Categories
Paper Mario X Doctor Who Tests

Paper Doctor Turn Test

Inspired by the stop motions of PaperMrio on YouTube, I decided to try my hand at it. This is my own incarnation of the Doctor in her TARDIS (unfinished set) and I figured it would serve as a starting point for my planned Paper Mario and Doctor Who crossover

Categories
cast Journey Through Wonder

The Doctor

She crosses the void beyond the mind, the empty space that circles time. She sees where others stumble blind to seek a truth they never find. Eternal wisdom is her guide. She is…the Doctor! Once from the planet of Gallifrey, this Time Lord has lived through every conceivable danger known to the universe and other dangers from outside it. From tyrant humans to her worst enemies, the Daleks, she fights for those who have lost hope. Like other Time Lords, she has changed her body and face to stave off death, though whether or not she’s a Gallifreyan is a mystery, thanks to her past being in constant flux. Still, what matters is when she started her career as a time and space travelling hero, she and her previous incarnations, both male and female, are looked up to by all of her companions. This body is based off of Donna Noble, a best friend her tenth incarnation had to wipe their mind in order to save her. She’s finally ginger, but wondering why Donna Noble shouted her face to her. She has all the time in the world, though. She spends her days flying around time and space in an obsolete Type 40 TARDIS with the chameleon circuit sticking it in the shape of a 1960’s London Police Box. Her hobbies are numerous, a few of them being Venusian Aikido, tinkering with the TARDIS, and exploring time and space. She’s had numerous lovers from numerous time zones and planets, marrying a select few of them. She has a grandaughter under the Earth alias of Susan. She’s met the Vortex Riders before and it’s going to be her first meeting with Optimus and Arsha as she lends a hand in the fight against the Author.

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 Chapters

Chapter 77

“Vortex!” called Wyldstyle as we flew through the rift. “Do you have a plan for keeping Vortech occupied when we get to Foundation Prime?!”

“As a matter of fact, I do!” I replied.

“How crazy is it?!” quizzed Apocalypse.

“Some of us will think ‘Oh God, oh God, we’re gonna die’!” I responded.

“Yeah, I figured your plan would elicit that response!” called Elphaba.

“Then, it’s such a pity,” called a voice that we all dreaded, “that you’ll never get to put it into action!”

“Hello?” asked GLaDOS over our comms. “I have news which may be upsetting. I am detecting a…”

“Lord Vortech!” interrupted Batman as he pointed ahead of us. Vortech was massive!

“I thought I’d save you the trouble,” quipped Vortech, “and come to defeat you here! I don’t want the mess in my new world! How are you enjoying the rift so far?!”

“I’m very tired of being in freefall!” replied Gandalf.

“Guys, new plan!” I called. I then increased my diving speed, going straight for an area on Vortech’s armor. I had noticed that it held dimensional maelstroms in three different areas to power it. The others caught on and followed me. We soon landed on the armor covering Vortech’s right shoulder.

“Get off me!” protested Vortech. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“This armor stabilizes you as you travel the rift, right?!” I called. “What happens if it’s damaged?!”

“I see!” replied Wyldstyle. “If we can overload the maelstrom, it might damage Vortech!”

“Not as long as I live!” boomed Vortech as Vortexons appeared.

“Wyldstyle, you should really learn to zip it sometimes!” I called.

“Whoops!” said Wyldstyle.

“All right, what’s past is past,” I replied. “Heavy hitters, with me! Tech savvies, overload the maelstrom!” All tech related fighters got to work sabotaging the machinery holding the maelstrom while the rest of us kept the Vortexons off their backs.

“Guys, are you any closer?!” called Cole.

“We’re getting there, just give us a minute!” called Apocalypse.

“I don’t think we HAVE a minute!” I replied.

“Oh, for the love of…GET OUT OF THE WAY!” roared War. She then brought her sword down onto the machine. It sparked and the maelstrom exploded, damaging Vortech and flinging us off in the process.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” roared Vortech. “YOU LITTLE PESTS!”

“Just as predicted,” muttered Batman. The Defender rocket then zoomed by and fired.

“All that fuss to bring a gnat in to help you?!” taunted Vortech. “Pathetic!”

“I don’t know,” I replied as we landed on Vortech’s left shoulder, “it did its job distracting you!”

“Little ants,” snarled Vortech, “I’m going to squash you!” He summoned more Vortexons. The techies got to work as the rest of us held the enemy off.

“Wait, HERE’S what we did wrong!” called Build as he connected a wire. Just then, the maelstrom started destabilizing.

“Here we go again!” I called. We jumped off as the maelstrom exploded and sent Vortech into pain.

“ARGH! You’re really getting on my nerves now!” he roared.

“You wait until we get started!” I called. “We have more help than you could ever muster!

“Really?” taunted Vortech. “You could summon every being alive to help you, it still won’t result in your victory!”

“Guys, there’s one last maelstrom to deal with!” called Death. “Right on his belt buckle!”

“Oh, grief!” I moaned. “Oh well, at least it’s not BELOW the belt! DIVE!” We dove and landed on the belt buckle.

“I grow tired of your antics!” boomed Vortech as he summoned more Vortexons.

“Keep going, guys!” I encouraged as we heavy hitters kept the enemy off the techies. Just then, our job got harder! Someone in a luchador’s outfit arrived and locked onto Batman.

“Batman,” he announced, “I will break you!”

“Bane!” snarled Batman. Bane then grew massive muscles and started swinging!

“I’m going to enjoy hearing your bones shatter!” promised Bane. He then saw the tech guys messing with the maelstrom. “Victory won’t come for you!” he roared.

“Get away!” I called. The techs got away from Bane’s charge. He collided with the machine but didn’t damage it. Just then, I noticed something around his ears. “Nice earrings!” I called.

“Earrings?!” snarled Bane. “Do I look like a girl to you?!”

“Wow, sexist much?” I asked. He then felt around his head and realized that his new earrings were grenades with no pins! They exploded, causing a massive headache for him and destroying the machine. “Your doing, Deadpool?” I asked.

“They looked better on him than me!” called Deadpool.

“Enough!” called Vortech as he flung us off! Just then, a familiar blue box arrived! One and Thirteen poked their heads out.

“Vortech, old boy!” called One. “It looks like you’re stuck!”

“How about we give you a push!” called Thirteen. As they went back inside the TARDIS, it rammed into Vortech, causing an exit to open behind him.


That exit led to Vortech’s temple on Foundation Prime. We all landed roughly while Vortech towered over us. “Er, Godzilla,” I gulped, “I think NOW’S a good time to get big again!”

“Got it!” confirmed Godzilla.

“Not this time!” boomed Vortech as he fired a beam at Godzilla’s Kaiju-riser.

“NO!” roared Godzilla. The Kaiju-riser was destroyed.

“Welcome to the end of chaos,” boasted Vortech, “and the beginning of perfection!” He then started altering the temple until it resembled a fortress!

“Oh no!” I breathed.

“It’s perfect, isn’t it?” asked Vortech. “One single dimension with one single ruler! Kneel to me and I may have mercy on you!”

“Lord Vortech can NOT get away with this!” snarled Wyldstyle.

“I already have!” boasted Vortech. “Who do you gnats think you are?!” That was it! One last roll call for this adventure!

“Kamen Rider Outback!” announced Lord Joshua Williams. “Better watch your back, mate!”

“Kamen Rider Claw!” called Lady Sheela Kumar. “My weapons shall turn you into ribbons!”

“Kamen Rider Swing!” resolved Lady Tonje Haugen. “I’ll be taking your legs!”

“Kamen Rider Hunt!” called Lady Tanisha Akintola. “I shall always get my prey!”

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

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

“Kamen Rider Gallop!” called her brother, Lord Mikhail Kuznetsov. “My riding skills are unmatched!”

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

“Kamen Rider Vortex!” I, Queen Megumi Hishikawa, declared. “Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“Kamen Rider Guard!” thundered my boyfriend, Sir Richard Saunders. “None shall harm my friends, family, and lady!”

“Kamen Rider Touché!” called his sister, Dame Emily Saunders. “En Garde, thing of evil!”

“Kamen Rider Zhànshì!” announced Lord Haitao Lin. “Try and stop my quest!”

“Kamen Rider Arch!” boasted Duke Emmanuel Babineaux. “My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m Wyldstyle!” called Lucy, Wyldstyle, Master Builder. “Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman!” called Bruce Thomas Wayne. “The Dark Knight rises!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors!” announced Takeshi Hongo, Kamen Rider Ichigō, the first Kamen Rider. “I am Kamen Rider!”

“No, you’re all DEAD!” roared Vortech as he summoned Vortexons.

“CHARGE!” I shouted. Boy, did the battle begin! We clashed with the Vortexons as Sh’Kar and her crew were teleported onto the Enterprise. They got to work distracting Lord Vortech while Batman found something about the gravity in a certain corner. There was a pile of junk on the wall. He tried to pull it down, but it didn’t budge. He pushed it slightly upwards and it moved easily.

“Vortex!” he called to me. “I need your help!”

“What do you need?!” I asked. He didn’t explain.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Yellow, on the floor! Cyan, on the wall perpendicular to yellow! Magenta, on the ceiling! Shift! Cyan! Vortex!” I appeared on the wall, walking 90⁰ from the rest of my friends. I shoved the junk up to the ceiling and the gravity it was generating pulled the pile onto it. “Shift! Magenta! Vortex!” I started walking on the ceiling and pushed the junk to the edge where Batman could safely pull it down. “Shift! Yellow! Vortex!” I arrived back on the floor and changed steels.

“Wyldstyle steel!” called Vortoranii as my vision became a Master Builder’s vision. I built a transmitter that beamed unknown instructions to the Defender rocket. It then targeted the square and fired!

“LEAVE THE FOUNDATION OF ALL DIMENSIONS ALONE!” boomed Vortech. Part of the square turned to ash! “You dare try to ruin this dimension?! MY DIMENSION?!” Just then, the walls crumbled and the floor broke up, leaving only platforms leading to a higher platform.

“The Foundation is weakened, along with Lord Vortech!” called Gandalf.

“Excellent!” cheered Death.

“Ichigō, get up on the higher ledge!” I called. “I see a vent and its patch!”

“Understood!” called Ichigō. He jumped onto the ledge.

“What does a vent and patch have to do with stopping Vortech?!” yelped Nigō.

“Scale Keystone, activate!” announced Ichigō once he got onto the ledge. “Enlarge scale of Nigō!” Nigō then grew, startled at the sudden increase in altitude!

“What kind of toys have YOU acquired?!” he yelped.

“Could you apply the patch, please?!” snapped Ichigō. Nigō did so, then held up a dangling part. “Lessen scale of Deadpool!” announced Ichigō.

“All right, Mini-pool!” squeaked Deadpool as he shrunk. He crawled into the vent. As he did his business, I overheard Legolas and Gimli.

“Legolas! Two already!” called the Dwarf.

“I’m on seventeen!” replied Legolas. Gimli was momentarily stunned.

“I’ll have no pointy-ear outscoring me!” he bellowed. He went back to lopping legs off the Vortexons.

“I am everywhere!” boasted Vortech. “I am all powerful!” The area behind us opened and I felt a buzz.

“Locate Keystone, activate!” I called. “Initiate rift detection!” I found it in that area. “Identify source of rift!” The information was beamed into my head. “Locate help from D-0-C-T-0-R-W-H-0!” I announced. A Dalek then flew in. The shell looked…different. It was grey, with darker grey sensor globes on its skirt, antennae on each globe, spikes lining the inside of the plunger, a pupil in the blue light of its eyestalk, pyramidal speech indicators, and some sort of shield around its neck. It looked at us and was filled with its usual hate.

“Exterminate!” it squawked.

“Parlay!” I yelped.

“Parlay?” asked the Dalek. “I have no understanding of the word! It is not registered in my vocabulary bank!”

“I have a proposition for you!” I elaborated.

“Explain!” demanded the Dalek.

“Lord Vortech has begun his plan and is powered by Foundation Prime!” I said. “We need to bring him down so both sides can flourish!”

“That Foundation,” helped Gandalf, “is most definitely the key. The palace will be destroyed along with it.”

“You propose an alliance?” quizzed the Dalek.

“Wouldn’t it be a testament to Dalek strength and purity,” I asked, “if you helped a lower life-form beat a god-like creature?” The Dalek appeared to consider.

“…Request accepted!” it responded later. “The truce ends when Vortech is damaged!”

“Agreed,” I said. The Dalek then flew into the air to lock onto the square. It aimed its gunstick.

“Exterminate!” it shouted as it fired. The segment was destroyed and I decided now was a good time to send the Dalek back!

“Dismiss help!” I called. The Dalek was sucked into a rift and Vortech noticed. The area behind us crumbled away as we moved closer to Vortech. Wyldstyle took this opportunity to make a giant proton pack with a Chroma Lock design on it, a red circle, a purple left L-shape, and an orange right L-shape. “Okay, we have to search for the discs!” I suggested. “Find them!” We traveled across the room to find a gateway. The coordinates were set to Vorton! I made a quick call to GLaDOS to build something that can cause damage. We then fired up the gateway we had and GLaDOS poked her head out.

“It appears you need my help,” she said. “That is so unlike you. Now, hurry up and finish this!” She threw a rocket turret through the portal and closed it. I took command of it and fired it at the square. It was now one fourth of its original shape! Vortech struggled to keep himself up from the hammering the Enterprise was giving him!

“Your disobedience only angers me further!” he threatened as he summoned more Vortexons. As we fought, the area containing his gateway fell apart and we continued our search for the Chroma discs. Wyldstyle found them buried under some rubble around the room.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” she announced. “Chroma Lock, reveal! Chroma! Red! Apocalypse! Chroma! Blue! Vortex! Chroma! Yellow! Batman!” We all jumped into our respective paint blobs, then Batman and I took our respective L-shapes while Apocalypse jumped first into the circle, then my position, and then Batman’s. The Proton pack then fired at the square, but it wasn’t enough power!

“You cannot prevent the inevitable!” laughed Vortech.

“Crap, we need to give it more power! More electricity!” I wailed.

“My turn!” called Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of lightning, Vortex and Apocalypse!” The electric aura surrounded us both and we looked at Gandalf in surprise. “It has been said by X-PO,” explained Gandalf, “that you two will beat him!” We got the hint, then fired streams of lightning at the proton pack, giving it the necessary power to fry the last remaining fragment of the square!

“NO!” wailed Vortech as the fortress fell apart. “YOU’VE UNDONE EVERYTHING! YOU’VE DESTROYED PERFECTION!”

“Your brand of perfection is only stagnation!” I thundered back in reply, dodging debris. “That’s what the Feudal Nerd Society was founded on! We know we can never achieve perfection, but we don’t care! You would make everything the same, but we know that diversity and mixing ideas make one truly strong!”

“Lord Vortech, last of the Vortonians,” affirmed Apocalypse, “you were so obsessed with perfection, you’ve blinded yourself to the chaos you and Shocker Rift have wrought! Now, look at yourself; all alone with no allies and no power!” As Vortech thrashed about, he fell into the white sea while the fortress split apart. We were rapidly losing stable ground! The Enterprise dove and leveled itself.

“JUMP!” shouted Batman. He didn’t need to tell us twice. We jumped onto the Enterprise’s hull and tried to get us out of here, but Vortech’s fist smashed its underside! We landed on a circular platform and saw Vortech, still giant, rise from the sea beneath us.

“I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!” he promised. “YOU WILL FEEL MY UNBRIDLED FURY!”

“Do you think we annoyed him?” gulped Wyldstyle.

“Perhaps, just a touch,” replied Gandalf.

“Then let’s make him madder!” snarled Godzilla.

“Now, how to begin?” wondered Vortech. “I will not be denied retribution!” He summoned Vortexons and fired eyebeams!

“Hey, that’s my thing!” snapped Superman. Vortech then opened a bunch of rifts and allowed junk to fall all around us! Wyldstyle found a way to make a giant slingshot with the junk and fired it at Vortech. Vortech stumbled but regained his balance. He then tried to tilt the platform to make us fall into the sea, so we held on for dear life! When it was clear he wasn’t getting the result he wanted, he leveled the platform again and tried again, Vortexons, eyebeams, and summoning junk. This time, the junk was fireworks, Gandalf’s specifically, so Gandalf lit them and they launched at Vortech! Vortech recovered from the hit and tilted the platform again. No dice, we weren’t gonna fall into the sea! The platform leveled and Vortech tried the same method one last time. What’s the definition of insanity again? The junk he summoned this time was a giant cannon that Batman charged up to full power. He fired and Vortech stumbled, losing his breath.

“I can…reassemble the Elements!” he gasped. “This isn’t defeat for me! This isn’t where it ends!” Unbeknownst to him, three portals had opened behind him.

“You’re right, Vortech,” confirmed Batman. “But, that is!” He drew Vortech’s attention to the portals.

“NO!” called Vortech as he was getting sucked in. “YOU CAN’T WIN!” He was then fully pulled in, but the power of the portals was too strong! It was sucking EVERYTHING in! The TARDIS then arrived and Eleven and Twelve opened the door.

“Come on!” called Twelve. “This place is for the Knacker’s yard!”

“Get in!” called Eleven. We all piled into the TARDIS and it quickly took off.

“All right,” said Thirteen as she, One, Four, Five, Six, and Eight worked the console, “we need to tie up that rift into a pretty, little bow so that Tall, Dark, and Shouty can’t get out and you lot,” she left the console to shove us all back to the door, “need to stand just there. Good. Don’t move!” She then handed us a small little silver cylinder with a red light on top. “Hold these,” she ordered us as she returned to the console.

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Death.

“I suppose,” replied Two, “you could yell.” He then opened the door behind us! We were sucked into the rift and yelled as Two suggested. W. Doctor poked his head out.

“Sorry,” he called, “but there’s a good chance we won’t be able to get out of here if this works!” He then pulled the phone out of the exterior and dialed. “Are you ready to go, X-PO?!” A rift then opened and X-PO’s voice drifted through.

“You know, for a Time Lord,” he sassed, “you really like to rush people! There, final calculations complete. Uploading now. Vortex Riders and friends, point the devices the Doctors gave you at Lord Vortech.” Vortech’s head arrived and we did as instructed.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” he demanded.

“Giving you what you wanted, Vortech! Perfection!” I responded. “The perfect prison!” The devices made an energy cage.

“Argh!” snapped Thirteen’s voice. “It needs a push to get Vortech all good and trapped!”

“I have the perfect solution in mind!” I called. “Doctor Thirteen, come join us!” Thirteen was confused but took me up on the offer. “All right, Minna-san!” I called out. “One last kick for the road!” Everyone then got into kicking position and did a flying kick towards the energy cage. “RIDER ALL RIFT KICK!” I announced. We kicked hard and the energy cage surrounded Vortech. Thirteen went back into the TARDIS as multiple portals pulled the rest of us in. I had blacked out from the sudden pull, so I had no idea what would happen next. All I heard was Vortech’s final defiant roar.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 76

“Okay, where’s this a.i you need repairing?” asked Twelve once we finished our story.

“Here,” replied GLaDOS. “I have a morality core that needs uninstalling.”

“Nice try,” commented Thirteen.

“He’s over here,” explained Lukas as he and Sento wheeled X-PO’s body in on a stretcher. “Can you help us fix him?”

“No problem,” replied Ten. “K-9 used to do this all the time.”


X-PO’s repairs were taking a while. The Special Weapons Dalek, Ab, was guarding the door, moving his gun back and forth to ward us off. “What’s the deal with that Dalek?” I muttered.

“It is a Special Weapons Dalek,” said Tetley the Dalek as he served tea. I accepted a cup.

“You seem to get twitchy whenever you look at Ab,” I observed.

“All Daleks do,” explained Rusty as she approached us. “Special Weapons Daleks are usually categorized as insane, especially by those that created them. I was one such Dalek, during the Dalek Civil War, between the Renegades and the Davros loyal Imperials.”

“The Daleks had a civil war?” I asked.

“And guess what it was about?” quizzed Rusty.

“Genetics?” I guessed.

“Exactly,” confirmed Rusty. “Both factions hated each other’s chromosomes. I was one of the developers of the Special Weapons Dalek in the Imperial Faction. Davros himself decreed its creation. Only Daleks in the Scientific Division were aware of its development. It was designed to have only one function: extermination.”

“Hence, why it has no plunger arm,” I guessed.

“Right again,” confirmed Rusty. “Its first act of destruction was the annihilation of the original Renegade Faction, those that didn’t escape Skaro. It destroyed to order, but…”

“…But?” I invited.

“But,” continued Rusty, “as it fired, the first backwash of radiation ravaged its body and mind. Every time it’s fought, its chromosomes alter. It became, no, it IS twisted and insane!”

“Your experiments,” argued Tetley, “were successful. It was with the aid of the Special Weapons Dalek that the Renegade Emperor and his retinue were destroyed in their control room. It has served in all crucial campaigns: Pa Jass-Gutrik, the war of vengeance against the Movellans; Pa Jaski-Thal, the liquidation war against the Thals; and Pa Jass-Vortan, the time campaign, the war to end all wars.”

“Yes, and,” countered Rusty, “each time, it has become more uncontrollable. We of that original Scientific Division simply dubbed it the Abomination, hence why it’s called Ab.”

“I am aware of that designation,” replied Ab as his gun pointed at Rusty.

“Point it elsewhere,” I commanded. “I’m not having another Dalek Civil War. We have bigger problems than that.”

“I obey,” responded Ab. Rusty released a sigh of relief. Just then, a voice came into our ears that filled our hearts with joy! It was X-PO’s voice!

“Awesome! Well done!” called X-PO from the room. He and his repair crew joined us and I gave him a huge hug.

“Easy on the shell!” warned the Doctor. “He’s not as able to handle stress as he once was!” I released him and contented myself with some tea. Batman had coffee and dunked a doughnut in it.

“GLaDOS,” he rasped, “have you figured out a safe way to get us back to Foundation Prime?”

“Yes,” replied GLaDOS. “Do not concern yourself. There is zero chance of my being harmed.”

“What does it matter?” asked Gandalf. “Lord Vortech controls the very fabric of all worlds! He’s invulnerable!”

“What if he wasn’t IN a world?” I asked. “Remember when he trapped us?”

“Oh, what’s good for the goose,” replied Seven, “is good for the schoolboy, eh?”

“Gander,” corrected Death. “And it could work.”

“Hold on a sec,” interrupted X-PO, “you’re talking about trapping Lord Vortech in a rift loop?”

“It’d have to be flawless though,” remarked Twelve. “Not like that shoddy one I rescued you lot from.”

“Can you do it?” I asked.

“I’m the Doctor!” replied Thirteen. “And you’ve got a lot of me and a brilliant technical staff. We might be able to.”

“Was it four or five sugars, Doctor?” asked Tetley as he brought more tea.

“I recommend we stop shillyshallying,” remarked One, “and get on with the calculations.”

“Okay, we’ll keep Vortech busy,” I said. “Riders, those that have them, final form time. We’re gonna need all the power we can muster.” Everyone took out their respective transformation trinkets while Hongo struck his pose.

“Rider…” he began.

“Henshin!” we all finished.

“A-MA-ZON!” called Daisuke as he became Amazon.

“Charge Up!” announced Stronger. The S on his chest spun and he gained silver trim. Kabuto then grabbed the Hyper Zecter out of thin air again

“Hyper cast off!” he called

“Hyper cast off!” called the Zecter. The horn got bigger and his armor got bulkier. “Change Hyper Beetle!” called the Zecter.

“Climax Form!” called Den-O’s phone as he attached it and the Imagin piled on. Kiva inserted another whistle, fuestle, I mean, and summoned a dragon that could fit on his forearm.

“Tension Fortissimo!” called the dragon as it broke the chains on Kiva’s shoulders and leg, allowing a cape to unfurl, his armor became gold, his eyes went red, and a small crown appeared between the eyes. “Henshin!” called the dragon as it attached itself to Kiva’s left forearm.

“Kamen Ride: Decade!” called the Decadriver. Once he was ready, Decade took out a phone and slid a card into it, touching it nine times.

“Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva!” called the phone. Decade then pressed a button. “Final Kamen Ride: Decade!” He then gained pink eyes and a card on his head while a sash of all final forms lined his shoulders. He placed the pink part onto his right hip and put the phone into the pink part’s usual place

“XTREME!” called the W Driver once it absorbed Phillip and opened up. W became CycloneJoker Xtreme again. OOO used the purple medals and scanned them.

“PTERA! TRICERA! TYRANNO! Putotyrannosaurus!” called the OOO Driver as he utilized the Putotyra Combo. Fourze inserted a new switch where the rocket switch would be.

“Cosmic!” announced the Fourze Driver. He pulled down on the switch’s cover and pressed the button. “Cosmic on!” announced the belt. Fourze’s suit went sky-blue as the numbers of all the Astro-switches appeared on his chest.

“INFINITY, PLEASE!” shouted the WizarDriver. “HI-SUI-FU-DO, BOU-ZABA-BYU-DOGON!” Wizard’s armor was more diamond like.

“Fruit basket!” announced Gaim’s Sengoku Driver. All metal fruits appeared and merged with him as he inserted it into his Lockseed. “Lock open! Kiwami (Extreme) Arms! Dai Dai Dai Dai Shogun!” (Mighty Warlord). Gaim looked more like a silver clad Shogun.

“Drive! Type: Tridoron!” announced the Drive Driver. Drive’s new armor looked more like his car.

“Cho Kaigan: Mugen!” (Infinity) announced the Ghost Driver. Angelic rock music played as it chanted. “Keep Going! Go, Go, Go! Go, Go, Go! Go, Go, Go! Gotta Ghost!” His suit was white with angled shoulder pads and a rainbow horn.

“Hyper Muteki!” (Muteki means Invincible) announced Emu’s Gashat. He then attached it to the side of the Gashat already in his belt. “Docking!” announced the belt. He then pressed the button on top. “Bakkān! (Open!) Muteki! Kagayake! Ryuusei no Gotoku! Ougon no Saikyou Gamer! (Shine bright! Like a true shooting star! The ultimate gamer, clad in gold!) Hyper Muteki Ex-Aid!” His form was similar to mine, but he was all gold and had long hair.

“GACHĀN! Mazaru Up! (Mix it up!)” called Parado’s new Gamer Driver as he opened it. “Akai kobushi tsuyosa! Aoi Puzzle rensa! Aka to ao no kousa! (Red fist strength! Blu puzzle chain! Red and blue crossing!) Perfect Knock Out!” Para-DX was now a mix of red and blue with spiky hair.

“GACHĀN! LEVEL UP!” called Brave’s Gamer Driver as he inserted Taddle Legacy. The jingle sounded a lot like Taddle Quest. “Taddle Rekishi! Mezameru Kishi! (Embrace the legacy! Awaken your chivalry!) Taddle Legacy!”

“Great! All yeah!” said Build’s new yellow and blue, two slot occupying Fullbottle. Build put it into the belt.

“Genius!” it announced. Build then turned the crank and it looped on “Yeah! Yeah!” before asking “ARE YOU READY?!”

“Build up!” ordered Build. His armor was now white as red shaded Fullbottles lined his left eye, his right arm, and his left leg, while blue shaded Fullbottles line the remaining extremities.

“Kanzen Muketsu no Bottle Yarō!” (The Completely Flawless Bottle Guy!) called the belt. “Build Genius! Sugei! Monosugei!” (Amazing! Simply amazing!)

“Dai Super Charge!” My armor bulked and flew off, revealing Kamen Rider Vortex. “Are we ready?!” I called. Everyone cheered. “GLaDOS, the safe path, if you please.” GLaDOS beamed the information into my helmet. “Minna, let’s go! CHARGE!” I opened a path and led us all down the path GLaDOS gave us.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 74

We awoke in the med-bay of Vorton. I sat up, a little too quickly, and got dizzy. “Easy,” said a masculine Japanese voice. “Save your strength.” I looked up to see Hiiro putting his hand on my shoulder. Emu and Emily were next to him.

“What happened?” I asked as I realized I wasn’t in my suit.

“When that thing started collapsing in on itself,” explained Emu, “Death fired some sort of beam to your location, allowing Vorton to pick you guys up before they rescued us.”

“The ones you rescued are safe,” assured Emily, sensing my worry. “They’re waiting outside for you lot.” I heard stirring as my team and Robin woke up. Once things were deemed okay, we explained the story and were released from the med-bay. When we left, our friends greeted us.

“Wyldstyle!” cheered MetalBeard.

“Gandalf, we got out!” called Frodo.

“Of the frying pan, yes,” countered Gandalf.

“Did we destroy the piece of Vortech?” wondered Robin.

“We did,” confirmed Batman, “but if that’s what a tiny piece of Vortech can do, we’re going to need help.”

“From who?” asked Momotaros. “We got all the help right here!”

“No, we don’t,” I countered. “We need help from a few of our new friends, and maybe an enemy. One that Chell should be familiar with.” Chell then signed something hurriedly.

“I agree!” affirmed Tanisha. “We’re NOT recruiting GLaDOS into this!”

“We need an a.i to help run things,” I explained.

“Then let’s get someone else!” begged Emily.

“My mind’s made up,” I said, putting my foot down. “Emily, you will retrieve GLaDOS. Michael, I need you to get the Doctor. We need X-PO back online. Xiomara, you’re getting the Ghostbusters. Richard, Mr. Saunders, I need you to get, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, Mr. Simpson. Hiroki, I need you to get the Ninjago team. Elphaba, scour the multiverse for Dorothy and her friends.” Elphaba winced. “Wyldstyle, see if you can gather more Master Builders. Gandalf, I need you to gather the Fellowship. Batman, get the Justice League. Livia, I need you to get the Gamer Kid and whatever characters you can retrieve. Haitao, see who you can get in Jurassic World. Tonje, you’re going to Chima. Mikhail, I need you to pick up Mystery Incorporated. Josh, I need you to make contact with Marty and Doc Brown. I’ll pick up Godzilla. The rest of us will train with the Kamen Riders and Vader and his men.”

“Your Majesty,” piped up Rusty, “you may want to answer this distress call. I heard that a Prometheus-class starship from S-T-4-R-T-R-3-K was a Foundation Element. I’ve found that ship’s crew and Captain.”

“Get them here,” I ordered. “We may need Starfleet’s help.” A portal opened and the crew, led by a Klingon woman with all four pips on the collar of her red shirt, came onto Vorton.

“Q let us contact your home,” explained the Klingon Captain. “I am Captain Sh’Kar of the U.S.S. Enterprise-H.”

“Welcome to Vorton, Captain,” I said. “I am Queen Megumi Hishikawa of the Vortex Riders. Forgive me if I don’t guide you around the place, but we’re rather pressed for time. We’re picking up allies for our final battle with the one who stole your ship. Would you like to join us?”

“Is a Vulcan logically minded?!” snarked Sh’Kar. “You ask a Klingon if she would like to join the fight?! Of course! Besides, I have a mission with my crew to begin! I can’t do that without a ship!”

“Then Emmanuel will give you the tour and you can join the rest of my people in training,” I told her.

“Before you gather allies,” Sh’Kar stopped me, “do you have any idea what these are?” It was a pouch of studs, 125,000, to be exact.

“Money,” I explained. Sh’Kar handed the pouch to me. “How do you guys pay for goods when dealing with Ferengi?” I asked.

“A small supply of latinum is given to each officer,” explained Sh’Kar. “How rich are you now?”

“We’re now at 4,486,000 studs,” I elaborated. I turned to my people. “All right, ladies and gentlemen, you know your objectives?” Everyone confirmed. “Rusty, send us to our destinations!”

“I obey!” confirmed Rusty. She sent us through, starting with Xiomara.


I found myself on a pump-car on an old subway line. I shrugged, figuring I didn’t need it. I then heard someone shout “Hello!”

“Hola?!” I responded.

“Hey!” called another voice.

“Ghostbusters? Is that you?” I quizzed.

“Xiomara?!” called Peter as the Ghostbusters rounded a corner.

“Ghostbusters, hola!” I said. I was hugged from all sides. “It’s nice to see you too!” I affirmed. “However, my business here is not to catch up with you guys. I know the world ending is nothing new to you four, but this is bigger than just the world.”

“Judgment Day,” guessed Ray.

“Si, only worse,” I replied. “I’ll fill you in.”

“WINSTON!” called a demonic voice. It sounded like it was from behind us.

“Okay, I’m outta here!” yelped Winston. We backed up, almost stumbling over ourselves.

“Rusty,” I stammered into the comms, “I found them and could really use a…” I turned and saw a shriveled, severed head! I screamed and soon, many more heads in the same condition appeared around us! We all screamed as long as they stayed! Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished. “…Everyone okay…?” I mumbled. The Ghostbusters mumbled their confirmation, then a whistle sounded.

“Did you hear that?” asked Peter.

“It sounded like a…train,” mumbled Winston.

“Uh uh,” argued Ray. “These lines have been abandoned for…fifty years.”

“…Oh,” I said. We walked further forward and then…I heard them! Train wheels on rails! We turned around to see the light of a steam engine coming right for us! The Ghostbusters got out of the way, but I was frozen in fear! Thankfully, it was a ghost train, so it passed through me, but I still screamed as it did! It vanished into the darkness and the Ghostbusters came up to me to see if I was okay.

“That must have been terrifying!” guessed Winston.

“I think it was the train that went through you, Winston!” theorized Egon. “The old New York Central, City of Albany! Derailed in 1920! Killed hundreds of people! Did you catch the number on the locomotive?!”

“Lo siento, Señor Spengler!” I weakly apologized, still getting over my fright. “I missed it!”


I couldn’t believe my eyes! I was in front of the first iteration of the TARDIS! The one William Hartnell used! I approached the box and lightly touched the door, causing it to open. “What on earth?!” spluttered an old man’s voice. I heard footsteps and saw a man with white hair poke his head out. “Young man,” he griped, “do you realize how dangerous it is to just waltz into someone’s house?!”

“Er, begging your pardon, sir,” I said, pretending not to know this old man, “but I simply tried knock and the door moved on its own.” The old man grabbed his lapels in contemplation.

“Goodness me,” he muttered to himself. “It seems I forgot to lock it.” He then returned his attention to me. “What do you want?” he asked.

“I don’t suppose you know of a doctor around here?” I asked.

“My dear boy, you happen to be talking to one,” explained the old man, the First Doctor. “Come inside and tell me your troubles.”

“What, in there?!” I said, feigning ignorance about the TARDIS’ internal dimensions.

“Well, I can’t exactly have you freezing out here, can I?” snapped the Doctor. “Come in and shut the door! I don’t want a draft!” I followed him in and then lit up my face in astonishment. I’ve always wanted to be stunned at the TARDIS’ interior.

“Good heavens!” I breathed. “This is impossible!”

“Impossible?” snapped the Doctor as he fiddled with the console, the time rotor in the center not going all the way up to the ceiling. “Whatever next?” Just then, the TARDIS shuddered and took off on its own!

“What’s going on?!” I yelped, really wanting to know the answer.

“I don’t know!” responded the Doctor as he worked the controls. “Dear boy, go and check the fault locator, in that wall over there!” Most TARDIS console rooms don’t have it, but a fault locator does exactly as it says on the tin, it locates faults in the TARDIS’ systems. I checked it and got the readout.

“System J-27-Beta!” I called.

“J-27-Beta?” asked the Doctor. “Oh dear. You haven’t touched anything, have you?”

“No, why?” I responded.

“Well, you see,” explained the Doctor, “J-27-Beta is what keeps me from travelling into my future.” Just then, the TARDIS shook again and the console room looked slightly different. “Oh dear, it’s already started!” breathed the Doctor. I then noticed something on the console, by the time rotor. I picked the object up and examined it with the Doctor.

“A recorder?” I muttered.

“What on earth is that infernal thing doing in my TARDIS?” asked the Doctor.

“Excuse me, may I have that back?” asked a new voice. We whirled around to see a man in a Beatles’ haircut and dressing like a hobo. His hand was outstretched. I put the recorder into his hand and he put his mouth to it, playing a few notes. He then inspected it with a furrowed brow. “You haven’t been trying to play this, have you?” he asked. He then saw the Doctor. “Oh dear, we ARE in a pickle, aren’t we?”

“I presume this is YOUR TARDIS, sir?” asked the Doctor, rather One, since HIS immediate future incarnation, Two, was now with us. “I don’t like it,” muttered One. Two frowned

“So young, and yet so old,” he muttered. The TARDIS then changed again, altering just a bit. “Oh no,” moaned Two. “It’s that old fop’s TARDIS. My word, he’s always trying to show off!”

“You’re no joy to work with either, you midget hobo!” came an erudite voice. An older man in fancy clothes came in. “I take it YOU’RE the reason System J-27-Beta is out of commission.”

“Indeed not!” argued Two. He and the dandy, Doctor number Three, then started arguing.

“Oh, good heavens, will you lot stop messing about?!” snapped One.

“He started it!” argued Two and Three together. The TARDIS then changed into a wooden room with the console in wood and no time rotor.

“Oh, there you are!” said a jovial voice. A man with a mop of curly hair and an enormous grin and long, multi-colored scarf appeared with a bag of something in his hand. “I don’t suppose either of you would like a Jelly-baby?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t mind one,” I said. The man, the Fourth Doctor, let me reach into the bag and I took an orange one. The sweetness took me by surprise.

“Oh, don’t like it?” guessed Four.

“No, I do,” I assured him, “it’s just been a while since I had one.” The console room then went back to white and the time rotor came back. Standing there was a man in a cricketer’s uniform with a stick of celery on his left lapel.

“Good heavens, that can’t be right,” muttered the man, Doctor Five. “Well, time to fix…” He then caught sight of us. “YOU!” he exclaimed. “How did you lot get into my TARDIS?!”

“I could ask the same question!” said a rather loud voice. The owner was a man wearing some brightly colored patchwork coat! We all screamed in pain as our eyes saw it. The man, Doctor Six, put his hands to his hips.

“Please, tell me you’re me at my last incarnation!” begged Five.

“Why should I tell you such a lie?!” snapped Six. “I come directly after you! Good thing, too. A stick of celery on such a boring outfit?!”

“Oh, Rassilon, you’re worse!” moaned Four. “You’re the Mid-lives crisis!”

“MID-LIVES CRISIS?!” protested Six.

“I’d say that’s rather accurate,” said another voice. The owner, Doctor Seven, was a little man with a question-mark waistcoat, or vest, if you’re American. “Good heavens,” muttered Seven. “It’s as they say, too many cooks spoil the child!”

“…Spoil the soup,” I corrected. The TARDIS changed again. It looked more like a library and the time rotor went all the way up to the ceiling.

“What are you lot doing here?!” demanded a voice. We whirled around to see a man with long, wavy hair, the Eighth Doctor. “You can’t just stroll into my TARDIS like that!” snapped Eight. The TARDIS changed again. The walls were back to having roundels, but now there were coral supports. “…System J-27-Beta?” he guessed.

“It looks that way,” rasped an older voice. A war weary man then approached us. “It looks like time is showing its disappointment in me,” sighed the man, the incarnation most fans call the War Doctor.

“You’re not involved with the Time War, are you?” asked Eight.

“Time war?” asked One. The walls changed to yellow.

“Yeah, and he made a mistake that cost us Gallifrey!” snarled a voice that sounded like it was from the north. A man in a leather jacket arrived. “Because we lost our home, I can’t call him the Doctor!” snarled the man, Doctor Nine.

“What I did, I did without choice!” argued W. Doctor. “In the name of peace and sanity!”

“You didn’t do it in the name of the Doctor!” said another voice. Another man in a long coat approached. The TARDIS changed again to look more steampunk. “Okay, who touched what?!” demanded the new man, Doctor Ten.

“I’d say you lot touched something!” said a voice as someone in a bowtie tripped into view. Yes, I meant “tripped”. The man, Doctor Eleven, was one of the clumsiest Doctors.

“Wait, you two are my replacements?” asked Nine. “A pretty boy and a baby giraffe?!”

“More like uncoordinated house-cat!” replied W. Doctor.

“OI!” snapped Eleven. “I am NOT uncoordinated! And YOU!” he pointed to Nine. “How about those ears, Dumbo?!”

“My ears are just fine!” snapped Nine. The TARDIS then changed into Twelve’s.

“Good Lord, will you all stop arguing?!” snapped Twelve as he arrived. Eleven looked confused. “Seriously, it’s like dealing with pudding brained versions of yourself!” he griped.

“That…makes no sense,” whispered Eleven. “Pretty Boy over there…”

“OI!” protested Ten.

“…regenerated into that body again, making him the eleventh and twelfth incarnation,” continued Eleven. “Strictly speaking, I’m the last Doctor. So, why am I getting the same sense of familiarity with you as I do with them?”

“The Time Lords granted us a new regeneration cycle,” explained Twelve.

“The Time Lords?” asked Nine.

“But…they’re gone,” said a confused Ten. “HE killed them!” He was pointing to W. Doctor. Just then, the TARDIS landed.

“Well, it looks like explanations will wait,” I said.

“Michael, were you the one who fiddled with System J-27-Beta?” Twelve asked me. His previous incarnations looked at me.

“Michael?” asked One. “That’s your name?”

“…Yes, sir,” I replied, dropping the charade.

“And he addressed you by name,” noted Two.

“You’ve been in the TARDIS before, haven’t you?” quizzed Nine.

“Yes, Doctor,” I confirmed. “Specifically, this exact TARDIS interior. And, to answer your question, Twelve, I didn’t touch System J-27-Beta! While Six appeared, I had a brief chat with the TARDIS. It sabotaged that system itself.”

“You did what?!” Twelve snapped at the TARDIS. It beeped its reply. “You know the laws of time as well as I do! I can’t travel with my previous incarnations! On top of them risking creating a weak point with their mere presence, they cramp my style!”

“A magician with style?” muttered W. Doctor.

“Look, if we can all concentrate!” I snapped. All Doctors turned to me. “I’ve just had another chat with the TARDIS and we need to pick up Twelve’s successor. Somehow, the TARDIS couldn’t pick her up, but it could at least land in her general vicinity.”

“Her?!” wailed Six. “Are you telling me I become a woman?!”

“What difference does your physical makeup matter?!” I responded. “She’s still the Doctor!”

“Probably not as charismatic as me,” scoffed Four.

“Oh, for goodness sakes!” I snapped. “You lot sound like Internet trolls right now! Come on! Those that have them! Screwdrivers out!” Three, Four, and Eight to Eleven whipped out their sonic screwdrivers while Twelve pulled out sunglasses. He tossed me his TARDIS-like screwdriver.

“I have a feeling you’ve always wanted to swish about with a Sonic Screwdriver,” he explained.

“What are you doing with those wands?” asked One.

“They’re Sonic Screwdrivers,” explained Nine.

“Sir, where’s yours?” asked Three to Twelve.

“Right here,” explained Twelve as he pointed to the sunglasses.

“…Sonic Sunglasses?” asked Nine.

“…Okay, why?” asked Ten.

“I think they’re cool!” replied Eleven with a grin.

“Will you stop using that word?!” snapped Twelve.

“Oh, for heaven’s sakes, let’s just get on with it!” snapped One. We all exited the TARDIS to see that our surroundings were coral-like.

“Well, if this isn’t a Zygon ship,” muttered Five, “then I didn’t beat Sir Francis Drake in cricket.”

“You brought cricket into that time?” I asked. My screwdriver then picked up a double pulse. “Gentlemen, around that corner!” I whispered.

“Not yet!” whispered W. Doctor. “Zygons too!”

“I have an idea,” whispered Twelve. “Adjust the frequency settings to 0.3794-Z. It should fool a Zygon’s eyes into thinking we’re Zygons.” We all did so and simply waltzed right in. The Zygons paid us no mind as we saw the current Doctor strapped to a table and a Zygon holding some instrument to her head.

“Identity confirmed,” reported the Zygon to his superior. “It IS the Doctor!”

“So, Doctor,” snarled the warrior-engineer, an aggressive chap, “what’s you game here? Do you seriously expect me to believe that Vortech is real?”

“That WAS the plan,” confirmed Thirteen. “Look, Zorkoth, Vortech will…!”

“Vortech is nothing more than something I told my hatchlings to scare them into behaving!” snarled the Zygon. “Now, if you will not return my ship’s power core, I will most certainly…” he was interrupted by the emergency lights shutting off. “WHAT NOW?!” he roared. I quietly congratulated Three for fiddling with emergency power. “Find the malfunction!” Zorkoth ordered his troops. The Zygons then left the room, allowing us to cancel our disguises and free Thirteen.

“Thanks for the helping hand, gentlemen,” thanked Thirteen. She then realized who her rescuers were. “Oh, good heavens,” she sighed. “I was only expecting Eyebrows over there!”

“We can discuss that later, Doctor!” I yelped as a Zygon alerted his crewmates to a prisoner escaping and intruders on board.

“RUN!” shouted Nine. We all made a mad dash for the TARDIS and entered it. The console room had changed while we were gone, looking exactly as Joshua described it.

“I see you’ve redecorated,” observed Two. “I don’t like it.” Thirteen had gotten the TARDIS to take off, then tried to pull her hand away from the console only for it to be pulled back. She rolled her eyes, then buzzed her silver sonic screwdriver on whatever glue was used so it would dehydrate.

“That Zygon webbing gets everywhere!” she griped.

“Zygons make webbing?” I asked myself as the Doctors had a telepathic conference to catch each other up.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 65

The storm was getting nearer and nearer and time was against us! Marty’s parents met, albeit in different circumstances than Marty’s original history, and the Doc had just wired everything up. Marty wasn’t here yet! “Come on!” I whispered. “Damn, where is that kid?!”

“He should be here any minute!” hissed Haitao.

“There he is!” called Ryōtarō.

“Okay, he’s trying to give Doc Brown the letter!” I observed. “There’s the Doc, tearing it up!”

“Hey, there they are!” called Wyldstyle. Running towards the duo were Heather and the Deer Imagin!

“Everyone,” declared Ryōtarō as he drew out the phone, “we’re doing it together!”

“Darn straight!” confirmed the princess. She got her crystal out and pressed the button.

“SPARK!” it called. Ryōtarō then opened the phone.

“Henshin!” we announced as we ran towards Heather and the Deer Imagin. Ryōtarō pressed a button on the side of the phone and set it over the buckle.

“Climax Form!” shouted the belt as all the Imagin of the Den-Liner crew jumped into him. The Climax Form armor appeared and Den-O was ready.

“Ore-tachi…sanjou!” declared Den-O.

“Not you idiots again!” groaned Heather. We clashed again as Marty backed the DeLorean up. “Will you leave us alone!?!” roared Heather.

“You’re playing with fire!” warned Zhànshì. “If you make that belt, it’ll burn half the multiverse!”

“Like I care!” snapped Heather. “I’m coming back with a fully functioning body, one way or another!”

“Wait, what?!” said the Deer Imagin. Heather then used the Imagin as a club and swung him into us before tossing him aside.

“Let me tell you right now, you kangaroo,” Heather said to me, “if Marty returns to the future because of your interference, I will change the outcome of the whole trilogy very quickly!”

“I won’t let that happen!” I declared. I swung my blade across her front. She sparked as my blade made contact.

“What happened to the purity of unarmed combat?!” she asked.

“Again with that vile word!” I shouted.

“What, combat?” quizzed Heather.

“Purity, you idiot!” I insulted. “Gods, a kid with worse autism than ME could pick that up! It should be easier for a neurotypical like you! Unless, you’ve got a worse case of autism than me. It IS a spectrum disorder.”

“CALL ME A RETARD LIKE YOU, WILL YOU?!” roared Heather as she decked me.

“I didn’t even say ‘retard’!” I protested as I picked myself up. “You’re just hearing things!” Heather kept her focus on me while the rest dealt with the Deer Imagin.

“Dude, she’s playing you for a fool!” warned Spark.

“She thinks that,” chuckled the Imagin, “but I’ll have the last laugh!”

“She’s not gonna fulfill her end of the contract!” insisted Den-O. “She’ll leave you to turn back into sand!”

“I do not listen to traitors!” snarled the Imagin.

“That’s it,” sighed Spark, “we need more range.” She pulled a wand out and pressed a button. It curved itself and grew, becoming more metallic until it became a gun.

“WAND MAGNUM!” it announced. Spark then fired off six shots to keep him at bay. Then, we heard it.

“If that crackle is anything to go by…” muttered Wyldstyle.

“NO!” bellowed Heather as she turned around to see Marty go back to 1985.

“It’s…it’s gone!” gulped the Deer Imagin.

“What do you mean?!” demanded Heather.

“The part’s been lost to the winds of time!” explained the Imagin. “Even if I get us to the future, it won’t do any good! The part’s gone!”

“You…utter…FAILURE!” roared Heather as she decked the Imagin. “I’VE LOST MY CHANCE! I WAS GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE WITH A PAIR OF FUNCTIONING OVARIES! THANKS TO YOU, I CAN’T DO THAT!”

“Is that what this is about?!” snarled the Imagin. “You just wanted to come back to life?! A weak creature like you?! It’s not important now! I’ll rip you apart! You are such a disgrace to your own pathetic, mongrel species!” The two then started clashing. “Besides, we’re both in the same boat!”

“I was gonna spread my purity all over the multiverse!” shouted Heather. “I was gonna rule all life! If no one would serve willingly, I’d break their minds! I’d force them to serve me!”

“THAT WASN’T OUR DEAL!” roared the Imagin. “I’m supposed to destroy a key moment in time to bring my future back, NOT BE AN ETERNAL SLAVE TO YOU!”

“I don’t listen to the ambitions of my inferiors!” yelled Heather as she broke the Imagin’s snout. When he reeled back, something flew out and landed at her feet. She picked it up and examined it, giving a smirk. “Well now,” she chuckled, “it seems I had the wrong target. It wasn’t possessed by a boy who was starved for a better life, but rather, a creature who was starved for his old future. Contract complete.” As we rushed at her, she flew through a rift that opened beneath her. It shut before we could follow her.

“YOU BLOODY EAR-BASHING DOG!” I shouted. I felt a hand on me and saw Zhànshì trying to get me to cool off. The Deer Imagin then fell to his knees as sand fell from him.

“No! I can’t die! Not like this!” he wailed.

“What’s with him?” I asked Den-O.

“Whenever we Imagin lose our contract holders,” replied Den-O in Sieg’s voice, “we simply turn into a pile of sand, never to be reconstructed again.”

“Heather most likely forgot about him,” clarified Spark as she cancelled her transformation. “Imagin need someone to remember them.”

“NO!” roared the Deer Imagin. “I won’t do it! Not like this! I REFUSE!” He slammed his hands to the ground and flashed a bright light from his body. When we could finally see, he wasn’t leaking sand.

“…That hasn’t happened before!” yelped Den-O in Momotaros’ voice.

“I have a theory,” gulped the princess.

“And that is?” asked Zhànshì as we cancelled our transformations and the Den-Liner crew came out of Ryōtarō.

“The Deer Imagin is in my time’s history books,” replied the princess. “He’s remembered by someone.”

“And that person,” continued the Imagin as he stood up, “was kind enough to give me this.” He turned slowly so we could see the new belt he was sporting. It was similar to Den-O’s but was more fanged around the symbol. “Luckily for you,” the Imagin continued, “I have no need to fight you lot.”

“What are you gonna do about it?!” hissed Wyldstyle. “You’re trapped here with us!”

“LOOK OUT!” I warned as Marty ran up to Doc Brown who was trying to piece it together in his panic. We hid and watched the scene unfold.

“Okay, relax, Doc! It’s me, it’s me! It’s Marty!” called Marty.

“No, it can’t be!” stammered Doc Brown. “I just sent you back to the future!”

“I know, you DID send me back to the future,” replied Marty, “but I’m back. I’m back FROM the future.”

“…Great Scott!” breathed Doc Brown. That was when he fainted and Marty tried to get him back to consciousness.

“Well, I’ll take my leave,” mused the Deer Imagin. “Ta ta!” He opened a door and stepped into what looked like a train car instead of a room. He shut it when he went inside.

“STOP HIM!” I called. I opened the door to see that it opened into a shop.

“He’s got his own time train?!” snapped Momotaros.

“Oh dear,” mumbled Ryōtarō.

“Now we’re trapped!” I shouted.

“Not if that noise is any indication,” replied the princess. It was the TARDIS arriving again.

“The Doctor’s gonna be mad that you borrowed the TARDIS without permission,” muttered Haitao.

“I didn’t ask for it this time,” gulped the princess. The Doctor stepped out looking right mad.

“This won’t end well,” Wyldstyle predicted.

“You!” snapped the Doctor as she pointed at the princess. “Inside! Now! You lot, as well!”

“I am SO grounded,” sighed the princess. We boarded the TARDIS and saw who the Doctor was travelling with this time. There was a young black man, a young woman of Pakistani descent, and an old man. They were respectively called Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, and Graham O’Brien.

“How long did you lot travel with the Doctor?” I asked.

“Long enough to swear off of Amazon for a while,” replied Ryan.

“Swear off of bubble wrap for a while!” added Yasmin, Yas, as she’s called to her friends.

“Seriously,” muttered Graham as he was taking his shades off and putting them in the pocket of his swim trunks, “I was enjoying getting my tan on Florana and then you lot steal the TARDIS!”

“Hold on, SHE stole it!” I protested as I pointed to the princess.

“You didn’t stop her!” argued Yas. “That makes you accomplices!”

“You ought to listen to her,” supplied Ryan, “she’s a policewoman.”

“Right, off to Vorton,” declared the Doctor. “Hey! I just remembered! This is Ryan, Graham, and Yas’ first trip to another universe!”

“Glad you’re happy,” muttered the princess, wondering how she was gonna tell her mum about this.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 50

“HOW DO THEY KEEP FINDING MY FOUNDATION ELEMENTS?!” roared Lord Vortech as he smacked the Stunticons and Snatcher around. “Every time I send you fools to retrieve one, they’re right behind you!”

“Don’t blame us!” protested Lex. “They obviously have some sort of technology to find them!”

“Oh, but I AM blaming you!” snarled Vortech. “I picked you nitwits because you were the most powerful in your universes! You still allow those idiots to challenge you and defeat you!”

“Not true!” argued Motormaster. I rolled my eyes.

“This whole thing went down with Hiro’s death,” I sighed.

“You think me unaware of that, Ambassador Hell?!” roared Vortech. “That’s why Igura’s out there! But an edge cannot come quickly enough!” He looked among us. “I have to find out how they’ve been doing it, find out where they’re hiding!” His eyes stopped on the image of a Foundation Element as he got an idea. He started laughing. “And I think I know exactly how to do so!”


We returned to Vorton and presented the token. “Nice job, everybody! Good on the new guys too! Congratulations! And, just think, years ago, that adventure would have cost you one whole quarter!”

“Hey, uh, mind if we stay a bit?” asked Sonic.

“It-a looks like you-a need some help,” observed Mario.

“I can help as well!” called Peach.

“Sounds reasonable!” I mused. “Well, Gamer Riders? Shinnosuke-san?”

“I’m afraid we have to go,” replied Emu. “Poppy has a job as a nurse when she’s not guiding us Gamer Riders and I’m a doctor.”

“I just got hired as head of Genm Corp.’s design department for their games,” answered Parado.

“And I’m a police officer,” remarked Shinnosuke. “We all have jobs that demand our attention.”

“Then, farewell, and I hope to see you in the final battle against Vortech,” I declared. X-PO opened a portal for them and they headed back home.

“Hey, do these mean anything to you?” asked Sonic. “I was collecting them in Defender before that alien trapped me in there.” More studs, whoopee.

“How many?” I asked Vortoranii.

“We’re at 2,697,000 studs now,” she counted.

“Any extradimensional excursions that went on during our hunt for the Foundation Element?” I asked.

“No,” sighed Richard happily. “It’s been pretty quiet.” That was when the alarm sounded.

“PO-Lambda has been detected!” reported X-PO.

“WHAT?!” I yelped. “Why did we detect him again?! He should have left Vorton!”

“All indications are that the intruder never left,” replied X-PO.

“That doesn’t make sense, why would he stay?” muttered Emily.

“We have an opportunity to ask,” I replied. “Emily, Richard, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, X-PO, you’re with me. Livia, show our new arrivals around. X-PO, where’s PO-Lambda?”

“Still on the Executor,” reported X-PO. “Kämpfer, Vader, Death, and Apocalypse are searching the ship right now. The lockdown’s still out of commission. We can beam up with the teleporter.”

“Good idea,” I remarked. “Henshin!” I transformed back into Royal. “We need as much power in reserve as we can get.”

“You know, you CAN call us by name,” replied Mrs. Saunders

“Discussion for another time, Mama,” answered Emily. “Henshin!” She became Touché again.

“Henshin!” announced Richard as he turned into Guard. “Mom, Dad, might want to get a firearm. I’m not sold on the stormtroopers’ shooting.”

“Neither am I,” commented Mr. Saun…Fred. “I’m gonna find out why they’re so crappy at it after this is done.” They grabbed rifles and we headed to the teleporter. We beamed to Vader’s location.

“Ah, I see X-PO’s responded to the alarm,” mused Kämpfer. “Good. The intruder is in the repair bay for the droids on this ship.”

“Lead on,” I directed. The ship lurched again! “What’s going on?!” I demanded. Kämpfer took out his tablet and got the sit-rep.

“The ship is accelerating!” he reported. “The intruder has limited control!”

“I thought our technical teams installed the new safeguards,” snarled Vader.

“We did!” protested Kämpfer. “And triple encrypted them! There is no way the intruder should be able to get into the ship’s systems!”

“Well, it’s clearly possible, because he did it!” snapped Apocalypse.

“That’s irrelevant,” I argued. “What’s our heading?”

“Working on it!” assured Kämpfer. “Ah! Got it! …What?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“We’re just going faster,” reported Kämpfer. “Our orbit is still around Vorton.” I was confused as everyone else.

“We…aren’t leaving?” I asked.

“If I were the toaster-possessing ghost,” replied X-PO, “I would bring the guns around and start shooting stuff!”

“Even then, that’s a waste of power,” commented Fred. “With the shields raised, a Star Destroyer could steamroll through anything in its path and not even scratch the paintjob.”

“Kämpfer, Apocalypse, get to Engineering and see if you can slow us down,” I directed.

“Ja!” confirmed Kämpfer.

“On it!” obliged Apocalypse.

“And if there’s a radiation leak, don’t be a hero!” I called as they headed off.

“Very little risk of that, I can assure you!” replied Kämpfer. They were out of sight.

“Your Majesty,” muttered Guard, “there’s something rotten here, but I can’t put my finger on it!”

“We’ll get our answers from the intruder,” I affirmed. We made it to the Droid Repair bay. “On my signal,” I directed. “Three! Two! One! NOW!” We charged in, making a lot of noise and seeing an Astromech Droid stab PO-Lambda with something. It started screaming and shaking! It then rose up and started putting off a bright light! It then changed into a profile of a human skeleton, then the skeleton went from human to humanoid tiger and back to human again, all while muscle flowed back onto the bones. Organs came back and filled the empty spaces. Skin was restored! Hair grew back! The figure faced us and spoke.

“Sā, Rogue Driver!” it called in a man’s voice. A red vortex opened. A device like my belt flew into the man’s hands. Reality hit me.

“No!” I breathed. “That’s not possible!”

“Oh, but it is!” chuckled the Rogue Driver. “Took you long enough to come back. Let’s get you decent.”

“I agree,” said the man. He then put the Rogue Driver to his waist and it made a belt strap wrap around. Pistols then appeared, one on each side of his waist. Blue pants then flowed over his legs as black boots appeared on his feet. A green shirt materialized on his upper torso and a brown trench coat appeared to cover his body. He unbuttoned the coat and put his hand to the air. A short, flat topped, brown hat appeared and he put it on. “Genomorphic upgrade to host body, successful,” reported a man I hated. “Resurrection, complete!” Death took a sand timer out from her robes. There were Japanese characters on it. 足立ヒロ. They translated to Adachi Hiro, my biological father. The sand was all in the upper bulb. Kamen Rider Rogue was back.

“Guys,” gulped Fred. “The man, he looks like…!”

“He is!” I snarled.

“I am!” replied Hiro.

“How?!” hissed Death. “You blew up in Chima!”

“Only thanks to that twit that ruined everything!” snarled Hiro as he pointed at me. “But, if you must know, I took a page out of someone’s book and turned my soul into living data!”

“Lord Vyce did that to face Linkara!” remembered Guard.

“That tin-plated dictator was nothing,” dismissed Hiro. “While most of my organic material and cybernetics were nothing but ash after I detonated myself, I flew around the multiverse, looking for a way to get a new body! I briefly returned to my home universe and scoured an old base for answers. I had to possess the dead body of a Combatman and go through the files.

“The data I came across showed how to turn a soul into data, so I made the ultimate sacrifice and did so. The data also said that there were ways to make a new body. Project: Ghost Body was where Shocker stored the genetic information and needed cybernetics to make a new body so they could use monsters over and over. I took that data and made numerous attempts to get to Foundation Prime, but I was met with a problem. Vortech was the one who sent me and retrieved me. I didn’t know Foundation Prime’s coordinates. So, I found an old PO robot and possessed it while the events of Touché’s excursion into Jurassic World went on.

“I tried recruiting Heather, but she stupidly brushed me aside. I overheard you wanting to find her, no doubt to get information, so I removed her. I then went to the Ghostbusters’ universe and followed you but altered my exit so I wouldn’t be caught immediately. However, you used the PKE meter to find me, and here we are. Your Dalek is dead and I live.”

“Forgive us if we don’t throw a party,” muttered X-PO.

“Ah, X-PO,” observed Hiro. “You were the one who found Foundation Prime, you will get me back there.”

“I hate to be the bearer of GOOD news,” snarked X-PO, “but Vortech deleted that when you guys fired me!”

“Nonsense!” dismissed Hiro.

“It’s true! That’s another reason why we’ve been getting the Foundation Elements!” insisted X-PO.

“You seriously don’t remember the coordinates of YOUR discovery?!” hissed Hiro, his smirk fading. “Never mind, this vessel will do nicely.”

“If you think I’m going to let you take this ship,” declared Linda, “I have a couple of laser bullets willing to disagree with you!”

“And I’M willing to order Vorton’s destruction!” I snarled. “When it goes, so do our Foundation Elements!”

“You’d never dare!” challenged Hiro.

“Dai Super Charge,” I announced. I then concentrated on portals throughout Vorton and brought everyone on board.

“OI! What’s going on?” called Joshua.

“X-PO,” I ordered, “activate the secondary a.i.”

“On it,” confirmed X-PO. It took a few seconds.

“Secondary a.i online,” intoned a voice.

“Secondary a.i., this is Queen Megumi Hishikawa,” I answered. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 1, code 1, 1-A.”

“First destruct sequence code recognized,” reported the a.i.

“Guard,” I directed.

“Secondary a.i., this is Sir Richard Saunders,” answered Guard. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 2, code 1, 1-A, 2-B.”

“Second destruct sequence code recognized,” reported the a.i.

“X-PO,” I commanded.

“You gave X-PO that kind of power!?” snarled Hiro.

“Secondary a.i., this is the Experimental Portal Operator,” called X-PO. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 3, code 1, 1-B, 2-B, 3.”

“Destruct sequence ready,” reported the a.i. “Set time and initiate final code to begin countdown.”

“Set Vorton Destruction,” I ordered. “Command code 0-0-0-Destruct-0 30 minutes.”

“Destruct sequence completed and engaged,” called the a.i. “Vorton will detonate in 30 minutes.”

“X-PO, Priority Vortech alpha! Abort Vorton Destruct sequence!” demanded Hiro. X-PO’s eye flashed red. “WHAT?! But, that only happens when the code’s been deleted! And it was tied into the coordinates of………you told the truth! Vortech really DID wipe the coordinates from your memory!”

“Took you long enough to realize that,” snarked X-PO.

“You can try whatever trick you may have previously installed in X-PO,” I hissed, “but, when he was tossed aside and I proved myself, he chose ME to lead him! I’m the one in control here! So, I suggest you…!” I didn’t get far as Hiro fired! He then drew his i.d tag.

“Henshin! Dai Super Charge!” he announced. He went straight to Kamen Rider Rift and proceeded to barrel through us and enter the corridors.

“After him!” I shouted. We took off and ran after him as he headed to the bridge. He managed to lock us out.

“Engineering to Megumi, what’s going on?” asked Kämpfer.

“Hiro’s back,” I replied. “Vorton’s gonna blow in…25 minutes now. We’re locked out of the bridge. Can you get us in?”

“2 minutes to let me do so,” called Kämpfer. The ship’s comms activated.

“Relinquish control of the ship to me, or I gas you all, pick up the Foundation Elements, and let Vorton explode,” shouted Rift.

“…1 minute, then,” remarked Kämpfer.

“Good work,” I called to Kämpfer. “As for you, Rift, I recommend you back off!”

“I have no reason to,” dismissed Rift. “Not when Foundation Prime needs to be raised.”

“I like how you have new ears,” I commented, “and yet, you’re still hard of hearing! There’s no way for us to get from here to Foundation Prime, much less contact it!”

“I have traveled throughout the multiverse and have seen universes of pure majesty!” declared Rift. “I have seen ancient mindless evils that fill in the cracks and eat dimensions just for a snack! I have heard tales of an Outer God made of pure glitchy data that was convinced to commit suicide by a fat, screechy comic book nerd! Contacting Foundation Prime for help is ‘small potatoes’, I believe the expression is. You are but a flea that I can brush aside!”

“There are reasons for us not finding Foundation Prime, much less talking to it!” I insisted.

“A fabrication by the original Vortonians, at best,” snarled Hiro, “a ruse by you, at worst. Either way is irrelevant.” At that point, the bridge opened and we crept in. Hiro was still working at a console. I then converted my sword to gun mode and leveled it at Rift. I almost pulled the trigger, but Rift brought out his weapon in bazooka mode and fired! “Did you really think I would fall for that?” he quizzed.

“Vorton Destruction sequence aborted,” reported the secondary a.i. No!

“You think you can beat ME?!” roared Rift as he fired. “I am Adachi Hiro, the vanquisher of Death herself! My life shall continue until the multiverse is all one! You are but the footnote in the pages of my glory! And when they build statues of me, trampling over you, you shall be remembered as…”

“Excuse me,” interrupted a soft, woman’s voice.

“WHAT?!” roared Rift as he faced a woman with bronze hair, a bronze dress with 13 panels of four spheres, a sleeveless top, a choker with two rings, a hairband with a light on each end, a blue dot in the center of her forehead, and silver gauntlets with a plunger resting on the right forearm and a Dalek gun resting on the left forearm.

“That’s my friend you just insulted,” said the woman. She then used the plunger to grab Rift’s chest and toss him over her head. Death was confused.

“I want the life-timer of the woman in front of me,” she whispered as her eyes glowed. A sand-timer came into her hands and she looked at the name. Her eyes went wide. “Impossible!” she whispered.

“What? What is it?!” I asked. Death turned to the woman.

“You squishy, green maniac!” she whispered with a grin.

“Who are you talking about?!” I demanded.

“RUSTY!” cheered Death. “He’s…she’s alive!” She pointed to the woman. I gave the woman a look. On closer inspection, her dress DID look like a Dalek.

“Well?” asked the woman. “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” She held a hand to her ear.

“Well, Rusty,” I mused, not believing her, “I suppose that 2,000,000 stud reward you gave us will have to go back so you can spend it wisely.”

“What are you talking about?” asked the woman. “I gave you 220,000 studs. This was before Vortoranii became your belt’s a.i and it made the total, at the time, 600,000. I was there when you were crowned Queen and functioned as a member of your Tech support staff.” I don’t believe it! It really is…!

“RUSTY!” I cheered as I ran forward. I hugged him…her and laughed in joy. “But…how…we fired your body into a star! How are you…?”

“The Dalek?!” roared Rift. “IMPOSSIBLE!”

“You know what, you can explain later,” I said to Rusty.

“Of course,” agreed Rusty. “Now, as for you, for causing a radiation leak, as I would have put it earlier, EXTERMINATE!” She fired from her blaster and Rift glowed teal with his skeleton showing. He screamed but didn’t crumple to the floor. Instead, he swatted the beam aside. Odd, given that it was light and radiation. Rift panted.

“That…hurt!” he gasped. “Did you really think I wouldn’t be altered to prevent death by a Dalek blaster? I was surrounded by xenophobic maniacs when we recruited Davros and those tanks!”

“Huh,” I muttered. “Swing and a miss, Rusty.”

“In all honesty, I should have figured that,” replied Rusty. Rift then fired on us and escaped the bridge.

“He’s going for the hangar!” yelped Death.

“I’ll cut him off!” called Rusty.

“No!” I countered. “Does your plunger still work as a computer interface?”

“Manipulator arm,” corrected Rusty. “And, yes, it does.”

“Talk to the ship’s computers and slow down our orbit,” I directed. “I’ll face Rift.” I charged off before anyone could stop me. I saw Rift walking the corridor and looking out the window. He got visibly angry. I peeked out my window and could see our orbit slowing down. Thank you, Rusty. I then aimed my weapon at Rift’s window, waited, and fired! The window shattered as the air was being sucked out into space. I grabbed an overhead support and Rift grabbed my leg!

“Activating emergency bulkheads!” called X-PO’s voice over the comms.

“Belay that!” I ordered

“What?!” yelped X-PO.

“I have business that requires an open window!” I replied. I felt Rift climbing up my leg. At that point, I raised my other foot and slammed it onto Rift’s head. “I! HAVE HAD! ENOUGH OF YOU!” I said as I kicked. One final kick was enough to send Rift flying through the window and into space. His suit should give him enough air for five hours, more than enough to make a rift for himself. He flew past Vorton. “Okay, X-PO, you can close the bulkheads!” I called. An emergency blast door slid over the window, stabilizing everything. I let go of the overhead support and let myself tumble to the floor. I then cancelled my transformation. “…Wheeeee…” I sighed.


Emily had just checked us all over after that hair-raising escapade. We gathered in the Gateway room after our check-up. “Well, all in all, that could have gone worse,” I mused.

“COULD HAVE GONE WORSE?!” protested Mr. Babineaux. “The creature that kidnapped us came back to life and nearly made you destroy our base of operations! The rest of us were surprised to be evacuated that quickly! I’m still trying to process the information!!”

“Papa,” calmed Emmanuel. “Perhaps this event happened for the best. We have an old friend back, Hiro’s been defeated as usual, and the Executor is back in control.”

“There IS an explanation waiting,” I recalled. “Rusty, how DID you come back? We fired your body into a star, per your last wish.”

“That’s where things got tricky, even for me,” answered Rusty. “After you fired me into a star, my shell’s computers switched on. I was surprised but decided to take advantage of the situation. You do recall that Azmuth was studying my shell?”

“I remember,” I muttered. “I argued with him a lot about it. Eventually, I caved.”

“Good thing you did,” replied Rusty. “When Ben confronted Azmuth about it, I beamed into the Omnitrix and collected and copied various genetic samples, combining them into one. I then beamed myself and the samples to the Codon Stream on Primus. My new body then rose out of the stream and started testing out the limits. By all appearances, I was human, but I noticed holes on my forearms. I then realized those were for armaments, specifically, mine. I had to get back, so I waited for a ship. Azmuth then arrived on a ship with a female Chimera Sui Generis named Myaxx. I snuck aboard the ship and waited for take-off. It took a few days, but I was taken to Galvan Mark II. Azmuth was creating his own Gateway. It didn’t have the proper codes to connect to Vorton, but I still remembered them. I generated my own portal to the closet here as I was still nude. I then found clothes that would emulate my shell. Once I was dressed, I returned to the upper levels and found my shell in its glass case. I took the armaments and then teleported to the Executor’s bridge.”

“And then you gave your dramatic reveal,” I chuckled. A couple of tears came down. “It’s good to see you again!” I gave him…her…I gave Rusty a hug. Rusty reciprocated.

“I guess, the question is, what pronouns are we using?” asked Elphaba.

“Yeah, that leads to another question,” muttered Tanisha. “Why a female body?”

“I just thought it looked cool,” replied Rusty. “So, female pronouns are preferred.” I then broke off the hug.

“Still, it’s good to have you back!” I cheered.

“Good to BE back,” replied Rusty. Lukas then entered, looking pale and weak.

“WHOA!” yelped Emily as she led him to a bench. “Dude, are you okay?!”

“Nein,” muttered Lukas, shakily, “nein, I’m NOT okay. I…er…I recently undid Hiro’s control over the Executor.”

“Do I even WANT to know how he got control?” I asked.

“Well, to answer that,” replied Lukas, “he connected like an Astromech. He then copied over code and altered a few things. All in all, not that different from when Tech Support takes over your computer.”

“So, why are you so spooked?” asked Emmanuel.

“Because, in going through the code,” clarified Lukas, “in getting it back to the settings before he got in and updating the security software, I discovered something. He copied something over.”

“What did he copy?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“He copied…Vorton’s coordinates,” gulped Lukas.

“WHAT?!” shouted Batman.

“He’s got our location locked in the Rogue Driver,” confirmed Lukas.

“Wha…when did he do that?!” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” replied Lukas. “My best theory, given what went on, it was as he accelerated the Executor’s orbit. He used it as a false trail to distract whoever would be on to him. …Even then, the whole plan was, er, half-assed, I believe the expression is.” I ran my hands down my face.

“We’re in a precarious state, everyone,” I muttered.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 47

I made my displeasure clear to Zod. I slammed him to the ground, threw him into the wall, and tossed him across the room. “YOU UTTER FAILURE!” I roared. “I thought having a Kryptonian would give me an edge, but you’re an utter failure! You allowed mere humans to best you! And you didn’t raise a finger to take the Foundation Element from Batman!”

“My Lord, this is but a temporary setback!” yelped Zod.

“That put us back by two years!” I roared. “Luthor! Continue punishing him, I grow fatigued.” Lex Luthor put on a pair of gloves with Kryptonite knuckles and dished out more pain onto Zod. I headed to my quarters and heard somebody being strangled. I put my ear to the door and heard Igura.

“You promised me that the Foundation Element would confirm the lead you had obtained and that it would be an easy heist, and what is the result?!” she snarled. “A lost Foundation Element! A lead lost! A Tarlaxian freed! And Megumi stronger and with more allies!”

“One thing…” choked out her hapless victim, Metalran, if my guess on the voice is right, “…you fail to realize…is that…!”

“ENOUGH PRATTLE!” screeched Igura as I heard her toss Metalran into a wall. “If I am to find Hiro’s soul, it will have to be through other means! I must deal with this matter myself!” She exited the room and ran into me. “Lord Vortech!” she gasped. “I didn’t…how much have you heard?”

“Enough,” I replied. “So, it was Metalran that gave you the tip that Hiro’s soul was back in your universe.”

“Even if that were true,” she muttered, “the trail is cold. If he was there, he’s long gone. I must continue the search through other means. Excuse me.” She left to search again.

“Good luck,” I bid.


“Another Foundation Element!” cheered X-PO as we returned. “Nice work! You guys have exceeded my expectations!”

“Yeah, that’s kind of my thing,” rasped Batman.

“I can’t believe you guys entered the Ghostbusters universe!” muttered Mr. Saunders. “The GOOD one!”

“For the last time, the 2016 one wasn’t bad!” protested Mrs. Saunders.

“Not this again!” wailed Emily.

“Let’s not do that garbage, okay?” pleaded Richard. “That’s as stupid as the Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate.”

“So, what do you want to do next?” asked X-PO. “Maybe kick back? Have a cappuccino? See what’s on the DVR?”

“What we want to do next,” interjected Gandalf, “is rescue our compatriots and save the entire multiverse!”

“Wow, this guy’s more literal than I am,” muttered X-PO, “and I’m a robot! Okay, the next Foundation Element is located within a trans-reality pocket dimension.”

“What does that mean?” asked Batman. Chell then signed what X-PO meant.

“It means,” translated Tanisha, “it will be…weird.”

“Sure,” murmured Wyldstyle. “That’ll make a change. You see who I’ve been hanging out with? Weird’s not a problem for me.”

“You want weird?” countered Elphaba. “You should see Mr. Saunders’ nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!” protested Mr. Saunders. “Wait here, I need to show you guys something!” He disappeared.

“Mama, should I be frightened?” asked Emily.

“This IS your father we’re talking about,” gulped Mrs. Saunders. We waited a good ten minutes before Mr. Saunders came back. Oh, lord, I wish he didn’t! He was wearing a full-face mask with red compound eyes and wings behind them. The outfit consisted of his old army gear and an absurd American Flag design on the belt buckle!

“I am…KAMEN RIDER FRED! I have new socks!” announced Mr. Saunders. Cue the crickets. “Uh…guys?”

“What the hell are you dressed up as?!” yelped Richard.

“I’m Kamen Rider Fred!” replied Mr. Saunders.

“…I think I forgot to…brain…without a…something!” stammered Turretorg.

“My life is NOT gonna burn bright,” moaned Takeru. “It’s gonna fizzle out with a whimper of pain from what I’m seeing right now.”

“My eyes!” wailed Hongo.

“Daddy,” cried Emily, “you make me want to punch a bunny!”

“Not mine!” I protested.

“But, with my new powers of American Awesomeness,” continued Mr. Saunders, “I will fight crime, protect the innocent, work for world peace, and…!”

“FRED, YOU TAKE THAT STUPID COSTUME OFF RIGHT NOW,” roared Mrs. Saunders, “OR, I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL TASE YOU IN YOUR JUNK!”

“Oh, come on!” protested Mr. Saunders. “I have a mask and belt and everything!”

“CHANGE! NOW!” everyone roared. Mr. Saunders slumped and walked off in a somber tone.

“Now that THAT’S burned into my skull,” I muttered. “Takeru, I believe this is goodbye.”

“Bye, everyone!” bid Takeru. “Oh, before I forget, do you guys know these?” “These” were studs.

“That’s 150,000,” counted Vortoranii. “2,154,000 studs in total.” Emily then slapped her forehead.

“I forgot to add our 358,000 studs from our excursion to Jurassic World!” she wailed.

“Come on!” I cried.

“Sorry!” replied Emily.

“Now we’re at 2,512,000 studs!” muttered Vortoranii. “This is absurd!”

“Are studs valuable?” asked Takeru.

“They were when the Vortonians existed,” replied X-PO. “I would stick to your currency though. Studs probably aren’t legal tender in your universe. Speaking of, your ride’s here.” A rift opened for him.

“Goodbye!” called Takeru. He went through. Hiroki then released his breath.

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

“I didn’t want to say this in front of Takeru,” explained Hiroki, “but I didn’t like the TV show based on his adventures.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because there was so much wasted potential!” ranted Hiroki. “On top of that, Takeru’s allies were trying too hard to be funny! I just…felt disappointed. He’s the second Rider that disappointed me.”

“Who’s the first?” asked Okaa-san.

“With all due respect, ZX (pronounce Zecross),” answered Hiroki. “Again, they didn’t expand on the story enough! The whole movie he starred in could have easily been an entire TV series!”

“I suppose so,” conceded Okaa-san.

“So, how does a PKE meter work?” I asked, changing the subject.

“When it’s on,” explains Richard as he turned it on, “these arms rise up and start flashing to indicate that there’s some form of psychokinetic activity. It functions as a ghost radar. Once it finds something, it beeps at a certain pace until it finds or loses something. If it loses something, the arms go lower, the flashing slows down, and the beeping goes at a slower rate. Gaining something is indicated by the opposite actions.” Then, it happened. The arms raised and started flashing.

“…Seriously?!” gulped Wyldstyle.

“Suits on,” I recommended.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we announced.

“I heard a Henshin!” called Mr. Saunders as he came back in his usual clothes. He saw us. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got a ghost, Daddy,” said Touché. Mr. Saunders then dropped the lovable idiot act and assumed his army colonel persona.

“What’s our move here?” he requested.

“We find this thing,” I replied. “Richard, take point.”

“On it,” he confirmed. He led us around the room and stopped when the arms went higher and flashed more rapidly at the West Door. He scanned down the hall both ways. We followed him to his right. We went down it until we stopped at an armory.

“Better have those that can use weapons to grab them,” suggested Arch.

“Agreed,” I replied. “Those that can fight, grab a weapon.” The fighters did so as we left. The PKE meter went nuts as we faced the end of the hall. There was a transmat at the other end and the robot that killed Heather was at the other end, fiddling with it. The fighters then returned. “Stay close!” I whispered. “No one move yet!” The robot carried out its work. It then put down the tools it was using and hovered back a bit to admire its handiwork. “ATTACK!” I ordered. The robot turned and saw us. It pulled a gun on us and fired. We fired back. “Try not to damage its head!” I called.

“What about it damaging ours?!” protested Mr. Babineaux. The robot then engaged the transmat and vanished in blue light.

“Kämpfer!” I ordered. “Find out where he went!”

“Hey, what’s going on down there?” asked Max’s voice over the comms. “Something beamed onto the Executor and…” static then drowned out Max’s transmission.

“Max?” I tried. “Mr. Tennyson!”

“That robot must have severed communications somehow,” guessed Sengoku.

“Maybe with Team 10,” I argued, “but Vader’s up there as well.” I opened a communications channel with Vader. “Lord Vader, have you gotten eyes on a stowaway on your ship?” I was greeted with static. “Vader? Darth Vader! ANAKIN!”

“Er, doesn’t go by that name,” reminded Claw.

“What’s going on here?” asked an old voice. We all tried to locate the voice’s source. “Down here!” it called. I looked down to see some sort of tiny, grey, humanoid, frog-like creature with big eyes and dressed in green robes. It had some sort of grey extensions on its head and liver spots.

“Azmuth!” called Touché.

“You know him?” I asked.

“He’s the guy who created the Omnitrix,” answered Guard. “Also, the smartest being, in his words, in three (possibly five) galaxies.”

“Even people from other universes can remember it?” croaked Azmuth. “Why can’t Ben?”

“What are you doing here on Vorton?” I asked. “How did you get here?”

“Some lady calling herself a doctor dragged me into her impossible box and brought me here,” replied Azmuth. “She said she knew why I lost contact with my Omnitrix and where my Ultimatrix rig vanished.”

“THE Doctor,” I corrected. “She’s THE Doctor, a Gallifreyan, a Time-Lord, er, Lady, er…whatever.”

“In any case, she’s onboard a warship called the Executor,” continued Azmuth. “Trying to take care of the communications breakdown, no doubt.”

“We need to get up there!” I declared. “There’s a killer robot on the loose!”

“So, get us up there!” insisted Climb. I was confused by her question, then remembered.

“Dai Super Charge!” I announced. My armor bulked, then the bulk flew off as I made a rift beneath us. We ended up on the Executor’s bridge, with Vader trying to speak to the Doctor. She was wearing a lighter coat and pants with suspenders over a black shirt with a rainbow across her front. She was using her tool-kit as well as a new Sonic Screwdriver at some sort of console.

“Madam, it would be wise to…!” protested Vader.

“I’ll take it from here, Lord Vader,” I announced. Vader and the Doctor looked up to see me.

“How did you get on board?” asked the Doctor.

“Easy when you’re Vortex,” I replied. “Did you find any intruder?”

“Yes, that robot from Jurassic World,” answered the Doctor. “The one you talked about.”

“So, he DID end up here,” I mused. “He’s making our newest Foundation Element go haywire.” Guard held up the PKE meter. It was beeping again, but steadily.

“That way,” remarked Guard.

“Lead on,” I directed. Vader, some stormtroopers, and the Doctor joined us. We headed down the corridors for a bit until the blast doors closed.

“Open the blast doors! OPEN THE BLAST DOORS!” ordered a Stormtrooper as a trio of them tried to get the door open.

“Er, guys,” called Ben’s voice over the comms, “what’s going on?”

“Ghost possessing a robot,” I replied. “Can Gwen find out where it’s going?”

“Sadly, no,” answered Gwen. “If it’s a ghost, there’s no mana to track.”

“It’s possessing a robot?” asked Max. “We should be able to track via the electric charge it uses to move. Ben, can you use Grey Matter to find him?”

“Easy enough for the little guy with the mega brain,” boasted Ben. I heard a sound that indicated the Omnitrix was changing Ben. “UPGRADE!” shouted Ben’s normal voice in a robotic undertone. “Oh, COME ON!”

“Ben, what did I say about banging on my Omnitrix?” snapped Azmuth.

“Azmuth?!” called Upgrade. “I didn’t push down on the core THAT hard! Anyways, I can work with this. There’s a computer terminal here.” Ben went silent for a while, then spoke again. “He’s trying to gain access to Engineering,” reported Upgrade. “Uh oh, he found me! He’s…typing a message. He can’t speak, so he wants me to read his message aloud. He can hear us.”

“Let’s hear it,” I directed.

“And, I quote, ‘Relinquish access to Engineering or I detonate this ship like an atom bomb!’” relayed Upgrade.

“I don’t respond well to threats,” hissed Vader.

“‘Your intimidation factor does not work on me, Sith Lord,’” replied Upgrade. “Er…that’s the…”

“I know who spoke, thank you,” dismissed Vader. “Intruder, I can cause undue pain to your body from here. Cease your operations at once.”

“‘Considering that I currently have the body of PO-Lambda 2279,’” relayed Upgrade, “‘I see no reason to be afraid.’”

“‘PO-Lambda?’” I asked. X-PO then came in.

“I heard the whole thing on the way here,” he answered. “So, the ghost has PO-Lambda?”

“What does the name mean?” I asked.

“Well, what do the letters in my name stand for?” asked X-PO.

“Experimental Portal Opera…that thing’s another you?!” I realized.

“A Lambda class Portal Operator Robot,” confirmed X-PO. “A more advanced version of me. 2278 was the last of the class sold before Vorton went the way it is. 2279 was finished in terms of physical build, but never got on the shelves because the A.I wasn’t ready yet.”

“You say that as if your type of robot was meant to be sold as if it were a TV set,” I mused.

“No, sold like TV antennas,” corrected X-PO. “The Gateways were the TV sets. The Vortonians simply viewed other universes for entertainment and only interfered when authorized to do so.”

“But, an entire species…” I muttered.

“It’s more like a contract between PO Robot and Owner,” replied X-PO. “We PO Robots have to go through an extensive interview process as well as our potential owners. There has to be compatibility between the two, otherwise, there’s no real respect.”

“So, it’s not slavery to you?” I quizzed.

“Not really,” replied X-PO. “I mean, yes, there ARE wackos who would use a PO Robot for evil gains, Vortech is a prime example, but, for the most part, we’re good judges of character.”

“I see,” I muttered.

“You’re not worried about abusing my abilities, are you?” asked X-PO.

“…That worry extends to everyone,” I murmured. Everyone stared.

“I will admit,” answered Claw, “I did NOT expect that from calm, collected Megumi Hishikawa.”

“Sorry,” I replied, “it’s just that I know what being taken advantage of looks like and I worry about that. I’m the daughter of a creature that did that.”

“Now, stop that!” snapped Okaa-san. “I don’t want to hear you use that kind of talk. You are NOT that monster.”

“Okaa-san’s right,” agreed Sengoku. “If you did take advantage of anyone, the F.N.S wouldn’t be here.”

“You helped us when we needed it,” reminded Guard. “That’s why we said you should be Queen. We know, deep down, you’ll be there for us. And, rest assured, we’ll be there for you.”

“I don’t normally make friends,” rasped Batman, “but the F.N.S has helped me in more ways than you could imagine.”

“This whole adventure, hell-raising though it is,” assured Ichigō, “is exciting. I wouldn’t get anywhere without you.”

“Thanks, everyone,” I answered, smiling under my helmet. Then, the ship lurched! “Ben, what on Earth was that?!” I called.

“The intruder went past the firewalls I set up!” answered Upgrade. The blast doors then opened to reveal Team 10. There was a black computer terminal with green circuit lines and the Omnitrix symbol.

“Can you get the Doctor, Rusty, and Kämpfer to engineering?” I asked. “They may need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.” A mound of the colors that currently make up the terminal with a green circle rose up. The circle acted as the eye.

“It’s gonna be tricky, but I can manage,” replied Upgrade. “Rusty’s on the other end of the ship.”

“Rusty, this is Megumi,” I called over the Comms.

“Awaiting commands!” reported Rusty.

“Ben’s going to open a path to Engineering for you,” I explained. “Kämpfer and the Doctor will meet you there. You need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.”

“I obey!” obliged Rusty.

“Let me go with them,” suggested Azmuth. “They need a genius.”

“Sure, like they need you going on about how you’re the smartest being in 12 galaxies,” snapped Upgrade as the eye changed shape to show irritation.

“Three, arguably five, galaxies,” corrected Touché. “Why is that so difficult for you to remember?!”

“Whatever,” dismissed Upgrade.

“Besides, the more geniuses, the merrier,” I continued. “Be careful, Azmuth.”

“Of course,” assured Azmuth. The Doctor let Azmuth onto her shoulder and she and Kämpfer took off.

“Vader, Brigadier, Guard, Ben, with me. We’re gonna try and regain control of the ship from the bridge,” I directed.

“Not a good idea,” countered Upgrade as the black and green circuit color melted off, formed a puddle, and then a figure rose from the puddle made of the stuff, but had a green front with green underarms and black circuit lines. This was Upgrade in his original Galvanic Mechamorph state. The Omnitrix symbol was on his chest. “The intruder is on his way to the bridge,” reported Upgrade. “He’ll try and stop us.”

“Then you and Vader keep him off of me and Guard’s back,” I replied.

“He’s not on the main bridge,” reported Vader. “I can sense him going to the backup bridge. We need to get down there quickly.”

“I may have a way,” answered Upgrade. He slapped the Omnitrix symbol and changed shape in a green light. He looked like a stereotypical ghost with one eye on a track and chains on his neck and arms. “GHOSTFREAK!” he announced in a harsh whisper. “I was hoping for Big Chill, but this will do. Which deck?”

“Deck 2, 10 floors below,” answered Vader. Ghostfreak then got me, Vader, and Guard close together and phased us all through the floor. We went down 10 levels before arriving at the backup bridge.

“Okay, that was weird!” I shuddered The intruder then arrived and Ghostfreak and Vader started fighting it. The intruder pulled out his gun and fired while Vader tried to crush its armor with the Force. It didn’t go well as the intruder wiggled out of his grasp and fired on Vader’s control panel. He started having trouble breathing. I went to fix it while Ghostfreak charged at the intruder, intending to knock the ghost in the machine out. The intruder wasn’t having it as he dodged Ghostfreak numerous times.

“All right, this song and dance is making me very angry!” hissed Ghostfreak. “It just makes want to unleash my ever-growing…” he slapped the Omnitrix symbol as he changed into “rrrrrRRRAAAATTHHH!” he said. The robot then shot Rath’s wrestling shorts. They burned up as Rath ran around, slapping on the fire. It died and revealed his crotch. It was covered in fur, but Rath seemed to get madder. “You…you burned up my pants!” He then roared and slammed the robot onto the floor and punched it a lot. “LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, GHOST POSSESSING A ROBOT! YOU CAN BURN ME! YOU CAN BURN MY HOUSE! YOU CAN BURN THE THINGS I STAND FOR! YOU CAN EVEN BURN MY FEELINGS, IF I HAD ANY! BUT NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE, BURNS AN APPOPLEXIAN OF HIS HIGHLY ADVANCED SENSE OF SHAME!” He was about to slam both fists down when the intruder caught them and tossed him aside. “KARATE’S GOOD!” roared Rath. “RATH’S GONNA CALL YOU KARATE-BOT, KARATE BOT!” The ship lurched again and Rath crashed onto the intruder.

“Backup bridge to engineering, what’s going on?!” I called.

“There’s a radiation leak!” replied the Doctor’s voice. “One of the engine batteries ruptured! It’s contained, but we can’t get in to plug up the leak!”

“Vader, how bad is the radiation in the batteries?” I asked.

“It’s enough to kill anyone, even beings like me, in 10 minutes,” explained Vader.

“Oh boy,” I sighed. “Try to find another way to plug up the leak and filter out the radiation, Doctor. I’m still locked on trying to get the ship under control.”

“On it!” called the Doctor.

“Sir, now really,” snarled the Brigadier to the intruder. “Can’t we just get connected?” He extended a probe and jammed it into the PO Robot’s head. The intruder didn’t like that, so he sent electricity down the probe and shocked the Brigadier.

“Alistair!” I called.

“I’m fine,” assured the Brigadier, “though, I think my systems are damaged. We need more power, like, more power than Rath has!” Rath got an idea.

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’ SIR BRIGADIER ALISTAIR GORDON LETHBRIDGE-STEWART, FOUNDING CYBERMAN OF THE UNITED NEBULAR INTELLIGENCE TASK-FORCE, THAT’S A GREAT IDEA! THERE’S A TIME TO GO HERO, AND THERE’S A TIME TO GO ULTIMATE!” Rath turned the Ultimatrix rig key and slapped the Omnitrix symbol down. He got bigger, his fur went a darker shade of orange, he gained claws on each finger and another claw on each wrist, and his mane looked a lot like Wolverine from Marvel Comics. He had a vest that looked like it had green cat’s eyes and new pants. “ULTIMATE RATH!” he roared. He then looked himself over. “Cool! Wait, I’m keeping a level head? That’s all I ask for when I turn into Rath!”

“I guess Evolved Appoplexians get a cooler head in millions of years of worse case scenarios,” I mused.

“Nice!” cheered Ultimate Rath. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to kick a ghost in a robot’s rear!” Ultimate Rath then charged on all fours at the intruder. He leapt onto him and decked him. The intruder’s robot body sparked and went offline. “That was for Rath’s pants!” roared Ultimate Rath. The Omnitrix symbol then started flashing red. “And this is a perfect time to power down,” chuckled Ultimate Rath, “now that the threat is over.” The Omnitrix beeped and then Ultimate Rath shrunk down to Rath, then went back to Ben.

“Just so you know,” I criticized, “we were shaking like Jell-O when you fought as Ultimate Rath.”

“Sorry, I never used Ultimate Rath before,” answered Ben with a sheepish grin. The Comms then beeped.

“Go ahead,” I called.

“The leak has been sealed,” reported the Doctor.

“All right!” I cheered. “How did you guys do it?”

“We didn’t,” answered Azmuth. “Rusty did. Manually. In the infected zone.”

“…But…the radiation…” I stammered.

“Megumi, you need to get to Engineering, NOW!” called Kämpfer. A worst case scenario entered my mind.

“Guys, MOVE!” I shouted. We ran to Engineering. When we entered, there was a transparent wall with us on one side and Rusty on the other. The Brigadier and I rushed to the wall, but Lukas and the Doctor held us back.

“Get out of the way, Doctor!” demanded the Brigadier.

“You can’t go in!” argued the Doctor.

“But, the radiation! He’ll die!” cried the Brigadier.

“Brigadier! Sir! ALISTAIR!” snapped the Doctor. The Brigadier and I stopped struggling. “He’s already too far gone.” They released us, allowing us to walk over to the infected zone. Rusty wasn’t twitching as much. His dome swiveled slowly as the eye was getting dimmer. He then rotated his body slowly.

“Let…me…see…you…” he croaked. “The…real…you…” Rusty’s casing then opened, slowly. His real self was looking a sickly brown as his eye was opened slowly. I cancelled my transformation as the Brigadier opened his helmet. “Do…not…grieve,” said Rusty weakly. “I did…what was…needed.”

“Rusty, there was a plethora of droids!” I cried, tears coming down my face. “They didn’t have organic components!”

“They…did not…have…the needed…skill…” wheezed Rusty. One of his tentacles touched the glass. The Brigadier put his hand up to it. “Alistair…” he continued, “I…hope…this…banishes…any doubt…you held…about…me…”

“Any doubt I had was banished ages ago, old chap,” mumbled the Brigadier. “You’ve become more than a Dalek. You’ve become my friend.” There was a few seconds silence.

“I…am in…pain…” reported. Rusty. I moved to speak, but Rusty cut me off. “This…is fine. …I…will die…so you…may live. …But…before…I die…I’m glad…I met…you…”

“Rusty, we can help!” I wailed.

“No…you…cannot…” countered Rusty. “…I…die…for a good…cause. …The needs…of the many…outweigh…the needs…of the few…as Spock…would…put it. …Good…bye…my friends.” Rusty’s real eye closed, his true limbs drooped as well as his shell’s limbs, and his eyestalk stopped glowing once it went down. Rusty, the friendly Dalek…was dead.


The Brigadier retrieved Rusty’s last wish from a backup computer in his shell. Rusty wanted his real body to be taken out of the shell and fired into a star, to symbolize his rebirth from normal Dalek soldier to our friend. When the radiation levels were acceptable, we got Rusty out and decontaminated his body. We preserved him for a while so we could set up his funeral. It took place in the Gateway room and we all wore dark clothing. Batman had gotten out of his Bat suit and put on normal funeral clothes, putting on the persona of Bruce Wayne. He even dropped the raspy voice he uses as Batman. The Brigadier had his armor painted black. Someone knocked on my door. “Yes?” I asked, a little shaky as Okaa-san laced me up.

“Megumi, dear, it’s time,” whispered Death.

“On my way,” I mumbled. Okaa-san followed me, her hand on my shoulder to reassure me. Soon, we arrived. A track with a little coffin on our end and the controls behind the coffin rested. It was open casket, so we could see Rusty’s real self. Two of his tentacles were resting as a corpse’s hands would, clasped together, and his eye was closed. I took my place at the controls. Okaa-san was behind me as well as Hiroki. Hongo and Wyldstyle were on my left while Bruce and Gandalf were on my right. “Minna-san,” I began, “today, we gather to honor the death of a friend, Rusty the Dalek. Before an encounter with his people’s greatest enemy, the Doctor, Rusty’s ship was attacked and destroyed. He survived, but with damage. That damage allowed him to see a star being born and see what a beautiful thing life is. During an encounter with the Doctor, he joined the humans and made a name for himself. Over time, he became friends with Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Then, both he and the newly-christened Brigadier joined us and became our allies, helping us when needed. He gave his life so we may continue the fight against Lord Vortech. I, for one, will fight in his name, as I know you all will. I must say, out of all the souls I met in the multiverse, his was the most…diverse.” I nodded to Mr. Saunders.

“Present…ARMS!” he barked. Everybody raised a weapon in salute. I then pressed a button on the controls and Rusty’s coffin moved. It went slowly to allow us to say goodbye. Soon, it left the rail from Vorton and floated to one of the stars, where his body was consumed to make new fuel for that star. Rusty was returned to cosmic shores.

“I will not say ‘do not weep’,” said Gandalf softly, “for not all tears are an evil.” As we departed, Emily and Okaa-san joined me in my quarters. We sat on my bed. At that point, I let myself cry uncontrollably. I was embraced by Emily and sobbed as she held my trembling frame. Okaa-san held us both. We all wept for Rusty. Emily then saw something and directed me to look on my dresser. Azmuth was standing there.

“I am…sorry you’re going through this,” he whispered. “From what you said, Rusty had evolved beyond the hatred that was bred into his species.” I sniffed before answering.

“Yes,” I mumbled. “Personally, I think he would have been a worthy host of the Omnitrix.”

“Very much so,” agreed Azmuth.

“Azmuth,” called Emily as she dried her eyes, “as long you’re here, I have a question.”

“Go ahead,” replied Azmuth.

“Ben had the Omnitrix taken from him when he was in Jurassic World,” recalled Emily. “After it got itself off the thief, I was its new host for a while. When I had it, I couldn’t access my belt’s powers or suit. Could the Omnitrix have blocked that somehow?”

“I’m not sure,” answered Azmuth. “The Omnitrix never did that before. I’ll look into it when I get back.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. Azmuth departed.

“Do you need anything?” asked Emily.

“I just need to be alone for a bit,” I whimpered.

“Okay,” sighed Emily. She and Okaa-san left as I laid on the bed. For the first time, I felt my own mortality, and the mortality of my friends. I laid still for a while.

“…Rusty,” sang a woman’s voice.

“AUGH!” I screamed in surprise as I tumbled off my bed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed as I picked myself up.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“…AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman. “WHY ARE WE SCREAMING ‘AUGH’ OVER AND OVER?!”

“DOCTOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” I shouted.

“Rusty never got a good tribute song!” replied the Doctor.

“Get the hell out of my room and let me grieve in peace!” I snarled, the anger I thought I had gotten over was coming back.

“Rusty needs a song!” protested the Doctor. “He needs to be immortalized somehow!”

“I heard screaming!” whispered a voice. It was Death.

“I was screaming at the Doctor,” I replied. “Doctor, if I let you sing a tribute to Rusty, will you let me be?!”

“Of course,” assured the Doctor. I sat down, and the Doctor sang to the tune of Amazing Grace.

Rusty, Rusty,

How great was he,

That saved people

Like thee?

I never thought,

I would find heart,

But, a heart, I see,

In Rusty!

The Doctor finished. “Wasn’t that lovely?” she asked. I just glared at her. “My work is done.” The Doctor entered the TARDIS and departed.

“I should go, as well,” whispered Death.

“Death, wait,” I called.

“Hm?” hummed Death.

“I know that you and the Apocalypse Riders will see him,” I began, “but, do you think we mortals will see him again?”

“He IS dead,” whispered Death, “and no one can cure it, so…”

“But, is there hope?” I asked.

“There never was,” whispered Death, “just a fool’s hope.”

“…I guess,” I sighed.

“I’ll let you be,” whispered Death. “We shall meet again, before the end.”

“…Bye…” I mumbled. Death left and I got ready for bed. We had already had dinner, so I just brushed my teeth, put on my nightgown, and got into bed. “…Goodbye, Rusty,” I mumbled. “Thank you.”

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 29

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

“I never told you?” asked Irina.

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

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

“Don’t you relax?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That legend reached you?” quizzed Megatron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“YOUR kingdom?!” I quizzed.

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

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

“What troubles you?” asked Seng Seng Giu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Magic?” asked Megatron, incredulously.

“Arabia?” asked Triton.

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

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

“Whoever THAT is,” hissed Megatron.

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

“Do you now?” mused Seng Seng Giu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

“Intriguing,” I mused.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That ain’t Dad,” observed Emily.

“How can you be so cold?” asked Fred.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I don’t think so!” shouted Ursula.

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

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

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

“I require your Vortex Driver,” demanded Starscream.

“What for?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

“NO!” shouted Starscream.

“Losing control?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The answer’s still no!” I declared.

“The Vortex Driver!” demanded Starscream.

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

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

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

“Mind if I join in?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What the?” muttered Brave.

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

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

“Full height?!” snarled Megatron.

“How do we beat him?!” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

“MY OPTICS!” he shrieked.

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

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

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

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

“RIDER CLIMB SLASH!” I shouted.

“RIDER TOUCHÉ SLASH!” called Touché.

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


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

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

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

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

“Doing better,” I reported.

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

“WHAT?!” I yelled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Really?!” wailed Emily.

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

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

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

“Mother, Mother, I feel sick! Send for the Doctor, quick, quick, quick! Mother, dear, shall I die? Yes, my darling, by and by! One! Two! Three! Four!” She got all the way to thirteen before she tied him up with the rope and stuffed him in the closet. We then headed to the TARDIS with Emily shouting after us. We took off and I got a meal in me on the way.


“The rest, you know,” finished Irina.

“Yep,” I confirmed “You managed to rescue Mikhail and his team. Davros, in a new Dopant form, hitched a ride here. W, Hiroki, and I defeated him. The Doctor put him in a cell. I expressed my anger at the team, and you let your brother know how disappointed you were in him.”

“And, we lost our only lead to Vortech’s plans,” hissed Irina.

“We can find another,” I assured. I then changed gears. “So, you practice in the Gateway Room?”

“It’s the most open space there is,” replied Irina. “What about you? Why did you come here?”

“Death told me to meet a girl she picked to become Kamen Rider Apocalypse,” I said. “She originally hailed from the Simpson’s world. Oddly enough, she tried to keep the chaos to a minimum there.” A portal then opened and let a teenage girl through. Her skin was the palest I have ever seen, as white as Tonje’s hair! Her jet-black hair was adorned with some black flower ornament with a tiny skull in the center. She was in a school girl uniform, colored grey with white in the ascot and massive number of petticoats of her skirt. Seriously, her main skirt may have reached as far as her calves, but the petticoats made it spread out to the side! She had to rest her arms on it! “Er…Lacey Thanatos, is it?”

“That’s me,” confirmed the girl. “And you’re Megumi?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“I’ll…uh…leave you be,” said Irina. She left, and Lacey and I engaged in awkward silence.

“So…uh,” I began, “did you have a nice journey?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Nice and smooth.” More awkward silence.

“Er…so…” I stammered. “What brings you here? Death never told me why you’re visiting.”

“I came here to give you a list of sorts,” answered Lacey, “relating to the Tarlaxians.”

“Like Turretorg?” I asked.

“Yes,” confirmed Lacey. “It contains the names of the Tarlaxians under Lord Vortech’s control.”

“How did you get something like that?!” I quizzed. “That must have been risky to get it!”

“Well, my initial mission was,” replied Lacey. “But, you’re a busy woman. I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re one of the people said to beat Lord Vortech, as am I,” I assured. “I think sharing some secrets would be a good idea. Besides, Vortech’s activities are at a lull. I’ve got time for a story.”

“In that case,” began Lacey as we sat down, “let’s cue the wavy flashback.”