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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Cast

Turretorg

Here’s the first monster the Vortex Riders fight and free from Vortech’s control.

Bio:

Fierce, loyal, protective, clever, these are the qualities of Turretorg. After Scorpainia claimed the throne, Turretorg fought in the brief Tarlaxian Civil War. He was at the Battle of Phantom Creek and saved Scorpainia’s life. After the war ended, he was awarded the title of “Kagluk Meltar Tragaktar” (Person who Sets the Warrior’s Standard), the highest award any Tarlaxian can receive.

Unfortunately, Lord Vortech wanted slaves. Turretorg and a group of Tarlaxians were brain-washed by the losers of the Tarlaxian Civil War led by Metalran. The brain-washed Tarlaxians were then servants of Lord Vortech and did as commanded.

That was until Megumi and her team rescued them. After he was freed, Turretorg swore an oath to help Megumi bring Vortech down. Now, he is a staunch friend of the Feudal Nerd Society.

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Chapter 6

“YOU!” I snarled at Sauron.

“Us,” corrected Sauron as he pointed to his compatriots.

“I never thought I’d see you again after you were crushed like a tin can in Metropolis!” I growled. I turned to the Riddler. “Riddle me this, you WERE defeated in Gondor, right?”

“Quite the story after those incidents,” remarked Sauron. “Shall we tell you of our scars?”

“Were your fathers drinkers and fiends?” taunted Livia. Sauron then fired lightning from the One Ring, shocking us all. He ended the treatment after a few seconds.

“Just before you fought our old employer, Vortech,” began the Riddler, “we had to part company with him. We boarded new Dalek Saucers to escape. However, we were blown off course. Strange dimensional energies buffeted our vessels. I believe you’re familiar with the source of them. Riddle me this: what circles around, causing riders to scream?” The answer was a roller-coaster’s loop-de-loop. I could see where the ultimate answer was coming from.

“Ah, the Rift Loop we trapped Vortech in,” I answered.

“Exactly,” confirmed Sauron. “As the Riddler said, we were sent off course, landing in a much harsher universe. Ancient Evils were tearing it asunder…until WE stepped in. We destroyed the monsters attacking that world and took control. Plenty of people to command, plenty of space to make Orcs, Daleks, and other minions, and plenty of resources to build up and replenish whatever vessels and minions we’ve lost.”

“Sooo, the story is less ‘Ha ha’ funny,” I remarked. This time, the Riddler zapped us.

“Question: what IS ‘Ha ha’ funny?” he snarled. “Answer: YOUR PAIN!” He stopped zapping and resumed explaining. “Shocker Rift spent the next two years building up its forces, ready to conquer and enslave the Tarlaxians, making ABSOLUTELY sure we could control them this time!”

“So you used the Tarlaxian scout ship as test subjects!” growled Turretorg.

“Well, yes,” replied the Riddler, “but our efforts are being stymied. Right now, they’re unconscious, so they can’t reveal why our methods aren’t working…but we have a guess.”

“We discovered YOUR handiwork, Turretorg,” continued Sauron. “YOU were a master of the mental disciplines back when you served us. So, tell me, what did you do to make the Tarlaxians resistant to our control?”

“Like I’d tell you!” growled Turretorg.

“Do we REALLY need to do this?” quizzed Jason.

“Are you questioning us?!” snarled Octavio.

“Look,” interjected Callie, “I don’t think…”

“DON’T think, obey!” roared Octavio. “Or, do I need to use the hypno-shades on you again?!”

“…N-no, Sir,” gulped Callie. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

“To answer your question, YES,” hissed Kaito. “We HAVE to do this. We’re strong, they’re weak. We need to show how powerful we are.”

“That’s my boy!” cheered Sauron.

“Sheesh, no wonder Shocker Rift parted company with Vortech,” I muttered, “you’re sounding LIKE him.” Sauron gave us another zapping.

“There’s never enough pain before you shut up, is there?!” he growled.

“Oh, trust me,” I gasped, “I’m in enough pain looking at you! Why are you still working for Hiro?!”

“To dull my pain of looking at you,” snarled Sauron, “needing other people to prop you up! You were so close, at one point, to realizing power, but let that box dissuade you!” A screen then turned on and displayed what happened after our first encounter with Vortech, the argument, X-PO revealing why he opened rifts to various universes, and my breaking down in tears in regret for keeping the real reason of our dimensional travels secret from Batman, Wyldstyle, Hongo, and Gandalf. I turned my head in shame as Colleen looked at me in disbelief.

“You lot never told us new guys that!” she protested.

“I WANTED to tell you guys,” I mumbled, “but I was outvoted. The other members didn’t want your image of us ‘sullied’, as Richard put it.”

“You see?” remarked Sauron. “Holding power over your underlings makes you stronger! They knew that!”

“They’re NOT my underlings!” I argued. “They’re my friends!”

“A ruler has no time for friends!” countered Sauron. “A ruler does not reveal their secrets to those beneath them! A ruler needs no equals!”

“We’ll see!” I hissed.

“No, WE’LL see!” replied the Riddler as he pointed to himself and his allies. “You and your friends will be corpses we have taxidermied and hung up in our base’s throne room! They’ll be interesting conversation pieces at parties!”

“As long as we’re in high society,” joked Haitao. “I take it you’re here for Death’s Source?”

“Rob me of a potential riddle, will you?” hissed the Riddler. “Oh well, I’ll just go for the next one. What takes the color associated with water, encompasses itself, and is a key to unlock an apocalypse?”

“…No!” breathed Death. “No, you couldn’t have!” Sauron pulled out a blue crystal sphere the size of his fist.

“We did,” confirmed Sauron. “Behold, Death, your Source!” He then laughed. “Vengeance is sweet! However, I AM magnanimous in victory. Megumi, we all know how much you ‘heroes’ like to give speeches about how light will conquer darkness in the end, so I will allow you to make such a speech. Choose your words well.” Colleen then got a twinkle in her eyes.

“Er, Mr. Nygma,” she called. “You don’t mind a riddle, do you?”

“I’m called the Riddler for a reason,” replied the Riddler.

“Riddle me this: after the source is taken by you,” quizzed Colleen, “what will you do with us?”

“Easy!” cheered the Riddler. “We’ll keep you here as our prisoners and then, after taking this universe for our own, we’ll finally kill you! You’ll understand, in your last few seconds alive, how stupid you were to defeat us! Oh, we won’t stop there! With Octavio’s mind-control tech, we can conquer the surrounding universes! All of this, and we’ll be satisfied in the knowledge that you’ll no longer defeat us! THAT is our vengeance! That…that is…WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS LAUGHING AS MUCH AS THE JOKER?!” Hook, line, and sinker! He gave away the entire plan! The reason we were laughing was because the motive behind all of this was laughable.

“Two years,” I remarked. “It’s been two years since my respective encounters with you and Sauron.”

“So?” quizzed Sauron.

“THIS is what you decided to do for two years,” I continued, “when you guys could have done anything else! You could have used your fleet to conquer your respective universes! Maybe conquer the neighboring universes there! But, no! The only thing you idiots want is revenge!” I sighed in pity. “Revenge, the most WORTHLESS of causes! You two are obsessed with me more than Hiro because I had the gall to defend myself and take something you had in your possession! Sauron, I took the Locate Keystone from you, if I recall. And, Riddler, you lost the Palantír to me! It’s amazing that you thought about me all this time when I almost forgot you were under Hiro’s thumb!” That struck a nerve. “Boys, you need to stop fighting over me,” I taunted. “I already have a boyfriend!” Sauron zapped me again. “And it ticks you off,” I managed to get out before Sauron stopped, “that you have to work for someone you considered beneath you! That’s the difference, though. I spend two years of my life LIVING it! Yes, I monitored for you, but I had other things to help stave off the anticipation of Shocker Rift’s next move! I got a job! I go to school! I get new people into the F.N.S! You wanna know why I broke down like that?! Because I felt like I betrayed the trust of my friends. They’re people that helped me become who I am, even the new guys! I don’t pretend that everything in the last two years and in the Vortech Wars didn’t happen! I learn from both mistakes and triumphs to become better, both to myself and to my friends! You?” I chuckled a bit. “You two just become bitter and abusive! You let the past consume you! You drive everyone away because they remind you of some failure! You isolate yourself and never gain friends!”

“A ruler needs no friends!” shouted Sauron. “All a ruler needs is people to obey them!”

“No, what you mean is you think you only need such people,” I argued, “to fill the void of loneliness in your heart because everyone else is good and decent and kind! You, gentlemen, are a**holes! It just enrages you to see someone in a command position enjoy the company of friends because you can’t accept that you idiots are just complete jerkwads! Two years after fighting and bad guys and heartbreak and loss, I HAVE been looking back on it all. While you would dwell on the failures you suffered within two years, I just can’t wait to see what the next two years will bring!”

“TWO YEARS?!” shrieked the Riddler. “You’re not gonna have two minutes! I give you guys a fully-charged electroshock therapy treatment and Death will have to claim you! How do you think you can stop us?!”

“For one thing,” replied Turretorg, “you forgot about X-PO.”

“The robot?” quizzed Kaito.

“The robot,” confirmed Death.

“No, we didn’t!” burbled Octavio. “After Kaito, the Riddler, and Sauron arrived and broke me out of my second prison two years ago, they took Jason, making him Agent 7, and got him to study the robot’s schematics so he could disable him quickly.”

“Yeah, the thing is,” I countered, “the Doctor made sure that, if the transmitter were damaged first, the self-repair circuits would fix that first before anything else. Wanna know how long it takes to fix that?”

“About a half hour,” called X-PO’s voice.

“What the?!” spluttered Octavio. “What’s going on?! WHERE MAH BEATS?!”

“And DJ Octavio has failed!” taunted X-PO’s voice. Just then, one of the machine’s fists opened up and grabbed Octavio, tossing him out! It then made the “Devil” sign. “DJ X-PO IN DA HOUSE!” cheered the machine in X-PO’s voice. We managed to undo our ropes as X-PO attacked the Octarians trying to stop us. The New Squidbeak Splatoon turned to Octavio.

“Never mind him!” shouted Kaito as he equipped a Sengoku Driver and took out a Lockseed with a bunch of bananas on it. He pressed the button on the side and the arm popped up.

“BANANA!” called the Lockseed. A zipper in the air then opened and let a metal banana float above Kaito.

“Henshin,” announced Kaito. He then inserted the Lockseed into the Sengoku Driver and closed it.

“Lock on!” called the belt. It then played European trumpet music before he sliced the Lockseed open with the Driver’s knife. “Come on!” challenged the belt. The banana then landed around his head as a red undersuit with silver trim appeared around him.

“BANANA-BANA-BANANA?!” squawked an Orc.

“Baron da!” (That’s Baron to you!) called Kaito.

“Banana Arms!” announced the belt as the banana unfolded so the ends became shoulder pads and part of the side became chest armor. His helmet looked like a knight’s helm with a pair of horns. “Knight of spear!” sang the belt as his weapon appeared. It was a lance that evoked a peeled banana. Given that he corrected an Orc, I’d say he was Kamen Rider Baron.

“Henshin!” we called. Colleen’s belt announced, “Open! Turn! Imagine! The Hammer of Slam!” as we became our Kamen Rider personas. Catchphrase time!

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

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

“Kamen Rider Zhànshì! Try and stop my quest!”

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

“Kamen Rider Herald B! I bring news of your defeat!”

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

“I am Turretorg, the invincible siege weapon!”

“I’m X-PO! I’ve calculated 979 ways to defeat you! Let’s go for 28!” With that, X-PO crossed his new hands in front of him. “Priority 7-Alpha, Sea-bass drop!”

“Uh oh!” gulped Octavio.

“Uh oh what?” demanded Sauron. Octavio then did something never witnessed in the games, he shifted to his humanoid form! He looked like a Japanese Lord.

“MEAN LASER!” he shouted. X-PO uncrossed his new hands and fired his laser. Everyone got out of the way…even us! We were right in its path!

“Sorry!” called X-PO.

“STICK TO THE FISTS!” I shouted. Sauron and the Riddler double-teamed me, keeping me from helping the others out. Turretorg fired a barrage of missiles at the Orcs and Octolings, the Octolings giving him a little more difficulty as they turned into octopi and swam in their ink. The New Squidbeak Splatoon, regretfully, kept the others at bay. “Guys, come on!” I protested to the Splatoon. “You don’t wanna do this!”

“We don’t have a choice,” replied Marie. She leveled her Charger (sniper rifle) at me and fired. I got out of the way, smacking into Sauron’s mace. His swing knocked me back a couple of meters. Baron managed to score a few hits on X-PO’s new body with that lance of his. The machine then fell as the lights went off.

“X-PO!” called Herald B.

“I’m alright!” called X-PO’s voice as his original body’s eye switched on. He then activated a new function the 4th Doctor installed, similar to K-9’s, a stun blaster! He gathered energy into his eye and fired a purple bolt of light at Octavio. The Octarian King managed to shrug it off. “Damn, STILL not at full power!” swore X-PO. Agent 8 then leapt onto him.

“I still am!” she hissed as she drew a wrench. Just then, Slam swung her hammer into 8’s head. “Nice try, bone bag!” laughed 8 as she landed on her feet. She then started stumbling. “Actually, remove the sarcasm,” she mumbled. “It WAS a nice try. Why is the room spinning?” She then collapsed.

“BELLA! NO!” shouted Jason. He and Marie then rushed to 8’s side. Callie swung her Roller (rolling paintbrush weapon) at Clash but Clash managed to roll out of the way only to encounter Baron’s attack as he used the Sengoku Driver’s knife to slice the Lockseed three times.

“BANANA SPARKING!” announced the belt as Baron thrust the tip of his lance into the ground, causing bananas to pop out of the ground and strike Clash. Sauron and the Riddler had managed to knock me to the floor and leveled their weapons at me as I leveled my sword.

“Do you think you’re fast enough,” taunted Sauron, “to put us down before we kill you?”

“…I have a means of staving off my appointment with Death,” I smirked. I then spun the wheel in the opposite direction of changing armor, making it go two full rotations. “DAI SUPER CHARGE!” I shouted. My armor bulked up and went white with gold trim, then it exploded, revealing gold armor with white tiger patterns. Sauron and the Riddler picked themselves up after being knocked down by my exploding armor.

“What in…?!” spluttered Sauron.

“Kamen Rider Vortex,” I explained, “the form I used to defeat Vortech.” I then went on the offensive, managing to beat back Sauron and the Riddler as Slam swung her hammer into Baron’s leg, causing him to cancel his transformation and grasp his leg in pain. Zhànshì and Claw managed to cut one of Octavio’s head tentacles off and shoved him into his allies. He turned to the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

“Inksquirts!” he bellowed. The agents weren’t listening as they were tending to Bella, Agent 8.

“We have to give her an ink infusion to clear her head!” gulped Jason.

“You idiots! Help us!” shouted Octavio.

“We have to save Bella!” insisted Jason.

“Stop cradling that useless soldier!” ordered Sauron.

“…What did you say?” hissed Jason.

“I said stop cradling that lump of muscle and help your betters!” roared Sauron. Jason looked back at his fellow agents, then glared at Sauron and his allies. He stood up and pulled something out of his back pocket. We couldn’t believe it!

“A Chronicle Driver?!” yelped Claw.

“How did you…?!” I quizzed.

“Sludgiona said she had made more Chronicle Drivers,” explained Slam. “She must have put them onto the scout ships.”

“How would you…?” I inquired.

“She explained she had made more to us new guys,” replied Slam.

“I see,” I remarked.

“What’s the word you guys used to transform?” asked Jason as he fastened the Chronicle Driver to his waist.

“Chronicle Driver!” announced the belt.

“We say ‘Henshin’,” I replied to Jason.

“Thank you,” bid Jason. He then took out an Armor Auto-bio and inserted it into the shelf that popped up from the top. “Henshin!” he announced. He pressed the shelf down as the giant book flipped its pages and spat out armor pieces.

“Open!” called the belt. “Turn! Imagine! The Roller of Turf!” His armor looked a lot like the power armor set of the first game.

“Agents, keep watch over Bella,” directed Jason. “I intend to voice our long-overdue complaints to our ‘masters’.”

“What do you call yourself, Kamen Rider Squidkid?” snarked the Riddler.

“Kamen Rider Turf, actually,” replied Jason. “I shall claim this turf in victory!” He then swung his roller into them. “Don’t you ever…EVER…call Bella useless!”

“You little…!” snarled the Riddler.

“You utter demons!” hissed Turf. “I should have done this two years ago!” He converted his roller into a charger and fired on the villains, causing the Orcs to lose their minds.

“Right, that’s it!” roared Gorshagh from the balcony. He caught the Kiri Zecter. “HEN…!” he didn’t get very far as an Octoling kicked the Zecter out of his hands. “What do you think you’re…?!” shouted Gorshagh.

“TAKE DOWN THE ORCS!” shouted the Octoling. The Octarians then attacked the Orcs. Turf pressed the button on his Chronicle Driver.

“Final Pen Stroke!” called the belt.

“RIDER TURF KICK!” shouted Turf as he leapt into the air and performed a flying kick towards the Villains. They soon picked themselves up.

“Vortex, we need to take them all out in one swoop!” whispered Death.

“I may have a solution!” I declared. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I soon found the rift. Man, it felt good to use the Keystone. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Haven’t seen him in a while. Locate help from B-3-N-1-0!” Just then, a giant lizard person landed face-first onto the floor. The person picked himself to reveal the black circle with the green hourglass design on his chest. “BEN!” I called. Ben Tennyson, currently as Humungousaur, noticed me as I shouted and grinned.

“Vortex!” he cheered. “Haven’t seen you in a while! What’s new?”

“Orcs invaded the universe we’re in,” I explained. I pointed out their bosses. “Got a place for them?”

“I think Incarcecon can handle a few more inmates,” joked Humungousaur as he slapped on the Omnitrix symbol. He then changed. “FOUR-ARMS!” he announced. He then leapt around the levels, grabbing Orcs and throwing them into the rift he went through. He then grabbed Sauron, the Riddler, Baron, and was about to grab Octavio when Turf stopped him.

“He stays,” he insisted. Four-Arms nodded and tossed the remaining three into the rift.

“Thanks, Ben!” I called.

“Don’t mention it!” replied Four-Arms. “See you later!” He then went through the rift as it shut. An Octoling then gave Marie a bit of ink and Marie injected it into Bella, sighing in relief as she checked her over.

“Okay,” she sighed, “she’s stable and should be good for getting her to a hospital.”

“We’ll take her,” replied Pearl. She and Marina picked Bella up and carried her out of the area to a hospital.

“Listen, everyone,” sighed Turf, “about all of this…I’m sorry.”

“You’re not the only one needing to apologize to Megumi,” muttered Slam, feeling guilty about not telling me about the other Chronicle Drivers.

“Mine first,” I answered. “Colleen, I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to not tell you about an event in our past. It was wrong of me to not give you the full details about the Vortech Wars. I was wrong. I don’t know if I can make it up to you and…I understand if this makes you want to part company with the Feudal Nerd Society.”

“I understand your logic,” replied Slam, “but I don’t see myself leaving just yet. Why don’t we all leave our regrets here?”

“I have to say, today was FULL of regrets,” mused X-PO.

“Comes with any anniversary, especially a war’s anniversary,” replied Turretorg.

“Maybe…” suggested Claw, “maybe we should focus more on forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness isn’t handed out,” I answered, “it’s earned. Colleen, if you’ll let me, I’d like to work to earn yours.”

“Let me work to earn yours, then we’ll talk,” replied Slam.

“Agreed,” I affirmed. Just then, someone fired over our heads! Octavio was clutching his sides and holding a blaster!

“FORGIVENESS?!” he roared. “YOU DOLTS ARE PATHETIC! FORGIVENESS IS A WEAKNESS! YOU ALL NEED TO REALIZE THAT THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE!”

“And yet,” I observed, “you’re the one without an empire to back you up.” I was talking about the Octarians leveling their weapons at him. Octavio looked around, then fired a few shots to scare his people off and scurried up a ladder, dropping the Source. “Come on!” I called.

“Let him go,” replied Marina.

“But he’s gonna escape!” I urged.

“I think there’s little chance of that,” assured Marina.

“…Why?” I quizzed. Octavio then screamed in frustration.

“Captain Cuttlefish placed a giant snow globe over the exit,” explained Marina.

“…The globe again?” I muttered.


Bella had made a full recovery and helped us reveal the names of Agents 3 and 4. Agent 3 was Colin and Agent 4 was Samantha. Unfortunately, the crew of the Tarlaxian scout ship was already taken by Shocker Rift. We were back in our Splatoon disguises. Pearl and Marina were back doing Off the Hook for Inkopolis Square. “So, with all the craziness going on,” Pearl was saying, “the final Splatfest had to be cancelled.”

“Now, with the Orcs gone and the Octarians’ good name being cleared,” continued Marina, “the final Splatfest can go on. It’s going to take a week, though, before any match can begin. Yes, you heard right, the matches will be back on in a week.”

“Until then, Grizzco is still hiring!” supplied Pearl. “I can’t believe our last gig went so smoothly, Marina!”

“Yeah, especially because we worked a Salmon Run shift instead of rehearsing!” replied Marina.

“And that’s all the time we got!” finished Pearl. “Until next time…” Marina then joined Pearl in posing and saying their catchphrase.

“Don’t get cooked, stay off the hook!” they cheered. The screen went back to its usual ads.

“I guess things will be back to normal soon,” chuckled Callie.

“As normal as our lives are,” remarked Marie.

“Thanks for the last minute assist,” I bid to Jason.

“You’re welcome,” replied Jason. “I just wish I saw sense earlier.”

“You’re not evil,” I assured. “You wouldn’t have a Chronicle Driver if you were.”

“You just need a little guidance in handling it,” continued Colleen.

“What are you saying?” asked Jason.

“Wanna come with us?” I offered. “Wander the multiverse with us for a while and see if you wanna be a member of the Feudal Nerd Society?”

“…No secrets this time?” quizzed Jason.

“No secrets this time,” I assured.

“Then let’s do it!” cheered Jason as he twirled Death’s Source on his finger like a basketball.

“Vorton, this is Megumi,” I called into my communicator. “Mission accomplished! We have Death’s Source, have a new ally with us, and are ready for pickup!”

“Good to hear, Megumi,” replied a voice. It didn’t belong to anyone on the Vorton team. I finally got it after a few seconds.

“Doctor?!” I yelped.

“Hello!” answered the 13th Doctor’s voice.

“What the heck are you doing on Vorton?” I quizzed.

“The Gateway Operators called me and filled me in on your current adventure,” explained the Doctor. “My reason for being here on Vorton is something that seems unrelated to your crisis. I’ll fill you in when you get here.” A portal opened for us.

“It’s gonna be a little…buzzy,” I warned Jason.

“…Buzzy?” asked Jason as he followed us. He soon got what I meant when I said “buzzy”. We arrived back on Vorton before the others. “…Yeah, ‘buzzy’ is an apt description!” mumbled the Inkling as he rubbed his arms. “Feels like my cells are vibrating!”

“Hello!” called a voice. The Doctor then came up, still wearing that grey coat.

“Good to see you again, Doctor,” I greeted. “You said Elphaba’s team called you in?”

“They did,” confirmed the Doctor. “Let me show you.” She motioned for us to follow her to the medical ward. Lying on a bed was a young blonde woman. She seemed to be busy examining her hands.

“Who is she?” I asked.

“She looks a lot like one of my previous companions, Rose Tyler,” replied the Doctor, “but that doesn’t make sense. During an adventure involving both Daleks AND Cybermen, she became trapped in a parallel universe. Now, she lives her life with a human version of my 10th incarnation.”

“So, is THIS Rose Tyler a clone?” I quizzed.

“That’s what I initially thought,” answered the Doctor. “However, if she is, she’s the most perfect clone ever. Usually, when a clone is artificially aged, there are telltale genetic markers to indicate such a thing had happened. However, she doesn’t have those.”

“Then, is the Rose you traveled with a clone?” I asked.

“I checked the TARDIS medical records,” replied the Doctor, “and the Rose I traveled with IS the real deal.”

“A traveler from a parallel universe, then?” I suggested.

“I don’t really have a frame of reference for that,” mused the Doctor as she tapped her chin.

“I might help in that regard,” called X-PO. “Let me connect with the equipment. There should be telltale signs of her being from a parallel universe.” X-PO hooked up to the medical scanners and ran through the data. It took a few minutes. When he finished, he crossed his arms. “Huh,” he muttered. “Nothing.”

“Is there ANYTHING to go on?” I quizzed, getting desperate for answers.

“There ARE stray energy particles I haven’t been able to identify,” replied the Doctor, “but those may be from the energy weapon that was fired on her.”

“Is she injured?” I gasped.

“No,” assured the Doctor, “but look at the rags she’s wearing. Some of the damage WASN’T from going through the rift unprotected and I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt in that she’s NOT insane enough to burn parts of her clothes herself.”

“I suppose the next thing to do,” I declared, “is to ask her.” I approached her and she took notice of me. “Hello,” I greeted with a bit of uncertainty in my voice. “My name is Megumi Hishikawa. What’s your name?”

“…I can’t…remember a lot,” replied the Rose clone.

“What DO you remember?” I asked.

“I remember…names,” answered the Rose clone. “I remember being in a lot of pain. I remember…my temperature increasing for a bit. I don’t recall how I got here.”

“Do you have any means of identification?” I inquired.

“I think I’m…Rose Tyler, right?” asked the clone.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” replied the Doctor. “You see, I travelled with Rose Tyler for a long time.”

“…You?” quizzed the clone.

“Yes, me,” confirmed the Doctor. “I’m the Doctor.”

“…Doctor…” muttered the clone. I noticed a hint of distaste for the word before she went back to examining her hands. “Who…WHAT am I?” she asked.

“For now,” I answered, “you’re our guest and…this is your home.” The clone looked around the place to get a good look at her surroundings.

“…Home,” she repeated. I excused myself at that point and contacted the other teams, informing them of what happened.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 3

The Gateway opened to reveal Scorpainia stepping through. She had Turretorg, Technarain, Discornia, and Sludgiona with her. “I see you’ve had this place redecorated since I was here last,” observed Scorpainia.

“Looks a little…bright,” muttered Batman.

“Yeah, we needed to make it brighter,” I replied. “A few of us would rather NOT stumble with only blue lighting in a dark place. Some plant life also benefitted us. The oxygen generators were pretty taxed during the Vortech Wars.”

“And with the new lighting,” helped Lukas, “came a source of vitamin C, essential for us humans.” At that moment, the lights went off. “…Apparently, we need a better power source,” muttered Lukas.

“No, dudes,” called a surfer dude’s voice. “Just rerouting power!” The lights came back on as an R9 Astromech wheeled himself in. “Had a gnarly idea,” continued the Astromech, “that we could route some power from the sensors to the GUUUUNNS!”

“New guys, this is R9-D7, the only Astromech I know of that can speak Basic,” I introduced. “R9, these are the new guys.”

“I think the new guys are already familiar with the most RADICAL Astromech in the multiverse!” boasted R9.

“Remind me of his backstory again?” asked Liam.

“After the Vortech Wars,” I explained, “Vader left him behind. He was stuck on Vorton for a few weeks until X-PO found him. We fixed him up and installed vocal components so we don’t have to guess his beeping.”

“And it’s been awesome ever since!” cheered R9.

“R9,” called Emily, “quick question. How are the defenses going to shoot any invaders WITHOUT the sensors?”

“…Okay, so there ARE some holes in my idea,” conceded R9. “No need to be bugging or anything.”

“We’ll save modifications AFTER this adventure,” I suggested.

“Buzzkill,” muttered R9.

“All right, is everyone here for the briefing?” I asked.

“Wait, where’s Pup-X5?” asked Emmanuel.

“And Lexicon, for that matter,” supplied Sheela.

“We’re here!” called a woman’s voice. A large, gunmetal grey can with an antenna on top came in with a humanoid dog robot walking it. The dog robot was about Snoopy’s height. He detached the leash from the can and petted Kit-10. “Sorry about the wait,” remarked the can, Lexicon, a mobile datastore. “Pup-X5 insisted on getting a bite to eat. How you lot managed to install a stomach that can process food like you do, I’ll never understand.” Pup-X5 rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

“Well, you got here anyways,” I dismissed, “so thank you for coming. Now that we’re all here, X-PO, you may begin.”

“Thank you,” bid X-PO. He started up a PowerPoint with the Gateway. “As many of you know,” he began, “five Tarlaxian Jabarda class scout ships were deployed to scout for potential universes in case the Omega Protocols needed to be deployed again.”

“A future Tarlax 15?” quizzed Wyldstyle.

“Indeed,” confirmed Scorpainia. “I would have called you lot a little later, but SOMEONE decided to force the issue!” She glared at X-PO.

“We’ll turn him into a coffee maker later,” I joked.

“Thanks,” snarked X-PO. “Anyway, in the most recent logs, I discovered that they were going near five universes containing the Sources.”

“What IS a Source?” I asked.

“In this instance,” interjected Famine as she paused her snacking, “it’s the source of an aspect the five of us Horsemen represent. Each looks like a crystal ball, about the size of a human’s head, in our colors. Mine’s yellow, Pestilence’s green, Death’s blue, War’s orange, and Lacey inherited the purple one of Chaos.”

“Chaos?” I muttered.

“An apocalypse IS rather chaotic,” replied Lacey. “Besides, chaos is common when life exists.”

“Fair point,” I conceded.

“Does that mean we should call Lacey ‘Chaos’ instead?” asked Richard.

“Please, no!” groaned Lacey.

“Focus, please!” snapped X-PO.

“The Source Universes?” muttered Scorpainia. “What were they doing near there? They’re WAY too close to Foundation Prime. Besides, we’ve long established that they were inhabited.”

“We always look for universes with no life aside from plants on ANY of that universe’s planets,” supplied Sludgiona.

“What are the universes’ identifier strings?” I quizzed.

“5-P-L-4-T-0-0-N, D-1-5-N-3-Y, 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0, T-3-4-M-F-0-R-T-R-3-5-5-2, and 5-4-1-L-0-R-M-0-0-N,” replied Discornia.

“So, SplatoonDisneySuper MarioTeam Fortress 2, and Sailor Moon,” I guessed.

“Bingo,” answered Death. “Splatoon hold my Source because they’ve invented a way to circumvent death in a weapon-using sport, Disney holds War’s as it’s very peaceful, given the chaos it usually brings, Super Mario has a cure for all, so it hides Pestilence’s Source, Team Fortress 2’s inhabitants don’t get hungry, so Famine could hide her Source there, and Sailor Moon brings order, so Lacey’s Source is safe.”

“So, the opposite aspects of your sources hides them,” I theorized.

“Exactly,” grunted War.

“But, as her Majesty asked, what were those ships doing there?” quizzed Technarain. “Their courses shouldn’t have taken them anywhere NEAR those universes.” Turretorg shuffled his feet. It’s not a quiet shuffle, given what his feet are made of.

“Turretorg,” hissed Scorpainia, “is there something you want to share with us?” No response. “Turretorg,” growled Scorpainia.

“I…I’m not at liberty to say,” stammered Turretorg.

“Not even to me?” snarled Scorpainia.

“…Sorry, but not even to you,” sighed Turretorg.

“That leaves us at liberty to speculate,” remarked Liam. He turned to Scorpainia. “You said they were near Foundation Prime, right?”

“They are,” confirmed Scorpainia. “As to why, I’ll let Death explain.”

“The Sources constantly project a barrier around Foundation Prime so no one, not even the Horsemen, could get to it,” explained Death. “However, if you’re clever enough you could find a chink in that barrier and get into Foundation Prime.”

“Vortech used me to that end,” remarked X-PO. “That’s how I got you guys into it.”

“So, when Vortech was beaten,” continued Death, “we reforged the barrier and shored up any flaws we could find. As such, using all five sources on the barrier will cause it to crumble and people could freely enter and exit Foundation Prime, restoring that square Vortech used to control the multiverse and bending it to their whims.”

“And, given the power we witnessed,” I guessed, “you didn’t WANT people to freely enter and exit that universe.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Death. “With all that in mind, those universes would make rather good defensive positions.”

“Hoping to control those universes?” Scorpainia asked Turretorg.

“Your Majesty,” sighed Turretorg, “I hope you’re not naïve enough to believe the Tarlaxian Senate DIDN’T want to use those universes.”

“No,” replied Scorpainia, “but I’m a little ticked that neither you nor the Senate brought the concern to my attention!”

“And?” quizzed Turretorg.

“And, if you didn’t tell her or your wife THAT,” hissed Moon-kyung as she nodded towards Discornia, “it makes us rather worried what ELSE you kept from her, or US, for that matter.”

“There wasn’t anything else to tell!” snarled Turretorg. “Their mission was to scout out potential universes in case the Omega Protocols were needed again. Yes, it WAS possible that they would pass by those universes. So, the Senate made it a secret parameter of said mission that, should they not find a threat to the Sources, they would gather data and intelligence relating to a defensive position to surround Foundation Prime. That is all!”

“It seems like a restructuring of the Senate is in order!” snarled Scorpainia. “I’d rather know about their concerns!”

“Well, from what I’ve picked up from a stray transmission,” interjected X-PO, “the crews of those ships weren’t too happy about that secret parameter either. Here’s something I picked up from the ship near 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0.” He played a video of an apartment with three Tarlaxians in it.

“Wait, I thought you said that it’s from a scout ship,” recalled Richard. “That looks like Linkara’s old apartment.”

“With the stuff he had, too,” muttered Livia.

“My doing,” answered Technarain. “I heard about nerds in that universe turning a house into a spaceship, so I wanted to get a good look at any potential bridge designs. Linkara’s old apartment seemed like a more functional choice. He seemed okay with it.”

“If we could continue?!” grunted War.

“Thank you,” bid X-PO. He started the video. A two-headed, six-armed woman in a glossy, black exoskeleton, a spider’s rear end above her butt, eight eyes in a ring on each head with the two largest ones in the center, and claws on her fingers was at a workstation. The annotations identified her as Spidarachnimpa. A woman with a skirt that looked like a snail’s foot sat on Spidarachnimpa’s left. She had a snail’s antennae in place of her eyes, a snail’s shell, and secreted slime all over her body. It didn’t seem to affect her workstation. An annotation called her Escargripam. In the kitchen was a Tarlaxian man with a humanoid body shape, a skirt of eight octopus tentacles, a ring of eight tentacles around his shoulders, and the head of an octopus with a beak where a human’s mouth should be. He was called Octorpindar. Spidarachnimpa’s left head spoke into a communicator.

“This is the scout ship, Tranzek,” she called. “We have just entered Mushroom World territory and are ready to carry out our assignment. All lights are orange. No sign of any problems. We look forward to hearing from you in an hour. Tranzek out.” She switched the comms off.

“I still can’t believe it!” griped Octorpindar. “I mean, a year of planning this venture, three months to get to the universe we’re supposed to be at, then, just a few days before we get there, Tarlax calls saying, ‘Hey! Can you deviate from your flight plan by about 2 more months and check out a universe near Foundation Prime that holds Pestilence’s Source?’ I mean…!”

“Steady on, Octorpindar,” interjected Spidarachnimpa’s right head.

“We knew this was a possibility,” continued her left head.

“Yeah, but,” grumbled Octorpindar, “they didn’t need to wait until practically the last minute to tell us! I mean if we manage to encounter Vortech’s prison…!”

“We won’t!” countered Spidarachnimpa’s left head. “We’ll be moving in parallel to the loop pattern and matching the velocity of the rift loop.”

“Plus we have automatic sealants,” continued her right head, “to take care of any pinpricks in this baby’s hull should any debris be caught in the rift loop’s orbit and flung at us.”

“I wish I shared your confidence,” remarked Octorpindar as he grabbed a sandwich from the fridge.

“Don’t worry about it, dude,” remarked Escargripam. “We’re not gonna find anything. I mean, the Doctor…”

“The Doctor!” interrupted Octorpindar. “There’s a Gallifreyan that is THAT arrogant to think they can heal their…!”

“The Doctor had practically tied Vortech’s prison into a pretty little bow!” continued Escargripam. “He’s stuck!”

“If he manages to wiggle out…!” protested Octorpindar.

“I think somebody’s a little cranky this morning,” remarked Spidarachnimpa’s left head as both turned to him.

“Somebody needs to sit in the comfy chair,” continued the right head. She tapped the unoccupied console as Octorpindar rolled his eyes. He entered the living room and sat down at the console. He looked around the apartment-bridge and sighed.

“This will never NOT be weird,” he muttered.

“We’ve been doing this for practically all our lives,” groaned Escargripam, “and you choose NOW to complain?!”

“We’re sitting in an apartment that once belonged to some nerd!” complained Octorpindar.

“We are sitting,” both of Spidarachnimpa’s heads snarled in unison, “on the bridge of the most advanced scout ship and we’re ready to make history! Now, I don’t care if it happens in a toilet stall or a nerd’s basement dwelling, as long as it gets us there and gets us home! So, put on your grown-up explorer boots and give me a read-out on engine consumption!”

“Sorry, sorry,” sighed Octorpindar as he checked his station. “Engine consumption’s nominal. Look, I’m just saying the multiverse can get crazy and weird.”

“Better weird than boring,” remarked Escargripam. She checked her station’s readings. “We’re approaching the Source Universe. Should be smooth sailing.”

“Belay that thought,” interjected Spidarachnimpa’s left head.

“Why?” quizzed Escargripam.

“I’m detecting a power signature out there,” reported Spidarachnimpa’s right head. They all looked at the reading on her console.

“How can anything have power this far out?” muttered Escargripam.

“Well, let’s find out,” replied Spidarachnimpa’s right head. “It’s about 170 cm in length, 89 cm in width, and…and coming at us in an attack vector!!” At this point, both heads were speaking in unison. “Hard about! Raise the…!” The ship lurched and tossed the Tarlaxian crew over their consoles. An explosion made the video end in static. We stood there in silence.

“…Are they…?” gulped Emmanuel.

“We’re STILL getting bio-signs,” replied Technarain, “so I don’t think so.”

“Now we REALLY need to rescue them,” I declared. “I had already decided to split us up into teams according to After Academy house, but I think a Keystone Bearer on each team would help.”

“And a Tarlaxian on each team,” interjected Scorpainia.

“And a robot,” called Kit-10.

“All right, then let’s get organized,” I affirmed. The teams went like so: Death, Haitao, Livia, Sheela, Colleen, Sophie, X-PO, Turretorg, and myself would go to 5-P-L-4-T-0-0-N to check on her Source, War, Gandalf, Michael, Hiroki, Irina, Alesandro, Charline, Kit-10, and Discornia would go to D-1-5-N-3-Y to check that Source’s status, Pestilence, Hongo, Emily, Mikhail, Tanisha, Liam, Amelia, R9-D7, and Scorpainia would use the Virginia to go to 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0 and use its sensors to check that Source out, Famine, Wyldstyle, Richard, Emmanuel, Xiomara, Victor, Brenden, Pup-X5, and Technarain will confirm the Source’s condition in T-3-4-M-F-0-R-T-R-3-5-5-2, and Lacey, Batman, Joshua, Lukas, Tonje, Moon-kyung, Flora, Lexicon, and Sludgiona would check out 5-4-1-L-0-R-M-0-0-N for her Source. “Are the team assignments clear?” I asked. Everyone replied yes. “Then let’s hit the hay for now,” I declared. “It’s late at night and I don’t want anyone fighting their own fatigue on top of fighting whoever’s behind this.”

“Sleep sounds heavenly right now,” muttered Moon-kyung. We all retired to our rooms and hit the sack.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Passenger limit?” I asked.

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

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

“Did it malfunction?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

“I’m coming with!” called Richard.

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

“Non!” protested Emmanuel. “It’s me!”

“Nein! Me!” shouted Lukas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

“Déjà vu?” asked Tanisha.

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

“Not her!” gulped Tanisha.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Passive aggressive to the end,” observed Tanisha.

“I’M passive aggressive?” asked GLaDOS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Is this a dream?” he asked, shakily.

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

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

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

“This is Tanisha Akintola,” I introduced.

“Hello,” greeted Tanisha as she bowed.

“That’s Wyldstyle,” I continued.

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

“That’s Gandalf the Grey,” I went on.

“Good day,” greeted Gandalf.

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

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

“You know me?” asked the man.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Indeed?” asked Gandalf.

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

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

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

“WHAT?!” shrieked Eiji.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Kōsei-san!” called Eiji.

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

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

“Where am I?” he asked.

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

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

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

“…Happy Birthday?” I whispered to Eiji.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ankh!” called Eiji.

“Happy Birthday, Ankh!” cheered Kōsei.

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

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

“And who are you?” he asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You again?!” he roared. “Oh, you!”

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

“What was that?!” snapped Ankh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes, why?” I asked.

“I have an idea,” hinted Ankh.

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

“Not yet,” replied Ankh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Great Scott!” called Marty.

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

“When are we?” asked Jules.

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

“Another dimension?” asked Marty.

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

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

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

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

“Saloon girl?” I asked.

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

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

“Foundation Element?” asked Clara.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Gandalf,” I requested.

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

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

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

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

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

“A Yummy?!” he yelped.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 9

Homer was asleep at his post, the nuclear rod in his butt. He tossed and turned. “It’s not selling out!” he yelped. “It’s co-branding! Co-branding!” I’m surprised he slept through the crash. In any case, we picked ourselves up out of the wreckage.

“What do you suppose these infernal contraptions want here?” asked Gandalf as he brushed himself off.

“And why are there rivers of glowing green ooze flowing all around this place?” quizzed Hongo, a little worried.

“I wouldn’t worry,” assured Richard. “This thing gets reactor leaks all the time and the radiation doesn’t bother the residents.”

“They’re probably used to it!” I yelped. “We, on the other hand, aren’t!”

+THIS UNIT WOULD RECOMMEND WEARING YOUR ARMOR IF YOU’RE SO CONCERNED+ suggested my belt.

“Good idea!” I agreed. “But what about Gandalf, Wyldstyle, and Batman?”

“Never mind us,” assured Batman as we said Henshin and put our suits on. “If we don’t go anywhere near anything radioactive, we should be good. Wyldstyle, your scanner.”

“There’s something at the other end of the plant,” reported Wyldstyle, “maybe the Keystone?”

“Let’s check it out,” called Batman. We went across a catwalk to a locked room with a dial that clearly wasn’t set to keep the steam from leaking. Homer had finally woken up and was apparently informed of the steam leaks somehow. The intercom was still on, so we heard what he was saying.

“What do I do?!” he wailed. “What do I do?!” He even had the instructions in his hands! Even then, he just fiddled with random controls! After a few button presses, he looked back at the book. “All right, brain,” he encouraged said organ, “it’s all up to you!” He read aloud, “check core temperature.” I figured that there was no way he’d screw that up. Too much to hope for. He fiddled with more controls and then went to a black button. “I just press this button…” in reality, no, he shouldn’t have. That button made the steam pipes burst, causing the bridge over a vat of nuclear waste to collapse, and eliciting a “D’oh!” from Homer.

“I get the feeling this guy isn’t quite up to speed on nuclear safety,” muttered Wyldstyle. She then saw some parts. “Hey, Swing, Claw, help me out!”

“If you’re sure,” shrugged Claw. They swapped out their i.d tags for the Wyldstyle one. Once Wyldstyle Steel was activated, they started building a claw that was rolled up with a grapple hook. Batman pulled it with the grapple gun, switching it on and sending a Keystone Transmitter near us from the waste.

“That helps,” called Batman. “Shift Keystone, Activate! Cyan, near the wall outside the window! Yellow, inside top level! Magenta, inside bottom level! Shift! Ichigō! Magenta! Shift! Royal! Yellow!” Ichigō and I went to our respective places. The steam from the pipes in my area blocked my progress. Batman told Ichigō to turn the valve in his area. He did so, thus lowering the pressure so the steam won’t block my path. I then signed to Batman asking if I should go and pull the lever at the end of my area. He gave me the thumbs up and so I pulled the lever. It drained away some of the waste so it could reveal the remains of the bridge. “Shift! Ichigō! Cyan! Shift! Royal! Cyan!” We came out through the cyan portal. Thank goodness. We crossed the bridge, with Arch, Lukas, and I carrying Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle, much to Batman’s annoyance, and saw a guy in a green business suit with an extended upper lip, liver spots on top of his head, and a scheming look to his eyes, and named, I believe, Mr. Burns, take down the zero on the billboard that indicated the days without an accident. It went from zero…to…three?! This whole thing isn’t an accident?!

“Um, excuse me?! Hello?! Thank you?!” yelped Touché. She only says that when something that defies logic happens or when someone says something incredibly dumb. Mr. Burns then turned the billboard that indicated the…days without an otherworldly invasion?! Apparently, it was three hundred twenty-three days without such an occurrence before this one. Mr. Burns changed it to zero, sighed while shaking his head, and walked out slowly. Meanwhile, we were running on a conveyor belt with a bunch of barrels coming out and almost squashing us. We managed to get to the other side when we heard Homer speak.

“Vent radioactive gas? N-O,” he said to himself.

“Homer,” I shrieked internally as I saw people in hazmat suits trying to escape, “anata wa bakada!” (you are an idiot!)

“Homer, you genius!” praised Homer to himself.

“Why is this guy in charge of safety?!” asked Wyldstyle. “He couldn’t cross the road!”

“We need to get across to save those people,” I resolved. The main problem with that was that there were massive covered vents in our way. We could easily reach the first vent, but the second and last were too tall for us to reach, well, maybe not Ichigō, but the rest of us aren’t…wait a minute, that’s it! “Wyldstyle!” I shouted. “Wall jump up there! I think the controls to make this easier are over there!”

“What?” yelped Wyldstyle.

“Just trust me!” I assured. Wyldstyle shrugged as she did as I requested. She found the controls and pulled a lever down. Some steam raised the cover of a vent at different intervals. She got the idea and pulled the other levers. There wasn’t an exact pattern to when the platforms raised, but that was unimportant. Clash then leapt up and landed on a vent cover when it went down. She was then lifted by the steam and raised to another platform. After a few jumps, she gave the thumbs up that our weight would be supported if we went one at a time. I wish she didn’t do that. She’s too valuable to me. We all made it to the other side and heard Homer speak.

“This is my chance to show everyone how professional I am!” he cheered. He then ran around his seat, smashed his fists on the buttons, then banged his head once, then went to sleep! Those actions resulted in a power generator holding door locks to malfunction and release the door latch. Barrels then came out of the door and onto a conveyor belt. They were then put right-side up and put under squashers. Thankfully, that wasn’t our problem at the moment. We had to get the people trapped in the gas out. Ichigō and I punched the glass, got our hands, and opened it from the other side. The people got out as we got something to block the door. Once that was done, we realized our only path was through the squashers. The controls were inside a locked room. Batman’s gauntlet light started glowing green. We looked all around until Gandalf lit up a room in total darkness in a lower level. We brought the transmitter into the light, giving Batman his Keystone Powers.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Magenta, on white panel inside room! Cyan, on scaffolding! Yellow, on the raised platform!”

“Oh yes?” asked Battle. “You’re just going to put the portal on a white panel?”

“Yes,” confirmed Batman.

“On a lower level panel?” quizzed Battle.

“Yes,” replied Batman.

“And people are supposed to reach the controls that way?” asked Battle.

“Yes,” sighed Batman, annoyed.

“…How?” asked Battle. Batman opened his mouth when he realized he was too eager to place portals.

“Batman, you may need me on the scaffolding,” said Gandalf. “The way I see things, there are two components that relate to the door over there. It seems locked for the person that goes in the magenta portal. However, if I were to undo the power that holds the door and transfer to the yellow portal, thus putting me on the platform, I can push something down to Madam Wyldstyle and she can build something to get that panel at a higher elevation.”

“Good idea,” I praised. “Batman, if you please?”

“Shift! Gandalf! Cyan!” announced Batman. Gandalf ended up on the scaffolding, undid the components, unlocking the door for the room and shutting the door that was spewing barrels under the crusher. He was then transferred to the yellow portal and shoved a crate off. Wyldstyle used the parts to build a giant joystick. Battle had changed into Gandalf steel and used magic to move the panel to the upper level. “Shift! Ichigō Gandalf! Wyldstyle! Outback! Hunt! Claw! Swing! Clash! Climb! Gallop! Sengoku! Royal! Guard! Touché! Zhànshì! Arch! Kämpfer! Seeker! Battle! Batman! Magenta!” called Batman, trying a different approach. Tedious, yes, but it worked. We went through the portal and walked along the conveyor belt to end up in front of a hallway with a security camera. I saw the door controls and figured I’d just waltz up and use them. My arrogance proved me wrong as the door controls locked at the sight of me. I turned on my heel and walked back.

“Any suggestions?” I asked, open to ideas.

“Allow me,” replied Batman. He then pulled his cape in front of his face and started going transparent. He went down the hall, fiddled with the controls and deactivated the camera and door locks. That door led to an area filled with toxic waste and a bunch of Micro-managers trying to yank something out of the wall, their boss, I assume, given that it spoke. He was a man in a gray business suit, had an elaborate red and black headdress with a red coffee cup on each side, a chest plate in black with shoulder pads and a red tie in the middle, a long red cape, and black boots with red light up sections that alter his height according to his whims. Judging by the look on Wyldstyle’s face, I’d say it was a certain business lord she’s been on the run from in the past.

“So,” asked the man, “what I’m saying is, why didn’t you just cut a bigger hole?!”

“Just wasn’t in the budget,” joked Rogue’s voice. The business lord didn’t appreciate the joke as Rogue walked in, laughing at the man’s predicament. The business man was the pulled out by the Micro-managers and set upright.

“Lord Business!” hissed Wyldstyle.

“Wyldstyle?” exclaimed Lord Business. “It WAS you meddling!”

“This is impossible!” snapped Wyldstyle. “You were about to graduate from the Master Builder Academy! Why are you up to your old tricks?!”

“Hey, I’d love to catch up,” replied Lord Business, “but I have to grab something and then destroy you and your friends. Mmkay? Mmkay.”

“Short, and to the point,” praised Rogue. “I like that. How about an assist for you? The element’s up there in that man’s hands!” He pointed to Homer who was looking on from an observation window.

“Get the element!” Lord Business ordered his Micro-managers. One of them chased Homer throughout the facility.

“Ow! Hoo-hoo! Ow, my thingies!” screamed Homer. He was then brought into the room in the Micro-manager’s grip. He screamed for a bit, then realized he had a drumstick in his hand, the edible kind, chomped on it, then saw Lord Business and Rogue. “I’m not normally a praying man,” wailed Homer as the Micro-manager threw the drumstick into the ooze, dissolving the meat and leaving the bone, “but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman!” Batman visibly winced at this. Homer then got the wrong idea about Rogue and Lord Business. “Oh my gosh, space aliens! Don’t eat me! I have a wife and kids! Eat them!” He was then taken away.

“Right,” chuckled Lord Business, “that’s the grabbing done. Now, what was the other thing?” A wicked grin appeared on his face.

“You’re going nowhere with this plan!” I snarled.

“And who’s going to stop us, you?” asked Rogue.

“Well, it was nice of you guys to drop by,” said Lord Business, “but Rogue and I don’t have time to play. We’re a little busy.” Batman studied the area.

“Those toxic waste pumps look useful,” he mused, “IF we can get to them.”

“HIT THE DECK!” shouted Guard. As we ducked, a red laser beam swept over us, destroying a gold apparatus, revealing parts that Wyldstyle picked up with Master Builder vision. The laser beam terminated automatically, making Lord Business growl in frustration.

“Look,” he hissed, “this is a new gun, okay! It needs a little time to recharge, so my goons will distract you, all right?”

“Don’t tell them the plan!” snapped Rogue. He summoned Turretorg again.

“There you are!” snarled the monster as it fired on us. We had to dodge its weapons as it fired. Another gold apparatus was destroyed as we dodged shrapnel.

“Do you mind!” shouted Rogue. He swept the area with another laser, destroying the last gold apparatus. “Well, I can safely be called an idiot,” muttered Rogue.

“Darn right!” agreed Wyldstyle as she built a pump, pulled the lever, and spewed toxic waste at Lord Business. After he fell into the pool of the stuff, he got back up, destroyed the pump, and sent parts of the ceiling down on our heads! It destroyed the platform we were on, so we had to use the ceiling panels to stay out of the toxic waste. Lord Business got the gun working again, but we dodged the laser until it ran out of juice again. He grunted in frustration at this.

“Why are you so difficult?!” snarled Lord Business. “Just stay still and let me get you already!” As more of the SWAT-bots came back, Zhànshì activated Wyldstyle Steel, rebuilt the pump, and pumped more toxic waste onto Lord Business. He destroyed the thing again, but Batman saw a Keystone transmitter in the vicinity.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Cyan, on upper left platform! Yellow, on upper middle platform! Magenta, on upper right platform!”

“Really?” asked Lord Business. “It’s like you’re just asking me to attack you in lots of different and interesting ways!”

“If I may use the Cyan portal, please?” I asked Batman.

“Shift! Cyan! Royal!” announced Batman. I went into the portal and got to a control panel for a toxic waste pump.

“Let’s see,” I mused as I looked over the controls. My eyes stopped at a lever. It asked if I wanted to activate the pump. “Y-E-S,” I exclaimed as I pulled the lever. Green ooze spilled onto Lord Business. The flow automatically cut itself off.

“Do you mind?” protested Lord Business. “This is a new suit!”

“I see waste pump controls at the magenta portal!” called Guard.

“Shift! Guard! Magenta!” announced Batman. Guard was transported to the waste pump controls and pressed a button to activate it. More green ooze spilled onto Lord Business.

“We all know that toxic waste gives you awesome super powers,” called Turretorg as it plunged its hand into the stuff, “so you just keep on trying that. Thanks!”

“What are you doing?!” shouted Rogue. At that moment, Turretorg started glowing green. Sickeningly yellow claws appeared on its hands. Its eyes started glowing yellow as well.

“Now, I am Turretoxorg!” announced the new monster. His bullets were like acid as it started melting the metal of the walls!

“Shift! Arch! Yellow!” Arch was sent through the yellow portal, activated Batman Steel, and used the grapple gun to pull the end of a waste pump towards him. It unblocked the flow of waste as it spilled onto Lord Business. He managed to get away from the stuff and switched a walkie-talkie on.

“Tell him ‘It’s showtime!’” he ordered to his forces. Meanwhile, a Micro-manager was chasing Homer as he escaped its grip. He was climbing the walls, swimming in the waste, and hiding among us in funny glasses. He was then caught by a Micro-manager as he gripped the pipes while the black box tugged at his pants, trying to get the nuclear rod stuck in them. It managed to remove the pants and send the rod flying everywhere. It bounced on the Micro-manager and towards Gandalf who used his staff as a bat and hit the rod…right into Rogue’s hands.

“Look at that!” he gloated. “Right into my hand!” Homer was distracted in the meantime.

“Hey! Get your own pants!” shouted the head of the Simpson household before he covered his crotch and shuffled off in embarrassment.

“Hey, it’s been great seeing you catch up with your old friend Lord Business, Madam Wyldstyle,” called Rogue, “but I have somewhere less exploding to be.”

“What about me?” asked Lord Business.

“What about you?” asked Rogue as he took out a remote and pressed a button. Something sparked on the back of Lord Business’ neck. He then looked around the place and saw Wyldstyle.

“Oh, hey, Wyldstyle!” he said pleasantly. “What are you doing here? Er…where IS here, exactly?”

“Don’t even try to play dumb here!” snapped Guard.

“He’s not,” replied Rogue. He held up the remote he had used earlier. “I had originally suggested to my Shocker buddies that they use a mind control chip in your cybernetics, Hongo, but they felt the usual brainwashing methods were still valid.”

“Hey, you said you came to me with a business deal!” protested Lord Business.

“And look where that latent greed got you,” chuckled Turretoxorg. It turned to a Micro-manager. “You know what to do.” Rogue took that as his cue to leave while the Micro-manager advanced menacingly towards us. Turretoxorg made a swipe with its claws as the Micro-manager grabbed a batarang and grabbed the panel we were on. We tried to steady ourselves as Turretoxorg tried to shift the weight around. The Micro-manager took us all up to an ornate office with a model of Springfield inside. Judging by the statues, I’d say that it was Mr. Burns’ office. Gandalf straightened his hat as we looked around. Turretoxorg just looked at us.

“Aren’t you going to fight us?” I asked.

“Now how selfish do you think I am?” quizzed Turretoxorg. I shrugged, and then resigned myself to looking around. I clapped eyes on a strange machine with a Keystone on top. It seemed to have a cone on each end and had a design with a red square, a blue L-shape on the left, and a yellow reverse L-shape on the right. I saw three switches and tried very hard to resist the temptation to touch them. I failed miserably as I turned the machine on. The machine then generated three portals that seemed to suspend a paint blob each, one red, one yellow, and one blue.

“Okay, what’s the power of this Keystone?” I asked to myself. My belt apparently doesn’t pick up on rhetorical questions.

+THE KEYSTONE IS CALLED THE…+

“Okay, thank you,” I interrupted. “I’ll get an explanation later.” A cackle rang through the office.

“Oh no, not him!” moaned Batman.

“Roll up!” announced the voice. “Roll up and witness the hysterically hilarious, the riotously ridiculous, the marvelously mirthful…” a certain clown Batman knew too well slid on his knees on the desk. “…me!” He caught sight of the Dark Knight. “Well, if it isn’t my old pal, Batsy!”

“Joker!” hissed Batman.

“Ding-ding-ding!” replied the Joker. “One point to the Dork Knight!” He let out a laugh. “But, can you tell me what THIS is?” He started looking at a pocket watch as Batman glared at the Joker. Sengoku turned to Turretoxorg.

“I ain’t telling!’ it exclaimed. The pocket watch started ringing as the Joker made a buzzing noise

“Too late!” sniggered the Clown Prince of Crime. “My experts say it’s a power unit! So, let’s see if it’s got enough juice to wake up an old friend of yours, Bat-brain!” The room started trembling. “Ooo hoo hoo! I think it does!” said the Joker.

“Joker, what are you doing?!” rasped Batman.

“Is there a reason behind the Joker’s actions?!” asked Seeker. The Joker blew a kiss at us, then jumped out the window!

“While he’s getting Batman’s old friend prepped,” called Turretoxorg, “how about I summon some of yours, Hongo-san?” It pulled out a radio from a concealed pouch in its chest. “Come forth, Combatmen!” A bunch of men in black uniforms with a skeletal motif and a silver belt buckle with the symbol of an eagle holding Earth came out of the woodwork, literally! They came out of the walls and drew their machete like swords, surrounding us! They kept saying “Yee!” for some odd reason.

“Shocker!” exclaimed Ichigō.

“Let me guess, these are Shocker’s grunts,” theorized Touché.

“Yep,” confirmed Sengoku. “They prefer to attack en masse. You can guess their max strength from there.” The building started shaking again. This time, a giant metallic flower on the lapel of some robot passed by to reveal a mammoth sized metal version of the Joker’s face.

“Oh, not this again!” groaned Batman. “Duck!” A giant, green, four fingered hand grabbed the power unit and attached to the back of the robot the head was attached to. The Joker Robot then lifted the ceiling and a good chunk of the walls, which I believed to be impressive since the right arm was a massive cannon.

“Ready for round two?!” asked the Joker.

“More than ready,” hissed Batman.

“No catchphrases?” asked Turretoxorg.

“Oh, catchphrases?” called the Joker. “Let me hear them!”

“As you wish,” obliged Outback. “Kamen Rider Outback! Better watch your backs, mates!”

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

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

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

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

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

“Kamen Rider Gallop! My riding skills are unmatched!”

“Kamen Rider Sengoku! You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”

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

“Kamen Rider Guard! None shall harm my friends, family, and lady!”

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

“Kamen Rider Zhànshì! Try and stop my quest!”

“Kamen Rider Arch! My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

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

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

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

“I am Gandalf the Gray! I shall weave a spell of defeat over you!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! And I am not a DJ!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

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

“…That was long,” observed Turretoxorg. The robot then grabbed an I-beam and swung it at us. We got out of the way, but barely, what with the Shocker Combatmen something into the air. They turned out to be giant wind up teeth with the Joker’s goons and some strange beings made up of space. They were featureless and had no way to discern their gender. My belt started warbling in an alarming manner.

+VORTEXONS DETECTED!+ it warned.

“Oh, look!” cheered the Joker. “Everyone has come out to see me! Little old me! Too bad there’s no Keystone transmitter for you!”

“You want to bet, clown?!” snarled Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate! Cyan, on the cannon! Yellow, on top of the head! Magenta, on the left arm!”

“Hey, where did they come from?!” called Turretoxorg. It looked around and saw a transmitter near the cannon. “The enemy’s getting aid! Destroy the transmitter!”

“You guys protect the transmitter!” directed Batman. “The Joker’s mine! Hitting him will interrupt his sequence and do some damage, but he’s too far away unless that thing stays online!”

“Just try and hit me, Bratman!” boasted the Joker. “Chroma! Yellow! Joker!” The Joker then jumped into the yellow paint blob on the left arm and was covered in yellow paint.

“Shift! Batman! Magenta!” commanded Batman. He appeared in front of the Joker and attacked him, but the Joker seemed to laugh it off.

“Ah, the wonders of a Keystone!” cheered the Joker. “This baby has given me a very powerful shield, making me immune to enemy attacks!”

“Enemy attacks, eh?” mused Batman. “Shift! Shocker Minion! Magenta!” The Shocker Minion he was referring to was trying to make a flying chop with that blade of his before the magenta portal caught him.

“Yee!” he yelped before he appeared on the Joker Robot’s left arm. Batman used him as a club and made the Joker revert back to his, er, “normal” self.

“Hey!” protested the Joker. “Now that’s not very nice!”

“Yee! Yee!” said the Shocker minion as he smacked the Joker. The Joker threw him off, causing the poor mook to crack his skull when he hit the floor. He died on impact. A couple of Shocker minions saw this and started attacking the Joker’s goons. The Joker, in the meantime, had left a bomb that just spat out a flag that said “BOOM!” on it.

“Simple fix!” chuckled Batman as he rebuilt it to actually explode. Once he got clear, the bomb went off and destroyed the shoulder armor of the robot.

“That’s it!” declared Wyldstyle. “He’s weakening!” A Vortexon tried to jump her, but she kicked it into a Shocker minion’s backside. Soon, the Shocker minions were trying to get rid of the Vortexons and the Joker’s goons.

“WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!” shouted Turretoxorg. It was then hit with eyebeams that came out of the Joker Robot’s optics, reverting it back to Turretorg. “WHAT’S THE IDEA!” it roared to the Joker.

“Don’t forget to go out with a smile!” called the Joker. More of his goons appeared. “Nice of you to come out and play!” praised their boss. This time, he saw the chaos with the minions. “HEY! CUT THAT OUT!” he shouted. “Chroma! Blue! Joker!” This time, he took a blue coloration.

“Shift! Batman! Turretorg! Cyan!” called Batman. Turretorg was taken by surprise.

“HELP!” it shouted as it was sucked in. Once they were on the cannon arm, Batman started taunting the Joker.

“Of all the unfunny jokes you’ve made, Joker, this has to be the worst!” taunted the Dark Knight. “How is this demonstrating that chaos is eternal? All I see is your ultimate defeat!”

“That’s it,” whispered Turretorg, “keep talking!” It swung a punch to the rear of Batman’s head, but the Dark Knight ducked, allowing the punch to hit the Joker, making him lose his color again.

“Will you just PLAY NICE!” shouted the Joker as he set another bomb. This time, Batman had a little trouble reconfiguring it to actually explode as Turretorg laid down suppressing fire.

“Shift! Kämpfer! Cyan!” called Batman. Kämpfer jumped in and took care of the bomb. It blew up, damaging the cannon arm’s armor. The robot the shot its eyebeams at us again.

“You know something,” hissed the Joker, “having a gun obsessed mole like you help me obtain the Keystone was bad comedy!”

“MOLE?!” roared Turretorg. “YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF NERVE, YOU COURT JESTER! I’LL BLOW A HOLE INTO YOUR STOMACH FOR THIS! VORTEXONS, SLAY THEM!” The Vortexons started overpowering Shocker and the Joker’s goons. “As for you,” it continued saying to the Joker, “it’s time for me to take control of this show!”

“It’s not a show without the Joker! That’s me by the way,” called the Joker. The flower on the robot’s lapel started spewing purple goo. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt toxic to me.

“This metal giant appears to have a strange contraption attached to it!” observed Gandalf as he attacked his foes with Glamdring. He was referring to something that had escaped my notice! It was next to the Keystone power unit and seemed to be patterned like a circuit board!

“I think that’s the robot’s brain!” I declared.

“Oops!” said the Joker. “Forgot to patch that! Chroma! Joker! Red!” He landed on the head to protect the brain.

“Not this time, clown!” called Batman. “Shift! Batman! Vortexon! Yellow!” Batman grabbed a Vortexon and jumped in, swinging the poor creature on the Joker. The Joker had lost his shield and set one last bomb. The Vortexon tried to keep Batman at bay but failed as he reconfigured it to explode. The brain was destroyed as the robot went to a standstill to expose the belly.

“Claw! Hunt!” exclaimed Ichigō. “With me!” They jumped into the air. “RIDER KICK!”

“RIDER CLAW KICK!”

“RIDER HUNT KICK!” The robot wobbled from the impact. It then proceeded to fall on its face! We got out of the way quickly. The minions of the enemy, not as lucky. The Joker popped out of the bloody wreckage with the Keystone in hand.

“Ooh, this looks valuable!” he cheered.

“MORON!” roared Turretorg as it punched the Joker. Batman was about to grab the Keystone, but the Joker brought out his tommy-gun. Batman backed off. The Joker got out his walkie-talkie.

“Hi,” he said, “I’m going to need a taxi from the roof of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant!”

“Add me to the list of passengers as well!” called Turretorg. A portal opened for the Joker and Turretorg.

“Oh, never mind,” laughed the Joker. “One’s here. Be seeing you around, Bat…” As he picked up the Keystone, Gandalf whacked the Joker with his staff and tripped up both the clown and Turretorg, making them fly into the vortex.

“I’ll be taking that, thank you!” snapped the grey wizard as he grabbed the Keystone. A portal opened for us. “Shall we?” asked Gandalf. I pressed the vehicle summon button to get Shadowfax, the Batmobile, the Cyclone, Wyldstyle’s bike, and the F.N.S’s horses. All riders then powered down and adopted our human forms.

“After you, good Sir Gandalf,” I said as I mounted my horse. Lord Business had caught up to us. He had apparently built himself a decontamination room and then converted it to a car. He explained that Shocker had kidnapped him after he was fooled by Hiro’s idea of a business negotiation and planted the mind-control chip on him when he was still in Octan Tower after getting his graduation invite. After accepting his request to join us until he could get home, we all boarded our vehicles and Gandalf led the charge out of Springfield. Thank goodness. I was going to enjoy a nice long bath to wash my entire body of this whole affair! I didn’t want to stay in Springfield a minute longer!

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 8

Hongo woke up before us. He didn’t have a restful night. Shocker still plagues his mind, even after its defeat. The fact that a man that gave that organization the idea of a transformation belt for its super soldiers was still alive and travelling the dimensions had opened old wounds. He decided to head to the gateway to see Batman working at it. “Trouble sleeping?” he asked. Batman whirled to see Hongo standing there.

“Not really,” replied Batman. “I usually strike at crime during the night. With no crime right now, I’ve been restless.”

“You speak as though there was tragedy in your life,” observed Hongo.

“Well, since everyone aside from Gandalf and you know my backstory,” rasped Batman as he reached for the cowl, “I might as well tell you.” He pulled it back to reveal his face. “My name is Bruce Wayne. I’m the son of Dr. Thomas Wayne, a wealthy man who had inherited a fortune that was built through industry and real estate. When I was a boy, my parents and I were leaving the theater after watching a Zorro movie. We turned into an alley to find a mugger. My parents tried to convince the man not to mug them, but he just killed them after more refusal to give up their valuables quietly. I survived the incident and will freely admit to being traumatized by the whole affair. Afterwards, I fell into a crack near Wayne Manor and discovered a cave full of bats. At first, I used to be terrified of bats. After my butler, Alfred, got me out, I went in again after a few days. I always returned, determined to face my fears until, eventually, a bat flew by my window and I didn’t blink. By that time, I was studying law and learned how corrupted my home of Gotham was. By then, I swore on my parent’s grave to fight injustice wherever it was. I started training my body to prepare for the fight against evil and took the motif of an animal that influenced my life.”

“Thus, becoming Batman?” guessed Hongo.

“Right,” confirmed Bruce. “What about you? Since I told you my backstory, might as well give me yours.”

“It’s only fair,” agreed Hongo. “Although, I was not traumatized as a child like you were. I was practicing for a motorcycle grand prix with a man I called friend, Tōbei Tachibana. During that time, people from the Sacred Hegemony Of Cycle Kindred Evolutionary Realm, the Shocker organization I’ve kept mentioning, had decided I was a perfect test subject for their mutant cyborg super soldier program as I was an athlete with an I.Q. of 600. I was kidnapped, genetically modified to accept grasshopper DNA, and cybernetically altered. I was about to be brainwashed when a professor at the college I attended had managed to cut the power temporarily to allow us to escape. I decided to fight Shocker at every turn as the Kamen Rider. Shocker didn’t like that and so tried again with another person, Hayato Ichimonji. He almost bought into the brainwashing before I interfered. I went on to fight Shocker branches overseas while Ichimonji stayed behind to be the second Kamen Rider. Nowadays, more Kamen Riders protect the planet and they aren’t even cyborgs. They can consider themselves lucky. Like you, my life can never return to normal.”

“My sympathies,” said Bruce.

“I would hate to interrupt the bonding between you two,” I called. They whirled to see me standing there with a smirk on my face.

“Shouldn’t your shoes have made noise?” snapped Bruce as he put the cowl back on and regained his raspy voice.

“Actually,” I replied, “I’ll let you guys in on a little secret.” I lifted my dress high enough to reveal my feet, my BARE feet. “I never wear shoes under this thing.”

“And you were walking around a forest in bare feet?!” yelped Batman.

“I’ve got tough feet,” I assured, “like a Hobbit.” The rest of the gang joined us. “Are we all accounted for?”

“Not quite,” muttered Emmanuel. “Some of us haven’t had our coffee.”

“Oh, yeah,” I realized. “All right, quick breakfast and coffee, then we get another Keystone.”

“Is coffee really important?” asked Hongo. “We need to get that Keystone now!” The air went quiet as we all stared at Hongo. Gandalf wisely kept quiet.

“The longer we wait for you to make sense, Hongo-san,” I threatened, “the longer you keep us from our coffee.” Hongo backed off. “That’s what I thought.” We got our breakfast, bagels and coffee, then we mounted our respective vehicles and got in front of the gateway. “All ready?” I asked. Everyone confirmed their status. I reared my horse back. “CHARGE!” I shouted, leading the charge into the portal. We ran through the vortex, ready to take on whatever dimension was our destination. “Driver, what’s our destination?” I asked my belt.

+DESTINATION IS DIMENSION T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5+ replied my belt.

“Thank you!” I praised. We soon arrived at the other end. I wish I could say nothing exciting happened, but that would be a lie. Something didn’t sit right with where we are, but I couldn’t place what it was. Lukas, on the other hand…

“Er, guys,” gulped Lukas, “where’s the ground?” We all looked down and saw it a couple of miles below us. Gravity then remembered what it does to all objects as we started falling.

“Where are we?!” asked Wyldstyle over the wind.

“And why does everything look…strange?!” quizzed Batman as he could see a town below us. We passed by some letters that spelled something. A choir then sang what the letters spelled.

“The Simpsons!” it said. As each syllable reached our ears, my heart sank lower and lower. The phrase “oh no!” escaped my lips. I won’t lie, I HATE The Simpsons with a passion! Given that I’ve had the misfortune of seeing at least one or two episodes out of its absurdly long run, I can guess what’s happening as we fall.

A boy with a bit of a belly, a spiky hairstyle with hair color matching his mustard yellow skin, Bart Simpson, will be writing lines in detention until the bell rings. He’ll then run out and hop on his skateboard to escape the school.

His dad, a man with a beer gut, the same skin tone as Bart, a permanent five o’ clock shadow, and a bald head, Homer Simpson, will extract a nuclear rod with tongs before the whistle blows and he takes off his hazard suit, during which, the nuclear rod gets stuck to his back.

While that’s going on, the mom, a tall lady with the longest blue beehive hairstyle, Marge Simpson, will be shopping and reading a magazine. The baby girl, a kid with spiky hair and always sucking on her pacifier, Maggie Simpson, shall ride on the checkout conveyor and get scanned and put in a grocery sack. She’ll poke her head out and gives a few sucks on her pacifier.

During which, band practice will be going on and a girl with spiky hair like Maggie, Lisa Simpson, plays a saxophone solo, annoying her band teacher as he silently tells her to get out. She does so, still playing the thing!

Meanwhile, Homer is going to be driving his pink car, get an itch on his back, remove the nuclear rod, and throw it out the car into the street.

At that point, Bart will be busy skating through Springfield…wherever! I heard from Richard’s father, Fred, an avid Simpsons fan since it came out, it’s supposed to be based on Springfield, Oregon, annoying everyone by getting too close, even the police officer on duty.

Meanwhile, Maggie shall be turning the wheel of her car seat with Marge, the pair of them honking the horn.

Homer will then drive up to the garage and open the door while Bart skates over the car, annoying Homer. Lisa will wheel by on her bike, getting too close to Homer, making him say “D’oh!” Then Marge will drive up, going in too fast, scaring Homer into running into the house. The Simpsons will then rush to their couch to watch T.V. Usually, there’s a gag involving that instance.

This time, the gag was that we crashed through the ceiling, scattering the family and getting them out of the house. Batman, Gandalf, Hongo, Wyldstyle, and I landed on the couch while the rest had piled onto the floor. The words “Created by Matt Groening” appeared on the television. The house then shook from the impact, compromising structural integrity, most likely. Gandalf then took the remote, unsure of what it is, pressed the channel button, and went to a channel with a clown, Krusty the Clown, I believe the name was. “Enough T.V!” exclaimed Batman. Thank you! “Let’s figure out why we’re here.” While Gandalf had discovered what the average donut was and munched on it, I tried to turn off the T.V.

“Come on!” I snarled. Nineties T.V’s were apparently beyond me as I couldn’t find the off button. I then resorted to slapping the thing, which, oddly enough, resulted in getting the Krusty i.d tag. I arched an eyebrow at this. “Er, Driver?” I asked.

+THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE+ faltered my belt. +UNABLE TO OFFER EXPLANATION AT THIS TIME+ I blinked, then shrugged.

“Hey, guys!” called Wyldstyle. “My scanner’s found something in the couch!”

“Let’s get it out then!” exclaimed Emmanuel. He flung the cushions off and reached in to grab something, but even his vaunted strength couldn’t get it out. “Er, I know the French can be a proud people, but may I have some help? Monsieur Batman, I believe the two of us can use your grapple gun.”

“Looks like it,” agreed Batman. Emmanuel then struck his Henshin pose.

“Henshin!” he announced as he inserted the i.d tag into the belt. He jumped through the blue circle, donning his Arch suit, and swapped his i.d tag for the Batman one.

“Batman Steel!” called the belt. The wardrobe appeared, closed on Arch, formed the new armor, and dissolved, revealing Arch in Batman Steel. Both he and Batman fired their grapple guns and yanked hard. A bunch of metal pieces flew out of the couch. Gandalf used his magic to lift a record player onto speakers, which blasted music before the vibrations shook it apart. Richard tried the back door, but it was blocked from the outside by the debris that had fallen from our landing. Wyldstyle then used her Master Builder powers to construct an elaborate slingshot and aimed it at the window. Using some of the debris as ammo, she fired at a window, shattering it and allowing us passage to the back yard. As we explored the backyard, a portal opened over the sandbox and spat out a strange device before it closed. Batman got a closer looking.

“Interesting,” he muttered. “The markings on this device appear to be the same as on the Shift Keystone. Perhaps they’re linked? Someone’s trying to help us.”

“Batman,” I observed, “I think that’s the Keystone power transmitter my belt talked about last night.”

“Then there’s another piece of the puzzle that’s missing,” quizzed Batman, “how do I use this thing?” Batman then saw instructions on how to use the gauntlet on its view-screen. “Okay then,” he said, allowing a brief smile at his fortune. “Let’s see, ‘Step one: say ‘Shift Keystone, Activate’. Step two: state where you want shift portals. Step three: Say Shift, then target’s name, then the color of the portal target will go through’.”

“I can see something on the roof!” I called.

“I think there’s something in the treehouse,” Lukas pointed out.

“Those pipes could be useful,” mused Emmanuel.

“I think there’s something stuck in the chimney!” called Emily. I craned my neck to look up to see a bit of Keystone stuck inside.

“All right,” muttered Batman, “time for a test run. Shift Keystone, Activate! Cyan, over the treehouse! Yellow, over the roof on my left! Magenta, on the roof to my right!” The portals then appeared in exactly as Batman described. “All right, time for some guinea pigs. Let’s see…” I don’t know why, but he gave me a mischievous grin. “Shift! Megumi! Cyan!” A cyan portal opened beneath me and gave me what I call a reverse Monroe moment. You know that picture of Marilyn Monroe holding down her dress over a vent? This time, the portal tried to suck my dress into it and I had to hold it up. I was sucked in and landed on the treehouse’s roof. I bounced and grabbed the edge. Sadly, that was the catalyst for bringing it down. After it fell, I landed not so gracefully, getting tangled in the skirts of my dress, requesting help, a mess of a time to get myself untangled, and finally giving Batman what for!

“GIVE A GIRL SOME WARNING NEXT TIME, WILL YA?!” I shouted. Batman appeared to pay no heed

“Shift! Hongo! Magenta!” Hongo was caught by surprise as he tried to jump out of the way, but soon ended up sliding down the roof and pulling the pipes down. “Shift! Gandalf! Yellow!” Gandalf tried to steady himself with his staff but was sucked in anyways and ended up on the roof. He pushed the object off and the slid down with Wyldstyle catching him. “All right, now to turn this thing off.” The instructions appeared on the view-screen again. Batman read them, then said “Shift Keystone, Deactivate!” The portals disappeared as we gathered the parts to make a trampoline to get up to the Keystone in the chimney. Batman got there first. It appeared to have a design with three different colored dots in the shape of a triangle. The topmost vertex was blue, the left was yellow, and the right was red with lines connecting them all. Batman was about to grab the new Keystone when a giant black box with red eyes and clawed hands came out of a portal and grabbed it first!

“A Micro-manager?!” yelped Wyldstyle.

“Hey!” snapped Batman to the one that stole the Keystone.

“Batman!” called Hongo as a Micro-manager grabbed him. We were all grabbed and taken to the sky. While we went up, the Micro-managers caused havoc in Springfield. Such examples were shooting one of Homer’s co-workers in the rear, setting fire to Krusty Burger with Krusty the Clown fleeing with his money, but not before putting up a sign saying “Now Flame Grilled”, setting the elementary school on fire, making Bart and his best friend, Milhouse, high five each other, tearing the town hall apart, making the Mayor run into a tree, shooting Chief Wiggum’s car with him being unaware of the chaos going on, and chasing Krusty, causing him to run into Marge and try to woo her, but end up getting tossed into the stratosphere.

“What the heck is going on!” snarled Batman as he tried to escape the grip of the Micro-manager holding him.

“I don’t know!” exclaimed Wyldstyle as a trio of Micro-managers entered a portal.

“If you want my opinion,” called a voice, “I’d say our careers just reached new heights!” Hiro came in on top of a Micro-manager. As we stared, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, not feeling that one either!”

“You put us down, now!” I shouted.

“Are you sure you want that?” asked Hiro.

“You heard her!” shouted Batman as he took out a Batarang. “Put us down!” He threw it at Hiro’s head, then it travelled to hit the hands of our respective Micro-managers. “Here we go again!” called Batman as gravity caught up to us. Hiro regained his balance and saw us fall.

“Oh, no you don’t!” he roared. He took his guns and pointed them at us after he loaded his i.d tag into them. “You won’t get away from me that easily! Henshin!” He fell into the red circle and became Kamen Rider Rogue.

“Rogue’s on our tail!” reported Lukas.

“Then we fight him once we find a decent platform!” I suggested.

“I see a massive Micro-manager!” called Wyldstyle.

“Then that’s where we fight him!” I said as I took out the i.d tag.

“Rider!” announced Hongo as his belt opened.

“HENSHIN!” we all called as we sped towards the giant Micro-manager. SWAT-bots then clambered on top as Hiro caught up to us. When we clashed, there was a massive brawl between us! Between all the punches and kicks, we managed to loosen a panel which raised a computer terminal. Swing pressed a button to broadcast a transmission coming from somewhere to all Micro-managers.

“The Foundation Element has been located,” reported the voice, making Wyldstyle widen her eyes in fear. “It’s in the nuclear power station in the hands of an employee.”

“System compromised,” came the computer voice of the Micro-manager’s computer. “Self-destruct initializing in 3, 2, 1.”

“Self…what?” gulped Gandalf. The Micro-manager exploded.

“Oddly enough, Hiro,” remarked Hiroki, “I don’t think that’s the entire plan!”

“Like I’d tell you!” snapped Hiro as he raised his guns and fired.

“Sengoku’s right,” called Batman as we dodged the shots, “that sounded like only part of the plan! We’ll need to hack more terminals to find out more!” We soon found another giant Micro-manager, you know, let’s call it a Macro-manager, and landed on its roof. More SWAT-bots came out and opened fire once we landed. Our capes morphed into shields as we took up positions, but we couldn’t effectively return fire. The only one who could was Kämpfer with his stylized crossbow. Thank goodness there’s no recoil on it. Arch wanted to fire, but he can’t exactly fire arrows with one hand. The rest of us only had melee weapons.

“Drat, we can’t fire back!” I hissed.

+INCORRECT STATEMENT+ countered my belt. +ALL WEAPONS CAN SWITCH FROM RANGED TO MELEE FORMS+

“What about those that need two hands to fire?!” snapped Arch.

+YOU DO NOT NEED TWO HANDS TO FIRE+ replied my belt. +THERE IS A BUTTON UNDER YOUR RIGHT POINTER FINGER+ Arch blinked under his helmet and looked at the bow. The button was small and red. He pointed the bow at the SWAT-bots and pressed the button. An energy shot pierced the metal of the robot.

“Merci beaucoup!” thanked Arch as he continued to return fire.

“Is there recoil on our weapons’ ranged mode?” I asked.

+NEGATIVE+ replied my belt.

“Then we’re going to have some fun!” I chuckled as I folded my sword into a rifle. We unleashed a volley of laser fire and raised a platform with a green tube with a satellite dish. A Micro-manager grabbed the dish in an attempt to stop our progress, but Batman pulled it down, destroying it and the tube, but a certain Master Builder made another terminal which started broadcasting more of the transmission.

“Do everything it takes to get hold of this employee, one Homer J… Sampson? …Sempson? …Sim…oh, whatever! JUST GET HIM!”

“That idiot broadcasted the plan to all Micro-managers?!” snapped Rogue.

“Second system compromised,” came the Macro-manager’s A.I. “Self-destruct initializing in T-minus 3, 2, 1. Detonation.” The Macro-manager blew up. A bit of free-fall later and we landed on another Macro-manager. This time, we had to take care of three Micro-managers shooting at us. Hunt then swapped her i.d tag for the Batman one.

“Batman steel!” announced her belt. Batman Steel came on as she swung a batarang at the Micro-managers, destroying them. The panel was removed by Gandalf’s magic and the terminal raised, but Rogue shot it.

“Not this time!” he snarled. He then took out a ball of some sort. It was blueish gray with a red dot in the center. “I summon you, Turretorg!” He threw the ball onto the floor where it melted, then grew, then formed an ugly shape. It was vaguely humanoid, had fur everywhere, had gun turrets on its shoulders and head, gun barrels for hands, cannons coming out of the mouth, and a gun on each knee.

“Turretorg, awaiting orders, sir!” said the monster.

“Slay those dolts!” ordered Rogue.

“I pledge obedience!” saluted Turretorg. He…she…it turned on us and unleashed a volley of fire. We took cover where we could.

“Another computer terminal must be inside,” called Wyldstyle. “If we can get in…”

“How do you propose we do that?!” I snapped. “We’re under heavy fire, in case you forgot!”

“But the grapple guns can reach pretty long,” remarked Wyldstyle.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” I asked, exasperated.

“My scanner found two grapple hooks on either side of this thing’s roof,” explained Wyldstyle. She pointed them out to me. “We just need someone with Batman Steel.”

“Hunt!” I called, getting Hunt’s attention. “Tell Batman to fire a grapple gun at one of those hooks over there!”

“Got it!” she confirmed. She told Batman of the plan. Batman and Hunt then fired their grapple guns and pulled a couple of pylons out of the Macro-manager. The rear swung out and a green light glowed on Batman’s Keystone Gauntlet.

“What’s the green light for?” he asked.

+KEYSTONE TRANSMITTER IN VICINITY+ replied my belt.

“Clear a path for me!” called Batman. “I need to see where to place the portals!”

“Everyone, give Batman cover fire!” I shouted. We managed to separate Rogue and Turretorg and keep their attention on us while Batman got the lay of the land. The interior was set up in two levels, the lower of which had an electric dome over a terminal. The rear door had platforms underneath pipes that begged to be disconnected.

“Shift Keystone, Activate!” announced Batman. “Cyan, over rear most platform! Yellow, on roof of Macro-manager! Magenta, near electric dome!” The portals appeared. Gandalf had jumped inside the Macro-manager to undo a pipe on the door. It weakened the electro-dome around the terminal. Gandalf got an idea.

“Batman!” shouted Gandalf. “Get me into the Cyan portal!”

“What?!” yelped Batman.

“Trust me!” assured Gandalf. Batman shrugged but complied.

“Shift! Gandalf! Cyan!” This time, Gandalf was ready. He allowed himself to be sucked in and ended up on the farthest platform on the door. He then used his magic to undo two more pipes. The electro-dome disappeared and Batman decided to try something. “Shift! All in vicinity! Magenta!” he commanded. Everyone got sucked into the magenta portal. And when I say “everybody”, I mean everybody. Perhaps Batman should have specified his targets. Everyone tumbled into the second level of the Macro-manager. It became a firefight between us and Rogue and the monster. We surrounded the terminal as I switched it on.

“Once we have the artefact, we move back,” came the transmission. “Utilize the Asset and his secret weapon if there’s any resistance.”

“Hm,” mused Batman. “There may be trouble ahead.”

“Proximity alert,” came the computer. “Emergency Landing incoming. Raise in altitude suggested.” Batman continued looking at the terminal.

“This says that we’re heading towards Springfield Nuclear Power Plant,” he reported. The Macro-manager started shaking.

“And that, I assume,” I gulped, “was our brakes?”

“Yep,” replied Batman.

“Master, we must fall back!” called Turretorg.

“No!” snarled Rogue. “We give our lives to eliminating them!”

“This is a suicide mission!” argued Turretorg. “There’s no honor in this! We must retreat so we can claim the Foundation Element more quickly!” Rogue considered this.

“You’ve successfully swayed me,” he sighed. He opened a portal. “We’ll regroup in the main building. Fall back!”

“I pledge obedience!” saluted Turretorg as it followed him into the portal. Meanwhile we tried to control our ride, but to no avail.

“Guys, if we don’t make it out,” I called, “it was an honor serving with you!”

“The pleasure’s all ours, my lady!” replied Guard. We crashed into the main building.