Tag: megumi hishikawa

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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 22

I could not have asked for smoother sailing. We were approaching Foundation Prime and Megumi was nowhere in sight. I toured the Dominus, looking at each bulkhead, each door, each tiny rivet that propelled me to victory. It was a leisurely tour, no need to rush victory. A couple of Engineers saluted me as I passed. I returned the salute and they returned to the minor maintenance needed to make the ship more efficient. A Combatman approached me.

“YEE! YEE!” (We’re approaching the coordinates. All Sources have unlocked the way for us.) he reported.

“Splendid,” I praised. “I shall be on the bridge to witness our victory. Once we enter, begin a sweep for the Foundation Element pedestal. It should be intact.”

“YEE!” (Yes, Great Leader!) replied the Combatman. I strolled to the bridge as he hurried off to relay my instructions. When I arrived, the bridge crew was hard at work.

“Time to Universal Entrance?” I asked.

“Universal Entrance will occur in 20 rels!” reported the Dalek Operator at the helm.

“One minute,” translated Igura.

“Excellent,” I chuckled. Who needs Foundation Elements? The Sources will provide me the Foundation of All Universes far better than random trinkets.

“10 rels!” barked the Dalek Operator.

“30 seconds!” giggled Igura.

“Ah, I can just smell victory in our hands!” I sighed. “I tell you now, my sweet eagle, we shall…”

“Alert! Alert! Enemy fleet detected!” called out the Dalek Strategist. “Flagship has been identified as FNSS-01, Virginia!”

“WHAT?!” I shouted. The enemy fleet was projected onto the main viewscreen.

“A ground force is guarding the Foundation Element pedestal!” called Metalran. “It’s the Vortex Riders!”

“How did they get ahead of us?!” shouted Igura.

“Save the speculations for later!” I ordered. “Raise shields and charge weapons!”

“Er, guys!” I gulped as I saw the enemy charging their weapons.

“We see them!” replied Scorpainia on her ship. “All ships, engage the enemy!” Our fleet unleashed a volley of laser and torpedo fire. I looked at everyone on the ground with me.

“Minna-san,” I began, “if, by some random chance, we don’t get out of this alive…”

“Then we still make sure we continue the fight!” insisted Emily. I smiled.

“Hongo-san, if you please,” I directed. Hongo struck his pose.

“Rider…” he began.

“HENSHIN!” we all announced. The Chronicle Drivers of our new members went through their jingles.

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Hammer of Slam!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Roller of Turf!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Crossbow of Striker!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Keyblade of Lux!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Shield of Highland!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Scepter of Crown!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Rifle of Range!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Wrench of Construct!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Spear of Lance!”

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Staff of Crescent!”

“The enemy ground forces have changed into their Rider Personas!” reported Tac Ops.

“Then prepare our own,” I ordered. “All Riders, we’re going in!” Cyber-Leader Gi dialed in the first three prime numbers on her phone and held it to her ear, I drew my guns, Gorshagh grabbed the Kiri Zecter, and Igura struck her pose.

“Nova…” she began.

“Henshin!” we announced.

“Henshin!” repeated the Kiri Zecter.

“Adaptus: online,” reported Cyber-Leader Gi’s phone as she turned it into her buckle. We all became our Kamen Rider personas.

“All ground forces ready!” reported Tac Ops.

“Beam us down!” I ordered.

“They’re coming your way!” warned Scorpainia.

“Welcome back to Foundation Prime!” I greeted Rogue. “You know, lately, there’s a new Rider from Build’s era with the same name as you. Wouldn’t you say that would cause confusion?”

“Last I checked,” remarked Rogue, “that Kamen Rider is dead.”

“Not what I saw in Build’s show,” chuckled Sengoku. “I think a guy called Killbas restored his memories once the Build Riders came to the main Kamen Rider world.”

“I’ll take care of him later,” dismissed Rogue. “Right now, I have major annoyances to deal with! Kamen Rider Rogue! Stand and deliver!”

“Kamen Rider Adaptus,” announced Cyber-Leader Gi. “Hostile elements will be deleted.”

“Kamen Rider Kiri!” growled Gorshagh. “I shall bring ruin to you!”

“Kamen Rider Talon!” called Igura. “You will pay dearly!”

“If it’s catchphrase time, it’s catchphrase time!” I declared.

“Kamen Rider Outback!” called Joshua. “Better watch your backs, mates!”

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

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

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

“Kamen Rider Clash!” proclaimed Livia. “A duel with me shall end in your defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Climb!” cheered Irina. “Mountains are a warrior’s best friend!”

“Kamen Rider Gallop!” declared Mikhail. “My riding skills are unmatched!”

“Kamen Rider Sengoku!” called my brother, Hiroki. “You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”

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

“Kamen Rider Guard!” proclaimed my fiancé, Richard. “None shall harm my friends, family, and lady!”

“Kamen Rider Touché!” cheered Emily, my future sister-in-law. “En Garde, thing of evil!”

“Kamen Rider Zhànshì!” declared Haitao. “Try and stop my quest!”

“Kamen Rider Arch!” called Emmanuel. “My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

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

“Kamen Rider Seeker!” proclaimed Xiomara. “It’s not gold I seek, but your end!”

“Kamen Rider Battle!” announced Michael. “For friends and family, I shall be victorious!”

“Kamen Rider Slam!” shouted Colleen. “I’ll be bringing the pain!”

“Kamen Rider Turf!” called Jason the Inkling. “I shall claim this turf in victory!”

“Kamen Rider Striker!” proclaimed Alesandro. “None shall delay victory!”

“Kamen Rider Lux!” announced Mickey Mouse. “The light of imagination shall show the way!”

“Kamen Rider Highland!” cheered Liam. “It shall be a fine day for winning!”

“Kamen Rider Crown!” declared Princess Peach. “My strength will upend your tyranny!”

“Kamen Rider Range!” called Victor. “I’ve got you right where I want you!”

“Kamen Rider Construct!” declared Dell Conagher. “Let’s do this Texas style!”

“Kamen Rider Lance!” cheered Moon-kyung. “The softest bloom can be the deadliest!”

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

“Kamen Rider Herald P!” called Flora.

“Kamen Rider Herald Y!” proclaimed Brenden.

“Kamen Rider Herald O!” cheered Charline.

“Kamen Rider Herald G!” announced Amelia.

“Kamen Rider Herald B!” shouted Sophie.

“We bring news of your defeat!” they called together.

“Kamen Rider Death!” whispered Death. “You cannot delay your appointment with me!”

“Kamen Rider War!” shouted War. “This battlefield is mine!”

“Kamen Rider Pestilence!” wheezed Pestilence. “You shall be infected with losing!”

“Kamen Rider Famine!” declared Famine. “I shall starve you of victory!”

“Kamen Rider Apocalypse!” announced Lacey. “Your world shall end!”

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

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

“I’m Batman!” rasped Batman. “The Dark Knight rises!”

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

“KILL THEM!” ordered Rogue. Our armies clashed as we struggled to keep the Sources away from the pedestal.

“Alert! Alert!” called Operator 5579898. “Propulsion systems disabled!”

“Main Fusion Cannon power cells now recharging in 7!” counted Drone 7427983. “6! 5! 4!”

“Battle computer suggests immediate withdrawal!” advised Strategist 3345987. Retreat?! From the Tarlaxians?!

“We will not retreat from inferior life-forms!” I, Supreme 0720974, declared. “Daleks conquer and destroy!”

“Daleks conquer and destroy!” repeated all Daleks aboard the Dalek-only saucer, the Jewel of Skaro.

“Fusion Cannon now online!” reported Drone 7427983.

“Open fire!” I ordered. “Immediately! IMMEDIATELY!”

“I obey!” confirmed Drone 7427983. The Fusion Cannon causes the individual atoms of the target to come together before a small particle of anti-matter makes the target detonate in a display that humans would call dazzling. I suppose I would call the destruction of the Tarlaxian ship beautiful as fire burned away that which was impure. While it was by a small fraction, the multiverse THAT now that much cleaner.

“We’ve lost the Armadillorg,” reported my tactical officer, Glaciandro.

“Status of enemy shields?” I asked.

“What enemy shields?” replied Glaciandro, his voice indicating he was ready to avenge those who gave their lives to protect Tarlax and the multiverse, especially since his sister was on that ship.

“Destroy them!” I ordered. He wasted no time in obeying my command. The enemy ship was destroyed, along with its fellow ships in the enemy fleet. They were at 400 when they arrived on Foundation Prime, now that number has been halved! We’ve only lost 100 of our ships and we were going to ensure that their sacrifices were NOT in vain!

“Well, well!” I taunted Rogue as we clashed. “Looks like things are crumbling around you, Oto-san!” (Father)

“I see it differently,” replied Rogue as he converted his guns into shōtō (Japanese short sword) mode.

“Have you gone senile?!” I yelped as I converted my gun to sword mode. “Rogue, your fleet is halved, your ground forces are halted, and your attempt to get to the pedestal is going up in smoke! Surrender while you can!”

“I don’t think so!” replied Rogue. “My fleet will still win the day, your ground forces are only 40 strong while mine are 600 strong, and you idiots didn’t check to see if the Sources have reached the pedestal!” I turned to see if what he was saying was true. …It was! The Sources were aligned with the pedestal! They powered the thing just like the Foundation Elements did and revealed a newly constructed green square! The Foundation of All Universes was back! “Perfect!!” cheered Rogue. “Bring the Apocalypse Riders to their respective sources!” The Combatmen then managed to wrangle the Apocalypse Riders and get them to their respective Sources. …Well…three out of five were successful. “Wait, what are you two doing?” asked Rogue.

“YEE!” (Putting the Apocalypse Riders at their respective Sources.) replied a Combatman.

“No, you’re not! Death is supposed to be at the blue one, not the purple one!” answered Rogue.

“YEE!” (They’re both blue!) argued the Combatman.

“…Can you two not see red?” asked Rogue. The Combatmen looked sheepish. “Look, just switch them, okay?”

“YEE!” (I told you we needed those optic upgrades!) snapped the other Combatman as they obeyed.

“YEE!” (Shut up.) grumbled the first Combatman. I struggled in trying to get the Combatmen holding me down off.

“Off!” I growled! “I said…”

“We don’t need to move, not yet,” interjected Batman.

“…Dude, WHY?!” I argued.

“Oh, yeah!” mused Lance in a faraway voice.

“You too?!” I hissed.

“Well, they MUST have seen it done,” replied Battle.

“What are you…oh…OH!” I realized the mistake Shocker Rift made! Unfortunately, so did Adaptus!

“Disconnect the Apocalypse Riders!” she called.

“Are you malfunctioning?!” shouted Rogue.

“Disconnect them NOW!” insisted Adaptus. Just then, with just one hand, all Apocalypse Riders threw the Combatmen holding them aside!

“It doesn’t matter now!” laughed Rogue. “The Foundation of All Universes will be mine!” He continued laughing and laughing and laughing.

“The Horsemen are in total control of the Sources!” elaborated Adaptus. “They have some plan to set you back!”

“Impossible!” dismissed Rogue. “If they value their friends’ lives, they will obey!”

“NOW!” called Death.

“DAI SUPER CHARGE!” I announced. I managed to get a hand free and spun the wheel twice. My armor bulked up and exploded off of me to get my captors off while revealing my new form as Kamen Rider Vortex! My former captors were knocked into Batman and Gandalf’s, so they got up and fought off the others so everyone could be freed. Death and her friends put both hands on the Sources and gave more energy to them.

“WAIT! NO! STOP! THAT’S TOO MUCH!” wailed Rogue. Too late. The energy the Sources were putting out separated the Foundation of All Universes into four fragments once again and scattered them to four different directions. “No! No! Nonononono NOOOOO!” wailed Rogue before he slumped to his knees. “…What just happened?!” he asked uselessly.

“Did you really think we’d let you have the Sources without having a back-up plan?” asked Apocalypse.

“We had our suspicions that you would try and control us with a hostage situation,” explained Death, “so we asked Megumi, during prep, to keep her Vortex form on standby.”

“I have to admit,” I supplied, “I was a little confused when they asked that, but I can’t argue with the results!”

“So, when the time came,” finished War, “we’d upend your plans and cause some severe damage to your tiny empire!”

“I’VE HEARD ENOUGH!” roared Rogue as he performed his poses. “DAI SUPER CHARGE!” His armor then changed into dark purple and black as it bulked up before exploding off of him, turning him into Kamen Rider Rift! He summoned his Rift Breaker as I summoned my blade and we clashed viciously! “Why do you insist on interfering?!” roared Rift. “We are bringing order to chaos!”

“Have you learned nothing from Vortech?!” I protested. “You can’t have order without chaos! Read some Berlin! You might learn a thing or two!”

“I presume you’re talking about the idiot that babbled on about ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ liberty?!” growled Rift.

“Hey, that man got away from Stalinist Russia and got a safe distance away from the Nazi invasion of Britain!” argued Guard.

“I may need to read his work,” mused Kämpfer.

“You’re not going to survive that long!” roared Rift. He holstered his guns before pulling the triggers and leaping into the air. I then spun the wheel and leapt into the air; my target identified.

“Final attack!” announced my belt.

“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” I shouted.

“RIDER RIFT KICK!” shouted Rift. He was aiming for the Sources while I aimed for his belt. Our feet temporarily connected as we pushed against one another in the air.

“How do modern Riders DO that?!” asked Ichigō.

“Still trying to figure that out,” replied Sengoku. We continued pushing and pushing and pushing until…my foot went past his and smashed the Rift Driver! He fell, exploding, then tumbling out of the explosion as Adachi Hiro. The ruined remains of the Rift Driver fell after him. He scrambled to pick them up in a panic.

“Driver! Driver, say something!” he wailed.

“Hiro…”groaned the Rift Driver, “these are…my last words. …First of all…screw you! You never…valued my advice. Second…I should never have…found your universe. It looks like I just caused…chaos all around the place…by you reverse-engineering…me. Third…you ARE obsessed with her! As such…you no longer deserve…my power!” The Rift Driver then, for lack of a better term, died. Hiro still cradled the remains of his old belt.

“I say this only one last time,” I declared, “surrender!”

“…Abandon Foundation Prime,” Hiro ordered over the comms. His men looked at him. “All ground forces, return to the ships. We cannot take this universe with the Vortex Riders as they are with the numbers we have. Abandon Foundation Prime.” They were beamed aboard their remaining fifty ships. The ships then departed Foundation Prime as we were beamed aboard the Virginia. Turretorg was commanding the vessel while we were on the ground.

“Vortex, Touché,” he declared, “I return command to you.”

“Thank you, Turretorg,” I bid.

“A very fine command,” praised Touché.

“Thank you, Ma’am,” replied Turretorg.

“I believe that’s Foundation Prime all safe and sound,” mused Guard.

“Let’s not declare that until we confirm it,” advised Clash.

“Scorpainia,” I called over the channel, “any analysis on the enemy fleet?”

“They’ve retreated,” replied Scorpainia. “As Guard mentioned, all is well.”

“…How did you…?” I asked.

“The Communications Officer left the channel open,” answered Scorpainia.

“Ah,” I replied. I then turned to my friends. “Minna-san, it looks like our work is done.” We all powered down as I took command. “Helm, set course for Vorton, all possible speed.”

“All possible speed, you got it,” replied the helmsman. The fleet then took off for Vorton. Richard looked a little concerned.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

“My thoughts drifted to X-PO’s trial,” explained Richard.

“…Yeah, way to remind us,” I grumbled. “How’s the trial going to play out?”

“Similar to the Japanese system,” replied Richard, “but there will be a jury of 12 Cendeberons.”

“The best jurors in the multiverse,” I recalled. “Remind me who Elkrandek is? All I heard from you is that he’s a Tarlaxian.”

“Actually, he’s an immigrant,” corrected Richard. “I think Joshua would know him better as the Deer Imagin.”

“The WHAT?!” I yelped, recalling the time Heather went to various universes to make a new body for herself with functioning ovaries. The attempt failed, but it DID leave the Imagin with a chance to stay alive even though she doesn’t remember him. “WHY would Scorpainia…? Get me Scorpainia!” The Communications Officer got her. “Scorpainia, I DID tell you about the Deer Imagin, right?”

“Elkrandek, as he prefers to call himself,” replied Scorpainia, “is trying to get away from such dark thoughts. He’s passed the Bar Exam and has been an excellent defense attorney. He’s defended Turretorg when he was accused of murder and resorted to stay clean in his pursuit of defending his client.”

“…Well, if he’s changed, there’s nothing I can say about it,” I resolved.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 19

“I…I…” stammered X-PO.

“X-PO, is any of that true?” I asked. X-PO’s arms drooped as he gave up trying to hide it.

“Yes, it’s all true, I fudged the results,” he confirmed. I swear, I’ve never heard the F.N.S get so angry. They heaped the verbal abuse and threats of scrapping onto X-PO.

“URUSEI, MINNA!” (Everyone, shut up!) I shouted. I turned to X-PO, feeling rather hot from my currently sour mood. “Experimental Portal Operator, you owe us an explanation!” I demanded.

“…Guys, when was the last time we came together?” asked X-PO.

“When we just came back and I apologized to everyone for hiding my…!” I replied.

“No, I mean, before this adventure,” corrected X-PO. “When was the last time the F.N.S came here?”

“I wanna say for various dimensional excursions,” I mused.

“When we said our goodbyes after the Vortech Wars,” answered X-PO. “We were all in this room to say our goodbyes to our allies. Oh, sure, like you said, we met when we discussed the use of the Gateway for travelling to other worlds and seeing what happens, but, for some of us, we never used it! For some of us, we weren’t going to get an adventure! I…I wanted an adventure where people could live out history.”

“The Vortech Wars weren’t a fun time for us, even during the beginning!” snapped Emmanuel.

“Our loved ones were kidnapped!” continued Emily.

“We were almost killed MULTIPLE times!” snarled Tanisha.

“Some of us DID die!” interjected Rusty. Elphaba nodded.

“Some of us went on a crazy side quest that almost got everyone killed!” roared Irina.

“Gandalf, Batman, Wyldstyle, and I,” supplied Hongo, “felt lied to, cheated on, and disrespected when Megumi didn’t tell us about Vortech!”

“What in the name of all nine circles of Hell made you want ANY of that back?!” growled Richard.

“What I wanted was for you guys to be happy!” shouted X-PO. “I want you to be happy for me! I want me to be happy for you! I want us to come together and riff on bad movies! Celebrate a birthday! Be normal people! I want us to come together and feel like a family and not a bunch of war veterans! I’m not blind to what happened, but sometimes, I felt like the only thing keeping us as friends! I want that feeling back! I want things back the way they were!”

“No, that doesn’t justify a DAMN thing!” snarled Alesandro. “You gathered us here with a lie from long ago! You decided to play the long game with us and waited for some grand adventure! We’ve sent you numerous invitations for those things you mentioned. If you REALLY wanted to continue feeling that, then you would have accepted them! But, no! That wasn’t enough for you! You wanted to relive the glory days with the lies, the threats, the people getting angry with each other, things that some of us were trying to get away from! You’re only concerned with what YOU want! To be frank, I see no difference between you and what Death lectured about Vortech in her classes!”

“Still waiting on that essay on Skrandepede from you,” whispered Death.

“Dude, shut up,” grunted War.

“That’s…that’s not fair at all!” argued X-PO.

“I think what Alesandro said was VERY fair!” I hissed.

“I was NEVER going to put you in any danger!” insisted X-PO. “The adventure I had planned was just some haunted house malarkey! I would tell you guys of the supposed ‘Danger’ and you guys would solve it, and we’d have a big laugh! I never wanted you guys to be on Shocker Rift’s radar!”

“Then why did you hack into the Tarlaxian scout ship missions?” demanded Scorpainia. X-PO sighed.

“Technarain gave me a way into it,” he finally revealed.

“Oh, throw me into the warp core, why don’t you?!” snarled Technarain.

“Whoa! Hold on!” called Turretorg. “Technarain, you let him in?!”

“I couldn’t have the missions be unobserved,” replied Technarain.

“Is there some secret-keeping epidemic going on?!” shouted Scorpainia. I was about to say something when a certain… “vworping” noise, as Michael puts it, announced the TARDIS’ arrival. The Doctor, Sougo, Woz in his civilian form, and an old friend we made near the end of the Vortech Wars came out.

“Sandra Noman!” I cheered. “Long time, no see! What brings you to our side of reality?”

“The Doctor wanted me to confirm a finding she made,” explained Sandra. I then noticed the Doctor was wearing 3-D glasses.

“…Okay, what’s with the…?” I asked.

“Doctor, did you find Void Stuff?” asked Michael.

“I did! The Rose Clone is saturated with the stuff!” replied the Doctor. “During my more violent regenerations, I damaged the TARDIS, including its memory banks. I felt like I had seen the energy particles the Rose Clone has but couldn’t cross-check it…until I remembered Sandra Noman!”

“She visited the little house I made for myself,” continued Sandra, “and showed me what she found. I confirmed it was Void Stuff. The Rift usually acts as a passageway to other universes, but they usually skirt the edge of the Void. As such, you can’t get Void Stuff from the Rift. Believe it or not, the Rift is the long way around.”

“And the Void’s the shortcut?” I asked.

“Bingo,” confirmed Sandra. “However, anyone with sense would avoid the Void as it runs the risk of killing you. There ARE a few instances of people living in and travelling through the Void, I believe I’m right in naming the Pete’s World Cybermen and the Cult of Skaro., but they’re really rare.”

“So, it looks like the Rose Clone DID travel through the Void before ending up in the Rift,” answered the Doctor.

“But, Doctor, couldn’t it be Rose herself?” asked Michael.

“I checked,” replied the Doctor. “Rose is still with the Meta-Crisis me in Pete’s World.”

“So where did she come from?!” I snapped, finally getting annoyed with the mystery.

“That’s what we’re about to find out!” cheered the Doctor. “Brigadier, do you mind putting this into the Gateway computer?” She handed the Brigadier a flash drive.

“Very good, Doctor,” replied the Brigadier. He inserted the flash drive into the Gateway. The Doctor then keyed in a command.

“With the Void Stuff,” she explained, “we can find the temporal and universal origin of our guest. Rusty, mind getting her so she can figure out her origins?” Rusty grinned before replying.

“I obey!” she answered in her old Dalek tone. The Doctor flinched as Rusty headed off.

“I don’t think everything Dalek was purged when she came back,” she grumbled.

“So, Sougo-san, Woz-san,” I interjected, “what brings you here?”

“We ended up in your universe’s future and met your future self,” explained Sougo. “She handed me this before getting the Doctor involved.” He pulled out a watch similar to the one he used to transform into Zi-O but had a vortex on top and the year 2017 on it, the year the Vortech Wars started.

“I take it that’s the Royal Ridewatch?” I asked.

“Indeed, it is,” replied Woz. “I have a speech prepared for when Waga Maō uses it.”

“…I don’t…feel any different,” I muttered.

“Your future said that, because you went to different universes,” explained Woz, “the Ridewatch won’t take your powers.”

“You understood that?!” yelped Sougo. “I couldn’t make head or tails of it!”

“Oh…Rassilon!” swore the Doctor. A look of horror was clear on her face.

“Doctor, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I never realized…I mean, I thought it destroyed itself!” whispered the Doctor.

“What destroyed itself?” asked Michael.

“The Rose Clone…” answered the Doctor. “I’ve seen it before!”

“Where?!” quizzed Michael. She turned grimly after Rusty.

“She’s in danger!” she declared.

I looked in various rooms to find the Rose Clone. “Miss?” I called. “Oh, Miss?” I found her in the Observation Deck. “Miss! There you are!”

“Traitor!” she hissed, her back turned to me.

“…Pardon?” I asked.

“You betrayed us!” replied the Rose Clone.

“Who are you talking about?” I inquired. “Are you okay?”

“I am most certainly NOT okay!” snarled the Rose Clone. “I remember everything now!”

“What do you remember?” I quizzed. The Rose Clone then started laughing.

“I was fixed!” she giggled. “It fixed me! …But I came out wrong! Don’t you understand! I’M ALL WRONG NOW!” She then punched me in the gut, grabbed the gunstick in my left forearm, and ripped it out, leveling it at me!

“Give that back!” I shouted. “That’s dangerous!”

“I tried to smash the mirrors around here,” snarled the Rose Clone as she advanced on me, “but I still keep stinking and sweating and flooding myself with hormones! I hate this shape! Am I now doomed to look like the one who contaminated me?! One…just one! One directive! The primary order! Destroy and conquer! I had that left and now I am stuck looking like Rose Tyler! I was the last…but trust the Time-Lords and Daleks to make liars of us all! No one really died in the Time War, did they?! You know about that! You were made after me!” A grave suspicion formed in my mind.

“What…manner of creature are you?!” I gasped. As she advanced, I noticed the shadow she was casting morphed and changed, looking very similar to what I traveled in. She spoke, causing a memory to stir.

“My Jailer, Van Statten, called me Metaltron!”

“Rubbish!” called Michael when we heard that the Rose Clone was the former last of the Daleks. The ones heading to the Observation Deck were me, the Doctor, Sougo, Michael, Woz, and Batman.

“I hope you’re right; I really do!” replied the Doctor, “but the spatio-temporal origin came from my universe! 2012, the GeoComTex Vault, near Salt Lake City, the start of Barack Obama’s 2nd term as President of the United States! It would explain why she would constantly view that event when she got the chance!”

“Doctor, that’s absurd!” insisted Michael. “That Dalek killed itself when it discovered that Rose passed on more than her DNA. It exploded, remember?”

“It may have activated a hastily thrown together spatial-temporal shift,” argued the Doctor.

“What is going on?!” interjected Sougo.

“In 2012, just after the Last Great Time War between the Doctor’s people and a race called the Daleks,” explained Michael, “the Doctor locked onto a distress signal. It turned out the supposed Last of the Daleks sent it and it brought them into contact. The Doctor was in a period of extreme self-loathing because she thought she killed everyone. Seeing the Dalek sparked a rage in her, him actually, and became determined to make the Daleks extinct.”

“So, how did she kill it back then?” asked Woz.

“I didn’t,” answered the Doctor.

“What?” quizzed Woz.

“Like Michael said, the Dalek absorbed some of Rose’s genetic material to regenerate itself,” explained the Doctor, “but it absorbed more than that. It absorbed a bit of humanity from her, making itself believe it was contaminated. It couldn’t live like that, so it killed itself.”

“Doctor, it exploded!” insisted Michael. He then activated his comms. “Rusty, could you…”

“Bring her to me!” barked a voice. It sounded like the Rose Clone, but hatred laced the voice.

“…Bring who to you?” I asked, finally contributing.

“The Oncoming Storm!” came the reply. “Bring her to me!”

“We can talk about…” Batman offered.

“There will be no talking!” roared the Rose Clone. “Ka Faraq Gatri is behind this, I know it! The traitor to the Daleks is my prisoner! If the Predator is not within my sight, I will exterminate her! NOW BRING! THE DOCTOR! TO ME!” That word cinched it. Only a Dalek would threaten extermination. We hurried along.

“Sougo, Woz,” I suggested, “better transform.”

“Good idea,” replied Sougo. He brought out his Ziku Driver as Woz got his belt, the BeyonDriver, a black belt with a screen on the front and a green handle with a slot in it for the transformation trinket. Speaking of, the two men got their respective Ridewatch, or Miridewatch, in Woz’s case, while Michael and I got our i.d tags out. Sougo turned the Ridewatch’s face until it formed his helmet and pressed the button.

“Zi-O!” it announced. Woz just pressed the button on his Miridewatch.

“Woz!” it called. The two then inserted their respective trinkets into the slots on their belts.

“Action!” cheered the BeyonDriver as the Miridewatch opened. It then started playing snappy techno music while Sougo pressed the button on top and tilted the Driver.

“Henshin!” we all called. Woz pushed the handle with the Miridewatch to the BeyonDriver’s side, making it project his Rider form’s helmet onto the screen.

“Touei!” (Projecting!) it called. “Future Time! Sugoi! Jidai! Mirai! (Amazing! Time! Future!) Kamen Rider Woz! WOZ!!” Woz then became Kamen Rider Woz. Zi-O spun his Driver until it stopped and rang the bell.

“Rider Time!” it announced. “Kamen Rider Zi-O!” His suit formed as did mine and Michael’s. We arrived outside the Observation Deck. The Doctor led us through as she leveled her Sonic Screwdriver at the Rose Clone. The Rose Clone had taken Rusty’s gunstick out of the socket in her left forearm and was holding it at her while her hand was at the back of Rusty’s neck. She looked extremely angry.

“Hello again, Metaltron,” greeted the Doctor coldly.

“Don’t call me that!” snapped the Rose Clone. “That was what Van Statten did! You, on the other hand, you did THIS to me, didn’t you?! You made me into a clone of your pink and yellow companion!”

“I didn’t do anything, Metaltron,” replied the Doctor. “I thought you chose death.”

“How?!” wailed the newly dubbed Metaltron. “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!”

“Now that I have more data surrounding this, I have a theory,” answered the Doctor. “Your casing must not have been fully repaired to restore ALL functions. It somehow mixed the self-destruct mechanism with the emergency temporal shift programs. It destroyed your casing and a good chunk of you. It sent you through the Void until you somehow happened upon a path to the Rift and took it. The energies must have restored you into looking like Rose, thinking that the human DNA you absorbed was the default. Somehow, your mind was carried along for the ride.” Metaltron’s face contorted into further anger.

“This is all YOUR fault!” she accused. “I was ready to embrace oblivion, but YOU had to interfere! You’ve always been the one to hold the Daleks back, you AND the Time Lords! And now, since our coming back, you infected this one,” she indicated her hostage, “with the notion of Daleks NOT being supreme! You’ve destroyed her pure soul with the idea that life needs diversity to have any value! You…!”

“Let her go, Metaltron!” interrupted the Doctor.

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” roared Metaltron. “DALEKS HAVE NO NEED OF NAMES! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF SPEAKING THE WORD OF DALEK! ALL INFERIOR CREATURES SHOULD BE PROSTRATING THEMSELVES BEFORE US! YOU SHOULD BE BEGGING ME FOR YOUR LIFE! INSTEAD, I WILL FINALLY COMPLETE THE DALEKS’ GOAL OF EXTERMINATING YOU AND EVERYONE YOU EVER…!” Rusty ran her elbow into Metaltron’s gut and retrieved her gunstick, inserting it back into the slot. We got ready for a fight as Metaltron charged at us, her fists swinging wildly. She was acting on blind rage, so there was no form to her movements. We were just about to overpower her when someone pushed us aside and got Metaltron free. It was Caan! “RELEASE ME, MONSTER!” screamed Metaltron. “I MAY BE IN AN IMPURE STATE, BUT YOU ARE NOT FIT TO…!” She was interrupted as Caan pressed his thumb and pointer finger to her temples and seemed to induce something painful for two seconds. She gasped once the treatment ended. “…I thought you were a Time War myth!” she breathed.

“No, we were tasked with the survival of the Dalek species,” replied Caan. “Sec tried to change us but we stopped that nonsense real quick. Now, like you, I exist in a corrupted form. It DOES have its uses, though.”

“What were you doing outside of After Academy?!” I demanded.

“I needed to look something up,” explained Caan, “specifically, the creation of Gaia Memories and Ridewatches. I was denied this by Alesandro. I was about ready to destroy the school then and there, but then I realized there was another library, the Gaia Library. I completed my research there and recreated the Dalek Memory.” He revealed the Memory from his coat and pressed the button.

“DALEK!” it announced.

“So, what, you intend to recreate the Dalek Dopant through Metaltron?” I snarled.

“No, she doesn’t have the necessary connection to safely access that power,” answered Caan. “However, an Another Ridewatch doesn’t need that kind of equipment.” He pulled out a purple Ridewatch with a monstrous version of my helmet on it and pressed the button.

“Royal!” it called in a distorted voice. Caan then jammed the Ridewatch into Metaltron’s stomach, making her gasp in pain before a dark cloud surrounded her. “Royal!” repeated the voice as Metaltron turned into a monstrous version of me! Where the mouth guard was, two mouths rested there, a demonic sawblade replaced the wheel of my Vortex Driver, she had a tattered cape and skirt, the crown was rusty looking, and the word Royal was on her left arm while the year 2017 was on her right.

“Behold, Another Royal,” chuckled Caan. Another Royal then struck the same ready pose I usually do. We both attacked each other, matching one another blow for blow!

“Waga Maō,” suggested Woz, “I believe now’s a good time to test out the new Ridewatch.”

“Good idea!” praised Zi-O. He then rotated the Royal Ridewatch until it formed my face and pressed the button.

“Royal!” it called. He then put it into the left slot and pressed the button on the belt, tilting it. He spun the belt until it stopped and rang the bell.

“Rider Time!” it called. “Kamen Rider Zi-O! Armor Time!” Armor evoking me then appeared and attached itself to Zi-O while the Rider Katakana was replaced with “Royal” (ロイヤル). “Final Attack! Royal!” sang the Ridewatch. Woz gave a little giggle.

“What are you laughing about?” asked Zi-O. Another Royal and I stifled a giggle too. “You too?!” protested Zi-O. “Stop that! Look, Woz, would you just rejoice already?”

“Very well, Waga Maō,” chuckled Woz before he cleared his throat and began. “Iwae! Zen Rider no chikara o uketsugi, jikū o koe kako to mirai o shiroshimesu toki no ōja. Sono na mo Kamen Rider Zi-O: Royal Armor! (Rejoice! The one to inherit all Rider powers, the time king who will rule over the past and the future. And his name is Kamen Rider Zi-O: Royal Armor!) …This is the day where we find out you look good in a skirt, Waga Maō!” We couldn’t hold back any longer. Zi-O looked down to see that, below the Ziku Driver, he was wearing my skirt! We all laughed at him.

“It’s not a skirt, it’s a kilt!” argued Zi-O.

“Take it from me, THAT’S a skirt!” I laughed.

“Oh, get out of the way!” snapped Zi-O as he shoved me aside. I overlooked his rudeness just this once as he started fighting Another Royal. She summoned a demonic looking version of my weapon. I joined in and we continued the fight. Another Royal was keeping us at bay.

“Okay, we need to finish this quickly,” I declared. I took out my i.d. tag and inserted it into my blade. Zi-O pressed the buttons on the two Ridewatches.

“Finish Time! Royal!” called the belt. He spun the belt, making it ring the bell. “Steel Time Break!”

“Final Attack!” announced my sword.

“RIDER ROYAL SLASH!” I shouted as I swung the blade sideways. Zi-O leapt into the air and performed a Rider Kick. The attacks hit Another Royal and forced her to return to being Metaltron. The Another Ridewatch exploded, rendering it useless.

“Oh well,” sighed Caan as he picked up the unconscious Metaltron. “Best make another Gaia Memory using Rider.” He summoned a portal. “We WILL meet again when Vortech returns,” he warned.

“What are you talking about?!” I yelped. “The Rift Loop collapsed! Vortech’s dead!”

“Not what I see,” remarked Caan. “I see you fighting Vortech again. You, a red robot, and a black kitsune. Farewell. Try to survive tomorrow.” He went through the portal.

“COME BACK!” I demanded. Too late. The portal closed. I sighed in frustration and powered down. I REALLY didn’t want to be chasing after someone new. Still, at least the Sources were safe.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 23

The trial was about to begin. Miles Edgeworth of the Ace Attorney franchise met with us as Richard, Emily, Batman, Wyldstyle, Gandalf, Hongo, Rusty, Elphaba, and I were witnesses. “I understand this is hard,” he advised, “but I need you to stick to the truth in this case.”

“We are aware of what we need to do,” I replied. “I want to find the truth of why X-PO did all this.”

“That is my goal as well,” assured Edgeworth. “Hopefully, that is the Defense Attorney’s goal too.”

“The trial is about to begin,” called the Bailiff.

“Understood,” answered Edgeworth. He then turned to us. “Shall we?” We entered the Courtroom. The audience chatted amongst itself.

“All rise for the Honorable Judge Legowltor!” called the Bailiff. We all stood as a Tarlaxian with an owl motif took the Judge’s seat. He was a recluse, usually preferring to stay out of society in general because, in his head, society destroys impartiality. He only graces any sort of civilization with his presence when a trial needed someone so impartial.

“Please be seated,” he directed. We sat down as he pounded the gavel. “Court is now in session for the trial of the Experimental Portal Operator. Are the Prosecution and Defense ready?”

“The Prosecution is ready, Your Honor,” replied Edgeworth.

“The Defense is equally ready, Your Honor,” answered Elkrandek, the Deer Imagin. I noticed that he had a suit on.

“Would the Prosecution please give his opening statements?” requested Legowltor.

“As we are well aware,” began Edgeworth, “the witnesses and defendant are all veterans of the Vortech Wars that ravaged many universes, my own included.” I had no idea Vortech got that far. “The Feudal Nerd Society, as the witnesses usually call themselves, has been hailed as heroic for their actions against Vortech. However, there IS one thing to consider, what could possibly prompt a robot to alter results so the F.N.S would almost turn against each other? The Prosecution shall prove that X-PO has intentionally put the F.N.S in harm’s way to satisfy some sort of itch in his programming.”

“Thank you, Mr. Edgeworth,” bid Legowltor. “Defense, your rebuttal?”

“The Prosecution claims that my client did all this out of purely selfish reasons,” answered Elkrandek. “However, what seems to be ignored here is that a legitimate terrorist threat, one that he and the witnesses are familiar with, was about to take Foundation Prime. The Defense argues that necessity is the motivation and that he had no choice, thus leading to a plea of innocence.”

“Innocence because he lied out of necessity?” remarked Legowltor. “That is the Defense’s stance?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” confirmed Elkrandek.

“Now THIS, I have to see,” I muttered to myself.

“Very well, with all statements made,” declared Legowltor, “we begin with the first witness.” My cue. I took the Stand.

“State your name and occupations for the Court Record,” directed Edgeworth.

“Hishikawa Megumi,” I began, “leader of the Feudal Nerd Society, Freshman at After Academy, and part-time store clerk at Tentallia’s Groceries.”

“Ms. Hishikawa,” began Edgeworth, “you have known the Defendant for a while now, yes?”

“Known him for two years,” I confirmed.

“Has anything like this ever happened before?” questioned Edgeworth.

“Not to this extreme,” I replied.

“Could you elaborate on that?” asked Edgeworth. Testimony time.

“The original circumstances were that X-PO was planted inside Vortech and Hiro’s operation by the late Queen Vortoranii, the ruler of the now-extinct Vortonians,” I began. “He had brought 16 prototype versions of the Vortex Driver with him to increase surveillance. He was discovered and the 16 prototypes had gained intelligence that our parents and loved ones were taken hostage. X-PO had programmed a distress signal into them. He then programmed them to send us across the multiverse to find allies. When we finally found our allies, we had broken the Gateway and scattered the Keystones holding it up across five different universes. All that time, he was connected to the Gateway to extend his life. After testing out the Keystone that bonded to me and our first fight with Vortech, he explained why he found allies and brought us together; we needed to gather the Foundation Elements so we could get our loved ones out of Vortech’s clutches while he was on Foundation Prime. The rest is, quite literally, history.”

“Yes, the start of the Vortech Wars,” remarked Edgeworth. “Tell me, did he make any attempt to lie to you during that time?”

“No,” I answered. “He could get snarky at times, but that was the worst he could get.”

“Your witness,” offered Edgeworth to Elkrandek.

“Ms. Hishikawa,” pressed Elkrandek, “you began with my client being planted in Vortech’s operation by Vortoranii. Tell me, wouldn’t that require some amount of lying?”

“Not the lying that I was assaulted with,” I replied.

“To be frank, I see no difference,” declared Elkrandek.

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “History has proven, time and again, that intelligence gathering is necessary. Gathering intelligence on the enemy and fudging the results on your friends’ vote are two totally separate things!”

“Objection sustained,” replied Legowltor.

“…Very well,” conceded Elkrandek before continuing. “Ms. Hishikawa, tell me, did you not also keep a secret from your friends?”

“…A disgusting act,” I answered.

“You didn’t answer my question,” remarked Elkrandek.

“I did, and the guilt of it haunts me to this day,” I replied, fully answering him.

“Do you truly believe that this is any different than that?” quizzed Elkrandek.

“Objection!” declared Edgeworth. “The Defense is trying to lead the witness!”

“Your Honor, can we truly say that these two incidents are truly different in principle?” asked Elkrandek.

“I can, quite clearly!” I declared.

“Then if you could add such a statement to your testimony,” offered Elkrandek.

“The Prosecution has no objections to that,” replied Edgeworth.

“Request granted,” replied Legowltor.

“All right,” I resolved. “After it was revealed that I had kept a secret, I had an emotional breakdown and apologized immediately.”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Your Honor, there is evidence of a contradiction in that statement!”

“And WHERE, pray tell, is my contradiction?” I challenged.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the court,” began Elkrandek, “my client has offered something from his memory banks relating to that incident! With the court’s permission, I will show it! The police can verify that this was not tampered in any way!”

“No objections, Your Honor,” replied Edgeworth.

“Then, by all means, play on,” instructed Legowltor. Elkrandek pressed a button on the railing, making a screen come down. It displayed what happened after Hill Valley when we got off the Den-Liner.

“Yeah,” sighed Wyldstyle. “I think running away was the right idea.”

“That wasn’t running away!” protested Batman. “That was a…tactical retreat!”

“Remind me,” countered Wyldstyle as Gandalf decided to examine the apparatus on the Gateway, “what’s the difference?”

“There’s none,” affirmed the Brigadier as he and Rusty came up, having heard our arrival.

“Batman doesn’t run away!” protested Batman.

“Seriously?” I asked. “That’s the best defense for your fragile ego?”

“That’s not a difference,” observed Wyldstyle.

“Well, if you can’t see the difference,” hissed Batman, “then, maybe, that’s your failing!”

“You want to talk failing?” asked Wyldstyle. “Megumi’s a shining example!”

“Excuse me?!” I snarled.

“You didn’t tell us about Vortech!” explained Wyldstyle.

“She’s right,” agreed Batman. “You dragged us along for the ride! You knew about Vortech and how you got your belts! Why did you withhold that kind of information?!”

“You’re the last person to accuse me of withholding information!” I roared. “You’ve kept your countermeasures for the Justice League from your friends!”

“They’re gods among men!” protested Batman. “We need countermeasures!”

“You don’t need any for Vortech!” I argued. “This was supposed to be the F.N.S’ fight, not yours! Hongo decided to tag along and start us on this rift-hopping insanity!”

“Ichimonji was kidnapped right before my eyes, in case you forgot!” shouted Hongo. “I’m not going to sit and wait while someone inexperienced in Kamen Rider matters goes off to rescue him!”

“Well, if you can’t just be patient in terms of rescue,” I hissed, “maybe that’s your failing!”

“Says the one that used the Super Charge so recklessly after Hongo said not to!” called Emily.

“Oh, don’t you start!” I growled.

“In case you didn’t notice,” Emily pointed out, “your new form is as bulky as me! I’m used to my body weight because I trained myself, which is why I move as fluidly as I do! You don’t have any training of that kind!”

“I beat Hiro with it once before, remember?!” I argued.

“That was in a dream world,” countered Emily, “where anything is possible! You caught him off guard, and he prepared himself for the next encounter! He toyed with you back in Hill Valley!” The video then ended.

“I think it’s safe to say that Megumi is no different than X-PO when it comes to secret keeping,” remarked Elkrandek.

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “Your Honor, that incident does not correlate to what is being discussed today! Besides, the fact remains that the witness regretted her actions and apologized while X-PO tried to excuse his actions.”

“You have proof of X-PO excusing his actions?” asked Legowltor.

“As a matter of fact, I have a selection of witnesses who can attest to that fact,” replied Edgeworth. Elkrandek arched his eyebrow. “The one we can most rely on is…I never thought I’d say this in court…Batman.”

“…I trust this isn’t a joke?” asked Legowltor.

“No, Your Honor,” answered Edgeworth. “Batman is one of the witnesses.”

“Call him in, then,” instructed Legowltor. I sat down as Batman took the Stand. “You ARE familiar with the Identity Disclosure Act, correct?” asked Legowltor.

“I’m not under any obligation to reveal my true identity should I deem it too dangerous to my loved ones,” replied Batman.

“Good,” bid Legowltor. “Then please give your preferred name and occupation for the Court Record.”

“Batman, vigilante hero of the city of Gotham in the state of New Jersey,” answered Batman.

“Batman, it’s well known that you have a database of your allies’ weaknesses,” recalled Edgeworth.

“Yes. It’s been a source of contention amongst the Justice League,” confirmed Batman.

“If you can, could you tell the court what a typical entry entails?” asked Edgeworth. Testimony time.

“It usually consists of my observations of the subject written in note form,” began Batman. “Common knowledge, what the public knows about the subject, is also included. Sparring details are also on the entry. Videos are rare, but there ARE entries that have them. The Feudal Nerd Society handed me a warrant so I could gather information on them.”

“I presume that warrant is to avoid contention like you experience with the Justice League?” inquired Edgeworth.

“That’s correct,” confirmed Batman.

“Your witness,” offered Edgeworth.

“Why on Earth would the F.N.S allow you to spy on them?” quizzed Elkrandek.

“They said it would make them more comfortable that I have such a database rather than one of them,” explained Batman. “They told me they don’t feel their security is as tight as mine. As such, I recorded the most important aspects of what went on before today.”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Mr. Batman, I’m not sure if you realize this, but recording any organization, even if said organization is okay with it, is against After Academy law!”

“As I’ve mentioned, I have a warrant to do so,” argued Batman. “The F.N.S went out of their way to obtain the warrant from the Judicial Tribunal itself.”

“Is this warrant available on the Judiciary Data Store?” asked Legowltor.

“It should be,” replied Batman. “Look up Megumi Hishikawa as a start.” Legowltor did as advised and found the warrant I had obtained.

“Since this is, indeed, surveillance protected by a warrant,” declared Legowltor, “objection overruled.”

“Understood,” sighed Elkrandek.

“Batman,” continued Edgeworth, “since you were the subject of the recording we witnessed previously, tell us, did Megumi apologize?”

“She did,” confirmed Batman. “She made no attempt to cover it up. X-PO, on the other hand, tried to excuse what he did. I have visual evidence that, like X-PO’s memory, was examined by the police and determined not to be tampered with.”

“Let us see it,” directed Legowltor. The screen came down and Batman activated a projector from his eyes to show what happened after we had gathered all the Sources.

“What in the name of all nine circles of Hell made you want ANY of that back?!” growled Richard.

“What I wanted was for you guys to be happy!” shouted X-PO. “I want you to be happy for me! I want me to be happy for you! I want us to come together and riff on bad movies! Celebrate a birthday! Be normal people! I want us to come together and feel like a family and not a bunch of war veterans! I’m not blind to what happened, but sometimes, I felt like the only thing keeping us as friends! I want that feeling back! I want things back the way they were!”

“No, that doesn’t justify a DAMN thing!” snarled Alesandro. “You gathered us here with a lie from long ago! You decided to play the long game with us and waited for some grand adventure! We’ve sent you numerous invitations for those things you mentioned. If you REALLY wanted to continue feeling that, then you would have accepted them! But, no! That wasn’t enough for you! You wanted to relive the glory days with the lies, the threats, the people getting angry with each other, things that some of us were trying to get away from! You’re only concerned with what YOU want! To be frank, I see no difference between you and what Death lectured about Vortech in her classes!”

“Still waiting on that essay on Skrandepede from you,” whispered Death.

“Dude, shut up,” grunted War.

“That’s…that’s not fair at all!” argued X-PO.

“I think what Alesandro said was VERY fair!” I hissed.

“I was NEVER going to put you in any danger!” insisted X-PO. “The adventure I had planned was just some haunted house malarkey! I would tell you guys of the supposed ‘Danger’ and you guys would solve it, and we’d have a big laugh! I never wanted you guys to be on Shocker Rift’s radar!”

“Then why did you hack into the Tarlaxian scout ship missions?” demanded Scorpainia. X-PO sighed.

“Technarain gave me a way into it,” he finally revealed.

“Oh, throw me into the warp core, why don’t you?!” snarled Technarain.

“Whoa! Hold on!” called Turretorg. “Technarain, you let him in?!”

“I couldn’t have the missions be unobserved,” replied Technarain. The video ended.

“Quite honestly, I saw no attempt to, at least, apologize to Megumi and the F.N.S,” remarked Edgeworth.

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Your Honor, what I saw was that my client was forced into it by Technarain!”

“Objection!” replied Edgeworth. “Your Honor, there is a witness that is just as intimately acquainted with the Gateway’s Main Computer! Produce this witness and we produce the logs and find out who contacted who first!”

“Then let’s hear from this witness,” declared Legowltor. Batman sat down while Rusty took the Stand. “State your name and occupation,” directed Legowltor.

“Rusty, Secondary Operator of the Vorton Gateway,” replied Rusty.

“Ms. Rusty, how long have you worked with the Defendant?” asked Edgeworth.

“Only during the Vortech Wars,” replied Rusty. “However, I’m sent updates on Vorton’s conditions. Lately, I’ve had my function restored.”

“Perhaps you could tell us what your duties entail?” invited Edgeworth.

“General maintenance, computer defragmenting, virus scans, all things necessary to keep the Gateway operational,” explained Rusty.

“In the time you’ve known him,” continued Edgeworth, “has the Defendant ever tampered with the functions of the Gateway?”

“No, so it surprised me that he would do something like this,” answered Rusty.

“Was there any indication that he fixed the results of the vote?” asked Edgeworth.

“In all honesty, there was,” replied Rusty. “I’m just mad at myself that I didn’t notice it until Pup-X5 brought it to my attention.”

“If it pleases you,” invited Edgeworth, “tell us what that little hint was.” Rusty’s turn for testimony.

“There was a little bit of code that made absolutely no sense,” she began. “It registered as harmless to me, so I thought nothing of it. After Pup-X5 presented the findings of the original results and demonstrated a discrepancy between that and the current results before and after a computer defragmentation, I then pointed out the bit of code. Upon further examination, it was determined to be an algorithm that changed the results after defragmentation. My team had determined it to be the handiwork of X-PO.”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek.

“Now what?!” groaned Edgeworth.

“Your Honor, I have the investigator’s report on the Gateway computer,” explained Elkrandek. “There WAS an algorithm that did as the witness testified, however its origins are NOT of my client. The code works on an algorithm similar to those found within Pathweb, the shared datastore of the Dalek Empire! Considering the witness’ origins, it is safe to believe that she planted the idea into X-PO! Why, you ask? Because, at heart, she is still a soldier of the Dalek Empire!” The audience then started talking and Edgeworth was glaring at Elkrandek.

“ORDER! ORDER!” called Legowltor. The audience was still chattering about what Elkrandek said. “ORDER IN THIS COURT! I WILL HAVE ORDER!” The courtroom then went quiet.

“Your Honor,” called Rusty, “I can prove that I didn’t plant the idea into the Defendant!”

“Then you won’t mind a complete investigation into that theory tomorrow?” asked Elkrandek.

“Not at all! I will cheerfully cooperate!” declared Rusty.

“Then tomorrow’s proceedings will examine whether or not you did so,” resolved Legowltor. He banged the gavel. “Court is adjourned for today.” We all filed out of the room as X-PO was led to the Detention Center.

“I take it, you didn’t anticipate that,” I quizzed Edgeworth.

“No, I didn’t,” remarked Edgeworth.

“Typical,” I grumbled. “Whenever you or Wright are involved, trials go completely off the rails!”

“Hold it!” called Edgeworth. “I can hardly be blamed when a trial goes in a different direction!”

“It IS mainly Wright who does that,” supplied Batman.

“It doesn’t matter,” I resolved, “we need to get Rusty’s good name cleared.”

“And it will be, I promise you,” assured Edgeworth.

“I’m gonna hold you to that,” I replied.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 25

“First Rusty, now our magic users!” I grumbled on the last day of the trial.

“I thought Elkrandek was supposed to be better than that!” griped Richard.

“This is the last day of the trial,” replied Edgeworth. “We need to press on.”

“The trial’s about to begin,” called the Bailiff.

“Here we go,” I muttered. We entered the courtroom to hear the chatter of the audience.

“All rise for the Honorable Judge Legowltor!” called the Bailiff as Legowltor entered the courtroom.

“Please, be seated,” he directed. As we sat, he banged the gavel. “Court will now reconvene for the trial of the Experimental Portal Operator. This WILL be the last day as we need answers NOW.”

“The Prosecution is ready, Your Honor,” declared Edgeworth.

“The Defense is ready, Your Honor,” answered Elkrandek.

“The Prosecution will give their opening statement,” directed Legowltor.

“We all remember what caused a stir yesterday,” began Edgeworth. “The Defense claimed that magic had influenced the Defendant over time. The Prosecution is more than willing to disprove that theory.”

“Defense, your rebuttal?” requested Legowltor.

“Your Honor, we have examined the Defendant,” answered Elkrandek. “It looks like there was a crack in his power source’s shielding. Even if the Prosecution can prove that the F.N.S’ magic users were as responsible as they claim, that still doesn’t prove that magic didn’t affect my client!”

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “Your Honor, there IS a way to disprove the Defense’s theory.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear,” grumbled Elkrandek.

“We’ve examined all of Vorton and tested every member for stray magic,” continued Edgeworth. “One of the officers during the examination mentioned the crack in X-PO’s power source shielding, confusing Ms. Saunders and a Mr. Lukas Ackermann as they were being examined.” Elkrandek arched an eyebrow. “After obtaining a warrant from the police, the two gave us the Defendant’s examination records. They were verified, so we can easily confirm this is true. The most recent record was a few minutes after Ms. Saunders’ team returned from retrieving the Source of Pestilence. The Prosecution can assure this court that the Defendant had no crack in his shielding during that examination! Therefore, there is no possible way that magic has affected the Defendant!”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Your Honor, my client has told me otherwise and gave me a copy of those records!”

“Then they must be forged by your client to cover his tracks!” argued Edgeworth.

“The copy my client has given me was verified by the police, just like the Prosecution’s copy!” countered Elkrandek. “It was deemed correct!” That caused a stir, us witnesses added to the chatter.

“ORDER! ORDER IN THE COURT!” bellowed Legowltor as he banged his gavel. “How can both copies be correct?!”

“Your Honor, the Prosecution requests that both copies be examined!” called Edgeworth.

“The Defense has no objections to that! I want to find out myself! I hope the records are given maximum scrutiny!” agreed Elkrandek.

“If I recollect,” mused Legowltor, “that will take some time.”

“Plenty of time for us to hear the last Witnesses and the Defendant,” replied Edgeworth.

“Very well,” affirmed Legowltor. “Bailiff, give both records to the investigators at once! Maximum scrutiny!”

“At once, Your Honor!” replied the Bailiff as he hurried off with both records.

“Now, while that’s going on,” rumbled Legowltor, “we shall hear from the last Witnesses.”

“We shall start with the first ally the F.N.S has made,” began Edgeworth. Hongo took the stand. “State your name and occupation for the Court Record.”

“Takeshi Hongo,” introduced Hongo. “I am a hero that fights against Shocker as the first Kamen Rider.”

“Would you please tell the Court what your relationship with the Defendant was like?” asked Edgeworth.

“It began much like Gandalf and Batman’s,” testified Hongo. “The F.N.S appeared as one of my friends was kidnapped by Vortech. Although, in my case, it was through his agent at the time; Adachi Hiro, a former member of Shocker, now head of the multiversal terrorist organization, Shocker Rift. I was chosen to aid the F.N.S in their fight against Vortech, but I was never told about how dangerous Vortech was. When it finally came to light what X-PO was trying to do, well, we all saw what happened on the first day. I will admit, I allowed my pride to get in the way during the start of the Vortech Wars.”

“Your witness,” directed Edgeworth to Elkrandek.

“Takeshi-san,” began Elkrandek, “you said that you have allowed your pride to get in the way during the start of the Vortech Wars.”

“I did,” confirmed Hongo. “Much like Megumi, I didn’t tell my allies why my friend was important to me. You see, he’s the second Kamen Rider, altered by Shocker in the same manner as me.”

“And X-PO did not display any signs of chronic manipulation?” asked Edgeworth.

“Objection!” Elkrandek shouted.

“Now what?!” groaned Edgeworth.

“Your Honor, it is clear to me,” answered Elkrandek, “that the Prosecution is trying to lead the Witness!”

“Objection sustained,” replied Legowltor. “Mr. Edgeworth, this IS Elkrandek’s cross-examination period.”

“Very well,” sighed Edgeworth.

“Takeshi-san, when you were picked up by X-PO to fight against Vortech,” inquired Elkrandek, “were you aware that X-PO was trying to save the multiverse?”

“We all were,” replied Hongo, “but I saw no evidence that he was a manipulator!”

“If you saw no evidence, then why this shameless attack on my client’s good name?!” demanded Elkrandek.

“Hardly shameless if there’s been evidence that he’s been manipulating us these past few days!” shouted Hongo.

“Perhaps in your eyes, but not in the eyes of…!” replied Elkrandek.

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “Your Honor, the Defense is trying to provoke an emotional reaction from the Witness! It is an attempt to influence an intelligent, broad-minded, and most intellectual jury!”

“Objection sustained,” replied Legowltor. “Mr. Elkrandek, provoking emotional reactions is not a welcome action in these proceedings.”

“I apologize,” answered Elkrandek. “No further questions, Your Honor.” Hongo sat back down with us.

“Your Honor, I would like to call a woman that has more than enough reason to base a verdict on the Defendant,” declared Edgeworth. That was Wyldstyle’s cue. She took the Stand. “Your name and occupation for the Court Record,” he directed.

“Wyldstyle,” she introduced. “Master Builder and teacher at the new Master Builder Academy.”

“A Master Builder?” asked Legowltor. “It is said you can create anything out of anything.”

“Would the Court mind a demonstration?” offered Wyldstyle.

“By all means,” replied Legowltor. Wyldstyle then used the Witness Stand, the gavel, and the Prosecutor and Defense’s respective benches to make a mini-gun like the Heavy’s! “Okay, that is quite the demonstration,” mused Legowltor. “Now, one simple request.”

“Yes, Your Honor?” asked Wyldstyle.

“Give me my gavel back!” hissed Legowltor. “In fact, put all of the materials back!” Wyldstyle did so and grinned nervously. “All right, perhaps we can continue,” muttered Legowltor.

“Ms. Wyldstyle,” requested Edgeworth, “kindly tell us your relationship with the Defendant.” Testimony time.

“To be honest,” answered Wyldstyle, “there’s not much to tell. I never really trusted him. The way he held a snarky attitude over us, it kind of put me off of interacting with him. I thought, as the years went by, that was just his way of showing friendship. After what I’ve heard before today, though, I can’t say as I see him in a positive light. Why would he hide anything from us?”

“A valid question,” replied Edgeworth, “one that will be answered today. Elkrandek, your Witness.”

“Ms. Wyldstyle, you asked why my client would hide anything from you,” recalled Elkrandek. “Tell me, aren’t you also guilty of hiding something? Your real name, Lucy, perhaps?”

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “What the Witness prefers to call herself has no bearing on these proceedings!”

“Objection sustained,” answered Legowltor. “She is known throughout the multiverse as Wyldstyle, so she will be addressed as such here.”

“Thanks, Mr. Court!” cheered Wyldstyle. She instantly winced when she realized what she said.

“…Kindly address this Court as ‘Your Honor’!” hissed Legowltor.

“Yes, Your Honor!” gulped Wyldstyle.

“…No further questions,” muttered Elkrandek.

“That leaves only one last witness,” declared Edgeworth. Richard and Wyldstyle swapped places. “Your name and occupation for the Court Record, please,” directed Edgeworth.

“Richard Saunders,” began Richard. “Freshman at After Academy and Anchorman for the Multiversal News Network.”

“Saunders?” asked Legowltor. “Are you related to Emily Saunders?”

“I’m her twin,” replied Richard.

“Ah, twins,” mused Legowltor. “I remember my twin brother very fondly. Thick as thieves, we were. But, then again, that has no relevance to these proceedings.”

“Mr. Saunders,” inquired Edgeworth, “what, exactly, is your role in the F.N.S?”

“I’m third in command at the moment,” answered Richard. “Although, that may change when I marry Megumi.”

“As being part of the Chain of Command, you must have had some interaction with the Defendant,” replied Edgeworth. “Please tell the Court how these interactions went.”

“They usually centered around developing strategies against our enemies,” testified Richard. “We would discuss defenses for Vorton, which DID help us in some measure against Shocker Rift and allowed us all to survive their siege. After the Vortech Wars, though, our contact fizzled out. There wasn’t much for us to talk about since we moved to After Academy.” Elkrandek arched an eyebrow.

“Your Witness,” declared Edgeworth.

“Mr. Saunders,” inquired Elkrandek, “by your last statement, this court can assume that the F.N.S is living on campus at After Academy?”

“This court would be right,” replied Richard.

“Then I think the reason has been made clear,” chuckled Elkrandek. “Your Honor, the Defense postulates that my client was abandoned by the F.N.S! As the Witness had proclaimed, my client’s contact with the F.N.S fizzled out! If he’s so valuable to you, then why did you not bring him with you to After Academy?!”

“Objection!” called Edgeworth. “You Honor, the Defense has forgotten a certain passage from the first day of these proceedings!”

“What passage is that?” asked Legowltor.

“It comes from Batman’s recording,” explained Edgeworth. “Let me remind the Court that it has been verified and declared free of tampering. Alesandro was referring to the Defendant’s reasons for doing what he did. The quote is as follows: ‘You gathered us here with a lie from long ago! You decided to play the long game with us and waited for some grand adventure! We’ve sent you numerous invitations for those things you mentioned. If you REALLY wanted to continue feeling that, then you would have accepted them!’ Those last two sentences are most important! It can easily be presumed that the F.N.S had been trying to reestablish contact with the Defendant for some time before their recent adventure! The Prosecution postulates that the Defendant chose to stay on Vorton and was the culprit behind severing communications!”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Your Honor, we have no proof that the Defendant chose to remain behind! We could just as easily assume that the F.N.S imposed that loneliness onto him!”

“Then there is only one way to settle this,” declared Edgeworth. “We have yet to hear from the Defendant.”

“Agreed!” replied Elkrandek. “His testimony will close this case once and for all!”

“Then the Defendant will take the Stand,” instructed Legowltor. Richard sat down as X-PO hovered to the Stand. “Your name and occupation, please,” directed Legowltor.

“The Experimental Portal Operator,” introduced X-PO, “better known as X-PO. As my full name suggests, I’m the main operator of the Vorton Gateway.”

“Mr. X-PO, did you actually receive the invitations for social interaction with the F.N.S?” asked Edgeworth.

“I did, but I was too busy finding Shocker Rift to respond to them,” replied X-PO.

“Could you explain that?” asked Elkrandek.

“Happily,” answered X-PO. “Near the end of the Vortech Wars, Shocker Rift fled Vortech’s company when he gathered the Foundation Elements. We split up to cover more areas of search, since After Academy offers more in terms of multiversal travel. I am best suited for monitoring the Gateway. As per our arrangement, they would contact me and report to me if they found anything. Unfortunately, as Richard mentioned, our contact had dried up. I’m still trying to fathom why.”

“Isolation can make a person do many odd things,” mused Edgeworth. “Perhaps…”

“Objection!” called Elkrandek. “Your Honor, the Defendant just left a glaring contradiction!”

“…Your own client?” muttered Legowltor.

“My client had told me,” explained Elkrandek, “that the Gateway is the most advanced form of multiversal travel, not even After Academy can boast anything more.”

“He told us that too!” I interjected.

“But…but he just said that After Academy offers more in terms of multiversal travel!” spluttered Legowltor.

“My point exactly!” replied Elkrandek. “Mr. X-PO, I trust you’re not committing perjury!”

“If I could explain that statement,” answered X-PO hotly, “you’ll find that I did NOT commit perjury!”

“Perhaps you should,” rumbled Legowltor.

“After Academy may have more ways in terms of passage to other universes,” explained X-PO, “but none of those ways are as advanced as the Vorton Gateway. Not even the Virginia can boast the kind of computer the Gateway has. As someone who was, quite literally, bonded to the Gateway for a time, I can easily say that nothing compares to the Gateway.”

“Hold it!” called Elkrandek. “What do you mean by being bonded to the Gateway?”

“After Vortech found me out,” replied X-PO, “I returned, in pieces to Vorton. I still had some control over the pieces, so I managed to attach those pieces to the Gateway seamlessly.”

“Objection!” answered Edgeworth. “Seamlessly? That is NOT what I heard from Megumi! Did the Gateway not collapse the instant the F.N.S and their allies arrived on Vorton?”

“What’s your point with that?” asked X-PO.

“Megumi, kindly explain what you did the instant you arrived,” directed Edgeworth.

“After learning how the prototype Vortex Drivers gave us armor based on certain people,” I explained, “we all got to work in rebuilding the Gateway. However, it was still a bit shaky, and I mean that in the literal sense, because the Keystones were sent to different universes. We got the Shift Keystone first from Elphaba in Oz.”

“I can vouch for that,” replied Elphaba.

“So, in other words, not as stable as you claimed!” answered Elkrandek as he pointed to X-PO.

“Well you can hardly find any other stable means of multiversal travel!” argued X-PO.

“Objection!” replied Elkrandek.

“Now what?!” snarled X-PO.

“Mr. X-PO, were you not the one who suggested to Vortoranii, the Queen of Vorton in its heyday, that giving the plans of the Gateway would make multiversal travel easier?” asked Elkrandek. “Did we not use such a minor Gateway to get here?”

“The point still stands,” countered X-PO, “that Gateway travel is more stable!”

“So why were you not open about things, hm?” quizzed Legowltor.

“Because that’s what cost us Vorton, okay?!” snapped X-PO. Just then, the bailiff entered the Courtroom, glaring daggers at X-PO.

“You lying, cheating, spying, two-faced…!” he snarled at the robot.

“Bailiff, the results, please?” interjected Legowltor.

“I’m afraid Elkrandek was lied to,” sighed the Bailiff. “The crack in X-PO’s shielding only occurred after yesterday’s proceedings.”

“Wh…WHAAAAT?!” squawked Elkrandek.

“Mr. X-PO, you lied to your own lawyer?!” boomed Legowltor. “You made him present forged evidence in my court?! That says a thing or two about your ability to trust other people!”

“No…you need…I mean, I…” X-PO was floundering. “…I…I………”

“…X-PO?” I asked, a little uncomfortable at the silence.

“………rrrrrrrrRRRRRRAAGAAGHAAHGAAHHHH!” X-PO’s roar of anger and subsequent rant still haunts me to this very day. “I trusted Vortoranii to keep Vorton intact and now it’s just three rocks in space with life support! I trusted Vortech to be sensible with the Foundation Elements and he still gathered them! I trusted the F.N.S to keep to the mission and they got distracted by side quests! I trusted Elkrandek to get me out of this mess and he turns on me! This all proves one thing; trust is only going to get you killed in the long run! I was right when I first came online! Everyone and everything is just the means to an end!”

“…The jury will now deliberate on the Defendant’s innocence or guilt,” declared Legowltor. “Unless there are any objections?”

“None, Your Honor,” grumbled Elkrandek, the truth stinging him horribly.

“No objections, Your Honor,” replied Edgeworth. As the 12 Cendeberons floated off to debate their decision, Elkrandek spoke to X-PO.

“You DO have the chance to change your plea,” he advised.

“I did it out of necessity,” X-PO replied obstinately. “The Cendeberons will understand that.”

“I somehow doubt that,” sighed Elkrandek.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Finale

It took an hour of deliberation for the Cendeberon jury before they returned with their decision. “Does the jury have a verdict?” asked Legowltor.

“We, the Jury,” answered one of the Cendeberons, “find the Defendant, the Experimental Portal Operator of Vorton, guilty of willfully endangering students of After Academy.”

“Then, as Judge presiding over this case,” boomed Legowltor, “I sentence X-PO to the maximum prison sentence. A full century in Multi-Max with no chance of parole.” The resounding bang of his gavel echoed throughout the courtroom, affirming his decision. “Court is adjourned.” The Bailiff disabled X-PO’s ability to move on his own and carried him off to Multi-Max, where the worst criminals of the multiverse were incarcerated. We filed out after him, our heads hanging low. Never had I felt so betrayed. Richard had his hands on my shoulders in reassurance. X-PO was taken into the police car and it sped off, disappearing into a portal. Legowltor then approached us. “I understand how hard it is,” he sighed. “His role in the Vortech Wars is known to me. I do regret what I had to do…”

“Like you said,” I mumbled, “you had to do it.”

“…Yes, I did,” confirmed Legowltor sadly.

“Oh, for the love of…!” groaned a voice. It was Edgeworth’s.

“Is there a problem?” asked Legowltor.

“My multiversal plane has been cancelled due to a convergence of two universes about to occur!” explained Edgeworth.

“Well, my ship can get you home safely,” I offered.

“Hold it!” called Edgeworth. “Does it have a cloaking device like a multiversal plane would?”

“Well, we haven’t installed one yet, but it WILL get you home,” I replied.

“Objection!” dismissed Edgeworth. “Any vessel outside of my native universe that has no means of getting me there discreetly is a no-go!”

“Objection overruled, Mr. Edgeworth,” I replied. “It’s better than the alternative.”

“I don’t see how,” remarked Edgeworth.

“Well, it involves this first class ticket on a plane that CAN get you home…” I began.

“Now that sounds delightful!” interrupted Edgeworth. “Why wouldn’t I want that?”

“Because you’d be sitting next to the person who bought it for the entire trip,” I answered.

“Edgy-poo, I’m here!” called a voice. “Come to Wendy!”

“Permission to come aboard!” decided Edgeworth.

“All traffic will end!” barked a Dalek’s voice. A couple of people were then shot with a Dalek gunstick! They fell as us Riders got ready.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“HENSHIN!” we called. As we transformed, we dashed towards the source of the shots. There was a new Dalek themed Kamen Rider, but the belt looked different to Caan’s. It had a miniature version of a Dalek’s limbs that stuck to the side of a wheel while the Dalek Gaia Memory rested behind the wheel. I could guess who was wearing the suit.

“Metaltron, I presume,” I guessed.

“I am Kamen Rider Ex!” barked the Rider in a Dalek voice. “Multiversal traffic will cease unless you surrender the Experimental Portal Operator!”

“I hate to spoil your fun…actually, no, I don’t, X-PO’s on his way to Multi-Max,” I replied.

“Bring him to me!” commanded Metaltron, Kamen Rider Ex.

“Not a chance!” I declared. “He’s betrayed my trust in him, he’s going to suffer the consequences!”

“…Then you are of no use!” barked Ex as she leveled her new gun. Just then, she was tackled by Elkrandek! As she picked herself up, Elkrandek stood in defiance of her.

“Trying to get my former client under your wing?” he hissed. “I think not!”

“You are a Defense Attorney!” barked Ex. “Your duty is to your client, no matter its verdict!”

“My duty is to the truth!” argued Elkrandek. “Given what X-PO revealed about himself in court earlier today, I see no reason to continue this farce!” He took out a belt similar to Den-O’s and fastened it to his waist. Mountaineer music played as he held out his pass. “Henshin!” he called. He then swiped the pass.

“Rampage Form!” called the belt. His armor appeared and a moose traveled down the face before folding in such a way that the antlers became his eyes.

“The truth above all!” he declared. “You face Kamen Rider Stampede!”

“EXTERMINATE!” shouted Ex as she fired. We all got out of the way, then managed to get in close so she wouldn’t use that gun of hers. Elkrandek, Kamen Rider Stampede, swung a punch to her gut while Batman kicked her head. She was momentarily disoriented until she took her Gaia Memory out and inserted it into the gun.

“DALEK! MAXIMUM DRIVE!” called the gun. She pulled the trigger and a large blast of energy hit behind us, knocking us off our feet!

“This is getting us nowhere!” hissed Stampede.

“We have to keep her still!” I planned aloud. “Can you distract her?”

“Permit me!” called Legowltor’s voice. He charged in while his gavel grew and he slammed it into Ex.

“…That works,” I replied. “GUYS! NOW!” We activated our respective gimmicks while Ichigō leapt into the air.

“Final attack!” called the Vortex Drivers.

“Full Charge!” announced Stampede’s belt. Energy gathered around his foot as he ran towards Ex.

“RIDER KICK!”

“RIDER ROYAL KICK!”

“RIDER GUARD KICK!”

“RIDER TOUCHÉ KICK!” Rusty fired a low yield blast from her gun, Gandalf fired a magic blast, Batman threw a batarang, Wyldstyle had built a large cannon and fired, Legowltor slammed his giant gavel onto the ground and created a shockwave, and we Riders kicked our target, causing Ex to explode and the Dalek Memory to fall out of the Driver, making her revert back into Metaltron. She grabbed the Memory again and took out a communicator.

“Requesting immediate retrieval!” she shouted into it. A portal then opened beneath her and she fell into it. We returned to our civilian forms and caught our breath.

“I must admit,” panted Legowltor, “that was exciting! I’ve never had a decent fight in ages, not since I came across a fair maiden. She was a human of Edgeworth’s universe, a beautiful girl by the name of Wendy.”

“Leggy?” asked a woman’s voice. We turned up to see an old woman in a security guard’s outfit in an embrace with Edgeworth who was trying to get away. This was Wendy Oldbag from the Ace Attorney franchise. Legowltor’s eyes went wide.

“Sweet Wendy?” he gasped. Wendy let Edgeworth go as she and Legowltor ran up to each other. They ran a hand down the other’s cheek before committing to a kiss. “Wendy, it’s really you!” cheered Legowltor.

“Oh, Legowltor, it’s been too long!” replied Wendy, the tears of happiness forming in her eyes. “I’m so sorry you have to see me like this, an old, grey woman.”

“Come now,” countered Legowltor. “You are as radiant as when we first met! That, I promise!” While they were catching up, we motioned for Edgeworth to join us. He had no objections to that.

“Oh, Leggy, why did you not come to see my folks that night?” asked Wendy.

“I went to Apartment 2B like you said,” replied Legowltor, “but you and your folks weren’t…”

“2B?!” yelped Wendy. “YOU DEAF IDIOT! I NEVER SAID 2B!”

“Oh, yes, you did!” insisted Legowltor. The argument continued long after we returned to the Virginia to take Edgeworth home. Elkrandek had decided to use the train he was living on.

No Sources, no new allies, no belt, no dead Vortex Riders, my situation was NOT good. The Daleks were getting angrier and angrier by the minute, the Combatmen’s morale was sub-par, and my fleet was still in the process of replenishing its numbers. To be frank, I just sat there in a stew. As I stared, my comms chimed. “Speak,” I grumbled.

“This is Igura,” replied a voice I loved hearing. “We have something for you in the Science Lab.”

“On my way,” I declared as I left my office. I strode through the corridors and passed by a couple of Combatmen.

“Hiro-sama,” said one. …What?

“You there!” I barked. The Combatman stopped and turned to face me. I noticed that his armor looked a lot more sturdy. “Did you say something?” I asked.

“I did,” replied the Combatman. “Igura-sama upgraded all of our vocalizers. Now we’re not stuck saying ‘YEE!’ all the time.”

“I take it she upgraded the armor?” I guessed.

“She did,” answered the Combatman.

“…Very well,” I finished. “Carry on.” Just a few more turns in the corridors and I arrived at the Science Lab where she and a few Scientist Daleks were working on something. Their blue casings gleamed in the lights of the Lab. I cleared my throat to announce my presence. Igura turned to face me. “I just spoke to an upgraded Combatman,” I revealed. “Concern for our numbers?”

“We can’t afford any more casualties,” explained Igura. “We need better armor until our numbers are at acceptable levels.”

“Understandable,” I mused. I then noticed what they were working on. “…That’s an Android Phone,” I observed.

“No, it’s your new Conquest Driver,” corrected Igura. “The a.i in the thing is limited, so no unhelpful commentary.”

“That’s a plus,” I replied. “So, how does it work?”

“Scientist 3387948,” called Igura to one of the Scientist Daleks, “activate the presentation.”

“I obey!” barked Scientist 3387948. It keyed in a command and a screen came down from the ceiling. It then started projecting how it works while Igura explained the pictures.

“First, slide back the panel on the phone’s back and insert your i.d. tag,” she instructed. “Next, key in the three-digit numeric passcode that you are going to set up when first activating the phone. Then, press the button on the bottom of the screen to have it summon your suit. It won’t put itself on until you say ‘Henshin!’ Once you say it, insert the phone onto the swivel and swing it down, then to the left until the phone clicks in the harness. The suit will then put itself onto you.”

“Is it ready for testing?” I asked.

“Whenever you are,” replied Igura as she handed me the belt with the phone harness for the buckle. My guns rested at their usual places. I set up the phone, inserted the i.d. tag into the back, typed in my new passcode (073), and pressed the button before thrusting it out in front of me.

“Henshin!” I called. I then put it onto the swivel and moved it until the phone’s screen was facing outwards. The suit then formed. “A perfect fit!” I praised. “And the Super Charge and Dai Super Charge sequences?”

“Press the button once for Super Charge,” explained Igura. “Press it again for Dai Super Charge. Press it twice in rapid succession while in your base form to immediately activate Dai Super Charge. Try it out.” I pressed the button twice as Igura instructed.

“Dai Super Charge!” I announced. My armor bulked up and exploded off of me to reveal my Kamen Rider Rift armor. “Perfect! You’ve done remarkably!” I then noticed a new device. “And what’s this, hm?”

“The Daleks had gotten schematics on that Sonic Screwdriver the Doctor uses,” replied Igura. “So, in the interests of science and our arsenal, I decided to make some for the troops. I’m just adding a few features the Doctor would never approve of.”

“Ah, so the troops are getting their own magic wands?” I mused.

“…Like I said, Sonic Screwdriver,” corrected Igura.

“Call it whatever you will,” I replied, “I say it’s a magical device that can perform a multitude of tasks with a simple spell, such as unlocking doors or acting as a crude laser. It’s a magic wand.”

“Well, what you’re holding,” grumbled Igura, “is one of our failed attempts. …Don’t give me that look! I tried studying Gallifreyan technology under the circumstances, but if it’s beyond the Daleks, it’s beyond us!”

“Nothing is beyond the…!” argued another Scientist Dalek.

“You, shut up!” ordered Igura. She turned back to me. “In any event,” she continued, “half of the circuitry inside a Sonic Screwdriver is actually bigger than the shell. Much like the TARDIS, it’s bigger on the inside and, while the Daleks HAVE dabbled in engineering dimensions, they’ve just been proceeding on what little bits they’ve taken from the Time Lords.”

“Yeah, the Time Lords don’t really share their scientific secrets,” I conceded. “Er, how do I…?” I gestured at the suit.

“Hold the button down for three seconds,” instructed Igura. “That’s standard for whatever form or Steel you’re in.” I did so and my suit disappeared.

“How are we doing on conventional weapons?” I asked.

“Much better in that area,” reported Igura. “If you would come with me to the firing range.” We went out of the Lab.

“Tell me, again, why we needed this place?!” I growled at Caan.

“Come now,” replied Caan, “don’t you want to turn your prison into a palace?” We had set up shop in the GeoComTex Vault, Van Statten’s base of operations. We had to exterminate anyone still dwelling there.

“What I want,” I argued, “is to return to my original form!”

“And you WILL,” assured Caan, “once we destroy Vortech.”

“We’ve lost our chance of having a portal operator to find him!” I hissed.

“Not really,” replied Caan. “There are OTHERS, others that I have contacted.”

“…Can we trust them?” I asked.

“We can trust them to do their job in finding Vortech,” answered Caan. “When the time is right, we will strike. Hopefully, they will stand with us and not against us.”

“Can we really trust that this…‘Convergence’ is going to happen?” I muttered.

“We can,” chuckled Caan. “On top of me seeing it, her future straight up confirmed it for us. I can still see it. She will be fighting Vortech with a childish red robot and a black kitsune.”

After Edgeworth was returned home, we had a celebration party on Vorton. At least, everyone else did. I just sat in my normal clothes and stared off into space on the upper level, the minor Gateways behind me. My mind was reeling from what happened after we retrieved the Sources the first time. Just then, a voice interrupted my thoughts, Alesandro’s voice, to be precise. “Megumi, what are you doing just sitting alone for?!” he asked. “We defeated Shocker Rift! That’s cause for celebration, ¿verdad?” (True?)

“I don’t feel like celebrating,” I mumbled.

“…¿Por qué?” (Why?) asked Alesandro.

“Alesandro, I hurt you in so many ways,” I replied.

“That was X-PO’s doing,” answered Alesandro. “We’ve all learned that.”

“I still acted against my conscience,” I countered. “I kept something from you new guys and it almost tore us apart. X-PO may have orchestrated it, but most of the time, I was the one who made the decision and I was the one who made you feel manipulated. X-PO saw us as the means to an end and I swore I would never view you guys as such. Now, here we are because I broke my vow.”

“You’re not X-PO,” replied Alesandro. “You’re not Hiro. You’re not Vortech. The best way to NOT be any of them is to wake up and hang out with your friends. Come on down and celebrate with us.” I considered, then grinned.

“Let me get dressed up,” I answered. I headed down to my old room during the Vortech Wars and got into my more regal dress. First came the top of the gown, then the skirts, then my sleeves, then my makeup, and finally the crown. I then joined everyone and danced the night away with Richard. He then pulled me to the center of the Gateway room.

“Everyone,” he began, “we’ve all had our ups and downs here. Together, we’ve persevered. However, Megumi and I can’t do this as we are.” Richard, what are you saying? “Not when we can take it a step further. Megumi, as you know, I’m terrible with fancy words. So, I’ll just ask plainly.” He then got down on one knee and pulled out a little box. My eyes went wide as I guessed what was going to happen next! He then slowly opened the box and revealed…a ring with a little diamond on it! “Hishikawa Megumi, will you be my wife?” The tears of joy came down my face as I held Richard in a tight embrace!

“YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!” I answered. I released him so he could put the ring on my finger. The crowd cheered and clapped at the scene before them. Kaitlyn, Kaede, hang on just a minute longer! Mommy and Daddy have a wedding to plan!

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 5

We had landed in the Splatoon universe, ready to find the source. “Minna, be careful,” I cautioned. “In this universe, rising sea levels killed off the humans and allowed sea creatures to evolve to survive the land. The squids became Inklings while the octopi became Octarians with Octolings nearer to the head of the Octarian Hierarchy. Inklings generally have two tentacular clubs for hair while Octolings have four tentacles with their suckers facing out. We’re supposed to be dead, so we stick to the shadows.”

“Actually,” interjected Sophie’s voice, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“What makes you say that?” I quizzed.

“Remember Pestilence’s lecture on Multiversal Translations?” recalled Sophie.

“The thing where you would turn into a life-form that the foreign universe would accept within itself?” I inquired. I then realized where Sophie was going with this. I felt around the top of my head and realized that it wasn’t hair on top. It felt more like a squid’s skin. I ran my hand down an extension and held it up to my face to see a squid’s tentacular club. It was black, like my hair. “Do…I have an eye-mask?” I quizzed.

“Yep,” replied Sophie’s voice. I turned to see that she had changed into an Octoling whose tentacles were white. Colleen was a brown tentacled Inkling, Livia was a blue tentacled Inkling, Haitao was a black tentacled Inkling, Sheela was a black tentacled Octoling, Turretorg was a brown tentacled Inkling, X-PO was a grey tentacled Inkling, and Death was a white tentacled Octoling with a black hoodie over her tentacles. X-PO had NO balance whatsoever. I guess that’s what happens when you shapeshift from a flying box to a bipedal creature.

“How do you guys walk around with these things?!” he snapped.

“It takes a bit before we actually walk,” I explained. “In any case, you need help. Put your arm around my shoulder. Colleen, help me out here.” X-PO got his new arms around our shoulders as we helped him walk on two legs. After about an hour, he tried walking without aid. It took him two more hours to master it but he soon walked as I did. He could then focus on working with three extra digits on each hand since he usually had pincer-style claws. After X-PO got used to his new body, we entered a new area, a small shopping square of sorts. Inklings and Octolings were conducting their business, paying us no heed as we looked around. A big screen just flashed various advertisements for the shops there. “If I have it right,” I observed, “I’d say we’re in Inkopolis Square.”

“I was hoping we’d arrive at Inkopolis Plaza,” sighed Colleen. “The Square feels a little claustrophobic.”

“Then let’s find Death’s Source and get out of here,” I declared.

“Hey!” called a voice. An Inkling boy with green tentacles in a spiky hairstyle ran up to us. “You guys don’t look like you’re from around here,” he observed.

“We’re not,” I confirmed. “We’re just passing through.”

“Do you, at least, have a map?” quizzed the Squid/Kid.

“Well, no,” I admitted.

“Then Jason Ikamesh,” declared the Inkling as he pointed to himself, “accepts the burden of being your guide!”

“What?!” I yelped.

“I know,” remarked the kid, Jason, “it will be a tiresome duty, but I accept your offer with pride!”

“What offer?!” snapped Colleen, her accent getting thicker.

“No, please, no need to give a way out!” answered Jacob as if we had asked him to help us in the first place. “I accept the burden with…!”

“Kid, will you get out of here?!” snarled X-PO as he shoved Jason aside. “I don’t know what your deal is, but we never asked for a guide and we don’t need one! Our business is our own!” I then had a horrible flashback from the Vortech Wars, after Lord Vortech handed our butts to us in 1895 Hill Valley.

“X-PO, hold on,” I interjected. “We don’t know the area as well as he does. We NEED a guide. While I don’t appreciate the attitude he gave,” Jason gulped, “we need his help. Jason, we accept your offer to be our guide. In future, though, just ask. Don’t force it on someone.”

“Gotcha,” replied Jason. “So, where shall we start? The Crust Bucket? Ammo Knights? Headspace? The Deca Tower?”

“Hang on,” interrupted Haitao. “What’s with the screen?” He was talking about the screen on the tower, Deca Tower. An Inkling girl with short, white tentacles appeared on it, sitting in a moon-chair. She was holding a crown in her hands and her gold eyes had plus-shaped pupils. This was Pearl, one of the characters of Splatoon 2 and, right now, she looked sad.

“Hey, everyone,” she mumbled.

“Why is our Princess sad?” wondered Jason.

“As you may have heard,” continued Pearl, “Turf Wars have been cancelled until further notice. The reason is that strange monsters called Orcs are roaming the Turf Battlefields.”

“Orcs?” gulped Livia, remembering the last time she saw one.

“The Orcs have been taking prisoners,” Pearl went on, “two of which are the famous Squid Sisters. A more recent kidnapping was…was…” she sniffled and wiped her eyes before continuing, “was Marina Ida.” Gasps resounded around the square. “Right now,” Pearl continued, “the police have had no effect against the Orcs, nor have the military. Until these creatures are beaten back, all Turf War matches are cancelled.” She sniffled again. “Oh, Cod, Marina, I wish you’re…” the screen shut off to let Pearl cry in private.

“If the Orcs are here,” I guessed, “Sauron can’t be far behind. We need to find out where they’re coming from.”

“I’ve seen them,” offered Jason. “They’ve been coming out of Octo Valley.”

“…You’ve seen them?” I quizzed.

“I was wandering around Inkopolis Plaza,” explained Jason. “They attacked the place from a manhole near Inkopolis Tower. I only barely escaped. That was about two years ago.”

“The Orcs have been in this world for two years?” I gulped. “Isn’t there anyone with inter-dimensional tech to call for help here?!”

“It might only be two minutes by our time-scale,” remarked Colleen. “Remember, not all universes run at the same amount of time as ours. Some might be slower than slugs, others may be as fast as lightning.”

“Lacey’s recent lecture,” recalled Livia.

“The fact remains,” I countered, “Sauron’s forces have stayed here for too long. Jason, which way to Inkopolis Square?”

“This way, about 20 minutes,” replied Jason. “I’d offer the train but the Plaza’s station is closed.” He led us through the streets.

After about 20 minutes, dodging Orcs that wandered on our path, we arrived to see Inkopolis Plaza, the main hub of the first Splatoon game. Orcs had taken it over, turning it into a camp similar to the ones in Mordor. “Okay, we’ve seen it,” gulped Jason. “Now, let’s get…!”

“Let’s get them out of here,” growled Turretorg.

“Agreed,” I concurred. “Death, X-PO, will the translations be cancelled if we transform?”

“They will,” answered Death. “So, Jason will be seeing humans for the first time.”

“Just not the real me and Turretorg,” continued X-PO.

“In that case, you two hang back,” I directed.

“Why us?!” protested Turretorg.

“Because you can’t turn your arms into cannons and don’t have the missile launcher nipples,” answered Colleen.

“Fine, fine,” grumbled Turretorg. They hung back while we approached the Orc Camp.

“All right, Orcs!” I called, getting their attention. “You can start running back to Mordor, crying all the while! We’re here to stop you!” The Orcs, predictably, laughed.

“Run home, Stinklings!” jeered the Orc Captain.

“I think I see an Octo…” interjected another Orc.

“SHUT UP!” roared the Orc Captain. He then stepped forward. “Look, unless you’re here to discuss your world’s surrender, you’re just gonna be another prisoner here. We don’t have time for idiots to play hero.” I then got a good look at the Orc Captain’s face.

“You…look familiar,” I muttered.

“You probably saw me on the news,” remarked the Orc Captain.

“Er, Captain,” gulped a wimpier-looking Orc.

“Not now,” dismissed the Orc Captain.

“But, Captain,” stammered the newer Orc.

“What part of ‘not now’,” growled the Orc Captain, “did you not understand?!”

“Captain Gorshagh, I really must…!” insisted the new Orc. Wait, I know that name!

“I SAID NOT…!” roared the Orc Captain.

“Kiri!” I shouted. The Orc Captain, Gorshagh, turned towards me.

“…What?” he asked.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you!” explained the wimpier Orc. “They’re NOT native to this universe! Unlike us, they were translated!”

“Give me that pad!” snarled Gorshagh. He shoved the hapless Orc aside as he took the pad and scrolled through it. As he found the relevant data, his eyes went wide. He then gave his full attention to me. “…No!” he breathed.

“Hello, it’s me,” I giggled. “Megumi Hishikawa. When last we met, I was a princess that could only reach a mid-season upgrade. Wanna see a Queen’s Final Form?”

“YOU WON’T GET THE CHANCE!” roared Gorshagh. He stuck his arm up into the air as his Zecter flew into his hand. “HENSHIN!” he shouted. He then slid the Zecter, head first, into his belt buckle.

“Henshin,” repeated the Zecter. His bulky armor then appeared. Kamen Rider Kiri was back! He leveled his arm guns at us.

“Catch us if you can!” I taunted. “BREAK OFF!” Everyone ran out of range and equipped their respective belts, prompting a lot of them to announce, “Vortex Driver!” in their masculine tones while Colleen’s announced, “Chronicle Driver!” in its feminine tone. Colleen then pressed a hidden button on the belt and took out a small book, her Armor Auto-bio. The belt popped a shelf upwards for the book to rest on. The rest of us inserted our i.d tags. Colleen struck her pose after inserting her Armor Auto-bio.

“HENSHIN!” we all called. We Vortex Riders spun the wheels on our belts while Colleen pushed the shelf down and Death rotated the skull to an upright position.

“Death!” announced her belt.

“Open!” called Colleen’s belt. “Turn! Imagine! The Hammer of Slam!” A book opened behind her and spat out her armor pieces, evoking a Gaelic soldier, as a blue mist changed her dress into an undersuit. The armor and helmet then attached themselves to her as her hammer materialized in the air near her right. She grabbed it and joined the fray as Kamen Rider Slam! We avoided the shots Kiri was firing from his arm mounted guns.

“Too slow!” he snarled to himself. He then pulled the Zecter’s arms away a tad, allowing his armor to his and come away slightly. “Cast off!” he ordered. He then pulled the arms all the way back.

“Cast off!” repeated the Zecter. His armor flew off to reveal his slimmer Rider form. “Change Mantis!” announced the Zecter.

“Now THERE’S an idea!” called Slam. She took out an Armor Bio and replaced her personal one with it. She then closed the shelf and another giant book appeared behind her.

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Speed of Kabuto, Rider Form!” called the Chronicle Driver.

“Cast off! Change Beetle!” announced the Kabuto Zecter’s voice. Slam’s armor changed to evoke Kamen Rider Kabuto.

“Clock Up!” she ordered.

“Clock Up!” shouted Kiri.

“Clock Up!” announced the voices of two Zecters. They both disappeared. The rest of us continued fighting the other Orcs. I then took out another i.d. tag and swapped my own for the new one.

“Gandalf Steel!” called my belt as the wardrobe changed my armor to evoke the Grey Wizard. I used magic to flashbang the Orcs so the others could get clean hits on them.

“Clock Over!” the voices of two Zecters finished as Kiri and Slam came back with Kiri holding his arm. Slam then swapped the Kabuto Armor Bio for her own.

“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Hammer of Slam!” called her belt. She then pressed the button on top. “Final Pen Stroke!” announced her belt.

“Rider Slam Kick!” called Slam as she leapt into the air and performed a flying kick to Kiri’s face. Kiri was knocked silly as the Kiri Zecter flew out of his belt, revealing Gorshagh. We all looked around to see nothing but unconscious Orcs on the ground of Inkopolis Plaza.

“Good work, guys,” I praised as we cancelled our transformations. “We should probably hide ourselves again. Drivers off.” We took our belts off. “Honestly,” I continued, “I never got the chance to turn into a squid. This could be fun!”

“Er, Megumi,” gulped Colleen. I didn’t pay attention.

“I think I’m gonna visit a tentacle stylist,” I figured aloud. “I liked the shorter tentacular clubs offered in the second game.”

“Megumi, I think you should.” interjected Sophie.

“Maybe we should try out some Turf…!” I continued.

“MEGUMI!” shouted Haitao.

“What is it?!” I snapped only to see that Haitao didn’t turn back into an Inkling. I gave everyone a glance to see that none of us were Inklings or Octolings. “Er, Death,” I quizzed, “what’s going on? Why aren’t we humanoid cephalopods again? Our species isn’t exactly around in this universe. We need to…”

“FRIENDS!” boomed Turretorg’s voice. He came running up to us in his usual shape carrying X-PO’s usual body in his arms. “X-PO’s been attacked!” revealed Turretorg. X-PO was severely damaged! Death pulled back her left sleeve to scroll through her smart-watch, fearing the worst. She then sighed in relief.

“He’s not dead,” she assured us. “Something screwed with his power distribution circuits. He’s damaged but, thankfully, his core memory and mind ARE intact. They’re just in a protective lockdown until the damage can be repaired. Thank goodness the Doctor and her previous incarnations installed self-repair functions and circuits into him after Shocker Rift attacked Vorton.”

“I thought they installed a transmitter so he could beam himself into the nearest electronic device that could store him,” recalled Livia. “Why didn’t he transfer out of that body?”

“The Doctor DID say an empty shell would make the self-repair work go faster,” I supplied.

“Whatever did this went for his transmitter first,” answered Death. “It’s shot. He couldn’t transfer out if he wanted to. Let’s get him…” She didn’t get far as electricity ripped through all of us, stunning us and knocking us unconscious.

I stepped out of Spyke’s old alleyway, holding a small remote in my hand. The Orcs were picking themselves up, some shoving others off of them. Gorshagh caught sight of me. “Took you long enough!” he barked.

“It needed to charge,” I replied. I then called up someone on my squidphone. The person picked up. “Good work, Agent 8,” I called. “The Stunner only affected our targets, not the Orcs.”

“Look,” replied Agent 8, “are you SURE we should do this?” Gorshagh heard that and curled his lips into a snarl.

“If we had a choice, we’d say no,” I answered Agent 8. “But, like I just said, we don’t have a choice. Tell our bosses we’re ready. The Orcs and I will bring the Vortex Riders and their allies to Octo Valley. Agent 7 out.” I ended the call.

“Smart move, Jason,” chuckled Gorshagh. He then turned to the other Orcs. “GET THEM TO CAMP, MAGGOTS!” he bellowed. The Orcs picked up our targets and we headed down the manhole to Octo Valley.

I groaned as I stirred awake. “What hit me?” I winced.

“I did,” replied Jason as he stepped out of the shadows. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do this.” It was then I noticed I was still human and now tied up in ropes.

“Okay, bondage isn’t exactly my kink!” I hissed. “What’s going on here?! …YOU knocked us out?”

“…Yes,” sighed Jason.

“Why did you do that after we stomped Gorshagh’s unit?” I inquired as everyone else, aside from X-PO, much to my worry, woke up.

“THEY asked me to do this,” replied Jason cryptically. “I couldn’t say ‘no’. I owe them.”

“Owe who?” asked Livia. “Who are you talking about?”

“My four bosses,” answered Jason. “OUR four bosses.” Just then, his accomplices stepped forward. A female Octoling; Agent 8, Pearl, a taller female Octoling with black tentacles and teal tips; Marina, a female Inkling with smaller tentacular clubs; Agent 4, a male Inkling with his tentacles tied into a ponytail; Agent 3, a female Inkling in a kimono that Enka singers used to wear with her tentacles tied in a diagonal bow so the clubs pointed to her left shoulder; Marie of the Squid Sisters, and a female Inkling with long tentacles tied in a bow; Marie’s cousin and fellow Squid Sister, Callie all appeared out of the shadows.

“Wait, the Squid Sisters of all people are in on this?!” yelped Livia.

“I can’t pretend to understand any of this,” remarked Death.

“We HAD to,” replied Marie, sadly. “We had no choice.”

“Who would want all this? Octavio?!” I interrogated.

“You’re a quarter of the way there,” burbled a voice. A giant flying machine with two fists floated in. Inside it was a pool of purple Octarian ink and a DJ’s turntable. The one piloting it was a giant red-violet Octopus with glowing green eyes and blue surrounding the pupil, a green x-scar on one of the tentacles folded across the front, and a large, gold, kabuto style helmet. There were a lot of wasabi stalks in the machine, flanking the Octopus. This was DJ Octavio, the Octarian King. A human then approached us. He dressed in black with red highlights and was of Japanese descent. I remember him from Hiroki talking about Kamen Rider Gaim. He was the secondary rider, Kaito Kumon. Another human appeared, dressed in green, wearing a bowler hat, and a green eye-mask with a gold cane topped with a question mark. I remembered him, the Riddler. One last human approached. Actually, I shouldn’t say human. From what I recall from Gandalf, this one was NOT human. His helmet was off, revealing a raven-haired man with an icy handsomeness, but the armor and helmet were very distinctive, as was the gold ring on his finger. It was the Master of the Orcs, the Dark Lord of Mordor, Sauron!

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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 4

With the Gateway having been fixed so that the seven person limit was removed, we didn’t need my power as Vortex. My team, Team Death, assembled first. “Coordinates set,” reported Rusty. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Shall we, Megumi?” offered Death.

“Minna,” I called, “ikuze! CHARGE!” We charged into the portal, flying through the rift.

Next up was my team, Team War. “Okay, Michael,” called Elphaba. “Your path is set.”

“Off we go!” I called. War gave off a battle-cry as we charged into the portal.

I had already taken everyone up to the Virginia. I adjusted the rose rings around my wrists as we arrived at the bridge. It was multi-leveled. The pilot sat in the center of the bridge’s lower level in a chair that looked like a multi-axis trainer, the chair astronauts use to simulate disorientation on reentry. The walls had half a TARDIS console built into them. The Captain, me, would sit in a chair on the level above the pilot and the First Officer would sit in the seat behind me, facing the back of the bridge in order to relay commands. I was showing off the consoles, starting from port, then going to bow, then starboard, then stern. “Welcome to the bridge!” I began. “We’ve only got a limited amount of time, so let’s go through it quickly. The port consoles are science stations, the bow consoles are weapons, the starboard consoles are in charge of communications, and the aft consoles command Engineering when the Chief Engineer is on the bridge. Now, positions. Liam.”

“Aye?” gulped Liam as he was snapped out of his awe.

“You know technical stuff, right?” I asked.

“…I hit things,” replied Liam. “They get fixed.”

“Splendid,” I answered. “You’ll work with R9 as an Engineer. Amelia, Pestilence, you work the science stations.”

“Got it,” confirmed Pestilence as she and Amelia took their respective consoles.”

“Hongo, you work the weapons,” I directed.

“Both consoles?” asked Hongo.

“Only one needs to be used,” answered Mikhail, “but we’re people who prefer back-ups. So, when one explodes, the other kicks in when only one person’s working the weapons.”

“Now THAT makes sense,” replied Hongo.

“Speaking of working consoles,” I interjected, “Mikhail, you’re in charge of communications.”

“да,” (Da, yes) confirmed Mikhail.

“Tanisha, you’ve flown ships before,” I recalled.

“Not this type,” remarked Tanisha. “I need to familiarize myself with the controls.”

“It’s like a video game,” I assured. “Think of the space battles in Star Wars: Battlefront II, the 2005 release.”

“Ah, the good one,” remarked Tanisha.

“Where does that leave me?!” protested Scorpainia.

“It leaves you as my First Officer,” I answered.

“YOUR First Officer?!” exclaimed Scorpainia.

“Megumi legally transferred ownership of the ship to me,” I explained. “As such, I’m it’s captain.”

“I see,” replied Scorpainia.

“Make sure my orders are carried out and smack anyone who says or does something stupid,” I instructed.

“Smacking limbs ready,” reported Scorpainia.

“All right, man your stations,” I directed. “Majel, ship status.” An image of the late Majel-Barret Roddenberry appeared on screen. She was in one of her Lwaxana Troi dresses.

“Still in standard orbit,” she reported, “and this a.i. is really, REALLY bored!”

“Is that…?!” gasped R9.

“No, it’s the a.i. based off of her,” I answered. “When she heard that I needed a shipboard computer, she volunteered. After I explained that it would have a full range of emotions, she planted the idea of an interactive image in Lukas’ head and suggested herself. This was after her guest lecture on how much influence women had in early science fiction. I agreed and so Lukas coded Majel here.”

“And I’ve been stuck orbiting Vorton for a while now,” muttered Majel.

“Well, our new adventure may stretch your engines,” I replied. “We’re going to universe 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0 to rescue some Tarlaxian explorers.”

“OOOH! Going outside Vorton!” cheered Majel. “Ready and waiting!”

“Tanisha,” I instructed as I sat down, “set a course for 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0. 50% of speed factor 1 until we’ve cleared orbit, then punch it to speed factor 7.”

“Got it,” confirmed Tanisha as she pressed the necessary buttons. As Scorpainia moved to sit behind me, I noticed something.

“Hey,” I whispered to her, not wanting to draw the bridge’s attention to it, “are you all right?”

“What do you mean?” replied Scorpainia in the same whisper.

“Your claw’s shaking,” I answered. Scorpainia’s right claw was shaking a bit. She looked at the claw and saw it shake. She then opened and shut it a few times, making it stop twitching.

“Must be getting old,” she chuckled. I could see it in her eyes, something’s terrified her. We were on a time crunch, though, so I put it to the back of my mind.

“Course laid in,” reported Tanisha.

“Engage!” I ordered in my best Picard impression. The engines hummed, the lights brightened…and the ship lurched, nearly throwing me out of my seat. Scorpainia yelped as the same happened to her while everyone else held onto their consoles as they fell.

“I’ll just correct the orbit, shall I?” gulped Majel.

“Vorton’s hailing us,” reported Mikhail.

“Put them through,” I directed. “They probably want to know what’s going on.”

“Is everything all right up there?” asked Richard.

“Just learned that the controls ARE similar to the space battles of the 2005 Star Wars: Battlefront II,” replied Tanisha, “but with inverted controls.”

“I think we need to learn how to fly this thing,” muttered Scorpainia.

“Majel, why don’t you pull up some tutorials?” I suggested.

“Tutorial system: engaged,” replied Majel. “We’ll start with step 1: Crash Avoidance.”

“When that’s done,” called Liam, “que up Snakes on a Plane.”

“Dude! Do it!” agreed R9.

“…All right,” mumbled Majel. “Queuing up Snakes on a Plane, directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson and…”

“Majel, cancel that order,” I interrupted.

“AW!” protested Liam and R9.

“You guys go on without us,” called Emily to my group.

“Okay, if you say so, Sis,” I muttered.

“We should probably get going,” mumbled Famine as she finished her chicken wings.

“All right, then,” I declared. “ATTACK!” We charged into the portal and fell through the rift.

“Moon-kyung,” called Joshua, “wish to do the honors?”

“Me?” I gulped.

“Why not? Let a new girl try her hand in a command position,” replied Lacey.

“…Well, I DID want to join the army when I was a girl,” I conceded. “Time to get some practice in. Gaja!” (Let’s go!) We charged into the portal and headed to our destination.

“There IS one thing I never liked about manning the Gateway,” muttered Elphaba as Ms. Moon-kyung and her group departed.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“The waiting,” explained Elphaba.

“No one really likes waiting,” I replied.

“I’m actually fine with it,” signed Chell. Thank goodness Tanisha taught Rusty, Elphaba, and I how to understand American Sign Language.

“Why?” asked Elphaba.

“Back home,” continued Chell, “I was constantly put into dangerous situations by GLaDOS, never getting a moment’s rest. I’m fine with just waiting.”

“Well, maybe it’s the old bad guy in me,” sighed Elphaba, “but I would stave off the ennui by conquest.”

“You’ve REALLY got a bad case of jitters if conquest staves it off,” remarked Rusty. I snorted holding back a laugh.

“I don’t know if you noticed,” I remarked, “but your old associates in the Dalek Empire are the twitchiest bunch in our universe.”

“And knowing that there’s a hostile multiverse out there,” interjected Elphaba, “we need to be ready for attack. THAT’S what’s making me twitchy.”

“In MY day,” I replied, “we took on Daleks, Cybermen, Autons, Zygons, and all manner of space thuggery, and it doesn’t get more hostile than THAT!” Just then, the Gateway’s control console beeped. Elphaba took it.

“This is Vorton,” she introduced.

“It’s Emily,” called Young Miss Saunders. “We finally got the ship controls hammered out. We’ll see you later.”

“Good luck,” bid Elphaba. As soon as communications ended, the Virginia left orbit, opened a rift, and vanished into it. Rusty and I saluted, you’re familiar with the salute of the United Kingdom, as it left.

“All right,” declared Elphaba as she took charge, “we’re all going into one hour shifts monitoring various aspects. Rusty, you’re monitoring the power systems. Brigadier, you’re monitoring weapons. Chell, medical monitoring for you. I’ll monitor the Gateway for any rift activity. We switch at the end of our shifts, Gateway to medical to weapons to power to Gateway. Understood?” We all confirmed our duties. “Perfect, let’s…” the Gateway beeped again, interrupting her. Since she volunteered for Gateway duty, she checked the console. “Someone’s coming through!” she yelped.

“Shocker Rift?” asked Rusty as she readied her gunstick.

“…No,” reported Elphaba. “A blonde woman in rags.”

“What was she doing in the rift?” I asked.

“Does it matter?!” signed Chell. “Bring her in! She’s unprotected!” Elphaba opened a portal and brought the woman to the platform. Rusty’s eyes went wide.

“I know that face!” she breathed.

“Pardon?” I asked.

“From the Pathweb, the shared intelligence of the Daleks!” explained Rusty. “From the Doctor’s memories as well! I know that woman!”

“Who?” asked Elphaba as Chell picked her up and carried her to the medical bay. “Who is she?”

“…Rose Tyler!” declared Rusty.

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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Epilogue

Day 1: 1st Party

A year later, Richard and I were waiting in our respective areas at opposite ends of After Academy. A wedding there is an extravagant affair. Richard was on the western end of the campus while I was getting ready at the eastern end. To give you a bit of perspective, the main campus sits at the center of a 953,280 square mile city, 30 times that of China’s city of Chongqing. Because of how big it is, it’s not practical to walk all the way there. Both Bride and Groom are transported to the Campus Gates by carriage. It’s a 13 hour drive at both ends, with each carriage going about 65 miles an hour. It’s spaced out over three days to allow both Bride and Groom to walk around a bit and stretch, get some food in, talk to friends and family, get some sleep before being driven again, all that stuff. The driver for my carriage, a Mr. John Clayton, the cab driver Sherlock Holmes asked after during The Hound of the Baskervilles, came to the bridal mansion I was living in for a week, being pampered and dressed for the big day. He was directed up to my room and knocked before I bid him to come in. “The carriage is ready, Ma’am,” he announced.

“As am I!” I replied as I pinned my white rose hairpiece to the left of my head. “Lead on!” He led the way to the carriage, account for my top speed as I wore my dress, a massive one, I can tell you. It rustled and softly crinkled as I came down the steps and across the foyer to the front door. The maid running the mansion opened the door for us. “Thank you!” I bid.

“Good luck, Dear!” bid the maid. Mr. Clayton continued leading the way down the driveway to the carriage and opened the door for me. It was a large carriage, enough to accommodate my dress. I got myself in and Mr. Clayton helped me get the rest of my skirts in. Once that was done, he shut the door and climbed up to his seat. He made a clicking noise and the horses moved off, their hooves clicking against the road. The speed increased as we got onto the road. I pressed a button that opened a channel between me and Mr. Clayton.

“How long have you been driving these kinds of carriages?” I asked.

“Since I passed on,” replied Mr. Clayton. “It took a while to get used to. No horse in London ever went this fast.”

“It’s a pity you’re not going to see the wedding,” sighed one of the horses. “Just another day at the office, where the open road IS the office. …Hey, that’s pretty deep! I ought to write that…!” The carriage was drifting!

“EYES ON THE ROAD, YOU IDIOT!” shouted the other horse. The carriage then righted itself. “Every dent on this thing is coming out of YOUR salary!”

“I think I’ve heard enough,” I remarked as my hand hovered over the button.

“Don’t want to distract you on your big day,” agreed Mr. Clayton. I pressed the button and closed the channel. We got to our first stop, right on time and with no further incident. Emily, Tanisha, the Apocalypse Riders, Peach, Wyldstyle, Xiomara, Tonje, Moon-kyung, Charline, Discornia, and Usagi I were waiting for the carriage. Emily, Tanisha, and Moon-kyung were in their Bridesmaid dresses, blue and very fluffy. Emily had the honor of being the Maid of Honor. Wyldstyle and the Apocalypse decided to forgo the clothes they usually wear and contented themselves with dresses of brighter colors.

“There she is!” cheered Emily. Everyone ran towards me.

“Whoa now!” I yelped. Too late. I was buried under ladies that were happy for me as they were trying to hug me.

“Stand back and give her some air! For crying out loud!” protested Lacey. Everyone got off of me and let me breathe. “You look great!” praised Lacey.

“I feel great!” I replied. “Richard will be an excellent husband, I know it!”

“I couldn’t agree more,” answered Emily. “Now, come on! There’s a party dedicated to you today and we need to celebrate it!” With that, the music and party began. This was one of the two Bridal Parties, where the Bride dances and hangs out with some of her friends and Bridesmaids. We all danced, ate, sang, and had a good time. Tanisha and Tonje seemed to be all right with dancing with me. I have to admit, Wyldstyle can really dance! Soon, it was evening and time to check into our rooms. We laid ourselves down, changing into our nightwear while our dresses were washed and cleaned for tomorrow.

Day 2: 2nd Party

We all woke up and had breakfast before changing into our dresses. A new, larger carriage approached the hotel we stayed at. I was holding my bouquet as I waited. Emily, Tanisha, and Moon-kyung were to join me on the next leg of the journey. We saw the carriage driver step down and reveal himself to be… “STRAX?!” yelped Tonje. It was, indeed, Commander Strax, Madame Vastra’s Sontaran butler!

“Commander, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“As I understand the mission briefing,” replied Strax, “Mr. Clayton would be taking you to the first checkpoint, then returning to his place of residence once you have been safely delivered to said checkpoint. Once it has been confirmed that you spent the night in safety at the first checkpoint, I would bring you and your fellow warriors to the next checkpoint. It is clear that the checkpoint has not suffered a siege during the night and you are intact…although I must question your choice of armor. It seems…flimsy.” He then shook his head. “But, that is none of my concern. I shall be taking you on a four hour journey to the next checkpoint and intend to perform as admirably as Mr. Clayton had done yesterday. Once there, we shall lie in wait for any Rutan scum and…!”

“There aren’t any Rutans coming,” I explained.

“…Pardon?” asked Strax.

“This isn’t some battle tactic,” I continued. “Me and my Bridesmaids are just going to my wedding and need to stop at the next hotel so we can have fun, the HUMAN definition of fun, and spend the night. We’ll pick up my remaining Bridesmaids and proceed to the Altar tomorrow.”

“…No shooting at Rutan scum?” inquired Strax, a little disappointed.

“No shooting at Rutan scum or ANYONE,” I confirmed.

“…Very well, Ma’am,” grumbled Strax as he opened the door for us. Emily, Tanisha, Moon-Kyung, and I entered the carriage and Strax shut the door before stomping off to the front of the carriage and taking his seat. “Ruddy weddings!” he griped. “Don’t have any targets for me to shoot!” He took the reins and we set off.

“See you at the campus!” called Wyldstyle. We waved goodbye as the carriage pulled off.

“So, when should we expect you and Joshua’s wedding?” asked Tanisha to Emily.

“We haven’t gone that far yet,” replied Emily.

“Maybe we should have a double wedding!” suggested Tanisha. “You and Josh with me and Tonje!”

“That sounds lovely,” sighed Moon-kyung happily.

“I don’t think Joshua will go for that,” muttered Emily.

“Why not?” I asked.

“He’s not exactly all that big on crowds,” explained Emily.

“Oh, yeah, he gets anxious in crowds,” I recalled.

“I think a small wedding with just friends and immediate family will do him better,” continued Emily. “But, enough about us! This is YOUR day!” The three of them were then gushing over how lucky I was, how this was going to be a perfect day, all that stuff. I never took anything as perfect these days, not since X-PO’s betrayal. A healthy understanding that nothing is perfect kept me from becoming a Bridezilla. The journey, like yesterday, passed without incident. We arrived at our next stop and Strax let us out.

“Good luck, Sirs!” he called once we came out. We all glared at him. “…Good luck, Ma’ams!” he corrected himself. “May you partake in glorious battle and either live or die honorably.”

“And you,” I replied, deciding to let him have that, at least. We came into the hotel to see Livia, Sheela, Irina, Colleen, Kit-10, Amelia, Scorpainia, Flora, Lexicon, and Sludgiona. Flora, Livia, and Scorpainia were in their Bridesmaid dresses. I must admit, I was surprised when she asked to be a Bridesmaid. I decided to ask the question once everyone stopped hugging me. “Aren’t you married?” I asked.

“On Tarlax, much like Earth,” explained Scorpainia, “a Bridesmaid does not need to be single. Besides, I wish to bring good fortune to your day as you have brought good fortune to my people on numerous occasions.”

“I do what I can to protect my friends,” I answered with a smile.

“As would I,” replied Scorpainia. “Now, I believe we have a celebration to begin!” There was more dancing, more singing, more eating, just wonderful happiness. It lasted until the evening. Like last night, we checked into our rooms and changed into nightwear so our dresses could be tended to for the morning.

Day 3: The Ceremony

The last leg of the journey and I was bouncing up and down after we had breakfast. I was wearing my veil now, the see-through fabric obscuring my features until I reached the altar. This time, all of my Bridesmaids were coming; Emily, Tanisha, Moon-kyung, Flora, Livia, and Scorpainia. They looked down the street with me to look for the carriage. Soon enough, it arrived, the biggest one to accommodate for the sizes of our respective dresses. The driver of the carriage, Alfred Pennyworth, opened the door for us and helped us in. “Batman made a request, I take it?” I guessed.

“He did, Ma’am,” confirmed Alfred. “I trust the past two days had no incident?”

“Not a one,” I replied.

“Then, let’s hope our luck continues,” mused Alfred. Everyone was in and the doorway was clear of any loose dress sticking out. Alfred then shut the door and took his position at the driver’s seat. The carriage then took off as we began our five hour journey to the Campus. At the Northern Entrance was the aisle I would walk down, the Eastern Entrance would be where the Bridesmaids came in, the Groomsmen came in at the Western Entrance, and the Groom would come in at the Southern Entrance. We chatted the entire time until Alfred announced the stop. We came out and headed for our respective Entrances.

“See you inside!” called Emily. As they left, …I became nervous. I didn’t know why, I WANTED to marry Richard, long before it was revealed that I would carry his children…so why is my stomach churning? I continued to the Entrance to see Okaa-san (Mother) waiting there, happy tears coming down her face.

“My little girl,” she sighed happily, “all grown up and making her own way!” She hugged me tightly. She then noticed something and correctly guessed what was going on. “Nervous?” she asked.

“Did YOU get nervous before you married Hiroki’s dad?” I inquired.

“My dear Megumi, both of us were nervous wrecks!” replied Okaa-san. “I almost considered backing out!”

“What changed your mind?” I asked.

“Seeing him at the Altar,” explained Okaa-san. I briefly remembered that she and her late husband had a European style wedding, white dress and all. “He looked so wonderful, looking down the aisle as I came down. One look at him and all nerves were gone. He admitted to me after the ceremony that he was nervous as well, but banished those nerves at seeing me. We both resolved to handle any hardships together.” As she spoke, I became less nervous.

“Arigatou, Okaa-san,” (Thank you, Mother) I bid. The entrance doors opened and Okaa-san walked me down the aisle. The onlookers turned to see me, as did Richard and the one presiding over the wedding, Woz. The onlookers were the Kamen Riders we had fought with during the Vortech Wars, Tokiwa Sougo, the Doctor, the allies of the Vortex Riders, the Apocalypse Riders, those that weren’t my Bridesmaids, those that were not the Groomsmen, our families, and the Gateway Team. My Bridesmaids came in as followed: Emily, Scorpainia, Livia, Tanisha, Moon-kyung, and Flora. Richard’s Groomsmen came in at the same time as the Bridesmaids. The Best Man was Michael and the other Groomsmen followed in this order: Emmanuel (wearing a suit for once), Joshua, Mikhail, Alesandro, and Turretorg. Much like what Okaa-san described, the instant I saw Richard, my nerves were gone. Judging by his expression, so were his. As I walked, the familiar tune of “Here Comes the Bride” rang out. We then stood together, facing each other at the Altar. Woz opened his book before speaking.

“Dearly Beloved,” he proclaimed, “we are gathered here to witness a truly auspicious moment in the history of the multiverse! We gather now to witness the union of Richard Saunders and Hishikawa Megumi, two veterans of the Vortech Wars! If any wish to object, speak now, or forever hold your peace!” No one said a word. “Do the Bride and Groom have any words to say?” asked Woz.

“We do,” we both said in unison. This was the time for our vows. We decided that Richard would start.

“Megumi,” he began, “when I first laid eyes on you, my heart kept telling me to pursue my affections to you. Granted, it took a certain someone to shove us both along on that path during the Vortech Wars,” we looked at Emily who stuck her tongue out at us, “but my feelings did not change that day. I want to be with you as long as we’re together. I swear to support you in all of your endeavors and help provide for us both so we may be happy.”

“Richard-chan,” I vowed, using the nickname I gave him when we were dating, “our lives, since we first met, were not easy. I seem to recall butting heads with you a lot. However, that is irrelevant as I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I promise to do my part in supporting us and making our lives happy.”

“I know this is a little redundant,” mused Woz, “but, Richard Saunders, do you take Hishikawa Megumi to be your lawfully-wedded wife, to keep solely to her in sickness and in health, for rich or poor, until death do you part?”

“I do,” answered Richard. The smile on his face showed he intended to follow through on that vow.

“Hishikawa Megumi,” asked Woz, “do you take Richard Saunders to be your lawfully-wedded husband, to keep solely to him in sickness and in health, for rich or poor, until death do you part?”

“I do!” I replied, my conviction equaling Richard.

“Have you the rings?” asked Woz. A pillow floated towards us with the rings on it. Richard and I took one each. I then held out my hand. Richard took it and placed the ring on my finger.

“With this ring, I do thee wed,” he promised. He then held out his hand. I took it and placed the ring on his finger.

“With this ring, I do thee wed,” I vowed. We held hands as Woz gave his speech.

“Iwae!” (Rejoice!) he called. “The ones who have united in holy matrimony! The Bride and Groom who shall be forever as one in the fight against evil! The Riders who stand together and lead the fight to bring peace throughout time and space! And their names are Hishikawa Megumi and Richard Saunders, Kamen Riders Royal and Guard, Queen and King of the Feudal Nerd Society! This is the day where you two kiss to finalize your union!” At that, Richard lifted my veil. We couldn’t embrace each other for the kiss fast enough! It felt like hours for us, but it must have been 10 seconds. When we parted, we noticed the crowd cheering! I felt a happy tear come down my face as I took in the overwhelming support of my union with Richard.

Day 3: Reception

Richard and I were in a carriage for just us two as we led the way to the reception. Richard and I danced with all eyes on us. I must say, Richard can REALLY dance! He lifted me into the air a few times, causing us to laugh. After the dance, it was time for the dinner. We sat together and chatted before Mr. Fred Saunders, my new father-in-law, rang his glass. It was time for a speech. “My friends,” he began, “this is truly a joyous occasion. We have all wanted to see them unite in some fashion, but, now that it’s happened…” a wicked smile crossed his features. Here comes the funny, “I suppose it never occurred to you two or your friends what you were doing to your poor, aged parents? Of course, you’re happy, but what about OUR needs? Hm? All of you? I heard that you lot intend to be permanent students at After Academy! Leaving us behind? I must say, it’s all a damned inconvenience!” His expressions were exaggerated, so he wasn’t being serious on what he was saying. “While you lot are happily settling in on campus,” continued Fred, “we’ll be retiring alone! You all know a bit about Saunders’ domestic life! My wife can be tyrannical around the house! It can only increase once she retires from the force!” He gave an exaggerated frown and did the peely-carrot-of-shame motion at his wife, Linda. She stuck her tongue out and flipped him off, causing Richard, Emily, and I to chuckle, as well as a few of our friends. “Now, there’s still time to reconsider, yes?” We all looked at each other, then shook our heads. “No? All right, then.” He then dropped the joking attitude. “In all seriousness, you two have earned this. You always deserve happy moments, no matter what your enemies say. I wish you nothing but the best of luck.” He smiled as he said this. “All right, I’ve taken away enough time from the Maid of Honor and the Best Man.” He sat back down as Emily stood up.

“Well, thanks for the entertainment, Daddy,” she began, making us chuckle. She then turned to me and Richard. “Richard, there ARE moments where you can infuriate me and moments where I infuriate you. Just know that, even though I make fun of you, I never stopped loving you, nor will I stop loving you. We both manage to make one another mad, but that’s just the give-and-take that accompanies twins sometimes. What else accompanies us is the fact we know each other so well and I’ve been seeing that closeness between you and Megumi. Megumi, you have been there for me in cases where no one else could. You’ve helped me face my demons and it got me to deal with them alone, knowing how you helped me. I wish you two nothing but happiness throughout your days. To the Bride and Groom!” She raised her glass.

“The Bride and Groom!” repeated the crowd. A sip of our drinks later, it was Michael’s turn.

“Richard, there ARE moments where I feel like Blackadder dealing with one of his, er, ‘friends’,” he began, “most recently when you told me to beshrew you and mentioned I was in good humor. As I warned, it was a tiny step to ‘Hey Nonny Nonny’, and then I’d call Arkham. However, you have been an excellent friend to me since we met. I began as the stereotypical rich brat and you got me down to earth very fast. Megumi, you brought us all together and revealed to me all of the problems and viewpoints in the world. I would have been a fool if I didn’t change. You two have been an excellent steady hand on my moral path and I wish you nothing but the best life together. To the Bride and Groom!”

“The Bride and Groom!” replied the crowd. Another sip, then we ate and talked. Soon came the cutting of the cake. Richard and I both held the knife and cut into it, getting a slice for each other. We then took our slices, then fed them to each other. Afterwards, we danced a little more before tiring out. We heard a moan and turned to see Mikhail with his head in his hands.

“Mikhail?” asked Richard.

“Daijōbudesuka?” (Are you okay?) I asked.

“Romulan ale should be illegal!” growled Mikhail.

“…It IS,” I replied. The music came back on and we went back to dancing!

Kimi wa STAR Mabayuku SHINE (You are a star with a blazing shine!)

(O-O-O-O-O, O-O-O-O-O)

Jibun ja Kizukenai (You cannot notice it yourself!)

(O-O-O-O-O, O-O-O-O-O)

Kokoro RELAX shite Asu wo IMAGE (Relax your mind and picture the future,)

Yukue, Jiyuujizai (jizai) (Whereabouts and freedom! (Freedom!))

Akirame kake chatta Yume ni REBENJI (Giving up and challenging in your dreams again,)

Rounayaku nannyuo no PRIDE (The pride of young and old, men and women!)

Everybody SHUFFLE shiyou, Sedai (Everybody, Let’s shuffle!)

rensa suru SMILE (Generations all linked with smiles!)

Let’s Party ENJOY shinakya mottainai (Let’s Party! Don’t waste it and just enjoy it,)

datte, jinsei wa ikkai (Because you only live once!)

RAINBOW wa sora dake janai (Rainbows aren’t just only in the skies,)

Mune ni mo kakaru ze (Party P.A.R.T.Y) (but also in our hearts! (Party P.A.R.T.Y))

Donna MIRACLE mo oki houdai (Any miracle can happen!)

UNIVERSE FESTIVAL! (Party P.A.R.T.Y)

Rashisa ga (tsumari jizentai) soudai (Being unique is (basically oneself) exhilarating!)

(O-O-O-O-O, O-O-O-O-O)

Shourai wa kimi ni naritai (I wanna be like you in the future!)

(O-O-O-O-O, O-O-O-O-O)

Sude ni dare mo ga motteru yasashisa idenshi (Everyone already has kindness in their genes,)

Toki ni miushinai (shinai) (and sometimes it may be lost! (Lost!))

Kizutsukeba ttemo Kizuna ni CHANGE (Even if we hurt each other, we can change with our bonds!)

Jinrui mina kyoudai (All of humanity are brothers and sisters!)

Everybody Zettai teki sonzai (Everybody, we’re an absolute being!)

Zenin nanka no tensai (All are geniuses in something!)

Let’s Party Senpai kouhai to kanpai (Let’s Party! Seniors and juniors toasting to each other!)

RIVAL mo issai (Rivals are also outstanding!)

Tsuzukeru koto ga daijisa (The most important thing is to keep going,)

suki koso jouzu nare (Be good at what you like!)

Tsumazuita tte kamawanai (It’s okay if you stumble somewhere,)

Nanakorobi yaoki style (Just do it Fall Down 7, Get up 8-style!)

Meguriai zutto tsuzuku sekai (A world of constant encounters,)

Guuzen nanka janai (Nothing is a coincidence!)

Let’s Party Ten ga tsunagari ai (Let’s Party, connect all the dots,)

sen ni naru issai (All join into a single line!)

Everybody SHUFFLE shiyou, Sedai (Everybody, Let’s shuffle!)

rensa suru SMILE (Generations all linked with smiles!)

Let’s Party ENJOY shinakya mottainai (Let’s Party! Don’t waste it and just enjoy it,)

datte, jinsei wa ikkai (Because you only live once!)

RAINBOW wa sora dake janai (Rainbows aren’t just only in the skies,)

Mune ni mo kakaru ze (Party P.A.R.T.Y) (but also in our hearts! (Party P.A.R.T.Y))

Donna MIRACLE mo oki houdai (Any miracle can happen!)

UNIVERSE FESTIVAL! (Party P.A.R.T.Y)

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 2

It was a new day in our new Castle Nerd Skull outside After Academy’s city limits. The Horsemen, their heralds, and our newest members had joined us as we sat down. Our new members were from the same universe the original F.N.S came from. We went from 16 to 31 almost overnight, 18 girls and 13 boys. Our new members were Lady Colleen Doyle of Waterford, Ireland, Lord Alesandro Ortiz of Fortaleza, Brazil, Sir Liam McIntyre of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, Duke Victor Young of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Duchess Deung Moon-kyung (Asian name order, so, in the western name order it would be Moon-kyung Deung) of Jeju-si, South Korea. They were wearing a newer transformation belt, similar to a Vortex Driver, called the Chronicle Driver. Much like a Vortex Driver, it summons armor based on a character, but uses something called an Armor Bio, a small, book-shaped trinket that tells the story of the person it’s based off of. The Chronicle Driver pops a shelf out from the top with a small space for the Armor Bio to fit. The Rider then inserts the Armor Bio into the space and slides the shelf down into the Driver. It won’t summon the suit until the Rider presses a button on the Driver’s top. If it’s the Rider’s personal Armor Bio, or Armor Auto-bio, the Rider would say “Henshin!” before pressing the button. Pressing the button again would initiate the final attack. Colleen was Kamen Rider Slam, Alesandro was Kamen Rider Striker, Liam was Kamen Rider Highland, Victor Was Kamen Rider Range, and Moon-kyung was Kamen Rider Lance. Colleen adjusted her braid as Michael’s cat, Kit-10, scooted by. “Colleen?” I asked. “Your report?” She snapped out of her reverie as she shook her head.

“Sorry, My Lady,” she apologized. “The Chronicle Riders haven’t heard a peep out of them.”

“Quite frankly,” sighed Liam, “I don’t think we’re gonna find anything.”

“I know Hiro of old,” I replied, prompting the Scotsman to roll his eyes.

“Och, haur we gang!” he protested, exaggerating his usual accent.

“I beg your pardon?” I asked.

“Every time we say Hiro’s not gonna do anything,” explained Liam, “you go on about how Hiro doesn’t let things go that easily, how he will stop at nothing to have the multiverse under his rule. Well, I’ve been looking everywhere, and I have NO proof that he has something in the works!”

“Always a contentious one, aren’t you?” sighed his House Head, Pestilence.

“The Vortech Wars are over!” protested Liam. “Hiro’s learned not to mess with powers outside his understanding! We can relax! YOU, of all people, can relax!”

“Hiro is NOT one to be underestimated,” Death argued in her usual whisper. “I will not let you go through with being so lax about this.”

“Come on, you can’t be serious!” countered Liam. Moon-kyung just sighed, deciding to defuse the situation with a question unrelated to our conversation.

“Could the pizza guy be any later?” she sighed.

“They ARE taking their sweet time,” remarked Kit-10. “However, I don’t think we should be TOO harsh on them. They’re rather swamped, what with the two-year anniversary celebration of Vortech’s defeat coming up.”

“Oh, yeah, that,” I remembered.

“Well, it looks like we’re starting Bad Movie Night WITHOUT pizza,” sighed Richard. “Let’s kick things off with Michael Bay.”

“What have you got to offer?” I quizzed.

It was Revenge of the Fallen, the second Bayverse Transformers movie. “Well, that was something,” I remarked.

“Rather tame, compared to other bad movies I’ve seen,” commented Emily.

“As a feline-based robot,” observed Kit-10, “built by a Time Lord and a flying box, I can safely say that it was the most unrealistic thing I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of gracing my visual sensors with.”

“Was Devastator’s wrecking ball scrotum really necessary?” asked Victor.

“Were Skids and Mudflap necessary?” quizzed War. “I swear they existed to be nothing but black stereotypes, UNNECESSARY black stereotypes.”

“My turn!” called Colleen.

“It’s not gonna be Monty Python’s Life of Brian, is it?” asked Hiroki. “I STILL feel let down after that whole thing.”

“No, it’s actually a movie from Japan,” replied Colleen. “Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger The Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland.”

“WHY?!” wailed Hiroki.

“Please, no!” I begged. Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Great, the pizza’s here!” I cheered.

“Two and a half hours!” protested Emily. “And we’re pretty far from city limits!”

“Cold pizza’s better than no pizza,” remarked Richard as he got up. Alesandro snorted.

“You only say that because you have no taste buds,” he snarked. Richard approached the door and opened it.

“Okay, my good man, what do I owe you?” he asked.

“Your ears,” remarked the voice.

“…You’re not pizza,” replied Richard.

“A PO robot’s saucier than pizza,” boasted the voice. “We need to talk.”

“Guys, X-PO’s here,” called Richard.

“Let him in!” I bid. Richard and X-PO entered the t.v. room. X-PO had various documents in his claws. “Good to see you again, X-PO!” I called.

“Nice to see you too,” returned X-PO. “I wish the circumstances were better.”

“What’s up?” asked Emily. X-PO laid out the documents.

“Let’s just say that Shocker Rift may be up to something,” he began. “Scorpainia sent out some explorers to gather data on five key universes. I’ve been monitoring for the reports but, for whatever reason, neither side has contacted each other.”

“So? It could be background interference,” I countered.

“I thought so too,” replied X-PO, “until Batman reported seeing Shocker Rift Saucers fly through one rift and out another.”

“I don’t see Shocker Rift,” guessed Tanisha, “as people who would just buzz a populated area.”

“No, they aren’t,” I agreed.

“And you’d be right,” confirmed X-PO. “I’ve managed to get ahold of why the Tarlaxians were exploring other universes. Turns out, they’re scouting for a potential Tarlax 15 in case they need to move again.” He waved a claw over the documents to indicate that what he talked about was in them.

“Should we even be looking at this?” asked Victor. “This seems like top secret stuff.”

“They’re marked with the Secret Seal,” observed Famine as she munched on a chocolate bar. “Not even we Horsemen have the clearance needed to see it. Only the reigning monarch and a few trusted Tarlaxians are allowed access.”

“I wouldn’t worry so much,” whispered Death. “It’s not like anyone’s gonna post this on social media.” Charline’s eyes went wide as she hit the back button on her tablet. “…Seriously?” asked Death.

“As I recall, you guys have the most experience in travelling the multiverse and have a new ship that can go between dimensions,” remembered X-PO.

“Yes, the Virginia can go to other universes,” I confirmed. “You were there when we remodeled it from its sphere to an actual ship.”

“When do we leave then?” asked X-PO.

“I don’t recall inviting you,” I remarked.

“Megumi, the multiverse has a vested interest in seeing that it’s protected,” argued X-PO. “As someone who wants that interest to succeed, I’m coming with you.”

“That’s nice, X-PO,” I countered, “but I’m a little worried about a portal operator abandoning his post.”

“Megumi, did you really think I wouldn’t get my replacement as I went with you?” asked X-PO. “Elphaba, Chell, Rusty, the Brigadier, they want to see Vorton again.” I opened my mouth to argue again, then sighed.

“I suppose you can do more on this adventure,” I conceded. “In fact, I think we all need our robots. Kit-10, see if you can get Lexicon, Pup-X5, and R9-D7. Veterans of the Vortech Wars, who wants another journey around…?”

“WAIT!” called Moon-kyung. “Who said anything about JUST you veterans? I wanna go!”

“Wait a minute!” I began.

“There may be people in need of help,” interjected Victor. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see them hurt.”

“Nobody does,” I agreed, “but…”

“And you’re gonna need someone who knows their way around weapons,” interrupted Liam.

“I’ve used weapons!” protested Richard.

“Besides, we want to see what the multiverse is like!” called Alesandro.

“You can see it just fine in…” argued Livia.

“And I SO want to meet Batman and the others!” cheered Colleen.

“GUYS!” I finally called. Everyone quieted down. “I appreciate that you new guys want to see the multiverse but we don’t know what’s going on in those universes. This could all be for nothing.”

“I have to side with the newbies,” interjected Emmanuel. “This may be the perfect opportunity to show the multiverse off if there’s nothing going on. The last time we went through the dimensions, it wasn’t exactly ‘happy-fun-time’. I’d like to go when we’re not being shot at.”

“Besides,” remarked Death, “if it IS nothing, then we just fix the trouble and help the explorers reestablish communications with Tarlax 14. And, on another note, we’ve been getting a…feeling.” That caught my attention.

“Feeling?” I asked.

“Yeah,” confirmed Lacey. “The five of us have had a feeling that the aspects we represent, war, plague, chaos, starvation, and death, are going out of whack. Sometimes it’s because of some interdimensional power, other times, it’s just someone not in their universe. We’d like to check if it’s the latter as we hope.”

“…All right,” I decided, “we’ll split up into teams according to our houses. X-PO, you’re with my house. Kit-10, once Gandalf joins us, you’re going with War and her students. I want R9-D7 to go with House Pestilence when Hongo arrives. Pup-X5 and Wyldstyle will go with Famine’s house. Lacey, do you mind taking Batman and Lexicon?”

“Don’t mind at all,” replied Lacey.

“Then let’s get Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle and Gandalf,” I declared. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

I was hosting a party at Wayne Manor, my birthday party, to be exact. 35 years, and still a member of Gotham’s high society. A woman with a distinctive feline feel to her dress approached me. It was Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. “Hey, lover,” she purred. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks,” I replied. I noticed the necklace she was wearing, a ruby inside a distinct cat’s eye design. “Which museum did you ‘borrow’ that from?”

“Har har,” hissed Selina. “Babs gave it to me. Check with her if you don’t believe me.”

“I may do that…later,” I remarked. “Where’s Harley? I thought she was coming with you.”

“She was,” answered Selina, “but something came up. Some sort of emergency with Pamela. She called in the entire Suicide Squad. From what I heard; it was something to do with Little Shop of Horrors.”

“She’s probably mad the plant didn’t win,” I guessed. We then danced for a while, then the party started winding down. Alfred was bidding the guests goodbye, thanking them for coming. Selina stole a kiss before leaving.

“She’d make a fine Mrs. Batman,” sighed Alfred.

“Maybe,” I dismissed. I headed up to my study to see a rift open. “Okay, what now?!” I protested. Just then, Tonje stepped through.

“God kveld,” (Good evening) she greeted.

“At least you aren’t a saucer,” I remarked. “What’s going on?”

“There’s some multiversal trouble going on concerning Tarlaxian explorers,” explained Tonje. “The Horsemen are thinking that it’s putting their respective aspects out of whack. Want to come?”

“Sure, crime’s been at an all-time low since the Joker stayed with Hiro,” I answered. “Let me just get changed.” I stepped into a wardrobe and let machines change me into my costume. Once I had my cowl adjusted, I stepped out as the Dark Knight. “Let’s get going,” I rasped.

“May I persuade you to take a sandwich, Master Bruce?” asked Alfred.

“I’ll get something on the way,” I replied. My father-figure sighed.

“Then, good luck,” he bid.

Sitting on the outskirts of Bricksburg isn’t my idea of fun. When all the realms in my universe finally came together, I thought it would mean something more, but there were those that don’t want to build something new, sound a little too similar to Lord Business. I idly looked around to see numbers around objects and just made a small motorcycle that didn’t even make noise. I sighed. Somehow, it was more fun during the Vortech Wars. “Maybe I SHOULD be a DJ,” I mused to myself.

“I’m sure you’d be good at it,” called a voice. I whirled around, constructing a giant staff with a boxing glove on both ends, and leveled my new weapon at the person behind me. “…Bonjour,” gulped the guy.

“Emmanuel?!” I yelped. “What are you doing here?!” I lowered the staff, letting Emmanuel relax.

“Trouble in the multiverse,” he replied. “Want to come?”

“Let me just let my friends know where I’m going,” I answered. I quickly found a paper and pencil and scrawled a note, then built a machine that carried the note to my friends. “Let’s get going! I was getting bored!” I urged Emmanuel.

“We French call it Ennui,” chuckled Emmanuel as he led me to the rift he used.

I was enjoying the clean air of the Shire. After Sauron and Saruman stayed on with Shocker Rift, Mordor was left empty. Gondor easily claimed it and made it into something better. Frodo enjoys his life as a former Ring-bearer, although the wound he received from Weathertop still smarted. There was peace in Middle-Earth, a peace long enjoyed by all races. The Elves no longer saw a reason to move to the Undying Lands. I was enjoying a pipe of Longbottom Leaf, a favorite of Merry. I then heard footsteps coming towards me, the footsteps of someone of the race of Men. Hobbit footsteps are highly distinctive. I turned around to see an old friend from the Vortech Wars approach me. “Good Morning, Young Hiroki,” I called. Hiroki arched an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “Do you wish me a good morning; or mean that it’s a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”

“…I can see why Bilbo paused after I said that 60 years ago,” I muttered. “In any case, his answer’s the same as mine, all of them at once. And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors.”

“I would join you in just contemplating the scenery,” replied Hiroki, reminding me that he doesn’t smoke, “but I’m afraid I have pressing business that requires your help. We think we’ve found Shocker Rift.” At that point, I became alarmed. Not wanting to show it on my face, I emptied my pipe and accepted Hiroki’s help in standing back up.

“I presume your sister sent you,” I guessed.

“Exactly,” confirmed Hiroki.

I was still getting used to that new…“Rider Check-in” that Sento had made. It’s a social media platform for Kamen Riders. I could never seem to get it to sync with my phone. As I was fiddling, I heard the familiar “YEE!” of a Shocker Combatman. I then heard a crowd screaming in terror and saw the crowd running from an old Shocker Monster I once fought, Shiomaneking, a fiddler-crab based cyborg with a massive claw for a left hand. “Why do YOU always come back?!” I snapped when I saw him.

“Shocker obviously sees a use for me, Takeshi Hongo!” laughed Shiomaneking. He commanded various Combatmen to attack. I knocked a few aside, then put my left fist to my hip as I thrust my right arm to the other side. I slowly rotated the arm to the right.

“Rider…” I began. I then closed my right hand and placed it at my hip while thrusting my left arm to the right. The shield around my belt opened as the fan started turning. “HENSHIN!” I called. I jumped and the suit formed, changing me into Kamen Rider Ichigō, the first Kamen Rider! I knocked more Combatmen aside and went straight for Shiomaneking. He fired his flammable foam, almost setting me on fire, but I rolled out of the way. Shiomaneking raised his claw, ready to strike.

“HENSHIN!” announced a voice. We looked up to see Touché tackle him. She then got him into a headlock. “Konnichiwa!” (Hello!) she called.

“Konnichiwa, Touché-san,” I returned. “Social call?”

“I wish!” replied Touché. “What animal is this guy based off of?”

“The fiddler-crab,” I answered.

“Mmm, crab!” she sighed. “Really good with butter. Now, I’ve only heard of people keeping fiddler-crabs as pets, so I guess this mook won’t be good.”

“YOU’RE INSANE, GAIJIN!” (foreigner) shouted Shiomaneking as he broke the hold and flung Touché aside. Touché had her foil out in ranged mode and fired, keeping Shiomaneking from regaining balance.

“My turn!” I called as I leapt into the air. I then stuck my foot out. “RIDER KICK!” I shouted as my foot connected with Shiomaneking. He started sparking as I landed behind him.

“Shocker Gundan BANZAI!” (Long live the Shocker army!) he proclaimed before exploding.

“Wow, he was THAT dedicated to the cause,” muttered Touché.

“And this isn’t the first time I’ve beaten him,” I remarked as we cancelled our transformations. Emily’s dress expanded as her armor disappeared and she adjusted her hairpiece. “Last time I fought him was with Takeru. Even then, he fought him with a Super Sentai team, Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger, (Animal Squadron Beast King Ranger) I believe they were called.”

“Much as I’d like to hear about past Kamen Rider battles,” interjected Emily, “I’m afraid we don’t have the time. Like I said, this isn’t a social call. Shocker Rift is making a move. Want to fight them like old times?”

“Delighted,” I replied.

“Then, let’s go!” cheered Emily as she led me to the rift.

“Report,” I ordered from the saucer.

“Sources located,” reported Dalek Drone 2248292.

“Projections indicate,” supplied Metalran, “that key forces will reveal where the sources are.”

“And the journey through Hell?” I asked.

“YEE!” (The girl has been located!) reported a Combatman.

“Excellent,” I praised. Igura then entered the bridge.

“The device is prepared,” she reported.

“More good news,” I replied.

“Battle computer estimates an 87.4% chance,” called Dalek Drone 2248292, “that the Vortex Riders will intervene.”

“If I know Megumi,” I countered, “we can, at least, up that to 97.3%. However, I give you my word, there’s a 0% chance of victory for her!” I activated the comms to the transporter. “Sauron, proceed to conquer 5-P-L-4-T-0-0-N! Dalek Drone 8872345, move off to D-1-5-N-3-Y! Joker, proceed to T-3-4-M-F-0-R-T-R-3-5-5-2! Cybermen, you’re cleared for 5-4-1-L-0-R-M-0-0-N! Once Hell’s been cleared, she will…”

“Danger!” warned Dalek Drone 2248292. “Danger! Target is stronger than believed!”

“YEE! YEE!” (ALERT! HEATHER IS SLAUGHTERING HER WAY OUT OF HELL!) reported the Combatman.

“More than that, she’s flown by our fleet!” called Igura. “She’s caused an energy shockwave! This fleet is now in danger!”

“Spatio-temporal feedback building!” warned Dalek Drone 2248292. “Two of our ships have been destroyed! Three more losing hull integrity!”

“Advise our base that Heather has gone rogue!” I ordered.

“YEE!” (At once!) called the Combatman.

“Deploy an escape rift!” I ordered Dalek Drone 2248292. “Activate full shielding and advise the remainder of the fleet to do the same!”

“I obey!” obliged Dalek Drone 2248292.

“Order all forces to hold off on conquest until we’re at a safer location!” I directed Igura.

“Yes, Great Leader,” she replied as she relayed the instructions.

“Escape rift passes through shockwave,” reported Dalek 2248292. “Stability not guaranteed!”

“Three more ships gone!” reported Igura. “five more failing in hull integrity!”

“Advise the remaining ship to follow us,” I ordered. Dalek Drone 2248292 transmitted the instructions to the remaining ship.

“YEE!” (Escape rift collapsing behind us!) called the Combatman.

“Increase speed!” I ordered. A transmission from the last ship came through.

“Trapped in rift!” called the Dalek on the other end. “Alert! ALERT! GYAAAGH!” The ship was destroyed as we escaped to our base.

“Report!” I barked.

“Hull integrity at 75%,” called Dalek Drone 2248292. “We are the only survivor of Heather’s journey past us.”

“What kind of rage is she packing?!” yelped Igura.

“YEE! YEE!” (Her trajectory has been calculated. She’s making a beeline to 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0.) reported the Combatman.

“Even though she’s going to the universe we want her to be in, she’s most likely too focused on Emily,” I muttered. “Inform the invasion forces that we proceed as normal.”

“I obey!” obliged Dalek Drone 2248292. It transmitted the necessary instructions to our invasion forces. If Heather manages to bungle this, no biggie. We’ll still have that universe’s source in our grasp. More stable than a Foundation Element.

“Your Majesty?” asked Turretorg as he entered my office. I turned to him.

“Is there any word?” I quizzed.

“No, Ma’am,” replied Turretorg. I groaned in desperation.

“We were supposed to hear back from them over two hours ago,” I muttered. “Are we receiving ANYTHING?”

“We got OUR communications systems up,” reported Turretorg. “We just received a signal from each ship. They’re delayed, of course, but we’re gotten readings from the ships and their crews.”

“And my call to After Academy?” I inquired.

“X-PO already made them AND the Vortex Riders aware of the situation,” explained Turretorg. “During the little security blackout an hour ago, he snuck in and stole the documents relating to this problem.”

“I’d turn him into scrap for that,” I snarled, “but we don’t have the time. What about my proposal to Sludgiona to make more Keystones?”

“For now, it’s at your discretion, if you want them made,” replied Turretorg.

“Contact some observatories,” I ordered. “Give them the coordinates. See if we can’t get a better picture of what’s going on out there. If we haven’t heard back in a couple hours…I want production on the new Keystones to begin.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” confirmed Turretorg. He hurried off to obey.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 1

The multiverse, so large, so imaginative, so…beautiful in diversity. I have traveled through universes of pure majesty and those constructed of filth. I have seen more than any human is usually granted in their lifetime. I have made friends with creatures of light and darkness. Through it all, I have been one of 20 beings that saved the multiverse from total stagnation. I am Megumi Hishikawa, Queen, Mutant Cyborg, and Kamen Rider. At the moment, I was leaving my history class at After Academy, taught by my House Head, Death herself, after learning about the 13th Tarlaxian King Emperor, Skrandepede. He wasn’t the most popular King Emperor, giving the Tarlaxians a bad rap for centuries as Monstrous Conquerors. It took at least 20 of his successors to dispel that stigma. I had arrived back at the dorm apartment Richard and I had shared on campus and headed on to our bedroom. While I DO like how fluffy the skirt for the girl’s uniform was and how it could allow me to write a paper on it, it DOES get a little heavy after a while. I had changed into a loose skirt and a shirt that exposed my midriff and flopped onto the couch, idly flicking on the t.v. to see my boyfriend and future husband, Sir Richard Saunders, doing his job as a news reporter on MNN, Multiverse News Network.

“…thus ending the strike at the Enchanter’s union peacefully,” he had just finished. “In recent Mad Scientist News, the search for the missing Dr. Linksano has finally yielded results. He has been located on Earth in universe 1-N-T-3-R-N-3-T-R-3-V-1-3-W-3-R, far from his native universe. Dr. Linksano is a version of his current home’s Dr. Insano, a mad scientist that has, on numerous occasions, tormented or killed The Spoony One, or Spoony for short. Unlike Dr. Insano, Dr. Linksano has retired from the evil community and now works for that universe’s champion, Linkara, an internet comic book reviewer, as his scientific advisor aboard Linkara’s spaceship, Comicron One. The ship was once under the command of Lord Vyce, Linkara’s arch nemesis and well-know conqueror. After being bribed with the holo-deck onboard the ship, to which Linkara admits a threat near the end of his offer to join, Dr. Linksano retired from being evil and now works to help Linkara defend his universe. Linkara, a current contestant of the Temlins’ 1,049th Contest of Champions, has been labeled as a Champion after defeating Lord Vyce four times over now, thus allowing him to be invited and accepted into the Contest of Champions. In related news, Pilo has won against…” I switched the t.v. off as Richard went into the Contest of Champions. I never really got into it, not after Ace Corgi: Attorney at Paw lost to Jenny Everywhere. I stretched on the couch, letting my eyes shut. It was naptime. A little later, the phone rang, waking me up. I stretched, then headed to the phone, picking it up.

“Moshi moshi,” (Japanese “hello” over the phone) I mumbled as I held it to my ear.

“G’day, Megumi. Did I wake you?” asked an Australian man’s voice.

“A bit, Joshua, yeah,” I replied, recognizing the voice. “Enjoyed your date with Emily?”

“She was over the moon when she set foot on Sodor,” answered Joshua Williams. “How about you and Richard?”

“We’re doing all right,” I replied. “He helped me buy the F.N.S’ private universe and I helped him buy his car.”

“That’s nice,” commented Joshua. “Anything romantic?”

“A little hanami and a baseball game,” I answered.

“Aces,” cheered Joshua. “Now, about Shocker Rift…”

“Did you find them?!” I asked, whatever sleepiness I had being banished.

“I was gonna ask you that,” replied Joshua. My mood went down as I sighed.

“Hiro only attacked our home ONCE!” I groaned. “With an organization that big, you’d think we’d find him by now!”

“Livia and Mikhail thought at least the Joker would attack the universe they were searching, given the craziness that accompanies it,” sighed Joshua.

“What universe was that?” I asked.

“M-U-P-P-3-T-5,” answered Joshua.

“Whereabouts were they?” I pressed.

“The main entertainment venue, the local theater,” clarified Joshua.

“That venue’s chaos is kind of tame, compared to the Joker’s brand of chaos,” I figured. “What seats did they have?”

“They didn’t have seats,” corrected Joshua.

“I thought you said they were at the theater?” I quizzed.

“I did,” replied Joshua. “Their acts almost brought the house down. Statler and Waldorf tried to finish the job from their box.”

“They were onstage?!” I realized.

“The Muppets were doing a Little Mermaid theme for their show,” explained Joshua. “Mikhail sang Under the Sea, Livia did Part of Your World, and they both did a duet of Kiss the Girl. Livia tried out her new mer-form for the show.”

“Lucky girl!” I cheered. I then went back to business. “So, you and Emily didn’t see anyone from Shocker Rift on Sodor?”

“Sorry,” replied Joshua. “The only thing I saw was a Dalek cosplayer as there was a convention at Knapford, near its harbor. Gordon wasn’t too thrilled. I believe his exact words were ‘Driver, get me out of here and away from that ridiculous thing!’ Gordon’s not the biggest Doctor Who fan, I’ve noticed.”

“I suppose not everyone in Great Britain’s a fan,” I chuckled. “Much like how not everyone in Japan is a Kamen Rider fan.”

“In any case, sorry we couldn’t find Shocker Rift,” sighed Joshua.

“It’s all right,” I replied. “See you tomorrow.”

“Cheers,” bid Joshua. I hung up and idly went to the bedroom. I pulled out a drawer that held a pair of Vortex Drivers. I pulled mine out and grabbed the i.d tag that sat near it. I went back to the living room and held the Vortex Driver to my waist as it made the belt strap and fastened itself around my waist.

“Vortex Driver!” it announced. I then made a fist with my right hand, crossed it over my front, and held my left hand to my hip.

“Henshin!” I called. I then inserted the i.d tag into the belt and the new wardrobe, a blue cylinder that attached my armor pieces and external clothing as my undersuit formed, put my suit on and disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke that I waved off with one hand in one sweep. “Kamen Rider Royal!” I announced to no one. “Evil will ultimately bow to me!” …No one responded as no one else was there. I sighed, then let off a scream of frustration, not hearing the door open. Richard had come in with the groceries.

“Er…did I come in at a bad time?” he asked.

“Two years!” I hissed.

“…Pardon?” asked Richard as he set the groceries on the counter.

“Two years,” I continued, “since Hiro attacked our home universe! Only once! Two years and not a single peep from one of his Combatmen, one of the Daleks under his command, or from one of his newly-christened ‘Hell Generals’! Two years since we were accepted at After Academy and we’re still in our dorms!”

“We all agreed,” countered Richard as he started putting the groceries away, “that living on campus would increase our chances of getting educated and help us find Hiro better.”

“Yes,” I replied, “but I thought he’d do something by now! Not just sit wherever he is while we go to class, then our, admittedly well-paying, part time jobs, then return to our dorms to just do nothing except the occasional date!”

“You were the one,” reminded Richard, “who told us that patience would be a virtue.”

“Yes! A virtue for you!” I argued. “Not me! I hate patience! Patience is for wimps!”

“Need I remind you,” remarked Richard, “that one of our guest speakers, the late Mr. Rory Williams, waited 2000 years for his wife before they married?! Besides, are you telling me you’re exempt from patience?!” I groaned in frustration.

“I simply can’t live like this!” I sighed. “I can’t! I need to be busy!”

“Then go be busy!” snapped Richard. “I’ll watch for any Shocker Rift activity!”

“…All right, good luck!” I cheered as I barreled out the door and out of the dorm complex. I had summoned my mechanical horse and converted it to bike mode, speeding down the street on patrol for any wrong-doing. Just then, my radio tuned into a police call.

“All units, converge on the Beyond Graves Bank!” urged the dispatcher. “An armed robbery is in progress and it looks like the robber originated from the Kamen Rider Universe. Kamen Rider Build could use some assistance!”

“Armed robbery?!” I cheered. “Away I go!” I sped off to After Academy’s bank, the Beyond Graves Bank. When I arrived, Build and the police were at the entrance, leveling their weapons at the door. “What’s the situation?” I asked when they saw me.

“A new Smash was created,” explained Build. “It’s able to go to any place within a 2 block radius from itself about a few seconds into the future. Because of that, it’s called the Chronos Smash.”

“So it’s a time-based Smash,” I simplified.

“Yep,” replied Build. Another Kamen Rider then approached us. He was from the current series, Kamen Rider Zi-O. He wore white armor with what looked like a black and green-trimmed watch strap going down his front. His helmet had a smartwatch appearance and his eyes looked like the katakana for “Rider” (ライダー). His antennae were a pair of clock hands and he had shoulder pads and a green gauntlet on each arm held by watch straps.

“Woz, right?” I asked. The new Rider nodded. “Might I ask why you’re here and not on Zi-O’s heels?”

“Oh, but I am,” replied Kamen Rider Woz. “Who do you think is the Chronos Smash?”

“It’s Sougo Tokiwa?!” yelped Build. “How did he…?!”

“That’s unknown to me,” replied Woz. “What’s important is that we save my King.”

“Right then, off we go!” I declared. As we charged, the Chronos Smash came out of the bank. It was green, had clock hands for arms, and a watch for a face. The Smash was swinging its arms wildly and causing a lot of damage. As we tried to hit it, it vanished, then appeared behind us a few seconds later. I kicked, but the same result happened.

“Brute force isn’t working!” observed Build. Just then, the Smash spoke.

“Help…me!” it strained.

“What, help you rob a bank?” snarked Build.

“That’s not the Smash talking! That’s Sougo!” I realized. “He’s trying to gain control!”

“A Sisyphean effort, I can promise you that!” called a voice. A new Smash then entered the area. It looked like a guy in a brown coat and floppy hat.

“Who are you?!” I demanded. The new Smash laughed like a mad scientist.

“I thought, in Japan,” he cackled, “it was rude to ask questions without introducing yourself! In any case, I’m the Wander Smash!”

“Well, you’re gonna be wandering to the nearest hospital if you’re behind this!” I hissed.

“Chronos Smash, get rid of them already!” ordered the Wander Smash. The Chronos Smash attacked us through no will of his own. He was trying not to hurt us.

“The Wander Smash seems to be the source,” I figured aloud as said Smash took the sacks of cash. I charged at the Wander Smash and decked the back of his head. The Chronos Smash briefly stopped himself, then went back to his assault. “Theory confirmed!” I chuckled. The Wander Smash then recovered from the blow.

“Whatever happened to striking your enemy when he’s facing you?!” he protested.

“This coming from a petty crook,” I argued.

“PETTY CROOK?!” roared the Wander Smash. “I am no mere crook! I am the greatest scientist in all the multiverse! I have conquered time, hypertime, and the worst comic, Warrior! I am…”

“Dr. Insano!” I realized, remembering a few history lessons from Death and a few scoffs about him from Pestilence. “So, decided to use the methods of Evol to turn yourself into a Smash?”

“Excellent guess!” cheered the Wander Smash. “And, with Sougo Tokiwa under my command as the Chronos Smash, I will rule the world!”

“You can try!” I taunted. “I’m gonna desmashify you!”

“Er…desmashify?” quizzed the Wander Smash. “I don’t think that’s a word.” I stopped talking and started hitting. The Wander Smash was keeping me at bay with a staff. I managed to knock it away while switching my i.d tag out for Build’s. I selected his default form.

“Build RabbitTank Steel!” announced the Vortex Driver. The wardrobe came back and attached Build related armor onto me and changed my left eye to a blue color and my right eye red.

“HAGANE NO MOONSAULT!” called the Build Driver’s voice. “RABBITTANK! YEAH!” I went onto a harder offensive and kept up the assault. The Wander Smash was trying to keep his defense up but I found a way around it. I kicked the staff he had been using as a weapon away from him and caused him to lose balance by tripping him up. Once he tried to pick himself up, I spun the wheel, making the Vortex Driver gather energy.

“Final Attack!” announced the Vortex Driver.

“Rider Royal RabbitTank Kick!” I ordered. The Vortex Driver directed the energy towards my foot as an energy graph grabbed the Wander Smash.

“READY, GO!” shouted the Build Driver’s voice from the Vortex Driver as I jumped. As I travelled down the line, the Driver continued. “VORTEX FINISH! YEAH!” My foot connected and the Smash exploded. As I landed, the Smash fell on the ground in green fire, which Build has called the perfect opportunity to get its essence. The new Vortex Drivers have a small bag of holding on each hip, so I could put whatever I wanted into them. I pulled out an empty Fullbottle and pointed it at the moaning Wander Smash, taking its essence and sucking it into the bottle. Once I got it all, I closed the cap as a black web appeared on it. The Smash’s real form of Dr. Insano was a little groggy. He had black hypno-goggles on his face and a white lab coat with “Dr. Insano” on it. He had a stethoscope hanging around his neck and wore gloves, boots, and some sort of harness with a gun on each shoulder. He got up as the Chronos Smash managed to get Woz and Build to stop hitting him.

“Guys, I’m all right!” he said.

“Waga Maō!” (My Demon King!) cheered Woz.

“Sougo! You’re okay!” called Build.

“Not quite,” countered the Chronos Smash. “I’m still a Smash. Is there any way you could take the Smash essence away without kicking me?”

“Okay, THAT’S gonna be tough,” remarked Build. “Maybe sonic vibrations can move the molecules binding themselves to your human form, but it’s never been tested before.” I looked at Insano, checking to see if he was still concentrating on his physical form, which he was, then turned to the three men.

“I think I can help in that regard,” I called. I swapped out the Build i.d tag for the Doctor one and chose her current incarnation.

“13th Doctor Steel!” announced my belt. As the armor attached itself, my blade gained a new function.

“96 decibels SHOULD do it,” I mused as I set the new function. I pressed a button on the blade and the sound of the sonic screwdriver came through the air as I pointed the sword at the Smash. He started vibrating, then became a little misty as Build pulled out an empty Fullbottle, taking the essence. The Smash then reverted back into a young Japanese man, looking like he just got out of high school! This was Sougo Tokiwa. I switched off the sword and Build closed the cap while I handed him the bottle of the Wander Smash’s essence. “You may get a Best Match with those, given that Insano was controlling Sougo here,” I guessed. We then heard insane laughter as Insano picked himself up.

“You fools!” he giggled. “I’m NOT without a back-up plan!” Sougo rolled his eyes as he pulled out a device. It was white with a slot on each side and a screen in the middle. There was a button on top as well. Sougo set the device to his waist and it formed a belt strap.

“Ziku Driver!” it announced. The screen showed the words “Ziku Driver” as they scrolled from Sougo’s left to his right. He then took out a watch which had the year 2018 on the bottom. He turned the face to make a Kamen Rider’s face. The watch’s face had a clock theme as the hands were the antennae and, like Woz, had the katakana for “Rider” instead of eyes. Sougo then pressed the button on top and the watch beeped before speaking.

“Zi-O!” it called. Sougo then inserted the watch into the Ziku Driver’s right hand slot and pressed the button on top of the Driver to make it tilt towards his right. He then let his right hand point towards the ground while his left arm went across his chest as the hand pointed to the sky. A giant analog clock spun its hands behind him.

“Henshin!” he announced. He then spun the Ziku Driver until it arrived back in its original position. The clock’s hands then stopped at 12:00. The Ziku Driver then rang a bell.

“Rider Time!” it called. It then sang “Kamen Rider Zi-O!” His suit formed silver chest armor and a black undersuit with pink gauntlets and greyish-blue boots. The front looked like a watchband went through the head, looking exactly like the face on the watch.

“Iwae!” (Rejoice!) called Woz as he opened a book. “Zen Rider no chikara o uketsugi, jikū o koe kako to mirai o shiroshimesu toki no ōja. Sono na mo Kamen Rider Zi-O!” (The one to inherit all Rider powers, the time king who will rule over the past and the future. And his name is Kamen Rider Zi-O!)

“King nothing!” taunted Dr. Insano.

“Knock it off, Insano!” called Zi-O as we advanced. “We know how this is going to end! We’ll go over there, beat you up, and…!” He didn’t get far as Insano shoved him backwards into a wall, causing some of the building to crumble!

“The Hell?!” I yelped.

“Something wrong, Riders?!” giggled Insano. “You came here, prepared to fight a madman, and instead, you find a GOD!” He then devolved into laughing madly again.

“What are those things?!” I demanded.

“Power enhancing energy gloves,” explained Insano, “the guns on my harness are twin OMG-WTF 9000’s that follow my eye movements so I can shoot at what, or WHO, I see, and the boots… power enhancing rocket boots! Not my designs, really, but I made a few improvements!”

“That’s JesuOtaku’s stuff!” I protested.

“You wanna go a few rounds?!” giggled Insano as he slammed his hands together, causing a shockwave. “Come get some!” He fired from his guns, scattering us.

“We need a plan!” called Build.

“I have an idea!” I replied. “Woz! Build! Flank his sides! I’ll get his backside! Zi-O, Rider Kick on my signal!”

“Got it!” called the Riders. Build and Woz summoned their respective weapons, the Drill Crusher and the Zikan Despear. They kept his glove-based attacks at bay while I snuck around and smashed the powerpack for his harness.

“Break off!” I called. “Zi-O! Now!” Zi-O pressed the watch’s button again.

“Finish Time!” announced the Ziku Driver. He pressed the button on top and spun the driver again. “Time Break!” it called. A series of pink Japanese characters for “Kick” (キック) surrounded Insano as Zi-O leapt into the air. He flew down with his right foot outstretched while all the characters united and imprinted on his foot. His kick connected with Insano’s face, causing the gear to short out and explode. Insano picked himself up, then fell back down, moaning in pain.

After I gave my statement to the police while they arrested Dr. Insano, I was sent back to my dorm apartment and the visiting Riders went back to their own universe. Richard was just about to start dinner. “That’s better,” I sighed as I cancelled my transformation. “Nothing like a little activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?”

“About an hour,” replied Richard.

“And did Hiro do anything?” I asked.

“Nope, not a peep,” answered Richard as he chopped some carrots.

“…I can’t do it!” I wailed. I then shoved my face into the cushions of the couch and screamed, kicking my feet like a petulant child. Richard just sighed and went back to chopping veggies for his signature stir-fry.