gandalf then sprayed water on the Balrog. It then turned its back on us.

“He’s hurt himself! Keep it up!” encouraged Batman.

“Guys, there’s an electric coil on the back of the chair!” Wyldstyle pointed out.

“Element of lightning, Wyldstyle!” announced Gandalf. Wyldstyle made the chair overload. Apparently, that was a mind control device for the Balrog. It thrashed in pain. “Take that, servant of Morgoth!” said Gandalf. The Balrog then bucked the Riddler off as it fell over the cliff face and onto the buildings below. Gollum saw this.

“Good!” he hissed. Durin’s Bane was picked up while the Riddler kept a black stone to his chest. We advanced on the lunatic.

“Riddle me this,” asked Batman, “what drink hurts the most?”

“Really hot coffee?” guessed the Riddler.

“Anyone else?” asked Batman.

“Punch!” snarled a voice. It was Discornia. She punched the Riddler. She was free! The blow sent him near the edge and letting go of the stone. The Riddler’s flailing made his loosen some dirt.

“My poor eyeses!” wailed Gollum’s voice. The Riddler regained his balance. Kiri and Kabuto reappeared.

“Hyper Clock Over!” called the Zecters. Both Riders were winded.

“That’s it!” snarled Kiri. He moved the lever down again. Kabuto did the same.

“Maximum Rider Power!” announced the Zecters. Kabuto pressed the buttons while Kiri pressed a button on the abdomen of his Zecter three times. “One! Two! Three!” counted the Zecters.

“Hyper Kick!” called Kabuto.

“Hyper Crusher!” roared Kiri. His blades came to his hands in a reverse grip.

“Rider Kick!” announced Kabuto’s Zecter.

“Rider Crusher!” called Kiri’s Zecter. Kiri raised his blades, leaving his stomach open for Kabuto’s kick. The attack went straight and true and Kiri lost his suit again. Gorshagh stumbled into the Riddler. They were near the edge, trying to keep us away.

“Keep back! Don’t come any closer!” wailed the Riddler. He then felt something on his leg. “What the?!” Gollum then pulled the Riddler off. The Riddler then grabbed Gorshagh and they all tumbled before a Fell Beast picked them up. They went through a portal. Batman punched the wall near Gandalf in frustration as Gandalf lowered the stone in his hand.

“You almost shattered the Palantír, Batman!” rebuked the wizard.

“Almost,” countered Batman as he took it and put it in his cowl.

“Guys, our ride home is about to depart!” called Wyldstyle.

“Drop the Palantír and turn around slowly!” hissed a voice. I sighed.

“I don’t have time to play, Hiro,” I groaned as I turned. “So, I need you to…explain that!!” Hiro had taken a different form. He looked more like an anthropomorphic tiger with machinery sticking out! He had the Shocker Buckle underneath the Rogue Driver.

“Impressive, is it not?” quizzed the Rogue Driver.

“Hiro, what did you do to yourself?!” I asked.

“I’ve obtained this form when I joined Shocker,” explained Hiro. “Tora-otoko (Tiger-man), I’m called. Unimaginative, yes, but it serves.”

“I’ve never fought anyone with a tiger motif,” said Ichigō.

“I’ve never fought you or Ichimonji,” replied Hiro.

“So, why are you here?” I asked.

“The Palantír,” hissed Hiro. “Hand it over!”

“Suppose we refuse?” I asked. He then drew out his i.d tag.

“This, I HAVE to see,” mused Ichigō.

“Henshin,” announced Hiro. He then became Kamen Rider Rogue. He then entered his Super Charge sequence. “Super Charge.” After that new suit formed, he started a new movement that extended his hands. “Dai Super Charge,” he said. His bulkier armor flew off. We got out of the way to see a new suit. It was purple with black tiger stripes. My heart sank.

“That’s not…” I uttered.

“You see the kind of power you could have had?!” called Rogue, er, Proto-Rift, er… “What you see before you is the combination of Shocker Cyborg and the true Rift Driver. You now look upon Kamen Rider Rift!”

“How does that concern me?” I asked.

“Have you ever wondered why I left you to the streets?” quizzed the newly-christened Rift.

“…Not as often as I should, judging by the tone,” I gulped.

“Well, how do you suppose you’re so strong?” asked Rift.

“Well, from my parents, obviously!” I declared.

“Right, and which parent DID you get that strength from?” asked Rift.

“…I don’t wanna ask,” I said weakly.

“Here’s the thing,” continued Rift, “cyborgs of my caliber are still very much fertile.”

“I don’t…” I began.

“The fact is,” interrupted Rift, “when Shocker makes a cyborg, they alter everything, even the genitals. Some of the cyborgs were naturally occurring between a mother and father cyborg. Granted, they were old when you fought them, Hongo, but it still served to prove our science. The cyborg parents had nanobots that would make cybernetics once the baby was out of the mother’s womb and would alter the genes to make an animal based cyborg. After that, they went through hellish training to be the strongest there was. One thing was never tested, reproduction between a cyborg and a normal human.”

“Wait, but…” I gulped, fearing the worst.

“So, when I escaped the destruction of Shocker,” continued Rift, “I went to your universe, married a woman, I wasn’t about to have a baby out of wedlock and rape was out of the question.”

“Good to know you have SOME morals!” I muttered, my fear dying off.

“In any case,” continued Rift, “after her death, I left you in the streets so you would understand your beast side. However, you made one costly mistake! You accepted help from someone beneath you! Sadly, I couldn’t just shoot you, there would have been too many questions. So, I took the legal route and contested Haruna for possession of you.”

“That went pear-shaped for you and you were tried and found guilty of murder,” recalled Lukas.

“Now, be honest,” quizzed Rift, “should you really accept the help of a lesser being?”

“…I’m going home,” I said as I cancelled my transformation. I saw what he was trying to do.

“I’m sorry, the wind up here is a bit loud. What did you just say?!” growled Rift.

“I’m going home, back to Vorton,” I elaborated.

“Okay,” muttered Rift, “I’m confused. Vorton isn’t your home universe.”

“It’s got my friends, the people that make me stronger,” I countered. “That’s home to me. I don’t wanna fight someone like you. You’re a boring, sad, and bitter old man. You try to make me question my life and humanity. I still feel like a human. The fact that I’m a naturally occurring cyborg hasn’t changed that I’m Megumi Hishikawa. These are still my friends. The fact that they’re not running in terror shows that they don’t care about my biology either. We’re leaving.”

“But, we didn’t fight!” protested Rift. “I didn’t swing a punch at you yet! This isn’t a proper show of power! This is…I don’t even know what it is!”

“It’s called robbing you of satisfaction,” explained Ichigō as he cancelled his transformation. Kämpfer, Kabuto, and Claw followed suit.

“Grandmother said this,” waxed Sōji. “One that drowns in oneself will eventually fall to darkness.”

“You ARE a sad man,” sighed Lukas.

“I must disagree with the ‘man’ bit,” argued Sheela.

“Yeah, that DOES sound like a man-child,” replied Discornia.

“We’re going home and taking the Palantír and Discornia with us,” I declared as I summoned our rides to fall into the Vortex. “I’m sure Turretorg will want to see you.”

“You little s**t!” snarled Rift. “I can NOT believe that you’re walking away from this! You need to know what power you’ve denied yourself! SO, GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME!”

“You’ve lost the right to order me when you left me on the streets!” I roared as I mounted my steed. “Vortex Riders, we’re leaving!” And leave with the Palantír and Discornia, we did. We drove off the cliff and fell into the vortex. I heard Rift roar in frustration when we went through.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 31

We had gathered in the Gateway room the next day. All of the Keystone Bearers were on the platform and X-PO started his Rider Chance. “And today’s riders are…” the arrow stopped on Sheela. “Sheela!” announced X-PO. The next arrow stopped on Lukas. “And Lukas!”

“Theek hai!” (Alright!) cheered Sheela.

“Wunderbar!” (Wonderful!) called Lukas.

“Destination set!” reported Rusty.

“CHARGE!” I called. We pounded through the vortex. Meanwhile, the enemy was already there with the Foundation Element in hand. The leader, a man in green with question marks was playing it like a basketball, but almost dropped it. An Orc caught it.

“Thank you, friend,” said the leader.

“What’s Lord Vortech want with this stone?” asked the Orc as he handed it back to his current boss.

“No idea,” replied the man. “It’s quite the riddle!” The man chuckled softly to himself.

“It’s not fair!” whined a raspy voice. “Sméagol does the riddleses!”

We soon arrived at our destination. It was a landmark I recognized! A friendly place if the Steward would get his head out of his butt! “Minas Tirith, the White City!” called Gandalf. “We are in Middle-Earth!”

“You mean Middle-Zealand?” asked Wyldstyle.

“…No,” replied Gandalf.

“So, it’s called Minas Tirith, I see,” called a voice. A Japanese man walked towards us. His hair was messy, he wore a loose shirt, and had his hands in his pockets, incredibly rude in Japan. “Most people don’t pop out of holes in space like that. I’m guessing you guys aren’t most people. Neither am I. I see that a Showa Rider’s with you.”

“You’re the second kabutomushi (rhinoceros beetle) Rider, right?” asked Hongo. “Kamen Rider Kabuto?”

“That’s me,” confirmed the man. “And you’re Takeshi Hongo, the first Kamen Rider.”

“I’m Princess Megumi Hishikawa of the Feudal Nerd Society,” I introduced. “What’s your civilian name?” The man smirked.

“Obaachan ga itteita,” (Grandmother said this) he said. He then pointed to the sky. “Ten no michi o iki, subete o tsukasadoru otoko.” (Walking the path of heaven, the man that shall rule over everything.) He then pointed toward the sun. “Ore no na wa…Tendō…Sōji.” (My name is…Tendō…Sōji.)

“…Well, I’ve seen my fair share of arrogance, but that takes the cake,” I muttered. “Your name literally means Path of Heaven, Ruler of All.”

“Comes with the greatness of the Zecter,” replied Sōji.

“The what?” I quizzed.

“The Kabuto Zecter, my transformation device,” elaborated Sōji. He turned to Gandalf. “You’re the one most familiar with this place?”

“Of course!” answered Gandalf. “This universe is my home! I have good news; we will be welcome here!”

“I’m not so certain,” countered Batman. He pointed to the current inhabitants that bellowed at us.

“ORCS?!” yelped Gandalf. “But how?!” That’s when some of the Orcs appeared to teleport. Sōji appeared to be ticked at them.

“I can see right through them,” he hissed. “Some of those Orcs are my enemies, a race of aliens that only need to look at a victim to copy their looks and memories, the Worms. They can molt their original shells and gain super speed, faster than our eyes can go. That’s where the Zecter comes in.” A red, metal rhino beetle flew towards Sōji and he caught it.

“Battle, it is!” I remarked. We got ready.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we all announced. Sōji slid the beetle into his belt buckle with the horn facing his left.

“Henshin!” repeated the beetle. Sōji’s armor appeared in hexagons and looked bulky. It had ZECT on the left shoulder and a blue visor. He then tapped the horn forward. The armor opened a little with a hiss.

“Cast Off!” called Sōji, Kamen Rider Kabuto. He then moved the horn to his right side.

“Cast Off!” repeated the beetle.

“Hit the deck!” warned Batman. We all fell to the ground while Kabuto’s armor flew off, damaging the Orcs. The new suit had red armor and allowed a beetle horn to go up across his visor.

“Change Beetle!” announced the beetle. An intercom then switched on.

“Welcome!” called the speaker. Batman tensed up.

“The Riddler!” he hissed.

“Please,” invited the Riddler’s voice, “come on in if you can! I hope you remembered to pack your brain, fail my riddles and you’ll feel pain!” The Orcs and disguised Worms came at us.

“You can barricade yourself in all you like, Riddler,” threatened Batman as he punched an Orc. “I’m coming for you!” Some of the Orcs went faster. Their attacks came out of nowhere!”

“Clock Up,” announced Kabuto as he slapped the side of his belt.

“Clock Up!” repeated the beetle before he disappeared.

“Can Sméagol do his riddleses now?” asked a voice over the intercom.

“Gollum?!” yelped Kämpfer, Claw, Gandalf, and I.

“Um, NO!” replied the Riddler. There were some explosions in the air after we dispatched the normal Orcs.

“Clock Over!” announced the Kabuto Zecter. Kabuto then reappeared with an Orc looking Worm that was shedding its disguise. Its real form looked like an armored humanoid with three large claws on the right arm, a hood like carapace, and the face looking like the eyes were being covered by hands. Kabuto then pressed the three buttons on top of the Zecter. “One! Two! Three!” counted the Zecter. He moved the horn back to his left before turning his back on the Worm as it charged at him.

“Rider Kick,” announced Kabuto. He moved the horn back over to the right.

“Rider Kick!” repeated the Zecter. He then did a 180º roundhouse kick, making the Worm blow up. Once the enemies were dispatched, Batman got his grapple gun ready to open an Orc Siege Tower. I got out the Batman i.d tag and swapped my usual one out.

“Batman Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My armor changed and I got my grapple gun. We opened up the siege tower and we got some parts.

“I have literally no idea what to do with this,” called Wyldstyle.

“Maybe I can get some help from another universe,” I mused. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I found the rift near a pile of hastily made Orc barricade. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “…Well, I’m sure GLaDOS won’t mind. Locate help from P-0-R-T-4-L!” A giant turret in leopard print and wearing a crown came out. I heard a voice from the rift before it closed.

“Wheatley, shut up!” snapped the voice. It had a Swahili accent I was familiar with!

“Tanisha?!” I yelped. The rift closed.

“Tanisha?” repeated Batman. “What’s she doing in GLaDOS’ world?”

“Maybe some mission with Wheatley,” I muttered.

“Hopefully, this contraption will aid us,” observed Gandalf, remembering his previous encounter with turrets. The giant turret was pointed at the gate, but not firing.

“I’ll try it out,” offered Kabuto. He jumped up and found controls for the turret inside the crown. He started firing on the barricade that replaced the main gate.

“Heads up!” warned Batman.

“Look! From over the walls!” called Gandalf.

“Look out!” yelped Wyldstyle. The enemy had started using their catapults! Kabuto got clear as an Octan ship from Wyldstyle’s universe destroyed the turret.

“Well, we’ll have to find another way in,” muttered Kabuto.

“No need,” answered Wyldstyle. “I can rebuild it, better than it was before, and more awesome.”

“That’s all well and good,” argued Kämpfer, “but it’s on fire. We need to douse it. Gandalf, würdest du bitte?” (If you please?)

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of water, Kämpfer!” Kämpfer doused the flames while Wyldstyle built a bigger cannon out of the turret and the Octan ship. Kabuto took the controls again and destroyed the barricade. The enemy came out and we fought our way through. Some of the Orcs were Worms, though. In fact, many. I touched Kabuto and got his i.d tag. I swapped out the Batman one for the new one. It had multiple forms, so I chose his slimmer form.

“Kabuto Rider Steel!” called Vortoranii.

“Cast Off: Change Beetle!” announced the Zecter’s voice. My new armor was similar to Kabuto, complete with horn. Kabuto looked at me, confused, I’ll wager.

“Clock Up!” I yelled.

“Clock Up!” repeated the Zecter’s voice. Kabuto did the same action as we dispatched the Worms. Man, super speed is awesome, but everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, slows down. “Clock Over!” said the Zecter as we both slowed down. We all made our way in.

“Where would the fun be in just letting you up here?” asked the Riddler. “I thought I might toy with you a little first!” There was a green energy field around a door leading up into the main courtyard.

“This magic barrier is being channeled,” mused Gandalf. “We should follow it and turn it off.”

“I’d argue the magic bit, but you’re right,” replied Batman. Ichigō then leapt into the air.

“RIDER PUNCH!” he shouted as he punched a door which had cables for the energy field sticking out.

“Was that necessary?” I asked.

“I haven’t practiced that technique!” protested Ichigō. We went through the door.

“So, I guess my welcome party wasn’t to your liking?” quizzed the Riddler. “Oh well. So, heroes, riddle me this: This is cast, but not a stone. It flees from light. The dark, its home.

“Oh, a riddle?” asked Gandalf. “Bilbo would have been useful here, most definitely.”

“Bow before your Golden master!” roared a voice. A black and gold four-legged spider mech came with its pilot in the same colored armor. I didn’t know which dimension he came from, nor do I care. All I knew was that he made a web from golden strands and had turned part of a building gold so he could levitate it and block our path. Batman and Kabuto took care of that. Kabuto had grabbed a rope and lashed it to the rubble. Batman and Kabuto pulled it down, but the man had levitated statues to block our way to the web.

“Allow me,” called Gandalf. He levitated the statues out of the way and saw something inside the web. There was a cable running from the web to the door. “That box seems to be the source,” observed Gandalf.

“And the legs of the mech seem to be the source of the web,” guessed Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate! Cyan, near the right leg of the mech! Yellow, near the left leg of the mech! Magenta, near the bottom of the web! Shift! Royal! Cyan! Shift! Batman! Yellow!” Batman and I warped to our respective locations. I changed into Batman Steel and we fired our grapple guns at the mech’s legs.

“What are you doing?!” roared the pilot. The legs were loosened, so Batman and I threw a batarang at the joints, making the mech fall off the web. The pilot escaped before the mech exploded, leaving fire behind.

“Let me try the Elemental Keystone,” called Kabuto. “It seems interesting.”

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of water, Kabuto!”

“Just put your hand towards the fire,” I instructed. Kabuto did so and a stream of water came out, dousing the flames. We then opened the box to reveal an on/off switch. I set it to off and power stopped going to the energy field.

“Off we go!” called Claw. We left that courtyard and headed to the main one. Another door was available to us, so we went through there, via Kabuto’s Rider Kick. When we entered that courtyard, the Riddler came through.

“Time for the second part of my riddle!” he challenged. “What breathes, dances, and bakes, yet has no lungs, legs, or cakes?” We went through with no interruption, for a while, until I heard an unearthly humming.

“Anyone else hear that?” I asked. A saucer then buzzed us. It had some sort of face on the front and a four-barreled cannon. The pilot was green skinned and bald.

“Brainiac?!” yelped Batman.

“You know him?” I asked.

“He’s one of Superman’s enemies,” explained Batman. “Has a habit of shrinking cities to bottle sized ones.”

“Just that?” I muttered.

“Do not be so quick to underestimate me, fleshy!” warned Brainiac.

“Did I neglect to mention he’s a robot?” quipped Batman.

“A robot with the knowledge and strength of ten thousand worlds!” boasted Brainiac. He then used some sort of ray to make a box grow and block our path.

“This is worse than I could have possibly imagined,” muttered Gandalf.

“Surrender now!” demanded Brainiac as he shrunk one of the city’s buildings. “You are only delaying the inevitable!” He then tossed the tiny building at us. Gandalf pushed it back into Brainiac, making his saucer spark. “NO!” wailed Brainiac. “You dare attack Brainiac! My intelligence is brighter than anything you can dredge up!”

“Grandmother said this,” called Kabuto. “It doesn’t matter how bright a candle thinks it is, it will never outshine the sun.” Wyldstyle then built a ladder to get us over the barrier. More Orcs greeted us, some going faster. Claw, Kämpfer, and I changed i.d tags to the Kabuto one and selected his Rider Form.

“Kabuto Rider Steel!” announced our belts.

“Cast Off: Change Beetle!” called the Zecter’s voice.

“Shall we?” I asked Kabuto. He nodded and then slapped the side of his belt.

“Clock Up,” we announced.

“Clock Up!” repeated the Zecter’s voice. We sped up and attacked, breaking through the forces and destroying Worms and Orcs alike. Eventually, “Clock Over!” was the announcement of the Zecter.

“You still persist?” taunted Brainiac. “I think you are confusing bravery with outright foolishness!” He shrunk some large statues. “It is useless to resist Brainiac!” Brainiac threw one at us, but Claw had changed armor again.

“Wizard Flame Dragon Steel!” called her belt.

“Flame! Dragon!” announced the WizarDriver’s voice. “Bou. Bou! Bou, bou, BOU!” (Burn) Claw’s armor had a red trench coat and a pair of horns on the helmet. She then mimed flipping levers on a WizarDriver and brought out a ring. “Lupachi magic! Touch to go! Levitate, please!” She managed to push the statue towards Brainiac. Once it crashed into his ship. Brainiac ranted.

“How is this possible?!” he wailed. He tried to regain his dignity. “Such pitiful creatures! You are not worthy of facing Brainiac!” He did the same tactic again and got the same result. “What is this foolishness?!” he snapped. “It is useless to resist Brainiac!” Didn’t he say that already? Anyway, he threw a statue a third time.

“Insane,” I mused.

“Ja, that is a classic case of insanity,” agreed Kämpfer. “He’s going to fail and he doesn’t even realize it.”

“I am Brainiac!” shouted Brainiac. “I am not programmed to fail!” He tossed the statue. Claw yawned as she pushed the statue away one more time, destroying the ship. “This was unforeseen,” he mumbled.

“He’s down!” called Wyldstyle. “That was one big, ugly, green alien.”

“No, again, robot,” argued Batman as we got to the box Brainiac was guarding. We opened it and shut down the generator. We made our way to the main courtyard and approached one more door. We tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Found the problem,” reported Claw. “There’s a piece of wood across the top.”

“I’ll just break it down,” offered Ichigō.

“How, exactly, do you intend to do that?” I asked. He then moved back. “Wait, let me guess.” He ran forward. “Don’t tell me!” I said. He leapt into the air. “You’re going to use a…”

“RIDER CHOP!” called Ichigō. He chopped the wood in half, opening the way to another courtyard. A bunch of stuff from GLaDOS’ universe, like platforms, and switches, and neurotoxin generators! A portal opened, letting GLaDOS poke her head out.

“Surprised to see me?” she asked.

“What are you doing here?!” I snapped.

“After you left,” explained GLaDOS, “I decided that if you are going to run from my tests, then I’m just going to have to bring my tests to you. Enjoy.” She left as the portal closed.

“You’re doing very well!” praised the Riddler. “Time for part 3 of our Riddle Special. Deep below, veiled from sight, it dwells where Dwarves find their delight!

“We better get on those switches,” I suggested. I jumped toward a switch on a platform while Batman grabbed a switch near the door. They triggered a platform to drop some vent sections.

“My turn,” called Ichigō. “Scale Keystone activate! Enlarge scale of Gandalf!” Gandalf brought the vent sections over to a vent that needed them. “Lessen scale of Gandalf!” Gandalf shrunk down and climbed the vent. When he came to a statue, he tried to push it over. “Enlarge scale of Gandalf,” directed Ichigō. Gandalf grew again and pushed a statue onto a neurotoxin generator. It was destroyed and revealed part of a box. Gandalf hopped down, making us shake, and headed to the other vent. “Lessen scale of Gandalf,” said Ichigō. Gandalf shrunk again and climbed the vent. When he appeared near the statue, “Enlarge scale of Gandalf!” he grew again. He pushed that statue and destroyed the last neurotoxin generator. “Normalize scale of Gandalf!” announced Ichigō. Gandalf went back to his normal size but looked queasy.

“I don’t think shrinking and growing the same person is good for their stomach,” he groaned. Batman took care of shutting down the energy shield generator. Once we got that done, we headed to the large courtyard. The energy shield was down. “The way forward has now opened,” observed Gandalf. “Who knows what lies beyond?” Claw automatically canceled her transformation and returned to being Sheela as she fell to the floor, panting.

“We’re not going anywhere until we’ve had a breather!” panted Sheela.

“Go ahead and relax,” called the Riddler. “I’ll wait.”

“Your mistake, Nigma,” hissed Batman.

“Nigma?” I asked.

“Edward Nigma,” answered Batman. I saw the pun in his name. “He’s obsessed with riddles and mind games. He was so intelligent that he figured out my alter-ego.”

“He knows you?” I quizzed.

“I pointed out that if he told the world,” continued Batman, “he would solve the riddle and there would be no point.

“How insane is he?” I asked.

“He’s one of Arkham’s inmates,” elaborated Batman.

“Arkham?” asked Gandalf.

“The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane,” explained Batman. “A psychiatric hospital for people who commit crimes because they’re not right in the head.”

“A place to put the crazies until they’re ready to be normal citizens again,” I simplified for Gandalf.

“I see,” said Gandalf, nodding in understanding.

“So, how often have people escaped from Arkham?” I asked Batman.

“Security’s so bad,” he replied, “I’m surprised the staff don’t remind the inmates to use the sign in sheet when they return.”

“Are they functioning on ancient security methods?” I queried.

“No,” answered Batman, “they use the most advanced security measures that they can, given their…limited resources.”

“Not everyone has your tech,” I reminded him.

“…I know,” conceded Batman.

“What about you, Sōji-san?” I asked. “You seem Hell-bent on destroying the Worms.”

“It was the Worms that killed my parents,” explained Sōji. Batman seemed to understand him to a degree.

“I’m not sure I can fully support the death of an entire race because a group from said race killed your parents,” he mused.

“Wasn’t it a mugger that killed yours?” I asked. Batman flinched but stayed on his course.

“That mugger had appropriate justice dealt to him,” answered Batman. “I saw to it myself. He’s in prison for life.”

“And you’re content with that?” observed Sōji. “Don’t you fight other criminals?”

“I fight so no one has to go through what I did,” replied Batman.

“As do I,” answered Sōji.

“I suppose if things went differently,” mused Batman, “I could have been exactly like you.”

“Moving on,” I interjected. “Batman, is there a reason the Riddler wants to place riddles around here?”

“The answers to the riddles usually result in the answer to his master plan,” explained Batman.

“A riddle within a riddle,” I guessed.

“Exactly,” confirmed Batman.

“I best use that power against him,” chuckled Lukas.

“You can solve it?” I asked.

“I’m an engineer,” boasted Lukas. “No riddle can be locked forever, aside from paradoxes.”

“Everyone all rested up?” I asked. They nodded. “Let’s go!” I declared. My mind also poured over the riddles as well as Lukas’

This is cast, but not a stone. It flees from light. The dark, its home.

What breathes, dances, and bakes, yet has no lungs, legs, or cakes?

Deep below, veiled from sight, it dwells where Dwarves find their delight!

What are the answers and how do they connect?!

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 29

The effects of Mikhail’s misguided quest still lingered. He had surrendered the studs he got, bringing our total up to 1,225,000 studs. Hiiro had taken his leave, along with Shōtarō, Philip, Eiji, Ankh, and Kōsei, after a little geeking out from Hiroki since W was his favorite rider. Davros refused to say anything about where Foundation Prime was or Vortech’s endgame and managed to flee to his universe. The Doctor gave chase. I sat alone on the Gateway platform, staring at the stars outside. I heard feet on the floor. Irina came in. She was in a ballet outfit, tutu, pointe shoes, hair in a bun, and a leotard. The outfit’s colors were blue and orange, representing her love for contrasting colors. “I didn’t know you did ballet,” I observed. She saw me.

“I never told you?” asked Irina.

“That, or I don’t remember you telling me,” I replied. “When did you start?”

“I guess when I was 4,” explained Irina as she sat next to me, smoothing out her tutu. “I was lucky enough to see Swan Lake back home. I saw how the dancers let the music guide them and how high they leapt, awakening a desire to do the same in me. I started when I was in Kindergarten, realizing how painful it is. Yet, when I made my first public dance, I felt satisfaction when the audience applauded. They really liked my performance. It was then that I made a vow to practice whenever I could.”

“Don’t you relax?” I asked.

“Ballet IS relaxing!” protested Irina. “Granted, it’s a life of pain to perform something so beautiful, but I would give my soul to continue ballet until the day I die.”

“So, that’s why you kick so hard?” I asked.

“Ah, there I am fortunate,” giggled Irina. “Oddly enough, American football players practice it too. Strengthens the old core and leg muscles so they can run faster and have greater endurance.”

“No kidding?” I cheered. I had no idea ballet was so demanding. I then changed gears. “Emily and Dr. Kagami never told me how they got you out of that coma.”

“After I cooled down from my brother being stupid, I already told him,” replied Irina. “I’m surprised Emily didn’t tell you. Then again, it might have been too fantastic to be believable.”

“…After everything we’ve seen, are you sure you want to stick by that claim?” I asked.

“Of course not,” replied Irina, “I’m sorry I made such a claim.” Irina began her story.


This whole event was after Mikhail had taunted Davros. I was wandering through some ornate building with all sorts of silver walls. The whole building felt like a giant brain. Remembering that I was injured on Skaro, I figured the injury put me into a coma and the whole thing was a dream. I started with an obvious test, changing clothes instantly and out of thin air. I imagined myself in a ballet outfit, with a pink leotard and tutu with lime green highlights. My usual dress soon changed into the outfit I imagined, confirming my theory. I reimagined my dress as I patrolled the building. As I passed a room, I could have sworn I heard tools against some hard material. I opened the door to see people digging their way through a rock wall. The people looked familiar. That was when my vision focused on a heavyset woman with white hair, purple skin, and some sort of black dress. I managed to get a good look at the woman and was looking right in the face of Ursula the Sea Witch. I got my i.d tag out, ready to fight, but noticed that her eyes were different. They were just white. No pupils, no color, nothing. Just white orbs and a blank expression. I then waved my hand in front of her face, no response. “She can’t hear you,” boomed a voice, loud and bombastic. I turned to see…well, this is new to any Disney fan. I turned to see King Triton walking towards me! Yes, walking! His tail was replaced with a pair of human legs! He was accompanied by a gray, humanoid robot with a bucket-like helmet, a big black cannon on his arm, and a purple symbol on his chest. I’m familiar with enough Transformers lore to know Megatron when I see him. I was surprised to see he was Triton’s height.

“Your Majesty?” I asked. “What are you doing with legs? And why are you with him?”

“Neither of us are sure on either count,” reported Megatron. Triton nodded to confirm. I glanced over at the wall.

“What do you suppose is behind that thing?” I asked.

“Another thing, I believe,” said Megatron, deciding not to be helpful. “It’s called hard labor.”

“My theory,” answered Triton, being a little more help, “is that this is a mental hijacking, not spatial.”

“I can believe that,” I agreed. “I was put into a coma on another planet in another universe. Last time I checked, Skaro and Vorton don’t look like this.”

“Vorton?” asked Triton. “The planet at the center of the multiverse?”

“That legend reached you?” quizzed Megatron.

“It’s not a legend,” I argued. “My friends and I found it. This belt is a piece of Vortonian technology.”

“I’ve heard legends about the Vortonians,” muttered Triton. “They would travel the universes and view them as if it were that…er…television, I believe Mickey calls it.”

“If you ask me,” rumbled Megatron, “you BOTH need your cerebral functions inspected.” I scoffed and motioned for them to follow me. We patrolled the corridors, searching for a way out. After a few minutes, we were about ready to head back to the dig when we heard a door open up. I whirled around and saw an empty room. It almost looked church-like, but it wasn’t any church I’ve seen. The walls were black, a cauldron sat near a crystal ball where the altar should have been, the stained glass were varying shades of red, and an organ was playing creepy music. The player turned and…good god, this would make Haitao squirm. He was done up as a racist Chinese stereotype, complete with hat and small ponytail, oversized grin, moustache with the ends near his shoulders, and when he spoke, the accent was overly exaggerated.

“So,” cheered the man as he saw us, “you are here at last, Irina.”

“So, you’re the one that’s keeping me in a coma,” I observed.

“I am Seng Seng Giu,” introduced the man.

“You say that as if you expect a round of applause,” snarked Megatron.

“Careful, Megatron,” warned Seng Seng Giu, “it is not hard to destroy my mercy if you are rude in my kingdom.”

“YOUR kingdom?!” I quizzed.

“It is here,” continued Seng Seng Giu, “that Seng Seng Giu rules.”

“Permit me to satisfy my curiosity,” I mused.

“What troubles you?” asked Seng Seng Giu.

“What you’re doing here for a start,” I explained.

“Shall Seng Seng Giu not travel where the spirits lead him?” quizzed Seng Seng Giu.

“Would the spirits have anything to do with the wall out there?” asked Triton.

“Wall? The wall is a normal man’s ignorance,” said Seng Seng Giu in a cryptic manner.

“…Then, how do you travel?” I quizzed.

“By the power of the Great One,” answered Seng Seng Giu. “In the deserts of Arabia, I learned all the magic arts.”

“Magic?” asked Megatron, incredulously.

“Arabia?” asked Triton.

“Come on,” I groaned. “I know a wizard that can do better than that.”

“You mock Seng Seng Giu,” hissed the false Gandalf. “But, do not doubt that I can summon Furies and Cacodemons, a company of Cherubim…or Lucifer himself.”

“Whoever THAT is,” hissed Megatron.

“Besides,” I observed, “I cannot help that there is something more to this.”

“Do you now?” mused Seng Seng Giu.

“What are you doing kidnapping people’s minds?” I asked. “And what do you want with me?”

“The spirits told me of your…miraculous belt,” explained Seng Seng Giu. “The spirits told me any belt of that kind would do. I hold the whole genius of the stars bound to my will. And now, the Great One has summoned you, Irina.”

“Not just me,” I replied. “What do you want with Triton? Ursula? Megatron? The people at the wall?”

“Slaves are required in my kingdom,” answered Seng Seng Giu.

“I’ve seen mental constructs in the shape of soldiers,” countered Triton. “You MUST be their king.”

“They have other duties,” replied Seng Seng Giu.

“You mean, you need their energies for something else,” I corrected for myself. Seng Seng Giu grinned at me.

“The power you possess shall be used for the great work we shall do together!” he declared.

“We?” I asked.

“Together, we shall scourge the entirety of space and time,” chuckled Seng Seng Giu.

“You can exclude me from your false wizardry!” I declared. Seng Seng Giu chuckled.

“You cannot resist!” he argued. “In this realm, all things obey Seng Seng Giu. Come!” He waved me over to his crystal ball. “Look,” he directed. He then chanted in a language I was sure wasn’t any of Earth. Megatron seemed to recognize it.

“The…Primal…” he muttered. Triton turned to him. “Nothing,” said Megatron.

“You see your fellow mortals?” asked Seng Seng Giu. The ball was showing the diggers at the wall.

“Intriguing,” I mused.

“Stars…” muttered Megatron, remembering what Seng Seng Giu said earlier.

“But,” I continued, “you’re just drawing on someone else’s power. You’re not in control here!”

“Seng…Seng…Giu…” Megatron pieced. “Cantonese…meaning Star-shouting…shouting…scream……scream!” He then started staring daggers at Seng Seng Giu. “I will have your head, traitor!” he roared.

“Oh,” sighed Seng Seng Giu. “You figured me out.” He dropped the accent and adopted a screeching nasally voice. “How tedious.”

“Seng Seng Giu is the Cantonese name for my First Lieutenant, meaning Star Shouting!” explained Megatron. “His English name is…” Seng Seng Giu then shimmered away, and in his place, a red and white robot with wings, a cockpit on the chest, a long rifle on each upper arm, and jet engines for heels, “STARSCREAM!” roared Megatron. Megatron rushed at this Starscream character, ready to punch, but Starscream caught the fist, surprising Megatron.

“I’ve got a lot of power right now,” boasted Starscream, “enough to kill you, but I need one last thing, the Vortex Driver.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well,” replied Starscream with a smile as he tossed Megatron aside, “the power it holds, the ability to use other forms and abilities, it would greatly advance my plans.”

“And your plans are?” I asked, wanting him to keep talking. He didn’t answer my question, just looked hungrily at my Vortex Driver.

“The power you carry will make the power I have absolute!” cheered Starscream. “We shall command all dimensions!”

“I always found domination over foreign powers rather tasteless,” I said stubbornly.

“Shall I be forced to compel you, Irina?” asked Starscream.

“There is no power in the multiverse that will compel me to give you my belt!” I declared. That was when an alarm sounded. Starscream headed to his crystal ball. He chanted something and allowed a picture to form. Emily had gotten to Starscream’s lair with Dr. Kagami. I didn’t know his name then.

“I must prevent the intruders from advancing!” yelped Starscream.

“Not allowed in your little clubhouse?” asked Triton.

“I cannot afford x-factors now!” screeched Starscream. He chanted again and summoned generic soldiers. Emily and Dr. Kagami started fighting them off. Starscream kept putting down soldiers, but my rescuers still fought them off. Emily didn’t even need to transform. They managed to get to the guys at the wall. Emily turned Ursula, proceeded to try and get her out of the trance, then opted for a little, er, percussive maintenance. She punched Ursula. Ursula squawked and started massaging her eye and then trained her vision on Emily. She then proceeded to strike, but Dr. Kagami held her back. They explained what was going on and then they all went to patrol the corridors. Starscream chanted again. This time, Emily’s dad stopped them. He was in his old Military gear.

“Go back,” directed Mr. Saunders. “Go back before it’s too late.”

“Too late?” called Emily. “Dad, we have to save Irina! Remember her? Russian girl? Likes contrasting color schemes?”

“She’s not important,” countered Fred, Mr. Saunders. “If you go any further, you’ll kill me.”

“We can’t take the chance,” declared Dr. Kagami.

“That ain’t Dad,” observed Emily.

“How can you be so cold?” asked Fred.

“Tell me, why are you wearing Navy colors?” questioned Emily.

“I’m in the military, remember?” quizzed Fred.

“But, the Navy?” asked Emily. “Last I checked, you retired as Colonel Fred Saunders of the United States Army!”

“Army?” repeated Ursula. “But you said he’s wearing Navy colors?”

“Exactly,” confirmed Emily. “He said that he wouldn’t be caught dead in Navy colors!”

“Never mind!” shrieked Starscream, realizing Emily wasn’t fooled. “I’ll just bring them here!” He chanted and made them shimmer into the room. They looked around, bewildered, until Emily caught sight of me.

“Irina!” she said happily. If the situation weren’t dire, I think she would have rushed over and given me one of her bear hugs.

“Who are those people with her?” asked Dr. Kagami.

“That’s King Triton of Atlantica,” Ursula hissed when I introduced him, “Megatron of the Decepticons, and that’s his Second in Command, Starscream. Now, here’s a question for you, Emily, who is he?”

“I’m Dr. Kagami Hiiro,” introduced Dr. Kagami. He turned to Starscream. “Are you responsible for the patient’s mind cancer? If you are, then to your existence, I say No Thank You.”

“Are you the one who hypnotized me?!” snarled Ursula.

“Your questions and opinions of me are irrelevant,” dismissed Starscream.

“I don’t think so!” shouted Ursula.

“Wait!” I warned. Too late. Starscream threw Triton and Megatron to Emily’s group and made a white dome around them.

“What’s going on?!” bellowed Megatron.

“He’s thrown up a barrier,” I explained. “I DID try and warn you.”

“I require your Vortex Driver,” demanded Starscream.

“What for?” I asked.

“Don’t ask questions!” snapped Starscream. “You WILL give me your belt!”

“Nyet,” I declared. Starscream, apparently, knew how Russians say “No.”

“Then you will see your friends destroyed and you, yourself, annihilated!” he threatened.

“Ne dumayu,” (I don’t think so) I countered. “We’ve gotten good at resisting your magic!” That was when the barrier started fading. The alarm started ringing. Starscream looked into his Crystal ball and saw that his prisoners were escaping. They consisted of Ariel’s sisters, those blonde Gaston fangirls, Mulan’s friends in the army, and Tron.

“NO!” shouted Starscream.

“Losing control?” I asked.

“You will see your friends suffer for this!” shrieked Starscream. He then started gathering energy near Emily’s group. “You will not survive my combatant!” he declared.

“Not another one!” moaned Emily as she grabbed a candelabra.

“Er, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” I gulped.

“Why?” asked Emily. “These things have proven harmless!” She swung the candelabra, but the energy mass was solid enough to catch it and fling her backwards.

“Starscream is drawing on deeper reserves of power,” explained Megatron. “That thing is bonding itself into something far more dangerous than the soldiers you fought your way through.” It was large, heavily armored, and ready to smash.

“Well?!” shouted Starscream. He didn’t command his soldier to harm my friends, so I believed it was all bluster to frighten me.

“The answer’s still no!” I declared.

“The Vortex Driver!” demanded Starscream.

“I told you, no!” I roared. The brute still didn’t move.

“I’d say now is the time to remove your mental tumor,” declared Dr. Kagami. He then equipped a device on his waist. It was green, had a pink lever on the front, two slots for something to go into it, and another slot holder on the left of his belt.

“We’ll deal with Starscream’s flunky,” boomed Triton. “You deal with Starscream!”

“Mind if I join in?” I asked.

“Hey, let me in on this!” called Emily. “I’m the team medic!” Dr. Kagami made no move to stop us as he pulled out his Taddle Quest…er…Gashat, I believe he called it. Emily and I pulled out our i.d tags. Dr. Kagami pressed a button on the Gashat.

“TADDLE QUEST!” announced the Gashat. A video game title screen then appeared, based on Taddle Quest, and treasure chests flew around and landed in Starscream’s lair. One of them hit said Decepticon on the head. He massaged the damaged area as we all got ready.

“Henshin!” we all said. We put our transformation trinkets into our belts, with Dr. Kagami’s being a little noisy.

“GASHATTO!” called the belt. A bunch of faces circled Dr. Kagami before he selected the knight-looking one on his left side. “Let’s game! Meccha Game! MUCCHA Game! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?! I’m a Kamen Rider!”

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

“Kamen Rider Climb!” I announced. “Mountains are a warrior’s best friend!”

“Kamen Rider Brave,” declared Dr. Kagami. “Commencing Starscream re…” he didn’t get far as he heard snickering from everyone, even me. “Wh…what is it?” asked Brave.

“What is THAT?!” chuckled Touché. She pointed to the form Brave had taken. He had a life gauge on the front, was in white body armor, had a reversal shield, and a knight’s visor with blue hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“This?” asked Brave. “This is standard for all doctors of my profession.” I couldn’t hold back!

“YOU’RE A HUMAN SIZED CHIBI!” I laughed. I kid you not, Brave looked like a chibi, with no neck, a large torso, large feet and legs, and large arms and hands. Everyone started laughing.

“This is Level 1!” protested Brave. “You know?! The starting level?!” We still laughed.

“What did you do?!” Touché managed to get out from her laughing. “Make your Rider form based on a silly fantasy RPG?”

“Yes!” replied Brave. “Taddle Quest!” He pointed to the Gashat in his belt. That only made me shriek with laughter. I finally fell over, calming down and finally hearing everyone else calm down.

“I’m okay!” I answered. My sides were hurting, I never laughed so hard.

“If you’re finished,” said Brave, annoyed, “Commencing Starscream removal operation.” He held up his hands like a doctor would before an operation. He then summoned a sword with a fire design to the blade on one side and an ice design to the other side. It had a blue hilt with an orange A button and a sky-blue B button.

“GASHACON SWORD!” announced the weapon. Brave then charged at Starscream and proceeded to slash at him. I must admit, funny looking though it is, Level 1 was effective. Touché and I charged in, blades out. We all struck Starscream, but he knocked us back. He then opened ports from his chest and fired off bombs to try and flatten us. I’m guessing his targeting systems aren’t what they used to be as he missed. He then opted for the weapons on his arms and fired. His aim was still bad, so we got into close quarters and knocked him back. Starscream sparked and then fell screaming.

“What the?” muttered Brave.

“I always knew Starscream was weak,” chuckled Megatron as he dusted his hands from his fight with the brute. His grin was replaced by a frown. “Now I owe Soundwave 20 Energon cubes.”

“Not…finished…yet!” declared Starscream. He managed to get up and jump out the window. It looked like we were pretty high up, but Starscream did something to break his fall. He grew until he was five meters tall.

“Full height?!” snarled Megatron.

“How do we beat him?!” I asked.

“Proceeding with Level 2,” called Brave. He then opened the lever.

“GACHAN!” announced the belt. The other side of the lever said “Gamer Driver” in graffiti style writing. “LEVEL UP!” said the belt. Orchestral medieval music started playing. “Taddle Meguru! Taddle Meguru! Taddle Quest!” (My helmet translated it as “Battle for your future! Fight for the adventure! Welcome to Taddle Quest.”) Brave’s Level 2 transformation was nothing more than shedding off the Chibi armor to reveal a person sitting backwards inside and the Level 1 face becoming a backpack, the Gamer Driver transferring to the new form’s front, and the new person opening a set of double doors to reveal himself. His new form looked more human. His reversal shield became a shield gauntlet. His head shrunk to a human size, his life gauge moved to his chest, and he gained shoulder pads.

“Now THAT’S a Rider Form!” I cheered. We all then leapt up and made various attacks. Starscream then swatted us away. Megatron then fired with that cannon of his, but Starscream laughed it off.

“Look at you pitiful twits!” he laughed. “You can only hope for my power, but I actually possess it! Not even your vaunted fusion cannon can help you, Megatron! You would need focused energy to make me lose concentration on keeping you small!” Megatron then formed a plan. I caught on and convinced him to let me help him. Megatron then changed shape. His feet came together and ejected a trigger while the feet went over the upper legs. His torso turned to his right while the arms went over the front and rear of the waist and the shoulders made the hammer of a gun. His head went into his torso while his fusion cannon went to the top of the shape and a barrel that was on his back went to the front of the new shape. A stick-like thing had swung down from the grip and it released a long tube that went over the barrel. Megatron shrunk to become a human-sized Walther P-38 handgun with sight, silencer, and stock. He landed in my hand and I aimed at Starscream’s head.

“Starscream, I think I have a new name for you,” I declared, “Baron Von Blabs-about-his-only-weakness.” I pulled the trigger. Megatron fired. The shot hit Starscream in the face.

“MY OPTICS!” he shrieked.

“Now’s your chance!” I called. I tossed Megatron into the air. As he transformed, he grew! A full six meters! Taller than Starscream! He then proceeded to grapple with Starscream, but said robot grappled back. “Hold him down!” I said. I then put my i.d tag into my weapon. Touché did the same. Brave then took the Gashat out and put it into his sword.

“GASHUN!” announced the belt in a voice that went like something powering down.

“GASHATTO!” called Brave’s sword. “KIMEWAZA!” A noise loop started playing.

“Final attack!” said my blade as well as Touché’s. Megatron then made Starscream face us.

“RIDER CLIMB SLASH!” I shouted.

“RIDER TOUCHÉ SLASH!” called Touché.

“TADDLE CRITICAL FINISH!” announced Brave’s sword. We all made slashing motions and released various energy waves, or fire waves, in Brave’s case, right at Starscream’s chest. Megatron got away as the attacks made their mark. Starscream exploded, then my vision went dark, for a moment.


I woke up back in the medical bay on Vorton. There were electrodes attached to my head as well as Emily’s and Dr. Kagami’s. We got the electrodes off. “Game Clear,” said Dr. Kagami. “I think we can call this operation a success.”

“How much do I owe you, Doctor?” I asked.

“Just rest up,” assured Dr. Kagami. That was when the Doctor came in.

“Ah! Irina! All well, I trust?” she asked.

“Doing better,” I reported.

“Good,” answered the Doctor, “Maybe you can convince your brother to get back from Skaro. He’s seeking revenge on Davros.”

“WHAT?!” I yelled.

“I’m surprised Emily didn’t tell you,” mused the Doctor.

“I didn’t want my patient worried,” answered Emily.

“A wise choice, since the operation was delicate,” agreed Dr. Kagami.

“I have to get to Skaro NOW!” I shouted. Dr. Kagami held me back.

“No, you don’t,” he snapped. “You’re not fit.”

“But the Doctor just released me!” I protested.

“Not the one that’s taking care of you,” insisted Dr. Kagami.

“You may be A doctor, but I’m THE Doctor,” argued the Doctor.

“Look, the patient’s not fit and…” continued Dr. Kagami.

“Not fit?!” I snarled, getting up from the bed. “Of course, I’m fit! All systems, go!” I chopped a table in half with my foot, then started running in place.

“Careful!” warned Dr. Kagami. “You’ll cause your heart to…” I put a stethoscope into his ears and placed the resonator on my chest. The sound seemed to confuse Dr. Kagami. “That can’t be right,” he muttered. “Your heart should be going a little faster.”

“Ah, we must be patient!” I declared. “Ballerina’s like myself tend to control their pulses!” I then examined my legs. “As for my leg muscles…well, I’m not too sure.” I raised my leg to Dr. Kagami’s face. “What do you think? Can you say anything about my leg muscles?”

“Well, I…er, I can’t really…” stammered Dr. Kagami.

“Ah, I’m just… ‘legging’ you on!” I punned. Emily and the Doctor groaned.

“I can’t believe you assaulted our ears with a pun that bad,” hissed Emily.

“Exactly,” agreed the Doctor. “That was neither ‘ear’ nor there!”

“Really?!” wailed Emily.

“Well, I can’t waste any more time,” I declared. “I have an idiot brother to rescue!” I charged for the door, but Dr. Kagami blocked my way.

“You’re going nowhere but back to bed!” he insisted. “I have not released you!” I staggered back.

“How can I prove my point?” I moaned. The Doctor saw a rope and got a wicked gleam in her eyes. She then grabbed it, started twirling the rope, and jumped rope with Dr. Kagami while she said a little rhyme.

“Mother, Mother, I feel sick! Send for the Doctor, quick, quick, quick! Mother, dear, shall I die? Yes, my darling, by and by! One! Two! Three! Four!” She got all the way to thirteen before she tied him up with the rope and stuffed him in the closet. We then headed to the TARDIS with Emily shouting after us. We took off and I got a meal in me on the way.


“The rest, you know,” finished Irina.

“Yep,” I confirmed “You managed to rescue Mikhail and his team. Davros, in a new Dopant form, hitched a ride here. W, Hiroki, and I defeated him. The Doctor put him in a cell. I expressed my anger at the team, and you let your brother know how disappointed you were in him.”

“And, we lost our only lead to Vortech’s plans,” hissed Irina.

“We can find another,” I assured. I then changed gears. “So, you practice in the Gateway Room?”

“It’s the most open space there is,” replied Irina. “What about you? Why did you come here?”

“Death told me to meet a girl she picked to become Kamen Rider Apocalypse,” I said. “She originally hailed from the Simpson’s world. Oddly enough, she tried to keep the chaos to a minimum there.” A portal then opened and let a teenage girl through. Her skin was the palest I have ever seen, as white as Tonje’s hair! Her jet-black hair was adorned with some black flower ornament with a tiny skull in the center. She was in a school girl uniform, colored grey with white in the ascot and massive number of petticoats of her skirt. Seriously, her main skirt may have reached as far as her calves, but the petticoats made it spread out to the side! She had to rest her arms on it! “Er…Lacey Thanatos, is it?”

“That’s me,” confirmed the girl. “And you’re Megumi?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“I’ll…uh…leave you be,” said Irina. She left, and Lacey and I engaged in awkward silence.

“So…uh,” I began, “did you have a nice journey?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Nice and smooth.” More awkward silence.

“Er…so…” I stammered. “What brings you here? Death never told me why you’re visiting.”

“I came here to give you a list of sorts,” answered Lacey, “relating to the Tarlaxians.”

“Like Turretorg?” I asked.

“Yes,” confirmed Lacey. “It contains the names of the Tarlaxians under Lord Vortech’s control.”

“How did you get something like that?!” I quizzed. “That must have been risky to get it!”

“Well, my initial mission was,” replied Lacey. “But, you’re a busy woman. I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re one of the people said to beat Lord Vortech, as am I,” I assured. “I think sharing some secrets would be a good idea. Besides, Vortech’s activities are at a lull. I’ve got time for a story.”

“In that case,” began Lacey as we sat down, “let’s cue the wavy flashback.”

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

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 27

After the titles play again, a brief replay of the scene where we transmat up to the ship will remind us what happened. Dalek Transmats are unpleasant feeling, let me tell you right now. After that unpleasant trip, we all got out to make sure there weren’t any of those stupid pepperpots. We secured all the area needed. Madame Vastra, Strax, and I secured a northern corridor. Xiomara, Emmanuel, Hiroki, and Philip secured an eastern corridor. Jenny, Shōtarō, K-9, and Tonje secured a western corridor, and Irina and Sheela secured a southern corridor. It was awkward silence time, even with the steady noise of the ship. I never knew what made that noise around Dalek facilities and ships. “That rhythm is starting to annoy me to no end!” hissed Strax.

“Save it,” I hissed back.

“Silence, girl!” snarled the Sontaran. That’s the disadvantage of being a clone race, like the Sontarans, you can’t tell the difference between genders. Back to the awkward silence. The Doctor was at work with a console in the junction we were securing.

“So,” I mused, “just making idle conversation here, I’m a tad bored, Commander Strax, if we were enemies and you, of course, beat me in battle as a Sontaran soldier, what would you do?”

“Well,” answered Strax, “given that you haven’t made any attempts to make an enemy of me, I find that situation unlikely. However, in a strictly hypothetical situation, of course, I would most likely submit you to each of the processes on Field Major Styre’s manual on human resistance to torture.”

“Styre?” I yelped, remembering the episode he starred and subsequently died in. “I didn’t realize he published.”

“Posthumously,” Strax explained. Madame Vastra shook her head.

“Brutes,” she muttered. “Michael, if you’re so bored, maybe you should find out what the Doctor’s doing?” I saw the irritation in the Silurian’s eyes.

“I…see your point,” I gulped. I headed over to the Doctor. I know, some men will call me a wimp. Tell me, would YOU argue with a lizard woman from the age of the dinosaurs you knew had eaten humans before? No? Didn’t think so. I leaned over the Doctor’s shoulder and cleared my throat.

“Tea time already, Strax?” asked the Doctor, not even looking in my direction.

“Okay, I’m a lot taller than him, for one,” I said, annoyed.

“Yes, but you have the potential to be brutish as him,” remarked the Doctor.

“Not true!” I argued.

“So, you’ve had no wars?” countered the Doctor.

“As ever, Doctor, the soul of tact!” I replied. “What are you doing, anyways?”

“Just figuring things out, as usual,” answered the Doctor.

“Anything I can do?” I asked.

“Not on this end, no,” muttered the Doctor. “I, on the other hand, just need to find the temporal origin of this ship…ah, got you!”

“You have answers?!” I asked. “Where and when did this ship come from?!” The Doctor didn’t answer, she just pulled out a laser spanner and messed with the transmat!

“And then one more pick-up before I shut this off for good!” she called.

“Doctor?! Answers?!” I asked. The Doctor said nothing as she and I shoved some plungers out of the way as they shimmered into view. Wait, plungers?

“Unauthorized computer access detected!” said the harsh, grating, metallic tones of the plunger’s owner. The Daleks had bypassed the guard positions we had set up by transmatting in their own ship! We were quickly surrounded.

“What?!” yelped the Doctor. “I wasn’t doing anything!” The transmat started smoking. “That was like that when I got here!” Xiomara and her group were herded aside to make way for someone I didn’t want to see. The horribly scarred remains of a man glided their way past. The person used a black Dalek skirt with white sensor globes to move, had a black shirt with only his right arm to his name, a control panel in front of him, sunken in, fried shut eyes with a single blue orb in his forehead to see, a metal cage around his scalp, silver shoulder pads, and a back rest. His hand was robotic in origin, one he most likely built himself after someone shot it off. He cracked a blackened smile as he clapped his robot eye on the Doctor.

“You might have a new face, Doctor,” he  in a voice that had was aided by a cybernetic voice box, “but I see you are still the same old prattling fool!”

“Davros,” hissed the Doctor. “Not so much a bad penny as a mad penny.”

“Oh, great, I meet the lunatic behind the existence of these dust bins,” I groaned. “I knew the Rani said you were involved, giving orders, but I didn’t think it was as part of the invasion force.”

“What have you done with the population of the Earth?” asked the Doctor.

“I have…given them new employment,” answered Davros as he turned to the Daleks. A horrible thought struck the Doctor.

“The Daleks!” she gasped. “They’re…?”

“Yes, Doctor,” chuckled Davros. “Your precious humans.”

“Necros and Satellite Five!” I called.

“Yes, making Daleks from human genetic material is hardly a good idea,” supplied the Doctor. “For a start, they may be driven mad by their own flesh and gain a concept of blasphemy. For another, it may spark another civil war.”

“Blasphemy?” asked a Dalek. “I have no understanding of the word! It is not registered in my vocabulary bank!” That made me arch an eyebrow.

“My mistakes on Necros and the mistakes made by the Emperor on Satellite Five have been corrected,” continued Davros. “Many qualities needed for Daleks are buried in all manner of life. What better way to unleash those qualities than to make Daleks? Silurians are cold hearted, Humans are divisive, and Sontarans are war-like; most excellent qualities.” He turned to the Daleks. “Confine them to the holding cells!” He glided away. “Whilst I reformat a Dalek production line to accept a Time Lord body.” The Daleks led us to our holding cells, even going so far as to put us in separate cells. That would tear Vastra and Jenny apart and the Daleks knew it.

“I know, I know,” sighed the Doctor as she came to her cell. “I’ll make myself at home, shall I?”

“Enter!” barked one of the Daleks.

“By the way,” snarked the Doctor as she did so, “I’d like a wakeup call at seven and two soft boiled eggs for breakfast.” Laser fields activated over the openings. “And plenty of butter on the soldiers!” called the Doctor as the Daleks trundled away. Well, most of them, one took the bait.

“Why would you need butter on soldiers like the Daleks?” it asked.

“Oh, please tell me Davros didn’t delete toast soldiers during your mutation!” I wailed.

“Not mutation!” argued the Dalek. “Purification! And the soldiers of toast shall be exterminated!” It trundled away.

“Not before the Sontarans destroy them first!” called Strax. I rolled my eyes.

“Daleks,” sighed the Doctor. “So predictable.”

“Madame,” I called to Vastra, “there is such a thing as toast in your time, right?”

“There is,” interjected the Doctor before Vastra could get a word in, “but the electric toaster hadn’t been invented yet.” She fiddled with some wires and deactivated the energy shields of our cells. She then blew on her new TARDIS whistle with said vehicle appearing. “And now that we know when and where this ship came from,” continued the Doctor, “we can stop this travesty before it happens.”

“You may know, but WE don’t!” called Philip.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” promised the Doctor as she opened the TARDIS. “Do cultivate a sense of urgency.” We entered the TARDIS and got to the controls. Philip, Shōtarō, Jenny, Vastra, myself, Hiroki, and Irina hung back while the rest worked the controls. Strax was clearly enjoying helping pilot the TARDIS.

“Doctor, it is a privilege to pilot this magnificent device with you to go to battle against an enemy such as the Daleks!” cheered the Sontaran nurse.

“Well, if things go well,” muttered the Doctor, “we should be arriving at their ancestral seat any second now.”

“Ancestral…” I began, then an unanswered question was answered. “SKARO?! We’re going to the Dalek home world?!”

“If things go right,” replied the Doctor. “And so far, nothing can go wro…” she didn’t get to complete that sentence as the TARDIS shook violently. “I NEED TO STOP SAYING THAT!”

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!” yelled Irina.

“TIME SCOOP!” shouted the Doctor.

“Not the Death Zone!” I wailed.

“No!” answered the Doctor. “Somewhere else!” We landed roughly. The scanner wasn’t working. “Drat,” hissed the Doctor. “We’ll have to poke around.” We stepped outside onto…what…? “It can’t be!” breathed the Doctor. “This isn’t possible!”

“We landed in the one place the Doctor shouldn’t have gone to, Trenzalore!” I whispered.

“Why?” asked Sheela.

“See that giant version of the TARDIS’s exterior?” explained the Doctor. There it stood, taller than Burj Khalifa. “Well, that is the TARDIS, but in the future. The interior dimensions are bleeding into the exterior in this time. Inside there is the late Doctor, may I rest in peace.”

“That’s your tomb?!” gulped Tonje.

“Yes, and I shouldn’t be here,” answered the Doctor. She saw a ledge. “This way,” she directed. We climbed the ledge. “Something tells me the answer to all this lies ahead inside the TARDIS.” As we traveled, we saw some Weeping angels, but they seemed scared, as if they were running from the Doctor’s tomb.

“Something doesn’t add up,” I muttered. “Trenzalore’s future was altered when the Time Lords gave you a new regeneration cycle. Why is this still here?”

“I can’t see that far ahead in my time stream,” answered the Doctor. That was when we heard footsteps. We turned to find ourselves surrounded by beasts. They were stocky humanoids, had the snout of a boar, four eyes, one on each side of the head, starting from the face, two sets of large ears, one over the other, clawed hands, and vestigial wing flaps around the arms. They had sharp teeth in a snarl.

“Tetraps?!” I yelped. “How did the Rani con these people again?!”

“I see you haven’t looked closely at these Tetraps,” called a voice. The Rani stepped from behind the rocks in front of the Tetraps. “I had traveled to Mondas to get the schematics for the earliest Cybermen and applied them to these Tetraps.” I looked closer to see some shiny parts under the fur. “Beautiful slaves, aren’t they?”

“You say that as if you expect a round of applause,” hissed the Doctor.

“Have a care, Doctor,” warned the Rani, “you are not here to play the clown!”

“Was it you that used the Time Scoop that brought us here?” asked Sheela.

“And it is here that I shall make my greatest experiment,” answered the Rani.

“Well, I apologize for the inconvenience,” quipped the Doctor, “not to mention my curiosity.”

“What do you want to know?” asked the Rani.

“What you’re doing in my future gravesite for a start,” replied the Doctor.

“I simply needed a good site for my newest experiment,” remarked the Rani.

“Would this experiment have anything to do with me?” asked Philip.

“It DID require you,” said the Rani.

“Did?” quizzed Shōtarō. “What made you stop using Philip?”

“I gathered the necessary data from the Daleks,” explained the Rani.

“Then, why are you making Gaia Memories?” asked the Doctor.

“My own needs,” finished the Rani. I was starting to get a little peeved.

“I don’t know as I like the cryptic remarks you’re giving here,” I snarled.

“Fine, I’ll explain,” sighed the Rani as she opened a gate. “Gaia Memories hold more than the powers and memories of things; they also hold the experiences of different species.” She held up a bluish-green Gaia Memory with an illuminated H. She then pressed the button.

“HUMAN!” announced the Memory.

“Is that why you fought us?” asked Emmanuel. “To gather data?”

“Not exactly,” answered the Rani. “I came to gather a species’ time stream.”

“I don’t follow,” admitted the Doctor. The Rani pulled out a white Gaia Memory with nothing on it.

“This is a blank Gaia Memory,” lectured the Rani. “When I install it into my TARDIS, I can read the memories of any species of my choosing. The only limit, however, is the Time Lords. For some odd reason, I can’t just plug this into my TARDIS and read my own species time line. My theory is that because we’re not supposed to know our futures, that limit carried over. So, I did something no TARDIS ever did, and went to Gallifrey’s future, where we’re nothing more than time streams littering our planet.”

“You’re insane! Gallifrey’s time locked! No one’s ever done that!” shouted the Doctor.

“Well, I did,” argued the Rani. “Now, of course, I’m familiar with the laws of time, so I told no one when I came back. It’s going to happen eventually, so why resist it? Before I came back, I stuck this blank Gaia Memory into the time streams of every Time Lord that will go extinct on Gallifrey. After that tedious trial, I discovered that not all Time Lords will die there. So, I travelled to other Time Lord’s tombs throughout the universe, even my own. The last one I visited was the Master’s tomb.”

“Does that Time Lord die as male or female?” I asked. “Just curious.”

“Spoilers,” interjected the Doctor, bringing up the memory of her wife, River Song. “In any event, you’ve proven your power to make Gaia Memories, but I can’t help there’s something a great deal more to visiting tombs and breaking the laws of time.”

“Really now?” asked the Rani.

“What are you doing making Gaia Memories like Davros with his Daleks?” asked the Doctor. “And what do you intend to do with them?”

“Tarsek, get over here!” barked the Rani. A Cyber-Tetrap lumbered forward and pulled out some equipment. “So far, I have 25 Gaia Memories, bar the Time Lord one. With this and the Zone Gaia Memory, I will initiate the Never-Ending Hell Maximum Drive with the Gaia Memories I created.”

“The Zone Gaia Memory?!” yelped Philip.

“You plan to conquer this universe?” called Shōtarō.

“Hardly,” scoffed the Rani. “Using the Maximum Drive, I intend to slice through the Time Vortex, undoing it and making it nothing more than a mass of energy.”

“A dimensional manipulator!” realized the Doctor. “You intend to turn our universe into a dimensional manipulator!”

“While you escape in your TARDIS!” I snarled.

“I shall be back, once the turbulence has subsided,” answered the Rani.

“But how will that work out for you in the long run?” asked Sheela.

“Because I intend to make my own universe,” replied the Rani. “That’s why I used the time scoop, to get to your tomb, Doctor.”

“You know of my habit of having companions,” quizzed the Doctor. “Why are these people involved?”

“Workers are required in my new universe,” answered the Rani.

“You have the Cyber-Tetraps,” I pointed out.

“And Vortech can give you minions,” continued Xiomara.

“The Cyber-Tetraps are needed for my military police,” dismissed the Rani, “and Vortech had his usefulness fulfilled.”

“I see,” realized the Doctor. “Turning this universe into a dimensional manipulator will make the Foundation Element lose power, forever frustrating Vortech’s plans. This whole thing was a means to an end for you.”

“Now that you understand the experiment,” declared the Rani, “I need access to your tomb.”

“I don’t think so!” snarled the Doctor.

“Drivers ready!” I called.

“JOKER! CYCLONE!” announced Philip and Shotaro’s respective Gaia Memories.

“Henshin!” we called.

“CYCLONE! JOKER!” shouted the W Driver All riders were in their suits with Phillip safely out of harm’s way.

“I’m hardly scared,” taunted the Rani as she pulled out her belt and strapped it on. She then pulled out the Eternal Memory and pressed the button.

“ETERNAL!” it called. She then put it into the Memory slot.

“Henshin,” she announced and tilted the Memory slot.

“ETERNAL!” repeated the Memory. Her suit formed and Kamen Rider Eternal stood there.

“We keep the Rani out of the Doctor’s tomb at all costs!” I commanded. The Doctor managed to get in to reinforce her…er…casket if you will. With the Cyber-Tetraps pushing us back, Eternal strode towards the tomb. W did a last-ditch maneuver by pulling out the Joker Memory and putting it in the Maximum Drive slot.

“JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the Memory.

“Joker Extreme!” called W in both Shōtarō and Phillip’s voice. W then leapt into the air and extended both of his feet. He then split in half! First the Joker half struck her, then the Cyclone half. The two halves reunited, thank goodness, and I prepared my attack. I inserted my i.d tag into my blade and converted it to rifle mode.

“Final attack!” yelled my weapon.

“RIDER BATTLE BLAST!” I shouted. The shot hit the ground, ending in a large explosion. I chuckled. “No way is she getting up from that,” I boasted. The smoke cleared. The Cyber-Tetraps were lying dead, but Eternal still stood. She charged after the Doctor! “STOP HER!” I yelled. She entered the tomb! I got in to see Eternal toss the Doctor aside and smash the console open. The rest had caught up.

“What is that?!” called Sengoku as he pointed to a mass of blinding white light in the shape of many strings huddled together.

“That’s the Doctor’s time stream,” I explained. “All Time Lords break down to become their time streams. Leaving bodies behind is passé to them.” Eternal then jabbed the incomplete Gaia Memory into the Doctor’s time stream. She then pressed the button, causing the Doctor to clutch her head in pain. Eternal then extracted the Gaia Memory as it changed colors. It was as red as the planet Gallifrey and had an illuminated T. Eternal did a test and pressed the button.

“TIME LORD!” announced the Memory.

“Finally!” giggled Eternal. “Now I can begin!” She fled to the top of the tomb and pulled out another Gaia Memory. It had an illuminated Z on it. She pressed the button and put it in one of her Maximum Drive slots.

“ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” called the Gaia Memory. That was when other Gaia Memories flew into the other Maximum Drive slots and went from A to Z.

“AUTON! BORAD! CYBERMAN! DALEK! ETERNAL! FENDAHL! GRASKE! HUMAN! ISOLUS! JAGRAFESS! KRYNOID! LAKERTYAN! MALMOOTH! NOTHING! OMNIPOTENCE! PLASMAVORE! QUEEN! REAPER! SONTARAN! TIME LORD! USURIAN! VOGON! WEEPING ANGEL! YETI! ZONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the Gaia Memories. Eternal then drew her knife as power flowed through her. We made it outside and saw her prepare her blade.

“This is it!” called Eternal. “NEVER-ENDING…!” She didn’t complete her sentence as something knocked the knife out of her hand. The object then flew over Philip’s body and converted him into data, sucking him up into itself!

“Don’t be alarmed!” assured Sengoku. “We’re about to see W use the Xtreme Memory!”

“The what?!” I asked.

“A bird-like Gaia Memory directly connected to the True Gaia Memory!” explained Sengoku. W then closed his belt, allowing a rather bulky, metallic bird to slide over the Cyclone and Joker Memories. The middle band started glowing as the belt opened again with the bird split in half, revealing a small turbine with an illuminated X.

“XTREME!” announced the belt. A small whirring noise, like a fan belt, was heard, followed by a small piece of epic orchestra. W then started pulling on the silver band dividing him and pulled it apart to reveal a white, crystalline middle section. The unibrow disappeared and in its place were X protrusions on each side of the head. He gained a set of shoulder pauldrons in the shape of sideways W’s. A sword and shield then appeared in his hand.

“What in the…?” yelled Eternal. W then grabbed the Heat, Joker, and Cyclone Memories, and two new ones, one was yellow with an illuminated L, the other was green with an illuminated P. He then put the Cyclone, Heat, yellow, and Joker Memories into the shield, then put the green one into the sword hilt. The weapon then spoke.

“CYCLONE! MAXIMUM DRIVE! HEAT! MAXIMUM DRIVE! LUNA! MAXIMUM DRIVE! JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE! PRISM! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the weapon. If I were to go on the letters, I’d say Luna was the yellow Memory and Prism was the green one. W then drew the sword out with colors flowing around it. He tossed the shield in the air and jumped, landing on the spinning shield and flying towards Eternal.

“BICKER CHARGE BREAK!” called W in both voices. When he reached Eternal, W swung the sword at her, the energy causing a lot of her Gaia Memories to shatter. The only ones that survived were Yeti, Dalek, and Eternal. Speaking of, Kamen Rider Eternal couldn’t handle the exploding Gaia Memories and keep her balance near the edge of the tomb’s roof, and so she fell.

“Saa, jigoku o tanoshimu!” called  Sengoku. Eternal’s suit had disappeared, revealing the Rani as she started glowing yellow. “What the?!” gulped Sengoku as we cancelled our transformations.

“Time Lords have a way of cheating death,” explained the Doctor. “Whenever an old body gets frail or is too badly damaged, our DNA rewrites itself and our cells rearrange themselves to make a new body. The side effect is that our personalities can change as well.” The Rani stood up to glare at us, then she stumbled to a small mausoleum. She fumbled for a key, leading me to believe the mausoleum was the Rani’s TARDIS. Before she put the key in the lock, her regenerative energy exploded as her face and body morphed. She grew a few inches, her chin and nose were pointed, her hair pulled back to reach her shoulders in a 50’s bob and it darkened to brown. The light died so we could see her pale skin and emerald eyes, piercing into our soul.

“I only had that body for fifty years!” she snarled in an Irish accent. “Do you have any notion what you’ve done?!”

“Stopped you from making a dimensional manipulator out of this universe?” asked the Doctor with a smirk.

“Sarcasm will get you nowhere, Doctor!” snarled the new Rani. She scuttled into her TARDIS and fled Trenzalore.

“You know,” mused the Doctor, “for once, I agree with the Rani. How about we leave this beastly place?” We were all in agreement. We still had to get to Skaro to stop the Dalek invasion. The Doctor piloted the TARDIS herself this time, muttering something about humans making the TARDIS jumpy, so I got a translation from what Hiroki said after the Rani fell. “Saa, jigoku o tanoshimu,” means “Now, enjoy Hell,” a perversion on W’s catchphrase. The TARDIS landed in an observation tower on a planet with sand everywhere, red skies, and no plant life to speak of. The buildings were metallic in nature.

“So, we’ve made it?” I asked.

“Daleks conquer and destroy!” screeched a voice I’m familiar with.

“Skaro,” replied the Doctor, “home of the Daleks. It looks like they’ve been busy too. Last time I was here, this place was in ruins.”

“After the sewers revolted?” I asked.

“You mean the sewers of Skaro are revolting?” asked Emmanuel, trying to understand the grammar I used. I shook my head, confusing the poor man.

“The Dalek word for sewer is the same as the word for graveyard,” I explained. “The creatures inside the tanks are genetically hardwired to live, no matter the condition. But, even they’re not immune to aging. Overtime, the creature breaks down, rots, decays, liquefies.”

“And so, the still fresh Daleks rip the old ones out of their casings and drop them into a sewer?” guessed Xiomara. She shuddered when I nodded. “Remind me never to consult them for retirement plans.”

“We need to get down,” I observed.

“Right!” called the Doctor. She grabbed a Dalek arm from a broken casing. “This Dalek manipulator arm should be compatible with that control switch.” K-9 moved to speak. “No, it’s not a plunger, before you ask!”

“Master!” warned K-9. “Daleks are patrolling on the ground below us!”

“And watchtowers are scanning for intruders,” I continued.

“Stealth is key, then,” remarked the Doctor. We managed to slip past the watch tower and found ourselves at the edge of a green river. There were stepping stones across the way. “Watch your step,” warned the Doctor as she tested one out. “I don’t fancy taking a dip in a pool of toxic Dalek waste.” As we crossed the river of radiation, we noticed a control panel that was allowing toxic waste to fall across our path. “Step aside,” called the Doctor. She found the pipe flow controls and redirected the waste into a gaggle of Daleks down below, allowing us passage. “A simple case of reversing the polarity,” chuckled the Doctor. “Even a pudding brain could’ve handled that.” We noticed that the path had laser walls that switched on and off at different intervals, so we timed our way through the walls. We made our way to the lift, but a black Dalek was guarding it. We stayed out of sight.

“If only we could bluff Daleks,” I muttered.

“What about the old hacking method?” asked the Doctor as she got to work on a control panel. The Dalek then started spinning.

“DIZZY! DIZZY!” it yelled. It then exploded, clearing the way for us.

 “Going up!” called Irina. We climbed onto the lift and went up. On the roof of the building was a machine that had a Dalek skirt with a big globe on top. There were no weapons to speak of and a grey hexagonal eye in the center. The globe opened to reveal Davros.

“Welcome to my new empire, Doctor,” he announced. “It is fitting that you should be the first to fall to the power of the Daleks!”

“Drivers ready!” I called. Shōtarō and Philip brought out their Gaia Memories. Philip then went a safe distance away from any Daleks that will inevitably surround us.

“JOKER! CYCLONE!” said the two Gaia Memories.

“Henshin!” we all called.

“CYCLONE! JOKER!” announced the W Driver

“Kamen Rider Sengoku!” began Sengoku, “You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”

“Kamen Rider Climb! Mountains are a warrior’s best friend!”

“Kamen Rider Claw! My weapons shall turn you into ribbons!”

“Kamen Rider Arch! My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

“Kamen Rider Seeker! It’s not gold I seek, but your end!”

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

“Kamen Rider Battle! For friends and family, I shall be victorious!”

“Kamen Rider W! Saa, omae no tsumi o kazoero!” The Doctor had a bit of trouble coming up with a catchphrase.

“Er…I am the Doctor, the healer of time and space!” …Awkward silence. “Er, anyways, nice to see you again, Davros. Surely, you must be running out of escape pods by now?” That was when a TARDIS materialized in the shape of some Dalek equipment. The Rani stepped out in a new outfit, simple pants, a simple shirt, and a lab coat. She brought the Daleks with her.

“GET THEM!” she roared.

“All hail Davros!” called a Dalek.

“I’ve got something up my sleeves, but I need cover!” yelped the Doctor.

“Everyone, we protect the Doctor at all costs!” I declared. We started fighting the Daleks before the Rani joined the fray.

“ETERNAL!” announced her Gaia Memory.

“Henshin!” she called as she put the Memory into her belt and activated it.

“ETERNAL!” said the Memory as her suit formed. She drew her knife and attacked me! I kept blocking with my sword.

“Come now, ma’am,” I taunted. “Surely you don’t want your childhood destroyed!”

“Irrelevant!” replied Eternal. “You ruined the greatest experiment ever!”

“You were going to turn your universe into a dimensional manipulator!” I argued. “You would take the Doctor’s place as the last of the Time Lords! That was Hell, even for a wanderer like the Doctor!”

“Unlike the Doctor, I could have lived with it!” hissed Eternal.

“Forgive me if I’m skeptic!” I replied. Davros continued monologuing!

“After all this time,” called the lunatic, “finally, my Daleks will take their rightful place!” The Doctor made a pylon powering Davros’ throne explode, making him jolt. “You will not be so fortunate next time!” promised Davros. “Attack them, my Daleks!”

“They’re trying to do so!” taunted Strax. “Let me say, they’re hardly the best examples of warriors.”

“You say that as if this is war!” laughed Seeker. “Señor Strax, this isn’t war, this is sport!”

“Of course, the conquistador would say that!” I joked.

“I’ll get you later for that, Michael!” said Seeker hotly, as she converted her blade into rifle mode. She then put her i.d tag into the rifle.

“Do not anger me!” warned Davros. “You are a pathetic insect against my Dalek creations!”

“Final attack!” announced Seeker’s weapon.

“RIDER SEEKER BLAST!” called Seeker. She then shot another pylon, making Davros quiver again.

“Stop that!” he roared. Eternal put her Gaia Memory into the knife.

“I should have done this when I fought W,” she muttered.

“ETERNAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the Memory. W started going into spasms as he went grey.

“Eternal Requiem,” called Eternal as she brought the blade down on W. The Gaia Memories flew out and W’s transformation was cancelled. Philip woke up and got Shōtarō out of danger. That was when a pale gray, mechanical velociraptor jumped into Philip’s hands. Shōtarō smirked.

“Reckless, as always, I see,” he mused as he pressed the button on the Joker Memory.

“JOKER!” called the Memory. Philip did some fancy folding on the raptor to reveal that the tail held a Gaia Memory with an illuminated F.

“FANG!” announced the Memory.

“Henshin!” called the two men. This time, Shōtarō put the Joker Memory in first and passed out. It appeared in the left-hand slot of Philip’s belt as he put the Fang Memory into the right-hand slot and tilted it. The rest of the Fang Memory became a raptor head with a horn on the snout as the W Driver opened.

“FANG! JOKER!” announced the Driver. The suit was a little different to say the least. It was white on the right half with the Joker colors on the left. It was a little spikier than the original.

“Time to go for the finisher!” snarled W. He pressed the horn three times.

“FANG! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” announced the W Driver

“Fang Streiser!” called W as he performed a flying roundhouse kick, which projected the head of the Fang Memory biting down on Eternal and the pylon she was in front of. The Eternal Memory flew out of the belt before shattering completely, cancelling the Rani’s transformation. The pylon blew up, making Davros jolt again.

“A foolish error on your behalf!” boasted Davros. “Daleks, EXTERMINATE!” The Daleks fired. “This will be my ultimate victory!” ranted their creator. “You cannot stop it!” He then noticed something. “Wait, where’s the Doctor?!”

“Oh, don’t mind me!” called the Doctor. She was fiddling with a control panel.

“NO!” shouted Davros. “YOU HAVE CONFOUNDED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!! I WILL DESTROY YOU AND THE MISERABLE, INSIGNIFICANT PLANET THAT IS EARTH!”

“I think you said that a while ago,” I observed. We kept the Daleks busy. “Doctor, what are you up to?” I asked.

“A little messing around,” explained the Doctor. An image of her face popped up on the screen.

“What are you doing?!” shouted Davros. “CEASE AT ONCE!! THE DALEKS ARE MEANT TO OBEY ME! THEY! WILL! OBEY! ME!”

“For future reference,” called the Doctor as she finished, the image on the screen changing to that of Davros, “it’s a really bad idea to route all your targeting software through a single computer node!” The Daleks then started shaking as if they were resisting movements but couldn’t.

“Weapons targeting is being overridden!” reported a Dalek. “I cannot control! I cannot control!” The Daleks started haphazardly firing on Davros and the Rani!

“Oh no, I’m not wasting this regeneration!” yelped the Rani. She scuttled into her TARDIS and fled.

“No! Stop! I AM YOUR CREATOR!” shouted Davros.

“We cannot override the Doctor’s commands!” screamed a Dalek.

“CURSE YOU, DOCTOR!” shouted Davros.

“That’s the first time he ever said that specific phrase,” I observed. There was a massive explosion in the sky as Davros started going up.

“And that’ll be your fleet exploding, Davros,” revealed the Doctor. We turned on our heels, after the Doctor blew on her TARDIS whistle. “I hope you’re well insured. See you next time, Davros.”

“DALEK!” announced a Gaia Memory voice. As the TARDIS reappeared, we turned to see Davros put a Gaia Memory into a Dalek gun from his chair. “DALEK! MAXIMUM DRIVE!”

“DALEK EXTERMINATION!” roared Davros. A single blue bolt of light flew towards us. We got out of the way…well…all but Kamen Rider Climb. She was hit by the blast.

“IRINA!” I shouted. The rest is a blur, your Highness, but we put her in stasis for the trip here.