Megumi toured the Virginia when it was three hours out from Chizara. She felt as, even if she were immortal now, Vortech could do something to take it away and she would die. She felt it would be the last time she saw that panel, that console, that bulkhead, the whole shebang. She made her way to an observation lounge and looked out the window. As she glanced, she noticed Caan standing at the window. “…Are you all right?” she asked. Caan didn’t even flinch. He saw her arrival right down to the second.
“It’s nothing, I just…” for all his ability to see into the future, Caan was struggling to find the right words. “…I DID have a home on Skaro. In fact, that’s what Skaro means in the tongue of my Kaled ancestors, home. Every Dalek always wants to be on Skaro, even those that were created on other worlds. Then the Last Great Time War broke out and I became part of the Cult of Skaro, an order of Daleks that were tasked to come up with imaginative strategies to defeat the Time Lords. Then we were ordered to pack up an army of Daleks and hide in the Void in a Void Ship until it was reactivated and we all found ourselves fighting Cybermen from another universe at the Battle of Canary Warf, believing that Skaro and Gallifrey were gone for good. After the Doctor defeated us, we went through an emergency temporal shift and found ourselves at the construction of the Empire State Building and intended to use it and a passing solar flare to make a new breed of Daleks as our leader, Sec, ordained. Thay, Jast, and I didn’t like that, so we introduced pure Dalek DNA into corpses and reanimated them to be our army. Thay and Jast had Sec, in a form similar to mine, executed and our army turned on them, killing them before I killed the army. After the Doctor confronted me, I flew back into the Time War and retrieved Davros before a monster we called the Nightmare Child devoured him. I went insane from the experience and coaxed Davros into my scheme to destroy the Daleks after I saw what we did. Then Vortech raised me from the dead in this form and I saw that he would destroy us, but could never tell the Daleks that as they would have exterminated me on sight if they weren’t under Hiro’s control. Now they’re free and Skaro’s back, but I can’t go home anymore. I have no refuge, only allies instead of friends, and I know Thay and Jast would consider me just as bad as Sec and would rather kill me. I sometimes wonder what I’m fighting for anymore.”
“A world where we don’t have to worry about interdimensional horrors,” replied Megumi. Caan looked towards Megumi, then chuckled softly.
“Indeed,” he agreed. The ship’s intercom then beeped to life.
“Bridge to Megumi,” called Hiroki’s voice. Megumi activated a comms console.
“Go ahead,” she directed.
“A Chizaran fleet is approaching our position,” reported Hiroki. “We’ve also got some friends adding their ships into the mix; Grimlock’s ship, the Fang, Tails’ ship, the Blue Typhoon, a ship belonging to Decepticon allies, Scarship, and we also have a couple of ships from Arsha’s world, the Meteor under the command of Princess Malnar Emboramii and the High Sky under the command of Prince Lardeth Felompha, and we have some allies from the 3V2R helping as well. We’ve got the Klantay under the direct command of the Great Demoness, Alfalna, Ultragingana’s ship, the Osaka, and Elizabeth’s personal ship, the Ares.”
“More allies will help us out tremendously!” cheered Caan.
“Tell them they’re more than welcome to join us!” declared Megumi. “Make sure they’re briefed on the situation before we reach Chizara.”
The fleet arrived in orbit around Chizara to see Vortech’s ships holding their position. They had taken up position on the other side of Chizara and lowered their shields briefly. Megumi, Optimus, Arsha, and the portal generator ground controls were beamed down and the fleet returned to get into a stare-down with Vortech’s. Ultra Magnus was in command of the Ark, War was given command of the Virginia, and Oak took command of the Endeavor. “All ships, report,” commanded War over the subspace channels.
“Ark, standing by,” announced Ultra Magnus.
“Nemesis, standing by,” reported Megatron.
“Fang, standing by,” called Grimlock.
“Blue Typhoon, standing by,” replied Tails.
“Scarship, standing by,” boomed Scarship.
“Virginia, standing by,” answered War.
“Tiger, standing by,” called Hiro.
“Endeavor, standing by,” rumbled Oak.
“Meteor, standing by,” announced Malnar.
“High Sky, standing by,” reported Lardeth.
“Scorpion, standing by,” replied Dr. Borg.
“Klantay, standing by,” called Alfalna.
“Osaka, standing by,” declared Ultragingana.
“Ares, standing by,” proclaimed Elizabeth.
“Hammer of Tarlax, standing by,” answered Eelinape.
“Spectrum, standing by,” called Rosadera from the Chizaran Mothership.
“Hold position until Vortech attacks us,” ordered War. “We need to stay as defensive as possible for those three down on the planet’s surface.
“Lord Vortech,” called a Vortech Clone at the helm of the flagship, “We have multiple contacts as predicted. They’re holding position as of now.”
“Any life-signs on Chizara?” asked Lord Vortech.
“Three, My Lord,” replied the Helmsman. “On the far side of the planet relative to our position. Most likely, those heroes.”
“Well, I have no intention of letting this game end as of now,” declared Lord Vortech. “Captain Vortech, take command until my return.”
“Aye, Sir,” replied a second Vortech Clone. He sat down while the original summoned a rift to the planet’s surface. “Mr. Vortech, open a channel to the fleet.”
“Yes, Captain,” confirmed the Vortech Clone at the Communications Station. He flicked a few switches before reporting. “Channel open, Sir.”
“All ships, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT fire on the enemy unless ordered to by Lord Vortech or the enemy fires first,” ordered Captain Vortech.
Megumi, Optimus, and Arsha continued with their work on the ground controls and gained access to the satellites. Optimus keyed in a command and the satellites fired streams of energy, creating a portal to the unstable pocket dimension. After a few seconds, he shut off the energy streams. Megumi then called up the fleet. “Okay, we did it!” she reported. “Get us out of…!”
“I see you’ve accepted my invitation to come here!” called Vortech’s voice. The three yelped and whirled around to see Vortech.
“By the Ones, it’s creepy when you do that!” remarked Arsha as she put her hairpiece to her waist.
“I know,” purred Vortech.
“Er, before you do what you plan to do to us,” Optimus gulped, “I need something cleared up. In fact, we all do.”
“You may speak,” granted Vortech.
“You died when the rift loop Megumi and her friends trapped you in had collapsed,” reminded Arsha.
“How did a lump of you survive?” asked Megumi. “Are you just a piece of Vortech he left behind before he was trapped in the rift loop?”
“That wasn’t me that was trapped by you,” explained Vortech.
“…What?” quizzed Megumi.
“The lump of me that powered the Quad, that was me,” elaborated Vortech. “You’re right in that I did leave a piece of myself behind, but the piece was the being you fought and defeated. I had a constant mental link with it until its demise.”
“You mean we defeated only a PIECE of you?!” yelped Megumi.
“A piece with the majority of my power,” replied Vortech. “I had hoped it would win, but it was trapped in that rift loop and died when the loop collapsed! My power was diminished, made less! It was disgusting! I was rendered as powerless as you lower life-forms! All I had were my old powers over my Keystones and…”
“Wait, YOU created the Keystones?” asked Optimus.
“I made the Gateway Megumi and her friends use on a daily basis!” elaborated Vortech. “I had only created five of my planned eight before Vortoranii took over that abandoned Chizaran experiment.”
“The universe that After Academy now uses?” quizzed Megumi.
“…Ah, so you ARE immortal,” chuckled Vortech. “Still, from what I see, you’re nowhere near the level of a Chizaran.”
“And I aim to stay that way,” answered Megumi. “Godhood’s overrated.”
“I beg to differ, given my own powers,” replied Vortech.
“So, that lump of you my friends and I attacked inside the Quad? That was you?” quizzed Megumi.
“And you permanently weakened me,” growled Vortech. “That batarang sent me back to Foundation Prime and I waited for my piece to notice me during the battle, but it fell to hubris and was destroyed! I waited for two years, alone on Foundation Prime. When you returned and unknowingly stepped on me while fighting Hiro, I reactivated and split myself into three, one of my parts burying itself into your subconscious. The other two landed in Optimus and Arsha and were charged when you entered the lowest points of your respective lives. I was content to wait until all three fragments of me had completely taken over all of your bodies so I would return and recombine. Ah, but I didn’t NEED to take you over separately.”
“Yeah, the Convergence was a bit of a boost, wasn’t it?” mused Optimus.
“And what a boost it was!” cheered Vortech. “As you sought to reunite with your loved ones, all of my fragments had reconnected with each other and I played chess against you all, waiting to see if you would turn on each other or become friends. While you lean towards the latter, you still accepted the invitation for the Verse Vs. Verse Rumble Royale to keep the Master Wand out of everyone’s hands.”
“That thing is like the Infinity Gauntlet!” replied Megumi. “That’s too much power for anyone!”
“Still, I didn’t need it,” dismissed Vortech. “When all three of you tried to contact Vortoranii, I intercepted the transmission and decided to make my presence known. I will admit, finishing the game threw a wrench into my plans, but I had a backup…at least, I did until YOU, Ms. Royana, decided to pull that stunt during our Okamon match!”
“You will address me as ‘Your Highness’!” hissed Arsha.
“What’s a princess compared to me?” scoffed Vortech. “In any case, I traveled here to regain a device that would have gathered the Foundation Elements to me instantaneously, only to have searched this entire planet and remember that the Chizarans already destroyed it and its blueprints so it wouldn’t be rebuilt.”
“That’s gods for you,” chuckled Optimus.
“Listen, I’d LOVE to catch up with you,” gulped Megumi, “but I think we’ve all overstayed our welcome, so we’re just gonna go and…” Vortech fired a beam of blue light into the sky and a sphere of blue energy surrounded Chizara.
“No beam-outs for you!” snarled Vortech. “It is as it should be, you and I fighting for the sake of the multiverse. Still, I don’t want your fleet to get clever.” He turned his gaze to the sky. “Captain Vortech, destroy the enemy vessels,” he ordered.
“The enemy fleet’s coming at us in an attack formation!” Prowl announced to Ultra Magnus.
“Sir, we’re getting a transmission on a fleet-wide frequency!” called Blackarachnia. “We’ve all been cleared to strike back and leave no ships remaining!”
“Then we shall do so!” declared Ultra Magnus. “Ready weapons and raise shields! We’re going in!”
“Are all weapons ready?” Megatron asked Ravage as the cat-like Decepticon manned the Nemesis’s tactical station.
“Ready and waiting,” reported Ravage. “Starscream and his Seeker Trine also report ready.”
“Excellent!” praised Megatron. He activated the comms. “Starscream, you are go for launch! Transform and Rise Up!”
“I thought you’d never ask!” cheered Starscream as he, Thundercracker, and Skywarp charged out of the Nemesis’s hangar, transformed, and joined the smaller fighters in the battle. They narrowly avoided a stream of weapons-fire from an enemy vessel. The attack hit the Endeavor instead.
“Shields holding!” called Malak.
“Very good!” praised Oak. “Forward torpedoes, launch!” Malak keyed in a command and fired all forward torpedoes at the vessel that shot at them. The vessel was losing its shields, but it still survived the torpedo barrage. The vessel focused on the Blue Typhoon as it fired its weapons. The weapons adapted around the Blue Typhoon’s shields and hit its hull.
“They’re adapting around our shields!” Cosmo called to Tails on the Blue Typhoon. “Modulating frequencies!”
“Allow me to show you what this ship can really do!” declared Tails. “Engage the Particle Disseminator!”
“Particle Disseminator online and ready!” reported Tobias.
“FIRE!” ordered Tails. A small light appeared on the nosecone of the ship and grew bigger and bigger until it became a large column of horizontal laser fire that hit the enemy vessel and reduced it to nothing.
“VAPORIZED!” cheered Tobias.
“Er, not to argue,” gulped Cosmo as she pointed to the viewscreen. Another of the enemy vessels seemed to grow a bud. The bud opened and released tiny specks of metal before the specks combined and formed the ship that was destroyed.
“…Welp, we’re screwed!” remarked Tobias.
“Did they just…grow a replacement ship?!” yelped Skywarp as the Seekers flew through space.
“That’s going to make things difficult,” mumbled Thundercracker.
“AHEAD!” warned Starscream. Missiles were flying towards them. The Seekers broke formation and barely missed the missiles.
“YOU MISSED US!” taunted Skywarp.
“I wouldn’t bet on that!” called Thundercracker. The missiles had changed course and were right behind the Seekers!
“BREAK OFF!” ordered Starscream. They split up and flew with a missile tailing each of them!
“Fraggit all! I HATE Hunter Missiles!” snapped Skywarp.
“It’s your move,” Vortech declared to his three opponents. “Although, you seem underprepared for this confrontation.”
“Looks are deceiving,” replied Megumi. “I probably can’t kill you, but I bet we can make you mad!”
“With your biting wit?” snarked Vortech.
“Nope, with a new powerup!” cheered Megumi. She brought out her belt and fastened it.
“Vortex Driver!” it called. She then inserted her i.d. tag, then brought out the Transcendant and pressed the button.
“TRIPLE ASCENDANCE!” it announced. She then put its tab into the Vortex Drover and folded it over the wheel. “TRIPLE SET!” Optimus, Megumi, and Arsha then assumed a ready stance.
“Henshin!” they all proclaimed. Megumi pressed the button again and the transformation began!
“POWER OF THREE! ASCENDED TRINITY! KAMEN RIDER VORTEX: TRINITY SOUL!” cheered the Transcendant. They had combined into Kamen Rider Vortex: Trinity Soul.
“All of their power has come together to defeat you!” snarled Vortex: Trinity Soul. “The one thing you fear! Why else would you want to control such power?!”
“Lord Vortech knows no fear!” argued Vortech as he readied his staff.
“That’s a lie if I ever heard one,” snarked Kamen Rider Vortex: Trinity Soul as she summoned Optimus’ axes. The two glared at each other, then Vortex: Trinity Soul moved her axe slightly, enough for Vortech to charge wildly, his staff raised to strike!