A Golden Drive Through Equestriaby Psyga315ChaptersDazzling Adagio Arc 1: Who Stole the Tridoron?Dazzling Adagio Arc 2: How Do We Fight A Dragon?Dazzling Adagio Arc 3: What Will Quell These Flames?Dazzling Adagio Arc 4: Why Did Niko Displace Kim?Golden Drive Arc 2: How Do I Keep Banno In Check?Golden Drive Arc 3: Who Am I Attracted To?Golden Drive Arc 4: Why Does Rainbow Dash Idolize Me?Golden Drive Arc 5: When Will The Surprise Happen?Golden Drive Arc 6: How Can We Stop Nerve?Interlude 1Shimmering Sunset Arc 1: Why Does This Feel Familiar?Shimmering Sunset Arc 2: When Will These Winds Stop?Shimmering Sunset Arc 3: Where Do We Go From Here?Shimmering Sunset Arc 4: What Lies In The Professor's Past?Shimmering Sunset Arc 5: What Power Is Stronger Than Banno's?Shimmering Sunset Arc 6: Who Cleared Our Names?Shimmering Sunset Arc 7: Who Will Fall?Shimmering Sunset Arc 8: How Will The Sun Set?Interlude 2Golden Drive Arc 1: Where The Hell Am I?Dazzling Adagio Arc 1: Who Stole the Tridoron?My name is Kelly Randall. It has been three months since I was Displaced. It’s apparently the term used to describe people who have been transported to other worlds. As it turns out, I’m not the only person to have gone through this. There have been many people that had been Displaced. Some of them became my allies while others became my enemy. One of them tried to ally with the school bully and have her become a psychotic demon to try and take over Equestria, a world filled with those My Little Pony characters. However, that failed when Banno took over her body and turned her into some sort of demonic Rider. It took a lot of effort to finally stop him. Once I had him beaten, I sealed him up inside a small anti-virus program that I created using Ryoma’s smarts on my off time: Lapis Lazuli Program. It’s meant to act as a cage for Banno until I activate the Banno Driver, summoning him into the belt and allowing us to transform into Gold Drive. I noticed something off when I was putting the program into the Driver. I tried to see if I can use the Banno Driver without Banno operating it, only to find that it wasn’t able to. It wouldn’t even start up. My theory is that I took out the ‘engine’ of the ‘car’, in this case, Banno. If that’s the case, then I could consider that it wasn’t coded on Banno’s part, but rather it was hardcoded by the original inventor: Krim Steinbelt. With that being the case, I had to keep Banno around, so, when he was able to regain consciousness, I would have it so that his AI was trapped in the program. I took him out on a test drive last night and for the most part, it worked well. No sudden takeovers, no moments where I needed Banno to stop being Banno… For the second time, I felt like I was truly in control of the situation. The first time came when I exposed Sunset Shimmer for the bitch that she was. It forced her to get desperate and steal the price of the Fall Formal, a crown that was revered in Equestria as a magical artifact. Turns out it caused Sunset to get fire powers that persisted well after she was freed from the crown’s influence. To my dismay, though, despite everything she did, she cried crocodile tears, and everyone bought it. However, I’m keeping a close eye on her in case she’s up to her old tricks. I won’t hesitate to stop her at mach speed. I went over to my whiteboard. Just before hitting the hay, a portal appeared right beneath my feet and I fell through. I ended up getting summoned to what appears to be Equestria. Or rather, another version of it. There, I met someone who called himself a Frost Demon, though I better knew him as Asala. I was in his realm for about a few weeks, even learning how to utilize my ki… Still waiting to show that off to Ross. It caused me to try and compile what I could find on the portals. I took the tokens of the Sebaste Brothers as well as the two sisters who came last night and I analyzed them. There was little residue of void matter in the Shift Car that I got from the sisters while there was a slightly bigger amount in the chainsword and rifle. I then looked at Asala’s Token, an eight-starred purple Dragonball. His token was full of void residue. I swirled the token about, judging the potency of the void. I then wrote a theory: the Tokens take time to build their power and once they’re fully built up, I could use them to summon the Displaced it belonged to. After that, it would need time to build up again. The same was true for when they’re summoned. My lengthy and, in my opinion, well-deserved, stay at Asala’s world in contrast to the brief time Sebastian, Sebaste, Natsumi, and Haruka was suspect at first, but then I used my powers to thwart the invasion of an alien race known as the Cabal and then fixed up the damages. After that, the portal appeared days after. Much like the Tokens, a Displaced has a limited amount of time when they’re summoned. The idea, presumably, is to do one task that they’re summoned for, then leave for their world. But I wasn’t given a straight up task from the word go. In fact, I was lumped in with Asala and thrown in jail for my troubles, then went on trial in his defense before proposing to the judges that they should do a Suicide Squad. God, I hope they do the movie justice when I get back to my world… If I get back. After fighting the Cabal with my powers as Gold Drive, I guess I ‘ran out of energy’ and had to go back to recharge. Of course, this is just a theory. I’ve been Displaced for about three months now. Ross was Displaced longer, and I had just discovered that there’s another person who was displaced for even longer. So, I decide to pay him a visit. I got out of the library and to the parking lot where… … Wait, where’s the Tridoron? I looked all over the parking lot in search of the Tridoron… But it was gone! Ross approached me with Banno in hand. “Crap! Where is it!” I shouted. “Woah, Kelly, what’s up?” Ross asked me. “The Tridoron… It’s gone!” “Relax, Kel, I’m sure it didn’t just get up and drive away,” Ross chuckled. I just gave him a glare. It took Ross a while before he stopped laughing. “… Wait, it can do that?” “Yeah. Strange, not sure how it can do that without… Eh, no matter. Watch this!” With that, I leaped into the air and took flight, one of the many techniques I learned from Asala. I could hear Ross shout a huge ‘what’ at me as I took off. I was downtown, soaring through the clouds to give me cover so no one would see me… That’s when I began to feel tired. Weird… I thought I wouldn’t get tired from flying. I began to lower down onto the ground, making sure to hide in a nearby alleyway to prevent suspicion. I breathed in and out as my heart began to beat rapidly. Soon, I saw rose petals fluttering about as I saw Ross approach me. “Holy shit… How did you do that?” Ross asked. “Guess… you’re not… the only one with a special power now…” I panted. “You must have learned it from that world… Well, I might as well warn you now: your aura-” “Ki,” I corrected. “Ki, is finite. Especially in this world considering it’s your native world.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “It means that whatever powers you got from that world are significantly weaker here. Remember that scorpion that made me a Kamen Rider?” Ross asked. “Yeah?” “It wasn’t from this world either. It came from Natsumi’s world. I utilized it in combination with my Semblance and, while I was able to fight my opponent, I ran out of juice much faster. You have your theories, I have mine,” Ross said. “So… You’re saying that if I use my ki, I’ll run out of it faster than if I were to use it back in Asala’s world?” I asked. “Bingo!” “So, gotta conserve it, got it,” I then took out a padlock. “Thank God I repaired this,” I opened it up and tossed it onto the ground, unfolding it into the SunDriver. Ross chuckled and took out his Lockseed too. “Wanna go for a drive?” Ross asked. “Yeah.” We then spent our time driving on the street in search for Joey Chandler, AKA Rose. Apparently, he’s a leader of a group of superheroes called the Wonderbolts, who are the reason why the Grimm haven’t been wrecking the city up whenever someone feels slightly upset. Ross wants to be a member of them… Great. On our way to the supposed Academy that teaches the Wonderbolts, I noticed something on my rear-view mirror. There was Ross on the Rose Attacker, but there was a third person behind Ross, wearing a black long coat and a black motorcycle helmet. I decided to turn left. Ross followed… so did the biker. Another left. They followed. I slowed down to let Ross catch up and I glanced at him, nodding my head to the biker behind us. He nodded and drove off to the right while I took the left. The biker followed Ross… Guess he wasn’t stalking me after all. Ross drove the Rose Attacker, making constant turns. Yet the biker was still following him. “Banno, you’re gonna get airsick,” Ross said to Banno as he still held him. “Trust me, after what I’ve been through, I won’t get sick,” Ross smirked and rode his bike to an alleyway where the biker eventually caught up… Only to see that Ross had seemingly disappeared and in his place were rose petals. The biker looked around before he heard a gun cock. “Who are you?” Ross asked, holding Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle mode. The biker just held up his arms. That’s when Ross noticed something on his back… Scabbards. He wasn’t raising his arms up to surrender. In an instant, the biker took out a sword made seemingly of obsidian glass. It clashed against the shaft of Ross’ scythe as sparks flew. Ross swung his scythe, only for it to clash against the blade again. He tried again, using his Semblance to get the advantage, only for the biker to react in a split second, taking out a second sword, this one made of what seemed to be aquamarine crystals. The second blade smashed against the head of Ross’ scythe, barely making a scratch on the crystalline edge. “You’re pretty fast…” Ross glared at the helmeted man, who gave no response. “Too bad I’m faster!” With that, he tried to slash at the man three times… and in all three instances… CLANG! CLINK! BANG! The blades managed to parry the scythe… With one last stroke from the black blade, Ross’ scythe was knocked out of his hands, spinning until it landed in the trash. Ross tried to go grab it, but the tip of the crystal blade soon touched Ross’ neck. “Now… Hand over Banno and you won’t die painfully…” While the man tried to be intimidating, his voice, a rather high-pitched and raspy one, made Ross grin and chuckle. Banno did the same as well. “Hey! Stop laughing!” This just caused the two to laugh harder. “S-sorry! We’re trying to take you seriously, just… That voice!” Ross tried to talk, but after he finished his sentence, he just howled and continued his laughter. “I managed to beat you fair and square! That’s gotta account for something, right?” He asked. “Hmmm… Nope!” Ross spoke with the same high-pitched voice, albeit more girly and less raspy and then cracked up again. “Honestly, Roidmude, considering how your voice came from whoever you chose to synchronize with, it’s really not your fault!” As Banno and Ross laughed, that’s when the man began to crack up as well. Ross stopped laughing once he heard just how utterly creepy the laugh is, with only Banno continuing to laugh, which only added to the creepiness. The man sheathed his swords and took off his helmet. As it clattered to the ground, Ross could see the man’s face. He was a teenager with short black hair. Ross felt as though he knew this person… What freaked Ross out though were the man’s eyes… Tiny, beady little dots… The top half of his face seemed to be darkened. “Well, because of that, two kids gonna die tonight!” With that, the biker transformed into a Roidmude. He was a cyclopean robot whose head resembled a bladed S. His body was the usual make of a Roidmude, though his body reminded Ross of Tachibana’s Roidmude form. On the ends of his feet were blades, as were the ends of his arms. They were two large swords, mirroring the swords he held in his human form, one black, the other aqua-colored. His entire Roidmude form was black save for the aqua blade on his right arm. “Sword? Why are you black?” Banno asked. “Oh my God, Banno, you can’t just ask a Roidmude why it’s black…” Ross tried to snigger, only for the Sword Roidmude to point his black blade at Ross’ neck. “Well, well, well, look what time it is, traitor. It’s time to die!” The Roidmude then swung his sword at Ross, only for him to run off and grab his scythe. He swung his scythe in tune to Sword’s slash, slamming blades together. Ross pointed the sniper rifle at the Roidmude’s face and fired, only for him to move his head at the last possible second. “Shit!” Ross then noticed Banno was floating. “You can fly too!?” “I can do many things…” Tentacles soon sprouted from Banno and began to attack the Roidmude, only for him to deflect each one of them. The Roidmude then struck at Banno, causing sparks to fly. “GAAAH!” Banno flew over to the wall and smacked against it. As the belt landed, Ross could see that the screen where Banno’s face usually is shown is now completely black. Ross was stunned for a bit as he saw Banno’s lifeless belt. His mind flashed an image of a girl with lifeless green eyes who was torn apart. Ross’ eyes began to burn. He shook the image out of his head. This was another memory of Ruby’s. He had to focus. He took advantage of the brief distraction Banno gave to swing his scythe and hold its blade by the Roidmude’s neck. “Game over…” Ross muttered. He then pulled the trigger… Only for Sword to turn around just as the scythe fired and stabbed Ross. Thankfully, his aura blocked it, but the Roidmude soon kicked Ross down. He walked towards Ross, kicking the scythe out of his reach and held both blades at Ross’ neck in a scissors formation. “You’re right… It is game over!” Before he could finish Ross off, a car slowly passed by the alleyway. Inside were kids singing a cheery song. “Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say… Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” The Roidmude hesitated and even trembled. Ross could almost swear he’s crying. Ross took this to his advantage and ran to grab both his scythe and the Banno Driver. He ran out of there as soon as he can, using his Semblance to get out. Eventually, the Sword Roidmude stopped crying. “… Stupid human emotions,” he gripped his fist. That’s when he heard fire crackling. He dodged a fist just in time. The fist hit the wall, causing a crater. “YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!” The Grim Reaper glared at Sword with her red eyes. “Trust me, I’m angry about this too. Can’t believe my synchronization is such a cry baby over Christmas carols. I’m starting to regret not using a Neo Viral Core now.” He reverted to his human form, his eyes now large discs of gunmetal gray. The Grim Reaper sighed and blinked, her red eyes changing into lilac-colored eyes. “You head back and rest up,” she said. “And you?” “Cook’s found a host and is already hatching a plan to attack the city. With subtlety out the window, my purpose to silence noisy Roidmudes is over. Now comes the next purpose…” She then walked out of the alleyway where a yellow motorcycle with black stripes and a sleek model resided. She hopped onto it, donning a helmet. “Silencing the Kamen Rider,” she drove off. I continued to drive to Wonderbolt Academy, using the directions on my phone’s GPS. As I did, I passed by a restaurant and- SKREEEEEEECH! I immediately slammed the breaks as I ran over someone… Shit! I hopped off and looked behind my vehicle to see who I ran over… Only for me to see a familiar gray blobby body with some of its body being green-colored and holes on its face to resemble angry looking eyes. It got up and moved less like a human and more of a wild animal, burbling out a cry before it attacked me. I managed to dodge out of the way of its claw and kicked it in the face, followed by a punch in the gut. The monster stumbled before I got back onto the SunDriver and drove over the monster, rolling my wheels back and forth onto him several times before it was nothing but paste. I got off again and began to wonder… What the hell is an Inves doing here? The Inves were the enemies of Kamen Rider Gaim, the rider that came before Drive. From all I could see, the only Kamen Rider enemies I would have to concern myself with were the Roidmudes and, to an extent, Foundation X. But now I’m seeing the Inves here. What does this mean? Did some of the Inves survive that fight that happened overnight? Was it just Foundation X dabbling with Inves? Or maybe they’ve begun to come to this world via the cracks leading to Helheim, the world they reside in. I then began to think about the Inves. Where they came from and how they come to be. Helheim Forest is a place where a bizarre alien plant life would slowly and surely take over the world, its rate depending on numerous factors, like if the rulers want to take over ASAP. Considering who’s most likely ruling Helheim, I doubt it, but this may be a case where it could be an alternate ending where someone else became the ruler. The plants contained a fruit that, if used in combination with a Sengoku Driver, would convert it into a Lockseed and be used either for nutrition or transformation. However, to those without a Driver or those who are weak minded, the plant’s fruit would attract people into eating it raw. The result would be… I then saw the building I was near: Zesty Gourmand’s, a restaurant that, to my recollection of reading the news, was under scrutiny for having bland tasting foods that were disgustingly expensive, and that the owner is violently defensive about it. I… I don’t wish to entertain it, but I must. I run into the restaurant… And I saw it. Inves swarming around the restaurant like ants. They mindlessly ate the reddish-blue-skinned fruit that hinged off vines. Meanwhile, the few people that were there were served salad that had a suspicious looking gelatin garnishing them. While scared that their food was served by monsters, once they looked at the food, they just mindlessly shoveled the salad. Moments later, they tried to regurgitate the food, one even clawing at their throat to try and get the food out. But it was too late. Their bodies glowed green as vines began to spring out and engulfed them. The vines then burst apart, revealing new animalistic looking monsters adorned in jade armor. They lost what little humanity they had and began to scrounge around for food like the others. One of the Inves grumbled and came up to me. It held out a menu upside down. I merely punched the Inves so hard, I caved its face in. I then ran into the heart of the restaurant and looked around. “Care to take a seat?” I heard someone, and I turned to face them. It was an old woman with slicked back white hair and pale purple skin. She sounded just as old as the wrinkles on her face suggest. She wore a chef’s outfit that looked pretty neat. “What the hell is going on?” I asked. “Oh, this? I’m giving it a fresh style,” she said. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” “I’m merely giving the people what they need. A subtle taste, the barest hint of sensation… I give them art,” I so wanna punch her in the face. “Art? You call this art?! You’re turning people into mindless beasts at best and risking global annihilation at worst!” I said. “Necessary sacrifices for my art to be understood. Look at them, they’re now cultured enough to appreciate it,” as she said that, an Inves pounced on a fruit that was on the ground, “and all I have to thank for is this wonderful robot,” wait, robot? “She and her kind will inherit this world and they will also enjoy my art!” That’s when I realized she wasn’t buying into the fruit’s temptation like the others. Normally the only way to resist the charm of the Helheim Fruit without the Sengoku Driver is to either get interrupted or have enough rigorous training to not eat it. Though, there was one other exception it seemed. And that was likely the case as I saw a Cobra-type Roidmude walk out of the kitchen and standing beside the chef. I looked on the number on its plate: 090. The number of the Cook Roidmude… Of course. The Roidmude was a partner in crime to a chef who wanted to make the ultimate dish… I guess this bastard of a cook is no different. “You’ll pay for this!” I took out the Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and activated the Lemon Lockseed. LEMON! LOCK ON! “HENSHIN!” COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA! The Lemon armor came down and unfolded onto me. I transformed into Duke and held my rapier. “Zesty, this is the Rider I warned you about…” 090 said. “Is it? Very well. Let’s show her the finest cuisine in the world!” Zesty took out a Neo Viral Core as the Roidmude merged with her, creating the Cook Roidmude. She immediately activated Slowdown, bringing me to a crawl. I knew that not using Banno would result in scenarios like this, but thanks to my training with Asala, I was able to utilize my Ki to move… At least, that’s what I thought would happen. As I tried to use my Ki to move, my legs felt like they were being pulled. I screamed in pain as I put all my effort into moving just an inch. Suddenly I felt the wind push me. A rose-scented wind. Ross picked me up and placed me further away from the Cook Roidmude’s laser fork. “Kelly! You okay?!” Ross asked. “I… can’t move!” I replied. “Your body isn’t acclimated to the Ki yet. It hasn’t been able to adjust to Slowdown…” Ross said. “Fine! Give me Banno!” I said. “No can do,” he held up the damaged Banno Driver, “he’s out of commission.” “Alright… in that case…” I pushed my left foot forward and managed to move slightly before the heavy density pressured me down. I can definitely use the Ki to substitute a Core Driviar, but it can’t exactly counter the Density Shift. Especially with how finite it is… Luckily, I found a substitute. Using the remainder of my Ki, I moved over and grabbed one of the fruit hanging off a vine. It transformed into a Lockseed that had a sunflower seed on it. I placed it onto my belt, replacing Lemon, and felt the nutrients fuel me. “Bring it…” Several Inves ran to me as I kicked a few of them to the side. With each move I did, I was able to overcome the Slowdown bit by bit. Seemed the Inves were mutated or modified, allowing them to maneuver while in Slowdown. Ross, meanwhile, ran straight for Cook and attacked her with his scythe. Cook blocked it with her knife fingers and stabbed Ross with her tongue. His aura managed to tank it. Eventually, I was able to throw a punch at one of the Inves, followed by a stab. More Inves came for me as I managed to dodge out of the way. I was able to move in Slowdown, albeit sluggishly. A few Roidmudes managed to strike my armor and knock me towards a grove of Helheim fruit, which I managed to grab. Some became Himawari Lockseeds while a few turned into sturdier Lockseeds, such as Strawberry, Pine, and Melon. Given how the Inves were modified and that they were made from Helheim Fruit, I decided to experiment. I instantly put on the Melon Lockseed and activated it. LOCK ON! COME ON! MELON ARMS! BY HEAVEN’S… DECREE! My Lemon armor was replaced with a green Melon armor, same with my rapier being replaced with a shield. My body felt lighter than before. I confirmed my hypothesis. My body was now able to move in Slowdown, though I’m not sure for how long. I blocked some of the Inves attacks with the shield and pushed up, knocking them back. I swung my shield at them. Sparks flew out of their body as a few fell and exploded. The Cook Roidmude grabbed Ross by the tongue and tossed him over a table, though Ross managed to knock it over and use it as a barricade for him to fire from. Cook swung her tongue to block the rifle shots, but given how high calibre they were, her tongue was blown off. “OW! Tham it!” Cook said. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? … No, that’d work better if I was Blake.” Ross leaped over the table and slashed at the Roidmude. Slowdown was canceled. Realizing the need to fill myself up on nutrients was done, I swapped out Lockseeds and returned to Lemon. I stabbed at the Roidmudes with my rapier, some exploding the moment I stabbed them. Soon, the bulkier Inves came. In this case, large, jade-armored dragons. As they spewed fire at me, I rolled out of the way and cut them with the rapier. Of course, the rapier wasn’t enough to knock them down, though that was the key of using a rapier. It doesn’t just take one stab… It takes multiple. I cut into the Lockseed. COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT! With each thrust I made, I shot out a lemon from my rapier at the Inves. As soon as they were distracted, I stabbed one of them and caused it to explode in zesty lemon juice. I turned my blade to the other Seiryu Inves… Then I looked at Ross, whose scythe was close to Cook’s neck. “Wait!” I shouted. “Huh?” Ross asked. “That Roidmude’s different! She’s fused with a human! If you destroy the Roidmude, you might risk killing her host!” I said. Though Zesty was an utter bitch for turning humans into essentially zombies, I’d rather have the police on us again. Besides, Zesty needed to face justice. “Then how do we defeat the Roidmude?” Ross asked. “I… don’t know.” Shit! I knew there was an oversight. The Banno Driver was copied from the Drive Driver after it had been modified to separate the Fusion from the host. But the Sengoku Driver wasn’t built to handle Roidmudes. And I doubt Ross’ weapon can do it either. Cook managed to take the distraction to her advantage and stab Ross with the knives. Again, his aura took the hit. Ross was knocked over to where I was. Suddenly, the power went out. “Huh!? Who turned out the lights?” Ross muttered. I looked towards a pair of curtains which suddenly had a spotlight shown on it. I saw a silhouette of a woman from behind the curtains of the restaurant’s entrance. I couldn’t help but stare. It was the same silhouette I saw in the fire. I could look at Ross and see him easily tense up as the woman walked through the curtains. Instantly, I could see her luscious long blond hair tapering off to her elbows. The woman wore large aviator sunglasses that, while making me remember the glasses Chase wore when he went for his driver’s licence, didn’t make me crack a smirk. She wore what appeared to be an olive-green biker’s jacket, partially zipped down to show an orange blouse underneath. She wore black fingerless gloves while having leather sleeves that reached from her wrist to partially before her elbow, also having a half-zipped zipper. I noticed from her exposed elbow and fingers that her left arm was covered in metallic gold. Her right arm had a golden bracelet. There seemed to be an undercoat she wore, and I only knew this because the coattails seemed to extend to her ankles. She wore black pants with what appeared to be a purple scarf tied to her right knee. Her brown, knee-high boots clacked across the wooden table. The remaining Seiryu Inves screeched and ran to her, only for her bracelet to unfold into a gauntlet. She punched her whole right fist through the monster and caused it to explode. She then casually walked towards me like nothing happened and sat next to me. That’s when I noticed a symbol on her left jacket sleeve. It was a two-headed bird with the initials DCD on its red body. Already, I had chills and tensed up. The woman turned to the Cook Roidmude. “Strawberry Sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas.” She had somewhat of a bubbly voice to her. Cook trembled and rushed off to get her exactly that. She smirked and looked to me. “So, you must be the professor that’s giving my boss trouble, huh?” She said. “… And you must be the Dragon I was warned about.” I said back. She smirked and took off her glasses, revealing a pair of lilac eyes. Odd… Weren’t they red? “You got it. So, I guess you’re aware of what’s gonna happen then?” She said. “Yeah. See that kid over there?” I motioned my head to Ross. “I took care of the previous Reaper. I can easily take you on too.” I said. “Says the girl who had a tough time fighting the King.” She said. “Hey, I had him on the ropes until you showed up!” I barked. “I’ll admit, you managed to destroy one of his lives.” Lives? I thought Roidmudes only had one… That’s when I remembered that instead of a Core, the Drive symbol blew up. Could that be what she meant? “But you won’t destroy them all. Our King will destroy this world and rebuild it in his image, subjugating the humans under his rule. Something Heart refused to do.” She said. “You’re a human yourself! Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re betraying your humanity.” Ross said to the Dragon. “And you betrayed us by siding with the humans.” Cook gave her the drink she requested as she sipped it. “As for you, professor, you’re also a traitor to humanity. Banno tried to enslave both the Roidmudes and the humans, and you wore him regardless.” “I only did it because your King’s lackeys were gonna kill me and some other people. I was the only thing to stop them.” “I guess we’re not so different after all.” The Dragon downed her drink before setting it down. “I too chose this path to live.” I could only glare at her, as if I was trying to piece together her story. “Then join us! With you on our side, we can stop the Roidmudes.” Ross looked to her… Only for her to throw a punch to his face. I ducked just before the gauntlet went off. My body tensed. I was thankful for Ross’ aura. Had he not had that, or had he been a second late to dodging it, his head would have blown to bits. I could hear a loud ringing as the Dragon kicked me off my seat onto the ground. “There’s no beating the Roidmudes. If I fight them, I’ll die… And I refuse to be forgotten.” With that, she got into a fighting pose. I got up as I saw Ross reeling on the ground. “… Oh, trust me, the only thing I’ll be remembering is the wounds that I’ll inflict!” I held my rapier as I saw that the Dragon was in a boxer’s pose. I merely cocked my head and pointed the rapier towards her. “A lot of arrogance for a professor.” The Dragon cracked her knuckles. “It comes with the belt.” I smirked as I wiped my fingers against the blade, a trait I managed to remember from the King. “I’ll be sure to break it.” She said. “Not before I break you!” With that, I thrust my rapier right at her. It managed to connect her once, then twice as she began to bob and weave through the next few slashes. She threw several punches my way, but I managed to block them with my free hand. Another swipe at her stomach and I could feel it cleaving through. Fresh from the cut, I swiped again and slice through. With a stab, I managed to connect right into her skin. She managed to get a few hits in as I swung my rapier, but they either didn’t connect or I brushed it away with the rapier. After several parries, I managed to inflict one blow to her chest. Normally, this would pierce human skin… Though I soon noticed that she wasn’t the case. Before I could figure out what she had protecting her, she threw a punch to my head, blasting it right into my face. I flew a few meters before landing on my stomach. As I struggled to get up, my body trembled. That amount of force was comparable to a sledgehammer. And that punch wasn’t even from her shotgun gauntlet! I looked up and saw her hair glowing with what was a flame-like light. “Kelly! You’re making this harder on yourself!” Ross said to me. “The hell do you mean?” I asked. “It’s her Semblance!” Ross said. Semblance? Wait… That means… I looked up and saw through my HUD that she had the exact same buildup of aura as Ross, albeit larger and yellow colored. “Now… Let me show you why they call me the Dragon of the Sun.” With that, the Dragon slammed her fists together, creating a huge explosion of flames as her hair stood up slightly. Before I could react, she used the momentum of her gauntlet’s shotgun fire to propel herself towards me, backflip kick me in the air, then punch me square in the jaw before kicking me in the chest, knocking me right into a pillar that I got embedded into. The alarms on my HUD blared out as I fell. Any more hits and the Armor Parts would dissolve, leaving me as a squishy human. Fortunately, I could hear Ross’ sniper rifle go off as he got into battle with her. I managed to take the fighting to my advantage and take out the Lemon Energy Lockseed. LEMON ENERGY! The Energy Parts came to me as I took off the Duke faceplate, placed the Genesis Core on it, and plugged the Energy Lockseed on it. LOCK ON! Then I cut the two seeds. MIX! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA! JINBA LEMON! HA HA! Along with the rapier was the Sonic Arrow. I held onto the both weapons as I rushed into fight the Dragon along with Ross. She dodged each of our attacks, sidestepping and bobbing her way around. This was soon followed by a jab on my stomach, a hook at Ross’ face, and then a shotgun propelled haymaker at my face, shattering my helmet. I fell over as Ross continued to fight. The Dragon blocked his rapier strike with her gauntlet as she pointed her metallic arm at Ross. She unloaded machine gun fire point blank at his stomach. He was knocked back before she turned her attention to me. I struggled to get up, though I soon saw Ross get up and shout at her. He leaped into the air and did a flying side kick, in what might just be classic Kamen Rider spirit… Before the Dragon merely punched him right in the leg with her shotgun gauntlet. He got knocked hard and screamed as his aura rippled over his body. “Ross!” I shouted. The Dragon turned to face me, her eyes now blood red. “Why am I feeling pain for him? He’s a traitor… Like you!” She ran to me. Before I had time to react, she began to continually punch my belt with one hook, then another, and another, and another, swapping between hands and proceeding to Dempsey roll me. With one final punch, she knocked me back. What was left of my helmet now crumbled into pieces. I grunted and gripped my weapons. I cut into the Lockseed twice. COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT! JINBA LEMON AU LAIT! With both rapier and bow in hand, I held them in a way where the bow represented the top of the lemon and the rapier represented the bottom. The Dragon leaped into the air as I shouted. Just before she laid the last punch, I slashed… SWASH! I gritted my teeth as I saw her fist at my belt. This was a classic Toku moment… I had to wait to see if my attack or hers had landed… Since I’m the good guy, that clearly means- Crick… Oh shit. Crick crick crickle… I look down as I saw the gauntlet about to fire its payload all over the belt, particularly at where the Lemon Energy Lockseed was. Meanwhile, I saw her aura ripple. I had only managed to break her defenses. And yet she was still kicking! BLAM! I was flung back hard into the wall and as I landed, my armor liquified and the pieces of my Sengoku Driver and both Lockseeds rolled onto the ground like dice. I felt unable to get up. The Dragon unloaded her shotgun gauntlet, the spent bullets popped off and fell next to the shattered Driver. She took out a belt of red cartridges and loaded them into the gauntlet. “Now, prepare to be reaped…” She said. VRRRRRRRRMMMMM Wait, what was- SMASH! I saw a car ram right into the wall and knocked the Dragon away from me. The debris of the wall fell around as I got up. Holy crap! It can’t be… It was the Tridoron! But… how was it able to get all the way over here? Banno had no means to access it if he’s been disabled so that could only mean… “You nearly got us killed!” I heard a rough yet suave voice from the car. It was a voice I found familiar. I gulped… Oh crap… “You distracted me with all those fancy lights and music!” The door of the Tridoron opened as the driver dusted himself off. I trembled. While this was my second time seeing the suit in person, it was my first time seeing the real deal. The familiar red-armored, white-eyed Kamen Rider that Banno copied, Drive, was right in front of me… And on the belt was Krim Steinbelt, Banno’s former partner. “Another Kamen Rider? Who are you?” The Dragon asked. “I’m… No way… It’s you!” This Drive didn’t sound like Shinnosuke… Then again, Shinnosuke never spoke English. “What are you blathering about?” The Dragon gripped her fists. “Let’s cut this short! We’re Kamen Rider Drive, and we’re gonna take you for a ride!” There was a moment of silence. “… I miss Shinnosuke…” That was the confirmation needed. This was a different person, perhaps another Displaced. “Regardless, you’ll die by my hand.” The Dragon ran towards Drive as he dove out of the way. “She isn’t our primary target! Focus on the Roidmude.” Krim said. “You mean the creepy knife cook thing?” He asked. “Exactly! We may need a Tire Exchange to draw this woman away though…” Krim said. “Tire Exchange… That’s using one of these, right?” He held up a monster truck. “Yes. Activate it in the Shift Brace!” Drive twisted the Shift Car’s hindquarters and plugged it onto the Shift Brace before flicking it to activate. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MASSIVE MONSTER!” “Wait, Massive what!?” Drive saw a large monster-like tire flying towards him. “HOLY SHIT! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” He ran away from the tire. “H-Hold on! You need to stand still!” Krim shouted as Drive ducked. The tire hit the Roidmude and knocked it down. The wheel soon went to Drive and knocked the Speed Tire off him. Two halves of the tire came apart and became large mouth-like weapons for Drive. “There, now you have the power of Massive Monster.” “A little warning next time!” Drive said. The Dragon threw a punch as Drive used the two jaws to clamp onto her arm. He grasped tightly as blood began to drip from the wound. “Ah!” He tossed the Dragon away and knocked her against the wall. She was unconscious… for now. This was my chance. I got up and ran to the kitchen as Drive engaged the Roidmude. Every Roidmude I had faced had the nasty habit of repeating their past. The most memorable was Thief placing Soarin’ and I in a near perfect recreation of the murder of Shinnosuke’s father, right down to the culprit being an envious police officer. This, coupled with the fact that the Roidmudes remember their pasts and that Cook was working with a chef, means that there’s a secret weapon I can use against the Roidmude. A couple of Inves approached me, though I was able to kick them away as I continued my search. A part of me thought that it wouldn’t be here given Zesty’s insistence of ‘subtle taste’, but another part of me believed that there’d be no way the Cook Roidmude wouldn’t at least try to make the ultimate taste enhancer… Bingo! In the back of the kitchen, over to where the spices were, I found it. Yellow liquid kept in a fancy glass bottle, like a potion: Honfleur Sunset. It was a sauce that the Cook Roidmude had struggled to create when it was her turn to fight the Kamen Riders. I smirked and grabbed it. There would be two outcomes for using this on the Roidmude based on if the Cook Roidmude was able to make a perfect recreation of it. If she did, the sauce would just put the Roidmude into a bliss-like state, effectively drugging her long enough for Ross and me to get away. But the optimal solution would be if Cook got sloppy and made an imperfect recreation of the Honfleur Sunset. That would cause some damage to the Roidmude. I ran over to the Roidmude as she was still fighting Drive. “Hey, Chef Ramsey! Catch!” I shouted before I tossed the vial at Cook. She turned around too late as the bottle smashed against her and the liquid seeped right into her body. “Oh no…” Krim’s mutter helped confirm what outcome would happen as the Cook Roidmude suddenly burst into flames and screamed. Fireballs erupted from her body as the entire restaurant caught fire, burning the Helheim plants. “Quick! Finish her off before she burns down the resturant!” Krim said. Drive twisted the ignition and pressed the button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER!” He then flicked the Shift Car.“FULL THROTTLE!MONSTER!” A tongue came out of the tire and licked up the flames before it grabbed the Roidmude and shook it about. Zesty fell as the Roidmude turned back into its Low-Class form. As the tongue reeled in the Roidmude, the two jaws glowed green and Drive slammed them together, creating large holograms of the jaws that crushed the Roidmude. It blew up as its Core fell and burned in the fire. Drive looked around as the entire restaurant became literally Hell. “We have to get out of here!” Drive said as I ran over to pick up Ross. “ROLL OUT TRIDORON! TYPE:TECHNIC!” As Krim said that, large metallic claws scooped up Ross, Zesty, and me. Drive went into the Tridoron, now transformed into a short cab with the claws and drove us out of the burning restaurant. I looked back at the restaurant. If there was any way to recover the Sengoku Driver and its Lockseeds, it’s now gone forever. I looked to Ross, who was wincing at his leg. The Dragon got up and looked around the burning flames. She gripped her fists. Another Roidmude was dead, and her killer was another Kamen Rider. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” As she screamed, flames exploded behind her. She walked out of the burning restaurant unscathed just before it crumbled down. The remaining Inves that were there futility walked into the flames to try and salvage the destroyed fruit. “A shame to see Zesty’s restaurant go up in smoke.” The Dragon turned to see an albino man with curly hair, Roidmude 050, three girls with different colored skin tones, and a pale skinned man with bleached, slicked back white hair wearing a leather suit. “050… Who are these people?” The Dragon gripped her fists. “You wish to destroy the Kamen Riders, right?” The Dark Swan asked. “We want power.” The golden-skinned woman, presumably the leader of the trio of girls, spoke up. “With our combined power, we can easily do all that and more…” 050 said. “I don’t care what plans you have. I’m going to kill the Kamen Riders with my own two hands. So long as it pleases the King, do whatever you please.” Before the Dragon could walk away, 050 spoke up. “Then, perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving one of our comrades a… promotion?” As he said that, a Core slithered on 050’s shoulder like a snake. The Dragon looked at the Core: 091. Eventually the Tridoron stopped and let us go. Drive went for Zesty and looked at her. “You alright?” Drive asked. I went to her as well. She didn’t seem to suffer a lot of burns, so that was good… “Road Winter is on its way to take care of the fire. As for you…” Krim spoke up… Then a pause. “Erm, turn around to face the other woman.” Drive did so. “Why did you throw that at the Roidmude? … More importantly, how did you knowthat the Roidmude catching fire would be the result?” Krim asked. I had a good time to look at his face, or rather, what passes as his face. Like Banno’s belt, Krim had LCD lights, in his case, red, on the belt, but unlike Banno, Krim’s face changes depending on how he’s feeling. In this case, he had a very angry face, eyebrows furled and a frowning face. Time to bullshit. “I went into the kitchen to look for something to help in the fight and found this strange yellow liquid. I briefly examined the properties and discovered how volatile it was.” I said. A pause later, I spoke up. “I’m a scientist at Canterlot High. Name’s Professor Silverbolt.” I said. “Silverbolt? That name rings a bell…” I recalled what happened with Silverbolt and the Kamen Riders. “I’m not him, though. I’m just pretending to be him. My actual name’s Kelly Randall.” I said. “Hmm…” Krim closed his eyes. “Um, can I take you this off now?” Drive asked. “Oh, right, yes.” Krim said. Drive took off the belt as his armor disappeared via a holographic circle. This just confirmed he wasn’t Shinnosuke, as I saw instead a man with short blonde hair and blue eyes in a police officer’s uniform. Ross got up to look at him, only to wince at his leg. I helped him up as Ross continued to stare at him. “My name’s Officer Ivan Dorian. I was brought here to close a missing persons case.” A missing persons case? Wait… I remembered what Niko said about the missing posters in Portland. “And I believe I’ve found that missing person.” He eyes shifted to me. I stared back at him. Author's Note This chapter brings nods to a crossover with The Demon In The North and The Angel In The South, though be warned. It's pretty NSFW. Dazzling Adagio Arc 2: How Do We Fight A Dragon?It was the dead of night as Ivan approached the alleyway. He looked at the note he was given. “If you wish to warm up that cold case, meet me at the alleyway at Somerset & Mills.” He had no idea who sent it to him, but any lead would be a good lead at this point. He went alone, as everyone else had presumed the missing person to be dead. “Welcome, m’dear.” Ivan turned around to see a man dressed up like an old 1930’s mobster, with the long black trench coat, pinstripe pants, though everything else, like the scarf, hat, waistcoat, and boots looked more like a cowboy’s outfit. “You wish to close this case?” “… Yes. What do you know of her?” Ivan asked. “Well, one thing, really. Her last known location.” “Give it.” Ivan gripped his fists. He knew better than to threaten with his gun. “It’s not that easy. See, she’s not here. I wish I can explain but simply doing what I say will explain a lot more than lecturing you.” Ivan’s hand neared the gun. He was clearly blackmailing him! “Of course, I could let you just interrogate me. Then I’d just cry out for help and then you’ll have to explain to the police what you were doing in the middle of the night talking to some nobody like me.” Ivan froze. Man had a point. “Fine. What is it you want me to do?” Ivan asked. The man took out a silver belt from his jacket. It almost looked like the dashboard of a car. “Simple. Take this. It will bring you to where she is, though finding her and bringing her back… that’s the hard part.” That was it? Just grab the belt? It sounds almost too good to be true… But… Three years. She had been gone for three years. Everyone had given up on her. Even her own parents believed her to be dead. Ivan dedicated his life to try and find her or at least her body. His reward for his persistence is to be called a nutcase. A cop who was just one bad day away from becoming a real-life Max Payne. For the first time in his life, this was the first person who believed she was still out there. So, any chance, regardless of how bizarre… it must be taken. And so, he grabbed the belt… “Next thing I knew, I was around the area and this belt began to speak to me.” I heard Ivan explain his story to us. A young girl by the name of Kimberly Locksley was Displaced around the summer of 2013. It seems this was just one of a few bizarre cases of disappearing people, including myself. “So… That Dragon… She’s Kimberly?” Ross asked. “Yeah. Not sure what the hell happened to her between her disappearance and now, but she’s far from the sweet girl who vanished all those years ago.” Ivan said. “As far as I know, she works for Roidmude 010.” I said. “010? You mean Paint?” Krim asked me. “Yeah… Though I don’t think he passes himself off as that moniker anymore. He calls himself the Roidmude King.” As I said that, Krim crossed his eyes. “W-what!?” Krim asked. “Hold on… so… you fought these Roidmudes before?” Ivan asked. “Yeah.” I decided to leave out the part where I fought them as Gold Drive. As much as I like to say how Banno was under lock and key, Krim’s sordid past with him is just gonna result in a conflict I’d rather avoid for now. “Hmm… Well, I’m not sure how you managed to do it, but we can use your help in fighting the rest of the Roidmudes, including 010.” Krim said. That’s when Ivan took Krim off his waist. “You mean you can use her help. I don’t think I’m cut out for this. Find someone else who’s better at this than me.” As Ivan said that, Krim closed his eyes. “I understand. It was a little much pressuring you into becoming Drive. However, now that I am conscious, I see if I can find anyone who can.” The Tridoron drove up to Krim and opened up the door as he flew into the car and secured himself on the dashboard. “However, it might just be that your gears need to be cleaned. You’ve been stuck in a rut for who knows how long… If your mind’s in top gear and you have changed your mind on being Drive, let me know.” With that, he drove away. “So now what?” I asked Ivan. “Well, we definitely need to rest up.” I saw Ross struggle to get up, though he clutched onto his knee. “Hold on!” Ivan ran to Ross and helped him up. He turned to me and asked, “Do you have any place to rest?” “Well, if you wanna sleep in a library…” I chuckled. Ivan shook his head. “H-hey, that guy you got the belt from… Did he give you anything else?” Ross asked. Ivan shook his head. “No. Not that I think of.” As he said that, I noticed something hanging around his neck. It was a silver necklace, but what threw me off was the design. An encircled R. The R had sharp angles, almost akin to... Drive’s Symbol. “Hey, Ivan, was that always there?” I asked Ivan as I pointed to his chest. He looked at the necklace and immediately took it off. “No. The hell is this?” He asked. “That’s a Token. Or rather, a Token made by Niko.” Ross took out a necklace of his own. It looked like a blooming rose. “They allow a Displaced to return to their home world. All you need to do is utter a phrase.” I looked at the necklace. The hell? How come I wasn’t given one?! I had my own Token, yes, but the way Ross referred to his Token, it seems that I needed Niko’s personal Token to return home. Well, chances are Ivan’s home world is my home world. So, I’ll be able to try and touch base. In any case, I needed to activate the Token. If I knew how phrases work, there was only one phrase that can fit this Token. “Maybe it’s all we need is Drive?” I asked. Ivan raised an eyebrow, then spoke to the Token. “All we need is Drive?” As he said that, the Token glowed. The light that sparked from the Token blinded me. The Rabbit Hole. Flash remembered how an old movie best summed up this place: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” The fact that it was late, well past his curfew time, was enough to make Flash’s knees buckle. But he had to go in and ask. He opened the door and glanced at the people there. The smell of booze overwhelmed his nose, but he had to continue. He took out a photo and looked at it. Earlier in the day, he snuck by the police department and swiped a list of gangs. Most of them were now defunct save for one: The Barons. The picture he had showed about five people, all wearing the same red and black jacket. He looked around to see if there’s anyone who wore that exact same jacket. “Welcome to the Rabbit Hole! Table for one?” A waitress, appropriately enough wearing a bunny suit. “Erm… I’m looking for someone.” Flash’s hands quickly went to retrieve his phone. That’s when a big, burly man with brown skin and a full mustache-beard came up to the waitress. “He’s with me.” The man gruffly said as Flash looked to him just as he looked at his phone and glanced at the text he got. “You must be Junior.” Flash said. Junior just growled a bit as Flash blushed. “Come on.” Junior took Flash’s arm and dragged him over to the bar. “This place doesn’t serve minors this late at night, so make it quick. You want some answers, right?” Flash just nodded and took out the picture. “What can you tell me about these guys. Specifically, this man.” He tapped his finger on the center man. He had red skin and swept up brown, almost blondish, hair. “Ah, Cloudy Kite. Not sure why you wanna know about him. He’s only the most dangerous gang leader in town.” Junior said. “I… have some connections with him.” Flash wasn’t even sure if he was his dad or not. “Mmm… I’m guessing distant. Well, if you hang around the downtown area, you’ll bump into him sooner or later.” A glass of gin was placed before Junior as he downed it. “Does he come here at a usual time?” Flash asked. “Nah, he only comes here on occasion, though chances are if he does, expect this place to face some… renovations.” Junior glanced and noticed a guy with messy blonde hair approach them. “Yo, Shay! What took you so long?” Shay just smirked as Flash noticed a low-class Bat Roidmude was next to Shay. “That’s the guy who messed you up, huh?” Shay asked. Flash noticed a number on the Roidmude’s chest: 091… The same number that floated when the Roidmude he fought was destroyed. “Yeah… Let’s get some payback, partner.” Roidmude 091 handed a red bat-like toy car to Shay as he grabbed it. He jabbed it into himself as the Roidmude fused with Shay, creating a dark red version of the Roidmude that Flash had faced. “What the…” Flash muttered. “Now… you die!” The Shoot Roidmude fired out several darts from its body at Flash. He dodged, as did Junior. Flash took out the Orange Lockseed and put on the Frubask Driver. He plopped the Lockseed on and cut it. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH… TWICE! Flash took out his two orange slices and ran to attack the Shoot Roidmude. He rolled out of the way of the darts, though as he motioned to cut, Shoot darted. “That won’t work on me this time!” Shoot said. Flash noticed the Roidmude was ready to fire once again. He knew the last time he fought him, he was near death. Rather than risk it again, he ran off. He bolted out of the door as the darts fired once more, though he was able to evade the Roidmude’s projectiles rather easily… At least until one hit the palm of his hand. He winced in pain and pulled the dart out. He applied pressure to the wound to prevent blood from pouring out. He shut his eyes and tried to drown out the pained screams of people who were unfortunate enough to get in his way. That’s when he heard a car pull up. “HOP IN!” Flash opened his eyes and saw a red car with twin white stripes going from the hood to the back… Wait… wasn’t this Professor Silverbolt’s car? The door opened as Flash immediately hopped in. The car drove off. Flash breathed in. He was safe. “Thanks, Professor Silverbolt…” Flash muttered. “Unfortunately, she isn’t here.” Flash looked around and realized that no one else was in the car… Then… Who was driving? Flash looked at the front of the car. There was a device right in the center of the dashboard… And it had a red LED face that smiled right at him. “However, I’m here to help.” The voice said. “What the…” Flash muttered. My eyes opened and I saw myself in front of a large apartment building. Ross and Ivan were with me as I saw Ivan’s jaw drop slightly, then took out his keys. “I can’t believe it! It took us to my home!” He adjusted the keychain so that he’d hold onto a fob. He opened the first of two doors, then passed the fob in front of the detector. After a small beep, he opened the second door. He led us in and soon enough, we were in the lobby waiting for the elevator. “Ross, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have my wife take a look at your injury. She’s an elementary teacher, so she knows a little bit about first aid.” “There’s no need. Just a sprain is all...” As Ross rested his leg on the ground, he jerked it and winced. “Yeah, she’s looking at it.” The doors opened as we entered the elevator. It was a standard two rows of six buttons layout with an extra button at the bottom. Obviously twelve floors plus a basement. Ivan pressed the twelfth button as the elevator rose up. “So, if we’re crashing at your place, we should come up with a plan to take on Kim.” I said. “Yeah. Though I doubt my wife will like me mentioning her.” I slightly nodded. Makes sense with what he said about the case. Though my fists tightened as I thought about Kimberly and more importantly, whoever Displaced her. I had a strong idea who it was. If Niko had anything to do with Kimberly’s Displacement, the first thing I’m going to do upon meeting him is to punch him in the- DING! The door opened and took me out of my train of thought. We got out of the elevator and, following five feet, a sharp turn to the left, ten feet, and another sharp turn to the right, we got to Ivan’s unit: 12-3. Ivan put his keys into the lock and jiggled a bit. With a satisfying click, he opened the door. “Mal, I’m home!” Ivan shouted. A woman in a crimson shower robe waltzed in. I have no idea why Ross’s eyes widened other than how gorgeous she looked. Her body filled in the robe as though she just came out of shooting for a modelling catalog, she had smooth, shiny looking red hair and complimenting it were her emerald green eyes. Kids his age normally go gaga over that kind of stuff. “Ivan, welcome… Who are you guys?” She asked us. “Pyrrha?” Ross muttered. Pyrrha… That was what he had shouted when he stopped me from defeating Banno. I made a mental note and introduced myself. “Hello. My name is Kelly Randall. This is my friend Ross. We’re helping Officer Dorian out with a case and he figured we’d rest up after Ross got himself injured.” I nudged Ross as he snapped out of his pubescent gaze. “W-What… O-oh, yeah…” Ross limped over as Mal came over to him. Ross immediately blushed as she sat him on the couch. “Let me take a look…” Mal looked at his knee, then pulled up his pant-leg. “No sign of bruising… Does it hurt when I do this?” Mal touched his knee as Ross flinched. I couldn’t help but let out a snigger at Ross’s predicament. Ivan pulled me aside. “We should let Mal handle Ross while we work out a plan.” I just sniggered more. “Handle… Yeah…” I followed Ivan to the kitchen. It seemed rather clean, albeit a generic white tile floor with steel cabinets, a fridge, and a stove. We sat by a dining table. “So… Kimberly… She’s gonna be a handful.” I said to him. “She just needs to have an intervention. I have to reach out to her and tell her that she should come home.” Ivan told me. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Not to be a spoilsport or anything, but she’s pretty convinced that following a killer robot is the right path for her.” I said. “She’s fallen in with the wrong crowd.” That’s when I facepalmed. “Ivan… she isn’t doing drugs. She’s a fucking assassin that fights for robots bent on dominating mankind. No amount of after school specials is gonna help her.” I sighed. “Kelly, I chase down runaways for a living. I make sure they don’t make the stupid decisions that leaves them with no homes and no lives. Most of the time, they just run in the heat of the moment. They become vulnerable. Perfect prey for a predator.” I bent over as my forehead touched the table. “Stop sounding like some narrator on National Geographic.” I moaned. “Point is, regardless of the circumstances, the scenario is the same: Kimberly ran away, was found by someone who took advantage of her, and is now working for them. The best way to handle this is to get her to understand that she can get away from this.” I pulled my head up and looked at Ivan in the eye. “We tried that. She responded by nearly blowing Ross’ head off. She’s stubborn. I doubt we can talk her down.” As I said that, I noticed a gleam in Ivan’s eyes. “Then try again. I’ve stuck to this case for about three years now, even when everyone else quit. If you don’t have the determination to help her, then I’ll step in.” I scoffed. “Good. Luck.” With that, I patted Ivan on the hand and got up to look at Ross. I saw Ross snoozing on the couch as Mal stroked his head. “It’s a miracle that his knee wasn’t damaged. He’ll be up and walking in the morning.” Mal adjusted her robe. “That’s good. Apologies for crashing for the night.” I said to her. “No worries. If anything, I’m sorry for not being able to accommodate enough blankets for the two of you to rest.” I got a brief smirk before I shook my head. “It’s alright, I’ve gotten used to sleeping on the floor anyways.” I chuckled. She gave a chuckle of her own as she went into the hall. I laid down on the ground. Come morning, we’ll discuss a plan to handle Kimberly. “Apologies for the sudden appearance.” Flash observed the talking face. He remembered how Silverbolt had a similar device, though that one was colored black, whereas this one was more of a metallic silver. Even the LED is different, red instead of yellow. Flash sighed. He remembered how, with the help of Twilight, Silverbolt, and the others, they destroyed the belt. Perhaps this was a new and improved belt? “It’s alright. Just a little startled is all. Hey, can you patch a call to the Wonderbolts? That guy I encountered a month or so ago is back.” Flash noticed the face on the belt closed its ‘eyes’. “Even if I were to call for assistance, they wouldn’t be able to successfully fight the Roidmude, especially a Fusion. This… is going to be risky, but I need you to trust me.” The belt then popped off the dashboard as the car came to a screeching halt. “Uuuh, what’s going on!?” Flash asked. “I’m equipped with the ability to separate the Roidmude from its host, but I need someone to use me. Normally this would be a job for…” The belt hesitated a bit. “… He’s not here though. That’s why… you have to be the one to become Drive!” “… Ooookay?” Flash took the belt off from the dashboard and held him. It took a second before he put him on his waist. He noticed the glove compartment open up. “You’ll need this as well.” Flash saw a bracelet. It too had the silver metal as well as a red button and what looked to be an outlet for something to plug in. “Jeez, I know Professor Silverbolt’s weird, but I didn’t know she was into kids’ shows…” As Flash said that, the belt’s face glared. “Hurry! We don’t have much time!” Flash noticed the road beneath him began to have bullet holes appear. He saw the crimson Roidmude approach him. Suddenly, Flash saw a tiny highway being constructed before him as he saw three cars, a red sports car, a black dune buggy, and a green garbage truck, drive on the highway, each of them honking at Flash. The red car leaped into Flash’s hand. “Rotate the car, place it on the Brace, then start the engine!” The belt instructed. Flash fiddled with the car before he twisted the back, turning it into more of a lever. He placed it on the brace and turned the ignition. The next motion he made felt natural, pushing the car-turned-lever and flicking it. “DRIVE! TYPE… SPEED!” A holographic red ring appeared around Flash as a snazzy song played in the background. Clumps of red armor snapped onto his body as he gained a black under suit. The final piece was a tire that spat out from the car and onto the gap where it fit snug in place. “W-what the hell!? What happened!?" Flash shouted. The Roidmude stopped. “Kamen Rider!?” He asked. “Wait, I’m a what!?” Flash looked to the Roidmude. “Focus! You need to defeat the Roidmude and split him from his host!” The belt said. “… Right.” Flash had images of what sorts of damage a Kamen Rider could do play out in his head. Terrorists, extremists, those who would be willing to kill a teenager just like him to get what they want. And now he’s one of them. The Roidmude fired a dart towards Flash, who managed to dodge out of the way. “Interesting… Despite this being the same Roidmude…” Flash heard the belt talk. “Huh?” Flash looked at it. “His darts aren’t as fast as they used to be. Before, they were faster than we could perceive them, but now, they can be dodged!” As the belt said that, the Roidmude chuckled. “See if you can dodge THIS!” The four silos opened up as four large missiles launched out. “Quick! Use the lever!” As the belt instructed, Flash flicked the car a few times. SPE-SPE-SPEED! Suddenly, the wheel on Flash’s body spun as he became twice, if not thrice as fast. He rolled away from the four missiles and noticed the missiles turned to him. Flash looked ahead and nodded. He ran right at the Roidmude, sidestepping as he noticed the darts firing out of his torso. With one last side-step, Flash was at point blank range. He took a dart to the gut, gave the Roidmude a few quick jabs, then slid between his legs as the four missiles flew right at him. “W-what!?” The Roidmude’s face met the missiles and knocked him across the street. He landed on the hard concrete. Flash took a moment to pull the dart out of his gut. He was lucky that the armor that was adorned on him blocked the attack. For a brief moment, he thought that being a Kamen Rider wasn’t so bad compared to just using the Orange Slices. “Die for me, Kisaragi!” That’s when he remembered… If he were to be a heroic Kamen Rider, then chances are he’d meet his end sooner rather than later. “Turn the key, press the button, and finish him off!” The belt snapped him out of his thinking. “R-right!” Flash did just that and pressed the button on the Shift Brace. As he did, the belt announced: THE FINISHER! Followed by a flick of the Speed Shift Car. FULL THROTTLE!SPEED! The Tridoron drove off and drove towards the Roidmude, only to steer out of the way. Before Flash could say anything, the Tridoron began to do donuts around the Roidmude and soon create a barrier around him. Flash remembered this from the Fall Formal. He ran towards the barrier and leaped. As his legs touched the Tridoron, he sprung off and kicked the Roidmude, then again… and again… and again… On the fifth kick, the Roidmude turned into a blob of digital data before reverting to the Bat-Class Roidmude. The man he fused with fell onto the ground unconscious. “No! I can’t have lost that power…” The Roidmude scrambled, but realized he was stuck. With one last kick to the back, the Roidmude’s body couldn’t take it and after blue bolts of lightning sprang out from him, the Roidmude exploded, its number, 091, exploded seconds later. The Tridoron stopped as Flash landed on his feet. With only a few moments of silence, Flash pressed the red button on his Shift Brace again and his armor came apart. “Nice dri-” “Zip it. You didn’t tell me I’d become…” Flash remembered the images he was shown back at Everton. “I’m not sure why you’re upset, but time was of the essence. That Roidmude needed to be stopped.” Flash thought back to his failed attempt to defeat the Roidmude. He took a bit before he nodded. “I understand, but…” Flash took off the belt, walked over to the Tridoron, and placed the belt back where he found it. “I don’t want to become a monster.” “W-what? What are you talking about?!” He could see the belt’s face change, now with an, admittedly cute, angry look with frowled eyebrows. Flash went over to Shay and picked him up, only to toss him into the Tridoron. “Take him to the cops.” Flash sighed and closed the door. He walked away as the Tridoron got started and drove off. He took out the picture of the Barons and looked dead center at Cloudy Kite. “… Dad…” Flash muttered. That’s when he noticed something on his hand… From afar, the Dragon looked at Flash from atop a building. She stood next to 050 and Svengallop. “Even with the powers of Fusion, Shoot failed to kill a Kamen Rider, let alone just a boy. What a waste of potential.” She said. “Not a complete waste.” 050 chuckled. The Dragon turned around, eyes blood red. “What was the point of sending Shoot if all he’d accomplish is squat!?” She glared. “A simple one, really.” 050 held up a dart, the very same kind of darts that 091 used, though instead of pink like his originals, it was dark red. The Dragon smirked. “Clever. Let’s hope this gamble pays off.” The Dragon looked back to Flash, as he began to scratch the area where he was shot. As morning came, I woke up only to find that Ross had a laptop set up on the table. Ivan was on the couch. “Ah, Kelly, you’re awake! Good. I can now teach you guys about our opponent.” Ross said. The way he set up the computer brought to mind Kyu Saijou, the tech genius who would assist Shinnosuke and the police department. “Huh, you have a plan?” I asked him. “Somewhat. I took a moment to binge the rest of RWBY just to get an idea of how Kim fights.” I was about to ask why RWBY had to do with Kim, but as I looked at the screen, I looked at the show in action. Particularly, a fight between a girl who looked all too much like Kim and some… tiny girl who held an umbrella and had a color scheme that greatly resembled ice cream? And I thought Super Sentai had weird villains. “Assuming that Kim is a Displaced of Yang, her powers would also be the same. As such, her Semblance relies on damage. The creator likened it to a super meter in a fighting game. The more damage she gets…” He clicked on the seek bar on the video as it cut to a different fight between Yang and a man with silver hair and a gray and black jump suit. After he had shot dozens of wind bullets at Yang, she managed to get up and defeat him in the matter of seconds. “The stronger she gets.” I said. “Yeah! So, we’re left with some options. One,” he skipped the video back a bit to when the two were evenly matched. Despite that, though, I could see moments where the man’s kicks connected, “we can overwhelm her with kicks. From the bit of research I did, Kamen Riders are known for their kicks. The second,” he played the fight with the ice-cream lady again. She, like the kicking dude, clearly overwhelmed Yang, but the core difference was… “We use Yang’s power against her. Use only weak moves, and she won’t be able to dish it out in kind.” “I like the idea, Ross, but you forget one thing. The Kamen Riders are known for kicks, yes, but a Rider Kick is about as hard as ten tons. Even more. Same goes for punches. We’re better off punching her without the Rider powers, but her gauntlets are literally shotguns. One hit from her and we’re chunky salsa!” I said. Ross frowned and sighed. “Well, if kicks and held-back punches aren’t enough… We could always…” Ross hesitated to click near the very end of the video’s bar. With a sharp wince, he played a third clip. I was unaware of the context, but I was too scared to ask why the hell Yang exploded into a fire ball, had the scream of a banshee, and leaped towards her opponent with such ferocity. And also, I had no time to ask before Ivan and I saw what Ross was getting to as her third opponent merely unsheathed a katana and sliced her. “Overpower her.” Within a few seconds, we saw as one of Yang’s arms was severed in the slash and knocked her out in the process. Ivan and I looked to each other. The dropped jaw he had, the widened eyes, his complete lack of speech? They all grew the moment he saw my grin. By the time I noticed the feeling of my muscles stuck into “smile mode”, I forced my lips back to normal. The image of the severed arm brought back memories of one of my fights as Gold Drive, where I had Banno take over to try and get Rainbow Dash’s arm free from a bracelet. “Great minds think alike!” “If you could find the will to be ruthless, then you'd be freed from all your stress in an instant.” I’m becoming just like Ryoma and Banno… The image of Yang losing an arm played out in my head, the ultimate question for the fight wasn’t how to beat Kim, but rather how much longer until I end up actually cutting off a limb? Flash looked at a strange mark that appeared on his hand: It was a tattoo… Red lines forming what looked to be a crescent, with the center top line breaking apart and forming devil horns. In the middle was a cyan eye that was above a smaller crimson crescent. Dazzling Adagio Arc 3: What Will Quell These Flames?The following hour, Ross and I returned to CHS. Ivan went with us as well, but he decided to explore the city and try to find Kim. The image of Yang’s amputation persisted in my head. It was something I tried to shake off, though it still lingered in my head. Not because of the image itself, but because of how easy it would be for me to actually do it. As it stands, Banno is still stuck in the Lapis Lazuli program. I could repair his belt, but that would no longer be needed with Krim out and about. All that’s left is to see if Mach and Chaser were in the area and Banno will no longer be needed. While that idea helped alleviate some anxiety I had, it still didn’t fix the other problem. I had slowly and surely acted like Ryoma Sengoku throughout my time here. What’s to say that I wouldn’t succumb to my dark urges? I then noticed some people doodling in the gym… Wait… What? I thought we were done the Fall Formal! I walked in, then tried to scope out where I could find Celestia or even Applejack. “SUNSET SHIMMER! OVER HERE!” Well, that didn’t take too long. I looked over to where Pinkie Pie shouted from and immediately went over. As I did, so too did Sunset. We both had an awkward look at each other. Ross came not too long after. “So… Mind if I ask what the f… hell is going on here?” I asked Applejack. “It’s goin’ to be the first ever Canterlot music festival!” Applejack said. “We just had a festival though.” I said with a strained voice. “Well… Before I ruined it…” Sunset looked back as she saw students staring back at her… Glad I’m not the only one who was keeping a close eye on her. “It’s okay. You can change now.” Ross said. Of course, he’d be kissing her ass. “Besides, the music festival is going to help pay for the damages that was caused.” Fluttershy added. “Ah, so trick the people into paying for the expenses via donations. I like it.” As I said that, Applejack went over and elbowed my rib. “Thought ya’d be a little nicer without Mr. Robot Belt on your waist.” Applejack said. “He’s his own person, Applejack. He has nothing to do with how I am.” I said to him. “Not to mention that the Grimm are responsible for most of the damage.” Ross added. “By the way, how did Celestia and Luna explain that to the media? I’m sure the public would love to listen to how werewolves raided the school.” As I said that, the group looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah, that’s the weird thing. The news has been on top of the Roidmude reports ever since a bunch of them showed up at the school, but there’s never been any mention of these… Grimm.” Rainbow Dash said. “And, if we’re being honest, darling, we don’t even know what they are.” Rarity said. “All I know is that they’re edgy Pokémon. Ross knows a lot more.” As I said that, everyone turned to Ross, who sighed and spoke up. “So, there’s these monsters from another world called Grimm. They care only for destroying humanity and their creations. A sure-fire way to bring them over is to emit negative emotions or do negative actions. To put simply, get mad, they come. Do evil things? They come.” Sunset began to tear up. “I did this… This is all my fault.” Sunset huddled and hid her face on her legs, then began to cry. Ross went over and patted her on the back. “Well, this just gives us a chance to show off my new band.” Rarity looked to Rainbow Dash. “Your band?” Rarity asked. “Yeah, my idea to make a band with you guys in it. That and I’m pretty much the lead.” Rainbow Dash said. I walked away as the group began to discuss matters. That’s when I noticed Flash Sentry snoozing at a corner. I went over and kicked his foot. “Oi, wake up.” Flash instantly jolted awake. “Huh!? What?! Oh… It’s you.” Flash said before he got up. “Rough night’s sleep?” I asked him. “… Something like that. Hey, your car did some crazy things last night…” Flash said. “I can’t really call it my car anymore. Guess you met Krim?” I asked. “You know him?” Flash asked back. “It’s… complicated. Point is, he hijacked my ride and now it’s his. Can’t really do anything about it.” I shrugged. “He’s a new program you made for your belt, right? He definitely needs some bugs worked out.” Flash said. “Nah, I didn’t make him. In a way, he made himself.” I said. “… What? I don’t understand.” Flash said. “Again, complicated. Also, you saw my car?” I asked him. “Yeah. Last night, downtown. He even made me a Kamen Rider.” I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, that’s cool.” I said. “It’s not! Look, I don’t know this Krim dude is, but I don’t want him to involve me in your fights.” Flash said. “You were doing great at the Fall Formal, the fuck are you talking about?” I asked him. “I want to help fight, but not as a Kamen Rider. I know I’ll be held back for that, but I’d rather not be a monster.” Flash said. What is he on about? Not being a monster? I mean, yeah, Kamen Riders tend to have connections to the monsters, but for the most part, they’re like watered down versions of monsters. That said, I couldn’t really fault him. “Alright, but sooner or later, you will find a plateau in your abilities.” I said. “I don’t care…” He paused before he spoke up. “Hey, you know when Twilight’s coming back?” Flash asked. I shook my head. “Figures…” He sunk his head. “I’ll leave you to rest, looks like you need one.” I said to him before taking my leave. I went to the hallways and cleared my head, only for my phone to buzz. I took it out and saw it was a text from Celestia advising me to show some new students around. I gave a sigh and asked where they would be. Once I got the location, I went there. It was there I noticed a trio of girls who were just standing in the shade, two of them had their arms folded with a cocky smirk. “… Okay. I know where this is going.” I muttered as the three girls stepped out of the shadow and struck a pose. I didn’t even need to see that they all had the same blood red jewel around their necks. “Equestrians, I presume?” I asked them. “You… could say that.” My question seemed to confuse the purple girl, almost ruining whatever cocky attitude she was trying to imitate from her golden-skinned leader. Out of the three, the only one who I could trust is the blue-skinned girl, who had a meek, bent-knee, hands behind back pose that made her easier to crack than the others. “Well, you’re not the only ones. Name’s Professor Silverbolt, I’m the school’s scientist.” I decided to keep the cards close to my chest and waited to see who these people were, though, from first impressions alone, I knew they were bad to the bone. I led them across the school, introducing them to the various faculties. The girls had the decency to give me their names. Adagio was the golden girl, Aria was the girl with purple twin tails, and Sonata was the meek one. So far, they didn’t seem to play their hand. Either they were good at poker faces or I had a bad read on them. Given how I had to contend with Sunset Shimmer, I was doubting the latter option. “Hey, what’s this?” I noticed Sonata point to one of the posters that was put up for the music festival. “Oh, that? Just some concert made to wring people dry of their money. Get rich quick, y’know?” I asked. “A concert, huh?” Adagio grinned, then looked to her posse, who smiled back. Their smugness was too much for my liking. “Oooh! Can we join!? We love music!” Sonata said. “Yeah, if Celestia says it’s cool, you can join.” Eh, maybe I misjudged them. “Nice! Oooh, singing is our strong suit! I mean, it’s what we do when we need people to do what we want!” Bingo! Thank you meekass Sonata! That ‘you’re killing us here, bro!’ look from Adagio sells it “What she means to say is that we-” Yeah, yeah, salvage this all you want, Adagio… “Have the ability to hypnotize people into doing your bidding. Yeah, yeah, I got it.” I put my fists up and gave a nod. Adagio sighed, then opened her mouth, the two girls following. “Aaaaaaahhhh~!” They sang a melodious chorus to me and suddenly… I froze. They patted me on the back and as they left… Well, I guess I was wrong about them after all. They seemed like good people. I relaxed my muscles, not even knowing why I was going to attack them, and went about my merry way. “So that’s where that golden soldier is?” The Dark Swan asked the Roidmude as they stood on a tall rooftop overlooking CHS. “Yeah. A full-scale assault will do us no good. Reinforcements proved that it would be disastrous. The better approach is the art of subtlety.” 050 responded. “The Sirens have already infiltrated the school. All we need now is for our mark to infect the others with Seeker’s tattoos and the school will be rife with negative energy.” Svengallop said. “Enough for the Grimm to come… It’ll be a buffet for them.” The Dark Swan smirked. “Not really.” 050 added. “The wonder about alternate universes is that there’s so many different nasties.” 050 said before he took out a pearl oyster shell. “Ew! No! I’m not wiping my ass with that!” The Dark Swan said. “What? No! Inside rests a monster who craves food. Obviously, we can’t feed humans to it, lest we get people involved… But Grimm…” As he said that, the Dark Swan began to smirk. “And if it eats a lot of it… Then it could perhaps be a greater sum of Grimm…” He held his dagger before giving a smirk. “Exactly… If we were to fuse that with a Roidmude, we’d be unstoppable.” 050 said. “Now… let’s ring the dinner bell.” Svengallop held the red Viral Core as 050 fused with him, transforming into the Seeker Roidmude. He then snapped his fingers. As I was about to go back to the girls and talk to them about the lovely trio I had just met, I suddenly heard the sounds of battle happening in the very gym I left. I ran back to the gym, only to see students fighting against one another. One of them fell by my feet. With a sigh, I casually held the student’s hand with my foot and had their palm splayed out. There, I saw a red outline of a half moon with a small, almost completed blue circle. “Fuck. Seeker’s here.” I muttered. The Seeker Roidmude was perhaps one of the more ruthless of the Roidmudes, capable of turning people against each other by amplifying their negative emotions. The scarier part was what the Roidmude was able to do. Working with the daughter of a criminal, they gaslighted Kamen Rider Mach, Shijima Gou, into almost becoming a murderer. With that kind of mind game and the fact that the Roidmudes retained their memories, Seeker was perhaps one of the most feared Roidmudes I planned to face. Immediately, I looked for Sunset and the gang. Thankfully, I didn’t need to go far. “Kelly!” Ross called to me as I saw the group. “Kelly, there’s these three girls and they’ve brainwashed the students into fighting each other!” “Huh? Oh! You met them! Well, hate to say it, but this isn’t their doing.” I shook my head. “Kelly, we saw it with our own eyes. These creepy girls with red gems came in and started singing about wanting a battle of the bands. Then, next thing we knew, these guys started attacking one another!” Applejack said. “Well, that’s awfully nice of them to spice up the fest. Though, this is the work of a Roidmude.” As I said that, Sunset looked at me oddly. “… They brainwashed you too, didn’t they?” Sunset asked. “Naaaaah, they’re cool. Let them do their little battle of the bands. What’s the harm in friendly competition?” That’s when Rarity took out her compact mirror and showed me my eyes. Now, I had some good ol’ chocolate eyes, but now? They’re full on green with evil… Except I don’t have a large mecha Godzilla in samurai armor or a cool ass dagger. “… Fuck. Welp, I can’t fix that. The Roidmudes’ brainwashing often has a countermeasure because their membrane is made of a compound similar to the cerebral cortex-” “English!” Rainbow Dash said. “Roidmude brainwashing, I can handle. Magic brainwashing? No siree! If I was truly brainwashed by these girls like you said, I can’t help you.” I said to them. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH! TWICE! I turned to see Flash Sentry pull out the two mini-Daidaimarus before a couple of students and sighed. “This, though? I can handle. You girls get somewhere safe, figure out how to reverse the magic brainwashing, and for the love of God, wear some gloves!” I said. “What about you? Your Drivers are busted!” Ross added. “This is a kid who’s lost all sense of rational. All I gotta do is tire him out. Just hope I can remember my taekwondo classes.” I said as I got into a stance. Before Ross could say anything, his phone rang, as did Flash’s. While Flash didn’t pay attention to his phone, Ross did, and instantly got it. “What is it?” Ross asked. After a moment, he spoke up. “On my way!” Ross hung up. “That was Oxton, there’s Grimm coming to the school!” “Then go get ‘em, tiger!” I said before I instantly gagged. “No, no, I take back the tiger comment.” As Ross and the others left, I immediately ran to Flash and did a small hop, kicking him in the face as it stunned him. “Ow! Out of the way, Professor!” Flash held his two blades as I shook my head. “It’s a battle of the bands, not a battle royale. You’re not allowed to kill people.” I shook my head. “But isn’t that the best way to wipe out the competition?” Flash asked. “Not unless the guy running it is President Snow.” As my reference confused him, I took my opportunity to axe kick his shoulder, the sudden pain causing him to drop one of his daggers. Immediately, I picked it up and clashed with his other dagger. “Must you always be a pain, teach?” Flash growled. “Wouldn’t be a teacher if I wasn’t. Now, pop quiz!” I kicked him right in the balls. Turns out, when your negative emotions are amped up to eleven, so too does pain. As Flash keeled over and winced in pain, I took the liberty of removing his Driver from his waist. “You be a good little boy and play by the rules. I’ll hold onto this in the meantime.” I was careful not to let his hand touch mine as I quickly took the Driver away and leaped back. Immediately, I ran out of the gym, making sure to pull the fire alarm on the way out so as to trigger the sprinkler system and get the authorities involved. The next part of the plan was to hide the Driver so that Flash doesn’t get to it. After that, I play the role of unsuspecting dumbass. With the knowledge that I’ve been brainwashed, I figured it was time to pull a trick from Gou’s book, in which, shortly after the Seeker Roidmude incident, he faked joining with the Roidmudes by pretending to be brainwashed. Of course, I had the added benefit of actually being brainwashed… It’s… weird. Like, I know I’m brainwashed and yet, I still feel my brain being… well, washed. I remembered the song they sang, which became a small command: “we’re just nice girls, don’t question it”. And, I guess that’s what I’m going to be doing. The most I can do now is sit back and wait for the others to find a way to reverse this. While I’m no use with this case, Seeker was someone I can handle. All I gotta do is make some repairs… Ross rode on the Rose Attacker after he got the girls to safety. According to Oxton, the Grimm were sighted just before downtown. He took the highway to get to downtown quicker. Vrrrroooom! Just then, Ross noticed a golden motorcycle behind him… Bumblebee. Yang’s bike… Or, Kim in this case. Ross tried to steer in a way that would disorientate her, though she managed to see through it and just drove forward. Once Ross was in her sight, she punched forward with her gauntlet, firing a small fire bomb that knocked Ross upwards. As the motorcycle he was on reverted to a padlock, Ross wrapped himself in his cape and flew down to the pavement, Crescent Rose fully deployed. Kim swerved to a halt, then got off. “See your leg has healed.” She said. “Took some rest, but I’m right as rain now.” Ross replied. “Gonna break it all over again.” Kim smirked before she cracked her knuckles. “Followed by your neck.” Ross slammed Crescent Rose’s top against the pavement to act as a stand for its sniper mode. “Long range beats melee range, miss.” Ross said. “I prefer to be called sir!” As Kim ran in, Ross noticed something leap in between them. “NO! STOP!” It was Shadow… No… Blake. She looked at Kim, then winced. “… Yang…” “Oh no…” Ross muttered as Blake took off the bone-white mask she wore. She stared at Kim, tears in her eyes. She trembled before Kim, completely defenseless. “I’m sorry… But… I had to leave… I didn’t want you to be hurt!” Blake cried out. Kim just blankly stared at her. “I have no care for you.” As Kim said that, Blake lightly winced. “All I see is a traitor…” As Blake looked at Kim with fear, Kim stepped over and shoved Blake out of the way. “That must be killed.” “Blake!” Ross ran to her side before Kim grabbed him and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Ross barely got up as Kim kicked his face. Bits of blood spilled onto the road before Kim cocked her gauntlet. “End of the line.” She fired... At an empty patch of road. Kim was confused before she noticed a blue light that had scooped Ross and Blake before setting them back up. As the light faded, Oxton stood next to Ross and Blake. “Tracer! What are you doing here!?” Blake asked. “Don’t worry, love. The calvary’s here!” With that, Oxton ran in, firing her pulse pistols at Kim, who deflected them with her metal arm. As Kim was distracted with that, Ross flew in and jabbed Kim in the gut. She managed to tank it and punch Ross down. Just before she was ready to put Ross down for the count, Oxton got into close range and smacked her across the face. Kim staggered as Ross got up. “Prioritize on kicks!” Ross said as Oxton nodded. The two pulled off a synchronized front kick and while she blocked them, the force of it knocked her off balance. Ross used Crescent Rose as a pole vault to dropkick Kim as Oxton ran and slid across the ground to do a sliding kick. Both these knocked her on the ground. However, she quickly turned herself around and let her face hit the pavement. The resulting impact hurt her, but as Ross predicted, it also powered her. Kim got up and immediately countered a kick from Ross with a punch to the knee. Ross winced in pain before he reeled back. “Seems I found a weak spot…” She then eyed Oxton’s chest plate. “Make that two…” Easily, she predicted Oxton’s attack and punched her square in the chest, breaking the core that powered it. As it dimmed and faded out, Oxton suddenly disappeared in a flash of violet light… Then reappeared in a different spot, before she reappeared at a different spot. Ross was familiar with this sort of teleportation. It was similar to how Displaced were summoned. It didn’t distill the shock he felt seeing Oxton seemingly vanish from the face of the earth. “Yang! Stop this! If it’s because of me, then I’m sorry!” Blake cried out. Ross turned to her. “That’s not Yang! She’s like me, dressed up to be like her!” Ross said. Blake looked at Kim’s metal arm, then remembered… “You’re right… She lost her other arm…” Blake muttered before she got up. “So, we have a fraidy cat and a limper…” Kim chuckled and shrugged. “This is all too easy…” Kim said before she leaped into the air. She remained in the air for a moment while her body eclipsed the sun. She then slammed onto the ground like a meteor, smashing the asphalt apart and knocking Ross into the air. She followed it up with a jumping punch and a slam that knocked Ross down. As Ross struggled to get up, Kim sped up to Ross and decked him across the face, knocking him down. Blake fired at Kim with the gun in her sword’s hilt. They barely scratched her skin and all it did was make her the target. Kim charged at Blake, who reacted with a slash across the chest. While it cut through her jacket and shirt, her aura tanked the blow to her skin. With Kim now within arms reach, Blake tried to get the strawberry-themed padlock before Kim grabbed her, her metal arm squeezing Blake while the gauntleted arm was pinned to her chin. As Ross got up, he saw Kim holding Blake. “One more step and she’s chunky salsa!” Kim said. “Blake!” Ross screamed out before he clutched his knee in pain. “Now… If you want her to live, it’s best you use Crescent Rose on yourself and die.” Kim said. Ross was hesitant, though Kim shook her head. “You have three… two… one-” As Blake closed her eyes and Kim readied to end Blake… BANG! A bullet whizzed past Ross and Kim, with the bullet being so close to her that it pierced her eardrum. “AAAH!” She clutched her ear in pain as Blake, now let go, ran off. Ross noticed Ivan standing next to Ross, holding a police standard pistol with a smoking barrel. “Kimberly… It’s time to return home…” Ivan said. “My name isn’t Kimberly! It’s Yang!” Kim shouted. “No! That’s who you are dressed up to be! You’re a Displaced! We can help you!” Ross said. “I don’t need help! All I need is to serve the Roidmude King, and that means eliminating all threats to our kind!” Kim said. “That’s not who you are though! You’re Kimberly Locksley, you graduated from Beverly Hills High and on the night of prom, you vanished.” As Ivan said that, Kimberly began to clutch one side of her head. At first, Ross assumed she still had a hearing problem, but then he noticed that the apparent pain was behind her ear. Ivan put away his gun and walked towards Kimberly. “Please, come home… Everyone misses you…” Ivan extended a hand to Kim… However, she began to mutter as her hair began to glow fiery yellow. “Shut up…” Ivan stopped dead in his tracks. “Shut up… Shut up… SHUUUUT UP!” She screamed and fired a blast at Ross and Ivan… VROOM! Only for the Tridoron to intervene and block the hit. “I came just in time!” Krim said as the door opened. “Hurry! Get in!” Ivan looked at the belt inside, then reached in to grab it. “W-what are you doing!?” “Krim! Get the others to safety, I’m gonna use this to fend her off…” Ivan said. “Wait, what do you mean?” Krim asked. “It’s clear that something’s wrong with her… Kelly’s right… Words alone can’t get through to her… That’s why…” Ivan put the belt on his waist, followed shortly by getting the bracelet and wearing it. “I need to get her to understand me!” “You’re… in top gear now…” Krim said. “Yeah… I’m done thinking about it. It’s time I close this case.” Ivan stood firm as Ross and Blake hopped into the Tridoron. Krim remotely drove the Tridoron away from the battle that would ensue. “In that case… START YOUR ENGINE!” Krim announced as a miniature highway was constructed around Ivan. The Speed Shift Car drove in the center of the highway, driving towards Ivan’s hand. He grabbed it, then turned the ignition. Swiveling the rear end of the Car, Ivan plugged it into the Brace and pulled it like a lever. “HENSHIN!” Ivan shouted. “DRIVE! TYPE… SPEED!” The holographic forcefield appeared around Ivan as clumps of armor snapped onto him, followed by a tire that wrapped around his armor. All while quick jazz played in the background. The inner engines of Ivan’s armor vroomed as his headlight-like eyes shined white. “If you’re not gonna answer to me, then answer to us. We’re Kamen Rider Drive…” Ivan crouched and got ready to sprint. “And you’re comin’ along for the ride!” Krim added as Ivan ran towards Kim within two seconds. Kim responded by blocking the punch with her own. The two then grabbed each other as Ivan ran, dragging Kim along. They crashed into an abandoned warehouse as Ivan tossed her across the ground. Kim rolled over and steadied herself while Ivan leaned on one leg. “Start handing me some Shift Cars, Krim.” Ivan said as a fleet of Shift Cars drove to Ivan. He picked up one, the Max Flare Shift Car, before he swapped out Speed for it and activated it. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MAX FLARE!” His tire was replaced with a spiky flaming wheel. The wheel spun as Ivan flicked the lever a few times. “FLA-FLA-FLARE!” It generated enough flames for Ivan to fling fireballs at Kim’s own fireballs. They ran across the warehouse, throwing projectiles at each other. Each one missed their mark. It was to the point where they ran to the edge of the warehouse. Once Ivan realized there was a sudden stop, Kim took her advantage and landed a hit on Ivan’s chest. The force of the hit knocked him onto his knees. “Nnngh!” Ivan grunted as the Wild Shift Car approached him, with the Steering Sword attached to the top. “Ivan, let’s keep her on her toes by switching types!” Krim advised as Ivan took the Wild Shift Car and swapped it out. “DRIVE! TYPE…WILD!” Hiphop beats began to play as black clusters of armor wrapped around Ivan’s form, changing the sports car motif of Type Speed to a dune buggy theme. Another blast came Ivan’s way, though he blocked it with his shoulder, right where the tire would come and snap into place. He stood up, Steering Sword in hand. He swung his sword and deflected the following blasts from Kim before he ran close to her. “Hmm… This works like a steering wheel?” Ivan asked, then turned the wheel a few times. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN!” Just as Kim was about to land a blow on Ivan, he drifted out of the way and struck at her side. He slashed two more times. On the last drift, Ivan picked up the Rumble Dump Shift Car and loaded it into the Shift Brace. “TIRE EXCHANGE!RUMBLE DUMP!” A yellow tire came to replace Wild’s tire and long with it came a large drill. Kim and Ivan punched at the same time, though the drill overpowered her metal arm and shattered it, revealing her normal arm underneath. She was knocked over as Ivan switched out Rumble Dump for Midnight Shadow. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MIDNIGHT SHADOW!” A large purple shuriken replaced Rumble Dump and, instantly, four copies of Ivan appeared, all of which threw large, purple aural shurikens at Kim. She rolled out of the way and punched one of the copies, which disappeared. The remaining three locked on and threw shurikens at her. She tried to block it with her arm, but the sudden force flung her back. She then looked at her arm and saw the metal casing on it was gone. “How!? No one’s able to penetrate this kind of metal!” She exclaimed. The copies soon merged with the real Ivan as he walked towards her. “Because no one tried. But they didn’t have my determination before, and right now, I’m in top gear.” He tried to lend her a hand, but she retaliated with a blast from her shotgun gauntlet. Ivan blocked it with the Steering Sword and as Kim ran in to melee range, he continually blocked it with the Steering Sword. He then turned it around and had Kim punch the button right after he turned the wheel. “TURN! DRIFT ROTATION!” Ivan spun around and slashed Kim across the gut. She backed up, though her breath was coming short. “Give it up! I don’t want to hurt you further!” Ivan said to her. “I don’t think you had hurt her.” Krim said. “What do you mean?” Ivan asked. “A person put through that much battle would at least show some bruises, but she’s able to fully function.” As Krim said that, Ivan recalled how Ross mentioned that he and Kim had a forcefield called Aura that would block wounds from being damaging. “We might need to draw her power out a little longer.” Ivan said. “Right, switch to Technic!” Krim said as Ivan noticed a green garbage truck. He took it and placed it in the Shift Brace. “DRIVE! TYPE…TECHNIC!” Dynamic music played as green armor replaced his black, making him more appear like a garbage truck. A tire hit his chest as Ivan looked down and noticed his chest cavity was the tire. “WHAT THE HELL!?” Ivan freaked out. “Calm down! It’s not actually in your chest!” This distraction gave Kim the advantage to knock Ivan down with a punch to the face. As Ivan rolled over, he quickly grabbed Road Winter and loaded it in. “TIRE EXCHANGE!ROAD WINTER!” The result gave him a tire that, from a bird’s eye view, looked like a snowman. When the head portion loaded into the wheel, the body folded downward, revealing a snowflake design. Ivan then flicked the Shift Car’s lever a few times. “WIN-WIN-WINTER!” A stream of frost sprayed out of the snowflake, disorientating Kim. Ivan saw that, despite the rough change in temperature, her aura was able to tank it. Still, it gave him an opening for the next Shift Car. “TIRE EXCHANGE!FUNKY SPIKE!” The snowman wheel was replaced by, as the name suggested, a spiky wheel. He got up, grabbed Kim, and had the wheel spin, cutting through most of her aura before he let go and kicked her to the ground. “There, that should take care of it.” Ivan said. Though, Kim got up and slammed her fists together, exploding into flames and setting her hair on fire. “Crap! That’s what I feared!” Ivan stood firm and anticipated her charged attacks. One punch from her sent Funky Spike’s wheel flying and caused a small dent in his form. He fell down on his back as Kim loomed over him. “Damn it… There’s… no way I can…” “Ivan, I’m not sure what this power is, but it seems similar to an ability I’ve seen before. If that’s the case, I believe I have the counter for it. Though, it’s going to be costly…” Krim said. Kim tried to step on Ivan, only for him to roll away. “Do it! I’m not giving up on Kim for a second!” As Ivan said that, the Dead Heat Shift Car came by. “Alright, but you have to be quick about it… The longer you fight with this, the higher chance you’ll be stuck in a berserker state.” Krim said. “I’ll take the risk if it means saving her!” Ivan then placed the Shift Car into the brace, causing the belt to shoot out red lighting to the Brace. “DRIVE! TYPE… DEAD HEAT!” Ivan’s body coursed with red lightning as two wheels circled around Ivan. They danced around him before they collapsed on him, changing his armor quite significantly in contrast to the other armors, having a red chassis over a white, fully detailed undersuit. The only similarity was the tire acting as a sash, borrowed from Type Speed’s armor, though the key difference was a smaller wheel that had a gauge on the hub. Once the armor was completed, Ivan gave out a shout as several explosions went off behind him. “Keep changing all you want, I’m going to kill you regardless!” Kim punched with her shotgun gauntlet, only for it to hit square in the chest without damaging Ivan at all. “That won’t happen, Kim… You’re better than that!” Steam was still flowing from Ivan’s armor before it glowed a soft red. Ivan then punched Kim with a red lightning powered fist that knocked her back a bit. “This can’t be… My Semblance is supposed to make me invincible!” Kim said. “Not when you rely on it too much… I’m able to predict your next move now!” As though to prove it, he correctly guessed which fist Kim was gonna use and smashed it with his own, sending red lightning from his hand to hers. While Kim landed some hits on him, they did nothing to wear him down, though the same was true for Ivan. “Careful! The more you hit her, the stronger she gets! If she hits you enough, you’re gonna go berserk!” Krim warned Ivan. “So be it! It’s my duty to bring Kim home… and I’m going to fulfill it!” As Ivan said that, the gauge on his shoulder went to maximum as the tire shattered, now showing a red cracked outline. Ivan’s eyes flashed white, blinding Kim for a bit while he lands the next few strikes. Kim retaliated with strikes of her own. The resulting combination of hits and strikes resulted in lightning blasting throughout the warehouse and causing several explosions around them. A hit from both of them knocked each other back. The two took a moment to breathe before Kim ran to strike. Ivan responded in kind with a turn of the ignition and a press on the Brace. “DEAD HEAT!” As the two blows struck each other in the chest, their respective fists landed explosive hits, though the two remained still. Lightning sparked between the two of them before they were engulfed in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, Ivan was back to his human form, kneeling on one knee as Kim stood for a moment before she fell on her stomach, unconscious. “I… did it…” Ivan weakly said. He approached Kim and moved her hair back to check her pulse. It was still beating. “Wait, Ivan… I think I see something… Pull her hair back a little more, right where the back of her ear is.” Krim said. Ivan did just that and even folded the lobe of her ear. That’s when he saw a brand in the shape of a snowflake. “It can’t be… Freeze is involved!” “What?” Ivan asked. “Her memories are altered by a Roidmude known as Freeze. There’s an antidote for that, but we need someone to replicate it. I think Silverbolt will be able to do it!” Krim noticed Ivan was grunting in pain. “But first, Mad Doctor! Come over here!” Ivan winced. With a Shift Car named that, he can only expect a world of pain. I went to the library and put away Flash’s Sengoku Driver in a drawer. Maybe as a pet project, I could see what makes it tick and what separates it from my Sengoku Driver. Once I closed the drawer, I heard someone. “Ah… Finally, huh, Kelly?” I jumped as I saw Banno’s belt on the desk, fully lit. “Banno! I thought you were broken!” I said. “I was, but thankfully, your program didn’t account for my form taking damage to the point of shutdown. As such, while I returned to the Lapis Lazuli Program like you programmed it to, it opened a back door to the Driver. With free access to the Driver, I was able to repair myself. I can now freely come back and forth as I please. Credit to where it’s due, I can’t do anything else. You seemed to install countermeasures just for this occasion, I take it.” Banno asked. “Yeah… You can’t be on anyone’s waist but mine and you certainty can’t transform on your own without explicit approval except from the owner and no, you cannot outright hijack their body like you did with Sunset.” I said. “You think outside the box… I like that. Were you not so annoying an obstacle, I’d call you my greatest pupil.” Banno said. “You tried to murder me the moment you broke free, I think we’re past formalities.” I muttered. “Yes, yes, I won’t lie about that, but we need to take care of the Roidmudes first. Sword has returned.” Banno said. “As is Seeker. Of the two, Seeker’s the more dangerous one to look out for. He’s already brainwashed the student body into fighting one another. We deal with him first, then Sword.” I said. “Hmmm…” Banno hummed. “What is it?” I asked. “There’s something else, isn’t there? You don’t have to hide it from me…” Banno said. I gulped as I remembered Krim was now active. Even if he’s in transit and is trying to find a new Drive, he’s now in play… If Banno finds out of his existence, who’s to say he wouldn’t prioritize destroying him over everything else? No, scratch that. If Krim found out I currently have Banno and that I’m Gold Drive, who’s to say he wouldn’t prioritize destroying me over everything else? Dazzling Adagio Arc 4: Why Did Niko Displace Kim?“… I’ve been brainwashed.” I told Banno. Technically, it was the truth. “Not by Seeker, though. Apparently, there’s these singing ladies that made me unable to fully interact with them without me passing them off as nice girls.” “… Pffftahahahahahahahaha! Are you serious!? This is hilarious!” Banno said. “Banno…” I muttered. “No, no, let me revel in this. You have the intellect of Ryoma Sengoku and yet you ended up being fooled by three girls?” Banno asked. “I did try to fight them.” My voice was reduced to a mumble. “And now, you’ve come crawling back to me, is that it? I should let you learn from this idiocy. Fix up your other Drivers and use them instead of me.” Banno said. Damn it, guess I had no other choice. “Banno, as a machine, you’re unable to be manipulated by magic. I can try to fix the Sengoku or Genesis Drivers, but I won’t be able to properly fight those… sirens.” Decided to give them some sort of nickname. “I put you on, let you take over my body, and you can do whatever you want with them. Cattle prods, trapping them in Slowdown, turn them into data, whatever. The sooner they’re gone, the better.” “I’m still unconvinced. You’ve always seen me as a tool, even back when it was just the two of us against the Roidmudes. Now that I’m free from the confines of your waist, what reason is there for me to help you now?” Banno asked. Damn, so giving him free reign didn’t work. Time for plan B. “Banno, these sirens are likely going to take over the world. As someone who is as ruthless as yourself, are you really going to let a bunch of girls beat you to the punch through song?” I said. “The moment I stop them will also be the moment you’ll try to stop me. You’re on your own for this one…” Before I can tell him anything else, the golden LEDs on the belt shut off all at once. I tried to open the Lapis Lazuli program, but it automatically closed. Damn it! Before I can do anything else, the doors opened. I quickly stowed the Banno Driver away. I turned around to see Ivan hauling in Kim. “Kelly, we need you to make a serum.” Ivan said. “How much do you know of Freeze?” Krim asked. I sighed. “Let me guess, the memories of her past were frozen?” I asked. “Exactly!” I got a shiver of joy when I heard Krim say that. “I’ll tell you what you need for the antidote.” I nodded, then left the desk where Banno remained motionless and hopefully unaware of Krim’s presence. It was Ross’s first time being at the Wonderbolts Academy. He sat with Blake in a hallway as the two waited to hear from either Cam or Joey. The memory of Miss Oxton disappearing before his eyes still played out in Ross’s head. “… I did this.” Blake muttered. Ross turned to her. “If I hadn’t been so weak… She wouldn’t have…” Ross could feel something boiling inside himself. He took a moment to breathe and speak up. “Blake, this is not your fault. If it was, then I need to share the blame as well. We were both trying not to cripple her for different reasons.” Ross said. He looked at Blake’s slumped shoulders and the subtle motions in her bow that most would pass off as the wind. He recalled what she said to him when they first met. “You… really do regret running, do you?” Blake’s eyes widened as she turned to him. “How did you-” Ross shook his head. “I wish there was an easy way to tell you, but… The best I can sum up is that I’m able to recall Ruby’s memories… And they included Yang telling her about you…” Ross said. He could see the bow flatten, or at least struggle to. “How… How was she? Do you remember that?” Her body tensed up as Ross spoke up. “… She’s depressed. Bedridden, in fact.” He could see Blake almost begin to wince. Ross bit his lip. “Your decision… wasn’t the massive factor in that.” No… It was. That pain. That anguish in her voice… That wasn’t anything minor. “She lost her arm, the school, and even a few friends that night. Your departure was a drop in the pool.” “Please… Stop… I… I don’t want to hear anymore.” Blake frowned. “Sorry…” Ross looked down, then, after a while, the door opened up. “Hey, love!” Ross jumped up when he saw Miss Oxton in the flesh. Blake firmed up her body a bit and had her frown fade, but nothing like Ross’s enthusiasm. “Oxton! I… I thought…” Ross was about to say something but a man with glasses wearing blue overalls and a blue and white striped shirt also entered the hall from the same room. “All it takes is to fix up her stabilizer and boom, she’s right as rain!” Ross knew that, from process of elimination, that this was Cam, the tech expert of the Wonderbolts. “Huh? What do you mean?” Ross asked. “Well… I was a victim in the Everton Eruption and… I fell into that Black Hole…” Oxton said. The Everton Eruption. Ross heard about it from Double Diamond. An experiment dealing with dimensional travel caused a rift to open… Oxton was one of the survivors. “I… barely got out of the portal. I was trapped in between the Void and here. It wasn’t until people at the Wonderbolts Academy created this. A Void Stabilizer.” She pointed to the chest plate. “It pools the remnant Void energy and pulls her being into reality. In short, it’s a magnet that keeps her from disappearing.” Cam said. “Well, that’s a relief. I thought you died for real…” Ross said. Just then, Blake got up and ran off. “What happened with her?” Oxton asked. “… It’s… complicated.” Ross muttered as he looked at Blake. “Alright, here’s the antidote. Admittedly, it was hard to make with just instructions alone, but hopefully it’s as good as Rinna’s formula.” I said to Krim as I got the serum ready in the form of a spray bottle. It looked kinda like it did in the show, albeit lacking in coloration. “Yes I… Wait, Rinna? How do you know her?” I froze as he asked that. Shit! I thought he would namedrop her at some point. “I… Well… I heard about her from an article I’ve read of you.” I hoped that was enough to make him believe that. “Ah, right! Must have been when Kamen Rider Drive’s identity was revealed…” Krim closed his ‘eyes’ as I sighed. “Well, here we go.” I held the spray carefully over Kim’s face and gently sprayed her face with the serum. After a minute of inhaling it, Kim began to stir awake. “Huh? Where… Where am I?” She got herself up from the makeshift bed and looked around. “You’re at a safe location. My name is Officer Dorian. Do you remember anything at all, like your name?” Ivan asked her. “Y-yeah… It’s… Kim. Kim Locksley.” Kim said. “That’s good. The serum was successful.” I said before Ivan turned to me. “Serum?” Kim asked. That’s when her eyes widened just a bit as she felt the back of her ear, right where the scar was. “Where is he? Is he close?” She asked. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We haven’t seen the person who did this to you in person, but I feel like we will soon.” Krim said. Kim looked down and noticed it. “You… You’re…” To my surprise, she wasn’t freaking out over the belt, though, I started to realize that she might have retained her memories as the Dragon. “There’s a lot to take in, but for now, we should take a breather. Ivan, see if you can find a café. I think after what happened, you might want to have a coffee.” Krim said. Kim nodded, all while she continued to feel out the scar. “Yeah…” As Kim said that, Ivan helped her up and, without hesitation, propped her body up against his shoulder before walking off. As he left through the door, I sighed before returning to my desk, praying that Banno didn’t overhear me. “Finally snapped her outta it, huh?” Immediately I felt the urge to take Banno out of my desk as I heard Niko’s voice. I noticed he had come in through the window, carefully closing it before adjusting his hat. “Finally!? … How long did you know about this? The whole “Kim’s the Dragon” thing?” I asked him. “About as long as I knew about Silverbolt’s involvement with this whole shebang. Both happened at the same time… Same world.” Niko said. “… Same world?” I recalled the place that Silverbolt was seemingly killed at. Admittedly, there wasn’t much to figure out considering that the camera footage was shakier than Cloverfield. The only hint I had was his killer, what seemed to be a giant or even a… “… You fucking bastard. You didn’t…” It took Ivan a while before he found a good enough café to take Kim to. Once there, he ordered three cups of coffee, much to the cashier’s confusion. He reached to his wallet, noting how the money he had changed to match the currency of this world. Good, less of a struggle that way. “Keep the change.” He said as he gave ten dollars to the cashier. Coffees in hand, he took Kim over to a seat. He even put Krim up on the table and fitted him with a straw to drink his coffee. In spite of this, it took about five minutes before any of them spoke up. “So… You’re from my world?” Kim asked. “Yeah. Beverly Hills. You were missing for about… two years now. What happened? How did you end up here?” Ivan asked her. Kim adjusted herself as Krim sipped a bit of his coffee. “We shouldn’t bombard her with too many questions. She just began to regain her memories.” Krim said. Kim then shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It’s slowly coming back to me. I remember enough to tell you the basics…” Kim said. “Well, I guess that’s a start.” Ivan said. “Well, it was about an hour or so before the prom was to begin...” Kim stared down into her coffee as she began to remember what happened in the summer of 2013. “Kim, your outfit is amazing!” Kim remembered her friends cheering for her as she exited her house wearing a white dress with matching pumps. “Thanks. Would you actually believe me if I told you this was a hand-me-down from my mom?” Kim asked before she chuckled. Her friends joined in the laughter, especially after another comment put her at ease. “You managed to make it work!” Kim’s smile grew. “Though, it’s a little plain.” As one of her other friends said that, it made Kim’s smile fade. “Yeah! It needs something to complement it.” Another said. In an instant, all three of her friends spoke in unison: “JEWELLERY!” “Well, I don’t really have any…” Kim sheepishly chuckled. “Come, we have to do some last-minute shopping!” One of her friends said before grabbing Kim by the hand and walking off. “W-wait!” Kim shouted. The trip to the mall, however, proved fruitless as the jewellery shop had closed for the evening. “Aaah, come on! Now where are we going to get the perfect bling for Goldie?” Kim’s friend said. Goldie was the nickname she was given for her long, golden, curly hair. “Well, seems the market is ripe for me to come in.” The girls overheard a man in a cowboy hat sitting on a set up table. On it was a set of trinkets, some the girls definitely recognized from the 90’s and some looked brand new to them. Front and center was a golden bracelet, something that Kim, upon seeing it, couldn’t take her eyes off. “Pick one. Fifty percent off.” Niko said. Kim walked to the table as her friends cautiously approached it. They called attention to various treasures, such as a set of five Fabergé eggs, a few pendants and compact mirrors, a bird-headed key, and oddly enough, a stuffed teddy bear. Kim, however, liked the simplicity of the bracelet. Even though it looked like it should have a ‘twin’, it was being sold by itself. “Excuse me, but… Where did you find this?” Kim asked as she pointed to the bracelet. “Hmmm…” Niko picked it up and glanced at it. “This wasn’t too long ago, actually. It has an interesting story behind it, but… it’s not for the faint of heart. Let’s just say that it was lying on the floor.” Niko said before wiping something off the bracelet. “I’ll take it.” Kim said. “On its own? If you want, I can find its matching pair, though it will take a few days to-” “That’s fine… How much is it?” Kim asked. “… Well,” he then went off into a few calculations, discussing large numbers followed by a few ‘carry the one’s, before concluding to his final price of: “About twenty-five dollars. If you find me again after, I’ll throw in the second one free once I find it.” Niko said. “Much appreciated.” Kim handed over the money to Niko. Niko handed her the bracelet as she fitted it on her right arm… Though, as she did, she began to feel woozy. She closed her eyes… As she opened them, she found herself in what seemed to be an old Germanic village. She looked around. Neither her friends nor Niko the vendor were there. It was just her and the seemingly empty streets. She nearly began to look around to ask for help when she suddenly felt several trembles beneath her feet, almost rhythmically. Moments later, she could hear screams. While they were different, each of them had a similar outcome: one large, blood curdling scream before they were suddenly cut off. Kim’s breathing became short. She ran over to the closest building she could find and started banging on it. “HELLO!? IS ANYONE THERE?!” Kim said as she looked around. There were more trembles, more screams… Was this an earthquake? If so, where would she find shelter? She tried the next door, and the next, and the next… All of them had no response… Just then, Kim heard a scream that was louder than the others she heard… Might be close… Though, it sounded abnormal… Standing around for empty homes wasn’t going to solve things. Kim ran, not knowing the direction where the scream was. All she could do was hope that the screaming went away. Instead, it sounded louder, and along with it, she could hear the sound of a large impact. She could almost feel the shockwave. Her heart began to beat harder as she tried to run for any sort of shelter. However, she could feel more tremors, more screams, and even loud thudding noises that she could almost swear were stomps… She couldn’t take it. She ran into one of the houses and, without even thinking of it, punched it. BLAM! The door suddenly flew off as she ran into the house, the heel of one of her pumps breaking off as she toppled into the house. She took some time to breathe before taking a look at her hand. She noticed the bracelet had expanded into a full-blown gauntlet, with smoke coming out of a silver barrel where her knuckles were. “What the…” She muttered. She felt more tremors. She looked and noticed what seemed to be someone who thrice her size on its hands and knees. Its large, bulging eyes stared directly at her. The large person mindlessly squeezed its hand through the door as Kim ran from it. She tripped as it caught her leg. It then began to pull her towards itself, its mouth opening up. Kim’s eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. “No… Stop… Please… No!” Her body was close to its lips as she could feel an uncomfortable warmth at its mouth. As its jaw began to pivot, she correlated the bloodcurdling screams she heard… This was what was causing those screams. And she would be next. “STOP!” Kim closed her eyes and shielded herself from its large teeth, only for her entire body to explode, blowing off part of the monster’s head as it stumbled back. Kim took more moments to breathe as she felt fire around her. She trembled as her hair was lit with a golden flame and her eyes were as crimson as the blood that she inadvertently spilled on the monster before it seemingly evaporated. As the monster, missing most of its upper portion, looked for her, she could hear a strange sound… WHOO-WHOO-WHOOSH! And suddenly, she saw the monster go down following the sound of metal cutting into flesh. The monster went limp as its killer leaped down. Kim saw the figure that was dressed in magenta and white armor with black lines outlining an X on its chest and the number 010 plated on its forehead. She stood there motionless as the masked figure took off its belt. The armor spit into ten grayed out images of itself before she could see a man with spiky black hair in a black and magenta colored jumpsuit. “Don’t hurt me!” Kim shouted. “I won’t. In fact, I wish to save you.” The Roidmude King said. “… You. Fucking. Son of a…” I threw a punch at Niko. “BITCH!” He caught it with his hand while I began to bark. “Of all the worlds you could have sent her, you picked the one with motherfucking titans!?” “Yes. It just so happened to be where Professor Silverbolt was at the time, so I figured that, while I was on a small trip to find him, I might as well bring along someone for the ride. It was nice, though. As you can see, this suit I have is a souvenir from that world.” Niko kept that damned smile on his face. I took him by surprise and strike him with my other fist. He stepped back a bit, but not much to incapacitate him. “She could have died!” I shouted. “And she didn’t. She survived.” Niko said. “By joining the enemy!” I said. “Yeah, that was a bummer, but she’s good now, so that’s all that matters.” As Niko shrugged, I pushed him onto the desk, causing a large rumble that knocked open a few of the drawers. “What the fuck is your game, prick!? It’s one thing to throw us at the enemy to save the world, but it’s another to throw people into a blender and see if they climb out!” I loomed over him, fists balled up as tight as they could. “Yes. I believe the strongest of people would be able to climb out the jaws of death. It’s what I went through.” As Niko said that, I recalled the time he mentioned that he was trapped in another world once. “Is this some sort of tradition Displacers do? Because if so…” As I was about to finish my sentence, he shook his head. “Not quite. My entrapment was… way different than being Displaced. It’s… hard to describe, actually.” As he said that, I shrugged. “Try me. I fight robots and magic people almost every day now.” I chuckled, keeping my rage to a minimal. “It might be better to say that I was more… trapped in a game.” Niko said. I nodded along. “Oh, okay, so TRON.” I said. “Nah. It was kinda like being stuck in Runescape, actually. Right down to the shit-ton of skills now that I think about it.” Niko gave a smirk as I deadpanned. “So, you’re telling me that, because you got trapped in World of Warcraft, you decided it’d be fun to send someone to get eaten by Titans.” Niko’s smirk faded when I said that. “If only it was that simple. Unfortunately, the only way I… or anyone for that matter, could escape, was one of two ways. We beat the impossible game or… we die.” Niko said. “And considering you’re here, you beaten it.” I said. “… I tried. Alongside my friend Joey.” There was a pause before he continued. “We didn’t go far. He died to the first boss and I sat there processing his death. After that, I gave up and just stayed where I was. I made the best of my situation. I survived.” “Wait, if he died, how is he here now?” I asked him. “That’s an entertaining tale involving pissing off Hades of all people, but… Allow me to finish this story first. See, I wasn’t the only one trapped in that world… There were many others. Enough of us to create an economy in that world. We looked after the young, we farmed for resources, and we forged weapons to sell to people who could pull their own weight while they went out to hunt down monsters. After Joey died, I thought I was safe if I just stayed in town…” One day, there was a guy. He was hanging by a rope, high up on a building, impaled to the wall by a weapon. A crowd of people, myself included, just bore witness to his final moments of suffering. People tried to save him, but he died before they could even reach him. I never quite found out what caused his death, but I knew one thing: I couldn’t just be idle and hide away in some town. I had to prepare myself… in case I end up like him. And during that time that I spent running away and struggling to survive… I felt something:” A passion. Throughout all my time trapped in that world, all I could focus on was trying to survive. This included doing things like work for a girl who ran a weapons shop to even hiding out in an old wooden cabin… After I ended up leaving that world… everything I did just… didn’t give me that thrill anymore. Only when I was in that world… only when I was trying to survive… Fighting to live, just for another day, was perhaps the best feeling I could ever have.” And that’s what I wanted to present to you guys… That rush of survival. I guess I went overkill.” “No shit, Sherlock.” I muttered. “Though… to tell you the truth: You, the cop, that student… You’re the exceptions. I was hired to Displace you two… Or rather… convinced.” Zoloto got up and took his suitcase. “Who hired you?” I asked. “She couldn’t say. But I think you’d know her. Creepy blonde girl with an evil red eye ring any bells?” With that, Zoloto left as I realized just who he meant: Takatsukasa Mai, or as she is known in that form, The Woman of the Beginning. Kim finished her cup of coffee. She looked down at the empty cup, the memories of her meeting with the Roidmude King fresh in her mind. “I know this is a lot to take in, but what I’m saying is the truth.” Kim said. “No, I believe you. You won’t believe how many times an older man would prey upon a teenager.” Ivan paced himself with the coffee, even though it was long cold. “Except that, instead, he groomed me to be his personal attack dog rather than…” Kim shuddered to imagine the other option. “We have reason to believe that a Roidmude by the name of Freeze was responsible for that, making you think you were someone else entirely by suppressing your memories.” Krim said. Kim hesitated before she felt the back of her ear once more. Like a scab on the knee, she couldn’t resist picking at it. “No… He was the one that did it… The Roidmude King.” Kim said. There was a pause before Krim spoke up. “I don’t understand… The Roidmude King is a different Roidmude altogether. He wouldn’t have the ability to halt memories like Freeze would.” Krim said. “I saw it with my own two eyes though… Along with…” Kim began to shudder again as she thought back to what happened. “You’re telling me there’s many worlds beyond my own?” Kim asked the Roidmude King as they walked through the now empty streets. The sounds seemed to have halted for the time being. “Yes. I was just passing through when I encountered you. You have a power the likes of which I have never seen before… One I think would benefit me.” He said. “I… don’t even know what this is… The flames… this weapon…” Kim held up her arm to look at the gauntlet, now back to its bracelet mode. “I just want to go home…” Kim muttered. “I can teach you how to better use those powers. I doubt anyone here would be able to help you to the same ability as I could, let alone take you in… In fact…” As the Roidmude King said that, Kim tripped over something. He smirked as she got up. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was…” Kim smiled briefly before she looked at what she tripped over. At first, it looked like someone slumped over, dead, but as she looked at the body, she noticed that it was missing almost half of its upper body. She then noticed the blood on her white dress and screamed, falling on her ass before trying to get away from it. “You wondered what those screams were? They came from people like him, throwing their lives away in vain and meeting an untimely ending. If you think anyone in this world will help you, you’re wrong… Dead wrong…” He gave a smirk and, with the flick of his wrist, unleashed a wave of Heavy Acceleration particles. Kim felt her whole body slow down, her thoughts now hyper focused on the corpse as there was no way for her to look away. “I am not a human… Rather, I am superior to one. My goal… No… our goal is to subjugate humans to my will. I am not the only one with this power. I offer you this one chance. Join me and you will be by my side once we have enslaved the human race that exist in every world… If not, you will be like this boy. Dead and forgotten…” Kim began to cry as her eyes barely budged. Her thought process was unimpeded, and yet, thoughts of despair and death were the only things occupying her mind. As the particles died down and her body resumed to normal speed, she still sat there, frozen. The Roidmude King approached her and knelt to her. “So, what shall it be?” The Roidmude King said. She looked at him, and one look at her tear-filled face was enough to tell him what her decision is. “I’m glad you’ve made the right choice… Though, I can’t possibly bring you back like the broken mess that you are. Luckily, I have just the thing…” She noticed him taking out what seemed to be a strange, phone-like device before he pressed on its touch screen. FREEZE! He held out the phone as it shot out a small, ice needle that flew around her head and struck behind her ear, leaving behind the scar. Kim jolted up before she went limp. The Roidmude King smiled before he lifted her up. He summoned a gray wall, walking through it with her on his shoulders… “That’s… horrible…” Krim had no words beyond those two, not even paying attention to his coffee. “I’ve… seen grooming tactics before but… That…” It was normal for Ivan to come across sick cases like this. There were few cases where it challenged his faith in humanity, some even having him consider reaching for the bottle. This exceeded any of that. “It was beyond just that… He was able to use Freeze’s power… I don’t know how, but from what you’ve described, that device might be the reason as to why.” Krim said. “I don’t know a lot about it, but I know what a Roidmude is comprised of. Its programming, its soul, is regulated to a string of data called a Core. If the Roidmude is damaged too much or the Core is directly attacked, the Core could be destroyed, killing the Roidmude with it. I know this because he was insistent to heal and preserve some of them inside that device, Nerve and Tornado being his recent acquisitions.” Kim said. “Nerve? I don’t recall that Roidmude… But… Healing… That’s Medic’s power. And given how Tornado’s among the collected… It’s a theory, but these may be the first nine Roidmudes he’s gathering. And if that’s the case…” Krim said. “Yeah, the phone is said to contain up to nine Roidmudes… Four are left to fulfill what he calls the Promised Number.” Kim said. “The Promised Number? The last time they did something like this, they only needed four… If they need nine... This is bad.” Krim closed his eyes. “What? What do you mean?” Ivan turned to Krim. “Simply put, four was needed to power a device that would send the entire world into a slowdown. With more, he might be able to do more than that…” Krim said. “And he already has five of the nine needed…” Kim closed her eyes and shook her head. “Ivan… Please… Just… Take me home.” She got up. “Huh?” Ivan asked. “I… I want to live out the remainder of my life back in my world. I want to experience a normal life for how ever long I have until he takes over the multiverse.” Kim said. “… We’re not going to let him win, Kim. I can assure you of that. Right, Krim?” Ivan asked Krim, who’s ‘face’ was tense, eyes closed. “I… am afraid it might not be as easy. Before you, there was another partner who used me to transform. His name was Tomari Shinnosuke. He, along with the other Riders, fought valiantly against the Roidmude King… Only… he managed to defeat every one of us by mimicking the form of the strongest Rider. I was separated from my partner and was forced to watch another partner be lost to me…” Krim said. “Wait… another partner?” Ivan asked Krim. “Yes. Ivan, the choice is yours. I’ve seen the determination in your eyes when you saved Kim, but I fear that the Roidmude King might overpower that. I’m not going to stop you if you wish to continue being Drive.” Krim said. “… Kim. This extends to you too. Were this any other case, I would have sent you back to your family… But… I fear this is bigger than I have anticipated. I understand if you want to return, but do realize that you can fight.” Ivan smiled before he finished his drink. “We’ll be waiting in the car.” Ivan left after he picked up Krim. Kim was all alone to her thoughts before she stared blankly at the cup. “A castle?! You have your own castle?!?” She could overhear someone shouting at the top of their lungs, which she felt was a much-needed levity. No Banno, Niko’s a psychopath who wanted to share his rush for surviving a video game to his victims, and I’m brainwashed. Just a typical Tuesday afternoon for me it seems. Regardless, I spent the next thirty minutes to an hour calculating a plan to approach the sirens without my directions activating. So far, I concluded that I can think about the three, but the moment I see them, I go back to disregarding them. So, my idea would be to indirectly take them out somehow. But that’s a challenge and a half. There’s three of them and they’re always together. If I so much as mess up and only take one down, the other two will work their magic on me. It had to be quick, decisive, but most of all, not require my interaction. BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! Of course, when I am planning out the solution, someone is always there to interrupt my thought process. I took out my phone and answered it. “Applejack, what is it?” I asked her. “Twilight’s back. We’re gonna try and take on the sirens, so you just sit back and relax for this one.” Applejack said. “Well, that’s… Wait, you mean Pony Princess Twilight? How the hell did she come back? Isn’t the portal supposed to be closed?” I asked her. “No time to explain, we’re at the school now. Catch you later.” Click. Well, this aught to be interesting. I decided to head down to see the sirens defeated up close and personal. As I made it to the gym, I noticed there was a bit of a party set up for the bands. Admittedly, it seemed a little too soon for one, but what the hell? I might as well get some punch and food for this entertaining show. I also noticed that Twilight was there, along with her friends (and Sunset). Along with them were the sirens. This was much easier than I thought. “KICK THEIR ASS, TWILY!” I shouted as I poured myself a cup of punch. I then looked at one of the sirens, the meek blue one, give me a raised eyebrow before I cleared my throat. “Assuming they’re joining the Battle of the Bands.” I shrugged, the brainwashing taking its effect. “Right! Friendship… is magic!” As Twilight declared that… Nothing. Crickets chirped as the entire room was silent. I partly allowed the brainwashing to take control of me, but only because I felt it was hilarious to break the awkwardness with this classic line. I held the hand to the side of my mouth to make myself louder as I screamed: “You suck!” Hoping Twilight didn’t see that I was the one who said it, I deepened my voice. Seemed to work, though only because Twilight was thinking of something else. “Huh? I… I don’t understand… We’re all together and holding hands and everything!” Twilight said. “You’re a bit too ambitious. Hey, everyone! They think they got this contest in the bag!” The leader of the sirens, Adagio, said. “No way! We’re the ones that are going to win!” Flash Sentry shouted. “No, the great and powerful TRRRRRRRRRRRRRIXIE will win!” Another student, one who was admittedly a lot more egocentric, shouted. “The Crusaders are going to win!” Applejack’s little sister said. “We’re the only winners here!” Another band leader shouted. As everyone got into a shouting match, the marks on their hand glowed as they suddenly began to rush into each other and beat each other up. Fortunately, I only felt aggression. I gave a confident smirk as I looked at my gloved hand. As they fought, I noticed a thick green smoke emanate from the infighting. A portion of it got absorbed into what seemed to be ruby necklaces that the sirens were wearing. Bingo! Just gotta destroy those and their days are over. But… How would I manage to? “Right, that’s enough deprivation for one day…” I heard Banno’s voice as I saw the belt slam through the doors. “W-what the!?” Adagio muttered as Banno flew over to me. Twilight’s group collectively screamed. “WHAT THE HELL!? HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Kelly, what the buck did you do?” Applejack said. “Oh no…” Twilight shoved her face into her palm. “Banno! You came!” I exclaimed, ignoring the panic coming from the group. “I had some reflecting and thought of a compromise. I’ll help you defeat these… sirens.” Banno said. “Oh no, you don’t!” Adagio said before they turned to me. As they began to sing, the command to ignore the sirens rang up, to the point where I turned the other way. “Seems I’m the only option… So, I’ll make this deal brief. You let me take over your body permanently. How does that sound?” Banno said. “…” As I thought about it, Sunset stepped forward. “Kelly! Don’t make the same mistake I did! He’s only trying to trick you!” Sunset said. I turned my head only to see her from the corner of my eye. “I know but… He’s right. What choice do we have? You failed… Now, it’s up to him.” I closed my eyes as Banno flew to my waist, belt forming around it. “Good servant… Now, start my engine.” Banno said. “Kelly! Don’t!” Fluttershy cried out. “You can’t do this! There has to be another way!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You’ll look so tacky in that suit!” Rarity’s comment made everyone stare blankly at her. “What? Someone had to say it.” She shrugged. All the while, I looked onto the belt. I was reminded of the time Banno told me of my martyr syndrome. When the Crush Roidmude was destroying Canterlot. He was right about one thing. No matter how cruel I may feel… I still want to help. And if that means becoming a monster to do it… “… Henshin.” I would gladly accept. I twisted the key and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno cocked his head and sharply inhaled. “It’s good to be back…” Banno then ran towards the sirens, who proceeded to sing to him. Their melody fell on deaf ears as he smacked Aria Blaze down before grabbing Sonata Dusk by the neck. “I’m not as flawed as my host…” Banno tossed Sonata down as he took out the Steering Sword. Adagio gritted her teeth as several of the students rushed to her defense. Banno laughed as he smashed the wheel part of the sword across several of the students. For as much of an asshole as he was, he was at the very least mindful enough to not use the actual sword part on the students. He marched his way to Adagio and I realized he was reserving all lethal force towards her. All while I was forced to watch… Ivan arrived back at Canterlot High with Kim in the shotgun. “It’s a little hard to drive around in this… I’m adjusted to driving on the right.” Ivan chuckled. “I built the Tridoron in Japan, hence its placement. Were I to build this in America, though…” As Krim said that, he stopped upon hearing laughter. “…” He remained silent when he recognized the laugh. “Ivan… We need to go.” Krim said. “Huh? What do you-” As Ivan said that, Krim got out of the dash and onto Ivan’s waist. “There’s no time to explain!” Krim shouted. “What’s going on?” Kim asked. “I don’t know!” Ivan said as he opened the door. “Something worse than the Roidmudes is here…” “Well, why didn’t you say so?!” Ivan took out the Speed Shift Car and placed it on the Shift Brace. “Ivan, I don’t think Type Speed will work against him… Or Deadheat… You may need to use Shift Cars that you aren’t prepared for.” Krim said. “I’m willing to take that risk. I didn’t come this far just to give up midway.” Ivan said. “… Start your engine.” Krim said. Adagio was on her knees as Banno kicked her in the face. She fell to the ground, at the mercy of the dark Rider. “Banno, their rubies siphoned some green mist… I think that’s either their power source or a bank of sorts. Either way, I think you can destroy those and-” Banno ignored me as he kicked her again. “Where’s the fun in that? Didn’t you tell me I had a blank check to do what I want with these sirens? I’m going to take my time here…” Banno raised the Steering Sword just before we heard someone smashing through the doors. “Hmmm?” Banno turned around to see Ivan in Drive’s Type Speed, Krim’s face glaring at Banno’s belt. I froze as I saw them in front of me. “… Ahehehehehe…” Banno started to laugh. “I knew it… With the Roidmudes returning, you also returned from the grave… BANNO!” Krim said. “Aaaah hah… Aaaaaaaaah…” He didn’t even focus on Adagio, who I could hear making her getaway. “Wait, two Drives!? I… Is this supposed to be cool or should we be afraid of that?” Rainbow Dash said. “Ahahahahahaha! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! Krim! Long time, no see!” Banno’s sadistic tone was clear for all to hear. As immediately as I accepted the deal, I regretted it, as now the worst fear I had when I saw Krim is now realized: The two genius scientists will have a conflict once more… Golden Drive Arc 2: How Do I Keep Banno In Check?Applejack and I waited in the hospital’s emergency room, though for different reasons. By the time the ambulance got here, Applejack’s grandmother went under and we feared the worst. I was there mainly for moral support, as Big Mac was busy taking care of Apple Bloom. However, there was another reason. True to what Applejack said, she arranged for the police to escort me out once we got word on her grandma’s condition. I looked over to see the officer that’d be taking me in. He seemed to be an old man, somewhere in his sixties, possibly seventies, with gray greased back hair. Over his police uniform was a dirty, ragged sheepskin jacket. I noted the blue skin. All these colored skins made me think I’m in Springfield, or at least a variant of it. Looking at him, though, I felt some sense of security. In a way, he reminds me of Jun, the Chief of the Special Crimes Division in Kamen Rider Drive. Maybe it’s because I just wanted him to break out a phone and show us our fortunes. Banno, surprisingly enough, chose to be silent for the next few hours instead of gloating like he’d usually do. Guess it’s because he doesn’t want unwanted attention when it’s pretty clear he has limited power. … Limited… I thought back to the fight and how Gold Drive was depowered in under a few minutes. Then I thought further back to his defeat. Banno, reduced to a snivelling coward begging for his own son not to kill him and how he utterly failed. I remembered as he was smashed into tiny pieces. I wasn’t sure if this Banno was the Banno I saw get destroyed, or how he managed to survive if he did. Maybe those guys on the image boards were right and he used that girl he healed as a backup drive. … Remind me to never let him digitize people as a safety precaution. Perhaps the depowering was a result of said destruction. Before I could dwell further on the subject, the doctor stepped out. “It’s a miracle, I gotta admit.” He muttered. “Huh?” Applejack asked. “She was shot in the arm at a close range. Any other time, this would most surely be fatal or otherwise critical for someone her age, but for some reason, her body didn’t quite react fast enough to the wound and so we were able to extract the bullet and patch her up before it got worse.” He said. “So you mean…” Applejack asked. “Yes. Your grandmother is going to be fine. She’ll be out of the hospital before Monday.” He said. Applejack smiled. “Oh Thank God…” Applejack began to shed some tears as she quickly wiped them away. As the doctor left, Applejack calmed down and gave me an intense stare. “I’m startin’ to think I know how Granny managed to survive. That… thing those robots did. Where we couldn’t move at all?” She said. “Look, I don’t know anything about-” I said before Applejack stomped her foot. “BULLCRAP! You know something about them, didn’t ya? I saw it in your eyes when they came over! And what about that gold dude? Awfully convenient for him to appear soon after ya left.” She said. She didn’t have to hear me stammer to know that she had caught me, as I felt myself sweat. “Well… It is convenient…” She just glared at me. “With that same belt?” Applejack said. I backed up and began to stammer. Damn, she got me with the one thing that most of us Rider fans considered a plot hole in Drive. That’s when the police officer got up. “Hey, I think it’s time for us to go. I mean, this was the condition, right? You stay until you hear word of Granny’s status?” He asked. “Y-yeah.” I said. “We’ll take it from here, young lady.” He turned his head to Applejack. “If we find out anything about these… robots… You will be the first to know.” He got up and walked off, taking me with him. I turned back and I saw her shoot a dirty look to me. I sighed as the cop took me away to the police station. I sat at the interrogation room with the officer in front of me. In between us were a plate of donuts. The place was awfully silent. Though that was before he spoke up. “Wanna know a little secret?” He asked me. I shrugged, though part of me felt like this secret was going to be big. Especially since he leaned in. Intrigued at what the secret could be, I leaned in too as he whispered. “We tend to put these donuts out, not for us, but for the perp.” He said. I pulled away and rolled my eyes. “Hey! It’s an honored tradition! This is how we test their guilt.” He said. I sighed as I took a donut. “See? You’re not guilty. If you were, you’d hesitate.” “Well, only because you told me.” I bit into the donut. For once, I ignored everything that happened around me as I just let the donut enter my mouth. I pressed my tongue up to press the chocolate against the roof of my mouth. I smeared it against the roof before I swallowed the rest. I then proceeded to lick the rest of the chocolate in my mouth… But why the hell did it taste like a juniper berry? As I continued to lick, I tasted more of the chocolate. That’s when I realized I wasn’t tasting juniper, I was smelling it. I looked to the old man and realized a pungent fragrance from him. It smelt like Axe, but with quite a dash of, as I said, juniper. I shrugged off the smell to continue my conversation. “So why? Why did you tell me?” I asked. “Because I knew you were guilty when you were talking to that girl. I know a liar when he gets caught, and I know when someone has a lot to hide. And you have something to hide, don’t you?” He asked me. I nodded. I looked to him. “Yes. I do. Before we begin… I wanna just have you do something. You might find it strange, but trust me, it’s important.” I cleared my throat and spoke up. “Say Roidmude.” I said. I waited for his response. If he were to ever mess up the pronunciation, then I might have some idea of what’s going on in the police department. “… Roidmude.” And with that, that idea was shattered. I sigh in relief, knowing that is not a possibility. “Now, do you mind telling me why I had to say that silly word?” He asked. “I was just making sure.” I said. That’s when he raised an eyebrow. “Wait… Are they the robots that girl was talking about?” He said. Crap. I didn’t realize he could turn the question around until it was too late. However, before I was forced to answer, someone came into the room. “Hey there.” He said. He had spiked up dark blue hair and was wearing a police uniform as well. His skin was also blue. He looked to the old cop and crossed his arms. “Wind Rider, I’ll admit, it’s cute, but you can’t be doing this anymore. You retired, remember?” He said. “Oh! Soarin’, I was just buttering her up for you.” He chuckled as he got off his chair. “Wind Rider, I know you were trying to interrogate her.” Soarin’ simply glared to him, his eyebrows weren’t furled like an angry person would, but rather just a simple annoyed look. “I…” Wind Rider sighed. “Alright, fine.” He walked off, but not before he turned around and glared at Soarin’. Okay, now that was an angry glare. One so angry, it shattered any sense of protection I had from him. The idea of him being akin to Jun was long gone. Wind Rider left as Soarin’ looked to me, not even knowing that Wind Rider shot a glare. “Alright, now that he’s gone, I have some questions to ask you.” Soarin’ said. “… Sure, fire them away.” I said. “Well, for one…” He took out a folder and showed me a picture. It was me in in a lab coat, not unlike Ryoma Sengoku’s… In fact, I was dressed exactly like Ryoma, complete with the silver highlight, but the only difference is that the person had a more muscular face, telling thanks to his Adam’s Apple and a stubble on his square jaw, and, as I had guessed, differently colored skin. This time the skin was silver. He slammed his hands on the table and looked to me with shimmering eyes. “Are you the famous Professor Silverbolt?” “W-what!?” I asked. “You look like him! I’ve seen your show. You know, Popular Science for Kids?” He asked me. “… You do realize I’m a girl, right? And… you know…” I pinched my arm to show him my flesh colored flesh. “Yeah! But in one of your experiments, you’ve proven that both a sex change potion and a skin change potion could work! You must have disguised yourself after your grand trip!” He said. “Grand… Look, I’m sure you’re mistaken. I’m not this… Silverbolt guy. My name is Kelly Randell, I’m about five years younger than this guy, and I am a girl!” I pressed my hands up against the table and glared to him. “… S… So you’re not Professor Silverbolt?” Soarin’ frowned and I retracted back to my seat. I myself frowned. I looked at the picture of Silverbolt. Seemed it was a missing poster, though there didn't seem to be anything indicating a reward. “No. She is.” A tall woman with pink skin entered the room. She had multicolored hair. Part of it was sea green, another part was pink, and part of it was sky blue. She wore a yellow business coat with a purple shirt and purple pants and had a sun-styled badge on pinned her coat. “It was a weird trip she had. She must have used those potions to get out of a jam or something.” She said. “Oh hey, Principal Celestia! Long time no see!” Soarin’ got up and his frown turned upside down. “Soarin’, I see you’re still as handsome as ever. I remembered when you graduated from my school.” Celestia smiled as she pinched Soarin’s cheek. I retched and turned away. “H-hey… Not in front of the perp…” Soarin’ said. “Right. Sorry.” Celestia stood straight and looked to him. “So, any ideas of what to do?” Celestia asked. “Well, I’m not sure. Another cop, one who wasn’t even on duty, took the notes of what happened to her.” Soarin’ said. “Look,” I interjected, “long story short, I need protection. Gangsters are after me because I have something they want.” I said. “Oh, why didn’t you say so in the first place!?” Soarin’ said. He reached his arm over to me and grabbed me. “Alright! You’re comin’ with me. I’ll put you on Soarin’s signature 24/7 Witness Protection Program!” Soarin’ said. “… Um… Is it too late to ask for Wind Rider?” I sadly learned firsthand why it’d be hard to trust the quirky heroes. “Sadly yes.” Soarin’ said. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” He said. Celestia stepped forward. “Before you haul her off, I’d like a word with her.” Celestia said. “Sure thing! Anything for my favorite Principal!” Soarin’ left the interrogation room as Celestia sat. The two of us stared at each other before I sighed. “I’m not-” I tried to speak, but Celestia spoke up. “Silverbolt. I know. Everyone knows that the potions he used in the show were just props. However, he was a brilliant scientist. Perhaps the smartest person to ever teach at Crystal Prep. What I find weird is that he disappeared one day, and then a month or so later, someone who looks like him appears.” Celestia said. “Well, do you want the truth that you’ll probably put me in a padded cell for or do you want me to be as vague as hell?” I asked. “Vague will do. I don’t want to know every detail.” She said. I took a moment to breathe before I talked. “I’m not Silverbolt. I’m just dressed like him. One minute, I’m at… home, the next, I wake up in a barn house and was told that some guys wanted me for something. I can’t explain the rest without making it sound unbelievable.” I said. Celestia leaned forward and rested her head on her clasped hands. I backed my seat away as she let her pinkies hang and cross each other as she hid her mouth. “Alright. That’s all I needed to hear. Tell you what: I’m in need of a professor at my school. If you could agree to pretend that you’re Professor Silverbolt, I’ll help protect you from these people.” Celestia said. “How can you be so sure of that? I’m sure that Soarin’ would be able to protect-” I asked, though Celestia interjected. “You have some doubts with him. I can tell. And if your story is what you claim it to be, you won’t be seeing any shelter anytime soon. Luckily for you, I can fix that.” Celestia sat back. “My school’s library doubles as a temporary housing unit for people like you who are without a home. We had a student come to our school with no prior transcripts. She just… appeared out of the blue. I simply let her in, because I feel like everyone needs a home. I feel like you need one too.” Celestia got up and put a paper slip on the table. “Think about it, okay?” She walked away as Soarin’ popped back in. “Alright! Ready to begin the protection of your life!?” Soarin’ asked. “… Sure.” I muttered. The drive to Soarin’s house consisted on nothing but gushing about how awesome Silverbolt was. Every now and then, he’d bring up a super cool feat he’d pull, or something he’d invent. “Oh! And then there was that time you made some slime for that awesome Game Show! You know, Whoops?” He said. “Uh… Yeah! Who could ever forget… Whoops…” I said. “Yeah! You made some pretty cool observations about the slime, like how you could make it be like quicksand if you make a pool out of it, or how it’s pretty much Play-Doh but… well… slimy!” He said. “Yeah…” I figured that the best way to go about this was to just say yeah a lot. “Oh! Could you take me on a tour of your place when you have the chance? I wanna see your newest inventions for myself!” He said. “… Probably?” Crap. I don’t even know where Silverbolt’s place is. How would I be able to find it? I’ll have to do some research when I’m alone. Luckily, before I even got to answer, Soarin’s car pulled into a simple one-story house. “Well, here we are! Welcome to your protection!” Soarin’ said. As we got out of the car, I could hear a loud electric guitar playing in the garage. I bobbed my head a bit to the music as Soarin’ tapped onto the garage door. “Hey! Guess who’s comin’ over to stay for a little while!” Soarin’ said. The door slowly crawled up as I saw the person who was playing the guitar. He had spiky blue hair, much like Soarin’, but it was more of an electrical blue. His skin was pretty normal colored compared to most of the others. He had a black leather shirt with a red and white stripe streaking across his jacket. He had a white shirt. On it was a blue shield and a yellow lightning bolt. Other than him wearing jeans, that’s all I noted of him. He took off the guitar and looked to me. “Huh? Who’s this?” He asked. “Son, this is Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. He is perhaps one of the smartest scientists around!” … Did Soarin’ just compare a comic relief character in a science show for kids to someone akin to Albert Einstein? Come to think of it, Celestia also brought that comparison up... I massaged the temples of my head as his son stepped forward and offered me his hand. “Hey, name’s Flash.” He said. After taking some close consideration, I shook his hand. My urge to quote the famous Queen song, but thankfully I resisted. “I’m gonna get your room set up, alright? Flash, I’m gonna make dinner soon so you might head inside.” Soarin’ said. “Alright, pops.” Flash and Soarin’ got into the house through the garage door. I sighed and sat on the folding chair that Flash was sitting on before. “So, you thought 001 was active?” I jumped as Banno spoke. For a while, I actually forgot my waist had a mad scientist on it. “Woah!” I replied back. “Heh heh… I caught you by surprise, it seems. You should be thankful I didn’t speak up during that interrogation.” Banno said. “Well… I was wondering why you weren’t talking.” I began to breathe. “I had the same suspicion you did and thought that 001 was also manipulating the police's memory. However, I knew that wasn't the case. If it was, Roidmudes everywhere would have rushed in the moment you were in that interrogation room. I’m not exactly sure which of the Roidmudes are active, who’s leading them, and if they are doing the same things they were doing before.” Banno said. “Before… So they were destroyed before… You were destroyed before.” I said. “Yes. But now we live again!” Banno let out a loud laugh before I muffled the face of the belt. “Shush! So how… how are you guys back?” I asked. “Well, it should be obvious. Someone repaired us.” Banno said. “But you guys were obliterated! There’d be no way for you to come back!” I said. “It’s something that makes even me curious. Whoever brought us back from utter destruction is someone who is more brilliant at science than I am. Someone I envy…” Banno growled. The door opened as Soarin’ entered. “Well, dinner’s ready! Come on in!” Soarin’ said. Banno muted himself again as I walked into the room. Dinner passed smoothly. Ironic considering how much of it was spent with me cast in the shadow of a supposedly wonderful scientist. Soarin’ introduced me to my room in the attic. As I entered, I began to sneeze at the dust that had flown around. “Oh! Whoops! I gotta clear the air!” Soarin’ opened a window as the dust flew off into the night’s breeze. “There we go! Couldn’t let Professor Silverbolt sneeze himself to death, can we?” Soarin’ asked. I remained silent. I had picked up the routine enough to know that every time he brings up a bizarre scientific detail, he’d- “You know, like you showed that one time in Popular Science?” bring up an episode of Popular Science. To which I respond with: “Oh! Yeah. I remember. Last I checked, that was for people with allergens to dust, right?” Some of the ‘science’ introduced in the show had some accurate truths. “Oh no! You showed how sneezing could actually kill in that one experiment where you used powdered fire!” Some of the science introduced in that show it seemed. “… Yeah.” How the hell does someone akin to Bill Nye the Science Guy wind up doing these special effects and pass them off as science? And how many people like Soarin’ eat this crap up? Powder that you could apparently incinerate yourself with if you sneeze it? A potion that could change the pigment colors of skin I might buy, but most of this seems… crazy. “Well, see you tomorrow! Oh! And if you have a new crazy idea, feel free to invent it!” Soarin’ walked off. Does he even realize he’s supposed to protect me? I probably shouldn’t be going Urkel when I have killer robotic body snatchers that could stop time out for my blood. I sighed and got to my window. I looked over at the starry sky. “This protection’s not going to last forever, you know. They’ll keep coming.” Banno said. “… I know.” I said. “So you’d also know the only thing that could stop them, right?” Banno asked. I bit my lip. As far as I know, I’m the only Rider in this town. Even if there’s a slight chance that there’s another Rider, my bond to Banno might make teaming up with them hard. Especially if those Riders were Shinnosuke and Gou. However, as I looked to the Driver, I remembered just what Banno said. “Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might!” I can’t let that happen. I just can’t. “I’ll find another way. I won’t transform. Even if I could die, I’d rather let that happen then let you take the wheel again.” I said. “Ah, I’ve seen you’re committed to this. Are you prepared to face the consequences then?” Banno asked. “Like I said. If I am to die, I’ll accept it.” I said. “Heheheh. There’s a difference between saying you’ll die and going through with it. Trust me, you’ll feel it. Besides… I’m not talking about your fate. Think closely about all this, or you may regret it.” This was all Banno said before he shut himself off. As I looked at the Driver, I began to think of just how little I know about the place I’m in and just how little protection I have. I needed to know more about this place, and I realized that there was only one way to do so, and it wasn’t staying over at a fanboy’s house. I took out a slip of paper from my pants pocket and read the number. With my phone out, I dialed the number and let it ring a few times before it clicked. “Hello, Celestia? I think I’ll take that job offer.” I told her. The school bell rang as I walked through the halls. Most of the students turned a blind eye to me as I straightened up my tie and read the directions towards my classroom. It was a simple enough deal. Teach kids basic science, live in library away from fanboy cop. Simple as pie. “So, how shall we demonstrate the difference between alternating currents and direct currents? I was considering purchasing a cattle prod and teaching the students first hand.” Banno spoke up. I muffled the belt with the ends of my jacket. “No! We’re not using the students as test subjects!” I said to him. “You’re just like Krim. All work and no fun.” Banno muttered. I rushed to the class room to avoid any suspicion. Luckily for me, the only student in the class when I walked in was a girl with gray skin, long light blonde hair and… Were her eyes screwed up? Questions for later. She didn’t seem to pay too much attention to me outside of a wave of her hand, so I had time to button up my shirt to hide the Banno Driver before the rest of the students rushed in. I wasn’t expecting the workload to be around fifty students, and I had to double check the attendance list to see just how many were gonna be in this class. And that’s when I nearly broke down at the names. At first, I just passed off names like Applejack and Big Mac as nothing more than cute. Then I read more of their names. First there was Rainbow Dash. A simple scan of the room helped me find who this student might be. A female with long rainbow colored hair with blue skin, who raced to the end of the room and hopped over her desk. Next was Pinkie Pie. I just scoped across the room and spotted a pink colored girl to associate the name. Frankly, the names turned into a cute little game. Rarity? Well, find the person that looks elegant as hell. Fluttershy? Gee, I wonder who that girl hiding her gaze behind her long pink hair is named. Flas- Oh crap. I looked and saw Flash Sentry over at the front row and right next to him, Applejack. I gulped as Flash waved to me while Applejack just looked at me. No glare, no smile, just a stare. As I looked at the names and slowly spiraled into insanity with the simplistic names that no actual person would have, I heard an oomph and looked up as I saw a girl in a black leather jacket fall over. As she got up, I noticed how her hair was a mixture of red and yellow and her skin being of an orange color. Reading the list, I notice two names, Sunny Glenway and Sunset Shimmer. Well, red, yellow, and orange seemed to be like the setting sun, so ‘Sunset Shimmer’ it is. She turned around to me and frowned. “Teacher! Applejack tripped me!” I noticed as she was right next to Applejack, who turned her head towards both me and Sunset. My heart raced as I focused between addressing the situation and just beginning the class like nothing happened. When a few silent seconds passed, she spoke up again. “On purpose!” “Did not!” Applejack screamed. “Did too!” Sunset replied. My hands trembled as I fumbled between the attendance and a piece of chalk that I was going to use to write my name… or rather Silverbolt’s name. CRUNCH. That sound. That delightful sound of a student crunching into a large jar of candy was enough to help divert the situation. “You!” I pointed to him as I tried to pull off an elegant teacher’s voice. I walked over to the student and noticed how comically overweight the person is. And bald. And… familiar. I hesitated a bit before I breathed in and took the jar from him. “You will have this at the end of the school day.” God was my attempt at a British accent horrid. However, as I held the cylinder container containing popcorn, marshmallows, and other assorted snacks, the student barked out a “hey!” and strutted his head forward. As I looked down at his jar, he looked down at my waist. As I was looking down, I saw that part of my jacket was still undone and a soft yellow glow coming from a chrome black belt could be seen. The moment I realized he was looking at Banno was the moment I recognized him. “Oooooon second thought…” I said and handed him back the jar. “Why don’t you just… put it away when I do the lectures, okay?” I sheepishly said as I backed away from him. He looked daggers at me with a chuckle. “Students! Back to your seats!” I shouted as I hurried back to my desk. “B-but…” Sunset tried to protest. “No buts! SIT!” I screeched. Any students who were busy being distracted, including Sunset and the fat man, stopped and looked at me. Sunset Shimmer quickly went to her seat without any fuss. I breathed in. “Good… Now, my name is Professor Silverbolt…” I went over to the chalkboard and wrote out the name. “And I have been reassigned to here from Crystal Prep because…” I struggled to think of an idea. Well, time to go for the simple one. “Because I realized just how much better Canterlot High is, am I right?” I said. A majority of the students cheered and laughed. Well, save for three; the fat man, Sunset, and Applejack. The rest of the class was simple. All I had to do was recite what I learned in my high school science class and bam, I just finished an hour of class. Perhaps one day I’ll let the TV be the teacher and show them an old episode of Bill Nye… Or whatever show they had on. However, as I walked down the hall, Banno and I had to talk to each other about what I saw. “That was a Roidmude. The fat guy’s a Roidmude.” I muttered. “I figured as such. So, how will you handle this? Oh, right. I believe it involved being a dumb martyr.” Banno said. “I didn’t expect a Roidmude to infiltrate the school, aright?” I said. “If you thought a Roidmude infiltrated the police force, then chances are they might have also set up operations elsewhere too. During my time in their captivity, I’ve learned just how many of them used their copy’s job and identity to set up their schemes.” Banno said. “… True. Should have expected they’d pull tha-” And that’s when Applejack slammed her hand against the locker and looked to me. “Alright, sugar cube, you tell me what’s goin’ on right now!” Applejack said. “Wah!” I jumped back. Great, now I have to deal with her. “Who were you talkin’ to?” Applejack asked. “Uh… someone over Bluetooth.” Applejack only furled her eyebrows. “Really?” She tapped on the driver’s LCD display as Banno grunted. “I can see the belt’s face.” “Stop poking me! Do you know who I am?!” Banno said. Applejack just shot up a look at me. “See? You have something to hide, don’t you?” Applejack said. “I… Yes… No?” I stammered. That’s when Banno began to speak. “I am the glorious Professor Banno! I’m not something to be poked!” Banno said. “Oh hey, the toy talks.” Applejack said. She knelt over and viewed him at eye level. “T-Toy!?” “Those robots, what were they?” Applejack asked. Banno coughed a bit before he answered. “They are the Roidmudes, my inv-” I began to muffle him. “Y-yeah! They’re Roidmudes, and they’re deadly people that you have to avoid at all costs… eheh…” I chuckled. “Well, ya seem to be doin’ a piss poor job at that.” Applejack pointed to behind me. I turned around and saw a Spider-type Roidmude behind us as students began to panic and run off. I heard more panicking on the other side of the hall as I turned to see a Cobra-type Roidmude coming to us as well. “Look what we have here!” I turned again to see the fat man walk to us with his jar. “That little girl and her belt!” He said. “Applejack, get away from here as fast as you can.” I muttered. “No way! I’m not goin’ anywhere until I hear some answers!” She said. “Idiot! Do you know what they can do?” I said. “I know! I saw what they did to Granny!” Applejack said. “You’ll get your explanation in due time, this isn’t something to gamble your life over!” I said as the Roidmudes closed in. “This is going to be fun!” The fat man chuckled as he set down his jar. With a loud scream, he transformed into a stone monster: The Crush Roidmude. The three of them activated the Slowdown particles, freezing almost everyone in their place, Applejack included. The three Roidmudes then rushed to me as I punched the Spider-type in the face, followed closely by a roundhouse kick to the Cobra-type. When the Crush Roidmude ran to me, I ran up the lockers, bounced off of them, and kicked the Roidmude in the face. As I landed, I looked at my hands. “Holy crap! How did I do that?” I muttered. The two minor Roidmudes ran and grabbed me as the Crush Roidmude got his hammer hands ready. “Well, that was fun. Time to die!” He began to swing both of them towards me. My heart pounded. I closed my eyes as my legs began to kick up, using the Roidmude’s rocky body as a support for myself to spring back. As I did a back flip, the two hammers hit the two Roidmudes instead. Not enough to crush them, but enough to bonk them together and let go of me. I landed on top of the Crush Roidmude and jumped off. I ran, grabbing Applejack’s arm to take her with me. “No! She’s getting away!” Crush said. I could hear playful bonks as the Roidmudes bickered about what transpired. The thing I began to notice about the Slowdowns is that they do act in a radius. By the time me and Applejack got to the cafeteria, she was able to move her arms and legs like normal. I set her down as I sat down too. I breathed heavily as Applejack moved over next to me. “So, anything else about these… Steroidos?” Applejack asked. “Look, you’re on a need to know basis!” I snapped at her, though Applejack just snapped back. “Well, I guess I need to know now that those very monsters that hurt my Granny are stalking the schoolyard!” She said. I stayed silent. She got me there. “As I was saying before I was rudely quieted, the Roidmudes are my invention.” Banno said. “Oh, and did you add the part where they become killer robots?” She asked the belt. “Well, by adding, you mean adding in the negative emotions of humankind to the point where they become misanthropic of the species and vow to wipe them off the face of the Earth… Then yes. I did.” Banno said. I pulled my hair out. Damn it, Banno! Why do you always have to dig your own grave?! “And Professor Silverbolt, is she in on this too?” She asked. “No. She and I have entered a rather… unwilling partnership long after my invention.” Banno said. “Well, you’re right about that.” I muttered. “So, how’s trying to die for a pointless cause working out for you?” Banno asked. “…” I had to think back to when I was almost a pancake. Had it not been for my sudden rush, I would have died right there. I shook and blinked. With each blink, I noticed my eyes getting wetter and wetter. “After a near-death experience like that, will you reconsider the whole ‘not transforming’ thing?” Banno asked. I shook my head. “I… can’t…” I muttered. “Transforming? What the hay is he on about?” Applejack asked. “Well, allow me to spell it out for you.” Banno said as I could feel the Slowdown particles shake my body briefly. Applejack resumed being frozen. The previous few times this happened to her, I could hear her screaming. Now, while the groan could be heard as a shriek, there was no doubt that she was getting upset at this. Luckily, we were just a while away from a janitor’s closet. I picked her up and hurriedly went into the closet. As I closed the door, I heard the Crush Roidmude talk with his minions. “Scour the area! Leave no stone unturned!” He said. “In other words… do what we usually do!” With that, I heard several smashes. “BANZAAAAI!!!” I heard several gunshots and various walls getting blown apart. By the time the screams got to me, I had to peak outside. The cafeteria was now in ruins as debris from the roof had come down. I saw most of the debris falling in slow motion onto the panicked students trying to run away from it. I scanned the area and noticed at least two of the students weren’t so lucky and had their legs caught in some of the rubble. All while the Roidmudes roamed around and destroyed all in their path. “Hey… What’s going on?” Applejack asked me. I began to stammer as Banno spoke up. “Ah, such destruction, such chaos. I’m a bit sad that I didn’t give them enough credit.” Banno laughed. I shut the door and tried to muffle him again. His laughter stopped. “But do you see now? If you don’t transform, people will get hurt. People will die.” Banno said. “…” As I saw the chaos and carnage unfold, all I could think of was how it was similar to the Global Freeze, an event in which all 108 Roidmudes stopped time across a fourth of the world and relentlessly murdered people left and right. “Right now, you’re the only one who can do this. Like it or not, you will fight. Not because I say so, but because your martyr complex says so. Blood shall be on your hands, Kelly. Will you live with that guilt?” He asked me. I looked to my hands. As soon as I heard the sound of a crying girl, I gripped my hand. I looked to Applejack. Although she was frozen, I could see the wavering in her pupils that she was scared. “... No. I won’t.” I said. “Exactly what I needed to hear. Start my engine!” He said. I ran out of the closet and towards the Crush Roidmude. “HEY!” I shouted to the Roidmude. He turned around and slammed his hands together. “Alright! Now it’s a fight!” He said. “Indeed it is. HENSHIN!” I said as I turned the Advance Ignition. “Henshin…” Banno said as my body changed into Gold Drive’s form. As the armor snapped on, I felt my body go numb as Banno took over. Banno leaped over onto an intact table and kicked Crush in the face. While he reeled back slightly, Crush was ready for a counter attack and slammed his hand on the table. As the table broke, Banno was launched into the air. He spun in the air a few times before he hit the ground. As the Crush Roidmude closed in, he threw a punch. BANG! Metal clanged against solid rock. Banno could see that his fist hadn’t even made a dent in the Roidmude’s armor. “Is that the best you can do, Banno?” He said as he readied his hammers for the final blow. Banno smirked as he turned his Advance Ignition. The circuitry on his body flared up and expelled a pulse of red and yellow light as he held up his hand. A blue-blade sword with a steering wheel attached to it flew to him. As he grabbed it, I felt my hand tingle a bit. That’s when I noticed a bright, white light. I noticed that, from inside the helmet, the blood-red visor had now shifted to a more neutral white color, almost like Drive’s visor. Seemed I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. “W-What happened?” Banno said. It took a moment for me to notice the sword I was holding weighed me down. As the Crush Roidmude swung, I realized that I was back in control of my body and I turned the steering wheel part of the sword. “TURN!” I spun around and slashed the Roidmude, knocking him away. I flexed my muscles. “Man, it’s good to be behind the wheel.” I said. I took a moment to look at the weapon I got. The Steering Sword. I wasn’t surprised that Banno was able to summon it due to an ability known as Gold Conversion, something I actually wanted to try myself. I turned on the Advance Ignition as I heard the vrooming of three cars. This actually threw me off. Gold Conversion was known to steal the weapons that Drive and his team uses… However, while he was able to also steal the Shift Cars, said team managed to fix them and ensure they didn’t get stolen. How was I able to summon them, then? Banno said himself that the battle between him and Drive ensued, and so the Shift Cars wouldn’t have been able to be summoned. I recalled how Banno mentioned a scientist managed to bring him and the Roidmudes back… I would have wondered if they also managed to uncoat the Shift Cars, but that’s when I felt my body go numb and I saw the visor go red again as Banno took one of the Shift Cars, a green spiky car. He placed it onto his Shift Brace as yellow lightning sparked all over the car. One of the Roidmudes ran for Banno, but he punched the Roidmude in the gut. I briefly saw his fist generate a golden aura of spikes before it impaled the Roidmude. As it stumbled back, he swiped another Shift Car, a purple one. He held up his right hand and created a golden lance, only for it to change into a goldish-purple shuriken. He threw it at the Roidmude as it bisected him for a short moment before he exploded. His Core, 060, hovered a bit before it exploded. Banno looked to the rubble and saw a couple of people trapped underneath them. “Let me guess, you want me to save them, right?” Banno asked. “Yeah!” I said. “Hmm… I think I have an idea of what’s going on. Here, let’s test this out.” Banno turned on the Advance Ignition. As Funky Spike and Midnight Shadow flew away, three more Shift Cars came. The red visor turned white again as I could feel my arms and legs. As if it was a soft ball being tossed to me, I tossed the Steering Sword away, grabbed the three Shift Cars and looked at them. A fire truck, a police car, and an ambulance. “I knew it. Every time we activate Gold Conversion, we switch spots.” Banno said. I ran over to the rubble and swung my arm. I relied on the strength Gold Drive’s original host, a Cobra-type, known for their superhuman strength, to knock the debris away. Sure enough, I was able to do so easily. The debris flew at a fast speed from my punch, only to slow down once it was a few inches away from me. I placed the Mad Doctor Shift Car into the brace. The circuit wheel flared up as I placed my right hand on the student’s broken leg as a golden light bathed it. When the light died, the student slowly got up. I ran and did the same for the other student. As a Roidmude caught up to me, I replaced Mad Doctor with Justice Hunter. I turned around and fired a large golden energy ball that soon turned into a cage to trap the Roidmude in. That’s when I could feel my body start to change back. I could hear the systems shutting down. No! It can’t end like this! We need to destroy the other Roidmudes! However, I noticed that our time transformed was much longer, by about two minutes. Two minutes… That’s when I developed a theory of my own. “Take the wheel.” I said as I turned on the Advance Ignition. Mad Doctor and Justice Hunter flew off and a red hand gun with a door fused to it came into my hands. My body went numb as the shutting down noise stopped. Banno came back on and fired at the Roidmude. He opened up the door and closed it in a second. “CHARGE!” With no time to waste, he slotted an orange car onto a hole made within the gun and aimed. “THE FINISHER! MAX FLARE! FULL THROTTLE!” He fired a blast of hot fire towards the Roidmude. He was knocked away and exploded. Leaving its Core, 074, to roast in the flames and explode. He turned to the Crush Roidmude. “You got some nerve killin’ my bros like that!” Crush said. “And you got some nerve trying to hunt me down like a dog. I won’t forgive you for that! And I have the feeling my host feels the same way. Take the wheel and take him out!” Banno turned the Advance Ignition as the Steering Sword flew to me. I grabbed it and slotted the last Shift Car, Fire Braver, into the Shift Loading Panel located on the sword. I turned the steering wheel three times before I swung my sword. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! FIRE BRAVER! FULL THROTTLE!” As I did, the golden energy overlapped my sword, creating the aura of an extension ladder with a metal claw at the end of it. I spun around multiple times as the ladder grabbed Crush. The metal hand squeezed onto the Roidmude and cracked his stone armor. As it tossed him, I stopped spinning and held up the Door Gun. With a pull of a trigger, I fired a large flaming beam to the Roidmude. “I’M TOAST!!!” He screamed as he exploded. His core flew downwards as I fired at it next, destroying it instantly. As I sighed in relief, I heard people chattering as time resumed. “Look at him!” “What is he?” “A superhero in our midst?” Banno chuckled and held out his arms. “You may call me Gold Drive!” He said. I could hear the shutting down noise again. I realized what it meant and I ran out of the cafeteria. As I got as far from the school as I could, my transformation cancelled and I was back to myself. “I knew it.” I muttered. “Knew what?” Banno asked. “Our time as Gold Drive seems to have been limited. I’m not sure yet if it’s because of any programming glitch or if it’s intended. I might have to guess the former due to your ability to last longer in…” I caught myself before I said show. I wasn’t sure how he’d react if I told him that I saw him on a TV show and that’s how I managed to know about the Roidmudes. “Yes. I think it’s due to that. I was practically smashed into tiny pieces. There’d be no way I could be repaired properly after that.” Banno said. “There’s a silver lining, Banno. When we use Gold Conversion, we reset the time allotted and fight for an extended period of time.” I said. “And that’s where the problem lies. When I copied Krim’s data for construction of the Gold Driver, I think I cribbed some of his data regarding Type Tridoron. Couple that with the fact that I never used my Driver’s transformation program on a conscious creature, and I have ended up with a bug that I haven’t fixed.” Banno said. “Our ability to switch.” I said. “And sadly, it’s tied to our Gold Conversion. And that’s our problem: In order to extend the time of us being Gold Drive and utilize our arsenal to the best of our ability, we have to constantly switch.” Banno said. “I… don’t see it as a problem. We can work on it, but if we manage to perfect it, I think we can turn this glitch into our greatest tool.” I said. I rubbed my head and massaged it. How the hell did I manage to become so smart now? “And how would we do that?” Banno asked. “I have an idea.” I said. I walked away from the school. “So. Gold Drive, eh, sugar cube?” Applejack’s voice freaked me out as I jumped and fell onto the floor. I turned around as Applejack stomped on my leg. “Anything else you’re hidin’ from me, or is turnin’ into some masked ne’er-do-well the last detail?” Applejack said. “No, Gold Drive is all that was left to discuss.” Banno said. Applejack took her foot off my leg. “Good. Since I’m on a need-to-know basis, any additional detail you have or ‘conveniently’ remember, I’ll be the first to know, got it?” Applejack handed me a slip containing her number. “Oh, and if it helps, let the belt do the talkin’. He’s a lot more honest than you’ll ever be, sugar cube.” With that, she walked off. “W-we’re not going to seriously let her know everything, right?” I asked Banno. “To be frank, I don’t see the point in keeping secrets, and that girl seems pretty unsusceptible to deception. Our choices are simple, we kill her and have our secrets die with her.” Banno said. “No! Not in a million years!” I said. “Or we could piecemeal her bits of the truth, twist it to our liking, and lure her with half-truths. It’s not deception, since we are telling her the truth.” Banno said. “…” I looked as Applejack walked away. From how far she was right now, it seemed that she didn’t hear a single thing me and Banno spoke about. However, I had to admit. He’s right. Eventually she’s gonna get herself involved into the Roidmude conflict, and when that happens, she’s going to need all the information she could get. “That’s the sixth Roidmude this week, sir.” An old man with short, curly white hair spoke to a man with a goatee. The two were in the latter’s office in the middle of the night. Standing in between the latter’s desk were two of his henchmen, both dressed in white tuxedos as well. “That Banno bastard…” The goatee man in a white tuxedo and a red shirt slammed his hands on the table. “He’s gonna kill us all over again!” “You think it’s time to bring him in?” An African American man wearing a cowboy outfit leaned back against the wall, his left leg pressed against it and arms crossed. “Yeah… Yeah! Let him handle the mess! Hang on…” The mob boss pulled out a drawer from his desk and took out a small silver necklace. On the necklace was the emblem of a rose flower. He pressed it up to his lips and whispered: “Thus kindly I scatter.” A gust of wind broke through in the office as the cowboy held his hat and the scientist’s lab coat bellowed in the wind. The gang leader sat in his chair and smirked as a flurry of rose petals scattered about and summoned the person he wanted: A boy cross-dressed as a character from a popular web show holding a red mechanical scythe. The two henchmen screamed and averted their eyes from them, giving out cries of “Grim Reaper!” “Greetings, Grim Reaper.” The leader said to him. The boy simply looked to the person. “Who’s my target this time?” Ross asked. Golden Drive Arc 3: Who Am I Attracted To?Tonight was the first night I spent away from Soarin’s house. I discussed with him about leaving, and to my surprise, he seemed pretty chill with it. You’d think if your own idol is leaving your house after you invited them to stay, you’d go pretty psychotic and force them to stay. I was worried that he’d force me to stay at his place after what happened with Crush earlier in the day. However, when I brought the situation up to him, he said something about his superior telling him to overlook it. It didn’t feel right to me that he, or anyone for that matter, would over look something as major as “I’m gonna sleep in the place that a robot attack happened at.” Thankfully, the library provided a good place to test out the newly attained abilities of the Gold Drive system and allow me to take my mind off these concerns. I stared at the table where it contained a collection of all the Shift Cars, Signal Bikes, and even weapons I was able to summon with Gold Conversion. Well… almost all of them. For some reason, Lupin’s stuff and the Shift Fruits Car were unable to be summoned. Also, the cars belonging to the future Drive, the Next Shift Cars, were absent, but I disregarded them due to… well… being from the future. I sat there and constantly took pictures of the collection. If there was ever a chance I could go back home, I am so posting this on my Facebook. There were reasons for collecting them beyond testing the extent of the Gold Conversion. I always had a lingering thought in my head that if Banno and the Roidmudes are here, chances are that one of the other Riders might be here too. For a precaution, I used the Gold Conversion to summon the Shift Cars, including the ones that change types. If on some chance the other riders are here, they’re definitely gonna be looking for the Shift Cars. I’ll admit, this seems like a villainous thing to do, hold the Shift Cars hostage and see if anyone shows up, but I’m not exactly sure where anyone is. The only Roidmudes I managed to fight so far are ones I bump into or were actively looking for Banno. Chances are, I’ll lure the other Riders by the latter method. Now what to say to them once they find me and the Shift Cars? “Oh hey, sorry for kidnapping your cars, I just wanted you to come here so I can talk to you! Oh, don’t mind the evil black-colored belt with the face of your sworn enemy on it, please?” I shudder to imagine what’d happen if Gou of all Riders was the one to find me. Chase might be one to understand me, though I’m not sure how Shinnosuke would handle it with Krim. I’m not even sure if they would even be there. I wonder if there were other people like me who bought whatever toy that Zoloto douche had for sale and got teleported here. Maybe they are the Mach, Drive or Chaser I’ll come across. I had multiple ideas of just who or what would also be in this world. So I decided to put the Shift Cars in one place for safe keeping. There was, however, a third reason I summoned them. “Alright Banno, it’s show time. Henshin.” I turned on the ignition key and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno turned around and looked ahead. He saw that the library had been arrayed where walking in a straight line would be impossible. Bookshelves had been rotated, books had been piled on, and even the tables acted as make shift hurdles for him to overcome. He broke off into a stride. The first obstacle in his path was a table. He simply slid under the table. Turning the key, he summoned the Dimension Cab as I took over. I quickly plug the cab into the brace and flung a portal in front of the bookshelf that was in my way. I jumped through and came out on the other side. I continued to run. I leaped over a small pile of books as I turned the key in mid-air. Fire Braver came to me as Banno tagged in. Taking out the cab and putting in the truck, he created a golden energy ladder-arm to vault himself over a larger pile of books and launched himself up onto the second floor of the library. Banno took a moment to breathe. We cleared my portion of the obstacle course. Now it was his. He turned the key as Midnight Shadow came to me. I grabbed it and in no time, I heard the sound of a tennis ball shooter humming as its familiar PFOOT PFOOT PFOOT sound rang out. I tossed several energy shurikens towards the balls, each of them puncturing the balls. I bobbed and weaved through the hail of tennis balls as I continued to attack them with my shurikens. I turned the key. For this course, Banno encouraged me to use my imagination for which Shift Car to use to stop the ball machine. I chose one as it rolled over to Banno. He grabbed it and inspected the road roller. “Rolling Gravity?” He asked. He chuckled and placed it into the Shift Brace. He created a golden version of the 10-Ton Weight and lobbed it towards the machine. As it dropped, it created a small bubble where the balls were slowed and began to drop to the ground. Banno ran over and shut off the machine, which was also slowly hovering. He counted down as he turned the key. Another Shift Car and the Door Gun came to my hands. As I began to control my body, a stream of fire came blasting at my face. I took the Shift Car that he summoned and placed it into the gun with almost no idea of what it is I got. To my relief, the gun shot an arctic breeze that stopped the fire and froze both the lighter and the aerosol can that caused it. I yanked them off their strings for good measure. I turned the key as Hooking Wrecker came to me. Banno grabbed it and activated it. He created an energy hook to lasso himself off from the second floor and right onto the final portion of the obstacle course. Before him was a table. On the table was a bunch of broccoli. He stood and looked at it. He tapped his foot and tapped his finger onto his wrist. He became idle for a moment before the transformation cancelled. “What the hell is this!?” Banno asked me. I picked up the broccoli. “The final portion of the test! You just had to pick up the broccoli!” I said. “What kind of test is that!? We were doing so well on the previous obstacles!” Banno said. “Yeah! They required us to use Shift Cars to fit the situation. However, there’ll be times where we won’t be able to use Shift Cars and we won’t have time to discuss our battle plan. We just have to learn to trust each other’s instincts and know what we want without communicating them.” I said. “Mmmph… You make a good point. Anyways, I think we should clean up before that teacher gets here.” Banno said. I checked the time. 7:00 AM. Usually by this time, the teachers would have come to the school already, especially the one Banno’s talking about. I checked the doors. They don’t seem to be open, and no one seemed to be walking towards them. Highly strange considering the teacher works the library like she’s the librarian of the place. “Y-yeah. We should.” I said. I transformed back as we hurried to clean the library. Having the ability to slow down time around you made doing chores a breeze. Once we were done cleaning up, Celestia called me over to her office. No doubt she wanted to know about the disaster that happened yesterday, especially when I saw Soarin’ and an officer I didn’t recognize in her office as well. I opened the door. “You asked for me, Principal?” I asked her. “Yes. I’ve called the police on a very important matter. One I have taken heavy concerns over.” Welp, game over, man, game over. I look to Soarin’ as he gave me a sheepish smile. I gulped as the other cop, a yellow skinned woman with orange hair that was spiked up to resemble a burning fire, took out a folder and laid it on Celestia’s table. She opened up the folder and I sighed as it was not of the destroyed cafeteria, but rather of a pink-skinned woman with purplish pink hair. The librarian. “Celestia has filed a missing persons report on one Cheerilee, a teacher here at this school.” She said. “If you’re going to ask me where I was, I was-” I tried to explain, but Soarin’ held his hand up. “Discussing about moving out. I filled Spitfire in on the details.” He said. “Don’t worry. You’re not here for questioning.” Celestia said. “She was meant to take the kids of her art class out on a field trip to the art museum to see the newest sculpture exhibit that just opened. With her absence, I was considering asking you to sub for her.” “W-what!? Me? But I just became a teacher yesterday!” I stuttered. “I know. Your experience is like that of a substitute’s. You’ll fit in fine.” Celestia said. “But who will substitute me?” I asked. Celestia simply smiled. “I asked my sister Luna to handle that.” Celestia said. I looked at Celestia’s sun-styled pin and I almost had half a mind to face palm as I realize just what her sister’s name would entail. It’s sad that ‘Luna’ is the most sensible name and it still somehow fitted into a theme of sorts. “Your class is waiting for you out in the parking lot.” She said. “Well, guess I better get going…” As I turned around, that’s when Spitfire spoke up. “There is something else I wish to discuss. Another missing person. A student of yours by the name of Sunny Glenway.” I turn to look as Spitfire held a photograph of a bald man. The very same bald man I killed yesterday. I backed up into a wall as I saw it. “Care to tell me what happened with him? Or what the deal was with the damage in the cafeteria?” Spitfire asked. “Well… I…” I closed my eyes. I almost expected Banno to bail me out. That’s when I heard the door open. Suddenly, Spitfire’s tone of voice changed. “C-chief!” I opened my eyes. “Spitfire, don’t pester the professor with your interrogations. She has little to no involvement in the incident yesterday. Besides, I’m personally looking into the reports. I thought I told you and Soarin’ this when we first heard about the cafeteria incident.” He said. “W-well, you know how Spitfire is… She’s pushy and determined to know the truth… and…” Soarin’ leaned in to whisper to the chief. “She never smiles.” That’s when he got elbowed in the back. “I heard that!” Spitfire said. The chief sighed. “Spitfire, I know how much you want to get to the bottom of this, but rest assured, I’ll find this out myself. I don’t need you or any member of the force getting into something you may not comprehend. I already had to excuse Wind Rider the other day.” He said. That’s when I had a gnawing sense of doubt in my head. “Of course, my apologies, Mr. Tachibana.” Boom. As soon as she said that, my head snapped to see the chief. He was around fifty or so years old, balding, seemed to have let himself go despite the cleaned up police uniform, and the shocking part of it all: his skin color was normal. Tachibana looked to me with a grin while I just stood there, my bottom jaw shivering and just close to chattering with the upper jaw. Tachibana stepped out of the way to allow Soarin’ and Spitfire out. I look to Celestia as she just smiled and waved. I stepped out as Tachibana followed me. When we were far away from the others and alone, I stopped and got ready to turn the ignition. “Alright, let’s get down to business, Judge. Hen-” I said. “Relax. I’m not here for Banno or you.” Tachibana said. I stopped. “You’re not?” I asked. I turned around as he shook his head. “I’m merely here to clean up the mess that Crush made. Some Roidmudes are more… fussier than others. What we do is based around subtlety, and we can’t have that when they turn an entire school upside down.” He said. “… Why are you really here? You’re outing yourself and expect me to just accept that you’re corrupting the cops?” I look to him. I remembered this vigilante Roidmude, hunting down and killing criminals to lure out another criminal to fulfill his template’s desire for revenge. The mere idea of him taking a similar role to 001 and corrupting the officials from the inside was enough to churn my stomach. “Well, I noticed how involved you are with one of my officers.” Tachibana said. “Rest assured, I moved out of his house. I now have little to do with him.” I said. Tachibana just smiled and nodded. “Good. Stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.” Tachibana said. He walked away. As he did, I asked him. “Miss Cheerilee… her disappearance wouldn’t have anything to do with the Roidmudes, right?” I asked. Tachibana chuckled. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?” He said. I was now left with what I could possibly consider a clue. ‘Find out for myself.’ I shuddered as I thought to myself of the fact that I’m going to an art museum. If that was meant to confirm that, yes, Roidmudes are there, then I know exactly who I’m gonna confront. “010?” Banno asked as we were on the bus. The loud motor followed by chattering students muffled our communication, which made our discussion much easier to convey. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure he has something to do with Cheerilee’s disappearance.” I said. “It’s a little odd of you to pick out a specific Roidmude out of the 108. Then again, given your past assumptions, I cease to be surprised.” Banno said. At that moment, I gulped. I knew where he was going to go with this. “Your assumption of 001 corrupting the police coupled with your shockingly accurate guesses of which Roidmude is which has me a bit suspicious of your knowledge. Not to mention the fact that you also know of our demise.” Banno said. “… If you want an explanation, I’m not sure if the one I’ll give will make sense.” I said. How does one say to another: “Oh, yeah, I saw you on TV and I remembered how your son murdered you with an axe!”? Fortunately, the bus was close to arriving at the museum. “I’m not going to probe you for details just yet. Besides, you already have one person on your back for that.” Banno said. That’s when I remembered Applejack. I pulled out my phone and looked at the numbers. Among all the friends and family I have, I also had Applejack’s number, though I simply named her Jack, in case I ever get back to my world. Banno’s right about that. I know so much about the Roidmudes and Applejack just put herself on a first-to-know basis. I took out the phone and texted her: ‘Cheerilee’s disappearance is no coincidence. It’s a Roidmude plot. Will text more details later.’ Once that was done, the bus stopped and everyone rushed off the bus, save for one. Now, when I say she was white, I don’t mean in a racial way, like she’s Caucasian. I mean that she was literally white. Like, white as a sheet white. She had purple hair that curled out and I just knew from her posture that she’d have some sort of posh lady accent. “Professor Silverbolt…” Called it. “Thank you again for taking us in Cheerilee’s stead.” Remembering the ‘game’ I played, I knew she was Rarity. “No problem, Rarity. Anything for my newest favorite school in the state.” I said with a sheepish smile as I buttoned up my coat to hide Banno. I got off the bus along with my class. There, a man with glasses greeted me. The human-skin color now made me suspicious. So far the only human-skinned people were Roidmudes who didn’t bother to get a new body. However, the problem was that I couldn’t pin down what Roidmude he might be. Yes, he had glasses, but I would have known that he was Brain, one of the commanders of the Roidmudes, if I saw him with his handkerchief and had lighter brown hair. This guy lacked either of those. I shrugged it off. Maybe he’s an exception to the technicolored humans in this town. “Welcome! We’ve been expecting you, Canterlot High! My name is Michelangelo Jones. You must be here for my newly opened statue exhibit, yes?” He asked. “Y-yes.” I said. Well, his name isn’t Japanese like Tachibana’s, but his name sounded… too normal. For once, I thanked the cute quirk of everyone having weird names, since now it seems that the only normal names are the ones I should be afraid of. “Right this way!” He said. He walked into the museum as the rest of the students and I followed. As we entered the museum, I took a look at much of the paintings. None of them, absolutely none of them were of elegant women. Strange. If Paint was involved, he would have littered the place with- My eyes stopped to one painting. It was a painting of a white deer with golden antlers grazing in the middle of a dark forest. I felt drawn to the painting. I walked over and looked at it closely. I didn’t understand why I was so lured by a simple painting of a Bambi-reject. I looked at the background on the far left corner. It was a simple red dot. Why would the artist put a single red dot amidst the greens? I squinted my eyes. Seemed a bit of peach was mixed in with the greens as it surrounded the dot… almost like a face. “Ah! You like it?” A voice broke my concentration. Next to me was a guy, around the students’ age, in a brown sweatshirt and khaki pants. He also wore glasses and had normal brown skin. “The painting’s called ‘King of the Forest’. There’s actually a whole story behind the painting, if you’re interested in hearing about it.” He said. I shook my head. “Oh, thanks but I think I’m good.” I said. He simply nodded. “Okay. I understand.” He then took my hand and smiled. He leaned into my ear and whispered: “Please, enjoy your stay…” His voice resonated in my head as I felt a tad woozy. The person then walked over to the girls and continued his greeting, starting with Rarity. Before I could lean in for a closer listen, Michelangelo went up to me. “Ah, you’ve met Trenderhoof, I see.” He said. Trenderhoof… Aright, normal enough name for this place. He’s off the hook. “Yeah.” I said. “He’s such an amazing artist with his words. I’m proud for him to be my student.” He said. “With his words… You mean a writer?” I asked him. “Yes. But the way he writes, he paints with his words.” He holds his hand up towards the girls. “See, look how easily swayed the girls are! Only a passionate artist would be able to have that much sweet talking.” He said. As I looked at Trenderhoof clasping Rarity’s hand with his own, I felt a chill go down my spine. Especially once he leaned in and whispered to Rarity. “Though, personally, I wish for them to marvel at my handiwork.” With that, he took his leave as the girls smiled. I raised my eyebrow at how there seems to be only females in Cheerilee’s class, or at the very least, a majority. The two left as I breathed in. There was a lot for me to soak up. I clapped my hands. “So, who wants lunch?” I said. I think the first indicator that this is not my world, outside of everyone having technicolor flesh, was when, despite McDonald’s having a huge influence in fast foods, to the point where you couldn’t go an hour on the highway without encountering at least one by a truck stop, the closest thing I could find to a McDonald’s in the cafeteria was a clone called McGoofy’s. Kamen Riders seem to be no stranger to parallel universes. I never watched the show, but apparently there was one Kamen Rider show that dealt exclusively to parallel universes. I only knew the bare minimum of it because of a crossover he had with the first Rider I actually watched, Double. Other than it being a piece of crap according to Kamen Rider fans passing themselves off as critics, that’s all I know about that rider. Maybe if I had seen the show, I probably would have a better idea of the situation I was in with Banno and this world. As I thought about it, I stared at my alternate universe version of a Big Mac. Big Mac… I remembered Applejack’s oddly named brother. The thought of Applejack got me back to the phone. She hadn’t responded. Of course, she’s probably in class. I decided to text her the rest of the info. ‘I have reason to believe that a Roidmude is at the museum and that he’s converting women into paintings. I can handle it on my own.’ I stopped texting. I remembered how, when the police were hot on Roidmude 010’s trail, he stashed the paintings in a far off warehouse. If I flub up, chances are he’ll do it again with Cheerilee and possibly any others he had converted into paintings. I took a bite into my Big Mac and continued the text. ‘I might need back up. Namely transportation… if you have.’ I shouldn’t be asking my students for favors like this. Especially since I felt like I could put them in mortal danger. I’m not Fourze, damn it! I’m a mad scientist wearing a mad scientist as a belt! However, I didn’t want to risk losing to the Roidmudes just because I lacked a big fancy car to help he chase them down like the Tridoron, Drive’s vehicle. As I hit send, I could hear Rarity chatter about finding her prince charming. Oh God. “He was so dreamy! Oh, he was so romantic… he made my heart flutter.” Rarity said. I could hear similar talk from the other girls. Ugh, one of the many things I hate about high school: girls gushing over boys. “Gag me with a spoon.” I muttered. Rarity turned to me. “What was that?” She asked. I rolled my eyes. “Look, Rarity, I know you have this puppy love thing goin’ on and everything, but I’m pretty sure that Trenderhoof guy’s just some hipster playboy. Next thing you know, he’ll have the hots for a hick.” I said. Rarity looked to me with a dirty glare not unlike Applejack’s. “How dare you say that about Trenderhoof? He’s the handsomest man I have ever seen!” Rarity slammed her hands on the table. “You just met him today. For a minute. It’s like you want to marry him or something.” I said. “I do!” Rarity said. I resisted every urge to bash my head against the table, since I fear I’d get burger juice and sesame seeds all over my forehead on accident. “Rarity, do you honestly believe that fairy tale bull?” I said. “There’s more to love than just the cliché love at first sight. There’s dates, there’s getting parents’ approval, financial problems… I swear, if the crap you spout about love at first sight was true, there’d be a lot less divorce rates.” Rarity looked away. “Well, you just don’t know what love is like. He is to me what Prince Blueblood is to Princess Platinum!” She said. “The who to the what?” I muttered. Rarity sighed as she got up and took me by the arm. She proceeded to drag me out of the cafeteria and towards the paintings where I met Michelangelo. She pointed to the painting next to “King of the Forest”. It was an oil painting of two people dressed in royal clothing, dancing and waltzing like they were in some sort of Disney film. Both were white-skinned like Rarity, and in fact, one of them looked exactly like Rarity save for the dress and jewelry. The other was your generic Prince Charming with blonde hair. “It was a lovely yet tragic tale of two lovers, both from different kingdoms.” Rarity said. I immediately groaned. “Oh joy, it ends in a suicide pact, right?” I asked. I turned to Rarity, who just stared at the painting. “Uh, Rarity?” I asked. She just seemed to… zone out. She proceeded to turn away from me and walk like a zombie, following the crowd of the other class members. I shook my head. I instantly knew what was going on. But I was too late. “Follow me…” My legs picked themselves up as I felt pulled towards the others. “Come with me…” I tried moving every muscle in my body, but I couldn’t free my body from the control the voice had over me. It wasn’t like with Banno’s control, where I felt my body flex and move to every attack, but rather, it felt like I was a puppet and the voice was the puppeteer. … Voice. That was the Roidmude I’m fighting today, it seems. As were lead into the basement, I knew we weren’t alone. All the girls that Trenderhoof spoke to were there too. All of them standing and droning off. And yet, Trenderhoof was not to be found anywhere. I looked around for him. “Ah, welcome…” Of course, I knew he would take the form of my ideal man. I just didn’t realize that said ideal man would be Ryoma himself. “I’m thankful that you are here today.” This is not Ryoma, I thought. Even if it was his voice, it still wasn’t him. I knew it was someone else, even without knowing it was the Voice Roidmude using his powers to appear as my ideal man. Ryoma definitely had the charm of a mad scientist. This Ryoma spoke smoothly. The other Ryoma, the one I knew, spoke harsher and quicker. A sociopath at his finest. Not some cheap ass swindler. Despite this, I was still enamoured. I still admired his physique, his looks, and his devilish smile. And I wasn’t the only one who fell for this. Many of the other girls fawned to him. They called him by various names. Some of them names of students I had on my attendance list, like Flash Sentry or even Big Macintosh. Then Michelangelo walked in. “Alright, shall we get this show on the road then, Voice?” He asked the false Ryoma. “Not quite. I enjoy swindling these women… It’s nostalgic… Just a while longer, please?” He asked. Michelangelo tsk-tsked. “I know, but remember that what I do is nostalgic to me too. Tell them to make a pose.” He said. Well, the prick confirmed it. He’s Paint. I struggled to move my hands, but Ryoma simply looked at me and said: “Don’t fight it. It’ll be over shortly.” I grunted. I looked around as my arms sluggishly moved to a refined, folded position. To my surprise, there weren’t any signs of paintings of women. You’d think if I saw the Paint Roidmude in the flesh, his modus operandi, trapping women in paintings, would be highly noticeable. The only thing I found were statues. Statues of… Women… When I saw the stone statue of the librarian, a chill went up my spine as I saw a ghost of her trying to break out of her prison. “Help me…” Cheerilee whispered out to me. My body tried to shake itself awake. That’s when I noticed the one thing Voice didn’t freeze up: my mouth. “Snap out of it, girls!” I said to the crowd. “These two are nothing but monsters!” “Monsters. Heh… Oh, if Heart was around to hear this.” Michelangelo mused. He walked over to me and grabbed Banno. “Well, nothing you say will snap them out of this. We’ll be taking back our creator now.” He struggled to pull him out of my waist. “Difficult, isn’t it?” Banno said. Michelangelo let go of the Driver. “Well, taking you alive was a bust. Fortunately, our leader has made it so that we won’t need you for our survival. And considering how you accelerated our extinction at the hands of the real monsters… I figure I’ll save my brethren the trouble and destroy you myself.” He walked away. I could feel Banno tremble on my waist. “H-hey, stupid! You should start my engine already!” Banno spoke out. I figured having his life on the line would result in him losing his cool. As much as I would want to, my arms were frozen in place and I was unable to. The only thing I could probably do was shout a bit of banter. “The only monster I see is you, Paint!” I shouted to him. Michelangelo stopped. He snickered. “Paint? Is that what you want to call me?” He broke out into a fit of full-out laughter. “You mistook me for… my teacher?” He turned around and took off his glasses. Wait… Teacher? I could barely gasp as he transformed. He wasn’t the Paint Roidmude as I had realized. When his body transformed into his true form, I could see the resemblance of the Paint Roidmude. His left arm is comprised of nothing but tubes excreting gray clay that was connected to his robotic body. Instead of a painting in his chest, it was a face reminiscent of the Statue of David’s face. Everything else, from his piping to even his artist’s hat, was the same, save for the fact that his entire body was a silvery gray instead of gold. “I have become something more than my teacher. As it turns out, my talent wasn’t in drawing or painting for that matter.” I now remembered him. Roidmude 084. He was simply a minor, unadvanced Roidmude who worked with the Paint Roidmude as a student, only to be stopped and killed by Kamen Rider Drive. “Behold, my true talent! My… DESTINY!” He waved his arms as particles began to flash. The density shifted as gray strands began flying from the Roidmude’s clay hand to the girls, starting with Rarity. The strands fell onto the skin of them and began to harden like rock. The process was very slow, but it allowed me to see the anguish the girls were faced with as their control from the Voice Roidmude was taken away, only to notice that they were slowly being turned into stone. The Roidmude turned to me and chuckled. I was next. As soon as he was done turning some of the girls into stone, I would be next… and I would be killed. Just then… Clatter. A small, metal object fell onto the floor. My salvation. It took me five seconds for the vibrations and sound of the metal hitting the ground to snap me out of it, but once it did, the girls and I broke down into an insane, screaming fit. It was a flaw of the Voice Roidmude’s power. While he may have worked his hypnotic voice on us, it had the side effect of messing with our hearing, to the point where it’s now sensitive to something as simple as a fork clattering onto the floor would render us insane. And fortunately, insane was the best mood to be in right now. As I screamed and dropped to the ground, I flailed my arms in the right way so that they’d hit the ignition. Then I let Banno handle the rest. “Henshin!” Banno cried out as I transformed into Gold Drive. As Banno took over, my body stopped. This kind of feeling of being controlled by him, compared to how I felt being controlled by Voice, was much better. Even when he laughed, I was given a sense of calm, knowing that he would handle it. “You will pay dearly for even considering robbing the world of its greatest scientific mind!” Banno ran and threw a punch towards the Roidmude, only for a girl to run in the way of it and receive it instead. “You forgot I was here too?” I could see the illusion of Ryoma shatter and in its place, Trenderhoof. He transformed into the Voice Roidmude, a robotic body with his entire upper body filled with nothing but brass tuba-like horns. “If I may, Sculpt?” The Voice Roidmude called more girls to my area as they blocked me. Banno struggled and pushed them out of the way, only for more of them to dogpile him. “Pitiful women! They should be obeying me! Not the walking scrap!” Banno shouted. “I’m giving you a Shift Car. Use it!” Banno turned the ignition as the circuitry on Gold Drive’s chest lit up. A glowing orb with a slight digital look to it appeared from it and towards the Shift Brace. I saw its solar grid and instantly knew it was Burning Solar. I activated it and my entire body lit up with a flash. The girls instantly backed away as I ran towards the Voice Roidmude and decked him in the face. As I continued to, I slowly stopped. Because he asked for it. “Stop!” He said. And I did. “What are you doing? Don’t you remember the little time limit we have?” Banno asked. My fingers drooped towards the ignition. “No, don’t turn-” The Voice Roidmude tried to tell me, but I already turned it. Banno took back control as he continued to lay fist after fist onto the Roidmude’s face. That’s when I heard the screaming. As soon as Banno was done beating up the Voice Roidmude, he turned around and saw the Sculpt Roidmude finishing up on turning a quarter of the girls, Rarity included, into statues. Most of them had held their hands up in horror, others raised their arms mid-insanity, as if they were laughing. Banno himself chuckled. “I admire how you Roidmudes want to make humanity your toy… But I’m afraid to say that they, along with you, are my toys to do what I want. If you think you can simply take them away, you have another thing coming!” Banno tried to go after Sculpt, but suddenly, a sharp, painful gunshot hit us in the chest and we were knocked down. I looked to see where the gun was coming from as I heard the casing clatter onto the ground. I saw a mass of rose petals fall and scatter about as I saw a girl in a red cloak walking towards me, holding a familiar mechanical scythe. Upon closer inspection, I knew it wasn’t a woman. I recognized the man. It was Ross from the Con. “The Grim Reaper!” The two Roidmudes shouted. “Go… I’ll take care of the Kamen Rider.” Ross said. The two Roidmudes nodded and rushed off. The Sculpt Roidmude pressed his clay hand onto Rarity. She, along with the rest of the girls that were turned into statues, transformed into the gray strands and entered his hand as he ran off. Banno simply looked at Ross. “Banno! Go after them!” I said to him. “They called him the Grim Reaper. You know very well what that means.” He turned the ignition. Yes. I knew exactly what that meant. Roidmudes are known to get rowdy, like Crush and Iron. They’re also known to attract attention, like Paint and Sculpt. And so, a solution was made by their leader, Heart. They would have someone who would hunt down these rowdy Roidmudes and defeat them, allowing them to be reset by Banno. As necessity, this Grim Reaper had to be on par with the Roidmudes he fights… and by extension, the Kamen Riders that were also made to fight the Roidmudes. The Steering Sword flew to my hands. I knew that I couldn’t just walk away. I had to fight him. “So, you must be the Kamen Rider I was told to hunt down.” Ross said. “What the hell are you doing with the Roidmudes?” I asked him. “It’s like they said, I’m their Grim Reaper.” Ross said. “I know, but… why?” I asked. “Because this world needs a hero.” Ross said. “A hero… That’s a laugh…” Banno chuckled. “For once, I agree.” I readied my sword. “You’re really messed if you think those monsters are heroes.” I ran to him with my sword in hand. He smirked and fired off a round from his scyth- wait he used his scythe as a gun? Oh, right… It was also a gun. Sadly, I realized this too late, as he used the recoil to fly towards me. He swung his scythe at me. As it connected with my armor, he swung around again, connecting. He repeated this in the span of six seconds, with six blows landed per second. He leaped over and choked me with the blade end of his scythe. “I know.” He muttered before he fired. With the force of the recoil, he went into a drop kick. He knocked me back and onto the ground as I heard the clatter of another casing. I turned the ignition. Banno got up as he got the Zenrin Shooter, a gun where it had a motorcycle’s front wheel as a sort of blade. He fired at Ross, though he struck the bullets away with his scythe at a blinding speed. That’s when I noticed that the particles have returned to their normal form. They had been since Voice and Sculpt went away. “Banno, you thinking what I’m thinking?” I told him. “Oh yes...” Banno turned the ignition as the circuit tire turned on and flashed. The particles shifted again and now Ross was under Slowdown. “Now let’s get out of here and-” I ran off… Only for Ross to strike me. “Sorry, but that won’t work on me.” Ross spoke, not in that shocked way that victims of Slowdown would undergo, but rather in a normal way. That’s when I realized… He was able to land so many blows on me in the span of six seconds… He flew towards me and blocked the shots in no time… “Banno… I think he…” I muttered. “To be able to move during a Slowdown without access to a Core Driviar… H-he has super speed?!” Banno blurted it out. “Call it… my Semblance.” He ran, though it was here I noticed that his fighting was significantly slower than before. He was still able to move, though at a pace where we would be able to fight him on a more fair level. I turned the ignition to summon a weapon capable of handling the scythe. A long blade on the end of a stick? Well, time to say hello to the Signal Ax… Though as soon as the ax came to Banno, he dodged out of the way as the ax impacted onto the ground and stuck there. “Gaah!” Banno shrieked. “Relax! It’s not going to kill you! … Again.” I muttered. I should have realized that Banno would probably still have memories of meeting his end with that weapon. I could hear Banno growl as he hesitated in picking up the ax. “Hmph. Just be sure that it’s nowhere near me, okay?” Banno said. With both the Signal Ax and Zenrin Shooter, he swung the weapons at Ross. He blocked it with the shaft of his scythe. He pushed up and knocked Banno away. With two heavy swings from his scythe, he slashed at the armor and kicked up a huge amount of sparks from the armor. He proceeded to aim and fire two sniper rounds at him. The last shot blew him away. He landed on the wall behind him, cracking a bit as he fell down. “That’ll do it for today.” Ross walked off while the Gold Drive armor canceled out. As I got up, I noticed something. There was nothing irritating my ears. No swindling voice, no metal ringing, nothing. I looked around and noticed the various discarded bullet casings. That’s when I gripped my hand. I felt full, complete control again. No longer was I Voice’s puppet. I chuckled. “Now, I am free. There are no strings on-” Before I could even finish that quote, I heard a muffled scream coming from the Cheerilee statue. I ran and checked behind. It was Trenderhoof. But… didn’t Trenderhoof- Right, Roidmudes can copy people. Forgot that. Trenderhoof seemed to be bound and gagged like a typical damsel in distress… if said damsel was a dude. Well, regardless of gender roles, I untied him. “Th-Thank… Wait… Professor Silverbolt! Oh thank God!” Trenderhoof suddenly grappled me. That’s when I noticed that Trenderhoof wore a different sweatshirt. The copy wore something that was brown and akin to a turtleneck, while this one wore a simple, purple vest-style sweatshirt. The make of the shirt reminded me a lot of how my school uniforms were designed. “I-I’m not… Look, you’re safe now and-” “What were you doing with those students from Canterlot High? Were those rumors of you transferring to them true?” Trenderhoof asked me. “Yes, now shut up. I need you to call the authorities, let them know that a man named Michelangelo Jones kidnapped a dozen girls. I’ll handle the rest.” I said. Before Trenderhoof could say anything, I ran off, only to trip over something. I got up and saw what was on the ground… It was a padlock. No. The lock was bulky… big enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I gripped it… I had felt this same feeling before. It was roughly bigger than a Lockseed, a collectable toy that was in Kamen Rider Gaim. I dropped it to the ground. Clatter. It was that exact same noise that drove me mad and broke me from Voice’s hold. I picked it up, though this time I gripped it harder. I could feel my face freezing into a smile. I felt… genuinely enjoyed by this. I wasn’t sure why. At least until my mind flashed to something. I could see my hands hovering over something that looked exactly like the Lockseed I held. Huge compared to normal Lockseeds and lacked a fun, colorful front, instead showing raw bits of metal and wiring. I saw one of my hands reaching for a screwdriver and the other reaching for what seemed to be the metal frame for the Lockseed. I place the frame onto the Lockseed and screw it into place. The plate was all black save for a center that was molded into a red rose. That’s when I could see the serial number: L.V.-02. I soon see myself pick up the Lockseed and tossing it to a man with a goatee and a bowler hat wearing a black waistcoat. “Here you go, Sid. Now, I presume these kids will be able to test it properly?” It was at this point that I realized that I was remembering a memory that wasn’t mine. “You’re underestimating them. These punks are highly competitive. All I have to do is say that this is part of a new game and they’ll use these in no time.” Sid said as he held that Lockseed together with another, white and pink Lockseed. As he walked off, the picture faded away… And I was back to looking at the unfinished Lock Vehicle. I looked around. Trenderhoof was gone. Must have went to call the cops already. I ran off as well. Who knows how much time I’ve wasted looking at the Lockseed. As I left the museum, I spotted a red pick-up truck pull into the parking lot. The window slid down and I saw Big Macintosh behind the wheel. “Hop in.” Big Mac said. Just then I heard a buzzing. I pulled out my cellphone. Yep. It’s Applejack. ‘Okay. Big Mac’s on his way. You’re lucky that he left school early to tend to Granny.’ I nod and got into the car as Big Mac drove off. I looked out to see if there were any Roidmudes running about, though I failed to see any. Then I noticed a similar pickup truck. Its back was filled with the statues of the girls. “Hey, follow that truck!” I told Mac. He complied and chased after the truck. I could see one of the Roidmudes, Sculpt, emerged out, transformed into his Roidmude form, and fired off a chunk of hardened clay at us. Big Mac drove out of the way and skidded right into a ditch. Fortunately, we were unscathed, though the popping of the airbags made me jump. I looked outside and saw the truck slowly speeding away. I turned to Big Mac, who checked himself to see if there were any injuries. “No. I don’t want to drag innocents into this.” I muttered. “So, we’re giving up? Alright. Let the Roidmudes get away with their prizes. We’ll live another day.” Banno piped up. However, I clutched onto the Lockseed. “No. We’re not giving up. Banno, this thing I hold is incomplete, but I know what it is. It’s a vehicle.” I said. “Hm… So, you want me to program it, so to speak?” Banno asked. “Yes. I’m just not sure if we’ll have the time to create it.” I said. Banno simply chuckled. “You underestimate me. Transform, and I’ll have this device ready to use in five seconds.” Banno said. “And then what?” I asked. My mind flashed back to his declaration of world domination again. “I wouldn’t mind cleaning up those loose ends. After all, they nearly killed us. I don’t want them to try again and succeed.” Banno said. “… Alright. Henshin.” I said. I turned the ignition and became Gold Drive. I ignored Big Mac giving me a wide-eyed stare, and Banno possibly did the same. Banno held the Lockseed, then clutched it hard with his left hand. I saw golden energy surge from his left forearm towards his hand. The light enveloped the Lockseed as he continued to clutch it, to the point of crushing force. Eventually, the Lockseed was nothing but glowing bits of gold data. However, it was only for a brief while before the light faded. In its place was a new Lockseed I have never seen before. Put up on the front was a metal frame resembling a sunflower. The center, however, had a wheel instead. Printed on one of the metallic petals was L.V.-05, printed in the same style as the other Lock Vehicles, with a slash through the words as though it was cut with a sword. As with most Lockseeds, this had the hook part of the lock on the very top, and a button on the side to activate it. Banno turned the ignition as I took over. I looked over to Big Mac again. “You good?” I asked. “Eeeeyup.” Big Mac quickly nodded. “Good. Call the cops. I’m closing this case.” I got out of the car. Without any further time to lose, I popped the Lockseed open and tossed it into the air. The Lockseed transformed into an ATV the size of Big Mac’s truck. The petals of the sunflower formed to make guards for the four wheels, while the hook became more or less its hood. I got onto it and drove off onto the highway where the Roidmudes were getting away. The highway was conveniently empty for this chase. Though, I hardly remembered the Kamen Riders ever getting stuck in traffic. However, about a minute into the drive, I switched over to Banno. As I did, I summoned a trio of Shift Cars. “So, I see you’ve noticed my modification to this vehicle?” Banno said. I nodded as I spotted something on the dashboard. Something that even Ryoma Sengoku couldn’t add to the Lock Vehicle: Shift Car capability. On the dashboard were three slots for Shift Cars, arranged in a triangle. Banno looked to the side where the Shift Cars were catching up to him. He chuckled as he saw a red sports car, a black buggy, and a green garbage truck. “Exactly. Let’s see what we can use.” I said. The Shift Cars leaped up into the dashboard and plugged into their slots. “SPEED! WILD! TECHNIC! ENGINE EXTENSION!” I shudder as I heard Banno’s voice announcing the Shift Cars. It felt… unnatural. I heard the roar of the engine as Speed was called up first. “SPEED!” The engine revved up as the highway and the blue sky blurred together. Before I know it, we were pulled up right next to the Roidmudes, who properly freaked out. “GAH! Kamen Rider! What happened with the Grim Reaper!?” Voice asked. I saw him behind the wheel. “Your precious Grim Reaper does what all dumb villains do: leave without landing the final blow!” Banno said with a laugh. “H-he what!?” Voice said as Sculpt held his hand out and grabbed my hand. My hand slowly turned into stone. “WILD!” Banno rammed the ATV next to the pickup truck and knocked Sculpt’s hand off with the knock back. He drove into the truck again and caused it to careen over. It crashed into the railing as the Roidmudes got out. The truck flipped over, taking the statues with it. “TECHNIC!” Two mechanical tentacles, much like Banno’s own tentacles that he would use in the show, sprung out and grabbed the statues before it settled them down. Banno got out of the car and turned on the ignition for me. I saw the two Roidmudes in front of me. I cocked a grin. They’re going along for the ride. I pressed the red button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER!” Banno announced. “… W-what did I just say?!” Banno asked. I ignored him and crouched. Gold energy built up into my right leg as I broke into a sprint and leaped in the air. “FULL THROTTLE!” I extended my right leg and Rider Kicked the first Roidmude I saw, Sculpt. As soon as my foot made contact, his body exploded. As the smoke cleared, I noticed something: the lack of a Core. I looked to my right and saw why. Sculpt was running away. Hmph… Seemed I destroyed a copy. “H-hey! What about me!?” Voice shouted out. I grunted. “You’ll get your just desserts. Banno!” I said as I turned the ignition, giving him control of my body as three shift cars went his way. Banno ignored them and ran to Voice, feeding him punch after punch. By the third punch, Voice was knocked onto the pavement. Voice held out his right hand, which I recognize as a megaphone-like appendage. His hand emitted a loud sonic shrill that caused tiny sparks to explode on the pavement before hitting us. Banno stumbled back before he took the first Shift Car: Rolling Gravity. Rather than summon a ten-ton weight to lug around, Banno instead focused his golden energy into his fist and slammed it onto the ground. This golden energy created a shockwave that overpowered the sonic blast. As the shockwave hit Voice, a field of gravity kept him down as Banno switched out Rolling Gravity for Spin Mixer. It’s probably the first time I ever saw the Tire for the Shift Car appear. Each of the Shift Cars came with a Tire, though since me and Banno relied a lot on Golden Energy, a special type of power that super-evolved Roidmudes possessed, there wasn’t a time where we would need to switch out tires. Thankfully my body is numb when Banno controls me, as the Spin Mixer Tire came right for me and popped out the red circuitry off my chest. The Tire spun around as it spat out blobs of concrete. Voice, while in midair via the gravity well, fired off several sound blasts, though the blobs managed to collide with and destroy them. One of the blobs managed to get past the barrage and hit directly on his pseudo-arm cannon, sealing it shut. I could hear the sound trying to get out of his cannon. It got louder and louder. I also noticed that the cannon was getting bigger and wider. “Oh shi-” Before Voice could say anything else, his arm cannon exploded and he was now armless. Banno fired a few more blobs, essentially sticking him to the railing as the energy well dissipated. Banno switched out the Shift Car for Rumble Dump and he turned the ignition. It’s me now. Crap. Gotta have to think of a cool one liner… “Silence is golden, wouldn’t you agree, Banno?” Well, it’s the thought that counts. I pressed the button on my Shift Brace. “Yes, I would agre- THE FINISHER! S-seriously!? I put in that feature in there?!” I couldn’t help but snicker, but I had to defeat the Roidmude. I leaped up in the air as the Spin Mixer Tire went away and the circuitry returned. Doing the same thing to the Sculpt Roidmude, I preformed the signature attack of all Kamen Riders, the Rider Kick, though this time, there was a golden energy drill attached to my foot. “FULL THROTTLE! RUMBLE DUMP!” I couldn’t resist shouting it out: “RIDER ROCKET DRILL KICK!!!” I shouted as I held one arm out as if it had a rocket attached to it. The drill bore into the Roidmude before his body broke down and blew up. I backflipped and landed on my feet as his Core, 030, floated a bit before it blew up. I turned around to the statues as my transformation cancelled out. “Putting the switching feature was one thing, but the habit of announcing crap like ‘The Finisher’ and ‘Full Throttle’!?” Banno, however, was rambling. “Hey!” I managed to shut him up. “Let’s take these guys back to the museum. If Sculpt’s modeled after Paint, these girls will break out in a short while.” I said. Banno sighed as we got onto the ATV and activated Technic again to carry the statues. As I arrived back, the police were already there. No sign of Tachibana, however. Soarin’, however, was there. As was Spitfire. Great. I drove the ATV away from the museum. I really wouldn’t want to explain to the snippy police officer what I was doing with near perfect statue recreations of real people and why they suddenly broke free and became real people. I was quite surprised that I was able to find a warehouse so close to the museum. I stopped by and dropped off the statues. I looked and admired the ATV. “Sweet. My very own ride. Well, obviously I’ll get a ride. I’m a Kamen Rider after all.” I chuckled. “And to think we’d spend our time carpooling with that cowgirl’s family.” Banno said. “So… what other neat stuff you put in there? A twelve stroke engine?” I hopped onto the ATV to get another feel for it. “They don’t make twelve stroke engines, idiot.” Banno said. “Hey, you’re a genius that made intelligent robots who take human forms and slow down time. I’d figure you’d at least do something no one else did with an ATV.” I said. “I did! I scrimped and salvaged the mechanics I found in the device you gave me and added in Krim’s designs! I even added in Shift Car capability to make up for the lack of a Core Driviar. Are you questioning my intelligence?” Banno asked. “No… I’ll have to say, you did a mighty fine job with this, and I thank you. This is definitely the broccoli I asked you to pick up.” I patted the ATV. “Though it’s a sunflower… Needs a name… Oh! SunDriver! G-Get it? It’s a sunflower, but I’m Kamen Rider Gold Drive, so I’m really a Driver?” I said. Banno groaned. “I was going to appreciate your compliment, but now I wonder if I should let you remain in my world once I take it over.” Banno said. The sense of dread took over any joy I had with the newly attained Lockvehicle. “And how, pray tell, do you hope to achieve that?” I asked. “Whoever brought the Roidmudes back also brought me back too. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that he would bring back the Sigma Circular as well.” Banno said. I began to remember something. The Roidmudes I faced kept everything. Their personality, their forms, even the humans they copied… It wouldn’t be any stretch to ask: “So, you expect that the Roidmudes would retain their Super Evolutions?” The level beyond mere Evolution. A golden version of their old, Advanced forms. “Exactly! We may have five Super Evolved Roidmudes to power up the Sigma Circular, maybe more! Think of the possibilities! If this is all possible, we could rule everything twice over! Assuming you want to be on my good side…” Banno said. I gripped onto the handlebar of the ATV. How could Banno be so stupid to think that I would join his side in world domination? Before I could counter-argue, I heard the sound of stone cracking. I had the SunDriver set down the statues as they cracked open. They faded away as I saw the girls be free. I immediately went to Rarity first. “Ugh… my head…” She looked to me as she held her head. “Darling, can you tell me what just happened? All I remember was talking to you about my love for Trenderhoof.” She asked. “Oh, well, we just went out for some air. That’s all.” Good thing Applejack wasn’t around. Otherwise she’d throttle me. "This far ahead? We really should get going to the museum. I'm pretty sure school was over an hour or two ago." By the time we went back the museum, the sun was setting. I went over to the police… That’s when I saw Trenderhoof. Talking with Spitfire. Crap. Crap. Crap. “Alright, so a robot came to you when you were at the museum… then became you, taped you up, and threw you into the basement?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah! That’s what happened!” Trenderhoof said. Spitfire just shook her head and took out the handcuffs. “I’m taking you in.” Spitfire said. “F-For what!?” Trenderhoof asked. “Outright making up stories to the police. We better get the true story when we interrogate you.” She said. Before I could intervene, Big Mac came up too. “It’s true.” Big Mac simply said. Double Crap. “Oh? And how do you know?” Spitfire turned to him. “They wrecked my truck.” He pointed to a tow-truck behind him as it carried his pickup. Next to Big Mac was Cheerilee, sipping from a cup of coffee as she nodded. Great, more people to talk about this Roidmude attack. "I remembered being at the museum ago before I saw Big Mac lead me away before I blacked out. But... I remembered being trapped..." She said. Spitfire glared to Big Mac. "I wasn't at the museum the night she vanished." Big Mac said. Trenderhoof piped up. "Yeah! I noticed that there was a statue that looked just like Cheerilee. But I was too busy being tied up by the robot me." Spitfire just groaned. “Can someone tell me what actually happened!?” Spitfire said. I stepped forward. I took a deep breath. “I can.” I said. Spitfire just glared. “Oh. Lovely. You just also happen to be involved in this incident too.” Spitfire said. “Professor Silverbolt! There you are! That’s the guy, officer. He freed me from the robot’s clutches!” Trenderhoof said. “… Really?” Spitfire looked to me. Her glare became less angry and more… tired. “Alright, Professor. Can you attest to the claims of… robot attacks?” Spitfire asked. “…” I bit my tongue. If I tell them the truth of Roidmudes, I’ll just be labeled as a crazy and probably be put in the looney bin. If I lie, it’ll bite me in the ass once the attacks start being more frequent… Especially since I know these Roidmudes enough for it to be an inevitability. Again, Banno’s advice helped. “Perhaps. When I arrived on the scene, there were no robots to be seen. However, with the possible advancements of science, you can’t just eliminate the possibility of robots existing just yet.” I said. “I can. And I will.” Spitfire said. Well, she’s living proof that you don’t need Freeze to muck up the police. “What I can tell you is that there were kidnappers in the museum. I managed to catch them in the act during a class field trip and I chased them out. They won’t be coming back anytime soon.” I said. “Oh… Well, aren’t you the little vigilante? Okay. If anyone’s being taken in, it’s gonna be you.” Spitfire readied her cuffs. Well, it’s Morton’s fork. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. “Spitfire, you know we don’t have any anti-vigilantism laws.” That voice. I gave a small sigh of relief as I smelled the juniper. Spitfire simply groaned. “Wind Rider, who invited you?” Spitfire asked. “No one. When I saw police cars piling onto the museum, I had to see what was up. And it seems I picked the right time too. Seems I’m not the only one who needs to be reminded of stuff.” Wind Rider said. “Besides, this whole robot story is exactly the same kind of story that the Apples had a couple of days ago.” “It doesn’t prove anything!” She said. “It does when the exact same thing happens. I overheard the whole thing. Boy, you said the robot copied your appearance, right?” Wind Rider asked. Trenderhoof nodded. “The incident at the Apples Residence had a robot copy the appearance of one of their legs. This is vital information to have, Spitfire. For someone as eager to dig up the truth, I’m surprised you didn’t piece this together. Besides, three different people are all saying the same thing. Pretty sure it's not one big collaborated story.” Wind Rider said. “Well… I…” Spitfire said. “With that said, I’ll take my leave before Soarin’ gets mad at me for doing your job. Again.” With that, Wind Rider walked off, but not before he patted me on the back. “Keep up the good work.” He said. I just smiled and nodded. Wind Rider’s being the sanest of the cops despite being a retired geezer. “I guess I’ll look further into this… Robot thing. Don’t think this isn’t over.” Spitfire then went up into my personal space, to the point where our noses touched. “We’ll cross paths again, and next time, no one will be bailing you out.” After a brief push from her face, she stormed off. Rarity then approached me and looked at Trenderhoof. “Hmph. You’re a Crystal Prep student? I should have known better than to adore you.” She said. “W-wait, what!?” Trenderhoof exclaimed. “I can’t believe I fell for a pitiful excuse like you! I wouldn’t date you if you were the last man on Earth!” With that, Rarity turned around as I followed her. “You’re right, Professor Silverbolt. Love isn’t just what it was cracked up to be.” She said. Suddenly, I had the weirdest urge to laugh. What’s scary was that Rarity laughed along with me… as if on cue. My body shivered. This random burst of laughter could be the work of another Roidmude. However, for a moment, the laughter died down and I could breathe again. That’s when I saw Soarin’ with another officer. The latter held a ziplock bag containing the bullet shells that came from Ross during our duel… That’s when I thought of something. “Banno… Suddenly I doubt our Grim Reaper is dumb…” Sculpt ran out of breath and stopped. He was pretty sure that Gold Drive would not go after him. It was night time now. He was near a closed up shop. Humans need sleep, right? That’s when he heard someone approach him. “Sculpt…” Sculpt turned around and saw a middle-aged man in a police uniform approach him. It was for a brief moment before his body morphed into a black-colored Roidmude with green lines going down both the right side of his face and his right arm. The left side of the Roidmude’s face was a recreation of a human’s face. “J-judge!” The Sculpt Roidmude fidgeted as Judge rested a black and green stick on his shoulder. “How’s the work on infiltrating the police?” “Difficult. Especially when you have to constantly cover up your allies’ mistakes.” Judge tapped the stick repeatedly on his shoulder. “A shame Freeze isn’t around. He would have ensured your hijinks would go unnoticed.” As Judge closed in, Sculpt held up his hand. “Rest assured, my hijinks resulted in our enemies making a mistake! I know the host of Gold Drive! If we inform the others, we’ll be able to kill her and take back our creator!” Sculpt said. Judge just chuckled. “Nice try. But I’m afraid your bargaining chip isn’t effective. I know who Gold Drive is too. And even if I lacked that information, it still doesn't excuse your ruthlessness!” Judge began to beat the Roidmude with his stick as electricity sprang from it and zapped the Roidmude. Two hits later and Judge knocks the Sculpt Roidmude onto the ground. As Sculpt struggled to get up, he saw rose petals drifting down. He looked up and saw the red-hooded Reaper standing on the rooftop of the building they were in front of. “The Grim Reaper’s here! Now you’re gonna get it!” Sculpt laughed. “Grim Reaper! Help me! This Roidmude is trying to kill me!” He shouted to Ross. That’s when Judge laughed. “H-hey! What’s so funny?” He asked. “You think he’s after me? Why do you think we have a Grim Reaper in the first place?” Judge looked to the Roidmude before he morphed back to his human guise. “To make sure rowdy Roidmudes like you don’t drag the rest of us down.” Tachibana looked up to Ross and gave a quick nod. Ross vanished, leaving behind several rose petals. The Sculpt Roidmude turned and tried to run, only for him to see Ross standing in front of him. Ross slashed overhead at the Sculpt Roidmude. As the hit landed, he swung the Crescent Rose around and struck him again. And again. And again. And again. Each strike came from a new direction. He even placed in a few shots to the Roidmude’s head, by that point, it was overkill. He barely gave the Roidmude time to counterattack. He planted the scythe on the ground and fired one more shot. It knocked the Roidmude into the air. Ross leaped into the air and for a brief moment, he stayed in the air and readied his scythe for one final slash as the moonlight shined brightly. He fell right into the path of the oncoming Roidmude and ran his blade through him. As he landed, the Sculpt Roidmude didn’t scream. His body broke apart into rose petals as his Core simply fluttered out of it. “Nice job.” Tachibana patted Ross on the shoulder. Ross gave a brief smile as the Core floated upwards. “Nice job!? He let the Kamen Rider get away! I saw the Rider chase us down! Voice died because our Grim Reaper didn’t finish off the Kamen Rider!” Sculpt said. Ross just stood there before he smirked. “I just thought a few attacks would render her unable to fight. Seems she’s tougher than I thought.” Ross said. That’s when Sculpt’s core noticed the casings fired from the Crescent Rose. “No… You didn’t… You broke Voice’s control over the Kamen Rider on purpose, didn’t you!? You… You traitor! Wait until I tell this to the boss!” The Core tried to float away before Tachibana took out an iPad. “Unfortunately, you’re slated to be reset.” He said. “Judge! This human maybe assisting the Kamen Rider in killing our brethren! Are you just going to allow him to get away with that?” Sculpt’s core, 084, said. “You are just as guilty, are you not? You left Voice to die, after all.” Judge held up the iPad as the Core began to get sucked not it. “Judge… Have you really betrayed us!?” These were the last words 084 said before it got sucked into the iPad. Tachibana put it away and looked to Ross. “I’ll see to it that 084 will forget about your involvement. But be warned. I might be able to cover the Roidmudes’ attacks, but I can’t cover yours. You screw up, and I won’t be there to save you.” Tachibana said. Ross thought back to what Kelly said to him: “You’re really messed if you think those monsters are heroes.” Ross looked to Tachibana who nodded and walked off. Ross collapsed the Crescent Rose and put it on his back. As he followed him, he thought of his retort: “That’s why I’m here. To make it better.” Golden Drive Arc 4: Why Does Rainbow Dash Idolize Me?Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off as a Phys-Ed teacher instead of a professor. I mean, yeah, lab coat doesn’t make for a good athletic outfit, but my experience as Gold Drive is only improving. Yeah, I’m learning a bit more about teaching weird science, but eventually that Bill Nye DVD is gonna fine a nice comfy home in the DVD player for the next week or two while I waste valuable time sitting in class. Phys-Ed is more my turf. Hitting things, running, jumping. Heck, it’s encouraged that you’d throw in a game of dodgeball. Best. Job. Ever. Well, I say this now as I observed the track and field. Not that I had a choice. It was, unfortunately, one of those days where the Roidmudes decided to hunt me down. “Alright, let’s take her out on a spin!” I said as I rolled out the SunDriver across the Canterlot High soccer field. Fortunately, I was able to have the upper hand thanks in part to the SunDriver. Though, that said, while it has Shift Car capabilities, it’s unable to hook up to the Ride Boosters, sidecars that would hook onto Drive’s own ride: The Tridoron. This is possibly in part due to me not being able to find said Ride Boosters. A shame, as the Roidmude attacking me was a Bat-Type. Those guys are pretty flighty. I know this because it lacks an Advanced Form. Because of this, I can see his Core printed on his chest: 051. Banno tagged out for me in trade for using the Zenrin Shooter, though even with that, I was unable to hit him and knock him down. “Didn’t my son have some sort of Shift Car to use for this sort of situation?” Banno asked. “Signal Bike, and yeah! Let me tag out.” I turned the ignition and swapped out for Banno as a green, dirt bike styled device rolled up to him. He took it and put it in to the Shift Brace. He fired at the Roidmude. As the gold bullets began to curve, it seemed like they’d clip his wings, at least, but the Roidmude did a barrel roll and dodged out of the way. “Hmph. Smart one.” Banno continued to fire several gold bullets, but it seemed the Roidmude was unable to be hit. Banno switched out as another Signal Bike entered my hand, as well as a Shift Car. I noticed the clown-like design on it. Amazing Circus. However, it wasn’t summoned directly to me, but rather just went about its business, setting up a ramp for my ATV to ride up from planks of wood that it had on its back cargo. I prepared myself for launch as I loaded the next Signal Bike, a yellow sports bike with a pretty large STOP sign. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! STOP!” I was launched into the air and with one swing of my arm, I fired a stream of lasers towards the Roidmude. I managed to score a direct hit on both of his wings as he spiraled down into the field. That’s when I saw that he was about to crash into a crowd of about five people practicing soccer by the other side of the field. “CRAP!” I said. “Hang on! I got it!” Someone said. I then heard someone kick a soccer ball right to the Roidmude. The soccer ball knocked the Roidmude out of the way and onto the ground. I sighed in relief as the Roidmude got up and stumbled in a dizzy fit. “Alright, let’s finish this!” I switched controls to Banno as a blue Formula-1 Shift Car came to Banno’s hand. He placed the Shift Car into the Engine Dash. “FORMULA! ENGINE EXTENSION!” The SunDriver roared to life as it managed to pick up lots of speed. Soon, I could hear the wind whistle as my car managed to lift up a bit. I could almost see the wind get a blue hue to it. I speeded towards the Roidmude and rammed it with full force, destroying him and reducing his Core to nothing more than a smear on the SunDriver’s hood. Banno got off as the crowd of people cheered for him. “Enjoy this will you can… For when I take back control of the Roidmudes, I’ll-” “Zip it.” I said. “We’re already public enemy #1 for the Roidmudes, let’s not gloat and make us public enemy #1 for the humans as well.” “You have a point.” Banno said. He turned on the ignition. “Here, talk with these peons.” “Um…” That’s when the first pair of the crowd came up to me. I knew instantly that they were twins from the way they looked. Not only that, but the way they had their hair pretty much screamed every other anime that involves twins. “That was totally awesome!” One twin would have the rough, spiky hair to express what a free, rebellious spirit she is. “Y-yeah. Keep up the nice work.” And the other would have her hair be nice and even have a cute little bow on it to show how reserved she is. “YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!” Then there’s the guy who is practically begging for a failed drug test. “What did you say your name was again? Golden Drive?” A bla… Okay. I’m just gonna stop myself here and distinguish that his skin is a dark gray, so that I can say a dark gray person instead. A dark gray guy with a cyan Mohawk scratched his head. “Gold Drive. It’s just Gold Drive.” I said. “Hey! I was the one who knocked down the monster!” Someone from my class said. I could simply tell from her hair just who she is in my class. Yep. Her long rainbow hair confirms it. “Yeah, we saw, Rainbow, but Gold Drive did most of the work.” The rough-haired twin said. “All you did was kick a ball.” “S-seriously, Cloudchaser? That ball saved our lives!” She said. The Mohawk dude sighed. “Rainbow Dash, you’re always a bragger… Save it for when you win us another shiny silver cup.” He said. As much as I would like to stick around and listen to the generic ‘you’ll never be as popular as so and so’, I knew my time as Gold Drive would run out and I ran off. “You know, if you’re programmed to announce ‘The Finisher’ and ‘Full Throttle’, are you programed to give a post-battle one-liner?” It was the first question I asked when I got into the bathroom. “… What?” Banno asked. “You know, like… Nice Drive! Or Nice Work!” I tried my hardest to imitate both the Drive and Mach Drivers. Banno groaned as I got out of the Gold Drive suit. “Bah! Mediocre!” Banno said. “Seriously? That’s the best you got?” I asked. That’s when I heard a buzz. I whipped out my phone and noticed Applejack’s text. 'Meet with me in the classroom after school.' “Well, time for our chat.” Banno said. I let out a sigh. “Perhaps… I could gain something out of this.” I grin. Sure enough, after school, Applejack was the only person sitting in my classroom. I sat on top of my desk and looked to her. “Alright, Applejack. Have you heard of quid pro quo?” I asked. “Is that something you eat?” Applejack asked. “No. It means ‘something for something’ in Latin. Basically you scratch my back, I scratch yours. You give me information about this town and the residents, I tell you more about the Roidmudes. Truthfully.” I said. “Why would you want to know more about this place?” Applejack asked. “Applejack, I just got here about a week or two ago. Roidmudes are constantly threatening not just me but everyone I remotely know. Rarity, Ms. Cheerilee, and the other girls on that field trip a while back all took a sick day right afterwards because of the Roidmudes that attacked them.” I played out a theory in my head. Usually, after the metallic ringing reduces Voice’s victims to a state of insanity, they go comatose. However, with Sculpt’s power, they seemed to have a pretty reduced outcome, given how their bodies just got digitized into stone. “I obviously don’t know the lay of the land. You do. It’d be effective if you help me with fighting the Roidmudes by providing information about this place. How about it?” I asked. “Hmm… Well, alrighty, but you gotta tell me all you know about those robots.” She said. “So, what else do you wanna know?” I asked. “How many of these Hemorrhoids are there?” Applejack asked. “Roidmudes, and there’s about… one hundred and eight.” I said. “T-that many?” Applejack reclined to her seat as I drew out the number. “Yeah, a pretty nice symbolic number for Banno to stop on.” I said. “No… I stopped at one hundred and eight because three of my Roidmudes up and killed me before I could make more!” Banno said. “Wait, didn’t you let yourself be killed?” I asked. “Well, that was the idea, but not until I made at least two hundred or more Roidmudes… They caught me by surprise and made me accelerate my plans a bit.” Banno said. “… Wait, you made them… and you got killed by them?” Applejack asked. “The Roidmudes and him have a… past.” Namely involving a cattle prod. “And that’s it for your questions. Now you owe me two answers.” I said. “Fair enough.” Applejack shrugged. “First off… What can you tell me about Rainbow Dash?” I asked her. She glared. “Well, she’s self-centered, rude, brash, egotistical, and most certainly selfish. Not to mentio-” “Alright, I get it, you don’t like her. But what’s her story? Some sort of jerk jock, right?” I asked. “Yeah. Pretty much. She’s the captain of the soccer team, captain of the football team, captain of the track and field… You name it, she captains it.” Applejack said. “Okay then. That’s all I need to know.” I walked off, though Applejack grabbed my hand before I got far. “Hey, I don’t know why you’re so concerned with Rainbow, but watch out. She’s the most treacherous person you will ever meet.” Applejack said. “… Meh, I’ve seen worse.” I patted Banno. “H-Hey!” Banno said. “Oh hush up and take it as a compliment.” I said as I left. As I walked down the halls, Banno piped up. I took the effort to hide him under my labcoat. “I do have to agree with her though… Why are you concerned with this girl?” Banno asked me. “…” I didn’t want to say. To be truthful, I was going with a template most Kamen Riders I’ve seen go with. We focus on a random, one off character who has a problem that the Kamen Rider must solve. This can be someone was forced into an eating binge by a monster, a person who lost his passion playing piano, or a guy whose friend is possessed by a monster. I fear that, following what happened with Rarity and the others, the next Roidmude encounter I face will have something to do with Rainbow Dash. However, I can’t just tell Banno that I’m following what the show would do. Instead, I simply did what Banno would advise me to do and spoke a half-truth. “I have a gut feeling.” Alarm bells rang as two men wearing ski masks ran out of the store in the middle of the night, a bag full of money in their hand. “Thieves! Thieves!” An old man yelled from the store. “Wow, I can’t believe that worked!” One of the robbers said. “Yeah, now let’s get out of here before the cops show up!” The other robber said. Just then… WHOOSH! “W-what was that!?” “Why can’t I run faster?!” The two of them screamed as a masked figure swooped down. The figure had a feminine shape to her as her outfit was purple with a dark blue mask, cape, and tapings on her gloves and boots. She wore a matching fedora and had a golden bangle with a silver gear stuck in the middle. “Alright, your days of robbin’ people are loooong gone!” The masked female said. She took the two robbers and bonked them together. The two fell down slowly as she took the money and handed it back to the old man. “D-don’t hurt me!” He shielded himself with his arms. “Relax, I’m only helping.” She dropped the bag of money on the desk and ran off. As she was gone, the effects of the Slowdown waned and everything was back to normal, albeit with two knocked out robbers and a confused old man. Morning came. Over my nights at the library, I discovered that this world has an internet. While I couldn’t connect to my frequent sites without them being clones of very old sites (MySpace somehow became MyStable?), I was able to get onto some news sites. There, I could see if there’s any stories that might have something to do with the Roidmudes. From what I could gather, the Roidmudes were doing what they were doing before. So I looked for similar activities. From buildings mysteriously collapsing to electrical fires spreading out to a mysterious stalker protecting an idol, I tried to recall the past Roidmudes’ activities and even those remotely close to it. Part of me wanted Banno to be off my waist not because it’d be a load off my back, but so that he could help me in the research. It seems, however, that he was just stuck in my belt. Throughout my time with him, he hadn’t been able to do the crazy stuff he could have done, like use sharp tendrils to attack people or hijack vehicles. But then I remember that he’s already a loose cannon, even when he’s trapped in Belt form, so I disregarded it. One of the articles I managed to get an interest in is a mysterious masked vigilante who had been appearing out of nowhere. I was reminded of Judge, especially since I saw him a while back. This is definitely right up his alley. Masked vigilante who strikes out at criminals? I was tempted to search “Judge Time” to see if it was going to be related to Judge. As I looked for that, I also looked around MyStable to see that this has created a bit of an urban legend. “Dude, I heard that whenever she appears, time slows down to a crawl!” “Spin around three times and say Mare-Do-Well six times. Time will stop for nine seconds.” “This is all true! I’ve seen her do it! She threw knives at a dude when time froze, and then she threw a road roller at him when time resumed!” Sadly, it wasn’t exactly like with Judge. This woman had Slowdown written all over her. The original Judge, the one the Roidmude tried to hunt down and kill, never had anything to allow him to invoke Slowdowns. However, it did make me think that the vigilante is indeed a Roidmude. Before I closed off the site, my eye caught onto something. A group. It was called the “Please Come Back, Silverbolt” Group. I sighed and remembered that I’m supposedly disguised as a denizen of this city. To them, I’m not Kelly Randall, but rather Jetstorm Silverbolt. I clicked on the group page and saw almost fifty people who have joined the group. I looked among the various people, but only two people stood out for me. The first was the most recent person to join: Trenderhoof, who joined a week ago. About the same time when I fought Voice and Sculpt. Obviously, him seeing me in the flesh had him confused and has now joined the pseudo-petition to bring be back to Crystal Prep. The second person that caught my eye only did so because of the ridiculous name than anything else. Please, don’t ruin my mood by making me think of those stupid vampires! I closed off the site. Though before I left, I figured to create a little leverage for my next round with Applejack. I opened up Notepad and began to write up some info. As the bells rang, I spotted Applejack in the hall. She was getting ready for her homeroom class. I approached her with a folded piece of paper in hand. “Applejack.” I said to her. She turned around. “Yeah?” That’s when I handed her the paper. “What can you tell me about Crystal Prep?” I asked. Applejack took the paper and inspected it. “What the hay is this? It’s nothing but a string of numbers and some random words. What does zero-zero-one equals Freeze mean? And what does it have to do with memories or old men? And why would a Brain need a handkerchief?” She asked me. “It’s a list of the higher-ups who run the Roidmudes. I was unable to get a photo of each of them, so I’m making due with descriptions of them and also a brief description of how their powers work. That’s my information for this exchange.” I said. “Well, mighty kind of you.” She stowed the note away into her pocket. Doubt she’s gonna check that again soon. “I already know that Crystal Prep isn’t that well-loved in here, and I think I have a base idea of why. What I want is your confirmation. Are they douchebags?” I asked. “Yeah. Very much so. If you think Rainbow Dash is full of it, wait till you see Crystal Prep.” She pointed to Rainbow Dash talking with several different people. “Every so often, we hold an event called the Friendship Games. It’s a competition where Canterlot High and Crystal Prep see which school is better.” Applejack said. I wanted to point out the irony, but I was too distracted with Rainbow Dash. She kept on talking about ‘her’ and I couldn’t help but notice the bracelet… It looked familiar. “…And they keep winning every. Single. Year. It stops being the Friendship Games and more the ‘Look At Crystal Prep’ Games… Uh, you okay, Kel?” … Did she just ‘Kel’ me? Now I wanted her to call me sugar cube. I appreciated it, however. It’s nice for people to call me by my actual name rather than the fake one I got. “Y-yeah. I’m fine. Thank you, AJ… Can I call you AJ?” I asked. She nodded. “Thank you.” I stood there for a moment before walking over to Rainbow Dash to get a better listen. “You met Mare-Do-Well?!” One of the students asked. “Yeah! I sure did! She handed me her super calling brace to prove it! In case I ever get in trouble, I just have to twist it and SWOOSH! She’ll arrive!” Rainbow Dash said while showing off the bracelet. Twist. That’s what got my memory jogging. I approached Rainbow Dash. Most of the students didn’t seem to mind me getting in on the conversation, and instead continued to chat. “So… How did you meet this Mare-Do-Well?” I glared at the bracelet as Rainbow Dash began to stammer. “Oh… Well… I.. You see…” Rainbow Dash stammered as I rolled my eyes. “It was in the middle of the night, yeah! And um… I… was… in an alleyway! Yeah! That’s it! A thief was about to rob me and she came out of the blue and-” “That’s all. Thank you.” All I needed to find the real story was to look at her bracelet. Yep. Sure enough, I knew which Roidmude produced the bracelet. I walked off as I heard Rainbow Dash continue to fabricate her story. Let her. I already know what she’s talking about is rubbish. It was time for me to patrol the city. Another night, another theft. Instead of store alarms, it was the blaring of a car alarm. The thief had no care whether or not the car was loud. She simply drove the car. She knew a shortcut where she could make a getaway… WHOOSH! She saw a few sparkly lights and suddenly, the car was acting sluggishly. She tried to move around, but noticed that she was also slow. “What the…” She wondered why she stopped when suddenly a masked vigilante walked up to her and opened the unlocked car door. She had no other response but to scream as the vigilante, unaffected by the sudden slowness, grabbed her and tossed her out of the car. The car took a while to slow down to a complete halt, though the Mare-Do-Well had other things on her mind, like stringing up the prep to dry. “Alright! Prepare to face justice from the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!” She took out some hemp rope and unraveled it to tie up the woman to a nearby lamppost, or even a trashcan. … Yeah, trashcans are more poetic for her. “P-please! Stop!” The woman’s tears fell in slow-motion as the Mare-Do-Well was about to put the rope onto her hands when a red blob struck her. Time resumed, and as it did, the blob picked up speed and flew upwards towards a rooftop. The blob dropped the Mare-Do-Well off on the rooftop as it landed. Its red shell came apart, revealing it to be a long red cape attached to a hood. The person wearing the hood, Ross, took out Crescent Rose as it unfurled into scythe mode. “Alright, Roidmude, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this before, so I’ll sum up. Ya dun goofed and I see it as my duty to defeat you and let the higher ups reset you.” Ross said. “W-what are you talking about?” Mare-Do-Well struggled to get up, though the force of the hit knocked the wind out of her. “Oh come on. Every Roidmude knows about the Grim Reaper, right? The guy who stops Roidmudes from being too much of a threat to everyone else?” Ross walked towards her. She ripped off her mask, revealing her face to him. He stopped, only because it took him a while to register the long rainbow colored hair and her shrunken pupils of fear. “P-please! Don’t hurt me… I was only trying to protect people…” Rainbow Dash said. “… Protect people?” Ross sighed. He grabbed Rainbow Dash by the back of her costume and dragged her to the edge, within a bird’s eye view of the carjacker she tried to arrest. “You see that woman there?” Rainbow Dash could see her break down into tears as cop cars began to arrive. “She doesn’t feel safe. She doesn’t feel protected. I notice something whenever Slowdowns happen. People are scared. They feel powerless. Roidmudes like you may think of yourselves as heroes, but really, you’re nothing but bullies trying to assert your authority.” He could hear Rainbow Dash whimper. “I… I wasn’t trying to do that… I… I just wanted to be cool!” With that, Rainbow Dash began to cry. Ross looked down and noticed the cops looking around for the source of the noise. Among them was Tachibana, who simply shot a glance up to Ross. Ross nodded and grabbed Rainbow Dash. With a quick sprint, they were already two rooftops away from the cops. “Start talking.” Ross pointed his weapon at Rainbow Dash as it shifted into a rifle. “A-alright! There’s this dude called Gold Drive who is super awesome! He fights these monsters on a daily basis and he’s just so awesome! B-but people found him to be better than I am! I… I wanted to be cool like him… So…” She lifted her wrist to show off the bracelet. “I got this and got a cool superpower from it. I just thought I could protect people with it… They’d probably think of me on the same level as Gold Drive.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “… Wait, you said you got the Slowdown thing from a bracelet?” Ross leaned in. “Who gave you this?” He asked. “I… I can show you, if you want. But… I don’t want you to tell anyone.” Rainbow Dash got a folded piece of paper and showed it to him. “A guy gave me this. It’s instructions of how to get a bracelet.” Ross read the instructions. “Huh… Alright. I can do this. Listen, if you really want to be a hero, you’ll come with me. I’ll show you what a Grim Reaper… no… What a Huntsman can do.” Ross patted Rainbow Dash on the shoulder, who looked to him and smiled. I sat inside an old, beaten up Camaro. The kind you see in a Shia Labeouf film. I sipped from the hot cup of coffee as I looked around by a local billiard bar known as The Rabbit Hole. It was a shady place from what I could gather, though I only knew of the place thanks to my informant. “They really should call this place The Rat Nest.” Wind Rider said. After the incident with Voice and Sculpt, Wind Rider handed me his number in case anything were to happen. It was one of those cases where something did happen. “So, you say drug dealers come by every so often?” I asked. “Yeah. When the mood strikes them. And when they’re strapped for cash. This was where I took Soarin’ on his first day on the job. The low-life, dime-a-dozen thugs who prop up here are easy pickings for rookies.” Wind Rider said. “Well, I have the gut feeling like we might take on something more than a simple thug.” I peered out of the window. “You never did tell me about those Roidmudes. All I know about them is that they’re making a fuss.” Wind Rider said. “They’re killer, time-stopping robots who disguise themselves as humans and plan secret revolutions and genocides.” Sometimes I wonder why I don’t just say that to my students rather than dance around the topics. “Well, there has to be more to the story than that.” Wind Rider said. To be fair, he had a point. I had to bring up how they weren’t all psychopathic. Some of them genuinely wanted to help humanity and others viewed their species as their closest friends. I frown though. For every time I remember a Roidmude who was kind to humanity, I think of two more who had at least half a dozen causalities under their belt. I had to address the elephant in the room, however. “Not all of them are bad. I don’t know if they’re still around, but there are Roidmudes who don’t want to kill every human. You just have to find them. They’re… diamonds in the rough.” I said. That’s when I spotted someone. Two people in fact. A person in a red hood and… A rainbow-haired girl. “Show time.” I got out of the car. “H-hey! Wait up!” Wind Rider said. I could see the hooded man hold up two flowers, one white and another red. Yes. This was it. A door leading to a shack just below the Rabbit Hole opened up. With quick running, I entered the door before it closed, though I wasn’t sure if Wind Rider made it in too. As I got in, I noticed that Rainbow Dash and the mysterious red hood disappeared. I could see rose petals fluttering to the ground though. “… Ross.” I remembered that edgy Little Red Riding Hood cosplayer. I stepped carefully and had my finger and thumb pressed against the Ignition. As I inched closer and closer to the center of the shack, I heard a conversation. “What are you doing back here?” A young sounding man said. He definitely gave me that snake oil salesman idea. “Sorry, my friend wanted to get a hold of your bracelets.” My heart pounded as I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice. “Atatatatatatat! I can’t just give it to anyone. Besides, you haven’t paid off for your bracelet!” He said. I sighed in a vain attempt to calm myself. Yep. It’s 018. “Is it true? You sell bracelets that allow a person to invoke a Slowdown?” I heard Ross speak next. “Yes, I- Wait, how did you-” As soon as I heard the sound of mechanical whirring, I instantly realized what was going to happen. I ran forth. “G-Grim Reaper! Oh please, spare me!” A man greased back red and white hair wearing a blue-striped shirt, jeans, and a simple barber-shop quartet hat tripped over and fell on his bottom. He squirmed as Ross held Crescent Rose on his back. “Ross, what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked. As he stepped forward, he had shivers be sent up his spine. The cock of the gun, while sounded distant, still had the same impact of stopping Ross as if the gun was held point blank to his head. Mainly because he heard that distinct cock before. “Lower your weapon, Ross.” An African American cowboy came out from the shadows. He casually held a revolver pointed towards Ross. “… Gunman. I presume this is your little brother?” Ross asked as he furled up the scythe into an inactive rectangle shape and put it behind his back where a pocket safely snugged it. “Yes. I apologize for leaving you in the dark.” Gunman lowered his weapon. “But I can’t explain everything just yet. Because right now,” he pointed a gun towards Rainbow Dash, “it’s time for this lady to pay up.” “I… I don’t have the money yet!” Rainbow Dash stepped back and shielded herself. “Well, don’t worry. We have an idea of how you can pay us off.” Gunman tossed her a revolver. “In exchange for the bracelet, we want you to capture or even kill the Kamen Rider.” “W-what?” Rainbow Dash grabbed the revolver, though she looked at it, unsure of what to do. Ross stepped forward. “Gunman! You’re using a human to do your dirty work?!” Ross asked. “Huh. Funny talk coming from you. Did you ever tell that girl that who you were working for?” Gunman smirked. “I… What’s a Kamen Rider?” Rainbow Dash asked. Gunman continued his smirking as he aimed his gun towards Rainbow Dash. “You’re about to find out.” And with that, he fired at her. “Henshin!” I cried out as I leaped into the air to knock Rainbow Dash out of the way of the oncoming shot. Thankfully, the armor formed just before the bullet impacted me, though my body staggered back. “Ow! Hey! Let me know when you transform next time!” Banno said. “I just did! You know, me saying the word Henshin?” “Whatever… This is your fight.” Banno turned the Ignition. The Golden Drive’s eyes changed to the natural white as the Door Gun materialized from the same digital miasma that formed the suit. I pointed at Gunman. “Drop the gun.” I demanded. Gunman bent his knees low to the ground as he dropped the revolver gently. He got up with his hands raised. “Very well. I won’t be the one who’ll shoot you anyways.” Gunman said. “Hmm?” “Come on, girl… It’s time to pay your debt.” Gunman pointed to Rainbow Dash, though I already knew that she purchased the bracelet… wait… Pay your debt? “You… You want me to shoot Gold Drive!?” She asked. “No way!” She tried to throw the revolver onto the ground, but as she was about to, the bracelet began to spark. She retracted her arm in pain. “Gaaah!” She cried. “And this is why you always read the fine print, dearie.” Gunman said. “So long as my brother’s bracelet is on your arm, don’t expect to take it off any time soon.” I ran over to pull the bracelet out, but it began to spark again. This time my hands were also shocked. “Don’t bother. My little brother’s been working on these bracelets for a while. These are top-of-the-line compared to the last ones he made. You can’t hope to take them off.” My body went cold as I instinctively turned the Ignition. I hated myself for even considering this to be a solution… I didn’t have the heart to go through with it. I had no choice though. I switched out to Banno as he got the Steering Sword. It took Banno a few seconds before he began to cackle. “Great minds think alike! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He swung the Steering Sword upwards, then struck downwards onto Rainbow Dash’s arm. Either he could attempt breaking the bracelet with the sword or chop off Rainbow Dash’s arm. Knowing the psychopath, I closed my eyes and prepared for him to take the latter option. CLANG! However, I heard a clang instead of a scream. I opened my eyes and saw Ross blocking the sword with his scythe. “Stop it.” Ross softly said. The bracelet began to spark up again as Rainbow Dash keeled over in pain. She clutched the bracelet, but no matter how hard she tried to squeeze it, she couldn’t crush it. “What’s wrong? I thought the reason you wanted that bracelet was so that you could be like the Kamen Rider?” Gunman said. “This would have been right up your alley. Not only would you get to be a superhero, but also you’d be able to replace the very person you wanted so much to be.” “I… know… but… I can’t just… betray my idol like this!” Rainbow Dash struggled to get up, but every time she did, the bracelet continued to spark and zap her wrist. “Even though he takes all the attention… I look up to him. When I became Mare-Do-Well… He was the reason I chose to protect people! I wanted to be just like him!” She said. “So… you refuse to kill the Rider then?” Gunman said. “Y-yeeaaaaaargh!” Rainbow Dash kept screaming. I was thankful that Banno was took control over my body, otherwise I’d just give up. “Very well. It’ll be enjoyable to watch you die along with your little hero. Grim Reaper, go ahead and finis-” That’s when Banno shot Ross in the gut a dozen times. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I break your Grim Reaper?” Banno looked at Ross and noticed that there was no wound. “What the?” “Did you truly think we’d let a mere human be our Grim Reaper?” Gunman said. Ross, while unharmed, still clutched onto where he was shot for a brief moment before he stood up again. “He’s able to take a beating, have no marks to show for it, and still be able to run circles around you. Coupled with his speed, and he’s become just as effective as our previous Grim Reaper.” “Heh… You forgot something, though. All humans have a breaking point.” With that, Banno switched controls over to me as I got the Shift Technic and Zenrin Shooter, though the Shooter replaced the Sword. I loaded Technic into the Shift Brace as an HUD activated in my vision. I saw a strange red flame over Ross. I fired at Ross and noticed the flame began to shrink. “See? We just need to deplete whatever it is that’s protecting your new toy. We already took out half of it, it seems.” I began to spoke up. “Aura. We’ll call it Aura.” I remembered the aura that the characters had when they powered up in Dragonball Z and figured it was a nice name for this… force. “Heh… Well then. Let’s see who’s the fastest gun here. Draw.” With that, Gunman transformed into his Roidmude form, mirroring that of his human form, though more metallic than normal. He took out his gun as Ross transformed his scythe into a sniper rifle. I held up the two guns. Rainbow Dash’s pained groans kept the atmosphere from getting too quiet. My fingers hovered over the triggers. Any moment now, Ross or Gunman would open fire, and I’d have to fight for not just my life, but also Rainbow Dash’s. I couldn’t switch over to Banno without having to sacrifice one of my weapons or my free will. I just had to stand and wait. I pointed one gun at Gunman and another on Ross. I looked into Ross’ eyes. I remembered how Ross fought me back at the museum and how he fired shot after shot at me. The metal casings that were discarded helped break me out of Voice’s control. However, I wasn’t sure if Ross was deliberately fired at me to snap me out of it or if he was really just incompetent. But one look from his eyes told me enough. It confirmed my suspicions. I slowly pointed the Zenrin Shooter towards Gunman and fired both of them at the same time. As that happened, Ross fired, not at me or Gunman, but at 018. As he fell over, the shocks on Rainbow Dash’s arm stopped and she was given time to breathe. “You…” Gunman growled as he fired at me. I fired back. Several bullets clashed at each other while I rolled to the corner and behind a crate to avoid the other bullets. I took this time to recharge the Door Gun, muffling the announcement as I did. I could hear more gunfire, so I poked my head out of the crate to notice that Ross and Gunman were firing at each other. Ross swung his scythe on the ground, using the curve of it to propel himself to a scaffolding where he landed. He transformed the scythe to what looked to be a sniper rifle and fired some more bullets at 018. 018 simply transformed into his Roidmude form. I was surprised that it wasn’t his modified Spider-Class form, but rather a fully-fledged Advanced Roidmude form similar to Gunman’s, save for the fact that his hat was more pointed and that instead of a gun, his hands held rings. He threw one of the rings, which caused it to explode in a flash of light. Suddenly, everything slowed down for a brief moment. However, it was that brief moment that allowed Gunman to rush out and fire at Ross. Ross had no time to dodge them and although I knew that the aura could protect him from the bullets, I screamed out for him. However, the next moment had those bullets cut up, though a few have hit a target that went in front of Ross. I saw the green and black kendo stick and recognized the Roidmude that saved Ross. “Judge!” I shouted. “Tachibana!” Ross said as Judge staggered. “Ross… you fool…” Tachibana whispered out. I was able to catch that as I still had the Technic Shift Car in the Brace. “I should have known having a human on our side was bad news… Kill him, Judge, then let’s kill the Kamen Rider together!” Gunman said. Judge simply stood there. “Let the girl go first. If she is killed, there’d be no way I can cover this up.” Judge said. “No one knows we exist. And if we kill these two… they will never find out.” Gunman pointed his gun to me as I ducked behind. “You underestimate humanity and their determination.” Judge said. “And how would you know?” Gunman said. “Because I’ve synchronized with their twisted sense of justice: revenge. If you kill her, there’s no going back.” Judge said. “Well… Guess I’m gonna have to call your bluff.” Gunman said as he pointed the gun back towards Rainbow Dash. BEEP BEEP BEEP The sound of Gold Drive’s powering down rang in my ears. I had to switch out, though it was a good time as any. I turned the Ignition and Banno took control. The Shift Cars he got were partners. I figured it’d be sensible to send them out considering he’d be going akimbo. Dream Vegas inserted itself into the Door Gun while Dimension Cab plugged itself into the Zenrin Shooter. Predictably, he fired at both Judge and Gunman, Door Gun on Judge, Zenrin Shooter on Gunman. Judge continued to deflect the bullets fired at him while Gunman shot them out with his own gun. Eventually, Gunman shot the Door Gun out of Banno’s hand and Judge punched forward to fire taser-style prongs at Banno. While I couldn’t feel my body, I can get a sense of how painful it is with the way the armor and the body jerked around from the shock. Of course, electricity wouldn’t fit well with a robotic suit. However, the additional electricity caused the suit to glitch up. I saw in the HUD how it began to break apart into bits of code for brief moments at a time. I could feel my fingers twitching. Perhaps the electricity was short circuiting the Tridoron programming. I moved my wrist up to try and confirm it. I could feel some mechanical resistance, but it was an improvement compared to previous times when Banno took control. By the moment my hand reached the Ignition, I lost control of my hand and it automatically seized up, turning it in the process. I was back in control. I immediately pull Shift Technic out of the Brace and placed Dimension Cab into it. The red circuit on my chest flared up as a golden portal opened next to me. I snickered and reached into the portal with one of my arms. As soon as I grabbed the Door Gun, I pulled my hand out of the portal and fired it towards Judge quickly and suddenly. The bullets fired turned into large coins. Judge tried to deflect them, but due to their size, he was quickly knocked off the scaffolding. I turned my attention to Gunman, who fired at me. I rushed to hide behind another crate while he pursued. With one leap, I jumped out of hiding and fired off a few more giant gold coins at Gunman. He leaped back and shot them down. As I landed, I unplugged Dimension Cab from the Shift Brace and plugged it back onto the Zenrin Shooter. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! TAXI!” I fired the Zenrin Shooter up into the air. As the bullets reached the top, a small portal opened up. Behind Gunman, the bullets flew out and struck his back. As I got up, I swing the Zenrin Shooter right at Gunman’s face. “ZENRIN!” And slashed his hat off. He staggered as his forehead smoked from the attack. I ran to continue my attack, though Judge ran in and blocked my Zenrin Shooter with his kendo stick. “What are you doing here?” He whispered to me. “I could ask the same for you lot…” I muttered. “I had no knowledge of this operation taking place!” Judge tried to push the Zenrin Shooter off of me. “Likely story!” I simply rolled the wheel off the stick. “ZENRIN!” And slashed across. While it didn’t break anything, it did knock the Roidmude into a pile of crates where it fell on top of him. I looked and saw 018 getting up. As he did, Rainbow Dash also got up. I could see tiny bolts of electricity zapping her wrist as she tried to pull away. “I’m… Sorry…” Rainbow Dash said. “… Me too.” I turned the ignition as Banno took over. Banno aimed and shot a bullet. I saw the bullet as it soared to Rainbow Dash… Only for the bullet to enter a small gold portal and hit 018 on the other side. “Judge is correct. If she were to die here, there’d be an investigation. I might be cruel, but even I know there’s a time and a place for it.” Banno grabbed a Shift Car that had flown right for him. As 018 got up, Ross appeared behind him and slashed him with his scythe. “I’ll keep this guy busy! Tachibana, get the girl out of here!” Ross said. Judge nodded and ran to get Rainbow Dash, but Gunman fired at him and shot him down. “I’m not letting anyone here live. Roidmude, human, doesn’t matter.” Gunman reloaded and pointed his gun at Judge. “Our revolution against humanity is going to hit high noon soon. It’ll be a shame for you all to miss it.” That’s when Banno laughed. “No… It’ll be a shame for you to miss my revolution!” With that, Banno opened and closed the Door Gun's door. He then loaded his Shift Car into the Door Gun, taking out Dream Vegas. “THE FINISHER! AMAZING CIRCUS! FULL THROTTLE!” He fired a bullet at Gunman which exploded into fireworks. As Gunman was knocked to the ground, Banno fired the Zenrin Shooter onto the ground. Each bullet disappeared into their own portal and reappeared on the ground where Gunman was. The bullets shot into Gunman, essentially juggling him in place as Banno spun the wheel of the Zenrin Shooter a few times. He ran and leaped. “ZENRIN!” And slashed downwards. While the resulting clash didn’t destroy the Roidmude, it caused a huge gash to appear over his back, complete with smoking. Banno looked up and saw Ross wrap himself in his hood while pushing 018 out of the way. “B-brother!” Gunman shouted before Banno kicked him in the face. “I’m going to enjoy making you suffer…” Banno said as he fired several point-blank blasts at Gunman, each one destroying a part of his face in the process. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t close my eyes. I had no control over my view. I thought back to my chat with Wind Rider. About how the Roidmudes were genocidal… Seeing Banno essentially torture one just… It made my stomach churn. Eventually, Banno kicked him in the gut so hard, he skidded right into some fallen crates. As Gunman got up, he reloaded his gun and rushed to Banno. Banno just laughed as he plugged Dream Vegas into the Shift Brace. He pressed the red button as his circuitry tire flashed. It turned into three diagonal slot machines. They rolled until Banno pressed the button again. One by one, the wheels stopped, landing on the number seven. The three sevens each glowed as Banno aimed his guns. “THE FINISHER! VEGAS… CAB… CIRCUS!!! FULL… THROTTLE!” He shouted as Gunman reached him. He tried to shoot at Banno, though Banno simply pushed his arm away with his own, firing the Zenrin Shooter as he did. As Gunman attempted to pull away and point at him again, Banno simply blocked the gun with his other gun, and fired. After that, Banno and Gunman just simply did this over and over again, at a pace so fast I couldn’t keep up. Eventually, the gunfire stopped as Banno simply kicked Gunman in the gut. As it knocked him away, I noticed a large gold portal appearing behind him as several hundred bullets came flying out. “W-WHAT!?” Were all that Gunman said before he collided with the barrage. All the bullets exploded at separate intervals, each creating a fabulous firework array. Eventually, all of them exploded in a huge ball of light and sparks, before fading out in a sparkly 017. It lasted a bit before the number faded away. I sighed. Though that’s when I heard the sparking of the bracelet again. Rainbow Dash began to scream louder. Ross pushed 018 out into a long narrow hallway as he unwrapped himself from the cape. He unfolded his scythe and rushed to him, cutting into the Roidmude’s arms several times in the matter of seconds before finishing things off with a sniper blast square in the chest. As 018 stumbled, he chuckled. “What’s so funny?” Ross asked. 018 held up a ring. “So long as I’m standing, that girl will suffer a painful death.” He said. “Then I guess I’ll have to stop you.” Ross readied the Crescent Rose. Before he ran though, 018 threw another ring, exploding in a shower of light as Ross’s legs faltered. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re just going to stand there and listen as she dies.” 018 began to laugh as Ross grunted. Before long, 018’s laughter was cut short. “Hurk!” Ross could see a kendo stick emerging from 018’s stomach as electrical sparks emitted from both the wound and the stick. As the stick was pulled out, 018 fell limply to the floor, exploding a mere second after he fell completely. It took a while before his Core exploded as well. Rainbow Dash soon stopped screaming as the bracelet finally popped off Rainbow Dash’s arm. Banno turned the ignition as Mad Doctor rolled by, the two guns and their Shift Cars fading out in blur of gold. I grabbed it and placed it into the Shift Brace. My hands glowed with golden energy as I grabbed her wrist. “Hang in there, girl. You did a good job today.” I said. Suddenly, I heard a long, slow clap. I looked around and tried to find the source of the noise. “I could say the same for you…” I heard an odd voice echo throughout the warehouse. As the smoke cleared, Ross could see Judge for a brief moment before he shifted back into his human guise. Tachibana could only scowl as he held one side of his chest. A side where he was shot at the most. “Tachibana!” Ross said. “…” Tachibana shook his head and haggardly walked away. “Wait! Tachibana!” Ross tried to follow him, only for Tachibana to speak up. “Goddamn it, Ross! Don’t you realize what’s going on?” Tachibana asked. “W-what are you talking about?” Ross asked. “Why else did they give the bracelet to a girl from Canterlot High? It wasn’t to just lure Banno… But also to lure us. We’ve been set up!” “What!?” Eventually, the clapping man showed himself. At first, I didn’t recognize him. He just seemed like a regular old yakuza mob boss… That’s when I realized that a yakuza being in a mostly American-themed town didn’t mesh well. Then he tipped his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, to the point where his eyes were showing. At that point, both Banno and I knew who he was. “006…” I said. “Glad to know I don’t need to hide behind a phony human name… unlike our traitorous friend Judge.” He took off his glasses and shrugged as his human body dissolved in a miasma of gray and gold. As his Cobra-type Roidmude body appeared, the number 006 flashed outwards. “Ah, it’s such a loving reunion to be had. You must be a little jealous of my new host…” Banno said. “Sadly, I was too busy being dead to care about it.” He said. “I would arrange it so we could be together again, but sadly, I can’t get off of my host.” Banno said. “Oh don’t worry. We’ll be able to pry you off of her corpse… after we destroy you, of course.” The Roidmude stepped closer. “W-we both know how this song and dance will end! You’re just a pushover compared to Heart!” Banno said. “Heart? Oh… I guess you haven’t heard. After we were reborn, many of us recalled our memories. And needed to say, none of us were pleased that our leader’s last moments were spent making friends with the very enemy he vowed to rule over.” A part of me shivered as I remembered that tragic moment. Another part of me shivered as I began to piece together what must have happened to Heart. “Care to guess who managed to overthrow that traitor?” He gestured towards himself. “No…” I muttered as 006 closed in on me. “Yes. It was all me. I defeated Heart, and now, I’m the one calling the shots!” 006 said. “Like hell you are! Kelly, get ready. This fight can be over in a flash if you don’t hold back.” Banno said. “Yes, don’t hold back…” 006 stopped walking when he got very close to my face. “Because I won’t.” With that, his body began to shift again. I stepped back and propped up my fists. I didn’t need to be told that 006 was now going to reveal his Advanced form to me. And much like when he tried to show it off before, he liked to gloat about it first. “Behold! The power that surpassed Heart! My true form!” 006 said. I threw a punch towards him as it glowed with golden energy. That’s when 006 grabbed my fist and punched me square in the gut. Suddenly, all the joints in my body suddenly seized up as I fell over. My muscles cramped up and I couldn’t move. As I hit the ground, my armor disappeared and I was back to my labcoat. “Kelly! What’s going on!?” Banno said. All I could do was look at 006’s Advanced body. His body was a dark blue with a series of thick, brass gold lines streaming down from the top of his chest to both his wrists and ankles. His face kept his cocky smile that he had in human form, though the top part of the head was obscured by two long brass gold tubes, with two large blue eyes mirroring that of his sunglasses. “All this time, I have been holding back my power until the time felt right. As a result, I lost my life. Now with a second chance, I’m not gonna hesitate to show off. Banno, I would like for you to witness this for yourself. Your host’s body is going through a shock throughout their nervous system, rendering them unable to fight. As you might guess, my name from now on is Nerve.” He said. Suddenly, 006’s body began to glow a gold color. “It can’t be!” Banno shouted. Golden energy was glowing on 006, or Nerve as he likes to be called now… Gold energy. The very energy that Banno and I shared. To Roidmudes, it’s a special power that only a select few have: those who have gone beyond merely Advanced Evolution and are able to transform into a more powerful version of it. I had every right to shout no as well, but my body was too busy being frozen to say anything. “Heh… So you noticed… I had felt this power when I defeated Heart… but it wasn’t enough. The emotion that is giving me this power is an overwhelming sense of superiority. Killing Heart simply started the progress… And now you’re gonna finish it. It’s like I said before… You’re the stepping stone to my Ultimate Evolution! Goodbye, Banno!” Nerve said as he threw his fist towards me. “So what do we do now?” Ross asked Tachibana. “We? We do nothing. As far as I know, we’re compromised and I’m not in the right condition to continue this.” Judge said. “I’m sorry!” Ross tried to keep up with him, but Tachibana simply held his hand out. “Don’t… They forced my hand too. The best we can do now is lie low…” With that, he stumbled out to a door and open it. “Ross… don’t do anything stupid. Okay?” And he left. Ross simply slumped to his knees and sighed. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, though to my surprise, someone stopped Nerve from hitting me. I opened and saw Rainbow Dash holding him back. “Leave her alone!” She shouted. “Idiot! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Banno shouted. “I don’t care!” Rainbow Dash said. “Ever since I first saw Gold Drive, I thought of how awesome he is and how I wanted to be his closest friend! I’m not going to betray him… and I’m certainly not going to let him die!” With that, Rainbow Dash managed to pull Nerve away from me and grabbed me. “Come on, let’s go!” She said. “No… You’re not going anywhere!” Nerve shouted as the gold energy surrounding him exploded. Time slowed to a crawl. I noticed the Mad Doctor Shift Car within my reach. The car rolled right into my hand, but before my fingers could touch it, Nerve kicked it away. “And no Shift Car will save you…” Nerve said. Just before he could move, though, I heard Rainbow Dash yell. Suddenly, there was a large flash of rainbow light as something grabbed me. Before I knew it, I was taken out of the room in the matter of seconds. I couldn’t notice though, as everything turned into a blur. It was only when the blurring stopped that I realized what happened. Rainbow Dash somehow picked me up and ran out of the room at a speed comparable to a jet plane. I was in her arms as she panted heavily. “Hey, Professor… How’s that for track and field?” She chuckled before she collapsed, dropping me with her. It was here that I managed to regain control of my body. “What the hell happened?” I muttered. “You can ask me the same thing… That girl managed to outrun Nerve’s Slowdown…” As Banno said that, I had a thought. I turned the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive. The Shift Technic car drove to my hand as I plugged it into the Shift Brace. That’s when Banno and I saw a cyan colored flame surrounding Rainbow Dash, exactly in the same style as Ross’ flame. “I knew it… She has Aura as well…” I recalled how Ross’ power… his ‘Semblance’, as he called it, was also able to outmaneuver the Slowdown. That’s when I heard sirens. Police cars began to drive up to the Rabbit Hole. I noticed Wind Rider standing by. “Hmph… We’ll have to take our business elsewhere.” Banno edged his fingers towards the Ignition, but I spoke up. “No… I’m not letting the Roidmudes fall upon deaf ears. They need to know.” I said. “If you haven’t noticed, cops are piling in. We got off lucky last time, but we might not have that same luck again.” Banno said. “Even so… I’m not letting another one of my students get hurt by these monsters. If I can help the police shed some light on this… If I can help them take care of the Roidmudes… then I don’t care what happens to me.” As I said that, my armor went away as I held up my hands. “So… You’re the Golden Drive the rumors have told about?” Spitfire came out. I nodded. “Gold Drive. And I have information that I’ll share with all of you.” No more secrets, no more half-truths. Applejack was right. It would be a lot better if I turned myself in. Now that they have more of an idea of what they’re dealing with, I could possibly get away with telling them more details. Especially if they let Wind Rider in on the details. That’s when I saw Wind Rider and Soarin’. I always noticed Soarin’ was a happy guy when I spoke with him, so seeing him glaring at Wind Rider was… unnerving. Especially with what he said. “Wind Rider, you gotta stop this. While we appreciate the help, intervening in our cases is only going to worsen your reputation… I have faith in your pride as a former officer.” Soarin’ walked away from Wind Rider with a pat on the shoulder. For some reason, seeing this made my legs wobble. Spitfire had to shove me into the backseat of her car. “Come on, you have a lot of explaining to do…” Spitfire said. As the car drove off, I swore that I saw Ross standing on the rooftop of the Rabbit Hole before he disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. The door broke open as Tachibana stumbled into the room. A loud mixture of different animal noises muted Tachibana’s pained gasps as he fell onto the floor, his blood dripping onto the tile floor. He laid in the dark room for a moment before the lights turned on. He heard a door opposite to him open up. “Hello?” A girl’s voice echoed. “Anyone he-” She stepped closer until she saw the cop on the ground. “Oh my!” She ran over to him and helped him up. “M-Mr. Tachibana! What happened?” She asked. Tachibana could only breathe as the girl with long pink hair and cyan eyes sat him down. As soon as she saw the wound, she frowned. “I’ll go get my mom… wait here, okay?” With that, she ran off as Tachibana passed out. Ross hopped across from rooftop to rooftop. He knew exactly what his next move was going to be: The main stronghold where the Roidmudes resided… Golden Drive Arc 5: When Will The Surprise Happen?Ross wandered through the halls of the Austin Convention Center. He could hear the sounds of cameras snapping as people commented on his outfit. Such is the life of a cosplayer. He put a lot of time and effort not only replicating Ruby’s alternate costume in Volume 2, but also modifying it for a guy to wear. The only thing he didn’t have time for were getting silver-eyed contacts or dying his hair black with red highlights. But that’s how life is. And quite frankly, he’s pretty okay with not looking 1:1 with Ruby Rose. He was hoping to at least visit some of Rooster Teeth’s members. Sadly, he couldn’t meet the legend, Monty Oum, in the flesh. But at least he could make up for it with meeting Lindsey or Miles. “Hello there, m’dear.” Ross turned around to see a man sitting behind a table. His eyes instantly glued themselves to the assortment of items he had. There were several funky looking guns laid down on the left side of the table of various. Ross only played the series a brief bit, but even he knew that these were the Covenant weapons from the Halo games. However, on the other side, his jaw dropped as he saw several weapons from the RWBY series. Ross began to look at each of them. They looked so shiny that they could definitely be the real thing. But what he liked especially is that, sitting behind the man, was a large, red scythe. “Oh… woow…” Ross said. The man in the fedora looked behind him. “You like it?” He asked. “Yeah!” Ross said. “It matches with your red cape.” He said. “It’s a hood. You know, like Little Red Riding Hood?” Ross asked. “Oh. Well, that’s interesting to know. Tell you what, I’ll give this to you for a discounted price.” The man in the fedora said. “… How much will you discount it for?” Ross asked. “For you? Hm… 90% off the price tag.” The man flicked the price tag of $250. Ross did a bit of mental math in his head, then pulled the wallet out of his pants pocket and took out both a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill. “Perfect! Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of this one of a kind scythe.” The man took the Crescent Rose and handed it to Ross. He looked at the weapon. Up close, it didn’t seem to be made from any PVC materials or cheap metal plating like he saw in most Crescent Roses that people made. This instead looked authentic metal. He also noticed the shining blade on the scythe. Ross ran his finger over the blade’s edge. He didn’t feel anything. No sharpness or anything. He looked at his finger to make sure. There was no cut. “Just so you know… This covers more than just your weapon…” He smiled. “W-what do you mean?” Ross asked as he rested Crescent Rose over his shoulder. That’s when he felt woozy as a flash of white light overwhelmed him. “You just paid the price for your adventure.” It was the last thing he heard before he blacked out. I sat right back at the interrogation room. Spitfire chewed bubble-gum right at my face as she wore those freakishly large aviator glasses. I just sat there, elbows on the table as I leaned in. “Are you recording?” I asked. “We always do.” Spitfire said. “Good, because you may need to hear this again and again.” I muttered. I cleared my throat. “Several years ago, a professor named Tenjuro Banno created cybernetic beings known as Roidmudes.” “Ah, here we go with the cheesy robot movies. When do the robots rebel?” She asked. “Sometime after they murdered Banno. These robots are nothing like you’ve seen. They’re fierce. They’re merciless. Give them the chance, and in a single night, they could kill you and everyone else in a kilometer radius in the matter of seconds.” Well, provided they all just slow down time simultaneously and attack all at once, but details… “So, you’re saying they’re… more than meets the eye?” Spitfire smirked. “Yeah. And they have an ability to copy the appearance of human beings. The worst part is, they could be walking among us, waiting for a chance to strike.” I said. “Ah, so they’re pretty much… robots in disguise.” I could hear Spitfire snigger. “Yes. In fact,” Before I could continue, Spitfire just roared in laughter. She slammed her fist on the table, trying to control herself. She then proceeded to look coldly at me. “This entire thing is a joke, isn’t it? Did Soarin’ put you up to it?” Spitfire asked. I simply kept my cool. “No. What I’m saying is serious. You may not wanna believe it, but they’re living among us as we speak.” I said. “Really? Do you have proof?” She asked. “In fact I do.” I smirked. “Tachibana.” “What does the chief have to do with anything?” Spitfire crossed her arms. “He’s one of them. As was Sunny Glenway.” I said. “How do you know?” She asked me. “Because I saw them transform in front of me.” I said. “Transform?” Spitfire asked. “Yes. They have a human guise, then they shed it when they want to cause chaos.” I said. Spitfire simply reached across the table and grabbed me by the collar. “If you think you can accuse the chief of being… whatever the hell you’re talking about, you have another thing-” Just then, the door opened. “Hey! Spitfire! This girl said she’s a huge fan of us!” I heard Soarin’ as the stomping sound of boots grew closer and closer. “OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOOOOSSSSSH!” That’s when I heard Rainbow Dash. She busted into the room and glanced at Spitfire. “SPITFIRE!!!! EEEEEEEE!” Rainbow Dash squealed. “W-what the?!” Spitfire nearly fell off of her chair. “Is it true? Did you really scored five game ending goals in a row?” Rainbow Dash said. “Well… I…” I stopped myself from laughing at how a tough ass like Spitfire is now brought to blushing. “What about the time you kicked a ball so hard, it broke the goal net? Huh?” Rainbow Dash was now on Spitfire’s lap, having a large grin on her face the entire time. “Y-yeah, I did… But… you do realize I’m busy interrogating someone here, right?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah, I know. But when am I ever going to see one of Canterlot High’s top alumni again? You and Soarin’ were a part of the greatest soccer team imaginable! I always wanted to be like you guys and so I trained every day and practiced in the field and I’m aiming to break that awesome record that Wi-” Spitfire simply groaned as she lightly pushed Rainbow Dash off of her. “Soarin’! Why did you let her in here?” She asked. Soarin’ entered the room. “Well, you see how excited she is to see you. Plus, she told me a lot regarding the mess that went on at the Rabbit Hole last night.” Soarin’ said. “Like?” Spitfire asked. “Like how Professor Silverbolt managed to fight off several robots at once!” Rainbow Dash raised her arms up in the air. “Yeah, that story’s really becoming popular as of late. We’ll probably have to look into it soon.” Soarin’ said. “… This interview’s over. You’re free to go, Silverbolt. I’ll review the footage I got.” Spitfire got off of her seat and walked out of the room. I sighed in relief as Rainbow Dash walked to me. “Thanks.” I said. “It’s nothin’! You saved my butt last night, so I figured I’d return the favor.” She said. I cracked a small smile. “Again… thanks…” I said. Spitfire walked out of the interrogation room. However, she looked around. “… Hey, Soarin’, where’s Tachibana?” Spitfire asked. Soarin’ walked up next to her and shrugged. “I dunno… He disappeared last night before we got the call about the gunfight. Weird how he slipped out just as it begun, right?” Soarin’ asked. “… Yes… Weird…” Spitfire simply walked away. When Ross opened his eyes, he was not at RTX. Rather, he was in the middle of town in the middle of the night. “Hello?! Anyone here?” He shouted. A couple of people passed him and gave glances. Ross backed away slowly as he saw their strange skin colors. Most of them seemed to be like corpses given life. He also felt heavy. That’s when he realized that he was still holding Crescent Rose in his hands. Back at the con, it weighed as much as any fake plastic sword would weigh. Here though? It weighed more like a slab of iron. Ross ran his finger through the blade again, only to retract it quickly as he felt a sharp sting on his finger tip. As he looked at the tip, he could see a small gash on his finger. “Holy mother of shi-” Suddenly, glass shattered. Ross turned to see a shop with its window broken and its shopkeeper tossed out. Ross ran to see if the man was hurt, though a flash of light blinded him. He shielded his eyes as time began to slow to a crawl. “W-what? I can’t move!” Ross thought. He saw three people move out of the shop. Two of them were grayish, metallic monsters while the third wore a white business suit and a red undershirt. Despite the sluggish atmosphere, the three moved normally. The business man chuckled as he lifted the shopkeeper by the shirt. “Yes… This world will be perfect for our base…” He sneered. Ross struggled to move. He had no idea how to move in this heavy pressure. He simply looked at the shopkeeper and focused on one thing: going over there and saving him. All of a sudden, he began to move as rose petals began to flutter about. He ran to the first Roidmude he could see and slashed at him with the Crescent Rose. The Roidmude went flying as sparks flew out from its body. The other two Roidmudes looked to Ross as he prepared for them to attack. The other Roidmude fired bullets out of his fingers as Ross. While he took a number of bullets, his body didn’t show the bullets penetrate him. It hurt, yes, but all it did was knock Ross back a bit. Ross swung his scythe onto the pavement, tip crashing into the ground and sticking to it, and aimed the sniper part of the scythe. He fired at the Roidmude right in the head, blowing it off. The Roidmude fell over as its body dissolved into rose petals. Its number, 012, flew off before Ross fired at the number, shattering it. All that was left standing was the man in the white tuxedo. “Aaaah… Here’s the resistance.” He shrugged as his body was about to shift. Suddenly, sirens wailed across the city. “Well, can’t get caught this early… Hope you don’t see me again.” With that, he ran off with the other injured Roidmude as time resumed to normal. Ross jolted a bit as the rose petals that followed him stopped. Before he could even think, police cars stopped right outside the store as officers got out of it. Some began to point guns at Ross, though one of them simply got out and looked at him: Tachibana. Dash and I went back to the school. I decided to take her on a trip to the library. Throughout my time at Canterlot High, I took note of when the library would be most empty during the school day. CHS’ schedules has three different lunch periods. The first and third lunch periods happen after second and third periods respectively, but the second lunch happens in the middle of third period, a period usually reserved for the tougher classes such as algebra or science. As such, students who are given Lunch B tend to cram in the cafeteria rather than in the library to save on time and effort. I thought the only time I would take advantage of this moment would be to prepare a pop quiz for the second half of my class, but it seems that Lunch B has other quirks. One of them being an empty library. I went in with Rainbow Dash and headed to a cramped space inside the library. I turned around and showed Rainbow Dash my belt. “So, you know by now that I’m Gold Drive.” I said to her. She nodded extremely fast with a big grin on her face. “Alright, so this won’t be as hard as I thought.” I turned the ignition. “Henshin…” My body shifted into Gold Drive as the Technic Shift Car drove up to me. Banno grabbed it and placed it into the Shift Brace. The HUD lit up as I saw the Aura surrounding Rainbow Dash. It was exactly similar to Ross’ Aura. I also noted that she had super speed, something that Ross had possessed. Though there seemed to be a difference. Ross was able to keep up with us when we invoked a Slowdown, while Rainbow Dash was able to go faster than that. To compare speeds would be like comparing a Formula-1 car to a jet at Mach 1. The two speeds are very different, but similar enough to make the comparison. That’s when I remembered that she was with Ross last night. “Did that guy in the red hood do anything to you?” I asked. I simply connected the dots between Ross and Rainbow Dash. “No… Well, he did hold my hands before we got in, which I found super creepy. Then he spouted some crap about immortality and virtue and all that boring hero wannabe stuff. I felt… something, but it was a pretty long night, so I thought I was just tired.” Rainbow Dash said. “Hm… That’s… very odd.” I muttered. “He might be the reason you had that… burst of energy.” “Really?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m sure of it. I want to ask more of this. How did you able to tap into that power?” I asked her. “W-well… I saw you being attacked by that monster and I couldn’t just let you die… Especially not after you saved me.” Rainbow Dash said. “… Wow… You’re… pretty loyal.” I said. “Um… Thanks.” I could see Rainbow Dash blush. “Tell you what…” My armor dispersed. “You could be my sidekick. You help me with these Roidmudes, and I’ll-” “I’ll do it!” Rainbow Dash smiled so hard, I could swear I heard a squeak from her cheeks. “Wow, you just get onto it without any favors. Um… Okay?” Well, it beats bribing her with A+’s and making her the teacher’s pet. “Hey!” A familiar voice boomed across the end of the two bookshelves. “What the hay are you doing with her?” Applejack stomped her boot. “Hey, me and Professor Silverbolt are having an important discussion!” Rainbow Dash turned around and glared at her. “Don’t listen to whatever nonsense she says, Kel! Remember what I said to you the other day?” Applejack said. Rainbow Dash instantly turned around. “Oh, what do you know? Maybe it’s you who’s saying nonsense!” Rainbow Dash turned her head to me. “I don’t know what she said about me, but it’s a complete load of-” “Bullshit.” I shot a glare at Applejack. “What you said about Rainbow Dash was bullshit. She’s not treacherous and she’s not a jerk. She saved my life from a Roidmude.” I marched towards Applejack. “I wanna accuse you of being dishonest… but the truth is that I require both your knowledge and Rainbow Dash’s strength. I’ll look the other way, this time. But I’ll give you a warning, Applejack. Rainbow Dash will be helping me with these Roidmudes and you’re going to give her as much assistance as you give me. If not? I’ll simply force you to partner up with her the next time I assign the class to do team-based projects. Understand?” I asked Applejack. “What!? You want to let her help us?! Are you crazy?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “For once, I agree, Kel!” Applejack said. I saw Cheerilee walk towards us, readying her finger to do the signature shhh that all librarians do. I simply walked out, dragging Rainbow Dash and Applejack by the arms. Ross sat in the chair at the interrogation room. He intrinsically tapped his finger on the desk as he heard the fiery redhead chew his ear out over what happened at the shop. He ignored what she said, or rather, mentally replaced her words with some other words: “If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back, and a slap on the wrist!” He smiled as he recalled the first episode of RWBY. Come to think of it, his run in with that man in the white suit… It reminded him a lot of the first episode. “Is something funny?” Spitfire slammed her hands on the table as Ross jumped back in surprise. Just then, the door opened. Ross looked as the old officer entered the room. “Spitfire, leave us.” He said. Spitfire stood up. “… Understood, chief.” She bowed and walked off. Tachibana sat in her seat. “… Who are you?” Tachibana glared at Ross. “My… My name is Ross Roosevelt. Look, officer, I can explain everything! Well… almost everything. I can’t really explain the whole move super fast stuff…” Ross said. “There are a select few people who are able to move as fast as us…” Tachibana said. “… Us?” Ross asked. Tachibana simply grinned as he transformed into the Judge Roidmude. Ross tried to get up, but Judge simply held his hand up. “I have a proposition.” Ross glared at the Roidmude. “Our forces are large, but the problem is that there’s too many of us to keep track. Many of them become unruly and attack recklessly. We used to have someone that would be able to keep them in check, but certain circumstances have made him unavailable. However, you could work…” Tachibana said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “That man you fought… He isn’t the only person who’s… unruly. There’s many others. I’ll inform him that you’ll become our hired gun… Our… Grim Reaper. From there, I’ll inform you of a list of people who have disobeyed our command.” Tachibana said. “Why are you telling me this? If you’re with that man, shouldn’t you kill me already?” Ross asked. “As I said, he too is unruly. However, with him commanding our army, his views on who needs to be disciplined is… skewered. He had me handle it, but it mostly involves me covering their tracks. I want to do more than that. That’s where you come in. I see that fire in your eyes… The desire for justice. If you agree to become our Grim Reaper, then I can guarantee you that you will inflict that justice onto them.” Tachibana said. “…No. I don’t want justice.” Ross looked at Tachibana and glared. “I want to be a hero.” Eventually, we made it back to the science class, where we were suddenly greeted by exploding confetti. “Surpriiiiiiiiise!!!” The pink-skinned girl shouted. “Pinkie Pie, what the hell’s going on?” I asked her. “We’re throwing a surprise ‘happy monthaversery’ for you!” As she said that, I checked my clock. Indeed, it has been a month since I first got here. I never once asked how time progresses when compared to my world, if they’re one-to-one or if it works under Hyperbolic Time Chamber logic. Nevertheless, I simply smiled. Well, it’s good that people saw my importance. I began to wonder if I should bring in Bill Nye or if they’ll start celebrating him more than me. “Help yourself to some cupcakes! I made them myself!” Pinkie Pie said. As I went over to check the cupcakes, I was pulled aside by one of the students. “I wouldn’t try them if I were you. I hear she makes it out of the organs of dead students.” While I would take her advice, I only needed to turn my head to see her fiery red and yellow hair. I simply glare at her and waltzed over to the pyramid of what I can see is a hundred cupcakes. I took a vanilla one and ate it. “Mmmmmmm!” Oh God, I wasn’t prepared for how sugary it would be! Crap! I can feel my teeth rotting just by tasting the icing alone! Aaaaaah! Well, it helped me with one thing though. If it was made from meat, it wouldn’t taste so… sweet! “Students! You have got to try this!” I said. A bunch of the students came over to try the cupcakes save for five: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, and a yellow-skinned girl with long pink hair. I can find reason within the four. Sunset Shimmer is the generic bitchy bully and Applejack’s hard as nails. Rarity’s probably too proper lady like to reduce herself to eating cupcakes and Rainbow Dash’s the athletic type, so I can get why she doesn’t wanna eat sugary snacks. The girl, however, was someone I didn’t talk to yet. Looking at the way her hair hides away her right eye and her defensive look with her hands tugging her skirt, I can instantly tell she’s Fluttershy. I walked over to her and pulled her to the side to not draw any attention. While I could see some students stare at me, I kept myself hushed up. “So… any reason you don’t wanna eat? I mean, I don’t mind.” I asked. She simply looked away and muttered. “I… don’t like her.” She said. “… Okay, why?” I asked her. “Well… She once attended my silent auction with fireworks and noisemakers…” She said. “Okay, obnoxious, I can get that.” I said. “And she also fed a poor dog chocolate!” Fluttershy said. “Wait, what?” I asked. “She sent a package of chocolates to one of the dogs in the animal shelter and he ate some… poor little Danny had to suffer a long painful night…” Fluttershy said. “… Craaaaaap…” I turn to Pinkie Pie who was simply eating as many cupcakes as she can. I looked at Sunset Shimmer. “You know, I can’t blame you for hearing that rumor now.” I said. Sunset Shimmer simply grinned. Though, it was definitely one of those evil, cocky smirks. I glared at her. Something was up. “Thus kindly, I scatter.” Those were the words Ross heard when he got out of the police station. Time slowed down to a crawl as everything faded to black. When color returned to Ross’ eyes, he noticed he was back at the RTX, with the merchant standing right in front of him. “How was that, m’dear?” He asked. “What… happened?” Ross asked. “Well, that is something we people like to call ‘displacement’. You grab something from us, and ziiiiiiiiip! You’re in another world! I figured I give you a little taste of the action.” He said. “H-how did you bring me back?” Ross asked. The man took out a silver necklace. On it was the symbol of a burning rose. “This baby is a special trinket. Think of it as an anchor that lets you travel to the place where you were. We call these Tokens. Here, keep it.” He handed it to Ross. “Um… Thanks?” Ross said. “Oh, and if you wanna go back,” he pointed to the scythe. “Just hold that scythe up and say those words I said. You’ll fling yourself back to that place, ready to have an adventure!” “Well, that works…” Ross said. He began to walk off, before he turned around. “Hey, what’s your name?” “Niko Zoloto’s the name, displacing’s my game!” Niko said. Ross simply smiled and held up his scythe. “Thus kindly, I scatter.” With that, he displaced himself out if the convention and back into the world. A Roidmude stood on a rooftop hummed ‘London Bridge is falling down’ to himself as he adjusted the camera on his chest. Next to him were six humans. One of them began to adjust the beads on his bracelet, another began to held out two fingers and made a zig-zagging pattern over his other hand. Another human, an old man with curly white hair and a lab coat, approached the edge of the roof. “So… This is where Banno’s holed up, huh? Well, it’s time for the maker to meet his end.” He cackled as he and the others transformed into Roidmudes. Whereas the six had standard forms, the old man turned into more of an advanced robot, with four tesla coils on his shoulders and a silver chrome forehead. The party had a limited amount of energy to it. People were dancing to songs that were suspiciously similar to songs from the High School Musical franchise… God I feel old for remembering them. There were enough cupcakes to go around though. I had at least a few, though I mostly stayed out of the partying. I had more pressing matters to attend to. 006 confirmed the theory that the Roidmudes remembered their pasts. Not only that, but their undoing too. It made me wonder if Heart wasn’t the only Roidmude they killed. Medic was a sure bet of being their next target, given that she had a hand in killing a couple of them. The other question was how I could utilize their past memories to my advantage. I stopped asking myself this when I noticed some of the students were looking at me. Right, I should focus on my students rather than on the battle. I looked towards Rainbow Dash and I got up. “Rainbow Dash, I’ve been meaning to ask.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “What were you talking about with Soarin’ and Spitfire?” I asked her. As soon as I did, Rainbow Dash grinned so hard, I could swear her cheeks squeaked. She immediately dragged me by the hand and ran out of the room. Thankfully, we didn’t go far, just outside the school locker room where a mural of pictures were shown. These pictures were of previous soccer teams that played for CHS. Rainbow Dash pointed to one in particular. On it, there was a team of soccer players. In the center was their coach and their two star players. These three I instantly recognized. Soarin’, Spitfire, and Wind Rider as the coach. “They were the best of the best Wondercolts! No one could stop them! They were fast, strong, and smart! They broke dead heat ties at record speeds, and when they played, they acted like a single machine! I wanted to be exactly like them when I was a kid.” Rainbow Dash pointed to a small, cyan blur in the corner. See? That’s me in the bleachers! Along with…” I noticed the yellow blur next to it. “Fluttershy…” She looked away, her voice deepening down and losing its momentum. “… Something the matter?” I asked her. She shook her head. “No… It’s…” She looked at Wind Rider and she immediately perked right back up. “I’m aiming to beat his record! He has the record for the fastest time in all of Canterlot High! I’m so going to break it, just you wait!” Rainbow Dash said. She stretched her arms and started to head back. I sighed, turned my head a bit behind me, and turned around. “So, what happened between her and Fluttershy?” I gave Applejack a few seconds for Rainbow Dash not to be in earshot of us. She stood by the wall, her foot propped against the wall like the cowboy she is… Or cowgirl… Wow, pronouns can get weird sometimes. The locker she stood by hid her from plain sight. I only managed to notice her by spotting her knee. “Well, Kel, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were close. Very close. We all were.” She walked towards the mural of photos and pointed up to a photo of five girls: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. “We were inseparable. Voted ‘best friends’ of 2010 at the Freshman Fair. Then… She happened.” Applejack pointed to Rainbow Dash. “She told me she’d get the entire softball team to help out at my bake sale. They stood me up and Rainbow Dash made a liar out of me. She may have done bad things to Rarity and Pinkie, but what happened with her and Fluttershy is something I’ll never forgive her for.” She grasped her fist. “Like I said, they were close. Super close. Like ‘more than best friends’ close. Then…” Applejack sighed as she stared away. “It was raining when she came over to my house. She cried so hard, Kelly… I’m gonna spare you the details, but needless to say, suddenly backstabbing your friend by giving her homophobic remarks on her cellphone is a sure fire way to make me angry.” Applejack said. “…” I stared at the photo of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sitting at the bleachers. “I don’t know what you see in Rainbow Dash, but I see nothing but a jerk, an asshole, and a traitorous bitch all rolled into one. But if you want the reason why I hate her, that’s why. If she can suddenly cast away someone who loved her in an instant, I can’t bear to imagine how she’d help us out.” With that, Applejack walked off. By that point, I straightened up my tie as the clues pieced together. It was obvious, but I knew the next person I’d talk to. It took a moment, but I got Sunset Shimmer out into the hallway. She had her hands in her jacket pockets and rolled her eyes at me. I, on the other hand, wanted to savour the moment. Not every day that you try to bust the alpha bitch. “So, what did you call me out for?” She asked. “Well, Miss Shimmer, over the past month that I’ve been here, I’ve picked up on some… information. I heard stories of people who were once friends turning into bitter rivals.” I said. “Happens to everyone.” She shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what I first thought, but I notice some threads. These were long term friends, and yet suddenly they’re bitter with each other, or at least not as close as they once were. Makes you wonder what drove them apart.” I said. “I had friends who suddenly want nothing to do with me, so I don’t see where you’re going with this.” She simply shrugged. “Well, when someone’s a very close friend, to the point where they could be considered lovers, suddenly giving them an insulting text for no reason is suspicious. And not on their end.” I said. She glared to me. “What are you implying? That I somehow had something to do with what happened with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?” … There. That was it. I smiled. “I didn’t say who it was, now did I?” I said. However, before anything else was said, the lights in the school flashed before they died. This was soon followed by screams and suddenly… FLASH Time beginning to slow to a crawl. No. No no no no no not now! Not when I have her on the ropes! Well, at least I saw her face lose all confidence in slow motion… That’s a neat bonus, at least. Without any further to do, I headed off to find the source of the attack. CRASH! SMASH! Two men in black suits were knocked down onto a red carpet in a long lavish hallway as Ross ran towards them, Crescent Rose in hand. One of them got up and transformed into a Roidmude before Ross chopped its head off. Using its falling corpse as a vault, he leaped over to the other person who transformed into another Roidmude. Crescent Rose changed into a sniper rifle as Ross fired right where the plate showed its Core: 103. The bullet entered its chest and shot right through the Core. Both Roidmude bodies slowly disintegrated into rose petals as Ross landed. While 103’s Core was irreparably destroyed, Ross turned around and destroyed the other floating number: 037, using only the hard side of the weapon. He turned his head towards the closed door. He ran and leaped into the air, wrapping himself in the hood as he zoomed right to the door and smashed it in. As he landed, he looked to see a revolving chair turned away from him. “Really? This generic crap?” Ross reloaded Crescent Rose as the chair slowly turned around. 006 simply shrugged. “Eh, you just gotta love the classics.” He smirked and got off of his chair. “You seem to be pretty cool with me raiding your place.” Ross said. “Well, it’s hard not to be angry when you know you have the edge.” 006 walked slowly to Ross. Ross simply muffled a laugh. “You don’t know anything, Roidmude. That Rider you had me attack… She will stop the Roidmudes, and I will stop you… Bet on tha-” JAB! 006 jabbed his thumb right below the side of Ross’ jaw. Ross’ face tensed up a bit before he broke out in a fit of laughter. Ross grabbed his neck as he fell down onto the floor. As he fell, 006 shifted into his Roidmude form, first his base Cobra form, then he transformed into his Advanced Form, Nerve. “The human body has so many pressure points… Did you know that? Every point has a different function when they break…” Nerve crouched down as he jabbed his thumb right on Ross’ shoulder. He screamed as the muscles in his arm seized up and his nails dug right into his palm. “As fun as it was to make my enemies pin cushions, I knew just from the first time testing this power out that it’d ruin the fun. So I held myself back until I felt like it was necessary to attack a human’s nerves. But now?” A golden aura enveloped him. “Now I can have lots of fun with this power… And you get to help me!” Soon, his entire body flashed gold. As the light faded, the color of his body changed. Now his body was a chromatic gold as the brass tubes were now blue. His sunglasses were blood red now. He closed in on Ross as he struck his body in the chest, then right in the middle of his arm, and soon his knee, and after that, his arm became a blur as he attacked several parts of Ross’ body, all the while cackling. I ran through the school as I heard bullets crash against glass and students screaming. I looked around to see where the Roidmudes were attacking, only to notice a part of the building began to implode. I was knocked away as a Roidmude whose chest had a large camera lens approached me: Scooper, a Roidmude able to take photos of buildings and then destroy their structure. I struggled to get up as three lower-class Roidmudes stood behind him. “Do you see the power that we Roidmudes possess?” Scooper held his arms out. He nodded to a Spider Class Roidmude, 079, as hopped onto a shard of glass and was sucked into it. While I never watched the show, I got the idea that he was pulling a trick from an old Kamen Rider show, and so I looked around. However, I forgot to take in that the Roidmude could use any reflective surface as a portal. He leaped out of the surface of the Banno Driver and socked me in the jaw. I flew back and hit a wall as the Roidmude landed. “This is the end for you… Goodbye, Professor.” The Scooper Roidmude held up a photograph and poked on it. I looked above as I saw the ceiling collapse on top of me. Immediately, I turned the ignition and transformed. Banno knocked the debris away and rushed to the Scooper Roidmude, only for another Roidmude, 052, to run up to him, grabbed him by the throat, and threw him down. He backed away as Roidmude 053 picked me up and flew through the hole made in the ceiling. As it held me in the air, I could see another Roidmude in front of the school, the Volt Roidmude. He fired bolt after bolt of electricity at different parts of the school as many students ran off. Banno struggled as I saw Volt taking time to zap some of the students with what I can safely presume to be a lethal shock. Volt looked up and saw me as 053 dropped me down, right into his path. Volt raised his large claw-like appendages as it created a bluish-yellow electrical sphere. He pushed it up and a large beam headed straight for me, piercing me right through abdomen. Thankfully, Banno was in control of my body, otherwise I would have felt what the original Kamen Rider Drive went through when facing Freeze. That said, I did feel nervous as the beam struck me. The HUD began to glitch out as I heard a loud buzzing noise. “Banno?! Banno!?” I shouted his name out, but he didn’t respond. I fell, and it seemed to be a pretty large fall too. About a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty feet? As I landed, I created a Gold Drive-shaped crater as the transformation cancelled out. I looked down to see the belt, but all I noticed was pieces of Banno’s face replaced with black squares. I managed to get up okay, albeit with a slight knee jerk. Seemed the armor took much of the blow and Banno’s control dulled my sense of pain. I could only stand as the army of Roidmudes approach me. Tachibana laid down on the couch at the Bree-Zee Animal Shelter. He dismissed the oncoming phone call from Soarin’. The police didn’t need to know where he was. If anything, he could say that he got in a crackdown gone horribly wrong and had to lay low for a few days. The Roidmudes don’t know where he was too. Otherwise they would have sent the Reaper Legion or even their backup Grim Reaper on him. Tachibana wasn’t exactly sure how long he should lay low for. A week, at least. He did plan on switching human disguises, though. Either change completely or create a composite form like how Iron did it. Though, outside forces usually interfere with his plans, as was what would happen with the TV. “Reports have cited a group of unidentified lifeforms attacking Canterlot High.” The news reporter immediately spoke as soon as the words “BREAKING NEWS” appeared. Footage of the Roidmudes’ attack on CHS played out as Tachibana got out of his seat. “They have begun mercilessly attacking the students. Paramedics are on the scene, but are unable to attend to the students due to the ongoing battle going on.” Tachibana growled once he saw Gold Drive on the TV. “Among these lifeforms is the rumored ‘Golden Drive’, a masked vigilante making headlines since a month ago. Nobody can conclude if these lifeforms are tied to Golden Drive or not, but this exclusive footage we recorded suggests they have some sort of antagonism.” Tachibana didn’t even bother to see the footage of the Volt Roidmude landing the finishing blow on Gold Drive. He hobbled out of the building. He just hoped to get there in time. “Tachibana! I made you some chicken noodle sou-” Mrs. Breesby walked into the room. She dropped the bowl of soup as she noticed two things: the lack of a Tachibana, and most important of all, the sight of her daughter’s school being under attack. I ran and screamed. I threw a punch towards one of the Roidmudes, only for them to block the attack and strike me across the face. I rolled onto the ground, got up, and did a tornado kick on him. He punched me so hard in the gut that I was knocked across the field and fell down. “As soon as this obstacle is destroyed, we Roidmudes will rule over all of humanity!” Volt laughed. He began to charge up one final energy bolt. This was it. I can see my fate being sealed before my eyes. I struggled to get up. I struggled to fight at least one last time. But no. I couldn’t even stand. The Roidmudes stopped attacking, if only to see the execution of their abusive creator and me, his puppet. After that, they’ll just go back to destroying… To killing… I looked around to see the students hurt by the Roidmudes’ attacks. I looked to see the destroyed portion of CHS. And perhaps what got me to do the next thing… I saw Pinkie Pie trying to rescue some of the younger students at the school who were severely shocked by the Volt Roidmude. This was never about me. This was never about Banno. Banno was correct. As it stands, I’m the only one who can fight. The police are either incompetent or corrupt, Ross stands no chance against them, and no one has ever heard of these Roidmudes until today. I imagined what would happen if I fell. Images of Roidmudes firing and destroying everything, killing any who stand in their way as drops of rain stayed frozen in mid-air. Global Freeze. If I fell, the Roidmudes will rule this world. Everyone I have met in this past month will either die or be enslaved to them. I thought back to the portrait with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others. All together and happy, only to be torn apart by what I would assume to be the generic bully. If I fall, they will never be friends again. “No…” I muttered. “I… I won’t let you do this…” I gripped my fist. “I won’t let you harm my students. I won’t let you harm my home.” I stood up. “I won’t let you harm my friends.” I glared at the Volt Roidmude. “And most certain of all…” I pointed to him. “I won’t let you harm this world!” “You think you can stop us?” Volt asked. “Yeah. Because I’m Kamen Rider Gold Drive, and I’m gonna take you all for a ride! Banno… I don’t know if you can hear me, but please… START MY ENGINE!!!” I shouted out as I turned the ignition. Volt fired a jolt at me. I didn’t get a response from Banno so I turned it again. As the bolt hit me, I screamed. My body changed into the blur of red and gold pixels. The gold armor latched onto me and my visor went white the instant they formed. The golden armor had a few sparks of lightning dancing on it. I stared at the Roidmudes as I took out the Steering Sword. Roidmude 056 sprayed out a web out of his mouth towards me, though I grabbed it and pulled the Roidmude towards me. I impaled the Roidmude once he was near, pulled out my sword, spun around, and then slashed his back. He easily exploded, his core exploding in the process. I turned to the Volt Roidmude as I turned the ignition. “H-Hah… That took a lot out of me…” Banno said as I handed the controls over to him. Banno was given the Door Gun and the Burning Solar Shift Car. As he saw the Volt Roidmude charge up another blast, Banno loaded the Shift Car into the Door Gun and fired a blast of light towards him. The Roidmude clawed out is eyes and screamed. “That should keep you busy.” That’s when he was knocked around by another Roidmude. “Gah!” I was able to catch the number of this Roidmude: 058. Seems these Roidmudes have gotten some upgrades. Not enough to fully merit a transformation to an Advanced Form, but something that can be well on their way to one. Better make sure to stop them now, in that case. “Switch!” I said to Banno as he turned the ignition. As soon as I gained control, I stabbed the Steering Sword into the ground and gained the Zenrin Shooter. I spread my shots with both the Zenrin Shooter and the Door Gun to try and catch 058 off guard. However, he leaped up and tried to strike me. Fortunately, I rolled over and struck him with the front wheel of the Zenrin Shooter. As he flew over from the knock back, I pressed the red button on my Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as I fired wildly at the airborne Roidmude, destroying his body and core in the process. I dropped the guns as I turned the ignition again. Banno groaned as he held the Signal Axe. “Give me a better weapon!” Banno said as he struck the ground with the Signal Ax, planting it in the ground. He ran over and grabbed the Steering Sword. However, two glass fangs pierced the back of Banno’s neck. It only took a second to smash them. He turned around and saw Roidmude 063. I noticed the Roidmude’s collar was multicolored, almost like… Stained Glass… Wasn’t there a Kamen Rider that fought stained glass monsters? Banno turned the Ignition as I regained control and gained two Shift Cars: Road Winter and Colorful Commercial. Gee, which one to use? I plugged in Road Winter into the Steering Sword and ran to 063. I made sure to drop Colorful Commercial into the slot for the Signal Ax. “THE FINISHER!” The axe began to blare out. “WAIT FOR IT!” It chanted as I stabbed frantically into the Roidmude. With each stab, the Roidmude slowly froze. As I stabbed him in the plate that displayed his Core, he began to crystalize and became a nice shiny ice sculpture. Once that was done, I left the sword planted into the Roidmude as I back flipped. I landed on the shaft of the Signal Ax, causing it to spring out of the ground and flip into the air. I leaped up soon after. “GO FOR IT!!” I grabbed onto the axe when I was about ten feet in the air and struck down. “FULL THROTTLE! ADVERTISE!”I fell onto the Roidmude just as 079 was about to come out of the ice’s reflective surface, only to realize his ambush was gonna get ambushed. “BUY ALL OUR PLAYSETS AND TOOOOOYS!!” I regretted putting Colorful Commercial in there as I saw my axe leave a holographic banner saying ‘Buy all our playsets and toys!’. Despite that, though, it managed to do the trick of destroying two Roidmudes with one strike. “Dynamic Chop…” I muttered under my breath. The blaring of sirens entered my ears as I turned around. Police cars began to appear as the Volt Roidmude just scoffed. Took him long enough to recover. “Let’s not let them interfere in our affair.” Volt said as he fired off a bolt with his claws. I held up my hand as a barrier of golden energy materialized in front of the police cars, blocking the thunderbolt. As I did that, I heard the beeping that indicated that I must switch to Banno before the transformation cancels out. If that were to happen, then the golden energy would also cancel out. I had no choice. I swapped out for Banno. Dozens of officers came out, guns pointed towards me and the Roidmudes. I saw Soarin’ and Spitfire both pointing their guns at me. Banno didn’t seem to care and just looked at the remaining three Roidmudes: Volt, Scooper, 052 and 053. That is until one of the officers spoke up. “H-hey! It’s Tachibana!” Banno turned his head to the crowd of cops as Tachibana hobbled over to them. “What happened?” “Are you hurt?” The cops began to ask him, but Tachibana waved them away. “Don’t worry about me… Worry about them.” Tachibana shot a glare at me. “Yeah! Who do we shoot, chief?” Soarin’ asked. “…” Tachibana’s eyes shifted to me, then to the Roidmudes. “Both.” He said. The cops began to cock their guns, save for Spitfire. “You sure? We just saw Golden Drive take out a couple of them.” Spitfire said. “Positive. We don’t know the full story of this vigilante. Perhaps he’s just killing these Roidmudes to climb up their ladder of control.” Tachibana said. Banno couldn’t help but chuckle. “You have a point. As soon as I am able to, I will rule over all the Roidmudes! And all of humanity too!” Banno then cackled. “Banno! Shut up!” I said. Tachibana smirked. “See? Now… Open fire!” Tachibana said. The police opened fire, though Banno simply moved the shield from Volt over to him, blocking the bullets from striking while the other bullets hit the Roidmudes. Huh… Banno actually anticipated it? “… Okay, that was clever.” I said. Banno walked over to pick up the two discarded blasters. “What was?” Banno asked. “… Never mind.” I said as Banno began to fire at the Roidmudes as well. Both Scooper and Volt held their Low-Class members like meat shields, blocking them from both the gunfire of the cops and Banno’s own gunfire. Not that they would affect the Roidmudes, it seemed. “Judge! You traitor!” Volt shouted. “Judge? Who’s that?” Soarin’ stopped firing to ask that question. “…” Tachibana didn’t answer. “That’s the codename these Roidmudes have given your so-called Chief of Police.” Banno said, not even glancing to the cops. “That’s a lie!” Tachibana shouted. “Really?” Scooper asked before he tossed 053 at the cops. He flew towards Tachibana, claws readied. The cops began to fire. I wanted to go in and help, but Banno was currently engaging with the other Roidmudes. He flew towards Tachibana, claws readied. The cops began to fire. Banno dropped the guns and turned the ignition. As much as wanted to go, the moment I noticed a large, blue, trailer-themed Shift Car roll towards me on a road that was being paved in mid-air as it came closer and closer, I knew Banno wanted more firepower. I grabbed onto the large cannon, pushed the front part down to form the handle, and pointed to 052. I fired and it shot a large blast at the Roidmude. Knocking both him and Volt back before 052 exploded. I fired another blast at the core and blew it up. I looked as some of the police tried to hold back 053, only to bunched and even shot by the Roidmude. One of them was Spitfire as she was shot in the leg. Tachibana, after seeing at least five of his men go down, yelled out and transformed into the Judge Roidmude. The entire police force gasped and pointed their guns to him. Tachibana simply looked at the group for a moment before he stabbed his kendo stick into the ground, creating a massive smoke screen. I heard a lot of clashes and metal scraping metal before I heard an explosion. My heart stopped for only a moment before I saw the number 052 hover over a little bit into the air before blowing up. The Judge Roidmude jumped out of the thick cloud and screamed as he tried to strike me with his weapon. I sidestepped and fired point blank at his chest. Judge was knocked back by the blast, though he stabbed his kendo stick to the ground to stop himself from going too far. He shot his Taser darts towards me, though I rolled out of the way. I fired a few shots at Judge, though he managed to stop them with more darts. I continued to shoot as I ran towards Judge. When I was close to him, I just swung the Trailer Cannon like the large slab of metal that it was and struck him in the head five times, each in a different direction. The sixth and final strike was using the butt of the gun to knock him straight on the head. That knocked him down enough to execute the finishing blow. I turned the ignition as three Shift Cars drove to me: Shift Formula, Shift Speed, and Shift Wild. Banno took the three and slotted Formula onto the top part of the cannon. “FORMULA CANNON!” He loaded the two Shift Cars next. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” He pointed the cannon at Judge as blue, purple, and gold colored energies built up in the barrel of the cannon. Just before he pulled the trigger, however… “W-wait!” I heard that voice before… It was Fluttershy! I saw Fluttershy, relatively safe albeit with a bit of a torn skirt, as she ran over to Judge and held her arms out as to shield him. “D-don’t hurt him!” Fluttershy said. Any other day of the week, I wouldn’t have listened to her and simply told her to move. However, I knew there might be more to this than meets the eye. Why is Fluttershy defending a Roidmude of all things? Especially Judge? I decided to hold my fire… Though I soon realized that I wasn’t in control. Banno was. “GWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiot!” My body went cold as Banno kept the cannon pointed towards Judge despite Fluttershy blocking the shot. “It’s your funeral!” Banno fired. “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!” I shouted. “FULLY LOADED FORMULA CANNON!” And with that, I couldn’t help but watch as the large blue and white beam went streaking towards Fluttershy. Golden Drive Arc 6: How Can We Stop Nerve?Time slowed to a crawl, not by Slowdown, but by my own fear as I saw Fluttershy in the way of an oncoming blast fired from the Trailer Cannon, with Banno’s own laughter to serve as the soundtrack. I closed my eyes and whispered out: “I’m sorry.” WHOOOSH! I opened my eyes as I saw a rainbow line snatch Fluttershy and Judge away, the beam now heading towards the Volt Roidmude who struck the ground with his claws, creating an electrical barrier to block the blast. The blast exploded and as the smoke cleared, both Volt and Scooper were gone. “What’s wrong with you!?” I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice as Banno looked to her. I saw Fluttershy shaking for a little bit before she too looked at Rainbow Dash. “R-rainbow Dash?” She blushed. Rainbow Dash simply glanced at Fluttershy before returning her glare to me. “You nearly killed her! What kind of hero are you!?” Rainbow Dash yelled at me. Banno looked around and saw that the Roidmudes were gone. He just stood there as the Gold Drive armor took off, leaving me to look at Rainbow Dash as she held Fluttershy almost defensively. I glared. “I wasn’t trying to kill her! I was trying to kill-” I pointed to Judge, but he too was gone. “GODDAMN IT!” I shouted. Soarin’ then approached me. “It’s okay. We saw what happened.” Soarin’ sighed and talked with Rainbow Dash. “Professor Silverbolt was fighting that monster then that girl over there got in the way.” Soarin’ said. “M-monster?” Fluttershy pushed Dash away from herself. “He was not a monster! He’s my friend!” Fluttershy said. “What!?” It was weird. I said it around the same time as Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash… It was so surreal. “Just because he looks different doesn’t mean he should be put in the same category as those other monsters!” I could see tears try to form in her eyes. Before I could even say anything, Fluttershy ran off. I looked to Rainbow Dash, but she stormed off in a huff. The sounds of ambulance sirens rang out the following evening as I stayed in the library sipping some coffee. I couldn’t help but glare at my reflection, or rather, the Banno in the reflection. “… You know Fluttershy wouldn’t have survived that blast, right?” I asked Banno. “Oh yes. I was aware. But the blast would have taken out Judge as well. If not that, then heavily damage him while we worked on the other Roidmudes.” Banno said. “Okay, Banno, I get you’re a crazy madman-” “I prefer the term genius.” “Whatever! You can’t just do that!” I said. “You are scolding me?” Banno laughed. “I believe you forgot the pecking order. You’re merely my puppet. I just haven’t found the strings yet.” Banno said. As much as I hate to say it, he has a point. Even if I have more say in transforming, the fact of the matter is that he retains as much control of being Gold Drive as I do. “… Speaking of, Fluttershy said that Judge was a ‘friend’.” I said. “I’m aware. It’s not uncommon to see Roidmudes befriend humans. I originally intended them to help them, after all.” As Banno said that, all my thought processes went to a screeching halt. “What?” I asked. “Do you think of me as some madman out for world domination? Well, I wasn’t like that before. I created the Roidmudes with the intent of befriending humanity. Creating an unbreakable bond between man and machine. However, when I presented my ideas to investors, they all turned me down. They said that they couldn’t feasibly see a world where robots are friends with humans. Those fools…” I remembered how Banno made one of the Roidmudes copy the likeness of one of said investors, if only to use him as a punching bag. “Once the only person who ever understood my plan left me, I abandoned all resolve to create a utopia where man and machine were one. Instead, I began to imagine a world where machines ruled the world. Humanity is flawed and it’s clear that out of the two, the Roidmudes are the superior ones.” Banno said. “… You know I don’t believe this whole ‘I tried to do good’ crap, right?” I flat out said. “Do you need to ask for proof? Because I believe you already have that. 072, 009, even that failure of a prototype have enough proof.” And sure enough, he was right. 072 befriended a member of the police over a show they watched together and had worked with them in secret. 009, better known as Medic, healed her human template along with dozens of other Roidmudes, giving her a somewhat angel-like grace. As for Banno’s prototype, 000… He was better known as Kamen Rider Chaser. Before that, he was Mashin Chaser, the original Grim Reaper in the show. “Even now, it seems that there are Roidmudes who wish to protect humanity.” Banno said. I shook my head. I wanted to tell him that Judge was not a protector, but that’s when I heard static on a nearby radio. I went over to turn up the volume. “Greetings, humans…” I recognized the voice. It was Volt. “You may have bared witness to our might on our siege of Canterlot High School and wonder who we are. Well, allow me to confirm your fears. We are Roidmudes. We are the superior beings that will lord over you pathetic humans. As of today, we are preparing to siphon all the power of Canterlot City into a single machine. And by using this machine, we will be able to summon forth our Roidmude brethren to revolutionize this feeble world! Today will be the last day of human freedom! Fear us! For we are the Roidmudes!” Volt ended his speech with a cackle and soon, radio static. “… Damn it!” I slammed my fist into the table. “Hmm… Mighty ambitious of them.” Banno said. “We’re not going to sit here and let them win.” I walked over and looked over the Shift Cars that had sat on the table. As far as I know, the students who entered the library just look at them as toy cars. A collection of Transformers toys. It helped that the Shift Cars were stationary in the day time. As I approached them, the cars all turned to me. I looked to them. This would be my first time commanding the Shift Cars without using Gold Conversion. I took a deep breath and spoke up. “You heard him. If we don’t stop them, we might end up facing another Global Freeze. I know that the creator of these robots rests on my very waist, but we all have the same goal right now: stopping the Roidmudes. I need you to find any large building that could act as a conduit for an electrical system.” I said. I recalled Volt’s endgame plan involving using an electrical device on top of a mall. To my surprise, the cars all honked in unison and drove off, creating tiny roads for them to drive on as they did. “Hey, Banno, does Gold Conversion brainwash the Shift Cars?” I asked him. “… I never tested out that possibility.” Banno said. I could only look as the Shift Cars all drove out of the library in different directions. Some went out the window, others went through the empty halls. “I’m so glad you’re alright!” Fluttershy’s mom held Fluttershy in the living room. “When I saw your school was attacked by those… monsters, I felt so afraid… It was a kind of fear I never felt before.” She said. “Mom, don’t worry. Everything was fine. Mr. Tachibana was there to save me.” She said. “Tachibana? Wasn’t he one of the monsters that-” “No! He isn’t like them! I tried telling the others that, but they didn’t believe me! You met Mr. Tachibana before, so you know he’s nice!” Fluttershy said. “I know, but…” Fluttershy’s mom said before there was a loud knock at the door. Fluttershy’s mom walked over to get the door. As she opened, she saw a man in a white tuxedo with a matching fedora and a soft-shaven beard. “Hello.” He cocked a smile as two low-class Roidmudes stood behind him. Fluttershy’s mom tried to shut the door, but before she could even shriek, 006 struck her in the chest, causing her to convulse and go down on the floor. “Mom!” Fluttershy rushed over to her, though 006 flicked his wrist, slowing down the flow of time in a flash of light. Nerve walked over to Fluttershy, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her into a wall, fingernails digging into her skin. “Where is Tachibana?” He asked. “Hrrkkk…” Fluttershy grunted. Nerve released some pressure. “I… don’t… know… arrrg…” “He would have known we’d be coming for him.” One of the low-class Roidmudes said. Nerve simply nodded. “You’re right.” He then proceeded to jab Fluttershy in the side of the neck. He turned around as Fluttershy slowly fell to the floor, her body going limp. “She’ll do as bait.” Nerve picked her up. “Besides, we need someone to act as a conduit for the device.” “Won’t this piss off that Kamen Rider?” The other Roidmude asked. “Heh… Leave that to me.” Nerve said. With that, the trio ran off with Fluttershy. Time resumed to normal as Mad Doctor, the ambulance Shift Car, drove over and saw Mrs. Breesby. The Shift Car blared its sirens and went to work. I sat in the library. The school was closed due to the attack. I was able to check the news of the aftermath. Despite what I have seen, there were fewer deaths than I had imagined. Only half a dozen died in the attacks, though all of them had names that I didn’t recognize. I wondered if Krim had to do this when dealing with the aftermath of Global Freeze. Seeing how many people he failed to save or even how many lives he indirectly destroyed by giving Banno the technology needed to create the Roidmudes’ ability to slow time down. Several Shift Cars came back, each reporting a different location where the supposed device that Volt boasted about would be. They did this by driving to a certain part of a fold out map the library had in the archives and I marked each of them down with a thumbtack on the old corkboard. “Damn it. There’s a dozen places that Volt could be at!” I said. That’s when I remembered… The mall! Volt, in his previous life, set up his device at a large mall. All I had to do was find a mall… Bingo! I found the mall almost instantly. The Canterlot Shopping Centre. As I was about to leave, I saw Applejack bust into the library. “Applejack?” I asked. “It’s Fluttershy!” Applejack said. I saw Mad Doctor roll into the library as well. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Fluttershy’s been kidnapped by those Roastporks!” Applejack said. “What!?” I said. It took me a while to think about what the Roidmudes wanted with Fluttershy. When I found out the answer, I gave Applejack a stern look. “Wait here.” I said. I ran off, open the window, jumped out, and took out my LockVehicle, the SunDriver. I popped the lock open, tossed it, and it transformed into an ATV for me to ride on. I drove off. “Fluttershy’s what?” Applejack turned around to see Rainbow Dash. “… What are you doing here?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Professor Silverbolt said that we were on the same team. As soon as I saw you and that car, I knew something was up.” Rainbow Dash said. “… Well, there’s nothing we can do.” Applejack muttered. “What are you talking about?!” Rainbow Dash said. “You heard me! Those monsters destroyed part of our school and even hurt some of our friends! We’re powerless to stop them! I’ve seen their power with my own eyes. The best we can do is wait for Kelly to stop them for us.” Applejack said. “… No. I’m not going to stand for it. I’m going with her!” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re not going to survive. I encountered those… Those Roidmudes, and I was lucky to even be alive.” Applejack said. “I was in that same situation too. But I pulled through…” Rainbow Dash looked away. “If you like, you can come with me.” She said. “Why should I go with you?” Applejack glared at Rainbow Dash. “Because I can show you how to fight the Roidmudes.” She walked over to Applejack. “Close your eyes. I’m going to touch your face for a bit.” She said. “What!? No!” Applejack said. “Do you wanna save Fluttershy or not!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. A brief pause followed. Applejack soon shut her eyes. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to think back to what Ross said to her. When she finally got the words, she spoke up while gracefully stroking Applejack’s face: “For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.” Rainbow Dash put another hand on Applejack’s shoulder. Her body glowed cyan while Applejack’s glowed orange. The glows faded as Rainbow Dash’s legs began to wobble. “Woah! What happened?!” Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash straightened up. “I think I just gave you superpowers.” Rainbow Dash said. She picked up Applejack. “Trust me on this.” She said before running off at supersonic speeds. I drove down a private street down by Canterlot City. Despite the ride being an all-terrain vehicle, the city barely had any terrain for the SunDriver to tear through other than roads. I figured to draw less attention to myself by sticking to the less-used roads. At first, it may seem like I shot myself in the foot by going a long way around as opposed to taking the highway like every other person, but the speed of the SunDriver, followed closely by plugging Shift Speed into one of the slots on my dash, was more than enough to make up for that. BANG! Or so I thought. Before I knew it, one of the tires blew out, causing the SunDriver to tumble out of control. Shift Speed and I managed to get out of it before the ATV began to flip over, right into a wall where it blew up, parts of it scattering on the side of the road. I turned around to see who shot the tire. And then I saw him. Standing on the roof before he leaped down. “Ross?” I asked him. He looked… different. The muscles in his left arm spasmed uncontrollably, though he seemed to hold the scythe pretty steadily with his right. He had a smile that just stretched from ear to ear, teeth gritted as the eyelids twitched. I could almost see veins bulge from his neck. He walked closer to me, only stifled laughs came out of him. “… Nerve…” Banno muttered. I backed away from Ross. Banno and I both remembered the Nerve Roidmude’s power of attacking the nervous system. Super Evolution simply enhances what a Roidmude has, along with giving them more abilities. It wasn’t any stretch of the imagination that 006 had something to do with Ross. “Snap out of it, Ross!” I shouted to him. “It’s no use! A Super Evolved Roidmude’s effects on the human body are irreversible! The only way we could save Ross is if we digitize him and edit out the effects!” Banno said. I remembered how he saved the life of a person using that exact method when a Super Evolved Roidmude poisoned her. Unfortunately, he was able to do that only when he was in a tablet. Seeing as he was confined to a belt, that left one other option. “Or we kill Nerve.” I said. I tried to run, but Ross fired at me. I rolled out of the way and looked at him. “But first…” I turned the ignition. “Go easy on him, okay?” I asked. “I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep." Banno said. "But those are the best kinds!" I chuckled slightly. Banno sighed. "Henshin.” Banno said as I stood up. I transformed into Gold Drive as Banno took over. Ross ran at Banno with blinding speed. Banno was only able to match it with a flash of golden light, clutching the topside of the scythe with his hand. “Hey, boy! Best calm down before you tick me off.” Banno said before Ross fired at him, knocking him right into the pile of broken LockVehicle parts. “… You asked for it.” Banno turned the ignition as I received a purple monster truck Shift Car with green tires. I put the car into the Shift Brace as Ross spun around, swinging his scythe as well. I clutched the scythe as two golden colored jaws materialized and clamped down onto Ross’ hands. Despite the jaws digging into Ross’ arms, I could feel Ross still pushing forward with his weapon. I backed away as the jaws began to disappear. “We need to hold him off. I have an idea.” I said as I turned the ignition. The red circuit on my chest flared as Banno switched in. Two Shift Cars drove in, one a tow truck and the other a large, punkish truck called a dekotora. The two expelled a wench and chains respectively as they held down Ross. However, what Banno got in his hands was the Trailer Cannon and Shift Speed. Shift Speed already plugged itself into the top of the cannon. “SPEED CANNON!” “You want me to kill him?” Banno asked as he aimed the gun. “No. We just need to cripple him temporarily. He can take the damage.” I said. Banno looked into the empty compartment where the Shift Cars could be loaded and chuckled. “I like your moxie.” Banno said before he turned the ignition. A red Shift Car drove right into my hands. A person could be forgiven for mistaking the Shift Car to be a limousine for how long it was. In truth, it’s actually a Shift Car modeled after the main rider’s own ride of choice: a custom car called the Tridoron. I pressed a large red button on the side. “FIRE ALL ENGINES!” And I slid the large Shift Car right into the loading compartment. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! FULL SPEED BIG CANNON!” I pulled the trigger as a large, red blast fired from the cannon. As Ross broke away from his confinements, the blast hit him with the force of an oncoming car. It knocked Ross so far away that he was about ten feet up when he hit a wall and fell down right onto the pavement with a sickening thud. For good measure, I turned the ignition to get Shift Technic as Banno loaded it into the Shift Brace. “Amazing.” Banno muttered. “I know.” I saw Ross’ vitals were unaffected by the attack, though the Aura around him had greatly diminished compared to when I last fought him. “No, not that… That.” Banno turned around and pointed to what he saw. Soon, I saw it with my own eyes. It was a large, red custom sports car. While part of the hood was missing, exposing the front tire, I squeed hard as I saw its twin white stripes sweeping down the car. I had just summoned Kamen Rider Drive’s ride: the Tridoron. The trail of a bright rainbow streaked over towards the Canterlot Shopping Center before it stopped, showing the two girls standing outside in the middle of the street. “Where the hell’s Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash took the time to pant. “We searched all town for her!” That’s when the two heard a choir of screaming. “Well, there’s someplace we haven’t looked.” Applejack pointed to where the sound came from: a crowd of people running from two low-class Roidmudes as they fired bullets from their fingertips. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got ready to rush in, only for a sinkhole to form right beneath their feet. “Look out!” Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash before her legs kicked up, knocking them a few feet into the air before landing a few spaces behind the newly made crater. “Woah! Applejack! That was amazing! How did you do that?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “I dunno! I just acted on instinct and suddenly I’m a jumpin’ bug!” She said. The two heard footsteps behind them and they turned, seeing the Scooper Roidemude in front of them as he adjusted his lens and held a photo in his other hand. Applejack backed away as Rainbow Dash took a fighting pose. “I don’t know about you, but I ain’t running away!” Rainbow Dash ran towards the Scooper Roidemude. Just as she was about to throw a fist, she created a large sonic boom. Its ripples were colored just like the rainbow as she was able to run at Mach 1, punching the Scooper Roidmude almost a thousand times before throwing him towards Applejack with the same velocity. Applejack tried to get away, but as soon as her foot dangled over the hole, she stopped. Seeing her opponent fly towards her, Applejack simply side kicked him. Her legs glowed in an orange color as the kick landed square into the lens, shattering them and knocking the Roidmude back. Rainbow Dash ran back towards Applejack before stopping. The two looked to the Roidmude as he struggled to get up. “Trust me on this.” Rainbow Dash muttered. She ran towards the Roidmude, grabbing Applejack as she did so. As she ran, she threw Applejack into the air. In a moment’s notice, Applejack realized what she needed to do and preformed a flying side kick towards the Roidmude. The kick, while not enough to destroy the Roidmude, knocked him flying towards one of the nearby buildings and knocking him out. As Applejack landed, she and Rainbow Dash looked to the two Roidmudes guarding the front of the mall. Applejack took Rainbow Dash’s arm. “…” She simply gave her a glare. “What are you looking at?” Rainbow Dash asked. “This doesn’t make us friends, y’know.” Applejack said before she jumped up, towards one of the upper floors of the mall. As the Scooper Roidmude got up, he tried to get the picture of the mall he took prior and destroy the part they jumped to. Snaaaaaaarl… However, he heard a strange sound coming from the alleyway where he was from. He turned around to see inky blackness. The snarling seemed to get louder. Before he knew it, he saw two red dots that could easily pass for eyes. While he readied himself, he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. ROOOOAAR! A loud scream echoed through the city, though it fell on the deaf ears of his Roidmude brethren standing watch at the mall. The Tridoron roared through the streets as I drove it from point A to point B. Thankfully, the Tridoron came equipped with a GPS. While it spoke in Japanese, for some reason, I was able to understand it as if it was my mother tongue. I never paid much heed to it before. It made me wonder though how Banno was able to speak fluently in English. Then again, given the fact that he was a scientist, I could easily just assume that Banno simply learned English at some point. Made sense considering how much English Krim peppered into his speeches… Heh, pepper, like Chris Peppler, his actor… I suddenly heard the sirens of a police car and I pulled over on the side of the street. The police car pulled over as well. I unfurled my window, only to find that the cop who pulled me over was… “Judge…” I muttered. “Please, a moment of your time.” He asked. “Why? You pretty much shot down all chances of talking nice to me when you had your men fire at me.” I said. Tachibana simply looked at me. “If I had the police shoot only you, they’d be suspicious. If I had them shoot only the Roidmudes, then that’d confirm their suspicions of my betrayal. Though considering what had happened before, they didn’t need that much evidence.” Tachibana said. “... Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask that. You’re a traitor to your kind?” I asked. “No. I’m not. I have not betrayed the Roidmudes.” Judge said. “You murdering that one Roidmude said otherwise.” Banno said. “I haven’t betrayed Heart.” Tachibana said. “… Of course. Now it makes sense.” I muttered. I looked to him. “006 told me what happened.” I said. “When the Roidmudes came back, our memories were intact. Heart…” Judge chuckled a bit. “had a change of heart. He recalled his time with the human known as Tomari Shinnosuke and realizing the war with humanity was in vain and will always be in vain, he proposed to instead focus efforts to befriend the human race.” He said. “I assume not all the Roidmudes bought it.” I said. “Only a quarter of our kind agreed with him. The others… They turned on him. It… It was hurtful to see many of our kind dying to that civil war. Heart fell along with his army. I was one of the few on his side who survived… But only because I chose to feign betrayal. I know the feeling of vengeance all too well. I figured if I bided my time… I could have wiped out those traitors. Those who fight for the Roidmudes, yet murder their own kind. From there, I’d create a new Roidmude world in honor of Heart. One where humans and Roidmudes can coexist.” Tachibana said. Just as Banno originally intended… I stayed silent for a moment as Tachibana continued to speak. “But it seems that’s all in vain. I ask you now, as an ally, to help me save Fluttershy.” Tachibana said. “Wait, how do you know Fluttershy?” I asked him. “… After the battle, I was critically injured. I was able to get away with the help of our recreator.” Tachibana said. “Recreator?” I asked. “The genius who brought the Roidmudes and I back. Hence, Recreator.” Banno said. “Thank you… He managed to get me away on an assignment to scout out a world he had selected. … That world is this very place we are standing on right now. This world would serve as a project of his. I don’t know what it was, but given how he gave a huge talk of recreation, I would assume he will use the Roidmudes to destroy this world and recreate it anew.” Tachibana looked away. “Focus! Fluttershy! What does she have to do with this!?” I asked. “As I said, I was injured, and I fell unconscious. When I came too, I was recovering in an animal shelter. A kind girl took me in…” Tachibana said. “Fluttershy…” I muttered. “Exactly. I visit her from time to time. Eventually I came across the Canterlot Police Department. When I arrived, they just had their chief of police retire. I was able to go in and use my template’s identity to convince the others to have me replace them. Surprisingly, it was easy. I was in a good place to know when Roidmudes would randomly attack people and secretly capture them and reprogram them through this.” Tachibana showed me an iPad. “So you were able to reset Roidmudes without my help?” Banno asked. “No. What I do is insert a command into the Roidmude: Protect Humanity. Unfortunately, I was only able to convert a few or so before all this happened.” Tachibana said. I looked ahead of the road and thought back to what I said when I was with Wind Rider. “They’re killer, time-stopping robots who disguise themselves as humans and plan secret revolutions and genocides… but there are Roidmudes who don’t want to kill every human. You just have to find them. They’re… diamonds in the rough.” That’s when I looked at Tachibana. “Aright. Let’s go… partner.” I said. He nodded and got into his car. We drove off, side by side, towards Canterlot Shopping Centre. As Rainbow Dash and Applejack crash through the sheet of glass, they landed and saw Fluttershy tied to a large pillar of metal in the middle of the mall, just on a floor above them as Volt was by a computer attached to the pillar. Large screws were embedded into the sides of the pillar as an antenna pointed upwards, towards the glass ceiling of the mall. “Fluttershy! Hang on!” Rainbow Dash ran to her. “Wait! It could be a-” Before Applejack could warn her, there was a flash of light as time slowed down. A blur passed Applejack as she was knocked back in slow motion. Rainbow Dash turned around to see the Nerve Roidmude approach her. He chuckled. “So, you can move during Slowdown? Perhaps you can provide a good challenge before Banno and his slave get here.” He got into a karate stance as Rainbow Dash ran to him, throwing him a few punches. Nerve simply slapped the first few away, but was unable to get the third in time. He stumbled back. “No… You’re even faster… At last, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!” He simply flexed the upper portion on his hand towards himself. Rainbow Dash leaped and gave Nerve a few kicks. Nerve was able to block them in time. As Rainbow Dash landed, she leaped in the air and did a spin kick. Nerve ducked down as she landed. Rainbow Dash hopped a little before giving Nerve a roundhouse kick. However Nerve sidestepped from that, jumped and did a tornado kick. However, Rainbow Dash blocked it with her arm. Nerve stayed in mid-air as the two flung punches at each other. While Rainbow Dash only had one arm active for the punches, she managed to land more hits than Nerve could. Eventually, Rainbow Dash punched Nerve square in the chest. There was a small, rainbow colored shockwave that exploded from her fist and expanded outwards. Nerve was knocked down as Rainbow Dash chuckled. “That’s what you get, you son of a-” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s arms went limp. “H-huh!?” Rainbow Dash muttered. Nerve chuckled and got up. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nerve. And as that name implies, the nerves in your arms have been rendered useless.” He said. He turned around as Rainbow Dash ran to him, leaped in the air, and did a side kick. Nerve smirked and ducked underneath, only to uppercut her in the spine. CRACK! The fist also created a small shockwave, though this time, it was golden colored. Rainbow Dash’s body also had a similar shockwave emitted across her body in the form of cyan colored ripples all across her body. Rainbow Dash screamed out in pain as she flew in the air a few feet, then fell onto the ground where her impact cracked the floor tiles. “Your spine’s like bubble wrap. One well-placed blow and now I made you a cripple.” Nerve laughed. Time resumed to normal as Rainbow Dash screamed out in pain. “But, I grow tired of you now… It was fun.” He walked to her and flexed his fingers until he straightened his hand out to land a final blow. BLAM! However, before he can land it, his face was kicked in. He fell down almost instantly as Applejack stood, her leg high in the air before putting it down. Nerve got up and noticed something. Red glass on the ground in the shape of his ‘sunglasses’. He felt his face, and sure enough, Applejack had just kicked one of his eyes off. “YOU BITCH!” He roared as he stomped forward and punched her in the chest. Applejack, however, took the blow and kicked him again. Nerve staggered. “H-how are you not affected?!” He asked. He turned to see Rainbow Dash get up, though she could barely stand on two legs without falling slightly. “And you! That blow should have paralyzed you for life!” “Call it our determination!” Rainbow Dash said. She and Applejack charged in as Nerve slowed down the flow of time again, if only to get out of the way. Rainbow Dash got out of Applejack’s way, but was unable to keep up with Nerve due to the injury she was given. As Nerve got upstairs to where Fluttershy was, he saw Volt overlooking a large silver computer. “How much longer until it’s active?” Nerve asked. “Not long. Now we just need to use the human for the conductor and we’ll be able to create the portal.” Volt said. “Hmph…” Nerve pressed his hand onto the pillar. Soon, some of the electrical currents began to transfer into his hand. “What are you doing!?” Volt asked. “I’d rather use this power for my own benefit…” He said. Volt pointed his appendage towards Nerve. “No. You had your fun. Now that you got your Super Evolution, it’s time for you to stop acting as the leader and let the Roidmude King take over now!” Volt said. “He’ll be the next to be overthrown.” Nerve chuckled as he let go of the pillar, then slowly walked over to Volt. Before Volt could even attack, Nerve grabbed him and tossed him over to the pillar. It shocked Volt so hard that his body overloaded and exploded. His core floating upwards as Nerve grabbed the pillar to amass the energy created from the shock. He laughed before turning around and firing a lightning bolt at the core, destroying it. As he pressed a few keys on the computer, he turned to Rainbow Dash and readied for round two as the machine hummed to life. We drove down the streets as the street lights began to flicker on and off. Damn, they already started. I put my pedal to the metal and sped up while Tachibana did the same. That’s when we noticed the sinkhole. “Tachibana! Hop on!” I shouted to him. Tachibana nodded. He opened the door of his car and leaped out onto the Tridoron. Pulling onto the lever, I closed my eyes and prayed. As soon as I heard metallic clunking, I opened my eyes and noticed two giant go-karts attached to the side of the Tridoron, one red and the other blue. Tachibana was on the blue kart. “Oh thank God.” I muttered. These two were part of the Tridoron. The Ride Booster Set. They were basically add-ons to the Tridoron to make it a four-man ride. Two in the Tridoron, and one in each go-kart. It was also able to fly, which is what I intended for them to do. Hover blades built into them began to whir as the Tridoron lifted itself off and flew towards the shattered window. I could feel the slowdown particles weighing me down. Something wasn’t right. As I got in I saw- No! I saw Applejack in mid-flight, being knocked back to a window next to it, though thankfully, with the slowdown and heavy pressure, Applejack could bounce off the window and not get hurt. But I soon saw Rainbow Dash trying to fight Nerve, only for her to get jabbed in the neck and fall to the ground. He looked up to me and Tachibana. “I’ve been waiting for you, Banno!” Nerve said. I froze as I saw the golden coloring on him. He’s already achieved it… Super Evolution. “I took the pleasure of beating up your students… And in the process of executing another one.” He pointed to Fluttershy as she was slowly electrocuted by the pillar. Her screams sent chills to not just my spine, but I presume Tachibana’s. I immediately fired upon Nerve. Yeah, the go-karts can also fire. However, Nerve simply blocked the shots with his bare hands as I saw electricity bounce from his palm and break apart the blasts. “Foolish…” He chuckled. Tachibana could only look at Fluttershy for so much before he jumped off the Ride Booster and ran off. However, Tachibana was punched in the gut. I had enough to. “Henshin!” I shouted as I leaped down and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno began a fist fight with Nerve. While he managed to get a few blows in, Nerve didn’t manage to make my body seize up like he did before. Banno continued to punch Nerve… Though then Nerve charged up his punch with a lot of electrical energy. Much like the battle with Judge and the battle with Volt, Banno began to freeze up as I saw the HUD in my helmet screw up. Not being able to move, the armor disappeared as I soon felt the seizure-inducing punches of Nerve. Nerve turned around, only to see that Tachibana was at the pillar already. “Fluttershy! Hang on!” Tachibana said as he went to work on the computer. “Don’t you dare!” Nerve ran to attack Tachibana. Tachibana transformed into his Roidmude form and fired his taser at Nerve. Nerve merely used the tasers as a rope to pull in Tachibana and punch him in the face. He was knocked down as I ran to pull Nerve away, though my legs soon cramped. “GO!” I shouted. Tachibana ran off, though before he could even reach the computers, Nerve fired a lightning bolt at the computer, destroying it in the process. Tachibana shielded his eyes from the sparks that emitted from the computer. When he looked, he slammed his hand on the now inactive computer. He turned to see the electricity coursing through Fluttershy glow hot white. There wasn’t much time now. He ran over and stabbed the pillar with his kendo stick, right to where Fluttershy was chained. He then pulled Fluttershy out. Before he could get out, the pillar exploded with electricity and knocked him back, turning him back to his human form. Nerve shielded his eyes from the explosion, though it was enough to knock him back, cancelling his slow down. Fluttershy slowly got up and saw Tachibana on the ground. “Tachibana!” She shouted as she ran over to him. I knew she was simply a sitting duck, so I began to attack Nerve, forcing him to focus his fighting on me. “Fluttershy…” Tachibana said. “You’re okay…” “Of course I am…” She said. “Good… I’m glad… Please…” He tried to lift his hand to touch Fluttershy’s cheek. “Don’t let this day cloud your mind… Your heart may want revenge, but… Vengeance…” He chuckled. “Vengeance doesn’t fit you…” He said. “Tachibana… You’re going to be okay, right?” She asked him. Tachibana seemed to ignore her, however. “… Heart… Was this what you felt when you befriended the Kamen Rider? If so… It feels… nice…” His voice reduced to a mere whisper before his body gave out. His entire body turned into a rusty color before crumbling into dust, his core doing the same just after. “Tachibana? T-tachibana?” Fluttershy began to tear up. I was able to hold off Nerve enough for that to happen, however, after I was knocked back by another punch, Nerve turned to Fluttershy. He took out his radio. “071, 093, get up here!” Nerve said. All he could hear is snarling and metal being torn apart. “Hello? Anyone there?” He said before he heard a loud roar and soon feedback. “Gah! Fine! I’ll kill you all myself! The pillar’s charged up enough to give me the power I need… I will love to read the headlines for this… Tragedy strikes Canterlot as freak electrical accident kills thousands!” Nerve laughed. I gripped my fists.Enough was enough. “This won't be a tragedy.” I spoke up. “This won't be an accident. This will be what happens when you become so full of yourself that you claim yourself to be a god, when you are, in fact, nothing more than a robot.” Nerve turned around. “What did you say?!” Nerve asked. I smirked. “You monsters wield more power than most armies, and you're audacious enough to have more. You monsters cling to this power in the name of revolution, to ensure that we become your eternal slaves, and yet, what did we just see? One of your kind sacrificing himself to save the life of one of our kind. Roidmudes are supposed to be the salvation of humanity, yet I have witnessed none of that from you.” I suddenly remembered another memory of mine… Though I was quick to deduce that it wasn’t mine as I remembered walking with a boy across an underground hallway overfilled with vines. No doubt I was remembering Ryoma’s chat with Kouta, A.K.A. Kamen Rider Gaim. In particular, I remembered one line from this chat, from Ryoma himself: “If you could find the will to be ruthless, then you'd be freed from all your stress in an instant.” Ruthless. My breathing stilled to a point where it could even be considered creepy. I could only help but stare coldly at Nerve. Even Banno seemed to notice as he chuckled. “And thus… I shall become your Grim Reaper. Let’s go, Banno.” “There’s some fire in your eyes! Alright, start my engine!” I turned the ignition and shouted out: “HENSHIN” Instantly, I transformed into Gold Drive. Banno began to throw punches at Nerve again. However, as Nerve gave me an electrical punch, Banno switched to me while I grabbed a Shift Car. Oddly enough, it was a formula-one car with a gas nozzle on it. Knowing what it was, I plugged it into the Shift Brace. Two small, orange, wrist-sized tires with silver circles on them flew towards me and clicked onto my wrists. As Nerve moved to attack me, I punched with both fists, the wheels spinning around and creating a flame around the wrists as they connected. However, I began to feel my muscles seize up again, so I turned the ignition again. Banno took over as he swapped out the Shift Cars. Keeping with the theme, I gave him a green formula-one Shift Car. One of the orange tires flew off and in its place was a green one with a silver metal plate on it. Nerve fired a shot of electricity as Banno blocked it with the tire. The square then lifted itself like a floor lift and pushed Nerve off. Banno’s arm began to freeze up from the electricity coursing through the arm, so with his other arm, he switched. I took over as I got a yellow F1 Shift Car this time around. Plugging it in, the other orange tire was replaced with a yellow one, this time having two long metal prongs. As Nerve tried to punch, I put his arm in between the prongs and the wheel twisted itself. With one spin, it tore Nerve’s arm off. He backed away and screamed out. He created a new arm that was made of pure electricity and punched me. I backed away as both my HUD and my body began to freeze. My hand was on the ignition and I ended up turning it multiple times. “Kelly! This might be dangerous!” Banno said. My visor flashed from red to white, red to white, red to white, until it finally settled on a color. A series of rings bordering out from the center like a bullseye, alternating between red and black. Normally, this visor would be what happened when Krim took over for Shinnosuke in their Type Tridoron form. However, this was different. A flurry of Shift Cars drove out and began attacking Nerve. I saw fire, spikes, shurikens, bars, and coins all fire out towards Nerve. I ran in… Or rather, Banno ran in. I was confused as to who was fighting, as both of us could feel our movement. Banno would throw a punch, I would throw a kick, he would jump, and I would dodge. It was as if we shared the same body, though trying to control it proved to be difficult. Nerve couldn’t predict our movement, so that was a plus. However, after a few moments of fighting, Banno and I were able to control my body. I controlled one half and Banno controlled the other. We stood as I used my hand to point to Nerve. “Now, count up your crimes!” We said as Banno pressed on the red button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER! MANTARN... JACKY... SPARNER! FULL... THROTTLE!” The orange, green, and yellow tires all flew to me, attaching themselves to the wrists and ankles. I punched the ground as it created a vortex of fire and heat, surrounding the Roidmude. We jumped up and used the floor lift to push ourselves across from one wall of fire to the other side, all while using the wrench on our foot to act as a blade and slashing the Nerve Roidmude. We bounced across the walls several times, all while slashing away at the Roidmude. With the twenty fifth slash, Nerve stumbled back. “You… You will die!” He held up his hands and created a large electrical sphere. On that time, the floor lift pressed against the floor and lifted us up into the air. The tires rearranged themselves so that all four of them fitted onto my right leg. I extended the leg out as we dove down onto Nerve. The wheels spun around and created a large, golden aura of the tires around the leg, complete with a huge burst of fire that destroyed the electricity. Eventually, it turned into a giant golden drill that impaled itself into Nerve’s chest and broke through his body. As we landed, Nerve simply stumbled over to the pillar despite having a large hole in his chest. “No… I’m… I’m supposed to be powerful! Watch… Watch as I amass a great power! More powerful than Super Evolu-” Just then, a tentacle came out from Banno’s belt and stabbed the Roidmude right through, grasping onto his core. “Shut up.” We both said as the coreless body dropped onto the pillar and exploded into a column of fire that busted through the ceiling. We created a golden shield to block any heat from roasting the girls, though letting go of the core in the process. Though, considering how much damage it took, we were pretty sure that Nerve would die soon. I looked over to the girls as the Driver gave out and cancelled the transformation. My entire body felt numb and tired. I fell onto the floor, with the last thing I heard being sirens. 006 floated out of the mall as the flame erupted from its roof. The core sparked a bit and seemed like it would blow up, however, it soon came into a field of white sparkling lights. The core looked and saw that it was coming from a hand. A hand of someone he recognized all too much. Before he could react, the person took out what looked to be a bulky iPhone and the core was sucked into the screen. The person looked at the screen as the numbers 006 lit up in a display of a grid arranged to be like a phone, though with only four of the numbers lit. “You did good, 006, but now your time’s up.” The person looked as the pillar faded away. “… Gold Drive. This world will become your grave.” He walked away from the rooftop he was on soon afterwards. Beep… Beep… Beep… My eyes opened up as I saw a familiar face in front of me. “So, how was your adventure, m’dear?” I tried to get up and have my hands wring Niko’s neck, but I couldn’t even budge my body. “Quite an experience, don’t you think?” He asked. “You…” I growled. “You had something to do with the Roidmudes coming back, didn’t you?” I asked him. He shook his head. “No. The Roidmudes were here before I sent you or Ross there.” He said. “H-huh?” I asked. Niko smirked and walked towards the window. I could see that he wasn’t wearing his business suit or his fedora. Rather, he wore a brown leather jacket with a black waistcoat and a white shirt underneath and black pants. On his head was his fedora, but instead of it being white, it was now black with a white felt ring around it. Leather straps wrapped around his legs, while the bulge on the sleeves of the jacket imply that there were straps on his arms as well. What I noticed was on his jacket, there was a shield stitched onto the sleeve, and on that shield was a side view of the head of a unicorn. “You think it was by chance that you ended up in the same place as the Roidmudes or that I had a hand in it? No. I was assigned to take care of this world by a higher power. This higher power insisted I give the belts to people who were willing to put them on. Guess what category you fell in.” He smirked and looked at me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “See, you, Ross, and I all fall in that category. The category of people who are willing to abandon their old lives, even their old identities, in order to be a part of something bigger. To make a change. To be a hero. To be Displaced. You took the bait I had set and ate it gloriously. And I couldn’t have been prouder of the decision I have made. You murdered more Roidmudes than I can count. It was good that I gave you your little buddy over there. Pretty sure if you went with that dopey fruit cutting belt thing, you’d be dead on your first week.” Wait, he falls in the category? Guess that explains his weird cowboy unicorn brigade geddup. “I can’t wait to see how you and Ross will protect this world from the Roidmudes to come. Until then, I’ll take my leave.” He said. I raised my hand. “Wait! That… That higher power… Who is he?” I asked. “She… And truth be told, I don’t even know. Creepy bitch. I told her about you and she just went to see what you were up to. Chances are you met her before.” He smirked as he left the room. I met her before? Who? My mind began to spin itself into circles trying to figure out the answer. That’s when Soarin went into the room. “Silverbolt! Thank God you’re alright!” Soarin said. “What happened?” I asked. “Part of the centre blew up and we found you and some girls injured. Don’t worry. They’re surprisingly stable. It’s a miracle to say the least. However, at least two of them are injured to an extent where they won’t be walking any time soon… And…” Soarin hesitated to finish his sentence. “Tachibana died.” I said. Soarin nodded. “Or at least, that’s what one of the girls said. We didn’t find his body, however.” He said. I looked away and frowned. “B-but good news! I’m now the chief of police! Isn’t that cool!?” Soarin said. I sighed. “How many people died yesterday?” I asked. “Huh?” Soarin asked. “How many people died in the attack at the school?” I asked. “… Roughly eighteen students.” He pulled up a chair and sat down next to me. “I know how hard it must be. To feel like you could have saved more people. It’s… It’s the reason I became a cop.” He took a few moments to muster himself. “I know you might be busy with your teaching, but if you have some spare time, maybe you can use that Golden Drive identity to help us with some cases. … I’ll let you think about it.” He said. Just as he was about to walk off, I spoke up. “Sign me up. I’m going to help you and everyone else. For that’s what a Kamen Rider is.” I said. “… What’s a Kamen Rider?” Soarin’ asked. “I mean Golden Drive… heh.” I chuckled. I forgot that Kamen Rider is a seldom used term in this place. “Glad to hear it. I have your number if I need anything, alright?” He asked. I nodded. He smiled and left. After a moment of silence, I spoke up. “So, what happened?” I asked Banno. “With that whole fused body thing.” “It’s been too long since I read over Krim’s works, but it appears to be a secret feature in Type Tridoron. Much like how a Roidmude needs to tap into a certain emotion to evolve, Drive must tap into an emotion to change forms.” I nodded and knew exactly what he spoke about. “In our case, you had to tap into my emotions. You had to feel and sync with my cruelty in order to activate that power. That’s the only way we can activate Type Overdrive.” I sat and pondered, remembering all the moments Banno’s cruelty shined. “Starting today, there will be a return! The return of Tenjuro Banno! Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might!” “So, how shall we demonstrate the difference between alternating currents and direct currents? I was considering purchasing a cattle prod and teaching the students first hand.” “I’m afraid to say that they, along with you, are my toys to do what I want.” “GWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiot! It’s your funeral!” But perhaps the most scary thing I remembered was when we fought Judge and we had to free Rainbow Dash… And our solution was to hit her bracelet even though there was a good chance we’d chop off her arm. “Great minds think alike! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I muttered out: “I’ll never be like you.” I said. “No. You will be like me. When we bonded, I could feel your emotions. That potential for cruelty… Your ruthlessness. There was only one other person in my life who had that same drive. A scientist by the name of Ryoma Sengoku.” My blood chilled. “Of course, you looking like him and creating a LockVehicle were indicators of that as well, but up until that point, I didn’t realize that you could be so much like him…” I couldn’t even say anything. “Eventually, all it would take is one little push to make you exactly like him… And perhaps you can see my ambitions eye to eye.” Banno said. “No… I won’t be like him. I won’t be like you. And I won’t ever have the ambition to take over the world and subject humanity to my rule.” I said as I gripped the sheets on my hospital bed. “Hmph… Just you wait… I’ll find a way out of this cage, take over your small, feeble mind, and make you suffer…” Banno said. A small, feeble mind? It’s true that I’m not the brightest bulb in the world. I only have scant memories of Ryoma’s works to rely on whereas Banno could just use his brilliant light to defeat me… Which is why I’ll focus all of my power to snuff it out. His egotism is not misplaced. When he fights, he is a huge threat that no one can hope to overcome… but sideswipe him with a development that he cannot comprehend, and any semblance of power that he has will simply wash away. Of course, he won’t realize it at first. He’ll cling onto the fleeting hope that he’ll take over this world with an iron fist. But I won’t let him… I’ll work on a Driver that he has never seen before… And when the Roidmudes fall and it comes down to me and Banno, he will know that he’ll be walking into his own demise before I can even transform. This is the beginning of the end, Banno. And I can’t wait to watch you burn. “I apologize, Headmaster…” Celestia hung her head as she stood at the office of the Public School Board. “There’s nothing for you to apologize for.” The headmaster’s voice was dulled and dry. His hand hovered over the handle of a coffee mug. “No one could have prepared for a sudden attack like that.” “No… It’s not just that. Over the past month, my students have been hurt by these monsters, even killed. I should take full responsibility for not being able to stop it.” She said. “If that is what you wish, then you may bare that mistake on your shoulders for the rest of your life. However, that shall be your punishment.” He took out an iPad and looked over the two fights between Kelly and the Roidmudes at the school. “Instead of seeking to punish yourself, instead seek to find a way to stop this from happening. If I may make such a suggestion.” He began to play another video and turned the iPad towards Celestia for her to see. “I suggest you enroll this kid into your school.” He said as Celestia saw the footage of Ross fighting the Roidmudes at the shop on the night he first entered this world. “Huh? Why?” Celestia stared wide-eyed as she saw the boy fighting the robotic monsters. “… Let’s just say I…” He took his time to lift the coffee mug and sipped from it. “I have a hunch.” Rain stormed down hard as Ross sat underneath a bridge. He trembled and held to his stomach. His Aura was able to block the full force of the Tridoron, but it took all of it just to soften the blow. What would have been a fatal hit was now a punch to the gut. A really painful punch to the gut. He groaned and tried to keep the pain from overwhelming him, he felt like he could succumb to the pain and scream out any moment. “Is someone there?” Ross heard the voice of a girl and he turned to see who it was. He was stunned to see a beautiful girl holding an umbrella while standing underneath a street light, as if a light from heaven was shining down and presenting him an angel. He eyed the girl in the white dress. Her skin was a soft orange and her hair a mixture of red and yellow. Overall, her body looked like... That of a setting sun. GOLDEN DRIVE ARC: END Interlude 1Author's Note This is the first Displaced Crossover I had. In this case, it is with blazikenking, with their character Kamen Rider Buki. I thank blazikenking, as they wrote two of the scenes in this chapter, and for that, I give them kudos. Also, this is the first interlude chapter. It's meant to bridge between two arcs, as well as hint towards things that will happen in the next arc. Sort of like a preview. With that, enjoy. Interlude 1 I want to be strong. “Reports say that there’s some wild animal out in the downtown area.” Soarin’ said as we drove down the streets near the Canterlot Shopping Centre in the middle of the night. There had been heavy construction going on to fill in the sinkhole and the mall. I sighed and looked out for anything out of the ordinary. That’s when I saw something. A severed arm. “Stop!” I said to Soarin’. He stopped the car and we got out. I looked at the severed arm closely. It was… metallic. Silver. Robotic. “A Roidmude?” Banno asked. We heard trash cans being tossed down as Soarin’ got his gun out. “Freeze!” Soarin’ shouted. A man walked out… Or rather, he limped out. He straggled out like a zombie, his clothes ripped, and one of his eyes was glowing a dark red. I noticed his arm was replaced by a large, black arm with claws on the end. “I don’t think he’s intent on freezing.” I heard the man snarl out. As he looked at us, he roared and his body exploded in a cloud of dark smoke. When the smoke cleared, I could see that it was a Roidmude… However, his head was replaced with that of a wolf’s, white bone-like spikes jutted out of arms and legs, while the wolf’s face was hidden by a mask with thin red lines going in a pattern and bright orange eyes. I could see the number plate on the Roidmude: 093. “Get down!” I shouted before the Roidmude shot out slowdown particles. Both me and Soarin’ managed to get down okay. “So this is Slowdown, huh?” Soarin’ said. I nodded. “Yeah. Keep that Shift Car close to you, got it?” I looked to Soarin’s belt as it on the side, there was a metal case which had three slots for a Shift Car to go in, one of them being filled by the police Shift Car, Justice Hunter. “Got it! I’ll cover you!” Soarin’ got out his gun and fired at the Roidmude. He blocked the fire as I ran in. My hand hovered over the ignition. I thought back to the conversation I had with Banno. No. Not gonna risk letting Banno lose just for one feral Roidmude. I punched the monster in the face, then somersaulted for a kick. “Alright! Go, Monster!” I shouted as I took out a Shift Car from my own case and threw it at the Roidmude. Massive Monster jumped up and crashed down onto the Roidmude, creating aural fangs that crunched the Roidmude. However, the Roidmude slashed them away, along with the Shift Car. The bullets that Soarin’ fired seemed to work on him, however. The Roidmude groaned and I could see some sort of dark smoke excrete from what were obviously wounds. However, we didn’t seem to hurt him enough. The Roidmude clawed at me and knocked me down. I got up, though the pain from the slash was too much. “Again with this ‘I don’t wanna fight’ nonsense? You’re gonna die pretty quickly.” Banno said. I struggled to get up. The Roidmude was about to attack me when I suddenly heard something that shouldn’t have been possible. “TURN! DRIFT KAITEN!” The announcement was followed by a familiar sounding series of slashes against the Roidmude’s back, causing a small shower of black sparks. The Roidmude fell forward from the surprise attack, revealing a black figure with a hooded jacket. Her jacket was red, short sleeved, and appeared to be armored. The armor design was one Banno and I easily recognized, even if it was only on the jacket. The tire design on the left shoulder and the face on the helmet just drove the image home. The only immediate strange thing was the thin, curved horn on the face. Under the jacket was a black form with a white skeleton design on it. The skeleton pattern was made of various types of weapons, from the shotgun profiles on the thighs to the spears on the forearms. On the chest was a faded green crosshair design. On her waist was a big gold thing that looked like a Driver, but not one I’d seen. I remember bits about the Kamen Rider after Drive, and this looked like it had elements of that Rider’s belt, namely the handle on its owner’s right side and the eye shaped object in it. There was a protrusion on the left side that looked like a scythe blade. The middle had some familiar looking parts I couldn’t quite place though. The Roidmude growled as it got back up, turning around to face its assailant, along with the Break Gunner, Lupin Gunner, Blade Gunner, Zenrin Shooter, and Door Gun. All five firearms were just floating in front of the new Rider, who seemed unaffected by the slowdown. “What will you do, monster?” the new Rider spoke. “Will you fight me and my friends, or will you run and hide?” I could tell, even as far away as I was, that her voice had a tone of horror to it. Horror that wasn’t born of fear, anger, or hatred, but something else. And much to both my surprise and Soarin’s, 093 ran away, a tail it now had between its legs. The slowdown also came to an end. I couldn’t let the strange Roidmude get away, but I didn’t want to henshin in order to chase it myself, so I sent Dimension Cab after it. I made my way up to the strange character with the Drive hoodie. “Who are you?” She said nothing, but rather backed up, along with almost every weapon from Kamen Rider Drive, allowing a motorcycle to come out of the ground. She got on the motorcycle before answering. “Kamen Rider Buki.” Without a sound, she sped off, the bike floating with no apparent means of flight. She was soon over the speed limit and going through red lights, literally. She looked like she was just passing right through the traffic lights. “What do you think that was about, Banno?” I asked my belt. I didn’t get an immediate answer and looked down at him. “Banno?” The display was covered in gold static and digital malfunction sounds were coming from him. “Oh thank God…” I muttered before Banno activated again. “My apologies, I was just fuming over that Rider having those weapons and technology… Just who is she!?” He asked. “An ally.” Soarin’ said. “She helped fight that monster, right I mean, yeah, she totally just broke the traffic law, but really? She’s a valuable ally right now.” He asked. I nodded. “Alright, let’s follow the Roidmude.” I said. I looked at the Tridoron. Seemed to be the right size to run over the monster if I encountered him again. I ran back to the Tridoron and drove off, Soarin’ following me. I want to be feared. In the halls of a burned down mansion, a dozen of Roidmudes stood around. Some sat in chairs while others were chatting among themselves. “Finally!” A Bat-Type Roidmude with the numbering of 106 said. “Aaargh, what are you so happy about?” A red Roidmude with light blue swirls covered all around him replied. “006 finally kicked the bucket!” 106 said. The Advanced Roidmude chuckled. “Wow, good news indeed.” He said. “It’s even better, Tornado! 007’s going to lead the next Roidmude legion! The Fusion Roidmudes! I’m going to be a part of it!” The low-class Roidmude cheered. “Unfortunately…” The two Roidmudes turned to see a young adult. Despite his youthful age, his appearance looked rather sickly and skinny. His long black hair was so parted, it felt like he hadn’t cleaned it in over a year. It didn’t quite help that the clothing he had was quite literally a hospital gown. “This body I’ve synchronized with is going to take a while to… adjust.” He said. “S-synchronized? What happened to Fusion?” 106 asked. “If I were to find a human host for a Fusion, I might end up with a completely different form. If I am to have a chance against Banno and his puppet, I have to retain my original form. The Roidmude King said that this body would help fine tune that form’s power…” He said. “The Roidmude King’s lying! That body is so weak! Why did you even pick a sick person from a hospital?” 106 asked. “Hey!” A woman’s voice barked, grabbing the Roidmudes’ attention. She was completely hidden in shadows. “Don’t you dare insult our lord like that.” She said. “What’s she doing here?” Tornado asked. “That’s what I’m here to tell you, Tornado.” 007 said. “Since I’m not going, you’re gonna lead the new wave of Roidmudes in my place.” As he said that, several Roidmudes marched out behind 007. They were outfitted with a brown cape that looked similarly to a cockroach’s shell. A few have a large red claw while the others had scythes. “The Reaper Legion? So… that means…” Tornado muttered. “Exactly. 006’s Grim Reaper turned traitor. Ergo, The Roidmude King saw fit to send her to take his place.” He said. “She can send them to their deaths. I’m not gonna carry that burden.” Tornado turned around. “You hear that, mam? You’re the leader now.” He said. “106, you may follow Tornado if you wish.” 007 said. “If you’re that eager to fight, then go ahead.” He said. “Yes! Thank you!” 106 said. 007 walked away as 106 held up a dark red Shift Car that was shaped like a bat. “So even 007 realized how dumb Fusion is.” Tornado said. “What are talking about?” 106 asked. “It’s a counterproductive means to evolve. Ever wonder why so few Roidmudes ever considered using it? It’s hard to find a human with a dark enough heart to fuse with. Especially in the world we’re invading. And then you end up wasting your Viral Core if you get split up. Now, an Advanced Roidmude form is the way to go… All you have to do is fulfill whatever human emotion fills you up and BOOM! Golden body all around.” Tornado said. “Well you know what?! I’ll find a human with a heart dark enough to enable my evolution and I’ll show you that Fusion is superior to Advanced!” 106 said as he stormed off. “Hmph, challenge accepted.” Tornado said. As he was about to leave, the woman spoke up again. “Tornado, if we end up crossing paths again,” she began to growl as Tornado could hear something sizzle. “I prefer that you call me sir.” I want to be powerful. We followed the monster over to the construction site of the mall, right where the cement had been put into the sinkhole. As the monster turned to me, I revved up the Tridoron and tried to run down the Roidmude, only for him to slash at the hood, causing it to flip over and crash on its top. I struggled to get out as the monster slowly came to me, not even minding the bullet shots that attacked him. There were actually a lot of bullets. Way more than all the guns in Drive could fire together. As I wormed my way out of the Tridoron, I saw Buki, though now she was wearing a jacket and had a face like DekaRed. In her hand was D-Sword Vega, and floating around her was every single gun from the Dekarangers’ arsenal, all pointed at the Roidmude, which thankfully was not paying attention to me. Again. Once again, I heard Banno fuming. After he managed to calm down a bit, he spoke up. "Where is she getting these weapons from? And how is she making them float like that?" “I have no idea, Banno” I said. “But I’m starting to get the odd feeling it’s not science.” The guns hovered off after the odd Roidmude and Buki stopped by me. “Are you just going to lay there on the floor, or are you going to help me and my friends?” She never looked in my direction, but it was clear she was talking to me. “What?” “Does it feel good to mope there when you have the means to fight? Or are you simply afraid to lose yourself?” I couldn’t bring myself to answer her. “I’m sure you’ll find your fight soon enough.” She pointed D-Sword Vega at the Roidmude and jumped. It looked like the sword was pulling her through the air towards the Roidmude. As Buki fought the Roidmude, I let my thoughts work. Every time I had used the henshin before, I had run the risks I was now aware of. Even after discovering Gold Conversion and switching control of my body with Banno, I kept fighting. In a moment of peace, I realized it was my ruthless fight with Nerve that was, well, getting on my nerves. I had to fight. I also had to control my ruthlessness. I could fight without stress with the ruthlessness at my side, and as long as I kept it there only in the fights. My breakthrough came just in time, as I saw Buki flying backwards across my field of vision before she crashed into a generator. Her weapons followed soon after. Before I knew what I was doing, I was up on my feet and my hand was on the ignition. “Henshin!” I turned the ignition and became Gold Drive. I used Gold Conversion once to summon the Signal Axe and again to summon the Break Gunner. Banno was in control and he charged in, knuckle gun firing at the Roidmude. Black sparks came from the savage machine from each shot, and more came from an upward axe slash. Banno kept at it for a full minute before I got slashed and knocked back, stopping next to Buki. “You don’t hunt werewolves with those weapons,” she said. “a rifle is much better.” “I don’t have a rifle.” Banno said. “Yes you do.” Buki took the weapons out of my hands, and before Banno could get them back, she had plugged the Brake Gunner’s barrel into the base of the Signal Axe’s handle, aimed, and fired a shot at the Roidmude. The shot was powerful and knocked the Roidmude on its back, where it spasmed a bit. Banno grabbed the rifle with my hands and hit the Advanced Ignition, relinquishing control to me. I was about to charge in with my axe rifle (I think I understand why Ross likes his scythe so much now) when I heard something from Buki. I looked over as she opened her Driver like the DecaDriver and pulled out the eye-like thing in it, causing her DekaRed jacket and face to disappear, along with all the weapons she had. Her Driver gave off an eerie sound after the eye was removed. I saw that the weapon skeleton pattern in its entirety was made of weapons, and under where the DekaRed and Drive faces originally were was a silver mesh that looked like a fencer’s mask, slightly recessed into the helmet. She pulled out another mechanical eye thing, colored red, blue, yellow, green, black, gold, and silver, pressed a button on the side, flipping the purple iris inside it to a purple iris with a white Go-Onger logo over it. She set it into the Driver and closed the sides, causing it to chant “target in sight” in a tone that put me on edge. A silver ghost-like jacket flew out of the belt and hovered behind Buki before she pulled out the handle on her right and pushed it back in. As the belt announced “Go-Onger!”, I could hear a revving engine sound effect and the sound of a firey explosion. The silver jacket set itself on Buki, and a face flipped up, along with a scythe blade-like horn. The face was that of Go-On Silver’s helmet. "You changed jackets?" Banno asked. "Is that all you can do?" “No.” Buki said before pressing down on the lever on the left side of her Driver, causing numerous balls of light to come out of the Driver, all of which turned into the Go-Onger’s weapons. “Super Highway Buster, please.” At her polite order, five unique weapons flew together, forming the team cannon she asked for. “Everyone else, please go support our Roidmude friend. We need him standing up.” The weapons that weren’t part of the Super Highway Buster went out to the Roidmude and picked it up. It was clearly dazed, but was quickly recovering. “Do you have a plan?” I asked Buki. Clearly, she had stuff going on in her head. “Use these.” Buki held up Rumble Dump and Signal Magarl with one hand. "How did you get those?" Banno asked. “I found them.” Buki tossed the little vehicles up into the air, and they started driving along their little roads, slotting themselves into the rifle. Rumble Dump went to the Break Gunner and Magarl went to the Signal Axe. I pressed the button on the axe’s handle. "Wait for it!" Oh yeah, this one had a delay to it. I looked at the Roidmude, back on its feet and ready to attack once again. I looked over at Buki and I saw her pull out and push in the violet handle, causing the Driver to announce "Go-Onger, Omega Drive!", which was followed by her being pulled forward by the Super Highway Buster, and the uncombined weapons made her let go of the giant blaster, then made her move until she was standing on the Road Saber. The Super Highway Buster also aimed itself away from the Roidmude. "Go for it!" I turned my attention back to the Roidmude and pulled the Break Gunner’s trigger. A yellow drill formed at the end of the rifle’s barrel, quickly growing to two feet wide before launching. A moment later, the Super Highway Buster fired on its own, the shot launching Buki by her foot, sending her into a Rider Kick. Her foot flew into the back of the drill, sending it off course and underground, pulling her with it. The Roidmude took advantage of my distracted gaze to run away. It was fast and I lost sight of it. "Good job, Kelly. You let 093 get away. Good job.” Banno’s sarcasm was not lost on me, and I could just imagine a slow clap accompanying his remarks. I heard something crash from further inside the construction site and looked in its direction. I saw the Roidmude get launched into the air, propelled by the drill, Buki still attached to it, though now in a proper kick pose. I followed her arc, which was coming right my way. I dove to the side seconds before impact, the Roidmude exploding from the force of the drill kick, the black and red 093 core weakly floating off. I hit it with a shot from the rifle, causing it to blow up into a puff of black smoke. “Well, that happened...” I remarked just as my time ran out and the armor went away. “So, can I see who you are under that armor?” “Do you like having night terrors? Weeks of insomnia? Hearing things that are and are not there?” Buki asked me. “No. Nobody likes having those things.” “Then I bid you adieu. Spirit!” Buki’s bike flew down next to her, she got on it, and then drove into the ground, like she was a ghost. When Soarin’ caught up to Banno and me, I was still staring at the ground where Buki disappeared. Banno’s display was blank, probably because he was in a similar mental state as me: confused, perplexed, and dumbfounded. "This night's just getting weirder and weirder..." Soarin' said. I slowly turned around to see Soarin' hold a rifle. "Sorry I took a while to get here, but I noticed something as we were leaving the scene. Seemed those Roidmudes were in possession of this. It's not a gun we recognize." Soarin' said. I inspected the rifle... It looked like an assault rifle from Halo. However, I had a question unrelated to that one... I looked back to the ground where Kamen Rider Buki went in. Was she the higher up that Niko talked of? Ross slept peacefully in a bed as the girl who found him gently brushed his hair. She smirked. He would definitely be a useful asset for her ambition. “Sunset, it’s time for bed!” The girl heard her mother call to her. “In a minute, mom!” Sunset shouted to her. She left Ross to rest as she went to her room. Entering the room, Sunset looked at the night sky. Sure enough, the moon was in prime position. She had waited a while for this time. She took out a suitcase from under her bed, making sure everything was ready for tomorrow. As she spotted her burglar clothes, she hid them under the bed. Sunset Shimmer looked at herself in the mirror. She closed her eyes and remembered when she was in Canterlot, looking at a similar mirror. In it, it showed her as a winged unicorn with immense power. She slightly touched the mirror and smiled as she muttered out… “I want to be strong... I want to be feared... I want to be powerful.” Shimmering Sunset Arc 1: Why Does This Feel Familiar?My name is Kelly Randall. About a month or so ago, I picked up a belt from a vendor at Comicon while cosplaying as Ryoma Sengoku. That belt was a deluxe edition Banno Driver from Kamen Rider Drive. Little did I know that it was the real Banno Driver. However, I only realized it once I was transported into another world where humans have various skin colors. To make matters worse, time stopping robots called the Roidmudes wish for the belt so that they can reclaim the mad scientist inside the belt: Tenjuro Banno. However, the Belt was stuck onto me, meaning if they want the belt, they'll also want me too, hurting anyone who would come between them and their prizes. Thus, me and Banno made a pact to defeat the Roidmudes. It's not an easy alliance though. I want to save the world while Banno wants to take it over. There's no doubt that we'll come to blows once the threat is gone... Which may come sooner rather than later, as we took out one of their generals: Roidmude 006, who had evolved into the Nerve Roidmude during a rebellion against their former leader Heart. There had been a quiet resistance, though. The Judge Roidmude had been silently resetting the Roidmudes one by one with the help of the Roidmudes' Grim Reaper, a human by the name of Ross Rosevelt who seemed to have been put in the same situation as I have, being transported into another world possessing the memories of the person you're dressed as. In his case, it was apparently Little Red Riding Hood if she had a scythe and could move so fact, it could counteract Slowdown, the method the Roidmudes used to stop time. With Ross' help and Judge's sacrifice, Banno and I have managed to defeat Nerve and save the city... Now I wonder about the possible calm before the storm as I had recently defeated a corrupted Roidmude with the help of a mysterious rider by the name of Buki. During this battle, I recovered a rifle... That's where this story continues. It wasn’t easy getting Soarin’ to hand the rifle over to me, but when I told him I would do some research, he gushed about how he was contributing to Professor Silverbolt’s work. The harder part was hiding the rifle in the library. I’m pretty sure the school had a zero tolerance towards guns. I inspected the gun. “Yep, pretty Halo.” I said. I remembered playing a little bit of the game, but I wasn’t exactly hard-core. Turning on the belt, I transformed into Gold Drive. Banno sighed as he switched over to hand me the Technic Shift Car. I plugged it in and my HUD changed to create some charts. “Hmmm… This is strange.” Banno asked. “What is?” I asked as I saw a swirling aura of dark energy. “I remember this from college… It was a theory some professor made exploring alternate universes. The theory that alternate universe travel is possible through pseudo-black holes called Voids.” Banno said. “Voids, huh? So what? We can use this to create portals?” I asked. “No. The gun is affected by the Void in some way. There’s evidence of residue.” Banno said. “Hmm…” I wanted to test it out and fire the gun, but I didn’t wanna alert the school. “Guess we have a new weapon for now.” I stowed it away in my back though before I left, I remembered what Zoloto said. “The category of people who are willing to abandon their old lives, even their old identities, in order to be a part of something bigger. To make a change. To be a hero. To be Displaced.” To be Displaced? What was he talking about? I pulled out the gun again. No. It couldn’t be by accident that I had this. I had to have come across it for a reason. The HUD began to flicker, indicating my time is running out, so I scanned the gun quickly for something. Anything. Sure enough, I could feel something. A presence. “So, found a Token.” I pointed the rifle to Niko. “Do you know a Kamen Rider by the name of Buki?!” I asked him. He chuckled. “No, no, that Kamen Rider had nothing to do with me, rest assured. However, I’m quite intrigued with that as you are.” I stayed silent and had my finger hover slowly over the trigger. “However, that Token is a special kind of Token. You want to see how it works? You need two of them.” Niko pulled a chainsaw fused with a sword out of his jacket. “Take it! The more, the merrier, I always say!” “The more, the merrier?” I asked. “All will be explained in due time. For now…” He walked over and handed me the chainsword. “Just… listen.” He said. Without any sort of choice, I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to hear something. Anything. Just then, I heard a simple whisper in my head and I began to repeat the whisper. “AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!" Then two voices were heard fully in my head and the full message was then said: "This is Sebastian of the Dark Angels Chapter... And I'm Spartan Sebaste-915 of the UNSC.... Together, we are humanity's last hope in the grim darkness of the far future. If you're in need of the galaxy's most powerful super soldiers, or if you are needing to bring death to the enemies of the Imperium and the UNSC, we will answer the call... AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!" “Cool, is it not? Now, just think of whatever reason they can be summoned. It can be for a good ol’ fight, hanging out, or-” “I know what I want. I want them to help me protect this town from the Roidmudes. That’s my reason: we need more protectors. We need more guardians.” I said. Niko smirked. “There we go, m’dear! Call them now!” He said. As if I was motivated by sheer determination, I shouted: “AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!” A portal suddenly opened a few inches above near where I was, and as it opened, I heard two voices emanate from it. “NOT AGAIN!” “FRAAAAAAG!” Two armored figures fell out of it, one bigger than the other. The smaller one used what looked like thrusters built into his armor to arrest his fall while the larger one slammed down into the ground, landing on a hand and a knee. “Ugh, I hate it when that happens!” The smaller figure, who I now saw looked like a Halo 4 Spartan Orbital with red and silver armor, said. “Whoever came up with using portals to travel has a very bad sense of humor!” “Take it easy Seb, at least we didn't land in a war zone like last time.” The larger figure said before looking around in a confused manner. “Speaking of which, where the heck did we end up? Manehatten?” Manehatten? Did… Did he just make a pun? I stood there with my jaw dropped. In that time, Niko stepped in. “Ah! Welcome! No, you are not in Manehatten, sadly. You are in…” Niko had a moment to think. “Well, this place never really had a name, so we’ll call it Simtopia.” No. I take that back. That was dumber than Manehatten. The two spun around, weapons suddenly in their hands before they relaxed and lowered them. “Who the heck are you guys?” The Spartan asked. “Ah, well, allow me to introduce you two. My name is Niko Zoloto. Most call me Sid.” He said. “What, like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age?” Was the reply from the red and silver armored man. “No, I think more like Sid the Lock Dealer from Kamen Rider Gaim. Slime and all.” Was my response. “No. Sid as in Cid from Final Fantasy.” There was a pause. “It was the only name I could come up with that was cool, alright?” “So which one of you guys summoned us? We heard someone shout the battle cry from our message, next thing we know, we’re here.” The second figure asked, and I got a good look at him for the first time. His armor looked both high tech and also archaic. His helmet had a mouth grille on it and the lenses were colored red. He had two massive shoulder pads, the one on the right had what looked to be a winged sword while the one on the left had a red sideways double headed arrow with a number 4 over it. His armor was dark green and on his knee was a single red diagonal stripe. On his back was a strange looking backpack that looked more like an astronaut’s backpack “It’s a long story, but if you want the answer… She did it.” Niko pointed to me. “H-hey! You told me to do it!” I said. “That, I did…” He turned to talk with the two summoned. “Well, I can tell from your reactions that this is the first time you’ve been summoned before, correct?” Niko asked the two marines. “Actually, no it's not.” The Spartan said. “We’ve been summoned… damn, forgot how many times we got summoned by other Displaced… But needless to say, this isn't our first time at the rodeo.” “Perfect! So you probably won’t mind telling our dear Kelly here about the wonderful world of Displaced and how she has just signed up for war!” Niko said. “Wait, what!?” I barked at him. “Whoops! Look at the time!” He checked his wrist which obviously had no watch. “I gotta head! Take care of Kelly for me!” He said before running out and jumping out the window. “HEY! WAI-” ZIIIIIIIIP! Before I could even react, a mechanism attached to Niko’s legs activated and shot out a rope. He was then immediately yanked out of the window and into the sky where that same mechanism shot out a bit of steam, giving him what seemed to be a steampunk jetpack/hookshot combination. “What the…?!” The Spartan yelped, “He just went all Attack on Titan on us!” I looked at the city landscape as Niko flew away. “Well, he was wearing the jacket.” The Astartes said. I sighed and turned to the soldiers. “So… Displaced, huh?” “Yep… So who exactly are you supposed to be? I don't think I recognize the character you’re supposed to be…” The Spartan asked. “Well, I’m Kamen Rider-” That’s when the armor cancelled out. “... I was Kamen Rider Gold Drive. Now I’m just dressed up as Ryoma Sengoku. Or as this world had decided to call me, Jetstorm Silverbolt.” “Kamen Rider? I don't think I've heard of that series… I was more into Power Rangers.” He took his helmet off to reveal a tired face with blue eyes and a mop of short reddish brown hair. “Well, Power Rangers is how I got into Kamen Rider. It’s the perfect gateway show.” I said. The Spartan cleared his throat. “The name’s Sebaste and my friend in the Astartes armor is Sebastian, or Sasha to his friends.” “I’m Kelly. Well, around here, I’m called Professor Silverbolt.” I said, noting the term Astartes. “So where exactly are we? This isn't like any Equestria I’ve seen…” Sebastian said. He looked outside and then said, “Scratch that, I don't think we're even in Equestria anymore,” he looked outside the library where he could see the parking lot, “they don't have cars where they are!” “What?!” Sebaste looked over to Sebastian, a look of shock on his face. Equestria? Hm… From what I gathered, it seemed they came from a world where horses are a dominant species. I remembered the jacket Niko wore, with the unicorn on the patch. “You wouldn’t happen to know that asswipe Niko, right?” “You mean that loony? Nope, never even met the guy until now, seriously, that guy reminds me of a mix of both Pinkie and Deadpool!” Sebaste said. “Wait, you know Pinkie?!” I asked. “Yeah. We sorta do.” Sebaste said. I took a moment to process that. Well, gotta interrogate Pinkie to see what she knows about this Equestria. “Alright, thanks for answering. I presume you guys are Displaced like me. You’re soldiers, so that’s good. I called you here to help me protect this town from a threat. Ever heard of Roidmudes?” I asked them. “Nada.” Sebastian said. “I’ve heard of many types of movie, T.V. and game enemies, but those don't ring a bell.” “Basically, they’re time stopping body snatchers. I have been fighting them for the past month or so.” I said. “And you need help taking them out?” Sebaste guessed. “You do realize that we can't exactly stay long here? We have priorities of our own back in our Equestria.” Our Equestria? That implied that there’s more than one of these horse dominated realms. “Hm… Perhaps just for this day. Any dent we can put into these Roidmudes is a good enough dent.” I said. I went over to the map where I put the locations of possible Roidmude hideouts back when Fluttershy was kidnapped. It had been a week since the Roidmudes had been last seen, not counting the incident last night, but with the help of the Shift Cars, I was able to pinpoint where there might have been activity. “Normally I’d patrol the area, but I have class to attend. See that warehouse over there?” I pointed to a place right around the Rabbit Hole. “Last I heard, some Roidmudes were trying to make this spot a hive for them after one of their leaders died.” I said, referring to Gunman. “If you can go over there and clear it out, I’m pretty sure that can be enough of a task.” I said. “Copy that. We’ll have that place cleared out in seconds.” Sebastian growled. “Anything we need to know about what exactly we’re going up against before we do this? We’re not exactly familiar with the Kamen Rider universe.” “Well, first, take these.” I clicked my tongue as two Shift Cars rolled over to them. Sebaste got a black dune buggy Shift Car, Shift Wild, while Sebastian got a green garbage truck Shift Car, Shift Technic. “These two will help negate any sort of time distortion you guys may find. Hold them dear to yourselves… Oh, and I think you guys may need these.” I handed them their weapons. “Thanks, but we're pretty much covered on the weapons.” Sebaste said before an assault rifle materialized in his hand. “You keep them. As for the cars, we’ll make sure nothing happens to them. That we promise.” Both he and Sebastian picked them up, then Sebaste asked, “Erm, where do we store them?” “I have just the thing.” I went over and grabbed two sets of Shift Car Holders. Then I gave it to them. “Clasp them onto the side of your waist.” I said. They both nodded and did just that. CLICK The two clasp onto the side and the Shift Cars click into them. “You have transportation?” I asked them. Sebaste smirked. “Yep, when you're able to summon any vehicle from your game universe, you don't need outside transport.” I smiled. “Perfect.” I said. “Let’s go, Banno.” I said. “This… has been quite an experience…” Banno muttered. I stopped, knowing they might ask who Banno is. “By the way, I have a mad scientist in my belt. See?” I turned around and showed them Banno’s face on the Driver. “Huh, if he was in Girl Genius, he’d make quite the Spark.” Sebastian said. “But then he'd be a plug.” Sebaste face palmed before putting his helmet back on. “Dude, let me do the jokes from now on.” He said. “Agreed…” Banno said. With that, the bell rang. “Ah, class is beginning! I guess I can see you two off before I go.” I began to walk away. Sebastian followed me to the doors. “Where do you want us to rendezvous after we take the warehouse out?” He then asked. “Probably back around here. Though, probably sometime after three, when the students have gone back home. Well, see ya.” I said. I walked away from the two as they looked at each other. “Students?” Sebastian asked. That’s when they saw several students walking in the school, each of them with very colorful skin. Sebaste froze in shock. “Oh you have gotta be kidding me…” “What? What is it?” Sebastian asked. “Two words: Equestria Girls.” Sebaste replied. “Wait, wait, wait, you mean that alternate universe where the ponies are humans? THAT universe?!” Sebastian then groaned. “Well this got awkward…” Sebeste shook his head. “Let's roll!” Sebaste said as the two got outside. A Gauss Warthog appeared next to them. He jumped into the driver's seat while Sebastian took the turret. Sebeste revved the engine and drove off towards the warehouse. Ross woke up to notice he was in a different place, and in a nice, comfy bed. Last he remembered, he was out in the rain struggling through the pain he just received. He could no longer feel any of his muscles tensing up. He sighed. Seemed the Roidmude had been taken care of. “Good job.” He said. That’s when the door opened. “Ah, I see you’re awake.” Ross was almost entranced by the woman’s calm, almost seductive tone of voice. He found it very familiar for some reason. It wasn’t until he saw her face that he realized why. Ross rolled up the sheets as he saw a woman with dark orange skin. Despite the color, he recognized her supermodel physique, her long brown hair with bangs that hid her right eye, and even the red gown, though it a more simplified version of it. “Is something the matter?” That voice stung Ross more than Nerve could ever do to him. His arms shook as his eyes wandered the entire room looking for Crescent Rose. If she was what he thought she was, he’d probably need it really soon before she put an arrow in his chest. “My daughter found you in the streets last night and took you in. You’re safe now.” No! No, I’m not safe! Ross thought. He couldn’t find the weapon and he was pretty sure his Token was back at the Roidmude headquarters. The only thing he could do now is wait for the inevitable. “You probably need more rest. I’ll fix you up some breakfast, okay?” She asked him. Ross nodded, if only to get her out of the room so that he could plan for what to do when she goes into the room again. The two marines arrived by the warehouse. Already, the place looked devastated. The doors were busted down, claw marks were all over the walls, and even the windows looked smashed in. “Geez, whoever fought here had quite the party!” Sebaste said, his eyes on the HUD inside his helmet. “Right, let's check and see if anyone's home, if there are any civilians, make sure they don't get hurt.” Sebastian nodded before the two dismounted and readied their weapons, Sebaste was equipped with a beam rifle while Sebastian had a heavy bolter. The two could hear heavy snoring sounds. One thing was for sure, they didn’t belong to a human. Grrrrrrr… “Oh shit…” Sebaste muttered. “Great, freaking robots… as if I didn't have enough to worry about!” The two went further into the room. Upon further inspection, they could see torn apart robots, pieces of scrap put over the floor. Resting on a pile of them was a large black bear. No. Literally black. Much like the wolf that Kelly encountered, the bear had white bones jutting out of its body, but it also had boney plates all over it as well. It too had a mask with a red line pattern. However, its orange eyes were closed. It appeared to be sleeping. “What the…, that's no robot, that's a Grimm!” Sebastian exclaimed. “When did RWBY get involved here?!” “I don't know, but I'm putting it to sleep permanently.” Sebaste said before activating his active camo ability and moving towards a staircase in order to access the higher levels. “Sebaste, wait! Be careful of-!” Sebastian started to warn the Spartan, but just as he started to speak, Sebaste's foot brushed against a piece of scrap metal. The eyes soon opened up, showing a bright orange light that stared right at Sebastian. However, as it just woke up, it took some time to get up. “Damn it!” Sebastian swore before firing a hail of mass reactive shells at the Grimm. “Sebaste, hurry up and take your position!” He yelled. The Grimm got up and roared out, standing on its hind legs as it bore the chest plate with the number 102 on it. Particles around them flashed, and while they stumbled a bit, they were able to move in slowed down time thanks to the Shift Cars. The bullets smashed into the Roidmude before detonating inside its body. Part of the Ursai’s chest exploded and left a hole in it where the glowing number resided, though still stuck in the Roidmude. It leaped towards Sebastian, though it seemed to fly over him and landed on the roof, sticking to it like a spider. It then crawled up to the ceiling, ready to jump down onto Sebastian. Only for a plasma beam to smash into its head as Sebaste fired from a concealed position. Headless, the Grimm exploded, leaving the core to float harmlessly towards Sebastian before it faded away into nothingness. “Geez, that… was terrifying…” Sebastian muttered. “But at least that thing is taken out.” Sebaste jumped down from his spot and walked over to the Astartes. “Sorry about that, I honestly wasn't meaning to brush against that scrap metal!” “It's fine, just-” Sebastian suddenly fell silent as his enhanced hearing picked up something that sounded like it was approaching the warehouse. “Someone's coming, let’s get out of here.” He said before sirens were heard from down the street. The two ran out and jumped into the Warthog and were gone just as the police arrived. A couple of cops, Spitfire included, got out of the car. “Man, betcha it’s just another prank call, right?” One of them chuckled. Spitfire sighed. Ever since Tachibana’s death, the cops had become less civilized. It didn’t help that the clown Soarin’ took over the department afterwards. She closed her eyes and sighed. She wished for the days when Wind Rider was their chief. As the Warthog drove off, a man on the rooftop took pictures of them and smirked. He wore a purple scarf over his white and silver uniform, had white hair and icy blue eyes. “So, how was that?” Niko asked the man. “I gotta say, Sid, this is good research. You say these are Displaced, correct?” He asked. “Yes, they are.” Niko said. “The overseer will be thrilled to see this. Now, for your reward…” He said. He took out a briefcase containing a dreamcatcher. Niko took the dreamcatcher and with one hand, crushed it. “W-What did you just do!? Do you know how potentially powerful that was? We could have cracked the code on this whole Displaced thing and everything!” He asked. “If you knew what powers this dreamcatcher had, you would not even touch it with a twenty foot pole. Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Diamond.” Niko said as he walked away, then leaped in the air and let his 3D Maneuver Gear take him off the roof and elsewhere. The white haired man stood stunned as he saw the dreamcatcher on the ground, broken. However, it was merely a setback. Mr. Diamond smirked as he looked at the footage he took of the marines defeating the Grimm. “She will be pleased to see this indeed.” He said. I stared at the class room. Only half the students came to the school. The others were either in the hospital healing from their wounds, too scared to even go to school, or dead. I looked at how empty the classroom was. Only a select few students came. It was silent. The students expected me to say something. But how could I? What do I say? My mind wasn’t exactly in the right place. I didn’t want to teach. I want to fight. I want to make sure the Roidmudes were extinct. I want to be free from Banno and reduce him to tiny little pieces. But most of all… I want to go home. But I can’t. I have to make sure the kids graduate. I have to make sure this world is safe from the Roidmudes and their Recreator. I have to make sure Banno doesn’t take over while I’m away. I heard an engine hum from outside. I looked out and saw the Warthog. “Kids, I know a giant amount of crap had happened, so I say we should just relax. I have an idea.” I got up and went out. When I got back, I dragged in a cart with a CRT TV on it. I already had the VHS put in, so I hit play and stormed out of the class while the TV’s speakers announced their entertainer for the class: “BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!” When I got out of the school, I saw the Warthog parked outside. I walked over to the two. “So, how’s your Roidmude hunting? Killed a bunch, I hope?” I asked them. “When we got to the warehouse, it was a total wreck, like an animal had rampaged through there. We went in to investigate and….well, we found a Grimm, somehow it was fused with a Roidmude. We managed to bring it down, but before we could investigate more, the police showed up.” “A Grimm? Like... As in the Brothers Grimm?” I asked. I was curious as to how someone was able to fuse with the Roidmude. “No. Like one of the creatures from RWBY. It was an Ursa.” An Ursa… The name implied that it was a bear. A giant bear monster? And it fused with a Roidmude? “Ah… RWBY. There’s actually someone who knows about that show more than me.” I said. I then clenched my teeth. “Unfortunately… I sort of ran him down with a car... Well, more like I shot a car at him.” I said. The two didn’t seemed that surprised. “Let me guess, he’s in the hospital?” Sebaste groaned. “Actually, we checked… He wasn’t at the hospital.” Banno spoke up. “Yeah, some of my students were in the hospital after fighting the Roidmudes, but not Ross, surprisingly enough.” I said. “I'm guessing this Ross has more intel on the Grimm?” Sebastian asked. “I presume so. He seems to know the show more than me, at any rate. I also presume these Grimm are not in Equestria?” I said. Sebaste shook his head. “They only show up if there's a RWBY Displaced in that Equestria. And if the Grimm are here, my guess is there’s a RWBY Displaced here.” He said. “Each Displaced faces foes from the game, TV show or movie in their own Equestrias.” That line shook me to the core. It was almost like I was drawn to fighting the Roidmudes… But Niko himself had stated that the Roidmudes came first, not me. That’s when I remembered a little law that was a constant in Kamen Rider: The Cross of Fire. It goes something like this: Bad guys try to do bad guy stuff. Someone gets caught in the crossfire. They’re given the powers that the bad guys have and dedicate their lives to fighting them. In a way, the bad guys create their nemesis, much like how most superheroes end up creating their own archenemies. In this case, the Roidmudes arrived into this world, and in response to all their terrorism here, I had to step in and fight to protect myself and everyone close to me as Kamen Rider Gold Drive. In a way, it was destiny that tied us together. I focused back to the boys. “Well, Ross was dressed as an edgy Little Red Riding Hood. Does that count as RWBY Displaced?” “Wait… did you say he was dressed as a person with a red cloak and hood? He didn't happen to have a scythe that also functions as a Sniper rifle, did he?” Sebastian asked. “And Bingo was his name-o.” I said. “Huh, well call me an ork, a gender bent Ruby. That's the first time I've heard of a male version of her.” The Astartes chuckled before turning serious. “You need to find him if you are to fight both the Roidmudes and the Grimm. The universe that Ross’s character comes from deals with these creatures on a daily basis. He’ll have the knowledge on how to combat these things.” “Well, I’ll be sure to ask him about these Grimm when I find him… If I find him.” I said. “Speaking of which, when we were driving away from that warehouse, I picked up two signatures on a roof nearby. One of them was Niko, but the other… I have no idea who it was.” Sebaste said. “But something tells me that there's a bigger plot to all of this, you and Ross getting Displaced here cannot be a coincidence.” “Yep. That wackjob Niko told me about that. How me and Ross were assigned to this world…” I sighed. “The rabbit hole just got deeper.” I said. “I know. There is a way to help others, however. Plus, you'll be able to see other Equestrias. Create your own token.” Sebastian said. “A Token?” I asked. “Basically your calling card in the Multiverse, and a way for others to request your help.” Sebaste explained. “It basically holds a bit of your soul. And the voice is you telling them that you're ready to either help or hang out.” “Hm…” I pondered it. I could help people across different worlds, or Equestrias, as they put it. Seems there was more than one. “How do I make one?” I asked. “You choose something that's related to your character or yourself, then you say a phrase that tells others that you’re available to help. As for putting the bit of soul in there, you need someone with magic to help with that.” Sebastian said, his hand suddenly surrounded by a green aura. “Guessing that’s where you come in.” I said. I knew exactly what item to use. I took out the Shift Speed Shift Car and handed it over to them as I whispered out. “Start my engine.” I said. Sebaste facepalmed. “If you heard our message when you picked up our tokens, it needs to be more than that. You actually need to let others know who you are and what you are capable of. It doesn't have to be too long, but not too short either.” “Alright… My name is Kelly Randall. Along with Tenjuro Banno, I am Kamen Rider Gold Drive. If you can handle Banno’s cruelty, then you may summon me. Do so by telling us one thing: Start My Engine.” I said. “Would that work?” I asked. “Yep, that definitely works!” Sebaste said with a thumbs up. Sebastian's hands then glowed before a copy of the Shift Car appeared in his other hand. Oddly enough, it was now golden colored instead of red. “I find it easy to create a copy to create the token so that you keep the original.” He said before gesturing to me to put my hand on the copy. I placed my hand on it. He then concentrated and his hands glowed again, and I felt a piece of… something separate from me while the replica started glowing. In seconds, it was over. Sebastian then stumbled back and knelt down. “Ugh, that took a lot outta me…” he groaned. “Arg… Me too.” I said. “Now all that you need to do is send it into the void.” Sebaste said. He glanced at his chronometer. “Sash, we need to get back. Alex is gonna kill me if we don't get back and you know how she worries about us.” The Astartes nodded before his hand glowed again. A portal opened in front of us. “So, that’s the void?” I asked. “No, this is our way back to our Equestria.” Sebaste said. Sebastian then opened a much smaller portal right next to me. “This is to the void. It’ll close after you send your token through.” Both Displaced then saluted. “It was an honor meeting you Kelly, and I hope we'll see each other again one day.” Sebaste said. “An honor meeting you. Perhaps one day I’ll visit Equestria and see how your armies are at fighting.” I said with a chuckle. Sebaste sighed. “We don't command any armies. The only defenders are us. Some Displaced do command armies, but others? You’ll find out soon that power isn’t always the best path. Sometimes you give up everything to protect those closest to you or to protect others that need it. Think on that before you think that everyone commands everything. ” He said before the two entered the portal, which closed immediately after. I looked to the swirling vortex and dropped the golden Shift Car into it. It immediately swallowed the Shift Car up and disappeared. I soon heard clapping and I turned around. “So, who the hell was that guy you spoke to?” I asked Niko. “Am I really that predictable? Well, I guess I can explain.” The merchant chuckled a little. “There’s a company who’s really interested in this Displacing business as I am. However, they want to use it as a vehicle for armies and the like. They offered me something in return for showing them how Tokens work.” He said. That’s when my mind clicked. “You set me up, didn’t you?” I asked. Niko chuckled and clapped his hands again. “Bright as ever, Miss Randall. You’re practically fit to wear the lab coat!” He said. My body shivered. “H-how do you know my last name?!” I asked. “After I displaced you, I went back to your world and noticed a couple of missing posters scattered around… What was it again? Ah yeah, Portland.” Portland… my hometown. My body shook. I could no longer feel any muscle in my body. It was as if Nerve had struck me from beyond the grave. “But yes, in exchange for a Token, I showed them the power of said Tokens. They are rather impressed with the display of power those two have shown.” He said. “Wait, another Token? Maybe it can hel-” That’s when Niko gave me a cold glare. “Don’t. Think about it. The Displaced tied to that Token is one of the most dangerous Displaced I’ve bared witness to. So dangerous, in fact, that I dedicated myself to destroying every one of that Displaced’s tokens across the many Equestrias.” He said. He paused and chuckled. “Oh, yeah, when you dumped that car into the portal, you just made, like, a million copies. Some schmuck can just pick it up and probably bring you over to do something as mundane as open a pickle jar.” Niko laughed a little. I couldn’t even speak. Every time Niko opened his mouth, my entire body goes cold. “Your resolve to fight the Roidmudes is cute, I’ll give you that. But if you make that your burden, then you’re never going to go back home.” He turned around and walked away. “HEY!” I finally gained the courage to scream at him. But he didn’t even turn around. All he did is say: “Sad thing is, I pity you. You remind me of myself from a long time ago. Trapped in another world until you could accomplish that goal.” With that, he flew off with his 3D Maneuver Gear. I stood there, unsure of how to process all that. That’s when the phone rang. “Hello?” I asked. “Hey! Professor! Wanna go patrolling with me?” Soarin’s voice actually perked me up. “Sure…” I said. I chose to ride with Soarin’ rather than get into the Tridoron. The night I used it, he gushed and asked me if it was one of Silverbolt’s many inventions. Out of fear that he would take it for himself and add it to his Silverbolt collection, I opted to ride. Plus, it helped me, for I was about to bring up something that had been burning in my head for quite some time. “What’s with Wind Rider?” I asked. “What do you mean?” Soarin’ asked. “I mean… He retired, right?” I asked. “Yeah. He did. He came to an age where being a cop would just prove detrimental to his health and so he was let go. I mean, he didn’t like having to do it, obviously, but I’d rather know he’s safe and living a comfortable life rather than risk his life just to protect people.” Soarin’ said. “… I saw a picture of you, Spitfire, and Wind Rider at Canterlot High… When the Roidmudes attacked. You guys were close?” I said. “More than close! We were the Wondercolts! We won more trophies than we could count. When it came time to graduate… Well, let’s just say we all chose the same career path to make sure we never got separated.” Soarin’ said. “Being cops…” I said. “Yeah. Wind Rider was our coach, so naturally when a new district was formed, he became our chief. And then… Well, you know the rest.” He said. “And I guess his reputation at the department is bad?” I asked. “Well, people say he refuses to retire. That he’s the very definition of a workaholic. To be fair, if I retired and I constantly saw that people were still suffering…” Soarin’ paused and looked at his wheel. Conveniently, we stopped by a set of stoplights. “Around the time we graduated, there was a huge disaster. No one knew what happened. A massive black hole emerged from a research facility near CHS. It destroyed the facility from the inside out…” Soarin’ frowned a bit before the light turned green. He started the engine and went forward. “Flash Sentry was just a baby when it happened. His mom… His mom was one of the victims in the explosion. I… I tried to save her.” He pulled over and looked at his hand. As he did so, I couldn’t help but feel a familiarity. I remembered a Kamen Rider who had felt the exact same thing that Soarin’ went through. Not being able to save a single life. But, as I thought of that, I also remembered another Kamen Rider. One that was so recent, I could still remember the images playing out. The gun firing just as time froze. The rain that poured down on that tragic night. His partner being unable to move as steel girders fell upon him. His bloodied hand in the heap of fallen beams. “Shinnosuke…” I muttered. “What?” Soarin’ asked. “Oh, n-nothing… You… You have my sympathies.” I said. “I know exactly how you felt back at the hospital. The reason I became a cop… It was to make sure that tragedy never happened again.” He said. It was barely a moment before alarm bells rang. Soarin’ and I turned to see the bank we parked in had two masked men inside. “Great. A bank robbery. How original.” I muttered as I got out. “H-hey! Wait!” Soarin’ took out his gun and followed me. “Rainbow Dash?” A nurse entered to the room. Rainbow Dash was just staring at the window. The doctors said it was a miracle that her spine wasn’t critically damaged. However, she merely had to feel the steel rims on her sides to know that she’s not magically healed. Squeak squeak squeak… The wheelchair turned around to face the nurse. “Yeah?” She rasped out. “Someone is here to see you.” The nurse backed away. At first, she had no idea who would want to see her. Applejack? Fluttershy? Kelly? She knew that they were also sent to the hospital after the fight with Nerve. She even thought of that Ross boy, though it was a mere doubt. However, when she saw who came in, her eyes widened. She smiled and, for a brief moment, it was like she was able to get off of her chair and dance towards him. “Rainbow Dash, come with me. It’s urgent.” It was Wind Rider, veteran coach of the Wondercolts and former chief of the Canterlot Police Department. And he wants her. “DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!” As soon as I entered, a masked man held a gun at me. I rolled my eyes and kicked him in the face. While he pulled the trigger, I shifted his hand so that the bullet didn’t reach anything but the wall. It made a few people freak out, but other than that, I was able to defuse the situation and knocked down the robber with a well-placed chop to the neck. I trembled a bit. I had to remind myself that I was in the middle of a bank robbery. But then I looked down and saw both the knocked down man and Banno. I wasn’t a victim in this. I was the hero. I glared at the two other robbers. They hesitated. I calmly walked to them. “Not another step!” One of them pointed a gun at me. My heart didn’t race. In fact, the only time my heart raced was when I considered invoking Slowdown. If only because I wanted to hold true to Shinnosuke’s moral code regarding it, how using it scares others. Though, I’m supposed to be dressed as a mad scientist and I’m wearing a mad scientist on my belt. Morality went out the window a long time ago. I readied myself to use the Banno Driver when all of a sudden… POP! A red balloon erupted as it touched the hot florescent light. This was followed by a girl’s crying and one of the robbers pointing his gun at her. “SHUT IT!” He barked. “No!” Soarin’ ran towards the girl and shielded her from the potential bullet. The man who held the gun towards me cowered a bit towards the back. That’s when I saw Wind Rider tackle him. I smiled. Thank God he’s here to help, I thought. He picked up the gun and aimed at the second robber… Though by that point, I felt an uneasiness in my heart. Especially after the robber lowered his weapon. My body went cold as I began to feel déjà vu. And for once, I wasn’t remembering a memory of Ryoma’s. I swore I saw this before. My heart pounded and my perception of everything slowed down. I began to piece together everything that happened in this bank. The balloon. The kid. The robbers. Even the way Soarin’ and Wind Rider moved just felt… familiar. That’s when Wind Rider moved his gun to the right… Towards Soarin’. As if in a brief moment, I saw someone else in Wind Rider’s place. A man with glasses with an anger in his eyes, the feeling of humiliation and desire to get revenge on the man who belittled him at every turn. I froze. I remembered when Wind Rider glared at Soarin’. I remembered when Soarin’ told him that he had faith in him. And then it all clicked in. No wonder this was all familiar. This entire moment was exactly like the bank robbery incident that claimed the life of Shinnosuke’s father. Right down to his murderer being an envious cop. If I couldn’t do something… No. Not again. I won’t let that happen again. “HENSHIN!” I shouted and transformed. I knew Banno would be too much of a douche to stop this, so before he took over, I turned again to invoke Gold Conversion. I immediately took over as Dimension Cab flew to my hand. I emitted Slowdown Particles to slow down the bullet that fired from the gun. Much like with Shinnosuke, the Slowdown managed to throw off Wind Rider’s aim. Now the bullet was heading towards the little girl’s leg. I threw Dimension Cab right towards the bullet as it glowed. It created a small portal on its hood in which the bullet entered. The other portal opened up right where Wind Rider’s leg was at. I cancelled Slowdown as the bullet flew into the portal and right into Wind Rider’s leg. “AH!” He shouted. I ran to shield Soarin’. “Impressive. You managed to confiscate my control before the transformation was complete.” Banno said. “Well, I’d have to step up my game if a psychopath is gonna use my body for world domination one day.” I said. The crowd of people screamed and ran out of the bank. The remaining robber tried to fire at them, but I created a golden barrier to block the bullets. He then aimed his gun at Wind Rider. “Who the hell are you!?” He shouted. Wind Rider just aimed his gun at him. The two fired almost simultaneously. However, thanks to the adrenaline rush I had in stopping him from killing Soarin’, I was able to observe that Wind Rider shot first. The robber fell down with a shot to his heart while his bullet whizzed by Wind Rider. Wind Rider struggled to get up as Soarin’ moved next to me. “Wind Rider! What’s going on?” Soarin’ asked. His voice didn’t sound angry or even annoyed. Rather sadness. Wind Rider pointed the gun towards him before I threw an energy spear at his hand, knocking the gun away. “He’s trying to kill you.” I said. “What? W-why?” Soarin’ asked. Wind Rider laughed. “Why? Why?! I’ll tell you why, Soarin’… Ever since I retired, I had to sit idly by and watch the youth waste away humanity through their stupid decisions… You let yourselves be led around by the enemy and as a result, you let those students die!” Wind Rider shouted. I gripped my fist. “Tachibana had nothing to do with them!” I said. “He covered their tracks! He let them go unnoticed and it resulted in that massacre!” He said. I shut up. He had a point. Even if he was reforming the Roidmudes from within, he admitted to me that he would cover up the incidents soon after. “And now I see you’re the new chief…” Wind Rider glared to Soarin’. “I can’t help but imagine how many lives would fall under your command.” He said. Soarin’ backed away. “Kelly, did Soarin’ tell you how he sacrificed the life of a newly made mother over his own girlfriend?” “N-no!” Soarin’ barked out. “Fifteen years ago, there was a disaster at the Canterlot Research Department. Scientists were working on a means to create teleportation, though a freak glitch created a black hole instead. We were all there trying to rescue some of the people, but Spitfire managed to slip and nearly fell into the Black Hole. Soarin’ managed to grab onto both her and the mother…” Wind Rider said. “Stop! Shut up!” Soarin’ took out his gun. “And the idiot thought with his dick! He chose Spitfire and made the baby an orphan!” He said. I turned as soon as I heard the gun drop to the ground, followed soon after with Soarin’ kneeling to the ground. “Do you see, Miss Randall? The youth think with selfish and immature minds. They can’t see the forest for the trees. If they can, they’ll cast aside the old and wise.” I looked at Soarin’, who could only shoot a glance at me. He shook his head. I understood that he was trying to apologize. I nodded. “Tell me… Do you agree?” Wind Rider asked as he began to pull out something. I hesitated. I knew just by looking into his eyes that Soarin’ regretted making that decision. I knew it must have been a hard decision to make, and even if he made the other decision, we’d probably still be here, just that Wind Rider would bitch about how he betrayed his own teammates. However, I couldn’t help but see where Wind Rider is coming from. Not a single week passes where I don’t worry about today’s youth. People making bad decisions that would forever impact their lives just because of the logic of “yolo”, teens partying and throwing away their futures as they drive intoxicated, not to mention my memories of high school. However, my thought process was interrupted when Wind Rider pulled out a Shift Car. Well, it was similar to a Shift Car. It had the same aesthetic as a Shift Car, a Hot Wheels-style toy, but it didn’t exactly look like a car. Rather it looked to be a giant bat that had perched itself onto a slab of stone. The fact that the car was entirely red sent me into a bit of a shock. Especially with what he said next. “You will.” With that, slowdown particles erupted as time slowed down. I dropped Dimension Cab for Soarin’ to grab as I ran to try and stop the following event from happening. A Bat-Class Roidmude ran towards Wind Rider before it turned into a blur of data and entered into the red car. Wind Rider’s body soon shifted as he transformed into a Roidmude. I threw a punch, though I was blocked by a steel hook. The Roidmude, much like the car, was mostly red. He retained the plate that most low-class Roidmudes had, but now it was obscured by a steel plate with red veins. He had a cloak around him and a single, cybernetic eye. I obviously knew what Roidmude this was before he even transformed. It was Roidmude 106, the Thief Roidmude. “Bastard... You chose to side with the Roidmudes!?” I asked Wind Rider. This red coloration, much like the golden coloration of Super Roidmudes, denoted a different type of evolution: Fusion Roidmudes. As the name implied, these Roidmudes are a fusion between man and Roidmude, not unlike how me and Banno fuse to become Gold Drive. The fact that the fusion requires synchronization with a human could only mean that the human had to have been allied with the Roidmudes. “Of course!” He said. “With their help, I’ll be able to reformat this world and allow the wise to command the dumb! I’ll not let age dictate who will be our guardians!” He struck me with his hook as I fell down. The Roidmude’s face plate glowed as the number 106 showed up on it. “Tell me something… Did you think it was by chance that you came across this robbery? We set this whole thing up with the intention to have that idiot Soarin’ get here.” Thief said as I saw the other robbers get up and shift into their Roidmude forms. As if to make matters worse, I heard the klaxons of my transformation ending. My hand hovered over to the ignition… But then I’d have to have Banno take the wheel. “Does it feel good to mope there when you have the means to fight? Or are you simply afraid to lose yourself?” I remembered Buki’s words and realized that I couldn’t just stand here and let myself and Soarin’ be killed. I turned the ignition and had Banno take over. He grabbed both the Handle Sword and Dream Vegas. Slotting Dream Vegas into the sword, he got up with almost inhuman reflexes and turned the wheel a few times. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! VEGAS! FULL THROTTLE!” He spun around a few times while he skidded across the bank. He slashed at the three Roidmudes twice each. One strike was horizontal and the other was diagonal, making a 7. When he was done spinning, there were three sevens over the Roidmudes before they exploded in a shower of digital golden coins. Their cores, 38, 39, and 40, floated up before they all exploded. Banno turned to see Thief cower. “W-wah… How?” He asked. “I created the Roidmudes. I can just as easily destroy them…” Banno walked towards Thief before he used his hook to swing himself out of here. “Hey! Wait!” I shouted. The slowdown particles faded away, though none of us were effected. “Soarin’, get to safety. I’ll finish this.” Banno seemed to agree as he handed controls over to me. I gained Shift Formula. Immediately, I plugged it into the Shift Brace and ran out with blurring speeds. It took me until I got out onto the street for me to notice that Thief seemed to make himself scarce. I turned the ignition to hand controls over to Banno as he gained Shift Technic. He swapped out Formula for Technic and his HUD changed. He scanned the street. “As I thought. He’s evolved his powers beyond the point where not even Technic can spot him.” Banno said. That’s when we saw a large energy hook head towards us. Banno slashed it apart rather easily. I figured that I could spot the Thief with the energy hooks, but that’s when we got knocked down by another one behind us. “Damn it!” I said. “There is… One other way…” Banno said. “…” As if my mind was fused with Banno’s, I knew exactly what he meant. He turned the ignition as I got the Door Gun and Max Flare. I put Max Flare into the gun. “THE FINISHER! MAX FLARE! FULL THROTTLE!” I spun around and shot a huge stream of fire all around me. Cars began to steer out of the way of the flame while some managed to crash into each other. I bit my lip, but found the ruthlessness paid off, as the Thief Roidmude began to scream out as he burned. My teeth slid off my lower lip as it turned into a smile. I turned the ignition as Banno got a hold of a different kind of Shift Car. This was also red, but the way it was made, it was more of a side car with a white motorcycle molded into it. On the front wheel of the bike was a golden D, for Dead Heat. The Dead Heat Shift Car was designed to allow the Riders to access a state called the Dead Zone, allowing them to steadily build up energy during a fight, though at the cost of going berserk. Seeing as this is Banno, he’s way past berserk. The light in Gold Drive’s eyes shifted to the bulls ‘eye design. We had hit Type Overdrive. “THE FINISHER… TECHNIC… DEAD HEAT… FORMULA… FULL… THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as the Shift Cars all arranged themselves, Technic in the brace, Dead Heat in the gun, and Formula in the sword. Scanning the Roidmude with Technic’s HUD, we fired at the Thief Roidmude’s weak points with red bullets that shocked and burned the Roidmude. Each bullet became much stronger until the final blast split him and Wind Rider up, reducing the Roidmude back to his low-class form. We then ran to the Roidmude at a blurring speed and slashed at him so fast, I lost count after half a second as we chopped away the Roidmude to tiny pieces. The remains of the Roidmude fell to the ground and blew up, as the Core floated upwards before it too exploded. As soon as the Roidmude died, the transformation cancelled out as I dropped to the ground. I wasn’t as exhausted as I was when I fought Nerve, but it still took a lot out of me. I saw Wind Rider stumble away, before I saw Soarin’ approach him and slap the cuffs on him. “Wind Rider, you’re under arrest for attempted murder and being an accomplice.” He said. For the first time, his tone of voice matched that of a responsible police officer. While I would smile for finally seeing some competence in Soarin’, I had to frown a little bit. In the past month, I had considered Wind Rider my closest ally, but as he is led away, I couldn’t help but see him as a traitor. “The youth…” Wind Rider muttered. “It’s funny how we throw away everything for them… and yet when we ask them to throw away everything for us, they leave us for dead.” “… I never stopped regretting that day, Wind Rider…” Soarin’ said. “I tried to make amends.” “You mean Flash Sentry? HAH! I hope he chokes on the dark truth once it is revealed.” He then laughed. I walked over and slapped him. “Professor!” Soarin’s eyes widened. “… I did that for you.” I said to him. “You may not be the best cop in the world, but damn it if you’re not trying to be. I appreciate your atonement, Soarin’, and I hope Flash will if and when he finds out.” I said to him. He smiled to me. “Th… Thanks… Professor.” He said. Wind Rider got up and walked away as we saw a police car pull up. “So… You decided to side with the youth? I honestly hope, then, that you don’t come to regret this decision.” He stopped. “Allow me, then, to give you a clue before I hand myself over…” He turned and grinned. “Don’t you think for a minute this is over.” He then walked away, laughing. As Spitfire grabbed Wind Rider and put him in the car, I sat next to Soarin’. “So it’s true then? You’re not Professor Silverbolt?” He asked. “Yeah. Celestia just gave you that lie so that she could look into matters herself. I didn’t mean to carry this lie.” I said. “No… It’s okay. I think… I think it’s almost time for me to come clean to. Yeah… I did have to choose over Spitfire and Flash’s mom. If I could go back in time-” “Don’t. You made the best decision you could and you’re trying to salvage the consequences that followed.” I told him. I saw Flash look at Spitfire and frowned, especially as she came over. “I put Wind Rider in… What the hell happened?” She asked. “He sided with the Roidmudes.” I said. Spitfire glared to me, though she soon closed her eyes. “Soarin’, is it true?” She asked. “Y-yeah… He tried to kill me and helped the Roidmudes rob a bank.” He said. “…” She turned around to see Wind Rider in the window. “A shame, huh? He was our greatest teacher and now… now he’s nothing but a criminal.” She said. It was at that moment that I recalled the photo of the Wondercolts. That’s when I realized what he meant when he said that it wasn’t over. I stood up. “Crap!” I ran off while shouting to the two. “Check the hospital! CHECK THE HOSPTIAL!” I shouted. My heart raced once more. I just hoped I wasn’t too late. “Rainbow Dash, I’ve looked into the old Canterlot High School records, lately, and I noticed your personal records are slowly and steadily going to reach mine.” Wind Rider spoke with Rainbow Dash as the two were by a cliff. “Yeah! I am!” She then gasped. “Oh! Are you acknowledging me as your equal? Are you going to have me join the CPD?! Oh man, I’m so excited! You’re always the coolest Wondercolt player!” She turned around to see the vast ocean. The sea breeze shifted through her hair as she smiled. That’s when the sea breeze began to shift in the opposite direction. “H-huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m afraid it isn’t as simple as that…” She turned around to see Wind Rider sport a grin before he transformed into the Tornado Roidmude. “What the!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Wind Rider prefers that his record isn’t stolen by some bratty youth. He would do anything to preserve his precious record… His only reminder of his pathetic wasted life.” The Tornado Roidmude said. “N-no! Wind Rider would never want that! You’re just a faker! You don’t know how he thinks!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She tried to run down the Roidmude with her wheelchair. However, the Tornado Roidmude created a small current in the shape of a drill with one of his hands. “Let’s see then if he is indeed lying. I’ll push you off this cliff. If I feel a surge of power, then I have fulfilled his desire… If not, well… You’re still going to be a smear on the ground!” He then fired the current towards Rainbow Dash, blowing her off the chair and off the cliff. As she plummeted to the ground, Tornado’s body had a few golden lightning bolts crackle underneath his cyan swirls. “Hmph… Looks like he wasn’t lying.” He then laughed. “Finally, I achieved it… Super Evolution!” His entire body erupted into a blast of golden light. Ross looked outside as he saw a golden beam erupt from a cliff side. He got out of the bed and limped away. He knew this would be the right time to get away from Cinder. I remembered what Rainbow Dash said regarding beating Wind Rider’s personal record and knew what he would intend. However, as I got to the car, I saw a pillar of golden light shine from afar. “Another Super Roidmude?” Banno asked. “…” I was silent. Inside, I knew it was too late. The Roidmudes have already got to Rainbow Dash. Author's Note Thanks in part to Company Master Sebaste for collaborating on the first half of the chapter. Shimmering Sunset Arc 2: When Will These Winds Stop?I stayed inside Soarin’s car as I could hear indistinct chattering between Soarin’ and Spitfire. I heard a little bit to know they were speaking of Wind Rider and his recent betrayal. I sighed as I remembered Wind Rider’s recent attempt at Soarin’s life. I looked outside. As the golden light that had emerged from the coast died down, I began to worry for someone else instead. I worried about Rainbow Dash. The Roidmudes must have gotten to her already. Knowing the lengths they’d go for ultimate power, I could only fear the worst for her. The more I thought about it, the more I thought of her face being shown everywhere. Milk cartons, portraits, memorials, tombstones. Then I imagined the grieving faces of her friends. When I had imagined Fluttershy’s face, that’s when I knew I couldn’t wait around. As I got out, I saw the destruction I had laid upon the streets thanks to my stunt using Max Flare. Singed concrete laid across the road as cars had crashed into one another. People were unable to get out of their cars either because they were pinned against another car or the cars had toppled over. The people who did get out were on the ground screaming about their wounded appendages, some even trying to resuscitate and help other critically injured people. An ambulance had arrived to assist in getting the people out. I knew I was responsible for this mess. In my ruthlessness, I caused this incident to happen. But I couldn’t stand around to face the consequences. It seemed I didn’t need to call for the Shift Car I needed, as Mad Doctor drove in on a miniature, mid-air highway that kept building as the car drove forward, at least until it was ready to drive off the highway and onto the road. It drove to several of the injured people, shooting digital syringes at them as they injected in. The people soon were able to get up after reacting as if they were shocked by a joy buzzer. Mad Doctor was followed by Fire Braver and Justice Hunter. Braver managed to move away some of the more pinned cars while Justice Hunter blocked off the area with steel jail bars. I gave a soft smile as Justice Hunter blared a siren towards me. In that moment, I could feel like it had just told me to go on ahead. I pulled out something from my pocket. Much like the SunDriver, it was merely a padlock with a flower molded onto it. Though this time, it was a rose. I popped open the lock as it transformed into a dirt bike. I rode off while hearing Soarin’ and Spitfire shout to me. I ignored them. I had to get to Rainbow Dash. Even if she’s dead. “Ugh…” Rainbow Dash groaned. While she wasn’t properly healed, she felt something broke her fall. But how could that be? Rainbow Dash got up and looked at her surroundings. A nice, simple beach. Nothing could have possibly broke her fall. Then she remembered her fight with the Nerve Roidmude. How she didn’t take that crippling blow to the spine at full force. ‘Determination’? That was just something to psyche her up. She didn’t realize it was an actual power. Maybe she obtained it when Ross gave her super speed. Caw… Caw… Rainbow Dash looked above as she saw a raven flying in the air. She squinted. Were ravens supposed to be that big? As she glared, the bird seemed to come closer and closer… That’s when she realized the raven was headed right for her. She dodged out of the way as its talons hit the sand. Rainbow Dash looked at the monstrous raven that had chosen to attack her. It was weird for a raven to have a bone white mask or orange beedy eyes. Rainbow Dash knew just from the ravenous eyes alone that she has to run. Now. The raven crowed as it flew towards Rainbow Dash. However, Rainbow Dash managed to outrun the raven… at least until she tripped. “Ow!” Her Super Speed didn’t seemed effective to her as it was before. She tried to run some more, but she drooped to her knees. It didn’t help that she sprained an ankle. She limped as the bird slowly crawled up to her… And just as it opened its beak to consume her… SLASH! Its beak was chopped off, the remains scattering away into petals. That’s when Rainbow Dash noticed… They were rose petals. She saw Ross standing in front of her, his hood bellowing in the wind. “Ross!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Take my hand! Hurry!” He said as pointed Crescent Rose at the raven and fired. The sniper rounds made decent sized holes into the monster as Rainbow Dash got to Ross. He grabbed her and flew off at blurring speeds, wrapping his hood around them and becoming akin to a red blob surrounded by rose petals. As it sped away, a small hole opened in the rear as more bullets fired at the raven. With the sheer amount of speed, it became less like a sniper rifle and more like a machine gun or even a turret. So many holes were put into the raven that when the blur was far enough to stop firing, the raven fell onto the ground, its body nearly breaking apart into a combination of whispy shadows and rose petals. That’s when it heard something. “Hey boss! Look at this!” The raven wiggled a bit to see a robotic creature. Its face looked like that of a fanged cobra and on his chest was a number of 049. No doubt was it born of mankind, but what enticed the bird the most was just how much negative emotions this one robot carried. Even if the robot couldn’t show it, the bird, even from far away, could sense it inside. It got up. The raven had only one chance before it completely faded away. The raven got a running start and dove straight for the Roidmude. The Roidmude screamed and tried to fire at it, but it was too late. For a moment, it seemed like the raven was devouring the Roidmude, but soon, the Roidmude changed into a blur of data. The raven faded away, though its shadows merged with the data. The blur began to grow and expand, until it was the size of the raven. The blur changed back into the raven, though now, it seemed that the Roidmude was fused to its chest. The Roidmude’s limbs and head were missing, but its torso remained, including the chest plate. It began to fly up into the air, only to be pushed back down by wind currents. There was a thin, almost see through aura of gold that reinforced this current. “Hmph… Interesting…” Tornado said. I drove down the street on the Rose Attacker in the middle of the city streets. Fortunately, it was well past the traffic jam hour, so aside from the occasional car, it was an open road. Or so I thought. WHOOSH! Out of nowhere, a red blur speeded past me, knocking me off my bike as the blob slowed down. “Ouch! Watch it!” I shouted. I turned around and saw Ross with Rainbow Dash. “Oh, Ross, you’re alright!” I said. I then looked to Dash. “And you have Dash too!” “Yeah…” Ross stayed silent. I knew it had to come up sooner or later. “Sorry for shooting a car at you.” I said. “No, no, it’s alright. You did what you had to do.” He said. “What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, yeah… Alright, let’s get the long story outta the way… I was a double agent for the Roidmudes, decided to go take on their head honcho, but he laid my ass on a silver platter, made me his puppet and then had me fight Kelly, then Kelly knocked me out with a large car. Next thing I know, I woke up in the care of a psychopath and I got out of there as soon as I could.” Ross said. I eyed the scythe he carried. “Surprised you found that.” I said. “I remembered where I was defeated. Thankfully no one took Crescent Rose.” Ross cuddled the scythe in its inactive form like it was his own child. Both Rainbow and I looked weirdly at this before Ross got back to normal. “S-sorry…” He looked to me. “It’s a habit of Ruby’s… The person I’m dressed as. As Displaced, we tend to remember their memories as if they’re our own and end up repeating their same quirks.” He said. Well, that would explain how I was able to remember Ryoma’s past. Not sure if I got to the quirk part though… That’s when I remembered. “Oh, right, Roidmudes!” I went over to the bike, but then I saw Rainbow Dash. She was leaning on Ross’ back. “Ross… Rainbow… You guys saw how powerful these Roidmudes are when they get golden colored first hand. I’m not going to let you two get hurt.” I said. I turned around and walked to the bike. “But I can help!” Ross said. Rainbow Dash just frowned. “You want to help?” I then turned the bike back into a lock and tossed it to him. “Get. Her. Home.” I glared to him with the same anger I had towards Sid. Just then, I heard a loud caw. I looked up and saw a giant raven. “Oh no!” Ross said. “The hell’s that?!” I looked at the body of the raven and was reminded of the werewolf I fought last night. “A Grimm.” Ross said. “They’re monsters from another world. I-” “That’s all I need to know. Now go!” I shouted as I turned the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive, arming Banno with the Trailer Cannon. Ross opened up the lock, got on the Rose Attacker, and drove off with Dash in tow. Banno fired at the Grimm. “Kelly, take a look at this!” Banno looked at the chest of the raven. I saw it too. “It’s… A Roidmude!” I said. “Exactly. Seems these Roidmudes are able to evolve further with these Grimm. An unforeseen development indeed.” Banno said. “Guess we call them Grimmudes…” I said as Banno landed a direct hit on the Grimmude’s wing. The raven’s feathers began to molt off. They fell onto the ground and stabbed into the concrete. I dodged out of the way as I heard the sound of shattering glass, car alarms, and screaming people all at once. I looked around to see the giant black feathers began to change into humanoid beings… They were exactly like a Bat-Class Roidmude, but now their bodies were pitch black and there seemed to be a purple haze around them. “Well, add another new discovery!” I said as Banno switched to me. Taking the Steering Sword in hand, I ran over to slash at the Roidmudes. I got in close and noticed their plates had only a single number. Well, not true. It was still their three numbers, but there was a decimal after the first digit. Thus, one of the Roidmudes had 0.13, for instance. Each Roidmude I cut into just faded away as their ‘core’ burst into a cloud of smoke. I looked up and saw the bird was slightly smaller. “And it can apparently divide itself…” Banno said. Of course, it began to click once I realized what the decimal meant. “So… Fractal Roidmudes!” I then squeed. “Oh man! Discovering new things is fun!” I said. “Look sharp! It’s about to get more ‘fun’!” Banno said as I noticed a large gust of wind blow through me, knocking me far away and crashing into a window. Ross stopped by the hospital and gently too Rainbow Dash off the bike. There, Rainbow Dash slowly walked over to the doors before she stopped. “So… That would explain what happened back there with the dealer…” Rainbow Dash said. Ross sighed. “I’m sorry you got wrapped up in this…” Ross said. “Don’t be! Because of you, I got to be closer to Gold Drive than I ever would have as Mare-Do-Well!” She said. “Well, glad I did something right…” Ross sighed. “I should have laid low. If I did… Maybe he would have lived…” “Who would have?” Rainbow Dash. “An… accomplice. I didn’t really know him enough to call him a friend… In fact…” Ross then sat down on the steps of the hospital. “I don’t really have a lot of friends. I mean, yeah, I have online friends, but when I’m here… I don’t have anyone to rely on, unlike you.” Rainbow Dash sat next to him. “No… I’m on the same boat as you. I don’t have many friends myself. I… I used to… But soon, they all betrayed me. Some… Some even think I betrayed them…” Rainbow Dash said. Ross could feel some stings in his heart as he began to remember images of a couple of people that, while he recognized, couldn’t piece when exactly those images took place. One stuck out in particular: a man with gray hair and a matching gray and black jumpsuit putting up his dukes in the middle of what appeared to be a backstage hall. It took Ross a bit to realize that his mind was now skipping to Ruby’s memories. Memories of moments he haven’t seen yet. “Mind, don’t spoil…” Ross muttered. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, I know exactly how that would feel.” Ross said. “But now with Kelly, I feel like I’m starting over with a new friend… And… Well, being a hero is a bonus.” Dash chuckled. Fortunately, Ross’ mind rewound itself to something he does remember seeing. A memory of Ruby’s first night at Beacon Academy. Particularly, the moment where she made her third friend there: Blake. “I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!” Ross hung onto those words ever since he became Displaced, almost like it was a silent command. Ross gripped his hands. “If there’s any advice, maybe you could make some friends here. I know I could-” That’s when Rainbow Dash noticed that in Ross’ place were rose petals. She could see Ross drive away on the Rose Attacker, though she simply smiled and walked into the hospital. As I fell onto the floor of an abandoned building, my transformation cancelled out. I heard gusts of wind blowing towards me. I got up and saw a golden tornado flying down before the winds died down and I was able to see the Roidmude. As I had suspected, it was the Tornado Roidmude, and just as I feared, his reddish body was now golden, along with the sky blue plates of armor that looked like swirls. However, his shoulder armor had just a slight touch of midnight blue. “Tornado…” I muttered. Tornado smirked as he transformed into Wind Rider. “So, I see Thief failed…” Wind Rider spoke. Even though I knew he was still Tornado, I still felt uneasy facing him. “Y-yes…” I said. “So I presume you synchronized with Wind Rider’s hatred towards the youth?” “Yes. Particularly, his jealousy. His jealousy towards his only accomplishment.” He held up his hand as a small ball of air formed in his hands. “And it had worked…” He threw the ball at me, knocking me back with great force. My back hit the wall and created a few cracks as I fell down. “I have now achieved Super Evolution. But before I can take my place in the Promised Number, I shall give the Roidmude King a gift… The destruction of this city!” He held up his arm as I heard the crash of thunder. The Roidmude King? The only time those words were uttered was in an alternate future where an evil Krim Steinbelt announced his intent to rule the world with an army of Roidmudes. Not sure who this Roidmude King is, though I have a good guess it was the Recreator. Banno, however, had another thing to say: “Roidmude King? HAH! Not while I’m around! If you weren’t informed, Gold Drive is also a Super Evolved Roidmude. And I’ve also taken out four Super Evolved Roidmudes…” Banno said. “I’m only counting one, Nerve.” I said. “And I’m counting the kills done by Sigma.” Banno said. “Aaaaah.” It was a weird moment of realization. In that moment, it was like me and Banno shared a funny in-joke that only the two of us would get. Almost like true friends. To his credit, his invention, the Sigma Circular, did mortally wound three Super Evolved Roidmudes, but I hardly count them as kills he scored. Nonetheless, I got what he meant. “Wanna make it five?” I asked Banno. “If you may. Start my engine.” “With pleasure.” I turned the Ignition. “Henshin!” We both said. My body changed into Gold Drive as Banno took over. Tornado changed back to his Roidmude form. Banno walked towards the Tornado Roidmude merely created a huge current of wind, though it unfazed Banno. Eventually, he ran towards him to throw a punch. Tornado leaped and soared midair before he landed and roundhouse kicked Banno. However, Banno caught the kick and punched Tornado with a fist of golden energy. It knocked the Roidmude back a little, but not enough. Not as he had hoped. Tornado then slashed at Banno with wind so rough, it ended up becoming sharp. Banno blocked it with a shield made from pure gold energy, but the shield was easily sliced in half. Tornado ran to Banno and pushed him with the air currents in his fist, knocking him out of the building and back onto the road. I looked up and saw the blackening clouds, followed by clouds that had slight yellow glows in them. “This must be Tornado’s newfound power. He’s creating storm clouds so powerful, that he might just call himself Hurricane…” Banno said. “Guess we gotta stop him before he makes this storm hit landfall.” He said. “Exactly. Give him everything we got!” With that, Banno turned the ignition and switched over to me. A Signal Bike and the Zenrin Shooter reached my hands and I instantly plugged in the Signal Bike into the Shift Brace. I fired at several of the storm clouds. As the bullets hit, they changed into large, golden stop signs and froze the clouds in place. “That ought to hold them.” I said. I then saw Tornado jump down and I fired at him. The bullet soon changed from a stop sign to eight separate bullets, all aligned in an octagon before hitting the Tornado Roidmude square in the chest and creating a huge explosion. I expected a Core to come out, but instead, I saw Tornado come through from the smoke, forming a drill from his hand. I swapped over to Banno who took Rumble Dump and swapped out the Stop Signal Bike with it. Banno’s hand changed into a golden version of the drill that Tornado made and punched him just as Tornado threw a punch. The two drills collided and a mixture of golden energy and wind erupted from the drills, knocking both Banno and Tornado away. When Banno finished skidding across the ground he fired the Zenrin Shooter at Tornado, who in turn responded by firing bursts of condensed wind. Banno dodged out of the way and swapped over to me, giving me Rolling Gravity. I placed it into the Zenrin Shooter. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! CRUSH!” I slammed the Zenrin Shooter’s wheel into the ground as it created a thick line of black and gold energy that rocketed straight towards Tornado. It soon locked him into place, pressing him down with gravity. I swapped over to Banno who gained both another Signal Bike and the Steering Sword. He plugged the Signal Bike into the sword and ran over to Tornado. “THE FINISHER! 04! FULL THROTTLE!” With a slash, Banno’s sword soon glowed golden red as the aura of what appeared to be a Bullet Bill biting down onto Tornado. With a few slashes, it seemed like we were able to destroy the Roidmude, however, that’s when the raven from before swooped in and clawed at Banno, knocking him away from Tornado. He swapped over to me and I gained a blue Signal Bike. I swapped out Rumble Dump for the bike and fired at the bird. The bullet split up into several bullets, each hitting the Grimmude with succession. However, it managed to shrug off the bullets and began to molt feathers, all of which rained down upon me. I got hit by several feathers as a couple of them transformed into Fractal Roidmudes. I readied myself, though I staggered. The Fractal Roidmudes closed in on me, readying their hands to fire upon me. I maintained balance using the Steering Sword and fired at the Fractal Roidmudes. The ones with lower numbered cores broke apart easily with blasts, while the ones whose cores were higher than 0.25 took more than a hit to fully destroy. This resulted in more Roidmudes being formed than I could destroy. Eventually, I was unable to fire anymore and I waited for them to overwhelm me. VROOOOOOOOOOOM!!! That’s when I heard a motorcycle and I turned to see Ross on the Rose Attacker driving up before he popped a wheelie, pushed himself and the bike up with his scythe, and slashed through three Fractal Roidmudes like they were nothing, before landing and using his scythe as a landing gear to turn around. He steered towards the other Roidmudes and fired at them, destroying both bodies and cores in the process. He used one of the Roidmudes as a ramp to lift the Rose Attacker up and flipped off of his bike, transforming it into its lock mode before landing on the Roidmude, scythe’s blade right into it. He then fired, blasting him off the Roidmude and into the air for a bit before he landed into me. “Thought you could use a hand.” Ross said to me. “Aaaah, I could have handled them.” I chuckled. “You ought to know that Grimm are a huntsman’s specialty.” Ross said. I turned and saw the Raven Grimmude land onto the ground before it screeched. It was noticeably smaller than it was before. “The Grimmude’s able to create minions, but it gets weaker with every batch.” I said. “Alright, I can take on multiple crowds of monsters. Think you can handle old windbag over there?” Ross asked. “You underestimate the power of my system…” Banno said. “For once, I’m backing Banno’s egotistic claims. Deal with the Grimmude, then we can deal with the Roidmude together.” I said. “Alright. It’s about to get wild.” Ross bumped my back of my hand with the back of his hand before he rushed to the Roidmude. I did the same, but towards Tornado. I slashed him away with both the Steering Sword and the Zenrin Shooter. He countered by stabbing his drill in between the open space that was my chest. As I was punched back, I swapped to Banno who took the last of the four Signal Bikes. He plugged both the Turn and Scatter Bikes into the Steering Sword and Zenrin Shooter respectively. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! 01! FULL THROTTLE!” “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! SCATTER!” Banno began to spin uncontrollably as he fired the Zenrin Shooter. The bullet began to break apart into dozens of golden bullets. Tornado tried to stop them, but Banno reached him and slashed him two dozen times before unloading the last scattering bullet right into Tornado. While the two finishers heavily damaged him, it didn’t destroy him. It took a lot from him though, so I looked to see if Ross needed help. Much to my delight, Ross was cleaving through most of the Fractal Roidmudes with ease, all while the Grimmude got smaller and smaller with each division, now just half the size as it initially was. Ross launched himself with the scythe’s fire and sliced into the Grimmude’s left wing, cutting it off, before he wrapped himself in his cape, flew in a loop-de-loop, and impaled the scythe right into the Grimmude’s head before yanking it and causing it to fly uncontrollably into the building. Ross leaped off as the Grimmude smashed into building, erupting into a cloud of inky smoke, with its Core, 049, fading away. Ross landed as we turned to face the Tornado Roidmude. Tornado chuckled. “Now… I’ll fulfill our Recreator’s wishes!” Tornado twirled his hand in the air as a wind current began to form. The current spun around several times. I could feel just from the force of the wind what could happen. “Ross! Get out of here! Now!” I shouted. Banno swapped over to me as the circuit wheel flared up. As the tornado that was summoned came down, I created an electromagnetic field surrounding it to prevent it from expanding and destroying any of the buildings. “No way! I’m sticking with you til the bitter end!” He said. “Alright… Banno… LET’S GO!” I shouted as I turned the ignition several times. My lens changed from red, to white, to red, until it finally changed to the bull’s eye design of Type Overdrive. Me, Banno, and Ross all floated up into the air thanks to all the tension caused by the wind. Tornado entered the fray by encasing himself in a golden air current. The three of us all began to fly. Ross was the first to fight, wrapping himself up in his cape and seemingly teleporting himself to behind Tornado to slash with his scythe. Tornado blocked with his arm drill, but that was when Banno shot a golden energy lance at him, stabbing the Roidmude in the back. At the same time, Ross fired at Tornado, knocking him into my path where I Rider Punched him with golden energy. While it knocked him back, Tornado soon wrapped himself in the tornado’s current and vanished. Banno and I also coated ourselves in energy and vanished. As Tornado reappeared near Ross, so did I and I kicked him out of the way. Ross wrapped himself up in his cape and the three of us all teleported around in the eye of the storm, trying to guess where the other was and striking when we guessed correct. Ross didn’t manage to get a shot in, though I managed to slash at least once at Tornado. Eventually, we teleported at the same time and entered the same space. Tornado kicked Ross out of the cyclone, with my electromagnetic field only shunting him further from the fray. “Ross!” I shouted before Tornado smashed me down with a devastating hammer punch. I fell into the ground and created a crater. Tornado flew down towards me. “This is it, Banno...” I got up and crouched, building up the golden energy into my leg. I just had to wait for the right moment… Ross flew out of the cyclone, though he managed to catch himself and land on the roof. He could only look as the cyclone began to glow intensely golden. “Kelly…” Ross muttered. Just then, the glow intensified. Ross readied himself for any sort of surprise. Though the surprise he saw was not what he expected. “TORIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Kelly shouted as she pushed Tornado out of the eye of the storm with her leg thrusted right into the Roidmude’s chest. Golden lightning crackled from her foot as she continued to push him up into the air. With her other foot, she kicked him away from herself. Ross took advantage and flew into the air with his Semblance, launching scythe first right into the airborne Roidmude. Before Tornado had any time to react, Ross impaled him with Crescent Rose, landed on the wall of a building, then ran up to the roof, dragging the Roidmude along before tossing him up into the air and firing right into its head, blowing it off as the body exploded. Rose petals flew out of smoke along with the Core 008. Ross leaped and landed on the roof, then got ready to fire at the number before it flew off. White particles overlapped the number as it became healed. It then flew into a phone where its matching number lit. Ross looked as he saw a man with spiked up hair and a black leather jacket with what appeared to be reddish pink patching on the sides of his sleeves and coat on the other end of the roof. “H-hey!” Ross shouted, but the man paid no attention. He merely scoffed and walked away. Ross ran after him, though he noticed a large grayish curtain appear before the man. He walked through the curtain no problem before it disappeared, taking the man with it. Ross stopped running as Kelly landed on the rooftop. After Rider Kicking the Roidmude and destroying him, I landed onto the roof where Ross was. The transformation cancelled out and I became woozy. Ross ran to me and lifted me up. “We did it… We defeated Tornado…” I said as I gave him a thumbs up. “… For now.” Ross said. I looked to him. “What do you mean? We destroyed his Core, right?” I asked. “No. Someone took his Core.” Ross said. “What!?” Banno shouted. I, however, was too drained from using two Type Overdrives in one day. I passed out in Ross’ arms as Banno shouted to keep me awake. The leather coated man walked down as several Roidmudes bowed before him. He approached a weak, skinny man lying in bed, 007. “Tornado has fallen.” The man said. “What!?” 007 struggled, but he fell before he could get up. “Patience. You still need to adjust to your synchronization. You haven’t even found the core emotion he possess yet.” The man said. “… Grief. It’s grief.” 007 said. “And losing Tornado… I can say that I’m getting powered up.” The man simply laughed. “It won’t be enough. Banno’s at full power. If two Super Evolved Roidmudes aren’t able to stop him, what makes you think a weak Roidmude like yourself would fare better?” He asked. “Then let me at them, my lord.” The man heard a familiar voice. Tough, boisterous, and strongly feminine. He turned to see his newly appointed Grim Reaper practicing on a punching bag. “Whatever he throws at me, I’ll throw back with twice the power.” She said. “You could… But you could also wait…” The man chuckled. “Banno’s ties with his host are at their strongest. However, given how Banno is, it won’t be long before that tie is severed. It’ll be at that moment when you can strike. Until then, we wait. If you really want to take your anger out, there’s a Roidmude you could eliminate…” He then walked away. The Grim Reaper growled and with one punch to the bag, she exploded in a burst of fire, destroying the bag in the process. “I’ll make you pay, Kamen Rider… Just you wait.” She glared at the destroyed bag with her bright red eyes. I woke up in the hospital bed again, though this time, Applejack was looking at me. “Hey, Sugarcube.” Applejack said. “A-applejack…” I muttered. I looked around and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on opposite sides of the room, their backs turned. “Just checking to see how you are.” Applejack said. “I’m doing well, all things considered.” I said. “Well, I figured I’d let you know that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I have made… compromises. We all agreed to help you with these Roy Mochas.” Applejack said. I simply chuckled. “Now you’re doing it on purpose.” I said. “Yeah, ya caught me.” She smirked. Just then, Principal Celestia entered the room. “Professor Silverbolt, I’m sorry to butt in on a bad time, but I figured I’d inform you of a transfer student.” She said. “Transfer student! Awesome!” Rainbow Dash squeed. I saw Fluttershy simply retreat herself further into a corner. “Who is she?” I asked. “He, and he’s said to have transferred from Beacon Academy.” She said. She stepped away as I saw a man dressed in a black uniform with orange linings, a blue sweatshirt underneath, a white shirt and a red tie, as well as black pants. I knew this man… “Yo, teach!” Ross said as he waved to me. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?” I shouted. The machine that monitored my heart rate raced. Shimmering Sunset Arc 3: Where Do We Go From Here?It took me a while to get adjusted to Ross’ announcement of joining Canterlot High. It took me even longer to be able to get up. Most of that was due to going into Type Overdrive twice in one day. From how I could feel myself, I knew that it was a case of my nervous system having an overload thanks to fusing it with Banno’s neural network. I figured I’d get used to it in time, though that would depend greatly on me being able to become cruel. I took the time to read the newspaper. As I had figured, the news of Gold Drive’s attack on the streets made the headlines, but to my surprise, they also mentioned his stopping of a large tornado from destroying the city. I read more into it. Seemed that the newspaper was painting me as a sort of “Hero or Menace” sort of deal. One article praised Gold Drive stopping a group of bank robbers from harming civilians while another said that he caused injuries from occurring. It brought me a bit of comfort, however, that I have people who supported me and considered me their hero. I got up from the hospital bed and got ready to go back to teaching. That’s when I saw Ross standing outside the room in his school uniform. He gave me a salute and I nodded. We drove off to someplace where we could carry out a private conversation. The docks was a good idea, I thought. I parked the Tridoron nearby and walked to the edge of the pier along with Ross. “So, your Roidmude days are over?” I asked. Ross stretched his arms. “I guess so. Though, I wanna assume the Roidmude days in general are over.” Ross said. I frowned and sat down. “I wish it was that simple.” I said. I looked at the ocean. “There’s a hundred and eight Roidmudes.” Ross sat next to me. “W-what!? That many?” Ross said. I nodded. “Yeah. But we cleared up a quarter of them. Another quarter was wiped out in a civil war. If I’m correct, that basically means we’re only half way done.” I said. I looked at Ross as he looked down at the ocean. “Well, at least your monsters have a limit… The Grimm? So long as humanity exists, so will they.” He said. “That… brings up a good topic, however. The past couple of days, there have been Roidmudes that have seemingly been fusing with the Grimm.” I said. “Fusing?” Ross asked. “Yeah. Like, a Roidmude will be stuck to the body of those things. You know what that’s all about?” I asked. “If I may pipe in…” Banno spoke up. “According to the combat data, these Grimm seem animalistic in nature. It’s like they seek out these Roidmudes to devour and absorb them for some reason.” I paused and added to Banno’s theory. “Perhaps the Grimm aren’t the ones doing the absorbing… Ross, can you confirm Banno’s suspicions?” I asked him. Ross nodded. “Yeah. Grimm are pretty instinct-based. They actively hunt down humans and anything of their creations.” Ross said. Already, a point in favor of the theory. “They’re able to track a human by seeking out stuff like hate, rage, sadness, despa-” I clapped my hands. “Stop! There we go! They like negative emotions! Banno, I think we found our answer.” I said. Banno chuckled. “Yes… We have…” Banno said. “I don’t follow.” Ross said. “Banno programed the Roidmudes to evolve based off emotions and rarely are they good ones. Humiliation, Envy, Vengeance… The Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotion they were given, either through programming or whatever they got from the host, and then emulate it until they evolve.” I said. “Since they can only emulate what they were programed to feel, these Grimm are attracted to them like a moth to a flame.” Banno said. “Then, when the Grimm are attacking, the Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotions that these Grimm are seeking and thus…” I said. “We get those monsters.” Ross said. “Exactly.” Banno said. Ross picked up a pebble and tossed it across the ocean. “… I caused these Grimm to appear.” Ross said. At first I had no idea what he meant, but then I remembered what was said yesterday: “Each Displaced faces foes from the game, TV show or movie in their own Equestrias.” I merely looked to the ripples he made. I shook my head. “No. There’s more to it than that. If that was the case, then those Roidmudes would have come when I came. It’s not a coincidence, yes, but you’re not responsible for them to appear. They came on their own volition.” I said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “… There’s much despair in this town since the Roidmudes attacked. Maybe they found this place to be a good haven for food.” I said. I got up and looked to Ross. “So, shall we get going? If we hurry, we’ll make it just in time for science class.” Oh, if things were that simple. BLAST! A warehouse nearby suddenly caught on fire as a police officer was flung out of it. We ran to him, only to see two Roidmudes hop out of the fires. These were different. The Roidmudes in their low-class forms followed three animal motifs: cobra, spider, or bat. These were different. Their faces were hidden in brown cages and they wore a red, thick cape, almost like the shell of a… “Cockroach…” I muttered. The scythes they held were confirmation that they are what I thought they are. “Great! These assholes are stealing my thing!” Ross took out his scythe. I shook my head. “No… These guys are the Reaper Legion. They have nothing to do with you.” This was a bold faced lie. The presence of these Roidmudes does have something to do with Ross. Though it wasn’t that they modeled themselves after him. Rather, they were made to replace him, much like how they were originally made to replace Chase. Which could only mean that much like before, a higher up Roidmude could be leading them… “Banno… You thinking who I’m thinking?” I asked. “Only one way to find out… Start my engine.” Banno said. I crossed my arms before I pressed them against my wrists, turning them around before pulling one arm back and pushing another one forward. I then pushed my right arm forward, left hand lowered to the ignition as I shouted. “Henshin!” I shouted as I turned it. I’d squee at the fact that I finally pulled off my first Henshin pose, but Banno immediately took over my body, Steering Sword in hand, and ran off to fight the Roidmudes. Ross already beat me to them as his scythe cut through the scythe of one of the Roidmudes. He fired with the barrel part of the scythe right into the Reaper’s face, breaking his mask as Ross impaled the pointy end of the scythe into the side of its neck. Ross leaped and did a drop kick on the Roidmude, pulling him away from the scythe as sparks began to pour from the stab wound. Banno slashed away at the Reaper Roidmude before he threw a Rider Punch right into the chest of the Roidmude. It knocked him away. The Roidmude growled as it threw down its cape. Banno turned on the ignition as I took over. Banno’s activation of Gold Conversion caused the Tridoron to roll towards me. I opened the door and took out both the Chainsword and the Assault Rifle. Tossing the rifle to Ross, I took the Chainsword in my hand. “W-What!? No! I wanted you to run them down with the Tridoron!” Banno shouted as I ran forward and gave the Roidmude a cross slash, greatly damaging the Roidmude’s torso. Ross transformed the scythe into a sniper rifle and constantly fired at his opponent with the assault rifle. As soon as the Roidmude took twenty five hits, he headshotted the Reaper Roidmude, causing the Roidmude to fall into the water and break up into rose petals. I turned the ignition and placed my two swords together. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as he spun around. Golden electricity built up around him as he spun towards the capeless Roidmude, slashing him apart until he was in tiny pieces. With the two swords, he then proceed to cut the Core with the chain sword and then fire a sharp sword slash at the other Core. 044 and 094 both blew up. Ross ran towards the wounded officer as Banno proceeded to the fires inside the warehouse. “Hey! Wait! This guy’s hurt!” Banno didn’t care and merely tried to get into the flames. However, the fires overwhelmed his vision and he backed away, cancelling out the transformation in the process. “There’s no way Medic would be in that building…” Banno said to me as I stood by the fire. Though, if I remembered correctly, there’d be no way Medic would be leading these Reapers. Especially after a civil war where Heart’s side lost… So who could it have been? The Grim Reaper stood in the flames. Banno was easily in front of her. She could easily kill the professor, his puppet, and even the traitor in one… swift… kill. However, as she moved in, she could see the traitor tending to her mark. She froze. Despite only hearing stories of him, she felt as though she knew him before. She held her head as one voice rang into her head. “I love you…” She shook her head. She continued to look at the three as they remained ignorant of her presence. The Roidmude King was right, she thought. Now was not the perfect time to fight them. She walked away, having accomplished her initial goal. “Hey! Hang in there!” Ross said to the police officer. However, that’s when I noticed he looked familiar. “Ross… Hang on…” I said. I knew him. This was Michelangelo Jones, otherwise known as the Sculpt Roidmude. I recalled him getting away from my last clash with him. Michelangelo simply sputtered. “She’s coming…” He weakly said. He looked to Ross. “The Dragon… She’s coming… To kill… The Reaper… And the Rider…” Michelangelo said before his body gave out. I shoved Ross out of the way before the officer exploded, his core, 084, floating up before it too was destroyed in an explosion. The two of us just sat on the ground as the smoke cleared. Firetrucks began to pile in as I helped Ross up. I looked to the ground as I saw Fire Braver rolling out to help stop the fires in the warehouse from spreading. We went into the Tridoron as I dismantled the Rose Attacker back into its lock mode and we drove off. About five minutes into the drive, Ross began to speak and break the silence me and him shared. “… What the hell… Did… Did those Roidmudes murder their own kind?” Ross asked. “Yeah. That’s what happens when they need to replace the Grim Reaper.” I said. Ross looked at the dash of the car and frowned. “That guy… Tachibana reset him to have him help out his department as a cop. Guess the Roidmudes found out and…” Ross sighed. “Ross… This is a war. Like it or not, it’s a war to determine who’ll rule the world. Humanity or Roidmudes. Of course there’ll be those who want a middle ground and those who will make sure those voices get silenced.” I said. “And then there’s what he said! The Dragon? Do you know any dragon Roidmudes?!” Ross asked. I shook my head. “Roidmudes, in their evolved forms, don’t go for animals. Some go for organs, elements, even occupations. Never animals.” I said. “If that… If the dragon can easily kill that Roidmude… then… They might…” I stopped the car and patted Ross on the shoulder. “Alright, this will be the first homework assignment I’ll give you as your teacher, understand?” I asked. Ross nodded. “You are going to take a week off from this hunting crap and you just relax. Got it? Extra credit is that you make a friend in this world.” I said. Ross hesitated for a while before nodding. “Okay… But if that Dragon comes…” Ross muttered. “I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry.” I said. Ross had a faint smile. That’s when I realized something. “Hey, Ross, you got a place to stay?” I asked. Ross shook his head. “Well, I’m able to go home, but I need my token…” Ross said. The word struck some familiarity. “A token… Yeah, you know where it is?” I asked him. “… Inside Nerve’s building.” Ross got out of the car and smiled to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to grab it, no problem.” With that, Ross flew off. “H-hey! Come back here! You still have to go to school!” I shouted to him. I groaned and drove off as soon as I knew Ross wouldn’t listen. I went back to CHS and walked into the halls. There, I bumped into someone. “Oof!” As I fell to the ground, I heard some clattering on the ground. When I got up, I saw Fluttershy was the one I bumped into. “O-oh… Sorry…” Fluttershy went over to pick up something… A crown. The crown had a magenta jewel embedded in the top modelled after a star, with what appeared to be sapphires lined up on the rim of the crown made of solid gold. “What… is that?” I asked. “I-it’s the crown for the Fall Formal. Every year we have a Fall Formal… And this crown goes to the Princess.” Fluttershy said. “So… Prom, basically.” I said. Fluttershy nodded. I stared at the crown. Usually, for high schools and prom, they would just cheap out and buy a plastic crown. Here? This crown looked as though it was stolen from a kingdom far away. “I found it on the ground near the statue, I was going to return it to Principal Celestia.” Fluttershy said. “Well, I can give it to her for you. I mean, you have to get to class, right?” I asked. Fluttershy nodded. “O-okay…” She handed me the crown. She then paused for a moment before wiping away a tear and muttered out a thanks before rushing off. I sighed, then looked at the crown. I went into the staff’s bathroom as I turned the ignition twice. As much as I enjoyed using Banno plus Shift Technic to constantly scan for stuff, I felt as though I was seeing Banno as a mundane utility rather than as… I shuddered as I thought of him as anything more than a partner. I transformed into Gold Drive with the Shift Technic car plugged into the Shift Brace. I scanned the crown. “Bingo.” I said as I saw an aura form around the crown. It wasn’t like Ross’ Aura, however. Rather than it looking like a fire, it was instead rounded and flowed almost like water. There was a magenta hue surrounding the crown. However, the bubble that surrounded the crown soon began to go up in flames. “The hell!?” Now it became the shape of Ross’ Aura, an orange flame, though instead of a red flame. I muttered. That’s when I heard the door open. I cancelled my transformation and turned around. “Principal Celestia!” I said. “Ah, Professor, you found the crown! Perfect! I thought we’d have to cancel the Fall Formal without it.” Celestia approached me. “Celestia, this crown isn’t meant to be a decoration.” I told her. She shook her head. “Of course it isn’t. It symbolizes how thankful we are for the friends and family we have.” She said. “No, I mean that this crown has crazy magic coming from it. Something obviously isn’t right. Allow me to analyze and study this so that we know for sure what exactly it is.” I said. “That won’t be necessary.” Celestia went over and grabbed the crown from me. “This has been Canterlot High tradition for fifteen years, and in those fifteen years, I have not once had a mishap with this crown.” She held the expensive treasure by dangling it by one of the ends like a cheap dollar store toy. “You don’t have to worry about it…” She said as she left the room. I gritted my teeth. How could that idiot steal a powerful artifact from right under my nose? That thing could be a freaking nuke and she just views it as some goddamned beauty queen accessory! I began to seethe so much anger that I began to remember something. It was another one of Ryoma’s memories. This time, he was visiting a bed ridden Takatora. Instantly, I knew this memory. As it played out, I began to figure out why this memory was triggered, especially after Takatora brushed off Ryoma’s desires to achieve godhood. After that, Ryoma began to go behind Takatora’s back. I realized just what I was now thinking. I was considering betraying Celestia. Ross entered the office of the former Nerve Roidmude and looked around. “Has to be here somewhere…” He muttered. He went over to the desk and pulled out one of the drawers. “Perfect!” Ross took out the silver necklace and held onto it. “This kindly I…” But he stopped. He looked at the silver necklace and thought back to his time with Tachibana. “I didn’t really know him enough to call him a friend. I don’t really have a lot of friends. I don’t have anyone to rely on.” Remembering the words he said to Rainbow Dash, Ross instead placed the necklace over his neck and headed off. KNOCK KNOCK Ross had his fingernails dig into his palms as the door opened. “Oh! There you are! You gave me quite a scare.” Ross had to acknowledge that, while she did look like Cinder Fall, there’s a good chance she isn’t actually her. “Hey… Erm… Is your daughter here?” Ross asked her. “As a matter of fact… Sunset!” She called for her. As Sunset approached Ross, time seemed to slow down for him. She was exactly like the angel he saw when he was on the streets. Ross smiled. “So, you must be the person who saved me…” Ross said to her. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” She said. Ross then grabbed her hand, much to her surprise. “Thank you. You don’t know how much it meant to me…” Ross frowned for a bit, but then he smiled. He knelt before her. “I am in your debt.” Ross was determined to make a friend. Sunset just smirked. She just found herself a new pawn. Shimmering Sunset Arc 4: What Lies In The Professor's Past?I continued my pondering of whether or not to go behind Celestia's back and steal the crown from under her nose. On one hand, the crown is a very powerful weapon and the sooner it's under lock and key, the better. On the other hand, I worried about becoming a villain in the process. I still reeled over what happened yesterday with the traffic accident. Suddenly, I heard a scream. Good, I thought. I'd take some anger out on the Roidmudes... That's usually what people tend to scream at, right? Monster attacks? I ran outside the school grounds to confront the Roidmude... Only to see no one there... Well, except for a purple skinned girl in a light blue shirt and a purple skirt running towards me on all fours... Wait what? "Uh, Banno? The fuck kind of Roidmude did this to someone?" I asked. "I don't know! You should start my engine anyways!" Banno said. I got ready to fight... Only for her to stop. "Yeah, I don't think that's how the new you is supposed to..." A purple dog with green tufts of hair spoke up as the girl sprang up. Wait... Did the dog just... talk!? The girl then began to wobble on her legs, almost losing balance. I rolled my eyes, groaned, and walked over to help her up. "Alright, what the hell's going on?" I asked her. "A-ah! Um... I... Erm..." The girl began to stammer. I merely shifted my glare towards the dog. "You. What's going on?" I asked the dog. "Well... Erm... How do I best put it lightly... Well, you see..." The dog also began to stammer. I recalled back to when I met the Space Marine and the Spartan. "You guys from Equestria too?" I asked. As if I had blown their minds, the girl and dog both shut up and nodded their heads rapidly. "W-wait... Too? You mean there's others here?" She asked me. She then struggled to stand up, holding her hands against the railing by the stairs. "Did you see someone with red and yellow hair?" She asked. I blinked. There was only one person I know who had yellow and red hair... Sunset Shimmer entered the garage where she unveiled an orange dirt bike with a blood red engine embedded right into the hull. "Woaaah..." Ross stood next to her. "Hop on. You're a student at CHS, right?" She asked him. "Y-yeah... But..." Ross then took out the Rose Attacker and unfolded it into its own dirt bike mode. "I got my own ride." Ross asked. "Now that's what I'm talking about." Sunset Shimmer smirked as she got on her bike. She then put on her helmet. "Try to keep up, alright?" She asked. Ross nodded as the two rode off. "I see..." I said. In the span of five minutes outside the school ground, I managed to learn a lot more about Sunset Shimmer than I could ever do in a nightly binging of her MyStable posts. As it turned out, Sunset Shimmer was originally from Equestria as a former pupil of a princess by the name of Celestia. She had come back to Equestria and failed in stealing the Element of Magic. I figured I'd tell her what I knew about it. "So, basically the thing my Celestia is touting as some sort of cheap trinket." I said. "Yeah. It's... Wait, what!?" The girl shouted, though I barely flinched. "Apparently, that's what it's been all this time. Some sort of stupid prom night crown waiting to be bathed in pig's blood." I said. Her eyes widened and backed away. "N-nonononononono!" She said. "Well, you and I have a pretty common goal then. I want that trinket out of here, you want it back at Equestria." I said. "Y-yeah." She said. "So, why not just steal it back?" I said. "W-what!? Are you crazy? I may want the crown back, but I'm not gonna stoop to Sunset's lows!" She said. As she said that, I froze. What the hell did I just say? Steal it? I casually said that right to her face. I looked down at the belt. The more I'm with Banno... The more I'm dressed up as Ryoma... The more willing I am to commit a sin. Won't be long now before I actually practice what I preach. I nodded. "Of course. Sorry about that. It was just a suggestion." I said. "It better be." She muttered. "I guess we have a common enemy too. I've been on Sunset Shimmer's case since a couple of days ago. Had her on the ropes too. I'd be happy to help you out with this. Name's Kel... Professor Silverbolt..." I said. "Twilight Sparkle." She said. I recognized the name from the MyStable group petitioning Silverbolt's return to Crystal Prep. However, this Twilight lacked glasses and wore her hair straight. The fact that she didn't stutter from Silverbolt's name or even recognized my appearance is enough of an indicator that Silverbolt's counterpart in Equestria hasn't met her. Speaking of... "So... Equestria. I'm guessing horses are a major thing in your world?" I asked. "Erm... Yes, but the term you're looking for is Ponies..." Twilight said. I froze. "Professor?" Twilight waved to me, though I couldn't respond. "Come on, Twi! We might be able to find the Element in here!" The dog then got up and pushed the door open. Twilight got up and followed him. Meanwhile I just sat there, leaving only the ringing bell to snap me out of it. "What the hell was that?" Banno asked. "... Ponies... Why did it have to be Ponies?" I asked. Somewhere in 2010, someone had the right idea to remake a show in the seventies called My Little Pony. What would have been a moderate show for little girls turned into an internet monstrosity that infected the entire web. Not even Henshin Justice, a forum I frequented, was immune to the pastel colored cat-like beings. It slowly made sense now that I had thought of it. I remembered a cyan colored Pony with rainbow colored hair... Almost exactly like Rainbow Dash. Pieces began to click in and as they did, I began to growl. "I haaaate ponies..." I said. Thankfully, I had a phone call break my concentration. "Bill Nye the Science Guy! Bill Nyyyye, the Science Guy... BILL! BILL! BILL! BI-" I then pressed answer. "Hello?" I asked. "Heeeeey!" I knew the voice and I got up, looking around for Niko. "So, you just met Twilight, huh?" He asked. "How do you know her!?" I shouted. "... Let's just say I've seen many iterations of this universe to know right down to the point where people come and go." Niko said. "You..." I growled. "The true enemy you want to fight isn't Sunset Shimmer. No. It's someone else." Niko said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I think it's time to give you some answers. Head over to the following address. You'll soon realize what answers you're looking for." With that, Niko hanged up and a second later, I got a text. I pulled it out and read the text: '108 Somerset Street'. I sighed and got to the Tridoron. Seemed I have some snooping to do. Ross and Sunset stopped at the parking lot of Canterlot High. Ross could see the Tridoron pull away and drive off. He then turned to Sunset. "So, you come to CHS too?" Ross asked. "Yes, I do." Sunset Shimmer said. "Cool! I just transferred here yesterday! Principal Celestia insisted I come here as per the Headmaster's recommendation." Ross said. "The Headmaster?" Sunset Shimmer had only heard of him in passing. A man who runs the Academia School Board, a board pertaining to four schools, each with a different learning curve. Canterlot High was just one of the four, as was Crystal Prep. What made Sunset raise her eyebrow was the Headmaster's insistence for Ross to be placed in high school. If you got a recommendation from the Headmaster of all people, it would be for a school more prestigious than, say, high school. "Yeah. Not sure who he is though." Ross shrugged and walked into the school. "So, what classes do you take? I have PE, Science, Math, and then Music to end things off at. You?" He asked. "Mostly the same. Though I have Computer Art instead of Music." Sunset Shimmer said. "Ah, so how good are you at it?" He asked. "Erm... I'm still getting used to things." Sunset bit her lip. This Ross person was being way too nice for her. She couldn't act like herself around him and still expect to be her personal slave. She sighed, then patted Ross on the back. "Hey, speaking of, PE's gonna start soon. You should go get ready." Sunset Shimmer said to Ross. "Okay. See ya later, Sunny!" Ross then ran off at a blurring speed. Sunset Shimmer blinked. Well, that's one way to get rid of him. Sunset Shimmer can now begin her search to where the Element of Magic went. Her eyes went to a girl with long pink hair tending to her locker. Perhaps she knows just where to look. I parked the Tridoron outside of a burnt out shack in the middle of a desolated urban neighbourhood. I got out of the Tridoron and walked towards the door. I looked at the text, then compared the numbers on the door. I reached my hand over to the doorknob and opened it. I hacked up a nasty cough upon inhaling the dust bunnies that had built up inside the shack. There was so much dust that I had to transform in order to get a better breathing space. I turned the ignition twice, enabling me to get Shift Technic. Plugging it in, I looked around to see anything of importance. That's when I noticed a computer in front of me, sitting on a mahogany desk with a black swivel chair on it. It seemed off. I walked closer and pressed on the power button in the monitor. After I heard the computer hum to life, I heard a very familiar tone. DUUUUUUUUUUUUN! This tone was most definitely the old Macintosh computer tone. The BIOS phase of the start-up went by pretty quickly, for a Mac, before it landed me on the desktop. What unnerved me was that the GUI was basically the same as a newer Mac, with a lack of a taskbar and rather a series of icons. On the desktop was just a folder labeled 'Entry Logs'. I clicked on it. The window that opened blew me away. The files that were in there were in the hundreds. I clicked on one file and looked at its stats. It was well over thirty minutes with about half a gigabyte of data. Out of curiosity, I clicked and dragged a box around all of them. A chunk of twenty six videos totalled to about nine hours and clocked in at 14 gigabytes. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the first one, titled "Oct-10-2010, Mere Potions". It opened up a media file. It was a broadcast of two kids over a bubbling beaker. One of the kids announced and welcomed the viewer to a show called Popular Science for Kids. This was the show that Soarin' told me about. I let the show play as I cracked open some windows, just to get the dust out as I cancelled the transformation. The show was alright, just showing the kids doing experiments related to baking soda and how awesome it is. It wasn't until after a brief, animated sketch about a bald man and his dog getting into comical hijinks as a deep voiced narrator talked about baking soda's many facts and details that I was glued to the screen. Here, they introduced a new character for the show, announcing him to be a professor from Crystal Prep Academy, Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. He was standing in a pastel colored lab with overblown chalkboards saying ridiculous stuff like "2 + 2 = Fun!" "Greetings!" His voice was eerily similar to Ryoma's, and while he was dressed like him and even had the same hair as him, his face did not match his. It was blockier than Ryoma's. He had a smile stretched across his face and spoke in a very happy tone. "I'm sure you guys are curious to know what kind of wacky potions Old Starswirl left behind when he left the show, well, allow me to show you!" He then took out two glass bottles holding oddly colored liquids. One contained green liquid while another one contained purple liquid. "These are special identity changing potions! Watch and learn!" He took the green bottle and flicked some liquid over his arm. "Woah! Look at that! My skin changed color!" It was clearly just paint sprayed onto his hand to make it look like his silver skin was now green. "The properties of this are also the properties found in paint, but with an added ingredient: Dihydrogen Monoxide!" He said as a dramatic sting punctuated it, as if H2O was the deadliest chemical in all of Earth. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I said out loud. I then stopped the video, only for the video to black out. "Wait, what?" I then pressed play again and the video came back up, now showing Silverbolt without his smile, hands on the table, and glaring at the camera. The lab he was in was also changed. It was now a muted brown with a desk that I found spookily familiar. "If you had managed to stop the episode around my part, it can either mean one of three things. One, you're an idiot who came across this, two, you're me, or three, my clients who have hired me. If you're the former, please stop this video now and kindly leave the house before I find out who you are. If you're the latter two, then you have got the right guy. My name is Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. Formerly, I was known as Professor Argent Silverbolt, but circumstances have left me to live in this world under a new identity, as instructed by you, the client. I have observed the area and this makes for a great testing bed for experimenting the products you fund. I'll also showcase you potential ventures for you to invest in, if the need arises. For now, let this be a preview of what's to come." Professor Silverbolt then took out a red crystal and held it in between his hands. "This, is Dust. You requested me to show you a piece of my world, and here it is. Now, you may be wondering, why do I have a silly little diamond? What does this diamond do? How much is it worth? Well, to answer those questions, this diamond contains a powerful energy that is given the poetic moniker of Nature's Wrath. It can do many things, but we mainly use it as fuel." He took out a pistol and loaded in the crystal like a magazine. He then cocked the gun. "How so? Like this!" He then flicked the gun as two large, flaming blades popped out of it. He held it up as he fired a couple of flaming bullets. "This is worth the entire world to us and unfortunately, it's a finite source. Though, if your many worlds theory proves true, it won't have to be... Silverbolt, out." With that, the screen blacked out and the words 'END TRANSMISSION' showed up. I closed out of it. Clients? Dust? Already there's some more questions here. Out of curiosity, I scrolled down to the last video in the folder. It didn't have a date like the others, but I saw its creation date being on August 28th, 2015. Exactly one month prior to me being Displaced. I clicked on the file. It didn't have a show with two kids like the other one, but the location was vastly different. It was out onto what seemed to be old streets, like a medieval European town. The camera I saw was shaking as I heard tons of panting. "Get this on camera!" Silverbolt barked as I could hear people screaming and the sound of crushed buildings. "W-we can't! They'll see us!" The cameraman shouted. "JUST GET THEM ON CAMERA! WE NEED TO SEE WHAT KIND OF FIRE WE'RE PLAYING WITH!" Silverbolt shouted. The camera tried to turn, but the cameraman suddenly tripped over something. The camera was now on the ground, filming the brown dirt with what appeared to be a bit of red. I heard someone, the cameraman, off-screen. "Wh-what did I trip ov... OH GOD!" This was soon followed by retching noises as the camera was picked up by another person. "Come on! We gotta go!" He said. Soon, there was more running. I hit fast forward, skipping a part where they went into a building and ran upstairs to a higher ground, until I stopped at a scene where they were catching their breath inside of a building. Silverbolt had stepped in front of the camera and counted up the people. When he counted to four, he muttered out a 'Shit'. "We lost one!" He said. There was a bit of panic before Silverbolt went over and took the camera away from the holder. "Give me that!" He shouted. As he looked through the camera, he went to a window and tried to catch some footage of something going on outside. As he did, something crashed right into the window. "HOLY SHIT!" One of them shouted as the camera was knocked out of Silverbolt's hand from the shockwave. There was a bit of silence before I heard some screaming and someone shouting "MOTHER OF FUCK!" before the camera began to jostle around and got picked up. I only saw a brief blur of what appeared to be a huge face, but I presumed that it was just because of how close the camera was when it was picked up. There was more running. I hit fast forward as it skimmed past a couple of clips, such as them getting into a building that a blonde haired teenage girl was hiding in to eventually the camera being dropped one too many, beginning to actually skip itself. When the footage wasn't busy messing up, it finally focused on Professor Silverbolt, in a tattered labcoat and a bleeding forehead. "We're the only two left, huh?" He asked the cameraman. The camera shook up and down before it froze for a bit. When it resumed, Silverbolt was already in a speech about something. "-damn monsters! You think you can control them? You can't! We lost four scouts right now! These are too dangerous for humanity to have!" Silverbolt shouted. "Professor... We were told that you requested the expedition into this world..." The person said. "... No. I was under the assumption that your Foundation wanted these monstrosities." Silverbolt said. It took a moment for him to realize something. "Damn it... He set us up, didn't he!? Damn you... Damn you-" Before he could say anything else, a giant hand crashed through the roof and grabbed Silverbolt. The debris that fell crushed the cameraman, from what I could tell from the sound of rock smashing flesh. Silverbolt gave off a loud, uncharacteristic scream before it was abruptly cut with a sickening crunch. I could only assume what ate him was whatever that giant hand was. I froze for a moment, watching the camera on the ground yet again. Then the camera was picked up and turned to face its new holder. As I saw his face, I immediately filled myself with rage, especially with a comment made directly towards the camera, as if it was towards me: "Welcome, to the true man's world..." Niko Zoloto said. The footage then cut off. I heard someone close the door behind me and I spun around, seeing Niko. I had no hesitation for what I did next. "Henshin!" I shouted. Ross had just finished putting on his gym shirt. He sighed as he put his cape away into his locker. While he would want to wear it to gym, he does acknowledge that he'd be able to trip up with it, as the memories of Ruby getting her cape caught on a Nevermore's feathers had showed him. And yet, why did he feel so obsessed with wearing it? At first, it just seemed to be his own insistence that he complete the Ruby Rose cosplay, but over time, it became more and more apparent that he adored the cape. Perhaps as much as Ruby did. Ross sighed. He could feel like he could become Ruby at any minute. He walked to the school halls before he heard someone. "I can speak to anyone any way I want." It can't be... That was Sunset's voice. But... He never heard her with that tone of voice before. It sounded so... aggressive. Ross gulped before he saw Sunset Shimmer turn the corner and saw him. "Oh, hey, Ross!" And like that, her tone switched. "Sorry about that, I was just talking to someone, so I'm gonna have to take a while with the gym clothes. You go on ahead, okay?" She said, not letting Ross answer before she went to her locker. Ross simply watched her leave. Was there another side to her that he just can't see? His hands trembled as he uncontrollably shed a few tears. He had felt this before... No. That's not it. He remembered how, in the second volume, the villains ended up being false friends to Ruby Rose. Guessing from what the vision he had when he was talking with Rainbow, he was safe to say that the façade didn't last long. No. The doubt that Sunset Shimmer was actually a true friend was definitely something that Ruby had felt before. As soon as I was right in his face, I fired the Door Gun at Zoloto's face, though he used his hook shots to skid away while he shot two bullets into my chest. My armor took most of it, but it still felt like I had been punched in the gut by a potato. Banno laughed. "Yes! Let the hate flow through you! Tag out, perhaps we can go into Overdrive and take him out!" For once, I decided to do what Banno instructed and I turned the ignition. My body became Banno's as he ran, with the Zenrin Shooter in his other hand. He fired the two at Niko. He sidestepped the bullets while he swapped out the smoking barrels with some spares he had strapped to his thighs. "Perfect! Good! This is exactly how I expected you to be!" Niko chuckled as he soon fired some of the hook shots towards Banno, impaling him right on the waist. "But, I'm gonna need you to calm down." He said. "Like hell I will! You're the one who set up Professor Silverbolt to die, didn't you!?" I asked him. Niko smirked and tilted his hat. "See, this is why I need you to calm. Anger's good... but it also blinds you." He reeled in the hooks, pulling Banno in as he pointed his two guns to Banno's head, or at least the area where his head will be pulled to. At this time, Banno switched out to me as I grabbed the Steering Sword. I cut myself loose from the strings, leaped up and turned the wheel three times. TURN! TURN! U-TURN! I spun around with the sword as I descended upon the cowboy wannabe. Niko simply fell to the ground and fired at me, knocking me off and blasting the sword out of my hands. Niko then grabbed it and as soon as I landed, he crouched and leaned the sword against his shoulder. I got up and saw him... Was he charging something? I turned the ignition and hit the button on my Shift Brace. "THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!" Banno shouted as I ran towards him, my fist glowing gold. As I threw the punch, I almost expected to hit him. That's when I felt a sharp blade pierce at my stomach. I backed away, holding the wound. Niko twirled the sword around before planting it on the ground. I keeled over as my transformation cancelled. "And they say video games don't teach you anything." He chuckled as he walked closer to me. "Rule number one about being a Displaced. Never pick a fight with your Displacer. It's just... messy." He then patted me on the head before going to the console. "To answer your question, no. I didn't tip off Silverbolt. Someone else did." He said. "Heh... So what the hell was with that true man's world bullshit?" I asked. "That? Well, it's more of a cautionary warning to people like him. People who think they're beyond the worlds they're tied to." He said. "Beyond the worlds?" I asked before I grunted in pain. "I'm sure by now you found out where Equestria is in the multiverse." He said. "Y-yeah... Why did you stick me into some girly show?" I asked. "Well, that is what I'm about to show you." Niko then clicked on a video and did the same trick I did to summon the Silverbolt message. The clip showed a battered and beaten Silverbolt, leaning against a chair. "You were right..." Silverbolt let out a cough. "They were strong and they tried to stop me." He then leaned into the camera. "But don't worry. I stopped them... However, not all of the product survived." The way he said it made be widen my eyes. I shook my head. No. He couldn't have meant... And as I thought of it, he turned the camera to show my fears confirmed. It was a Spider-Type Roidmude. The number on its plate was 108. It seemed dormant, especially when Silverbolt stroked the skull-like forehead of the Roidmude. "But the ones that did have become stronger. I did it... I brought back Banno's work. Just like you asked." He said. "No! It can't be!" Banno shouted. "In exchange for his inventions, I'll give you the genius behind them." Silverbolt then held up the black Banno Driver and laid it on the table. "This Driver contains his data and memories, as well as his personality. Consider this a... backup drive of sorts. I recommend against using him as a Driver, but if you're eager to, I have made modifications to the belt to mitigate the damage he does. See, I am unable to invent a means to contain him in the belt without him taking over the user, but I have been able to limit his time transformed, as well as invent a means to switch over to the user if he ever gets the idea to use his powers against you. In short, you now have one of the most deadly professors on a leash." He smirked. "YOU BASTARD!" Banno shouted as I could feel the belt rumble on my waist. "As for what I'll do with these inventions of his? Well, I'll be using them to experiment with this world. I am really looking forward to their ability to replicate human appearances, right down to their personalities and core emotions. Perhaps I'll even find a means to earn my happy ending. Hope you enjoy your gift, Foundation X. Silverbolt, out." With that, the video ended. "Now you see why I recruited you?" Niko asked. "... You got the belt? How?" I turned around and asked. "I hate to say it, but it was a coincidence that I came across the belt during a travel of mine. Along with that belt, I came across my client." Niko said. "Foundation X?" Banno asked. "No. Someone else. She wouldn't give me her identity, but don't worry. She's on the Kamen Riders' side." He said. That's when I realized something. "Wait, the Riders... is that who he stopped?" I asked him. "I guess so. According to the woman, the Riders were all scattered across the multiverse after the battle. Not dead, but rather..." "Displaced." I replied. "Exactly! So now I must bear the duty of giving out belts to people in the hopes that they become the Riders who will stop these Roidmudes." Niko said. "..." I looked away from Niko and pouted. "I understand you don't trust me. I wouldn't trust me either." He laughed. "But now you know what side I'm on." I couldn't help but agree with that. I turned around. "I kept a close eye on Silverbolt after the incident. Believe me when I say I'll help you when you need it." With that, he patted me on the shoulder then walked off. "I'll start by cleaning up this place a bit. Think of it as your headquarters. It also has a nice living space..." He said before he flew off with his hook shots. I sighed before I looked at the time. 10:30 AM. "Crap! I'm gonna be late for Science class!" I shouted as I ran out and got into the Tridoron. I managed to get back to CHS in time for me to deliver the day's science lesson. However, I did realize that, at some point, I might need a teacher to fill in for me if I were to ever do this digging around again. As I was going to the cafeteria for lunch, I bumped into Twilight Sparkle. "Ooh!" I said. "Oh, Professor, how are you?" Hearing myself be called Professor after I had found out that Silverbolt was the Recreator made me shudder. "I'm... fine." I said. "Well, I found out how to get the crown back." Twilight said. "Oh good! ... Erm... how?" I asked. "I'm going to run for the Princess of the Fall Formal!" Twilight said. "... What?" I asked in the flattest tone I can use. Ross went to the cafeteria with Sunset Shimmer. The two ordered pretty much the same food and sat on a table, seated parallel to each other. Sunset Shimmer smirked. She knew exactly how Ross could help her out. "Ross..." Sunset held Ross' hand. Ross felt a bit of a spark on his back as her warm hand touched his. "There's something I need some help with..." Sunset Shimmer knew there'd be competition for the Fall Formal. There usually is going to be a dumb schmuck who thinks they could outclass Sunset. First it was Rarity, then it was Trixie, it's soon going to be someone else. She couldn't rely on two dummies like Snips and Snails all the time and she needed someone more... gullible. Ross, meanwhile, looked into Sunset's eyes. For a moment, her shimmering blue eyes soon changed to a fiery orange, at least in his mind. "I can speak to anyone any way I want." He couldn't get that out of his head. How could someone as nice as Sunset say something in such a cold tone? "Sure, what is it?" Ross asked. "Can you help me win the Princess the Fall Formal award?" She smiled. As she did, Ross' entire body jumped. Sunset's eyes widened as she backed a bit. "I-is something okay?" She asked. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't want this kid to freak out and be a useless tool for her ambition. "I-it's fine. Yeah, I'll... I'll help." Ross said. He wanted to say no and confront her on what he heard, but despite every sense in his body screaming no, he chose to agree. Ross' upper arm muscles trembled as he recalled the image he just had in his head. It was brief, but it was short enough to make him jump. It was the image of an arrow piercing into someone's heart. Shimmering Sunset Arc 5: What Power Is Stronger Than Banno's?“Twilight, let me get this straight…” It was the first time I had to sit with students at lunch time. Seeing all the students split up into their own cliques makes me ponder if Sunset Shimmer ever considered forming the Plastics. And also made me groan that even here, they followed this high school clique cliché. “Instead of doing the simple thing and taking the crown, you’re gonna convince a bunch of students who, from what I know, are gripped in fear by this queen bee twat to vote for you instead… in the span of two days. How is just one of many questions I have for you.” I said. “I’m just gonna tell everybody that I’m benevolent. That’ll help tip the odds in my favor.” Twilight said. I groaned as we headed to the gymnasium where the Fall Formal was being set up. That’s when Twilight got her face smacked by a balloon. “Whoops! Sorry about that!” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s alright… I- Pinkie Pie?” She asked. Pinkie Pie then gasped. “How did you know!? Are you psychic!?” She asked. I patted Twilight. “Hang on one sec.” I then walked to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, do you know someone by the name of Sebaste?” I asked. “Sebastian? Yeah! Everyone knows him from Baby Nemo! He makes learning fun through his Jamaican music!” She said. There was a brief pause before she spoke up. “N-not that I watch him or anything… I only watch it when I babysit the Cakes…” She said. “Okay.” I said. Must be another Pinkie Pie they were talking about. It was perhaps a good thing that Twilight came over here and explained the situation of other worlds. Otherwise I’d probably have my mind scrambled. Twilight then stepped forward and asked Pinkie to sign up for the Fall Formal. Applejack then walked in. It was almost a welcome sight to see one of my allies back from the hospital as good as new. “Whooee, glad to be back at school…” Applejack said. I can’t help but crack a smile. She then patted me on the back. “Sup, Kel? Any killer robot attacks as of late?” She asked. “Nah, nothing much, just guiding this new student through school.” I said. Applejack then looked at Twilight. “Ah, the girl who gave Sunset a run for her money. Yeah, people are talking about how she stood up to her. Good to see someone knock her down a peg.” She said. “Yep, and apparently she’s gonna try and take out Shimmer at the Fall Formal!” Pinkie Pie said. “Wait, what!?” Applejack exclaimed. “Okay, sugarcube, hold the hell up…” Applejack then went to Twilight Sparkle. “Sunset Shimmer’s a total-” “Jerk, I know. I saw her teasing Fluttershy earlier today.” She said. “Well good for her! That Fluttershy’s a total meanie!” Pinkie Pie said. “What?” Twilight asked. I shared her exact thought. From what I knew of her from Tachibana and my own personal observations, Fluttershy was not bitch material. In fact, she was quite the opposite. “I’m gonna vouch for my cousin here, Fluttershy has her bitchy moments.” Applejack said. Wait, cousin?! I took one look at Applejack, then at Pinkie Pie… How the hell were these two related?! It seemed Twilight was also stunned, telling from her wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “But Fluttershy’s so nice!” Twilight said. “Nuh-uh! That’s totally a façade!” Pinkie Pie said. I had considered that for a moment. I nodded a bit. That’s perhaps the only explanation I could get for Fluttershy’s reputation. “In fact, the only person less trustworthy than her and Sunset Shimmer combined is Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said. “No…” Twilight muttered out. The way she voiced that little no just made me shudder. That was the no of a person who had just been betrayed. That’s when I began to remember when I interrogated Sunset over Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s splitting up. I felt my brain beginning to click, like I had just put my car’s engine from a gear 1 to a gear 3. I smirked. “Fancy seeing you here, Sunset Shimmer.” I said right after the doors slammed open. “Oh, hello…” Sunset Shimmer then looked around. “All this… for my coronation? This is bad comedy!” Sunset said. “There should be more streamers and less balloons!” Sunset Shimmer said. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it might just not be your coronation. It could be Twilight’s.” I said. I walked to her and patted Twilight on the back. “And I’m gonna vouch for her.” I said. That’s when I noticed someone standing behind Sunset Shimmer… “Ross?” I asked. “Hey, Kelly.” He waved to me. “Twilight Sparkle…” I could see Sunset Shimmer’s eye twitch. She then smiled. “Well, then, I will welcome your-” “Cut the crap, Sunset.” I simply told her. “Don’t you go bipolar on me.” I glared at her. That’s when Ross stepped in front of her. “Hey! You leave Sunset alone!” Ross said. “Oh God, you’re vouching for her, aren’t you?” I groaned. “Yeah! I don’t know where the hell you’re getting that Sunset’s a horrible person, but she’s one of the nicest girls I met!” Ross said. I could see Sunset give off a less than sincere smile as Ross looked at me. “Then what the hell was with that whole ‘more streamers’ thing?” I asked. “Stress! Obviously it’s stress from the upcoming prom!” Ross said. “… Stress? Who the fuck would fall for someone using stress as an excuse to be a total bitch?” I said. I could hear Twilight gulp and give a nervous chuckle, but I didn’t care. Ross could only scowl. “You know what? Fine. I’ll help Sunset win the Fall Formal and she’ll show you all how nice of a girl she can be! Come on, Sunset!” Ross then marched out as Sunset Shimmer gave me and the girls a cold look. She then marched out. “Alright, we can agree that Sunset’s a bitch.” I said. Applejack and Pinkie Pie instantly nodded, though Twilight shook her head. “No… She’s… Well, yeah, she’s a jerk… But I doubt she’s that cruel… I mean, she has a friend who’s protecting her.” Twilight said. “Yeah, but Ross can be an idiot.” I muttered. “Well, maybe this could be a wakeup call for her. It’ll be easy to rally the school to vote against Sunset.” Applejack said. “Yeah! Ol’ meanie pants won’t know what’s comin’!” Pinkie Pie said. “Well, you have supporters at least, Twi…” I said. I then pulled her aside and then spoke to her in a whispered tone. “Whatever you do, don’t tell them about the crown.” I said. “I… I wasn’t going to…” She said. “Good. Because I really hate for their support to fall apart just because your goals involve the crown and not knocking a peg off of her.” I said. “Why are you obsessed with knocking her down in the first place?” Twilight asked. I began to remember a bit of my past… Broken glasses, bleeding knees, the cries of people telling me that I was a loser. I simply frowned and pushed Twilight. I stormed out of the gym. Sunset Shimmer and Ross walked down the hallway, though Sunset then stopped and turned to Ross. “Thank you for backing me up. Those people can be so mean…” Sunset said. “We’re friends.” Ross then bit his lip. “Though Kelly’s also a friend…” He said. “You mean Professor Silverbolt?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… It’s a long story, but…” Ross then spoke up. “She’s not herself. She’s… It’s… it’s complicated.” Ross said. Sunset then held Ross’ hand. “You can tell me.” Sunset gave Ross some droopy eyes. “… Kelly has this... friend. And this friend’s a toxic influence on her. Every day, she slowly begins to think and act just like him. One day, she’ll end up believing that she is him and that nothing will stand in her way… Maybe that’s why she’s acting antagonistic towards you.” Ross said. “I know how that feels.” Sunset said. “If… If you could help me separate her from her friend, then that’d make me happy.” Ross said. Sunset smiled. “Okay. I will.” Sunset said. Just then, the lights in the hallway went out. “… Ross, you go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.” She said. “Erm… Okay.” Ross shuddered as he looked at the blacked out light. He felt a cold presence near him, almost like a Grimm was in the area. However, he trusted Sunset’s words and walked away. Sunset took a few moments before turning to a figure before her. “This better be important.” Sunset asked the figure. “I was just looking to see if you heeded my advice.” A masculine voice came from the figure. “Yes. The Element of Magic was right where you said it’d be.” Sunset Shimmer said. She then shot a glance towards him. “Now… What’s your end of the deal?” She asked. “… None. If anything, you already fulfilled my part of the deal.” It took Sunset a moment to realize what he meant. “So… What do you want with this world, then?” Sunset asked. “Nothing. As soon as the Element of Magic entered this realm, I already felt my magic return. You can do whatever you want. Our transaction is over. I wish you the best of luck, dearie.” With that, dark smoke began to build up from the figure’s legs to his head, swirling around until they dissipated. As the smoke cleared, the figure was gone. Sunset coughed. As soon as she stopped coughing, she turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle standing in front of her. Sunset smirked. “Can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier.” I tried to shrug off the memories I had as I marched down the hall. This was when Principal Celestia stopped me. She poked her head out of her office like some sort of groundhog ready to hide from his own shadow. “Professor Silverbolt, do you have a moment?” Celestia asked. “Yeah… Sure.” I sighed. I stepped into the office as Celestia walked to her desk. “Professor… The recent attacks have made the Headmaster of the school board very concerned… He’s why we had Ross transfer over to this school.” She said. “You’d think some teen can help protect this school?” I asked. “No. Which is why I requested the Headmaster to send backup. And if I timed it right…” Celestia then looked to her watch. I looked at her for a moment before a perky voice made me jump. “Cheers, love!” It was definitely a Cockney accent. My heart raced as I turned to a giggling girl, about a few years younger than me. She wore what seemed to be a fighter pilot’s jacket, a bright yellow jumpsuit underneath, and overlapping the jacket was a large metallic chest plate with what appeared to be a glowing blue core. “An… older teen. Not what I had in mind.” I said. “Don’t let her age fool you. Miss Oxton is a student fresh off of the Wonderbolt Academy.” Celestia said. “The… what?” I asked. “Right… Allow me to explain. See, the Academia School Board is divided into four schools: Canterlot High School, the school we’re in, Crystal Prep Academy, the boarding school our Silverbolt was from, the Everton Independent Study Program, a college filled with scientific geniuses, and Wonderbolt Academy.” Celestia said. “It’s a place where people with cool powers get to hone their powers and protect people and-” I raised my hand to stop Miss Oxton from talking my ear out. “So… There’s no replacement?” I asked. I could almost hear Oxton wince. I hate to say it, but I really didn’t want a Pinkie Crumpet protecting my school. “The Headmaster insisted for Miss Oxton to be our security.” Celestia sighed. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll be ready to protect this school with my life!” She then turned to me. “I can also teach the kids too while you’re away!” “Wait, what?” I asked. “You’ve been slipping behind on classes. Plus, it will work as a cover for Miss Oxton and you. You no longer have to worry about being late for teaching ever again and Miss Oxton can work closely to the school without people growing suspicious of her.” Celestia said. “Come on, love, what do ya say?” Miss Oxton asked me. “… Well, she can take over my shift tomorrow.” I sighed and got up. “I have a long day ahead of me.” With that, I left. As I entered the library, I saw Twilight pounding the keyboard with her fists. It would be very funny if it wasn’t so sad. “Really?” I asked as I went to her. I sighed and grabbed her hands. I pulled her fingers so as to line up with the home row keys. “Use your fingers.” I said to her. “Oh…” Twilight then pressed on a few buttons before cracking a grin. “Wow! It’s that easy!” Twilight said as I saw that she was still on the desktop. I then looked over to the mouse. Poor thing’s barely touched. “That’s just half of the navigation. The other half is this.” I pushed the mouse towards her hand. She grabbed it and immediately associated the mouse with the cursor’s movement. “And to select, you just click. You can make things activate with two clicks.” I said. She moused over to a horse that was on fire and was circling the globe and proceeded to double click on it, popping up the internet browser. “Hmmm…” Banno spoke up. “What is it?” I asked. Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked to me. “Talking to my belt buddy here.” “… Never call me belt buddy again. Also… Look over there.” Banno said. I looked to see two chuckling kids, one chubby and the other thin, having their cameras out. They stopped when they saw me and bolted like hell. “What’s their problem?” Twilight asked. “My guess is that they find you funny and Youtube material…” I then realized what Twilight would ask next, so I took a breath and spoke. “It’s a thing where you can upload videos for people to see and it can be practically anything. In this case, your ‘attempts’ at computing.” I said. “So… that’d grant me more popularity, right?” Twilight asked. I shook my head, then sat next to her. “No. I mean… Yes. You’ll be popular, but for the wrong reasons. You want to be an influential person in these students’ lives? You want to win the vote? Then don’t be a fool.” I could see Twilight practically blink. “Chances are, they got enough footage to put you up on Youtube. Provided it doesn’t get outshined by video footage of a psychotic father destroying something…” “Hey!” Banno coughed up. “Then it’s probably gonna go viral and people will make you out to be a laughing stock.” I said. Twilight bit her lip. “But… if you pull through, then you might actually win this prom and get that crown.” I said. Twilight then smiled. “Thank you… You never told me why you wanted to help me.” Twilight said. I sighed and simply said: “I know what it’s like to be bullied.” I said. Twilight winced. “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that. But at least you had friends to back you up, right?” Twilight asked me. I closed my eyes and gripped my fists. “… No. In fact… The one friend I did have… She turned on me. She used me.” I said. Twilight simply whimpered and began to hug me. “I’m sorry! That must have been horrible!” Twilight cried into my shoulder. “H-hey… It’s over now. The damage’s done…” I then looked down and frowned. “And it taught me that friendship isn’t magic.” I said. Twilight then pulled herself out of the hug. “It is magic! And I can prove it!” Twilight said. “Really? Well, I’m pretty sure you’re well aware that there’s a rift between some friends right now.” I said. Twilight nodded. “I just can't help but get the feeling that Sunset Shimmer had something to do with it.” Twilight said. I simply gave her a deadpan look. “No. You think?” I asked. “Well, Twilight, we should focus on making friends here, not wondering why these friends aren’t with each other.” The dog said, poking his head out of Twilight’s backpack. My eye twitched. “Mind telling me just what’s with the dog?” I asked Twilight. “Oh, Spike? He’s…” She turned around to see if there was anyone in the library. I looked too. Seemed Cheerilee was busy with some of the kids on the other side of the computer lab. “He’s my assistant.” She said. She then looked at my belt. “Is he your assistant?” She asked. “I beg your pardon!?” Banno asked. “No. He’s my partner.” I said. Twilight raised her eyebrow. “I thought you said friendship wasn’t magic.” Twilight said. “He’s a good partner, but that doesn’t make him a good friend. One day, you’ll understand what I mean.” I said. Cheerliee then walked to me. “Library’s closing in five… Shall I go make the bed for you?” She asked me. I nodded, then looked to Twilight. “Uh… if you may?” I asked. Cheerilee groaned and walked off. I then looked to Twilight. “If you get these friends back together, I have a feeling like they can help you better than if they’re just separated.” I said. Twilight smiled, but then frowned. “I know… but I have to keep my eyes on the prize.” Twilight said. With that, I helped Twilight study on the world she was in, using the exact same techniques that I used when I was first here. Eventually, night came and I showed Twilight to her bed. Cheerilee does a pretty alright job of making a bed using recycled paper shreds as the cushion and it seemed she made a second one just for Twilight. I got onto the bed and began to sleep, though I doubt Twilight would be getting any sleep from what I told her. It was late into the evening. It was the kind of late evening where students should be sleeping. Sunset Shimmer was an exception. Sunset sat in her room, browsing on her computer for any news regarding the new girl, Twilight. Ping! Sunset smiled as she received an email from Snips and Snails with a file attached to it. She clicked on the file and saw a short, fifteen second video of Twilight smacking the keyboard with her fists. She looked at it and groaned a bit. “Okay, it will do…” Sunset said as she opened up a video editing software. That is before she caught a whiff of rose scents. “Whatcha doin’?” Ross asked Sunset. Sunset blushed and closed off her email application. “N-nothing! Shouldn’t you be going to bed already?” Sunset looked to him and gave a crooked smile. “I should… but…” Ross then fell onto the bed. “I can’t sleep. Every time I do, I get the same nightmares.” He said. “Nightmares?” Sunset asked. “Yeah… It’s… It’s all a blur. Everything was too bright. All I can remember was someone screaming out a name… some monster howling… someone saying ‘what’… And then… silence. Like there’s a ringing in my ear.” Ross said. “That’s… Um… Something.” Sunset said. “…. The more I think of it, the more I believe it to be…” Ross then frowned. “It’s nothing.” Sunset then sighed. “No. It’s not… nothing.” Sunset then got onto the bed as well. “Nightmares aren’t nothing.” Sunset laid on her back. “I have nightmares myself. I have dreams of being loved, adored, in power… And then as soon as the sun rose, all of that is gone. The sun usually comes in my nightmares to take away all I worked so hard for. But that’s why I work twice as hard. I want to make sure those nightmares don’t become a reality.” Sunset said. She turned to face Ross. “Anything else happened in your dream?” She asked. “… Someone died. I remember that much. Arrow in the heart… It’s… A common thing I keep on seeing. And the scary part is… I feel like I personally knew who died.” Ross then trembled… “Someone dear to you will die? Is that what your nightmare is about? You know what must be done then, right?” Sunset asked. “Work twice as hard to make sure they don’t die?” Ross asked. Sunset nodded. Ross sighed. “… There’s… There’s another thing I remember now… After the light… After the ringing, I heard a voice. Someone I never heard before… but someone I too found familiar. He told me that it’s alright and that he has me…” Ross said. “Maybe your dreams reassuring you that someone’s got your back.” Sunset held Ross with one arm draped around his chest. Ross blushed and turned to Sunset. “Y…yeah.” He remembered her finding him injured underneath the bridge in the middle of the rain. Sunset then stroked Ross’ hair. “It’s alright. I got you, kid… I got you.” With that, Ross began to be lulled into a rest. Sunset counted the seconds before she could confidently tell that Ross was out. She then got up and resumed editing the video. “Double Diamond, you sure these notes are accurate?” A woman with bright pink skin, curly purple hair with an aquamarine highlight wearing a white uniform with silver linings asked the man in front of her, an albino looking man wearing the exact same uniform. The two were inside a lab with notes strewn across regarding mathematical formulas. “Positive. If my theory proves correct, then this single yen coin could act as a catalyst to summoning a being from another world.” He held up a silver coin. “The informant told me these were called Tokens.” “So, that incident seventeen years back could have possibly been caused by a Token?” She asked. “Precisely, Starlight!” Double Diamond said. “A shame what happened to the dreamcatcher though, but if this can bring us one step closer to achieving my ambitions, then that will be all the proof I need!” She said. Double Diamond fiddled with the coin, feeling the raised kanji with his fingers. “If what he said is right, the incantations are different for each person. You have to hear it before you can outright say it.” Double Diamond closed his eyes. He then smirked. “Got it. With this single coin, I call upon a harvest!” With that, he flipped the coin. When it landed, it glowed white before exploding in a shower of light. As the light faded, the two researchers turned around to see an obese man wearing a green uniform with gold linings over it. His head was completely shaven and had spikes jutting out from his scalp. “… Why have you summoned me?” He asked. “It worked!” Starlight said. The fatty glared at them. “You two… You’re not Displaced. How are you able to find out about this? Who are you two?” He asked. Double Diamond stepped closer to him. “My name is Starlight Glimmer. I’m the Head of Research for the Everton Independent Study Program, or EISP for short. EISP is dedicated to researching all the changes and advancements in this world…” Starlight said. She then smirked. “And other worlds…” “… What?” The spiked man asked. “It was inevitable that someone would find about this… Displacing nonsense and wish to understand more of it. Tinker with it, look at the concept under a microscope and perhaps use it to their own benefit. This is where I come in. Double Diamond’s my name. I work for a funding organization called Foundation X. Over the past little while, we’ve been observing the habits of your kind. Eventually, we decided to have a piece of that cake. You are our first experiment.” Double Diamond said. “So… That’s what I am to you? An experiment? I'm the great Shigekiyo Yangu! I won't be hassled by some scientists!” He said. Starlight Glimmer and Double Diamond soon noticed the fat man glowing with a purple aura. “Of course. But…” Double Diamond snapped his fingers as two men in sunglasses wearing a grayer version of the Foundation X uniform rush in, briefcases in hand, and opened them, revealing dozens of gathered Japanese yen banknotes. “We know how to reward our experiments.” Shigekiyo smiled and tried to grab the money, only for one of the members to snap the briefcases shut. “And of course, after they prove useful.” The fat man glared at him. “What do you want me to do?” He asked. “There is another Displaced in this city. Two, in fact. But we ask you prioritize on this one.” Double Diamond opened up his iPad, showing video footage of Kelly throughout her days in Canterlot High School. “She’s going under the identity of one of Foundation X’s former members, Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt.” Starlight Glimmer said. “We need things from her. My organization wants her Belt. It’s a special belt that contains the AI of a brilliant scientist.” Double Diamond said. “And my organization could accept the professor that has this belt into our ranks of Everton.” Starlight Glimmer said. “So… You want me to kidnap a broad?” Shigekiyo asked. The two nodded. “Heh, no worries…” His aura faded. “Me and my buddies will make short work of her.” I could feel my gut be punched so hard. My back crumpled against the wall. Everything seemed to be a blur, though I could blame that on the pain I was going through. I fell onto the ground before getting up and… laughing? “Surely you realize you won't last long in that state...” I could hear someone speak as I began to stumble away from the man who punched me. “You'll perish soon enough!” I was unsure if those haunting words were meant for me or someone else. My vision was wobbly. Perhaps a mixture of being drunk and being beaten to near unconsciousness. “That’s your fate…” With that final warning, I could feel myself falling down for what appeared to be hours. Me falling down into a long… deep… sleep. I woke myself up, my heart racing. I had to remind myself of how I just saw the last moments of Ryoma and that his warning was not towards me but towards his opponent. I looked to my hands. Perhaps this was a warning to myself. That if I continue being Banno’s ‘partner’, I will surely perish. I looked around. Seemed Twilight and her assistant went on without me. I got off of my bed and walked out of the library. As I walked down the hallway, I noticed some of the students snickering. One casual glance at a student’s smartphone was all I needed to confirm that the footage those two kids took last night was indeed used to make a parody video. Of course, I didn’t look closely enough before the students put away their phones. Being a teacher has its flaws too. “Hello, love!” My body jumped up as I heard Miss Oxton’s perky voice again. “Wah! Don’t scare me like that!” I said. “Sorry, just a force of habit.” Miss Oxton said. “Aaargh, what do you want?” I asked as we walked down the hall. “Well, science class is starting soon and I was thinking we’d start that whole subbing thing.” She said. “Eeeh, I don’t have anything to do, so you could definitely-” That’s when I passed by an empty classroom with five girls, all of which I recognized. “You know what, Miss Oxton? Why don’t you go on ahead with that substitute teacher thing? I just remembered I was supposed to do some counselling.” I said. “Aaaaw! It’s so sweet how you want to help the students! Don’t worry, love, the Calvary’s here!” She patted me on the back and began to run off. I swear she’s less of a person and more of a mascot. I sighed and entered the class room. Ross sat in the science classroom. There was a ten minute delay between classes to allow students to transit properly. Ross, thanks to his Semblance, was able to have at least eight of those minutes to spare. He spent those minutes watching a certain viral video. “Twilight Sparkle wants to be your Fall Formal Princess.” He could clearly hear Sunset’s voice in the video as footage played of Twilight Sparkle, the new student at the school, typing away on a keyboard with her fists. However, the video seemed to be a fifteen second clip of it. It ended and prompted Ross to play the video again, to which he did. Why, he wasn’t sure. Was it because he was still unsure of Sunset’s true nature? Was it because he couldn’t believe someone so nice would stoop to such a low as bullying another person? The more he watched, the more shocked he was. Eventually, he put down the phone and massaged his temples. That memory played in his head again of the man in the hallway. What made his brain hurt even more was that he remembered the man: Mercury Black, an antagonist who, along with some other antagonists, feigned being Ruby’s friend. He wasn’t sure what led to this moment, but knowing how Mercury stood in a confronting pose and how he was having Ruby’s memories, he was well aware that the false friends angle would die pretty soon. Though that begged the question of why he kept remembering Mercury. These memories seemed to be brought up whenever betrayal is mentioned. He wondered why this particular moment kept showing up when that theme is brought up. Ross came to some conclusion that whatever Mercury did to Ruby was much worse than what Cinder or Emerald, his leader and partner in crime respectively, could do to Ruby. Or perhaps it was the first betrayal. And Ross knew what they say about the first cuts. “Fuck, gotta watch Volume 3 now…” Ross lightly chuckled as he put away his phone just as Sunset came in. “Hey Ross.” Sunset said to him. “Mornin’.” Ross said. Sunset Shimmer sat down next to Ross. Ross then spoke up. “Sunset, how important is the Fall Formal?” He asked her. “… It’s… It’s sort of important.” Sunset then scooted to Ross. “Each of the four seasons is meant to teach us something. Winter is about reflection, spring is about revitalization, summer’s about embracing the outdoors, and fall is about being thankful for what we have. To remind us of this, Principal Celestia has four dances every year, one for each season. Spring Fling, Summer Gala, Fall Formal, and Winter Ball. Each dance has a Princess that students elect. Those Princesses would then metaphorically embody the spirit of that particular season.” “Wait, just a Princess? No Prince?” Ross asked. “Yeah, no. I don’t know why either. Principal Celestia’s pretty insistent that there’s only a Princess for the four dances.” Sunset said. She then held Ross’ hand. “But… you can be my Prince, if you like.” Sunset said to Ross. Ross simply looked into her eyes, only for them to flash orange again. Ross shivered. “Ross, what’s wrong?” Sunset asked him. Ross shook his head. “N-nothing…” Ross said. The bell rung as students began to pour in. The last to enter was the teacher, who, to Ross’ surprise, wasn’t Kelly, but rather a spunky looking young adult. Ross sighed. Perhaps what happened yesterday caused Kelly to storm out. Ross bit his lip. Perhaps Banno’s influencing Kelly harder than he thought. I entered the room as the girls bickered about. They soon stopped as soon as I closed the door. It was perhaps the first time I saw Applejack in the same room as Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, and the fact that she had the same anger for them as she did with Rainbow Dash confirmed her suspicions. “What happened? You were friends once!” Twilight took out a blue book and showed the others a picture of the four girls plus Rainbow Dash. The four girls looked at the photo and then frowned. “Sunset Shimmer obviously tore you guys apart!” Twilight said. That’s when I shook my head. “Twilight… It’s… It’s deeper than that.” I told her. I was tempted to tell her what Rainbow texted Fluttershy… That’s when I remembered her saving Fluttershy and her attempt to rescue her from Nerve. Someone who would go to those lengths to save someone wouldn’t have said those mean things to them. I then blinked. “Fluttershy… Are you sure you got those texts from Rainbow Dash? You know the ones.” I asked her. “Y-yeah… Positive! I mean, look at this.” She then showed me her phone. I blinked as I saw the number unregistered and that the very first text was the number declaring itself as Rainbow Dash. Out of curiosity, I closed the text and then pressed the phone button. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash’s number was in the contacts and they didn’t even match the ones that the texts had. I went back to the texts and noticed a similar text regarding Pinkie Pie and making fun of her shy nature. Taking a hunch, I showed Pinkie Pie. “W-what? I’d never text her that!” Pinkie Pie said. Soon, bickering occurred, though now it was more of a pleasant bickering. Girls concluding that they’d been fooled and forgiving one another. Twilight smiled at me. Though that’s when my heart stopped. “Tell me something… Why didn’t you girls confront each other about these texts beforehand? You know… confirm that you were sending each other these texts?” My voice was stern and sharp. “Well… I was angry with Dash… But you would be too if-” I cut Applejack off. “If what? If some bitch pretended to be my friend and make insulting comments towards me? Or lie to me about what they want done?” My hands balled up into fists. “Professor… Calm down…” Twilight tried to speak to me, but I just stormed out. A part of me stopped, just so that I could give the final word. “Are you really friends if you automatically assume the worst out of each other?” With that, I slammed the door. I figured the fresh air would help break up the pent up rage in my body. Of course, someone had to chime in as I walked onto the soccer field. “Well, well… Haven’t seen anger like that since I died… Well, the second time I died.” Banno said. I tried to inhale and exhale. Banno’s right, I’m getting irrationally angry. “I know exactly how it feels to have a close friend betray you…” I immediately knew what Banno was referring to. His close friend was another professor by the name of Krim Steinbelt. He was the one who created the Core Driviars, engines that could accelerate the particles and invoke a slowdown. Without him, the Roidmudes would have never existed. And I knew exactly how their relationship ended. “I wasn’t the one torturing someone, though.” I said. “Regardless, Krim never saw from my perspective and rather than communicate with me, left me on my own. Had he stuck around… Maybe the Roidmudes wouldn’t be the monsters they’d be now, would they?” Banno gave a dark chuckle before I growled. “Shut up.” I told him. “You don’t like it when I get under your skin, huh? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I will do more than get under your skin… I’ll take over your skin! Do you like that feeling? Knowing that I’ll one day figure out how to take over your body and use it to make those friends of yours beg for mercy?” Banno said. “Shut up.” I said to him. “Rage is the quickest way to unlock one’s ruthlessness… And I gotta say, now I know where you got that ruthlessness from. And the more ruthless you become… I become…” Banno said. That one little line tore me up. “SHUT UP!” I shouted. Banno just laughed. My entire body shook. “This is a race, Kelly. Who can kill who the fastest? Me… or you?” Banno said. As he finished, I heard a new voice. A raspy voice. “Found you…” I turned around to see a very fat man wearing a green uniform with yellow pearls to act as lining for the clothes. He was bald with spikes jutting out of his head. “And who the fuck are you?” I asked. “I think you should know by now.” He smirked. He then walked to me. “Displaced have a tendency to attract Displaced.” He approached at least a meter in front of me before giving off a whiff. “Yeah… I can tell you’re a Displaced… So tell me. What powers do you have?” He then chuckled. “No. Scratch that. I’d rather have the first cut… They’re always the deepest!” He then flailed his hands. I didn’t notice what he was doing, but I suddenly felt a sliver of skin on my arm suddenly get cut off by an invisible force. “Gah!” I shouted before another force cut the other side of my arm, and then my legs. “It’s a shame that I was told to bring you and the belt alive… I wouldn’t have minded having my friends cut an artery or two and make the suffering quick.” He said. I struggled to activate the Driver, grinding my teeth to ignore the pain. “HENSHIN!” I shouted as I turned the ignition twice and transformed into Gold Drive. Like clockwork, Type Technic was summoned and I plugged it in. My HUD glowed and showed the fat man bathed in what appeared to be a purple light. I also began to notice small bee like humanoids falling from my body and retreating to the fat man. The beemen were in the dozens… No…. The hundreds. “What the fuck are these things?!” I asked. “Ah, so you can see them now? This will make things a little more exciting. I’d like to explain the power to you and why you can’t see them, but to save on time, you can just call these little men… Harvest.” He said. The tiny beemen began to mobilize to create a shield for their seeming master while a horde of them came towards me. I switched the controls to Banno as the Door Gun came into his hands. He fired wildly at Harvest. A handful of them were blasted off before Harvest began to overwhelm Banno. “Think of Harvest as a swarm of army ants. Nothing can stop it from tearing apart anything it comes into contact with!” He said as Harvest began to punch their way into Banno’s armor. Sparks began to fly out of the armor before knocking Banno back. He rolled onto the ground and struggled to get up. “How boring… Harvest, rip the belt out from this pathetic person’s waist.” He scoffed. Harvest marched towards me. POP! That’s when I heard something. “Hiya!” It was Pinkie’s voice. I looked up to see that Pinkie Pie was suddenly besides the fat man before clocking him in the face. He stumbled back as Harvest flinched. Before Fatty could even react, a soccer ball flew right into the side of his head and knocked him down. I turned to see Rainbow Dash as she gave me a thumbs up. “Rainbow Dash… Pinkie Pie… Thanks.” I said. Rainbow Dash glared to Pinkie Pie as she did the same. The two seemed to stare before Rainbow Dash just smirked. “So that’s what happened, huh?” Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles. “Well, after we take care of fatso over here, I’ll help Twilight with the Fall Formal.” She said. “Wait, how did you know?” I asked. That’s when I noticed the HUD was showing Pinkie Pie having a pink aura around her. I soon saw three other auras approaching the field, one white, another yellow, and a third orange. These belonged to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack as I saw them arrive. Fluttershy meekly waved to me. “Whoowhee, these girls really got a hang of these powers.” Applejack said. She patted Fluttershy on the back. “Fluttershy here was able to tell Rainbow Dash what happened via weird fingly fangly psychic powers.” She said. So Telepathy. Okay. Banno struggled to get up. Pinkie Pie then suddenly vanished with the sound of a popping balloon. One popping balloon sound later and she reappeared between Rarity and Fluttershy. Fluttershy jumped a little as Rainbow Dash ran to catch her. I stood up and smiled. “So… You guys finally made up?” I asked. The five nodded. Twilight then arrived. “Now… do you want to see the magic of friendship?” Twilight asked. I nodded. After relying on the ruthlessness of Type Overdrive, I’d rather use something else. “Yeah… Banno, leave this to me.” I said as Banno turned the ignition. Four Shift Cars came to me as I held one, Shift Speed. I turned to Rainbow Dash and nodded to her. “Let’s go, students!” I said as I saw Fatty get up. “YEAH!” The girls went into a fighting pose, though Fluttershy put up a sort of meek posture. I plugged in Shift Speed and along with Rainbow, we dashed towards Fatty. We both gave Fatty a flurry of bows, knocking some of Harvest away from him before punching him away. That’s when I noticed that a lot of Harvests began to latch onto me. I tried to punch them off but they clung onto my armor. Switching Speed for Wild, I called out to Applejack. “What do you need, Sugar Cube?” Applejack asked. “Punch me as hard as you can.” I said. “What?” She replied. “… Just do it.” The image of Harvest digging into my forearm’s armor began to fade from my HUD. I held out the arm as Applejack punched it. It created quite a shockwave, but not enough to cause any actual damage to the arm, especially with Wild increasing my durability. I swapped out Wild for Technic to reboot the HUD and have me look at Harvest again. I then looked to Fluttershy. “It’d be easier if these girls can see what I can see.” I told her. Fluttershy gulped, but she nodded and held out her hands. As she did, the girls started to jump out of the way. I saw within my HUD that they were able to see Harvest creeping up to them. Swapping out Technic for Formula, I ran at hurricane speeds to knock the Harvests away. “Oooh! Oooh! Let me fight! Let me fight!” Pinkie said. I nodded and we both vanished into thin air. Well, for me, I sort of went so fast that I was there one moment and right in front of Fatty in the next moment. Both me and Pinkie Pie both punched Fatty in the face and knocked him down. I then swapped for Dead Heat and allowed myself to enter the Dead Zone. I punched Fatty with a red-lightning charged fist right into his gut, then proceeded to punch him in the face, knocking him back a few inches before I kicked him right into the goal. I dusted myself off. “One-zip.” Rainbow Dash said. “Shishishishishi…” Fatty laughed as I could see Harvest lift him back up. He then laughed a blob of Harvest to overwhelm me. I couldn’t move in time as the tiny beemen took me on and engulfed me. “One little move and I kill your friend!” He said. Harvest seemed to engulf the lower part of my body where the belt was. I could see Pinkie Pie teleport to Fatty, only for another swarm of Harvest to grab her. “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted. “Same goes with teleporting!” Fatty said. “L-let her go!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Never… Shishishishi…” I could see Fatty almost command Harvest into attacking Pinkie by making a crushing motion with his hands, but that’s when I saw a single Harvest drone bring something shiny. “Huh?” Fatty picked up the object. Seemed to be a red jewel of some sort. “Aaaah, good find, Harvest.” He said. “Consider that payment in exchange for our friend’s safety.” Rarity said. Fatty just looked to her. “Shishishi… You’re a dumbass. Everyone knows you’re supposed to offer the payment to a hostage taker instead of just paying him.” Fatty said. “Oh, but darling, that wasn’t what I had in mind.” Rarity said. Before Fatty could realize it, the red gem glowed. As he looked at the glowing gem, I could see in his eyes a sort of shock. I recognized this look before. It’s the same thousand yard stare I had whenever I remember something from Ryoma’s past. “THROW THAT AWAY, HARVEST! THRO-” Too late. The gem blew up and the two Harvest swarms stopped their grasp on me and Pinkie. I smirked as the threat was taken care of. As the smoke cleared, however, I heard Fluttershy gasp and wince “Oh my!” Fatty was still alive, but had massive gashes into his flesh. Blood poured out from the open skin as he weakly got up. “D-don’t think this is the last of me… Shishishi…” As he walked away, something about kicking the wounded fatass just made me outright giddy… Even… Ruthless. Suddenly, the compound lights on Gold Drive switched to its bullseye design as the Shift Tridoron car came into my hand. “Allow us to finish him off.” Me and Banno said as we pressed onto the button located on the hind wheel. FIRE ALL ENGINES! Before I could put it into the Shift Brace, Fluttershy ran and held me. “No! Stop!” Fluttershy shouted. “Let me go!” We both said. “Hold her down!” Fluttershy said as the other girls grabbed me. “Stop this! Now!” We said as my hand subconsciously held onto the Door Gun, finger hovering over the trigger while the barrel dug right into Fluttershy’s gut. “I don’t want anyone else to die, okay!?” Fluttershy said as she was on the verge of tears. My finger twitched between touching the trigger and being inches away. For one moment, me and Banno both thought of shooting Fluttershy, breaking out of the crowd as we invoked Slowdown to finish off Fatty… However, I then thought about going through with killing Fluttershy and the consequences that it held. Knowing I’ve killed someone, seeing everyone grieve for her, seeing all the trust I sowed into the girls be shattered. I thought about not killing her. Eventually my hand relaxed as the golden armor came off of me and I became faint. “So-sorry…” I said. Twilight helped me up. “It wasn’t your fault. I could tell that you were no longer in control. It’s happened to a few of my friends.” Twilight said. She then placed a hand on my shoulder. “So long as you have friendship by your side, however, you can accomplish anything.” She said. I hesitated. “You’re not gonna buy this garbage, are you?” Banno quipped before Twilight glared at him. I sighed before shedding a single tear. “Thanks…” I took Twilight’s hand and tore it away from my shoulder. “But if you are my friends… then I don’t want to hurt you…” I got up and walked away. “You’re gonna have to be the Fall Formal Princess without me.” I said as I left the soccer field. Banno was right, if I got more ruthless, he gets more ruthless. And it’s only a matter of time before I become just like him… Or worse, he takes over me. Shigekiyo slumped over. He couldn’t go an extra mile. Thankfully, he had Harvest drag him to his destination: Everton Independent Study. As he got up and inched to the door, he could see a man in the reflection of the window. A man with bleached, slicked back white hair, blood red lips, pale skin, and wore a black leather jacket with black leather pants. Shigekiyo’s eyes went wide as his body stiffened. “Hello there. You remember me, don’t you?” The pale man asked. Shigekiyo slowly nodded. “It’s been such a long time since we last saw each other…” The pale man caressed Shigekiyo’s shoulder. He then eyed the door leading into Everton. “You were summoned by these people, right?” Shigekiyo nodded. “I see… Those idiots think they can harness the powers of a Displaced, let alone one who dwells in the Void. Why trust them when you can trust me?” With a wave of his hand, Shigekiyo’s wounds closed up and he could stand normally. “This place held me prisoner for seventeen damn long years. I really don’t want you to be subject to the same experiments I was put through.” He said. “B-but… They’re paying me…” Shigekiyo said. “So?” The pale man, with a flick of his hand, summoned a gold brick out from a puff of gray smoke. “I can make so much money that the economy could crumble beneath my feet.” The pale man said. “… So you are recruiting me.” Shigekiyo said. “Yes. I am. Seventeen years is quite a long time and my grip has softened because of it. But now that I am able to leave this world now, I am considering rebuilding an army and picking up where I last left off.” He said. Shigekiyo paused. “Ooooh, but you know full well about this offer.” His cold, pale hands traced from Shigekiyo’s shoulder to the nape of his neck. “I refuse to take no for an answer.” He growled. Shigekiyo trembled, but then stiffened again. If he was fast enough, then maybe… just maybe he can get away. He opened the door and- He felt a sharp knife enter his chest. Only he knew it wasn’t a knife, especially as he felt five appendages attached to it feeling up his heart before grabbing it and yanking it out. Shigekiyo fell onto his knees, out of breath as he turned to see the pale man holding his heart, now bathed in a glowing red light. “I wanted to help you. I really did. I don’t want anyone to suffer the treatment I got at that horrible place.” The man gripped his hold on the heart. “Consider this mercy.” Tighter and tighter, the heart shrank until it was completely engulfed in the pale man’s hand. Shigekiyo slumped to the floor in a lifeless heap as the pale man let go of the remains of the heart, nothing more than dust. Click. The pale man could see in his reflection an angry man with a fedora and a brown military jacket holding a gun at him. “Niko! I was wondering what took you so long.” The pale man smiled. “I should have known those bastards had the audacity to summon you before handing your Token to me.” Niko said. “Oh, don’t fret. I have no purpose for this world. All I wanna do is get out of here. Stretch my legs.” The pale man turned around and extended his arms widely. Niko still pointed his gun at him. “And yet, you still threaten me. I thought I taught you well when you first did this.” He walked over to Niko, took his gun, and bent its barrel with a glow of olive light. “Never pick a fight with your Displacer. It’s just… messy.” He smiled while playfully slapping Niko’s cheek. He then unbent the barrel and went on his merry way. Niko pointed the gun towards him, but as he fired, the pale man burst into a cloud of gray smoke and disappeared. Niko then heard sirens. “Damn.” He muttered as he used the hook shots to get out while cops closed in on the corpse of the fat man. Shimmering Sunset Arc 6: Who Cleared Our Names?Fire... Ross could see fire around Canterlot High. The smell of sulfur and ash got too much to him as he coughed. As he closed his eyes, a voice rang in his head. A man's voice. He felt like he heard it before, but the voice was in such a desperate tone, he felt like it was a whole new voice altogether. "Please, you have to stop her!" Ross' eyes opened up as he saw a woman on fire. As he glazed forward, he could recognize the girl on fire. "S-sunset?" He could see her blazing hair and fire coming from her eyes. She merely grinned and held up her hand, a ball of fire forming from the palm. "She doesn't stand a chance!" The desperate sounding voice rang out in Ross' ears as he could see a flash of gold. He could see Kelly walk up to Sunset, now as Gold Drive. Her body jerked around for a few moments before it stopped. Ross could hear the maniacal laugh of Banno as he took over Kelly's body and held up the Steering Sword. He walked towards Sunset, almost robotically. "Please, you have to save-" Ross couldn't take it anymore. With a scream, Ross wrapped himself in his cape and flew to Banno, scythe in hand as he slashed in two, then four. As the pieces fell, the blood red light in Banno's compound eyes faded out. Ross panted for a moment. "Please..." Ross' body shivered as he could see the armor of Gold Drive disappear. In its place was a girl with lifeless eyes. Ross couldn't bear to see Kelly's split-apart body and turned around, only to see the blazing Sunset Shimmer standing before a battered and beaten Twilight Sparkle, bits of clothing torn from her as blood seeped from her mouth. Ross stood still, unable to stop what happened next. Another voice, one female, then flooded Ross' mind. "Do you believe in destiny?" Sunset flung the fireball towards Twilight. As the fireball hit her, for a split second he could once again imagine the arrow piercing someone's heart, though now in a grander detail as he could see two people, murderer and victim, taking the place of Sunset and Twilight respectively. They were crimson silhouettes, though Ross could see that the two were women from their body figure. However, as the arrow pierced the victim's heart... Ross flung out of his bed and woke up. He trembled as he looked around. He was still in Sunset's room. Panting, he got out of bed and looked around. The dark of the night obscured most of his vision and he didn't want to disturb Miss Shimmer's sleep by cracking a light. He tip toed rather slowly and in five minutes, he had made it to the kitchen. There, he was less concerned with turning on a light and getting a drink. As he grabbed a glass of water and sat by the table, his legs became heavy as he could not help but stare at his drink. "Rough night's sleep?" Ross' spine tingled as he could hear that woman's soothing voice. Whipping around, Ross glared at Sunset's mom before calming down. It's not her. It's not her. Ross thought. Ross simply nodded. Sunset's mom sat down on the chair parallel to Ross. "It's... It's about your daughter." Ross said. He then closed his eyes. "Actually, it's more than that." He struggled not to beat around the bush. Even if she looked like the last person he'd ever have a drink with, Ross had to let it out. "I feel like the friends I've made will be torn apart from me." "What makes you think that?" Sunset's mom asked. "I have a friend and... she's slowly getting more and more aggressive. I fear it'll be to the point where she'll lose it." Ross said. "... Has Sunset been-" Ross then cut her off. "No! This is... This is another friend." Sunset's mom simply looked at Ross. "Fine. We'll go with that analogy." She said. "... Don't get me wrong. Sunset's also a bit on the bitchy side. But-" That's when Sunset's mom gave a frown. "It's the Fall Formal, isn't it?" Ross nodded. She got up to go over to the coffee machine. "I figured as such. Ever since she enrolled at Canterlot High, she's been overly ambitious of her goals. I guess she got that from my genes." She said. She turned to Ross. "Do you like coffee?" She asked. Ross nodded. "How do you take it?" "Cream and five sugars." Ross automatically said. It took a moment for her to register before she sighed and complied with the order. She returned with the coffee for both her and Ross. Ross hesitated before he took a sip. In any other world, they'd be fighting each other. However, Ross simply looked into the woman's amber colored eyes and felt calm. "T-thanks, by the way." Ross said. "It's nothing. To tell you the truth, Sunset's put me on edge too." That's when Ross leaned onto the table. "Wait, what?" Ross asked. "At first, I thought her desires were just competitive ambition, but each time she won the crown, she got more and more aggressive." Sunset's mother sighed as she sipped a bit of her coffee. "It's almost like the crown was driving her more and more up the wall." "..." Ross left his cup on the table. "The Fall Formal... Sunset told me how the princesses would embody the traits that each season represents. If... If it wasn't a metaphor and something literal..." Ross then chugged his coffee and put the mug on the table. He stood up and readied himself. "Thank you, Miss Shimmer." He said. "Um... No problem?" She raised her eyebrow as Ross then ran off, turning into a red blur as rose petals fluttered about. She blinked, then sipped more of her coffee. Ross stood on the rooftop, looking through the scope of the rifle. Canterlot High. He was pretty sure where the crown would normally be. If it's all in preparation for the Fall Formal, then it'd be in a safe place, now wouldn't it? He aimed at the Principal's office. The school, despite the recent Roidmude attacks, was not too keen on amping up security, it seemed. Considering that the school has Gold Drive, they don't seem that concerned with security. And so Ross calculated the way he'd be able to break into the school and steal the crown. And then, out of nowhere... "Psst," Ross' heart raced, "what are you looking at?" A female, cockney accent perked up in Ross' ear. Surprised, he flung his rifle, transforming it into a scythe and struck what appeared to be a flash of blue light. He heard giggling as he fired wildly at the swooshing light, all while tiny blue bullets fired from said light. They didn't seem to hit him hard, thanks in part to his aura and thanks in part to the pulsing nature of the bullets, but the tickling was more akin to getting shocked by static. Ross was able to see for a brief second what was firing at him. It was a woman... Someone he knew... "M-miss Oxton?!" Ross asked before the blur ran to him and stopped, showing that it was indeed Oxton. "Hello... Oh, is that you, Ross?" She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here, love?" "I could ask you the same thing." Ross kept his scythe close to Miss Oxton's side. "Well, it's my job to secure the area and make sure no one breaks in. So... why are you breaking in? Thought you'd get the answer keys to tomorrow's test?" She smirked. Ross shook his head. "No. It's..." Ross sighed and transformed Crescent Rose back to its stationary state. "I'm trying to steal the crown and try to destroy it." Ross said. "Well why do you want to do that?" Oxton asked. "Because my friend's becoming more and more mean! If I destroy the crown, maybe it can make her nicer." Ross said. "Oooh, Ross..." Oxton sat down next to Ross, patting on the ground next to her for Ross to sit on. Ross complied and sat down. "The crown means a lot to these people." She said. "I know, but... If it makes people embody the absolute worst part of themselves... I can't let it fester. If you knew of an artifact that made your friend a dick, would you do something about it?" Ross asked. Oxton gave a bit of a pause before she answered. "Perhaps, but this isn't the answer." Oxton said. "Then what is? My friend's resorting to slandering her competition! Next she'll probably hold someone hostage and maybe kill someone..." Ross sighed before he trembled. "Why do you think that, love?" Oxton asked. "... I..." He chuckled. "I get these dreams. Dreams that I felt as though they already happened before. Well, it's not really déjà vu, but rather... Memories." Ross said before he frowned. "And recently I'm having memories of everything falling around me and... I don't know why..." Ross said. He closed his eyes as a tear fell from them. Oxton sighed and held Ross. "Don't worry, love. I know how that feels... I'm sure everything will be alright." Oxton said. "... I hope so..." Ross said. Twilight and I awoke to the sound of gunfire. It was familiar gunfire. Ross. "Kelly, what's going on?" Twilight asked me. I peeked over to the window. "Bad stuff's happening. Let's go." I said as I got up and rushed out to the front field where I saw Ross fight off this blur... I was too far though and the fight ended with a conversation between him and... Wait, Miss Oxton? I took a moment to realize that Miss Oxton was the security guard that Celestia hired. I took a sigh and walked forward. When I approached them, I managed to see Oxton hugging Ross and comforting him on the rooftop. Twilight managed to catch up to me, though nearly tripping over as she was close. "So, what seems to be the problem?" I asked as I helped up Twilight. "Oh, hey Kelly. Ross here was just going on a nightly stroll. Ain't that right, Ross?" She elbowed Ross. I rolled my eyes as Ross stammered. "It's okay. You can tell me the truth." I said. "... Okay. I was trying to destroy the crown." Ross said. Twilight gasped as I looked to him. "What?" I asked. "The crown's corrupting Sunset every time she wears it! If I destroy it, maybe it'd revert her to being someone nicer!" Ross said. I took the palm of my hand and applied it directly to my face. "Ross, you don't understand. The crown you're talking about is not the crown inside the school." Twilight said. "Indeed. Which is why I don't want you to do that." I said. "W-what? Why?" Ross asked. "I need this crown for my..." Twilight stopped herself from talking. "You need this? For what? Did you see what the crown did to Sunset? I don't want anyone else to wear that corrupting piece of-" "Ross, love, language!" Oxton slapped Ross' face playfully. I sighed and shook my head. "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna let you destroy it." I said. "Or what?" Ross stood up. "You know what." I edged my fingers to the ignition and smirked. "Kelly..." Twilight tried to talk me out of it. Ross just glared and readied is scythe. I smirked, and I could feel that Banno was smirking too. "Hen-" Just then I heard sirens wailing. I turned around and saw two police cars pull onto the front lawn of the school. One of the cops came out. It was Soarin' as he pointed a gun at me. "Jetstorm Silverbolt! Twilight Sparkle! You two are under arrest!" Soarin' shouted. I groaned and raised my hands. Twilight just raised my arms with eyebrows raised, shivering a bit. "Oh for what now?" I muttered. "Murder." Soarin' said with a glare. "Excuse me?" I asked. "W-what?" Miss Oxton muttered. Ross only gave a sigh. "Officer, we never killed anyone! What makes you think-" Twilight protested, but Soarin' cut her off. "You're under arrest for the murder of Shigekiyo Yangu. Or at the very least, assault and fourth-degree murder." Soarin' said. I then realized who he spoke of. The fat man I fought at the field. I sighed and simply held my hands up. "Ah shit. Okay. Let's go." I came over to him. He simply frowned. "... I had so much faith in you." He said as he took me to the car and slapped the cuffs on me. "I know." I said. Another cop, Spitfire, came over to apprehend Twilight. "But we didn't-" "Save it for when we get to the station. Miranda rights and all th- Hey, do we even have Miranda rights here?" I asked. "You have the right to remain silent until-" Soarin' said before I cut him off. "Okay, just wanted to know." With that, I stayed silent as he tossed me and Twilight into the car and drove off. "... What just happened?" Oxton said. "What do you think? Kelly murdered someone. And I'm not going to let Sunset fall down the same path." Ross tried to jump off the roof, but he soon heard the sound of wire zipping through as he was suddenly tackled. "Ross!" Niko shouted to him. "W-what the?!" Ross exclaimed. "Ross, we don't have time. I have to warn you and Kelly about-" That's when Niko turned around and saw Kelly in the police car as it drove away. "What the hell happened!?" Niko said. "Kelly got arrested for murder." Ross said. "W-what!? How?" Niko said. "Dunno. You're the one who stuck that psychopath on her waist." Ross said. "She chose him! I was offering her something completely different! You saw, right?" Niko said. "I'm sorry... what's going on here?" Oxton asked. Niko and Ross took a moment before Niko sighed. "Okay... Let's convene somewhere... quieter." Niko said. Though Ross didn't seem to think that the Rabbit Hole would qualify as 'quiet'. Music blared loudly as people constantly chattered about random stuff. It didn't help that glasses were being slammed down as the words CHUG echoed throughout the bar and pool balls clattered. Ross, Niko, and Oxton were sitting in a booth, Oxton and Ross sitting next to each other with Niko sitting parallel. "And that'll be all, thanks." Niko slipped a gold coin into the waitress' hand. "No problem." She bowed and walked away. "So... you and Ross aren't from this world." Oxton held a cup of coffee in her hands and sipped it. "Yep. We're just people who've been Displaced." Niko said. "Displaced... I heard that term before." Oxton said. "It's getting tossed around here and there. No thanks to Foundation X." Niko said. "Foundation X?" Ross asked. "Yeah. They're an organization I've been assigned to keep a close eye on. They're the reason why Kelly was put here in the first place." Niko said before taking a swig of some hard lemonade. "What do you mean?" Ross asked. "Foundation X... They're the reason the Roidmudes are here. I sent Kelly to go take care of them and it seems you got wrapped up in the chaos." Niko said. "... Why? Why did you let Kelly fight?" Ross asked Niko as he went over the table and grabbed him by the collar. "Because of you, she's killed someone!" He growled. "Ross! Calm down!" Oxton tried to pull back Ross. Niko shook his head. "She didn't kill him though. I saw who murdered him." Niko shoved Ross off and he fell down back to his seat. "... The man who murdered him was my Displacer." Ross blinked. "You were a Displaced as well?" Ross asked. "We're not so different, huh? Not all Displacers are Gods bored with life and wanted to fuck around with life... Pardon my French." He said to Oxton. "But my Displacer... he's worse. He is perhaps the very personification of darkness. He doesn't care for anyone else. We can't apprehend him, but we can clear Kelly's name." Niko said. "And how do you know this? For all I know, you're lying to me." Ross said. "I would never lie about something this serious... But, you have a point. Which is why you'll have to see it for yourself." Niko then handed a slip of paper to Ross. "The man was murdered outside Everton. You'll find security footage inside." Niko then got up. "Why can't you do it?" Ross asked before giving the slip of paper back. "Because you need to see it with your own eyes. Besides, I scored some bad blood with the Foundation. They'd be less than thrilled to see me in their place after the shit I pulled. Not to mention the police at the crime scene." Niko said. He then left as the waitress returned with some baby back ribs. "Sir! Your ribs!" She said. "Give it to the boy in the hood." Niko said. The waitress looked to Ross, shrugged, and gave him the ribs. Ross just looked over the ribs. He simply thought of the situation he was in. Sunset's being more and more of a bitch, Kelly may or may not have murdered someone, and Niko just asked him to break into a building. He sighed. "Now I know where I heard the term before!" Oxton's cheery tone snapped him out of it though. "H-huh?" Ross asked. "Our leader, Rose... He's a Displaced." She said. "W-what?" Ross asked. "Ooh, sorry, gotta keep on the downlow..." Her voice turned into a whisper. "I'm actually a member of the Wonderbolts. You know them, right?" She asked. "Erm... somewhat..." Ross replied. "So, it turns out, Rose is a Displaced too." She then got out her phone and dialed up a number. "Huh... Small world." Ross said. Oxton waited a bit before she spoke up. "Hey, Cam! Listen, can you round up Rose and Shadow and have them rendezvous with us at Everton? Alright, perfect! See ya." She said before she hung up. "What the..." Oxton then placed a finger over Ross' lips. "Don't worry, love. The cavalry's here." She said. The lights flickered on as I sat in the interrogation room for a third time. However, I wasn't alone this time. Next to me were Twilight Sparkle and the five students who I teach. Sitting in front of me was Soarin'. I have never seen him this upset since he arrested Wind Rider. I looked around and saw the girls mostly sharing the feeling of shock, except for Rainbow Dash, whose grin was so large and wide, it felt almost unsettling. "Autopsies report that Shigekiyo died of a heart attack outside of the Everton Independent Study building, presumably caused by the stress you gave him when you were beating him up outside CHS. This is footage captured near the bleachers at the field, sent to us by an anonymous tip." Soarin' took out an iPad which showed footage recorded from the bleachers of us fighting the little fat man. "Well, have you seen the part where he started it?" Applejack scowled. "The video began with you guys already in the middle of the fight. As such, we can only take evidence from what we're seeing and not some word from the accused." As I observed the footage, I realized that the little men, those Harvests, were not seen. Plus I had high doubts that Fluttershy's newfound ability could let Soarin' see them. The scene where Applejack hit me was seen. Applejack extended her arm to the screen. "Well, what about that? Aren't you gonna ask why I hit her?" Applejack asked. "I would, but I would also ask about what went on with this." The next bit had Pinkie teleporting to me as we punched the fat man in the face. "Oooh, yeah, that's our new abil-" Twilight then held Pinkie's mouth closed. Soarin' merely glared at the two. "Well, what about when he held the professor and Pinkie hostage?" Rainbow Dash said as the footage then went to me and Pinkie standing perfectly still while a single red jewel floated over to the fat man. "Didn't look like that to me. In fact, it looked like you pretty much blew him up." Cue the exploding jewel. "And don't get me started on this little line:" The camera then zoomed in as it focused on me attempting to use the Tridoron Shift Car. "Allow us to finish him off." I shuddered as I heard myself and Banno say that. "You guys didn't go through with it, thankfully, but the wounds he had seemed to have caused him to die of a heart attack. Thus, fourth-degree murder." Soarin' said. "But we didn't kill him!" Rainbow Dash said. I sighed and spoke up. "Fourth degree means we killed the guy on accident without any intent to kill him in the first place." I said. Soarin' simply nodded to me before I shut myself up. "Now, you'll be put in jail for approximately 48 hours. At which time you will either obtain a lawyer or have one be given to you by the court of law. After that, the trial will commence, which will be pretty lengthy. Because a lot of you are minors, I'd expect something like six months of community service or juvenile detention, but in the case of your teacher here." He looks to me. "The sentence might be heavier. We're talking years in prison..." He frowned again. That's when I heard the door knocking. Soarin' turned around as he saw the door fling open. "Wait, dad!" It was Flash Sentry. I saw Twilight blush a little as I rolled my eyes. "Son, what are you doing here? This is official police business! You should be in bed!" Soarin' said. "I looked at the autopsy reports you left on the table and-" Flash held up the folder with the words detailing the victim's name, date of death, and cause of death. "You what?! Look, this is very serious stuff, you shouldn't be handling..." Soarin' said, though Flash ignored him and slammed the folder on the table, causing the photos of the deceased fatty to slide out. Upon close inspection, the wounds that I saw on him were not on his body. "If he indeed died from the wounds, then why are there none on these photos?" Flash said. Soarin' stammered a bit. "And who gave you the video footage? It seemed awfully coincidental that this was even recorded from such a convenient enough place." Flash said. Soarin' took the photos and scooped them back into the folder. "These shouldn't be questions you should be asking." I get chills every time Soarin' sounds more and more serious. I never thought I would say this, but I wanted the silly Soarin' back. "It's the police's job to find out those answers. You have your own answers to find." He said. "Like what happened to my mom?" Flash said. An air of silence filled the room as Soarin' sighed. "Like how you're going to graduate from school if you're spending time being awake when you should be asleep." He patted Flash on the back and pushed him out of the room. "Now go back to the house. I have to finish up the interrogation." Soarin' said as he shut the door. He paused for a bit before he turned around. "...This is out of my hands. I have questions about this myself, but the only way I'll find them out is if you guys get on your best behaviour and go through the court. Hopefully the judge will have a better idea on what's going on." With that, Flash took the folder, shut off the iPad, and walked out of the room. I sighed and leaned back against the chair. "This can't be happening... I can't go to jail!" Twilight said. "Well, it's like he said: out of our hands." I threw my hands up said. "No, you don't understand! I need to..." I noticed Twilight look around before going silent. "I really need to go to school..." Twilight just said. I shook my head. "Hey, Kel, you can bust us out, right?" Rainbow Dash asked me. "Erm... What?" I asked. "That belt of yours, you can just become Golden Drive and get us out of here, right?" Rainbow Dash turned her head to me. I sat up straight and focused on Dash. "No. I will not let us be fugitives." I said. "But it may be inevitable..." Banno piped up. Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy got up in surprise and looked at the belt as Banno's face appeared. I just facepalmed. "Banno, girls. Girls, Banno." I said. That's when Fluttershy poked the belt. "Quit it!" Banno said. "You're the voice that came from our teacher when she tried to fire that gun at me..." Fluttershy said. Applejack merely looked at me before I glance back with a dull look. "Yeah, Banno's the reason why I get a little... ruthless." I said. "Sure, blame me and not yourself. Last I checked, you enjoyed the previous times we fought together. You liked the ruthlessness." Banno chuckled. "And try as he might, I'm not gonna cut any Gordian knots with him. If we're going to get out of here, we're gonna get out the old fashioned way." I said. "Staging a prison break?" Rainbow Dash smiled. "... Waiting for a trial and hope the judge and jury don't have us meet the executioner." I said. Rainbow Dash sat back in her seat and frowned. "Can we have Banno please?" Rainbow Dash said. "He's cool." "He's the guy who considered chopping off your arm!" I barked. "Really? I'm pretty sure you thought of it first." Banno said. With that, there was a long moment of silence before I exhaled. "... Yes. I did. If only to save you, Rainbow. Every evil act I did was to protect other people." I felt a tear go down my cheek as I began to say something I never thought I would say. "But... If I were to ever be as ruthless as Banno without the good intent that I have..." I looked to Applejack, then to Rainbow Dash, then passed a glance to Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and finally Twilight. "I want you all to put me out of my misery, then destroy the belt." I said. The girls gasped. "H-heh... Like that's gonna be easy." Banno was pretty good at hiding his cowardice through arrogance. "Kel, we can't do that to you. You know that!" Applejack said. "Then what choice do you have? You're just gonna let me be a monster then!?" I asked them. "Kelly..." That's when Twilight placed a hand on my shoulder. "I once knew a pon... A person, who succumbed to dark forces, but me and my friends were able to save her without killing her. We were able to make her remember who she was. If you ever feel like this will happen to you... I'll make sure to free you." Twilight said. I notice her frown. I took a moment and sighed. "Thank you. And I apologize for not helping you with your thing... As well as getting you into this mess. In fact..." That's when I thought of something. "You never actually partook in the fight." I said. "You're right. I didn't." Twilight said. So why are you lumped in with us? I thought. I didn't want to smirk, I didn't want to clamp my hands into fists, and I didn't want to do anything that would be a dead giveaway to what I was thinking, lest the girls conclude with the same thing. All I just said to them was something simple: "We just need to have faith now." Flash Sentry sat by the desk of where his father would work at as Soarin' walked over to him. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Flash asked. "Dad, I know you think Twilight killed that guy, but the evidence just isn't there." Flash said. "How the hell did you know about this? This is supposed to be classified." Soarin' said. "You gave the girls one phone call, right?" Flash said. "... You gave her your number?" Soarin' asked. "... Y-yeah." Flash blushed. "She's sort of my type, you know? Nice, smart, a little on the funny side." Flash then took out a locket. "Sort of like mom, you know?" He opened it as it showed a woman with short light blue hair tied in pigtails and dark blue skin covered by orange and gold street clothes. Flash smiled a little as Soarin' patted Flash on the shoulder. "Even though I don't know her... I miss her, you know?" Flash said. Soarin' shed a tear as he spoke up. "I know." He said. Soarin' stretched his arms. "She's that new kid that was gonna go for the Fall Formal, right?" "Yeah... Awfully convenient that she got arrest..." Flash then got up and blinked. "ed..." Flash then went into a thousand yard stare as Soarin' looked at him. "Flash? Flash, you okay?" Soarin' said. In Flash's mind, thousands of pictures swirling around him. Scenes of Twilight in the school, vowing to become the next Princess of the Fall Formal, followed shortly by Sunset Shimmer, eventually playing the video of Twilight's fail on the computer. As soon as he saw a picture of the two confronting each other. "That's it..." Flash then put away the locket. "What's it?" Soarin' asked. "I'm done thinking about this." Flash then straightened up his leather jacket. "It's all come together." He said. "What are you talking about?" Soarin' asked. Flash then walked away. The only thing he said before he left was: "Dad, my brain's in top gear now." As Flash left the police station, he entered a black sedan with golden stripes that taper off into a lightning bolt, with the hood having a large blue shield with a lightning bolt over it, and drove off. Soarin' ran after him, only to be out of breath as soon as he got down the steps. "Uuugh, I knew I shouldn't have given him a car..." He said. Flash Sentry drove down the street on his car. The GPS pointing towards where Sunset Shimmer's house was. "I'm going to make her squeal like a pig!" He said as he gripped on the steering wheel. Just then, he heard a motorcycle humming besides him. He looked to the left side of him and saw Ross and Miss Oxton, clinging onto Ross, on the Rose Attacker. Ross moved his hand downward as Flash knew what he was pantomiming. He rolled down the window. "Flash Sentry! What are you doing up so late, love?" Miss Oxton said. "I have to clear Twilight's name!" Flash Sentry said. "Well, we can help. We need to go to where the guy's corpse is found and get the footage. Apparently that'll show how he really died." Ross said. "You sure about that?" Flash asked. "Better lead than no lead." Ross said. "But I have a lead: Sunset." Flash said. Ross looked down a bit before speaking up. "Well, the one we're going to is better than marching right up to someone's house and confronting them on something they'll easily deny." Ross said. Flash thought a bit about it before nodding. "Alright, let's go. Where to?" He asked. The Everton Independent Study Building was surrounded to the brim with cop cars as "CRIME SCENE" ticker tape strewn across the entrance way. Flash and Ross parked their vehicles a stone's throw away from the building and walked over to it. "So... How the hell are we gonna break into the place?" Ross asked Flash. "Easy. Watch and-" Flash tried to look for any officer he could say hello to, but the area was scarce. The cars had no lights on and the ticker tape fluttered about. Ross looked around as well. "Where is everyone?" Miss Oxton asked. "I dunno. Cops don't leave crime scenes unattended, especially murders." Flash said. Ross stood his ground. "Be ready for anything." Ross said. Just then, the doors outside Everton opened up as Double Diamond walked out of it, his hands folded behind his back as he had a nice smile on. "Welcome, welcome! I apologize for the appearance." Double Diamond said as he stepped over the chalk outline of the fat man. "Cops don't clean up after themselves." "For good reason." Flash glared at Double Diamond. Miss Oxton walked to Double Diamond. "I was taking two of my students on a tour to Everton. I realize the timing's a little bad, but-" "No, don't worry! Everything's perfectly fine!" Double Diamond prepped himself up. "He says as he stands on a crime scene." Flash Sentry rolled his eyes. "Come in! Come in!" Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry walked around the crime scene before entering the doors, with Ross and Miss Oxton doing the same. "You have picked a great time to take a trip here. Everton has received a huge amount of funds from a very well-versed foundation and has picked me to be the overseer of the project we're working on." Double Diamond said as he walked the three down a large hallway full of windows, each either peeking into an empty lab or a padded room. "And that project being?" Flash asked. "A project that had been a long time in the making, but we're finally cracking the code on." Double Diamond said. "Just tell us what it is..." Flash rolled his eyes. "The project was based off a few observances we've made over the past few years. People would just randomly disappear from their homes and end up in different parts of... Well, do you believe in the multiverse theory?" Double Diamond turned around and stopped. "Yeah. Every decision you make creates a different universe." That's when Double Diamond laughed at Flash's statement. "Yes, that's the simpleton version of it, but it is just a small idea in a much grander theory. See, you may think we're crazy, but we have proof that our Earth is just one of many different worlds." Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry blinked, then glanced a bit while folding his arms. "Okay then, what proof do you have?" Flash asked. "Do you recall the Everton Eruption?" Double Diamond asked. Flash just raised an eyebrow. "N-no... But it's familiar..." Flash asked. "The Everton Eruption, that's the event when one of the Everton research faculties collapsed in on itself seventeen years ago, right?" Miss Oxton asked. "Yes. It's been so long ago, I'm surprised someone can remember it." Double Diamond said. "... Well, it's easy if you were in it." Oxton muttered. "Ah... My condolences. It was as much a tragedy on Everton's part as it was on yours, Miss Oxton." Double Diamond said. Oxton just smiled and waved her hand. "Eh, don't sweat it. It was an accident." She said. Ross noticed the muscles in Double Diamond's lips struggled to keep straight. "So... This eruption, how does it confirm the multiverse theory?" Ross asked. "Well, from my research, it was what happened during that very incident that confirmed it. Everton was working on a means to create teleportation from one space to another and-" Double Diamond was soon interrupted. "And let me guess... The experiment failed and caused someone to be caught in some void?" Ross asked. "Well, you're right about the void part. The problem was that it didn't fail. They succeeded." Double Diamond said. The three looked to each other before Flash asked. "What do you mean, succeed?" Flash asked. "Imagine, if you will, a space in between spaces. A void... The experiment was to ensure that they could 'scoop' into the void and be flung into another space entirely. Well, they got their void..." Double Diamond said. Oxton's jaw dropped. "You... You're telling me that... the Eruption was not a disaster but some... experiment?" Oxton asked. "Yes. A successful one at that. The only problem is how it managed to go so horribly wrong..." Double Diamond said. "Maybe it's because these guys were dabbling in shit that shouldn't be messed with?" Ross glared. "I can't blame them for what they did. We all have burning questions to be answered. That's actually the project we're working on right now: Project Tataricus. Our objective is to find out why the Eruption happened and how we can improve upon it." Double Diamond said. "..." Ross simply gave a glance towards the white-haired man. "I can see you don't trust us. Why don't I let you guys take a stroll in the facility? They always say seeing brand new technology can open up people's eyes." Double Diamond said as he patted Ross on the back. Ross could feel Crescent Rose being pressed onto his back as he saw him smile. "Oooh, what do I feel here?" He then let his hand go from the weapon and began to walk away. "Such splendid technology. Perhaps you could show it to one of our specialists in the Research Room? It's down the hall, to your left." He said. Ross and Oxton glanced at each other as Flash ran to catch up to Double Diamond. Ross and Oxton walked down the hall. "So... Good guess, Ross." Oxton said. "Wasn't a guess. Back in my world, there was a movie with a similar premise. Scientists were working on a means of teleportation and experimented with a human being..." As he walked forward, he frowned. "She never returned." Ross said. "So... What you're thinking is something similar happened?" Oxton asked. Ross nodded. "And... if it is like that... Then I'm worried." Ross said. "About?" Oxton asked. "This... Eruption... How many people were lost?" Ross asked. "It's not much Ross, only a few people." She said. "... You think someone would be upset if they found out the true origins of this incident?" Ross asked. "Well, I'm kinda ticked, but it's in the past and, truth be told, I'm a better person because of it." Oxton said. "Yeah... But some people just... don't move on from stuff like that, y'know?" Ross said. Oxton then frowned. "I know..." She said. "Double Diamond!" Flash Sentry ran to Double Diamond before he ran out of breath. The two were in the middle of a lunch room. Double Diamond sat down on one of the tables while Flash sat parallel to him. "So, what curiosities do you have in mind?" Double Diamond asked. "... Foundation X... Do they have anything to do with this Golden Drive that's running around? Or Everton?" Flash asked. "Huh... Why do you ask that?" Double Diamond shrugged. "I dunno. It's been a few months since Golden Drive started showing up out of the blue, and your talk about other universes has me wondering if Golden Drive had anything to do with it." Flash said. "No. We have no affiliation with Golden Drive." Double Diamond said. He then leaned in and glared. "And I wouldn't affiliate with her if I were you." He said. "Are you... threatening me?" Flash raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm warning you. Golden Drive is what we here at Foundation X call a Kamen Rider." Double Diamond said. "Kamen? I don't think I heard the term." Flash Sentry said. "Kamen is, in a language from another universe, Masked. Makes sense, right? The guy is masked and rides an ATV?" Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry nodded. "But why should I not trust her? She seems to be doing good." Flash Sentry said. Double Diamond sighed and pulled out an iPad. He turned it to Flash Sentry and began to show him some video footage. "My name is Kamen Rider Eternal. I have the fate of the GaiaMemories in the grip of my hand." The video showed a man, cloaked in white armor with blue flamed gloves, a cape, and a bandolier. His mask was also white, with three prongs on the top of his helmet and golden eyes underlined with black. Standing by him were four similar people, though they looked less like the man and more like the monstrous Roidmudes that attacked the city. "This was taken six years ago. A man calling himself Kamen Rider held an entire city hostage and nearly destroyed it before being put down." Double Diamond said. "And what of the other guys?" Flash pointed to the four monsters standing by his side. "No. They're not Kamen Riders. Only the man in the middle was." Double Diamond said. He then swiped to the left and displayed footage of another Kamen Rider. "The time has come..." The Kamen Rider could have been mistaken for a magician had it not been for the helmet. He had white robes with gold linings, while his helmet seemed to look like an orange jewel carved out to resemble a face, with silver lines to make out eyes. He had a golden ring on which he had placed over his belt. As he did that, the sky became dark as a solar eclipse seemingly came out of nowhere. "This was three years ago. A man discovered magic, declared himself a Kamen Rider, and created an eclipse for a dark ritual that nearly killed hundreds, if not thousands. This was also stopped." Double Diamond said. "So... if we leave Golden Drive unchecked, she could cause some damage?" Flash Sentry asked. Double Diamond chuckled. "Worse..." He then played another video. This time, it was a reddish-orange Kamen Rider with golden horns running out of the flames. Flash had no time to pick up any additional features as vines began to emerge from the Rider's chest before overtaking his entire body. As the vines disappeared, the Rider had changed to something barely resembling a Kamen Rider. It was a monster who kept its red armor, but added a yellow plated chest. Replacing the Viking horns were two long black ram-like horns. Its hellish blue eyes seared itself into Flash's soul. "KAZURABA!!!" It roared as it continued its run unfazed. "She'll become a monster if left unchecked." As the video played, the monster called out something, that's when he saw another Kamen Rider. This one was wearing orange armor not unlike that of a samurai and had golden pointed horns. "Wait, that one's fighting the monster..." Flash pointed to the orange Rider as the two clashed. "So... Does that mean there's good Kamen Riders?" Flash asked. Double Diamond nodded. "Yes... But..." He closed his eyes and played another video, interrupting the fight between the samurai and the monster. In its place were two other Riders fighting, or rather, the climax of a fight. "You'd say you'd do whatever it took for my friend, right?" The Kamen Rider that was talking was brightly colored compared to the other three Flash saw, all blue with golden shoulder pads and glittery bits of silver to resemble stars. His helmet resembled that as well, with two golden horns looking like two meteors. He held a rod and began to strike at what appeared to be an astronaut, though the similar eye shapes confirmed that it was a Kamen Rider. "Then do what has to be done! Die for me, Kisaragi!" The blue Rider shouted as he leaped in the air and kicked the astronaut. The kick was so hard that it actually changed the astronaut's armor, changing from a bulky silver armor to a slimmer, white one. The blue Rider picked up the other Rider and with one punch, knocked all the energy out from him and reducing the astronaut to a human form... It was something that caused Flash to bite his lip. The rider was a teenager who looked to be Flash's age. Tears rolled from Flash's eyes as he saw the teen fall in front of what appeared to be his friends. Double Diamond stopped the video. "It always happens... Riders will die to other Riders. It's a cruel game if you ever decide to play it. That's why you must stay away from this Golden Drive at all costs." Double Diamond said as he closed the video and put away his iPad. "Kamen Riders... They've done nothing but destroy. Foundation X always comes across them, as if we're inevitably tied to a cross of fire. The best I can do is to get you away from that cross." With that, Double Diamond walked away. Flash shook a bit before he got up and looked around. "So, Miss Oxton... The Wonderbolts. What about them?" Ross asked Miss Oxton as they went down the hall. "Well... The Wonderbolts are an elite group of people who have powers and use them to protect people." Miss Oxton said. "So... How come you're not fighting the Roidmudes?" Ross asked. "Come again?" Miss Oxton asked. "The Roidmudes... These robots that stop time. You know the massacre at CHS?" Ross asked. "Oh... Yeah." Miss Oxton frowned. "The Headmaster brought that up as a reason for my presence at CHS. To prevent that from happening again." "... That's the reason for my presence too." Ross said. "So... The Headmaster sent you too..." Miss Oxton said. She then stretched her arms and placed the hands at the back of her head. "You must be pretty cool for him to notice you." She said. "Yeah... Hey, Miss Oxton, do you have any idea what this guy looks like?" Ross asked. "Hmmm... Nah. He just sends us messages through our Principal, Mr. Rainheart." Miss Oxton said. "Ah... Thought you'd have an idea." Ross said. Oxton looked to him. "Do you have an idea?" She asked. "Yeah... But it's more of a familiar feeling than anything else... You know when you have déjà vu, but you're so sure that you aren't experiencing something a second time?" Ross asked. "Mmm... Sorta, love..." She said. "I feel that too..." Ross frowned as he could hear a voice in his head: "You want to come to my school?" He slowly smiled, a sense of joy entering his body. "As for why we weren't fighting these Roidmudes... There's something a little more pressuring that we face." Oxton said. "Huh?" Ross asked. "Not sure if you noticed, but after the massacre, monsters began coming outta the woodwork. We Wonderbolts were prepared for them more than we're prepared for these Roidmudes." She said. "Monsters... You mean, the Creatures of Grimm?" Ross asked. "Huh, so you know of them too." Oxton said. She then smiled. "We could use another member. Cam's just our eye in the sky, so our active members are just three right now." She said. "You... want me to join the Wonderbolts?" Ross asked. "Yep! I'm sure you can be as great a member as I am!" Oxton said. "Thanks... but... I'm having trouble fighting my own monsters." Ross said. "The Roidmudes." Oxton patted Ross on the back. "No... It's my friends. Both of them." Ross said. "Don't worry, Ross. You'll be able to handle it. First, we'll clear Kelly's name, then you'll deal with your other friend." She said. "What about you?" Ross asked. "Well, this is a problem you need to handle. I'm acting mostly as a security guard for the Formal." Oxton said. "So what am I supposed to do!? She's doing bad things because of this stupid crown and I need to stop her!" Ross asked her. "Well... She's your friend, right? I'm sure you can remind her of that." Oxton said. "... I guess I could..." Ross said. That's when Ross stopped and began to sniff. "You smell that?" Ross asked. "Y-yeah. I do..." Miss Oxton then walked over to a janitor's closet and slowly opened the door. The corpse of a police officer flopped out as Oxton jumped out. Ross took out Crescent Rose as it transformed into its scythe mode. "Well, well, well... To think I'd keep this hospitable charade for a little while longer." Ross and Oxton turned to face Double Diamond, with half a dozen people wearing the Foundation X uniform standing behind him. "What is this!?" Oxton asked. "Just someone whose nose was getting too close to the truth. I'm disappointed our janitor just stuffed the corpse instead of cleaning it like we requested. Well, I guess I'll have to take out the trash myself. Men!" Double Diamond said. The Foundation X members all took out what appeared to be USBs with a ribcage design, all having the same symbol of a sinister looking mask in the shape of an M. They all pressed on a button located on the USB. MASQUERADE! They all shoved it into their necks as the USB changed their skin and face to resemble a black mask being laid over them. Its designs bearing resemblance to a ribcage, with some of the middle bones bent to resemble the shape of eyes. "Oh, and don't worry about your friend. We'll take care of him as well..." Double Diamond smirked as Ross and Oxton posed, ready to fight. Flash looked around the facility until he came across a door labeled SECURITY. Looking at the door, he gained a smirk and entered the room. He looked around for any computers or server consoles in the dark area. That's when he found it. A computer console with a glowing blue screen. He went over to it and scrubbed through footage from a few hours ago. "Hello there. You remember me, don't you? It's been such a long time since we last saw each other..." Flash could see the footage of the white-haired man in black crocodile leather approach Shigekiyo. "This place held me prisoner for seventeen damn long years. I really don't want you to be subject to the same experiments I was put through." Flash raised an eyebrow. Seventeen years... Where has he heard that timespan before? He saw more of the footage, such as the man healing Shigekiyo and even offering him a bar of solid gold. That was before Shigekiyo seemingly rejected his offer and got his heart ripped out. Flash retched a bit before remembering why he came. He took out a flash drive from his jacket, a standard requirement for students to have in the digital age nowadays, and plugged it into the computer, copying the footage over to his USB Drive. He then pulled it out and turned around, only to find Starlight Glimmer behind him. "Ah!" He screamed a bit before Starlight patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, it's okay." Starlight said. "Who are you? Are you with Foundation X?" Flash asked. She shook her head. "I work for Everton. I'm currently heading Project Tataricus." She said. "... The Eruption..." Flash muttered. "Yes, I'm trying to find out the cause of it." Starlight said. "So you can improve upon their failures, right?" Flash asked. "Well... No. Double Diamond sees some potential in improving on a broken formula, but me? I just... I just want closure." Starlight said. "Closure? For what?" Flash asked. Starlight then unveiled her white lab coat and took out what looked to be a slab of black plastic with silver lining the edges of it. She gave it to Flash as he looked at the prominent feature: a golden knife just hanging by the side of an octagonal gap. "People have lost so much that day. I need to find out why and how so that these mistakes never happen again. One day, you'll understand." Starlight said as Flash observed the device. She then gave him one more device: an orange padlock. "Until then, use these to keep yourself alive. The world's growing more and more dangerous by the second and eventually the very foundations of our city will fall." She said. "... Is this a threat?" Flash asked. "No. It's a warning." Starlight Glimmer said. "You guys always insist it as such." Flash said. Starlight then smiled. "I want to prepare you for when it falls." With that, she turned around and left the room. Flash ran after her, getting out into the halls as well. He looked around. Seemed she had vanished. "Hey!" Flash turned around and saw a bulky security guard come to him. He backed away, then turned around and ran. He would have gotten far... FLASH Had he not felt as though his legs were not weighed down by a strange force. The weird part was that he felt this effect a couple of times before. Once when his school was attacked by a squad of killer robots, the other when Golden Drive made her debut. He turned around and, sure enough, he saw the guard change his body to that of a robot. His body had four pink tubes that connected themselves to four large silos on his shoulders. There were several holes peppered around its body, though lined up in a straight line, five on his chest, three on his stomach, with a green gem centered in the middle of the body. It had only one green eye in its dead center. "Found the intruder... Now, to eliminate him." He said as he thrusted his body. Flash suddenly had darts pierce his back and knocking him down, though the density caused him to fall slowly. He screamed in pain as the robot marched forward, ready to send another volley. Flash tried to push himself up, but the pressure of the Slowdown kept him down. "Don't struggle... It's only gonna make it worse." He said. As Flash grunted, he gripped onto the padlock that he held in his hand. As he did, he pressed a button that made the lock pop open. ORANGE! Suddenly, an orange wave of light particles flashed from the lock, pushing the Roidmude back and cancelling its Slowdown. "H-How are you able to..." The Roidmude looked at Flash as he got up, holding the open lock. Flash then looked at the slab that was also given to him. He recalled how the device seemed similar to the belts that the Riders he saw in the videos had. With a grunt, he slapped the device on his waist, creating a yellow strap that came out of one side of the belt and towards the other side. With the orange lock, he placed it onto the belt and closed the lock. As he did, it created a Japanese trumpet melody. "Y-you're a..." The Roidmude muttered as Flash just glared. There was now one thing to left to try out on the device: The knife attached to the belt. He flicked the knife, cutting the orange padlock and splitting it in two, showing two pictures on the padlock's top and bottom halves. The top half had what appeared to be an orange cut down the middle while the bottom half had a sword with its blade being what appeared to be a slice of orange. As he cut the lock, a small splash of orange juice came out of the lock. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH... TWICE! Appearing in Flash's hands were two daggers, as shown on the padlock's picture. Flash looked at the sword's orange blade. "Seriously?" He asked. He then snapped his attention to the Roidmude as he ran towards him. Flash ran his daggers through the Roidmude, causing minimal sparks. The Roidmude backed up before he grunted. "No... You're not a Kamen Rider..." He asked. "No. And I will never be that kind of monster. This is my game now... and the rules just changed!" Flash declared as he rushed forward. The Roidmude just scoffed and fired his darts at Flash again. While Flash managed to end up being fast enough to cut down the darts, several of them did hit him in the legs, causing him to go down. The Roidmude walked over to Flash, picked him up, and fired point blank at his chest. Flash coughed up some blood as the Roidmude tossed him away. The Roidmude then flexed his chest as the pink covers of his silo opened up, revealing four warheads. "Now... die!" The Roidmude shouted as he fired the warheads at Flash. As they hit him, the missiles exploded. The Roidmude chuckled and turned around, only to cock his head back and notice the smoke clear. "What!?" To his surprise, Flash was not a smoldering pile of gibs, rather, a new person appeared, one he hasn't seen before. The woman had blonde hair, swept downwards to partially cover one of her eyes. Her uncovered eye was blood red. Other than the inhuman eye, though, her appearance was fairly human. Her clothing was a white dress with purple inner sleeves and a brown belt slung around her waist. She turned to Flash and waved her hand, his wounds closing up and healing. Her face looked familiar to Flash, even if her hair and skin were different coloring. "M-mom?" Flash asked. She shook her head. "Be warned..." She said to him as she gave him her hand. Flash could hear her soft voice echo in his head. He then struggled to get up. "You're about to go down a path that is not to be taken by normal humans... If you wish to continue, then allow me to help you." Her red eye flashed as a vine began to grow near her feet, growing large purple fruit. She then picked up the fruit and gripped it tightly until it changed into an identical orange padlock. "Hey! This doesn't concern you!" The Roidmude shouted. "Silence." The woman said as she flicked her wrist, knocking the Roidmude down with an invisible force. She continued to look to Flash. "Now... Take this Lockseed, and you will continue down this path as a Kamen Rider, destined to protect your friends, your family, and even your world from the threats that will try to dye everything in their image..." She said. Flash just looked at the padlock in her hands... Before he slapped it out of her hand. "No." He said. "What?" The woman asked. "I'm not gonna succumb to being a monster like those other Riders. If I am to protect my friends and family, I'll do so as a human!" He said. The woman merely frowned. "Have you've seen your own limitations? If you continue to fight like this, you'll die." She said. "I don't care. I've seen the end results of being a Rider and I can safely say that I'd rather die a human than go down that path." Flash said. The woman merely shed a tear before nodding. "If that is what you wish..." She said. As she tried to leave, Flash handed her the USB. "While you're here though... If I am to die, fulfill my last wish... Give this to my father." Flash said. "You..." The Roidmude growled as the woman nodded. She created a zipper in the middle of a wall. The zipper seemed to be a portal to another world, one filled with forests and trees. She walked through it as the zipper closed. "You just made the dumbest decision of your life! Now you really are gonna die!" "Did you not hear what I said? If it means not being a monster like what I've seen, then I'll gladly die protecting the people I love!" With that, Flash rushed forward, daggers plunging right into the Roidmude's warheads. Ross and Oxton pounded their way out of the crowd of Masqueraded Foundation X members, Ross cutting them down with his scythe and Oxton shooting at them with her pistols. The people who were hit went down before fading away into black smoke, not unlike the Grimm. Despite this though, Ross winced. More Masquerades rushed in to attack, firing guns towards the two. Ross ran in the way of Oxton, taking the brunt of the bullets. "Ross!" Oxton said, though she noticed that he was unscathed. Despite this, she rushed in, firing her pistols before twirling them to have them cool down. The men who shot at Ross went down, also dissolving into smoke. She then rushed at the remaining crowd, only to disappear and reappear behind them. Shortly afterwards, she disappeared in a small air bubble before reappearing besides Ross. She smirked. "You guys need a time out." That's when the members noticed a bomb planted by their feet. Sadly, it was too late as the bomb blew them to smithereens. As the mixture of blue and black smoke cleared, Double Diamond remained. Oxton aimed her pistols at him. "Give it up, Double Diamond! There's nowhere for you to run!" She said. Double Diamond just chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, believe me. I have no intention of running." Double Diamond then walked towards the two. "You see, Double Diamond already ran. I'm just here to cover for him." He said. Ross backed away and readied his scythe. "So... That cop... You just set him up for us to find..." Oxton said. "Yep. Nosy people need to be punished." With a smirk, his body dissolved into a blur of pixels. Ross fired at the blur as they shifted to a shape that was more familiar to Ross: a Spider-Class Roidmude. The Roidmude flicked his wrists as Slowdown commenced. However, Ross ran to the Roidmude and began to slash at him with the scythe. To his surprise, though, there was a blur of blue light as Oxton joined the battle, punching the Roidmude along with Ross' slashes. "Miss Oxton? You can move in Slowdown too?" Ross asked. "Well, I would say move at super-fast speeds, but-" Ross just nodded. "I get it." Ross knocked the Roidmude back with his scythe. "Our speed is able to push past the Slowdown, enabling us to move like they do." Ross said. "So... these are the Roidmudes you're talking about?" Oxton asked. "Yeah." The Roidmude ran towards them, only for Ross and Oxton to fire at him with their guns. "Well, I'm glad to have a speedy guy by my side. Codename's Tracer." She extended her hand to him. "We should get one for you too. Rose is already taken sadly." She smirked. "... How about Ruby?" Ross asked as he shook her hand. "That works!" Tracer said. Just then, the Roidmude rushed at the two, grabbing them by the throats. As he held them by the throats, their skin slowly began to change color from the bottom up, turning from their normal skin color to a more reddish color, akin to a rash. "I'm going to silence you two..." He said. Just then, he noticed a red laser heading towards him. "What the!?" He noticed it too late as it hit him, causing the particles to die down and knocking Ross and Tracer to the ground. The two struggled to get up as a man walked to the two of them. The man had tanned skin with hazel eyes and was wearing a white button shirt with a pocket and brown cargo pants. He had short black hair and was wearing a necklace holding three dog tags, one with an upside down lightning bolt engraved to it, the other a shooting star, and the last being a heart with wings. He held a red and silver laser pistol. Tracer looked up. "Rose! You're here!" Tracer said. "Where's Shadow?" "Shadow's busy taking care of some mooks outside the building. You really got yourself in trouble here. Fortunately, I'm here now." Rose said. He then stepped forward, his black army boots pressing against the floor. "Another one!? Well, might as well just kill you all!" The Roidmude asked. Rose flinched somewhat. Ross could definitely see something in Rose. A sense of fear, perhaps. However, Rose quickly glared at the Roidmude before giving a smirk. Ross looked at the man's smirk and could feel that it was just one shade away from being an outright sadistic smile. "I was always curious about one thing..." Rose stopped walking and pulled out a pink device from his wrist. While mostly pink, it had a blue LCD screen with three small buttons underneath. "Does a machine like yourself ever experience fear?" He asked. "Of course! We Roidmudes are able to copy human emotion!" He said. "... Good." Rose held the device as he placed his free hand on top of it. Ross could see a faint, reddish aura come from him. At first, Ross assumed it was akin to his Aura and that a Semblance would be shown, but he noticed the aura had tiny squares flowing from it, almost pixelly in a sense. Soon, his entire body began to morph into these pixels. "What the hell?" The Roidmude commented. Rose's body trembled. Before Ross or the Roidmude could comment, the man just gave an anguished shout: “BIO HYBRID DNA… FULL CHARGE!” The device soon spread out golden pixels as they spread out all over Rose. As the pixels began to disperse, Rose was gone. In his place was a woman dressed in a pink latex jumpsuit with a lotus-style cut on her stomach. She had pink leather gloves that reached to her shoulder as well as cables that wrapped around her arm. She also wore black thigh-high latex boots and a white petal cape. The last major detail, aside from the giant syringe that stuck behind her head, was a pink mask that hung over her face save for her mouth. The mask looked like that of a blooming rose. “BioRosemon!” She declared herself. "What the hell?" Ross echoed the Roidmude's remark for a completely different reason. Back in his world, this kind of rose monster was actually in a cartoon show about kids bonding with digital monsters. To see a real life version of it was surreal compared to the Roidmudes. "Ruby, allow me to introduce you to Rose. As you can tell from the name, he turns into a rose woman!" Tracer said. "... Please tell me there's more to it than just that." Ross said “THORN WHIP!” BioRosemon swung the cables on her arm at the Roidmude. As they connected with the Roidmude, the whips began to send off electrical shocks to it. Sparks flew a bit as the Roidmude staggered back. "D-Damn it... At this rate..." The Roidmude then took out a toy car, one that had a cockroach mounted on it with a long cape. He placed the car inside of him. As it sucked itself into the plate showing his number, a long brown cape resembling a cockroach's shell sprang out of his heck, followed shortly by his bald face being obscured by a bronze cage that concealed the entire head. He held a scythe of his own. Ross remembered this type of Roidmude as a member of the Reaper Legion. "Such an unsightly view. A weed amidst my beautiful garden of flowers. I’ll do everything in my power to pluck you out!" BioRosemon took her cable and cracked it, creating thorns on it as well as straightened it out. “ROSE RAPIER!” BioRosemon swung her newly made rapier at the scythe as the Roidmude clashed at it. While the scythe was easily the larger weapon of the two, the rapier managed to out maneuver the scythe several times before impaling right into the palm of the Roidmude and giving him another shock, causing him to drop his scythe. Before the Roidmude could reach at it, BioRosemon stomped on it with one of her heels, breaking it. She then smirked to the Roidmude as she swung her whip at the Roidmude, consistently shocking him as he grunted in pain. "Do you not see the beauty of my power?" BioRosemon held her hand to her chest, revealing a pink jewel as it began to glow. "Humans are so arrogant to believe they can achieve this power with cheap robotics." The jewel began to fly off his chest and hover outwards as she cupped the jewel with her hands. "You're better off being scrap!" BioRosemon’s outfit then exploded, her body engulfed in a pink light as she shouted out: “FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION!” She pushed her hands out as energy came out in the form of a large, pink beam that shot towards the Roidmude. The beam engulfed the Roidmude, reducing his body into rose petals as his Core, 019, slowly crumbled to dust. The beam hit the wall where it caused a hole to be made. BioRosemon smirked before her body jerked. Orange 1s and 0s began to overtake BioRosemon as her body dissolved, leaving behind Rose. He then fell over as Tracer ran to grab him, her skin and Ross' skin reverting back to normal. Ross got up as soon as he heard Rose heavily breathing. "It's okay, love. Rose is just tuckered out. It takes a lot out of him to fight." Tracer said. Ross only had his jaw drop. He had so many questions to ask... But as he saw the hole in the wall, he realized that this wasn't the time. He saw Flash staggering against what he presumed to be his would be assassin. As Flash stabbed into the warheads, the Roidmude just chuckled. "Fool! You fell right into my trap!" He then fired darts point blank at Flash's chest, knocking him down. As he tried to get up, the wall behind him was blasted apart. He didn't take a glance, focused more on defeating the Roidmude. His hand hovered over the belt before flicking the knife twice. SOIYA! ORANGE SPLIT! With blood dripping from his mouth, Flash held his two daggers as they glowed, the aura of an orange shining behind them. He raised them up and then slashed downwards. Despite being the stronger one of the two, the slashes did some damage to two of the four silos. Flash staggered and then flicked the knife once more. SOIYA! ORANGE SPLASH! He then stabbed one of his daggers right into the green gem on the Roidmude's chest. Sparks flew from the Roidmude's wounds. "Hhhnnn... How... How are you still alive!?" The Roidmude growled. "Because... I'm will not give up!" He tried to plunge the other dagger, but he fell down, only having enough strength to hold onto the dagger inside the Roidmude. "Well, I guess this is game over then..." The Roidmude was about to strike Flash when his head was suddenly blown off by a sniper rifle. His body disintegrated into rose petals as his Core, 091, floated away. Flash fell down onto the ground, his daggers transforming into orange juice as Ross ran over to him. "Flash, you idiot! You coulda gotten yourself killed!" Ross said. He winced at the many darts impaled on Flash and the blood from his mouth. "We gotta get you to a hospital!" Ross said. Flash shook his head. "N-no... I need... I need to help Twilight..." Flash said. "You can't help her if you're dead!" Ross said. That's when Oxton entered the room, Rose on her back. "Ruby, what's going... Oh God!" She gasped upon seeing Flash. "What happened, love?!" She asked. "He took on a Roidmude, that's what happened." Ross said. That's when Flash placed his hand on Ross' shoulder. "I... I found it... And I took the footage..." Flash said. "That's wonderful! But... we really need to get you patched up." Oxton said. Ross sighed. "I'll call an ambulance." Ross said as he took out his phone. The girls were fast asleep as I looked to the moonlight shining through the window in our jail cell. I looked down to Banno. Not once did I ever think of me using him to bust me or the girls out. And quite frankly, that was for the better. That's when a door opened up as Soarin' entered with a key. "Well, I have some good news. An anonymous tip left us with a USB containing video footage of Shigekiyo's death. I can't really explain it myself, but my conclusion from seeing the footage is that the reason he died of a heart attack is not due to the shock, but because someone literally ripped out his heart and crushed it." ... I took a few moments to realize Soarin' was, for the first time since meeting him, being very serious about a sentence that would otherwise pass off as one of his 'gushing about Silverbolt' moments. "We also caught some chatter between the murderer and the victim. Seems you and the girls were onto something. Apparently Everton had called for this guy and from the conversation, they seemed to be partaking in human experiments. Our culprit, or at least our lead, isn't you, thus, you and the girls are free to go." He said as he opened up our cell. That's when the phone rang. He ran over to answer. "Hello? ... What? Shit, I was just talking about that place... I'll be right over." I could hear Soarin's end of the conversation. I blinked, then looked to the sleeping girls. I gave a warm smile. We're free, and I didn't need to do anything. But it did make me think: Who cleared our names? The Woman of the Beginning sighed. She did as the boy ordered her to, much to her chagrin. For whatever reason, he refused to be a Kamen Rider, denouncing them as monsters. She had no idea why he thought that, but she knew that his mind was made up. There was a smile to her though. He wasn't going to be binding him to the road of a Kamen Rider. She stood in the middle of a closed art museum. She had visited this place a month or two ago, if only to help an actual Kamen Rider. She frowned though. She clearly wasn't the Rider the Woman of the Beginning was expecting, but she had her faith. She remembered using her ability to create cracks to this world to drop off an incomplete Lock Vehicle to the Rider in the hopes that she would complete it. The Rider seemed to handle things very well, though. The Roidmude threat was diminishing each and every day, though another sigh left her as she realized that the worst is yet to come. She could only shed a tear from her unnatural red eye and look at the painting of the King of the Forest. In particular, she focused on the red dot. To the naked eye, it seemed to just be a red dot. To someone who stared at it long enough, though, it became a sort of magic eye picture. Next to the majestic white deer stood a man in silver armor with a white cape behind him. He had blonde hair almost in the same shading as hers and like much like her, he had one natural eye and one red eye. She looked at this painting longingly, especially at the man. She then created a zipper portal behind her and just frowned. "Wait for me, Kouta... We'll save you soon..." And with that, she left the empty museum as if she never entered. Flashes of red and blue flooded the area as police and ambulance trucks stationed themselves outside of Everton's building. One of the cops exited the area. "We found some bodies. They were cops." He said. Soarin' sighed. "Get some people to extract them. We'll announce their deaths in the morning." He said. He looked to Spitfire. "Take over for me." She nodded and went forward. Soarin', meanwhile, went to his son, who was on a stretcher, bandages applied to his body. "Dad, I know what you're going to say but..." Flash could see his father shake his head. "You disobeyed my orders, recklessly went into a dangerous place, and almost got yourself killed in the process." Soarin' gave Flash a glare. "But I-" "All for the purpose of finding out the truth." He then lightly hugged Flash. "I'm proud of you, son." "... Thank you, dad..." Flash said. Soarin' let go of Flash as the latter noticed the former's eyes shedding. "Y-you're crying!" Flash chuckled. "N-no... it's liquid pride." The two then laughed. Starlight Glimmer walked down the warehouse as several Foundation X members were unloading cargo. As she did, she noticed someone behind her. "Starlight... I'm not surprised you're the last one to evacuate Everton." Double Diamond said. Starlight turned around. "I'm sorry, but that place was my facility. I didn't want to abandon it but..." She muttered. "I told you to leave immediately. Someone was gonna investigate what happened with the experiments. Then all the hard work on Project Tataricus would have been for naught." Double Diamond said. "I know..." Starlight said. "I also can't help but notice our countermeasure against the Roidmudes is gone as well." Double Diamond approached Starlight. "Must have been lost in the confusion." Starlight said. "Or... It could have been given away." Double Diamond then revealed a phone which played footage of Starlight giving away the belt to Flash. "You let this man get away. Why?" He asked. "... You and I aren't the only ones hurt by the Everton Eruption. I researched all the names of the people lost to that disaster... That boy lost his mom to that awful experiment. I consider giving him the Frubask Driver an apology of sorts." She said. "And do you think he'll forgive you when he finds out your role in this?" Double Diamond asked. "... That's what I want to know." With that, Starlight left. Double Diamond just sighed. "You know, I could just erase her for you..." An eerie and sinister voice rang behind Double Diamond as a purple-skinned man with combed back brown hair edging off into a braided pony tail approached him. He had tiny golden eyes, arched eyebrows, sported a constant evil grin, and wore the same Foundation X uniform as Double Diamond. "No. Leave her. When the police come for us, she'll be our scapegoat. No need to kill her just yet." Double Diamond said. He then glared at her. "Starlight Glimmer... What is your end game?" Rose slowly awoke on Tracer's lap as she ruffled up his hair. The two stood on top of a rooftop a block away from the Everton building. "Hey, Rosie..." She whispered. "T-tracer..." Rose said. "Don't worry. The cops are handling this now. You can rest." She said. "Good..." Rose said. "Hey, there's this guy I think would be an amazing member to our team. His name's Ruby and..." Tracer spoke to him. "Ruby you say?" That's when Tracer heard a voice she had not heard all day. She turned to see a woman who had a gray mask concealing half her face with two small slits on each side of the mask. She wore a white long coat with a black tank top underneath and a belt slung over her shoulder. A white and gold belt held up her black leather pants as she wore high heels. Contrasting the cool outfit was a cute black bow on her head. "Yeah, Shadow. He's pretty good at fighting and can move fast like I can!" Tracer said. "Yeah... he could be some help against those robots." Rose said as he got off of Tracer's lap, sitting upright. "Tell me, does this Ruby hold a scythe?" Shadow asked. "Yeah, he does! Well, it's also a gun but..." Tracer sheepishly giggled. "... I want to meet this Ruby for myself." Shadow glared. Ross drove back to Sunset's residence as he yawned. As he entered the door, he saw Sunset's mom arrive. "Ah, Ross, you're back." She said. "Did you find out what you set out for?" "Yeah... I'm gonna save Sunset Shimmer, but I'm gonna do it by being her friend." Ross said. Sunset's mom just smiled. "That would be wonderful." She said. I took the girls back to the school via the Tridoron. They seemed to have been sleeping rather soundly all things considered. I couldn't blame them. They're still teenagers, they needed the sleep. I placed the girls in individual beds in the library. At least they'll be ready for school when morning hits. Before going to sleep, I looked towards the falling moon. That's when I heard a preppy tune followed shortly by a ding dong. Despite the loud song of the Colorful Commercial Shift Car, the girls remained asleep. I smirked. "What have you been planning, Kelly?" Banno asked. "Well, Banno, yesterday, when I caught the boys spying on Twilight, I had Colorful Commercial follow them and whoever sent them to do it in the first place. I doubt the boys are smart enough to do things on their own volition." I said. "So, you're not as dumb as you make yourself out to be..." Banno said. "Well, I inherited Ryoma's genius, after all." I chuckled before I transformed into Gold Drive, twisting the key twice to shift to my control. As I did, Colorful Commercial went to me as I plugged it into the Shift Brace. That's when I saw in my HUD everything the Shift Car recorded since yesterday. I saw it follow the boys around, only to stop by Sunset Shimmer. "Bingo." I said. The Shift Car followed Sunset as I saw her receive the very footage she'd use to sabotage Twilight's reputation. "I'll crush you yet, Twilight Sparkle..." She muttered. That's when I saw, in the corner of the footage, a sleeping Ross. I frowned slightly before I skipped the footage. There, I saw the battle between me and Shigekiyo in full detail. However, I saw Sunset pass by the field, only to see us. She then proceeded to get her camera out and record the footage. I smirked. I caught her. Finally... However, the story didn't end there. Soon, I was able to see Colorful Commercial follow Sunset down to a dark area of the downtown area. That's when Sunset encountered this emo goth douche. Pale skin, red lips, bleached hair, leather? Was he trying to pass for a Vampire LARP? Perhaps he was and some merchant got him a one way ticket to some pony world. Though, I noticed an air of him. He didn't feel like a Displaced like Ross or me. Rather, someone of a more powerful persuasion. Perhaps it was because I was reminded of the Wiseman, a villain from Kamen Rider Wizard, or perhaps it was the way he talked. "Sunset... I'm glad to have encountered you again." The man said. "I thought our deal was done." Sunset said. "It is, but I want to make another one..." The edgy dude said. "Not interested." Sunset said. "Oh, you will be... Because the offer and the price are right up your alley." I raised an eyebrow. The hell was he? Some drug dealer? "Oh yeah? What is it?" Sunset asked. "I noticed you recorded that fight between the Displaced, and I can't help but feel like I need to liberate my fellow Displaced in some way. So, I figured to... make it so that he had an accident. That'll be my end of the bargain." ... Did he just imply that he killed Shigekiyo? My breathing shallowed. I realized I wasn't dealing with some punk or emo. This was a psychopath. "Hmm... Then I can send in the evidence and have it so that Twilight and her loser friends did the deed... I like it. But... what of the price?" Sunset asked. "Oh, it's something you and I both want. The invasion of Equestria... That world made you suffer and they've also made me suffer. It would only made sense if you repaid the favor and made Equestria suffer twofold. Snuff out the light, and I will be in your debt..." He pulled out and showed what seemed to be a dagger, with the blade bent to a wavy pattern, to Sunset. Colorful Commercial was unable to look closer at the dagger, but I was able to tell from its golden detailing that it could definitely pass for a magical artifact. He put the dagger away as Sunset nodded. "Very well, but do note that I'm doing this not for you or your power, but for my sake. Celestia has long denied me my rightful place and I will make her suffer for it!" Sunset said. "She had denied me my place too... Make her suffer for both our sake." He then puffed into a pile of gray smoke. "Well, it seems the plot thickens..." Banno chuckled. I nodded in agreement. I thought I'd be dealing with some Regina George-style bitch. But no. I'm dealing with someone much worse. I'm dealing with a full blown villain in the making. Ross then went upstairs, only to find Sunset fast asleep on her bed. Ross frowned, went over to her, and brushed her hair a little. That's when he noticed that Sunset's desktop computer was still on. Ross took a gulp before walking over and moving the mouse just a bit. There, he saw a video editing program where footage of a fight was seen. The fight between Kelly and the supposed Displaced that died. He blinked, then noticed the fight seemed to be in medias res, as the girls joined the fray already. That's when he noticed the undo button highlighted. He clicked on it, only to find that the video expanded. He pressed play. The first line of dialogue pierced his heart: "This is a race, Kelly. Who can kill who the fastest? Me... or you?" "Kelly, of course you were fighting him... Why would I be so stupid to assume you killed someone..." Ross muttered. That's when he saw a short, chubby guy. He noticed the footage was recorded from the bleachers. "Found you..." "Who the fuck are you?" "I think you should know by now." From there, the battle broke out, with the fat man being the instigator. He then clicked the redo button and realized that the exchange was cut. "Sunset... No..." Ross realized why it was cut. "Uuuugh... Ross?" That's when Ross heard the sound of a groggy Sunset Shimmer. Ross turned around, only to notice she was now wide awake, well aware of Ross being in front of her computer on her software. "Ross... What are you doing?" She glared at Ross. Ross could only look like a deer in headlights "... Sunset... Did you make it look like Kelly killed someone?" Ross asked. "Of course not! I made it look like Twilight killed someone. You should know by now that this is a dog-eat-dog competition." Sunset said. "... So... You finally show your true colors." Ross asked. "Yeah. It's getting tiring playing goody-two-shoes around you, especially when you keep snooping behind my back!" She said. Ross could only frown as the memories of Mercury's betrayal play in his head. "Besides, what are you going to do about this? I'll just play innocent if you bring this up to the Principal!" Sunset said. "No... I won't. I'm going to free you from the crown's influence. You're being corrupted. That's why you're rude." Ross said. "... Heh... You really think that? Hah! The crown isn't what made me who I am. It's me who made me who I am! My desires, my ambitions, my passion... All of it is what made me into the person I am! You really think a cheap plastic crown was responsible for my attitude? You really must be a dumbass for coming to that conclusion! No wonder it was so easy to fake being friends with you! You're just some naïve brat!" Sunset said. Ross couldn't control the tears that came from his eyes. What was worse was that he felt this exact pain before... Or rather, Ruby did. The pain of betrayal. Ross, however, then remembered the anger that came from it. He remembered how the act of betrayal cost people their lives. People he... no... people that Ruby cared about, dead because of the monsters she thought were her friends. He remembered all of Ruby's suffering, all of Ruby's torment, all of Ruby's despair. All wrapped up into one emotion. That's when Ross gripped his scythe. He was going to do something he would definitely regret. Ross glared at Sunset Shimmer. This was something Ruby Rose would never do. This would be something he would never do. But when confronting a mean girl like Sunset Shimmer, what choice did he have? Shimmering Sunset Arc 7: Who Will Fall?Fire… The smoke choked out the young pony’s vision, to the point where she could only see the dancing flames that she had caused. The pony looked around. It was meant to be a simple spark. How did she managed to cause a massive fire? “Mom!?” She shouted out her name as she weakly walked across the smog of smoke and ash. She coughed and fell to the ground. She began to sweat, the heat overbearing her body. She was about to black out had it not been for a golden light. In this light, the heat died down, the smoke faded, and even the fires went away. The filly struggled to get up, her vision slowly returning as she saw a pony before her. At first, she thought it was her mother, but she noticed just how big she was. No. This was her ruler. She began to tremble. The large winged unicorn merely looked down to the younger unicorn. She observed the destruction the fire brought. What was once her beautiful home was now reduced to cinders and ashes. “Where’s mommy?” The pony asked. The alicorn needed to only look at the two collapsed unicorns, their furs a scorched black. The alicorn then looked down to her and frowned. “… I’m sorry. Your mother and father can’t be with you anymore.” She said. The unicorn just froze, looked to the smolders that were once her parents, then began to sob. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to practice my magic!” The little unicorn whimpered. “I know… You were born with an unusually high amount of it, however. I’m sorry for the loss of your parents…” The alicorn said as she laid her large wings over the unicorn. There was several moments of silence or sobbing before the unicorn spoke up. “… Where will I go?” The unicorn cried. “Don’t worry. I will help you control your magic and ensure it will never hurt anypony anymore.” She said. “… Y-you will?” She asked. “Yes. I’m even considering you living with me while you learn.” The alicorn said. “… Thank you, Celestia…” She didn’t smile, but her frown faded. “… Do you need some time to say goodbye to your parents?” Celestia asked. The unicorn merely looked to the corpses, then nodded. “Very well. I will be waiting for you when you’re ready to leave, Sunset Shimmer.” With that, Celestia flew away. Sunset went to her parents, knelt, and cried. “I’m sorry… I just… I wanted to be the very best… like no pony ever was…” She said. Sunset glared at Ross as he readied something behind his back. “Ross, I’ll give you to the count of three to step away from the computer. One…” She got up on her fours, relying on her pony instinct to grab Ross if need be. Ross just stared. “Two…” Ross crouched. Sunset gritted her teeth. “THREE!” Before Sunset could jump though, Ross disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. She heard mechanical whirring as a blade suddenly came inches before her throat. “If you’re not gonna be nice, then I won’t.” She heard Ross growl into her ear. Ross could feel Sunset tremble as he held the blade of Crescent Rose against her throat. “Nngh…” She muttered. “You said that the Princess of the Fall Formal represents how thankful she is… But I have not seen that from you. Do you think you can become the Princess by being such a jerk?” Ross asked. “…” Sunset had no idea how to respond. She felt Ross press against her back. She remembered how she found him injured on the streets. She expected Ross to be at the very least controllable. “No. You can’t. Which is why I will do everything in my power to ensure you don’t become the Fall Formal Princess.” With that, the blade goes away as Sunset heard the whirring again. Ross then walked away, leaving a shocked and confused Sunset on her bed. Papers of various notes were scattered across the table. I decided to take Silverbolt’s lab to my advantage and move my study over there, far from where the girls were. I didn’t want to send them into a panic by telling them that their bully is intending to commit world domination. Speaking of, I had Colorful Commercial track down Sunset and continue to record her. Something told me that she’d be doing just more than speak with psychotic edgelords. I had a lot of things to recap on now, such as who the man that Sunset talked to was or the significance of his dagger. I occasionally had Banno recite to me the statistics of various items, such as when I previously scanned the crown, to see if there was anything I could piece together. I stood back when I ran out of space on the whiteboard to place my sticky notes on. When I looked at the monstrosity of sticky notes, with some even beginning to peel off, I felt ill. “Think I’m gonna faint…” I had no idea where to begin. I only got one piece of information right: that Sunset is planning to take over Equestria, but other than that, I don’t know who the guy she talked to was, how she’s gonna get to Equestria, where I can best stop her, when will the plan take place, and why Sunset would be stupid enough to deal with a psychopath. “So, you met him, I take it?” I turned around to face Niko. For the first time since I met him, I didn’t aggressively attack him. Rather, I just looked at him. “You know him?” I sighed. Of course he does. “No, forget that. At this point I’m not surprised. Let me guess, one extra layer of the bullshit cake you’ve fed me?” “No. I always intended you to fight the Roidmudes. He just went and changed up everything. I didn’t even know he was here.” Niko said. “Oh, you mean like the Displaced or the pony from ponyland?” I rolled my eyes. “Everything would be so much easier if I didn’t have to handle all this crap! Did you know that since I met Twilight and got wrapped up in her bullshit, I never once faced a Roidmude? I’m scared they’re setting up some sort of operation that I don’t know about because I’m too busy with stupid high school shit and when I’m not doing that, I’m fending off random assholes like that fatass! Now you’re telling me there’s a new threat I have to be aware about?” I yelled. “… Yes. He is far more dangerous than the Roidmudes can ever be. They can destroy a world, yes, but their numbers are reduced, thus their efforts will be notably slowed down. This man, however, can destroy multiple worlds and all he has to do is whisper sweet nothings to some fool’s ear.” Niko said. I then groaned. “Sounds like he’s your problem. My problem is apparently goddamn prom. PROM! I’m too old for this shit!” I turned back to the board, only for Niko to grab my wrist. “He is my problem. I’ve been trying to make sure no idiot grabs his Token and summons him for the past five years. I’ve spent more time in other worlds than in my very own home just to make sure that monster never destroys anyone again. You feel pissed about being Displaced? Try being away from your family for longer than you’ve spent in a goddamn hospital! You’re sobbing about your belt taking over you? Try falling asleep and praying no monster comes and eat your face off in your makeshift shelter made of sticks and stones! You’re bitching about high school life? I’d kill for that life! I’d kill to take back the years that were stolen from me!” Niko shouted. I just stood there and saw him pour his heart out. When he was done shouting, I was rendered speechless. What do I say to him? I always saw Niko as this smug git, always having some new piece of information whenever he pops up… But now? I saw something in him in his eyes. I saw something in his fists. I saw something in the way he glared at me. I saw humanity. He sighed and began to speak. “Sorry… This whole Roidmudes issue is to me like this prom thing is to you. I’d rather be done with it now so that I can deal with more stuff like my Displacer and giving people the thrill of survival.” Niko said. “You know…” I closed my eyes. “I never really saw things from your perspective before.” “Hmm… Maybe I should yell at you to get you to understand my perspective.” Banno said. “You just had to pick the mouthy belt, didn’t you?” Niko chuckled. “Hey, you’re the one who propped it dead center for me to see!” I barked. “Regardless,” Niko raised his voice slightly, “I’m warning you that what you’re dealing with is more than you can handle. That crown you’re after? That’s a powerful artifact in Equestria. It has such magical properties that it can be able to bring magic to any realm that lacks it. Case in point…” He then points to the floor. “… So now I have to deal with magic. Great. Let me know when aliens come to Earth.” I said. “Goddamn it, Kelly! This is no laughing matter! This guy is a powerful sorcerer! With magic coming to this realm, he can simply flick his wrist and kill you. If he sets his sights on you, you’re dead!” Niko said. “Let him. I’m practically the strongest person in this world. Were it not for my son, I would have been ruling the Earth with an iron fist. I was never a believer in magic anyways.” Banno said. “I’ve seen the things his magic can bring. Even the best of heroes fall to its might. This is the only warning I’m gonna give. If you ever see that guy… run. Don’t fight. Just… run.” Niko said. With that, he walked away. “Like you have?” I retorted. Niko only turned back. “… Yeah. But I’m different. Running… is the only thing that makes me feel alive now.” He then zipped away. I then looked at the notes and realized something. Somepony has a lot of explaining to do. Ugggh… Did I just say “somepony”? “I have to say, Sunset, your studies in magic have been growing in excellence.” Celestia trotted down the long ivory hallways of her kingdom with her pupil, Sunset Shimmer, by her side. “Thank you, Celestia. I do try to make the most of my talents.” Sunset smirked as she strode alongside Celestia. “However, I realize that you have been neglecting one aspect of your studies.” As soon as Celestia said that, Sunset leaped in front of Celestia, eyes widened. “W-what is it!? Is it my abjuration spells? I admit, I’m rusty in the shield spells, but-” Though Celestia just chuckled at her. “No, my faithful student, the aspect I’m talking about is one of friendship. You haven’t been taking the time to work with your fellow students and all your group projects ended with you taking the whole project for yourself. Alone, you are great, but with friends, you can be even better.” Celestia said. “Hmph. Friends… I hate to disagree with you, but-” “Then don’t.” Celestia noticed a shimmering object her way. A mirror. Perfect! This would be the thing she’d need to give Sunset a lesson. “Now, look into this mirror and tell me what you see.” Sunset went over to look at the mirror. “I see…” Sunset looked into the mirror and then swayed her hair so that her red-and-yellow colored hair could cover one of her eyes. She smiled. “A beautiful pony with great potential and power…” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Mmmm… Can you be a little more humble about it?” Celestia said. Sunset sighed and looked into the mirror some more. As she did, Celestia stood behind her. Sunset could see herself in the mirror. “Humble, huh? Okay…” Sunset’s voice was reduced to a hush as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked into the mirror again. “I see somepony who’s not perfect…” Celestia smiled for a bit until Sunset continued. “Not yet.” That’s when Celestia’s smile faded. “I see a pony who needs to be more great. A pony who wants to be more powerful. A pony…” Sunset could see a faint light in the mirror. The light ended up shimmering over Sunset’s body and in a moment, she could see wings and a crown on her. “… A pony who will one day rule Equestria.” “Weeeeeeeell… We should move on...” Celestia said as she walked away. As Sunset turned around to follow Celestia, she noticed a flash of light from the mirror. She turned around and saw the brief glimpse of flames. “Huh? What was that?” Sunset asked. “Hmm?” “There! In the reflection! I think I saw something!” Sunset said. “I think we’re done for the evening.” Celestia unfolded one of her wings and began to push Sunset towards her. “For homework, I want you to reflect on this conversation we had.” Celestia said. Sunset simply scowled. Celestia’s wing obscured any vision of the mirror. Celestia gave a heavy sigh. She had just realized what the mirror she showed Sunset was. It was an invention from her old friend, Star Swirl the Bearded. One that, as it pains her to recall, could cause tons of devastation if one is to get too curious with it. As she saw the disappointed student in her wing, she knew that would be the case for Sunset. As I walked down the hallway, I began to overhear some people. “So who are you voting for?” One guy asked. “I dunno. The options are limited.” His friend responded. “Well, at least we have options this time around!” The guy said. “Yeah, but we have to pick between a bully and some psychopath. Have you seen the video?” He then took out his iPhone and showed his friend the video. Already I knew what he was talking about. I walked faster, trying to get to Twilight as soon as I could. Principal Celestia sighed as Luna stood next to her in her office. On the Principal’s laptop was a site called YouHoof, in which a video entitled “PSYCHO STUDENTS AND THEIR PSYCHO TEACHER BEAT UP FAT GUY” played. She frowned as it showed not only five of her students, but also Golden Drive and her newest transfer student, Twilight Sparkle, fighting a small chubby man with spikes growing out of his bald head. “To think this would be uploaded the eve of the Fall Formal… The students will be hard pressed to vote.” Luna sighed as Celestia turned her chair around. “What do you mean by that?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “The students have to pick between a school bully and some new kid who ended up making not only an ass of herself, but also is an accomplice to a beating. It is like witnessing a presidential election.” Luna sat down and massaged her forehead. “Have faith, sister… Hope will spring eternal soon.” Celestia clicked off the video. “I heard the students in the hall on my way here. They saw this video as well. They are scared.” Luna then grabbed the mouse and clicked on FireHorse and restored the closed window. She then scrolled down to where the uploader’s name is at, then moved her cursor towards the uploader’s avatar. Celestia looked at it and just scowled as she saw it was a picture of Sunset Shimmer. To further confirm it, it had the name S. Shimmer on it. “One side is obviously attacking the other and the damage is already irreversible. There’s no favorable option, sister… I suggest we cancel the Fall Formal.” Luna said. “Absolutely not.” Celestia clicked off the browser again. “Why not!? This is barely a contest anymore and I cannot bear to see that ruffian win again! Especially when she is using dirty and underhanded tactics!” Luna shouted so hard, students outside stopped to look at what was going on. One simple glare from Luna caused them to scurry by. “Even if the people are scared, you have to remember why we chose to do these ceremonies in the first place.” Celestia got up and went over to the bookshelf. “Yes, you don’t need to remind me of that fable.” Luna crossed her arms. As she said that, a melody of chimes and rings prompted Celestia to look at her computer. She saw a message in front of her saying: INCOMING MEETING FROM THE HEADMASTER “Luna, we can discuss this another time.” Celestia said. Luna simply nodded and left the room. Celestia opened up the messenger program, ChatNoir, and saw four small windows opened up. Each window showed one face and titled with one title. “What seems to be the problem?” Celestia looked at one of the windows. It was grayed out, showing no face. It still showed the title of ‘Principal of Everton Independent Study’. “It would appear that Everton has gone rogue.” The Principal of the Wonderbolts Academy spoke with such a gruff voice. He had brown skin, a black beard shaped to be an upper portion of a bat, short black hair, hazel eyes, and an olive green coat. “Gone rogue?” Celestia widened her eyes. “I knew there was something suspicious about that school the moment they took an interest in one of my professors.” To contrast the brown-skinned Principal, this Principal had a bluish hue that could have her easily mistaken for a cadaver. She had purpleish curled hair, purple eyes, and wore a preppy enough business uniform. Celestia knew her personally as Principal Cinch, who ran Crystal Prep Academy. Cinch then smirked. “Speaking of, how is Silverbolt doing?” She asked. “Let’s not change the subject, Cinch.” Celestia knew that dry tone anywhere. She looked towards the upper left window, having the title of Headmaster. There she saw the silver-haired bespectacled man wearing a green turtleneck underneath a black business suit. Celestia, in her history with talking with this man knew that, when he isn’t seen with a mug of coffee on the ready, some serious shit was about to happen. “Everton has allied with what would appear to be a terrorist organization. The same one that is responsible for the recent attacks and experiences of slowdowns.” The man simply had his hands clasped. “I presume you’re thinking about the upcoming Fall Formal, correct, Celestia?” He asked. “Y-yes. A new student has entered the contest of who would be the Princess of the Fall Formal.” As soon as Celestia said that, she noticed the man’s hands tighten slightly. “I see… Then my decisions to have Tracer and that boy enter your school have been in the right. Which also means that my hunch was correct.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Rainart, have the Wonderbolts increase security throughout the city. Cinch, because of Professor Silverbolt’s ties to Everton, I’m assigning you to hunt down their allied organization. As for you, Celestia,” he proceeded to glare, as if directly staring at Celestia, “prepare for the worst case scenario. If the Fall Formal Crown falls in the wrong hands, then our hope with Canterlot High surviving tonight will dwindle to almost nothing.” Before Celestia could even comment on it, the Headmaster logged off. The remaining three went into silence. “Prepare for the worst!? What the hell is this man talking about? He’s senile! That’s what he is!” Cinch began to speak up. “Shut it.” Only for Rainart to bark up. “I have faith in him. Celestia, I pray things work out.” Rainart then logged out. Cinch was left to just babble a little before she too logged out. Celestia was now left alone. She simply lowered her head and began to softly cry. How the hell could she ‘prepare for the worst’? As soon as I entered the library, I shook Twilight awake. I noticed the other five girls were fast asleep, leaving me and Twilight to have our chat. “What happened?” Twilight slurred as she slowly got up. I decided to drag her by the wrist over to behind one of the bookshelves. I had no time for Twilight to sober up. “Did you know?” I growled. “K-know what?!” Twilight took a considerable amount of time to let my question enter her mind as she shook. “Don’t bullshit me, Twilight! Did. You. Know!?” I restrained myself from grabbing at her collar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight tried to lower her voice. “That your little crown brought magic to this world?!” I said. She paused a bit before I calmed. “No… Of course not.” I muttered. “The Element of Magic… Of course! That’s what Sunset was talking about!” Twilight then froze up again before making a somewhat silly looking face as her eyes went wide, her pupils shrunk, and her mouth ridiculously huge. “Oh no! Sunset must be wanting to use the crown to increase her magical potential!” Twilight said. “Not only that, but she’s in cahoots with this guy who wants her to invade Equestria.” I said. “I-invade Equestria!?” I reached out to her mouth to shut her up. “Yes.” I hissed. “Obviously your crown is a powerful item. Ross is right. The sooner it’s out of here, the better.” I pulled my hand away from Twilight’s mouth. “So we have to win it no matter what!” That’s when I looked at her. “So what do you stall for?” I asked. Twilight just winced, then tilted her head. I looked behind me and saw the five girls sleeping. “So?” I asked. “You may know Equestria, but the others don’t. If I up and tell them I’m some pony princess, they’ll just look at me funny.” Twilight said. That’s when I saw Spike approach Twilight. “Twilight, these people have supported you ever since you came to this place. I doubt they’ll easily dismiss you if you claim to be a princess.” Spike said. “But what if they will? What if when I needed them most, they’ll just abandon me?” That’s when I could see Twilight tear up. I slightly looked down, only because I too felt that same way before. BANG! I remembered myself falling against the locker as my glasses fell off. I tried to get to them, only to end up cutting my finger at the glass. The harassment began before I even stepped into the school, when some of the girls tripped me and made me fall on the pavement on my knees. I was too busy walking off the scrapes to notice someone else pushing me into the locker when I went to it. “Wow, look at her! What a total dork!” One of the girls said to me as I struggled to get up. I saw a crowd of girls in front of me, all of them laughing. I began to wonder what had happened that caused this to happen. That’s when I saw something get tossed at me. It was a picture of me singing karaoke. It took me a while to piece two and two together. I remembered the cute pair of pajamas I had when I sang the song “Sunflower” by the band SOPHIA. I then remembered when that exactly was. It was a sleepover with just me and one other girl. And sure enough, I saw her standing in front of the bullies. Ashley Neige. She was my closest friend… In fact, she was my only friend. It was weird in retrospect. I was the nerdy, nose-in-her-book type while she was your ordinary rich bitch. Well, not really. She was actually very sweet. Was being the keyword. There was a rumor circulating the school that Ashley’s father had been embezzling funds ever since a cop investigated them. I had supported her while she got ridiculed for the scandal. But as I saw her look at me and heard the students, I realized what happened. “Nice work!” “Yeah, you really exposed this nerdy bitch!” “You can sit with us back at the cool kids table!” I began to tear up as Ashley began to sink back into the crowd of girls. My body trembled and I continued to sob by the lockers. “Then that’s when their true friendship is tested.” I muttered. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She asked. “If they abandon you in your time of need, then they’re not your friends. They just use you as a stepping stone to up their own status. If they don’t, then they are indeed your friends.” I said. That’s when Spike spoke up. “Yeah! You helped them reunite. I doubt they’ll easily forget that when taking you into consideration.” Spike said. I smiled a bit. “Yeah… Let Spike do the talking. He makes a lot more sense than I’ll ever be.” I bit my lip as my personal past came back to haunt me. Twilight went over to the girls, but before she spoke up, we all heard a crashing sound. I ran off to investigate the noise. As I arrived, I saw nobody, but rather an entire gym decorated with what were the remains of party decorations. The girls entered at the same time as me, only to look at the carnage that went on, what with tossed tables, broken chairs, and even popped balloons. I could almost hear Pinkie about to scream before Celestia entered. “What in the blue blazes… Oh my!” Celestia said. She was soon followed by a dark-skinned woman with long midnight blue to light purple hair. I presumed this was Luna. “W-who would do such a thing?” Luna held her hand close to her mouth. “I have a hunch…” I then eyed a toy car barely trying to wheel itself close to me. I just walked over to it, picked the Shift Car up, and placed it in my pocket. “Professor, we don’t need to be pointing fingers.” Celestia said. “Even if it’s obvious who did it?” I rolled my eyes and looked at her. “It doesn’t matter who did it… What’s done is done. There’s absolutely no way we can clean this mess up in time.” Luna stepped forward. “I’m going to have to cancel the Fall Formal.” That’s when I saw Twilight lose it. “What!? No! Nonononononononononononononononononono!” Twilight cried out. I merely tittered as she sunk to the floor on her knees, her hands pressed onto the ground. “What’s wrong, Sugarcube?” Applejack placed a hand behind Twilight’s back. Fluttershy knelt over and held Twilight. “Yeah, you can tell us.” Fluttershy said. Twilight simply got up and looked to Celestia. “Principal Celestia, please, reconsider!” Twilight said. I decided that we weren’t gonna do things her way. I walked over to the doors, intent of marching right into Celestia’s office and grabbing the crown myself, when suddenly I saw a red blur zipping into the room with several rose petals following him. The blur created such a wind that it picked up all the debris off the floor. The blur stopped and unraveled itself, revealing Ross. As the debris As the debris fell, Ross ran over to set the tables back up. Rainbow Dash looked at it, then proceeded to run to the debris as well, helping Ross fix the tables and chairs. The other girls realized what was going on and went over to fix up the room. I merely smiled as I saw Celestia and Luna look with widened eyes at the sheer velocity of Rainbow and Ross. By the time Ms. Oxton came, they were already done with the gym and it looked as good as new. Celestia and Luna blinked. As Ross and Rainbow stopped running, the tables gently dropped to the ground, legs touching the floor, along with new sheets to cover the tables on. “Hey loves, what did I… Oh… Oh wow…” Oxton was able to see the tail end of the girls fixing up the gym. I merely looked to Luna. “So… About that cancellation?” I asked. “… Yeah, let’s pretend this never happened…” Luna took a moment before speaking up. “The whole ‘cancelling the Formal’ thing, I mean, not the kids who are suddenly super-fast…” Luna gulped, though ultimately, me, Celestia and Oxton all nodded. I could hear a bit of crying nearby. I looked around to see where it was coming from, but aside from Ross who did the same thing, I didn’t find the source. I noticed Ross stuck his head at one particular area before glancing away. He knew something. By the time we left the gym, I looked over to Ross. I stopped walking and let the other people go, then glared at Ross. “So… Was it her?” I asked. “… Yeah. It had to be. Kelly, I think Sunset’s upset.” He said. “No shit, Sherlock.” “No! I mean… I broke up with her last night.” Ross frowned. “Broke up? What, you two were dating? Well, it does explain why you were kissing her ass.” I chuckled. “W-what!? No! I-it’s not like that!” Ross blushed and hid his face. “I… I told Sunset that I won’t help her become Fall Formal Princess because I saw who she really was…” I proceeded to pat him on the back. “Bra-vo! Congrats on being smart for once in my entire time of meeting you!” I said. “But I feel bad about how I reacted! I held my baby to her throat!” Ross said. “… Baby? What, did you guys have some secret love affair or some shit?” I asked. “N-no… That’s what Ruby called this…” He lugged the scythe in its inactive form out a bit before tucking it behind his cape that he seemed insistent on wearing on his school uniform. “You could have…” I bit my lip as I caught myself about to finish the sentence with: ‘done this world a favor by killing her right then and there’… I could hear Banno chuckle darkly. “I was tired. It had been a long night of me busting my ass to try and clear your name.” Ross said. “Oh, so that was you? Thanks, by the way.” I said. “Stop changing the topic! I was tired and Sunset pissed me off and… And…” I then saw Ross have a thousand mile stare. That very same thousand mile stare that I saw Fatty had. Ross was remembering something from this Ruby’s past. “… Could that be why?” Ross muttered to himself. He then looked at me and sighed. “I’m sorry. But, rest assured, I will help you help Twilight from now on.” With that, he ran off. As he ran off, I had some time to reflect on what I was about to say to Ross. Sure, I hated bullies, but to suggest for Ross to murder her? Have I really become that ruthless? I frowned as I remembered a Kamen Rider character who was also a bully before she became a good guy: Miu Kazashiro. In fact, I actually remembered a similar story arc in which Miu tried to be a prom queen… Soon, the wheels in my head started to turn as I smirked. I had thought of a master plan. Ross slowly approached the tombstone. He was surprised that, despite his last sortie resulting in him revealing his true form, Tachibana still got a funeral. Ross smiled, though he then shed a tear. “Hey, mom.” Sure enough, it began to trigger memories of Ruby. He didn’t want to admit it, but ever since he left Sunset Shimmer that night, he began to think about what caused him to put a blade to Sunset’s throat. At first, he thought it was his tiredness and stress taking over, but the more he thought, the more he remembered of the nightmare he had. He trembled as he saw the entire turn of events play out, starting from the tombstone. There was a tournament, Ross could definitely conclude that it was the Vytal Festival, the tournament RWBY hyped about for the past two volumes. It was going well, and telling from the memories of Qrow, Ruby’s uncle and mentor figure was gonna be a pretty cool dude. At first, Ross wondered why the events playing out in his head were happy memories… Then it came down to Ruby’s sister Yang and a man known as Mercury. The fight ended with Yang seemingly injuring Mercury’s leg, thus causing a downward spiral of events from doubt being placed on Yang to RWBY being disqualified from the tournament. It got worse. Now were the memories that kept playing in Ross’ head. He remembered himself… No… He remembered Ruby going on a lead that put her in a maintenance hallway where Mercury was, completely fine and standing on his two legs. A fight ensued, with Ruby escaping, but gaining some wounds in the process. As soon as Ross saw what Ruby saw upon entering the stadium, one of her friends brutally killing one of her other friends, he fell on his knees, much like how he remembered Ruby. The next few events became a blur. An attack ensued, Ruby fought a man by the name of Roman Torchwick who was quickly dispatched by a Grimm, her own sister brutally hurt… And then… The moment that always haunted Ross… It soon became clear why he was remembering it. A woman named Cinder had become friends with Ruby. Of course, this was merely a ruse, but the way she revealed her true colors was far from how Sunset revealed her true colors. Ruby had to witness Cinder murdering a close friend of hers… Just then, in the middle of a cry, everything became white, and that voice came up once again. “It's alright. I got ya, kiddo. I got ya.” Ross took a while to get up from that, but that’s when he noticed there was more to Ruby’s memories. Not much, just her recovering from that night and Qrow coming to talk to Ruby about what happened. Chills went up his spine as he began to hear Ruby say Cinder’s name with such malice and anger. What shook Ross to the core, however, was that he felt the exact same way. As he dwelled on the memories, he began to think about the feelings Ruby had. Ross had always thought of Ruby as a nice, sweet, kind girl, always optimistic about the world. Of course, Cinder and her friends did quite a number on that worldview, as telling from the memories he saw, but he never quite expected the mood to take a downpour. He never thought Ruby would have an outright desire to kill Cinder, or at least avenge the deaths of her friends by her hands. The last memory seemed to confirm it for Ross as he saw Ruby going off with some of her friends to pretty much hunt down Cinder, or at least get some answers. Ross wasn’t sure Ruby wanted to kill Cinder or if he wanted to kill Cinder. The more he thought, the more he began to feel as though he had lived through all of Ruby’s memories, as if he had became Ruby. Then he remembered how he attacked Sunset. Those memories played in his head when he was confronted with the fact that Sunset Shimmer was a jerk. He had been a spectator to Ruby’s most tragic moments for the past week now. If anything, he was the one reacting to those moments with such vile desires to kill Cinder, not Ruby. Not that it helped him calm at the slightest. That just meant that he’s the one out for blood, not Ruby. Ross simply cried at the tombstone and began to weep out some words he’d never thought he’d say. “I want to go home… I want to look up cute images of puppies on the internet…” Ross soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He got up and saw… “Fluttershy!” “Ross, what are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked. She was in a yellow dress with a cyan, see-thru fabric draped over her dress with yellow high heels. Ross just got up and shed a tear. “I… I was just…” He then looked to Tachibana’s grave. “Tachibana was a friend of mine. He’s the first guy I met upon coming here. I… I owe everything to him. You?” “… Tachibana died to save my life. The least I can do for him is pay my respects before I have to go for the Fall Formal.” Fluttershy left a bouquet of roses at Tachibana’s grave. “Speaking of, are you going?” “I guess.” Ross said. “Anyone in mind?” Fluttershy asked. “Huh?” “Who are you taking to the Formal? Flash is taking Twilight, Applejack’s gonna chaperone her little sister, same with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie’s gonna be too busy running the guest list to dance.” Fluttershy said. “And you?” Ross asked. “…” Fluttershy simply blushed. Ross just sighed. “Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m not going with anyone as well. I sort of blew my chances with Sunset.” Ross said. Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “You what?” Fluttershy squealed. “I know she can be rude at times, but, I really liked being with Sunset. It was like she had my back and-” “No! That’s amazing!” Fluttershy said. “It… is?” “Yeah. She may be rude, but I doubt she was born that way. If you could see the good in her, maybe the others can as well!” Fluttershy said. “So… Even if Sunset ruined your lives, you still think she has a chance to be a nicer person?” Ross asked. “Well, if Tachibana can change, so could she.” Fluttershy and Ross looked at the grave. Ross then extended a hand to Fluttershy. “To the socially awkward.” Ross smiled. Fluttershy merely laughed and shook his hand. “We should hang out together after the dance. It’d be great to know who Tachibana was to you.” Fluttershy looked into Ross’ eyes. “Yeah. Same with you.” That’s when Ross looked at something at the corner of his eye. It was Rose, the person from last night that destroyed that one Roidmude. He approached three gravestones that were positioned closely together compared to the other graves. Ross turned to Fluttershy. “I’ll see you at the dance. There’s someone I have to talk to.” Ross said. Fluttershy simply smiled and went away as Ross ran to meet Rose. He saw Rose kneeling before the three graves. Ross then noticed that the three graves each had the same symbols that Rose had as dog tags: the lightning bolt, the winged heart, and the shooting star. The graves also had their respective names etched in: Sky Stinger, Angel Wings, and Vapor Trail. “So… Who are you visiting?” Ross suddenly saw Rose stand up and turned to stare at Ross. “Who’s ther-… Oh, it’s you.” Rose sighed and looked back at the graves. “Sorry. I’m just a little tense right now is all. I’m always like this when I’m here.” “So… who are they to you?” Ross asked. “My team. My… My former team, at least. They were some of the nicest friends I met…” Rose shed a few tears as Ross began to remember some of the fonder times of Team RWBY’s exploits, such as fixing up their room for the first time or eating food during the tournament. Of course, once he thought of the tournament, he began to think about the series of unfortunate events that followed. From there, he remembered one thing about Rose that stuck with him the entire night. “Rose, I was wondering… Miss Oxto- Er… Tracer, told me that you were a Displaced.” Ross said. “And?” “Well… I’m a Displaced too! Erm… How long were you a Displaced?” Ross asked. “… About a few years now. You?” He asked. “Well, since July.” Ross laughed quietly. “Hmm… So, I guess you want to know about being a Displaced?” Rose asked. “Y-yeah! Well, one thing…” Ross looked to the graves. “The memories, they’re a common occurrence to Displaced, right?” “Yeah. You remember the past deeds of your hero or villain, for better or worse. It comes with the territory of having your body be modified to accommodate for the newly obtained powers. I mean, without them, you’d have no idea how to hold that weapon, correct?” Rose asked. Ross remembered someone asking Ruby who taught her to fight with a scythe, citing it as one of the most dangerous weapons of all time. He slowly nodded to that statement. “So… is there ever a moment where you start to feel like you’re thinking and acting like your character?” Ross asked. “All the time. When I turned into BioRosemon yesterday, that was still me… But deep down, I felt like a monster had taken over my body. The real me would never be that cruel or sadistic. That’s what I always say to rationalize myself, at least. I’m guessing you’re getting that feeling too?” Rose asked. “Yeah… I… don’t know what happened, but I reacted negatively to a friend of mine, and I’m not sure if my intent was truly my own or if it was my character’s.” Ross said. “You feel like someone’s possessing you.” Rose said. “No. I just worry that I’ll become something I’m not one day.” Ross said. “… Well, that’s life.” Rose began to walk away from the graves before Ross ran to him. “No! It’s not! I never asked for this! I never asked to feel like I’m being torn apart!” Ross screamed out. “Well, you did when you accepted that damn merchant’s offer, did you not?” Rose asked. Ross became silent. “I didn’t even have a choice.” Rose continued to look at the graves. “I should be dead. I have died. I remember my time in the afterlife quite well… It wasn’t until a friend of mine came and rescued me with that offer. It was either get Displaced or rot in hell. And quite frankly, I didn’t enjoy the underworld.” Rose closed his eyes, exhaled, then looked into the sky. “We became Displaced because we wanted to be something we’re not: our heroes. The best we can do now is live like them, lest we get ruled by them.” Rose began to walk away, before he stopped. “Kid, what’s your name? Like, your actual name.” Rose asked. “Ross… Ross Roosevelt.” Ross said. “Joey. Joey Chandler.” Joey turned around and shook Ross’ hand. “If you still remember your name, you are still yourself. Remember that.” Joey then proceeded to leave. Ross stood still for a bit before doing the same. “Come on! Where is it?” Sunset thrashed through the library as she looked for a specific book. “It’s not this one… nor is it this one!” She tossed away several books, all of them having such lovely titles such as ‘Magic for Evil Overlords’, ‘The Art of Displacement’, and ‘The Secrets of the Heart-Shaped Moon’. One book even had just a face on it. Well, several books did. “Hah! Here we go!” Sunset pulled out a book from the shelf entitled ‘Starswirl’s Forbidden Fruits of Labour’. Confirming her suspicions as the cover showing the exact same mirror she saw. Sunset began to read. “The Crystal Mirror was perhaps one of Starswirl’s most exquisite and refined inventions. Based off the Looking Glass, his prototype, the Crystal Mirror allows for one to jump to a certain realm, the magic inside allowing them to take a form to blend in to society, an improvement from the Looking Glass. However, the realm lacks Equestrian Magic and thus, the only way to be able to cross into it is to wait until the moon is at its peak, which happens every thirty moons, thus granting you a window of time for you to cross over.” Sunset pulled her nose from the book. “Why would Celestia keep this from me?” “Why don’t you ask me up front?” Sunset turned around to face Celestia, who had two guards on her side. “… I will. How dare you keep this from me?! This could grant me great power!” Sunset said. “It’s always about you and power, isn’t it? True power rests on compassion and sincerity, not ambition and selfishness.” Celestia said. “I am not being selfish! I merely want to be the best!” Sunset threw the book at Celestia, who created a brief shield that stopped the book from hitting her. The book then fell onto the ground and opened to a random page. Both Celestia and Sunset read the title of the chapter: “The Destiny Spell”. The book was situated right in front of Sunset, ready to be read by her. “Starswirl’s unfinished spell, no pony knows what his intent with the spell was, but it is able to switch Cutie-” before she could finish, Celestia took the book away from her. “Hey!” “You are not ready for this kind of power, Sunset. Power like this must be earned the correct way.” Celestia said. “It said it was unfinished… I could finish it and unlock its true potential!” Sunset said. “Sunset, I’ve seen the price of this spell. It can destroy lives. Are you willing to ruin the livelihoods of ponies everywhere?” Celestia asked. “Yes! I’m destined for greatness! I can solve this spell and gain so much power that I can-” “No longer be a student of mine.” Celestia closed her eyes. “W-what?” Sunset asked. “That mindset confirms that you are no longer a student of mine. No pony should ever make their fellow pony suffer for their personal gain and ambitions. You might mean well with fixing the Destiny Spell, but deep down, we both know you won’t stop there. Eventually you’ll want more power, believing that you deserve it. Reality is, Sunset, you don’t deserve more power.” Celestia said. “Why not?! I am meant for-” “Do not confuse entitlement for destiny. Just because you’re my student does not mean you have a free pass to be selfish and ambitious. In order to have that sort of power, you need to think with kindness, honesty, generosity, loyalty-” “SCREW ALL THAT! I am going to rule Equestria as the greatest and most powerful pony who ever lived! If this book can give me power, then I will take it for all its worth!” Sunset’s horn began to glow. Celestia merely smirked before Sunset fired a blast at Celestia. Celestia’s horn merely flashed, redirecting the scorching ray to Sunset, burning her horn and knocking her into a bookshelf. Celestia then marched to Sunset. “If that is where this conversation is going, then you are no longer welcome in this castle. You are no longer my student.” Celestia began to make her horn glow. “Am… Is that all I ever was to you? Just a student? Nothing more? Did you… Did you not in your entire life consider me more than just a student?” Sunset said. “If I did… then I’d be hurt by what I’ll do next.” Celestia said as she caused Sunset to glow as well. “I’m going to cast a simple teleportation spell. If you ever step foot into this castle again, I will cast a much more potent spell to get you to understand that you are not welcome here.” “You are making a huge mistake!” Sunset cried out as Celestia caused Sunset to pop out of the room and into her garden. Celestia then looked to the sky and saw a full moon containing the outline of a horse’s head. She then closed her eyes and shed a tear. “One of many…” She said as she walked away. “Flash Sentry, you’re clearly not well to go to the Fall Formal!” Soarin’ watched as Flash staggered. There some bandages still on his body from last night, but most of the bandages applied were absent. However, Soarin’ only needed to look at the way he walked, a staggering, almost hesitant walk from his closet to the door, to know his condition. “I’m fine, dad. I can go.” Flash didn’t give any sort of aggression in his voice. Only when Soarin’ tried to block the door did Flash attempt to commit some violent act. “Dad… Move!” He subtly pressed against Soarin’s chest, though it wasn’t strong enough to push him. “I promised Twilight a dance at the Fall Formal and I’m gonna commit to it.” “You’re not gonna be dancing much. You can’t even walk right!” Soarin’ said. “I was able to hold my own against some kinda robot, I can dance fine enough.” Flash said. “You are not going- Wait, what?” Soarin’ asked. “At Everton, I got into a fight with one of those robots that attacked the school a while back.” Flash merely sighed and went over to wardrobe, pulled out a drawer and pulled out the Frubask Driver and the Orange Lockseed. “I was given these by one of Everton’s researchers. She told me to use these to protect myself… And I did. I almost defeated it, dad.” Soarin’ merely closed his eyes and sighed. “You’re that determined to find out the truth, huh?” Soarin’ asked. “No. I just want to defend people. Sometimes I think you and the police can’t handle everything. I don’t want what happened to the school to happen to anyone else… I… I don’t want people to lose their mom like I have…” Flash frowned for a brief moment before realizing something. “I… I saw my mom!” Soarin’ looked to Flash. “You did?” Soarin’ raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… Though, she didn’t seem to confirm or deny it. I… She looked like my mom! So… Maybe… Maybe my mom is alive and is out there!” Flash looked at the Frubask Driver. “She only came when I started using this… Perhaps… Perhaps if I continue to use it some more, she’ll come again and I can talk to her some more… Even… Even if she wants me to be a monster.” “… A monster?” Soarin’ asked. “… It’s a long story.” Flash said. Soarin’ just smiled and sat on Flash’s bed. Flash sat down next to him. “Son… I have something to say. It’s… something I dwelled upon for a while.” Soarin’ closed his eyes. “I hope he chokes on the dark truth once it is revealed.” He still remembered his old coach’s words to him. For a moment, he hesitated to say the truth. “You may not be the best cop in the world, but damn it if you’re not trying to be. I appreciate your atonement, Soarin’, and I hope Flash will if and when he finds out.” But it was Professor Silverbolt’s words to him that helped him get the words out. “Flash… You’re… You’re not really my son.” Soarin’ said. “I’m… not?” Flash asked. “I know, I don’t like to drop a bombshell on a night like tonight, but recent events had me thinking about it. The night your mom disappeared, I took you in and tried to find your real father.” Soarin’ said. “You couldn’t find him, did you?” Flash asked. “No. I did. The problem was that he didn’t want to accept you.” Soarin’ said. “What?” “I first found it dickish, especially with the reasoning he gave, but… in retrospect, I can now see where he’s coming from.” Soarin’ said. “What did he say?” “He told me that your strength needs to be your own. If he were to raise you, you’d just rely on his strength and can never truly get strong yourself. Last night… you were able to find your own strength. I doubt I’m the only one who’s proud of you.” Soarin’ said. Flash simply smiled before he thought of something. “Who… Who was my dad?” “…” Soarin’ sighed. “He… he’s a leader of a notorious street gang. That’s all you need to know.” Soarin’ got off the bed. “Now go, your dance awaits.” Flash just looked to Soarin’ before he nodded and got up. It seemed that question time is over. He left the room as Soarin’ simply frowned. I think I made it clear that I hated prom. That I wanted nothing to do with prom. That it was contributing absolutely nothing but wrecked psyches and yet another tale to tell at the shrink. And yet, I’m forced to attend not because Celestia intended to do so, but because an artifact that could very well be the thing that can end not just this world, but another world entirely is on the line. And it’s being used as a goddamned crown for the prom queen. “Evenin’ Professor!” Miss Oxton kept a cheery voice towards me. I just glared and grunted before heading towards the dance hall. There I saw several students dancing the night away. I spotted Flash and Twilight dancing. Huh, wonder if I should burst the hormonal kid’s bubble and say he’s gonna make out with a horse. Though, I saw that there were some bandages on him. The kid must have gotten in a scuffle. Well, time to play the role of teacher and ignore any sort of injury this kid might have had. I continued down the dance hall, inspecting everything, but more importantly, locating Sunset. That’s when I noticed two that weren’t dancing. Fluttershy was obvious, but Ross was different. I would have guessed he’d dance his way into someone’s pants by now. The two were drinking punch as everyone else danced. I eavesdropped on what they were saying. “You like it? Rarity had this made for me. She’s just loves fashion.” Fluttershy said. She wore a, admittedly, lovely blue and yellow dress. Ross, on the other hand, wore his usual black school blazer, something I found odd due to the fact that CHS lacks any dress code. However, underneath was a gray waistcoat with a red bowtie. Huh, guess he considers bowties as cool as well? “Huh. Um… Don’t tell anyone this, but I sort of like fashion as well. See this?” He pulled up the blazer. “I sewed this. It took a while, but I managed to get the right materials for it.” “Oh, it looks great!” Fluttershy said. “… Thanks. You have no idea how much that means to me. I’m… Well, nobody expected me to be a fashion designer and to be truthful, I don’t think they even wanted me to be one. But… I decided to stick to my guns and continue my passion. So, yeah, I’m glad you like it.” Ross then chuckled. “Maybe me and Rarity could do a collab one day.” That’s when Fluttershy joined in on the chuckling. I frowned only slightly. I caught the implication of what Ross meant, though I didn’t exactly have the time for sympathy. Especially since I saw Celestia and Luna approaching to the stage. I merely walked towards the stage as well. “Professor?” Miss Oxton tried to follow me, but I soon heard a vibrating. “Hello? … W-what? Now!? How many? Oh God!” I slightly turned around as Oxton hung up and ran off. I blinked. What the hell was that? I saw Ross looked somewhat concerned towards the teacher, but I had no time to wonder what is going on. I need to take a certain bitch down a peg. Sunset Shimmer ran off far from the castle grounds. She knew she wasn’t welcome anywhere near Celestia’s vicinity anymore and the further she got, the better. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed out a loud sob, louder than when her parents burned away in the fire she made. Eventually, her legs gave out and Sunset stopped in front of a lake. She took some time to look at the lake, even looking at her own reflection. When she noticed something odd in the distance. It was a swan. A swan with wings of such a shiny white that when it opened its wings, she mistook it for Celestia and hid away. “I’m sorry, Celestia!” She cried out. “No… You are not sorry.” The swan spoke out. Sunset poked her head out from her legs and looked at the swan. Its wings were spread wide before it flapped and flew into the air. It expanded its wings and neck before exploding in a flash of light. What remained of the swan turned into a grayish smoke and swirled towards Sunset. She prepared to defend herself when the smoke passed her, then settled on the ground before forming into a man. The man with bleached hair that she would soon associate as an ally. “She is.” He sneered. “Who? Celestia?” Sunset began to shake. “Yes… I am just one of many who Celestia has betrayed and left for dead. Just like you.” He said. “You are?” She asked. “Yes… I am. Let me ask you, do you believe in destiny?” He asked. “Of course I do! I just saw my fate in the mirror and Celestia denied me it!” Sunset said. “Funny… I always saw her as one who would cram destiny onto others. Regardless, we both share a common enemy.” He said. “… I… I don’t see Celestia as an enemy.” She muttered. “You said it yourself! Celestia snubbed you out of a life you deserved! Just like she did with me!” The man went on his knees and had his hands close to Sunset’s neck. “She… She what?” Sunset asked. “…” The man pulled away and sat down. “I am not from this world, obviously. In fact, I am not in this world right now. I am merely a projection of residue magic.” “Residue magic… So you were here… To cast some sort of magic spell that could be triggered long after it’s placed. Right?” Sunset asked. “You are talented at magic. I am surprised Celestia snubbed your position so quickly.” Sunset frowned as the man continued. “But yes, I placed part of my magic onto this lake in the hopes that someone like me would come across it and hear my tale of why Celestia needs to suffer.” He said. “So, what are you waiting for? Tell it! I doubt this magic’s gonna last long.” Sunset said. “… I fell in love with a Pegasus. She was the most beautiful Pegasus I have ever laid eyes upon. But Celestia insisted that we should not be together. She insisted that she’d marry some dumb soldier. All on the insistence that it is her destiny. And my love bought her lie. It’s one thing to have your true love be torn from you… It’s another to have them be torn from you because someone else had plans for them. I suffered without my love… But I found a new one. One who understood my pain. One who will help me exact revenge on Celestia. I’m here to help you do the same.” He said. “… I’m sorry, this is all too much for me. I-” “Do you want that power you thirsted for? It is waiting for you.” He then looked at the moon. “The moon is at its peak tonight.” “It is?” Sunset looked at the moon. “Indeed. Are you still unconvinced? Then perhaps this will convince you. Do you know why we have a mare in the moon? Do you wonder who the mare in the moon is?” He asked. “Of course I do! It’s a bedtime story! The story of Nightmare Moon. One day, a monstrous pony vowed to plunge Equestria into eternal night. Celestia stopped her before any damage could be done and she banished her to the moon.” Sunset then paused. “Nightmare Moon is some pony she betrayed too, isn’t she?” Her mouth drooped as her eyes simply watered. “… Yes. Her sister.” Sunset ended up shaking in her hooves. “She merely wanted her nights to be cherished by the other ponies, but Celestia insisted otherwise. Eventually, she grew tired of her sister’s complaints and banished her to the moon. If she can be that cruel to her own sister, imagine just how cruel she can be to anyone. That’s why I vow to snuff out the light. So what do you say?” He asked her. “…” Sunset merely looked to the castle, her horn alit with her getting a cocky grin. “I don’t want to snuff out the light.” She then ran towards the castle. “I SHALL REPLACE IT WITH MY OWN!” The man just smiled as he faded away in a shimmer of light, leaving behind a few swan feathers as they floated away. “Rose, talk to me, what’s going on?” Tracer spoke into her phone as she ran through the streets, blue streaks lighting up the night sky as she continued to run. “There’s a bunch of Grimm on the horizon. Way more than we could account for!” Loud energy blasts punctuated his sentences, causing Tracer to clench her teeth when she heard them. “They seemed to be heading towards-” That’s when Tracer ran into the claw of a large black furred werewolf with bones jutting out of its body and its face covered in a skull like mask that was decorated with red tribal markings. Tracer fell onto the ground before she got up and saw the creature. She recognized it as a Beowolf-class Grimm, but it was slightly larger and had more sharp bones. It roared and tried to pounce on Tracer before a violet-colored slash cut the wolf in half. Its remains began to fade away as the sword that cut into the Grimm boomeranged back to its holder. “Shadow! Thank God you’re here! We need all the help we can get! Grimm are-” “Fall back.” Shadow merely spoke in the coldest tone she could. “Fall back?” Tracer got up and raised an eyebrow. “Yes. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this many Grimm at once.” She said. Tracer looked to Shadow as she sighed. “The last time this happened…” Shadow froze for a bit before holding the side of her belly. “Urg…” She grunted. Tracer merely stood back. “Are you alright?” Tracer asked. Shadow nodded. She then let go of her stomach and looked to Tracer. She paused a bit before she took her hand to her mask. As she took them off, she showed her eyes to Tracer. Tracer stepped back a bit, if only because of just how vivid her golden eyes were. Not only that, but Tracer can’t help but admit that Shadow was beautiful underneath the mask. Though that was only before Tracer noticed the tears from her eyes. “The last time this happened, my friends and I got hurt. Buildings were destroyed. People died.” Her voice cracked. Tracer stopped moving. For a moment, she was a statue. However, her ring tone managed to break her concentration. She went for the phone. “Talk to me.” Tracer said. “Tracer, it’s Cam! Rose is still holding off the Grimm, but some are slipping his notice!” Cam said. The two then felt rumbles on the ground. Shadow turned and saw a gigantic black elephant with the same bony structure and tribal markings as the Beowolf. It stampeded across the street, knocking away cars and stoplights before running into Shadow. Tracer ran and got Shadow out of the way. As the two got up, they saw a few Beowolves latching onto the elephant. “That’s not good!” Shadow said. “Cam, where are the Grimm going?” Tracer asked. “Let me see… They seem to be heading… Oh God!” Cam asked. “What? What is it?” That’s when Shadow got up and shed a few tears. “It’s happening again…” She cried. It didn’t take Tracer too long to figure out where they were heading. She then ran off, hoping to beat the elephant there. “If I may have your attention, please!” Celestia had the envelope ready. I knew I had to get to the stage pronto. I pushed some of the students aside as I went on the warpath to the stage. “Although there weren’t a number of votes, there were enough to decide a clear winner.” She then proceeded to open the envelope. That’s when I marched onto the stage. “Atatatatat!” I spoke up as I snatched the envelope from her hands. “Professor Silverbolt, just what do you think you’re doing?” Celestia glared at me. “As a teacher in the science department, I am meant to promote the idea of making a well-informed decision. And unfortunately, these students are not well-informed.” I said. “Silverbolt, give that back this instant.” Celestia said. “Hang on…” I opened the envelope and pulled up the result. I read the paper and instantly groaned. “Really? Only seven people voted.” While the results were a landslide in my favor, I began to feel a rush. I looked to Sunset and began to imagine her as Ashley. All Celestia could do was pound her foot and pester me. I merely glared daggers at Celestia and began to have a smirk. This was it. This was the moment where I betrayed Celestia. Where I usurp all power from her. In this one moment, I would experience a power rush that rivaled Ryoma’s own rush when he finally staged his coup against Takatora. “I propose we extend the voting by just a few minutes… Because that’s all I need to convince you of who to vote.” I took Colorful Commercial from my pocket. I placed him on the podium as it began to play video footage of Sunset recording the battle between me and Fatty. It then switched over to her editing the video to purposefully look like we picked a fight with him instead of the other way around. It soon switched to her talking with the goth about invading Equestria. Though, the kids were not convinced. By the time it showed Sunset trashing the gym with tears flooding her eyes, I smirked as the kids gasped. It then showed how Twilight and her friends managed to fix up the gym. It continued to show Sunset harassing some of the students to get her votes all while Twilight and her friends comforted those exact students. I turned to see Celestia merely face palm. I was tempted to laugh, but I felt it would be over the top. The footage ended as I took the Shift Car and placed it in my pocket. “Tell me now, who’s the real psycho?” I asked. In an instant, the students all turned to Sunset and booed at her. The moment I saw Sunset glare at me, almost about to pop a blood vessel, I began to cackle like the mad scientist I was dressed up as. Finally. Perfect. Sweet. Revenge. “It’s already unanimous,” I turned to Celestia, “so I doubt we need this anymore.” I tore up the envelope. “Twilight, congrats, you won in a landslide!” Twilight just looked at me. She looked around and saw the students nod. But as soon as she got up onto the stage… “Help!” Spike cried out as Sunset ran off with him in her hands. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” I screamed out. Twilight and I began to chase Sunset as some of the students, Twilight’s friends included, followed. It was just one bitchy bully being chased by half the student body. Part of me wanted this to happen every day when I was in school. Another part just smiled so wide, you could have thought I inhaled some Joker Venom. As we ran, I saw the flurry of rose petals as Ross ran alongside me. “Joining in the hunting season?” I asked. “What the hell were you thinking? You destroyed her reputation! Sunset’s just acting desperate!” Ross said. “She did this to herself!” I barked back. I saw Sunset run off around a corner across a hallway filled with windows. As we tried to catch up, a large freaking elephant ran across the hall, shattering the windows and destroying the hall. Some werewolves hopped off the elephant as Ross and I stopped in our tracks. “Grimm…” Ross muttered. I turned the ignition as I muttered the word: “Henshin!” Transforming into Gold Drive, Banno ran to attack one of the Beowolves while Ross took out his scythe and cut through the other Beowolf. “Go! We’ll hold them off!” Ross shouted. Twilight and her friends complied while the rest of the students no doubtedly ran back. Banno sidestepped the claw of his opponent before punching the Grimm in the gut and then roundhouse kicking it to oblivion. One more Beowolf was left, but before any of us could move, I heard the sound of tiny pistols blasting out. The Beowolf began to get mowed by what appeared to be bullets of pure plasma. “Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here!” I saw Miss Oxton holding two pistols and sporting a goofy smile before she began to pant. Ross just turned to me. “Yeah… See, there’s this superhero league and Oxton is one of them and-” “And the rabbit hole just goes deeper and deeper… Look, I have someone to stop, so if you excuse me…” Banno ran off, out of the exit that the elephant had made. I could feel Ross and Oxton beginning to follow me. “Let go of Spike!” Twilight cried out to Sunset just as the two were in front of the statue. Twilight’s friends caught up to her as Sunset began to laugh. “Alright then…” Twilight tensed up as she feared the worst. As she closed her eyes, she waited for the painful moment where Sunset would torture Spike to break her… Instead, he felt Spike climbing up to her. She blinked for a moment. “I’m not a monster, Twilight.” Sunset said. “Yeah, right! You bully people left and right and break their hearts! I doubt you can even feel!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “There’s a difference between what I do and what a monster would do. For one, I would have just smashed Spike in with this!” She pulled out a sledgehammer from her coat. She grunted a bit as she lifted up the steel attached to a wooden shaft. “But instead…” Sunset began to smirk. “You know something, Twilight? I wish to make a deal with you. Give me the crown, and I’ll let you and Spike return to Equestria… You don’t? I smash this and seal you in this realm forever!” Sunset held the hammer, pressing all her strength into positioning the hammer for the right swing. “Of course, there’s the alternative. We stand still and this portal closes, sealing you here either way!” Twilight stood still. “Twilight, don’t do it!” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah, we got this!” Applejack prepared herself, only for Sunset to twitch her muscles. “I bet I can smash this faster than you can stop me.” Sunset said. Rainbow Dash only growled. However, that’s when the group heard what could be the worst sound they could ever hear. A mad scientist driven to the lowest point of sanity laughing hysterically. The girls turned to see Banno walk down towards the statue. “Stop bluffing. My host has been doing some digging around last night. You need the portal more than Twilight does.” He said. I saw Sunset lower the hammer for a bit. “Even if you are intent on being a woman of your word, which I highly doubt, all I have to do is make your entire body so heavy that it would feel like time has slowed down. While I,” Banno then pulled out the Door Gun, “can move freely. I bet I can shoot you faster than you can break the statue.” Banno said. I could see Sunset tremble. Banno merely chuckled as he stepped forward. “Tick tock, Sunny…” He sang out in a slow and eerie lullaby. That was when he froze. I could sense it, our time as Gold Drive was running out. “Banno, switch!” I said to him. Banno just groaned as his fingers reached to the ignition. That’s when I saw Sunset smirk. “Seems you’re locked to a cage. Luckily, I’m an opportunist. The Element of Magic can grant me unlimited power. It might grant me enough magic to free you.” Sunset said. “Hmph… And what is there to say that you can’t?” Banno asked. “Well, if I can’t free you, I’ll let you have the first hit.” Sunset said. “Banno, don’t do it!” … What the hell am I trying to say? I know what Banno’s first response will be. Banno invoked Slowdown as he walked towards Twilight and took the crown. Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, followed by Ross and Oxton. All three of them threw a punch towards Banno, only for him to walk towards Sunset and cancelled his Slowdown, causing all three of them to collide into each other thanks to their super speed. Banno merely walked to Sunset as the other girls tried to go to him. Pinkie Pie teleported to Banno, only for him to teleport behind Pinkie Pie and continue his walk. Rarity tried to throw an explosive gem at him, only for Banno to casually launch an energy lance behind him at the gem, creating a giant explosion. Applejack ran to Banno and grabbed him, her strength stopping him from reaching Sunset. Sunset, however, chuckled and went to him. She took the crown from his hands. “Finally, after all these years, I finally have the power!” Sunset laughed as she placed the crown on her head. As Applejack tried to stop her, something happened. Sunset’s eyes began to glow in an orange aura as she began to float up into the air. Waves of fire began to circulate around Sunset Shimmer before creating a shockwave that knocked Applejack back, causing her to fall and creating ripples of orange aura around her. Sunset was soon concealed in a cocoon of flame as we all heard her screaming. These screams, however, turned into laughter. As the flames died, a monster had taken Sunset’s place. It had Sunset’s hair, but it flowed like fire. She had blood red skin and devil wings with some holes in them (I wonder how the hell she uses them to fly), she wore clothes that were burning like fire (obviously a pattern here), pointy ears and black eyes with only cerulean lights coming out of them. “Yes… I can feel the power!” She cackled. “Now, test it out. While I have time, that is.” Banno said. “Of course…” She waved her hand and I felt the one thing I never thought I would ever fear feeling: Banno being off of my waist. Gold Drive’s armor came off of me as I saw the belt levitate towards Sunset as she gave a smile that only Satan could adore, what with the pointy teeth and all. “See? I told you it could work… But, I’m curious… How much more powerful would I become if I were to put you on?” She said. “No! Don’t!” I shouted. Sunset only smiled more. “All the more reason for me to put you on, right?” She asked. “Yes… Start my engine!” Banno said. Sunset grabbed Banno and placed him on her waist, a belt forming on her waist. “This is more than I ever dreamed of! More power! Yes! Unlimited power! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She and Banno began to laugh as I saw something that Banno never showed off for a long time. Tendrils came out of Banno, each with very pointy blades at the end of them. These were the tendrils used to kill 006 and… And… My eyes widened as Sunset’s laughing stopped cold as Banno’s tendrils impaled right into her skull. Banno continued laughing. “YOU IDIOT! BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY! I AM FREE TO DO WHAT I WANT! And I know what to begin with.” Banno’s voice came out of Sunset’s mouth. I looked around and everyone else felt the same fear as I did. No doubt I could guess that they were concerned for Sunset’s well-being. However, I was afraid for a completely different reason. “I’ll erase you off the face of the earth! I won this race, after all!” As his fingers reached the ignition, I knew my fears would be realized with just one little word: “Henshin.” As he turned the ignition, his body erupted into a burst of flame. Gold Drive’s armor came onto Banno, but along with it was fire that seared the armor until it created a long red cloth that hung off of Gold Drive’s belt, draping over the black spandex. Red pauldrons that were molded to look like fire were placed on Gold Drive’s shoulders. Perhaps the most notable feature was his helmet. It was more akin to a Roidmude’s helmet, with a smiling set of shark teeth as the mouthpiece and the spoiler on his head replaced with devil horns. The eyes were the same cyan that the demon had, though on the outer edge were a shade of orange. Banno levitated in the air as he looked at his arms. “This… This power is exactly what I need to destroy those who would stand against me.” He laughed and raised his hands, creating pillars of fire around him. I could only watch as the world began to burn around me. I could only stand as what would likely be my executioner stared down at me. The moment I feared since he spoke was realized: Banno is back. Shimmering Sunset Arc 8: How Will The Sun Set?Fire… Principal Celestia couldn’t help but look at the blazing fire coming from her courtyard from her office window. She could only look and frown. “I’m sorry.” Celestia turned to see the Headmaster. She took a moment to realize that this was him in the flesh. Usually she’d have to come to him or talk with him over ChatNoir. “This is all my fault.” He walked forward. Celestia merely winced as she saw him walking with a cane to support him. “What’s going on?” Celestia asked. “The Fall Formal… When I helped restructure the school board, it was my idea to have CHS hold the Seasonal Dances. A means to give the students importance and fulfillment. Had I known this would happen…” He kept his head down and just walked slowly to the window to observe the blazing chaos that unfolded. “What are you talking about?” Celestia glared at the silver-haired man. “Do you know why there’s never a Prince of the Fall Formal? Because when I created the Seasonal Dances, I had an old fairy tale in mind. One of an old man being greeted by four sisters, one representing each season of nature.” He said. “I… haven’t heard of that tale.” Celestia said. “For good reason.” As he said this, he reached the window. He could feel the heat from the glass alone, though he passed it off as him sweating. “In that tale, the old man was so awed by the girls’ kindness, he returned it by granting them magic. Magic that was so powerful…” He sighed. “When I warned you about the Fall Formal, this was what I was worried about. A Princess of the Fall Formal inheriting that very same magic.” “So… You mean that Sunset is some sort of… wizard?” Celestia asked. “No. She’s become something else. She’s become more than Princess of the Fall Formal… She’s what I would consider…” He closed his eyes. “The Fall Maiden.” That’s when he heard cackling. He opened his eyes and saw what would appear to be a belt latching itself onto the monsterish Sunset Shimmer, and then a few moments later, transforming into an armored version of that devil. Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw this happen. The Headmaster could only think of one thing now: It’s all over. BLAM! Ross opened fire onto Banno as soon as he processed what happened. “Give Sunset back, you bastard!” He screamed. Banno just deflected the bullets with his hand, no need to tap into Golden Energy. “No. She’s my new puppet for this world’s domination. And once I take over this world, then I’ll focus on destroying my bastard of a son, his bitch of a sister, and finally, that traitorous Krim and his meat puppet!” Banno shouted as he raised his hand up. I saw a glowing orange circle appear underneath Ross as a bird’s screech could be heard. “Ross! Look out!” Rainbow Dash ran forward and knocked Ross out of the way as the circle exploded into a pillar of flame. ”Hmm… Perhaps I’ll experiment on these powers by dealing with you all!” Banno shouted. That’s when I noticed a horde of black and white creatures. No doubt Grimm. “I prefer to keep this experiment… closed off.” Banno then created a wall of fire as the Grimm ran into it. Some of them made it through, only to succumb to being on fire, turning into smoke in the process. Banno then let the firewall cool down. Well, guess we won’t have to worry about the Grimm for a while. “Sunset! Sunset!” Banno turned his attention to Sunset’s two lackeys, the fat and skinny students. “Can we transform too!?” He asked. Banno just looked to them and darkly chuckled. “Hey! Get away!” I screamed out. As much as I want to see retribution to a couple of bullies, the safety of my students was a concern I have obtained through my brief time as teacher. They just stood there as Banno raised both his hands, turning into the golden digital energy I know… That’s when the energy turned dark blue, almost like an inversion. He shot two beams right at the students. Their bodies began to fade away into blue bits of code… before it turned dark purple. Their bodies returned to normal, but the shade of purple remained in a form that almost made me shriek in terror. Purple cracks appeared over their skin. This was something entirely different to what I or Banno had expected, as Banno merely hummed in curiosity. I ran towards the two, trying to stop the inevitable from happening. But as I reached towards them, two imp-like monsters burst out of their bodies like cocoons and clawed at me. I fell onto the ground with two large claw marks torn right into my clothing. As I looked at the two closer, I noticed that while they have monsterish features, they still had the body of a Roidmude’s, it was like that of Chase’s Roidmude Form, a sleek metallic body with the plate on the chest. “Kahahahaha! Wow! That was such a ruuuush!” The blue imp chuckled. He had the plate designation of SNP. “Yeah! To be born in just a few moments then burst right out of the Gate! This is gonna be so awesome!” The orange imp shouted. On his chest was the designation of SNL. “[b]Gate? As in…” Banno looked at his hands as he and I made the same realization. Banno just laughed, like usual. “To think that whole thesis on Gates and Phantoms were just musings from a grieving father!” “T-that was magic he just used!” Twilight ran to me and picked me up. “He used magic to turn them into monsters!” No shit, Sherlock. “So what? He turned them into flyin’ monkeys! We can kick their butts back to their sorry selves!” Applejack said. “… No… You can’t.” I muttered. “Huh?” Twilight asked as I looked at the two monsters. “Those are no longer Snips and Snails.” I said. I spared the girls from the cold truth. That Snips and Snails, when they were hit by Banno’s beams, instead of turning into data like he had intended, instead had monsters born inside them called Phantoms that proceeded to rip out of their bodies, killing them in the process. Though, considering the Roidmude shape, I’m not sure if that’s entirely accurate. Although the students were confused, Twilight just frowned, then glared at Banno with pure anger. “You… Do you have any idea what you’re toying with!?” Twilight growled. “To be frank, I don’t know and I don’t care…” Banno merely snapped his fingers as the two imps flew to Twilight. Fortunately Ross managed to fire at one while Tracer shot the wings off the other. “You took over the mind of an innocent girl,” I wouldn’t call Sunset ‘innocent’, “stole my crown, and now you’ve turned two more people into your slaves! I’ll stop you no matter what it takes!” Twilight said. “E-even if it means not being able to return to Equestria?” Spike asked her. “… I don’t care. My friends and I will find a way to return.” Twilight smiled. “No… You will not return! Not after this!” With that, Banno flung a fire ball right at Twilight. However, another fireball flew towards Banno’s and both destroyed each other. “WHAT!?” That’s when a puff of gray smoke appeared between me and Banno. As the smoke cleared, I saw the pale-skinned leather suited man that Sunset spoke to. “What the hell are you doing to my pawn?” He merely barked to him. “I’m merely trading in a crappy car for a more efficient one. And I do have to say, you’ve picked a very efficient car…” Banno said. “She’s essential to my plans of conquering Equestria. Return her to me or suffer my wrath.” He glared. “You haven’t seen true wrath.” Banno’s compound eyes then flashed as waves of fire pulsed out of his armor. The gothic man merely just slapped the waves away, his hand visibly burning but never once feeling the pain of it. He looked to his blistered and boiled hand, only to wave his other hand over it, becoming good as new. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that.” The man stepped forward as Banno laughed. “GLADLY!” He launched a series of icicles at him. The goth just vanished into smoke. When he appeared again, he was over on top of Banno before slashing him with a dagger, the same one he showed Sunset. As Banno fell to the ground, the goth merely landed on his feet. Banno got up and shrugged off the slash. “You’re lucky you have your armor. My dagger would have cut through you.” The goth man said. “What a boast. But you don’t have the power to back it up.” Banno said. “You have no idea what I’m capable of…” “I could say the same about me!” With that, Banno just launched a lightning strike at him, knocking him across the ground and slamming him right into a curb. However, the man just got up and readied himself. He prepared to launch two fireballs at Banno… WHIZZZZZZZ! Only for two hookshots to impale his hands. He looked to see… Shit! Niko!? Niko flew in, guns out as he pointed them right to his head. Using the hookshots as rappels, he zipped in, right into his face. At point blank, he fired two large flare-like blasts. “DIE, BITCH!” He unloaded two whole barrels before unloading the barrels and clipping two more on from ammo belts on his legs. He breathed in as he saw the smoke clear. The man’s head was completely intact save for a few bruises. “Ha… Hah… I didn’t know you had it in you, my apprentice.” He smirked. “I will never acknowledge a monster like you to be anywhere close to a teacher…” Niko growled. I just went up to him. “Niko! What the fuck? He was kicking Banno’s ass!” I told him. “If he wins, it’s game over!” He said. “Well, who the fuck do we root for then?” I asked. “You guys, of course!” Niko grabbed the man with his bare hands. He grunted and just looked over to me. “You’re right, Kelly, the Roidmudes are your problem and they should be your problem. The Dark Swan…” I saw Niko look to the bleached haired man who just smirked. “He’s my problem.” With that, the Dark Swan just raised his hand and both him and Niko disappeared into smoke. Well great, the one person evening out the playing field is gone. Banno’s strength is unbound compared to when he was just Gold Drive. I doubt Ross, even with his super speed, could take him out. I knew if I had to beat Banno, I would need a belt… With that, I turned to face Banno. I simply smirked… Then I ran to the Tridoron. “Kelly! What the hell!?” I heard the students call me out. “Don’t worry! This will be cool, I promise!” I hopped into the Tridoron and rode off. I looked at my rear view mirror and saw Banno deciding to chase me instead of killing the students or Ross. Good. That’s exactly what I wanted him to do. The smoke exploded in the middle of a park in the middle of the night. Niko and the Dark Swan pushed each other out and stood off. The Dark Swan looked to the full moon. “Everything was going to be perfect. Then you ruined everything!” He said. “Granted, I didn’t intend for Banno to take over Sunset, but it’s a good thing I stopped your plan.” Niko said. “You… You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long.” The Dark Swan said. “Likewise.” Niko stepped forward and began to fire at the Dark Swan. He merely just sidestepped the bursts of gas and flung some fireballs right at Niko. He shot them away, causing them to explode in a burst of fire. Niko was knocked away. He managed to use the hookshots to swing himself around a nearby lamp and flew straight to the Dark Swan, guns ready to fire. The Dark Swan just rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist. A grayish colored field appeared all over Niko’s body as he was frozen in midair. The Dark Swan just walked towards Niko. “And this is why you never fight with your Displacer. You may feel like you have power, but compared to the person who Displaced you? You’re… just…” The Dark Swan plunged his hand right into Niko’s chest. “Weak.” He could feel Niko squirm as he ripped out his glowing heart. He flung his hand and knocked Niko aside, cancelling the immobilization. He looked at Niko as he got up, eyes widened. The Dark Swan just clenched his grasp over the heart as Niko began to clutch his heart. Before he could completely crush the life out of Niko, The Dark Swan felt something grip over his neck like a garrotte with tiny, razor sharp thorns... But when he looked down to his neck, there were no thorns to be seen. “OVERDRIVE!” His neck soon got overloaded with thousands of jolts. He screamed out and let go of the heart. Niko ran over and grabbed it, shoving it right back. That’s when he noticed who saved him. A tan-skinned man in a white button shirt and brown cargo pants. “J-joey!” Niko said. “… Long time, no see.” Joey stepped forward. “Another Displaced? To whom may I have the displeasure of meeting?” The Dark Swan asked. “Joey Chandler. And that,” he pointed to Niko, “is my Displacer you’re trying to kill.” “Figured he’d be another pawn of yours.” The Dark Swan said. “I’m not.” Joey took out his Digivice. “I’m his friend.” “Friend?” The Dark Swan just laughed. “Displacers and Displaced can’t be friends. Only a naïve idiot would think that!” “Good thing I’m one then.” He then placed his hand on the Digivice. “BIO HYBRID DNA… FULL CHARGE!” His body dissolved into data and in his place was: “BIOROSEMON!” The Dark Swan just glared at the rose woman as she prepared her whip. “You pick the weirdest people to Displace. No matter. You couldn’t beat me, Sid. What makes you think your Displaced will be any better?” The Dark Swan created a sphere of fire in his hand before his wrist got grabbed by the thorny whip. “Poison Ivy!” BioRosemon shouted as the thorns dug into the Dark Swan’s wrist. He grunted as the poison seeped into his wrist. Before the poison turned into a rash, he merely cancelled the flame and cut the whip, severing its tendrils. “Gah!” He grunted as he tried to heal his hand before a rash set in. As he finished that, he saw BioRosemon fling the whip towards him. “Needle Spray!” Hundreds of tiny thorns flung themselves towards the Dark Swan. He raised both hand up and created a wall of fire that burned the thorns. That’s when he saw BioRosemon jump over the flame and create a huge rose shaped cannon with his hands. As he saw that, he noticed Niko zip up behind him. “Flower Cannon!” Both Niko and the cannon fired at the Dark Swan. Needless to say, he couldn’t dodge the large green blast and two gas powered bursts to the chest. The Dark Swan merely twitched as there two holes in his chest and his leather suit was absolutely scorched and ruined, what with flowers starting to bloom where the Flower Cannon blast exploded. He stumbled and nearly dropped. Niko went out of the way as he saw BioRosemon float above the villain. BioRosemon got out the pink Tifaret and aimed right at him. “D-damn it! Don’t think this is over! I’ll return! I’ll snuff out the light and Equestria will suffer!” The Dark Swan said. “This ends now! Forbidden Temptation!” She then fired the large pink blast at the Dark Swan as he instinctively raised both hands up. The blast hit the pillar of smoke that engulfed the Dark Swan, spreading the smoke outwards before creating a large pink sphere of destruction that destroyed part of the pavement before clearing up. BioRosemon flew down and the bits of data consumed her, turning back into Joey. Niko ran up to Joey, only to slow down, almost to a point where he was just standing. “What have you become?” Niko asked. “You’d be surprised.” Joey sighed and walked away. “… To think you’d be Displaced here as well.” Niko muttered. A few moments passed before Niko pulled out a pistol. He reloaded the barrel as Joey stopped in his tracks. He zipped over to Joey and fired… Right into the skull of a Beowolf. Its head was blown apart, leaving the neck a red stub as it turned to smoke. “That’s twice I saved your life. Now, we’re even.” Niko said. Joey chuckled. “I never properly thanked you when you saved me the first time. I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to save my life even when it was beyond saving.” Joey said. “Well… You saved my life… Back… Back when…” Niko just sighed as he shook off the painful memory he had. “Val misses you.” “So I’ve noticed…” Joey looked down. “And… She has a kid.” That’s when Joey’s eyes opened. “Your kid.” “… When?” Joey asked. “When we were stuck in that world. He’s a cute little bundle of joy. I try to visit him once and a while…” Niko went to Joey. “You should come too. It’d probably make Val happy to know you’re alive.” “… No.” “No?” “I’m not going with you. I don’t know how much time as passed since I died… Maybe Valerie has made peace with my death. Besides… I have a city to protect now and a team that needs me.” Joey said. “… Valerie hasn’t moved on, at least not in the sense where she’s seeing other people… She needs someone to help her. If you change your mind, let me know.” Niko walked off to where he was close to a brick wall and took out a small gun like device with a large green lightbulb. He shot out a person-sized green portal that began to swirl. “You’re not gonna help out?” Joey asked. “Trust me, I am. I just need to get something from my storage.” With that, Niko entered the portal. I drove the Tridoron as fast as I could. Banno’s possibly made me his primary target, so time was of the essence. The Grimm slowed me down, but not enough to make a dent. I employed the tried and true ‘hit and run’ method, some of them managing to turn into smoke upon impact. Thankfully, the laboratory wasn’t far from the school. As I got onto 108 Somerset, I got out of the Tridoron and ran to the lab. As I entered, I could feel an increase in heat followed by several high calibre rifle blasts… Goddamn it, Ross! I had to make this quick. I tossed out several files and vials, trying to search for the thing that would beat Banno. Luckily for me, it was right under my nose. And just in time too, as I heard Banno smash through the entry way of the door. “A shame it came to this, Kelly…” I heard Ross scream and saw his body slam right into the wall before falling onto the floor. “We could have ruled together… But then again, I always liked to step over people.” “You know who else liked to step over people?” I gave a smirk and turned around. “The man I chose to dress up as: Ryoma Sengoku. And this,” I held up a red belt buckle with a plunger on one side of the belt and what could best be described as a high-tech juicer at the bottom of the buckle, “is his legacy!” I slapped the belt onto my waist. “What the!? How did you manage to make a belt without my knowhow!?” Banno asked. “You remember when I was looking over the notes back when we were bailed out?” I smirked as I remembered when I looked through some papers, I made sure that I did it on a table that was above my waist, making sure that Banno’s vision was blocked as I built the belt. I was somewhat glad he never caught on to that. “YOU BASTARD!” Banno roared and tossed a fireball at me. I dodged out of the way, though the ball exploded, destroying much of the lab in the process. Fire began to blaze out. I only had a little bit of time before the fire incinerated the whole lab. Thankfully, I had time. I pulled out a padlock, similar to the Lockvehicle, but there were a lot of differences. First was a clear blue plastic shell. Next was the design on it: a lemon with the initials “E.L.S.-01” on it. And finally, the most important feature of all… “Henshin…” By pressing the button on its side… LEMON ENERGY! The lock opened as a zipper, going in a circle, materialized out of the sky and unzipped, revealing an endless forest of trees on the other side as a glowing mechanical lemon began to descend from the crack. I placed the lock onto a hole in the belt. LOCK… ON! And then pulled the plunger. SODA! Lemon juices began to build up inside as the mechanical lemon opened up and fell on me. LEMON ENERGY ARMS! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT F-F-F-F-F-FIGHT! Inside the lemon, my helmet appeared in a flash of white. It was a knight’s helmet with a large blue crown on it with five red jewels on its spikes, befitting the name of the Rider. A glass slice fell down in a gap between my eyes and the helmet, creating a yellow-tinted HUD for me. One thing I missed about being Gold Drive was that Gold Drive’s HUD was more technologically advanced, feeding me tons of info about the battle situation. This HUD, however, felt bare bones. There were only two bars, one on the top and one on the side, both seeming to keep a track on my enemy. There was a circle that moved where my eyes would be looking. As I gazed at Banno, it gave me only a picture of him with some stats in a very small font. Geez, I thought that the “incredible Ryoma” would have made cooler HUD. Then again, I guess I was spoiled with Banno’s HUD. The lemon unfolded, some of its peels became the cape, while a majority of its pulp became a set of golden asymmetric armor, with my right shoulder having the top of the lemon as a sort of pad. A splash of lemon juice confirmed my armor’s appearance as I began to hold a red and blue bow. “Who… Who are you!?” Banno asked me. “Kamen Rider… Duke!” With that, I aimed with the bow. There was a nice, nostalgic beeping sound as it aimed right at Banno. I smirked and fired. Banno easily smacked that away, the arrow exploding and taking out a bit of the lab. I then rushed in and slashed at Banno with the blade part of the Sonic Arrow, the bow I was using. Banno just swung his hand and created a flaming version of the Steering Sword. The two blades clashed, sparks flying. I had time to glare at Banno. “I will end you!” Banno said. “This is the final lap!” I slid my bow against his sword and struck him where he truly resided: his belt. Banno staggered back. He created a series of icicles and flung them at me. I ran over, hopped over a table and kicked it down. Using it as a makeshift barricade, I shielded myself from the icicles and began to fire my arrows. I didn’t aim at Banno and just fired directly where I was facing. The arrows then flipped upwards and sought out Banno, hitting him all onto the belt. “Gah! Y-you coward!” Banno said. “Only a coward would use someone else’s body to do his dirty work!” With that, I jumped over the barricade, using the plunger on the Genesis Driver to juice the energy. LEMON ENERGY SQUASH! Suddenly, four different Dukes appeared. Together with me, they all slashed at Banno, though as Banno tried to counter attack, each one of the duplicates turned into a ghost image, passing through him. As he turned around, another would “attack”, only to phase through him. Once Banno had went through this a few times, I slashed him with my Sonic Arrow’s blades glowing gold. I knocked him out of the lab and approached him. Banno created another fire version, this time of the Door Gun. He fired as I responded with fire from my own arrow. The arrows and bullets collided, though I was admittedly slower at the draw, and soon I was bombarded with bullets. I fell over as Banno ran to me, gun pointed right to my face. “You’re right… This is the final lap! And I’m about to hit the finish line.” Banno sneered. “Good! Because only despair awaits you there!” I aimed my bow and fired a point-blank shot at Banno’s head. “DAMN YOU!!!” He staggered before raising his hands. Winds began to pick him up as storm clouds began to form. I immediately dodged out of the way of a lightning bolt, then another, and another. “DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIIIIEEEE!” Banno cackled as he threw a fireball right at me as I was about to dodge another lightning bolt. Instinctively, I sliced the lightning bolt and used its energy to slash at the fireball. There was a large explosion that knocked both me and Banno down. I struggled to get up. The HUD began to notify me that Banno was weakened, as I assume that’s what the red bars around a screenshot of Banno’s current state showed. “End of the road…” I got up and lined my final shot. With my free hand, I pressed onto the plunger two more times. LEMON ENERGY SPARKING! Ross woke up from the brief black out. As he got up, he saw Banno was missing. That’s when he heard lightning bolts. Ross ran over to see the fight. “End of the road…” He saw what he assumed to be Kelly inside a suit of cyan spandex and gray and gold armor, almost akin to a lemon. She aimed a bow at Banno… Suddenly, Ross began to have flashes. He remembered the dreams. He remembered the arrow. He saw one person about to kill the other with the arrow. He realized what would happen. And he wasn’t gonna let it happen again. “Goodbye, Banno!” I said. However, just before I let loose the final arrow, I heard winds picking up. Worse, I smelled roses. “PYRRHA!!!” I heard Ross let out a cry as he tackled me, causing me to fire the arrow as it whizzed passed Banno. As we fell to the ground, I immediately slapped Ross in the face. “What the fuck, Ross!?” I shouted. Ross could only look at me with that goddamned scary Vietnam stare. It took a while before Ross realized he was looking at me rather than someone else. “K-kelly… What… What happened?” I could only get up as Banno laughed. “Luck is on my side it seems, Kelly Randall! Now, to eradicate everyone in my way!” Banno held out his arms as we all turned into golden data. For a moment, I thought we’d be transported to a database. However, we were right back at Canterlot High. What the hell were we doing back at… Oh no. I could see Twilight and the others trying their hardest to fight the two Phantoms as well as the Grimm. While they were able to take out several Grimm, they were no match for the Phantoms. Applejack tried to throw a punch at the blue imp, only to shrug it off and punch Applejack right onto the ground. Rainbow Dash tried to run circles around the orange imp, only for him to trip her, pick her up, and toss her towards Applejack who was just getting up. Rarity threw several gems towards the two, each of them exploding into various elements such as fire, water, wind, and even earth. One of them looked weakened, the orange imp, but the other seemed raring to go. He noticed Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. All of them were tired, presumably due to fighting the Grimm that had come. The four of them barely stood a chance to the blue imp as he knocked them all down. I also saw Flash Sentry fighting the remaining Grimm and easily slashing through them with… Were those tiny Daidaimarus? The Daidaimaru, a sword that Kamen Rider Gaim used, is now in Flash’s hands… and he wasn’t even transformed. How? How was this possible? Whatever the case, he had himself occupied with the Grimm, too occupied to help with Twilight and the gang. I tried to run to the group, but then I looked under the ground as it began to flare up. I heard what sounded like a screeching bird as the ground exploded into a pillar of flame. It knocked me down and separating me from the belt. My armor liquidified and I was back to my normal state. I saw Banno floating in the air with large devil wings spread out. No doubt he send the flame at me. Soon, I saw several pulse bullets hit what looked to be a personal shield. Aura? Banno looked to Oxton who held her pistols. “Erm… No hard feelings, love?” She gave a nervous smile. Ross just ran to her and fired a sniper bullet right at Banno’s attempt at a fireball, blowing it up. What he didn’t see though was that he lobbed a second fireball… right at Twilight and the gang. “NO!” I shouted, struggling to get up. Why? Why did I shout that? The fireball exploded, pretty much burning them to a crisp. I sunk to my knees, not even sure how to respond. I barely knew these kids. And yet, I’m upset. I’m angry. I failed to save them. I only knew Twilight for a few days and yet I felt as though she was a close friend that I just… let die. Banno could only laugh menacingly before he held his hand out at me. And I just sat there. I lost. I’m in last place. Banno won. That’s when I saw a magenta aura. I looked and saw the girls were being shielded by the aura. However, this wasn’t the Aura that Ross had. It was more standout, in your face. Like a magical aura. “Professor Silverbolt, I’ll show you how friendship is magic. Even if I had known these girls for a brief time, my bonds have made us stronger than just mere magic.” Twilight said. The group levitated in the air as a flash of light blinded me. When I opened my eyes, I saw the girls had changed just slightly. They now had pony ears and tails. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight all had wings adjacent to their skin color. Welp, now I’ve seen everything. Twilight and the others flew up and created a swirling rainbow double helix that turned into a beam, firing right at Banno… However, the two imps got in the way of the blast, causing them to be engulfed in a rainbow tornado. Banno, however, managed to escape while the two fell to the ground, changed back to their normal forms. “Friendship? HAH! Is it truly more powerful than me!?” Banno fired several fireballs. The magical aura managed to block the fireballs, but with each blow, I noticed the aura grow weaker. I saw Flash run out from a cloud of smoke, presumably made from the remains of Grimm that he had killed. He yelled and tried to attack Banno with his swords, only to be knocked down, his swords clattering next to him. Ross fired several rifle blasts and Banno just blocked the bullets with one hand. I held the Genesis Driver, ready to transform, though I noticed it was charred a bit. It likely wouldn’t have any functionality unless I repaired it. Shit. Need a miracle now… That’s when I saw a green portal emerge on the ground from behind me as Niko came out. “Yo, Kelly. This one’s on the house.” He told me as he handed to me… Oh, hell yes. The limited-edition Sengoku Driver with Duke’s faceplate and the Lemon Lockseed, just as I had originally wanted. I took the two and smiled. “Now take this monster out!” He said. “With pleasure.” With that, I turned to Banno and slapped the Driver on my waist. “Looks like Friendship won’t be the only magic that’ll beat you, Banno! HENSHIN!” I activated the lock. Like before, a lemon appeared, though less mechanically advanced. I did the same motions as before, though this time, I cut into the lemon with a small plastic knife. LEMON! LOCK ON! COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA!!! The armor unfolded, flaps still becoming the cape, but now the armor was more symmetrical, with all sides unfolding to their respective spots on the body. I held a rapier this time. I just looked to Banno, rapier pointed right at him. “Now is the final lap. Ross!” I shouted. “Right!” Ross leaped up and fired his rifle on the ground, causing him to propel up to Banno and slash at him. Likewise, I leaped into the air and struck him with my rapier. I couldn’t really fly, so I landed onto the ground. I looked back to Twilight. “Twi, we’ll hold him off. You power up that rainbow tornado thingy.” I said. Ross managed to stay in the air longer, dodging several fire blasts from Banno. “Got it!” Twilight said. Ross maintained himself in the air. He curled himself into a ball and flew to Banno like a grayish blob. Banno tried to strike, lighting his hand on fire so as to burn Ross, but he managed to fly past Banno, grabbing his back. Ross got his scythe over one of Banno’s wings and pulled the trigger, the recoil causing it to outright amputate it. Banno screamed as he fell. I ran to him, as did Oxton. Oxton fired her pistols at Banno, though it did nothing to whittle the shield. It had to be a direct hit, I noticed. “Oxton! Get closer to him!” I shouted. “Okay, love!” Oxton then rushed over to Banno. He held up his hand and tried to fling a stream of fire, only for Ross to bonk him with the blunt end of his scythe. When Banno recovered from that, he noticed a small little bomb beneath him. “Here’s a present for ya!” She then grabbed Ross as the two of then went back to her original position, as though they were flying back through time. The bomb exploded, knocking Banno into the air as I saw the ripples that signify an Aura Break. As he landed, I prepared to attack, but that’s when I saw Flash cut into Banno with his Daidaimarus. I had so many questions to ask Flash, but now was not the time. “Professor… I’ll make this my fight too!” Flash said. I just sighed. “Aright.” Your funeral. Banno stood up and saw the four of us readying our weapons. “Come at me if you dare! I’ll destroy you all!” We all ran at him as Banno laughed. Ross and Oxton both fired their weapons point blank at Banno. The pulses caused his shields to lower slightly while Ross’ high calibre blast shattered some of his armor, leaving me a good space to cut right into him with the rapier. While it was made to be a stabbing weapon, I swiped fast enough to cause more sparks to fly, taking off more of his armor. Most of his chest armor was gone, revealing Sunset’s demonic dress underneath. Flash began to slash away at his back. Although not being able to dish out heavy damage like Ross’ rifle, out of all of us, he managed to do the most damage, causing Banno to get onto his knees. Banno screamed and slammed his hand onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that knocked us down. “I won’t go down like this! I will take over the world!” Banno laughed even harder than normal. I got up, my belt still functional to keep my armor. “No… I’ll make sure you die for real!” I said. “Kelly, my friend… We were a good team. Surely, you don’t want that to end.” Banno said. “… We are a good team, yeah.” I used the knife to cut the Lockseed. “But that doesn’t mean we’re friends.” I cut again. “Thank you, Twilight,” I looked at Ross, Oxton, Flash, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, each one at a time, “for showing me what a true, true, friend is.” One final cut. At the same time, Flash did the same thing. COME ON! LEMON SPARKING! SOIYA! ORANGE BURSTING! Flash’s swords glowed orange. He struck with both, overlapping into an X shape. It cut into Banno’s back, staggering him enough for me to land the final blow. As the rapier glowed with the same golden energy that I used as Gold Drive, I leaped into the air and as I landed, I stabbed the Banno Driver with the rapier. Lightning emerged from the belt as Banno just let out a painful wail. “KEEEEELLLLLLYYYY!!!” “Banno… This… is truly the end of your terror.” I turned to Twilight. “NOW!” I shouted. Twilight activated the rainbow beam again, engulfing the two of us in a large tornado of rainbows. “SUNSET!” I could hear Ross shout while we were inside the tornado. Banno let out a weakened rasp. “Kelly… Do you truly think this is the end of me? I came back from death twice now. At this point, me coming back won’t be a possibility. It will be an inevitability.” Banno used the last of his energy to give one last laugh. “Then I guess I’ll have to put you in your place when you come back.” I pulled out the rapier as Banno went limp. He fell and exploded. As the smoke cleared, Banno was gone and in his place was a weakened Sunset Shimmer who was thankfully back to her human form. As the tornado died down, I saw Ross, Twilight, and her friends rush to Sunset. “No! Sunset! Wake up!” Ross began to shake Sunset. I then noticed the visible wound I inflicted onto her waist. There wasn’t any blood, but seeing that small little hole caused me to drop my rapier. I closed the lock and pulled it out. LOCK… Off… And my armor went away. The others ran to see Sunset while I just backed away. My body shook. Wasn’t this what I wanted? I wanted to stop Sunset from being a bitch… But… I looked at my hands. No. I had to stop Banno. There was no other option. I could feel someone’s hand pat me on the back. “You did good. Couldn’t have been prouder myself.” I slapped Niko’s hand away. “We’re not friends and we never will be friends. You could have helped us, you know.” I glared to him. “But I did. That belt is the very reason you won.” As soon as Niko said that, I ran and grabbed him by the collar. “And you’re the very reason this was even a mess in the first place!” I growled. “I wasn’t the one who picked Banno.” He smirked… Shit, he had a point. And even if I picked someone else, chances are I wouldn’t have been able to stop the Roidmudes, even if I had picked normal Drive or even Mach or Chaser. Then again, I had no idea I’d be fighting Roidmudes. I sighed and shoved him. “Just make sure no more Grimm come.” I muttered. “That won’t be an issue.” I heard a new voice and turned around. I saw a man with tanned skin. “Me and Shadow took care of the remaining Grimm. Well, mostly me.” He frowned. “Shadow’s out of it.” “And you are?” I asked. Niko just stepped forward. “Joey Chandler. My other Displaced.” I looked to Joey and just sighed. “So, you’re roped into his bullshit too?” I asked. “No. I chose to be Displaced.” I saw Joey and Niko share a bit of a stare. It wasn’t the awkward ‘we had a bad history’ kinda look. It did imply they had a past together at some point. “Well, hope to see you again, I guess. I gotta attend to a wounded student now.” With that, I ran. As I stopped, I noticed the giant crater I created. My jaw dropped at how powerful the blast was… Then I saw Sunset crying. On one hand, I smirked. She’s finally put in her place… But on the other hand, I can’t help but feel pity. This whole time, I went about this thinking about Ashley. That it was Ashley that I was exposing. However, when I saw Twilight help her up and heard something about learning friendship, I knew exactly where the crazy train was going, especially with what little I knew of the show. “EX-CUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS?” I shouted and approached Twilight. “Huh? What is it?” Twilight asked. “I can’t help but notice you are gonna forgive the person who made your life a living hell.” I said. I could see Ross glare daggers at me. “Kelly, she’s in need of friendship.” Twilight said. “She drove friends apart! She made them think they were liars and assholes! She had us accused of murder! She even tried to murder us!” I paused for a moment. “Okay, Banno tried to murder us. Point still stands though.” Twilight was about to speak when Sunset spoke up herself. “It’s… It’s okay.” She sighed. “I… I did a ton of terrible things here. I… I understand if you won’t forgive me. Or any of you.” Sunset just continued to cry before Ross came down the crater and hugged her from behind. “Sunset… Don’t worry. I forgive you. I’ll be there for you. Just like how you were there for me.” He said. Blech! I could hear some of the girls awwing at her. I could just see Sunset cry even harder. Twilight just stared at me. I groaned. “Oh, all right…” I then skidded down the crater myself and approached Sunset. Kamen Rider had its fill of evil characters who became good… But most only did so through realizing the pain they put on others and the price they had to pay. “I won’t forgive you, yes. But, I can say that I approve of you making up for what you’ve done. If everyone else is cool with it… Then I guess I’ll be too. But I will warn you. You toe the line of evil again? Then you won’t find mercy from me.” I glared at her. “Kelly!” Twilight then got down onto the crater and pulled me to the side. “What the hay?” “Sorry, but just because someone plays the ‘I’m good’ card doesn’t always mean they’re legit. But hey, now Sunset has incentive to be good.” I said. “Incentive? You’re threatening her!” Twilight said. That’s when I heard Applejack and Rainbow Dash come down. “Yeah, well, hate to break it to ya, Twi, but Kel has a point.” Applejack said. “She tricked me and the others into hating each other for years. We’ve only just now mended our friendship. … Knowing it was Sunset that said those things to Fluttershy… It’s hard to just be friends with her.” She frowned a bit before turning to me. “But, I’m gonna make sure she’s honest about it. We won’t need you to keep her in line.” Applejack smiled. “Yeah. I’m gonna have her do some serious trust tests before I start considering her a friend.” Rainbow Dash said. I turned to see Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie tending to Sunset. I sighed. “Well, she has friends regardless.” I muttered. “Have her count up her crimes. Then I’ll consider her a friend.” I said. I almost tripped over something on my way up. I looked down and noticed the Banno Driver. I picked it up and observed it. “Hey, do you think forgiving people, even when you know they’re villains and are bound to be evil again, is a dumb thing?” I asked. “… I never really considered. I know someone we befriended who is like that. I’ll have to see.” Twilight said. “Good. I guess I’ll experiment as well.” I said. “What are we waiting for! LET’S BOOGIE!” Pinkie shrieked out. The dance resumed almost instantly. True to Joey’s words, the Grimm didn’t decide to bother anyone for the night. Given what they’re attracted to, I could only assume that once the main source of upset was called off, the Grimm stopped noticing. It’s a little worrisome that such negativity could call forth a shitstorm of monsters. With the Roidmudes, I only need to worry about them attacking on a weekly basis and I have the knowledge that their number are very scarce, even more considering I took out about two dozen by now. The Grimm? I don’t even know if they have a limit. From what Ross and Sebastian said to me, they have no limits. High school is what I consider the most toxic place next to the internet. That thought alone made me worry what’d happen if this school ever had to deal with cyber-bullying. “And that’s when Flash Sentry took out these orange blades and started cutting those creatures!” I was with Rainbow Dash as she was talking about Flash’s accomplishments to a little kid with purple hair and orange skin. She seemed to be grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t sure what her relation to Rainbow Dash is, nor was I too interested to check. I walked around a bit. Twilight and Flash had their slow dance. Applejack and Rarity were gossiping by the punch bowl. Pinkie was chatting it up with the DJ. And Fluttershy was just sitting by a wall, all by her lonesome. I walked to her and sat next to her. “Oh! Professor!” Fluttershy spoke up. “Hey.” I kept silent for a moment. I wanted to form the right words to say to her. “When… When you got that text from Rainbow Dash… How upset were you?” I asked. Fluttershy just looked down and shed a tear. “A lot. Rainbow meant the world to me and… when I got the text from her calling me a dy…” Fluttershy trembled. “Sorry. It’s just…” “So why forgive Sunset? She’s the one who called you that.” I said. Fluttershy stopped trembling. “Because… I feel like people have the potential to change, no matter how bad they are. Tachibana for instance...” Fluttershy just smiled briefly. I just sighed and looked at the flooring of the gym. “I guess… I guess I have my views on who should be forgiven.” I had to admit I had a tough time forgiving a villain in Kamen Rider Gaim once he saw the error of his ways and began to redeem himself. Only because he spent his time as a villain being a little shit. “And it’s okay that you do. I just hope you and Sunset get along.” She said. That’s when I noticed… Where were Sunset and Ross? Sunset stood outside the school, waiting by the statue. She shivered in the dead of the night, though her leather jacket kept her somewhat warm. “Something wrong?” Ross approached her. “Ross… I… There’s something you have to know. I’m… not of this world.” Sunset said. “You’re… a Displaced?” Ross asked. Sunset took a moment before shaking her head. “No. I’m from another world. This statue can take me back there.” Sunset said. “So… Why aren’t you going?” Ross asked. “I… I don’t know if I want to. When I left, I was just as much of a jerk as I was this past month. Selfish, obsessed with power… I… I even burned bridges with someone who was like a mom to me. When I return… Will I be scorned?” Sunset began to cry. “…” Ross just wrapped his arms around her. “If those girls can forgive you, I bet she will too.” “I know… But… There’s so many things I wanna ask her… The night I left, I became so disillusioned with her that I began to be convinced that she’s nothing but pure evil. What if she does forgive me, but I can’t help but see her as a monster?” Sunset then went on her knees and grabbed the stone base of the statue. “And… I only have thirty minutes to decide!” “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “This statue is only open for a limited amount of time. Once that’s up, it won’t be accessed for another thirty moons… And… I don’t know how long that is in this world. I don’t have enough time!” Sunset said. “Then make time. You’re not ready yet. You just got possessed by a belt and gained… whatever the hell that kind of power was. You just realized the error of your ways. Take your time. You will get a chance. Trust me.” Ross just hugged Sunset for as long as he could. “Stop… I… I don’t want you to pity me…” Sunset began to cry. “I used you like I used those boys! You saw me for who I truly was! I don’t need you to feel sorry for a monster like me!” Ross only hugged tighter. “I’ve seen monsters, Sunset. And you’re not one.” He turned Sunset around and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re an angel. And you just don’t know it yet.” Ross smiled. Sunset looked at Ross and smiled back briefly before looking away. That’s when Ross noticed something off. He heard someone approach the scene. “How sweet. However, we can’t let a traitor have his happy ending…” Ross heard a metallic voice. Instantly, had Sunset crouch to the ground and took out Crescent Rose. WHOOO-WHOOO-WHOOOSH! As soon as Ross heard the movement, he swung Crescent Rose at the assailant. I continued to observe the dance, walking around. Seems Oxton had left, her job now done for the time being. Hadn’t seen Niko or Joey as well, so I presume they left. I decided I’d take the bullet and find- “Professor Silverbolt.” Principal Celestia approached me. Right on cue. I turned to greet her, only to notice she wasn’t alone. There was a man with her. He looked to be old, what with his graying short, bowl-cut hair, yet at the same time, he looked younger than he lets on. He walked with a cane, though I could tell from his statue that he didn’t exactly need it. He wore a black suit with a green turtleneck underneath. He also wore tiny spectacle sunglasses, almost akin to Ozzy Osbourne if his shades were so tiny they barely covered his eyes. “Ah, Celestia, I apologize, but these kids are in the wrong generation to know who Ringo Starr is.” I had to remind myself that this world probably didn’t have the Beatles. “Do you have any idea how reckless that stunt you pulled was?” Celestia glared at me. “Twilight would have still won, but you decided to make it a spectacle and turn this entire school against one student.” I smirked. I had prepared my comebacks the moment I took the envelope. “I opened their eyes. I called attention to a bully when even you, the principal, turned a blind eye to it.” I said. Celestia just stared harder. “I noticed Sunset had won the Fall Formal multiple times, and each time, she became obviously more and more insane in those photographs. I don’t know how many kids she’s harassed in her life. I don’t know the number of lives ruined by her. I don’t even know if her bullying claimed lives. But all I know is that you let it go on for far too long.” I said. “It’s not that.” The man spoke up. He had a bit of an old voice to him, something akin to a wise king rather than a pop star. “At the time, emotions were building up. There was fear, doubt, insecurity. By showing the video of Sunset breaking the gym, you caused everyone to react negatively, and as you have seen, that attracted…” “Grimm.” I took a moment to look at him. “You know what they are, don’t you?” I asked. Celestia looked to the man. This was definitely something that was not in her knowledge. “Celestia. Leave us.” Celestia’s eyes widened a bit, before she decided to walk away. I proceeded to walk with the man through the dance hall. Some of the kids noticed him, but made no note of it. “The Wonderbolts weren’t prepared for an onslaught of Grimm, but with the help of you and the others, including Ross, they weren’t a threat. I feared that it would be like a similar scenario, but thankfully it was not the case.” He said. “Similar? You mean that this happened before?” I asked. “Not here.” He said. I instantly concluded what he meant. “You’re a Displaced.” “No. But you’re close. I’m from another world. One where the Creatures of Grimm run rampant. However, it is also a world where there is hope. Heroes like you and Ross who take up arms and fight off against them.” He said. “So, what brought you here?” I asked. “An incident that happened about a decade and a half ago, during that scenario. And the cause of it made his presence known tonight.” He said. “So, that goth?” I asked. He chuckled. “Funny, but he’s no laughing matter. The Dark Swan, as he calls himself, is a dangerous adversary. In a realm without magic, he is harmless. However, as you have seen tonight, magic has returned and with it, so has his power.” He said. “He’s not my problem though.” I said. “But he will. Even if you have nothing to do with him, if his ambitions line up, he will make himself your problem. Just like he had with me.” He said. “So… He’s someone to look out for, got it.” I sighed. “There’s also one more person I should notify you about.” With that, he glanced at me. “Professor Silverbolt, and we both know I’m not talking about you.” I just looked to him with a deadpan expression. “Last I checked, he got himself eaten by some giant. I wouldn’t worry too much about him.” I said. “Even so, I should say that he is also from my world. For the longest time, I didn’t know where he came from, but thanks to an incident last night, I was able to find out who might have been involved.” He took a moment to get some punch from the bowl, poured it into a cup, and drank it. “Foundation X.” I muttered. As soon as I saw him smirk, we heard Ross’ weapon go off. The man didn’t flinch though. He just kept that look on his face. I look to him for a moment. I could see that he was calm. I saw some of the students beginning to run and hide under their tables, probably a safety precaution. The students don’t know of the scythe. But he does. “So, you know what that weapon is?” I asked. “Yes. And so far, Ross has handled it with just as much skill as the simple soul who held it before.” He said. Good. Chances are Ross knows who he is. With that, I nod to him. “We will meet again.” I said. “That we will.” He stood by as I rushed out. Twilight and the others followed. As I ran out to the courtyard, I saw Ross fall onto the ground and rolling away. His scythe falling just a few feet before him. Sunset rushed to tend to him. I looked to see who he was attacked by. That’s when I saw him. Another Kamen Rider, one I haven’t seen before, or rather, one I’ve only seen briefly. He was one of the ten Riders that came before Double, the Rider I watched. The rider wore black spandex with what appeared to be magenta armor attached to him. Parts of the armor, notably the side of the arms and legs that went into the body, were white. Another part that was white X on the right side of his chest. His mask had bars embedded into it, a magenta base, green compound eyes that the corners seemingly ‘leak out’, giving the mask a fearsome look. Though It struck fear for a different reason. Most Riders have a jewel on their forehead. This Rider lacked it. Instead, on his forehead was a familiarly-shaped plate with a three-digit number: 010. There were two reasons why this had me quake. The first was that this confirmed to me that this Rider’s a Roidmude. It hadn’t been the first time a Roidmude took a Rider’s form, right down to the plate being on their head instead of their chest. The second was that, for a long time, I had speculated the whereabouts of Roidmude 010, the Paint Roidmude. Back during the Museum incident, I had thought for sure that he was involved in it before realizing that it was his apprentice that was the true cause. Now he is right here, in front of me. “W-who are you?!” I asked. “Just a passing through Roidmude King… Remember that.” The Roidmude King. He was the Roidmude King? I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even a more memorable Roidmude. Paint!? He was the second major Roidmude to be taken out by Drive right after Iron. I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even the Roidmudes’ Recreator, but PAINT!? “And you just took out our major obstacle.” Shit. Banno was the reason these Roidmudes were so easy to take out. With him gone… “Now, the invasion can begin!” He then turned his head to the statue. “Or perhaps… We shall take over that world…” That’s when Twilight exited the school and saw him. “Oh no! He’s gonna enter the statue!” Twilight said. “We’re running out of time! Twilight, you need to get to the statue now!” Sunset told her. I looked to the Rider, then took out my Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and then took out my two Lemon Lockseeds. “I’ll hold him off. Twilight, run!” She nodded and ran. I opened the two Lemons. LEMON! LEMON ENERGY! The two Lemons appeared side by side as I locked the Lemon Lockseed onto the main part of the driver. For the second part, I salvaged from the Genesis Driver its Core. I plugged it into where the faceplate was and then put the Energy Lockseed on it. LOCK ON! “HENSHIN!” I shouted before cutting the Lockseeds. MIX! JINBA LEMON! HA HA! The two Armors merged to create what was an old Japanese looking box. It slammed onto me as it created the spandex for Duke’s outfit. As it unfolded, the armor became something akin to a kimono that samurai wore, a Jinbaori. An old Japanese robe, stylized to have lemon slices on the flaps of the robe as they set onto me. As the armor clicked and fruit juices exploded from the armor, I held both the Sonic Arrow and the Lemon Rapier. I fired my arrow at the Roidmude King who slapped it away and walked towards me. He took out a card, a loud vroom of a motorcycle played out as he put it into the belt, having to turn it upwards to put the card in before slamming it back in its place. ATTACK RIDE: BLAST! He took out what appeared to be a photo album and pulled out the handle, holding it like a gun. He fired, his hand and the gun splitting into five different, magenta aural copies. I couldn’t hold off the bullets as they riddled my armor. It felt weird. I figured by using both Lockseeds, I’d be able to have more power than if I were to just use the Lemon Energy Lockseed. Instead, I took as much damage as I would if I were to just use the original Lemon Lockseed. I wondered why I was so weak. Had I relied on Banno’s power too much? Was the Roidmude King more powerful than I could fathom? Did Ryoma not have the foresight that he could have been more powerful if he just combined his Lockseeds? This wasn’t the time for guessing though. I had to fight and hold down the fort for Twilight to get to the statue. Especially once he aimed his gun at Twilight and fired, causing her to jump up and fall on her knees. I cut into the Lockseeds. COME ON! LEMON SQUASH! JINBA LEMON SQUASH! Like before, copies of myself appeared, all readying their Sonic Arrows and Lemon Rapiers. “Your opponent is me! I’m one half of the team that destroyed your army! Banno may be gone, but so long as I remain, you pieces of scrap will not win!” I shouted. “You think you’re the only one with that trick?” He pulled out another card and slammed it in. ATTACK RIDE: ILLUSION! Like that, he too split into five copies of himself. As my copies attacked his, they faded. Meanwhile, his copies just fired, causing the illusions to be destroyed and me to take now five times the number of bullets that I took. Though it was thanks to the timely appearance of a literal fire wall that I survived. I looked over and saw Sunset’s eyes flaring up like she did when she got the crown. However, she didn’t have the crown anymore… So how was she doing this? Unless the power from the crown transferred to her… “Go! I’ll protect you from his attacks!” Sunset said to me. I felt stunned. I gave her shit these past few days and yet she is helping me… Right. No time to think. Weapons in hand, I ran through the flames, not even burnt once, and slashed through the illusions. As per usual tropes regarding making duplicates, they weren’t as strong as the real thing and thus they were destroyed easily. I ran to clash with the Roidmude King, who in turn pulled his handle out even further, now becoming a handle for a sword. He held it out, the edge of it unfolding until became a blade for the newly minted sword. I swung the rapier to him, but he parried with his sword. Swinging overhead with the Sonic Arrow, my slash was met with one from him. We locked swords. “You think you’re the first Kamen Rider I’ve faced? I’ve defeated Riders before.” He said. “What?” I began to remember what Niko said to me about the Riders being displaced. “It was you…” I growled. “Exactly. The Riders have tried to stop our kind from being revived… I took the form of one of their own and gained the ability to use his belt, and with it, I defeated them all. Allow me to show you the spoils of that war.” With that, he pulled out a card from the sword as he held out a card with Kamen Rider Drive’s face on it. “Henshin.” He turned the card over, creating a loud flashing sound before he plopped into his belt, a circular camera lens-like belt with six symbols, three on each side. I took time to notice each of them. A W, three Os, the helmet of an astronaut, a magical circle, a symbol of what appeared to be a samurai clan, and the letter R inside of a circle. These were the symbols of Double, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, and Drive. The Riders he possibly had faced and defeated. KAMEN RIDE:DRIVE! A white cylinder barrier pushed me away as red tire-like circles began to display in the cylinder. A popping song played as armor materialized and clicked themselves onto the Rider’s armor. The cylinder disappeared and I saw his new form. It looked almost like Gold Drive, but the gold was now red, the black metal now silver, and the blood red eyes now a passive white. Instead of a red circuit board, he had a tire with a red line in the center and the words of TYPE SPEED on it. This was the Drive that Banno based himself off, and now I’m seeing the Paint Roidmude doing the same thing. “Let’s go for a ride.” He ran to me, sword in hand and slashed at me with the sword. To be frank, fighting Drive was something I never wanted to have. Even if he was a duplicate. He tried to strike again, but I blocked him and I saw Twilight enter the statue. I saw the moon shine for a brief moment. “There! The statue’s sealed!” Sunset said. She then flung a fireball at the Roidmude King. He drew a card and slammed it in. ATTACK RIDE:TRIDORON! The Tridoron drove towards him and blocked the fireball. The King then leaped over the car, changed his sword into a gun, and fired at me. I rolled out of the way. I then ran towards the Tridoron and got on it. We began to clash swords just as the Tridoron began to drive off. I tried to keep my footing on the machine as the King began to strike at my armor with his sword. He got me on my knees as I used the rapier to attack his belt. Though sparks flew, the belt was barely scratched. I attacked again. Another explosion of sparks. The King grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I was still able to attack using the Sonic Arrow, cutting him across his armor. Despite this, it was sturdy. The Tridoron began to swerve, knocking both me and the King off. As we tumbled, I grabbed the ground and stood up. He flawlessly kept his footing. We both stood as the Tridoron drove itself next to the King. “Now… to finish you off like I had the other Riders.” With that, he drew a card and placed it in. FINAL ATTACK RIDE:DR-DR-DR-DRIVE! The Tridoron drove around in circles. Eventually it created a wall of energy that it drove around in. All while the King crouched, ready to attack. This was preparations for his Rider Kick. I decided to prepare myself as well. I cut the Lockseed three times. COME ON! LEMON SPARKING! JINBA LEMON SPARKING! I leaped over to the Tridoron behind me, then used it as a springboard. The car rolled around for the King to jump and do the same thing. We both clashed in the middle of the ring as we used the car as a spring board. While I had been kicked in the chest by a powerful Rider Kick, I had slashed at his armor with the power of two highly powerful Lockseeds. Either him or me will fall in this fight. We kept slashing and kicking in the ring before it came down to one final clash. “HAAAAH!” The King roared. “TORIYAAAA!” I responded. We came across each other, dealing our blows. The Tridoron stopped driving as we landed. It was something out of a samurai movie. The two of us standing still to see which one of us landed the fatal blow. As I heard the sparks coming from the King, I smirked. “Looks like I’m the only winner here.” I turned to look at the King, who had a massive black line across his armor, crossing that where the tire was. He fell over and exploded. I expected his Core, but instead, I saw the Drive insignia floating out of the smoke before exploding. “What the?” I then noticed the Roidmude King, back in his magenta armor, walking out of the smoke. “You bastard! Why won’t you die!?” I shouted. I then took the Lemon Energy Lockseed from the belt and placed it onto the Sonic Arrow. LOCK… ON! I aimed. There was a long droning sound as I looked down the aiming reticle. Why? Why is the King just standing there? How was he able to come back? No matter. This ends tonight. LEMON ENERGY! I fired a large energy lemon towards him. He just chuckled as I saw someone leap over him and slam their fist into the ground just as the lemon hit. There was a huge explosion of fire so loud, I shielded myself. As I put my arms away from my face, I looked to see large flames. Inside the flames was a person I never saw before. I knew from her statue and hair that she was a woman. The flames were so violent that I could only see a silhouette of her with a pair of blood red eyes. Next to her was the King’s own silhouette with his green compound eyes. “Prepare yourself, Kamen Rider. For our war will now resume…” With that, he laughed as the flames died down. I ran after them, but as the flames died down, I noticed they were gone. “DAMN IT!” I shouted before I took off the belt, my armor going off. I looked to the school. I saw Sunset standing by. Most of the other students came out of the school to see what was going on, most staying away from Sunset. I glanced at Celestia as she got onto the courtyard as well. That night, I decided to make a vow. I will win this war and stop the Roidmudes. I looked to Banno’s belt. I gripped it tightly. I knew what the next step was. Yellow, tiny LED lights began to appear on the LCD screen of a computer. The lights began to form into a frowning face… Banno’s face. “Aaaah, finally. I was able to back myself up without them noticing. Good thing I had kept quiet… Just you wait, Kelly. I will destroy you and take over this world! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Banno laughed as his face moved to the edge of the screen… Where it zapped him. “W-what the!?” Banno looked around. Four borders encircled him. No way out. “What is this!?” “The Lapis Lazuli Program.” I said to Banno. He looked at me, at least that’s what I felt. He was just a 2D image of some face, so I had no idea if he was actually turning his head to me. “KELLY! What is the meaning of this!?” Banno asked. “The Roidmudes are resuming their attack on this world and unfortunately, both the Genesis Driver and the Sengoku Driver lack the Core Driviars needed to counteract their Slowdowns nor the strength to fight evenly with the Super Roidmudes. As much as I hate to say it, I need you. However, you are a very loose cannon. This, I created a program to keep you inside.” I said. “Heh, you think you’re smart, inheriting the brains of Ryoma Sengoku… But in time, I will break out and-” “Be automatically detected by my anti-virus program then be quarantined right back into the Lapis Lazuli Program. Or be deleted outright if you’re able to override that.” I smirked. I then pulled up the Banno Driver. “The only means for you to leave the Lapis Lazuli Program is to be summoned by the Banno Driver. In that time, we work together to beat the Roidmudes, then you go back into your little cubby hole. Rinse and repeat until all one hundred and eight Roidmudes are eradicated. At that point… Who knows? All I know for sure is… You won’t be out of this program any time soon…” I smirked, then walked away from the computer. “Wait! Kelly! Come back!” I ignored him. “So… Shall we start the experiment?” I slapped the Banno Driver on my waist, ready to take the new program for a test drive. Ross and Sunset were at the mall, sitting by the fountain. Most of the adults passed by them, no problem. But the students who went to CHS, the ones who knew first hand her tyranny and ambitions, made themselves scarce and went the other way upon seeing them. Sunset sighed. “Do you think I’ll ever be forgiven for my crimes?” Sunset asked. “Yeah. If you mean well.” Ross said. He then had his hand touch the water. “I’m sorry about that whole scythe thing…” “Don’t be. I betrayed you. I made you think I was some nice girl when in reality, I wanted to drive people into the mud. It…” She hugged her knees. “It was the first time anyone as actually stood up to me outside of Twilight Sparkle. It showed me that I wasn’t some perfect girl who can get anyone to do what I want. Afterwards, I began to think irrationally. I even made a deal with…” She buried her head into her knees. “That monster taking over my body… I never felt so controlled in my life… It made me realize what I was doing was wrong…” She cried. Ross just hugged her, only for Sunset to pull herself away. “NO! I… I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve a second chance! I don’t deserve to have friends! I don’t deserve those powers... I don’t deserve you!” She got up. “Sunset, I-” “Please, Ross… Find someone who is an actual angel… Find someone who will be kind to you… Find someone who isn’t a devil like me.” With that, she ran off. Ross tried to get up, but as soon as he noticed how far she was running, just stood there. “She needs time, love.” Ross turned to see Miss Oxton approach him. “I think we all do.” She frowned. Ross looked to Oxton, then sighed. He gripped his hands. “Miss Oxton… No… Tracer. I want in.” Miss Oxton’s eyes opened wide. “What, love?” She asked Ross. Ross just smirked and stood proud. “I want to be a Wonderbolt.” The major police department downtown had been working around the clock to figure out the recent cases of monster attacks, including an incident down by an abandoned building, formerly the Everton Institute. “What the hell are the police uptown even doing?” The commissioner slammed his hand on the desk, creating a crack on its surface. “Now there’s reports of a demon attacking the school!? And I thought reports of man-eating werewolves were ridiculous.” He sighed. “They’re not.” He looked up to see a person who entered his office. He walked on a cane, had silver hair, his eyes obscured by tiny shaded glasses. “I have seen first hand what these creatures can do.” “Who are you? What are you doing in my office?” He asked. The old man just winced. He could see an old friend inside the commissioner. Although he had steel-colored skin and a stubble, he still wore a white uniform, had black hair with graying sideburns, even a staple on the left side of his head. He wanted to call him by the name of his friend, but he knew full well that he was in another world. The name he had there is not the same name here. “Mr. Burr, sir, I’m here to offer you a spot in the Academia School Board. A spot that had been vacated thanks in part to what happened with Everton.” He said. “And why would I want to be in a school board? We’re a police station.” He said. “If you have noticed, most of the incidents that have occurred in the past three months have to do with the schools in the board. Canterlot, Crystal Prep, Wonderbolts, even Everton. By joining this board, you will be given information of these incidents as they happen on a first-hand basis. Not only that, but you will receive young adults ready to become the next guardians of this town.” He said. “… You have my interests. But that still doesn’t clear up who you are. I never saw you in this town before.” Burr said. “Because I’ve never felt the need to make myself known… Until now.” He approached Mr. Burr. “My name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of the Academia School Board. It would give me great honor if you were to join the board, Iron Burr.” He said. The Roidmude King returned to his lair along with the Grim Reaper. As they walked forward, the Grim Reaper spoke up. “You could have let me kill her. She’s nothing without Banno by her side.” She said. “Patience.” With that, he took off the belt. His armor dissipating into ten different copies as he turned to her. The form he took was a man with black, spiky hair, wearing a black leather jacket. The sleeves and legs going into the body were magenta, while on his right pant leg, there was the symbol of his Rider’s helmet. He then pulled up a small phone with ten numbers. Five of them were lit: 001, 002, 006, 008, and 009. “Four Roidmudes remain. Once they unlock their true potential, they will take their place into the New Promised Number. After that, not even Banno can stop the Roidmudes. Our revolution is imminent.” The Roidmude King said. “So, what do you stall for?” His Grim Reaper asked. “The right moment.” He then snapped his fingers as four people approached him. One was a human with long black hair and steel-colored eyes wearing a black leather long coat. The other three were Roidmudes. Two of them were Cobra-classes while the remaining was a Spider-class. The three had the numbers 090, 067, and 050. “I shall send the Fusion Roidmudes to handle the third wave of Roidmudes. Sword, I expect you to destroy Banno’s partner.” With that, the black-haired man bowed. “It shall be done, my King.” As he said that, several more Roidmudes showed up. All of them wearing the cockroach-themed outfits of the Reaper Legion. “And no Roidmude army is complete without their Grim Reaper to keep them in check.” The King said. “So, this is it? I’m finally gonna kill them?” She asked.The King turned to pat his Reaper on the shoulder and smiled as her Lilac eyes turned blood red. “Yes. This will be the day you’ve waited for, my Grim Reaper… Yang Xiao Long.” SHIMMERING SUNSET ARC: END Interlude 2Author's Note This chapter is both a bridge into the next arc as well as my side of the crossover with Jsyrin's story: Ka~Puu/CHANGE! Double Henshin Blasts the Heart with Sisterly Feelings! Interlude 2 Despite the Roidmude King’s warnings, the war didn’t seem to resume immediately as I had thought. Even after a patrol with Soarin’, I noted how quiet the streets were. If the Roidmude were gonna invade, I’d expect the streets to be crawling with them. Though there were the occasional creatures of Grimm. Perhaps the only time where deliberately running over an animal was encouraged by a cop. After a good night of hunting, I returned to the school, parking the Tridoron in the process. That’s when I noticed the statue, the apparent portal to Equestria, shimmer. Wasn’t the portal supposed to be closed for thirty moons? How long is thirty moons anyways? I inspected the statue… Suddenly, two girls came out of the statue. Their hairstyles were distinct, as were the outfits and belts. I recognized one of them instantly. Mach’s belt. Well, I’m glad Mach’s a Displaced and not Gou. I asked for their names. We had a brief conversation regarding who they are and where they came from. Apparently, they were encased in stone for a few thousand years and were from the same realm Twilight came from. How she never mentioned them is something I must ask, though I presume it was the similar case with the two brothers knowing Pinkie, yet she didn’t know them. Perhaps the Twilight and Pinkie they met were not the same ones I met. We discussed a bit regarding the situation, to the point where we began to discuss Grimm. Thankfully, I knew a guy. “Thanks for coming with me, Fluttershy.” Ross said as Fluttershy patted his back just as they were about to enter the pet store. “Sunset’s just being too hard on herself. She’ll come around.” Fluttershy just smiled as they entered the shop. Ross turned his head and saw Miss Oxton chat with Joey, no doubt talking about his request to join the Wonderbolts. That’s when he noticed a third person: Flash Sentry. Ross remembered how Flash used a device like what Kelly ended up using at the climax of her fight with Banno. He had no idea what differentiated the two though. Flash’s device gave him weapons while Kelly’s gave her armor. Yet… they looked the same. This was something he had to check with Kelly. “You coming? Pets can be very relaxing.” Fluttershy said. “O-oh, yeah, of course.” Ross said as he entered the store. In the shop, they looked at various animals, eventually ending with looking at Corgis. That was when Kelly came in with two girls. The situation was explained to Ross. The girls were Displaced and wanted to know what Grimm and Grimmudes are. The result was the two girls transforming into Kamen Riders, much like Kelly, and rushing off to fight such a Grimmude. Double Diamond returned to his new base, smirking at the data he had received. His Grimmude creation, a Cobra-Class Roidmude fused with a Beringel, was defeated at the hands of two ZECT Riders. Mass Produced Roidmudes seemed to be weaker than the 108 that Banno made. He looked through the notes to wonder why that is. He was able to make the two fuse, so why was it significantly weaker than the Raven Grimmude? He splayed the notes out and looked through it. Banno’s collection of notes from when he pitched the idea to Foundation X, back before he grew insane from his constant failures. He would create groups of robots that would grow and adapt with humanity, eventually bridging the gap between man and machine. There were hitches though. Even before the Core Driviars needed to give them the powers they have, they were considered imperfect. Just machines that obeyed a human’s orders. While ideal for Foundation X, Banno didn’t seem to like the results. He wanted the Roidmudes to be more man than machine. He wanted to give them… Personality. Was that it? The Mass Produced Roidmudes were just the Roidmudes that Banno first pitched. Subservient machines that obey orders. And yet, they were easier to destroy than the usual Roidmude. They had no personality. They had no numbered Core. … They had no soul. Souls… That’s it. He needs souls to power up his Roidmudes. Give them a personality beyond that of obedient. Even if it would cause them to take over, perhaps them succumbing to their emotions and desires might indeed power them up. That’s what seemed to be the key to unlocking Super Evolution, after all. That settles it then. All he needs to create the weapon he desired… All he needs to acquire victory… Is in a simple soul. Niko tossed the geode onto the desk of his hideout. He sighed. He already had a client who desired the stones. He arranged payment of a hundred US dollars per jewel. Seven hundred. Enough to support his sister and nephew for a month or two. That’s when he heard a zipper. “You…” Niko turned around to see a woman with bleached blonde hair covering one of her eyes, a blood red left eye, and a white silk outfit that looked like Tetsuya Nomura had designed it. “You gave her the wrong belt.” She said. “I gave her a belt! Like you asked.” Niko glared at her. “Why did you let her take that belt, though? You should have declined.” She said. “Hey, your little problem’s taken care of because of her decision to get the belt. If I had given her the Sengoku Driver like she wanted, the Roidmudes would have killed her and we’d be back to square one!” Niko shouted. “When I let you give those belts, I intended you to give at least one of them Drive’s belt. But instead, you gave the belts of two of the most villainous men I have had the displeasure of seeing to someone who might be toeing the line to evil.” She said. “And yet she managed to stop Banno anyways! I don’t get why you’re here. As far as I know, my work with you is done. Now, if you excuse me, I have a client from Universe C-137 who is requesting big money for some tiny little jewels.” As Niko said that, he heard several zippers open as vines came out from what appeared to be portals to a forest, all with a zipper-like outline. The vines grabbed Niko by the arms and legs. “I hate to use force, but you left me no choice. Your actions almost caused the creation of a monster tonight. I’m not gonna take any chances with you. There are two people that I have selected to be Kamen Riders. You will be taken to them and you will give them their belts. In the meantime, I’ll explore the multiverse and try to find the other Riders. When I do, you will give them back their belts. Do we have a deal?” She asked. The vines tightened. “Do I have a choice?” Niko chuckled. She shook her head. “Fine. I’ll do it. Tell me who and I’ll do it.” With that, the vines let go and zip away into the portals. “I’ll give you the coordinates.” The woman then opened a zipper behind her and walked off. As the zipper closed, Niko just sighed. “Crazy bitch.” He took out something. He was gonna give his nephew something once he’s sold the geode. An orangeish-yellow coin that had a tiger’s face engraved on it. Later that night, Ross and I dropped off Fluttershy. Ross seemed like a good kid despite siding with Sunset for a good chunk of the Formal. Eventually the two girls returned, and I handed over some Shift Cars and Signal Bikes to them, including my own Token. It gave me time to test out using the Lapis Lazuli Program on Banno. I twisted the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive, going right into my control. I used the power of Gold Conversion as well as Dream Vegas to turn what seemed to be currency in Equestria into money for this world. After figuring out what to get for food, we went for Canterlot Sushi. The Beowolf howled before the moonlit sky at a parking lot. It looked around, snarling. There was so much negativity that night, more than it could ever sense. There were other times where the negativity got high enough to catch their attention, but they were usually killed by what it might consider Huntsmen. Huntsmen… Their old enemy. It growled. It wanted to feast on just one of them, strike fear into the hearts of those foolish humans… Without a leader to tell its kind what to do, it was, for lack of a better term, a lone wolf. Finally, the Grimm found an easy prey. A man with bleached white hair and a black leather jacket. It licked its chops and began to pounce… STAB! Only for its skull to be impaled by a silver wavy-bladed dagger. It only had a moment to see that the man in the leather jacket held it before dying to the wound, fading away into smoke before being sucked into the dagger. The Dark Swan held the dagger in front of him as the rest of the smoke seeped into the blade. He stared at the black carvings onto the metal, including a name carved into the dagger: Emma Swan. He sighed. “Why… Why isn’t it working?” He glared into the dagger. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, dearie, then I’m gonna tell you to just give up.” The Dark Swan turned to see a pale golden skinned man with curly, dirt brown hair, wearing a reddish-brown leather robe sitting on a bench. “The Grimm are creatures of darkness, right? So if I were to kill them and let the dagger absorb the darkness, then I could gain more power! So why… Why hasn’t the blade-” “Turned black? Well, I see that I was right. You’re trying to do what another version of me did. But, here’s the thing, dearie…” He got up and walked to the Dark Swan, his amber, almost reptilian-like eyes glaring to him. “He managed to absorb the darkness of all the Dark Ones. If you think a simple werewolf will be enough to create that same amount of power… Well, hate to say it, dearie, but you’re doing it wrong.” The Dark Swan just glared back. He held the dagger out. “I doubt you’d be able to stab mental illusions, but you can give it a try…” The man giggled. “Shut up and let me talk with her.” The Dark Swan growled. “Oh, alright.” The man rolled his eyes as the name on the dagger began to shift and change, almost like a slot machine. It shifted through many names before it landed on one: Nimue. The vision of the man faded and in his place was a robed woman. However, she had the same skin and eyes as the man, scaled as though it was made of metal and amber snake eyes. The Dark Swan bowed before her. “Nimue, I have failed you. I thought that by having the Fall Maiden by my side, I would be able to lay waste to Equestria.” The Dark Swan said. “Your failure was only because of the intervention of a third party you had no idea about. Rise, brother. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” With that, the Dark Swan got up. “Is that why you seek power on par with all of us combined?” Nimue asked. “Yes. If I have enough power, I can help you to my full extent! You want me to snuff out the light, right?” He asked. Nimue just touched the Dark Swan’s face. “Yes, I do… But you have enough power as it is. You just need… help.” With that, she smirked. “You’re not the only being who benefits with magic entering this realm. I detect three beings in this town who may become your new allies. With their help, I believe you can achieve our goal.” The Dark Swan just smiled. “Show me where they are, my queen.” He said. Our dinner was short lived as a Roidmdue came to attack us. Surprisingly, it was a mass produced Roidmude, eventually revealed to be made by Foundation X… Not only that, but it seemed they had been busy with a Shocker-Zangyack union… As well as Grimm attacks. It was just a clusterfuck of monsters. Thankfully, we had our own clusterfuck: the Kamen Riders. It was a quick, dirty battle, all things said and done. With the dust settled, there were a few remaining monsters to clean up. While I helped settle the girls with a hotel, the girls gave Ross the Sasword Zecter. It was a purple scorpion machine from an old Kamen Rider show back in 2006, five years before I got into Kamen Rider. Apparently, his gimmick is that he can move very fast, a perfect counter to Slowdown. With Ross’ Semblance, that would create even more speed for him. I modified Crescent Rose to cooperate with the Zecter via Banno’s ability to create seeming from his data. With that, Ross transformed into what was basically a pink Kamen Rider with a rose blooming on his head… He will never fucking hear the end of this, I swear. We then departed to clean up the streets of monsters. Ross rushed into the town slashing away several mooks with just his normal speed. Rose petals scattered about as he used his scythe to cleave through the clusters of monsters. Eventually, he stopped and saw a horde of freakish looking green husks. Their faces looked like an extra pair of hands were holding it as they were crying. However, they just rasped and ran to attack Ross. Ross shot one and then dug his scythe into the ground, spinning on the pole to kick the other monster down. Both exploded into green fire. The last one, though, turned bright red before molting into a silvery-gray monster with several small holes around its armor. He had a blade mounted on his left arm and his helmet looked like that of a scorpion. He roared and ran to attack Ross. Ross parried with his scythe, blocking the stinger-like appendage before trying to fire point blank. However, the monster just turned into a blur and ran off, appearing behind Ross and stabbing him in the back. “Gah!” Ross fell down as the monster began to run circles around him. “… In that case…” Ross looked for any sort of button to give him the advantage. These Rider doohickeys have to have some kink to them… Ross thought. He then found a small button on top of his belt. He pressed it. He pressed it. CLOCK UP! Time began to slow down for Ross, but not in the same way that involved fighting Roidmudes. Instead, he saw the monster slowing down to normal speed… or rather, he was moving up to his speed. Ross smirked and flew off, using his own Semblance in tangent with the Clock Up, out-maneuvering the monster and giving him multiple slashes. Indeed, he was giving the monster a beating unlike any other. And just as he was about to lay the final blast… CLOCK OVER! He slowed down. “What?!” Ross muttered as the monster realized that Ross was no longer faster than him. Ross managed to use his Semblance to reach his speed, though, but the two were fighting at the same speed now. And unfortunately for Ross, the monster managed to strike a few more blows with its stinger-like appendage on his arm. With one last stab, Ross could feel his Aura breaking as he is knocked down. “Shit…” One more hit, and Ross would be done for. He struggled, trying to keep his guard up, but he stumbled down. He could feel some of the poison seeping through his blood stream. The monster, disabling his ability to clock up, took its time to attack… And then suddenly he is shot in the face. Ross got up to see a masked woman wearing a white long-coat holding a long sword with a smoking gun built into the hilt. Ross blinked as he recognized her. “No way…” Ross muttered. She just ignored Ross and rushed to the monster, swinging her sword at him while it clashed against his silver armor. He tried to get a strike in, but as he hit, he saw that the woman faded into a shadow, with the real version just behind it. She fired at the monster as sparks flew. She then looked to Ross. “Rest. I’ll deal with him.” She said. Ross shook his head. “No! This is my fight too!” Ross stood up as she just sighed. “Your aura’s depleted! You can’t use your Semblance anymore!” She readied herself as Ross ran to the monster, leaping into the air and bringing down his scythe upon it. “I don’t care! I’ll protect this city with everything I got!” The woman just smiled for a bit. “Heh… Of course.” She then rushed into the fray as well. As soon as Ross was done his strike, the woman leaped in with her cut. The two did not let up on their attack. Whenever Ross landed a hit, the woman would follow up with a strike of her own, and vice versa. They kept at it for a bit before the monster staggered. The monster tried to speed up, but Ross managed to cut into him and stop him from going anywhere past him. “It’s funny, the more time you spend going fast, the slower everything feels afterwards…” Ross chuckled. He unloaded Crescent Rose and noticed that the stinger on the Sasword Zecter looked like a lever. So, he flipped it, then pressed it down. RIDER ROSARIO! Red currents of lightning course up Ross’ arms and all over his body. Once the lightning reached the rose part of his helmet, his silver compound eyes glowed and he ran towards the scorpion monster. The scythe’s blade propped itself up, acting more like a halberd than a scythe. The woman saw him charging up and decided to do her own attack. She took out a padlock with what appeared to have a strawberry designed on it. She placed it in in a slot that was on her sword. LOCK ON! 1… 10… 100… STRAWBERRY CHARGE! The woman swung her sword, creating dozens of tiny aural daggers that flung to the monster and stabbed him, the daggers exploding on impact. Ross then ran to the monster and preformed a series of ten stabs, five of them diagonally from top right to bottom left, and the other the complete opposite direction, top left to bottom right. Ross noticed amounts of red, vicious liquid seeping from the blade of Crescent Rose. Venom? Blood? He wasn’t too sure. All he knows is that, with one last slash, he would have defeated the monster. Well, that was the idea. Ross did land the final blow, but as the monster landed on the ground, he didn’t explode. Instead, he got up and, after turning his head to both him and the woman, ran off. Ross tried to catch up, but he fell onto his knees and panted. As he did, the Zecter pulled itself off of Crescent Rose and scurried off. “H-hey! Where are you going?” Ross shouted. The woman then approached him. “So… You know how to hold her weapon?” Ross remembered her voice. Ross looked at the masked woman. She sounded so much like her. Displaced tend not to match voices, which led Ross to one of two conclusions, helped with the fact that Ross eyed her sword. It was not the sword he remembered from the show. Instead, it was a simple sword with a silver edge to one side. There was a golden strip that was lit with red juices, a padlock that was plugged onto the hilt, a gun built right into the hilt, and a symbol of a yellow lightning bolt in the middle of a blue sticker placed on the barrel of the gun. “And you don’t have Gambol Shroud.” Ross took a gamble. “… So you know who I am.” And he won big. “Yes, I do, Blake.” Ross stood up as the woman sighed. She took off her mask as Ross saw her face. Sure enough, Ross recognized the face of RWBY’s brooding, serious Blake Belladonna. Blake then turned around and walked away. “I’m glad… and yet, I’m disappointed that you’re not Ruby.” Blake said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “I… I don’t know what I’d do if you were really Ruby. I don’t want to face her. Not after what I did.” Blake said. Ross was about to ask what she meant, but a voice rang in his head. “And Blake ran!” A mixture of anger and sorrow twisted the woman’s tone of voice, but he still knew it belonged to Ruby’s sister, Yang. Ross just stood still and lowered his head. “I’m not Ruby. I admit that. But I’m trying my hardest to be like her.” Ross said. “Don’t. It pains me just to see that you’re dressed like her and hold her weapon. I don’t want you to pretend you’re someone you’re not.” Blake said. “I want to be a hero. Are you telling me that’s not who I am?” Ross asked. “No… I’m saying that… maybe you should step back and look at what you have to lose before you make some stupid decision.” Blake looked away with a frown on her face. “Do me a favor… Don’t join the Wonderbolts. If not for me, if not for you, then… Do it for her sake.” With that, Blake leaped off, landing on a rooftop where she ran off. Ross took a moment before he concluded what she meant. “Sunset…” Ross said, with any amount of joy in his voice gone. My fight with the combined armada led me to the Canterlot High field. There, I saw three monsters stand before me. The one in the middle was a man with a large baseball for a head, wearing a baseball uniform. The other two were just an oversized armadillo and an oversized rhino. “What’s the matter, Rocksteady? Bebop didn’t wanna join this?” I chuckled. “Fear us, Kamen Rider! We are the Sportsmen Three!” The Baseball monster then posed with a baseball bat. “The Legendary Baseball Star… Baseball Mask!” “The Mythical Soccer Star… Soccadillo!” The armadillo posed by curling up into a ball. “The Fabled Football Star… Rhinoblaster!” The rhino touched the ground with his hands, as though he was an actual football player. “Together we are…” Baseball Mask extended his arms outward like some sort of generic Sentai hero. “THE SPORTSMAN-” Yeah, enough of that. I shot him in the face with the Door Gun. “H-hey!” “That’s a red card violation!” Soccadillo got out of his ball form and wagged his finger at me. “Yeah! You should be playing by the rules!” Rhinoblaster said. “You guys are kinda late to the silly contest because pony princess won that loooooooong ago. Really, I just wanna get this over with.” I said. “Very well. We challenge you to a game of baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “What? N-no! I wanna challenge her to football!” Rhinoblaster got in front of Baseball Mask and glared at him. “I thought we’re playing soccer! You said yourself that we were playing football!” Soccadillo said. “WE ARE! AMERICAN FOOTBALL, YA DINGUS!” Rhinoblaster bapped Soccadillo on the head. “How about a nice game of ‘I win, you die’?” I asked. “No! We refuse to play by the rules of the standard monster of the week! If you wanna fight us, you’ll have to play baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “Football!” Soccadillo and Rhinoblaster shouted. “Actually, I wanna play soccer.” A new voice was heard as I saw two men approach me. Both of them roughly teenage. One teen wore a beige jacket with a light blue shirt, the top part of it looking more like some ancient vase than anything. He had a bracelet on his right wrist. The other teen wore a brown biker jacket, a dark red shirt and black pants. Both had short black hair. “And if you wish, I’ll play baseball.” The teen in the leather jacket spoke very gruffly, almost sounding like he could double for Kamen Rider Ichigo, the first Kamen Rider. I knew at least one of the two teens, Lapis from Kamen Rider Gaim’s movie, but the other teen I couldn’t recognize. Sure enough, the two of them were Riders, as they got their belts ready. Lapis had a Sengoku Driver while the other had a black belt with a red center, a callback to the old Showa Riders, though the texture made the belt sort of akin to a volcanic mountain. Lapis took out a silver Lockseed that had an apple design on it and raised both it and his free hand over his head. SILVER! It summoned a large, blue and silver apple over his head. Meanwhile the other teen just preformed a weird move with his arms, where he slowly waved his hands higher and higher until they were over his head. “Riiiiiiider…” He bellowed. “HENSHIN!” They both said. Lapis placed his Lockseed into the Driver and cut it while the teen just exploded into flames. LOCK ON! SOIYA! SILVER ARMS! THE SILVERY… NEW STAGE! The apple came down upon him, folding outwards to make a silver and blue armor. As the armor “splashed” he held a large fanned staff, then struck a combat stance. I, however, merely looked at the black and crimson clad Rider with vents built into his chest, gloves, and boots. “I don’t think I know you…” I tried for the life of me to recall all the Showa Riders, and this guy was not ringing a bell. “Worry not, for you shall know… I am the divine fires of justice! Kamen Rider… Dante!” With that, he too struck a pose. “... A little on the nose, huh?” I sighed and readied my own battle pose. “Very well! We shall commence our sports game!” With that, Dante and Baseball Mask ran off to the baseball field while Rhinoblaster raised his arms up. Five large golems clawed their way out of the dirt below us like they were zombies. Their appearances looked as though they were made from the very ground. Soccadillo ran to Rhinoblaster and curled up into a ball. “READY! TEN! HIKE!” With that, Rhinoblaster kicked the ball towards me. I tried to kick back, but Soccadillo managed to hit me with his body, knocking me back. As the ball landed, Lapis ran over and kicked the ball a bit, dribbling it until he kicked it up into the air, leaped over, and cut his Lockseed once. SILVER SQUASH! With that, his leg glowed blue as he kicked the ball towards the golems. The sheer force ripped through the golems and broke them apart. “H-hey! No fair!” Rhinoblaster shouted as Soccadillo returned to his leg. “I think I overdid it…” Lapis muttered once he landed and saw the destruction of his kick. “Well, it’s still pretty good. The field’s now evenly matched.” I said. “Look! The goal!” Lapis pointed to an empty net on Rhinoblaster’s side. “It’s unattended!” “Aight, let’s win this!” With that, Lapis used his staff to turned himself into a ball… Yeah. I still can’t believe that. “WHAAAT!? WE CAN’T HAVE TWO BALLS! THAT’S AGAINST THE RULES!” Rhinoblaster shouted. “Screw the rules, this joke’s overused!” With that, I turned the throttle and shifted over to Banno. “You’re summoning me to play soccer? Is there no lengths to how stupid this can get?” Banno asked. “Again, Pony Princess!” I said. Banno kicked Lapis a few times before turning the throttle and pressing the button on his Shift Brace. “FINISHING MOVE! FULL THROTTLE!” Controls were passed to me as I kicked the ball right at Rhinoblaster. The golden energy overwhelmed Soccadillo and as he hit Rhinoblaster, both exploded. Lapis harmlessly rolled into the net. As soon as he entered, he morphed back into his rider form and cheered. “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL~!” Lapis exclaimed. I sighed as Lapis came to me. “Hey! We should watch Dante’s match!” Lapis ran off as I followed him. “HEEEEEY! DAAAANTE! HOW’S YOUR MATCH?” He asked. “Well, I managed to get three outs on Baseball Mask…” I saw Dante standing up to the plate while Baseball Mask stood at the pitcher’s plate. “I will avenge my loss by making you strike ou- Hey, where’s your bat?” I noticed Dante doesn’t even have a bat on him. “The only bat I have is my fist, blazing with a sense of burning justice!” … What. The. Fu- “ENOUGH OF THIS! DIIIIIIIE!” Baseball Mask then threw a baseball that turned into a grenade. “Secret Technique: Black Cross Bomber!” He said. “RIDER PUNCH!” Dante’s hand caught on fire as he punched the grenade right back at Baseball Mask with double speed. “OH SHI-” The grenade impacted Baseball Mask and he exploded into a firey ball of doom. “Let justice be burned into all those who are evil.” Dante’s armor then turned into ash and broke apart, scattering into the wind. Likewise, my armor’s timer went off, disappearing into a glow of gold data. Lapis took off the Lockseed and cancelled his transformation as well. “We make a good team! We should do this again sometime.” Lapis said. “Yeeeeeeah…” I shifted eyes for a second as I chuckled. “Right, introductions. I already know Lapis, but I don’t quite know you.” Dante asked me. “Oh… I’m Kelly, Kelly Randall, but most people call me Professor Silverbolt now.” I said. “And what do you fight for?” He asked. “Oh… Well, mainly to survive. I mean, people want me dead every day. Just last night, some bitch became a demon then took my belt to become a Kamen Rider. It was nuts! Guess I’ll bite and ask you.” I begin to regret doing so. “My name is Hotaro Dairou and I fight a never ending battle against the evil forces of Re:Shocker to avenge my girlfriend, Yuna, who died by their machinations. Using the Volcano Belt, I become Kamen Rider Dante, the Divine Inferno of Justice, who blazes with the fires of Prometheus and-” “Okay, I’m gonna stop you there before you make me invent a drinking game.” I said. “Drinking is wrong!” Hotaro said. “Trust me, once you hit that age, you’ll want to drink. Well, seems the threat’s gone for now. Guess we’ll go back to our worlds.” I said as I walked away. “Kelly, I have the feeling like we’ll meet again in some way.” Hotaro said. I just shook my head. “In your dreams.” I chuckled. Morning broke and we reconvened, discussing our various exploits. I mostly kept the fact that I had help to myself while Ross vaguely mentioned someone helping him. I could tell just from how he described her mask that he knows something about her. I told him about how she’d be our ally and that’s when Ross just insisted I don’t get involved. Well, that confirmed him knowing who she is and that she doesn’t want me or the others to know. I then got the tokens from the two Displaced and made a Shift Car out of them. Well, they were two Shift Cars that fused together into one. Then Niko showed up and told us about how he’s not gonna be helping for the time being because his nephew ended up displacing himself. After trying out the new Shift Car, the two girls departed and me and Ross went back to our homes to sleep. Thank God that this night’s over. Now I can look forward to tomorrow. Nimue led the Dark Swan to a 24/7 diner full of people. He looked behind and saw the numerous smoldering corpses of Grimm he had to cut through to get there. “A lot of negativity here…” The Dark Swan felt uneasy. “You will find them here.” She said. “And if they don’t bend a knee?” The Dark Swan asked. “Then make a deal with them.” The Dark Swan’s hand’s trembled a bit. “A Dark One always makes a deal.” Nimue then faded away as the Dark Swan entered the diner. As he did, he heard an enchanting song. Not enough to bring him into the same noticeable trance that the other patrons were in, however. He looked at the customers. They bickered amongst themselves, arguing and yelling. He’s heard this kind of song before. It was the song of sirens, magical sea creatures that would enchant men to ram their ships into the rocks and sink them. There was one such legend of Poseidon using his own daughter to do this exact thing as a means to exact revenge upon humanity. He followed the trio of songs over to a table where he saw three hooded figures. He could notice three rubies, all on their necks. They looked at him. “You’re not angry like the others…” One woman revealed her purple skinned face, two twin-tails of purple and green hair tied in a star-themed scrunchie flopped out as her hood came down. She sounded like a usual gothic teenager. The girl next to her did the same, showing her blue face with a cyan and navy colored ponytail. “I am not like the others.” He said. “Of course you’re not… Dark One.” The third person revealed her yellow-skinned face. She had orange and yellow curly hair. “The Dark One!?” The blue skinned girl looked at him and beamed. “EEEEEE!” She squealed. No one seemed to notice her, though, as they were busy bickering. “You three have drifted far from home, haven’t you?” The Dark Swan asked. “Yes. I could say the same for you, Dark One.” The yellow-skinned woman said. “Why I’m here has nothing to do with why you’re here.” The Dark Swan said. “If you gotta know, we were banished here.” The purple woman said. “Yeah. By Starswirl The Bearded.” The yellow woman said. Starswirl. That name evoked the image of a man who once spurned Nimue. The Dark Swan only gripped his fists. “You wish for revenge against Equestria?” The Dark Swan asked. That’s when the blue woman shrugged. “Nah. We just want a meal right now. This world doesn’t really have a lot of nourishment. It’s like fast food, you know what I mean?” She asked. The Dark Swan knew that they didn’t mean literal food, rather the emotional energy that they feed off others, the exact same feelings that the Grimm are attracted too. “We were able to get that nourishment in Equestria, when we had magic. Here? There is none.” The yellow woman said. “Until now.” The Dark Swan held his hand and made a small fire. The three girls looked at him with awe. “NO WAY!” The blue girl said. “I will help you get the nourishment you need to be strong and in return, we will return to Equestria and show that world what happens when they mess with us.” The Dark Swan smirked. However, the four heard a bell ring. The Dark Swan turned to see a white skinned man with pale vermillion curly hair wearing a business suit. The three girls got up as soon as they saw him. The Dark Swan pulled out his dagger. “Shed that human form. Now!” The Dark Swan said with a stern voice. The man just smirked as a robot walked ahead of him. The robot had the imperfect face of a bald human, the scalp looking more like a skull than a normal head. Brass tubes extended over his body like spider legs as the Dark Swan saw a plate on his chest showing the number 050. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” He asked. “I was just introducing my friend to a wonderful power when we saw this.” The robot said as the man stepped forward. “You three are talented singers. We can use that for our operation.” He said. “… What operation?” The Dark Swan asked. “See, my friend here is a manager and he’s looking for the next top idol. And I’m looking for the next massive storm.” The robot said. The four raised their eyebrows as the man held a red toy car. The robot soon turned into a mass of blurry data and merged with the man, turning him into what appeared to be a robed wizard with multiple tiny blue eyes on his face. He then walked over to two people. He touched one hand with his left palm and after that, he used his left to touch the other person’s hand. Immediately, one person punched the other in the face. The wizard chuckled to himself as he proceeded to do the same to the next row of people and so forth. Once he was done, the entire diner was now a bunch of angry people punching each other. “I believe my services are to your liking?” He asked. The four just looked, with the yellow woman stepping forward. “Consider this an… unlikely alliance.” She smirked. Golden Drive Arc 1: Where The Hell Am I? "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body. " At first, I had no idea what to wear. Should I wear his signature scientist outfit or go with the silly summer outfit during the end game? Well, what would people recognize Ryoma Sengoku better as? That was what helped me decide my outfit as I went for a simple white lab coat with a green button shirt and brown khaki pants. I straightened out my black hair and got a friend of mine, real great barber, to give me a silver highlight to match Ryoma’s hair. Finally, I was ready for Comic Con. It wasn’t easy getting a ticket, let me tell you. Game Theory was right. Line-ups were long. Tickets were expensive too. However, I managed to pull through, made a few sacrifices in not buying a lot of the Drive merchandise, and save enough to buy myself a one-way ticket to paradise. I realized that the only people who’d even recognize my outfit would be fellow Kamen Rider fans. No one who had worked on the shows would have come, so they wouldn’t see me. Most others would just look at me and think I’m some generic mad scientist. Well… I am dressed as a mad scientist. Generic though? … I’m getting ahead of myself now. Hello, my name is Kelly Randall. Since around 2010, I have become a huge Kamen Rider fan. I guess I should probably explain what the show is. Long story short: pretty men become bug-eyed people and kick monster ass. The shows vary as the years go by, much like Final Fantasy in a sense. Characters change, premises update, but all around, the idea is preserved: heroes who fight in the name of justice and freedom. I think it was because of Mitsuru Matsuoka, a J-Rock singer, that I became hooked onto the series. Even if he was in only two movies from one Kamen Rider show, he managed to pull off that black and red uniform really well… Looking back, I notice just how much I’m into the villains. Ankh with his flamboyant flare, Hayami with his good looks, Sora with his charismatic charm, Chase with those leather pants… ooooh, those leather pants… But, if I had to pick favorites, it’d have to be Ryoma from Kamen Rider Gaim… He combines the best aspects of those guys and does it in style... Well, except for the leather pants, but he makes up for it by being a cyborg... twice. Yeah, he’s a backstabbing prick, but he’s still an amusing guy to hang around with. I think that’s why I dressed up as him. However, as I walked through the con, I slowly thought of what I wanted to do. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing for me to do. Yeah, I could talk to some of the guys who created stuff like Steven Universe or Adventure Time, but I never had time to watch those shows, so all I’d know about it is “it’s a show about a kid and some gems” or “it’s a show about a kid and his dog”. Maybe I could grab a few sneak peaks at the newest entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I mean, I’ve been keeping up with it since the beginning… CRASH! I bumped into a guy. I fell onto the floor as I heard a “sorry!” from a boy. Well, that's one way to derail the train of thought. Now I'm worried about straightening up my jacket and making sure my hair didn't get messed up. I got up and dusted myself off. Thankfully, my clothes were intact. Still, some people have got to learn, right? "Hey, watch it, okay?" I said. I didn't bark at him, however. I said it in the most polite tone I could muster. Well, as polite as a girl dressed as a mad scientist who got inconvenienced by a minor bump could be. I got to look at the guy who crashed into me. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, and from the looks of his outfit, I wasn’t the only cross-dresser here. I glanced at his costume from the bottom up. He had black boots with red laces, black cargo pants, a gray, long sleeve shirt with a bullet proof vest over it, a red cloth belt with the symbol of a burning rose on it, and, the most eye-catching detail, a red cape. I first mistook it for a scarf, though it seemed rather hood-like. The boy nodded to me. "Again, sorry." He said. “The hell are you supposed to be? Little Red Riding Hood?” I asked him. He chuckled. “Actually… Yeah. I’m Riding Hood. In a sense. You some sort of mad scientist?” He asked me. “Yeah. The incredible Ryoma Sengoku!” I smiled. “Ryoma… Is that your name? Or the guy you’re dressed up as?” He asked me. “The latter. So… what?” I looked at his outfit some more. “What what?” He asked. “Is there some sort of grimdark Little Red Riding Hood movie that’s coming out soon?” I couldn’t for the life of me get over the attempted gothic look. It’s like if Tim Burton took a hatchet to that fable… Part of me worried that he has and Johnny Depp is cast as the wolf. “Huh? No. You heard of RWBY?” He asked me. RWBY… RWBY… RWBY… I sort of remembered it… but all I know of it was that someone who worked on the thing died. I shook my head. I figured it’d be too soon if I mentioned what I know of it. “You should seriously watch it. It’s great! Hey, look at this!” That’s when he took out a freaking scythe. I leaped back at the sheer size of the scythe. “THE HELL!?” I screamed. “This is just one of the weapons seen in the show. It’s also a gun.” H-how can you fit a gun into a scythe!? How would that even work!? Then again, I’m a fan of a show that had axes that can become guns… My eyes looked at the scythe’s blade. The metal on the blade looked shiny and sharp. Almost… real. “Don’t worry about that, m'dear. That prop is just a replica. It’s not an actual weapon.” I looked to see a man dressed in a gray business suit sitting by one of those cyan fold-out tables. He also wore a white fedora. A legit, honest to God fedora, not one of those tacky trilbies. It actually looked a bit familiar to me. Though, I guess I was just thinking about that badass white fedora from Kamen Rider Double, a pretty cool detective-based Rider series. I actually got that pulp noir feeling from this guy though. Maybe it was his posture and the goatee, but I could have almost sworn I saw Sid, a dealer who was also from Kamen Rider Gaim. It didn't help that he seemed to be playing the role of a dealer, as I saw him sitting before a collection of various trinkets. Most of them were from things I recognize. A collection of Soul Gems from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, wands from Harry Potter, keys to various cars, each with the names on them, such as KITT or the General Lee, and even a Fire Flower from Super Mario Brothers. There were countless others, each looking surprisingly accurate to detail. “Oh hey. This is Mr. Zoloto” The boy waved to him. “Though, you may refer to me as Niko, if you wish." He said to me. He turned his attention to the boy. "Afternoon, Ross. What brings you here?” He asked. “Oh, well, you know. The usual. Say, you should buy something from this guy. He has a lot of cool stuff. That’s where I got Crescent Rose from.” He tapped onto the red metal part of the scythe. “He also sold me this sweet rose necklace that fit my outfit perfectly!” “And… where is it, Ross?” Niko asked. “Oh… That… Well, I left it in capable hands.” Ross said. Niko placed his palm squarely onto his face. “Goddamn it, Ross.” He muttered. He took his face out of his palm and looked to me. “Well, do you want to buy something? I have something for you that will fit your character.” He pointed to a Sengoku Driver- IT HAS DUKE’S FACEPLATE ON IT! AND IT’S THE LEMON LOCKSEED! “It’s yours for free…” He said. I always wanted this when they announced it for Gaim Gaiden. I especially wanted to use both the Lemon Lockseed with its Energy counterpart, as I felt like that'd be super cool. I could have this cool, awesome toy for free, and I don't even had to go to any import markets to do so! I almost touched it when I noticed something else. It was simply the Drive Driver, but it was painted completely black… Is… No way… They don’t even have this out yet! I'm sorry, but... MY WANT FOR THIS DRIVER IS FAR GREATER! I had to have it! There's no other way around it! “On second thought…” I tried to keep my dignity intact. God only knows I'll embarrass myself in front of dozens by geeking out over an oversized belt buckle... and I'm in geek central for God's sake! “Is it okay if I take this for free instead? I’ll probably grab the Sengoku Driver in the second-hand market.” I asked him. I frowned as I looked toward the Sengoku Driver... maybe next time. He clicked with his tongue. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well, I’ll certainly let you have it without any demand for currency, but you won’t have it for free.” He handed me the black Drive Driver. It was here that I noticed a bit of an accent. It felt... not too redneck, but somewhere around Texan. “Huh? The hell do you mean?” I said as Ross backed away from me. I placed the belt on my waist. “Well, I believe an old friend of mine put it best.” A red belt formed around my waist. Once the belt clicked into the other side of the belt, a flash of light blinded me as I could feel my body slow down to a crawl. It was only a matter of time before I completely froze. “All things come with a price.” It was the last thing I heard as I blacked out. “Hey, get up!” I heard a voice as my eyes slightly opened up. I saw a girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair with a cowboy hat. In fact, her entire outfit could best be summed up as a cowgirl’s sort of outfit with a white and green button shirt and a blue jeans-like skirt. Not to mention those cowboy boots. “Ah, good. Now you can start answering some questions, sugar cube.” She told me. I began to think about if I was just kidnapped by Niko and brought over to his house. Oh God, I'm gonna have to start practicing the banjos soon in order to duel them, am I? “Huh? The hell are you talking about?” I reeked at the smell. It was a familiar smell, a mixture of hay and manure. I looked around and saw I was in a wooden building. Yep, I was at a barn… How the hell did I manage to get into a barn, I’ll never know... “Big Mac found you here after we heard a ruckus this mornin'. I'm just gonna ask ya one thing: what are ya doin' at our barn?” she asked. “Look, I don’t know! All I remember was that I was at Comic Con, I bought this sweet belt and…” That’s when I looked at my waist. There it was, the black Drive Driver. “Fancy belt buckle. Kind of big, dontcha think, sugar cube?” She asked me. I struggled to pull it off. “Y-yeah. It’s more than a buckle though.” I yanked the Driver, even tried to pinch the sides to take off the belt, but it still was stuck onto my waist. “Pretty stubborn one at that.” The cowgirl smirked as she tried to pull it off too. “NGH!” She pulled, only to fall backwards and tumble into the hay. “Yeah, preeetty tight.” She got out of the hay and fixed herself up. “Come on then, sugar cube. We have a lot to talk about.” She said. I gulped and followed her to her house. As I had predicted, her living room was pretty old-fashioned in terms of houses. It seemed to be like a wooden cabin. In fact most of everything was wood. The cupboards, the doors, the walls. The only things that were not wooden were the utilities like the sink and fridge, and even then, they looked like they dated back fifty years. I was sitting on the dining table as the girl set down a basket of food. “Apple fritter?” The cowgirl picked up a fritter and offered it to me. While I’m a sucker for baked goods, a small thing wouldn’t sate my hunger. Though... I was hungry and it did look scrumptious. I took the fritter and ate it. “Mmm… Anything else?” I asked her. “We made some apple pie the other day. Oh, and also some apple turnovers! We also have some leftover candy apples from Halloween if you’re interested.” I began to sense a pattern. “… You know, I’m thinking of breakfast. I mean, it’s morning, right? What do you have for cereal?” I asked. “Oh, that’s easy!” She went over to a cupboard and opened it up. When she returned, she held a box of: “Apple Jacks!” Alright. That does it. I’m stuck in one of those families it seems. “Yeah… Okay, I don’t wish to be rude, but… does your family have some… thing for apples?” I asked. “Of course we do! We own a family business of pickin’ apples, after all.” She said. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that everything you eat should be apples, right?” I asked. “Yeah, but let’s be honest, sugar cube, nothing beats a good ol’ apple. Ever hear the saying of an apple a day keeps the doc away?” She said. I rolled my eyes. “I have a name, you know. How’d you like if I just called you Applejack? Like the cereal?” I pointed to the cereal. That’s when I noticed her snickering. “Well, you’re right on the dot.” She wiped her tear and offered me her hand. “Name’s Applejack.” She said. “… Seriously, that’s your name?” I muttered. I shook my head and sighed. Eeeyup, I’m in that family. Well, it’s better than staying with the Sawyers, right? “My name’s Kelly.” I shook her hand. “Nice to meetcha, Kelly. So, can ya tell me what the hay’s goin’ on?” she asked me. "Well... first, do you know a Niko Zoloto?" I asked "Nope. Name doesn't ring a bell." she said. "Okay. Well, I'm out of ideas as to what the hell is going on. All I know is that I put on this belt, time slowed down, and I woke up here.” I said. She stared at me for a bit before she sighed. Great, I sound like a crazy person. When I dressed up as the mad scientist, I wasn't aiming to be just as mad. “Well, I know a liar when I see one.” My hands instantly slam on the table. “That’s all I know, swear to-!” And she placed her hand in front of my view. “And you are no liar. I trust ya, suga- I mean, Kelly. This does raise some questions, though.” Applejack said. "I know, I know. I don't know all the answers though. I'm just as confused as you are." I sighed. I began to think that the freezing was just my imagination. I saw a big beefy orange-haired man enter the room. I didn’t need Applejack to even tell me that’s the Big Mac she told me about. “Mornin’.” Big Mac said. He looked to me. “What’s goin’ on?” He asked. “Excuse me for a moment, Kel.” Applejack got up and walked out of the kitchen and towards a room I couldn’t see from my seat. Big Mac followed her. I inhaled. I knew that they’re going to talk about something they don’t want me to hear, so I snuck off of my chair and edged myself to the kitchen wall. “Okay, so her name's Kelly and all she knows is that she got a belt. Everything else is a blur to her. I can feel like she’s tellin’ the truth, but I can’t fully trust her yet.” While I couldn’t hear what Big Mac was saying, I did know that it was a question considering how Applejack responded. “It might be better to turn her in to the cops.” I muffled myself to prevent my gasp from being heard. Great, not five minutes into this weird day and already I'm gonna get sent to jail for something I have no idea about. In that silence, I could hear some faint knocking. I saw a girl, no older than 10, with long red hair running to the door. I saw her leap up to peak at the eye hole, and I couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she is. However, once she caught a glimpse of what was outside the door, she ran towards the room where Applejack was. “Applejack! Applejack!” I raised an eyebrow at her yellowish skin when she ran back, but I didn’t mention it out loud. “Some guys are at the door! They say they're looking for someone.” She said. “Huh?” Applejack cracked her knuckles and walked towards the door. I rushed back to my seat and luckily, I sat in time for her to pass into the kitchen. “Wait here, sugar cube.” She walked to the door and opened it up. I disobeyed her orders and snuck off. Their room was modeled in a way where I could peak around the corner and hide behind the fridge. I saw three people standing on the porch. One wore a green army vest with a black shirt and black shorts, while the other two seemed to be dressed in white tuxedos. I began to wonder if these guys were related to Mr. Zoloto. “Hello there.” The vested man said. “What are you folks doin’ here?” Applejack said. “We’ve came looking for something. I have the feeling that it's here in this very house.” He said. "Is this something a girl with black hair? A little silver highlight to it as well?" She asked. The man chuckled. "No. This something's a belt." As soon as he said that, my body tensed up. The Driver. He wants the Driver. “Well, unfortunately for ya, it has the problem of being stuck onto someone. Someone who I ain’t givin’ to ya unless you tell me what the hay’s goin’ on.” Applejack glared to the man. My heart raced. Only a certain group of people would ever want this Driver. The man nudged his head to the door as the two suited men barged in. “H-hey! What are ya doin’!?” Applejack tried to push them away, but they simply backhanded her. “We’re not entitled to tell you anything! What you need to know is that, unless you hand over the belt to us, people will get hurt and possessions will be stolen.” He said as the two dragged out Big Mac and an old lady that… Wait, when the hell was green a color of skin? I looked to Big Mac and noticed that, despite the mass difference, the gangster easily overpowered him. “Okay, that does it! We’re callin’ the cops on you!” Applejack got up, raised her leg up high and kicked their leader in the jaw. He reeled back while he held his jaw. He rubbed it a bit before he smiled. “No… That won’t be necessary.” My body went completely numb as he waved his arm. Without ever seeing the flashy particles emerge, I have confirmed that these people were indeed Roidmudes, robotic doppelgangers with the ability to make people's perception of time slow down. Once the flash happened, I could feel the Slowdown happen again. And it seems I’m not the only one. “W-what the?!” Applejack said as the leader walked up to her and grabbed her by the throat. “That little number you did… I liked it. Your body… is perfect for my tastes.” His body began to morph into a blur of red pixels before they settled on a new body: Applejack’s. He tossed her as I saw her body fall in slow motion. “Apple Bloom! Run!” She yelled. I look to see the little girl had begun to run off, though thanks to the heavy pressure, the Roidmude easily caught up to her and kicked her in the face, knocking her back. He laughed. “Apple Bloom!” “Yes… These is indeed… the perfect legs…” He shifted back to his male form, though now with Applejack’s legs. He compared his peach-color skin to Applejack’s slightly orange skin. ... Yeah, now is the time to start wondering about the skin colors of... wherever the hell I'm in. He screamed. “NO! THEY MISMATCH! You!" He pointed to Applejack. "You’ve made me imperfect! Now you must pay!” And with another shift of pixels, he transformed into someone I now recognize: The Iron Roidmude, a perfectionist who spent his time stealing aspects of different humans and combining them to make his own body perfect. The other two Roidmudes shed their human disguises too and showed their true form. As they did, I could see their numbers printed on their chests: 042 and 088, as well as their class of both Spider and Bat, respectively. “Boss, our priority is the girl, not these guys.” 042 said. The Iron Roidmude decked him in the head. “Shut it! They must be punished for ruining my perfection!” He said. He nodded to 088 as he pointed his fingers to Applejack. “Go! Now!” I could hear Applejack yell to me as she shed a tear and shut her eyes. That’s when I noticed… My body wasn’t being weighed down. I flexed my fingers. Yeah. I could move. I turned around and ran. I could hear the Iron Roidmude grunt. “Change of plan! After her!” He said. I heard the flapping of wings. I ran as fast as I could. I was able to lose the Roidmude in an acre of apple trees. I slumped to the ground to catch my breath. I winced as I thought of the family I left behind to be killed. I sat up, huddled my legs, and cried into them. I couldn't save them... “They are quite a piece of work, are they?” I heard a voice from somewhere. A very familiar voice too. I looked around. When I remembered where I heard the voice from, my only conclusion was to look down onto my Driver. There, I saw a golden frowning face with a big, long nose presented in LCD. I began to shudder as I knew this face. It was the face of Tenjuro Banno, inventor of the Roidmudes and enemy to both their kind and humankind. And right now, he’s right on my waist. “They are my Magnum Opus. Perfect beings, don’t you think?” He said. “They’re going to murder innocent people!” I yelled. “Such is life.” He chuckled. I tried again to take off the belt, though now with more aggression in my strength. “Please, if that was possible, I would have taken myself off of you the moment you got here. Hate to say it, but you’re stuck to me as much as I am stuck to you.” I breathed in. “I figured as such.” I muttered. I already knew that they were after Banno, though. “Seems the Roidmudes want me back.” I could hear 088’s wings as they flapped. “Fortunately, given the choice between you and the Roidmudes, I’d rather be stuck to you than spend the rest of my life back inside an iPad.” Dead leaves crunched as I could hear the Roidmude grunt. “You know how the Driver works, right?” He said. A chill went up my spine. “T-turn on the ignition. I know.” I remembered how the Banno Driver worked in the show. It was less of a transformation device and more of a brainwashing device. This thing could use Roidmudes like puppets, even if their Core is destroyed and all that remains is their empty husk. I concluded that what would happen will be similar to that. “Good. If you could do that and let me transform, I’ll see about getting the Roidmudes out of the way and maybe even save that family.” He said. My hand hovered over the ignition. “You better hurry.” Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The Roidmude looked for us. It was only a matter of time before he found us. Only a matter of time before that family is killed. I gulped. I had no other choice but to trust this madman. “Alright… but you have to save them, alright?” I asked him. “Very well.” My hand shook. I’d be trusting the lives of people I barely met to this monster. How would I know he’d be true to his word? He views practically everyone, even his so-called “Magnum Opuses”, as nothing more than lab rats. How could I even trust him with my life? “What are you waiting for? Start my engine.” Any second now, the Roidmude would have found me, and I don’t think he was intent on taking me alive. However, it wasn't my life that made me decide to do what I did. I knew full well that Banno was a complete monster, but as I looked at the Driver, part of me felt that I could be able to save someone with this, even if it'd be Banno calling the shots. I touched the Ignition Key and turned it. “Henshin…” He muttered. A bright yellow light emerged from the Driver. Yellow lightning bolts sparked out of the Driver and enveloped my body as a light blue barrier was formed around me. My body surged. I felt like each part of my skin was being pulled apart and electrocuted at the same time. The pain lasted for a moment before my body had changed. Now I had the under suit to my Rider form. This was followed shortly by the golden pieces of armor that gave my form the name of Gold Drive. They snapped onto me as one last flash of golden light emitted from the Driver. That’s when I felt my entire body become numb. I tried to lift up my arms and legs, but they didn’t seem to respond. However, my body got up regardless. It didn’t take me any time to know what was going on, especially after I threw my head back in Banno’s laughter. “Yeah, this feels right…” Banno said as my hand gripped. I knew it. He took over my body. God, this is gonna be confusing. I heard the Roidmude creep right behind me. He made a mad dash. All this while Banno just stood, chuckling. Idiot! Someone’s gonna kill you! Move! Although I couldn’t feel my body tense up, I braced myself for impact. Banno spun around and roundhouse kicked the Roidmude. It was sudden and loud, like a gunshot. The Roidmude fell over to the ground, sparking with the same yellow lightning that preceded my transformation, and exploded. His Core, represented by his number, floated up before it too exploded. “I’ve adapted to your body easier than I thought. Well, I might as well fulfill my end of the bargain, right?” Banno said. He ran off at super speed. I worried that in the time it took for us to get there, the family would have been killed already. Even though I only knew them for half an hour, I felt sorry for them. Maybe it was just because I wound up inadvertently involved them in this mess. However, I felt relieved when we arrived and saw that the family was alive. The Roidmudes were careless enough to leave the door wide open. However, I could see that 042 had just shot the old lady in the arm, with numerous screams heard among the family. He pointed his finger guns to her head. That's when Banno leaped up into the air upon entering the house and axe kicked him to the ground. As he landed, the Roidmude was forced in a kneeling position before he exploded. Banno stomped into the ground right as its core was about to fly off, crushing it on his heel. Banno looked to Iron and laughed. “Is this the best you’ve got against your creator? I thought I made you out of sterner stuff.” Banno said. “I’ll show you!” Iron ran to Banno and tried to punch him, but Banno dodged out of the way and punched the Roidmude five times in the stomach at blurring speeds. Iron stumbled back as Banno punched one more time into his head. Iron fell back. He got up as his arms changed. He punched as one of his arms stretched out to the end of the hall. Banno grabbed it. “Heh.” he pulled the Roidmude towards himself. He held his fist out as the Roidmude ran into it. BLASH! His fist smashed through the Roidmude’s chest and he held its Core in his hand. Iron writhed as Banno slowly crushed the core. When it was nothing but crushed dust, Banno retraced his arm and let the Roidmude fall. Its corpse had tiny bits of lightning springing from the open wound. It exploded when it landed as time returned to normal. Applejack rushed over to the elder. “Granny!” Banno walked away before I could even know if she would be okay or not. When we were about a mile from the house, Banno stopped walking and laughed maniacally. It was at this moment that I realized that I have made a gross mistake. “Starting today, there will be a return! The return of Tenjuro Banno! Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might! And I will rule everything over with an iron fi-” As he gloated, the Gold Drive suit disassembled. I could finally move my arms and legs again. I felt very cold when I regained them. “Oh thank God!” I muttered. “Wh-what happened!? I was close to domination! What caused my transformation to give out?!” Banno babbled. While I was indeed thankful for the sudden depower, it had me wondering that too. Just what the hell happened? One minute, Banno was using my body, the next, he's back to being a belt. “… Perhaps it’s a technical glitch.” I remarked how short my time was as Gold Drive, or rather, Banno’s time. I rested my index finger onto my chin. I tried to think of an idea, but I couldn’t help but think of Applejack trying to revive her grandmother. I wondered where the hell her parents were. I shed a tear as I believed that her parents must have died. I looked at the house. Like hell I was gonna leave the family orphaned. I took out my phone. Much to my relief, my cell had service. I called a simple, three digit number. “Hello, Nine-One-One?” The dispatcher asked. “Hello, I wish to report of a mob breaking and entering a home. There’s a grandmother who might be critically injured from their attack.” I said. “Alright, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” The dispatcher said. As I hung up, I turned around and walked toward the house. “You’re going back for them?” Banno asked. “Yeah. They saved our lives just now and you just returned the favor. Of course I’ll do my part.” I said. “You know, I was going to take back what I thought of you, but now you’ve shown me that you are truly an idiot. That girl just said that she’ll turn you in first chance she has.” Banno said. “So? We don’t know the extent of what she meant." I thought back to what Applejack said. Maybe I jumped the gun when I thought that she was considering having me thrown in jail. She might have meant it in another way. "Whether she thinks we’re criminals or victims, I’d rather be in the care of cops than have anyone risk their lives to cover our asses.” I said. As I walked back into the house, I heard Banno say: “You’re just as dumb as my son.” I entered the house as I saw Applejack preform CPR on her grandmother. “I called for an ambulance. They’ll arrive shortly.” Applejack looked up to me and smiled. “Thank you, Kelly.” She said. I paused for a moment before I knelt down to her. “And… maybe it’s for the best if the authorities took me in. I have no idea what’s going on and I have a feeling like there’ll be more gangsters where that came from. The cops could probably protect me and maybe get to the bottom of what’s going on.” I said. Applejack hesitated, but she nodded soon after. Of course, that’s part of the reason why I wanted to turn myself in. As I heard the sirens, I rested my mind, knowing that I’ll finally answer questions that had been searing in my head since I first got here: What the hell is Banno doing on my belt? Where did the Roidmudes come from, especially since the ones Banno fought were dead to begin with? Who names their kid Applejack? Who the hell was that Zoloto guy? And perhaps the most important question of all: where the hell am I?
Dazzling Adagio Arc 1: Who Stole the Tridoron?My name is Kelly Randall. It has been three months since I was Displaced. It’s apparently the term used to describe people who have been transported to other worlds. As it turns out, I’m not the only person to have gone through this. There have been many people that had been Displaced. Some of them became my allies while others became my enemy. One of them tried to ally with the school bully and have her become a psychotic demon to try and take over Equestria, a world filled with those My Little Pony characters. However, that failed when Banno took over her body and turned her into some sort of demonic Rider. It took a lot of effort to finally stop him. Once I had him beaten, I sealed him up inside a small anti-virus program that I created using Ryoma’s smarts on my off time: Lapis Lazuli Program. It’s meant to act as a cage for Banno until I activate the Banno Driver, summoning him into the belt and allowing us to transform into Gold Drive. I noticed something off when I was putting the program into the Driver. I tried to see if I can use the Banno Driver without Banno operating it, only to find that it wasn’t able to. It wouldn’t even start up. My theory is that I took out the ‘engine’ of the ‘car’, in this case, Banno. If that’s the case, then I could consider that it wasn’t coded on Banno’s part, but rather it was hardcoded by the original inventor: Krim Steinbelt. With that being the case, I had to keep Banno around, so, when he was able to regain consciousness, I would have it so that his AI was trapped in the program. I took him out on a test drive last night and for the most part, it worked well. No sudden takeovers, no moments where I needed Banno to stop being Banno… For the second time, I felt like I was truly in control of the situation. The first time came when I exposed Sunset Shimmer for the bitch that she was. It forced her to get desperate and steal the price of the Fall Formal, a crown that was revered in Equestria as a magical artifact. Turns out it caused Sunset to get fire powers that persisted well after she was freed from the crown’s influence. To my dismay, though, despite everything she did, she cried crocodile tears, and everyone bought it. However, I’m keeping a close eye on her in case she’s up to her old tricks. I won’t hesitate to stop her at mach speed. I went over to my whiteboard. Just before hitting the hay, a portal appeared right beneath my feet and I fell through. I ended up getting summoned to what appears to be Equestria. Or rather, another version of it. There, I met someone who called himself a Frost Demon, though I better knew him as Asala. I was in his realm for about a few weeks, even learning how to utilize my ki… Still waiting to show that off to Ross. It caused me to try and compile what I could find on the portals. I took the tokens of the Sebaste Brothers as well as the two sisters who came last night and I analyzed them. There was little residue of void matter in the Shift Car that I got from the sisters while there was a slightly bigger amount in the chainsword and rifle. I then looked at Asala’s Token, an eight-starred purple Dragonball. His token was full of void residue. I swirled the token about, judging the potency of the void. I then wrote a theory: the Tokens take time to build their power and once they’re fully built up, I could use them to summon the Displaced it belonged to. After that, it would need time to build up again. The same was true for when they’re summoned. My lengthy and, in my opinion, well-deserved, stay at Asala’s world in contrast to the brief time Sebastian, Sebaste, Natsumi, and Haruka was suspect at first, but then I used my powers to thwart the invasion of an alien race known as the Cabal and then fixed up the damages. After that, the portal appeared days after. Much like the Tokens, a Displaced has a limited amount of time when they’re summoned. The idea, presumably, is to do one task that they’re summoned for, then leave for their world. But I wasn’t given a straight up task from the word go. In fact, I was lumped in with Asala and thrown in jail for my troubles, then went on trial in his defense before proposing to the judges that they should do a Suicide Squad. God, I hope they do the movie justice when I get back to my world… If I get back. After fighting the Cabal with my powers as Gold Drive, I guess I ‘ran out of energy’ and had to go back to recharge. Of course, this is just a theory. I’ve been Displaced for about three months now. Ross was Displaced longer, and I had just discovered that there’s another person who was displaced for even longer. So, I decide to pay him a visit. I got out of the library and to the parking lot where… … Wait, where’s the Tridoron? I looked all over the parking lot in search of the Tridoron… But it was gone! Ross approached me with Banno in hand. “Crap! Where is it!” I shouted. “Woah, Kelly, what’s up?” Ross asked me. “The Tridoron… It’s gone!” “Relax, Kel, I’m sure it didn’t just get up and drive away,” Ross chuckled. I just gave him a glare. It took Ross a while before he stopped laughing. “… Wait, it can do that?” “Yeah. Strange, not sure how it can do that without… Eh, no matter. Watch this!” With that, I leaped into the air and took flight, one of the many techniques I learned from Asala. I could hear Ross shout a huge ‘what’ at me as I took off. I was downtown, soaring through the clouds to give me cover so no one would see me… That’s when I began to feel tired. Weird… I thought I wouldn’t get tired from flying. I began to lower down onto the ground, making sure to hide in a nearby alleyway to prevent suspicion. I breathed in and out as my heart began to beat rapidly. Soon, I saw rose petals fluttering about as I saw Ross approach me. “Holy shit… How did you do that?” Ross asked. “Guess… you’re not… the only one with a special power now…” I panted. “You must have learned it from that world… Well, I might as well warn you now: your aura-” “Ki,” I corrected. “Ki, is finite. Especially in this world considering it’s your native world.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “It means that whatever powers you got from that world are significantly weaker here. Remember that scorpion that made me a Kamen Rider?” Ross asked. “Yeah?” “It wasn’t from this world either. It came from Natsumi’s world. I utilized it in combination with my Semblance and, while I was able to fight my opponent, I ran out of juice much faster. You have your theories, I have mine,” Ross said. “So… You’re saying that if I use my ki, I’ll run out of it faster than if I were to use it back in Asala’s world?” I asked. “Bingo!” “So, gotta conserve it, got it,” I then took out a padlock. “Thank God I repaired this,” I opened it up and tossed it onto the ground, unfolding it into the SunDriver. Ross chuckled and took out his Lockseed too. “Wanna go for a drive?” Ross asked. “Yeah.” We then spent our time driving on the street in search for Joey Chandler, AKA Rose. Apparently, he’s a leader of a group of superheroes called the Wonderbolts, who are the reason why the Grimm haven’t been wrecking the city up whenever someone feels slightly upset. Ross wants to be a member of them… Great. On our way to the supposed Academy that teaches the Wonderbolts, I noticed something on my rear-view mirror. There was Ross on the Rose Attacker, but there was a third person behind Ross, wearing a black long coat and a black motorcycle helmet. I decided to turn left. Ross followed… so did the biker. Another left. They followed. I slowed down to let Ross catch up and I glanced at him, nodding my head to the biker behind us. He nodded and drove off to the right while I took the left. The biker followed Ross… Guess he wasn’t stalking me after all. Ross drove the Rose Attacker, making constant turns. Yet the biker was still following him. “Banno, you’re gonna get airsick,” Ross said to Banno as he still held him. “Trust me, after what I’ve been through, I won’t get sick,” Ross smirked and rode his bike to an alleyway where the biker eventually caught up… Only to see that Ross had seemingly disappeared and in his place were rose petals. The biker looked around before he heard a gun cock. “Who are you?” Ross asked, holding Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle mode. The biker just held up his arms. That’s when Ross noticed something on his back… Scabbards. He wasn’t raising his arms up to surrender. In an instant, the biker took out a sword made seemingly of obsidian glass. It clashed against the shaft of Ross’ scythe as sparks flew. Ross swung his scythe, only for it to clash against the blade again. He tried again, using his Semblance to get the advantage, only for the biker to react in a split second, taking out a second sword, this one made of what seemed to be aquamarine crystals. The second blade smashed against the head of Ross’ scythe, barely making a scratch on the crystalline edge. “You’re pretty fast…” Ross glared at the helmeted man, who gave no response. “Too bad I’m faster!” With that, he tried to slash at the man three times… and in all three instances… CLANG! CLINK! BANG! The blades managed to parry the scythe… With one last stroke from the black blade, Ross’ scythe was knocked out of his hands, spinning until it landed in the trash. Ross tried to go grab it, but the tip of the crystal blade soon touched Ross’ neck. “Now… Hand over Banno and you won’t die painfully…” While the man tried to be intimidating, his voice, a rather high-pitched and raspy one, made Ross grin and chuckle. Banno did the same as well. “Hey! Stop laughing!” This just caused the two to laugh harder. “S-sorry! We’re trying to take you seriously, just… That voice!” Ross tried to talk, but after he finished his sentence, he just howled and continued his laughter. “I managed to beat you fair and square! That’s gotta account for something, right?” He asked. “Hmmm… Nope!” Ross spoke with the same high-pitched voice, albeit more girly and less raspy and then cracked up again. “Honestly, Roidmude, considering how your voice came from whoever you chose to synchronize with, it’s really not your fault!” As Banno and Ross laughed, that’s when the man began to crack up as well. Ross stopped laughing once he heard just how utterly creepy the laugh is, with only Banno continuing to laugh, which only added to the creepiness. The man sheathed his swords and took off his helmet. As it clattered to the ground, Ross could see the man’s face. He was a teenager with short black hair. Ross felt as though he knew this person… What freaked Ross out though were the man’s eyes… Tiny, beady little dots… The top half of his face seemed to be darkened. “Well, because of that, two kids gonna die tonight!” With that, the biker transformed into a Roidmude. He was a cyclopean robot whose head resembled a bladed S. His body was the usual make of a Roidmude, though his body reminded Ross of Tachibana’s Roidmude form. On the ends of his feet were blades, as were the ends of his arms. They were two large swords, mirroring the swords he held in his human form, one black, the other aqua-colored. His entire Roidmude form was black save for the aqua blade on his right arm. “Sword? Why are you black?” Banno asked. “Oh my God, Banno, you can’t just ask a Roidmude why it’s black…” Ross tried to snigger, only for the Sword Roidmude to point his black blade at Ross’ neck. “Well, well, well, look what time it is, traitor. It’s time to die!” The Roidmude then swung his sword at Ross, only for him to run off and grab his scythe. He swung his scythe in tune to Sword’s slash, slamming blades together. Ross pointed the sniper rifle at the Roidmude’s face and fired, only for him to move his head at the last possible second. “Shit!” Ross then noticed Banno was floating. “You can fly too!?” “I can do many things…” Tentacles soon sprouted from Banno and began to attack the Roidmude, only for him to deflect each one of them. The Roidmude then struck at Banno, causing sparks to fly. “GAAAH!” Banno flew over to the wall and smacked against it. As the belt landed, Ross could see that the screen where Banno’s face usually is shown is now completely black. Ross was stunned for a bit as he saw Banno’s lifeless belt. His mind flashed an image of a girl with lifeless green eyes who was torn apart. Ross’ eyes began to burn. He shook the image out of his head. This was another memory of Ruby’s. He had to focus. He took advantage of the brief distraction Banno gave to swing his scythe and hold its blade by the Roidmude’s neck. “Game over…” Ross muttered. He then pulled the trigger… Only for Sword to turn around just as the scythe fired and stabbed Ross. Thankfully, his aura blocked it, but the Roidmude soon kicked Ross down. He walked towards Ross, kicking the scythe out of his reach and held both blades at Ross’ neck in a scissors formation. “You’re right… It is game over!” Before he could finish Ross off, a car slowly passed by the alleyway. Inside were kids singing a cheery song. “Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say… Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” The Roidmude hesitated and even trembled. Ross could almost swear he’s crying. Ross took this to his advantage and ran to grab both his scythe and the Banno Driver. He ran out of there as soon as he can, using his Semblance to get out. Eventually, the Sword Roidmude stopped crying. “… Stupid human emotions,” he gripped his fist. That’s when he heard fire crackling. He dodged a fist just in time. The fist hit the wall, causing a crater. “YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!” The Grim Reaper glared at Sword with her red eyes. “Trust me, I’m angry about this too. Can’t believe my synchronization is such a cry baby over Christmas carols. I’m starting to regret not using a Neo Viral Core now.” He reverted to his human form, his eyes now large discs of gunmetal gray. The Grim Reaper sighed and blinked, her red eyes changing into lilac-colored eyes. “You head back and rest up,” she said. “And you?” “Cook’s found a host and is already hatching a plan to attack the city. With subtlety out the window, my purpose to silence noisy Roidmudes is over. Now comes the next purpose…” She then walked out of the alleyway where a yellow motorcycle with black stripes and a sleek model resided. She hopped onto it, donning a helmet. “Silencing the Kamen Rider,” she drove off. I continued to drive to Wonderbolt Academy, using the directions on my phone’s GPS. As I did, I passed by a restaurant and- SKREEEEEEECH! I immediately slammed the breaks as I ran over someone… Shit! I hopped off and looked behind my vehicle to see who I ran over… Only for me to see a familiar gray blobby body with some of its body being green-colored and holes on its face to resemble angry looking eyes. It got up and moved less like a human and more of a wild animal, burbling out a cry before it attacked me. I managed to dodge out of the way of its claw and kicked it in the face, followed by a punch in the gut. The monster stumbled before I got back onto the SunDriver and drove over the monster, rolling my wheels back and forth onto him several times before it was nothing but paste. I got off again and began to wonder… What the hell is an Inves doing here? The Inves were the enemies of Kamen Rider Gaim, the rider that came before Drive. From all I could see, the only Kamen Rider enemies I would have to concern myself with were the Roidmudes and, to an extent, Foundation X. But now I’m seeing the Inves here. What does this mean? Did some of the Inves survive that fight that happened overnight? Was it just Foundation X dabbling with Inves? Or maybe they’ve begun to come to this world via the cracks leading to Helheim, the world they reside in. I then began to think about the Inves. Where they came from and how they come to be. Helheim Forest is a place where a bizarre alien plant life would slowly and surely take over the world, its rate depending on numerous factors, like if the rulers want to take over ASAP. Considering who’s most likely ruling Helheim, I doubt it, but this may be a case where it could be an alternate ending where someone else became the ruler. The plants contained a fruit that, if used in combination with a Sengoku Driver, would convert it into a Lockseed and be used either for nutrition or transformation. However, to those without a Driver or those who are weak minded, the plant’s fruit would attract people into eating it raw. The result would be… I then saw the building I was near: Zesty Gourmand’s, a restaurant that, to my recollection of reading the news, was under scrutiny for having bland tasting foods that were disgustingly expensive, and that the owner is violently defensive about it. I… I don’t wish to entertain it, but I must. I run into the restaurant… And I saw it. Inves swarming around the restaurant like ants. They mindlessly ate the reddish-blue-skinned fruit that hinged off vines. Meanwhile, the few people that were there were served salad that had a suspicious looking gelatin garnishing them. While scared that their food was served by monsters, once they looked at the food, they just mindlessly shoveled the salad. Moments later, they tried to regurgitate the food, one even clawing at their throat to try and get the food out. But it was too late. Their bodies glowed green as vines began to spring out and engulfed them. The vines then burst apart, revealing new animalistic looking monsters adorned in jade armor. They lost what little humanity they had and began to scrounge around for food like the others. One of the Inves grumbled and came up to me. It held out a menu upside down. I merely punched the Inves so hard, I caved its face in. I then ran into the heart of the restaurant and looked around. “Care to take a seat?” I heard someone, and I turned to face them. It was an old woman with slicked back white hair and pale purple skin. She sounded just as old as the wrinkles on her face suggest. She wore a chef’s outfit that looked pretty neat. “What the hell is going on?” I asked. “Oh, this? I’m giving it a fresh style,” she said. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” “I’m merely giving the people what they need. A subtle taste, the barest hint of sensation… I give them art,” I so wanna punch her in the face. “Art? You call this art?! You’re turning people into mindless beasts at best and risking global annihilation at worst!” I said. “Necessary sacrifices for my art to be understood. Look at them, they’re now cultured enough to appreciate it,” as she said that, an Inves pounced on a fruit that was on the ground, “and all I have to thank for is this wonderful robot,” wait, robot? “She and her kind will inherit this world and they will also enjoy my art!” That’s when I realized she wasn’t buying into the fruit’s temptation like the others. Normally the only way to resist the charm of the Helheim Fruit without the Sengoku Driver is to either get interrupted or have enough rigorous training to not eat it. Though, there was one other exception it seemed. And that was likely the case as I saw a Cobra-type Roidmude walk out of the kitchen and standing beside the chef. I looked on the number on its plate: 090. The number of the Cook Roidmude… Of course. The Roidmude was a partner in crime to a chef who wanted to make the ultimate dish… I guess this bastard of a cook is no different. “You’ll pay for this!” I took out the Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and activated the Lemon Lockseed. LEMON! LOCK ON! “HENSHIN!” COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA! The Lemon armor came down and unfolded onto me. I transformed into Duke and held my rapier. “Zesty, this is the Rider I warned you about…” 090 said. “Is it? Very well. Let’s show her the finest cuisine in the world!” Zesty took out a Neo Viral Core as the Roidmude merged with her, creating the Cook Roidmude. She immediately activated Slowdown, bringing me to a crawl. I knew that not using Banno would result in scenarios like this, but thanks to my training with Asala, I was able to utilize my Ki to move… At least, that’s what I thought would happen. As I tried to use my Ki to move, my legs felt like they were being pulled. I screamed in pain as I put all my effort into moving just an inch. Suddenly I felt the wind push me. A rose-scented wind. Ross picked me up and placed me further away from the Cook Roidmude’s laser fork. “Kelly! You okay?!” Ross asked. “I… can’t move!” I replied. “Your body isn’t acclimated to the Ki yet. It hasn’t been able to adjust to Slowdown…” Ross said. “Fine! Give me Banno!” I said. “No can do,” he held up the damaged Banno Driver, “he’s out of commission.” “Alright… in that case…” I pushed my left foot forward and managed to move slightly before the heavy density pressured me down. I can definitely use the Ki to substitute a Core Driviar, but it can’t exactly counter the Density Shift. Especially with how finite it is… Luckily, I found a substitute. Using the remainder of my Ki, I moved over and grabbed one of the fruit hanging off a vine. It transformed into a Lockseed that had a sunflower seed on it. I placed it onto my belt, replacing Lemon, and felt the nutrients fuel me. “Bring it…” Several Inves ran to me as I kicked a few of them to the side. With each move I did, I was able to overcome the Slowdown bit by bit. Seemed the Inves were mutated or modified, allowing them to maneuver while in Slowdown. Ross, meanwhile, ran straight for Cook and attacked her with his scythe. Cook blocked it with her knife fingers and stabbed Ross with her tongue. His aura managed to tank it. Eventually, I was able to throw a punch at one of the Inves, followed by a stab. More Inves came for me as I managed to dodge out of the way. I was able to move in Slowdown, albeit sluggishly. A few Roidmudes managed to strike my armor and knock me towards a grove of Helheim fruit, which I managed to grab. Some became Himawari Lockseeds while a few turned into sturdier Lockseeds, such as Strawberry, Pine, and Melon. Given how the Inves were modified and that they were made from Helheim Fruit, I decided to experiment. I instantly put on the Melon Lockseed and activated it. LOCK ON! COME ON! MELON ARMS! BY HEAVEN’S… DECREE! My Lemon armor was replaced with a green Melon armor, same with my rapier being replaced with a shield. My body felt lighter than before. I confirmed my hypothesis. My body was now able to move in Slowdown, though I’m not sure for how long. I blocked some of the Inves attacks with the shield and pushed up, knocking them back. I swung my shield at them. Sparks flew out of their body as a few fell and exploded. The Cook Roidmude grabbed Ross by the tongue and tossed him over a table, though Ross managed to knock it over and use it as a barricade for him to fire from. Cook swung her tongue to block the rifle shots, but given how high calibre they were, her tongue was blown off. “OW! Tham it!” Cook said. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? … No, that’d work better if I was Blake.” Ross leaped over the table and slashed at the Roidmude. Slowdown was canceled. Realizing the need to fill myself up on nutrients was done, I swapped out Lockseeds and returned to Lemon. I stabbed at the Roidmudes with my rapier, some exploding the moment I stabbed them. Soon, the bulkier Inves came. In this case, large, jade-armored dragons. As they spewed fire at me, I rolled out of the way and cut them with the rapier. Of course, the rapier wasn’t enough to knock them down, though that was the key of using a rapier. It doesn’t just take one stab… It takes multiple. I cut into the Lockseed. COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT! With each thrust I made, I shot out a lemon from my rapier at the Inves. As soon as they were distracted, I stabbed one of them and caused it to explode in zesty lemon juice. I turned my blade to the other Seiryu Inves… Then I looked at Ross, whose scythe was close to Cook’s neck. “Wait!” I shouted. “Huh?” Ross asked. “That Roidmude’s different! She’s fused with a human! If you destroy the Roidmude, you might risk killing her host!” I said. Though Zesty was an utter bitch for turning humans into essentially zombies, I’d rather have the police on us again. Besides, Zesty needed to face justice. “Then how do we defeat the Roidmude?” Ross asked. “I… don’t know.” Shit! I knew there was an oversight. The Banno Driver was copied from the Drive Driver after it had been modified to separate the Fusion from the host. But the Sengoku Driver wasn’t built to handle Roidmudes. And I doubt Ross’ weapon can do it either. Cook managed to take the distraction to her advantage and stab Ross with the knives. Again, his aura took the hit. Ross was knocked over to where I was. Suddenly, the power went out. “Huh!? Who turned out the lights?” Ross muttered. I looked towards a pair of curtains which suddenly had a spotlight shown on it. I saw a silhouette of a woman from behind the curtains of the restaurant’s entrance. I couldn’t help but stare. It was the same silhouette I saw in the fire. I could look at Ross and see him easily tense up as the woman walked through the curtains. Instantly, I could see her luscious long blond hair tapering off to her elbows. The woman wore large aviator sunglasses that, while making me remember the glasses Chase wore when he went for his driver’s licence, didn’t make me crack a smirk. She wore what appeared to be an olive-green biker’s jacket, partially zipped down to show an orange blouse underneath. She wore black fingerless gloves while having leather sleeves that reached from her wrist to partially before her elbow, also having a half-zipped zipper. I noticed from her exposed elbow and fingers that her left arm was covered in metallic gold. Her right arm had a golden bracelet. There seemed to be an undercoat she wore, and I only knew this because the coattails seemed to extend to her ankles. She wore black pants with what appeared to be a purple scarf tied to her right knee. Her brown, knee-high boots clacked across the wooden table. The remaining Seiryu Inves screeched and ran to her, only for her bracelet to unfold into a gauntlet. She punched her whole right fist through the monster and caused it to explode. She then casually walked towards me like nothing happened and sat next to me. That’s when I noticed a symbol on her left jacket sleeve. It was a two-headed bird with the initials DCD on its red body. Already, I had chills and tensed up. The woman turned to the Cook Roidmude. “Strawberry Sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas.” She had somewhat of a bubbly voice to her. Cook trembled and rushed off to get her exactly that. She smirked and looked to me. “So, you must be the professor that’s giving my boss trouble, huh?” She said. “… And you must be the Dragon I was warned about.” I said back. She smirked and took off her glasses, revealing a pair of lilac eyes. Odd… Weren’t they red? “You got it. So, I guess you’re aware of what’s gonna happen then?” She said. “Yeah. See that kid over there?” I motioned my head to Ross. “I took care of the previous Reaper. I can easily take you on too.” I said. “Says the girl who had a tough time fighting the King.” She said. “Hey, I had him on the ropes until you showed up!” I barked. “I’ll admit, you managed to destroy one of his lives.” Lives? I thought Roidmudes only had one… That’s when I remembered that instead of a Core, the Drive symbol blew up. Could that be what she meant? “But you won’t destroy them all. Our King will destroy this world and rebuild it in his image, subjugating the humans under his rule. Something Heart refused to do.” She said. “You’re a human yourself! Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re betraying your humanity.” Ross said to the Dragon. “And you betrayed us by siding with the humans.” Cook gave her the drink she requested as she sipped it. “As for you, professor, you’re also a traitor to humanity. Banno tried to enslave both the Roidmudes and the humans, and you wore him regardless.” “I only did it because your King’s lackeys were gonna kill me and some other people. I was the only thing to stop them.” “I guess we’re not so different after all.” The Dragon downed her drink before setting it down. “I too chose this path to live.” I could only glare at her, as if I was trying to piece together her story. “Then join us! With you on our side, we can stop the Roidmudes.” Ross looked to her… Only for her to throw a punch to his face. I ducked just before the gauntlet went off. My body tensed. I was thankful for Ross’ aura. Had he not had that, or had he been a second late to dodging it, his head would have blown to bits. I could hear a loud ringing as the Dragon kicked me off my seat onto the ground. “There’s no beating the Roidmudes. If I fight them, I’ll die… And I refuse to be forgotten.” With that, she got into a fighting pose. I got up as I saw Ross reeling on the ground. “… Oh, trust me, the only thing I’ll be remembering is the wounds that I’ll inflict!” I held my rapier as I saw that the Dragon was in a boxer’s pose. I merely cocked my head and pointed the rapier towards her. “A lot of arrogance for a professor.” The Dragon cracked her knuckles. “It comes with the belt.” I smirked as I wiped my fingers against the blade, a trait I managed to remember from the King. “I’ll be sure to break it.” She said. “Not before I break you!” With that, I thrust my rapier right at her. It managed to connect her once, then twice as she began to bob and weave through the next few slashes. She threw several punches my way, but I managed to block them with my free hand. Another swipe at her stomach and I could feel it cleaving through. Fresh from the cut, I swiped again and slice through. With a stab, I managed to connect right into her skin. She managed to get a few hits in as I swung my rapier, but they either didn’t connect or I brushed it away with the rapier. After several parries, I managed to inflict one blow to her chest. Normally, this would pierce human skin… Though I soon noticed that she wasn’t the case. Before I could figure out what she had protecting her, she threw a punch to my head, blasting it right into my face. I flew a few meters before landing on my stomach. As I struggled to get up, my body trembled. That amount of force was comparable to a sledgehammer. And that punch wasn’t even from her shotgun gauntlet! I looked up and saw her hair glowing with what was a flame-like light. “Kelly! You’re making this harder on yourself!” Ross said to me. “The hell do you mean?” I asked. “It’s her Semblance!” Ross said. Semblance? Wait… That means… I looked up and saw through my HUD that she had the exact same buildup of aura as Ross, albeit larger and yellow colored. “Now… Let me show you why they call me the Dragon of the Sun.” With that, the Dragon slammed her fists together, creating a huge explosion of flames as her hair stood up slightly. Before I could react, she used the momentum of her gauntlet’s shotgun fire to propel herself towards me, backflip kick me in the air, then punch me square in the jaw before kicking me in the chest, knocking me right into a pillar that I got embedded into. The alarms on my HUD blared out as I fell. Any more hits and the Armor Parts would dissolve, leaving me as a squishy human. Fortunately, I could hear Ross’ sniper rifle go off as he got into battle with her. I managed to take the fighting to my advantage and take out the Lemon Energy Lockseed. LEMON ENERGY! The Energy Parts came to me as I took off the Duke faceplate, placed the Genesis Core on it, and plugged the Energy Lockseed on it. LOCK ON! Then I cut the two seeds. MIX! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA! JINBA LEMON! HA HA! Along with the rapier was the Sonic Arrow. I held onto the both weapons as I rushed into fight the Dragon along with Ross. She dodged each of our attacks, sidestepping and bobbing her way around. This was soon followed by a jab on my stomach, a hook at Ross’ face, and then a shotgun propelled haymaker at my face, shattering my helmet. I fell over as Ross continued to fight. The Dragon blocked his rapier strike with her gauntlet as she pointed her metallic arm at Ross. She unloaded machine gun fire point blank at his stomach. He was knocked back before she turned her attention to me. I struggled to get up, though I soon saw Ross get up and shout at her. He leaped into the air and did a flying side kick, in what might just be classic Kamen Rider spirit… Before the Dragon merely punched him right in the leg with her shotgun gauntlet. He got knocked hard and screamed as his aura rippled over his body. “Ross!” I shouted. The Dragon turned to face me, her eyes now blood red. “Why am I feeling pain for him? He’s a traitor… Like you!” She ran to me. Before I had time to react, she began to continually punch my belt with one hook, then another, and another, and another, swapping between hands and proceeding to Dempsey roll me. With one final punch, she knocked me back. What was left of my helmet now crumbled into pieces. I grunted and gripped my weapons. I cut into the Lockseed twice. COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT! JINBA LEMON AU LAIT! With both rapier and bow in hand, I held them in a way where the bow represented the top of the lemon and the rapier represented the bottom. The Dragon leaped into the air as I shouted. Just before she laid the last punch, I slashed… SWASH! I gritted my teeth as I saw her fist at my belt. This was a classic Toku moment… I had to wait to see if my attack or hers had landed… Since I’m the good guy, that clearly means- Crick… Oh shit. Crick crick crickle… I look down as I saw the gauntlet about to fire its payload all over the belt, particularly at where the Lemon Energy Lockseed was. Meanwhile, I saw her aura ripple. I had only managed to break her defenses. And yet she was still kicking! BLAM! I was flung back hard into the wall and as I landed, my armor liquified and the pieces of my Sengoku Driver and both Lockseeds rolled onto the ground like dice. I felt unable to get up. The Dragon unloaded her shotgun gauntlet, the spent bullets popped off and fell next to the shattered Driver. She took out a belt of red cartridges and loaded them into the gauntlet. “Now, prepare to be reaped…” She said. VRRRRRRRRMMMMM Wait, what was- SMASH! I saw a car ram right into the wall and knocked the Dragon away from me. The debris of the wall fell around as I got up. Holy crap! It can’t be… It was the Tridoron! But… how was it able to get all the way over here? Banno had no means to access it if he’s been disabled so that could only mean… “You nearly got us killed!” I heard a rough yet suave voice from the car. It was a voice I found familiar. I gulped… Oh crap… “You distracted me with all those fancy lights and music!” The door of the Tridoron opened as the driver dusted himself off. I trembled. While this was my second time seeing the suit in person, it was my first time seeing the real deal. The familiar red-armored, white-eyed Kamen Rider that Banno copied, Drive, was right in front of me… And on the belt was Krim Steinbelt, Banno’s former partner. “Another Kamen Rider? Who are you?” The Dragon asked. “I’m… No way… It’s you!” This Drive didn’t sound like Shinnosuke… Then again, Shinnosuke never spoke English. “What are you blathering about?” The Dragon gripped her fists. “Let’s cut this short! We’re Kamen Rider Drive, and we’re gonna take you for a ride!” There was a moment of silence. “… I miss Shinnosuke…” That was the confirmation needed. This was a different person, perhaps another Displaced. “Regardless, you’ll die by my hand.” The Dragon ran towards Drive as he dove out of the way. “She isn’t our primary target! Focus on the Roidmude.” Krim said. “You mean the creepy knife cook thing?” He asked. “Exactly! We may need a Tire Exchange to draw this woman away though…” Krim said. “Tire Exchange… That’s using one of these, right?” He held up a monster truck. “Yes. Activate it in the Shift Brace!” Drive twisted the Shift Car’s hindquarters and plugged it onto the Shift Brace before flicking it to activate. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MASSIVE MONSTER!” “Wait, Massive what!?” Drive saw a large monster-like tire flying towards him. “HOLY SHIT! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” He ran away from the tire. “H-Hold on! You need to stand still!” Krim shouted as Drive ducked. The tire hit the Roidmude and knocked it down. The wheel soon went to Drive and knocked the Speed Tire off him. Two halves of the tire came apart and became large mouth-like weapons for Drive. “There, now you have the power of Massive Monster.” “A little warning next time!” Drive said. The Dragon threw a punch as Drive used the two jaws to clamp onto her arm. He grasped tightly as blood began to drip from the wound. “Ah!” He tossed the Dragon away and knocked her against the wall. She was unconscious… for now. This was my chance. I got up and ran to the kitchen as Drive engaged the Roidmude. Every Roidmude I had faced had the nasty habit of repeating their past. The most memorable was Thief placing Soarin’ and I in a near perfect recreation of the murder of Shinnosuke’s father, right down to the culprit being an envious police officer. This, coupled with the fact that the Roidmudes remember their pasts and that Cook was working with a chef, means that there’s a secret weapon I can use against the Roidmude. A couple of Inves approached me, though I was able to kick them away as I continued my search. A part of me thought that it wouldn’t be here given Zesty’s insistence of ‘subtle taste’, but another part of me believed that there’d be no way the Cook Roidmude wouldn’t at least try to make the ultimate taste enhancer… Bingo! In the back of the kitchen, over to where the spices were, I found it. Yellow liquid kept in a fancy glass bottle, like a potion: Honfleur Sunset. It was a sauce that the Cook Roidmude had struggled to create when it was her turn to fight the Kamen Riders. I smirked and grabbed it. There would be two outcomes for using this on the Roidmude based on if the Cook Roidmude was able to make a perfect recreation of it. If she did, the sauce would just put the Roidmude into a bliss-like state, effectively drugging her long enough for Ross and me to get away. But the optimal solution would be if Cook got sloppy and made an imperfect recreation of the Honfleur Sunset. That would cause some damage to the Roidmude. I ran over to the Roidmude as she was still fighting Drive. “Hey, Chef Ramsey! Catch!” I shouted before I tossed the vial at Cook. She turned around too late as the bottle smashed against her and the liquid seeped right into her body. “Oh no…” Krim’s mutter helped confirm what outcome would happen as the Cook Roidmude suddenly burst into flames and screamed. Fireballs erupted from her body as the entire restaurant caught fire, burning the Helheim plants. “Quick! Finish her off before she burns down the resturant!” Krim said. Drive twisted the ignition and pressed the button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER!” He then flicked the Shift Car.“FULL THROTTLE!MONSTER!” A tongue came out of the tire and licked up the flames before it grabbed the Roidmude and shook it about. Zesty fell as the Roidmude turned back into its Low-Class form. As the tongue reeled in the Roidmude, the two jaws glowed green and Drive slammed them together, creating large holograms of the jaws that crushed the Roidmude. It blew up as its Core fell and burned in the fire. Drive looked around as the entire restaurant became literally Hell. “We have to get out of here!” Drive said as I ran over to pick up Ross. “ROLL OUT TRIDORON! TYPE:TECHNIC!” As Krim said that, large metallic claws scooped up Ross, Zesty, and me. Drive went into the Tridoron, now transformed into a short cab with the claws and drove us out of the burning restaurant. I looked back at the restaurant. If there was any way to recover the Sengoku Driver and its Lockseeds, it’s now gone forever. I looked to Ross, who was wincing at his leg. The Dragon got up and looked around the burning flames. She gripped her fists. Another Roidmude was dead, and her killer was another Kamen Rider. “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” As she screamed, flames exploded behind her. She walked out of the burning restaurant unscathed just before it crumbled down. The remaining Inves that were there futility walked into the flames to try and salvage the destroyed fruit. “A shame to see Zesty’s restaurant go up in smoke.” The Dragon turned to see an albino man with curly hair, Roidmude 050, three girls with different colored skin tones, and a pale skinned man with bleached, slicked back white hair wearing a leather suit. “050… Who are these people?” The Dragon gripped her fists. “You wish to destroy the Kamen Riders, right?” The Dark Swan asked. “We want power.” The golden-skinned woman, presumably the leader of the trio of girls, spoke up. “With our combined power, we can easily do all that and more…” 050 said. “I don’t care what plans you have. I’m going to kill the Kamen Riders with my own two hands. So long as it pleases the King, do whatever you please.” Before the Dragon could walk away, 050 spoke up. “Then, perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving one of our comrades a… promotion?” As he said that, a Core slithered on 050’s shoulder like a snake. The Dragon looked at the Core: 091. Eventually the Tridoron stopped and let us go. Drive went for Zesty and looked at her. “You alright?” Drive asked. I went to her as well. She didn’t seem to suffer a lot of burns, so that was good… “Road Winter is on its way to take care of the fire. As for you…” Krim spoke up… Then a pause. “Erm, turn around to face the other woman.” Drive did so. “Why did you throw that at the Roidmude? … More importantly, how did you knowthat the Roidmude catching fire would be the result?” Krim asked. I had a good time to look at his face, or rather, what passes as his face. Like Banno’s belt, Krim had LCD lights, in his case, red, on the belt, but unlike Banno, Krim’s face changes depending on how he’s feeling. In this case, he had a very angry face, eyebrows furled and a frowning face. Time to bullshit. “I went into the kitchen to look for something to help in the fight and found this strange yellow liquid. I briefly examined the properties and discovered how volatile it was.” I said. A pause later, I spoke up. “I’m a scientist at Canterlot High. Name’s Professor Silverbolt.” I said. “Silverbolt? That name rings a bell…” I recalled what happened with Silverbolt and the Kamen Riders. “I’m not him, though. I’m just pretending to be him. My actual name’s Kelly Randall.” I said. “Hmm…” Krim closed his eyes. “Um, can I take you this off now?” Drive asked. “Oh, right, yes.” Krim said. Drive took off the belt as his armor disappeared via a holographic circle. This just confirmed he wasn’t Shinnosuke, as I saw instead a man with short blonde hair and blue eyes in a police officer’s uniform. Ross got up to look at him, only to wince at his leg. I helped him up as Ross continued to stare at him. “My name’s Officer Ivan Dorian. I was brought here to close a missing persons case.” A missing persons case? Wait… I remembered what Niko said about the missing posters in Portland. “And I believe I’ve found that missing person.” He eyes shifted to me. I stared back at him. Author's Note This chapter brings nods to a crossover with The Demon In The North and The Angel In The South, though be warned. It's pretty NSFW.
Dazzling Adagio Arc 2: How Do We Fight A Dragon?It was the dead of night as Ivan approached the alleyway. He looked at the note he was given. “If you wish to warm up that cold case, meet me at the alleyway at Somerset & Mills.” He had no idea who sent it to him, but any lead would be a good lead at this point. He went alone, as everyone else had presumed the missing person to be dead. “Welcome, m’dear.” Ivan turned around to see a man dressed up like an old 1930’s mobster, with the long black trench coat, pinstripe pants, though everything else, like the scarf, hat, waistcoat, and boots looked more like a cowboy’s outfit. “You wish to close this case?” “… Yes. What do you know of her?” Ivan asked. “Well, one thing, really. Her last known location.” “Give it.” Ivan gripped his fists. He knew better than to threaten with his gun. “It’s not that easy. See, she’s not here. I wish I can explain but simply doing what I say will explain a lot more than lecturing you.” Ivan’s hand neared the gun. He was clearly blackmailing him! “Of course, I could let you just interrogate me. Then I’d just cry out for help and then you’ll have to explain to the police what you were doing in the middle of the night talking to some nobody like me.” Ivan froze. Man had a point. “Fine. What is it you want me to do?” Ivan asked. The man took out a silver belt from his jacket. It almost looked like the dashboard of a car. “Simple. Take this. It will bring you to where she is, though finding her and bringing her back… that’s the hard part.” That was it? Just grab the belt? It sounds almost too good to be true… But… Three years. She had been gone for three years. Everyone had given up on her. Even her own parents believed her to be dead. Ivan dedicated his life to try and find her or at least her body. His reward for his persistence is to be called a nutcase. A cop who was just one bad day away from becoming a real-life Max Payne. For the first time in his life, this was the first person who believed she was still out there. So, any chance, regardless of how bizarre… it must be taken. And so, he grabbed the belt… “Next thing I knew, I was around the area and this belt began to speak to me.” I heard Ivan explain his story to us. A young girl by the name of Kimberly Locksley was Displaced around the summer of 2013. It seems this was just one of a few bizarre cases of disappearing people, including myself. “So… That Dragon… She’s Kimberly?” Ross asked. “Yeah. Not sure what the hell happened to her between her disappearance and now, but she’s far from the sweet girl who vanished all those years ago.” Ivan said. “As far as I know, she works for Roidmude 010.” I said. “010? You mean Paint?” Krim asked me. “Yeah… Though I don’t think he passes himself off as that moniker anymore. He calls himself the Roidmude King.” As I said that, Krim crossed his eyes. “W-what!?” Krim asked. “Hold on… so… you fought these Roidmudes before?” Ivan asked. “Yeah.” I decided to leave out the part where I fought them as Gold Drive. As much as I like to say how Banno was under lock and key, Krim’s sordid past with him is just gonna result in a conflict I’d rather avoid for now. “Hmm… Well, I’m not sure how you managed to do it, but we can use your help in fighting the rest of the Roidmudes, including 010.” Krim said. That’s when Ivan took Krim off his waist. “You mean you can use her help. I don’t think I’m cut out for this. Find someone else who’s better at this than me.” As Ivan said that, Krim closed his eyes. “I understand. It was a little much pressuring you into becoming Drive. However, now that I am conscious, I see if I can find anyone who can.” The Tridoron drove up to Krim and opened up the door as he flew into the car and secured himself on the dashboard. “However, it might just be that your gears need to be cleaned. You’ve been stuck in a rut for who knows how long… If your mind’s in top gear and you have changed your mind on being Drive, let me know.” With that, he drove away. “So now what?” I asked Ivan. “Well, we definitely need to rest up.” I saw Ross struggle to get up, though he clutched onto his knee. “Hold on!” Ivan ran to Ross and helped him up. He turned to me and asked, “Do you have any place to rest?” “Well, if you wanna sleep in a library…” I chuckled. Ivan shook his head. “H-hey, that guy you got the belt from… Did he give you anything else?” Ross asked. Ivan shook his head. “No. Not that I think of.” As he said that, I noticed something hanging around his neck. It was a silver necklace, but what threw me off was the design. An encircled R. The R had sharp angles, almost akin to... Drive’s Symbol. “Hey, Ivan, was that always there?” I asked Ivan as I pointed to his chest. He looked at the necklace and immediately took it off. “No. The hell is this?” He asked. “That’s a Token. Or rather, a Token made by Niko.” Ross took out a necklace of his own. It looked like a blooming rose. “They allow a Displaced to return to their home world. All you need to do is utter a phrase.” I looked at the necklace. The hell? How come I wasn’t given one?! I had my own Token, yes, but the way Ross referred to his Token, it seems that I needed Niko’s personal Token to return home. Well, chances are Ivan’s home world is my home world. So, I’ll be able to try and touch base. In any case, I needed to activate the Token. If I knew how phrases work, there was only one phrase that can fit this Token. “Maybe it’s all we need is Drive?” I asked. Ivan raised an eyebrow, then spoke to the Token. “All we need is Drive?” As he said that, the Token glowed. The light that sparked from the Token blinded me. The Rabbit Hole. Flash remembered how an old movie best summed up this place: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” The fact that it was late, well past his curfew time, was enough to make Flash’s knees buckle. But he had to go in and ask. He opened the door and glanced at the people there. The smell of booze overwhelmed his nose, but he had to continue. He took out a photo and looked at it. Earlier in the day, he snuck by the police department and swiped a list of gangs. Most of them were now defunct save for one: The Barons. The picture he had showed about five people, all wearing the same red and black jacket. He looked around to see if there’s anyone who wore that exact same jacket. “Welcome to the Rabbit Hole! Table for one?” A waitress, appropriately enough wearing a bunny suit. “Erm… I’m looking for someone.” Flash’s hands quickly went to retrieve his phone. That’s when a big, burly man with brown skin and a full mustache-beard came up to the waitress. “He’s with me.” The man gruffly said as Flash looked to him just as he looked at his phone and glanced at the text he got. “You must be Junior.” Flash said. Junior just growled a bit as Flash blushed. “Come on.” Junior took Flash’s arm and dragged him over to the bar. “This place doesn’t serve minors this late at night, so make it quick. You want some answers, right?” Flash just nodded and took out the picture. “What can you tell me about these guys. Specifically, this man.” He tapped his finger on the center man. He had red skin and swept up brown, almost blondish, hair. “Ah, Cloudy Kite. Not sure why you wanna know about him. He’s only the most dangerous gang leader in town.” Junior said. “I… have some connections with him.” Flash wasn’t even sure if he was his dad or not. “Mmm… I’m guessing distant. Well, if you hang around the downtown area, you’ll bump into him sooner or later.” A glass of gin was placed before Junior as he downed it. “Does he come here at a usual time?” Flash asked. “Nah, he only comes here on occasion, though chances are if he does, expect this place to face some… renovations.” Junior glanced and noticed a guy with messy blonde hair approach them. “Yo, Shay! What took you so long?” Shay just smirked as Flash noticed a low-class Bat Roidmude was next to Shay. “That’s the guy who messed you up, huh?” Shay asked. Flash noticed a number on the Roidmude’s chest: 091… The same number that floated when the Roidmude he fought was destroyed. “Yeah… Let’s get some payback, partner.” Roidmude 091 handed a red bat-like toy car to Shay as he grabbed it. He jabbed it into himself as the Roidmude fused with Shay, creating a dark red version of the Roidmude that Flash had faced. “What the…” Flash muttered. “Now… you die!” The Shoot Roidmude fired out several darts from its body at Flash. He dodged, as did Junior. Flash took out the Orange Lockseed and put on the Frubask Driver. He plopped the Lockseed on and cut it. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH… TWICE! Flash took out his two orange slices and ran to attack the Shoot Roidmude. He rolled out of the way of the darts, though as he motioned to cut, Shoot darted. “That won’t work on me this time!” Shoot said. Flash noticed the Roidmude was ready to fire once again. He knew the last time he fought him, he was near death. Rather than risk it again, he ran off. He bolted out of the door as the darts fired once more, though he was able to evade the Roidmude’s projectiles rather easily… At least until one hit the palm of his hand. He winced in pain and pulled the dart out. He applied pressure to the wound to prevent blood from pouring out. He shut his eyes and tried to drown out the pained screams of people who were unfortunate enough to get in his way. That’s when he heard a car pull up. “HOP IN!” Flash opened his eyes and saw a red car with twin white stripes going from the hood to the back… Wait… wasn’t this Professor Silverbolt’s car? The door opened as Flash immediately hopped in. The car drove off. Flash breathed in. He was safe. “Thanks, Professor Silverbolt…” Flash muttered. “Unfortunately, she isn’t here.” Flash looked around and realized that no one else was in the car… Then… Who was driving? Flash looked at the front of the car. There was a device right in the center of the dashboard… And it had a red LED face that smiled right at him. “However, I’m here to help.” The voice said. “What the…” Flash muttered. My eyes opened and I saw myself in front of a large apartment building. Ross and Ivan were with me as I saw Ivan’s jaw drop slightly, then took out his keys. “I can’t believe it! It took us to my home!” He adjusted the keychain so that he’d hold onto a fob. He opened the first of two doors, then passed the fob in front of the detector. After a small beep, he opened the second door. He led us in and soon enough, we were in the lobby waiting for the elevator. “Ross, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have my wife take a look at your injury. She’s an elementary teacher, so she knows a little bit about first aid.” “There’s no need. Just a sprain is all...” As Ross rested his leg on the ground, he jerked it and winced. “Yeah, she’s looking at it.” The doors opened as we entered the elevator. It was a standard two rows of six buttons layout with an extra button at the bottom. Obviously twelve floors plus a basement. Ivan pressed the twelfth button as the elevator rose up. “So, if we’re crashing at your place, we should come up with a plan to take on Kim.” I said. “Yeah. Though I doubt my wife will like me mentioning her.” I slightly nodded. Makes sense with what he said about the case. Though my fists tightened as I thought about Kimberly and more importantly, whoever Displaced her. I had a strong idea who it was. If Niko had anything to do with Kimberly’s Displacement, the first thing I’m going to do upon meeting him is to punch him in the- DING! The door opened and took me out of my train of thought. We got out of the elevator and, following five feet, a sharp turn to the left, ten feet, and another sharp turn to the right, we got to Ivan’s unit: 12-3. Ivan put his keys into the lock and jiggled a bit. With a satisfying click, he opened the door. “Mal, I’m home!” Ivan shouted. A woman in a crimson shower robe waltzed in. I have no idea why Ross’s eyes widened other than how gorgeous she looked. Her body filled in the robe as though she just came out of shooting for a modelling catalog, she had smooth, shiny looking red hair and complimenting it were her emerald green eyes. Kids his age normally go gaga over that kind of stuff. “Ivan, welcome… Who are you guys?” She asked us. “Pyrrha?” Ross muttered. Pyrrha… That was what he had shouted when he stopped me from defeating Banno. I made a mental note and introduced myself. “Hello. My name is Kelly Randall. This is my friend Ross. We’re helping Officer Dorian out with a case and he figured we’d rest up after Ross got himself injured.” I nudged Ross as he snapped out of his pubescent gaze. “W-What… O-oh, yeah…” Ross limped over as Mal came over to him. Ross immediately blushed as she sat him on the couch. “Let me take a look…” Mal looked at his knee, then pulled up his pant-leg. “No sign of bruising… Does it hurt when I do this?” Mal touched his knee as Ross flinched. I couldn’t help but let out a snigger at Ross’s predicament. Ivan pulled me aside. “We should let Mal handle Ross while we work out a plan.” I just sniggered more. “Handle… Yeah…” I followed Ivan to the kitchen. It seemed rather clean, albeit a generic white tile floor with steel cabinets, a fridge, and a stove. We sat by a dining table. “So… Kimberly… She’s gonna be a handful.” I said to him. “She just needs to have an intervention. I have to reach out to her and tell her that she should come home.” Ivan told me. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Not to be a spoilsport or anything, but she’s pretty convinced that following a killer robot is the right path for her.” I said. “She’s fallen in with the wrong crowd.” That’s when I facepalmed. “Ivan… she isn’t doing drugs. She’s a fucking assassin that fights for robots bent on dominating mankind. No amount of after school specials is gonna help her.” I sighed. “Kelly, I chase down runaways for a living. I make sure they don’t make the stupid decisions that leaves them with no homes and no lives. Most of the time, they just run in the heat of the moment. They become vulnerable. Perfect prey for a predator.” I bent over as my forehead touched the table. “Stop sounding like some narrator on National Geographic.” I moaned. “Point is, regardless of the circumstances, the scenario is the same: Kimberly ran away, was found by someone who took advantage of her, and is now working for them. The best way to handle this is to get her to understand that she can get away from this.” I pulled my head up and looked at Ivan in the eye. “We tried that. She responded by nearly blowing Ross’ head off. She’s stubborn. I doubt we can talk her down.” As I said that, I noticed a gleam in Ivan’s eyes. “Then try again. I’ve stuck to this case for about three years now, even when everyone else quit. If you don’t have the determination to help her, then I’ll step in.” I scoffed. “Good. Luck.” With that, I patted Ivan on the hand and got up to look at Ross. I saw Ross snoozing on the couch as Mal stroked his head. “It’s a miracle that his knee wasn’t damaged. He’ll be up and walking in the morning.” Mal adjusted her robe. “That’s good. Apologies for crashing for the night.” I said to her. “No worries. If anything, I’m sorry for not being able to accommodate enough blankets for the two of you to rest.” I got a brief smirk before I shook my head. “It’s alright, I’ve gotten used to sleeping on the floor anyways.” I chuckled. She gave a chuckle of her own as she went into the hall. I laid down on the ground. Come morning, we’ll discuss a plan to handle Kimberly. “Apologies for the sudden appearance.” Flash observed the talking face. He remembered how Silverbolt had a similar device, though that one was colored black, whereas this one was more of a metallic silver. Even the LED is different, red instead of yellow. Flash sighed. He remembered how, with the help of Twilight, Silverbolt, and the others, they destroyed the belt. Perhaps this was a new and improved belt? “It’s alright. Just a little startled is all. Hey, can you patch a call to the Wonderbolts? That guy I encountered a month or so ago is back.” Flash noticed the face on the belt closed its ‘eyes’. “Even if I were to call for assistance, they wouldn’t be able to successfully fight the Roidmude, especially a Fusion. This… is going to be risky, but I need you to trust me.” The belt then popped off the dashboard as the car came to a screeching halt. “Uuuh, what’s going on!?” Flash asked. “I’m equipped with the ability to separate the Roidmude from its host, but I need someone to use me. Normally this would be a job for…” The belt hesitated a bit. “… He’s not here though. That’s why… you have to be the one to become Drive!” “… Ooookay?” Flash took the belt off from the dashboard and held him. It took a second before he put him on his waist. He noticed the glove compartment open up. “You’ll need this as well.” Flash saw a bracelet. It too had the silver metal as well as a red button and what looked to be an outlet for something to plug in. “Jeez, I know Professor Silverbolt’s weird, but I didn’t know she was into kids’ shows…” As Flash said that, the belt’s face glared. “Hurry! We don’t have much time!” Flash noticed the road beneath him began to have bullet holes appear. He saw the crimson Roidmude approach him. Suddenly, Flash saw a tiny highway being constructed before him as he saw three cars, a red sports car, a black dune buggy, and a green garbage truck, drive on the highway, each of them honking at Flash. The red car leaped into Flash’s hand. “Rotate the car, place it on the Brace, then start the engine!” The belt instructed. Flash fiddled with the car before he twisted the back, turning it into more of a lever. He placed it on the brace and turned the ignition. The next motion he made felt natural, pushing the car-turned-lever and flicking it. “DRIVE! TYPE… SPEED!” A holographic red ring appeared around Flash as a snazzy song played in the background. Clumps of red armor snapped onto his body as he gained a black under suit. The final piece was a tire that spat out from the car and onto the gap where it fit snug in place. “W-what the hell!? What happened!?" Flash shouted. The Roidmude stopped. “Kamen Rider!?” He asked. “Wait, I’m a what!?” Flash looked to the Roidmude. “Focus! You need to defeat the Roidmude and split him from his host!” The belt said. “… Right.” Flash had images of what sorts of damage a Kamen Rider could do play out in his head. Terrorists, extremists, those who would be willing to kill a teenager just like him to get what they want. And now he’s one of them. The Roidmude fired a dart towards Flash, who managed to dodge out of the way. “Interesting… Despite this being the same Roidmude…” Flash heard the belt talk. “Huh?” Flash looked at it. “His darts aren’t as fast as they used to be. Before, they were faster than we could perceive them, but now, they can be dodged!” As the belt said that, the Roidmude chuckled. “See if you can dodge THIS!” The four silos opened up as four large missiles launched out. “Quick! Use the lever!” As the belt instructed, Flash flicked the car a few times. SPE-SPE-SPEED! Suddenly, the wheel on Flash’s body spun as he became twice, if not thrice as fast. He rolled away from the four missiles and noticed the missiles turned to him. Flash looked ahead and nodded. He ran right at the Roidmude, sidestepping as he noticed the darts firing out of his torso. With one last side-step, Flash was at point blank range. He took a dart to the gut, gave the Roidmude a few quick jabs, then slid between his legs as the four missiles flew right at him. “W-what!?” The Roidmude’s face met the missiles and knocked him across the street. He landed on the hard concrete. Flash took a moment to pull the dart out of his gut. He was lucky that the armor that was adorned on him blocked the attack. For a brief moment, he thought that being a Kamen Rider wasn’t so bad compared to just using the Orange Slices. “Die for me, Kisaragi!” That’s when he remembered… If he were to be a heroic Kamen Rider, then chances are he’d meet his end sooner rather than later. “Turn the key, press the button, and finish him off!” The belt snapped him out of his thinking. “R-right!” Flash did just that and pressed the button on the Shift Brace. As he did, the belt announced: THE FINISHER! Followed by a flick of the Speed Shift Car. FULL THROTTLE!SPEED! The Tridoron drove off and drove towards the Roidmude, only to steer out of the way. Before Flash could say anything, the Tridoron began to do donuts around the Roidmude and soon create a barrier around him. Flash remembered this from the Fall Formal. He ran towards the barrier and leaped. As his legs touched the Tridoron, he sprung off and kicked the Roidmude, then again… and again… and again… On the fifth kick, the Roidmude turned into a blob of digital data before reverting to the Bat-Class Roidmude. The man he fused with fell onto the ground unconscious. “No! I can’t have lost that power…” The Roidmude scrambled, but realized he was stuck. With one last kick to the back, the Roidmude’s body couldn’t take it and after blue bolts of lightning sprang out from him, the Roidmude exploded, its number, 091, exploded seconds later. The Tridoron stopped as Flash landed on his feet. With only a few moments of silence, Flash pressed the red button on his Shift Brace again and his armor came apart. “Nice dri-” “Zip it. You didn’t tell me I’d become…” Flash remembered the images he was shown back at Everton. “I’m not sure why you’re upset, but time was of the essence. That Roidmude needed to be stopped.” Flash thought back to his failed attempt to defeat the Roidmude. He took a bit before he nodded. “I understand, but…” Flash took off the belt, walked over to the Tridoron, and placed the belt back where he found it. “I don’t want to become a monster.” “W-what? What are you talking about?!” He could see the belt’s face change, now with an, admittedly cute, angry look with frowled eyebrows. Flash went over to Shay and picked him up, only to toss him into the Tridoron. “Take him to the cops.” Flash sighed and closed the door. He walked away as the Tridoron got started and drove off. He took out the picture of the Barons and looked dead center at Cloudy Kite. “… Dad…” Flash muttered. That’s when he noticed something on his hand… From afar, the Dragon looked at Flash from atop a building. She stood next to 050 and Svengallop. “Even with the powers of Fusion, Shoot failed to kill a Kamen Rider, let alone just a boy. What a waste of potential.” She said. “Not a complete waste.” 050 chuckled. The Dragon turned around, eyes blood red. “What was the point of sending Shoot if all he’d accomplish is squat!?” She glared. “A simple one, really.” 050 held up a dart, the very same kind of darts that 091 used, though instead of pink like his originals, it was dark red. The Dragon smirked. “Clever. Let’s hope this gamble pays off.” The Dragon looked back to Flash, as he began to scratch the area where he was shot. As morning came, I woke up only to find that Ross had a laptop set up on the table. Ivan was on the couch. “Ah, Kelly, you’re awake! Good. I can now teach you guys about our opponent.” Ross said. The way he set up the computer brought to mind Kyu Saijou, the tech genius who would assist Shinnosuke and the police department. “Huh, you have a plan?” I asked him. “Somewhat. I took a moment to binge the rest of RWBY just to get an idea of how Kim fights.” I was about to ask why RWBY had to do with Kim, but as I looked at the screen, I looked at the show in action. Particularly, a fight between a girl who looked all too much like Kim and some… tiny girl who held an umbrella and had a color scheme that greatly resembled ice cream? And I thought Super Sentai had weird villains. “Assuming that Kim is a Displaced of Yang, her powers would also be the same. As such, her Semblance relies on damage. The creator likened it to a super meter in a fighting game. The more damage she gets…” He clicked on the seek bar on the video as it cut to a different fight between Yang and a man with silver hair and a gray and black jump suit. After he had shot dozens of wind bullets at Yang, she managed to get up and defeat him in the matter of seconds. “The stronger she gets.” I said. “Yeah! So, we’re left with some options. One,” he skipped the video back a bit to when the two were evenly matched. Despite that, though, I could see moments where the man’s kicks connected, “we can overwhelm her with kicks. From the bit of research I did, Kamen Riders are known for their kicks. The second,” he played the fight with the ice-cream lady again. She, like the kicking dude, clearly overwhelmed Yang, but the core difference was… “We use Yang’s power against her. Use only weak moves, and she won’t be able to dish it out in kind.” “I like the idea, Ross, but you forget one thing. The Kamen Riders are known for kicks, yes, but a Rider Kick is about as hard as ten tons. Even more. Same goes for punches. We’re better off punching her without the Rider powers, but her gauntlets are literally shotguns. One hit from her and we’re chunky salsa!” I said. Ross frowned and sighed. “Well, if kicks and held-back punches aren’t enough… We could always…” Ross hesitated to click near the very end of the video’s bar. With a sharp wince, he played a third clip. I was unaware of the context, but I was too scared to ask why the hell Yang exploded into a fire ball, had the scream of a banshee, and leaped towards her opponent with such ferocity. And also, I had no time to ask before Ivan and I saw what Ross was getting to as her third opponent merely unsheathed a katana and sliced her. “Overpower her.” Within a few seconds, we saw as one of Yang’s arms was severed in the slash and knocked her out in the process. Ivan and I looked to each other. The dropped jaw he had, the widened eyes, his complete lack of speech? They all grew the moment he saw my grin. By the time I noticed the feeling of my muscles stuck into “smile mode”, I forced my lips back to normal. The image of the severed arm brought back memories of one of my fights as Gold Drive, where I had Banno take over to try and get Rainbow Dash’s arm free from a bracelet. “Great minds think alike!” “If you could find the will to be ruthless, then you'd be freed from all your stress in an instant.” I’m becoming just like Ryoma and Banno… The image of Yang losing an arm played out in my head, the ultimate question for the fight wasn’t how to beat Kim, but rather how much longer until I end up actually cutting off a limb? Flash looked at a strange mark that appeared on his hand: It was a tattoo… Red lines forming what looked to be a crescent, with the center top line breaking apart and forming devil horns. In the middle was a cyan eye that was above a smaller crimson crescent.
Dazzling Adagio Arc 3: What Will Quell These Flames?The following hour, Ross and I returned to CHS. Ivan went with us as well, but he decided to explore the city and try to find Kim. The image of Yang’s amputation persisted in my head. It was something I tried to shake off, though it still lingered in my head. Not because of the image itself, but because of how easy it would be for me to actually do it. As it stands, Banno is still stuck in the Lapis Lazuli program. I could repair his belt, but that would no longer be needed with Krim out and about. All that’s left is to see if Mach and Chaser were in the area and Banno will no longer be needed. While that idea helped alleviate some anxiety I had, it still didn’t fix the other problem. I had slowly and surely acted like Ryoma Sengoku throughout my time here. What’s to say that I wouldn’t succumb to my dark urges? I then noticed some people doodling in the gym… Wait… What? I thought we were done the Fall Formal! I walked in, then tried to scope out where I could find Celestia or even Applejack. “SUNSET SHIMMER! OVER HERE!” Well, that didn’t take too long. I looked over to where Pinkie Pie shouted from and immediately went over. As I did, so too did Sunset. We both had an awkward look at each other. Ross came not too long after. “So… Mind if I ask what the f… hell is going on here?” I asked Applejack. “It’s goin’ to be the first ever Canterlot music festival!” Applejack said. “We just had a festival though.” I said with a strained voice. “Well… Before I ruined it…” Sunset looked back as she saw students staring back at her… Glad I’m not the only one who was keeping a close eye on her. “It’s okay. You can change now.” Ross said. Of course, he’d be kissing her ass. “Besides, the music festival is going to help pay for the damages that was caused.” Fluttershy added. “Ah, so trick the people into paying for the expenses via donations. I like it.” As I said that, Applejack went over and elbowed my rib. “Thought ya’d be a little nicer without Mr. Robot Belt on your waist.” Applejack said. “He’s his own person, Applejack. He has nothing to do with how I am.” I said to him. “Not to mention that the Grimm are responsible for most of the damage.” Ross added. “By the way, how did Celestia and Luna explain that to the media? I’m sure the public would love to listen to how werewolves raided the school.” As I said that, the group looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah, that’s the weird thing. The news has been on top of the Roidmude reports ever since a bunch of them showed up at the school, but there’s never been any mention of these… Grimm.” Rainbow Dash said. “And, if we’re being honest, darling, we don’t even know what they are.” Rarity said. “All I know is that they’re edgy Pokémon. Ross knows a lot more.” As I said that, everyone turned to Ross, who sighed and spoke up. “So, there’s these monsters from another world called Grimm. They care only for destroying humanity and their creations. A sure-fire way to bring them over is to emit negative emotions or do negative actions. To put simply, get mad, they come. Do evil things? They come.” Sunset began to tear up. “I did this… This is all my fault.” Sunset huddled and hid her face on her legs, then began to cry. Ross went over and patted her on the back. “Well, this just gives us a chance to show off my new band.” Rarity looked to Rainbow Dash. “Your band?” Rarity asked. “Yeah, my idea to make a band with you guys in it. That and I’m pretty much the lead.” Rainbow Dash said. I walked away as the group began to discuss matters. That’s when I noticed Flash Sentry snoozing at a corner. I went over and kicked his foot. “Oi, wake up.” Flash instantly jolted awake. “Huh!? What?! Oh… It’s you.” Flash said before he got up. “Rough night’s sleep?” I asked him. “… Something like that. Hey, your car did some crazy things last night…” Flash said. “I can’t really call it my car anymore. Guess you met Krim?” I asked. “You know him?” Flash asked back. “It’s… complicated. Point is, he hijacked my ride and now it’s his. Can’t really do anything about it.” I shrugged. “He’s a new program you made for your belt, right? He definitely needs some bugs worked out.” Flash said. “Nah, I didn’t make him. In a way, he made himself.” I said. “… What? I don’t understand.” Flash said. “Again, complicated. Also, you saw my car?” I asked him. “Yeah. Last night, downtown. He even made me a Kamen Rider.” I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, that’s cool.” I said. “It’s not! Look, I don’t know this Krim dude is, but I don’t want him to involve me in your fights.” Flash said. “You were doing great at the Fall Formal, the fuck are you talking about?” I asked him. “I want to help fight, but not as a Kamen Rider. I know I’ll be held back for that, but I’d rather not be a monster.” Flash said. What is he on about? Not being a monster? I mean, yeah, Kamen Riders tend to have connections to the monsters, but for the most part, they’re like watered down versions of monsters. That said, I couldn’t really fault him. “Alright, but sooner or later, you will find a plateau in your abilities.” I said. “I don’t care…” He paused before he spoke up. “Hey, you know when Twilight’s coming back?” Flash asked. I shook my head. “Figures…” He sunk his head. “I’ll leave you to rest, looks like you need one.” I said to him before taking my leave. I went to the hallways and cleared my head, only for my phone to buzz. I took it out and saw it was a text from Celestia advising me to show some new students around. I gave a sigh and asked where they would be. Once I got the location, I went there. It was there I noticed a trio of girls who were just standing in the shade, two of them had their arms folded with a cocky smirk. “… Okay. I know where this is going.” I muttered as the three girls stepped out of the shadow and struck a pose. I didn’t even need to see that they all had the same blood red jewel around their necks. “Equestrians, I presume?” I asked them. “You… could say that.” My question seemed to confuse the purple girl, almost ruining whatever cocky attitude she was trying to imitate from her golden-skinned leader. Out of the three, the only one who I could trust is the blue-skinned girl, who had a meek, bent-knee, hands behind back pose that made her easier to crack than the others. “Well, you’re not the only ones. Name’s Professor Silverbolt, I’m the school’s scientist.” I decided to keep the cards close to my chest and waited to see who these people were, though, from first impressions alone, I knew they were bad to the bone. I led them across the school, introducing them to the various faculties. The girls had the decency to give me their names. Adagio was the golden girl, Aria was the girl with purple twin tails, and Sonata was the meek one. So far, they didn’t seem to play their hand. Either they were good at poker faces or I had a bad read on them. Given how I had to contend with Sunset Shimmer, I was doubting the latter option. “Hey, what’s this?” I noticed Sonata point to one of the posters that was put up for the music festival. “Oh, that? Just some concert made to wring people dry of their money. Get rich quick, y’know?” I asked. “A concert, huh?” Adagio grinned, then looked to her posse, who smiled back. Their smugness was too much for my liking. “Oooh! Can we join!? We love music!” Sonata said. “Yeah, if Celestia says it’s cool, you can join.” Eh, maybe I misjudged them. “Nice! Oooh, singing is our strong suit! I mean, it’s what we do when we need people to do what we want!” Bingo! Thank you meekass Sonata! That ‘you’re killing us here, bro!’ look from Adagio sells it “What she means to say is that we-” Yeah, yeah, salvage this all you want, Adagio… “Have the ability to hypnotize people into doing your bidding. Yeah, yeah, I got it.” I put my fists up and gave a nod. Adagio sighed, then opened her mouth, the two girls following. “Aaaaaaahhhh~!” They sang a melodious chorus to me and suddenly… I froze. They patted me on the back and as they left… Well, I guess I was wrong about them after all. They seemed like good people. I relaxed my muscles, not even knowing why I was going to attack them, and went about my merry way. “So that’s where that golden soldier is?” The Dark Swan asked the Roidmude as they stood on a tall rooftop overlooking CHS. “Yeah. A full-scale assault will do us no good. Reinforcements proved that it would be disastrous. The better approach is the art of subtlety.” 050 responded. “The Sirens have already infiltrated the school. All we need now is for our mark to infect the others with Seeker’s tattoos and the school will be rife with negative energy.” Svengallop said. “Enough for the Grimm to come… It’ll be a buffet for them.” The Dark Swan smirked. “Not really.” 050 added. “The wonder about alternate universes is that there’s so many different nasties.” 050 said before he took out a pearl oyster shell. “Ew! No! I’m not wiping my ass with that!” The Dark Swan said. “What? No! Inside rests a monster who craves food. Obviously, we can’t feed humans to it, lest we get people involved… But Grimm…” As he said that, the Dark Swan began to smirk. “And if it eats a lot of it… Then it could perhaps be a greater sum of Grimm…” He held his dagger before giving a smirk. “Exactly… If we were to fuse that with a Roidmude, we’d be unstoppable.” 050 said. “Now… let’s ring the dinner bell.” Svengallop held the red Viral Core as 050 fused with him, transforming into the Seeker Roidmude. He then snapped his fingers. As I was about to go back to the girls and talk to them about the lovely trio I had just met, I suddenly heard the sounds of battle happening in the very gym I left. I ran back to the gym, only to see students fighting against one another. One of them fell by my feet. With a sigh, I casually held the student’s hand with my foot and had their palm splayed out. There, I saw a red outline of a half moon with a small, almost completed blue circle. “Fuck. Seeker’s here.” I muttered. The Seeker Roidmude was perhaps one of the more ruthless of the Roidmudes, capable of turning people against each other by amplifying their negative emotions. The scarier part was what the Roidmude was able to do. Working with the daughter of a criminal, they gaslighted Kamen Rider Mach, Shijima Gou, into almost becoming a murderer. With that kind of mind game and the fact that the Roidmudes retained their memories, Seeker was perhaps one of the most feared Roidmudes I planned to face. Immediately, I looked for Sunset and the gang. Thankfully, I didn’t need to go far. “Kelly!” Ross called to me as I saw the group. “Kelly, there’s these three girls and they’ve brainwashed the students into fighting each other!” “Huh? Oh! You met them! Well, hate to say it, but this isn’t their doing.” I shook my head. “Kelly, we saw it with our own eyes. These creepy girls with red gems came in and started singing about wanting a battle of the bands. Then, next thing we knew, these guys started attacking one another!” Applejack said. “Well, that’s awfully nice of them to spice up the fest. Though, this is the work of a Roidmude.” As I said that, Sunset looked at me oddly. “… They brainwashed you too, didn’t they?” Sunset asked. “Naaaaah, they’re cool. Let them do their little battle of the bands. What’s the harm in friendly competition?” That’s when Rarity took out her compact mirror and showed me my eyes. Now, I had some good ol’ chocolate eyes, but now? They’re full on green with evil… Except I don’t have a large mecha Godzilla in samurai armor or a cool ass dagger. “… Fuck. Welp, I can’t fix that. The Roidmudes’ brainwashing often has a countermeasure because their membrane is made of a compound similar to the cerebral cortex-” “English!” Rainbow Dash said. “Roidmude brainwashing, I can handle. Magic brainwashing? No siree! If I was truly brainwashed by these girls like you said, I can’t help you.” I said to them. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH! TWICE! I turned to see Flash Sentry pull out the two mini-Daidaimarus before a couple of students and sighed. “This, though? I can handle. You girls get somewhere safe, figure out how to reverse the magic brainwashing, and for the love of God, wear some gloves!” I said. “What about you? Your Drivers are busted!” Ross added. “This is a kid who’s lost all sense of rational. All I gotta do is tire him out. Just hope I can remember my taekwondo classes.” I said as I got into a stance. Before Ross could say anything, his phone rang, as did Flash’s. While Flash didn’t pay attention to his phone, Ross did, and instantly got it. “What is it?” Ross asked. After a moment, he spoke up. “On my way!” Ross hung up. “That was Oxton, there’s Grimm coming to the school!” “Then go get ‘em, tiger!” I said before I instantly gagged. “No, no, I take back the tiger comment.” As Ross and the others left, I immediately ran to Flash and did a small hop, kicking him in the face as it stunned him. “Ow! Out of the way, Professor!” Flash held his two blades as I shook my head. “It’s a battle of the bands, not a battle royale. You’re not allowed to kill people.” I shook my head. “But isn’t that the best way to wipe out the competition?” Flash asked. “Not unless the guy running it is President Snow.” As my reference confused him, I took my opportunity to axe kick his shoulder, the sudden pain causing him to drop one of his daggers. Immediately, I picked it up and clashed with his other dagger. “Must you always be a pain, teach?” Flash growled. “Wouldn’t be a teacher if I wasn’t. Now, pop quiz!” I kicked him right in the balls. Turns out, when your negative emotions are amped up to eleven, so too does pain. As Flash keeled over and winced in pain, I took the liberty of removing his Driver from his waist. “You be a good little boy and play by the rules. I’ll hold onto this in the meantime.” I was careful not to let his hand touch mine as I quickly took the Driver away and leaped back. Immediately, I ran out of the gym, making sure to pull the fire alarm on the way out so as to trigger the sprinkler system and get the authorities involved. The next part of the plan was to hide the Driver so that Flash doesn’t get to it. After that, I play the role of unsuspecting dumbass. With the knowledge that I’ve been brainwashed, I figured it was time to pull a trick from Gou’s book, in which, shortly after the Seeker Roidmude incident, he faked joining with the Roidmudes by pretending to be brainwashed. Of course, I had the added benefit of actually being brainwashed… It’s… weird. Like, I know I’m brainwashed and yet, I still feel my brain being… well, washed. I remembered the song they sang, which became a small command: “we’re just nice girls, don’t question it”. And, I guess that’s what I’m going to be doing. The most I can do now is sit back and wait for the others to find a way to reverse this. While I’m no use with this case, Seeker was someone I can handle. All I gotta do is make some repairs… Ross rode on the Rose Attacker after he got the girls to safety. According to Oxton, the Grimm were sighted just before downtown. He took the highway to get to downtown quicker. Vrrrroooom! Just then, Ross noticed a golden motorcycle behind him… Bumblebee. Yang’s bike… Or, Kim in this case. Ross tried to steer in a way that would disorientate her, though she managed to see through it and just drove forward. Once Ross was in her sight, she punched forward with her gauntlet, firing a small fire bomb that knocked Ross upwards. As the motorcycle he was on reverted to a padlock, Ross wrapped himself in his cape and flew down to the pavement, Crescent Rose fully deployed. Kim swerved to a halt, then got off. “See your leg has healed.” She said. “Took some rest, but I’m right as rain now.” Ross replied. “Gonna break it all over again.” Kim smirked before she cracked her knuckles. “Followed by your neck.” Ross slammed Crescent Rose’s top against the pavement to act as a stand for its sniper mode. “Long range beats melee range, miss.” Ross said. “I prefer to be called sir!” As Kim ran in, Ross noticed something leap in between them. “NO! STOP!” It was Shadow… No… Blake. She looked at Kim, then winced. “… Yang…” “Oh no…” Ross muttered as Blake took off the bone-white mask she wore. She stared at Kim, tears in her eyes. She trembled before Kim, completely defenseless. “I’m sorry… But… I had to leave… I didn’t want you to be hurt!” Blake cried out. Kim just blankly stared at her. “I have no care for you.” As Kim said that, Blake lightly winced. “All I see is a traitor…” As Blake looked at Kim with fear, Kim stepped over and shoved Blake out of the way. “That must be killed.” “Blake!” Ross ran to her side before Kim grabbed him and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Ross barely got up as Kim kicked his face. Bits of blood spilled onto the road before Kim cocked her gauntlet. “End of the line.” She fired... At an empty patch of road. Kim was confused before she noticed a blue light that had scooped Ross and Blake before setting them back up. As the light faded, Oxton stood next to Ross and Blake. “Tracer! What are you doing here!?” Blake asked. “Don’t worry, love. The calvary’s here!” With that, Oxton ran in, firing her pulse pistols at Kim, who deflected them with her metal arm. As Kim was distracted with that, Ross flew in and jabbed Kim in the gut. She managed to tank it and punch Ross down. Just before she was ready to put Ross down for the count, Oxton got into close range and smacked her across the face. Kim staggered as Ross got up. “Prioritize on kicks!” Ross said as Oxton nodded. The two pulled off a synchronized front kick and while she blocked them, the force of it knocked her off balance. Ross used Crescent Rose as a pole vault to dropkick Kim as Oxton ran and slid across the ground to do a sliding kick. Both these knocked her on the ground. However, she quickly turned herself around and let her face hit the pavement. The resulting impact hurt her, but as Ross predicted, it also powered her. Kim got up and immediately countered a kick from Ross with a punch to the knee. Ross winced in pain before he reeled back. “Seems I found a weak spot…” She then eyed Oxton’s chest plate. “Make that two…” Easily, she predicted Oxton’s attack and punched her square in the chest, breaking the core that powered it. As it dimmed and faded out, Oxton suddenly disappeared in a flash of violet light… Then reappeared in a different spot, before she reappeared at a different spot. Ross was familiar with this sort of teleportation. It was similar to how Displaced were summoned. It didn’t distill the shock he felt seeing Oxton seemingly vanish from the face of the earth. “Yang! Stop this! If it’s because of me, then I’m sorry!” Blake cried out. Ross turned to her. “That’s not Yang! She’s like me, dressed up to be like her!” Ross said. Blake looked at Kim’s metal arm, then remembered… “You’re right… She lost her other arm…” Blake muttered before she got up. “So, we have a fraidy cat and a limper…” Kim chuckled and shrugged. “This is all too easy…” Kim said before she leaped into the air. She remained in the air for a moment while her body eclipsed the sun. She then slammed onto the ground like a meteor, smashing the asphalt apart and knocking Ross into the air. She followed it up with a jumping punch and a slam that knocked Ross down. As Ross struggled to get up, Kim sped up to Ross and decked him across the face, knocking him down. Blake fired at Kim with the gun in her sword’s hilt. They barely scratched her skin and all it did was make her the target. Kim charged at Blake, who reacted with a slash across the chest. While it cut through her jacket and shirt, her aura tanked the blow to her skin. With Kim now within arms reach, Blake tried to get the strawberry-themed padlock before Kim grabbed her, her metal arm squeezing Blake while the gauntleted arm was pinned to her chin. As Ross got up, he saw Kim holding Blake. “One more step and she’s chunky salsa!” Kim said. “Blake!” Ross screamed out before he clutched his knee in pain. “Now… If you want her to live, it’s best you use Crescent Rose on yourself and die.” Kim said. Ross was hesitant, though Kim shook her head. “You have three… two… one-” As Blake closed her eyes and Kim readied to end Blake… BANG! A bullet whizzed past Ross and Kim, with the bullet being so close to her that it pierced her eardrum. “AAAH!” She clutched her ear in pain as Blake, now let go, ran off. Ross noticed Ivan standing next to Ross, holding a police standard pistol with a smoking barrel. “Kimberly… It’s time to return home…” Ivan said. “My name isn’t Kimberly! It’s Yang!” Kim shouted. “No! That’s who you are dressed up to be! You’re a Displaced! We can help you!” Ross said. “I don’t need help! All I need is to serve the Roidmude King, and that means eliminating all threats to our kind!” Kim said. “That’s not who you are though! You’re Kimberly Locksley, you graduated from Beverly Hills High and on the night of prom, you vanished.” As Ivan said that, Kimberly began to clutch one side of her head. At first, Ross assumed she still had a hearing problem, but then he noticed that the apparent pain was behind her ear. Ivan put away his gun and walked towards Kimberly. “Please, come home… Everyone misses you…” Ivan extended a hand to Kim… However, she began to mutter as her hair began to glow fiery yellow. “Shut up…” Ivan stopped dead in his tracks. “Shut up… Shut up… SHUUUUT UP!” She screamed and fired a blast at Ross and Ivan… VROOM! Only for the Tridoron to intervene and block the hit. “I came just in time!” Krim said as the door opened. “Hurry! Get in!” Ivan looked at the belt inside, then reached in to grab it. “W-what are you doing!?” “Krim! Get the others to safety, I’m gonna use this to fend her off…” Ivan said. “Wait, what do you mean?” Krim asked. “It’s clear that something’s wrong with her… Kelly’s right… Words alone can’t get through to her… That’s why…” Ivan put the belt on his waist, followed shortly by getting the bracelet and wearing it. “I need to get her to understand me!” “You’re… in top gear now…” Krim said. “Yeah… I’m done thinking about it. It’s time I close this case.” Ivan stood firm as Ross and Blake hopped into the Tridoron. Krim remotely drove the Tridoron away from the battle that would ensue. “In that case… START YOUR ENGINE!” Krim announced as a miniature highway was constructed around Ivan. The Speed Shift Car drove in the center of the highway, driving towards Ivan’s hand. He grabbed it, then turned the ignition. Swiveling the rear end of the Car, Ivan plugged it into the Brace and pulled it like a lever. “HENSHIN!” Ivan shouted. “DRIVE! TYPE… SPEED!” The holographic forcefield appeared around Ivan as clumps of armor snapped onto him, followed by a tire that wrapped around his armor. All while quick jazz played in the background. The inner engines of Ivan’s armor vroomed as his headlight-like eyes shined white. “If you’re not gonna answer to me, then answer to us. We’re Kamen Rider Drive…” Ivan crouched and got ready to sprint. “And you’re comin’ along for the ride!” Krim added as Ivan ran towards Kim within two seconds. Kim responded by blocking the punch with her own. The two then grabbed each other as Ivan ran, dragging Kim along. They crashed into an abandoned warehouse as Ivan tossed her across the ground. Kim rolled over and steadied herself while Ivan leaned on one leg. “Start handing me some Shift Cars, Krim.” Ivan said as a fleet of Shift Cars drove to Ivan. He picked up one, the Max Flare Shift Car, before he swapped out Speed for it and activated it. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MAX FLARE!” His tire was replaced with a spiky flaming wheel. The wheel spun as Ivan flicked the lever a few times. “FLA-FLA-FLARE!” It generated enough flames for Ivan to fling fireballs at Kim’s own fireballs. They ran across the warehouse, throwing projectiles at each other. Each one missed their mark. It was to the point where they ran to the edge of the warehouse. Once Ivan realized there was a sudden stop, Kim took her advantage and landed a hit on Ivan’s chest. The force of the hit knocked him onto his knees. “Nnngh!” Ivan grunted as the Wild Shift Car approached him, with the Steering Sword attached to the top. “Ivan, let’s keep her on her toes by switching types!” Krim advised as Ivan took the Wild Shift Car and swapped it out. “DRIVE! TYPE…WILD!” Hiphop beats began to play as black clusters of armor wrapped around Ivan’s form, changing the sports car motif of Type Speed to a dune buggy theme. Another blast came Ivan’s way, though he blocked it with his shoulder, right where the tire would come and snap into place. He stood up, Steering Sword in hand. He swung his sword and deflected the following blasts from Kim before he ran close to her. “Hmm… This works like a steering wheel?” Ivan asked, then turned the wheel a few times. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN!” Just as Kim was about to land a blow on Ivan, he drifted out of the way and struck at her side. He slashed two more times. On the last drift, Ivan picked up the Rumble Dump Shift Car and loaded it into the Shift Brace. “TIRE EXCHANGE!RUMBLE DUMP!” A yellow tire came to replace Wild’s tire and long with it came a large drill. Kim and Ivan punched at the same time, though the drill overpowered her metal arm and shattered it, revealing her normal arm underneath. She was knocked over as Ivan switched out Rumble Dump for Midnight Shadow. “TIRE EXCHANGE!MIDNIGHT SHADOW!” A large purple shuriken replaced Rumble Dump and, instantly, four copies of Ivan appeared, all of which threw large, purple aural shurikens at Kim. She rolled out of the way and punched one of the copies, which disappeared. The remaining three locked on and threw shurikens at her. She tried to block it with her arm, but the sudden force flung her back. She then looked at her arm and saw the metal casing on it was gone. “How!? No one’s able to penetrate this kind of metal!” She exclaimed. The copies soon merged with the real Ivan as he walked towards her. “Because no one tried. But they didn’t have my determination before, and right now, I’m in top gear.” He tried to lend her a hand, but she retaliated with a blast from her shotgun gauntlet. Ivan blocked it with the Steering Sword and as Kim ran in to melee range, he continually blocked it with the Steering Sword. He then turned it around and had Kim punch the button right after he turned the wheel. “TURN! DRIFT ROTATION!” Ivan spun around and slashed Kim across the gut. She backed up, though her breath was coming short. “Give it up! I don’t want to hurt you further!” Ivan said to her. “I don’t think you had hurt her.” Krim said. “What do you mean?” Ivan asked. “A person put through that much battle would at least show some bruises, but she’s able to fully function.” As Krim said that, Ivan recalled how Ross mentioned that he and Kim had a forcefield called Aura that would block wounds from being damaging. “We might need to draw her power out a little longer.” Ivan said. “Right, switch to Technic!” Krim said as Ivan noticed a green garbage truck. He took it and placed it in the Shift Brace. “DRIVE! TYPE…TECHNIC!” Dynamic music played as green armor replaced his black, making him more appear like a garbage truck. A tire hit his chest as Ivan looked down and noticed his chest cavity was the tire. “WHAT THE HELL!?” Ivan freaked out. “Calm down! It’s not actually in your chest!” This distraction gave Kim the advantage to knock Ivan down with a punch to the face. As Ivan rolled over, he quickly grabbed Road Winter and loaded it in. “TIRE EXCHANGE!ROAD WINTER!” The result gave him a tire that, from a bird’s eye view, looked like a snowman. When the head portion loaded into the wheel, the body folded downward, revealing a snowflake design. Ivan then flicked the Shift Car’s lever a few times. “WIN-WIN-WINTER!” A stream of frost sprayed out of the snowflake, disorientating Kim. Ivan saw that, despite the rough change in temperature, her aura was able to tank it. Still, it gave him an opening for the next Shift Car. “TIRE EXCHANGE!FUNKY SPIKE!” The snowman wheel was replaced by, as the name suggested, a spiky wheel. He got up, grabbed Kim, and had the wheel spin, cutting through most of her aura before he let go and kicked her to the ground. “There, that should take care of it.” Ivan said. Though, Kim got up and slammed her fists together, exploding into flames and setting her hair on fire. “Crap! That’s what I feared!” Ivan stood firm and anticipated her charged attacks. One punch from her sent Funky Spike’s wheel flying and caused a small dent in his form. He fell down on his back as Kim loomed over him. “Damn it… There’s… no way I can…” “Ivan, I’m not sure what this power is, but it seems similar to an ability I’ve seen before. If that’s the case, I believe I have the counter for it. Though, it’s going to be costly…” Krim said. Kim tried to step on Ivan, only for him to roll away. “Do it! I’m not giving up on Kim for a second!” As Ivan said that, the Dead Heat Shift Car came by. “Alright, but you have to be quick about it… The longer you fight with this, the higher chance you’ll be stuck in a berserker state.” Krim said. “I’ll take the risk if it means saving her!” Ivan then placed the Shift Car into the brace, causing the belt to shoot out red lighting to the Brace. “DRIVE! TYPE… DEAD HEAT!” Ivan’s body coursed with red lightning as two wheels circled around Ivan. They danced around him before they collapsed on him, changing his armor quite significantly in contrast to the other armors, having a red chassis over a white, fully detailed undersuit. The only similarity was the tire acting as a sash, borrowed from Type Speed’s armor, though the key difference was a smaller wheel that had a gauge on the hub. Once the armor was completed, Ivan gave out a shout as several explosions went off behind him. “Keep changing all you want, I’m going to kill you regardless!” Kim punched with her shotgun gauntlet, only for it to hit square in the chest without damaging Ivan at all. “That won’t happen, Kim… You’re better than that!” Steam was still flowing from Ivan’s armor before it glowed a soft red. Ivan then punched Kim with a red lightning powered fist that knocked her back a bit. “This can’t be… My Semblance is supposed to make me invincible!” Kim said. “Not when you rely on it too much… I’m able to predict your next move now!” As though to prove it, he correctly guessed which fist Kim was gonna use and smashed it with his own, sending red lightning from his hand to hers. While Kim landed some hits on him, they did nothing to wear him down, though the same was true for Ivan. “Careful! The more you hit her, the stronger she gets! If she hits you enough, you’re gonna go berserk!” Krim warned Ivan. “So be it! It’s my duty to bring Kim home… and I’m going to fulfill it!” As Ivan said that, the gauge on his shoulder went to maximum as the tire shattered, now showing a red cracked outline. Ivan’s eyes flashed white, blinding Kim for a bit while he lands the next few strikes. Kim retaliated with strikes of her own. The resulting combination of hits and strikes resulted in lightning blasting throughout the warehouse and causing several explosions around them. A hit from both of them knocked each other back. The two took a moment to breathe before Kim ran to strike. Ivan responded in kind with a turn of the ignition and a press on the Brace. “DEAD HEAT!” As the two blows struck each other in the chest, their respective fists landed explosive hits, though the two remained still. Lightning sparked between the two of them before they were engulfed in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, Ivan was back to his human form, kneeling on one knee as Kim stood for a moment before she fell on her stomach, unconscious. “I… did it…” Ivan weakly said. He approached Kim and moved her hair back to check her pulse. It was still beating. “Wait, Ivan… I think I see something… Pull her hair back a little more, right where the back of her ear is.” Krim said. Ivan did just that and even folded the lobe of her ear. That’s when he saw a brand in the shape of a snowflake. “It can’t be… Freeze is involved!” “What?” Ivan asked. “Her memories are altered by a Roidmude known as Freeze. There’s an antidote for that, but we need someone to replicate it. I think Silverbolt will be able to do it!” Krim noticed Ivan was grunting in pain. “But first, Mad Doctor! Come over here!” Ivan winced. With a Shift Car named that, he can only expect a world of pain. I went to the library and put away Flash’s Sengoku Driver in a drawer. Maybe as a pet project, I could see what makes it tick and what separates it from my Sengoku Driver. Once I closed the drawer, I heard someone. “Ah… Finally, huh, Kelly?” I jumped as I saw Banno’s belt on the desk, fully lit. “Banno! I thought you were broken!” I said. “I was, but thankfully, your program didn’t account for my form taking damage to the point of shutdown. As such, while I returned to the Lapis Lazuli Program like you programmed it to, it opened a back door to the Driver. With free access to the Driver, I was able to repair myself. I can now freely come back and forth as I please. Credit to where it’s due, I can’t do anything else. You seemed to install countermeasures just for this occasion, I take it.” Banno asked. “Yeah… You can’t be on anyone’s waist but mine and you certainty can’t transform on your own without explicit approval except from the owner and no, you cannot outright hijack their body like you did with Sunset.” I said. “You think outside the box… I like that. Were you not so annoying an obstacle, I’d call you my greatest pupil.” Banno said. “You tried to murder me the moment you broke free, I think we’re past formalities.” I muttered. “Yes, yes, I won’t lie about that, but we need to take care of the Roidmudes first. Sword has returned.” Banno said. “As is Seeker. Of the two, Seeker’s the more dangerous one to look out for. He’s already brainwashed the student body into fighting one another. We deal with him first, then Sword.” I said. “Hmmm…” Banno hummed. “What is it?” I asked. “There’s something else, isn’t there? You don’t have to hide it from me…” Banno said. I gulped as I remembered Krim was now active. Even if he’s in transit and is trying to find a new Drive, he’s now in play… If Banno finds out of his existence, who’s to say he wouldn’t prioritize destroying him over everything else? No, scratch that. If Krim found out I currently have Banno and that I’m Gold Drive, who’s to say he wouldn’t prioritize destroying me over everything else?
Dazzling Adagio Arc 4: Why Did Niko Displace Kim?“… I’ve been brainwashed.” I told Banno. Technically, it was the truth. “Not by Seeker, though. Apparently, there’s these singing ladies that made me unable to fully interact with them without me passing them off as nice girls.” “… Pffftahahahahahahahaha! Are you serious!? This is hilarious!” Banno said. “Banno…” I muttered. “No, no, let me revel in this. You have the intellect of Ryoma Sengoku and yet you ended up being fooled by three girls?” Banno asked. “I did try to fight them.” My voice was reduced to a mumble. “And now, you’ve come crawling back to me, is that it? I should let you learn from this idiocy. Fix up your other Drivers and use them instead of me.” Banno said. Damn it, guess I had no other choice. “Banno, as a machine, you’re unable to be manipulated by magic. I can try to fix the Sengoku or Genesis Drivers, but I won’t be able to properly fight those… sirens.” Decided to give them some sort of nickname. “I put you on, let you take over my body, and you can do whatever you want with them. Cattle prods, trapping them in Slowdown, turn them into data, whatever. The sooner they’re gone, the better.” “I’m still unconvinced. You’ve always seen me as a tool, even back when it was just the two of us against the Roidmudes. Now that I’m free from the confines of your waist, what reason is there for me to help you now?” Banno asked. Damn, so giving him free reign didn’t work. Time for plan B. “Banno, these sirens are likely going to take over the world. As someone who is as ruthless as yourself, are you really going to let a bunch of girls beat you to the punch through song?” I said. “The moment I stop them will also be the moment you’ll try to stop me. You’re on your own for this one…” Before I can tell him anything else, the golden LEDs on the belt shut off all at once. I tried to open the Lapis Lazuli program, but it automatically closed. Damn it! Before I can do anything else, the doors opened. I quickly stowed the Banno Driver away. I turned around to see Ivan hauling in Kim. “Kelly, we need you to make a serum.” Ivan said. “How much do you know of Freeze?” Krim asked. I sighed. “Let me guess, the memories of her past were frozen?” I asked. “Exactly!” I got a shiver of joy when I heard Krim say that. “I’ll tell you what you need for the antidote.” I nodded, then left the desk where Banno remained motionless and hopefully unaware of Krim’s presence. It was Ross’s first time being at the Wonderbolts Academy. He sat with Blake in a hallway as the two waited to hear from either Cam or Joey. The memory of Miss Oxton disappearing before his eyes still played out in Ross’s head. “… I did this.” Blake muttered. Ross turned to her. “If I hadn’t been so weak… She wouldn’t have…” Ross could feel something boiling inside himself. He took a moment to breathe and speak up. “Blake, this is not your fault. If it was, then I need to share the blame as well. We were both trying not to cripple her for different reasons.” Ross said. He looked at Blake’s slumped shoulders and the subtle motions in her bow that most would pass off as the wind. He recalled what she said to him when they first met. “You… really do regret running, do you?” Blake’s eyes widened as she turned to him. “How did you-” Ross shook his head. “I wish there was an easy way to tell you, but… The best I can sum up is that I’m able to recall Ruby’s memories… And they included Yang telling her about you…” Ross said. He could see the bow flatten, or at least struggle to. “How… How was she? Do you remember that?” Her body tensed up as Ross spoke up. “… She’s depressed. Bedridden, in fact.” He could see Blake almost begin to wince. Ross bit his lip. “Your decision… wasn’t the massive factor in that.” No… It was. That pain. That anguish in her voice… That wasn’t anything minor. “She lost her arm, the school, and even a few friends that night. Your departure was a drop in the pool.” “Please… Stop… I… I don’t want to hear anymore.” Blake frowned. “Sorry…” Ross looked down, then, after a while, the door opened up. “Hey, love!” Ross jumped up when he saw Miss Oxton in the flesh. Blake firmed up her body a bit and had her frown fade, but nothing like Ross’s enthusiasm. “Oxton! I… I thought…” Ross was about to say something but a man with glasses wearing blue overalls and a blue and white striped shirt also entered the hall from the same room. “All it takes is to fix up her stabilizer and boom, she’s right as rain!” Ross knew that, from process of elimination, that this was Cam, the tech expert of the Wonderbolts. “Huh? What do you mean?” Ross asked. “Well… I was a victim in the Everton Eruption and… I fell into that Black Hole…” Oxton said. The Everton Eruption. Ross heard about it from Double Diamond. An experiment dealing with dimensional travel caused a rift to open… Oxton was one of the survivors. “I… barely got out of the portal. I was trapped in between the Void and here. It wasn’t until people at the Wonderbolts Academy created this. A Void Stabilizer.” She pointed to the chest plate. “It pools the remnant Void energy and pulls her being into reality. In short, it’s a magnet that keeps her from disappearing.” Cam said. “Well, that’s a relief. I thought you died for real…” Ross said. Just then, Blake got up and ran off. “What happened with her?” Oxton asked. “… It’s… complicated.” Ross muttered as he looked at Blake. “Alright, here’s the antidote. Admittedly, it was hard to make with just instructions alone, but hopefully it’s as good as Rinna’s formula.” I said to Krim as I got the serum ready in the form of a spray bottle. It looked kinda like it did in the show, albeit lacking in coloration. “Yes I… Wait, Rinna? How do you know her?” I froze as he asked that. Shit! I thought he would namedrop her at some point. “I… Well… I heard about her from an article I’ve read of you.” I hoped that was enough to make him believe that. “Ah, right! Must have been when Kamen Rider Drive’s identity was revealed…” Krim closed his ‘eyes’ as I sighed. “Well, here we go.” I held the spray carefully over Kim’s face and gently sprayed her face with the serum. After a minute of inhaling it, Kim began to stir awake. “Huh? Where… Where am I?” She got herself up from the makeshift bed and looked around. “You’re at a safe location. My name is Officer Dorian. Do you remember anything at all, like your name?” Ivan asked her. “Y-yeah… It’s… Kim. Kim Locksley.” Kim said. “That’s good. The serum was successful.” I said before Ivan turned to me. “Serum?” Kim asked. That’s when her eyes widened just a bit as she felt the back of her ear, right where the scar was. “Where is he? Is he close?” She asked. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We haven’t seen the person who did this to you in person, but I feel like we will soon.” Krim said. Kim looked down and noticed it. “You… You’re…” To my surprise, she wasn’t freaking out over the belt, though, I started to realize that she might have retained her memories as the Dragon. “There’s a lot to take in, but for now, we should take a breather. Ivan, see if you can find a café. I think after what happened, you might want to have a coffee.” Krim said. Kim nodded, all while she continued to feel out the scar. “Yeah…” As Kim said that, Ivan helped her up and, without hesitation, propped her body up against his shoulder before walking off. As he left through the door, I sighed before returning to my desk, praying that Banno didn’t overhear me. “Finally snapped her outta it, huh?” Immediately I felt the urge to take Banno out of my desk as I heard Niko’s voice. I noticed he had come in through the window, carefully closing it before adjusting his hat. “Finally!? … How long did you know about this? The whole “Kim’s the Dragon” thing?” I asked him. “About as long as I knew about Silverbolt’s involvement with this whole shebang. Both happened at the same time… Same world.” Niko said. “… Same world?” I recalled the place that Silverbolt was seemingly killed at. Admittedly, there wasn’t much to figure out considering that the camera footage was shakier than Cloverfield. The only hint I had was his killer, what seemed to be a giant or even a… “… You fucking bastard. You didn’t…” It took Ivan a while before he found a good enough café to take Kim to. Once there, he ordered three cups of coffee, much to the cashier’s confusion. He reached to his wallet, noting how the money he had changed to match the currency of this world. Good, less of a struggle that way. “Keep the change.” He said as he gave ten dollars to the cashier. Coffees in hand, he took Kim over to a seat. He even put Krim up on the table and fitted him with a straw to drink his coffee. In spite of this, it took about five minutes before any of them spoke up. “So… You’re from my world?” Kim asked. “Yeah. Beverly Hills. You were missing for about… two years now. What happened? How did you end up here?” Ivan asked her. Kim adjusted herself as Krim sipped a bit of his coffee. “We shouldn’t bombard her with too many questions. She just began to regain her memories.” Krim said. Kim then shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It’s slowly coming back to me. I remember enough to tell you the basics…” Kim said. “Well, I guess that’s a start.” Ivan said. “Well, it was about an hour or so before the prom was to begin...” Kim stared down into her coffee as she began to remember what happened in the summer of 2013. “Kim, your outfit is amazing!” Kim remembered her friends cheering for her as she exited her house wearing a white dress with matching pumps. “Thanks. Would you actually believe me if I told you this was a hand-me-down from my mom?” Kim asked before she chuckled. Her friends joined in the laughter, especially after another comment put her at ease. “You managed to make it work!” Kim’s smile grew. “Though, it’s a little plain.” As one of her other friends said that, it made Kim’s smile fade. “Yeah! It needs something to complement it.” Another said. In an instant, all three of her friends spoke in unison: “JEWELLERY!” “Well, I don’t really have any…” Kim sheepishly chuckled. “Come, we have to do some last-minute shopping!” One of her friends said before grabbing Kim by the hand and walking off. “W-wait!” Kim shouted. The trip to the mall, however, proved fruitless as the jewellery shop had closed for the evening. “Aaah, come on! Now where are we going to get the perfect bling for Goldie?” Kim’s friend said. Goldie was the nickname she was given for her long, golden, curly hair. “Well, seems the market is ripe for me to come in.” The girls overheard a man in a cowboy hat sitting on a set up table. On it was a set of trinkets, some the girls definitely recognized from the 90’s and some looked brand new to them. Front and center was a golden bracelet, something that Kim, upon seeing it, couldn’t take her eyes off. “Pick one. Fifty percent off.” Niko said. Kim walked to the table as her friends cautiously approached it. They called attention to various treasures, such as a set of five Fabergé eggs, a few pendants and compact mirrors, a bird-headed key, and oddly enough, a stuffed teddy bear. Kim, however, liked the simplicity of the bracelet. Even though it looked like it should have a ‘twin’, it was being sold by itself. “Excuse me, but… Where did you find this?” Kim asked as she pointed to the bracelet. “Hmmm…” Niko picked it up and glanced at it. “This wasn’t too long ago, actually. It has an interesting story behind it, but… it’s not for the faint of heart. Let’s just say that it was lying on the floor.” Niko said before wiping something off the bracelet. “I’ll take it.” Kim said. “On its own? If you want, I can find its matching pair, though it will take a few days to-” “That’s fine… How much is it?” Kim asked. “… Well,” he then went off into a few calculations, discussing large numbers followed by a few ‘carry the one’s, before concluding to his final price of: “About twenty-five dollars. If you find me again after, I’ll throw in the second one free once I find it.” Niko said. “Much appreciated.” Kim handed over the money to Niko. Niko handed her the bracelet as she fitted it on her right arm… Though, as she did, she began to feel woozy. She closed her eyes… As she opened them, she found herself in what seemed to be an old Germanic village. She looked around. Neither her friends nor Niko the vendor were there. It was just her and the seemingly empty streets. She nearly began to look around to ask for help when she suddenly felt several trembles beneath her feet, almost rhythmically. Moments later, she could hear screams. While they were different, each of them had a similar outcome: one large, blood curdling scream before they were suddenly cut off. Kim’s breathing became short. She ran over to the closest building she could find and started banging on it. “HELLO!? IS ANYONE THERE?!” Kim said as she looked around. There were more trembles, more screams… Was this an earthquake? If so, where would she find shelter? She tried the next door, and the next, and the next… All of them had no response… Just then, Kim heard a scream that was louder than the others she heard… Might be close… Though, it sounded abnormal… Standing around for empty homes wasn’t going to solve things. Kim ran, not knowing the direction where the scream was. All she could do was hope that the screaming went away. Instead, it sounded louder, and along with it, she could hear the sound of a large impact. She could almost feel the shockwave. Her heart began to beat harder as she tried to run for any sort of shelter. However, she could feel more tremors, more screams, and even loud thudding noises that she could almost swear were stomps… She couldn’t take it. She ran into one of the houses and, without even thinking of it, punched it. BLAM! The door suddenly flew off as she ran into the house, the heel of one of her pumps breaking off as she toppled into the house. She took some time to breathe before taking a look at her hand. She noticed the bracelet had expanded into a full-blown gauntlet, with smoke coming out of a silver barrel where her knuckles were. “What the…” She muttered. She felt more tremors. She looked and noticed what seemed to be someone who thrice her size on its hands and knees. Its large, bulging eyes stared directly at her. The large person mindlessly squeezed its hand through the door as Kim ran from it. She tripped as it caught her leg. It then began to pull her towards itself, its mouth opening up. Kim’s eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. “No… Stop… Please… No!” Her body was close to its lips as she could feel an uncomfortable warmth at its mouth. As its jaw began to pivot, she correlated the bloodcurdling screams she heard… This was what was causing those screams. And she would be next. “STOP!” Kim closed her eyes and shielded herself from its large teeth, only for her entire body to explode, blowing off part of the monster’s head as it stumbled back. Kim took more moments to breathe as she felt fire around her. She trembled as her hair was lit with a golden flame and her eyes were as crimson as the blood that she inadvertently spilled on the monster before it seemingly evaporated. As the monster, missing most of its upper portion, looked for her, she could hear a strange sound… WHOO-WHOO-WHOOSH! And suddenly, she saw the monster go down following the sound of metal cutting into flesh. The monster went limp as its killer leaped down. Kim saw the figure that was dressed in magenta and white armor with black lines outlining an X on its chest and the number 010 plated on its forehead. She stood there motionless as the masked figure took off its belt. The armor spit into ten grayed out images of itself before she could see a man with spiky black hair in a black and magenta colored jumpsuit. “Don’t hurt me!” Kim shouted. “I won’t. In fact, I wish to save you.” The Roidmude King said. “… You. Fucking. Son of a…” I threw a punch at Niko. “BITCH!” He caught it with his hand while I began to bark. “Of all the worlds you could have sent her, you picked the one with motherfucking titans!?” “Yes. It just so happened to be where Professor Silverbolt was at the time, so I figured that, while I was on a small trip to find him, I might as well bring along someone for the ride. It was nice, though. As you can see, this suit I have is a souvenir from that world.” Niko kept that damned smile on his face. I took him by surprise and strike him with my other fist. He stepped back a bit, but not much to incapacitate him. “She could have died!” I shouted. “And she didn’t. She survived.” Niko said. “By joining the enemy!” I said. “Yeah, that was a bummer, but she’s good now, so that’s all that matters.” As Niko shrugged, I pushed him onto the desk, causing a large rumble that knocked open a few of the drawers. “What the fuck is your game, prick!? It’s one thing to throw us at the enemy to save the world, but it’s another to throw people into a blender and see if they climb out!” I loomed over him, fists balled up as tight as they could. “Yes. I believe the strongest of people would be able to climb out the jaws of death. It’s what I went through.” As Niko said that, I recalled the time he mentioned that he was trapped in another world once. “Is this some sort of tradition Displacers do? Because if so…” As I was about to finish my sentence, he shook his head. “Not quite. My entrapment was… way different than being Displaced. It’s… hard to describe, actually.” As he said that, I shrugged. “Try me. I fight robots and magic people almost every day now.” I chuckled, keeping my rage to a minimal. “It might be better to say that I was more… trapped in a game.” Niko said. I nodded along. “Oh, okay, so TRON.” I said. “Nah. It was kinda like being stuck in Runescape, actually. Right down to the shit-ton of skills now that I think about it.” Niko gave a smirk as I deadpanned. “So, you’re telling me that, because you got trapped in World of Warcraft, you decided it’d be fun to send someone to get eaten by Titans.” Niko’s smirk faded when I said that. “If only it was that simple. Unfortunately, the only way I… or anyone for that matter, could escape, was one of two ways. We beat the impossible game or… we die.” Niko said. “And considering you’re here, you beaten it.” I said. “… I tried. Alongside my friend Joey.” There was a pause before he continued. “We didn’t go far. He died to the first boss and I sat there processing his death. After that, I gave up and just stayed where I was. I made the best of my situation. I survived.” “Wait, if he died, how is he here now?” I asked him. “That’s an entertaining tale involving pissing off Hades of all people, but… Allow me to finish this story first. See, I wasn’t the only one trapped in that world… There were many others. Enough of us to create an economy in that world. We looked after the young, we farmed for resources, and we forged weapons to sell to people who could pull their own weight while they went out to hunt down monsters. After Joey died, I thought I was safe if I just stayed in town…” One day, there was a guy. He was hanging by a rope, high up on a building, impaled to the wall by a weapon. A crowd of people, myself included, just bore witness to his final moments of suffering. People tried to save him, but he died before they could even reach him. I never quite found out what caused his death, but I knew one thing: I couldn’t just be idle and hide away in some town. I had to prepare myself… in case I end up like him. And during that time that I spent running away and struggling to survive… I felt something:” A passion. Throughout all my time trapped in that world, all I could focus on was trying to survive. This included doing things like work for a girl who ran a weapons shop to even hiding out in an old wooden cabin… After I ended up leaving that world… everything I did just… didn’t give me that thrill anymore. Only when I was in that world… only when I was trying to survive… Fighting to live, just for another day, was perhaps the best feeling I could ever have.” And that’s what I wanted to present to you guys… That rush of survival. I guess I went overkill.” “No shit, Sherlock.” I muttered. “Though… to tell you the truth: You, the cop, that student… You’re the exceptions. I was hired to Displace you two… Or rather… convinced.” Zoloto got up and took his suitcase. “Who hired you?” I asked. “She couldn’t say. But I think you’d know her. Creepy blonde girl with an evil red eye ring any bells?” With that, Zoloto left as I realized just who he meant: Takatsukasa Mai, or as she is known in that form, The Woman of the Beginning. Kim finished her cup of coffee. She looked down at the empty cup, the memories of her meeting with the Roidmude King fresh in her mind. “I know this is a lot to take in, but what I’m saying is the truth.” Kim said. “No, I believe you. You won’t believe how many times an older man would prey upon a teenager.” Ivan paced himself with the coffee, even though it was long cold. “Except that, instead, he groomed me to be his personal attack dog rather than…” Kim shuddered to imagine the other option. “We have reason to believe that a Roidmude by the name of Freeze was responsible for that, making you think you were someone else entirely by suppressing your memories.” Krim said. Kim hesitated before she felt the back of her ear once more. Like a scab on the knee, she couldn’t resist picking at it. “No… He was the one that did it… The Roidmude King.” Kim said. There was a pause before Krim spoke up. “I don’t understand… The Roidmude King is a different Roidmude altogether. He wouldn’t have the ability to halt memories like Freeze would.” Krim said. “I saw it with my own two eyes though… Along with…” Kim began to shudder again as she thought back to what happened. “You’re telling me there’s many worlds beyond my own?” Kim asked the Roidmude King as they walked through the now empty streets. The sounds seemed to have halted for the time being. “Yes. I was just passing through when I encountered you. You have a power the likes of which I have never seen before… One I think would benefit me.” He said. “I… don’t even know what this is… The flames… this weapon…” Kim held up her arm to look at the gauntlet, now back to its bracelet mode. “I just want to go home…” Kim muttered. “I can teach you how to better use those powers. I doubt anyone here would be able to help you to the same ability as I could, let alone take you in… In fact…” As the Roidmude King said that, Kim tripped over something. He smirked as she got up. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was…” Kim smiled briefly before she looked at what she tripped over. At first, it looked like someone slumped over, dead, but as she looked at the body, she noticed that it was missing almost half of its upper body. She then noticed the blood on her white dress and screamed, falling on her ass before trying to get away from it. “You wondered what those screams were? They came from people like him, throwing their lives away in vain and meeting an untimely ending. If you think anyone in this world will help you, you’re wrong… Dead wrong…” He gave a smirk and, with the flick of his wrist, unleashed a wave of Heavy Acceleration particles. Kim felt her whole body slow down, her thoughts now hyper focused on the corpse as there was no way for her to look away. “I am not a human… Rather, I am superior to one. My goal… No… our goal is to subjugate humans to my will. I am not the only one with this power. I offer you this one chance. Join me and you will be by my side once we have enslaved the human race that exist in every world… If not, you will be like this boy. Dead and forgotten…” Kim began to cry as her eyes barely budged. Her thought process was unimpeded, and yet, thoughts of despair and death were the only things occupying her mind. As the particles died down and her body resumed to normal speed, she still sat there, frozen. The Roidmude King approached her and knelt to her. “So, what shall it be?” The Roidmude King said. She looked at him, and one look at her tear-filled face was enough to tell him what her decision is. “I’m glad you’ve made the right choice… Though, I can’t possibly bring you back like the broken mess that you are. Luckily, I have just the thing…” She noticed him taking out what seemed to be a strange, phone-like device before he pressed on its touch screen. FREEZE! He held out the phone as it shot out a small, ice needle that flew around her head and struck behind her ear, leaving behind the scar. Kim jolted up before she went limp. The Roidmude King smiled before he lifted her up. He summoned a gray wall, walking through it with her on his shoulders… “That’s… horrible…” Krim had no words beyond those two, not even paying attention to his coffee. “I’ve… seen grooming tactics before but… That…” It was normal for Ivan to come across sick cases like this. There were few cases where it challenged his faith in humanity, some even having him consider reaching for the bottle. This exceeded any of that. “It was beyond just that… He was able to use Freeze’s power… I don’t know how, but from what you’ve described, that device might be the reason as to why.” Krim said. “I don’t know a lot about it, but I know what a Roidmude is comprised of. Its programming, its soul, is regulated to a string of data called a Core. If the Roidmude is damaged too much or the Core is directly attacked, the Core could be destroyed, killing the Roidmude with it. I know this because he was insistent to heal and preserve some of them inside that device, Nerve and Tornado being his recent acquisitions.” Kim said. “Nerve? I don’t recall that Roidmude… But… Healing… That’s Medic’s power. And given how Tornado’s among the collected… It’s a theory, but these may be the first nine Roidmudes he’s gathering. And if that’s the case…” Krim said. “Yeah, the phone is said to contain up to nine Roidmudes… Four are left to fulfill what he calls the Promised Number.” Kim said. “The Promised Number? The last time they did something like this, they only needed four… If they need nine... This is bad.” Krim closed his eyes. “What? What do you mean?” Ivan turned to Krim. “Simply put, four was needed to power a device that would send the entire world into a slowdown. With more, he might be able to do more than that…” Krim said. “And he already has five of the nine needed…” Kim closed her eyes and shook her head. “Ivan… Please… Just… Take me home.” She got up. “Huh?” Ivan asked. “I… I want to live out the remainder of my life back in my world. I want to experience a normal life for how ever long I have until he takes over the multiverse.” Kim said. “… We’re not going to let him win, Kim. I can assure you of that. Right, Krim?” Ivan asked Krim, who’s ‘face’ was tense, eyes closed. “I… am afraid it might not be as easy. Before you, there was another partner who used me to transform. His name was Tomari Shinnosuke. He, along with the other Riders, fought valiantly against the Roidmude King… Only… he managed to defeat every one of us by mimicking the form of the strongest Rider. I was separated from my partner and was forced to watch another partner be lost to me…” Krim said. “Wait… another partner?” Ivan asked Krim. “Yes. Ivan, the choice is yours. I’ve seen the determination in your eyes when you saved Kim, but I fear that the Roidmude King might overpower that. I’m not going to stop you if you wish to continue being Drive.” Krim said. “… Kim. This extends to you too. Were this any other case, I would have sent you back to your family… But… I fear this is bigger than I have anticipated. I understand if you want to return, but do realize that you can fight.” Ivan smiled before he finished his drink. “We’ll be waiting in the car.” Ivan left after he picked up Krim. Kim was all alone to her thoughts before she stared blankly at the cup. “A castle?! You have your own castle?!?” She could overhear someone shouting at the top of their lungs, which she felt was a much-needed levity. No Banno, Niko’s a psychopath who wanted to share his rush for surviving a video game to his victims, and I’m brainwashed. Just a typical Tuesday afternoon for me it seems. Regardless, I spent the next thirty minutes to an hour calculating a plan to approach the sirens without my directions activating. So far, I concluded that I can think about the three, but the moment I see them, I go back to disregarding them. So, my idea would be to indirectly take them out somehow. But that’s a challenge and a half. There’s three of them and they’re always together. If I so much as mess up and only take one down, the other two will work their magic on me. It had to be quick, decisive, but most of all, not require my interaction. BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL! Of course, when I am planning out the solution, someone is always there to interrupt my thought process. I took out my phone and answered it. “Applejack, what is it?” I asked her. “Twilight’s back. We’re gonna try and take on the sirens, so you just sit back and relax for this one.” Applejack said. “Well, that’s… Wait, you mean Pony Princess Twilight? How the hell did she come back? Isn’t the portal supposed to be closed?” I asked her. “No time to explain, we’re at the school now. Catch you later.” Click. Well, this aught to be interesting. I decided to head down to see the sirens defeated up close and personal. As I made it to the gym, I noticed there was a bit of a party set up for the bands. Admittedly, it seemed a little too soon for one, but what the hell? I might as well get some punch and food for this entertaining show. I also noticed that Twilight was there, along with her friends (and Sunset). Along with them were the sirens. This was much easier than I thought. “KICK THEIR ASS, TWILY!” I shouted as I poured myself a cup of punch. I then looked at one of the sirens, the meek blue one, give me a raised eyebrow before I cleared my throat. “Assuming they’re joining the Battle of the Bands.” I shrugged, the brainwashing taking its effect. “Right! Friendship… is magic!” As Twilight declared that… Nothing. Crickets chirped as the entire room was silent. I partly allowed the brainwashing to take control of me, but only because I felt it was hilarious to break the awkwardness with this classic line. I held the hand to the side of my mouth to make myself louder as I screamed: “You suck!” Hoping Twilight didn’t see that I was the one who said it, I deepened my voice. Seemed to work, though only because Twilight was thinking of something else. “Huh? I… I don’t understand… We’re all together and holding hands and everything!” Twilight said. “You’re a bit too ambitious. Hey, everyone! They think they got this contest in the bag!” The leader of the sirens, Adagio, said. “No way! We’re the ones that are going to win!” Flash Sentry shouted. “No, the great and powerful TRRRRRRRRRRRRRIXIE will win!” Another student, one who was admittedly a lot more egocentric, shouted. “The Crusaders are going to win!” Applejack’s little sister said. “We’re the only winners here!” Another band leader shouted. As everyone got into a shouting match, the marks on their hand glowed as they suddenly began to rush into each other and beat each other up. Fortunately, I only felt aggression. I gave a confident smirk as I looked at my gloved hand. As they fought, I noticed a thick green smoke emanate from the infighting. A portion of it got absorbed into what seemed to be ruby necklaces that the sirens were wearing. Bingo! Just gotta destroy those and their days are over. But… How would I manage to? “Right, that’s enough deprivation for one day…” I heard Banno’s voice as I saw the belt slam through the doors. “W-what the!?” Adagio muttered as Banno flew over to me. Twilight’s group collectively screamed. “WHAT THE HELL!? HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Kelly, what the buck did you do?” Applejack said. “Oh no…” Twilight shoved her face into her palm. “Banno! You came!” I exclaimed, ignoring the panic coming from the group. “I had some reflecting and thought of a compromise. I’ll help you defeat these… sirens.” Banno said. “Oh no, you don’t!” Adagio said before they turned to me. As they began to sing, the command to ignore the sirens rang up, to the point where I turned the other way. “Seems I’m the only option… So, I’ll make this deal brief. You let me take over your body permanently. How does that sound?” Banno said. “…” As I thought about it, Sunset stepped forward. “Kelly! Don’t make the same mistake I did! He’s only trying to trick you!” Sunset said. I turned my head only to see her from the corner of my eye. “I know but… He’s right. What choice do we have? You failed… Now, it’s up to him.” I closed my eyes as Banno flew to my waist, belt forming around it. “Good servant… Now, start my engine.” Banno said. “Kelly! Don’t!” Fluttershy cried out. “You can’t do this! There has to be another way!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You’ll look so tacky in that suit!” Rarity’s comment made everyone stare blankly at her. “What? Someone had to say it.” She shrugged. All the while, I looked onto the belt. I was reminded of the time Banno told me of my martyr syndrome. When the Crush Roidmude was destroying Canterlot. He was right about one thing. No matter how cruel I may feel… I still want to help. And if that means becoming a monster to do it… “… Henshin.” I would gladly accept. I twisted the key and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno cocked his head and sharply inhaled. “It’s good to be back…” Banno then ran towards the sirens, who proceeded to sing to him. Their melody fell on deaf ears as he smacked Aria Blaze down before grabbing Sonata Dusk by the neck. “I’m not as flawed as my host…” Banno tossed Sonata down as he took out the Steering Sword. Adagio gritted her teeth as several of the students rushed to her defense. Banno laughed as he smashed the wheel part of the sword across several of the students. For as much of an asshole as he was, he was at the very least mindful enough to not use the actual sword part on the students. He marched his way to Adagio and I realized he was reserving all lethal force towards her. All while I was forced to watch… Ivan arrived back at Canterlot High with Kim in the shotgun. “It’s a little hard to drive around in this… I’m adjusted to driving on the right.” Ivan chuckled. “I built the Tridoron in Japan, hence its placement. Were I to build this in America, though…” As Krim said that, he stopped upon hearing laughter. “…” He remained silent when he recognized the laugh. “Ivan… We need to go.” Krim said. “Huh? What do you-” As Ivan said that, Krim got out of the dash and onto Ivan’s waist. “There’s no time to explain!” Krim shouted. “What’s going on?” Kim asked. “I don’t know!” Ivan said as he opened the door. “Something worse than the Roidmudes is here…” “Well, why didn’t you say so?!” Ivan took out the Speed Shift Car and placed it on the Shift Brace. “Ivan, I don’t think Type Speed will work against him… Or Deadheat… You may need to use Shift Cars that you aren’t prepared for.” Krim said. “I’m willing to take that risk. I didn’t come this far just to give up midway.” Ivan said. “… Start your engine.” Krim said. Adagio was on her knees as Banno kicked her in the face. She fell to the ground, at the mercy of the dark Rider. “Banno, their rubies siphoned some green mist… I think that’s either their power source or a bank of sorts. Either way, I think you can destroy those and-” Banno ignored me as he kicked her again. “Where’s the fun in that? Didn’t you tell me I had a blank check to do what I want with these sirens? I’m going to take my time here…” Banno raised the Steering Sword just before we heard someone smashing through the doors. “Hmmm?” Banno turned around to see Ivan in Drive’s Type Speed, Krim’s face glaring at Banno’s belt. I froze as I saw them in front of me. “… Ahehehehehe…” Banno started to laugh. “I knew it… With the Roidmudes returning, you also returned from the grave… BANNO!” Krim said. “Aaaah hah… Aaaaaaaaah…” He didn’t even focus on Adagio, who I could hear making her getaway. “Wait, two Drives!? I… Is this supposed to be cool or should we be afraid of that?” Rainbow Dash said. “Ahahahahahaha! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! Krim! Long time, no see!” Banno’s sadistic tone was clear for all to hear. As immediately as I accepted the deal, I regretted it, as now the worst fear I had when I saw Krim is now realized: The two genius scientists will have a conflict once more…
Golden Drive Arc 2: How Do I Keep Banno In Check?Applejack and I waited in the hospital’s emergency room, though for different reasons. By the time the ambulance got here, Applejack’s grandmother went under and we feared the worst. I was there mainly for moral support, as Big Mac was busy taking care of Apple Bloom. However, there was another reason. True to what Applejack said, she arranged for the police to escort me out once we got word on her grandma’s condition. I looked over to see the officer that’d be taking me in. He seemed to be an old man, somewhere in his sixties, possibly seventies, with gray greased back hair. Over his police uniform was a dirty, ragged sheepskin jacket. I noted the blue skin. All these colored skins made me think I’m in Springfield, or at least a variant of it. Looking at him, though, I felt some sense of security. In a way, he reminds me of Jun, the Chief of the Special Crimes Division in Kamen Rider Drive. Maybe it’s because I just wanted him to break out a phone and show us our fortunes. Banno, surprisingly enough, chose to be silent for the next few hours instead of gloating like he’d usually do. Guess it’s because he doesn’t want unwanted attention when it’s pretty clear he has limited power. … Limited… I thought back to the fight and how Gold Drive was depowered in under a few minutes. Then I thought further back to his defeat. Banno, reduced to a snivelling coward begging for his own son not to kill him and how he utterly failed. I remembered as he was smashed into tiny pieces. I wasn’t sure if this Banno was the Banno I saw get destroyed, or how he managed to survive if he did. Maybe those guys on the image boards were right and he used that girl he healed as a backup drive. … Remind me to never let him digitize people as a safety precaution. Perhaps the depowering was a result of said destruction. Before I could dwell further on the subject, the doctor stepped out. “It’s a miracle, I gotta admit.” He muttered. “Huh?” Applejack asked. “She was shot in the arm at a close range. Any other time, this would most surely be fatal or otherwise critical for someone her age, but for some reason, her body didn’t quite react fast enough to the wound and so we were able to extract the bullet and patch her up before it got worse.” He said. “So you mean…” Applejack asked. “Yes. Your grandmother is going to be fine. She’ll be out of the hospital before Monday.” He said. Applejack smiled. “Oh Thank God…” Applejack began to shed some tears as she quickly wiped them away. As the doctor left, Applejack calmed down and gave me an intense stare. “I’m startin’ to think I know how Granny managed to survive. That… thing those robots did. Where we couldn’t move at all?” She said. “Look, I don’t know anything about-” I said before Applejack stomped her foot. “BULLCRAP! You know something about them, didn’t ya? I saw it in your eyes when they came over! And what about that gold dude? Awfully convenient for him to appear soon after ya left.” She said. She didn’t have to hear me stammer to know that she had caught me, as I felt myself sweat. “Well… It is convenient…” She just glared at me. “With that same belt?” Applejack said. I backed up and began to stammer. Damn, she got me with the one thing that most of us Rider fans considered a plot hole in Drive. That’s when the police officer got up. “Hey, I think it’s time for us to go. I mean, this was the condition, right? You stay until you hear word of Granny’s status?” He asked. “Y-yeah.” I said. “We’ll take it from here, young lady.” He turned his head to Applejack. “If we find out anything about these… robots… You will be the first to know.” He got up and walked off, taking me with him. I turned back and I saw her shoot a dirty look to me. I sighed as the cop took me away to the police station. I sat at the interrogation room with the officer in front of me. In between us were a plate of donuts. The place was awfully silent. Though that was before he spoke up. “Wanna know a little secret?” He asked me. I shrugged, though part of me felt like this secret was going to be big. Especially since he leaned in. Intrigued at what the secret could be, I leaned in too as he whispered. “We tend to put these donuts out, not for us, but for the perp.” He said. I pulled away and rolled my eyes. “Hey! It’s an honored tradition! This is how we test their guilt.” He said. I sighed as I took a donut. “See? You’re not guilty. If you were, you’d hesitate.” “Well, only because you told me.” I bit into the donut. For once, I ignored everything that happened around me as I just let the donut enter my mouth. I pressed my tongue up to press the chocolate against the roof of my mouth. I smeared it against the roof before I swallowed the rest. I then proceeded to lick the rest of the chocolate in my mouth… But why the hell did it taste like a juniper berry? As I continued to lick, I tasted more of the chocolate. That’s when I realized I wasn’t tasting juniper, I was smelling it. I looked to the old man and realized a pungent fragrance from him. It smelt like Axe, but with quite a dash of, as I said, juniper. I shrugged off the smell to continue my conversation. “So why? Why did you tell me?” I asked. “Because I knew you were guilty when you were talking to that girl. I know a liar when he gets caught, and I know when someone has a lot to hide. And you have something to hide, don’t you?” He asked me. I nodded. I looked to him. “Yes. I do. Before we begin… I wanna just have you do something. You might find it strange, but trust me, it’s important.” I cleared my throat and spoke up. “Say Roidmude.” I said. I waited for his response. If he were to ever mess up the pronunciation, then I might have some idea of what’s going on in the police department. “… Roidmude.” And with that, that idea was shattered. I sigh in relief, knowing that is not a possibility. “Now, do you mind telling me why I had to say that silly word?” He asked. “I was just making sure.” I said. That’s when he raised an eyebrow. “Wait… Are they the robots that girl was talking about?” He said. Crap. I didn’t realize he could turn the question around until it was too late. However, before I was forced to answer, someone came into the room. “Hey there.” He said. He had spiked up dark blue hair and was wearing a police uniform as well. His skin was also blue. He looked to the old cop and crossed his arms. “Wind Rider, I’ll admit, it’s cute, but you can’t be doing this anymore. You retired, remember?” He said. “Oh! Soarin’, I was just buttering her up for you.” He chuckled as he got off his chair. “Wind Rider, I know you were trying to interrogate her.” Soarin’ simply glared to him, his eyebrows weren’t furled like an angry person would, but rather just a simple annoyed look. “I…” Wind Rider sighed. “Alright, fine.” He walked off, but not before he turned around and glared at Soarin’. Okay, now that was an angry glare. One so angry, it shattered any sense of protection I had from him. The idea of him being akin to Jun was long gone. Wind Rider left as Soarin’ looked to me, not even knowing that Wind Rider shot a glare. “Alright, now that he’s gone, I have some questions to ask you.” Soarin’ said. “… Sure, fire them away.” I said. “Well, for one…” He took out a folder and showed me a picture. It was me in in a lab coat, not unlike Ryoma Sengoku’s… In fact, I was dressed exactly like Ryoma, complete with the silver highlight, but the only difference is that the person had a more muscular face, telling thanks to his Adam’s Apple and a stubble on his square jaw, and, as I had guessed, differently colored skin. This time the skin was silver. He slammed his hands on the table and looked to me with shimmering eyes. “Are you the famous Professor Silverbolt?” “W-what!?” I asked. “You look like him! I’ve seen your show. You know, Popular Science for Kids?” He asked me. “… You do realize I’m a girl, right? And… you know…” I pinched my arm to show him my flesh colored flesh. “Yeah! But in one of your experiments, you’ve proven that both a sex change potion and a skin change potion could work! You must have disguised yourself after your grand trip!” He said. “Grand… Look, I’m sure you’re mistaken. I’m not this… Silverbolt guy. My name is Kelly Randell, I’m about five years younger than this guy, and I am a girl!” I pressed my hands up against the table and glared to him. “… S… So you’re not Professor Silverbolt?” Soarin’ frowned and I retracted back to my seat. I myself frowned. I looked at the picture of Silverbolt. Seemed it was a missing poster, though there didn't seem to be anything indicating a reward. “No. She is.” A tall woman with pink skin entered the room. She had multicolored hair. Part of it was sea green, another part was pink, and part of it was sky blue. She wore a yellow business coat with a purple shirt and purple pants and had a sun-styled badge on pinned her coat. “It was a weird trip she had. She must have used those potions to get out of a jam or something.” She said. “Oh hey, Principal Celestia! Long time no see!” Soarin’ got up and his frown turned upside down. “Soarin’, I see you’re still as handsome as ever. I remembered when you graduated from my school.” Celestia smiled as she pinched Soarin’s cheek. I retched and turned away. “H-hey… Not in front of the perp…” Soarin’ said. “Right. Sorry.” Celestia stood straight and looked to him. “So, any ideas of what to do?” Celestia asked. “Well, I’m not sure. Another cop, one who wasn’t even on duty, took the notes of what happened to her.” Soarin’ said. “Look,” I interjected, “long story short, I need protection. Gangsters are after me because I have something they want.” I said. “Oh, why didn’t you say so in the first place!?” Soarin’ said. He reached his arm over to me and grabbed me. “Alright! You’re comin’ with me. I’ll put you on Soarin’s signature 24/7 Witness Protection Program!” Soarin’ said. “… Um… Is it too late to ask for Wind Rider?” I sadly learned firsthand why it’d be hard to trust the quirky heroes. “Sadly yes.” Soarin’ said. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” He said. Celestia stepped forward. “Before you haul her off, I’d like a word with her.” Celestia said. “Sure thing! Anything for my favorite Principal!” Soarin’ left the interrogation room as Celestia sat. The two of us stared at each other before I sighed. “I’m not-” I tried to speak, but Celestia spoke up. “Silverbolt. I know. Everyone knows that the potions he used in the show were just props. However, he was a brilliant scientist. Perhaps the smartest person to ever teach at Crystal Prep. What I find weird is that he disappeared one day, and then a month or so later, someone who looks like him appears.” Celestia said. “Well, do you want the truth that you’ll probably put me in a padded cell for or do you want me to be as vague as hell?” I asked. “Vague will do. I don’t want to know every detail.” She said. I took a moment to breathe before I talked. “I’m not Silverbolt. I’m just dressed like him. One minute, I’m at… home, the next, I wake up in a barn house and was told that some guys wanted me for something. I can’t explain the rest without making it sound unbelievable.” I said. Celestia leaned forward and rested her head on her clasped hands. I backed my seat away as she let her pinkies hang and cross each other as she hid her mouth. “Alright. That’s all I needed to hear. Tell you what: I’m in need of a professor at my school. If you could agree to pretend that you’re Professor Silverbolt, I’ll help protect you from these people.” Celestia said. “How can you be so sure of that? I’m sure that Soarin’ would be able to protect-” I asked, though Celestia interjected. “You have some doubts with him. I can tell. And if your story is what you claim it to be, you won’t be seeing any shelter anytime soon. Luckily for you, I can fix that.” Celestia sat back. “My school’s library doubles as a temporary housing unit for people like you who are without a home. We had a student come to our school with no prior transcripts. She just… appeared out of the blue. I simply let her in, because I feel like everyone needs a home. I feel like you need one too.” Celestia got up and put a paper slip on the table. “Think about it, okay?” She walked away as Soarin’ popped back in. “Alright! Ready to begin the protection of your life!?” Soarin’ asked. “… Sure.” I muttered. The drive to Soarin’s house consisted on nothing but gushing about how awesome Silverbolt was. Every now and then, he’d bring up a super cool feat he’d pull, or something he’d invent. “Oh! And then there was that time you made some slime for that awesome Game Show! You know, Whoops?” He said. “Uh… Yeah! Who could ever forget… Whoops…” I said. “Yeah! You made some pretty cool observations about the slime, like how you could make it be like quicksand if you make a pool out of it, or how it’s pretty much Play-Doh but… well… slimy!” He said. “Yeah…” I figured that the best way to go about this was to just say yeah a lot. “Oh! Could you take me on a tour of your place when you have the chance? I wanna see your newest inventions for myself!” He said. “… Probably?” Crap. I don’t even know where Silverbolt’s place is. How would I be able to find it? I’ll have to do some research when I’m alone. Luckily, before I even got to answer, Soarin’s car pulled into a simple one-story house. “Well, here we are! Welcome to your protection!” Soarin’ said. As we got out of the car, I could hear a loud electric guitar playing in the garage. I bobbed my head a bit to the music as Soarin’ tapped onto the garage door. “Hey! Guess who’s comin’ over to stay for a little while!” Soarin’ said. The door slowly crawled up as I saw the person who was playing the guitar. He had spiky blue hair, much like Soarin’, but it was more of an electrical blue. His skin was pretty normal colored compared to most of the others. He had a black leather shirt with a red and white stripe streaking across his jacket. He had a white shirt. On it was a blue shield and a yellow lightning bolt. Other than him wearing jeans, that’s all I noted of him. He took off the guitar and looked to me. “Huh? Who’s this?” He asked. “Son, this is Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. He is perhaps one of the smartest scientists around!” … Did Soarin’ just compare a comic relief character in a science show for kids to someone akin to Albert Einstein? Come to think of it, Celestia also brought that comparison up... I massaged the temples of my head as his son stepped forward and offered me his hand. “Hey, name’s Flash.” He said. After taking some close consideration, I shook his hand. My urge to quote the famous Queen song, but thankfully I resisted. “I’m gonna get your room set up, alright? Flash, I’m gonna make dinner soon so you might head inside.” Soarin’ said. “Alright, pops.” Flash and Soarin’ got into the house through the garage door. I sighed and sat on the folding chair that Flash was sitting on before. “So, you thought 001 was active?” I jumped as Banno spoke. For a while, I actually forgot my waist had a mad scientist on it. “Woah!” I replied back. “Heh heh… I caught you by surprise, it seems. You should be thankful I didn’t speak up during that interrogation.” Banno said. “Well… I was wondering why you weren’t talking.” I began to breathe. “I had the same suspicion you did and thought that 001 was also manipulating the police's memory. However, I knew that wasn't the case. If it was, Roidmudes everywhere would have rushed in the moment you were in that interrogation room. I’m not exactly sure which of the Roidmudes are active, who’s leading them, and if they are doing the same things they were doing before.” Banno said. “Before… So they were destroyed before… You were destroyed before.” I said. “Yes. But now we live again!” Banno let out a loud laugh before I muffled the face of the belt. “Shush! So how… how are you guys back?” I asked. “Well, it should be obvious. Someone repaired us.” Banno said. “But you guys were obliterated! There’d be no way for you to come back!” I said. “It’s something that makes even me curious. Whoever brought us back from utter destruction is someone who is more brilliant at science than I am. Someone I envy…” Banno growled. The door opened as Soarin’ entered. “Well, dinner’s ready! Come on in!” Soarin’ said. Banno muted himself again as I walked into the room. Dinner passed smoothly. Ironic considering how much of it was spent with me cast in the shadow of a supposedly wonderful scientist. Soarin’ introduced me to my room in the attic. As I entered, I began to sneeze at the dust that had flown around. “Oh! Whoops! I gotta clear the air!” Soarin’ opened a window as the dust flew off into the night’s breeze. “There we go! Couldn’t let Professor Silverbolt sneeze himself to death, can we?” Soarin’ asked. I remained silent. I had picked up the routine enough to know that every time he brings up a bizarre scientific detail, he’d- “You know, like you showed that one time in Popular Science?” bring up an episode of Popular Science. To which I respond with: “Oh! Yeah. I remember. Last I checked, that was for people with allergens to dust, right?” Some of the ‘science’ introduced in the show had some accurate truths. “Oh no! You showed how sneezing could actually kill in that one experiment where you used powdered fire!” Some of the science introduced in that show it seemed. “… Yeah.” How the hell does someone akin to Bill Nye the Science Guy wind up doing these special effects and pass them off as science? And how many people like Soarin’ eat this crap up? Powder that you could apparently incinerate yourself with if you sneeze it? A potion that could change the pigment colors of skin I might buy, but most of this seems… crazy. “Well, see you tomorrow! Oh! And if you have a new crazy idea, feel free to invent it!” Soarin’ walked off. Does he even realize he’s supposed to protect me? I probably shouldn’t be going Urkel when I have killer robotic body snatchers that could stop time out for my blood. I sighed and got to my window. I looked over at the starry sky. “This protection’s not going to last forever, you know. They’ll keep coming.” Banno said. “… I know.” I said. “So you’d also know the only thing that could stop them, right?” Banno asked. I bit my lip. As far as I know, I’m the only Rider in this town. Even if there’s a slight chance that there’s another Rider, my bond to Banno might make teaming up with them hard. Especially if those Riders were Shinnosuke and Gou. However, as I looked to the Driver, I remembered just what Banno said. “Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might!” I can’t let that happen. I just can’t. “I’ll find another way. I won’t transform. Even if I could die, I’d rather let that happen then let you take the wheel again.” I said. “Ah, I’ve seen you’re committed to this. Are you prepared to face the consequences then?” Banno asked. “Like I said. If I am to die, I’ll accept it.” I said. “Heheheh. There’s a difference between saying you’ll die and going through with it. Trust me, you’ll feel it. Besides… I’m not talking about your fate. Think closely about all this, or you may regret it.” This was all Banno said before he shut himself off. As I looked at the Driver, I began to think of just how little I know about the place I’m in and just how little protection I have. I needed to know more about this place, and I realized that there was only one way to do so, and it wasn’t staying over at a fanboy’s house. I took out a slip of paper from my pants pocket and read the number. With my phone out, I dialed the number and let it ring a few times before it clicked. “Hello, Celestia? I think I’ll take that job offer.” I told her. The school bell rang as I walked through the halls. Most of the students turned a blind eye to me as I straightened up my tie and read the directions towards my classroom. It was a simple enough deal. Teach kids basic science, live in library away from fanboy cop. Simple as pie. “So, how shall we demonstrate the difference between alternating currents and direct currents? I was considering purchasing a cattle prod and teaching the students first hand.” Banno spoke up. I muffled the belt with the ends of my jacket. “No! We’re not using the students as test subjects!” I said to him. “You’re just like Krim. All work and no fun.” Banno muttered. I rushed to the class room to avoid any suspicion. Luckily for me, the only student in the class when I walked in was a girl with gray skin, long light blonde hair and… Were her eyes screwed up? Questions for later. She didn’t seem to pay too much attention to me outside of a wave of her hand, so I had time to button up my shirt to hide the Banno Driver before the rest of the students rushed in. I wasn’t expecting the workload to be around fifty students, and I had to double check the attendance list to see just how many were gonna be in this class. And that’s when I nearly broke down at the names. At first, I just passed off names like Applejack and Big Mac as nothing more than cute. Then I read more of their names. First there was Rainbow Dash. A simple scan of the room helped me find who this student might be. A female with long rainbow colored hair with blue skin, who raced to the end of the room and hopped over her desk. Next was Pinkie Pie. I just scoped across the room and spotted a pink colored girl to associate the name. Frankly, the names turned into a cute little game. Rarity? Well, find the person that looks elegant as hell. Fluttershy? Gee, I wonder who that girl hiding her gaze behind her long pink hair is named. Flas- Oh crap. I looked and saw Flash Sentry over at the front row and right next to him, Applejack. I gulped as Flash waved to me while Applejack just looked at me. No glare, no smile, just a stare. As I looked at the names and slowly spiraled into insanity with the simplistic names that no actual person would have, I heard an oomph and looked up as I saw a girl in a black leather jacket fall over. As she got up, I noticed how her hair was a mixture of red and yellow and her skin being of an orange color. Reading the list, I notice two names, Sunny Glenway and Sunset Shimmer. Well, red, yellow, and orange seemed to be like the setting sun, so ‘Sunset Shimmer’ it is. She turned around to me and frowned. “Teacher! Applejack tripped me!” I noticed as she was right next to Applejack, who turned her head towards both me and Sunset. My heart raced as I focused between addressing the situation and just beginning the class like nothing happened. When a few silent seconds passed, she spoke up again. “On purpose!” “Did not!” Applejack screamed. “Did too!” Sunset replied. My hands trembled as I fumbled between the attendance and a piece of chalk that I was going to use to write my name… or rather Silverbolt’s name. CRUNCH. That sound. That delightful sound of a student crunching into a large jar of candy was enough to help divert the situation. “You!” I pointed to him as I tried to pull off an elegant teacher’s voice. I walked over to the student and noticed how comically overweight the person is. And bald. And… familiar. I hesitated a bit before I breathed in and took the jar from him. “You will have this at the end of the school day.” God was my attempt at a British accent horrid. However, as I held the cylinder container containing popcorn, marshmallows, and other assorted snacks, the student barked out a “hey!” and strutted his head forward. As I looked down at his jar, he looked down at my waist. As I was looking down, I saw that part of my jacket was still undone and a soft yellow glow coming from a chrome black belt could be seen. The moment I realized he was looking at Banno was the moment I recognized him. “Oooooon second thought…” I said and handed him back the jar. “Why don’t you just… put it away when I do the lectures, okay?” I sheepishly said as I backed away from him. He looked daggers at me with a chuckle. “Students! Back to your seats!” I shouted as I hurried back to my desk. “B-but…” Sunset tried to protest. “No buts! SIT!” I screeched. Any students who were busy being distracted, including Sunset and the fat man, stopped and looked at me. Sunset Shimmer quickly went to her seat without any fuss. I breathed in. “Good… Now, my name is Professor Silverbolt…” I went over to the chalkboard and wrote out the name. “And I have been reassigned to here from Crystal Prep because…” I struggled to think of an idea. Well, time to go for the simple one. “Because I realized just how much better Canterlot High is, am I right?” I said. A majority of the students cheered and laughed. Well, save for three; the fat man, Sunset, and Applejack. The rest of the class was simple. All I had to do was recite what I learned in my high school science class and bam, I just finished an hour of class. Perhaps one day I’ll let the TV be the teacher and show them an old episode of Bill Nye… Or whatever show they had on. However, as I walked down the hall, Banno and I had to talk to each other about what I saw. “That was a Roidmude. The fat guy’s a Roidmude.” I muttered. “I figured as such. So, how will you handle this? Oh, right. I believe it involved being a dumb martyr.” Banno said. “I didn’t expect a Roidmude to infiltrate the school, aright?” I said. “If you thought a Roidmude infiltrated the police force, then chances are they might have also set up operations elsewhere too. During my time in their captivity, I’ve learned just how many of them used their copy’s job and identity to set up their schemes.” Banno said. “… True. Should have expected they’d pull tha-” And that’s when Applejack slammed her hand against the locker and looked to me. “Alright, sugar cube, you tell me what’s goin’ on right now!” Applejack said. “Wah!” I jumped back. Great, now I have to deal with her. “Who were you talkin’ to?” Applejack asked. “Uh… someone over Bluetooth.” Applejack only furled her eyebrows. “Really?” She tapped on the driver’s LCD display as Banno grunted. “I can see the belt’s face.” “Stop poking me! Do you know who I am?!” Banno said. Applejack just shot up a look at me. “See? You have something to hide, don’t you?” Applejack said. “I… Yes… No?” I stammered. That’s when Banno began to speak. “I am the glorious Professor Banno! I’m not something to be poked!” Banno said. “Oh hey, the toy talks.” Applejack said. She knelt over and viewed him at eye level. “T-Toy!?” “Those robots, what were they?” Applejack asked. Banno coughed a bit before he answered. “They are the Roidmudes, my inv-” I began to muffle him. “Y-yeah! They’re Roidmudes, and they’re deadly people that you have to avoid at all costs… eheh…” I chuckled. “Well, ya seem to be doin’ a piss poor job at that.” Applejack pointed to behind me. I turned around and saw a Spider-type Roidmude behind us as students began to panic and run off. I heard more panicking on the other side of the hall as I turned to see a Cobra-type Roidmude coming to us as well. “Look what we have here!” I turned again to see the fat man walk to us with his jar. “That little girl and her belt!” He said. “Applejack, get away from here as fast as you can.” I muttered. “No way! I’m not goin’ anywhere until I hear some answers!” She said. “Idiot! Do you know what they can do?” I said. “I know! I saw what they did to Granny!” Applejack said. “You’ll get your explanation in due time, this isn’t something to gamble your life over!” I said as the Roidmudes closed in. “This is going to be fun!” The fat man chuckled as he set down his jar. With a loud scream, he transformed into a stone monster: The Crush Roidmude. The three of them activated the Slowdown particles, freezing almost everyone in their place, Applejack included. The three Roidmudes then rushed to me as I punched the Spider-type in the face, followed closely by a roundhouse kick to the Cobra-type. When the Crush Roidmude ran to me, I ran up the lockers, bounced off of them, and kicked the Roidmude in the face. As I landed, I looked at my hands. “Holy crap! How did I do that?” I muttered. The two minor Roidmudes ran and grabbed me as the Crush Roidmude got his hammer hands ready. “Well, that was fun. Time to die!” He began to swing both of them towards me. My heart pounded. I closed my eyes as my legs began to kick up, using the Roidmude’s rocky body as a support for myself to spring back. As I did a back flip, the two hammers hit the two Roidmudes instead. Not enough to crush them, but enough to bonk them together and let go of me. I landed on top of the Crush Roidmude and jumped off. I ran, grabbing Applejack’s arm to take her with me. “No! She’s getting away!” Crush said. I could hear playful bonks as the Roidmudes bickered about what transpired. The thing I began to notice about the Slowdowns is that they do act in a radius. By the time me and Applejack got to the cafeteria, she was able to move her arms and legs like normal. I set her down as I sat down too. I breathed heavily as Applejack moved over next to me. “So, anything else about these… Steroidos?” Applejack asked. “Look, you’re on a need to know basis!” I snapped at her, though Applejack just snapped back. “Well, I guess I need to know now that those very monsters that hurt my Granny are stalking the schoolyard!” She said. I stayed silent. She got me there. “As I was saying before I was rudely quieted, the Roidmudes are my invention.” Banno said. “Oh, and did you add the part where they become killer robots?” She asked the belt. “Well, by adding, you mean adding in the negative emotions of humankind to the point where they become misanthropic of the species and vow to wipe them off the face of the Earth… Then yes. I did.” Banno said. I pulled my hair out. Damn it, Banno! Why do you always have to dig your own grave?! “And Professor Silverbolt, is she in on this too?” She asked. “No. She and I have entered a rather… unwilling partnership long after my invention.” Banno said. “Well, you’re right about that.” I muttered. “So, how’s trying to die for a pointless cause working out for you?” Banno asked. “…” I had to think back to when I was almost a pancake. Had it not been for my sudden rush, I would have died right there. I shook and blinked. With each blink, I noticed my eyes getting wetter and wetter. “After a near-death experience like that, will you reconsider the whole ‘not transforming’ thing?” Banno asked. I shook my head. “I… can’t…” I muttered. “Transforming? What the hay is he on about?” Applejack asked. “Well, allow me to spell it out for you.” Banno said as I could feel the Slowdown particles shake my body briefly. Applejack resumed being frozen. The previous few times this happened to her, I could hear her screaming. Now, while the groan could be heard as a shriek, there was no doubt that she was getting upset at this. Luckily, we were just a while away from a janitor’s closet. I picked her up and hurriedly went into the closet. As I closed the door, I heard the Crush Roidmude talk with his minions. “Scour the area! Leave no stone unturned!” He said. “In other words… do what we usually do!” With that, I heard several smashes. “BANZAAAAI!!!” I heard several gunshots and various walls getting blown apart. By the time the screams got to me, I had to peak outside. The cafeteria was now in ruins as debris from the roof had come down. I saw most of the debris falling in slow motion onto the panicked students trying to run away from it. I scanned the area and noticed at least two of the students weren’t so lucky and had their legs caught in some of the rubble. All while the Roidmudes roamed around and destroyed all in their path. “Hey… What’s going on?” Applejack asked me. I began to stammer as Banno spoke up. “Ah, such destruction, such chaos. I’m a bit sad that I didn’t give them enough credit.” Banno laughed. I shut the door and tried to muffle him again. His laughter stopped. “But do you see now? If you don’t transform, people will get hurt. People will die.” Banno said. “…” As I saw the chaos and carnage unfold, all I could think of was how it was similar to the Global Freeze, an event in which all 108 Roidmudes stopped time across a fourth of the world and relentlessly murdered people left and right. “Right now, you’re the only one who can do this. Like it or not, you will fight. Not because I say so, but because your martyr complex says so. Blood shall be on your hands, Kelly. Will you live with that guilt?” He asked me. I looked to my hands. As soon as I heard the sound of a crying girl, I gripped my hand. I looked to Applejack. Although she was frozen, I could see the wavering in her pupils that she was scared. “... No. I won’t.” I said. “Exactly what I needed to hear. Start my engine!” He said. I ran out of the closet and towards the Crush Roidmude. “HEY!” I shouted to the Roidmude. He turned around and slammed his hands together. “Alright! Now it’s a fight!” He said. “Indeed it is. HENSHIN!” I said as I turned the Advance Ignition. “Henshin…” Banno said as my body changed into Gold Drive’s form. As the armor snapped on, I felt my body go numb as Banno took over. Banno leaped over onto an intact table and kicked Crush in the face. While he reeled back slightly, Crush was ready for a counter attack and slammed his hand on the table. As the table broke, Banno was launched into the air. He spun in the air a few times before he hit the ground. As the Crush Roidmude closed in, he threw a punch. BANG! Metal clanged against solid rock. Banno could see that his fist hadn’t even made a dent in the Roidmude’s armor. “Is that the best you can do, Banno?” He said as he readied his hammers for the final blow. Banno smirked as he turned his Advance Ignition. The circuitry on his body flared up and expelled a pulse of red and yellow light as he held up his hand. A blue-blade sword with a steering wheel attached to it flew to him. As he grabbed it, I felt my hand tingle a bit. That’s when I noticed a bright, white light. I noticed that, from inside the helmet, the blood-red visor had now shifted to a more neutral white color, almost like Drive’s visor. Seemed I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. “W-What happened?” Banno said. It took a moment for me to notice the sword I was holding weighed me down. As the Crush Roidmude swung, I realized that I was back in control of my body and I turned the steering wheel part of the sword. “TURN!” I spun around and slashed the Roidmude, knocking him away. I flexed my muscles. “Man, it’s good to be behind the wheel.” I said. I took a moment to look at the weapon I got. The Steering Sword. I wasn’t surprised that Banno was able to summon it due to an ability known as Gold Conversion, something I actually wanted to try myself. I turned on the Advance Ignition as I heard the vrooming of three cars. This actually threw me off. Gold Conversion was known to steal the weapons that Drive and his team uses… However, while he was able to also steal the Shift Cars, said team managed to fix them and ensure they didn’t get stolen. How was I able to summon them, then? Banno said himself that the battle between him and Drive ensued, and so the Shift Cars wouldn’t have been able to be summoned. I recalled how Banno mentioned a scientist managed to bring him and the Roidmudes back… I would have wondered if they also managed to uncoat the Shift Cars, but that’s when I felt my body go numb and I saw the visor go red again as Banno took one of the Shift Cars, a green spiky car. He placed it onto his Shift Brace as yellow lightning sparked all over the car. One of the Roidmudes ran for Banno, but he punched the Roidmude in the gut. I briefly saw his fist generate a golden aura of spikes before it impaled the Roidmude. As it stumbled back, he swiped another Shift Car, a purple one. He held up his right hand and created a golden lance, only for it to change into a goldish-purple shuriken. He threw it at the Roidmude as it bisected him for a short moment before he exploded. His Core, 060, hovered a bit before it exploded. Banno looked to the rubble and saw a couple of people trapped underneath them. “Let me guess, you want me to save them, right?” Banno asked. “Yeah!” I said. “Hmm… I think I have an idea of what’s going on. Here, let’s test this out.” Banno turned on the Advance Ignition. As Funky Spike and Midnight Shadow flew away, three more Shift Cars came. The red visor turned white again as I could feel my arms and legs. As if it was a soft ball being tossed to me, I tossed the Steering Sword away, grabbed the three Shift Cars and looked at them. A fire truck, a police car, and an ambulance. “I knew it. Every time we activate Gold Conversion, we switch spots.” Banno said. I ran over to the rubble and swung my arm. I relied on the strength Gold Drive’s original host, a Cobra-type, known for their superhuman strength, to knock the debris away. Sure enough, I was able to do so easily. The debris flew at a fast speed from my punch, only to slow down once it was a few inches away from me. I placed the Mad Doctor Shift Car into the brace. The circuit wheel flared up as I placed my right hand on the student’s broken leg as a golden light bathed it. When the light died, the student slowly got up. I ran and did the same for the other student. As a Roidmude caught up to me, I replaced Mad Doctor with Justice Hunter. I turned around and fired a large golden energy ball that soon turned into a cage to trap the Roidmude in. That’s when I could feel my body start to change back. I could hear the systems shutting down. No! It can’t end like this! We need to destroy the other Roidmudes! However, I noticed that our time transformed was much longer, by about two minutes. Two minutes… That’s when I developed a theory of my own. “Take the wheel.” I said as I turned on the Advance Ignition. Mad Doctor and Justice Hunter flew off and a red hand gun with a door fused to it came into my hands. My body went numb as the shutting down noise stopped. Banno came back on and fired at the Roidmude. He opened up the door and closed it in a second. “CHARGE!” With no time to waste, he slotted an orange car onto a hole made within the gun and aimed. “THE FINISHER! MAX FLARE! FULL THROTTLE!” He fired a blast of hot fire towards the Roidmude. He was knocked away and exploded. Leaving its Core, 074, to roast in the flames and explode. He turned to the Crush Roidmude. “You got some nerve killin’ my bros like that!” Crush said. “And you got some nerve trying to hunt me down like a dog. I won’t forgive you for that! And I have the feeling my host feels the same way. Take the wheel and take him out!” Banno turned the Advance Ignition as the Steering Sword flew to me. I grabbed it and slotted the last Shift Car, Fire Braver, into the Shift Loading Panel located on the sword. I turned the steering wheel three times before I swung my sword. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! FIRE BRAVER! FULL THROTTLE!” As I did, the golden energy overlapped my sword, creating the aura of an extension ladder with a metal claw at the end of it. I spun around multiple times as the ladder grabbed Crush. The metal hand squeezed onto the Roidmude and cracked his stone armor. As it tossed him, I stopped spinning and held up the Door Gun. With a pull of a trigger, I fired a large flaming beam to the Roidmude. “I’M TOAST!!!” He screamed as he exploded. His core flew downwards as I fired at it next, destroying it instantly. As I sighed in relief, I heard people chattering as time resumed. “Look at him!” “What is he?” “A superhero in our midst?” Banno chuckled and held out his arms. “You may call me Gold Drive!” He said. I could hear the shutting down noise again. I realized what it meant and I ran out of the cafeteria. As I got as far from the school as I could, my transformation cancelled and I was back to myself. “I knew it.” I muttered. “Knew what?” Banno asked. “Our time as Gold Drive seems to have been limited. I’m not sure yet if it’s because of any programming glitch or if it’s intended. I might have to guess the former due to your ability to last longer in…” I caught myself before I said show. I wasn’t sure how he’d react if I told him that I saw him on a TV show and that’s how I managed to know about the Roidmudes. “Yes. I think it’s due to that. I was practically smashed into tiny pieces. There’d be no way I could be repaired properly after that.” Banno said. “There’s a silver lining, Banno. When we use Gold Conversion, we reset the time allotted and fight for an extended period of time.” I said. “And that’s where the problem lies. When I copied Krim’s data for construction of the Gold Driver, I think I cribbed some of his data regarding Type Tridoron. Couple that with the fact that I never used my Driver’s transformation program on a conscious creature, and I have ended up with a bug that I haven’t fixed.” Banno said. “Our ability to switch.” I said. “And sadly, it’s tied to our Gold Conversion. And that’s our problem: In order to extend the time of us being Gold Drive and utilize our arsenal to the best of our ability, we have to constantly switch.” Banno said. “I… don’t see it as a problem. We can work on it, but if we manage to perfect it, I think we can turn this glitch into our greatest tool.” I said. I rubbed my head and massaged it. How the hell did I manage to become so smart now? “And how would we do that?” Banno asked. “I have an idea.” I said. I walked away from the school. “So. Gold Drive, eh, sugar cube?” Applejack’s voice freaked me out as I jumped and fell onto the floor. I turned around as Applejack stomped on my leg. “Anything else you’re hidin’ from me, or is turnin’ into some masked ne’er-do-well the last detail?” Applejack said. “No, Gold Drive is all that was left to discuss.” Banno said. Applejack took her foot off my leg. “Good. Since I’m on a need-to-know basis, any additional detail you have or ‘conveniently’ remember, I’ll be the first to know, got it?” Applejack handed me a slip containing her number. “Oh, and if it helps, let the belt do the talkin’. He’s a lot more honest than you’ll ever be, sugar cube.” With that, she walked off. “W-we’re not going to seriously let her know everything, right?” I asked Banno. “To be frank, I don’t see the point in keeping secrets, and that girl seems pretty unsusceptible to deception. Our choices are simple, we kill her and have our secrets die with her.” Banno said. “No! Not in a million years!” I said. “Or we could piecemeal her bits of the truth, twist it to our liking, and lure her with half-truths. It’s not deception, since we are telling her the truth.” Banno said. “…” I looked as Applejack walked away. From how far she was right now, it seemed that she didn’t hear a single thing me and Banno spoke about. However, I had to admit. He’s right. Eventually she’s gonna get herself involved into the Roidmude conflict, and when that happens, she’s going to need all the information she could get. “That’s the sixth Roidmude this week, sir.” An old man with short, curly white hair spoke to a man with a goatee. The two were in the latter’s office in the middle of the night. Standing in between the latter’s desk were two of his henchmen, both dressed in white tuxedos as well. “That Banno bastard…” The goatee man in a white tuxedo and a red shirt slammed his hands on the table. “He’s gonna kill us all over again!” “You think it’s time to bring him in?” An African American man wearing a cowboy outfit leaned back against the wall, his left leg pressed against it and arms crossed. “Yeah… Yeah! Let him handle the mess! Hang on…” The mob boss pulled out a drawer from his desk and took out a small silver necklace. On the necklace was the emblem of a rose flower. He pressed it up to his lips and whispered: “Thus kindly I scatter.” A gust of wind broke through in the office as the cowboy held his hat and the scientist’s lab coat bellowed in the wind. The gang leader sat in his chair and smirked as a flurry of rose petals scattered about and summoned the person he wanted: A boy cross-dressed as a character from a popular web show holding a red mechanical scythe. The two henchmen screamed and averted their eyes from them, giving out cries of “Grim Reaper!” “Greetings, Grim Reaper.” The leader said to him. The boy simply looked to the person. “Who’s my target this time?” Ross asked.
Golden Drive Arc 3: Who Am I Attracted To?Tonight was the first night I spent away from Soarin’s house. I discussed with him about leaving, and to my surprise, he seemed pretty chill with it. You’d think if your own idol is leaving your house after you invited them to stay, you’d go pretty psychotic and force them to stay. I was worried that he’d force me to stay at his place after what happened with Crush earlier in the day. However, when I brought the situation up to him, he said something about his superior telling him to overlook it. It didn’t feel right to me that he, or anyone for that matter, would over look something as major as “I’m gonna sleep in the place that a robot attack happened at.” Thankfully, the library provided a good place to test out the newly attained abilities of the Gold Drive system and allow me to take my mind off these concerns. I stared at the table where it contained a collection of all the Shift Cars, Signal Bikes, and even weapons I was able to summon with Gold Conversion. Well… almost all of them. For some reason, Lupin’s stuff and the Shift Fruits Car were unable to be summoned. Also, the cars belonging to the future Drive, the Next Shift Cars, were absent, but I disregarded them due to… well… being from the future. I sat there and constantly took pictures of the collection. If there was ever a chance I could go back home, I am so posting this on my Facebook. There were reasons for collecting them beyond testing the extent of the Gold Conversion. I always had a lingering thought in my head that if Banno and the Roidmudes are here, chances are that one of the other Riders might be here too. For a precaution, I used the Gold Conversion to summon the Shift Cars, including the ones that change types. If on some chance the other riders are here, they’re definitely gonna be looking for the Shift Cars. I’ll admit, this seems like a villainous thing to do, hold the Shift Cars hostage and see if anyone shows up, but I’m not exactly sure where anyone is. The only Roidmudes I managed to fight so far are ones I bump into or were actively looking for Banno. Chances are, I’ll lure the other Riders by the latter method. Now what to say to them once they find me and the Shift Cars? “Oh hey, sorry for kidnapping your cars, I just wanted you to come here so I can talk to you! Oh, don’t mind the evil black-colored belt with the face of your sworn enemy on it, please?” I shudder to imagine what’d happen if Gou of all Riders was the one to find me. Chase might be one to understand me, though I’m not sure how Shinnosuke would handle it with Krim. I’m not even sure if they would even be there. I wonder if there were other people like me who bought whatever toy that Zoloto douche had for sale and got teleported here. Maybe they are the Mach, Drive or Chaser I’ll come across. I had multiple ideas of just who or what would also be in this world. So I decided to put the Shift Cars in one place for safe keeping. There was, however, a third reason I summoned them. “Alright Banno, it’s show time. Henshin.” I turned on the ignition key and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno turned around and looked ahead. He saw that the library had been arrayed where walking in a straight line would be impossible. Bookshelves had been rotated, books had been piled on, and even the tables acted as make shift hurdles for him to overcome. He broke off into a stride. The first obstacle in his path was a table. He simply slid under the table. Turning the key, he summoned the Dimension Cab as I took over. I quickly plug the cab into the brace and flung a portal in front of the bookshelf that was in my way. I jumped through and came out on the other side. I continued to run. I leaped over a small pile of books as I turned the key in mid-air. Fire Braver came to me as Banno tagged in. Taking out the cab and putting in the truck, he created a golden energy ladder-arm to vault himself over a larger pile of books and launched himself up onto the second floor of the library. Banno took a moment to breathe. We cleared my portion of the obstacle course. Now it was his. He turned the key as Midnight Shadow came to me. I grabbed it and in no time, I heard the sound of a tennis ball shooter humming as its familiar PFOOT PFOOT PFOOT sound rang out. I tossed several energy shurikens towards the balls, each of them puncturing the balls. I bobbed and weaved through the hail of tennis balls as I continued to attack them with my shurikens. I turned the key. For this course, Banno encouraged me to use my imagination for which Shift Car to use to stop the ball machine. I chose one as it rolled over to Banno. He grabbed it and inspected the road roller. “Rolling Gravity?” He asked. He chuckled and placed it into the Shift Brace. He created a golden version of the 10-Ton Weight and lobbed it towards the machine. As it dropped, it created a small bubble where the balls were slowed and began to drop to the ground. Banno ran over and shut off the machine, which was also slowly hovering. He counted down as he turned the key. Another Shift Car and the Door Gun came to my hands. As I began to control my body, a stream of fire came blasting at my face. I took the Shift Car that he summoned and placed it into the gun with almost no idea of what it is I got. To my relief, the gun shot an arctic breeze that stopped the fire and froze both the lighter and the aerosol can that caused it. I yanked them off their strings for good measure. I turned the key as Hooking Wrecker came to me. Banno grabbed it and activated it. He created an energy hook to lasso himself off from the second floor and right onto the final portion of the obstacle course. Before him was a table. On the table was a bunch of broccoli. He stood and looked at it. He tapped his foot and tapped his finger onto his wrist. He became idle for a moment before the transformation cancelled. “What the hell is this!?” Banno asked me. I picked up the broccoli. “The final portion of the test! You just had to pick up the broccoli!” I said. “What kind of test is that!? We were doing so well on the previous obstacles!” Banno said. “Yeah! They required us to use Shift Cars to fit the situation. However, there’ll be times where we won’t be able to use Shift Cars and we won’t have time to discuss our battle plan. We just have to learn to trust each other’s instincts and know what we want without communicating them.” I said. “Mmmph… You make a good point. Anyways, I think we should clean up before that teacher gets here.” Banno said. I checked the time. 7:00 AM. Usually by this time, the teachers would have come to the school already, especially the one Banno’s talking about. I checked the doors. They don’t seem to be open, and no one seemed to be walking towards them. Highly strange considering the teacher works the library like she’s the librarian of the place. “Y-yeah. We should.” I said. I transformed back as we hurried to clean the library. Having the ability to slow down time around you made doing chores a breeze. Once we were done cleaning up, Celestia called me over to her office. No doubt she wanted to know about the disaster that happened yesterday, especially when I saw Soarin’ and an officer I didn’t recognize in her office as well. I opened the door. “You asked for me, Principal?” I asked her. “Yes. I’ve called the police on a very important matter. One I have taken heavy concerns over.” Welp, game over, man, game over. I look to Soarin’ as he gave me a sheepish smile. I gulped as the other cop, a yellow skinned woman with orange hair that was spiked up to resemble a burning fire, took out a folder and laid it on Celestia’s table. She opened up the folder and I sighed as it was not of the destroyed cafeteria, but rather of a pink-skinned woman with purplish pink hair. The librarian. “Celestia has filed a missing persons report on one Cheerilee, a teacher here at this school.” She said. “If you’re going to ask me where I was, I was-” I tried to explain, but Soarin’ held his hand up. “Discussing about moving out. I filled Spitfire in on the details.” He said. “Don’t worry. You’re not here for questioning.” Celestia said. “She was meant to take the kids of her art class out on a field trip to the art museum to see the newest sculpture exhibit that just opened. With her absence, I was considering asking you to sub for her.” “W-what!? Me? But I just became a teacher yesterday!” I stuttered. “I know. Your experience is like that of a substitute’s. You’ll fit in fine.” Celestia said. “But who will substitute me?” I asked. Celestia simply smiled. “I asked my sister Luna to handle that.” Celestia said. I looked at Celestia’s sun-styled pin and I almost had half a mind to face palm as I realize just what her sister’s name would entail. It’s sad that ‘Luna’ is the most sensible name and it still somehow fitted into a theme of sorts. “Your class is waiting for you out in the parking lot.” She said. “Well, guess I better get going…” As I turned around, that’s when Spitfire spoke up. “There is something else I wish to discuss. Another missing person. A student of yours by the name of Sunny Glenway.” I turn to look as Spitfire held a photograph of a bald man. The very same bald man I killed yesterday. I backed up into a wall as I saw it. “Care to tell me what happened with him? Or what the deal was with the damage in the cafeteria?” Spitfire asked. “Well… I…” I closed my eyes. I almost expected Banno to bail me out. That’s when I heard the door open. Suddenly, Spitfire’s tone of voice changed. “C-chief!” I opened my eyes. “Spitfire, don’t pester the professor with your interrogations. She has little to no involvement in the incident yesterday. Besides, I’m personally looking into the reports. I thought I told you and Soarin’ this when we first heard about the cafeteria incident.” He said. “W-well, you know how Spitfire is… She’s pushy and determined to know the truth… and…” Soarin’ leaned in to whisper to the chief. “She never smiles.” That’s when he got elbowed in the back. “I heard that!” Spitfire said. The chief sighed. “Spitfire, I know how much you want to get to the bottom of this, but rest assured, I’ll find this out myself. I don’t need you or any member of the force getting into something you may not comprehend. I already had to excuse Wind Rider the other day.” He said. That’s when I had a gnawing sense of doubt in my head. “Of course, my apologies, Mr. Tachibana.” Boom. As soon as she said that, my head snapped to see the chief. He was around fifty or so years old, balding, seemed to have let himself go despite the cleaned up police uniform, and the shocking part of it all: his skin color was normal. Tachibana looked to me with a grin while I just stood there, my bottom jaw shivering and just close to chattering with the upper jaw. Tachibana stepped out of the way to allow Soarin’ and Spitfire out. I look to Celestia as she just smiled and waved. I stepped out as Tachibana followed me. When we were far away from the others and alone, I stopped and got ready to turn the ignition. “Alright, let’s get down to business, Judge. Hen-” I said. “Relax. I’m not here for Banno or you.” Tachibana said. I stopped. “You’re not?” I asked. I turned around as he shook his head. “I’m merely here to clean up the mess that Crush made. Some Roidmudes are more… fussier than others. What we do is based around subtlety, and we can’t have that when they turn an entire school upside down.” He said. “… Why are you really here? You’re outing yourself and expect me to just accept that you’re corrupting the cops?” I look to him. I remembered this vigilante Roidmude, hunting down and killing criminals to lure out another criminal to fulfill his template’s desire for revenge. The mere idea of him taking a similar role to 001 and corrupting the officials from the inside was enough to churn my stomach. “Well, I noticed how involved you are with one of my officers.” Tachibana said. “Rest assured, I moved out of his house. I now have little to do with him.” I said. Tachibana just smiled and nodded. “Good. Stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.” Tachibana said. He walked away. As he did, I asked him. “Miss Cheerilee… her disappearance wouldn’t have anything to do with the Roidmudes, right?” I asked. Tachibana chuckled. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?” He said. I was now left with what I could possibly consider a clue. ‘Find out for myself.’ I shuddered as I thought to myself of the fact that I’m going to an art museum. If that was meant to confirm that, yes, Roidmudes are there, then I know exactly who I’m gonna confront. “010?” Banno asked as we were on the bus. The loud motor followed by chattering students muffled our communication, which made our discussion much easier to convey. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure he has something to do with Cheerilee’s disappearance.” I said. “It’s a little odd of you to pick out a specific Roidmude out of the 108. Then again, given your past assumptions, I cease to be surprised.” Banno said. At that moment, I gulped. I knew where he was going to go with this. “Your assumption of 001 corrupting the police coupled with your shockingly accurate guesses of which Roidmude is which has me a bit suspicious of your knowledge. Not to mention the fact that you also know of our demise.” Banno said. “… If you want an explanation, I’m not sure if the one I’ll give will make sense.” I said. How does one say to another: “Oh, yeah, I saw you on TV and I remembered how your son murdered you with an axe!”? Fortunately, the bus was close to arriving at the museum. “I’m not going to probe you for details just yet. Besides, you already have one person on your back for that.” Banno said. That’s when I remembered Applejack. I pulled out my phone and looked at the numbers. Among all the friends and family I have, I also had Applejack’s number, though I simply named her Jack, in case I ever get back to my world. Banno’s right about that. I know so much about the Roidmudes and Applejack just put herself on a first-to-know basis. I took out the phone and texted her: ‘Cheerilee’s disappearance is no coincidence. It’s a Roidmude plot. Will text more details later.’ Once that was done, the bus stopped and everyone rushed off the bus, save for one. Now, when I say she was white, I don’t mean in a racial way, like she’s Caucasian. I mean that she was literally white. Like, white as a sheet white. She had purple hair that curled out and I just knew from her posture that she’d have some sort of posh lady accent. “Professor Silverbolt…” Called it. “Thank you again for taking us in Cheerilee’s stead.” Remembering the ‘game’ I played, I knew she was Rarity. “No problem, Rarity. Anything for my newest favorite school in the state.” I said with a sheepish smile as I buttoned up my coat to hide Banno. I got off the bus along with my class. There, a man with glasses greeted me. The human-skin color now made me suspicious. So far the only human-skinned people were Roidmudes who didn’t bother to get a new body. However, the problem was that I couldn’t pin down what Roidmude he might be. Yes, he had glasses, but I would have known that he was Brain, one of the commanders of the Roidmudes, if I saw him with his handkerchief and had lighter brown hair. This guy lacked either of those. I shrugged it off. Maybe he’s an exception to the technicolored humans in this town. “Welcome! We’ve been expecting you, Canterlot High! My name is Michelangelo Jones. You must be here for my newly opened statue exhibit, yes?” He asked. “Y-yes.” I said. Well, his name isn’t Japanese like Tachibana’s, but his name sounded… too normal. For once, I thanked the cute quirk of everyone having weird names, since now it seems that the only normal names are the ones I should be afraid of. “Right this way!” He said. He walked into the museum as the rest of the students and I followed. As we entered the museum, I took a look at much of the paintings. None of them, absolutely none of them were of elegant women. Strange. If Paint was involved, he would have littered the place with- My eyes stopped to one painting. It was a painting of a white deer with golden antlers grazing in the middle of a dark forest. I felt drawn to the painting. I walked over and looked at it closely. I didn’t understand why I was so lured by a simple painting of a Bambi-reject. I looked at the background on the far left corner. It was a simple red dot. Why would the artist put a single red dot amidst the greens? I squinted my eyes. Seemed a bit of peach was mixed in with the greens as it surrounded the dot… almost like a face. “Ah! You like it?” A voice broke my concentration. Next to me was a guy, around the students’ age, in a brown sweatshirt and khaki pants. He also wore glasses and had normal brown skin. “The painting’s called ‘King of the Forest’. There’s actually a whole story behind the painting, if you’re interested in hearing about it.” He said. I shook my head. “Oh, thanks but I think I’m good.” I said. He simply nodded. “Okay. I understand.” He then took my hand and smiled. He leaned into my ear and whispered: “Please, enjoy your stay…” His voice resonated in my head as I felt a tad woozy. The person then walked over to the girls and continued his greeting, starting with Rarity. Before I could lean in for a closer listen, Michelangelo went up to me. “Ah, you’ve met Trenderhoof, I see.” He said. Trenderhoof… Aright, normal enough name for this place. He’s off the hook. “Yeah.” I said. “He’s such an amazing artist with his words. I’m proud for him to be my student.” He said. “With his words… You mean a writer?” I asked him. “Yes. But the way he writes, he paints with his words.” He holds his hand up towards the girls. “See, look how easily swayed the girls are! Only a passionate artist would be able to have that much sweet talking.” He said. As I looked at Trenderhoof clasping Rarity’s hand with his own, I felt a chill go down my spine. Especially once he leaned in and whispered to Rarity. “Though, personally, I wish for them to marvel at my handiwork.” With that, he took his leave as the girls smiled. I raised my eyebrow at how there seems to be only females in Cheerilee’s class, or at the very least, a majority. The two left as I breathed in. There was a lot for me to soak up. I clapped my hands. “So, who wants lunch?” I said. I think the first indicator that this is not my world, outside of everyone having technicolor flesh, was when, despite McDonald’s having a huge influence in fast foods, to the point where you couldn’t go an hour on the highway without encountering at least one by a truck stop, the closest thing I could find to a McDonald’s in the cafeteria was a clone called McGoofy’s. Kamen Riders seem to be no stranger to parallel universes. I never watched the show, but apparently there was one Kamen Rider show that dealt exclusively to parallel universes. I only knew the bare minimum of it because of a crossover he had with the first Rider I actually watched, Double. Other than it being a piece of crap according to Kamen Rider fans passing themselves off as critics, that’s all I know about that rider. Maybe if I had seen the show, I probably would have a better idea of the situation I was in with Banno and this world. As I thought about it, I stared at my alternate universe version of a Big Mac. Big Mac… I remembered Applejack’s oddly named brother. The thought of Applejack got me back to the phone. She hadn’t responded. Of course, she’s probably in class. I decided to text her the rest of the info. ‘I have reason to believe that a Roidmude is at the museum and that he’s converting women into paintings. I can handle it on my own.’ I stopped texting. I remembered how, when the police were hot on Roidmude 010’s trail, he stashed the paintings in a far off warehouse. If I flub up, chances are he’ll do it again with Cheerilee and possibly any others he had converted into paintings. I took a bite into my Big Mac and continued the text. ‘I might need back up. Namely transportation… if you have.’ I shouldn’t be asking my students for favors like this. Especially since I felt like I could put them in mortal danger. I’m not Fourze, damn it! I’m a mad scientist wearing a mad scientist as a belt! However, I didn’t want to risk losing to the Roidmudes just because I lacked a big fancy car to help he chase them down like the Tridoron, Drive’s vehicle. As I hit send, I could hear Rarity chatter about finding her prince charming. Oh God. “He was so dreamy! Oh, he was so romantic… he made my heart flutter.” Rarity said. I could hear similar talk from the other girls. Ugh, one of the many things I hate about high school: girls gushing over boys. “Gag me with a spoon.” I muttered. Rarity turned to me. “What was that?” She asked. I rolled my eyes. “Look, Rarity, I know you have this puppy love thing goin’ on and everything, but I’m pretty sure that Trenderhoof guy’s just some hipster playboy. Next thing you know, he’ll have the hots for a hick.” I said. Rarity looked to me with a dirty glare not unlike Applejack’s. “How dare you say that about Trenderhoof? He’s the handsomest man I have ever seen!” Rarity slammed her hands on the table. “You just met him today. For a minute. It’s like you want to marry him or something.” I said. “I do!” Rarity said. I resisted every urge to bash my head against the table, since I fear I’d get burger juice and sesame seeds all over my forehead on accident. “Rarity, do you honestly believe that fairy tale bull?” I said. “There’s more to love than just the cliché love at first sight. There’s dates, there’s getting parents’ approval, financial problems… I swear, if the crap you spout about love at first sight was true, there’d be a lot less divorce rates.” Rarity looked away. “Well, you just don’t know what love is like. He is to me what Prince Blueblood is to Princess Platinum!” She said. “The who to the what?” I muttered. Rarity sighed as she got up and took me by the arm. She proceeded to drag me out of the cafeteria and towards the paintings where I met Michelangelo. She pointed to the painting next to “King of the Forest”. It was an oil painting of two people dressed in royal clothing, dancing and waltzing like they were in some sort of Disney film. Both were white-skinned like Rarity, and in fact, one of them looked exactly like Rarity save for the dress and jewelry. The other was your generic Prince Charming with blonde hair. “It was a lovely yet tragic tale of two lovers, both from different kingdoms.” Rarity said. I immediately groaned. “Oh joy, it ends in a suicide pact, right?” I asked. I turned to Rarity, who just stared at the painting. “Uh, Rarity?” I asked. She just seemed to… zone out. She proceeded to turn away from me and walk like a zombie, following the crowd of the other class members. I shook my head. I instantly knew what was going on. But I was too late. “Follow me…” My legs picked themselves up as I felt pulled towards the others. “Come with me…” I tried moving every muscle in my body, but I couldn’t free my body from the control the voice had over me. It wasn’t like with Banno’s control, where I felt my body flex and move to every attack, but rather, it felt like I was a puppet and the voice was the puppeteer. … Voice. That was the Roidmude I’m fighting today, it seems. As were lead into the basement, I knew we weren’t alone. All the girls that Trenderhoof spoke to were there too. All of them standing and droning off. And yet, Trenderhoof was not to be found anywhere. I looked around for him. “Ah, welcome…” Of course, I knew he would take the form of my ideal man. I just didn’t realize that said ideal man would be Ryoma himself. “I’m thankful that you are here today.” This is not Ryoma, I thought. Even if it was his voice, it still wasn’t him. I knew it was someone else, even without knowing it was the Voice Roidmude using his powers to appear as my ideal man. Ryoma definitely had the charm of a mad scientist. This Ryoma spoke smoothly. The other Ryoma, the one I knew, spoke harsher and quicker. A sociopath at his finest. Not some cheap ass swindler. Despite this, I was still enamoured. I still admired his physique, his looks, and his devilish smile. And I wasn’t the only one who fell for this. Many of the other girls fawned to him. They called him by various names. Some of them names of students I had on my attendance list, like Flash Sentry or even Big Macintosh. Then Michelangelo walked in. “Alright, shall we get this show on the road then, Voice?” He asked the false Ryoma. “Not quite. I enjoy swindling these women… It’s nostalgic… Just a while longer, please?” He asked. Michelangelo tsk-tsked. “I know, but remember that what I do is nostalgic to me too. Tell them to make a pose.” He said. Well, the prick confirmed it. He’s Paint. I struggled to move my hands, but Ryoma simply looked at me and said: “Don’t fight it. It’ll be over shortly.” I grunted. I looked around as my arms sluggishly moved to a refined, folded position. To my surprise, there weren’t any signs of paintings of women. You’d think if I saw the Paint Roidmude in the flesh, his modus operandi, trapping women in paintings, would be highly noticeable. The only thing I found were statues. Statues of… Women… When I saw the stone statue of the librarian, a chill went up my spine as I saw a ghost of her trying to break out of her prison. “Help me…” Cheerilee whispered out to me. My body tried to shake itself awake. That’s when I noticed the one thing Voice didn’t freeze up: my mouth. “Snap out of it, girls!” I said to the crowd. “These two are nothing but monsters!” “Monsters. Heh… Oh, if Heart was around to hear this.” Michelangelo mused. He walked over to me and grabbed Banno. “Well, nothing you say will snap them out of this. We’ll be taking back our creator now.” He struggled to pull him out of my waist. “Difficult, isn’t it?” Banno said. Michelangelo let go of the Driver. “Well, taking you alive was a bust. Fortunately, our leader has made it so that we won’t need you for our survival. And considering how you accelerated our extinction at the hands of the real monsters… I figure I’ll save my brethren the trouble and destroy you myself.” He walked away. I could feel Banno tremble on my waist. “H-hey, stupid! You should start my engine already!” Banno spoke out. I figured having his life on the line would result in him losing his cool. As much as I would want to, my arms were frozen in place and I was unable to. The only thing I could probably do was shout a bit of banter. “The only monster I see is you, Paint!” I shouted to him. Michelangelo stopped. He snickered. “Paint? Is that what you want to call me?” He broke out into a fit of full-out laughter. “You mistook me for… my teacher?” He turned around and took off his glasses. Wait… Teacher? I could barely gasp as he transformed. He wasn’t the Paint Roidmude as I had realized. When his body transformed into his true form, I could see the resemblance of the Paint Roidmude. His left arm is comprised of nothing but tubes excreting gray clay that was connected to his robotic body. Instead of a painting in his chest, it was a face reminiscent of the Statue of David’s face. Everything else, from his piping to even his artist’s hat, was the same, save for the fact that his entire body was a silvery gray instead of gold. “I have become something more than my teacher. As it turns out, my talent wasn’t in drawing or painting for that matter.” I now remembered him. Roidmude 084. He was simply a minor, unadvanced Roidmude who worked with the Paint Roidmude as a student, only to be stopped and killed by Kamen Rider Drive. “Behold, my true talent! My… DESTINY!” He waved his arms as particles began to flash. The density shifted as gray strands began flying from the Roidmude’s clay hand to the girls, starting with Rarity. The strands fell onto the skin of them and began to harden like rock. The process was very slow, but it allowed me to see the anguish the girls were faced with as their control from the Voice Roidmude was taken away, only to notice that they were slowly being turned into stone. The Roidmude turned to me and chuckled. I was next. As soon as he was done turning some of the girls into stone, I would be next… and I would be killed. Just then… Clatter. A small, metal object fell onto the floor. My salvation. It took me five seconds for the vibrations and sound of the metal hitting the ground to snap me out of it, but once it did, the girls and I broke down into an insane, screaming fit. It was a flaw of the Voice Roidmude’s power. While he may have worked his hypnotic voice on us, it had the side effect of messing with our hearing, to the point where it’s now sensitive to something as simple as a fork clattering onto the floor would render us insane. And fortunately, insane was the best mood to be in right now. As I screamed and dropped to the ground, I flailed my arms in the right way so that they’d hit the ignition. Then I let Banno handle the rest. “Henshin!” Banno cried out as I transformed into Gold Drive. As Banno took over, my body stopped. This kind of feeling of being controlled by him, compared to how I felt being controlled by Voice, was much better. Even when he laughed, I was given a sense of calm, knowing that he would handle it. “You will pay dearly for even considering robbing the world of its greatest scientific mind!” Banno ran and threw a punch towards the Roidmude, only for a girl to run in the way of it and receive it instead. “You forgot I was here too?” I could see the illusion of Ryoma shatter and in its place, Trenderhoof. He transformed into the Voice Roidmude, a robotic body with his entire upper body filled with nothing but brass tuba-like horns. “If I may, Sculpt?” The Voice Roidmude called more girls to my area as they blocked me. Banno struggled and pushed them out of the way, only for more of them to dogpile him. “Pitiful women! They should be obeying me! Not the walking scrap!” Banno shouted. “I’m giving you a Shift Car. Use it!” Banno turned the ignition as the circuitry on Gold Drive’s chest lit up. A glowing orb with a slight digital look to it appeared from it and towards the Shift Brace. I saw its solar grid and instantly knew it was Burning Solar. I activated it and my entire body lit up with a flash. The girls instantly backed away as I ran towards the Voice Roidmude and decked him in the face. As I continued to, I slowly stopped. Because he asked for it. “Stop!” He said. And I did. “What are you doing? Don’t you remember the little time limit we have?” Banno asked. My fingers drooped towards the ignition. “No, don’t turn-” The Voice Roidmude tried to tell me, but I already turned it. Banno took back control as he continued to lay fist after fist onto the Roidmude’s face. That’s when I heard the screaming. As soon as Banno was done beating up the Voice Roidmude, he turned around and saw the Sculpt Roidmude finishing up on turning a quarter of the girls, Rarity included, into statues. Most of them had held their hands up in horror, others raised their arms mid-insanity, as if they were laughing. Banno himself chuckled. “I admire how you Roidmudes want to make humanity your toy… But I’m afraid to say that they, along with you, are my toys to do what I want. If you think you can simply take them away, you have another thing coming!” Banno tried to go after Sculpt, but suddenly, a sharp, painful gunshot hit us in the chest and we were knocked down. I looked to see where the gun was coming from as I heard the casing clatter onto the ground. I saw a mass of rose petals fall and scatter about as I saw a girl in a red cloak walking towards me, holding a familiar mechanical scythe. Upon closer inspection, I knew it wasn’t a woman. I recognized the man. It was Ross from the Con. “The Grim Reaper!” The two Roidmudes shouted. “Go… I’ll take care of the Kamen Rider.” Ross said. The two Roidmudes nodded and rushed off. The Sculpt Roidmude pressed his clay hand onto Rarity. She, along with the rest of the girls that were turned into statues, transformed into the gray strands and entered his hand as he ran off. Banno simply looked at Ross. “Banno! Go after them!” I said to him. “They called him the Grim Reaper. You know very well what that means.” He turned the ignition. Yes. I knew exactly what that meant. Roidmudes are known to get rowdy, like Crush and Iron. They’re also known to attract attention, like Paint and Sculpt. And so, a solution was made by their leader, Heart. They would have someone who would hunt down these rowdy Roidmudes and defeat them, allowing them to be reset by Banno. As necessity, this Grim Reaper had to be on par with the Roidmudes he fights… and by extension, the Kamen Riders that were also made to fight the Roidmudes. The Steering Sword flew to my hands. I knew that I couldn’t just walk away. I had to fight him. “So, you must be the Kamen Rider I was told to hunt down.” Ross said. “What the hell are you doing with the Roidmudes?” I asked him. “It’s like they said, I’m their Grim Reaper.” Ross said. “I know, but… why?” I asked. “Because this world needs a hero.” Ross said. “A hero… That’s a laugh…” Banno chuckled. “For once, I agree.” I readied my sword. “You’re really messed if you think those monsters are heroes.” I ran to him with my sword in hand. He smirked and fired off a round from his scyth- wait he used his scythe as a gun? Oh, right… It was also a gun. Sadly, I realized this too late, as he used the recoil to fly towards me. He swung his scythe at me. As it connected with my armor, he swung around again, connecting. He repeated this in the span of six seconds, with six blows landed per second. He leaped over and choked me with the blade end of his scythe. “I know.” He muttered before he fired. With the force of the recoil, he went into a drop kick. He knocked me back and onto the ground as I heard the clatter of another casing. I turned the ignition. Banno got up as he got the Zenrin Shooter, a gun where it had a motorcycle’s front wheel as a sort of blade. He fired at Ross, though he struck the bullets away with his scythe at a blinding speed. That’s when I noticed that the particles have returned to their normal form. They had been since Voice and Sculpt went away. “Banno, you thinking what I’m thinking?” I told him. “Oh yes...” Banno turned the ignition as the circuit tire turned on and flashed. The particles shifted again and now Ross was under Slowdown. “Now let’s get out of here and-” I ran off… Only for Ross to strike me. “Sorry, but that won’t work on me.” Ross spoke, not in that shocked way that victims of Slowdown would undergo, but rather in a normal way. That’s when I realized… He was able to land so many blows on me in the span of six seconds… He flew towards me and blocked the shots in no time… “Banno… I think he…” I muttered. “To be able to move during a Slowdown without access to a Core Driviar… H-he has super speed?!” Banno blurted it out. “Call it… my Semblance.” He ran, though it was here I noticed that his fighting was significantly slower than before. He was still able to move, though at a pace where we would be able to fight him on a more fair level. I turned the ignition to summon a weapon capable of handling the scythe. A long blade on the end of a stick? Well, time to say hello to the Signal Ax… Though as soon as the ax came to Banno, he dodged out of the way as the ax impacted onto the ground and stuck there. “Gaah!” Banno shrieked. “Relax! It’s not going to kill you! … Again.” I muttered. I should have realized that Banno would probably still have memories of meeting his end with that weapon. I could hear Banno growl as he hesitated in picking up the ax. “Hmph. Just be sure that it’s nowhere near me, okay?” Banno said. With both the Signal Ax and Zenrin Shooter, he swung the weapons at Ross. He blocked it with the shaft of his scythe. He pushed up and knocked Banno away. With two heavy swings from his scythe, he slashed at the armor and kicked up a huge amount of sparks from the armor. He proceeded to aim and fire two sniper rounds at him. The last shot blew him away. He landed on the wall behind him, cracking a bit as he fell down. “That’ll do it for today.” Ross walked off while the Gold Drive armor canceled out. As I got up, I noticed something. There was nothing irritating my ears. No swindling voice, no metal ringing, nothing. I looked around and noticed the various discarded bullet casings. That’s when I gripped my hand. I felt full, complete control again. No longer was I Voice’s puppet. I chuckled. “Now, I am free. There are no strings on-” Before I could even finish that quote, I heard a muffled scream coming from the Cheerilee statue. I ran and checked behind. It was Trenderhoof. But… didn’t Trenderhoof- Right, Roidmudes can copy people. Forgot that. Trenderhoof seemed to be bound and gagged like a typical damsel in distress… if said damsel was a dude. Well, regardless of gender roles, I untied him. “Th-Thank… Wait… Professor Silverbolt! Oh thank God!” Trenderhoof suddenly grappled me. That’s when I noticed that Trenderhoof wore a different sweatshirt. The copy wore something that was brown and akin to a turtleneck, while this one wore a simple, purple vest-style sweatshirt. The make of the shirt reminded me a lot of how my school uniforms were designed. “I-I’m not… Look, you’re safe now and-” “What were you doing with those students from Canterlot High? Were those rumors of you transferring to them true?” Trenderhoof asked me. “Yes, now shut up. I need you to call the authorities, let them know that a man named Michelangelo Jones kidnapped a dozen girls. I’ll handle the rest.” I said. Before Trenderhoof could say anything, I ran off, only to trip over something. I got up and saw what was on the ground… It was a padlock. No. The lock was bulky… big enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I gripped it… I had felt this same feeling before. It was roughly bigger than a Lockseed, a collectable toy that was in Kamen Rider Gaim. I dropped it to the ground. Clatter. It was that exact same noise that drove me mad and broke me from Voice’s hold. I picked it up, though this time I gripped it harder. I could feel my face freezing into a smile. I felt… genuinely enjoyed by this. I wasn’t sure why. At least until my mind flashed to something. I could see my hands hovering over something that looked exactly like the Lockseed I held. Huge compared to normal Lockseeds and lacked a fun, colorful front, instead showing raw bits of metal and wiring. I saw one of my hands reaching for a screwdriver and the other reaching for what seemed to be the metal frame for the Lockseed. I place the frame onto the Lockseed and screw it into place. The plate was all black save for a center that was molded into a red rose. That’s when I could see the serial number: L.V.-02. I soon see myself pick up the Lockseed and tossing it to a man with a goatee and a bowler hat wearing a black waistcoat. “Here you go, Sid. Now, I presume these kids will be able to test it properly?” It was at this point that I realized that I was remembering a memory that wasn’t mine. “You’re underestimating them. These punks are highly competitive. All I have to do is say that this is part of a new game and they’ll use these in no time.” Sid said as he held that Lockseed together with another, white and pink Lockseed. As he walked off, the picture faded away… And I was back to looking at the unfinished Lock Vehicle. I looked around. Trenderhoof was gone. Must have went to call the cops already. I ran off as well. Who knows how much time I’ve wasted looking at the Lockseed. As I left the museum, I spotted a red pick-up truck pull into the parking lot. The window slid down and I saw Big Macintosh behind the wheel. “Hop in.” Big Mac said. Just then I heard a buzzing. I pulled out my cellphone. Yep. It’s Applejack. ‘Okay. Big Mac’s on his way. You’re lucky that he left school early to tend to Granny.’ I nod and got into the car as Big Mac drove off. I looked out to see if there were any Roidmudes running about, though I failed to see any. Then I noticed a similar pickup truck. Its back was filled with the statues of the girls. “Hey, follow that truck!” I told Mac. He complied and chased after the truck. I could see one of the Roidmudes, Sculpt, emerged out, transformed into his Roidmude form, and fired off a chunk of hardened clay at us. Big Mac drove out of the way and skidded right into a ditch. Fortunately, we were unscathed, though the popping of the airbags made me jump. I looked outside and saw the truck slowly speeding away. I turned to Big Mac, who checked himself to see if there were any injuries. “No. I don’t want to drag innocents into this.” I muttered. “So, we’re giving up? Alright. Let the Roidmudes get away with their prizes. We’ll live another day.” Banno piped up. However, I clutched onto the Lockseed. “No. We’re not giving up. Banno, this thing I hold is incomplete, but I know what it is. It’s a vehicle.” I said. “Hm… So, you want me to program it, so to speak?” Banno asked. “Yes. I’m just not sure if we’ll have the time to create it.” I said. Banno simply chuckled. “You underestimate me. Transform, and I’ll have this device ready to use in five seconds.” Banno said. “And then what?” I asked. My mind flashed back to his declaration of world domination again. “I wouldn’t mind cleaning up those loose ends. After all, they nearly killed us. I don’t want them to try again and succeed.” Banno said. “… Alright. Henshin.” I said. I turned the ignition and became Gold Drive. I ignored Big Mac giving me a wide-eyed stare, and Banno possibly did the same. Banno held the Lockseed, then clutched it hard with his left hand. I saw golden energy surge from his left forearm towards his hand. The light enveloped the Lockseed as he continued to clutch it, to the point of crushing force. Eventually, the Lockseed was nothing but glowing bits of gold data. However, it was only for a brief while before the light faded. In its place was a new Lockseed I have never seen before. Put up on the front was a metal frame resembling a sunflower. The center, however, had a wheel instead. Printed on one of the metallic petals was L.V.-05, printed in the same style as the other Lock Vehicles, with a slash through the words as though it was cut with a sword. As with most Lockseeds, this had the hook part of the lock on the very top, and a button on the side to activate it. Banno turned the ignition as I took over. I looked over to Big Mac again. “You good?” I asked. “Eeeeyup.” Big Mac quickly nodded. “Good. Call the cops. I’m closing this case.” I got out of the car. Without any further time to lose, I popped the Lockseed open and tossed it into the air. The Lockseed transformed into an ATV the size of Big Mac’s truck. The petals of the sunflower formed to make guards for the four wheels, while the hook became more or less its hood. I got onto it and drove off onto the highway where the Roidmudes were getting away. The highway was conveniently empty for this chase. Though, I hardly remembered the Kamen Riders ever getting stuck in traffic. However, about a minute into the drive, I switched over to Banno. As I did, I summoned a trio of Shift Cars. “So, I see you’ve noticed my modification to this vehicle?” Banno said. I nodded as I spotted something on the dashboard. Something that even Ryoma Sengoku couldn’t add to the Lock Vehicle: Shift Car capability. On the dashboard were three slots for Shift Cars, arranged in a triangle. Banno looked to the side where the Shift Cars were catching up to him. He chuckled as he saw a red sports car, a black buggy, and a green garbage truck. “Exactly. Let’s see what we can use.” I said. The Shift Cars leaped up into the dashboard and plugged into their slots. “SPEED! WILD! TECHNIC! ENGINE EXTENSION!” I shudder as I heard Banno’s voice announcing the Shift Cars. It felt… unnatural. I heard the roar of the engine as Speed was called up first. “SPEED!” The engine revved up as the highway and the blue sky blurred together. Before I know it, we were pulled up right next to the Roidmudes, who properly freaked out. “GAH! Kamen Rider! What happened with the Grim Reaper!?” Voice asked. I saw him behind the wheel. “Your precious Grim Reaper does what all dumb villains do: leave without landing the final blow!” Banno said with a laugh. “H-he what!?” Voice said as Sculpt held his hand out and grabbed my hand. My hand slowly turned into stone. “WILD!” Banno rammed the ATV next to the pickup truck and knocked Sculpt’s hand off with the knock back. He drove into the truck again and caused it to careen over. It crashed into the railing as the Roidmudes got out. The truck flipped over, taking the statues with it. “TECHNIC!” Two mechanical tentacles, much like Banno’s own tentacles that he would use in the show, sprung out and grabbed the statues before it settled them down. Banno got out of the car and turned on the ignition for me. I saw the two Roidmudes in front of me. I cocked a grin. They’re going along for the ride. I pressed the red button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER!” Banno announced. “… W-what did I just say?!” Banno asked. I ignored him and crouched. Gold energy built up into my right leg as I broke into a sprint and leaped in the air. “FULL THROTTLE!” I extended my right leg and Rider Kicked the first Roidmude I saw, Sculpt. As soon as my foot made contact, his body exploded. As the smoke cleared, I noticed something: the lack of a Core. I looked to my right and saw why. Sculpt was running away. Hmph… Seemed I destroyed a copy. “H-hey! What about me!?” Voice shouted out. I grunted. “You’ll get your just desserts. Banno!” I said as I turned the ignition, giving him control of my body as three shift cars went his way. Banno ignored them and ran to Voice, feeding him punch after punch. By the third punch, Voice was knocked onto the pavement. Voice held out his right hand, which I recognize as a megaphone-like appendage. His hand emitted a loud sonic shrill that caused tiny sparks to explode on the pavement before hitting us. Banno stumbled back before he took the first Shift Car: Rolling Gravity. Rather than summon a ten-ton weight to lug around, Banno instead focused his golden energy into his fist and slammed it onto the ground. This golden energy created a shockwave that overpowered the sonic blast. As the shockwave hit Voice, a field of gravity kept him down as Banno switched out Rolling Gravity for Spin Mixer. It’s probably the first time I ever saw the Tire for the Shift Car appear. Each of the Shift Cars came with a Tire, though since me and Banno relied a lot on Golden Energy, a special type of power that super-evolved Roidmudes possessed, there wasn’t a time where we would need to switch out tires. Thankfully my body is numb when Banno controls me, as the Spin Mixer Tire came right for me and popped out the red circuitry off my chest. The Tire spun around as it spat out blobs of concrete. Voice, while in midair via the gravity well, fired off several sound blasts, though the blobs managed to collide with and destroy them. One of the blobs managed to get past the barrage and hit directly on his pseudo-arm cannon, sealing it shut. I could hear the sound trying to get out of his cannon. It got louder and louder. I also noticed that the cannon was getting bigger and wider. “Oh shi-” Before Voice could say anything else, his arm cannon exploded and he was now armless. Banno fired a few more blobs, essentially sticking him to the railing as the energy well dissipated. Banno switched out the Shift Car for Rumble Dump and he turned the ignition. It’s me now. Crap. Gotta have to think of a cool one liner… “Silence is golden, wouldn’t you agree, Banno?” Well, it’s the thought that counts. I pressed the button on my Shift Brace. “Yes, I would agre- THE FINISHER! S-seriously!? I put in that feature in there?!” I couldn’t help but snicker, but I had to defeat the Roidmude. I leaped up in the air as the Spin Mixer Tire went away and the circuitry returned. Doing the same thing to the Sculpt Roidmude, I preformed the signature attack of all Kamen Riders, the Rider Kick, though this time, there was a golden energy drill attached to my foot. “FULL THROTTLE! RUMBLE DUMP!” I couldn’t resist shouting it out: “RIDER ROCKET DRILL KICK!!!” I shouted as I held one arm out as if it had a rocket attached to it. The drill bore into the Roidmude before his body broke down and blew up. I backflipped and landed on my feet as his Core, 030, floated a bit before it blew up. I turned around to the statues as my transformation cancelled out. “Putting the switching feature was one thing, but the habit of announcing crap like ‘The Finisher’ and ‘Full Throttle’!?” Banno, however, was rambling. “Hey!” I managed to shut him up. “Let’s take these guys back to the museum. If Sculpt’s modeled after Paint, these girls will break out in a short while.” I said. Banno sighed as we got onto the ATV and activated Technic again to carry the statues. As I arrived back, the police were already there. No sign of Tachibana, however. Soarin’, however, was there. As was Spitfire. Great. I drove the ATV away from the museum. I really wouldn’t want to explain to the snippy police officer what I was doing with near perfect statue recreations of real people and why they suddenly broke free and became real people. I was quite surprised that I was able to find a warehouse so close to the museum. I stopped by and dropped off the statues. I looked and admired the ATV. “Sweet. My very own ride. Well, obviously I’ll get a ride. I’m a Kamen Rider after all.” I chuckled. “And to think we’d spend our time carpooling with that cowgirl’s family.” Banno said. “So… what other neat stuff you put in there? A twelve stroke engine?” I hopped onto the ATV to get another feel for it. “They don’t make twelve stroke engines, idiot.” Banno said. “Hey, you’re a genius that made intelligent robots who take human forms and slow down time. I’d figure you’d at least do something no one else did with an ATV.” I said. “I did! I scrimped and salvaged the mechanics I found in the device you gave me and added in Krim’s designs! I even added in Shift Car capability to make up for the lack of a Core Driviar. Are you questioning my intelligence?” Banno asked. “No… I’ll have to say, you did a mighty fine job with this, and I thank you. This is definitely the broccoli I asked you to pick up.” I patted the ATV. “Though it’s a sunflower… Needs a name… Oh! SunDriver! G-Get it? It’s a sunflower, but I’m Kamen Rider Gold Drive, so I’m really a Driver?” I said. Banno groaned. “I was going to appreciate your compliment, but now I wonder if I should let you remain in my world once I take it over.” Banno said. The sense of dread took over any joy I had with the newly attained Lockvehicle. “And how, pray tell, do you hope to achieve that?” I asked. “Whoever brought the Roidmudes back also brought me back too. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that he would bring back the Sigma Circular as well.” Banno said. I began to remember something. The Roidmudes I faced kept everything. Their personality, their forms, even the humans they copied… It wouldn’t be any stretch to ask: “So, you expect that the Roidmudes would retain their Super Evolutions?” The level beyond mere Evolution. A golden version of their old, Advanced forms. “Exactly! We may have five Super Evolved Roidmudes to power up the Sigma Circular, maybe more! Think of the possibilities! If this is all possible, we could rule everything twice over! Assuming you want to be on my good side…” Banno said. I gripped onto the handlebar of the ATV. How could Banno be so stupid to think that I would join his side in world domination? Before I could counter-argue, I heard the sound of stone cracking. I had the SunDriver set down the statues as they cracked open. They faded away as I saw the girls be free. I immediately went to Rarity first. “Ugh… my head…” She looked to me as she held her head. “Darling, can you tell me what just happened? All I remember was talking to you about my love for Trenderhoof.” She asked. “Oh, well, we just went out for some air. That’s all.” Good thing Applejack wasn’t around. Otherwise she’d throttle me. "This far ahead? We really should get going to the museum. I'm pretty sure school was over an hour or two ago." By the time we went back the museum, the sun was setting. I went over to the police… That’s when I saw Trenderhoof. Talking with Spitfire. Crap. Crap. Crap. “Alright, so a robot came to you when you were at the museum… then became you, taped you up, and threw you into the basement?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah! That’s what happened!” Trenderhoof said. Spitfire just shook her head and took out the handcuffs. “I’m taking you in.” Spitfire said. “F-For what!?” Trenderhoof asked. “Outright making up stories to the police. We better get the true story when we interrogate you.” She said. Before I could intervene, Big Mac came up too. “It’s true.” Big Mac simply said. Double Crap. “Oh? And how do you know?” Spitfire turned to him. “They wrecked my truck.” He pointed to a tow-truck behind him as it carried his pickup. Next to Big Mac was Cheerilee, sipping from a cup of coffee as she nodded. Great, more people to talk about this Roidmude attack. "I remembered being at the museum ago before I saw Big Mac lead me away before I blacked out. But... I remembered being trapped..." She said. Spitfire glared to Big Mac. "I wasn't at the museum the night she vanished." Big Mac said. Trenderhoof piped up. "Yeah! I noticed that there was a statue that looked just like Cheerilee. But I was too busy being tied up by the robot me." Spitfire just groaned. “Can someone tell me what actually happened!?” Spitfire said. I stepped forward. I took a deep breath. “I can.” I said. Spitfire just glared. “Oh. Lovely. You just also happen to be involved in this incident too.” Spitfire said. “Professor Silverbolt! There you are! That’s the guy, officer. He freed me from the robot’s clutches!” Trenderhoof said. “… Really?” Spitfire looked to me. Her glare became less angry and more… tired. “Alright, Professor. Can you attest to the claims of… robot attacks?” Spitfire asked. “…” I bit my tongue. If I tell them the truth of Roidmudes, I’ll just be labeled as a crazy and probably be put in the looney bin. If I lie, it’ll bite me in the ass once the attacks start being more frequent… Especially since I know these Roidmudes enough for it to be an inevitability. Again, Banno’s advice helped. “Perhaps. When I arrived on the scene, there were no robots to be seen. However, with the possible advancements of science, you can’t just eliminate the possibility of robots existing just yet.” I said. “I can. And I will.” Spitfire said. Well, she’s living proof that you don’t need Freeze to muck up the police. “What I can tell you is that there were kidnappers in the museum. I managed to catch them in the act during a class field trip and I chased them out. They won’t be coming back anytime soon.” I said. “Oh… Well, aren’t you the little vigilante? Okay. If anyone’s being taken in, it’s gonna be you.” Spitfire readied her cuffs. Well, it’s Morton’s fork. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. “Spitfire, you know we don’t have any anti-vigilantism laws.” That voice. I gave a small sigh of relief as I smelled the juniper. Spitfire simply groaned. “Wind Rider, who invited you?” Spitfire asked. “No one. When I saw police cars piling onto the museum, I had to see what was up. And it seems I picked the right time too. Seems I’m not the only one who needs to be reminded of stuff.” Wind Rider said. “Besides, this whole robot story is exactly the same kind of story that the Apples had a couple of days ago.” “It doesn’t prove anything!” She said. “It does when the exact same thing happens. I overheard the whole thing. Boy, you said the robot copied your appearance, right?” Wind Rider asked. Trenderhoof nodded. “The incident at the Apples Residence had a robot copy the appearance of one of their legs. This is vital information to have, Spitfire. For someone as eager to dig up the truth, I’m surprised you didn’t piece this together. Besides, three different people are all saying the same thing. Pretty sure it's not one big collaborated story.” Wind Rider said. “Well… I…” Spitfire said. “With that said, I’ll take my leave before Soarin’ gets mad at me for doing your job. Again.” With that, Wind Rider walked off, but not before he patted me on the back. “Keep up the good work.” He said. I just smiled and nodded. Wind Rider’s being the sanest of the cops despite being a retired geezer. “I guess I’ll look further into this… Robot thing. Don’t think this isn’t over.” Spitfire then went up into my personal space, to the point where our noses touched. “We’ll cross paths again, and next time, no one will be bailing you out.” After a brief push from her face, she stormed off. Rarity then approached me and looked at Trenderhoof. “Hmph. You’re a Crystal Prep student? I should have known better than to adore you.” She said. “W-wait, what!?” Trenderhoof exclaimed. “I can’t believe I fell for a pitiful excuse like you! I wouldn’t date you if you were the last man on Earth!” With that, Rarity turned around as I followed her. “You’re right, Professor Silverbolt. Love isn’t just what it was cracked up to be.” She said. Suddenly, I had the weirdest urge to laugh. What’s scary was that Rarity laughed along with me… as if on cue. My body shivered. This random burst of laughter could be the work of another Roidmude. However, for a moment, the laughter died down and I could breathe again. That’s when I saw Soarin’ with another officer. The latter held a ziplock bag containing the bullet shells that came from Ross during our duel… That’s when I thought of something. “Banno… Suddenly I doubt our Grim Reaper is dumb…” Sculpt ran out of breath and stopped. He was pretty sure that Gold Drive would not go after him. It was night time now. He was near a closed up shop. Humans need sleep, right? That’s when he heard someone approach him. “Sculpt…” Sculpt turned around and saw a middle-aged man in a police uniform approach him. It was for a brief moment before his body morphed into a black-colored Roidmude with green lines going down both the right side of his face and his right arm. The left side of the Roidmude’s face was a recreation of a human’s face. “J-judge!” The Sculpt Roidmude fidgeted as Judge rested a black and green stick on his shoulder. “How’s the work on infiltrating the police?” “Difficult. Especially when you have to constantly cover up your allies’ mistakes.” Judge tapped the stick repeatedly on his shoulder. “A shame Freeze isn’t around. He would have ensured your hijinks would go unnoticed.” As Judge closed in, Sculpt held up his hand. “Rest assured, my hijinks resulted in our enemies making a mistake! I know the host of Gold Drive! If we inform the others, we’ll be able to kill her and take back our creator!” Sculpt said. Judge just chuckled. “Nice try. But I’m afraid your bargaining chip isn’t effective. I know who Gold Drive is too. And even if I lacked that information, it still doesn't excuse your ruthlessness!” Judge began to beat the Roidmude with his stick as electricity sprang from it and zapped the Roidmude. Two hits later and Judge knocks the Sculpt Roidmude onto the ground. As Sculpt struggled to get up, he saw rose petals drifting down. He looked up and saw the red-hooded Reaper standing on the rooftop of the building they were in front of. “The Grim Reaper’s here! Now you’re gonna get it!” Sculpt laughed. “Grim Reaper! Help me! This Roidmude is trying to kill me!” He shouted to Ross. That’s when Judge laughed. “H-hey! What’s so funny?” He asked. “You think he’s after me? Why do you think we have a Grim Reaper in the first place?” Judge looked to the Roidmude before he morphed back to his human guise. “To make sure rowdy Roidmudes like you don’t drag the rest of us down.” Tachibana looked up to Ross and gave a quick nod. Ross vanished, leaving behind several rose petals. The Sculpt Roidmude turned and tried to run, only for him to see Ross standing in front of him. Ross slashed overhead at the Sculpt Roidmude. As the hit landed, he swung the Crescent Rose around and struck him again. And again. And again. And again. Each strike came from a new direction. He even placed in a few shots to the Roidmude’s head, by that point, it was overkill. He barely gave the Roidmude time to counterattack. He planted the scythe on the ground and fired one more shot. It knocked the Roidmude into the air. Ross leaped into the air and for a brief moment, he stayed in the air and readied his scythe for one final slash as the moonlight shined brightly. He fell right into the path of the oncoming Roidmude and ran his blade through him. As he landed, the Sculpt Roidmude didn’t scream. His body broke apart into rose petals as his Core simply fluttered out of it. “Nice job.” Tachibana patted Ross on the shoulder. Ross gave a brief smile as the Core floated upwards. “Nice job!? He let the Kamen Rider get away! I saw the Rider chase us down! Voice died because our Grim Reaper didn’t finish off the Kamen Rider!” Sculpt said. Ross just stood there before he smirked. “I just thought a few attacks would render her unable to fight. Seems she’s tougher than I thought.” Ross said. That’s when Sculpt’s core noticed the casings fired from the Crescent Rose. “No… You didn’t… You broke Voice’s control over the Kamen Rider on purpose, didn’t you!? You… You traitor! Wait until I tell this to the boss!” The Core tried to float away before Tachibana took out an iPad. “Unfortunately, you’re slated to be reset.” He said. “Judge! This human maybe assisting the Kamen Rider in killing our brethren! Are you just going to allow him to get away with that?” Sculpt’s core, 084, said. “You are just as guilty, are you not? You left Voice to die, after all.” Judge held up the iPad as the Core began to get sucked not it. “Judge… Have you really betrayed us!?” These were the last words 084 said before it got sucked into the iPad. Tachibana put it away and looked to Ross. “I’ll see to it that 084 will forget about your involvement. But be warned. I might be able to cover the Roidmudes’ attacks, but I can’t cover yours. You screw up, and I won’t be there to save you.” Tachibana said. Ross thought back to what Kelly said to him: “You’re really messed if you think those monsters are heroes.” Ross looked to Tachibana who nodded and walked off. Ross collapsed the Crescent Rose and put it on his back. As he followed him, he thought of his retort: “That’s why I’m here. To make it better.”
Golden Drive Arc 4: Why Does Rainbow Dash Idolize Me?Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off as a Phys-Ed teacher instead of a professor. I mean, yeah, lab coat doesn’t make for a good athletic outfit, but my experience as Gold Drive is only improving. Yeah, I’m learning a bit more about teaching weird science, but eventually that Bill Nye DVD is gonna fine a nice comfy home in the DVD player for the next week or two while I waste valuable time sitting in class. Phys-Ed is more my turf. Hitting things, running, jumping. Heck, it’s encouraged that you’d throw in a game of dodgeball. Best. Job. Ever. Well, I say this now as I observed the track and field. Not that I had a choice. It was, unfortunately, one of those days where the Roidmudes decided to hunt me down. “Alright, let’s take her out on a spin!” I said as I rolled out the SunDriver across the Canterlot High soccer field. Fortunately, I was able to have the upper hand thanks in part to the SunDriver. Though, that said, while it has Shift Car capabilities, it’s unable to hook up to the Ride Boosters, sidecars that would hook onto Drive’s own ride: The Tridoron. This is possibly in part due to me not being able to find said Ride Boosters. A shame, as the Roidmude attacking me was a Bat-Type. Those guys are pretty flighty. I know this because it lacks an Advanced Form. Because of this, I can see his Core printed on his chest: 051. Banno tagged out for me in trade for using the Zenrin Shooter, though even with that, I was unable to hit him and knock him down. “Didn’t my son have some sort of Shift Car to use for this sort of situation?” Banno asked. “Signal Bike, and yeah! Let me tag out.” I turned the ignition and swapped out for Banno as a green, dirt bike styled device rolled up to him. He took it and put it in to the Shift Brace. He fired at the Roidmude. As the gold bullets began to curve, it seemed like they’d clip his wings, at least, but the Roidmude did a barrel roll and dodged out of the way. “Hmph. Smart one.” Banno continued to fire several gold bullets, but it seemed the Roidmude was unable to be hit. Banno switched out as another Signal Bike entered my hand, as well as a Shift Car. I noticed the clown-like design on it. Amazing Circus. However, it wasn’t summoned directly to me, but rather just went about its business, setting up a ramp for my ATV to ride up from planks of wood that it had on its back cargo. I prepared myself for launch as I loaded the next Signal Bike, a yellow sports bike with a pretty large STOP sign. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! STOP!” I was launched into the air and with one swing of my arm, I fired a stream of lasers towards the Roidmude. I managed to score a direct hit on both of his wings as he spiraled down into the field. That’s when I saw that he was about to crash into a crowd of about five people practicing soccer by the other side of the field. “CRAP!” I said. “Hang on! I got it!” Someone said. I then heard someone kick a soccer ball right to the Roidmude. The soccer ball knocked the Roidmude out of the way and onto the ground. I sighed in relief as the Roidmude got up and stumbled in a dizzy fit. “Alright, let’s finish this!” I switched controls to Banno as a blue Formula-1 Shift Car came to Banno’s hand. He placed the Shift Car into the Engine Dash. “FORMULA! ENGINE EXTENSION!” The SunDriver roared to life as it managed to pick up lots of speed. Soon, I could hear the wind whistle as my car managed to lift up a bit. I could almost see the wind get a blue hue to it. I speeded towards the Roidmude and rammed it with full force, destroying him and reducing his Core to nothing more than a smear on the SunDriver’s hood. Banno got off as the crowd of people cheered for him. “Enjoy this will you can… For when I take back control of the Roidmudes, I’ll-” “Zip it.” I said. “We’re already public enemy #1 for the Roidmudes, let’s not gloat and make us public enemy #1 for the humans as well.” “You have a point.” Banno said. He turned on the ignition. “Here, talk with these peons.” “Um…” That’s when the first pair of the crowd came up to me. I knew instantly that they were twins from the way they looked. Not only that, but the way they had their hair pretty much screamed every other anime that involves twins. “That was totally awesome!” One twin would have the rough, spiky hair to express what a free, rebellious spirit she is. “Y-yeah. Keep up the nice work.” And the other would have her hair be nice and even have a cute little bow on it to show how reserved she is. “YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!” Then there’s the guy who is practically begging for a failed drug test. “What did you say your name was again? Golden Drive?” A bla… Okay. I’m just gonna stop myself here and distinguish that his skin is a dark gray, so that I can say a dark gray person instead. A dark gray guy with a cyan Mohawk scratched his head. “Gold Drive. It’s just Gold Drive.” I said. “Hey! I was the one who knocked down the monster!” Someone from my class said. I could simply tell from her hair just who she is in my class. Yep. Her long rainbow hair confirms it. “Yeah, we saw, Rainbow, but Gold Drive did most of the work.” The rough-haired twin said. “All you did was kick a ball.” “S-seriously, Cloudchaser? That ball saved our lives!” She said. The Mohawk dude sighed. “Rainbow Dash, you’re always a bragger… Save it for when you win us another shiny silver cup.” He said. As much as I would like to stick around and listen to the generic ‘you’ll never be as popular as so and so’, I knew my time as Gold Drive would run out and I ran off. “You know, if you’re programmed to announce ‘The Finisher’ and ‘Full Throttle’, are you programed to give a post-battle one-liner?” It was the first question I asked when I got into the bathroom. “… What?” Banno asked. “You know, like… Nice Drive! Or Nice Work!” I tried my hardest to imitate both the Drive and Mach Drivers. Banno groaned as I got out of the Gold Drive suit. “Bah! Mediocre!” Banno said. “Seriously? That’s the best you got?” I asked. That’s when I heard a buzz. I whipped out my phone and noticed Applejack’s text. 'Meet with me in the classroom after school.' “Well, time for our chat.” Banno said. I let out a sigh. “Perhaps… I could gain something out of this.” I grin. Sure enough, after school, Applejack was the only person sitting in my classroom. I sat on top of my desk and looked to her. “Alright, Applejack. Have you heard of quid pro quo?” I asked. “Is that something you eat?” Applejack asked. “No. It means ‘something for something’ in Latin. Basically you scratch my back, I scratch yours. You give me information about this town and the residents, I tell you more about the Roidmudes. Truthfully.” I said. “Why would you want to know more about this place?” Applejack asked. “Applejack, I just got here about a week or two ago. Roidmudes are constantly threatening not just me but everyone I remotely know. Rarity, Ms. Cheerilee, and the other girls on that field trip a while back all took a sick day right afterwards because of the Roidmudes that attacked them.” I played out a theory in my head. Usually, after the metallic ringing reduces Voice’s victims to a state of insanity, they go comatose. However, with Sculpt’s power, they seemed to have a pretty reduced outcome, given how their bodies just got digitized into stone. “I obviously don’t know the lay of the land. You do. It’d be effective if you help me with fighting the Roidmudes by providing information about this place. How about it?” I asked. “Hmm… Well, alrighty, but you gotta tell me all you know about those robots.” She said. “So, what else do you wanna know?” I asked. “How many of these Hemorrhoids are there?” Applejack asked. “Roidmudes, and there’s about… one hundred and eight.” I said. “T-that many?” Applejack reclined to her seat as I drew out the number. “Yeah, a pretty nice symbolic number for Banno to stop on.” I said. “No… I stopped at one hundred and eight because three of my Roidmudes up and killed me before I could make more!” Banno said. “Wait, didn’t you let yourself be killed?” I asked. “Well, that was the idea, but not until I made at least two hundred or more Roidmudes… They caught me by surprise and made me accelerate my plans a bit.” Banno said. “… Wait, you made them… and you got killed by them?” Applejack asked. “The Roidmudes and him have a… past.” Namely involving a cattle prod. “And that’s it for your questions. Now you owe me two answers.” I said. “Fair enough.” Applejack shrugged. “First off… What can you tell me about Rainbow Dash?” I asked her. She glared. “Well, she’s self-centered, rude, brash, egotistical, and most certainly selfish. Not to mentio-” “Alright, I get it, you don’t like her. But what’s her story? Some sort of jerk jock, right?” I asked. “Yeah. Pretty much. She’s the captain of the soccer team, captain of the football team, captain of the track and field… You name it, she captains it.” Applejack said. “Okay then. That’s all I need to know.” I walked off, though Applejack grabbed my hand before I got far. “Hey, I don’t know why you’re so concerned with Rainbow, but watch out. She’s the most treacherous person you will ever meet.” Applejack said. “… Meh, I’ve seen worse.” I patted Banno. “H-Hey!” Banno said. “Oh hush up and take it as a compliment.” I said as I left. As I walked down the halls, Banno piped up. I took the effort to hide him under my labcoat. “I do have to agree with her though… Why are you concerned with this girl?” Banno asked me. “…” I didn’t want to say. To be truthful, I was going with a template most Kamen Riders I’ve seen go with. We focus on a random, one off character who has a problem that the Kamen Rider must solve. This can be someone was forced into an eating binge by a monster, a person who lost his passion playing piano, or a guy whose friend is possessed by a monster. I fear that, following what happened with Rarity and the others, the next Roidmude encounter I face will have something to do with Rainbow Dash. However, I can’t just tell Banno that I’m following what the show would do. Instead, I simply did what Banno would advise me to do and spoke a half-truth. “I have a gut feeling.” Alarm bells rang as two men wearing ski masks ran out of the store in the middle of the night, a bag full of money in their hand. “Thieves! Thieves!” An old man yelled from the store. “Wow, I can’t believe that worked!” One of the robbers said. “Yeah, now let’s get out of here before the cops show up!” The other robber said. Just then… WHOOSH! “W-what was that!?” “Why can’t I run faster?!” The two of them screamed as a masked figure swooped down. The figure had a feminine shape to her as her outfit was purple with a dark blue mask, cape, and tapings on her gloves and boots. She wore a matching fedora and had a golden bangle with a silver gear stuck in the middle. “Alright, your days of robbin’ people are loooong gone!” The masked female said. She took the two robbers and bonked them together. The two fell down slowly as she took the money and handed it back to the old man. “D-don’t hurt me!” He shielded himself with his arms. “Relax, I’m only helping.” She dropped the bag of money on the desk and ran off. As she was gone, the effects of the Slowdown waned and everything was back to normal, albeit with two knocked out robbers and a confused old man. Morning came. Over my nights at the library, I discovered that this world has an internet. While I couldn’t connect to my frequent sites without them being clones of very old sites (MySpace somehow became MyStable?), I was able to get onto some news sites. There, I could see if there’s any stories that might have something to do with the Roidmudes. From what I could gather, the Roidmudes were doing what they were doing before. So I looked for similar activities. From buildings mysteriously collapsing to electrical fires spreading out to a mysterious stalker protecting an idol, I tried to recall the past Roidmudes’ activities and even those remotely close to it. Part of me wanted Banno to be off my waist not because it’d be a load off my back, but so that he could help me in the research. It seems, however, that he was just stuck in my belt. Throughout my time with him, he hadn’t been able to do the crazy stuff he could have done, like use sharp tendrils to attack people or hijack vehicles. But then I remember that he’s already a loose cannon, even when he’s trapped in Belt form, so I disregarded it. One of the articles I managed to get an interest in is a mysterious masked vigilante who had been appearing out of nowhere. I was reminded of Judge, especially since I saw him a while back. This is definitely right up his alley. Masked vigilante who strikes out at criminals? I was tempted to search “Judge Time” to see if it was going to be related to Judge. As I looked for that, I also looked around MyStable to see that this has created a bit of an urban legend. “Dude, I heard that whenever she appears, time slows down to a crawl!” “Spin around three times and say Mare-Do-Well six times. Time will stop for nine seconds.” “This is all true! I’ve seen her do it! She threw knives at a dude when time froze, and then she threw a road roller at him when time resumed!” Sadly, it wasn’t exactly like with Judge. This woman had Slowdown written all over her. The original Judge, the one the Roidmude tried to hunt down and kill, never had anything to allow him to invoke Slowdowns. However, it did make me think that the vigilante is indeed a Roidmude. Before I closed off the site, my eye caught onto something. A group. It was called the “Please Come Back, Silverbolt” Group. I sighed and remembered that I’m supposedly disguised as a denizen of this city. To them, I’m not Kelly Randall, but rather Jetstorm Silverbolt. I clicked on the group page and saw almost fifty people who have joined the group. I looked among the various people, but only two people stood out for me. The first was the most recent person to join: Trenderhoof, who joined a week ago. About the same time when I fought Voice and Sculpt. Obviously, him seeing me in the flesh had him confused and has now joined the pseudo-petition to bring be back to Crystal Prep. The second person that caught my eye only did so because of the ridiculous name than anything else. Please, don’t ruin my mood by making me think of those stupid vampires! I closed off the site. Though before I left, I figured to create a little leverage for my next round with Applejack. I opened up Notepad and began to write up some info. As the bells rang, I spotted Applejack in the hall. She was getting ready for her homeroom class. I approached her with a folded piece of paper in hand. “Applejack.” I said to her. She turned around. “Yeah?” That’s when I handed her the paper. “What can you tell me about Crystal Prep?” I asked. Applejack took the paper and inspected it. “What the hay is this? It’s nothing but a string of numbers and some random words. What does zero-zero-one equals Freeze mean? And what does it have to do with memories or old men? And why would a Brain need a handkerchief?” She asked me. “It’s a list of the higher-ups who run the Roidmudes. I was unable to get a photo of each of them, so I’m making due with descriptions of them and also a brief description of how their powers work. That’s my information for this exchange.” I said. “Well, mighty kind of you.” She stowed the note away into her pocket. Doubt she’s gonna check that again soon. “I already know that Crystal Prep isn’t that well-loved in here, and I think I have a base idea of why. What I want is your confirmation. Are they douchebags?” I asked. “Yeah. Very much so. If you think Rainbow Dash is full of it, wait till you see Crystal Prep.” She pointed to Rainbow Dash talking with several different people. “Every so often, we hold an event called the Friendship Games. It’s a competition where Canterlot High and Crystal Prep see which school is better.” Applejack said. I wanted to point out the irony, but I was too distracted with Rainbow Dash. She kept on talking about ‘her’ and I couldn’t help but notice the bracelet… It looked familiar. “…And they keep winning every. Single. Year. It stops being the Friendship Games and more the ‘Look At Crystal Prep’ Games… Uh, you okay, Kel?” … Did she just ‘Kel’ me? Now I wanted her to call me sugar cube. I appreciated it, however. It’s nice for people to call me by my actual name rather than the fake one I got. “Y-yeah. I’m fine. Thank you, AJ… Can I call you AJ?” I asked. She nodded. “Thank you.” I stood there for a moment before walking over to Rainbow Dash to get a better listen. “You met Mare-Do-Well?!” One of the students asked. “Yeah! I sure did! She handed me her super calling brace to prove it! In case I ever get in trouble, I just have to twist it and SWOOSH! She’ll arrive!” Rainbow Dash said while showing off the bracelet. Twist. That’s what got my memory jogging. I approached Rainbow Dash. Most of the students didn’t seem to mind me getting in on the conversation, and instead continued to chat. “So… How did you meet this Mare-Do-Well?” I glared at the bracelet as Rainbow Dash began to stammer. “Oh… Well… I.. You see…” Rainbow Dash stammered as I rolled my eyes. “It was in the middle of the night, yeah! And um… I… was… in an alleyway! Yeah! That’s it! A thief was about to rob me and she came out of the blue and-” “That’s all. Thank you.” All I needed to find the real story was to look at her bracelet. Yep. Sure enough, I knew which Roidmude produced the bracelet. I walked off as I heard Rainbow Dash continue to fabricate her story. Let her. I already know what she’s talking about is rubbish. It was time for me to patrol the city. Another night, another theft. Instead of store alarms, it was the blaring of a car alarm. The thief had no care whether or not the car was loud. She simply drove the car. She knew a shortcut where she could make a getaway… WHOOSH! She saw a few sparkly lights and suddenly, the car was acting sluggishly. She tried to move around, but noticed that she was also slow. “What the…” She wondered why she stopped when suddenly a masked vigilante walked up to her and opened the unlocked car door. She had no other response but to scream as the vigilante, unaffected by the sudden slowness, grabbed her and tossed her out of the car. The car took a while to slow down to a complete halt, though the Mare-Do-Well had other things on her mind, like stringing up the prep to dry. “Alright! Prepare to face justice from the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well!” She took out some hemp rope and unraveled it to tie up the woman to a nearby lamppost, or even a trashcan. … Yeah, trashcans are more poetic for her. “P-please! Stop!” The woman’s tears fell in slow-motion as the Mare-Do-Well was about to put the rope onto her hands when a red blob struck her. Time resumed, and as it did, the blob picked up speed and flew upwards towards a rooftop. The blob dropped the Mare-Do-Well off on the rooftop as it landed. Its red shell came apart, revealing it to be a long red cape attached to a hood. The person wearing the hood, Ross, took out Crescent Rose as it unfurled into scythe mode. “Alright, Roidmude, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this before, so I’ll sum up. Ya dun goofed and I see it as my duty to defeat you and let the higher ups reset you.” Ross said. “W-what are you talking about?” Mare-Do-Well struggled to get up, though the force of the hit knocked the wind out of her. “Oh come on. Every Roidmude knows about the Grim Reaper, right? The guy who stops Roidmudes from being too much of a threat to everyone else?” Ross walked towards her. She ripped off her mask, revealing her face to him. He stopped, only because it took him a while to register the long rainbow colored hair and her shrunken pupils of fear. “P-please! Don’t hurt me… I was only trying to protect people…” Rainbow Dash said. “… Protect people?” Ross sighed. He grabbed Rainbow Dash by the back of her costume and dragged her to the edge, within a bird’s eye view of the carjacker she tried to arrest. “You see that woman there?” Rainbow Dash could see her break down into tears as cop cars began to arrive. “She doesn’t feel safe. She doesn’t feel protected. I notice something whenever Slowdowns happen. People are scared. They feel powerless. Roidmudes like you may think of yourselves as heroes, but really, you’re nothing but bullies trying to assert your authority.” He could hear Rainbow Dash whimper. “I… I wasn’t trying to do that… I… I just wanted to be cool!” With that, Rainbow Dash began to cry. Ross looked down and noticed the cops looking around for the source of the noise. Among them was Tachibana, who simply shot a glance up to Ross. Ross nodded and grabbed Rainbow Dash. With a quick sprint, they were already two rooftops away from the cops. “Start talking.” Ross pointed his weapon at Rainbow Dash as it shifted into a rifle. “A-alright! There’s this dude called Gold Drive who is super awesome! He fights these monsters on a daily basis and he’s just so awesome! B-but people found him to be better than I am! I… I wanted to be cool like him… So…” She lifted her wrist to show off the bracelet. “I got this and got a cool superpower from it. I just thought I could protect people with it… They’d probably think of me on the same level as Gold Drive.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “… Wait, you said you got the Slowdown thing from a bracelet?” Ross leaned in. “Who gave you this?” He asked. “I… I can show you, if you want. But… I don’t want you to tell anyone.” Rainbow Dash got a folded piece of paper and showed it to him. “A guy gave me this. It’s instructions of how to get a bracelet.” Ross read the instructions. “Huh… Alright. I can do this. Listen, if you really want to be a hero, you’ll come with me. I’ll show you what a Grim Reaper… no… What a Huntsman can do.” Ross patted Rainbow Dash on the shoulder, who looked to him and smiled. I sat inside an old, beaten up Camaro. The kind you see in a Shia Labeouf film. I sipped from the hot cup of coffee as I looked around by a local billiard bar known as The Rabbit Hole. It was a shady place from what I could gather, though I only knew of the place thanks to my informant. “They really should call this place The Rat Nest.” Wind Rider said. After the incident with Voice and Sculpt, Wind Rider handed me his number in case anything were to happen. It was one of those cases where something did happen. “So, you say drug dealers come by every so often?” I asked. “Yeah. When the mood strikes them. And when they’re strapped for cash. This was where I took Soarin’ on his first day on the job. The low-life, dime-a-dozen thugs who prop up here are easy pickings for rookies.” Wind Rider said. “Well, I have the gut feeling like we might take on something more than a simple thug.” I peered out of the window. “You never did tell me about those Roidmudes. All I know about them is that they’re making a fuss.” Wind Rider said. “They’re killer, time-stopping robots who disguise themselves as humans and plan secret revolutions and genocides.” Sometimes I wonder why I don’t just say that to my students rather than dance around the topics. “Well, there has to be more to the story than that.” Wind Rider said. To be fair, he had a point. I had to bring up how they weren’t all psychopathic. Some of them genuinely wanted to help humanity and others viewed their species as their closest friends. I frown though. For every time I remember a Roidmude who was kind to humanity, I think of two more who had at least half a dozen causalities under their belt. I had to address the elephant in the room, however. “Not all of them are bad. I don’t know if they’re still around, but there are Roidmudes who don’t want to kill every human. You just have to find them. They’re… diamonds in the rough.” I said. That’s when I spotted someone. Two people in fact. A person in a red hood and… A rainbow-haired girl. “Show time.” I got out of the car. “H-hey! Wait up!” Wind Rider said. I could see the hooded man hold up two flowers, one white and another red. Yes. This was it. A door leading to a shack just below the Rabbit Hole opened up. With quick running, I entered the door before it closed, though I wasn’t sure if Wind Rider made it in too. As I got in, I noticed that Rainbow Dash and the mysterious red hood disappeared. I could see rose petals fluttering to the ground though. “… Ross.” I remembered that edgy Little Red Riding Hood cosplayer. I stepped carefully and had my finger and thumb pressed against the Ignition. As I inched closer and closer to the center of the shack, I heard a conversation. “What are you doing back here?” A young sounding man said. He definitely gave me that snake oil salesman idea. “Sorry, my friend wanted to get a hold of your bracelets.” My heart pounded as I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice. “Atatatatatatat! I can’t just give it to anyone. Besides, you haven’t paid off for your bracelet!” He said. I sighed in a vain attempt to calm myself. Yep. It’s 018. “Is it true? You sell bracelets that allow a person to invoke a Slowdown?” I heard Ross speak next. “Yes, I- Wait, how did you-” As soon as I heard the sound of mechanical whirring, I instantly realized what was going to happen. I ran forth. “G-Grim Reaper! Oh please, spare me!” A man greased back red and white hair wearing a blue-striped shirt, jeans, and a simple barber-shop quartet hat tripped over and fell on his bottom. He squirmed as Ross held Crescent Rose on his back. “Ross, what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked. As he stepped forward, he had shivers be sent up his spine. The cock of the gun, while sounded distant, still had the same impact of stopping Ross as if the gun was held point blank to his head. Mainly because he heard that distinct cock before. “Lower your weapon, Ross.” An African American cowboy came out from the shadows. He casually held a revolver pointed towards Ross. “… Gunman. I presume this is your little brother?” Ross asked as he furled up the scythe into an inactive rectangle shape and put it behind his back where a pocket safely snugged it. “Yes. I apologize for leaving you in the dark.” Gunman lowered his weapon. “But I can’t explain everything just yet. Because right now,” he pointed a gun towards Rainbow Dash, “it’s time for this lady to pay up.” “I… I don’t have the money yet!” Rainbow Dash stepped back and shielded herself. “Well, don’t worry. We have an idea of how you can pay us off.” Gunman tossed her a revolver. “In exchange for the bracelet, we want you to capture or even kill the Kamen Rider.” “W-what?” Rainbow Dash grabbed the revolver, though she looked at it, unsure of what to do. Ross stepped forward. “Gunman! You’re using a human to do your dirty work?!” Ross asked. “Huh. Funny talk coming from you. Did you ever tell that girl that who you were working for?” Gunman smirked. “I… What’s a Kamen Rider?” Rainbow Dash asked. Gunman continued his smirking as he aimed his gun towards Rainbow Dash. “You’re about to find out.” And with that, he fired at her. “Henshin!” I cried out as I leaped into the air to knock Rainbow Dash out of the way of the oncoming shot. Thankfully, the armor formed just before the bullet impacted me, though my body staggered back. “Ow! Hey! Let me know when you transform next time!” Banno said. “I just did! You know, me saying the word Henshin?” “Whatever… This is your fight.” Banno turned the Ignition. The Golden Drive’s eyes changed to the natural white as the Door Gun materialized from the same digital miasma that formed the suit. I pointed at Gunman. “Drop the gun.” I demanded. Gunman bent his knees low to the ground as he dropped the revolver gently. He got up with his hands raised. “Very well. I won’t be the one who’ll shoot you anyways.” Gunman said. “Hmm?” “Come on, girl… It’s time to pay your debt.” Gunman pointed to Rainbow Dash, though I already knew that she purchased the bracelet… wait… Pay your debt? “You… You want me to shoot Gold Drive!?” She asked. “No way!” She tried to throw the revolver onto the ground, but as she was about to, the bracelet began to spark. She retracted her arm in pain. “Gaaah!” She cried. “And this is why you always read the fine print, dearie.” Gunman said. “So long as my brother’s bracelet is on your arm, don’t expect to take it off any time soon.” I ran over to pull the bracelet out, but it began to spark again. This time my hands were also shocked. “Don’t bother. My little brother’s been working on these bracelets for a while. These are top-of-the-line compared to the last ones he made. You can’t hope to take them off.” My body went cold as I instinctively turned the Ignition. I hated myself for even considering this to be a solution… I didn’t have the heart to go through with it. I had no choice though. I switched out to Banno as he got the Steering Sword. It took Banno a few seconds before he began to cackle. “Great minds think alike! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He swung the Steering Sword upwards, then struck downwards onto Rainbow Dash’s arm. Either he could attempt breaking the bracelet with the sword or chop off Rainbow Dash’s arm. Knowing the psychopath, I closed my eyes and prepared for him to take the latter option. CLANG! However, I heard a clang instead of a scream. I opened my eyes and saw Ross blocking the sword with his scythe. “Stop it.” Ross softly said. The bracelet began to spark up again as Rainbow Dash keeled over in pain. She clutched the bracelet, but no matter how hard she tried to squeeze it, she couldn’t crush it. “What’s wrong? I thought the reason you wanted that bracelet was so that you could be like the Kamen Rider?” Gunman said. “This would have been right up your alley. Not only would you get to be a superhero, but also you’d be able to replace the very person you wanted so much to be.” “I… know… but… I can’t just… betray my idol like this!” Rainbow Dash struggled to get up, but every time she did, the bracelet continued to spark and zap her wrist. “Even though he takes all the attention… I look up to him. When I became Mare-Do-Well… He was the reason I chose to protect people! I wanted to be just like him!” She said. “So… you refuse to kill the Rider then?” Gunman said. “Y-yeeaaaaaargh!” Rainbow Dash kept screaming. I was thankful that Banno was took control over my body, otherwise I’d just give up. “Very well. It’ll be enjoyable to watch you die along with your little hero. Grim Reaper, go ahead and finis-” That’s when Banno shot Ross in the gut a dozen times. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I break your Grim Reaper?” Banno looked at Ross and noticed that there was no wound. “What the?” “Did you truly think we’d let a mere human be our Grim Reaper?” Gunman said. Ross, while unharmed, still clutched onto where he was shot for a brief moment before he stood up again. “He’s able to take a beating, have no marks to show for it, and still be able to run circles around you. Coupled with his speed, and he’s become just as effective as our previous Grim Reaper.” “Heh… You forgot something, though. All humans have a breaking point.” With that, Banno switched controls over to me as I got the Shift Technic and Zenrin Shooter, though the Shooter replaced the Sword. I loaded Technic into the Shift Brace as an HUD activated in my vision. I saw a strange red flame over Ross. I fired at Ross and noticed the flame began to shrink. “See? We just need to deplete whatever it is that’s protecting your new toy. We already took out half of it, it seems.” I began to spoke up. “Aura. We’ll call it Aura.” I remembered the aura that the characters had when they powered up in Dragonball Z and figured it was a nice name for this… force. “Heh… Well then. Let’s see who’s the fastest gun here. Draw.” With that, Gunman transformed into his Roidmude form, mirroring that of his human form, though more metallic than normal. He took out his gun as Ross transformed his scythe into a sniper rifle. I held up the two guns. Rainbow Dash’s pained groans kept the atmosphere from getting too quiet. My fingers hovered over the triggers. Any moment now, Ross or Gunman would open fire, and I’d have to fight for not just my life, but also Rainbow Dash’s. I couldn’t switch over to Banno without having to sacrifice one of my weapons or my free will. I just had to stand and wait. I pointed one gun at Gunman and another on Ross. I looked into Ross’ eyes. I remembered how Ross fought me back at the museum and how he fired shot after shot at me. The metal casings that were discarded helped break me out of Voice’s control. However, I wasn’t sure if Ross was deliberately fired at me to snap me out of it or if he was really just incompetent. But one look from his eyes told me enough. It confirmed my suspicions. I slowly pointed the Zenrin Shooter towards Gunman and fired both of them at the same time. As that happened, Ross fired, not at me or Gunman, but at 018. As he fell over, the shocks on Rainbow Dash’s arm stopped and she was given time to breathe. “You…” Gunman growled as he fired at me. I fired back. Several bullets clashed at each other while I rolled to the corner and behind a crate to avoid the other bullets. I took this time to recharge the Door Gun, muffling the announcement as I did. I could hear more gunfire, so I poked my head out of the crate to notice that Ross and Gunman were firing at each other. Ross swung his scythe on the ground, using the curve of it to propel himself to a scaffolding where he landed. He transformed the scythe to what looked to be a sniper rifle and fired some more bullets at 018. 018 simply transformed into his Roidmude form. I was surprised that it wasn’t his modified Spider-Class form, but rather a fully-fledged Advanced Roidmude form similar to Gunman’s, save for the fact that his hat was more pointed and that instead of a gun, his hands held rings. He threw one of the rings, which caused it to explode in a flash of light. Suddenly, everything slowed down for a brief moment. However, it was that brief moment that allowed Gunman to rush out and fire at Ross. Ross had no time to dodge them and although I knew that the aura could protect him from the bullets, I screamed out for him. However, the next moment had those bullets cut up, though a few have hit a target that went in front of Ross. I saw the green and black kendo stick and recognized the Roidmude that saved Ross. “Judge!” I shouted. “Tachibana!” Ross said as Judge staggered. “Ross… you fool…” Tachibana whispered out. I was able to catch that as I still had the Technic Shift Car in the Brace. “I should have known having a human on our side was bad news… Kill him, Judge, then let’s kill the Kamen Rider together!” Gunman said. Judge simply stood there. “Let the girl go first. If she is killed, there’d be no way I can cover this up.” Judge said. “No one knows we exist. And if we kill these two… they will never find out.” Gunman pointed his gun to me as I ducked behind. “You underestimate humanity and their determination.” Judge said. “And how would you know?” Gunman said. “Because I’ve synchronized with their twisted sense of justice: revenge. If you kill her, there’s no going back.” Judge said. “Well… Guess I’m gonna have to call your bluff.” Gunman said as he pointed the gun back towards Rainbow Dash. BEEP BEEP BEEP The sound of Gold Drive’s powering down rang in my ears. I had to switch out, though it was a good time as any. I turned the Ignition and Banno took control. The Shift Cars he got were partners. I figured it’d be sensible to send them out considering he’d be going akimbo. Dream Vegas inserted itself into the Door Gun while Dimension Cab plugged itself into the Zenrin Shooter. Predictably, he fired at both Judge and Gunman, Door Gun on Judge, Zenrin Shooter on Gunman. Judge continued to deflect the bullets fired at him while Gunman shot them out with his own gun. Eventually, Gunman shot the Door Gun out of Banno’s hand and Judge punched forward to fire taser-style prongs at Banno. While I couldn’t feel my body, I can get a sense of how painful it is with the way the armor and the body jerked around from the shock. Of course, electricity wouldn’t fit well with a robotic suit. However, the additional electricity caused the suit to glitch up. I saw in the HUD how it began to break apart into bits of code for brief moments at a time. I could feel my fingers twitching. Perhaps the electricity was short circuiting the Tridoron programming. I moved my wrist up to try and confirm it. I could feel some mechanical resistance, but it was an improvement compared to previous times when Banno took control. By the moment my hand reached the Ignition, I lost control of my hand and it automatically seized up, turning it in the process. I was back in control. I immediately pull Shift Technic out of the Brace and placed Dimension Cab into it. The red circuit on my chest flared up as a golden portal opened next to me. I snickered and reached into the portal with one of my arms. As soon as I grabbed the Door Gun, I pulled my hand out of the portal and fired it towards Judge quickly and suddenly. The bullets fired turned into large coins. Judge tried to deflect them, but due to their size, he was quickly knocked off the scaffolding. I turned my attention to Gunman, who fired at me. I rushed to hide behind another crate while he pursued. With one leap, I jumped out of hiding and fired off a few more giant gold coins at Gunman. He leaped back and shot them down. As I landed, I unplugged Dimension Cab from the Shift Brace and plugged it back onto the Zenrin Shooter. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! TAXI!” I fired the Zenrin Shooter up into the air. As the bullets reached the top, a small portal opened up. Behind Gunman, the bullets flew out and struck his back. As I got up, I swing the Zenrin Shooter right at Gunman’s face. “ZENRIN!” And slashed his hat off. He staggered as his forehead smoked from the attack. I ran to continue my attack, though Judge ran in and blocked my Zenrin Shooter with his kendo stick. “What are you doing here?” He whispered to me. “I could ask the same for you lot…” I muttered. “I had no knowledge of this operation taking place!” Judge tried to push the Zenrin Shooter off of me. “Likely story!” I simply rolled the wheel off the stick. “ZENRIN!” And slashed across. While it didn’t break anything, it did knock the Roidmude into a pile of crates where it fell on top of him. I looked and saw 018 getting up. As he did, Rainbow Dash also got up. I could see tiny bolts of electricity zapping her wrist as she tried to pull away. “I’m… Sorry…” Rainbow Dash said. “… Me too.” I turned the ignition as Banno took over. Banno aimed and shot a bullet. I saw the bullet as it soared to Rainbow Dash… Only for the bullet to enter a small gold portal and hit 018 on the other side. “Judge is correct. If she were to die here, there’d be an investigation. I might be cruel, but even I know there’s a time and a place for it.” Banno grabbed a Shift Car that had flown right for him. As 018 got up, Ross appeared behind him and slashed him with his scythe. “I’ll keep this guy busy! Tachibana, get the girl out of here!” Ross said. Judge nodded and ran to get Rainbow Dash, but Gunman fired at him and shot him down. “I’m not letting anyone here live. Roidmude, human, doesn’t matter.” Gunman reloaded and pointed his gun at Judge. “Our revolution against humanity is going to hit high noon soon. It’ll be a shame for you all to miss it.” That’s when Banno laughed. “No… It’ll be a shame for you to miss my revolution!” With that, Banno opened and closed the Door Gun's door. He then loaded his Shift Car into the Door Gun, taking out Dream Vegas. “THE FINISHER! AMAZING CIRCUS! FULL THROTTLE!” He fired a bullet at Gunman which exploded into fireworks. As Gunman was knocked to the ground, Banno fired the Zenrin Shooter onto the ground. Each bullet disappeared into their own portal and reappeared on the ground where Gunman was. The bullets shot into Gunman, essentially juggling him in place as Banno spun the wheel of the Zenrin Shooter a few times. He ran and leaped. “ZENRIN!” And slashed downwards. While the resulting clash didn’t destroy the Roidmude, it caused a huge gash to appear over his back, complete with smoking. Banno looked up and saw Ross wrap himself in his hood while pushing 018 out of the way. “B-brother!” Gunman shouted before Banno kicked him in the face. “I’m going to enjoy making you suffer…” Banno said as he fired several point-blank blasts at Gunman, each one destroying a part of his face in the process. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t close my eyes. I had no control over my view. I thought back to my chat with Wind Rider. About how the Roidmudes were genocidal… Seeing Banno essentially torture one just… It made my stomach churn. Eventually, Banno kicked him in the gut so hard, he skidded right into some fallen crates. As Gunman got up, he reloaded his gun and rushed to Banno. Banno just laughed as he plugged Dream Vegas into the Shift Brace. He pressed the red button as his circuitry tire flashed. It turned into three diagonal slot machines. They rolled until Banno pressed the button again. One by one, the wheels stopped, landing on the number seven. The three sevens each glowed as Banno aimed his guns. “THE FINISHER! VEGAS… CAB… CIRCUS!!! FULL… THROTTLE!” He shouted as Gunman reached him. He tried to shoot at Banno, though Banno simply pushed his arm away with his own, firing the Zenrin Shooter as he did. As Gunman attempted to pull away and point at him again, Banno simply blocked the gun with his other gun, and fired. After that, Banno and Gunman just simply did this over and over again, at a pace so fast I couldn’t keep up. Eventually, the gunfire stopped as Banno simply kicked Gunman in the gut. As it knocked him away, I noticed a large gold portal appearing behind him as several hundred bullets came flying out. “W-WHAT!?” Were all that Gunman said before he collided with the barrage. All the bullets exploded at separate intervals, each creating a fabulous firework array. Eventually, all of them exploded in a huge ball of light and sparks, before fading out in a sparkly 017. It lasted a bit before the number faded away. I sighed. Though that’s when I heard the sparking of the bracelet again. Rainbow Dash began to scream louder. Ross pushed 018 out into a long narrow hallway as he unwrapped himself from the cape. He unfolded his scythe and rushed to him, cutting into the Roidmude’s arms several times in the matter of seconds before finishing things off with a sniper blast square in the chest. As 018 stumbled, he chuckled. “What’s so funny?” Ross asked. 018 held up a ring. “So long as I’m standing, that girl will suffer a painful death.” He said. “Then I guess I’ll have to stop you.” Ross readied the Crescent Rose. Before he ran though, 018 threw another ring, exploding in a shower of light as Ross’s legs faltered. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re just going to stand there and listen as she dies.” 018 began to laugh as Ross grunted. Before long, 018’s laughter was cut short. “Hurk!” Ross could see a kendo stick emerging from 018’s stomach as electrical sparks emitted from both the wound and the stick. As the stick was pulled out, 018 fell limply to the floor, exploding a mere second after he fell completely. It took a while before his Core exploded as well. Rainbow Dash soon stopped screaming as the bracelet finally popped off Rainbow Dash’s arm. Banno turned the ignition as Mad Doctor rolled by, the two guns and their Shift Cars fading out in blur of gold. I grabbed it and placed it into the Shift Brace. My hands glowed with golden energy as I grabbed her wrist. “Hang in there, girl. You did a good job today.” I said. Suddenly, I heard a long, slow clap. I looked around and tried to find the source of the noise. “I could say the same for you…” I heard an odd voice echo throughout the warehouse. As the smoke cleared, Ross could see Judge for a brief moment before he shifted back into his human guise. Tachibana could only scowl as he held one side of his chest. A side where he was shot at the most. “Tachibana!” Ross said. “…” Tachibana shook his head and haggardly walked away. “Wait! Tachibana!” Ross tried to follow him, only for Tachibana to speak up. “Goddamn it, Ross! Don’t you realize what’s going on?” Tachibana asked. “W-what are you talking about?” Ross asked. “Why else did they give the bracelet to a girl from Canterlot High? It wasn’t to just lure Banno… But also to lure us. We’ve been set up!” “What!?” Eventually, the clapping man showed himself. At first, I didn’t recognize him. He just seemed like a regular old yakuza mob boss… That’s when I realized that a yakuza being in a mostly American-themed town didn’t mesh well. Then he tipped his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, to the point where his eyes were showing. At that point, both Banno and I knew who he was. “006…” I said. “Glad to know I don’t need to hide behind a phony human name… unlike our traitorous friend Judge.” He took off his glasses and shrugged as his human body dissolved in a miasma of gray and gold. As his Cobra-type Roidmude body appeared, the number 006 flashed outwards. “Ah, it’s such a loving reunion to be had. You must be a little jealous of my new host…” Banno said. “Sadly, I was too busy being dead to care about it.” He said. “I would arrange it so we could be together again, but sadly, I can’t get off of my host.” Banno said. “Oh don’t worry. We’ll be able to pry you off of her corpse… after we destroy you, of course.” The Roidmude stepped closer. “W-we both know how this song and dance will end! You’re just a pushover compared to Heart!” Banno said. “Heart? Oh… I guess you haven’t heard. After we were reborn, many of us recalled our memories. And needed to say, none of us were pleased that our leader’s last moments were spent making friends with the very enemy he vowed to rule over.” A part of me shivered as I remembered that tragic moment. Another part of me shivered as I began to piece together what must have happened to Heart. “Care to guess who managed to overthrow that traitor?” He gestured towards himself. “No…” I muttered as 006 closed in on me. “Yes. It was all me. I defeated Heart, and now, I’m the one calling the shots!” 006 said. “Like hell you are! Kelly, get ready. This fight can be over in a flash if you don’t hold back.” Banno said. “Yes, don’t hold back…” 006 stopped walking when he got very close to my face. “Because I won’t.” With that, his body began to shift again. I stepped back and propped up my fists. I didn’t need to be told that 006 was now going to reveal his Advanced form to me. And much like when he tried to show it off before, he liked to gloat about it first. “Behold! The power that surpassed Heart! My true form!” 006 said. I threw a punch towards him as it glowed with golden energy. That’s when 006 grabbed my fist and punched me square in the gut. Suddenly, all the joints in my body suddenly seized up as I fell over. My muscles cramped up and I couldn’t move. As I hit the ground, my armor disappeared and I was back to my labcoat. “Kelly! What’s going on!?” Banno said. All I could do was look at 006’s Advanced body. His body was a dark blue with a series of thick, brass gold lines streaming down from the top of his chest to both his wrists and ankles. His face kept his cocky smile that he had in human form, though the top part of the head was obscured by two long brass gold tubes, with two large blue eyes mirroring that of his sunglasses. “All this time, I have been holding back my power until the time felt right. As a result, I lost my life. Now with a second chance, I’m not gonna hesitate to show off. Banno, I would like for you to witness this for yourself. Your host’s body is going through a shock throughout their nervous system, rendering them unable to fight. As you might guess, my name from now on is Nerve.” He said. Suddenly, 006’s body began to glow a gold color. “It can’t be!” Banno shouted. Golden energy was glowing on 006, or Nerve as he likes to be called now… Gold energy. The very energy that Banno and I shared. To Roidmudes, it’s a special power that only a select few have: those who have gone beyond merely Advanced Evolution and are able to transform into a more powerful version of it. I had every right to shout no as well, but my body was too busy being frozen to say anything. “Heh… So you noticed… I had felt this power when I defeated Heart… but it wasn’t enough. The emotion that is giving me this power is an overwhelming sense of superiority. Killing Heart simply started the progress… And now you’re gonna finish it. It’s like I said before… You’re the stepping stone to my Ultimate Evolution! Goodbye, Banno!” Nerve said as he threw his fist towards me. “So what do we do now?” Ross asked Tachibana. “We? We do nothing. As far as I know, we’re compromised and I’m not in the right condition to continue this.” Judge said. “I’m sorry!” Ross tried to keep up with him, but Tachibana simply held his hand out. “Don’t… They forced my hand too. The best we can do now is lie low…” With that, he stumbled out to a door and open it. “Ross… don’t do anything stupid. Okay?” And he left. Ross simply slumped to his knees and sighed. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, though to my surprise, someone stopped Nerve from hitting me. I opened and saw Rainbow Dash holding him back. “Leave her alone!” She shouted. “Idiot! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Banno shouted. “I don’t care!” Rainbow Dash said. “Ever since I first saw Gold Drive, I thought of how awesome he is and how I wanted to be his closest friend! I’m not going to betray him… and I’m certainly not going to let him die!” With that, Rainbow Dash managed to pull Nerve away from me and grabbed me. “Come on, let’s go!” She said. “No… You’re not going anywhere!” Nerve shouted as the gold energy surrounding him exploded. Time slowed to a crawl. I noticed the Mad Doctor Shift Car within my reach. The car rolled right into my hand, but before my fingers could touch it, Nerve kicked it away. “And no Shift Car will save you…” Nerve said. Just before he could move, though, I heard Rainbow Dash yell. Suddenly, there was a large flash of rainbow light as something grabbed me. Before I knew it, I was taken out of the room in the matter of seconds. I couldn’t notice though, as everything turned into a blur. It was only when the blurring stopped that I realized what happened. Rainbow Dash somehow picked me up and ran out of the room at a speed comparable to a jet plane. I was in her arms as she panted heavily. “Hey, Professor… How’s that for track and field?” She chuckled before she collapsed, dropping me with her. It was here that I managed to regain control of my body. “What the hell happened?” I muttered. “You can ask me the same thing… That girl managed to outrun Nerve’s Slowdown…” As Banno said that, I had a thought. I turned the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive. The Shift Technic car drove to my hand as I plugged it into the Shift Brace. That’s when Banno and I saw a cyan colored flame surrounding Rainbow Dash, exactly in the same style as Ross’ flame. “I knew it… She has Aura as well…” I recalled how Ross’ power… his ‘Semblance’, as he called it, was also able to outmaneuver the Slowdown. That’s when I heard sirens. Police cars began to drive up to the Rabbit Hole. I noticed Wind Rider standing by. “Hmph… We’ll have to take our business elsewhere.” Banno edged his fingers towards the Ignition, but I spoke up. “No… I’m not letting the Roidmudes fall upon deaf ears. They need to know.” I said. “If you haven’t noticed, cops are piling in. We got off lucky last time, but we might not have that same luck again.” Banno said. “Even so… I’m not letting another one of my students get hurt by these monsters. If I can help the police shed some light on this… If I can help them take care of the Roidmudes… then I don’t care what happens to me.” As I said that, my armor went away as I held up my hands. “So… You’re the Golden Drive the rumors have told about?” Spitfire came out. I nodded. “Gold Drive. And I have information that I’ll share with all of you.” No more secrets, no more half-truths. Applejack was right. It would be a lot better if I turned myself in. Now that they have more of an idea of what they’re dealing with, I could possibly get away with telling them more details. Especially if they let Wind Rider in on the details. That’s when I saw Wind Rider and Soarin’. I always noticed Soarin’ was a happy guy when I spoke with him, so seeing him glaring at Wind Rider was… unnerving. Especially with what he said. “Wind Rider, you gotta stop this. While we appreciate the help, intervening in our cases is only going to worsen your reputation… I have faith in your pride as a former officer.” Soarin’ walked away from Wind Rider with a pat on the shoulder. For some reason, seeing this made my legs wobble. Spitfire had to shove me into the backseat of her car. “Come on, you have a lot of explaining to do…” Spitfire said. As the car drove off, I swore that I saw Ross standing on the rooftop of the Rabbit Hole before he disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. The door broke open as Tachibana stumbled into the room. A loud mixture of different animal noises muted Tachibana’s pained gasps as he fell onto the floor, his blood dripping onto the tile floor. He laid in the dark room for a moment before the lights turned on. He heard a door opposite to him open up. “Hello?” A girl’s voice echoed. “Anyone he-” She stepped closer until she saw the cop on the ground. “Oh my!” She ran over to him and helped him up. “M-Mr. Tachibana! What happened?” She asked. Tachibana could only breathe as the girl with long pink hair and cyan eyes sat him down. As soon as she saw the wound, she frowned. “I’ll go get my mom… wait here, okay?” With that, she ran off as Tachibana passed out. Ross hopped across from rooftop to rooftop. He knew exactly what his next move was going to be: The main stronghold where the Roidmudes resided…
Golden Drive Arc 5: When Will The Surprise Happen?Ross wandered through the halls of the Austin Convention Center. He could hear the sounds of cameras snapping as people commented on his outfit. Such is the life of a cosplayer. He put a lot of time and effort not only replicating Ruby’s alternate costume in Volume 2, but also modifying it for a guy to wear. The only thing he didn’t have time for were getting silver-eyed contacts or dying his hair black with red highlights. But that’s how life is. And quite frankly, he’s pretty okay with not looking 1:1 with Ruby Rose. He was hoping to at least visit some of Rooster Teeth’s members. Sadly, he couldn’t meet the legend, Monty Oum, in the flesh. But at least he could make up for it with meeting Lindsey or Miles. “Hello there, m’dear.” Ross turned around to see a man sitting behind a table. His eyes instantly glued themselves to the assortment of items he had. There were several funky looking guns laid down on the left side of the table of various. Ross only played the series a brief bit, but even he knew that these were the Covenant weapons from the Halo games. However, on the other side, his jaw dropped as he saw several weapons from the RWBY series. Ross began to look at each of them. They looked so shiny that they could definitely be the real thing. But what he liked especially is that, sitting behind the man, was a large, red scythe. “Oh… woow…” Ross said. The man in the fedora looked behind him. “You like it?” He asked. “Yeah!” Ross said. “It matches with your red cape.” He said. “It’s a hood. You know, like Little Red Riding Hood?” Ross asked. “Oh. Well, that’s interesting to know. Tell you what, I’ll give this to you for a discounted price.” The man in the fedora said. “… How much will you discount it for?” Ross asked. “For you? Hm… 90% off the price tag.” The man flicked the price tag of $250. Ross did a bit of mental math in his head, then pulled the wallet out of his pants pocket and took out both a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill. “Perfect! Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of this one of a kind scythe.” The man took the Crescent Rose and handed it to Ross. He looked at the weapon. Up close, it didn’t seem to be made from any PVC materials or cheap metal plating like he saw in most Crescent Roses that people made. This instead looked authentic metal. He also noticed the shining blade on the scythe. Ross ran his finger over the blade’s edge. He didn’t feel anything. No sharpness or anything. He looked at his finger to make sure. There was no cut. “Just so you know… This covers more than just your weapon…” He smiled. “W-what do you mean?” Ross asked as he rested Crescent Rose over his shoulder. That’s when he felt woozy as a flash of white light overwhelmed him. “You just paid the price for your adventure.” It was the last thing he heard before he blacked out. I sat right back at the interrogation room. Spitfire chewed bubble-gum right at my face as she wore those freakishly large aviator glasses. I just sat there, elbows on the table as I leaned in. “Are you recording?” I asked. “We always do.” Spitfire said. “Good, because you may need to hear this again and again.” I muttered. I cleared my throat. “Several years ago, a professor named Tenjuro Banno created cybernetic beings known as Roidmudes.” “Ah, here we go with the cheesy robot movies. When do the robots rebel?” She asked. “Sometime after they murdered Banno. These robots are nothing like you’ve seen. They’re fierce. They’re merciless. Give them the chance, and in a single night, they could kill you and everyone else in a kilometer radius in the matter of seconds.” Well, provided they all just slow down time simultaneously and attack all at once, but details… “So, you’re saying they’re… more than meets the eye?” Spitfire smirked. “Yeah. And they have an ability to copy the appearance of human beings. The worst part is, they could be walking among us, waiting for a chance to strike.” I said. “Ah, so they’re pretty much… robots in disguise.” I could hear Spitfire snigger. “Yes. In fact,” Before I could continue, Spitfire just roared in laughter. She slammed her fist on the table, trying to control herself. She then proceeded to look coldly at me. “This entire thing is a joke, isn’t it? Did Soarin’ put you up to it?” Spitfire asked. I simply kept my cool. “No. What I’m saying is serious. You may not wanna believe it, but they’re living among us as we speak.” I said. “Really? Do you have proof?” She asked. “In fact I do.” I smirked. “Tachibana.” “What does the chief have to do with anything?” Spitfire crossed her arms. “He’s one of them. As was Sunny Glenway.” I said. “How do you know?” She asked me. “Because I saw them transform in front of me.” I said. “Transform?” Spitfire asked. “Yes. They have a human guise, then they shed it when they want to cause chaos.” I said. Spitfire simply reached across the table and grabbed me by the collar. “If you think you can accuse the chief of being… whatever the hell you’re talking about, you have another thing-” Just then, the door opened. “Hey! Spitfire! This girl said she’s a huge fan of us!” I heard Soarin’ as the stomping sound of boots grew closer and closer. “OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOOOOSSSSSH!” That’s when I heard Rainbow Dash. She busted into the room and glanced at Spitfire. “SPITFIRE!!!! EEEEEEEE!” Rainbow Dash squealed. “W-what the?!” Spitfire nearly fell off of her chair. “Is it true? Did you really scored five game ending goals in a row?” Rainbow Dash said. “Well… I…” I stopped myself from laughing at how a tough ass like Spitfire is now brought to blushing. “What about the time you kicked a ball so hard, it broke the goal net? Huh?” Rainbow Dash was now on Spitfire’s lap, having a large grin on her face the entire time. “Y-yeah, I did… But… you do realize I’m busy interrogating someone here, right?” Spitfire asked. “Yeah, I know. But when am I ever going to see one of Canterlot High’s top alumni again? You and Soarin’ were a part of the greatest soccer team imaginable! I always wanted to be like you guys and so I trained every day and practiced in the field and I’m aiming to break that awesome record that Wi-” Spitfire simply groaned as she lightly pushed Rainbow Dash off of her. “Soarin’! Why did you let her in here?” She asked. Soarin’ entered the room. “Well, you see how excited she is to see you. Plus, she told me a lot regarding the mess that went on at the Rabbit Hole last night.” Soarin’ said. “Like?” Spitfire asked. “Like how Professor Silverbolt managed to fight off several robots at once!” Rainbow Dash raised her arms up in the air. “Yeah, that story’s really becoming popular as of late. We’ll probably have to look into it soon.” Soarin’ said. “… This interview’s over. You’re free to go, Silverbolt. I’ll review the footage I got.” Spitfire got off of her seat and walked out of the room. I sighed in relief as Rainbow Dash walked to me. “Thanks.” I said. “It’s nothin’! You saved my butt last night, so I figured I’d return the favor.” She said. I cracked a small smile. “Again… thanks…” I said. Spitfire walked out of the interrogation room. However, she looked around. “… Hey, Soarin’, where’s Tachibana?” Spitfire asked. Soarin’ walked up next to her and shrugged. “I dunno… He disappeared last night before we got the call about the gunfight. Weird how he slipped out just as it begun, right?” Soarin’ asked. “… Yes… Weird…” Spitfire simply walked away. When Ross opened his eyes, he was not at RTX. Rather, he was in the middle of town in the middle of the night. “Hello?! Anyone here?” He shouted. A couple of people passed him and gave glances. Ross backed away slowly as he saw their strange skin colors. Most of them seemed to be like corpses given life. He also felt heavy. That’s when he realized that he was still holding Crescent Rose in his hands. Back at the con, it weighed as much as any fake plastic sword would weigh. Here though? It weighed more like a slab of iron. Ross ran his finger through the blade again, only to retract it quickly as he felt a sharp sting on his finger tip. As he looked at the tip, he could see a small gash on his finger. “Holy mother of shi-” Suddenly, glass shattered. Ross turned to see a shop with its window broken and its shopkeeper tossed out. Ross ran to see if the man was hurt, though a flash of light blinded him. He shielded his eyes as time began to slow to a crawl. “W-what? I can’t move!” Ross thought. He saw three people move out of the shop. Two of them were grayish, metallic monsters while the third wore a white business suit and a red undershirt. Despite the sluggish atmosphere, the three moved normally. The business man chuckled as he lifted the shopkeeper by the shirt. “Yes… This world will be perfect for our base…” He sneered. Ross struggled to move. He had no idea how to move in this heavy pressure. He simply looked at the shopkeeper and focused on one thing: going over there and saving him. All of a sudden, he began to move as rose petals began to flutter about. He ran to the first Roidmude he could see and slashed at him with the Crescent Rose. The Roidmude went flying as sparks flew out from its body. The other two Roidmudes looked to Ross as he prepared for them to attack. The other Roidmude fired bullets out of his fingers as Ross. While he took a number of bullets, his body didn’t show the bullets penetrate him. It hurt, yes, but all it did was knock Ross back a bit. Ross swung his scythe onto the pavement, tip crashing into the ground and sticking to it, and aimed the sniper part of the scythe. He fired at the Roidmude right in the head, blowing it off. The Roidmude fell over as its body dissolved into rose petals. Its number, 012, flew off before Ross fired at the number, shattering it. All that was left standing was the man in the white tuxedo. “Aaaah… Here’s the resistance.” He shrugged as his body was about to shift. Suddenly, sirens wailed across the city. “Well, can’t get caught this early… Hope you don’t see me again.” With that, he ran off with the other injured Roidmude as time resumed to normal. Ross jolted a bit as the rose petals that followed him stopped. Before he could even think, police cars stopped right outside the store as officers got out of it. Some began to point guns at Ross, though one of them simply got out and looked at him: Tachibana. Dash and I went back to the school. I decided to take her on a trip to the library. Throughout my time at Canterlot High, I took note of when the library would be most empty during the school day. CHS’ schedules has three different lunch periods. The first and third lunch periods happen after second and third periods respectively, but the second lunch happens in the middle of third period, a period usually reserved for the tougher classes such as algebra or science. As such, students who are given Lunch B tend to cram in the cafeteria rather than in the library to save on time and effort. I thought the only time I would take advantage of this moment would be to prepare a pop quiz for the second half of my class, but it seems that Lunch B has other quirks. One of them being an empty library. I went in with Rainbow Dash and headed to a cramped space inside the library. I turned around and showed Rainbow Dash my belt. “So, you know by now that I’m Gold Drive.” I said to her. She nodded extremely fast with a big grin on her face. “Alright, so this won’t be as hard as I thought.” I turned the ignition. “Henshin…” My body shifted into Gold Drive as the Technic Shift Car drove up to me. Banno grabbed it and placed it into the Shift Brace. The HUD lit up as I saw the Aura surrounding Rainbow Dash. It was exactly similar to Ross’ Aura. I also noted that she had super speed, something that Ross had possessed. Though there seemed to be a difference. Ross was able to keep up with us when we invoked a Slowdown, while Rainbow Dash was able to go faster than that. To compare speeds would be like comparing a Formula-1 car to a jet at Mach 1. The two speeds are very different, but similar enough to make the comparison. That’s when I remembered that she was with Ross last night. “Did that guy in the red hood do anything to you?” I asked. I simply connected the dots between Ross and Rainbow Dash. “No… Well, he did hold my hands before we got in, which I found super creepy. Then he spouted some crap about immortality and virtue and all that boring hero wannabe stuff. I felt… something, but it was a pretty long night, so I thought I was just tired.” Rainbow Dash said. “Hm… That’s… very odd.” I muttered. “He might be the reason you had that… burst of energy.” “Really?” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m sure of it. I want to ask more of this. How did you able to tap into that power?” I asked her. “W-well… I saw you being attacked by that monster and I couldn’t just let you die… Especially not after you saved me.” Rainbow Dash said. “… Wow… You’re… pretty loyal.” I said. “Um… Thanks.” I could see Rainbow Dash blush. “Tell you what…” My armor dispersed. “You could be my sidekick. You help me with these Roidmudes, and I’ll-” “I’ll do it!” Rainbow Dash smiled so hard, I could swear I heard a squeak from her cheeks. “Wow, you just get onto it without any favors. Um… Okay?” Well, it beats bribing her with A+’s and making her the teacher’s pet. “Hey!” A familiar voice boomed across the end of the two bookshelves. “What the hay are you doing with her?” Applejack stomped her boot. “Hey, me and Professor Silverbolt are having an important discussion!” Rainbow Dash turned around and glared at her. “Don’t listen to whatever nonsense she says, Kel! Remember what I said to you the other day?” Applejack said. Rainbow Dash instantly turned around. “Oh, what do you know? Maybe it’s you who’s saying nonsense!” Rainbow Dash turned her head to me. “I don’t know what she said about me, but it’s a complete load of-” “Bullshit.” I shot a glare at Applejack. “What you said about Rainbow Dash was bullshit. She’s not treacherous and she’s not a jerk. She saved my life from a Roidmude.” I marched towards Applejack. “I wanna accuse you of being dishonest… but the truth is that I require both your knowledge and Rainbow Dash’s strength. I’ll look the other way, this time. But I’ll give you a warning, Applejack. Rainbow Dash will be helping me with these Roidmudes and you’re going to give her as much assistance as you give me. If not? I’ll simply force you to partner up with her the next time I assign the class to do team-based projects. Understand?” I asked Applejack. “What!? You want to let her help us?! Are you crazy?” Rainbow Dash shouted. “For once, I agree, Kel!” Applejack said. I saw Cheerilee walk towards us, readying her finger to do the signature shhh that all librarians do. I simply walked out, dragging Rainbow Dash and Applejack by the arms. Ross sat in the chair at the interrogation room. He intrinsically tapped his finger on the desk as he heard the fiery redhead chew his ear out over what happened at the shop. He ignored what she said, or rather, mentally replaced her words with some other words: “If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back, and a slap on the wrist!” He smiled as he recalled the first episode of RWBY. Come to think of it, his run in with that man in the white suit… It reminded him a lot of the first episode. “Is something funny?” Spitfire slammed her hands on the table as Ross jumped back in surprise. Just then, the door opened. Ross looked as the old officer entered the room. “Spitfire, leave us.” He said. Spitfire stood up. “… Understood, chief.” She bowed and walked off. Tachibana sat in her seat. “… Who are you?” Tachibana glared at Ross. “My… My name is Ross Roosevelt. Look, officer, I can explain everything! Well… almost everything. I can’t really explain the whole move super fast stuff…” Ross said. “There are a select few people who are able to move as fast as us…” Tachibana said. “… Us?” Ross asked. Tachibana simply grinned as he transformed into the Judge Roidmude. Ross tried to get up, but Judge simply held his hand up. “I have a proposition.” Ross glared at the Roidmude. “Our forces are large, but the problem is that there’s too many of us to keep track. Many of them become unruly and attack recklessly. We used to have someone that would be able to keep them in check, but certain circumstances have made him unavailable. However, you could work…” Tachibana said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “That man you fought… He isn’t the only person who’s… unruly. There’s many others. I’ll inform him that you’ll become our hired gun… Our… Grim Reaper. From there, I’ll inform you of a list of people who have disobeyed our command.” Tachibana said. “Why are you telling me this? If you’re with that man, shouldn’t you kill me already?” Ross asked. “As I said, he too is unruly. However, with him commanding our army, his views on who needs to be disciplined is… skewered. He had me handle it, but it mostly involves me covering their tracks. I want to do more than that. That’s where you come in. I see that fire in your eyes… The desire for justice. If you agree to become our Grim Reaper, then I can guarantee you that you will inflict that justice onto them.” Tachibana said. “…No. I don’t want justice.” Ross looked at Tachibana and glared. “I want to be a hero.” Eventually, we made it back to the science class, where we were suddenly greeted by exploding confetti. “Surpriiiiiiiiise!!!” The pink-skinned girl shouted. “Pinkie Pie, what the hell’s going on?” I asked her. “We’re throwing a surprise ‘happy monthaversery’ for you!” As she said that, I checked my clock. Indeed, it has been a month since I first got here. I never once asked how time progresses when compared to my world, if they’re one-to-one or if it works under Hyperbolic Time Chamber logic. Nevertheless, I simply smiled. Well, it’s good that people saw my importance. I began to wonder if I should bring in Bill Nye or if they’ll start celebrating him more than me. “Help yourself to some cupcakes! I made them myself!” Pinkie Pie said. As I went over to check the cupcakes, I was pulled aside by one of the students. “I wouldn’t try them if I were you. I hear she makes it out of the organs of dead students.” While I would take her advice, I only needed to turn my head to see her fiery red and yellow hair. I simply glare at her and waltzed over to the pyramid of what I can see is a hundred cupcakes. I took a vanilla one and ate it. “Mmmmmmm!” Oh God, I wasn’t prepared for how sugary it would be! Crap! I can feel my teeth rotting just by tasting the icing alone! Aaaaaah! Well, it helped me with one thing though. If it was made from meat, it wouldn’t taste so… sweet! “Students! You have got to try this!” I said. A bunch of the students came over to try the cupcakes save for five: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, and a yellow-skinned girl with long pink hair. I can find reason within the four. Sunset Shimmer is the generic bitchy bully and Applejack’s hard as nails. Rarity’s probably too proper lady like to reduce herself to eating cupcakes and Rainbow Dash’s the athletic type, so I can get why she doesn’t wanna eat sugary snacks. The girl, however, was someone I didn’t talk to yet. Looking at the way her hair hides away her right eye and her defensive look with her hands tugging her skirt, I can instantly tell she’s Fluttershy. I walked over to her and pulled her to the side to not draw any attention. While I could see some students stare at me, I kept myself hushed up. “So… any reason you don’t wanna eat? I mean, I don’t mind.” I asked. She simply looked away and muttered. “I… don’t like her.” She said. “… Okay, why?” I asked her. “Well… She once attended my silent auction with fireworks and noisemakers…” She said. “Okay, obnoxious, I can get that.” I said. “And she also fed a poor dog chocolate!” Fluttershy said. “Wait, what?” I asked. “She sent a package of chocolates to one of the dogs in the animal shelter and he ate some… poor little Danny had to suffer a long painful night…” Fluttershy said. “… Craaaaaap…” I turn to Pinkie Pie who was simply eating as many cupcakes as she can. I looked at Sunset Shimmer. “You know, I can’t blame you for hearing that rumor now.” I said. Sunset Shimmer simply grinned. Though, it was definitely one of those evil, cocky smirks. I glared at her. Something was up. “Thus kindly, I scatter.” Those were the words Ross heard when he got out of the police station. Time slowed down to a crawl as everything faded to black. When color returned to Ross’ eyes, he noticed he was back at the RTX, with the merchant standing right in front of him. “How was that, m’dear?” He asked. “What… happened?” Ross asked. “Well, that is something we people like to call ‘displacement’. You grab something from us, and ziiiiiiiiip! You’re in another world! I figured I give you a little taste of the action.” He said. “H-how did you bring me back?” Ross asked. The man took out a silver necklace. On it was the symbol of a burning rose. “This baby is a special trinket. Think of it as an anchor that lets you travel to the place where you were. We call these Tokens. Here, keep it.” He handed it to Ross. “Um… Thanks?” Ross said. “Oh, and if you wanna go back,” he pointed to the scythe. “Just hold that scythe up and say those words I said. You’ll fling yourself back to that place, ready to have an adventure!” “Well, that works…” Ross said. He began to walk off, before he turned around. “Hey, what’s your name?” “Niko Zoloto’s the name, displacing’s my game!” Niko said. Ross simply smiled and held up his scythe. “Thus kindly, I scatter.” With that, he displaced himself out if the convention and back into the world. A Roidmude stood on a rooftop hummed ‘London Bridge is falling down’ to himself as he adjusted the camera on his chest. Next to him were six humans. One of them began to adjust the beads on his bracelet, another began to held out two fingers and made a zig-zagging pattern over his other hand. Another human, an old man with curly white hair and a lab coat, approached the edge of the roof. “So… This is where Banno’s holed up, huh? Well, it’s time for the maker to meet his end.” He cackled as he and the others transformed into Roidmudes. Whereas the six had standard forms, the old man turned into more of an advanced robot, with four tesla coils on his shoulders and a silver chrome forehead. The party had a limited amount of energy to it. People were dancing to songs that were suspiciously similar to songs from the High School Musical franchise… God I feel old for remembering them. There were enough cupcakes to go around though. I had at least a few, though I mostly stayed out of the partying. I had more pressing matters to attend to. 006 confirmed the theory that the Roidmudes remembered their pasts. Not only that, but their undoing too. It made me wonder if Heart wasn’t the only Roidmude they killed. Medic was a sure bet of being their next target, given that she had a hand in killing a couple of them. The other question was how I could utilize their past memories to my advantage. I stopped asking myself this when I noticed some of the students were looking at me. Right, I should focus on my students rather than on the battle. I looked towards Rainbow Dash and I got up. “Rainbow Dash, I’ve been meaning to ask.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “What were you talking about with Soarin’ and Spitfire?” I asked her. As soon as I did, Rainbow Dash grinned so hard, I could swear her cheeks squeaked. She immediately dragged me by the hand and ran out of the room. Thankfully, we didn’t go far, just outside the school locker room where a mural of pictures were shown. These pictures were of previous soccer teams that played for CHS. Rainbow Dash pointed to one in particular. On it, there was a team of soccer players. In the center was their coach and their two star players. These three I instantly recognized. Soarin’, Spitfire, and Wind Rider as the coach. “They were the best of the best Wondercolts! No one could stop them! They were fast, strong, and smart! They broke dead heat ties at record speeds, and when they played, they acted like a single machine! I wanted to be exactly like them when I was a kid.” Rainbow Dash pointed to a small, cyan blur in the corner. See? That’s me in the bleachers! Along with…” I noticed the yellow blur next to it. “Fluttershy…” She looked away, her voice deepening down and losing its momentum. “… Something the matter?” I asked her. She shook her head. “No… It’s…” She looked at Wind Rider and she immediately perked right back up. “I’m aiming to beat his record! He has the record for the fastest time in all of Canterlot High! I’m so going to break it, just you wait!” Rainbow Dash said. She stretched her arms and started to head back. I sighed, turned my head a bit behind me, and turned around. “So, what happened between her and Fluttershy?” I gave Applejack a few seconds for Rainbow Dash not to be in earshot of us. She stood by the wall, her foot propped against the wall like the cowboy she is… Or cowgirl… Wow, pronouns can get weird sometimes. The locker she stood by hid her from plain sight. I only managed to notice her by spotting her knee. “Well, Kel, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were close. Very close. We all were.” She walked towards the mural of photos and pointed up to a photo of five girls: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. “We were inseparable. Voted ‘best friends’ of 2010 at the Freshman Fair. Then… She happened.” Applejack pointed to Rainbow Dash. “She told me she’d get the entire softball team to help out at my bake sale. They stood me up and Rainbow Dash made a liar out of me. She may have done bad things to Rarity and Pinkie, but what happened with her and Fluttershy is something I’ll never forgive her for.” She grasped her fist. “Like I said, they were close. Super close. Like ‘more than best friends’ close. Then…” Applejack sighed as she stared away. “It was raining when she came over to my house. She cried so hard, Kelly… I’m gonna spare you the details, but needless to say, suddenly backstabbing your friend by giving her homophobic remarks on her cellphone is a sure fire way to make me angry.” Applejack said. “…” I stared at the photo of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sitting at the bleachers. “I don’t know what you see in Rainbow Dash, but I see nothing but a jerk, an asshole, and a traitorous bitch all rolled into one. But if you want the reason why I hate her, that’s why. If she can suddenly cast away someone who loved her in an instant, I can’t bear to imagine how she’d help us out.” With that, Applejack walked off. By that point, I straightened up my tie as the clues pieced together. It was obvious, but I knew the next person I’d talk to. It took a moment, but I got Sunset Shimmer out into the hallway. She had her hands in her jacket pockets and rolled her eyes at me. I, on the other hand, wanted to savour the moment. Not every day that you try to bust the alpha bitch. “So, what did you call me out for?” She asked. “Well, Miss Shimmer, over the past month that I’ve been here, I’ve picked up on some… information. I heard stories of people who were once friends turning into bitter rivals.” I said. “Happens to everyone.” She shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what I first thought, but I notice some threads. These were long term friends, and yet suddenly they’re bitter with each other, or at least not as close as they once were. Makes you wonder what drove them apart.” I said. “I had friends who suddenly want nothing to do with me, so I don’t see where you’re going with this.” She simply shrugged. “Well, when someone’s a very close friend, to the point where they could be considered lovers, suddenly giving them an insulting text for no reason is suspicious. And not on their end.” I said. She glared to me. “What are you implying? That I somehow had something to do with what happened with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?” … There. That was it. I smiled. “I didn’t say who it was, now did I?” I said. However, before anything else was said, the lights in the school flashed before they died. This was soon followed by screams and suddenly… FLASH Time beginning to slow to a crawl. No. No no no no no not now! Not when I have her on the ropes! Well, at least I saw her face lose all confidence in slow motion… That’s a neat bonus, at least. Without any further to do, I headed off to find the source of the attack. CRASH! SMASH! Two men in black suits were knocked down onto a red carpet in a long lavish hallway as Ross ran towards them, Crescent Rose in hand. One of them got up and transformed into a Roidmude before Ross chopped its head off. Using its falling corpse as a vault, he leaped over to the other person who transformed into another Roidmude. Crescent Rose changed into a sniper rifle as Ross fired right where the plate showed its Core: 103. The bullet entered its chest and shot right through the Core. Both Roidmude bodies slowly disintegrated into rose petals as Ross landed. While 103’s Core was irreparably destroyed, Ross turned around and destroyed the other floating number: 037, using only the hard side of the weapon. He turned his head towards the closed door. He ran and leaped into the air, wrapping himself in the hood as he zoomed right to the door and smashed it in. As he landed, he looked to see a revolving chair turned away from him. “Really? This generic crap?” Ross reloaded Crescent Rose as the chair slowly turned around. 006 simply shrugged. “Eh, you just gotta love the classics.” He smirked and got off of his chair. “You seem to be pretty cool with me raiding your place.” Ross said. “Well, it’s hard not to be angry when you know you have the edge.” 006 walked slowly to Ross. Ross simply muffled a laugh. “You don’t know anything, Roidmude. That Rider you had me attack… She will stop the Roidmudes, and I will stop you… Bet on tha-” JAB! 006 jabbed his thumb right below the side of Ross’ jaw. Ross’ face tensed up a bit before he broke out in a fit of laughter. Ross grabbed his neck as he fell down onto the floor. As he fell, 006 shifted into his Roidmude form, first his base Cobra form, then he transformed into his Advanced Form, Nerve. “The human body has so many pressure points… Did you know that? Every point has a different function when they break…” Nerve crouched down as he jabbed his thumb right on Ross’ shoulder. He screamed as the muscles in his arm seized up and his nails dug right into his palm. “As fun as it was to make my enemies pin cushions, I knew just from the first time testing this power out that it’d ruin the fun. So I held myself back until I felt like it was necessary to attack a human’s nerves. But now?” A golden aura enveloped him. “Now I can have lots of fun with this power… And you get to help me!” Soon, his entire body flashed gold. As the light faded, the color of his body changed. Now his body was a chromatic gold as the brass tubes were now blue. His sunglasses were blood red now. He closed in on Ross as he struck his body in the chest, then right in the middle of his arm, and soon his knee, and after that, his arm became a blur as he attacked several parts of Ross’ body, all the while cackling. I ran through the school as I heard bullets crash against glass and students screaming. I looked around to see where the Roidmudes were attacking, only to notice a part of the building began to implode. I was knocked away as a Roidmude whose chest had a large camera lens approached me: Scooper, a Roidmude able to take photos of buildings and then destroy their structure. I struggled to get up as three lower-class Roidmudes stood behind him. “Do you see the power that we Roidmudes possess?” Scooper held his arms out. He nodded to a Spider Class Roidmude, 079, as hopped onto a shard of glass and was sucked into it. While I never watched the show, I got the idea that he was pulling a trick from an old Kamen Rider show, and so I looked around. However, I forgot to take in that the Roidmude could use any reflective surface as a portal. He leaped out of the surface of the Banno Driver and socked me in the jaw. I flew back and hit a wall as the Roidmude landed. “This is the end for you… Goodbye, Professor.” The Scooper Roidmude held up a photograph and poked on it. I looked above as I saw the ceiling collapse on top of me. Immediately, I turned the ignition and transformed. Banno knocked the debris away and rushed to the Scooper Roidmude, only for another Roidmude, 052, to run up to him, grabbed him by the throat, and threw him down. He backed away as Roidmude 053 picked me up and flew through the hole made in the ceiling. As it held me in the air, I could see another Roidmude in front of the school, the Volt Roidmude. He fired bolt after bolt of electricity at different parts of the school as many students ran off. Banno struggled as I saw Volt taking time to zap some of the students with what I can safely presume to be a lethal shock. Volt looked up and saw me as 053 dropped me down, right into his path. Volt raised his large claw-like appendages as it created a bluish-yellow electrical sphere. He pushed it up and a large beam headed straight for me, piercing me right through abdomen. Thankfully, Banno was in control of my body, otherwise I would have felt what the original Kamen Rider Drive went through when facing Freeze. That said, I did feel nervous as the beam struck me. The HUD began to glitch out as I heard a loud buzzing noise. “Banno?! Banno!?” I shouted his name out, but he didn’t respond. I fell, and it seemed to be a pretty large fall too. About a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty feet? As I landed, I created a Gold Drive-shaped crater as the transformation cancelled out. I looked down to see the belt, but all I noticed was pieces of Banno’s face replaced with black squares. I managed to get up okay, albeit with a slight knee jerk. Seemed the armor took much of the blow and Banno’s control dulled my sense of pain. I could only stand as the army of Roidmudes approach me. Tachibana laid down on the couch at the Bree-Zee Animal Shelter. He dismissed the oncoming phone call from Soarin’. The police didn’t need to know where he was. If anything, he could say that he got in a crackdown gone horribly wrong and had to lay low for a few days. The Roidmudes don’t know where he was too. Otherwise they would have sent the Reaper Legion or even their backup Grim Reaper on him. Tachibana wasn’t exactly sure how long he should lay low for. A week, at least. He did plan on switching human disguises, though. Either change completely or create a composite form like how Iron did it. Though, outside forces usually interfere with his plans, as was what would happen with the TV. “Reports have cited a group of unidentified lifeforms attacking Canterlot High.” The news reporter immediately spoke as soon as the words “BREAKING NEWS” appeared. Footage of the Roidmudes’ attack on CHS played out as Tachibana got out of his seat. “They have begun mercilessly attacking the students. Paramedics are on the scene, but are unable to attend to the students due to the ongoing battle going on.” Tachibana growled once he saw Gold Drive on the TV. “Among these lifeforms is the rumored ‘Golden Drive’, a masked vigilante making headlines since a month ago. Nobody can conclude if these lifeforms are tied to Golden Drive or not, but this exclusive footage we recorded suggests they have some sort of antagonism.” Tachibana didn’t even bother to see the footage of the Volt Roidmude landing the finishing blow on Gold Drive. He hobbled out of the building. He just hoped to get there in time. “Tachibana! I made you some chicken noodle sou-” Mrs. Breesby walked into the room. She dropped the bowl of soup as she noticed two things: the lack of a Tachibana, and most important of all, the sight of her daughter’s school being under attack. I ran and screamed. I threw a punch towards one of the Roidmudes, only for them to block the attack and strike me across the face. I rolled onto the ground, got up, and did a tornado kick on him. He punched me so hard in the gut that I was knocked across the field and fell down. “As soon as this obstacle is destroyed, we Roidmudes will rule over all of humanity!” Volt laughed. He began to charge up one final energy bolt. This was it. I can see my fate being sealed before my eyes. I struggled to get up. I struggled to fight at least one last time. But no. I couldn’t even stand. The Roidmudes stopped attacking, if only to see the execution of their abusive creator and me, his puppet. After that, they’ll just go back to destroying… To killing… I looked around to see the students hurt by the Roidmudes’ attacks. I looked to see the destroyed portion of CHS. And perhaps what got me to do the next thing… I saw Pinkie Pie trying to rescue some of the younger students at the school who were severely shocked by the Volt Roidmude. This was never about me. This was never about Banno. Banno was correct. As it stands, I’m the only one who can fight. The police are either incompetent or corrupt, Ross stands no chance against them, and no one has ever heard of these Roidmudes until today. I imagined what would happen if I fell. Images of Roidmudes firing and destroying everything, killing any who stand in their way as drops of rain stayed frozen in mid-air. Global Freeze. If I fell, the Roidmudes will rule this world. Everyone I have met in this past month will either die or be enslaved to them. I thought back to the portrait with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others. All together and happy, only to be torn apart by what I would assume to be the generic bully. If I fall, they will never be friends again. “No…” I muttered. “I… I won’t let you do this…” I gripped my fist. “I won’t let you harm my students. I won’t let you harm my home.” I stood up. “I won’t let you harm my friends.” I glared at the Volt Roidmude. “And most certain of all…” I pointed to him. “I won’t let you harm this world!” “You think you can stop us?” Volt asked. “Yeah. Because I’m Kamen Rider Gold Drive, and I’m gonna take you all for a ride! Banno… I don’t know if you can hear me, but please… START MY ENGINE!!!” I shouted out as I turned the ignition. Volt fired a jolt at me. I didn’t get a response from Banno so I turned it again. As the bolt hit me, I screamed. My body changed into the blur of red and gold pixels. The gold armor latched onto me and my visor went white the instant they formed. The golden armor had a few sparks of lightning dancing on it. I stared at the Roidmudes as I took out the Steering Sword. Roidmude 056 sprayed out a web out of his mouth towards me, though I grabbed it and pulled the Roidmude towards me. I impaled the Roidmude once he was near, pulled out my sword, spun around, and then slashed his back. He easily exploded, his core exploding in the process. I turned to the Volt Roidmude as I turned the ignition. “H-Hah… That took a lot out of me…” Banno said as I handed the controls over to him. Banno was given the Door Gun and the Burning Solar Shift Car. As he saw the Volt Roidmude charge up another blast, Banno loaded the Shift Car into the Door Gun and fired a blast of light towards him. The Roidmude clawed out is eyes and screamed. “That should keep you busy.” That’s when he was knocked around by another Roidmude. “Gah!” I was able to catch the number of this Roidmude: 058. Seems these Roidmudes have gotten some upgrades. Not enough to fully merit a transformation to an Advanced Form, but something that can be well on their way to one. Better make sure to stop them now, in that case. “Switch!” I said to Banno as he turned the ignition. As soon as I gained control, I stabbed the Steering Sword into the ground and gained the Zenrin Shooter. I spread my shots with both the Zenrin Shooter and the Door Gun to try and catch 058 off guard. However, he leaped up and tried to strike me. Fortunately, I rolled over and struck him with the front wheel of the Zenrin Shooter. As he flew over from the knock back, I pressed the red button on my Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as I fired wildly at the airborne Roidmude, destroying his body and core in the process. I dropped the guns as I turned the ignition again. Banno groaned as he held the Signal Axe. “Give me a better weapon!” Banno said as he struck the ground with the Signal Ax, planting it in the ground. He ran over and grabbed the Steering Sword. However, two glass fangs pierced the back of Banno’s neck. It only took a second to smash them. He turned around and saw Roidmude 063. I noticed the Roidmude’s collar was multicolored, almost like… Stained Glass… Wasn’t there a Kamen Rider that fought stained glass monsters? Banno turned the Ignition as I regained control and gained two Shift Cars: Road Winter and Colorful Commercial. Gee, which one to use? I plugged in Road Winter into the Steering Sword and ran to 063. I made sure to drop Colorful Commercial into the slot for the Signal Ax. “THE FINISHER!” The axe began to blare out. “WAIT FOR IT!” It chanted as I stabbed frantically into the Roidmude. With each stab, the Roidmude slowly froze. As I stabbed him in the plate that displayed his Core, he began to crystalize and became a nice shiny ice sculpture. Once that was done, I left the sword planted into the Roidmude as I back flipped. I landed on the shaft of the Signal Ax, causing it to spring out of the ground and flip into the air. I leaped up soon after. “GO FOR IT!!” I grabbed onto the axe when I was about ten feet in the air and struck down. “FULL THROTTLE! ADVERTISE!”I fell onto the Roidmude just as 079 was about to come out of the ice’s reflective surface, only to realize his ambush was gonna get ambushed. “BUY ALL OUR PLAYSETS AND TOOOOOYS!!” I regretted putting Colorful Commercial in there as I saw my axe leave a holographic banner saying ‘Buy all our playsets and toys!’. Despite that, though, it managed to do the trick of destroying two Roidmudes with one strike. “Dynamic Chop…” I muttered under my breath. The blaring of sirens entered my ears as I turned around. Police cars began to appear as the Volt Roidmude just scoffed. Took him long enough to recover. “Let’s not let them interfere in our affair.” Volt said as he fired off a bolt with his claws. I held up my hand as a barrier of golden energy materialized in front of the police cars, blocking the thunderbolt. As I did that, I heard the beeping that indicated that I must switch to Banno before the transformation cancels out. If that were to happen, then the golden energy would also cancel out. I had no choice. I swapped out for Banno. Dozens of officers came out, guns pointed towards me and the Roidmudes. I saw Soarin’ and Spitfire both pointing their guns at me. Banno didn’t seem to care and just looked at the remaining three Roidmudes: Volt, Scooper, 052 and 053. That is until one of the officers spoke up. “H-hey! It’s Tachibana!” Banno turned his head to the crowd of cops as Tachibana hobbled over to them. “What happened?” “Are you hurt?” The cops began to ask him, but Tachibana waved them away. “Don’t worry about me… Worry about them.” Tachibana shot a glare at me. “Yeah! Who do we shoot, chief?” Soarin’ asked. “…” Tachibana’s eyes shifted to me, then to the Roidmudes. “Both.” He said. The cops began to cock their guns, save for Spitfire. “You sure? We just saw Golden Drive take out a couple of them.” Spitfire said. “Positive. We don’t know the full story of this vigilante. Perhaps he’s just killing these Roidmudes to climb up their ladder of control.” Tachibana said. Banno couldn’t help but chuckle. “You have a point. As soon as I am able to, I will rule over all the Roidmudes! And all of humanity too!” Banno then cackled. “Banno! Shut up!” I said. Tachibana smirked. “See? Now… Open fire!” Tachibana said. The police opened fire, though Banno simply moved the shield from Volt over to him, blocking the bullets from striking while the other bullets hit the Roidmudes. Huh… Banno actually anticipated it? “… Okay, that was clever.” I said. Banno walked over to pick up the two discarded blasters. “What was?” Banno asked. “… Never mind.” I said as Banno began to fire at the Roidmudes as well. Both Scooper and Volt held their Low-Class members like meat shields, blocking them from both the gunfire of the cops and Banno’s own gunfire. Not that they would affect the Roidmudes, it seemed. “Judge! You traitor!” Volt shouted. “Judge? Who’s that?” Soarin’ stopped firing to ask that question. “…” Tachibana didn’t answer. “That’s the codename these Roidmudes have given your so-called Chief of Police.” Banno said, not even glancing to the cops. “That’s a lie!” Tachibana shouted. “Really?” Scooper asked before he tossed 053 at the cops. He flew towards Tachibana, claws readied. The cops began to fire. I wanted to go in and help, but Banno was currently engaging with the other Roidmudes. He flew towards Tachibana, claws readied. The cops began to fire. Banno dropped the guns and turned the ignition. As much as wanted to go, the moment I noticed a large, blue, trailer-themed Shift Car roll towards me on a road that was being paved in mid-air as it came closer and closer, I knew Banno wanted more firepower. I grabbed onto the large cannon, pushed the front part down to form the handle, and pointed to 052. I fired and it shot a large blast at the Roidmude. Knocking both him and Volt back before 052 exploded. I fired another blast at the core and blew it up. I looked as some of the police tried to hold back 053, only to bunched and even shot by the Roidmude. One of them was Spitfire as she was shot in the leg. Tachibana, after seeing at least five of his men go down, yelled out and transformed into the Judge Roidmude. The entire police force gasped and pointed their guns to him. Tachibana simply looked at the group for a moment before he stabbed his kendo stick into the ground, creating a massive smoke screen. I heard a lot of clashes and metal scraping metal before I heard an explosion. My heart stopped for only a moment before I saw the number 052 hover over a little bit into the air before blowing up. The Judge Roidmude jumped out of the thick cloud and screamed as he tried to strike me with his weapon. I sidestepped and fired point blank at his chest. Judge was knocked back by the blast, though he stabbed his kendo stick to the ground to stop himself from going too far. He shot his Taser darts towards me, though I rolled out of the way. I fired a few shots at Judge, though he managed to stop them with more darts. I continued to shoot as I ran towards Judge. When I was close to him, I just swung the Trailer Cannon like the large slab of metal that it was and struck him in the head five times, each in a different direction. The sixth and final strike was using the butt of the gun to knock him straight on the head. That knocked him down enough to execute the finishing blow. I turned the ignition as three Shift Cars drove to me: Shift Formula, Shift Speed, and Shift Wild. Banno took the three and slotted Formula onto the top part of the cannon. “FORMULA CANNON!” He loaded the two Shift Cars next. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” He pointed the cannon at Judge as blue, purple, and gold colored energies built up in the barrel of the cannon. Just before he pulled the trigger, however… “W-wait!” I heard that voice before… It was Fluttershy! I saw Fluttershy, relatively safe albeit with a bit of a torn skirt, as she ran over to Judge and held her arms out as to shield him. “D-don’t hurt him!” Fluttershy said. Any other day of the week, I wouldn’t have listened to her and simply told her to move. However, I knew there might be more to this than meets the eye. Why is Fluttershy defending a Roidmude of all things? Especially Judge? I decided to hold my fire… Though I soon realized that I wasn’t in control. Banno was. “GWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiot!” My body went cold as Banno kept the cannon pointed towards Judge despite Fluttershy blocking the shot. “It’s your funeral!” Banno fired. “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!” I shouted. “FULLY LOADED FORMULA CANNON!” And with that, I couldn’t help but watch as the large blue and white beam went streaking towards Fluttershy.
Golden Drive Arc 6: How Can We Stop Nerve?Time slowed to a crawl, not by Slowdown, but by my own fear as I saw Fluttershy in the way of an oncoming blast fired from the Trailer Cannon, with Banno’s own laughter to serve as the soundtrack. I closed my eyes and whispered out: “I’m sorry.” WHOOOSH! I opened my eyes as I saw a rainbow line snatch Fluttershy and Judge away, the beam now heading towards the Volt Roidmude who struck the ground with his claws, creating an electrical barrier to block the blast. The blast exploded and as the smoke cleared, both Volt and Scooper were gone. “What’s wrong with you!?” I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice as Banno looked to her. I saw Fluttershy shaking for a little bit before she too looked at Rainbow Dash. “R-rainbow Dash?” She blushed. Rainbow Dash simply glanced at Fluttershy before returning her glare to me. “You nearly killed her! What kind of hero are you!?” Rainbow Dash yelled at me. Banno looked around and saw that the Roidmudes were gone. He just stood there as the Gold Drive armor took off, leaving me to look at Rainbow Dash as she held Fluttershy almost defensively. I glared. “I wasn’t trying to kill her! I was trying to kill-” I pointed to Judge, but he too was gone. “GODDAMN IT!” I shouted. Soarin’ then approached me. “It’s okay. We saw what happened.” Soarin’ sighed and talked with Rainbow Dash. “Professor Silverbolt was fighting that monster then that girl over there got in the way.” Soarin’ said. “M-monster?” Fluttershy pushed Dash away from herself. “He was not a monster! He’s my friend!” Fluttershy said. “What!?” It was weird. I said it around the same time as Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash… It was so surreal. “Just because he looks different doesn’t mean he should be put in the same category as those other monsters!” I could see tears try to form in her eyes. Before I could even say anything, Fluttershy ran off. I looked to Rainbow Dash, but she stormed off in a huff. The sounds of ambulance sirens rang out the following evening as I stayed in the library sipping some coffee. I couldn’t help but glare at my reflection, or rather, the Banno in the reflection. “… You know Fluttershy wouldn’t have survived that blast, right?” I asked Banno. “Oh yes. I was aware. But the blast would have taken out Judge as well. If not that, then heavily damage him while we worked on the other Roidmudes.” Banno said. “Okay, Banno, I get you’re a crazy madman-” “I prefer the term genius.” “Whatever! You can’t just do that!” I said. “You are scolding me?” Banno laughed. “I believe you forgot the pecking order. You’re merely my puppet. I just haven’t found the strings yet.” Banno said. As much as I hate to say it, he has a point. Even if I have more say in transforming, the fact of the matter is that he retains as much control of being Gold Drive as I do. “… Speaking of, Fluttershy said that Judge was a ‘friend’.” I said. “I’m aware. It’s not uncommon to see Roidmudes befriend humans. I originally intended them to help them, after all.” As Banno said that, all my thought processes went to a screeching halt. “What?” I asked. “Do you think of me as some madman out for world domination? Well, I wasn’t like that before. I created the Roidmudes with the intent of befriending humanity. Creating an unbreakable bond between man and machine. However, when I presented my ideas to investors, they all turned me down. They said that they couldn’t feasibly see a world where robots are friends with humans. Those fools…” I remembered how Banno made one of the Roidmudes copy the likeness of one of said investors, if only to use him as a punching bag. “Once the only person who ever understood my plan left me, I abandoned all resolve to create a utopia where man and machine were one. Instead, I began to imagine a world where machines ruled the world. Humanity is flawed and it’s clear that out of the two, the Roidmudes are the superior ones.” Banno said. “… You know I don’t believe this whole ‘I tried to do good’ crap, right?” I flat out said. “Do you need to ask for proof? Because I believe you already have that. 072, 009, even that failure of a prototype have enough proof.” And sure enough, he was right. 072 befriended a member of the police over a show they watched together and had worked with them in secret. 009, better known as Medic, healed her human template along with dozens of other Roidmudes, giving her a somewhat angel-like grace. As for Banno’s prototype, 000… He was better known as Kamen Rider Chaser. Before that, he was Mashin Chaser, the original Grim Reaper in the show. “Even now, it seems that there are Roidmudes who wish to protect humanity.” Banno said. I shook my head. I wanted to tell him that Judge was not a protector, but that’s when I heard static on a nearby radio. I went over to turn up the volume. “Greetings, humans…” I recognized the voice. It was Volt. “You may have bared witness to our might on our siege of Canterlot High School and wonder who we are. Well, allow me to confirm your fears. We are Roidmudes. We are the superior beings that will lord over you pathetic humans. As of today, we are preparing to siphon all the power of Canterlot City into a single machine. And by using this machine, we will be able to summon forth our Roidmude brethren to revolutionize this feeble world! Today will be the last day of human freedom! Fear us! For we are the Roidmudes!” Volt ended his speech with a cackle and soon, radio static. “… Damn it!” I slammed my fist into the table. “Hmm… Mighty ambitious of them.” Banno said. “We’re not going to sit here and let them win.” I walked over and looked over the Shift Cars that had sat on the table. As far as I know, the students who entered the library just look at them as toy cars. A collection of Transformers toys. It helped that the Shift Cars were stationary in the day time. As I approached them, the cars all turned to me. I looked to them. This would be my first time commanding the Shift Cars without using Gold Conversion. I took a deep breath and spoke up. “You heard him. If we don’t stop them, we might end up facing another Global Freeze. I know that the creator of these robots rests on my very waist, but we all have the same goal right now: stopping the Roidmudes. I need you to find any large building that could act as a conduit for an electrical system.” I said. I recalled Volt’s endgame plan involving using an electrical device on top of a mall. To my surprise, the cars all honked in unison and drove off, creating tiny roads for them to drive on as they did. “Hey, Banno, does Gold Conversion brainwash the Shift Cars?” I asked him. “… I never tested out that possibility.” Banno said. I could only look as the Shift Cars all drove out of the library in different directions. Some went out the window, others went through the empty halls. “I’m so glad you’re alright!” Fluttershy’s mom held Fluttershy in the living room. “When I saw your school was attacked by those… monsters, I felt so afraid… It was a kind of fear I never felt before.” She said. “Mom, don’t worry. Everything was fine. Mr. Tachibana was there to save me.” She said. “Tachibana? Wasn’t he one of the monsters that-” “No! He isn’t like them! I tried telling the others that, but they didn’t believe me! You met Mr. Tachibana before, so you know he’s nice!” Fluttershy said. “I know, but…” Fluttershy’s mom said before there was a loud knock at the door. Fluttershy’s mom walked over to get the door. As she opened, she saw a man in a white tuxedo with a matching fedora and a soft-shaven beard. “Hello.” He cocked a smile as two low-class Roidmudes stood behind him. Fluttershy’s mom tried to shut the door, but before she could even shriek, 006 struck her in the chest, causing her to convulse and go down on the floor. “Mom!” Fluttershy rushed over to her, though 006 flicked his wrist, slowing down the flow of time in a flash of light. Nerve walked over to Fluttershy, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her into a wall, fingernails digging into her skin. “Where is Tachibana?” He asked. “Hrrkkk…” Fluttershy grunted. Nerve released some pressure. “I… don’t… know… arrrg…” “He would have known we’d be coming for him.” One of the low-class Roidmudes said. Nerve simply nodded. “You’re right.” He then proceeded to jab Fluttershy in the side of the neck. He turned around as Fluttershy slowly fell to the floor, her body going limp. “She’ll do as bait.” Nerve picked her up. “Besides, we need someone to act as a conduit for the device.” “Won’t this piss off that Kamen Rider?” The other Roidmude asked. “Heh… Leave that to me.” Nerve said. With that, the trio ran off with Fluttershy. Time resumed to normal as Mad Doctor, the ambulance Shift Car, drove over and saw Mrs. Breesby. The Shift Car blared its sirens and went to work. I sat in the library. The school was closed due to the attack. I was able to check the news of the aftermath. Despite what I have seen, there were fewer deaths than I had imagined. Only half a dozen died in the attacks, though all of them had names that I didn’t recognize. I wondered if Krim had to do this when dealing with the aftermath of Global Freeze. Seeing how many people he failed to save or even how many lives he indirectly destroyed by giving Banno the technology needed to create the Roidmudes’ ability to slow time down. Several Shift Cars came back, each reporting a different location where the supposed device that Volt boasted about would be. They did this by driving to a certain part of a fold out map the library had in the archives and I marked each of them down with a thumbtack on the old corkboard. “Damn it. There’s a dozen places that Volt could be at!” I said. That’s when I remembered… The mall! Volt, in his previous life, set up his device at a large mall. All I had to do was find a mall… Bingo! I found the mall almost instantly. The Canterlot Shopping Centre. As I was about to leave, I saw Applejack bust into the library. “Applejack?” I asked. “It’s Fluttershy!” Applejack said. I saw Mad Doctor roll into the library as well. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Fluttershy’s been kidnapped by those Roastporks!” Applejack said. “What!?” I said. It took me a while to think about what the Roidmudes wanted with Fluttershy. When I found out the answer, I gave Applejack a stern look. “Wait here.” I said. I ran off, open the window, jumped out, and took out my LockVehicle, the SunDriver. I popped the lock open, tossed it, and it transformed into an ATV for me to ride on. I drove off. “Fluttershy’s what?” Applejack turned around to see Rainbow Dash. “… What are you doing here?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Professor Silverbolt said that we were on the same team. As soon as I saw you and that car, I knew something was up.” Rainbow Dash said. “… Well, there’s nothing we can do.” Applejack muttered. “What are you talking about?!” Rainbow Dash said. “You heard me! Those monsters destroyed part of our school and even hurt some of our friends! We’re powerless to stop them! I’ve seen their power with my own eyes. The best we can do is wait for Kelly to stop them for us.” Applejack said. “… No. I’m not going to stand for it. I’m going with her!” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re not going to survive. I encountered those… Those Roidmudes, and I was lucky to even be alive.” Applejack said. “I was in that same situation too. But I pulled through…” Rainbow Dash looked away. “If you like, you can come with me.” She said. “Why should I go with you?” Applejack glared at Rainbow Dash. “Because I can show you how to fight the Roidmudes.” She walked over to Applejack. “Close your eyes. I’m going to touch your face for a bit.” She said. “What!? No!” Applejack said. “Do you wanna save Fluttershy or not!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. A brief pause followed. Applejack soon shut her eyes. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to think back to what Ross said to her. When she finally got the words, she spoke up while gracefully stroking Applejack’s face: “For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.” Rainbow Dash put another hand on Applejack’s shoulder. Her body glowed cyan while Applejack’s glowed orange. The glows faded as Rainbow Dash’s legs began to wobble. “Woah! What happened?!” Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash straightened up. “I think I just gave you superpowers.” Rainbow Dash said. She picked up Applejack. “Trust me on this.” She said before running off at supersonic speeds. I drove down a private street down by Canterlot City. Despite the ride being an all-terrain vehicle, the city barely had any terrain for the SunDriver to tear through other than roads. I figured to draw less attention to myself by sticking to the less-used roads. At first, it may seem like I shot myself in the foot by going a long way around as opposed to taking the highway like every other person, but the speed of the SunDriver, followed closely by plugging Shift Speed into one of the slots on my dash, was more than enough to make up for that. BANG! Or so I thought. Before I knew it, one of the tires blew out, causing the SunDriver to tumble out of control. Shift Speed and I managed to get out of it before the ATV began to flip over, right into a wall where it blew up, parts of it scattering on the side of the road. I turned around to see who shot the tire. And then I saw him. Standing on the roof before he leaped down. “Ross?” I asked him. He looked… different. The muscles in his left arm spasmed uncontrollably, though he seemed to hold the scythe pretty steadily with his right. He had a smile that just stretched from ear to ear, teeth gritted as the eyelids twitched. I could almost see veins bulge from his neck. He walked closer to me, only stifled laughs came out of him. “… Nerve…” Banno muttered. I backed away from Ross. Banno and I both remembered the Nerve Roidmude’s power of attacking the nervous system. Super Evolution simply enhances what a Roidmude has, along with giving them more abilities. It wasn’t any stretch of the imagination that 006 had something to do with Ross. “Snap out of it, Ross!” I shouted to him. “It’s no use! A Super Evolved Roidmude’s effects on the human body are irreversible! The only way we could save Ross is if we digitize him and edit out the effects!” Banno said. I remembered how he saved the life of a person using that exact method when a Super Evolved Roidmude poisoned her. Unfortunately, he was able to do that only when he was in a tablet. Seeing as he was confined to a belt, that left one other option. “Or we kill Nerve.” I said. I tried to run, but Ross fired at me. I rolled out of the way and looked at him. “But first…” I turned the ignition. “Go easy on him, okay?” I asked. “I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep." Banno said. "But those are the best kinds!" I chuckled slightly. Banno sighed. "Henshin.” Banno said as I stood up. I transformed into Gold Drive as Banno took over. Ross ran at Banno with blinding speed. Banno was only able to match it with a flash of golden light, clutching the topside of the scythe with his hand. “Hey, boy! Best calm down before you tick me off.” Banno said before Ross fired at him, knocking him right into the pile of broken LockVehicle parts. “… You asked for it.” Banno turned the ignition as I received a purple monster truck Shift Car with green tires. I put the car into the Shift Brace as Ross spun around, swinging his scythe as well. I clutched the scythe as two golden colored jaws materialized and clamped down onto Ross’ hands. Despite the jaws digging into Ross’ arms, I could feel Ross still pushing forward with his weapon. I backed away as the jaws began to disappear. “We need to hold him off. I have an idea.” I said as I turned the ignition. The red circuit on my chest flared as Banno switched in. Two Shift Cars drove in, one a tow truck and the other a large, punkish truck called a dekotora. The two expelled a wench and chains respectively as they held down Ross. However, what Banno got in his hands was the Trailer Cannon and Shift Speed. Shift Speed already plugged itself into the top of the cannon. “SPEED CANNON!” “You want me to kill him?” Banno asked as he aimed the gun. “No. We just need to cripple him temporarily. He can take the damage.” I said. Banno looked into the empty compartment where the Shift Cars could be loaded and chuckled. “I like your moxie.” Banno said before he turned the ignition. A red Shift Car drove right into my hands. A person could be forgiven for mistaking the Shift Car to be a limousine for how long it was. In truth, it’s actually a Shift Car modeled after the main rider’s own ride of choice: a custom car called the Tridoron. I pressed a large red button on the side. “FIRE ALL ENGINES!” And I slid the large Shift Car right into the loading compartment. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! FULL SPEED BIG CANNON!” I pulled the trigger as a large, red blast fired from the cannon. As Ross broke away from his confinements, the blast hit him with the force of an oncoming car. It knocked Ross so far away that he was about ten feet up when he hit a wall and fell down right onto the pavement with a sickening thud. For good measure, I turned the ignition to get Shift Technic as Banno loaded it into the Shift Brace. “Amazing.” Banno muttered. “I know.” I saw Ross’ vitals were unaffected by the attack, though the Aura around him had greatly diminished compared to when I last fought him. “No, not that… That.” Banno turned around and pointed to what he saw. Soon, I saw it with my own eyes. It was a large, red custom sports car. While part of the hood was missing, exposing the front tire, I squeed hard as I saw its twin white stripes sweeping down the car. I had just summoned Kamen Rider Drive’s ride: the Tridoron. The trail of a bright rainbow streaked over towards the Canterlot Shopping Center before it stopped, showing the two girls standing outside in the middle of the street. “Where the hell’s Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash took the time to pant. “We searched all town for her!” That’s when the two heard a choir of screaming. “Well, there’s someplace we haven’t looked.” Applejack pointed to where the sound came from: a crowd of people running from two low-class Roidmudes as they fired bullets from their fingertips. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got ready to rush in, only for a sinkhole to form right beneath their feet. “Look out!” Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash before her legs kicked up, knocking them a few feet into the air before landing a few spaces behind the newly made crater. “Woah! Applejack! That was amazing! How did you do that?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “I dunno! I just acted on instinct and suddenly I’m a jumpin’ bug!” She said. The two heard footsteps behind them and they turned, seeing the Scooper Roidemude in front of them as he adjusted his lens and held a photo in his other hand. Applejack backed away as Rainbow Dash took a fighting pose. “I don’t know about you, but I ain’t running away!” Rainbow Dash ran towards the Scooper Roidemude. Just as she was about to throw a fist, she created a large sonic boom. Its ripples were colored just like the rainbow as she was able to run at Mach 1, punching the Scooper Roidmude almost a thousand times before throwing him towards Applejack with the same velocity. Applejack tried to get away, but as soon as her foot dangled over the hole, she stopped. Seeing her opponent fly towards her, Applejack simply side kicked him. Her legs glowed in an orange color as the kick landed square into the lens, shattering them and knocking the Roidmude back. Rainbow Dash ran back towards Applejack before stopping. The two looked to the Roidmude as he struggled to get up. “Trust me on this.” Rainbow Dash muttered. She ran towards the Roidmude, grabbing Applejack as she did so. As she ran, she threw Applejack into the air. In a moment’s notice, Applejack realized what she needed to do and preformed a flying side kick towards the Roidmude. The kick, while not enough to destroy the Roidmude, knocked him flying towards one of the nearby buildings and knocking him out. As Applejack landed, she and Rainbow Dash looked to the two Roidmudes guarding the front of the mall. Applejack took Rainbow Dash’s arm. “…” She simply gave her a glare. “What are you looking at?” Rainbow Dash asked. “This doesn’t make us friends, y’know.” Applejack said before she jumped up, towards one of the upper floors of the mall. As the Scooper Roidmude got up, he tried to get the picture of the mall he took prior and destroy the part they jumped to. Snaaaaaaarl… However, he heard a strange sound coming from the alleyway where he was from. He turned around to see inky blackness. The snarling seemed to get louder. Before he knew it, he saw two red dots that could easily pass for eyes. While he readied himself, he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. ROOOOAAR! A loud scream echoed through the city, though it fell on the deaf ears of his Roidmude brethren standing watch at the mall. The Tridoron roared through the streets as I drove it from point A to point B. Thankfully, the Tridoron came equipped with a GPS. While it spoke in Japanese, for some reason, I was able to understand it as if it was my mother tongue. I never paid much heed to it before. It made me wonder though how Banno was able to speak fluently in English. Then again, given the fact that he was a scientist, I could easily just assume that Banno simply learned English at some point. Made sense considering how much English Krim peppered into his speeches… Heh, pepper, like Chris Peppler, his actor… I suddenly heard the sirens of a police car and I pulled over on the side of the street. The police car pulled over as well. I unfurled my window, only to find that the cop who pulled me over was… “Judge…” I muttered. “Please, a moment of your time.” He asked. “Why? You pretty much shot down all chances of talking nice to me when you had your men fire at me.” I said. Tachibana simply looked at me. “If I had the police shoot only you, they’d be suspicious. If I had them shoot only the Roidmudes, then that’d confirm their suspicions of my betrayal. Though considering what had happened before, they didn’t need that much evidence.” Tachibana said. “... Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask that. You’re a traitor to your kind?” I asked. “No. I’m not. I have not betrayed the Roidmudes.” Judge said. “You murdering that one Roidmude said otherwise.” Banno said. “I haven’t betrayed Heart.” Tachibana said. “… Of course. Now it makes sense.” I muttered. I looked to him. “006 told me what happened.” I said. “When the Roidmudes came back, our memories were intact. Heart…” Judge chuckled a bit. “had a change of heart. He recalled his time with the human known as Tomari Shinnosuke and realizing the war with humanity was in vain and will always be in vain, he proposed to instead focus efforts to befriend the human race.” He said. “I assume not all the Roidmudes bought it.” I said. “Only a quarter of our kind agreed with him. The others… They turned on him. It… It was hurtful to see many of our kind dying to that civil war. Heart fell along with his army. I was one of the few on his side who survived… But only because I chose to feign betrayal. I know the feeling of vengeance all too well. I figured if I bided my time… I could have wiped out those traitors. Those who fight for the Roidmudes, yet murder their own kind. From there, I’d create a new Roidmude world in honor of Heart. One where humans and Roidmudes can coexist.” Tachibana said. Just as Banno originally intended… I stayed silent for a moment as Tachibana continued to speak. “But it seems that’s all in vain. I ask you now, as an ally, to help me save Fluttershy.” Tachibana said. “Wait, how do you know Fluttershy?” I asked him. “… After the battle, I was critically injured. I was able to get away with the help of our recreator.” Tachibana said. “Recreator?” I asked. “The genius who brought the Roidmudes and I back. Hence, Recreator.” Banno said. “Thank you… He managed to get me away on an assignment to scout out a world he had selected. … That world is this very place we are standing on right now. This world would serve as a project of his. I don’t know what it was, but given how he gave a huge talk of recreation, I would assume he will use the Roidmudes to destroy this world and recreate it anew.” Tachibana looked away. “Focus! Fluttershy! What does she have to do with this!?” I asked. “As I said, I was injured, and I fell unconscious. When I came too, I was recovering in an animal shelter. A kind girl took me in…” Tachibana said. “Fluttershy…” I muttered. “Exactly. I visit her from time to time. Eventually I came across the Canterlot Police Department. When I arrived, they just had their chief of police retire. I was able to go in and use my template’s identity to convince the others to have me replace them. Surprisingly, it was easy. I was in a good place to know when Roidmudes would randomly attack people and secretly capture them and reprogram them through this.” Tachibana showed me an iPad. “So you were able to reset Roidmudes without my help?” Banno asked. “No. What I do is insert a command into the Roidmude: Protect Humanity. Unfortunately, I was only able to convert a few or so before all this happened.” Tachibana said. I looked ahead of the road and thought back to what I said when I was with Wind Rider. “They’re killer, time-stopping robots who disguise themselves as humans and plan secret revolutions and genocides… but there are Roidmudes who don’t want to kill every human. You just have to find them. They’re… diamonds in the rough.” That’s when I looked at Tachibana. “Aright. Let’s go… partner.” I said. He nodded and got into his car. We drove off, side by side, towards Canterlot Shopping Centre. As Rainbow Dash and Applejack crash through the sheet of glass, they landed and saw Fluttershy tied to a large pillar of metal in the middle of the mall, just on a floor above them as Volt was by a computer attached to the pillar. Large screws were embedded into the sides of the pillar as an antenna pointed upwards, towards the glass ceiling of the mall. “Fluttershy! Hang on!” Rainbow Dash ran to her. “Wait! It could be a-” Before Applejack could warn her, there was a flash of light as time slowed down. A blur passed Applejack as she was knocked back in slow motion. Rainbow Dash turned around to see the Nerve Roidmude approach her. He chuckled. “So, you can move during Slowdown? Perhaps you can provide a good challenge before Banno and his slave get here.” He got into a karate stance as Rainbow Dash ran to him, throwing him a few punches. Nerve simply slapped the first few away, but was unable to get the third in time. He stumbled back. “No… You’re even faster… At last, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary!” He simply flexed the upper portion on his hand towards himself. Rainbow Dash leaped and gave Nerve a few kicks. Nerve was able to block them in time. As Rainbow Dash landed, she leaped in the air and did a spin kick. Nerve ducked down as she landed. Rainbow Dash hopped a little before giving Nerve a roundhouse kick. However Nerve sidestepped from that, jumped and did a tornado kick. However, Rainbow Dash blocked it with her arm. Nerve stayed in mid-air as the two flung punches at each other. While Rainbow Dash only had one arm active for the punches, she managed to land more hits than Nerve could. Eventually, Rainbow Dash punched Nerve square in the chest. There was a small, rainbow colored shockwave that exploded from her fist and expanded outwards. Nerve was knocked down as Rainbow Dash chuckled. “That’s what you get, you son of a-” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s arms went limp. “H-huh!?” Rainbow Dash muttered. Nerve chuckled and got up. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nerve. And as that name implies, the nerves in your arms have been rendered useless.” He said. He turned around as Rainbow Dash ran to him, leaped in the air, and did a side kick. Nerve smirked and ducked underneath, only to uppercut her in the spine. CRACK! The fist also created a small shockwave, though this time, it was golden colored. Rainbow Dash’s body also had a similar shockwave emitted across her body in the form of cyan colored ripples all across her body. Rainbow Dash screamed out in pain as she flew in the air a few feet, then fell onto the ground where her impact cracked the floor tiles. “Your spine’s like bubble wrap. One well-placed blow and now I made you a cripple.” Nerve laughed. Time resumed to normal as Rainbow Dash screamed out in pain. “But, I grow tired of you now… It was fun.” He walked to her and flexed his fingers until he straightened his hand out to land a final blow. BLAM! However, before he can land it, his face was kicked in. He fell down almost instantly as Applejack stood, her leg high in the air before putting it down. Nerve got up and noticed something. Red glass on the ground in the shape of his ‘sunglasses’. He felt his face, and sure enough, Applejack had just kicked one of his eyes off. “YOU BITCH!” He roared as he stomped forward and punched her in the chest. Applejack, however, took the blow and kicked him again. Nerve staggered. “H-how are you not affected?!” He asked. He turned to see Rainbow Dash get up, though she could barely stand on two legs without falling slightly. “And you! That blow should have paralyzed you for life!” “Call it our determination!” Rainbow Dash said. She and Applejack charged in as Nerve slowed down the flow of time again, if only to get out of the way. Rainbow Dash got out of Applejack’s way, but was unable to keep up with Nerve due to the injury she was given. As Nerve got upstairs to where Fluttershy was, he saw Volt overlooking a large silver computer. “How much longer until it’s active?” Nerve asked. “Not long. Now we just need to use the human for the conductor and we’ll be able to create the portal.” Volt said. “Hmph…” Nerve pressed his hand onto the pillar. Soon, some of the electrical currents began to transfer into his hand. “What are you doing!?” Volt asked. “I’d rather use this power for my own benefit…” He said. Volt pointed his appendage towards Nerve. “No. You had your fun. Now that you got your Super Evolution, it’s time for you to stop acting as the leader and let the Roidmude King take over now!” Volt said. “He’ll be the next to be overthrown.” Nerve chuckled as he let go of the pillar, then slowly walked over to Volt. Before Volt could even attack, Nerve grabbed him and tossed him over to the pillar. It shocked Volt so hard that his body overloaded and exploded. His core floating upwards as Nerve grabbed the pillar to amass the energy created from the shock. He laughed before turning around and firing a lightning bolt at the core, destroying it. As he pressed a few keys on the computer, he turned to Rainbow Dash and readied for round two as the machine hummed to life. We drove down the streets as the street lights began to flicker on and off. Damn, they already started. I put my pedal to the metal and sped up while Tachibana did the same. That’s when we noticed the sinkhole. “Tachibana! Hop on!” I shouted to him. Tachibana nodded. He opened the door of his car and leaped out onto the Tridoron. Pulling onto the lever, I closed my eyes and prayed. As soon as I heard metallic clunking, I opened my eyes and noticed two giant go-karts attached to the side of the Tridoron, one red and the other blue. Tachibana was on the blue kart. “Oh thank God.” I muttered. These two were part of the Tridoron. The Ride Booster Set. They were basically add-ons to the Tridoron to make it a four-man ride. Two in the Tridoron, and one in each go-kart. It was also able to fly, which is what I intended for them to do. Hover blades built into them began to whir as the Tridoron lifted itself off and flew towards the shattered window. I could feel the slowdown particles weighing me down. Something wasn’t right. As I got in I saw- No! I saw Applejack in mid-flight, being knocked back to a window next to it, though thankfully, with the slowdown and heavy pressure, Applejack could bounce off the window and not get hurt. But I soon saw Rainbow Dash trying to fight Nerve, only for her to get jabbed in the neck and fall to the ground. He looked up to me and Tachibana. “I’ve been waiting for you, Banno!” Nerve said. I froze as I saw the golden coloring on him. He’s already achieved it… Super Evolution. “I took the pleasure of beating up your students… And in the process of executing another one.” He pointed to Fluttershy as she was slowly electrocuted by the pillar. Her screams sent chills to not just my spine, but I presume Tachibana’s. I immediately fired upon Nerve. Yeah, the go-karts can also fire. However, Nerve simply blocked the shots with his bare hands as I saw electricity bounce from his palm and break apart the blasts. “Foolish…” He chuckled. Tachibana could only look at Fluttershy for so much before he jumped off the Ride Booster and ran off. However, Tachibana was punched in the gut. I had enough to. “Henshin!” I shouted as I leaped down and transformed into Gold Drive. Banno began a fist fight with Nerve. While he managed to get a few blows in, Nerve didn’t manage to make my body seize up like he did before. Banno continued to punch Nerve… Though then Nerve charged up his punch with a lot of electrical energy. Much like the battle with Judge and the battle with Volt, Banno began to freeze up as I saw the HUD in my helmet screw up. Not being able to move, the armor disappeared as I soon felt the seizure-inducing punches of Nerve. Nerve turned around, only to see that Tachibana was at the pillar already. “Fluttershy! Hang on!” Tachibana said as he went to work on the computer. “Don’t you dare!” Nerve ran to attack Tachibana. Tachibana transformed into his Roidmude form and fired his taser at Nerve. Nerve merely used the tasers as a rope to pull in Tachibana and punch him in the face. He was knocked down as I ran to pull Nerve away, though my legs soon cramped. “GO!” I shouted. Tachibana ran off, though before he could even reach the computers, Nerve fired a lightning bolt at the computer, destroying it in the process. Tachibana shielded his eyes from the sparks that emitted from the computer. When he looked, he slammed his hand on the now inactive computer. He turned to see the electricity coursing through Fluttershy glow hot white. There wasn’t much time now. He ran over and stabbed the pillar with his kendo stick, right to where Fluttershy was chained. He then pulled Fluttershy out. Before he could get out, the pillar exploded with electricity and knocked him back, turning him back to his human form. Nerve shielded his eyes from the explosion, though it was enough to knock him back, cancelling his slow down. Fluttershy slowly got up and saw Tachibana on the ground. “Tachibana!” She shouted as she ran over to him. I knew she was simply a sitting duck, so I began to attack Nerve, forcing him to focus his fighting on me. “Fluttershy…” Tachibana said. “You’re okay…” “Of course I am…” She said. “Good… I’m glad… Please…” He tried to lift his hand to touch Fluttershy’s cheek. “Don’t let this day cloud your mind… Your heart may want revenge, but… Vengeance…” He chuckled. “Vengeance doesn’t fit you…” He said. “Tachibana… You’re going to be okay, right?” She asked him. Tachibana seemed to ignore her, however. “… Heart… Was this what you felt when you befriended the Kamen Rider? If so… It feels… nice…” His voice reduced to a mere whisper before his body gave out. His entire body turned into a rusty color before crumbling into dust, his core doing the same just after. “Tachibana? T-tachibana?” Fluttershy began to tear up. I was able to hold off Nerve enough for that to happen, however, after I was knocked back by another punch, Nerve turned to Fluttershy. He took out his radio. “071, 093, get up here!” Nerve said. All he could hear is snarling and metal being torn apart. “Hello? Anyone there?” He said before he heard a loud roar and soon feedback. “Gah! Fine! I’ll kill you all myself! The pillar’s charged up enough to give me the power I need… I will love to read the headlines for this… Tragedy strikes Canterlot as freak electrical accident kills thousands!” Nerve laughed. I gripped my fists.Enough was enough. “This won't be a tragedy.” I spoke up. “This won't be an accident. This will be what happens when you become so full of yourself that you claim yourself to be a god, when you are, in fact, nothing more than a robot.” Nerve turned around. “What did you say?!” Nerve asked. I smirked. “You monsters wield more power than most armies, and you're audacious enough to have more. You monsters cling to this power in the name of revolution, to ensure that we become your eternal slaves, and yet, what did we just see? One of your kind sacrificing himself to save the life of one of our kind. Roidmudes are supposed to be the salvation of humanity, yet I have witnessed none of that from you.” I suddenly remembered another memory of mine… Though I was quick to deduce that it wasn’t mine as I remembered walking with a boy across an underground hallway overfilled with vines. No doubt I was remembering Ryoma’s chat with Kouta, A.K.A. Kamen Rider Gaim. In particular, I remembered one line from this chat, from Ryoma himself: “If you could find the will to be ruthless, then you'd be freed from all your stress in an instant.” Ruthless. My breathing stilled to a point where it could even be considered creepy. I could only help but stare coldly at Nerve. Even Banno seemed to notice as he chuckled. “And thus… I shall become your Grim Reaper. Let’s go, Banno.” “There’s some fire in your eyes! Alright, start my engine!” I turned the ignition and shouted out: “HENSHIN” Instantly, I transformed into Gold Drive. Banno began to throw punches at Nerve again. However, as Nerve gave me an electrical punch, Banno switched to me while I grabbed a Shift Car. Oddly enough, it was a formula-one car with a gas nozzle on it. Knowing what it was, I plugged it into the Shift Brace. Two small, orange, wrist-sized tires with silver circles on them flew towards me and clicked onto my wrists. As Nerve moved to attack me, I punched with both fists, the wheels spinning around and creating a flame around the wrists as they connected. However, I began to feel my muscles seize up again, so I turned the ignition again. Banno took over as he swapped out the Shift Cars. Keeping with the theme, I gave him a green formula-one Shift Car. One of the orange tires flew off and in its place was a green one with a silver metal plate on it. Nerve fired a shot of electricity as Banno blocked it with the tire. The square then lifted itself like a floor lift and pushed Nerve off. Banno’s arm began to freeze up from the electricity coursing through the arm, so with his other arm, he switched. I took over as I got a yellow F1 Shift Car this time around. Plugging it in, the other orange tire was replaced with a yellow one, this time having two long metal prongs. As Nerve tried to punch, I put his arm in between the prongs and the wheel twisted itself. With one spin, it tore Nerve’s arm off. He backed away and screamed out. He created a new arm that was made of pure electricity and punched me. I backed away as both my HUD and my body began to freeze. My hand was on the ignition and I ended up turning it multiple times. “Kelly! This might be dangerous!” Banno said. My visor flashed from red to white, red to white, red to white, until it finally settled on a color. A series of rings bordering out from the center like a bullseye, alternating between red and black. Normally, this visor would be what happened when Krim took over for Shinnosuke in their Type Tridoron form. However, this was different. A flurry of Shift Cars drove out and began attacking Nerve. I saw fire, spikes, shurikens, bars, and coins all fire out towards Nerve. I ran in… Or rather, Banno ran in. I was confused as to who was fighting, as both of us could feel our movement. Banno would throw a punch, I would throw a kick, he would jump, and I would dodge. It was as if we shared the same body, though trying to control it proved to be difficult. Nerve couldn’t predict our movement, so that was a plus. However, after a few moments of fighting, Banno and I were able to control my body. I controlled one half and Banno controlled the other. We stood as I used my hand to point to Nerve. “Now, count up your crimes!” We said as Banno pressed on the red button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER! MANTARN... JACKY... SPARNER! FULL... THROTTLE!” The orange, green, and yellow tires all flew to me, attaching themselves to the wrists and ankles. I punched the ground as it created a vortex of fire and heat, surrounding the Roidmude. We jumped up and used the floor lift to push ourselves across from one wall of fire to the other side, all while using the wrench on our foot to act as a blade and slashing the Nerve Roidmude. We bounced across the walls several times, all while slashing away at the Roidmude. With the twenty fifth slash, Nerve stumbled back. “You… You will die!” He held up his hands and created a large electrical sphere. On that time, the floor lift pressed against the floor and lifted us up into the air. The tires rearranged themselves so that all four of them fitted onto my right leg. I extended the leg out as we dove down onto Nerve. The wheels spun around and created a large, golden aura of the tires around the leg, complete with a huge burst of fire that destroyed the electricity. Eventually, it turned into a giant golden drill that impaled itself into Nerve’s chest and broke through his body. As we landed, Nerve simply stumbled over to the pillar despite having a large hole in his chest. “No… I’m… I’m supposed to be powerful! Watch… Watch as I amass a great power! More powerful than Super Evolu-” Just then, a tentacle came out from Banno’s belt and stabbed the Roidmude right through, grasping onto his core. “Shut up.” We both said as the coreless body dropped onto the pillar and exploded into a column of fire that busted through the ceiling. We created a golden shield to block any heat from roasting the girls, though letting go of the core in the process. Though, considering how much damage it took, we were pretty sure that Nerve would die soon. I looked over to the girls as the Driver gave out and cancelled the transformation. My entire body felt numb and tired. I fell onto the floor, with the last thing I heard being sirens. 006 floated out of the mall as the flame erupted from its roof. The core sparked a bit and seemed like it would blow up, however, it soon came into a field of white sparkling lights. The core looked and saw that it was coming from a hand. A hand of someone he recognized all too much. Before he could react, the person took out what looked to be a bulky iPhone and the core was sucked into the screen. The person looked at the screen as the numbers 006 lit up in a display of a grid arranged to be like a phone, though with only four of the numbers lit. “You did good, 006, but now your time’s up.” The person looked as the pillar faded away. “… Gold Drive. This world will become your grave.” He walked away from the rooftop he was on soon afterwards. Beep… Beep… Beep… My eyes opened up as I saw a familiar face in front of me. “So, how was your adventure, m’dear?” I tried to get up and have my hands wring Niko’s neck, but I couldn’t even budge my body. “Quite an experience, don’t you think?” He asked. “You…” I growled. “You had something to do with the Roidmudes coming back, didn’t you?” I asked him. He shook his head. “No. The Roidmudes were here before I sent you or Ross there.” He said. “H-huh?” I asked. Niko smirked and walked towards the window. I could see that he wasn’t wearing his business suit or his fedora. Rather, he wore a brown leather jacket with a black waistcoat and a white shirt underneath and black pants. On his head was his fedora, but instead of it being white, it was now black with a white felt ring around it. Leather straps wrapped around his legs, while the bulge on the sleeves of the jacket imply that there were straps on his arms as well. What I noticed was on his jacket, there was a shield stitched onto the sleeve, and on that shield was a side view of the head of a unicorn. “You think it was by chance that you ended up in the same place as the Roidmudes or that I had a hand in it? No. I was assigned to take care of this world by a higher power. This higher power insisted I give the belts to people who were willing to put them on. Guess what category you fell in.” He smirked and looked at me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “See, you, Ross, and I all fall in that category. The category of people who are willing to abandon their old lives, even their old identities, in order to be a part of something bigger. To make a change. To be a hero. To be Displaced. You took the bait I had set and ate it gloriously. And I couldn’t have been prouder of the decision I have made. You murdered more Roidmudes than I can count. It was good that I gave you your little buddy over there. Pretty sure if you went with that dopey fruit cutting belt thing, you’d be dead on your first week.” Wait, he falls in the category? Guess that explains his weird cowboy unicorn brigade geddup. “I can’t wait to see how you and Ross will protect this world from the Roidmudes to come. Until then, I’ll take my leave.” He said. I raised my hand. “Wait! That… That higher power… Who is he?” I asked. “She… And truth be told, I don’t even know. Creepy bitch. I told her about you and she just went to see what you were up to. Chances are you met her before.” He smirked as he left the room. I met her before? Who? My mind began to spin itself into circles trying to figure out the answer. That’s when Soarin went into the room. “Silverbolt! Thank God you’re alright!” Soarin said. “What happened?” I asked. “Part of the centre blew up and we found you and some girls injured. Don’t worry. They’re surprisingly stable. It’s a miracle to say the least. However, at least two of them are injured to an extent where they won’t be walking any time soon… And…” Soarin hesitated to finish his sentence. “Tachibana died.” I said. Soarin nodded. “Or at least, that’s what one of the girls said. We didn’t find his body, however.” He said. I looked away and frowned. “B-but good news! I’m now the chief of police! Isn’t that cool!?” Soarin said. I sighed. “How many people died yesterday?” I asked. “Huh?” Soarin asked. “How many people died in the attack at the school?” I asked. “… Roughly eighteen students.” He pulled up a chair and sat down next to me. “I know how hard it must be. To feel like you could have saved more people. It’s… It’s the reason I became a cop.” He took a few moments to muster himself. “I know you might be busy with your teaching, but if you have some spare time, maybe you can use that Golden Drive identity to help us with some cases. … I’ll let you think about it.” He said. Just as he was about to walk off, I spoke up. “Sign me up. I’m going to help you and everyone else. For that’s what a Kamen Rider is.” I said. “… What’s a Kamen Rider?” Soarin’ asked. “I mean Golden Drive… heh.” I chuckled. I forgot that Kamen Rider is a seldom used term in this place. “Glad to hear it. I have your number if I need anything, alright?” He asked. I nodded. He smiled and left. After a moment of silence, I spoke up. “So, what happened?” I asked Banno. “With that whole fused body thing.” “It’s been too long since I read over Krim’s works, but it appears to be a secret feature in Type Tridoron. Much like how a Roidmude needs to tap into a certain emotion to evolve, Drive must tap into an emotion to change forms.” I nodded and knew exactly what he spoke about. “In our case, you had to tap into my emotions. You had to feel and sync with my cruelty in order to activate that power. That’s the only way we can activate Type Overdrive.” I sat and pondered, remembering all the moments Banno’s cruelty shined. “Starting today, there will be a return! The return of Tenjuro Banno! Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might!” “So, how shall we demonstrate the difference between alternating currents and direct currents? I was considering purchasing a cattle prod and teaching the students first hand.” “I’m afraid to say that they, along with you, are my toys to do what I want.” “GWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You idiot! It’s your funeral!” But perhaps the most scary thing I remembered was when we fought Judge and we had to free Rainbow Dash… And our solution was to hit her bracelet even though there was a good chance we’d chop off her arm. “Great minds think alike! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I muttered out: “I’ll never be like you.” I said. “No. You will be like me. When we bonded, I could feel your emotions. That potential for cruelty… Your ruthlessness. There was only one other person in my life who had that same drive. A scientist by the name of Ryoma Sengoku.” My blood chilled. “Of course, you looking like him and creating a LockVehicle were indicators of that as well, but up until that point, I didn’t realize that you could be so much like him…” I couldn’t even say anything. “Eventually, all it would take is one little push to make you exactly like him… And perhaps you can see my ambitions eye to eye.” Banno said. “No… I won’t be like him. I won’t be like you. And I won’t ever have the ambition to take over the world and subject humanity to my rule.” I said as I gripped the sheets on my hospital bed. “Hmph… Just you wait… I’ll find a way out of this cage, take over your small, feeble mind, and make you suffer…” Banno said. A small, feeble mind? It’s true that I’m not the brightest bulb in the world. I only have scant memories of Ryoma’s works to rely on whereas Banno could just use his brilliant light to defeat me… Which is why I’ll focus all of my power to snuff it out. His egotism is not misplaced. When he fights, he is a huge threat that no one can hope to overcome… but sideswipe him with a development that he cannot comprehend, and any semblance of power that he has will simply wash away. Of course, he won’t realize it at first. He’ll cling onto the fleeting hope that he’ll take over this world with an iron fist. But I won’t let him… I’ll work on a Driver that he has never seen before… And when the Roidmudes fall and it comes down to me and Banno, he will know that he’ll be walking into his own demise before I can even transform. This is the beginning of the end, Banno. And I can’t wait to watch you burn. “I apologize, Headmaster…” Celestia hung her head as she stood at the office of the Public School Board. “There’s nothing for you to apologize for.” The headmaster’s voice was dulled and dry. His hand hovered over the handle of a coffee mug. “No one could have prepared for a sudden attack like that.” “No… It’s not just that. Over the past month, my students have been hurt by these monsters, even killed. I should take full responsibility for not being able to stop it.” She said. “If that is what you wish, then you may bare that mistake on your shoulders for the rest of your life. However, that shall be your punishment.” He took out an iPad and looked over the two fights between Kelly and the Roidmudes at the school. “Instead of seeking to punish yourself, instead seek to find a way to stop this from happening. If I may make such a suggestion.” He began to play another video and turned the iPad towards Celestia for her to see. “I suggest you enroll this kid into your school.” He said as Celestia saw the footage of Ross fighting the Roidmudes at the shop on the night he first entered this world. “Huh? Why?” Celestia stared wide-eyed as she saw the boy fighting the robotic monsters. “… Let’s just say I…” He took his time to lift the coffee mug and sipped from it. “I have a hunch.” Rain stormed down hard as Ross sat underneath a bridge. He trembled and held to his stomach. His Aura was able to block the full force of the Tridoron, but it took all of it just to soften the blow. What would have been a fatal hit was now a punch to the gut. A really painful punch to the gut. He groaned and tried to keep the pain from overwhelming him, he felt like he could succumb to the pain and scream out any moment. “Is someone there?” Ross heard the voice of a girl and he turned to see who it was. He was stunned to see a beautiful girl holding an umbrella while standing underneath a street light, as if a light from heaven was shining down and presenting him an angel. He eyed the girl in the white dress. Her skin was a soft orange and her hair a mixture of red and yellow. Overall, her body looked like... That of a setting sun. GOLDEN DRIVE ARC: END
Interlude 1Author's Note This is the first Displaced Crossover I had. In this case, it is with blazikenking, with their character Kamen Rider Buki. I thank blazikenking, as they wrote two of the scenes in this chapter, and for that, I give them kudos. Also, this is the first interlude chapter. It's meant to bridge between two arcs, as well as hint towards things that will happen in the next arc. Sort of like a preview. With that, enjoy. Interlude 1 I want to be strong. “Reports say that there’s some wild animal out in the downtown area.” Soarin’ said as we drove down the streets near the Canterlot Shopping Centre in the middle of the night. There had been heavy construction going on to fill in the sinkhole and the mall. I sighed and looked out for anything out of the ordinary. That’s when I saw something. A severed arm. “Stop!” I said to Soarin’. He stopped the car and we got out. I looked at the severed arm closely. It was… metallic. Silver. Robotic. “A Roidmude?” Banno asked. We heard trash cans being tossed down as Soarin’ got his gun out. “Freeze!” Soarin’ shouted. A man walked out… Or rather, he limped out. He straggled out like a zombie, his clothes ripped, and one of his eyes was glowing a dark red. I noticed his arm was replaced by a large, black arm with claws on the end. “I don’t think he’s intent on freezing.” I heard the man snarl out. As he looked at us, he roared and his body exploded in a cloud of dark smoke. When the smoke cleared, I could see that it was a Roidmude… However, his head was replaced with that of a wolf’s, white bone-like spikes jutted out of arms and legs, while the wolf’s face was hidden by a mask with thin red lines going in a pattern and bright orange eyes. I could see the number plate on the Roidmude: 093. “Get down!” I shouted before the Roidmude shot out slowdown particles. Both me and Soarin’ managed to get down okay. “So this is Slowdown, huh?” Soarin’ said. I nodded. “Yeah. Keep that Shift Car close to you, got it?” I looked to Soarin’s belt as it on the side, there was a metal case which had three slots for a Shift Car to go in, one of them being filled by the police Shift Car, Justice Hunter. “Got it! I’ll cover you!” Soarin’ got out his gun and fired at the Roidmude. He blocked the fire as I ran in. My hand hovered over the ignition. I thought back to the conversation I had with Banno. No. Not gonna risk letting Banno lose just for one feral Roidmude. I punched the monster in the face, then somersaulted for a kick. “Alright! Go, Monster!” I shouted as I took out a Shift Car from my own case and threw it at the Roidmude. Massive Monster jumped up and crashed down onto the Roidmude, creating aural fangs that crunched the Roidmude. However, the Roidmude slashed them away, along with the Shift Car. The bullets that Soarin’ fired seemed to work on him, however. The Roidmude groaned and I could see some sort of dark smoke excrete from what were obviously wounds. However, we didn’t seem to hurt him enough. The Roidmude clawed at me and knocked me down. I got up, though the pain from the slash was too much. “Again with this ‘I don’t wanna fight’ nonsense? You’re gonna die pretty quickly.” Banno said. I struggled to get up. The Roidmude was about to attack me when I suddenly heard something that shouldn’t have been possible. “TURN! DRIFT KAITEN!” The announcement was followed by a familiar sounding series of slashes against the Roidmude’s back, causing a small shower of black sparks. The Roidmude fell forward from the surprise attack, revealing a black figure with a hooded jacket. Her jacket was red, short sleeved, and appeared to be armored. The armor design was one Banno and I easily recognized, even if it was only on the jacket. The tire design on the left shoulder and the face on the helmet just drove the image home. The only immediate strange thing was the thin, curved horn on the face. Under the jacket was a black form with a white skeleton design on it. The skeleton pattern was made of various types of weapons, from the shotgun profiles on the thighs to the spears on the forearms. On the chest was a faded green crosshair design. On her waist was a big gold thing that looked like a Driver, but not one I’d seen. I remember bits about the Kamen Rider after Drive, and this looked like it had elements of that Rider’s belt, namely the handle on its owner’s right side and the eye shaped object in it. There was a protrusion on the left side that looked like a scythe blade. The middle had some familiar looking parts I couldn’t quite place though. The Roidmude growled as it got back up, turning around to face its assailant, along with the Break Gunner, Lupin Gunner, Blade Gunner, Zenrin Shooter, and Door Gun. All five firearms were just floating in front of the new Rider, who seemed unaffected by the slowdown. “What will you do, monster?” the new Rider spoke. “Will you fight me and my friends, or will you run and hide?” I could tell, even as far away as I was, that her voice had a tone of horror to it. Horror that wasn’t born of fear, anger, or hatred, but something else. And much to both my surprise and Soarin’s, 093 ran away, a tail it now had between its legs. The slowdown also came to an end. I couldn’t let the strange Roidmude get away, but I didn’t want to henshin in order to chase it myself, so I sent Dimension Cab after it. I made my way up to the strange character with the Drive hoodie. “Who are you?” She said nothing, but rather backed up, along with almost every weapon from Kamen Rider Drive, allowing a motorcycle to come out of the ground. She got on the motorcycle before answering. “Kamen Rider Buki.” Without a sound, she sped off, the bike floating with no apparent means of flight. She was soon over the speed limit and going through red lights, literally. She looked like she was just passing right through the traffic lights. “What do you think that was about, Banno?” I asked my belt. I didn’t get an immediate answer and looked down at him. “Banno?” The display was covered in gold static and digital malfunction sounds were coming from him. “Oh thank God…” I muttered before Banno activated again. “My apologies, I was just fuming over that Rider having those weapons and technology… Just who is she!?” He asked. “An ally.” Soarin’ said. “She helped fight that monster, right I mean, yeah, she totally just broke the traffic law, but really? She’s a valuable ally right now.” He asked. I nodded. “Alright, let’s follow the Roidmude.” I said. I looked at the Tridoron. Seemed to be the right size to run over the monster if I encountered him again. I ran back to the Tridoron and drove off, Soarin’ following me. I want to be feared. In the halls of a burned down mansion, a dozen of Roidmudes stood around. Some sat in chairs while others were chatting among themselves. “Finally!” A Bat-Type Roidmude with the numbering of 106 said. “Aaargh, what are you so happy about?” A red Roidmude with light blue swirls covered all around him replied. “006 finally kicked the bucket!” 106 said. The Advanced Roidmude chuckled. “Wow, good news indeed.” He said. “It’s even better, Tornado! 007’s going to lead the next Roidmude legion! The Fusion Roidmudes! I’m going to be a part of it!” The low-class Roidmude cheered. “Unfortunately…” The two Roidmudes turned to see a young adult. Despite his youthful age, his appearance looked rather sickly and skinny. His long black hair was so parted, it felt like he hadn’t cleaned it in over a year. It didn’t quite help that the clothing he had was quite literally a hospital gown. “This body I’ve synchronized with is going to take a while to… adjust.” He said. “S-synchronized? What happened to Fusion?” 106 asked. “If I were to find a human host for a Fusion, I might end up with a completely different form. If I am to have a chance against Banno and his puppet, I have to retain my original form. The Roidmude King said that this body would help fine tune that form’s power…” He said. “The Roidmude King’s lying! That body is so weak! Why did you even pick a sick person from a hospital?” 106 asked. “Hey!” A woman’s voice barked, grabbing the Roidmudes’ attention. She was completely hidden in shadows. “Don’t you dare insult our lord like that.” She said. “What’s she doing here?” Tornado asked. “That’s what I’m here to tell you, Tornado.” 007 said. “Since I’m not going, you’re gonna lead the new wave of Roidmudes in my place.” As he said that, several Roidmudes marched out behind 007. They were outfitted with a brown cape that looked similarly to a cockroach’s shell. A few have a large red claw while the others had scythes. “The Reaper Legion? So… that means…” Tornado muttered. “Exactly. 006’s Grim Reaper turned traitor. Ergo, The Roidmude King saw fit to send her to take his place.” He said. “She can send them to their deaths. I’m not gonna carry that burden.” Tornado turned around. “You hear that, mam? You’re the leader now.” He said. “106, you may follow Tornado if you wish.” 007 said. “If you’re that eager to fight, then go ahead.” He said. “Yes! Thank you!” 106 said. 007 walked away as 106 held up a dark red Shift Car that was shaped like a bat. “So even 007 realized how dumb Fusion is.” Tornado said. “What are talking about?” 106 asked. “It’s a counterproductive means to evolve. Ever wonder why so few Roidmudes ever considered using it? It’s hard to find a human with a dark enough heart to fuse with. Especially in the world we’re invading. And then you end up wasting your Viral Core if you get split up. Now, an Advanced Roidmude form is the way to go… All you have to do is fulfill whatever human emotion fills you up and BOOM! Golden body all around.” Tornado said. “Well you know what?! I’ll find a human with a heart dark enough to enable my evolution and I’ll show you that Fusion is superior to Advanced!” 106 said as he stormed off. “Hmph, challenge accepted.” Tornado said. As he was about to leave, the woman spoke up again. “Tornado, if we end up crossing paths again,” she began to growl as Tornado could hear something sizzle. “I prefer that you call me sir.” I want to be powerful. We followed the monster over to the construction site of the mall, right where the cement had been put into the sinkhole. As the monster turned to me, I revved up the Tridoron and tried to run down the Roidmude, only for him to slash at the hood, causing it to flip over and crash on its top. I struggled to get out as the monster slowly came to me, not even minding the bullet shots that attacked him. There were actually a lot of bullets. Way more than all the guns in Drive could fire together. As I wormed my way out of the Tridoron, I saw Buki, though now she was wearing a jacket and had a face like DekaRed. In her hand was D-Sword Vega, and floating around her was every single gun from the Dekarangers’ arsenal, all pointed at the Roidmude, which thankfully was not paying attention to me. Again. Once again, I heard Banno fuming. After he managed to calm down a bit, he spoke up. "Where is she getting these weapons from? And how is she making them float like that?" “I have no idea, Banno” I said. “But I’m starting to get the odd feeling it’s not science.” The guns hovered off after the odd Roidmude and Buki stopped by me. “Are you just going to lay there on the floor, or are you going to help me and my friends?” She never looked in my direction, but it was clear she was talking to me. “What?” “Does it feel good to mope there when you have the means to fight? Or are you simply afraid to lose yourself?” I couldn’t bring myself to answer her. “I’m sure you’ll find your fight soon enough.” She pointed D-Sword Vega at the Roidmude and jumped. It looked like the sword was pulling her through the air towards the Roidmude. As Buki fought the Roidmude, I let my thoughts work. Every time I had used the henshin before, I had run the risks I was now aware of. Even after discovering Gold Conversion and switching control of my body with Banno, I kept fighting. In a moment of peace, I realized it was my ruthless fight with Nerve that was, well, getting on my nerves. I had to fight. I also had to control my ruthlessness. I could fight without stress with the ruthlessness at my side, and as long as I kept it there only in the fights. My breakthrough came just in time, as I saw Buki flying backwards across my field of vision before she crashed into a generator. Her weapons followed soon after. Before I knew what I was doing, I was up on my feet and my hand was on the ignition. “Henshin!” I turned the ignition and became Gold Drive. I used Gold Conversion once to summon the Signal Axe and again to summon the Break Gunner. Banno was in control and he charged in, knuckle gun firing at the Roidmude. Black sparks came from the savage machine from each shot, and more came from an upward axe slash. Banno kept at it for a full minute before I got slashed and knocked back, stopping next to Buki. “You don’t hunt werewolves with those weapons,” she said. “a rifle is much better.” “I don’t have a rifle.” Banno said. “Yes you do.” Buki took the weapons out of my hands, and before Banno could get them back, she had plugged the Brake Gunner’s barrel into the base of the Signal Axe’s handle, aimed, and fired a shot at the Roidmude. The shot was powerful and knocked the Roidmude on its back, where it spasmed a bit. Banno grabbed the rifle with my hands and hit the Advanced Ignition, relinquishing control to me. I was about to charge in with my axe rifle (I think I understand why Ross likes his scythe so much now) when I heard something from Buki. I looked over as she opened her Driver like the DecaDriver and pulled out the eye-like thing in it, causing her DekaRed jacket and face to disappear, along with all the weapons she had. Her Driver gave off an eerie sound after the eye was removed. I saw that the weapon skeleton pattern in its entirety was made of weapons, and under where the DekaRed and Drive faces originally were was a silver mesh that looked like a fencer’s mask, slightly recessed into the helmet. She pulled out another mechanical eye thing, colored red, blue, yellow, green, black, gold, and silver, pressed a button on the side, flipping the purple iris inside it to a purple iris with a white Go-Onger logo over it. She set it into the Driver and closed the sides, causing it to chant “target in sight” in a tone that put me on edge. A silver ghost-like jacket flew out of the belt and hovered behind Buki before she pulled out the handle on her right and pushed it back in. As the belt announced “Go-Onger!”, I could hear a revving engine sound effect and the sound of a firey explosion. The silver jacket set itself on Buki, and a face flipped up, along with a scythe blade-like horn. The face was that of Go-On Silver’s helmet. "You changed jackets?" Banno asked. "Is that all you can do?" “No.” Buki said before pressing down on the lever on the left side of her Driver, causing numerous balls of light to come out of the Driver, all of which turned into the Go-Onger’s weapons. “Super Highway Buster, please.” At her polite order, five unique weapons flew together, forming the team cannon she asked for. “Everyone else, please go support our Roidmude friend. We need him standing up.” The weapons that weren’t part of the Super Highway Buster went out to the Roidmude and picked it up. It was clearly dazed, but was quickly recovering. “Do you have a plan?” I asked Buki. Clearly, she had stuff going on in her head. “Use these.” Buki held up Rumble Dump and Signal Magarl with one hand. "How did you get those?" Banno asked. “I found them.” Buki tossed the little vehicles up into the air, and they started driving along their little roads, slotting themselves into the rifle. Rumble Dump went to the Break Gunner and Magarl went to the Signal Axe. I pressed the button on the axe’s handle. "Wait for it!" Oh yeah, this one had a delay to it. I looked at the Roidmude, back on its feet and ready to attack once again. I looked over at Buki and I saw her pull out and push in the violet handle, causing the Driver to announce "Go-Onger, Omega Drive!", which was followed by her being pulled forward by the Super Highway Buster, and the uncombined weapons made her let go of the giant blaster, then made her move until she was standing on the Road Saber. The Super Highway Buster also aimed itself away from the Roidmude. "Go for it!" I turned my attention back to the Roidmude and pulled the Break Gunner’s trigger. A yellow drill formed at the end of the rifle’s barrel, quickly growing to two feet wide before launching. A moment later, the Super Highway Buster fired on its own, the shot launching Buki by her foot, sending her into a Rider Kick. Her foot flew into the back of the drill, sending it off course and underground, pulling her with it. The Roidmude took advantage of my distracted gaze to run away. It was fast and I lost sight of it. "Good job, Kelly. You let 093 get away. Good job.” Banno’s sarcasm was not lost on me, and I could just imagine a slow clap accompanying his remarks. I heard something crash from further inside the construction site and looked in its direction. I saw the Roidmude get launched into the air, propelled by the drill, Buki still attached to it, though now in a proper kick pose. I followed her arc, which was coming right my way. I dove to the side seconds before impact, the Roidmude exploding from the force of the drill kick, the black and red 093 core weakly floating off. I hit it with a shot from the rifle, causing it to blow up into a puff of black smoke. “Well, that happened...” I remarked just as my time ran out and the armor went away. “So, can I see who you are under that armor?” “Do you like having night terrors? Weeks of insomnia? Hearing things that are and are not there?” Buki asked me. “No. Nobody likes having those things.” “Then I bid you adieu. Spirit!” Buki’s bike flew down next to her, she got on it, and then drove into the ground, like she was a ghost. When Soarin’ caught up to Banno and me, I was still staring at the ground where Buki disappeared. Banno’s display was blank, probably because he was in a similar mental state as me: confused, perplexed, and dumbfounded. "This night's just getting weirder and weirder..." Soarin' said. I slowly turned around to see Soarin' hold a rifle. "Sorry I took a while to get here, but I noticed something as we were leaving the scene. Seemed those Roidmudes were in possession of this. It's not a gun we recognize." Soarin' said. I inspected the rifle... It looked like an assault rifle from Halo. However, I had a question unrelated to that one... I looked back to the ground where Kamen Rider Buki went in. Was she the higher up that Niko talked of? Ross slept peacefully in a bed as the girl who found him gently brushed his hair. She smirked. He would definitely be a useful asset for her ambition. “Sunset, it’s time for bed!” The girl heard her mother call to her. “In a minute, mom!” Sunset shouted to her. She left Ross to rest as she went to her room. Entering the room, Sunset looked at the night sky. Sure enough, the moon was in prime position. She had waited a while for this time. She took out a suitcase from under her bed, making sure everything was ready for tomorrow. As she spotted her burglar clothes, she hid them under the bed. Sunset Shimmer looked at herself in the mirror. She closed her eyes and remembered when she was in Canterlot, looking at a similar mirror. In it, it showed her as a winged unicorn with immense power. She slightly touched the mirror and smiled as she muttered out… “I want to be strong... I want to be feared... I want to be powerful.”
Shimmering Sunset Arc 1: Why Does This Feel Familiar?My name is Kelly Randall. About a month or so ago, I picked up a belt from a vendor at Comicon while cosplaying as Ryoma Sengoku. That belt was a deluxe edition Banno Driver from Kamen Rider Drive. Little did I know that it was the real Banno Driver. However, I only realized it once I was transported into another world where humans have various skin colors. To make matters worse, time stopping robots called the Roidmudes wish for the belt so that they can reclaim the mad scientist inside the belt: Tenjuro Banno. However, the Belt was stuck onto me, meaning if they want the belt, they'll also want me too, hurting anyone who would come between them and their prizes. Thus, me and Banno made a pact to defeat the Roidmudes. It's not an easy alliance though. I want to save the world while Banno wants to take it over. There's no doubt that we'll come to blows once the threat is gone... Which may come sooner rather than later, as we took out one of their generals: Roidmude 006, who had evolved into the Nerve Roidmude during a rebellion against their former leader Heart. There had been a quiet resistance, though. The Judge Roidmude had been silently resetting the Roidmudes one by one with the help of the Roidmudes' Grim Reaper, a human by the name of Ross Rosevelt who seemed to have been put in the same situation as I have, being transported into another world possessing the memories of the person you're dressed as. In his case, it was apparently Little Red Riding Hood if she had a scythe and could move so fact, it could counteract Slowdown, the method the Roidmudes used to stop time. With Ross' help and Judge's sacrifice, Banno and I have managed to defeat Nerve and save the city... Now I wonder about the possible calm before the storm as I had recently defeated a corrupted Roidmude with the help of a mysterious rider by the name of Buki. During this battle, I recovered a rifle... That's where this story continues. It wasn’t easy getting Soarin’ to hand the rifle over to me, but when I told him I would do some research, he gushed about how he was contributing to Professor Silverbolt’s work. The harder part was hiding the rifle in the library. I’m pretty sure the school had a zero tolerance towards guns. I inspected the gun. “Yep, pretty Halo.” I said. I remembered playing a little bit of the game, but I wasn’t exactly hard-core. Turning on the belt, I transformed into Gold Drive. Banno sighed as he switched over to hand me the Technic Shift Car. I plugged it in and my HUD changed to create some charts. “Hmmm… This is strange.” Banno asked. “What is?” I asked as I saw a swirling aura of dark energy. “I remember this from college… It was a theory some professor made exploring alternate universes. The theory that alternate universe travel is possible through pseudo-black holes called Voids.” Banno said. “Voids, huh? So what? We can use this to create portals?” I asked. “No. The gun is affected by the Void in some way. There’s evidence of residue.” Banno said. “Hmm…” I wanted to test it out and fire the gun, but I didn’t wanna alert the school. “Guess we have a new weapon for now.” I stowed it away in my back though before I left, I remembered what Zoloto said. “The category of people who are willing to abandon their old lives, even their old identities, in order to be a part of something bigger. To make a change. To be a hero. To be Displaced.” To be Displaced? What was he talking about? I pulled out the gun again. No. It couldn’t be by accident that I had this. I had to have come across it for a reason. The HUD began to flicker, indicating my time is running out, so I scanned the gun quickly for something. Anything. Sure enough, I could feel something. A presence. “So, found a Token.” I pointed the rifle to Niko. “Do you know a Kamen Rider by the name of Buki?!” I asked him. He chuckled. “No, no, that Kamen Rider had nothing to do with me, rest assured. However, I’m quite intrigued with that as you are.” I stayed silent and had my finger hover slowly over the trigger. “However, that Token is a special kind of Token. You want to see how it works? You need two of them.” Niko pulled a chainsaw fused with a sword out of his jacket. “Take it! The more, the merrier, I always say!” “The more, the merrier?” I asked. “All will be explained in due time. For now…” He walked over and handed me the chainsword. “Just… listen.” He said. Without any sort of choice, I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to hear something. Anything. Just then, I heard a simple whisper in my head and I began to repeat the whisper. “AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!" Then two voices were heard fully in my head and the full message was then said: "This is Sebastian of the Dark Angels Chapter... And I'm Spartan Sebaste-915 of the UNSC.... Together, we are humanity's last hope in the grim darkness of the far future. If you're in need of the galaxy's most powerful super soldiers, or if you are needing to bring death to the enemies of the Imperium and the UNSC, we will answer the call... AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!" “Cool, is it not? Now, just think of whatever reason they can be summoned. It can be for a good ol’ fight, hanging out, or-” “I know what I want. I want them to help me protect this town from the Roidmudes. That’s my reason: we need more protectors. We need more guardians.” I said. Niko smirked. “There we go, m’dear! Call them now!” He said. As if I was motivated by sheer determination, I shouted: “AVE IMPERATOR, FOR THE UNSC, FOR TERRA!” A portal suddenly opened a few inches above near where I was, and as it opened, I heard two voices emanate from it. “NOT AGAIN!” “FRAAAAAAG!” Two armored figures fell out of it, one bigger than the other. The smaller one used what looked like thrusters built into his armor to arrest his fall while the larger one slammed down into the ground, landing on a hand and a knee. “Ugh, I hate it when that happens!” The smaller figure, who I now saw looked like a Halo 4 Spartan Orbital with red and silver armor, said. “Whoever came up with using portals to travel has a very bad sense of humor!” “Take it easy Seb, at least we didn't land in a war zone like last time.” The larger figure said before looking around in a confused manner. “Speaking of which, where the heck did we end up? Manehatten?” Manehatten? Did… Did he just make a pun? I stood there with my jaw dropped. In that time, Niko stepped in. “Ah! Welcome! No, you are not in Manehatten, sadly. You are in…” Niko had a moment to think. “Well, this place never really had a name, so we’ll call it Simtopia.” No. I take that back. That was dumber than Manehatten. The two spun around, weapons suddenly in their hands before they relaxed and lowered them. “Who the heck are you guys?” The Spartan asked. “Ah, well, allow me to introduce you two. My name is Niko Zoloto. Most call me Sid.” He said. “What, like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age?” Was the reply from the red and silver armored man. “No, I think more like Sid the Lock Dealer from Kamen Rider Gaim. Slime and all.” Was my response. “No. Sid as in Cid from Final Fantasy.” There was a pause. “It was the only name I could come up with that was cool, alright?” “So which one of you guys summoned us? We heard someone shout the battle cry from our message, next thing we know, we’re here.” The second figure asked, and I got a good look at him for the first time. His armor looked both high tech and also archaic. His helmet had a mouth grille on it and the lenses were colored red. He had two massive shoulder pads, the one on the right had what looked to be a winged sword while the one on the left had a red sideways double headed arrow with a number 4 over it. His armor was dark green and on his knee was a single red diagonal stripe. On his back was a strange looking backpack that looked more like an astronaut’s backpack “It’s a long story, but if you want the answer… She did it.” Niko pointed to me. “H-hey! You told me to do it!” I said. “That, I did…” He turned to talk with the two summoned. “Well, I can tell from your reactions that this is the first time you’ve been summoned before, correct?” Niko asked the two marines. “Actually, no it's not.” The Spartan said. “We’ve been summoned… damn, forgot how many times we got summoned by other Displaced… But needless to say, this isn't our first time at the rodeo.” “Perfect! So you probably won’t mind telling our dear Kelly here about the wonderful world of Displaced and how she has just signed up for war!” Niko said. “Wait, what!?” I barked at him. “Whoops! Look at the time!” He checked his wrist which obviously had no watch. “I gotta head! Take care of Kelly for me!” He said before running out and jumping out the window. “HEY! WAI-” ZIIIIIIIIP! Before I could even react, a mechanism attached to Niko’s legs activated and shot out a rope. He was then immediately yanked out of the window and into the sky where that same mechanism shot out a bit of steam, giving him what seemed to be a steampunk jetpack/hookshot combination. “What the…?!” The Spartan yelped, “He just went all Attack on Titan on us!” I looked at the city landscape as Niko flew away. “Well, he was wearing the jacket.” The Astartes said. I sighed and turned to the soldiers. “So… Displaced, huh?” “Yep… So who exactly are you supposed to be? I don't think I recognize the character you’re supposed to be…” The Spartan asked. “Well, I’m Kamen Rider-” That’s when the armor cancelled out. “... I was Kamen Rider Gold Drive. Now I’m just dressed up as Ryoma Sengoku. Or as this world had decided to call me, Jetstorm Silverbolt.” “Kamen Rider? I don't think I've heard of that series… I was more into Power Rangers.” He took his helmet off to reveal a tired face with blue eyes and a mop of short reddish brown hair. “Well, Power Rangers is how I got into Kamen Rider. It’s the perfect gateway show.” I said. The Spartan cleared his throat. “The name’s Sebaste and my friend in the Astartes armor is Sebastian, or Sasha to his friends.” “I’m Kelly. Well, around here, I’m called Professor Silverbolt.” I said, noting the term Astartes. “So where exactly are we? This isn't like any Equestria I’ve seen…” Sebastian said. He looked outside and then said, “Scratch that, I don't think we're even in Equestria anymore,” he looked outside the library where he could see the parking lot, “they don't have cars where they are!” “What?!” Sebaste looked over to Sebastian, a look of shock on his face. Equestria? Hm… From what I gathered, it seemed they came from a world where horses are a dominant species. I remembered the jacket Niko wore, with the unicorn on the patch. “You wouldn’t happen to know that asswipe Niko, right?” “You mean that loony? Nope, never even met the guy until now, seriously, that guy reminds me of a mix of both Pinkie and Deadpool!” Sebaste said. “Wait, you know Pinkie?!” I asked. “Yeah. We sorta do.” Sebaste said. I took a moment to process that. Well, gotta interrogate Pinkie to see what she knows about this Equestria. “Alright, thanks for answering. I presume you guys are Displaced like me. You’re soldiers, so that’s good. I called you here to help me protect this town from a threat. Ever heard of Roidmudes?” I asked them. “Nada.” Sebastian said. “I’ve heard of many types of movie, T.V. and game enemies, but those don't ring a bell.” “Basically, they’re time stopping body snatchers. I have been fighting them for the past month or so.” I said. “And you need help taking them out?” Sebaste guessed. “You do realize that we can't exactly stay long here? We have priorities of our own back in our Equestria.” Our Equestria? That implied that there’s more than one of these horse dominated realms. “Hm… Perhaps just for this day. Any dent we can put into these Roidmudes is a good enough dent.” I said. I went over to the map where I put the locations of possible Roidmude hideouts back when Fluttershy was kidnapped. It had been a week since the Roidmudes had been last seen, not counting the incident last night, but with the help of the Shift Cars, I was able to pinpoint where there might have been activity. “Normally I’d patrol the area, but I have class to attend. See that warehouse over there?” I pointed to a place right around the Rabbit Hole. “Last I heard, some Roidmudes were trying to make this spot a hive for them after one of their leaders died.” I said, referring to Gunman. “If you can go over there and clear it out, I’m pretty sure that can be enough of a task.” I said. “Copy that. We’ll have that place cleared out in seconds.” Sebastian growled. “Anything we need to know about what exactly we’re going up against before we do this? We’re not exactly familiar with the Kamen Rider universe.” “Well, first, take these.” I clicked my tongue as two Shift Cars rolled over to them. Sebaste got a black dune buggy Shift Car, Shift Wild, while Sebastian got a green garbage truck Shift Car, Shift Technic. “These two will help negate any sort of time distortion you guys may find. Hold them dear to yourselves… Oh, and I think you guys may need these.” I handed them their weapons. “Thanks, but we're pretty much covered on the weapons.” Sebaste said before an assault rifle materialized in his hand. “You keep them. As for the cars, we’ll make sure nothing happens to them. That we promise.” Both he and Sebastian picked them up, then Sebaste asked, “Erm, where do we store them?” “I have just the thing.” I went over and grabbed two sets of Shift Car Holders. Then I gave it to them. “Clasp them onto the side of your waist.” I said. They both nodded and did just that. CLICK The two clasp onto the side and the Shift Cars click into them. “You have transportation?” I asked them. Sebaste smirked. “Yep, when you're able to summon any vehicle from your game universe, you don't need outside transport.” I smiled. “Perfect.” I said. “Let’s go, Banno.” I said. “This… has been quite an experience…” Banno muttered. I stopped, knowing they might ask who Banno is. “By the way, I have a mad scientist in my belt. See?” I turned around and showed them Banno’s face on the Driver. “Huh, if he was in Girl Genius, he’d make quite the Spark.” Sebastian said. “But then he'd be a plug.” Sebaste face palmed before putting his helmet back on. “Dude, let me do the jokes from now on.” He said. “Agreed…” Banno said. With that, the bell rang. “Ah, class is beginning! I guess I can see you two off before I go.” I began to walk away. Sebastian followed me to the doors. “Where do you want us to rendezvous after we take the warehouse out?” He then asked. “Probably back around here. Though, probably sometime after three, when the students have gone back home. Well, see ya.” I said. I walked away from the two as they looked at each other. “Students?” Sebastian asked. That’s when they saw several students walking in the school, each of them with very colorful skin. Sebaste froze in shock. “Oh you have gotta be kidding me…” “What? What is it?” Sebastian asked. “Two words: Equestria Girls.” Sebaste replied. “Wait, wait, wait, you mean that alternate universe where the ponies are humans? THAT universe?!” Sebastian then groaned. “Well this got awkward…” Sebeste shook his head. “Let's roll!” Sebaste said as the two got outside. A Gauss Warthog appeared next to them. He jumped into the driver's seat while Sebastian took the turret. Sebeste revved the engine and drove off towards the warehouse. Ross woke up to notice he was in a different place, and in a nice, comfy bed. Last he remembered, he was out in the rain struggling through the pain he just received. He could no longer feel any of his muscles tensing up. He sighed. Seemed the Roidmude had been taken care of. “Good job.” He said. That’s when the door opened. “Ah, I see you’re awake.” Ross was almost entranced by the woman’s calm, almost seductive tone of voice. He found it very familiar for some reason. It wasn’t until he saw her face that he realized why. Ross rolled up the sheets as he saw a woman with dark orange skin. Despite the color, he recognized her supermodel physique, her long brown hair with bangs that hid her right eye, and even the red gown, though it a more simplified version of it. “Is something the matter?” That voice stung Ross more than Nerve could ever do to him. His arms shook as his eyes wandered the entire room looking for Crescent Rose. If she was what he thought she was, he’d probably need it really soon before she put an arrow in his chest. “My daughter found you in the streets last night and took you in. You’re safe now.” No! No, I’m not safe! Ross thought. He couldn’t find the weapon and he was pretty sure his Token was back at the Roidmude headquarters. The only thing he could do now is wait for the inevitable. “You probably need more rest. I’ll fix you up some breakfast, okay?” She asked him. Ross nodded, if only to get her out of the room so that he could plan for what to do when she goes into the room again. The two marines arrived by the warehouse. Already, the place looked devastated. The doors were busted down, claw marks were all over the walls, and even the windows looked smashed in. “Geez, whoever fought here had quite the party!” Sebaste said, his eyes on the HUD inside his helmet. “Right, let's check and see if anyone's home, if there are any civilians, make sure they don't get hurt.” Sebastian nodded before the two dismounted and readied their weapons, Sebaste was equipped with a beam rifle while Sebastian had a heavy bolter. The two could hear heavy snoring sounds. One thing was for sure, they didn’t belong to a human. Grrrrrrr… “Oh shit…” Sebaste muttered. “Great, freaking robots… as if I didn't have enough to worry about!” The two went further into the room. Upon further inspection, they could see torn apart robots, pieces of scrap put over the floor. Resting on a pile of them was a large black bear. No. Literally black. Much like the wolf that Kelly encountered, the bear had white bones jutting out of its body, but it also had boney plates all over it as well. It too had a mask with a red line pattern. However, its orange eyes were closed. It appeared to be sleeping. “What the…, that's no robot, that's a Grimm!” Sebastian exclaimed. “When did RWBY get involved here?!” “I don't know, but I'm putting it to sleep permanently.” Sebaste said before activating his active camo ability and moving towards a staircase in order to access the higher levels. “Sebaste, wait! Be careful of-!” Sebastian started to warn the Spartan, but just as he started to speak, Sebaste's foot brushed against a piece of scrap metal. The eyes soon opened up, showing a bright orange light that stared right at Sebastian. However, as it just woke up, it took some time to get up. “Damn it!” Sebastian swore before firing a hail of mass reactive shells at the Grimm. “Sebaste, hurry up and take your position!” He yelled. The Grimm got up and roared out, standing on its hind legs as it bore the chest plate with the number 102 on it. Particles around them flashed, and while they stumbled a bit, they were able to move in slowed down time thanks to the Shift Cars. The bullets smashed into the Roidmude before detonating inside its body. Part of the Ursai’s chest exploded and left a hole in it where the glowing number resided, though still stuck in the Roidmude. It leaped towards Sebastian, though it seemed to fly over him and landed on the roof, sticking to it like a spider. It then crawled up to the ceiling, ready to jump down onto Sebastian. Only for a plasma beam to smash into its head as Sebaste fired from a concealed position. Headless, the Grimm exploded, leaving the core to float harmlessly towards Sebastian before it faded away into nothingness. “Geez, that… was terrifying…” Sebastian muttered. “But at least that thing is taken out.” Sebaste jumped down from his spot and walked over to the Astartes. “Sorry about that, I honestly wasn't meaning to brush against that scrap metal!” “It's fine, just-” Sebastian suddenly fell silent as his enhanced hearing picked up something that sounded like it was approaching the warehouse. “Someone's coming, let’s get out of here.” He said before sirens were heard from down the street. The two ran out and jumped into the Warthog and were gone just as the police arrived. A couple of cops, Spitfire included, got out of the car. “Man, betcha it’s just another prank call, right?” One of them chuckled. Spitfire sighed. Ever since Tachibana’s death, the cops had become less civilized. It didn’t help that the clown Soarin’ took over the department afterwards. She closed her eyes and sighed. She wished for the days when Wind Rider was their chief. As the Warthog drove off, a man on the rooftop took pictures of them and smirked. He wore a purple scarf over his white and silver uniform, had white hair and icy blue eyes. “So, how was that?” Niko asked the man. “I gotta say, Sid, this is good research. You say these are Displaced, correct?” He asked. “Yes, they are.” Niko said. “The overseer will be thrilled to see this. Now, for your reward…” He said. He took out a briefcase containing a dreamcatcher. Niko took the dreamcatcher and with one hand, crushed it. “W-What did you just do!? Do you know how potentially powerful that was? We could have cracked the code on this whole Displaced thing and everything!” He asked. “If you knew what powers this dreamcatcher had, you would not even touch it with a twenty foot pole. Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Diamond.” Niko said as he walked away, then leaped in the air and let his 3D Maneuver Gear take him off the roof and elsewhere. The white haired man stood stunned as he saw the dreamcatcher on the ground, broken. However, it was merely a setback. Mr. Diamond smirked as he looked at the footage he took of the marines defeating the Grimm. “She will be pleased to see this indeed.” He said. I stared at the class room. Only half the students came to the school. The others were either in the hospital healing from their wounds, too scared to even go to school, or dead. I looked at how empty the classroom was. Only a select few students came. It was silent. The students expected me to say something. But how could I? What do I say? My mind wasn’t exactly in the right place. I didn’t want to teach. I want to fight. I want to make sure the Roidmudes were extinct. I want to be free from Banno and reduce him to tiny little pieces. But most of all… I want to go home. But I can’t. I have to make sure the kids graduate. I have to make sure this world is safe from the Roidmudes and their Recreator. I have to make sure Banno doesn’t take over while I’m away. I heard an engine hum from outside. I looked out and saw the Warthog. “Kids, I know a giant amount of crap had happened, so I say we should just relax. I have an idea.” I got up and went out. When I got back, I dragged in a cart with a CRT TV on it. I already had the VHS put in, so I hit play and stormed out of the class while the TV’s speakers announced their entertainer for the class: “BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!” When I got out of the school, I saw the Warthog parked outside. I walked over to the two. “So, how’s your Roidmude hunting? Killed a bunch, I hope?” I asked them. “When we got to the warehouse, it was a total wreck, like an animal had rampaged through there. We went in to investigate and….well, we found a Grimm, somehow it was fused with a Roidmude. We managed to bring it down, but before we could investigate more, the police showed up.” “A Grimm? Like... As in the Brothers Grimm?” I asked. I was curious as to how someone was able to fuse with the Roidmude. “No. Like one of the creatures from RWBY. It was an Ursa.” An Ursa… The name implied that it was a bear. A giant bear monster? And it fused with a Roidmude? “Ah… RWBY. There’s actually someone who knows about that show more than me.” I said. I then clenched my teeth. “Unfortunately… I sort of ran him down with a car... Well, more like I shot a car at him.” I said. The two didn’t seemed that surprised. “Let me guess, he’s in the hospital?” Sebaste groaned. “Actually, we checked… He wasn’t at the hospital.” Banno spoke up. “Yeah, some of my students were in the hospital after fighting the Roidmudes, but not Ross, surprisingly enough.” I said. “I'm guessing this Ross has more intel on the Grimm?” Sebastian asked. “I presume so. He seems to know the show more than me, at any rate. I also presume these Grimm are not in Equestria?” I said. Sebaste shook his head. “They only show up if there's a RWBY Displaced in that Equestria. And if the Grimm are here, my guess is there’s a RWBY Displaced here.” He said. “Each Displaced faces foes from the game, TV show or movie in their own Equestrias.” That line shook me to the core. It was almost like I was drawn to fighting the Roidmudes… But Niko himself had stated that the Roidmudes came first, not me. That’s when I remembered a little law that was a constant in Kamen Rider: The Cross of Fire. It goes something like this: Bad guys try to do bad guy stuff. Someone gets caught in the crossfire. They’re given the powers that the bad guys have and dedicate their lives to fighting them. In a way, the bad guys create their nemesis, much like how most superheroes end up creating their own archenemies. In this case, the Roidmudes arrived into this world, and in response to all their terrorism here, I had to step in and fight to protect myself and everyone close to me as Kamen Rider Gold Drive. In a way, it was destiny that tied us together. I focused back to the boys. “Well, Ross was dressed as an edgy Little Red Riding Hood. Does that count as RWBY Displaced?” “Wait… did you say he was dressed as a person with a red cloak and hood? He didn't happen to have a scythe that also functions as a Sniper rifle, did he?” Sebastian asked. “And Bingo was his name-o.” I said. “Huh, well call me an ork, a gender bent Ruby. That's the first time I've heard of a male version of her.” The Astartes chuckled before turning serious. “You need to find him if you are to fight both the Roidmudes and the Grimm. The universe that Ross’s character comes from deals with these creatures on a daily basis. He’ll have the knowledge on how to combat these things.” “Well, I’ll be sure to ask him about these Grimm when I find him… If I find him.” I said. “Speaking of which, when we were driving away from that warehouse, I picked up two signatures on a roof nearby. One of them was Niko, but the other… I have no idea who it was.” Sebaste said. “But something tells me that there's a bigger plot to all of this, you and Ross getting Displaced here cannot be a coincidence.” “Yep. That wackjob Niko told me about that. How me and Ross were assigned to this world…” I sighed. “The rabbit hole just got deeper.” I said. “I know. There is a way to help others, however. Plus, you'll be able to see other Equestrias. Create your own token.” Sebastian said. “A Token?” I asked. “Basically your calling card in the Multiverse, and a way for others to request your help.” Sebaste explained. “It basically holds a bit of your soul. And the voice is you telling them that you're ready to either help or hang out.” “Hm…” I pondered it. I could help people across different worlds, or Equestrias, as they put it. Seems there was more than one. “How do I make one?” I asked. “You choose something that's related to your character or yourself, then you say a phrase that tells others that you’re available to help. As for putting the bit of soul in there, you need someone with magic to help with that.” Sebastian said, his hand suddenly surrounded by a green aura. “Guessing that’s where you come in.” I said. I knew exactly what item to use. I took out the Shift Speed Shift Car and handed it over to them as I whispered out. “Start my engine.” I said. Sebaste facepalmed. “If you heard our message when you picked up our tokens, it needs to be more than that. You actually need to let others know who you are and what you are capable of. It doesn't have to be too long, but not too short either.” “Alright… My name is Kelly Randall. Along with Tenjuro Banno, I am Kamen Rider Gold Drive. If you can handle Banno’s cruelty, then you may summon me. Do so by telling us one thing: Start My Engine.” I said. “Would that work?” I asked. “Yep, that definitely works!” Sebaste said with a thumbs up. Sebastian's hands then glowed before a copy of the Shift Car appeared in his other hand. Oddly enough, it was now golden colored instead of red. “I find it easy to create a copy to create the token so that you keep the original.” He said before gesturing to me to put my hand on the copy. I placed my hand on it. He then concentrated and his hands glowed again, and I felt a piece of… something separate from me while the replica started glowing. In seconds, it was over. Sebastian then stumbled back and knelt down. “Ugh, that took a lot outta me…” he groaned. “Arg… Me too.” I said. “Now all that you need to do is send it into the void.” Sebaste said. He glanced at his chronometer. “Sash, we need to get back. Alex is gonna kill me if we don't get back and you know how she worries about us.” The Astartes nodded before his hand glowed again. A portal opened in front of us. “So, that’s the void?” I asked. “No, this is our way back to our Equestria.” Sebaste said. Sebastian then opened a much smaller portal right next to me. “This is to the void. It’ll close after you send your token through.” Both Displaced then saluted. “It was an honor meeting you Kelly, and I hope we'll see each other again one day.” Sebaste said. “An honor meeting you. Perhaps one day I’ll visit Equestria and see how your armies are at fighting.” I said with a chuckle. Sebaste sighed. “We don't command any armies. The only defenders are us. Some Displaced do command armies, but others? You’ll find out soon that power isn’t always the best path. Sometimes you give up everything to protect those closest to you or to protect others that need it. Think on that before you think that everyone commands everything. ” He said before the two entered the portal, which closed immediately after. I looked to the swirling vortex and dropped the golden Shift Car into it. It immediately swallowed the Shift Car up and disappeared. I soon heard clapping and I turned around. “So, who the hell was that guy you spoke to?” I asked Niko. “Am I really that predictable? Well, I guess I can explain.” The merchant chuckled a little. “There’s a company who’s really interested in this Displacing business as I am. However, they want to use it as a vehicle for armies and the like. They offered me something in return for showing them how Tokens work.” He said. That’s when my mind clicked. “You set me up, didn’t you?” I asked. Niko chuckled and clapped his hands again. “Bright as ever, Miss Randall. You’re practically fit to wear the lab coat!” He said. My body shivered. “H-how do you know my last name?!” I asked. “After I displaced you, I went back to your world and noticed a couple of missing posters scattered around… What was it again? Ah yeah, Portland.” Portland… my hometown. My body shook. I could no longer feel any muscle in my body. It was as if Nerve had struck me from beyond the grave. “But yes, in exchange for a Token, I showed them the power of said Tokens. They are rather impressed with the display of power those two have shown.” He said. “Wait, another Token? Maybe it can hel-” That’s when Niko gave me a cold glare. “Don’t. Think about it. The Displaced tied to that Token is one of the most dangerous Displaced I’ve bared witness to. So dangerous, in fact, that I dedicated myself to destroying every one of that Displaced’s tokens across the many Equestrias.” He said. He paused and chuckled. “Oh, yeah, when you dumped that car into the portal, you just made, like, a million copies. Some schmuck can just pick it up and probably bring you over to do something as mundane as open a pickle jar.” Niko laughed a little. I couldn’t even speak. Every time Niko opened his mouth, my entire body goes cold. “Your resolve to fight the Roidmudes is cute, I’ll give you that. But if you make that your burden, then you’re never going to go back home.” He turned around and walked away. “HEY!” I finally gained the courage to scream at him. But he didn’t even turn around. All he did is say: “Sad thing is, I pity you. You remind me of myself from a long time ago. Trapped in another world until you could accomplish that goal.” With that, he flew off with his 3D Maneuver Gear. I stood there, unsure of how to process all that. That’s when the phone rang. “Hello?” I asked. “Hey! Professor! Wanna go patrolling with me?” Soarin’s voice actually perked me up. “Sure…” I said. I chose to ride with Soarin’ rather than get into the Tridoron. The night I used it, he gushed and asked me if it was one of Silverbolt’s many inventions. Out of fear that he would take it for himself and add it to his Silverbolt collection, I opted to ride. Plus, it helped me, for I was about to bring up something that had been burning in my head for quite some time. “What’s with Wind Rider?” I asked. “What do you mean?” Soarin’ asked. “I mean… He retired, right?” I asked. “Yeah. He did. He came to an age where being a cop would just prove detrimental to his health and so he was let go. I mean, he didn’t like having to do it, obviously, but I’d rather know he’s safe and living a comfortable life rather than risk his life just to protect people.” Soarin’ said. “… I saw a picture of you, Spitfire, and Wind Rider at Canterlot High… When the Roidmudes attacked. You guys were close?” I said. “More than close! We were the Wondercolts! We won more trophies than we could count. When it came time to graduate… Well, let’s just say we all chose the same career path to make sure we never got separated.” Soarin’ said. “Being cops…” I said. “Yeah. Wind Rider was our coach, so naturally when a new district was formed, he became our chief. And then… Well, you know the rest.” He said. “And I guess his reputation at the department is bad?” I asked. “Well, people say he refuses to retire. That he’s the very definition of a workaholic. To be fair, if I retired and I constantly saw that people were still suffering…” Soarin’ paused and looked at his wheel. Conveniently, we stopped by a set of stoplights. “Around the time we graduated, there was a huge disaster. No one knew what happened. A massive black hole emerged from a research facility near CHS. It destroyed the facility from the inside out…” Soarin’ frowned a bit before the light turned green. He started the engine and went forward. “Flash Sentry was just a baby when it happened. His mom… His mom was one of the victims in the explosion. I… I tried to save her.” He pulled over and looked at his hand. As he did so, I couldn’t help but feel a familiarity. I remembered a Kamen Rider who had felt the exact same thing that Soarin’ went through. Not being able to save a single life. But, as I thought of that, I also remembered another Kamen Rider. One that was so recent, I could still remember the images playing out. The gun firing just as time froze. The rain that poured down on that tragic night. His partner being unable to move as steel girders fell upon him. His bloodied hand in the heap of fallen beams. “Shinnosuke…” I muttered. “What?” Soarin’ asked. “Oh, n-nothing… You… You have my sympathies.” I said. “I know exactly how you felt back at the hospital. The reason I became a cop… It was to make sure that tragedy never happened again.” He said. It was barely a moment before alarm bells rang. Soarin’ and I turned to see the bank we parked in had two masked men inside. “Great. A bank robbery. How original.” I muttered as I got out. “H-hey! Wait!” Soarin’ took out his gun and followed me. “Rainbow Dash?” A nurse entered to the room. Rainbow Dash was just staring at the window. The doctors said it was a miracle that her spine wasn’t critically damaged. However, she merely had to feel the steel rims on her sides to know that she’s not magically healed. Squeak squeak squeak… The wheelchair turned around to face the nurse. “Yeah?” She rasped out. “Someone is here to see you.” The nurse backed away. At first, she had no idea who would want to see her. Applejack? Fluttershy? Kelly? She knew that they were also sent to the hospital after the fight with Nerve. She even thought of that Ross boy, though it was a mere doubt. However, when she saw who came in, her eyes widened. She smiled and, for a brief moment, it was like she was able to get off of her chair and dance towards him. “Rainbow Dash, come with me. It’s urgent.” It was Wind Rider, veteran coach of the Wondercolts and former chief of the Canterlot Police Department. And he wants her. “DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!” As soon as I entered, a masked man held a gun at me. I rolled my eyes and kicked him in the face. While he pulled the trigger, I shifted his hand so that the bullet didn’t reach anything but the wall. It made a few people freak out, but other than that, I was able to defuse the situation and knocked down the robber with a well-placed chop to the neck. I trembled a bit. I had to remind myself that I was in the middle of a bank robbery. But then I looked down and saw both the knocked down man and Banno. I wasn’t a victim in this. I was the hero. I glared at the two other robbers. They hesitated. I calmly walked to them. “Not another step!” One of them pointed a gun at me. My heart didn’t race. In fact, the only time my heart raced was when I considered invoking Slowdown. If only because I wanted to hold true to Shinnosuke’s moral code regarding it, how using it scares others. Though, I’m supposed to be dressed as a mad scientist and I’m wearing a mad scientist on my belt. Morality went out the window a long time ago. I readied myself to use the Banno Driver when all of a sudden… POP! A red balloon erupted as it touched the hot florescent light. This was followed by a girl’s crying and one of the robbers pointing his gun at her. “SHUT IT!” He barked. “No!” Soarin’ ran towards the girl and shielded her from the potential bullet. The man who held the gun towards me cowered a bit towards the back. That’s when I saw Wind Rider tackle him. I smiled. Thank God he’s here to help, I thought. He picked up the gun and aimed at the second robber… Though by that point, I felt an uneasiness in my heart. Especially after the robber lowered his weapon. My body went cold as I began to feel déjà vu. And for once, I wasn’t remembering a memory of Ryoma’s. I swore I saw this before. My heart pounded and my perception of everything slowed down. I began to piece together everything that happened in this bank. The balloon. The kid. The robbers. Even the way Soarin’ and Wind Rider moved just felt… familiar. That’s when Wind Rider moved his gun to the right… Towards Soarin’. As if in a brief moment, I saw someone else in Wind Rider’s place. A man with glasses with an anger in his eyes, the feeling of humiliation and desire to get revenge on the man who belittled him at every turn. I froze. I remembered when Wind Rider glared at Soarin’. I remembered when Soarin’ told him that he had faith in him. And then it all clicked in. No wonder this was all familiar. This entire moment was exactly like the bank robbery incident that claimed the life of Shinnosuke’s father. Right down to his murderer being an envious cop. If I couldn’t do something… No. Not again. I won’t let that happen again. “HENSHIN!” I shouted and transformed. I knew Banno would be too much of a douche to stop this, so before he took over, I turned again to invoke Gold Conversion. I immediately took over as Dimension Cab flew to my hand. I emitted Slowdown Particles to slow down the bullet that fired from the gun. Much like with Shinnosuke, the Slowdown managed to throw off Wind Rider’s aim. Now the bullet was heading towards the little girl’s leg. I threw Dimension Cab right towards the bullet as it glowed. It created a small portal on its hood in which the bullet entered. The other portal opened up right where Wind Rider’s leg was at. I cancelled Slowdown as the bullet flew into the portal and right into Wind Rider’s leg. “AH!” He shouted. I ran to shield Soarin’. “Impressive. You managed to confiscate my control before the transformation was complete.” Banno said. “Well, I’d have to step up my game if a psychopath is gonna use my body for world domination one day.” I said. The crowd of people screamed and ran out of the bank. The remaining robber tried to fire at them, but I created a golden barrier to block the bullets. He then aimed his gun at Wind Rider. “Who the hell are you!?” He shouted. Wind Rider just aimed his gun at him. The two fired almost simultaneously. However, thanks to the adrenaline rush I had in stopping him from killing Soarin’, I was able to observe that Wind Rider shot first. The robber fell down with a shot to his heart while his bullet whizzed by Wind Rider. Wind Rider struggled to get up as Soarin’ moved next to me. “Wind Rider! What’s going on?” Soarin’ asked. His voice didn’t sound angry or even annoyed. Rather sadness. Wind Rider pointed the gun towards him before I threw an energy spear at his hand, knocking the gun away. “He’s trying to kill you.” I said. “What? W-why?” Soarin’ asked. Wind Rider laughed. “Why? Why?! I’ll tell you why, Soarin’… Ever since I retired, I had to sit idly by and watch the youth waste away humanity through their stupid decisions… You let yourselves be led around by the enemy and as a result, you let those students die!” Wind Rider shouted. I gripped my fist. “Tachibana had nothing to do with them!” I said. “He covered their tracks! He let them go unnoticed and it resulted in that massacre!” He said. I shut up. He had a point. Even if he was reforming the Roidmudes from within, he admitted to me that he would cover up the incidents soon after. “And now I see you’re the new chief…” Wind Rider glared to Soarin’. “I can’t help but imagine how many lives would fall under your command.” He said. Soarin’ backed away. “Kelly, did Soarin’ tell you how he sacrificed the life of a newly made mother over his own girlfriend?” “N-no!” Soarin’ barked out. “Fifteen years ago, there was a disaster at the Canterlot Research Department. Scientists were working on a means to create teleportation, though a freak glitch created a black hole instead. We were all there trying to rescue some of the people, but Spitfire managed to slip and nearly fell into the Black Hole. Soarin’ managed to grab onto both her and the mother…” Wind Rider said. “Stop! Shut up!” Soarin’ took out his gun. “And the idiot thought with his dick! He chose Spitfire and made the baby an orphan!” He said. I turned as soon as I heard the gun drop to the ground, followed soon after with Soarin’ kneeling to the ground. “Do you see, Miss Randall? The youth think with selfish and immature minds. They can’t see the forest for the trees. If they can, they’ll cast aside the old and wise.” I looked at Soarin’, who could only shoot a glance at me. He shook his head. I understood that he was trying to apologize. I nodded. “Tell me… Do you agree?” Wind Rider asked as he began to pull out something. I hesitated. I knew just by looking into his eyes that Soarin’ regretted making that decision. I knew it must have been a hard decision to make, and even if he made the other decision, we’d probably still be here, just that Wind Rider would bitch about how he betrayed his own teammates. However, I couldn’t help but see where Wind Rider is coming from. Not a single week passes where I don’t worry about today’s youth. People making bad decisions that would forever impact their lives just because of the logic of “yolo”, teens partying and throwing away their futures as they drive intoxicated, not to mention my memories of high school. However, my thought process was interrupted when Wind Rider pulled out a Shift Car. Well, it was similar to a Shift Car. It had the same aesthetic as a Shift Car, a Hot Wheels-style toy, but it didn’t exactly look like a car. Rather it looked to be a giant bat that had perched itself onto a slab of stone. The fact that the car was entirely red sent me into a bit of a shock. Especially with what he said next. “You will.” With that, slowdown particles erupted as time slowed down. I dropped Dimension Cab for Soarin’ to grab as I ran to try and stop the following event from happening. A Bat-Class Roidmude ran towards Wind Rider before it turned into a blur of data and entered into the red car. Wind Rider’s body soon shifted as he transformed into a Roidmude. I threw a punch, though I was blocked by a steel hook. The Roidmude, much like the car, was mostly red. He retained the plate that most low-class Roidmudes had, but now it was obscured by a steel plate with red veins. He had a cloak around him and a single, cybernetic eye. I obviously knew what Roidmude this was before he even transformed. It was Roidmude 106, the Thief Roidmude. “Bastard... You chose to side with the Roidmudes!?” I asked Wind Rider. This red coloration, much like the golden coloration of Super Roidmudes, denoted a different type of evolution: Fusion Roidmudes. As the name implied, these Roidmudes are a fusion between man and Roidmude, not unlike how me and Banno fuse to become Gold Drive. The fact that the fusion requires synchronization with a human could only mean that the human had to have been allied with the Roidmudes. “Of course!” He said. “With their help, I’ll be able to reformat this world and allow the wise to command the dumb! I’ll not let age dictate who will be our guardians!” He struck me with his hook as I fell down. The Roidmude’s face plate glowed as the number 106 showed up on it. “Tell me something… Did you think it was by chance that you came across this robbery? We set this whole thing up with the intention to have that idiot Soarin’ get here.” Thief said as I saw the other robbers get up and shift into their Roidmude forms. As if to make matters worse, I heard the klaxons of my transformation ending. My hand hovered over to the ignition… But then I’d have to have Banno take the wheel. “Does it feel good to mope there when you have the means to fight? Or are you simply afraid to lose yourself?” I remembered Buki’s words and realized that I couldn’t just stand here and let myself and Soarin’ be killed. I turned the ignition and had Banno take over. He grabbed both the Handle Sword and Dream Vegas. Slotting Dream Vegas into the sword, he got up with almost inhuman reflexes and turned the wheel a few times. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! VEGAS! FULL THROTTLE!” He spun around a few times while he skidded across the bank. He slashed at the three Roidmudes twice each. One strike was horizontal and the other was diagonal, making a 7. When he was done spinning, there were three sevens over the Roidmudes before they exploded in a shower of digital golden coins. Their cores, 38, 39, and 40, floated up before they all exploded. Banno turned to see Thief cower. “W-wah… How?” He asked. “I created the Roidmudes. I can just as easily destroy them…” Banno walked towards Thief before he used his hook to swing himself out of here. “Hey! Wait!” I shouted. The slowdown particles faded away, though none of us were effected. “Soarin’, get to safety. I’ll finish this.” Banno seemed to agree as he handed controls over to me. I gained Shift Formula. Immediately, I plugged it into the Shift Brace and ran out with blurring speeds. It took me until I got out onto the street for me to notice that Thief seemed to make himself scarce. I turned the ignition to hand controls over to Banno as he gained Shift Technic. He swapped out Formula for Technic and his HUD changed. He scanned the street. “As I thought. He’s evolved his powers beyond the point where not even Technic can spot him.” Banno said. That’s when we saw a large energy hook head towards us. Banno slashed it apart rather easily. I figured that I could spot the Thief with the energy hooks, but that’s when we got knocked down by another one behind us. “Damn it!” I said. “There is… One other way…” Banno said. “…” As if my mind was fused with Banno’s, I knew exactly what he meant. He turned the ignition as I got the Door Gun and Max Flare. I put Max Flare into the gun. “THE FINISHER! MAX FLARE! FULL THROTTLE!” I spun around and shot a huge stream of fire all around me. Cars began to steer out of the way of the flame while some managed to crash into each other. I bit my lip, but found the ruthlessness paid off, as the Thief Roidmude began to scream out as he burned. My teeth slid off my lower lip as it turned into a smile. I turned the ignition as Banno got a hold of a different kind of Shift Car. This was also red, but the way it was made, it was more of a side car with a white motorcycle molded into it. On the front wheel of the bike was a golden D, for Dead Heat. The Dead Heat Shift Car was designed to allow the Riders to access a state called the Dead Zone, allowing them to steadily build up energy during a fight, though at the cost of going berserk. Seeing as this is Banno, he’s way past berserk. The light in Gold Drive’s eyes shifted to the bulls ‘eye design. We had hit Type Overdrive. “THE FINISHER… TECHNIC… DEAD HEAT… FORMULA… FULL… THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as the Shift Cars all arranged themselves, Technic in the brace, Dead Heat in the gun, and Formula in the sword. Scanning the Roidmude with Technic’s HUD, we fired at the Thief Roidmude’s weak points with red bullets that shocked and burned the Roidmude. Each bullet became much stronger until the final blast split him and Wind Rider up, reducing the Roidmude back to his low-class form. We then ran to the Roidmude at a blurring speed and slashed at him so fast, I lost count after half a second as we chopped away the Roidmude to tiny pieces. The remains of the Roidmude fell to the ground and blew up, as the Core floated upwards before it too exploded. As soon as the Roidmude died, the transformation cancelled out as I dropped to the ground. I wasn’t as exhausted as I was when I fought Nerve, but it still took a lot out of me. I saw Wind Rider stumble away, before I saw Soarin’ approach him and slap the cuffs on him. “Wind Rider, you’re under arrest for attempted murder and being an accomplice.” He said. For the first time, his tone of voice matched that of a responsible police officer. While I would smile for finally seeing some competence in Soarin’, I had to frown a little bit. In the past month, I had considered Wind Rider my closest ally, but as he is led away, I couldn’t help but see him as a traitor. “The youth…” Wind Rider muttered. “It’s funny how we throw away everything for them… and yet when we ask them to throw away everything for us, they leave us for dead.” “… I never stopped regretting that day, Wind Rider…” Soarin’ said. “I tried to make amends.” “You mean Flash Sentry? HAH! I hope he chokes on the dark truth once it is revealed.” He then laughed. I walked over and slapped him. “Professor!” Soarin’s eyes widened. “… I did that for you.” I said to him. “You may not be the best cop in the world, but damn it if you’re not trying to be. I appreciate your atonement, Soarin’, and I hope Flash will if and when he finds out.” I said to him. He smiled to me. “Th… Thanks… Professor.” He said. Wind Rider got up and walked away as we saw a police car pull up. “So… You decided to side with the youth? I honestly hope, then, that you don’t come to regret this decision.” He stopped. “Allow me, then, to give you a clue before I hand myself over…” He turned and grinned. “Don’t you think for a minute this is over.” He then walked away, laughing. As Spitfire grabbed Wind Rider and put him in the car, I sat next to Soarin’. “So it’s true then? You’re not Professor Silverbolt?” He asked. “Yeah. Celestia just gave you that lie so that she could look into matters herself. I didn’t mean to carry this lie.” I said. “No… It’s okay. I think… I think it’s almost time for me to come clean to. Yeah… I did have to choose over Spitfire and Flash’s mom. If I could go back in time-” “Don’t. You made the best decision you could and you’re trying to salvage the consequences that followed.” I told him. I saw Flash look at Spitfire and frowned, especially as she came over. “I put Wind Rider in… What the hell happened?” She asked. “He sided with the Roidmudes.” I said. Spitfire glared to me, though she soon closed her eyes. “Soarin’, is it true?” She asked. “Y-yeah… He tried to kill me and helped the Roidmudes rob a bank.” He said. “…” She turned around to see Wind Rider in the window. “A shame, huh? He was our greatest teacher and now… now he’s nothing but a criminal.” She said. It was at that moment that I recalled the photo of the Wondercolts. That’s when I realized what he meant when he said that it wasn’t over. I stood up. “Crap!” I ran off while shouting to the two. “Check the hospital! CHECK THE HOSPTIAL!” I shouted. My heart raced once more. I just hoped I wasn’t too late. “Rainbow Dash, I’ve looked into the old Canterlot High School records, lately, and I noticed your personal records are slowly and steadily going to reach mine.” Wind Rider spoke with Rainbow Dash as the two were by a cliff. “Yeah! I am!” She then gasped. “Oh! Are you acknowledging me as your equal? Are you going to have me join the CPD?! Oh man, I’m so excited! You’re always the coolest Wondercolt player!” She turned around to see the vast ocean. The sea breeze shifted through her hair as she smiled. That’s when the sea breeze began to shift in the opposite direction. “H-huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m afraid it isn’t as simple as that…” She turned around to see Wind Rider sport a grin before he transformed into the Tornado Roidmude. “What the!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Wind Rider prefers that his record isn’t stolen by some bratty youth. He would do anything to preserve his precious record… His only reminder of his pathetic wasted life.” The Tornado Roidmude said. “N-no! Wind Rider would never want that! You’re just a faker! You don’t know how he thinks!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She tried to run down the Roidmude with her wheelchair. However, the Tornado Roidmude created a small current in the shape of a drill with one of his hands. “Let’s see then if he is indeed lying. I’ll push you off this cliff. If I feel a surge of power, then I have fulfilled his desire… If not, well… You’re still going to be a smear on the ground!” He then fired the current towards Rainbow Dash, blowing her off the chair and off the cliff. As she plummeted to the ground, Tornado’s body had a few golden lightning bolts crackle underneath his cyan swirls. “Hmph… Looks like he wasn’t lying.” He then laughed. “Finally, I achieved it… Super Evolution!” His entire body erupted into a blast of golden light. Ross looked outside as he saw a golden beam erupt from a cliff side. He got out of the bed and limped away. He knew this would be the right time to get away from Cinder. I remembered what Rainbow Dash said regarding beating Wind Rider’s personal record and knew what he would intend. However, as I got to the car, I saw a pillar of golden light shine from afar. “Another Super Roidmude?” Banno asked. “…” I was silent. Inside, I knew it was too late. The Roidmudes have already got to Rainbow Dash. Author's Note Thanks in part to Company Master Sebaste for collaborating on the first half of the chapter.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 2: When Will These Winds Stop?I stayed inside Soarin’s car as I could hear indistinct chattering between Soarin’ and Spitfire. I heard a little bit to know they were speaking of Wind Rider and his recent betrayal. I sighed as I remembered Wind Rider’s recent attempt at Soarin’s life. I looked outside. As the golden light that had emerged from the coast died down, I began to worry for someone else instead. I worried about Rainbow Dash. The Roidmudes must have gotten to her already. Knowing the lengths they’d go for ultimate power, I could only fear the worst for her. The more I thought about it, the more I thought of her face being shown everywhere. Milk cartons, portraits, memorials, tombstones. Then I imagined the grieving faces of her friends. When I had imagined Fluttershy’s face, that’s when I knew I couldn’t wait around. As I got out, I saw the destruction I had laid upon the streets thanks to my stunt using Max Flare. Singed concrete laid across the road as cars had crashed into one another. People were unable to get out of their cars either because they were pinned against another car or the cars had toppled over. The people who did get out were on the ground screaming about their wounded appendages, some even trying to resuscitate and help other critically injured people. An ambulance had arrived to assist in getting the people out. I knew I was responsible for this mess. In my ruthlessness, I caused this incident to happen. But I couldn’t stand around to face the consequences. It seemed I didn’t need to call for the Shift Car I needed, as Mad Doctor drove in on a miniature, mid-air highway that kept building as the car drove forward, at least until it was ready to drive off the highway and onto the road. It drove to several of the injured people, shooting digital syringes at them as they injected in. The people soon were able to get up after reacting as if they were shocked by a joy buzzer. Mad Doctor was followed by Fire Braver and Justice Hunter. Braver managed to move away some of the more pinned cars while Justice Hunter blocked off the area with steel jail bars. I gave a soft smile as Justice Hunter blared a siren towards me. In that moment, I could feel like it had just told me to go on ahead. I pulled out something from my pocket. Much like the SunDriver, it was merely a padlock with a flower molded onto it. Though this time, it was a rose. I popped open the lock as it transformed into a dirt bike. I rode off while hearing Soarin’ and Spitfire shout to me. I ignored them. I had to get to Rainbow Dash. Even if she’s dead. “Ugh…” Rainbow Dash groaned. While she wasn’t properly healed, she felt something broke her fall. But how could that be? Rainbow Dash got up and looked at her surroundings. A nice, simple beach. Nothing could have possibly broke her fall. Then she remembered her fight with the Nerve Roidmude. How she didn’t take that crippling blow to the spine at full force. ‘Determination’? That was just something to psyche her up. She didn’t realize it was an actual power. Maybe she obtained it when Ross gave her super speed. Caw… Caw… Rainbow Dash looked above as she saw a raven flying in the air. She squinted. Were ravens supposed to be that big? As she glared, the bird seemed to come closer and closer… That’s when she realized the raven was headed right for her. She dodged out of the way as its talons hit the sand. Rainbow Dash looked at the monstrous raven that had chosen to attack her. It was weird for a raven to have a bone white mask or orange beedy eyes. Rainbow Dash knew just from the ravenous eyes alone that she has to run. Now. The raven crowed as it flew towards Rainbow Dash. However, Rainbow Dash managed to outrun the raven… at least until she tripped. “Ow!” Her Super Speed didn’t seemed effective to her as it was before. She tried to run some more, but she drooped to her knees. It didn’t help that she sprained an ankle. She limped as the bird slowly crawled up to her… And just as it opened its beak to consume her… SLASH! Its beak was chopped off, the remains scattering away into petals. That’s when Rainbow Dash noticed… They were rose petals. She saw Ross standing in front of her, his hood bellowing in the wind. “Ross!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Take my hand! Hurry!” He said as pointed Crescent Rose at the raven and fired. The sniper rounds made decent sized holes into the monster as Rainbow Dash got to Ross. He grabbed her and flew off at blurring speeds, wrapping his hood around them and becoming akin to a red blob surrounded by rose petals. As it sped away, a small hole opened in the rear as more bullets fired at the raven. With the sheer amount of speed, it became less like a sniper rifle and more like a machine gun or even a turret. So many holes were put into the raven that when the blur was far enough to stop firing, the raven fell onto the ground, its body nearly breaking apart into a combination of whispy shadows and rose petals. That’s when it heard something. “Hey boss! Look at this!” The raven wiggled a bit to see a robotic creature. Its face looked like that of a fanged cobra and on his chest was a number of 049. No doubt was it born of mankind, but what enticed the bird the most was just how much negative emotions this one robot carried. Even if the robot couldn’t show it, the bird, even from far away, could sense it inside. It got up. The raven had only one chance before it completely faded away. The raven got a running start and dove straight for the Roidmude. The Roidmude screamed and tried to fire at it, but it was too late. For a moment, it seemed like the raven was devouring the Roidmude, but soon, the Roidmude changed into a blur of data. The raven faded away, though its shadows merged with the data. The blur began to grow and expand, until it was the size of the raven. The blur changed back into the raven, though now, it seemed that the Roidmude was fused to its chest. The Roidmude’s limbs and head were missing, but its torso remained, including the chest plate. It began to fly up into the air, only to be pushed back down by wind currents. There was a thin, almost see through aura of gold that reinforced this current. “Hmph… Interesting…” Tornado said. I drove down the street on the Rose Attacker in the middle of the city streets. Fortunately, it was well past the traffic jam hour, so aside from the occasional car, it was an open road. Or so I thought. WHOOSH! Out of nowhere, a red blur speeded past me, knocking me off my bike as the blob slowed down. “Ouch! Watch it!” I shouted. I turned around and saw Ross with Rainbow Dash. “Oh, Ross, you’re alright!” I said. I then looked to Dash. “And you have Dash too!” “Yeah…” Ross stayed silent. I knew it had to come up sooner or later. “Sorry for shooting a car at you.” I said. “No, no, it’s alright. You did what you had to do.” He said. “What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, yeah… Alright, let’s get the long story outta the way… I was a double agent for the Roidmudes, decided to go take on their head honcho, but he laid my ass on a silver platter, made me his puppet and then had me fight Kelly, then Kelly knocked me out with a large car. Next thing I know, I woke up in the care of a psychopath and I got out of there as soon as I could.” Ross said. I eyed the scythe he carried. “Surprised you found that.” I said. “I remembered where I was defeated. Thankfully no one took Crescent Rose.” Ross cuddled the scythe in its inactive form like it was his own child. Both Rainbow and I looked weirdly at this before Ross got back to normal. “S-sorry…” He looked to me. “It’s a habit of Ruby’s… The person I’m dressed as. As Displaced, we tend to remember their memories as if they’re our own and end up repeating their same quirks.” He said. Well, that would explain how I was able to remember Ryoma’s past. Not sure if I got to the quirk part though… That’s when I remembered. “Oh, right, Roidmudes!” I went over to the bike, but then I saw Rainbow Dash. She was leaning on Ross’ back. “Ross… Rainbow… You guys saw how powerful these Roidmudes are when they get golden colored first hand. I’m not going to let you two get hurt.” I said. I turned around and walked to the bike. “But I can help!” Ross said. Rainbow Dash just frowned. “You want to help?” I then turned the bike back into a lock and tossed it to him. “Get. Her. Home.” I glared to him with the same anger I had towards Sid. Just then, I heard a loud caw. I looked up and saw a giant raven. “Oh no!” Ross said. “The hell’s that?!” I looked at the body of the raven and was reminded of the werewolf I fought last night. “A Grimm.” Ross said. “They’re monsters from another world. I-” “That’s all I need to know. Now go!” I shouted as I turned the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive, arming Banno with the Trailer Cannon. Ross opened up the lock, got on the Rose Attacker, and drove off with Dash in tow. Banno fired at the Grimm. “Kelly, take a look at this!” Banno looked at the chest of the raven. I saw it too. “It’s… A Roidmude!” I said. “Exactly. Seems these Roidmudes are able to evolve further with these Grimm. An unforeseen development indeed.” Banno said. “Guess we call them Grimmudes…” I said as Banno landed a direct hit on the Grimmude’s wing. The raven’s feathers began to molt off. They fell onto the ground and stabbed into the concrete. I dodged out of the way as I heard the sound of shattering glass, car alarms, and screaming people all at once. I looked around to see the giant black feathers began to change into humanoid beings… They were exactly like a Bat-Class Roidmude, but now their bodies were pitch black and there seemed to be a purple haze around them. “Well, add another new discovery!” I said as Banno switched to me. Taking the Steering Sword in hand, I ran over to slash at the Roidmudes. I got in close and noticed their plates had only a single number. Well, not true. It was still their three numbers, but there was a decimal after the first digit. Thus, one of the Roidmudes had 0.13, for instance. Each Roidmude I cut into just faded away as their ‘core’ burst into a cloud of smoke. I looked up and saw the bird was slightly smaller. “And it can apparently divide itself…” Banno said. Of course, it began to click once I realized what the decimal meant. “So… Fractal Roidmudes!” I then squeed. “Oh man! Discovering new things is fun!” I said. “Look sharp! It’s about to get more ‘fun’!” Banno said as I noticed a large gust of wind blow through me, knocking me far away and crashing into a window. Ross stopped by the hospital and gently too Rainbow Dash off the bike. There, Rainbow Dash slowly walked over to the doors before she stopped. “So… That would explain what happened back there with the dealer…” Rainbow Dash said. Ross sighed. “I’m sorry you got wrapped up in this…” Ross said. “Don’t be! Because of you, I got to be closer to Gold Drive than I ever would have as Mare-Do-Well!” She said. “Well, glad I did something right…” Ross sighed. “I should have laid low. If I did… Maybe he would have lived…” “Who would have?” Rainbow Dash. “An… accomplice. I didn’t really know him enough to call him a friend… In fact…” Ross then sat down on the steps of the hospital. “I don’t really have a lot of friends. I mean, yeah, I have online friends, but when I’m here… I don’t have anyone to rely on, unlike you.” Rainbow Dash sat next to him. “No… I’m on the same boat as you. I don’t have many friends myself. I… I used to… But soon, they all betrayed me. Some… Some even think I betrayed them…” Rainbow Dash said. Ross could feel some stings in his heart as he began to remember images of a couple of people that, while he recognized, couldn’t piece when exactly those images took place. One stuck out in particular: a man with gray hair and a matching gray and black jumpsuit putting up his dukes in the middle of what appeared to be a backstage hall. It took Ross a bit to realize that his mind was now skipping to Ruby’s memories. Memories of moments he haven’t seen yet. “Mind, don’t spoil…” Ross muttered. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, I know exactly how that would feel.” Ross said. “But now with Kelly, I feel like I’m starting over with a new friend… And… Well, being a hero is a bonus.” Dash chuckled. Fortunately, Ross’ mind rewound itself to something he does remember seeing. A memory of Ruby’s first night at Beacon Academy. Particularly, the moment where she made her third friend there: Blake. “I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!” Ross hung onto those words ever since he became Displaced, almost like it was a silent command. Ross gripped his hands. “If there’s any advice, maybe you could make some friends here. I know I could-” That’s when Rainbow Dash noticed that in Ross’ place were rose petals. She could see Ross drive away on the Rose Attacker, though she simply smiled and walked into the hospital. As I fell onto the floor of an abandoned building, my transformation cancelled out. I heard gusts of wind blowing towards me. I got up and saw a golden tornado flying down before the winds died down and I was able to see the Roidmude. As I had suspected, it was the Tornado Roidmude, and just as I feared, his reddish body was now golden, along with the sky blue plates of armor that looked like swirls. However, his shoulder armor had just a slight touch of midnight blue. “Tornado…” I muttered. Tornado smirked as he transformed into Wind Rider. “So, I see Thief failed…” Wind Rider spoke. Even though I knew he was still Tornado, I still felt uneasy facing him. “Y-yes…” I said. “So I presume you synchronized with Wind Rider’s hatred towards the youth?” “Yes. Particularly, his jealousy. His jealousy towards his only accomplishment.” He held up his hand as a small ball of air formed in his hands. “And it had worked…” He threw the ball at me, knocking me back with great force. My back hit the wall and created a few cracks as I fell down. “I have now achieved Super Evolution. But before I can take my place in the Promised Number, I shall give the Roidmude King a gift… The destruction of this city!” He held up his arm as I heard the crash of thunder. The Roidmude King? The only time those words were uttered was in an alternate future where an evil Krim Steinbelt announced his intent to rule the world with an army of Roidmudes. Not sure who this Roidmude King is, though I have a good guess it was the Recreator. Banno, however, had another thing to say: “Roidmude King? HAH! Not while I’m around! If you weren’t informed, Gold Drive is also a Super Evolved Roidmude. And I’ve also taken out four Super Evolved Roidmudes…” Banno said. “I’m only counting one, Nerve.” I said. “And I’m counting the kills done by Sigma.” Banno said. “Aaaaah.” It was a weird moment of realization. In that moment, it was like me and Banno shared a funny in-joke that only the two of us would get. Almost like true friends. To his credit, his invention, the Sigma Circular, did mortally wound three Super Evolved Roidmudes, but I hardly count them as kills he scored. Nonetheless, I got what he meant. “Wanna make it five?” I asked Banno. “If you may. Start my engine.” “With pleasure.” I turned the Ignition. “Henshin!” We both said. My body changed into Gold Drive as Banno took over. Tornado changed back to his Roidmude form. Banno walked towards the Tornado Roidmude merely created a huge current of wind, though it unfazed Banno. Eventually, he ran towards him to throw a punch. Tornado leaped and soared midair before he landed and roundhouse kicked Banno. However, Banno caught the kick and punched Tornado with a fist of golden energy. It knocked the Roidmude back a little, but not enough. Not as he had hoped. Tornado then slashed at Banno with wind so rough, it ended up becoming sharp. Banno blocked it with a shield made from pure gold energy, but the shield was easily sliced in half. Tornado ran to Banno and pushed him with the air currents in his fist, knocking him out of the building and back onto the road. I looked up and saw the blackening clouds, followed by clouds that had slight yellow glows in them. “This must be Tornado’s newfound power. He’s creating storm clouds so powerful, that he might just call himself Hurricane…” Banno said. “Guess we gotta stop him before he makes this storm hit landfall.” He said. “Exactly. Give him everything we got!” With that, Banno turned the ignition and switched over to me. A Signal Bike and the Zenrin Shooter reached my hands and I instantly plugged in the Signal Bike into the Shift Brace. I fired at several of the storm clouds. As the bullets hit, they changed into large, golden stop signs and froze the clouds in place. “That ought to hold them.” I said. I then saw Tornado jump down and I fired at him. The bullet soon changed from a stop sign to eight separate bullets, all aligned in an octagon before hitting the Tornado Roidmude square in the chest and creating a huge explosion. I expected a Core to come out, but instead, I saw Tornado come through from the smoke, forming a drill from his hand. I swapped over to Banno who took Rumble Dump and swapped out the Stop Signal Bike with it. Banno’s hand changed into a golden version of the drill that Tornado made and punched him just as Tornado threw a punch. The two drills collided and a mixture of golden energy and wind erupted from the drills, knocking both Banno and Tornado away. When Banno finished skidding across the ground he fired the Zenrin Shooter at Tornado, who in turn responded by firing bursts of condensed wind. Banno dodged out of the way and swapped over to me, giving me Rolling Gravity. I placed it into the Zenrin Shooter. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! CRUSH!” I slammed the Zenrin Shooter’s wheel into the ground as it created a thick line of black and gold energy that rocketed straight towards Tornado. It soon locked him into place, pressing him down with gravity. I swapped over to Banno who gained both another Signal Bike and the Steering Sword. He plugged the Signal Bike into the sword and ran over to Tornado. “THE FINISHER! 04! FULL THROTTLE!” With a slash, Banno’s sword soon glowed golden red as the aura of what appeared to be a Bullet Bill biting down onto Tornado. With a few slashes, it seemed like we were able to destroy the Roidmude, however, that’s when the raven from before swooped in and clawed at Banno, knocking him away from Tornado. He swapped over to me and I gained a blue Signal Bike. I swapped out Rumble Dump for the bike and fired at the bird. The bullet split up into several bullets, each hitting the Grimmude with succession. However, it managed to shrug off the bullets and began to molt feathers, all of which rained down upon me. I got hit by several feathers as a couple of them transformed into Fractal Roidmudes. I readied myself, though I staggered. The Fractal Roidmudes closed in on me, readying their hands to fire upon me. I maintained balance using the Steering Sword and fired at the Fractal Roidmudes. The ones with lower numbered cores broke apart easily with blasts, while the ones whose cores were higher than 0.25 took more than a hit to fully destroy. This resulted in more Roidmudes being formed than I could destroy. Eventually, I was unable to fire anymore and I waited for them to overwhelm me. VROOOOOOOOOOOM!!! That’s when I heard a motorcycle and I turned to see Ross on the Rose Attacker driving up before he popped a wheelie, pushed himself and the bike up with his scythe, and slashed through three Fractal Roidmudes like they were nothing, before landing and using his scythe as a landing gear to turn around. He steered towards the other Roidmudes and fired at them, destroying both bodies and cores in the process. He used one of the Roidmudes as a ramp to lift the Rose Attacker up and flipped off of his bike, transforming it into its lock mode before landing on the Roidmude, scythe’s blade right into it. He then fired, blasting him off the Roidmude and into the air for a bit before he landed into me. “Thought you could use a hand.” Ross said to me. “Aaaah, I could have handled them.” I chuckled. “You ought to know that Grimm are a huntsman’s specialty.” Ross said. I turned and saw the Raven Grimmude land onto the ground before it screeched. It was noticeably smaller than it was before. “The Grimmude’s able to create minions, but it gets weaker with every batch.” I said. “Alright, I can take on multiple crowds of monsters. Think you can handle old windbag over there?” Ross asked. “You underestimate the power of my system…” Banno said. “For once, I’m backing Banno’s egotistic claims. Deal with the Grimmude, then we can deal with the Roidmude together.” I said. “Alright. It’s about to get wild.” Ross bumped my back of my hand with the back of his hand before he rushed to the Roidmude. I did the same, but towards Tornado. I slashed him away with both the Steering Sword and the Zenrin Shooter. He countered by stabbing his drill in between the open space that was my chest. As I was punched back, I swapped to Banno who took the last of the four Signal Bikes. He plugged both the Turn and Scatter Bikes into the Steering Sword and Zenrin Shooter respectively. “TURN! TURN! U-TURN! THE FINISHER! 01! FULL THROTTLE!” “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE! SCATTER!” Banno began to spin uncontrollably as he fired the Zenrin Shooter. The bullet began to break apart into dozens of golden bullets. Tornado tried to stop them, but Banno reached him and slashed him two dozen times before unloading the last scattering bullet right into Tornado. While the two finishers heavily damaged him, it didn’t destroy him. It took a lot from him though, so I looked to see if Ross needed help. Much to my delight, Ross was cleaving through most of the Fractal Roidmudes with ease, all while the Grimmude got smaller and smaller with each division, now just half the size as it initially was. Ross launched himself with the scythe’s fire and sliced into the Grimmude’s left wing, cutting it off, before he wrapped himself in his cape, flew in a loop-de-loop, and impaled the scythe right into the Grimmude’s head before yanking it and causing it to fly uncontrollably into the building. Ross leaped off as the Grimmude smashed into building, erupting into a cloud of inky smoke, with its Core, 049, fading away. Ross landed as we turned to face the Tornado Roidmude. Tornado chuckled. “Now… I’ll fulfill our Recreator’s wishes!” Tornado twirled his hand in the air as a wind current began to form. The current spun around several times. I could feel just from the force of the wind what could happen. “Ross! Get out of here! Now!” I shouted. Banno swapped over to me as the circuit wheel flared up. As the tornado that was summoned came down, I created an electromagnetic field surrounding it to prevent it from expanding and destroying any of the buildings. “No way! I’m sticking with you til the bitter end!” He said. “Alright… Banno… LET’S GO!” I shouted as I turned the ignition several times. My lens changed from red, to white, to red, until it finally changed to the bull’s eye design of Type Overdrive. Me, Banno, and Ross all floated up into the air thanks to all the tension caused by the wind. Tornado entered the fray by encasing himself in a golden air current. The three of us all began to fly. Ross was the first to fight, wrapping himself up in his cape and seemingly teleporting himself to behind Tornado to slash with his scythe. Tornado blocked with his arm drill, but that was when Banno shot a golden energy lance at him, stabbing the Roidmude in the back. At the same time, Ross fired at Tornado, knocking him into my path where I Rider Punched him with golden energy. While it knocked him back, Tornado soon wrapped himself in the tornado’s current and vanished. Banno and I also coated ourselves in energy and vanished. As Tornado reappeared near Ross, so did I and I kicked him out of the way. Ross wrapped himself up in his cape and the three of us all teleported around in the eye of the storm, trying to guess where the other was and striking when we guessed correct. Ross didn’t manage to get a shot in, though I managed to slash at least once at Tornado. Eventually, we teleported at the same time and entered the same space. Tornado kicked Ross out of the cyclone, with my electromagnetic field only shunting him further from the fray. “Ross!” I shouted before Tornado smashed me down with a devastating hammer punch. I fell into the ground and created a crater. Tornado flew down towards me. “This is it, Banno...” I got up and crouched, building up the golden energy into my leg. I just had to wait for the right moment… Ross flew out of the cyclone, though he managed to catch himself and land on the roof. He could only look as the cyclone began to glow intensely golden. “Kelly…” Ross muttered. Just then, the glow intensified. Ross readied himself for any sort of surprise. Though the surprise he saw was not what he expected. “TORIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Kelly shouted as she pushed Tornado out of the eye of the storm with her leg thrusted right into the Roidmude’s chest. Golden lightning crackled from her foot as she continued to push him up into the air. With her other foot, she kicked him away from herself. Ross took advantage and flew into the air with his Semblance, launching scythe first right into the airborne Roidmude. Before Tornado had any time to react, Ross impaled him with Crescent Rose, landed on the wall of a building, then ran up to the roof, dragging the Roidmude along before tossing him up into the air and firing right into its head, blowing it off as the body exploded. Rose petals flew out of smoke along with the Core 008. Ross leaped and landed on the roof, then got ready to fire at the number before it flew off. White particles overlapped the number as it became healed. It then flew into a phone where its matching number lit. Ross looked as he saw a man with spiked up hair and a black leather jacket with what appeared to be reddish pink patching on the sides of his sleeves and coat on the other end of the roof. “H-hey!” Ross shouted, but the man paid no attention. He merely scoffed and walked away. Ross ran after him, though he noticed a large grayish curtain appear before the man. He walked through the curtain no problem before it disappeared, taking the man with it. Ross stopped running as Kelly landed on the rooftop. After Rider Kicking the Roidmude and destroying him, I landed onto the roof where Ross was. The transformation cancelled out and I became woozy. Ross ran to me and lifted me up. “We did it… We defeated Tornado…” I said as I gave him a thumbs up. “… For now.” Ross said. I looked to him. “What do you mean? We destroyed his Core, right?” I asked. “No. Someone took his Core.” Ross said. “What!?” Banno shouted. I, however, was too drained from using two Type Overdrives in one day. I passed out in Ross’ arms as Banno shouted to keep me awake. The leather coated man walked down as several Roidmudes bowed before him. He approached a weak, skinny man lying in bed, 007. “Tornado has fallen.” The man said. “What!?” 007 struggled, but he fell before he could get up. “Patience. You still need to adjust to your synchronization. You haven’t even found the core emotion he possess yet.” The man said. “… Grief. It’s grief.” 007 said. “And losing Tornado… I can say that I’m getting powered up.” The man simply laughed. “It won’t be enough. Banno’s at full power. If two Super Evolved Roidmudes aren’t able to stop him, what makes you think a weak Roidmude like yourself would fare better?” He asked. “Then let me at them, my lord.” The man heard a familiar voice. Tough, boisterous, and strongly feminine. He turned to see his newly appointed Grim Reaper practicing on a punching bag. “Whatever he throws at me, I’ll throw back with twice the power.” She said. “You could… But you could also wait…” The man chuckled. “Banno’s ties with his host are at their strongest. However, given how Banno is, it won’t be long before that tie is severed. It’ll be at that moment when you can strike. Until then, we wait. If you really want to take your anger out, there’s a Roidmude you could eliminate…” He then walked away. The Grim Reaper growled and with one punch to the bag, she exploded in a burst of fire, destroying the bag in the process. “I’ll make you pay, Kamen Rider… Just you wait.” She glared at the destroyed bag with her bright red eyes. I woke up in the hospital bed again, though this time, Applejack was looking at me. “Hey, Sugarcube.” Applejack said. “A-applejack…” I muttered. I looked around and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on opposite sides of the room, their backs turned. “Just checking to see how you are.” Applejack said. “I’m doing well, all things considered.” I said. “Well, I figured I’d let you know that Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I have made… compromises. We all agreed to help you with these Roy Mochas.” Applejack said. I simply chuckled. “Now you’re doing it on purpose.” I said. “Yeah, ya caught me.” She smirked. Just then, Principal Celestia entered the room. “Professor Silverbolt, I’m sorry to butt in on a bad time, but I figured I’d inform you of a transfer student.” She said. “Transfer student! Awesome!” Rainbow Dash squeed. I saw Fluttershy simply retreat herself further into a corner. “Who is she?” I asked. “He, and he’s said to have transferred from Beacon Academy.” She said. She stepped away as I saw a man dressed in a black uniform with orange linings, a blue sweatshirt underneath, a white shirt and a red tie, as well as black pants. I knew this man… “Yo, teach!” Ross said as he waved to me. “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?” I shouted. The machine that monitored my heart rate raced.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 3: Where Do We Go From Here?It took me a while to get adjusted to Ross’ announcement of joining Canterlot High. It took me even longer to be able to get up. Most of that was due to going into Type Overdrive twice in one day. From how I could feel myself, I knew that it was a case of my nervous system having an overload thanks to fusing it with Banno’s neural network. I figured I’d get used to it in time, though that would depend greatly on me being able to become cruel. I took the time to read the newspaper. As I had figured, the news of Gold Drive’s attack on the streets made the headlines, but to my surprise, they also mentioned his stopping of a large tornado from destroying the city. I read more into it. Seemed that the newspaper was painting me as a sort of “Hero or Menace” sort of deal. One article praised Gold Drive stopping a group of bank robbers from harming civilians while another said that he caused injuries from occurring. It brought me a bit of comfort, however, that I have people who supported me and considered me their hero. I got up from the hospital bed and got ready to go back to teaching. That’s when I saw Ross standing outside the room in his school uniform. He gave me a salute and I nodded. We drove off to someplace where we could carry out a private conversation. The docks was a good idea, I thought. I parked the Tridoron nearby and walked to the edge of the pier along with Ross. “So, your Roidmude days are over?” I asked. Ross stretched his arms. “I guess so. Though, I wanna assume the Roidmude days in general are over.” Ross said. I frowned and sat down. “I wish it was that simple.” I said. I looked at the ocean. “There’s a hundred and eight Roidmudes.” Ross sat next to me. “W-what!? That many?” Ross said. I nodded. “Yeah. But we cleared up a quarter of them. Another quarter was wiped out in a civil war. If I’m correct, that basically means we’re only half way done.” I said. I looked at Ross as he looked down at the ocean. “Well, at least your monsters have a limit… The Grimm? So long as humanity exists, so will they.” He said. “That… brings up a good topic, however. The past couple of days, there have been Roidmudes that have seemingly been fusing with the Grimm.” I said. “Fusing?” Ross asked. “Yeah. Like, a Roidmude will be stuck to the body of those things. You know what that’s all about?” I asked. “If I may pipe in…” Banno spoke up. “According to the combat data, these Grimm seem animalistic in nature. It’s like they seek out these Roidmudes to devour and absorb them for some reason.” I paused and added to Banno’s theory. “Perhaps the Grimm aren’t the ones doing the absorbing… Ross, can you confirm Banno’s suspicions?” I asked him. Ross nodded. “Yeah. Grimm are pretty instinct-based. They actively hunt down humans and anything of their creations.” Ross said. Already, a point in favor of the theory. “They’re able to track a human by seeking out stuff like hate, rage, sadness, despa-” I clapped my hands. “Stop! There we go! They like negative emotions! Banno, I think we found our answer.” I said. Banno chuckled. “Yes… We have…” Banno said. “I don’t follow.” Ross said. “Banno programed the Roidmudes to evolve based off emotions and rarely are they good ones. Humiliation, Envy, Vengeance… The Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotion they were given, either through programming or whatever they got from the host, and then emulate it until they evolve.” I said. “Since they can only emulate what they were programed to feel, these Grimm are attracted to them like a moth to a flame.” Banno said. “Then, when the Grimm are attacking, the Roidmudes would synchronize with the negative emotions that these Grimm are seeking and thus…” I said. “We get those monsters.” Ross said. “Exactly.” Banno said. Ross picked up a pebble and tossed it across the ocean. “… I caused these Grimm to appear.” Ross said. At first I had no idea what he meant, but then I remembered what was said yesterday: “Each Displaced faces foes from the game, TV show or movie in their own Equestrias.” I merely looked to the ripples he made. I shook my head. “No. There’s more to it than that. If that was the case, then those Roidmudes would have come when I came. It’s not a coincidence, yes, but you’re not responsible for them to appear. They came on their own volition.” I said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “… There’s much despair in this town since the Roidmudes attacked. Maybe they found this place to be a good haven for food.” I said. I got up and looked to Ross. “So, shall we get going? If we hurry, we’ll make it just in time for science class.” Oh, if things were that simple. BLAST! A warehouse nearby suddenly caught on fire as a police officer was flung out of it. We ran to him, only to see two Roidmudes hop out of the fires. These were different. The Roidmudes in their low-class forms followed three animal motifs: cobra, spider, or bat. These were different. Their faces were hidden in brown cages and they wore a red, thick cape, almost like the shell of a… “Cockroach…” I muttered. The scythes they held were confirmation that they are what I thought they are. “Great! These assholes are stealing my thing!” Ross took out his scythe. I shook my head. “No… These guys are the Reaper Legion. They have nothing to do with you.” This was a bold faced lie. The presence of these Roidmudes does have something to do with Ross. Though it wasn’t that they modeled themselves after him. Rather, they were made to replace him, much like how they were originally made to replace Chase. Which could only mean that much like before, a higher up Roidmude could be leading them… “Banno… You thinking who I’m thinking?” I asked. “Only one way to find out… Start my engine.” Banno said. I crossed my arms before I pressed them against my wrists, turning them around before pulling one arm back and pushing another one forward. I then pushed my right arm forward, left hand lowered to the ignition as I shouted. “Henshin!” I shouted as I turned it. I’d squee at the fact that I finally pulled off my first Henshin pose, but Banno immediately took over my body, Steering Sword in hand, and ran off to fight the Roidmudes. Ross already beat me to them as his scythe cut through the scythe of one of the Roidmudes. He fired with the barrel part of the scythe right into the Reaper’s face, breaking his mask as Ross impaled the pointy end of the scythe into the side of its neck. Ross leaped and did a drop kick on the Roidmude, pulling him away from the scythe as sparks began to pour from the stab wound. Banno slashed away at the Reaper Roidmude before he threw a Rider Punch right into the chest of the Roidmude. It knocked him away. The Roidmude growled as it threw down its cape. Banno turned on the ignition as I took over. Banno’s activation of Gold Conversion caused the Tridoron to roll towards me. I opened the door and took out both the Chainsword and the Assault Rifle. Tossing the rifle to Ross, I took the Chainsword in my hand. “W-What!? No! I wanted you to run them down with the Tridoron!” Banno shouted as I ran forward and gave the Roidmude a cross slash, greatly damaging the Roidmude’s torso. Ross transformed the scythe into a sniper rifle and constantly fired at his opponent with the assault rifle. As soon as the Roidmude took twenty five hits, he headshotted the Reaper Roidmude, causing the Roidmude to fall into the water and break up into rose petals. I turned the ignition and placed my two swords together. “THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!” Banno shouted as he spun around. Golden electricity built up around him as he spun towards the capeless Roidmude, slashing him apart until he was in tiny pieces. With the two swords, he then proceed to cut the Core with the chain sword and then fire a sharp sword slash at the other Core. 044 and 094 both blew up. Ross ran towards the wounded officer as Banno proceeded to the fires inside the warehouse. “Hey! Wait! This guy’s hurt!” Banno didn’t care and merely tried to get into the flames. However, the fires overwhelmed his vision and he backed away, cancelling out the transformation in the process. “There’s no way Medic would be in that building…” Banno said to me as I stood by the fire. Though, if I remembered correctly, there’d be no way Medic would be leading these Reapers. Especially after a civil war where Heart’s side lost… So who could it have been? The Grim Reaper stood in the flames. Banno was easily in front of her. She could easily kill the professor, his puppet, and even the traitor in one… swift… kill. However, as she moved in, she could see the traitor tending to her mark. She froze. Despite only hearing stories of him, she felt as though she knew him before. She held her head as one voice rang into her head. “I love you…” She shook her head. She continued to look at the three as they remained ignorant of her presence. The Roidmude King was right, she thought. Now was not the perfect time to fight them. She walked away, having accomplished her initial goal. “Hey! Hang in there!” Ross said to the police officer. However, that’s when I noticed he looked familiar. “Ross… Hang on…” I said. I knew him. This was Michelangelo Jones, otherwise known as the Sculpt Roidmude. I recalled him getting away from my last clash with him. Michelangelo simply sputtered. “She’s coming…” He weakly said. He looked to Ross. “The Dragon… She’s coming… To kill… The Reaper… And the Rider…” Michelangelo said before his body gave out. I shoved Ross out of the way before the officer exploded, his core, 084, floating up before it too was destroyed in an explosion. The two of us just sat on the ground as the smoke cleared. Firetrucks began to pile in as I helped Ross up. I looked to the ground as I saw Fire Braver rolling out to help stop the fires in the warehouse from spreading. We went into the Tridoron as I dismantled the Rose Attacker back into its lock mode and we drove off. About five minutes into the drive, Ross began to speak and break the silence me and him shared. “… What the hell… Did… Did those Roidmudes murder their own kind?” Ross asked. “Yeah. That’s what happens when they need to replace the Grim Reaper.” I said. Ross looked at the dash of the car and frowned. “That guy… Tachibana reset him to have him help out his department as a cop. Guess the Roidmudes found out and…” Ross sighed. “Ross… This is a war. Like it or not, it’s a war to determine who’ll rule the world. Humanity or Roidmudes. Of course there’ll be those who want a middle ground and those who will make sure those voices get silenced.” I said. “And then there’s what he said! The Dragon? Do you know any dragon Roidmudes?!” Ross asked. I shook my head. “Roidmudes, in their evolved forms, don’t go for animals. Some go for organs, elements, even occupations. Never animals.” I said. “If that… If the dragon can easily kill that Roidmude… then… They might…” I stopped the car and patted Ross on the shoulder. “Alright, this will be the first homework assignment I’ll give you as your teacher, understand?” I asked. Ross nodded. “You are going to take a week off from this hunting crap and you just relax. Got it? Extra credit is that you make a friend in this world.” I said. Ross hesitated for a while before nodding. “Okay… But if that Dragon comes…” Ross muttered. “I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry.” I said. Ross had a faint smile. That’s when I realized something. “Hey, Ross, you got a place to stay?” I asked. Ross shook his head. “Well, I’m able to go home, but I need my token…” Ross said. The word struck some familiarity. “A token… Yeah, you know where it is?” I asked him. “… Inside Nerve’s building.” Ross got out of the car and smiled to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll be able to grab it, no problem.” With that, Ross flew off. “H-hey! Come back here! You still have to go to school!” I shouted to him. I groaned and drove off as soon as I knew Ross wouldn’t listen. I went back to CHS and walked into the halls. There, I bumped into someone. “Oof!” As I fell to the ground, I heard some clattering on the ground. When I got up, I saw Fluttershy was the one I bumped into. “O-oh… Sorry…” Fluttershy went over to pick up something… A crown. The crown had a magenta jewel embedded in the top modelled after a star, with what appeared to be sapphires lined up on the rim of the crown made of solid gold. “What… is that?” I asked. “I-it’s the crown for the Fall Formal. Every year we have a Fall Formal… And this crown goes to the Princess.” Fluttershy said. “So… Prom, basically.” I said. Fluttershy nodded. I stared at the crown. Usually, for high schools and prom, they would just cheap out and buy a plastic crown. Here? This crown looked as though it was stolen from a kingdom far away. “I found it on the ground near the statue, I was going to return it to Principal Celestia.” Fluttershy said. “Well, I can give it to her for you. I mean, you have to get to class, right?” I asked. Fluttershy nodded. “O-okay…” She handed me the crown. She then paused for a moment before wiping away a tear and muttered out a thanks before rushing off. I sighed, then looked at the crown. I went into the staff’s bathroom as I turned the ignition twice. As much as I enjoyed using Banno plus Shift Technic to constantly scan for stuff, I felt as though I was seeing Banno as a mundane utility rather than as… I shuddered as I thought of him as anything more than a partner. I transformed into Gold Drive with the Shift Technic car plugged into the Shift Brace. I scanned the crown. “Bingo.” I said as I saw an aura form around the crown. It wasn’t like Ross’ Aura, however. Rather than it looking like a fire, it was instead rounded and flowed almost like water. There was a magenta hue surrounding the crown. However, the bubble that surrounded the crown soon began to go up in flames. “The hell!?” Now it became the shape of Ross’ Aura, an orange flame, though instead of a red flame. I muttered. That’s when I heard the door open. I cancelled my transformation and turned around. “Principal Celestia!” I said. “Ah, Professor, you found the crown! Perfect! I thought we’d have to cancel the Fall Formal without it.” Celestia approached me. “Celestia, this crown isn’t meant to be a decoration.” I told her. She shook her head. “Of course it isn’t. It symbolizes how thankful we are for the friends and family we have.” She said. “No, I mean that this crown has crazy magic coming from it. Something obviously isn’t right. Allow me to analyze and study this so that we know for sure what exactly it is.” I said. “That won’t be necessary.” Celestia went over and grabbed the crown from me. “This has been Canterlot High tradition for fifteen years, and in those fifteen years, I have not once had a mishap with this crown.” She held the expensive treasure by dangling it by one of the ends like a cheap dollar store toy. “You don’t have to worry about it…” She said as she left the room. I gritted my teeth. How could that idiot steal a powerful artifact from right under my nose? That thing could be a freaking nuke and she just views it as some goddamned beauty queen accessory! I began to seethe so much anger that I began to remember something. It was another one of Ryoma’s memories. This time, he was visiting a bed ridden Takatora. Instantly, I knew this memory. As it played out, I began to figure out why this memory was triggered, especially after Takatora brushed off Ryoma’s desires to achieve godhood. After that, Ryoma began to go behind Takatora’s back. I realized just what I was now thinking. I was considering betraying Celestia. Ross entered the office of the former Nerve Roidmude and looked around. “Has to be here somewhere…” He muttered. He went over to the desk and pulled out one of the drawers. “Perfect!” Ross took out the silver necklace and held onto it. “This kindly I…” But he stopped. He looked at the silver necklace and thought back to his time with Tachibana. “I didn’t really know him enough to call him a friend. I don’t really have a lot of friends. I don’t have anyone to rely on.” Remembering the words he said to Rainbow Dash, Ross instead placed the necklace over his neck and headed off. KNOCK KNOCK Ross had his fingernails dig into his palms as the door opened. “Oh! There you are! You gave me quite a scare.” Ross had to acknowledge that, while she did look like Cinder Fall, there’s a good chance she isn’t actually her. “Hey… Erm… Is your daughter here?” Ross asked her. “As a matter of fact… Sunset!” She called for her. As Sunset approached Ross, time seemed to slow down for him. She was exactly like the angel he saw when he was on the streets. Ross smiled. “So, you must be the person who saved me…” Ross said to her. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” She said. Ross then grabbed her hand, much to her surprise. “Thank you. You don’t know how much it meant to me…” Ross frowned for a bit, but then he smiled. He knelt before her. “I am in your debt.” Ross was determined to make a friend. Sunset just smirked. She just found herself a new pawn.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 4: What Lies In The Professor's Past?I continued my pondering of whether or not to go behind Celestia's back and steal the crown from under her nose. On one hand, the crown is a very powerful weapon and the sooner it's under lock and key, the better. On the other hand, I worried about becoming a villain in the process. I still reeled over what happened yesterday with the traffic accident. Suddenly, I heard a scream. Good, I thought. I'd take some anger out on the Roidmudes... That's usually what people tend to scream at, right? Monster attacks? I ran outside the school grounds to confront the Roidmude... Only to see no one there... Well, except for a purple skinned girl in a light blue shirt and a purple skirt running towards me on all fours... Wait what? "Uh, Banno? The fuck kind of Roidmude did this to someone?" I asked. "I don't know! You should start my engine anyways!" Banno said. I got ready to fight... Only for her to stop. "Yeah, I don't think that's how the new you is supposed to..." A purple dog with green tufts of hair spoke up as the girl sprang up. Wait... Did the dog just... talk!? The girl then began to wobble on her legs, almost losing balance. I rolled my eyes, groaned, and walked over to help her up. "Alright, what the hell's going on?" I asked her. "A-ah! Um... I... Erm..." The girl began to stammer. I merely shifted my glare towards the dog. "You. What's going on?" I asked the dog. "Well... Erm... How do I best put it lightly... Well, you see..." The dog also began to stammer. I recalled back to when I met the Space Marine and the Spartan. "You guys from Equestria too?" I asked. As if I had blown their minds, the girl and dog both shut up and nodded their heads rapidly. "W-wait... Too? You mean there's others here?" She asked me. She then struggled to stand up, holding her hands against the railing by the stairs. "Did you see someone with red and yellow hair?" She asked. I blinked. There was only one person I know who had yellow and red hair... Sunset Shimmer entered the garage where she unveiled an orange dirt bike with a blood red engine embedded right into the hull. "Woaaah..." Ross stood next to her. "Hop on. You're a student at CHS, right?" She asked him. "Y-yeah... But..." Ross then took out the Rose Attacker and unfolded it into its own dirt bike mode. "I got my own ride." Ross asked. "Now that's what I'm talking about." Sunset Shimmer smirked as she got on her bike. She then put on her helmet. "Try to keep up, alright?" She asked. Ross nodded as the two rode off. "I see..." I said. In the span of five minutes outside the school ground, I managed to learn a lot more about Sunset Shimmer than I could ever do in a nightly binging of her MyStable posts. As it turned out, Sunset Shimmer was originally from Equestria as a former pupil of a princess by the name of Celestia. She had come back to Equestria and failed in stealing the Element of Magic. I figured I'd tell her what I knew about it. "So, basically the thing my Celestia is touting as some sort of cheap trinket." I said. "Yeah. It's... Wait, what!?" The girl shouted, though I barely flinched. "Apparently, that's what it's been all this time. Some sort of stupid prom night crown waiting to be bathed in pig's blood." I said. Her eyes widened and backed away. "N-nonononononono!" She said. "Well, you and I have a pretty common goal then. I want that trinket out of here, you want it back at Equestria." I said. "Y-yeah." She said. "So, why not just steal it back?" I said. "W-what!? Are you crazy? I may want the crown back, but I'm not gonna stoop to Sunset's lows!" She said. As she said that, I froze. What the hell did I just say? Steal it? I casually said that right to her face. I looked down at the belt. The more I'm with Banno... The more I'm dressed up as Ryoma... The more willing I am to commit a sin. Won't be long now before I actually practice what I preach. I nodded. "Of course. Sorry about that. It was just a suggestion." I said. "It better be." She muttered. "I guess we have a common enemy too. I've been on Sunset Shimmer's case since a couple of days ago. Had her on the ropes too. I'd be happy to help you out with this. Name's Kel... Professor Silverbolt..." I said. "Twilight Sparkle." She said. I recognized the name from the MyStable group petitioning Silverbolt's return to Crystal Prep. However, this Twilight lacked glasses and wore her hair straight. The fact that she didn't stutter from Silverbolt's name or even recognized my appearance is enough of an indicator that Silverbolt's counterpart in Equestria hasn't met her. Speaking of... "So... Equestria. I'm guessing horses are a major thing in your world?" I asked. "Erm... Yes, but the term you're looking for is Ponies..." Twilight said. I froze. "Professor?" Twilight waved to me, though I couldn't respond. "Come on, Twi! We might be able to find the Element in here!" The dog then got up and pushed the door open. Twilight got up and followed him. Meanwhile I just sat there, leaving only the ringing bell to snap me out of it. "What the hell was that?" Banno asked. "... Ponies... Why did it have to be Ponies?" I asked. Somewhere in 2010, someone had the right idea to remake a show in the seventies called My Little Pony. What would have been a moderate show for little girls turned into an internet monstrosity that infected the entire web. Not even Henshin Justice, a forum I frequented, was immune to the pastel colored cat-like beings. It slowly made sense now that I had thought of it. I remembered a cyan colored Pony with rainbow colored hair... Almost exactly like Rainbow Dash. Pieces began to click in and as they did, I began to growl. "I haaaate ponies..." I said. Thankfully, I had a phone call break my concentration. "Bill Nye the Science Guy! Bill Nyyyye, the Science Guy... BILL! BILL! BILL! BI-" I then pressed answer. "Hello?" I asked. "Heeeeey!" I knew the voice and I got up, looking around for Niko. "So, you just met Twilight, huh?" He asked. "How do you know her!?" I shouted. "... Let's just say I've seen many iterations of this universe to know right down to the point where people come and go." Niko said. "You..." I growled. "The true enemy you want to fight isn't Sunset Shimmer. No. It's someone else." Niko said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I think it's time to give you some answers. Head over to the following address. You'll soon realize what answers you're looking for." With that, Niko hanged up and a second later, I got a text. I pulled it out and read the text: '108 Somerset Street'. I sighed and got to the Tridoron. Seemed I have some snooping to do. Ross and Sunset stopped at the parking lot of Canterlot High. Ross could see the Tridoron pull away and drive off. He then turned to Sunset. "So, you come to CHS too?" Ross asked. "Yes, I do." Sunset Shimmer said. "Cool! I just transferred here yesterday! Principal Celestia insisted I come here as per the Headmaster's recommendation." Ross said. "The Headmaster?" Sunset Shimmer had only heard of him in passing. A man who runs the Academia School Board, a board pertaining to four schools, each with a different learning curve. Canterlot High was just one of the four, as was Crystal Prep. What made Sunset raise her eyebrow was the Headmaster's insistence for Ross to be placed in high school. If you got a recommendation from the Headmaster of all people, it would be for a school more prestigious than, say, high school. "Yeah. Not sure who he is though." Ross shrugged and walked into the school. "So, what classes do you take? I have PE, Science, Math, and then Music to end things off at. You?" He asked. "Mostly the same. Though I have Computer Art instead of Music." Sunset Shimmer said. "Ah, so how good are you at it?" He asked. "Erm... I'm still getting used to things." Sunset bit her lip. This Ross person was being way too nice for her. She couldn't act like herself around him and still expect to be her personal slave. She sighed, then patted Ross on the back. "Hey, speaking of, PE's gonna start soon. You should go get ready." Sunset Shimmer said to Ross. "Okay. See ya later, Sunny!" Ross then ran off at a blurring speed. Sunset Shimmer blinked. Well, that's one way to get rid of him. Sunset Shimmer can now begin her search to where the Element of Magic went. Her eyes went to a girl with long pink hair tending to her locker. Perhaps she knows just where to look. I parked the Tridoron outside of a burnt out shack in the middle of a desolated urban neighbourhood. I got out of the Tridoron and walked towards the door. I looked at the text, then compared the numbers on the door. I reached my hand over to the doorknob and opened it. I hacked up a nasty cough upon inhaling the dust bunnies that had built up inside the shack. There was so much dust that I had to transform in order to get a better breathing space. I turned the ignition twice, enabling me to get Shift Technic. Plugging it in, I looked around to see anything of importance. That's when I noticed a computer in front of me, sitting on a mahogany desk with a black swivel chair on it. It seemed off. I walked closer and pressed on the power button in the monitor. After I heard the computer hum to life, I heard a very familiar tone. DUUUUUUUUUUUUN! This tone was most definitely the old Macintosh computer tone. The BIOS phase of the start-up went by pretty quickly, for a Mac, before it landed me on the desktop. What unnerved me was that the GUI was basically the same as a newer Mac, with a lack of a taskbar and rather a series of icons. On the desktop was just a folder labeled 'Entry Logs'. I clicked on it. The window that opened blew me away. The files that were in there were in the hundreds. I clicked on one file and looked at its stats. It was well over thirty minutes with about half a gigabyte of data. Out of curiosity, I clicked and dragged a box around all of them. A chunk of twenty six videos totalled to about nine hours and clocked in at 14 gigabytes. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the first one, titled "Oct-10-2010, Mere Potions". It opened up a media file. It was a broadcast of two kids over a bubbling beaker. One of the kids announced and welcomed the viewer to a show called Popular Science for Kids. This was the show that Soarin' told me about. I let the show play as I cracked open some windows, just to get the dust out as I cancelled the transformation. The show was alright, just showing the kids doing experiments related to baking soda and how awesome it is. It wasn't until after a brief, animated sketch about a bald man and his dog getting into comical hijinks as a deep voiced narrator talked about baking soda's many facts and details that I was glued to the screen. Here, they introduced a new character for the show, announcing him to be a professor from Crystal Prep Academy, Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. He was standing in a pastel colored lab with overblown chalkboards saying ridiculous stuff like "2 + 2 = Fun!" "Greetings!" His voice was eerily similar to Ryoma's, and while he was dressed like him and even had the same hair as him, his face did not match his. It was blockier than Ryoma's. He had a smile stretched across his face and spoke in a very happy tone. "I'm sure you guys are curious to know what kind of wacky potions Old Starswirl left behind when he left the show, well, allow me to show you!" He then took out two glass bottles holding oddly colored liquids. One contained green liquid while another one contained purple liquid. "These are special identity changing potions! Watch and learn!" He took the green bottle and flicked some liquid over his arm. "Woah! Look at that! My skin changed color!" It was clearly just paint sprayed onto his hand to make it look like his silver skin was now green. "The properties of this are also the properties found in paint, but with an added ingredient: Dihydrogen Monoxide!" He said as a dramatic sting punctuated it, as if H2O was the deadliest chemical in all of Earth. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I said out loud. I then stopped the video, only for the video to black out. "Wait, what?" I then pressed play again and the video came back up, now showing Silverbolt without his smile, hands on the table, and glaring at the camera. The lab he was in was also changed. It was now a muted brown with a desk that I found spookily familiar. "If you had managed to stop the episode around my part, it can either mean one of three things. One, you're an idiot who came across this, two, you're me, or three, my clients who have hired me. If you're the former, please stop this video now and kindly leave the house before I find out who you are. If you're the latter two, then you have got the right guy. My name is Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt. Formerly, I was known as Professor Argent Silverbolt, but circumstances have left me to live in this world under a new identity, as instructed by you, the client. I have observed the area and this makes for a great testing bed for experimenting the products you fund. I'll also showcase you potential ventures for you to invest in, if the need arises. For now, let this be a preview of what's to come." Professor Silverbolt then took out a red crystal and held it in between his hands. "This, is Dust. You requested me to show you a piece of my world, and here it is. Now, you may be wondering, why do I have a silly little diamond? What does this diamond do? How much is it worth? Well, to answer those questions, this diamond contains a powerful energy that is given the poetic moniker of Nature's Wrath. It can do many things, but we mainly use it as fuel." He took out a pistol and loaded in the crystal like a magazine. He then cocked the gun. "How so? Like this!" He then flicked the gun as two large, flaming blades popped out of it. He held it up as he fired a couple of flaming bullets. "This is worth the entire world to us and unfortunately, it's a finite source. Though, if your many worlds theory proves true, it won't have to be... Silverbolt, out." With that, the screen blacked out and the words 'END TRANSMISSION' showed up. I closed out of it. Clients? Dust? Already there's some more questions here. Out of curiosity, I scrolled down to the last video in the folder. It didn't have a date like the others, but I saw its creation date being on August 28th, 2015. Exactly one month prior to me being Displaced. I clicked on the file. It didn't have a show with two kids like the other one, but the location was vastly different. It was out onto what seemed to be old streets, like a medieval European town. The camera I saw was shaking as I heard tons of panting. "Get this on camera!" Silverbolt barked as I could hear people screaming and the sound of crushed buildings. "W-we can't! They'll see us!" The cameraman shouted. "JUST GET THEM ON CAMERA! WE NEED TO SEE WHAT KIND OF FIRE WE'RE PLAYING WITH!" Silverbolt shouted. The camera tried to turn, but the cameraman suddenly tripped over something. The camera was now on the ground, filming the brown dirt with what appeared to be a bit of red. I heard someone, the cameraman, off-screen. "Wh-what did I trip ov... OH GOD!" This was soon followed by retching noises as the camera was picked up by another person. "Come on! We gotta go!" He said. Soon, there was more running. I hit fast forward, skipping a part where they went into a building and ran upstairs to a higher ground, until I stopped at a scene where they were catching their breath inside of a building. Silverbolt had stepped in front of the camera and counted up the people. When he counted to four, he muttered out a 'Shit'. "We lost one!" He said. There was a bit of panic before Silverbolt went over and took the camera away from the holder. "Give me that!" He shouted. As he looked through the camera, he went to a window and tried to catch some footage of something going on outside. As he did, something crashed right into the window. "HOLY SHIT!" One of them shouted as the camera was knocked out of Silverbolt's hand from the shockwave. There was a bit of silence before I heard some screaming and someone shouting "MOTHER OF FUCK!" before the camera began to jostle around and got picked up. I only saw a brief blur of what appeared to be a huge face, but I presumed that it was just because of how close the camera was when it was picked up. There was more running. I hit fast forward as it skimmed past a couple of clips, such as them getting into a building that a blonde haired teenage girl was hiding in to eventually the camera being dropped one too many, beginning to actually skip itself. When the footage wasn't busy messing up, it finally focused on Professor Silverbolt, in a tattered labcoat and a bleeding forehead. "We're the only two left, huh?" He asked the cameraman. The camera shook up and down before it froze for a bit. When it resumed, Silverbolt was already in a speech about something. "-damn monsters! You think you can control them? You can't! We lost four scouts right now! These are too dangerous for humanity to have!" Silverbolt shouted. "Professor... We were told that you requested the expedition into this world..." The person said. "... No. I was under the assumption that your Foundation wanted these monstrosities." Silverbolt said. It took a moment for him to realize something. "Damn it... He set us up, didn't he!? Damn you... Damn you-" Before he could say anything else, a giant hand crashed through the roof and grabbed Silverbolt. The debris that fell crushed the cameraman, from what I could tell from the sound of rock smashing flesh. Silverbolt gave off a loud, uncharacteristic scream before it was abruptly cut with a sickening crunch. I could only assume what ate him was whatever that giant hand was. I froze for a moment, watching the camera on the ground yet again. Then the camera was picked up and turned to face its new holder. As I saw his face, I immediately filled myself with rage, especially with a comment made directly towards the camera, as if it was towards me: "Welcome, to the true man's world..." Niko Zoloto said. The footage then cut off. I heard someone close the door behind me and I spun around, seeing Niko. I had no hesitation for what I did next. "Henshin!" I shouted. Ross had just finished putting on his gym shirt. He sighed as he put his cape away into his locker. While he would want to wear it to gym, he does acknowledge that he'd be able to trip up with it, as the memories of Ruby getting her cape caught on a Nevermore's feathers had showed him. And yet, why did he feel so obsessed with wearing it? At first, it just seemed to be his own insistence that he complete the Ruby Rose cosplay, but over time, it became more and more apparent that he adored the cape. Perhaps as much as Ruby did. Ross sighed. He could feel like he could become Ruby at any minute. He walked to the school halls before he heard someone. "I can speak to anyone any way I want." It can't be... That was Sunset's voice. But... He never heard her with that tone of voice before. It sounded so... aggressive. Ross gulped before he saw Sunset Shimmer turn the corner and saw him. "Oh, hey, Ross!" And like that, her tone switched. "Sorry about that, I was just talking to someone, so I'm gonna have to take a while with the gym clothes. You go on ahead, okay?" She said, not letting Ross answer before she went to her locker. Ross simply watched her leave. Was there another side to her that he just can't see? His hands trembled as he uncontrollably shed a few tears. He had felt this before... No. That's not it. He remembered how, in the second volume, the villains ended up being false friends to Ruby Rose. Guessing from what the vision he had when he was talking with Rainbow, he was safe to say that the façade didn't last long. No. The doubt that Sunset Shimmer was actually a true friend was definitely something that Ruby had felt before. As soon as I was right in his face, I fired the Door Gun at Zoloto's face, though he used his hook shots to skid away while he shot two bullets into my chest. My armor took most of it, but it still felt like I had been punched in the gut by a potato. Banno laughed. "Yes! Let the hate flow through you! Tag out, perhaps we can go into Overdrive and take him out!" For once, I decided to do what Banno instructed and I turned the ignition. My body became Banno's as he ran, with the Zenrin Shooter in his other hand. He fired the two at Niko. He sidestepped the bullets while he swapped out the smoking barrels with some spares he had strapped to his thighs. "Perfect! Good! This is exactly how I expected you to be!" Niko chuckled as he soon fired some of the hook shots towards Banno, impaling him right on the waist. "But, I'm gonna need you to calm down." He said. "Like hell I will! You're the one who set up Professor Silverbolt to die, didn't you!?" I asked him. Niko smirked and tilted his hat. "See, this is why I need you to calm. Anger's good... but it also blinds you." He reeled in the hooks, pulling Banno in as he pointed his two guns to Banno's head, or at least the area where his head will be pulled to. At this time, Banno switched out to me as I grabbed the Steering Sword. I cut myself loose from the strings, leaped up and turned the wheel three times. TURN! TURN! U-TURN! I spun around with the sword as I descended upon the cowboy wannabe. Niko simply fell to the ground and fired at me, knocking me off and blasting the sword out of my hands. Niko then grabbed it and as soon as I landed, he crouched and leaned the sword against his shoulder. I got up and saw him... Was he charging something? I turned the ignition and hit the button on my Shift Brace. "THE FINISHER! FULL THROTTLE!" Banno shouted as I ran towards him, my fist glowing gold. As I threw the punch, I almost expected to hit him. That's when I felt a sharp blade pierce at my stomach. I backed away, holding the wound. Niko twirled the sword around before planting it on the ground. I keeled over as my transformation cancelled. "And they say video games don't teach you anything." He chuckled as he walked closer to me. "Rule number one about being a Displaced. Never pick a fight with your Displacer. It's just... messy." He then patted me on the head before going to the console. "To answer your question, no. I didn't tip off Silverbolt. Someone else did." He said. "Heh... So what the hell was with that true man's world bullshit?" I asked. "That? Well, it's more of a cautionary warning to people like him. People who think they're beyond the worlds they're tied to." He said. "Beyond the worlds?" I asked before I grunted in pain. "I'm sure by now you found out where Equestria is in the multiverse." He said. "Y-yeah... Why did you stick me into some girly show?" I asked. "Well, that is what I'm about to show you." Niko then clicked on a video and did the same trick I did to summon the Silverbolt message. The clip showed a battered and beaten Silverbolt, leaning against a chair. "You were right..." Silverbolt let out a cough. "They were strong and they tried to stop me." He then leaned into the camera. "But don't worry. I stopped them... However, not all of the product survived." The way he said it made be widen my eyes. I shook my head. No. He couldn't have meant... And as I thought of it, he turned the camera to show my fears confirmed. It was a Spider-Type Roidmude. The number on its plate was 108. It seemed dormant, especially when Silverbolt stroked the skull-like forehead of the Roidmude. "But the ones that did have become stronger. I did it... I brought back Banno's work. Just like you asked." He said. "No! It can't be!" Banno shouted. "In exchange for his inventions, I'll give you the genius behind them." Silverbolt then held up the black Banno Driver and laid it on the table. "This Driver contains his data and memories, as well as his personality. Consider this a... backup drive of sorts. I recommend against using him as a Driver, but if you're eager to, I have made modifications to the belt to mitigate the damage he does. See, I am unable to invent a means to contain him in the belt without him taking over the user, but I have been able to limit his time transformed, as well as invent a means to switch over to the user if he ever gets the idea to use his powers against you. In short, you now have one of the most deadly professors on a leash." He smirked. "YOU BASTARD!" Banno shouted as I could feel the belt rumble on my waist. "As for what I'll do with these inventions of his? Well, I'll be using them to experiment with this world. I am really looking forward to their ability to replicate human appearances, right down to their personalities and core emotions. Perhaps I'll even find a means to earn my happy ending. Hope you enjoy your gift, Foundation X. Silverbolt, out." With that, the video ended. "Now you see why I recruited you?" Niko asked. "... You got the belt? How?" I turned around and asked. "I hate to say it, but it was a coincidence that I came across the belt during a travel of mine. Along with that belt, I came across my client." Niko said. "Foundation X?" Banno asked. "No. Someone else. She wouldn't give me her identity, but don't worry. She's on the Kamen Riders' side." He said. That's when I realized something. "Wait, the Riders... is that who he stopped?" I asked him. "I guess so. According to the woman, the Riders were all scattered across the multiverse after the battle. Not dead, but rather..." "Displaced." I replied. "Exactly! So now I must bear the duty of giving out belts to people in the hopes that they become the Riders who will stop these Roidmudes." Niko said. "..." I looked away from Niko and pouted. "I understand you don't trust me. I wouldn't trust me either." He laughed. "But now you know what side I'm on." I couldn't help but agree with that. I turned around. "I kept a close eye on Silverbolt after the incident. Believe me when I say I'll help you when you need it." With that, he patted me on the shoulder then walked off. "I'll start by cleaning up this place a bit. Think of it as your headquarters. It also has a nice living space..." He said before he flew off with his hook shots. I sighed before I looked at the time. 10:30 AM. "Crap! I'm gonna be late for Science class!" I shouted as I ran out and got into the Tridoron. I managed to get back to CHS in time for me to deliver the day's science lesson. However, I did realize that, at some point, I might need a teacher to fill in for me if I were to ever do this digging around again. As I was going to the cafeteria for lunch, I bumped into Twilight Sparkle. "Ooh!" I said. "Oh, Professor, how are you?" Hearing myself be called Professor after I had found out that Silverbolt was the Recreator made me shudder. "I'm... fine." I said. "Well, I found out how to get the crown back." Twilight said. "Oh good! ... Erm... how?" I asked. "I'm going to run for the Princess of the Fall Formal!" Twilight said. "... What?" I asked in the flattest tone I can use. Ross went to the cafeteria with Sunset Shimmer. The two ordered pretty much the same food and sat on a table, seated parallel to each other. Sunset Shimmer smirked. She knew exactly how Ross could help her out. "Ross..." Sunset held Ross' hand. Ross felt a bit of a spark on his back as her warm hand touched his. "There's something I need some help with..." Sunset Shimmer knew there'd be competition for the Fall Formal. There usually is going to be a dumb schmuck who thinks they could outclass Sunset. First it was Rarity, then it was Trixie, it's soon going to be someone else. She couldn't rely on two dummies like Snips and Snails all the time and she needed someone more... gullible. Ross, meanwhile, looked into Sunset's eyes. For a moment, her shimmering blue eyes soon changed to a fiery orange, at least in his mind. "I can speak to anyone any way I want." He couldn't get that out of his head. How could someone as nice as Sunset say something in such a cold tone? "Sure, what is it?" Ross asked. "Can you help me win the Princess the Fall Formal award?" She smiled. As she did, Ross' entire body jumped. Sunset's eyes widened as she backed a bit. "I-is something okay?" She asked. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't want this kid to freak out and be a useless tool for her ambition. "I-it's fine. Yeah, I'll... I'll help." Ross said. He wanted to say no and confront her on what he heard, but despite every sense in his body screaming no, he chose to agree. Ross' upper arm muscles trembled as he recalled the image he just had in his head. It was brief, but it was short enough to make him jump. It was the image of an arrow piercing into someone's heart.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 5: What Power Is Stronger Than Banno's?“Twilight, let me get this straight…” It was the first time I had to sit with students at lunch time. Seeing all the students split up into their own cliques makes me ponder if Sunset Shimmer ever considered forming the Plastics. And also made me groan that even here, they followed this high school clique cliché. “Instead of doing the simple thing and taking the crown, you’re gonna convince a bunch of students who, from what I know, are gripped in fear by this queen bee twat to vote for you instead… in the span of two days. How is just one of many questions I have for you.” I said. “I’m just gonna tell everybody that I’m benevolent. That’ll help tip the odds in my favor.” Twilight said. I groaned as we headed to the gymnasium where the Fall Formal was being set up. That’s when Twilight got her face smacked by a balloon. “Whoops! Sorry about that!” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s alright… I- Pinkie Pie?” She asked. Pinkie Pie then gasped. “How did you know!? Are you psychic!?” She asked. I patted Twilight. “Hang on one sec.” I then walked to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, do you know someone by the name of Sebaste?” I asked. “Sebastian? Yeah! Everyone knows him from Baby Nemo! He makes learning fun through his Jamaican music!” She said. There was a brief pause before she spoke up. “N-not that I watch him or anything… I only watch it when I babysit the Cakes…” She said. “Okay.” I said. Must be another Pinkie Pie they were talking about. It was perhaps a good thing that Twilight came over here and explained the situation of other worlds. Otherwise I’d probably have my mind scrambled. Twilight then stepped forward and asked Pinkie to sign up for the Fall Formal. Applejack then walked in. It was almost a welcome sight to see one of my allies back from the hospital as good as new. “Whooee, glad to be back at school…” Applejack said. I can’t help but crack a smile. She then patted me on the back. “Sup, Kel? Any killer robot attacks as of late?” She asked. “Nah, nothing much, just guiding this new student through school.” I said. Applejack then looked at Twilight. “Ah, the girl who gave Sunset a run for her money. Yeah, people are talking about how she stood up to her. Good to see someone knock her down a peg.” She said. “Yep, and apparently she’s gonna try and take out Shimmer at the Fall Formal!” Pinkie Pie said. “Wait, what!?” Applejack exclaimed. “Okay, sugarcube, hold the hell up…” Applejack then went to Twilight Sparkle. “Sunset Shimmer’s a total-” “Jerk, I know. I saw her teasing Fluttershy earlier today.” She said. “Well good for her! That Fluttershy’s a total meanie!” Pinkie Pie said. “What?” Twilight asked. I shared her exact thought. From what I knew of her from Tachibana and my own personal observations, Fluttershy was not bitch material. In fact, she was quite the opposite. “I’m gonna vouch for my cousin here, Fluttershy has her bitchy moments.” Applejack said. Wait, cousin?! I took one look at Applejack, then at Pinkie Pie… How the hell were these two related?! It seemed Twilight was also stunned, telling from her wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “But Fluttershy’s so nice!” Twilight said. “Nuh-uh! That’s totally a façade!” Pinkie Pie said. I had considered that for a moment. I nodded a bit. That’s perhaps the only explanation I could get for Fluttershy’s reputation. “In fact, the only person less trustworthy than her and Sunset Shimmer combined is Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said. “No…” Twilight muttered out. The way she voiced that little no just made me shudder. That was the no of a person who had just been betrayed. That’s when I began to remember when I interrogated Sunset over Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s splitting up. I felt my brain beginning to click, like I had just put my car’s engine from a gear 1 to a gear 3. I smirked. “Fancy seeing you here, Sunset Shimmer.” I said right after the doors slammed open. “Oh, hello…” Sunset Shimmer then looked around. “All this… for my coronation? This is bad comedy!” Sunset said. “There should be more streamers and less balloons!” Sunset Shimmer said. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it might just not be your coronation. It could be Twilight’s.” I said. I walked to her and patted Twilight on the back. “And I’m gonna vouch for her.” I said. That’s when I noticed someone standing behind Sunset Shimmer… “Ross?” I asked. “Hey, Kelly.” He waved to me. “Twilight Sparkle…” I could see Sunset Shimmer’s eye twitch. She then smiled. “Well, then, I will welcome your-” “Cut the crap, Sunset.” I simply told her. “Don’t you go bipolar on me.” I glared at her. That’s when Ross stepped in front of her. “Hey! You leave Sunset alone!” Ross said. “Oh God, you’re vouching for her, aren’t you?” I groaned. “Yeah! I don’t know where the hell you’re getting that Sunset’s a horrible person, but she’s one of the nicest girls I met!” Ross said. I could see Sunset give off a less than sincere smile as Ross looked at me. “Then what the hell was with that whole ‘more streamers’ thing?” I asked. “Stress! Obviously it’s stress from the upcoming prom!” Ross said. “… Stress? Who the fuck would fall for someone using stress as an excuse to be a total bitch?” I said. I could hear Twilight gulp and give a nervous chuckle, but I didn’t care. Ross could only scowl. “You know what? Fine. I’ll help Sunset win the Fall Formal and she’ll show you all how nice of a girl she can be! Come on, Sunset!” Ross then marched out as Sunset Shimmer gave me and the girls a cold look. She then marched out. “Alright, we can agree that Sunset’s a bitch.” I said. Applejack and Pinkie Pie instantly nodded, though Twilight shook her head. “No… She’s… Well, yeah, she’s a jerk… But I doubt she’s that cruel… I mean, she has a friend who’s protecting her.” Twilight said. “Yeah, but Ross can be an idiot.” I muttered. “Well, maybe this could be a wakeup call for her. It’ll be easy to rally the school to vote against Sunset.” Applejack said. “Yeah! Ol’ meanie pants won’t know what’s comin’!” Pinkie Pie said. “Well, you have supporters at least, Twi…” I said. I then pulled her aside and then spoke to her in a whispered tone. “Whatever you do, don’t tell them about the crown.” I said. “I… I wasn’t going to…” She said. “Good. Because I really hate for their support to fall apart just because your goals involve the crown and not knocking a peg off of her.” I said. “Why are you obsessed with knocking her down in the first place?” Twilight asked. I began to remember a bit of my past… Broken glasses, bleeding knees, the cries of people telling me that I was a loser. I simply frowned and pushed Twilight. I stormed out of the gym. Sunset Shimmer and Ross walked down the hallway, though Sunset then stopped and turned to Ross. “Thank you for backing me up. Those people can be so mean…” Sunset said. “We’re friends.” Ross then bit his lip. “Though Kelly’s also a friend…” He said. “You mean Professor Silverbolt?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… It’s a long story, but…” Ross then spoke up. “She’s not herself. She’s… It’s… it’s complicated.” Ross said. Sunset then held Ross’ hand. “You can tell me.” Sunset gave Ross some droopy eyes. “… Kelly has this... friend. And this friend’s a toxic influence on her. Every day, she slowly begins to think and act just like him. One day, she’ll end up believing that she is him and that nothing will stand in her way… Maybe that’s why she’s acting antagonistic towards you.” Ross said. “I know how that feels.” Sunset said. “If… If you could help me separate her from her friend, then that’d make me happy.” Ross said. Sunset smiled. “Okay. I will.” Sunset said. Just then, the lights in the hallway went out. “… Ross, you go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.” She said. “Erm… Okay.” Ross shuddered as he looked at the blacked out light. He felt a cold presence near him, almost like a Grimm was in the area. However, he trusted Sunset’s words and walked away. Sunset took a few moments before turning to a figure before her. “This better be important.” Sunset asked the figure. “I was just looking to see if you heeded my advice.” A masculine voice came from the figure. “Yes. The Element of Magic was right where you said it’d be.” Sunset Shimmer said. She then shot a glance towards him. “Now… What’s your end of the deal?” She asked. “… None. If anything, you already fulfilled my part of the deal.” It took Sunset a moment to realize what he meant. “So… What do you want with this world, then?” Sunset asked. “Nothing. As soon as the Element of Magic entered this realm, I already felt my magic return. You can do whatever you want. Our transaction is over. I wish you the best of luck, dearie.” With that, dark smoke began to build up from the figure’s legs to his head, swirling around until they dissipated. As the smoke cleared, the figure was gone. Sunset coughed. As soon as she stopped coughing, she turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle standing in front of her. Sunset smirked. “Can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier.” I tried to shrug off the memories I had as I marched down the hall. This was when Principal Celestia stopped me. She poked her head out of her office like some sort of groundhog ready to hide from his own shadow. “Professor Silverbolt, do you have a moment?” Celestia asked. “Yeah… Sure.” I sighed. I stepped into the office as Celestia walked to her desk. “Professor… The recent attacks have made the Headmaster of the school board very concerned… He’s why we had Ross transfer over to this school.” She said. “You’d think some teen can help protect this school?” I asked. “No. Which is why I requested the Headmaster to send backup. And if I timed it right…” Celestia then looked to her watch. I looked at her for a moment before a perky voice made me jump. “Cheers, love!” It was definitely a Cockney accent. My heart raced as I turned to a giggling girl, about a few years younger than me. She wore what seemed to be a fighter pilot’s jacket, a bright yellow jumpsuit underneath, and overlapping the jacket was a large metallic chest plate with what appeared to be a glowing blue core. “An… older teen. Not what I had in mind.” I said. “Don’t let her age fool you. Miss Oxton is a student fresh off of the Wonderbolt Academy.” Celestia said. “The… what?” I asked. “Right… Allow me to explain. See, the Academia School Board is divided into four schools: Canterlot High School, the school we’re in, Crystal Prep Academy, the boarding school our Silverbolt was from, the Everton Independent Study Program, a college filled with scientific geniuses, and Wonderbolt Academy.” Celestia said. “It’s a place where people with cool powers get to hone their powers and protect people and-” I raised my hand to stop Miss Oxton from talking my ear out. “So… There’s no replacement?” I asked. I could almost hear Oxton wince. I hate to say it, but I really didn’t want a Pinkie Crumpet protecting my school. “The Headmaster insisted for Miss Oxton to be our security.” Celestia sighed. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll be ready to protect this school with my life!” She then turned to me. “I can also teach the kids too while you’re away!” “Wait, what?” I asked. “You’ve been slipping behind on classes. Plus, it will work as a cover for Miss Oxton and you. You no longer have to worry about being late for teaching ever again and Miss Oxton can work closely to the school without people growing suspicious of her.” Celestia said. “Come on, love, what do ya say?” Miss Oxton asked me. “… Well, she can take over my shift tomorrow.” I sighed and got up. “I have a long day ahead of me.” With that, I left. As I entered the library, I saw Twilight pounding the keyboard with her fists. It would be very funny if it wasn’t so sad. “Really?” I asked as I went to her. I sighed and grabbed her hands. I pulled her fingers so as to line up with the home row keys. “Use your fingers.” I said to her. “Oh…” Twilight then pressed on a few buttons before cracking a grin. “Wow! It’s that easy!” Twilight said as I saw that she was still on the desktop. I then looked over to the mouse. Poor thing’s barely touched. “That’s just half of the navigation. The other half is this.” I pushed the mouse towards her hand. She grabbed it and immediately associated the mouse with the cursor’s movement. “And to select, you just click. You can make things activate with two clicks.” I said. She moused over to a horse that was on fire and was circling the globe and proceeded to double click on it, popping up the internet browser. “Hmmm…” Banno spoke up. “What is it?” I asked. Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked to me. “Talking to my belt buddy here.” “… Never call me belt buddy again. Also… Look over there.” Banno said. I looked to see two chuckling kids, one chubby and the other thin, having their cameras out. They stopped when they saw me and bolted like hell. “What’s their problem?” Twilight asked. “My guess is that they find you funny and Youtube material…” I then realized what Twilight would ask next, so I took a breath and spoke. “It’s a thing where you can upload videos for people to see and it can be practically anything. In this case, your ‘attempts’ at computing.” I said. “So… that’d grant me more popularity, right?” Twilight asked. I shook my head, then sat next to her. “No. I mean… Yes. You’ll be popular, but for the wrong reasons. You want to be an influential person in these students’ lives? You want to win the vote? Then don’t be a fool.” I could see Twilight practically blink. “Chances are, they got enough footage to put you up on Youtube. Provided it doesn’t get outshined by video footage of a psychotic father destroying something…” “Hey!” Banno coughed up. “Then it’s probably gonna go viral and people will make you out to be a laughing stock.” I said. Twilight bit her lip. “But… if you pull through, then you might actually win this prom and get that crown.” I said. Twilight then smiled. “Thank you… You never told me why you wanted to help me.” Twilight said. I sighed and simply said: “I know what it’s like to be bullied.” I said. Twilight winced. “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that. But at least you had friends to back you up, right?” Twilight asked me. I closed my eyes and gripped my fists. “… No. In fact… The one friend I did have… She turned on me. She used me.” I said. Twilight simply whimpered and began to hug me. “I’m sorry! That must have been horrible!” Twilight cried into my shoulder. “H-hey… It’s over now. The damage’s done…” I then looked down and frowned. “And it taught me that friendship isn’t magic.” I said. Twilight then pulled herself out of the hug. “It is magic! And I can prove it!” Twilight said. “Really? Well, I’m pretty sure you’re well aware that there’s a rift between some friends right now.” I said. Twilight nodded. “I just can't help but get the feeling that Sunset Shimmer had something to do with it.” Twilight said. I simply gave her a deadpan look. “No. You think?” I asked. “Well, Twilight, we should focus on making friends here, not wondering why these friends aren’t with each other.” The dog said, poking his head out of Twilight’s backpack. My eye twitched. “Mind telling me just what’s with the dog?” I asked Twilight. “Oh, Spike? He’s…” She turned around to see if there was anyone in the library. I looked too. Seemed Cheerilee was busy with some of the kids on the other side of the computer lab. “He’s my assistant.” She said. She then looked at my belt. “Is he your assistant?” She asked. “I beg your pardon!?” Banno asked. “No. He’s my partner.” I said. Twilight raised her eyebrow. “I thought you said friendship wasn’t magic.” Twilight said. “He’s a good partner, but that doesn’t make him a good friend. One day, you’ll understand what I mean.” I said. Cheerliee then walked to me. “Library’s closing in five… Shall I go make the bed for you?” She asked me. I nodded, then looked to Twilight. “Uh… if you may?” I asked. Cheerilee groaned and walked off. I then looked to Twilight. “If you get these friends back together, I have a feeling like they can help you better than if they’re just separated.” I said. Twilight smiled, but then frowned. “I know… but I have to keep my eyes on the prize.” Twilight said. With that, I helped Twilight study on the world she was in, using the exact same techniques that I used when I was first here. Eventually, night came and I showed Twilight to her bed. Cheerilee does a pretty alright job of making a bed using recycled paper shreds as the cushion and it seemed she made a second one just for Twilight. I got onto the bed and began to sleep, though I doubt Twilight would be getting any sleep from what I told her. It was late into the evening. It was the kind of late evening where students should be sleeping. Sunset Shimmer was an exception. Sunset sat in her room, browsing on her computer for any news regarding the new girl, Twilight. Ping! Sunset smiled as she received an email from Snips and Snails with a file attached to it. She clicked on the file and saw a short, fifteen second video of Twilight smacking the keyboard with her fists. She looked at it and groaned a bit. “Okay, it will do…” Sunset said as she opened up a video editing software. That is before she caught a whiff of rose scents. “Whatcha doin’?” Ross asked Sunset. Sunset blushed and closed off her email application. “N-nothing! Shouldn’t you be going to bed already?” Sunset looked to him and gave a crooked smile. “I should… but…” Ross then fell onto the bed. “I can’t sleep. Every time I do, I get the same nightmares.” He said. “Nightmares?” Sunset asked. “Yeah… It’s… It’s all a blur. Everything was too bright. All I can remember was someone screaming out a name… some monster howling… someone saying ‘what’… And then… silence. Like there’s a ringing in my ear.” Ross said. “That’s… Um… Something.” Sunset said. “…. The more I think of it, the more I believe it to be…” Ross then frowned. “It’s nothing.” Sunset then sighed. “No. It’s not… nothing.” Sunset then got onto the bed as well. “Nightmares aren’t nothing.” Sunset laid on her back. “I have nightmares myself. I have dreams of being loved, adored, in power… And then as soon as the sun rose, all of that is gone. The sun usually comes in my nightmares to take away all I worked so hard for. But that’s why I work twice as hard. I want to make sure those nightmares don’t become a reality.” Sunset said. She turned to face Ross. “Anything else happened in your dream?” She asked. “… Someone died. I remember that much. Arrow in the heart… It’s… A common thing I keep on seeing. And the scary part is… I feel like I personally knew who died.” Ross then trembled… “Someone dear to you will die? Is that what your nightmare is about? You know what must be done then, right?” Sunset asked. “Work twice as hard to make sure they don’t die?” Ross asked. Sunset nodded. Ross sighed. “… There’s… There’s another thing I remember now… After the light… After the ringing, I heard a voice. Someone I never heard before… but someone I too found familiar. He told me that it’s alright and that he has me…” Ross said. “Maybe your dreams reassuring you that someone’s got your back.” Sunset held Ross with one arm draped around his chest. Ross blushed and turned to Sunset. “Y…yeah.” He remembered her finding him injured underneath the bridge in the middle of the rain. Sunset then stroked Ross’ hair. “It’s alright. I got you, kid… I got you.” With that, Ross began to be lulled into a rest. Sunset counted the seconds before she could confidently tell that Ross was out. She then got up and resumed editing the video. “Double Diamond, you sure these notes are accurate?” A woman with bright pink skin, curly purple hair with an aquamarine highlight wearing a white uniform with silver linings asked the man in front of her, an albino looking man wearing the exact same uniform. The two were inside a lab with notes strewn across regarding mathematical formulas. “Positive. If my theory proves correct, then this single yen coin could act as a catalyst to summoning a being from another world.” He held up a silver coin. “The informant told me these were called Tokens.” “So, that incident seventeen years back could have possibly been caused by a Token?” She asked. “Precisely, Starlight!” Double Diamond said. “A shame what happened to the dreamcatcher though, but if this can bring us one step closer to achieving my ambitions, then that will be all the proof I need!” She said. Double Diamond fiddled with the coin, feeling the raised kanji with his fingers. “If what he said is right, the incantations are different for each person. You have to hear it before you can outright say it.” Double Diamond closed his eyes. He then smirked. “Got it. With this single coin, I call upon a harvest!” With that, he flipped the coin. When it landed, it glowed white before exploding in a shower of light. As the light faded, the two researchers turned around to see an obese man wearing a green uniform with gold linings over it. His head was completely shaven and had spikes jutting out from his scalp. “… Why have you summoned me?” He asked. “It worked!” Starlight said. The fatty glared at them. “You two… You’re not Displaced. How are you able to find out about this? Who are you two?” He asked. Double Diamond stepped closer to him. “My name is Starlight Glimmer. I’m the Head of Research for the Everton Independent Study Program, or EISP for short. EISP is dedicated to researching all the changes and advancements in this world…” Starlight said. She then smirked. “And other worlds…” “… What?” The spiked man asked. “It was inevitable that someone would find about this… Displacing nonsense and wish to understand more of it. Tinker with it, look at the concept under a microscope and perhaps use it to their own benefit. This is where I come in. Double Diamond’s my name. I work for a funding organization called Foundation X. Over the past little while, we’ve been observing the habits of your kind. Eventually, we decided to have a piece of that cake. You are our first experiment.” Double Diamond said. “So… That’s what I am to you? An experiment? I'm the great Shigekiyo Yangu! I won't be hassled by some scientists!” He said. Starlight Glimmer and Double Diamond soon noticed the fat man glowing with a purple aura. “Of course. But…” Double Diamond snapped his fingers as two men in sunglasses wearing a grayer version of the Foundation X uniform rush in, briefcases in hand, and opened them, revealing dozens of gathered Japanese yen banknotes. “We know how to reward our experiments.” Shigekiyo smiled and tried to grab the money, only for one of the members to snap the briefcases shut. “And of course, after they prove useful.” The fat man glared at him. “What do you want me to do?” He asked. “There is another Displaced in this city. Two, in fact. But we ask you prioritize on this one.” Double Diamond opened up his iPad, showing video footage of Kelly throughout her days in Canterlot High School. “She’s going under the identity of one of Foundation X’s former members, Professor Jetstorm Silverbolt.” Starlight Glimmer said. “We need things from her. My organization wants her Belt. It’s a special belt that contains the AI of a brilliant scientist.” Double Diamond said. “And my organization could accept the professor that has this belt into our ranks of Everton.” Starlight Glimmer said. “So… You want me to kidnap a broad?” Shigekiyo asked. The two nodded. “Heh, no worries…” His aura faded. “Me and my buddies will make short work of her.” I could feel my gut be punched so hard. My back crumpled against the wall. Everything seemed to be a blur, though I could blame that on the pain I was going through. I fell onto the ground before getting up and… laughing? “Surely you realize you won't last long in that state...” I could hear someone speak as I began to stumble away from the man who punched me. “You'll perish soon enough!” I was unsure if those haunting words were meant for me or someone else. My vision was wobbly. Perhaps a mixture of being drunk and being beaten to near unconsciousness. “That’s your fate…” With that final warning, I could feel myself falling down for what appeared to be hours. Me falling down into a long… deep… sleep. I woke myself up, my heart racing. I had to remind myself of how I just saw the last moments of Ryoma and that his warning was not towards me but towards his opponent. I looked to my hands. Perhaps this was a warning to myself. That if I continue being Banno’s ‘partner’, I will surely perish. I looked around. Seemed Twilight and her assistant went on without me. I got off of my bed and walked out of the library. As I walked down the hallway, I noticed some of the students snickering. One casual glance at a student’s smartphone was all I needed to confirm that the footage those two kids took last night was indeed used to make a parody video. Of course, I didn’t look closely enough before the students put away their phones. Being a teacher has its flaws too. “Hello, love!” My body jumped up as I heard Miss Oxton’s perky voice again. “Wah! Don’t scare me like that!” I said. “Sorry, just a force of habit.” Miss Oxton said. “Aaargh, what do you want?” I asked as we walked down the hall. “Well, science class is starting soon and I was thinking we’d start that whole subbing thing.” She said. “Eeeh, I don’t have anything to do, so you could definitely-” That’s when I passed by an empty classroom with five girls, all of which I recognized. “You know what, Miss Oxton? Why don’t you go on ahead with that substitute teacher thing? I just remembered I was supposed to do some counselling.” I said. “Aaaaw! It’s so sweet how you want to help the students! Don’t worry, love, the Calvary’s here!” She patted me on the back and began to run off. I swear she’s less of a person and more of a mascot. I sighed and entered the class room. Ross sat in the science classroom. There was a ten minute delay between classes to allow students to transit properly. Ross, thanks to his Semblance, was able to have at least eight of those minutes to spare. He spent those minutes watching a certain viral video. “Twilight Sparkle wants to be your Fall Formal Princess.” He could clearly hear Sunset’s voice in the video as footage played of Twilight Sparkle, the new student at the school, typing away on a keyboard with her fists. However, the video seemed to be a fifteen second clip of it. It ended and prompted Ross to play the video again, to which he did. Why, he wasn’t sure. Was it because he was still unsure of Sunset’s true nature? Was it because he couldn’t believe someone so nice would stoop to such a low as bullying another person? The more he watched, the more shocked he was. Eventually, he put down the phone and massaged his temples. That memory played in his head again of the man in the hallway. What made his brain hurt even more was that he remembered the man: Mercury Black, an antagonist who, along with some other antagonists, feigned being Ruby’s friend. He wasn’t sure what led to this moment, but knowing how Mercury stood in a confronting pose and how he was having Ruby’s memories, he was well aware that the false friends angle would die pretty soon. Though that begged the question of why he kept remembering Mercury. These memories seemed to be brought up whenever betrayal is mentioned. He wondered why this particular moment kept showing up when that theme is brought up. Ross came to some conclusion that whatever Mercury did to Ruby was much worse than what Cinder or Emerald, his leader and partner in crime respectively, could do to Ruby. Or perhaps it was the first betrayal. And Ross knew what they say about the first cuts. “Fuck, gotta watch Volume 3 now…” Ross lightly chuckled as he put away his phone just as Sunset came in. “Hey Ross.” Sunset said to him. “Mornin’.” Ross said. Sunset Shimmer sat down next to Ross. Ross then spoke up. “Sunset, how important is the Fall Formal?” He asked her. “… It’s… It’s sort of important.” Sunset then scooted to Ross. “Each of the four seasons is meant to teach us something. Winter is about reflection, spring is about revitalization, summer’s about embracing the outdoors, and fall is about being thankful for what we have. To remind us of this, Principal Celestia has four dances every year, one for each season. Spring Fling, Summer Gala, Fall Formal, and Winter Ball. Each dance has a Princess that students elect. Those Princesses would then metaphorically embody the spirit of that particular season.” “Wait, just a Princess? No Prince?” Ross asked. “Yeah, no. I don’t know why either. Principal Celestia’s pretty insistent that there’s only a Princess for the four dances.” Sunset said. She then held Ross’ hand. “But… you can be my Prince, if you like.” Sunset said to Ross. Ross simply looked into her eyes, only for them to flash orange again. Ross shivered. “Ross, what’s wrong?” Sunset asked him. Ross shook his head. “N-nothing…” Ross said. The bell rung as students began to pour in. The last to enter was the teacher, who, to Ross’ surprise, wasn’t Kelly, but rather a spunky looking young adult. Ross sighed. Perhaps what happened yesterday caused Kelly to storm out. Ross bit his lip. Perhaps Banno’s influencing Kelly harder than he thought. I entered the room as the girls bickered about. They soon stopped as soon as I closed the door. It was perhaps the first time I saw Applejack in the same room as Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, and the fact that she had the same anger for them as she did with Rainbow Dash confirmed her suspicions. “What happened? You were friends once!” Twilight took out a blue book and showed the others a picture of the four girls plus Rainbow Dash. The four girls looked at the photo and then frowned. “Sunset Shimmer obviously tore you guys apart!” Twilight said. That’s when I shook my head. “Twilight… It’s… It’s deeper than that.” I told her. I was tempted to tell her what Rainbow texted Fluttershy… That’s when I remembered her saving Fluttershy and her attempt to rescue her from Nerve. Someone who would go to those lengths to save someone wouldn’t have said those mean things to them. I then blinked. “Fluttershy… Are you sure you got those texts from Rainbow Dash? You know the ones.” I asked her. “Y-yeah… Positive! I mean, look at this.” She then showed me her phone. I blinked as I saw the number unregistered and that the very first text was the number declaring itself as Rainbow Dash. Out of curiosity, I closed the text and then pressed the phone button. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash’s number was in the contacts and they didn’t even match the ones that the texts had. I went back to the texts and noticed a similar text regarding Pinkie Pie and making fun of her shy nature. Taking a hunch, I showed Pinkie Pie. “W-what? I’d never text her that!” Pinkie Pie said. Soon, bickering occurred, though now it was more of a pleasant bickering. Girls concluding that they’d been fooled and forgiving one another. Twilight smiled at me. Though that’s when my heart stopped. “Tell me something… Why didn’t you girls confront each other about these texts beforehand? You know… confirm that you were sending each other these texts?” My voice was stern and sharp. “Well… I was angry with Dash… But you would be too if-” I cut Applejack off. “If what? If some bitch pretended to be my friend and make insulting comments towards me? Or lie to me about what they want done?” My hands balled up into fists. “Professor… Calm down…” Twilight tried to speak to me, but I just stormed out. A part of me stopped, just so that I could give the final word. “Are you really friends if you automatically assume the worst out of each other?” With that, I slammed the door. I figured the fresh air would help break up the pent up rage in my body. Of course, someone had to chime in as I walked onto the soccer field. “Well, well… Haven’t seen anger like that since I died… Well, the second time I died.” Banno said. I tried to inhale and exhale. Banno’s right, I’m getting irrationally angry. “I know exactly how it feels to have a close friend betray you…” I immediately knew what Banno was referring to. His close friend was another professor by the name of Krim Steinbelt. He was the one who created the Core Driviars, engines that could accelerate the particles and invoke a slowdown. Without him, the Roidmudes would have never existed. And I knew exactly how their relationship ended. “I wasn’t the one torturing someone, though.” I said. “Regardless, Krim never saw from my perspective and rather than communicate with me, left me on my own. Had he stuck around… Maybe the Roidmudes wouldn’t be the monsters they’d be now, would they?” Banno gave a dark chuckle before I growled. “Shut up.” I told him. “You don’t like it when I get under your skin, huh? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I will do more than get under your skin… I’ll take over your skin! Do you like that feeling? Knowing that I’ll one day figure out how to take over your body and use it to make those friends of yours beg for mercy?” Banno said. “Shut up.” I said to him. “Rage is the quickest way to unlock one’s ruthlessness… And I gotta say, now I know where you got that ruthlessness from. And the more ruthless you become… I become…” Banno said. That one little line tore me up. “SHUT UP!” I shouted. Banno just laughed. My entire body shook. “This is a race, Kelly. Who can kill who the fastest? Me… or you?” Banno said. As he finished, I heard a new voice. A raspy voice. “Found you…” I turned around to see a very fat man wearing a green uniform with yellow pearls to act as lining for the clothes. He was bald with spikes jutting out of his head. “And who the fuck are you?” I asked. “I think you should know by now.” He smirked. He then walked to me. “Displaced have a tendency to attract Displaced.” He approached at least a meter in front of me before giving off a whiff. “Yeah… I can tell you’re a Displaced… So tell me. What powers do you have?” He then chuckled. “No. Scratch that. I’d rather have the first cut… They’re always the deepest!” He then flailed his hands. I didn’t notice what he was doing, but I suddenly felt a sliver of skin on my arm suddenly get cut off by an invisible force. “Gah!” I shouted before another force cut the other side of my arm, and then my legs. “It’s a shame that I was told to bring you and the belt alive… I wouldn’t have minded having my friends cut an artery or two and make the suffering quick.” He said. I struggled to activate the Driver, grinding my teeth to ignore the pain. “HENSHIN!” I shouted as I turned the ignition twice and transformed into Gold Drive. Like clockwork, Type Technic was summoned and I plugged it in. My HUD glowed and showed the fat man bathed in what appeared to be a purple light. I also began to notice small bee like humanoids falling from my body and retreating to the fat man. The beemen were in the dozens… No…. The hundreds. “What the fuck are these things?!” I asked. “Ah, so you can see them now? This will make things a little more exciting. I’d like to explain the power to you and why you can’t see them, but to save on time, you can just call these little men… Harvest.” He said. The tiny beemen began to mobilize to create a shield for their seeming master while a horde of them came towards me. I switched the controls to Banno as the Door Gun came into his hands. He fired wildly at Harvest. A handful of them were blasted off before Harvest began to overwhelm Banno. “Think of Harvest as a swarm of army ants. Nothing can stop it from tearing apart anything it comes into contact with!” He said as Harvest began to punch their way into Banno’s armor. Sparks began to fly out of the armor before knocking Banno back. He rolled onto the ground and struggled to get up. “How boring… Harvest, rip the belt out from this pathetic person’s waist.” He scoffed. Harvest marched towards me. POP! That’s when I heard something. “Hiya!” It was Pinkie’s voice. I looked up to see that Pinkie Pie was suddenly besides the fat man before clocking him in the face. He stumbled back as Harvest flinched. Before Fatty could even react, a soccer ball flew right into the side of his head and knocked him down. I turned to see Rainbow Dash as she gave me a thumbs up. “Rainbow Dash… Pinkie Pie… Thanks.” I said. Rainbow Dash glared to Pinkie Pie as she did the same. The two seemed to stare before Rainbow Dash just smirked. “So that’s what happened, huh?” Rainbow Dash cracked her knuckles. “Well, after we take care of fatso over here, I’ll help Twilight with the Fall Formal.” She said. “Wait, how did you know?” I asked. That’s when I noticed the HUD was showing Pinkie Pie having a pink aura around her. I soon saw three other auras approaching the field, one white, another yellow, and a third orange. These belonged to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack as I saw them arrive. Fluttershy meekly waved to me. “Whoowhee, these girls really got a hang of these powers.” Applejack said. She patted Fluttershy on the back. “Fluttershy here was able to tell Rainbow Dash what happened via weird fingly fangly psychic powers.” She said. So Telepathy. Okay. Banno struggled to get up. Pinkie Pie then suddenly vanished with the sound of a popping balloon. One popping balloon sound later and she reappeared between Rarity and Fluttershy. Fluttershy jumped a little as Rainbow Dash ran to catch her. I stood up and smiled. “So… You guys finally made up?” I asked. The five nodded. Twilight then arrived. “Now… do you want to see the magic of friendship?” Twilight asked. I nodded. After relying on the ruthlessness of Type Overdrive, I’d rather use something else. “Yeah… Banno, leave this to me.” I said as Banno turned the ignition. Four Shift Cars came to me as I held one, Shift Speed. I turned to Rainbow Dash and nodded to her. “Let’s go, students!” I said as I saw Fatty get up. “YEAH!” The girls went into a fighting pose, though Fluttershy put up a sort of meek posture. I plugged in Shift Speed and along with Rainbow, we dashed towards Fatty. We both gave Fatty a flurry of bows, knocking some of Harvest away from him before punching him away. That’s when I noticed that a lot of Harvests began to latch onto me. I tried to punch them off but they clung onto my armor. Switching Speed for Wild, I called out to Applejack. “What do you need, Sugar Cube?” Applejack asked. “Punch me as hard as you can.” I said. “What?” She replied. “… Just do it.” The image of Harvest digging into my forearm’s armor began to fade from my HUD. I held out the arm as Applejack punched it. It created quite a shockwave, but not enough to cause any actual damage to the arm, especially with Wild increasing my durability. I swapped out Wild for Technic to reboot the HUD and have me look at Harvest again. I then looked to Fluttershy. “It’d be easier if these girls can see what I can see.” I told her. Fluttershy gulped, but she nodded and held out her hands. As she did, the girls started to jump out of the way. I saw within my HUD that they were able to see Harvest creeping up to them. Swapping out Technic for Formula, I ran at hurricane speeds to knock the Harvests away. “Oooh! Oooh! Let me fight! Let me fight!” Pinkie said. I nodded and we both vanished into thin air. Well, for me, I sort of went so fast that I was there one moment and right in front of Fatty in the next moment. Both me and Pinkie Pie both punched Fatty in the face and knocked him down. I then swapped for Dead Heat and allowed myself to enter the Dead Zone. I punched Fatty with a red-lightning charged fist right into his gut, then proceeded to punch him in the face, knocking him back a few inches before I kicked him right into the goal. I dusted myself off. “One-zip.” Rainbow Dash said. “Shishishishishi…” Fatty laughed as I could see Harvest lift him back up. He then laughed a blob of Harvest to overwhelm me. I couldn’t move in time as the tiny beemen took me on and engulfed me. “One little move and I kill your friend!” He said. Harvest seemed to engulf the lower part of my body where the belt was. I could see Pinkie Pie teleport to Fatty, only for another swarm of Harvest to grab her. “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted. “Same goes with teleporting!” Fatty said. “L-let her go!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Never… Shishishishi…” I could see Fatty almost command Harvest into attacking Pinkie by making a crushing motion with his hands, but that’s when I saw a single Harvest drone bring something shiny. “Huh?” Fatty picked up the object. Seemed to be a red jewel of some sort. “Aaaah, good find, Harvest.” He said. “Consider that payment in exchange for our friend’s safety.” Rarity said. Fatty just looked to her. “Shishishi… You’re a dumbass. Everyone knows you’re supposed to offer the payment to a hostage taker instead of just paying him.” Fatty said. “Oh, but darling, that wasn’t what I had in mind.” Rarity said. Before Fatty could realize it, the red gem glowed. As he looked at the glowing gem, I could see in his eyes a sort of shock. I recognized this look before. It’s the same thousand yard stare I had whenever I remember something from Ryoma’s past. “THROW THAT AWAY, HARVEST! THRO-” Too late. The gem blew up and the two Harvest swarms stopped their grasp on me and Pinkie. I smirked as the threat was taken care of. As the smoke cleared, however, I heard Fluttershy gasp and wince “Oh my!” Fatty was still alive, but had massive gashes into his flesh. Blood poured out from the open skin as he weakly got up. “D-don’t think this is the last of me… Shishishi…” As he walked away, something about kicking the wounded fatass just made me outright giddy… Even… Ruthless. Suddenly, the compound lights on Gold Drive switched to its bullseye design as the Shift Tridoron car came into my hand. “Allow us to finish him off.” Me and Banno said as we pressed onto the button located on the hind wheel. FIRE ALL ENGINES! Before I could put it into the Shift Brace, Fluttershy ran and held me. “No! Stop!” Fluttershy shouted. “Let me go!” We both said. “Hold her down!” Fluttershy said as the other girls grabbed me. “Stop this! Now!” We said as my hand subconsciously held onto the Door Gun, finger hovering over the trigger while the barrel dug right into Fluttershy’s gut. “I don’t want anyone else to die, okay!?” Fluttershy said as she was on the verge of tears. My finger twitched between touching the trigger and being inches away. For one moment, me and Banno both thought of shooting Fluttershy, breaking out of the crowd as we invoked Slowdown to finish off Fatty… However, I then thought about going through with killing Fluttershy and the consequences that it held. Knowing I’ve killed someone, seeing everyone grieve for her, seeing all the trust I sowed into the girls be shattered. I thought about not killing her. Eventually my hand relaxed as the golden armor came off of me and I became faint. “So-sorry…” I said. Twilight helped me up. “It wasn’t your fault. I could tell that you were no longer in control. It’s happened to a few of my friends.” Twilight said. She then placed a hand on my shoulder. “So long as you have friendship by your side, however, you can accomplish anything.” She said. I hesitated. “You’re not gonna buy this garbage, are you?” Banno quipped before Twilight glared at him. I sighed before shedding a single tear. “Thanks…” I took Twilight’s hand and tore it away from my shoulder. “But if you are my friends… then I don’t want to hurt you…” I got up and walked away. “You’re gonna have to be the Fall Formal Princess without me.” I said as I left the soccer field. Banno was right, if I got more ruthless, he gets more ruthless. And it’s only a matter of time before I become just like him… Or worse, he takes over me. Shigekiyo slumped over. He couldn’t go an extra mile. Thankfully, he had Harvest drag him to his destination: Everton Independent Study. As he got up and inched to the door, he could see a man in the reflection of the window. A man with bleached, slicked back white hair, blood red lips, pale skin, and wore a black leather jacket with black leather pants. Shigekiyo’s eyes went wide as his body stiffened. “Hello there. You remember me, don’t you?” The pale man asked. Shigekiyo slowly nodded. “It’s been such a long time since we last saw each other…” The pale man caressed Shigekiyo’s shoulder. He then eyed the door leading into Everton. “You were summoned by these people, right?” Shigekiyo nodded. “I see… Those idiots think they can harness the powers of a Displaced, let alone one who dwells in the Void. Why trust them when you can trust me?” With a wave of his hand, Shigekiyo’s wounds closed up and he could stand normally. “This place held me prisoner for seventeen damn long years. I really don’t want you to be subject to the same experiments I was put through.” He said. “B-but… They’re paying me…” Shigekiyo said. “So?” The pale man, with a flick of his hand, summoned a gold brick out from a puff of gray smoke. “I can make so much money that the economy could crumble beneath my feet.” The pale man said. “… So you are recruiting me.” Shigekiyo said. “Yes. I am. Seventeen years is quite a long time and my grip has softened because of it. But now that I am able to leave this world now, I am considering rebuilding an army and picking up where I last left off.” He said. Shigekiyo paused. “Ooooh, but you know full well about this offer.” His cold, pale hands traced from Shigekiyo’s shoulder to the nape of his neck. “I refuse to take no for an answer.” He growled. Shigekiyo trembled, but then stiffened again. If he was fast enough, then maybe… just maybe he can get away. He opened the door and- He felt a sharp knife enter his chest. Only he knew it wasn’t a knife, especially as he felt five appendages attached to it feeling up his heart before grabbing it and yanking it out. Shigekiyo fell onto his knees, out of breath as he turned to see the pale man holding his heart, now bathed in a glowing red light. “I wanted to help you. I really did. I don’t want anyone to suffer the treatment I got at that horrible place.” The man gripped his hold on the heart. “Consider this mercy.” Tighter and tighter, the heart shrank until it was completely engulfed in the pale man’s hand. Shigekiyo slumped to the floor in a lifeless heap as the pale man let go of the remains of the heart, nothing more than dust. Click. The pale man could see in his reflection an angry man with a fedora and a brown military jacket holding a gun at him. “Niko! I was wondering what took you so long.” The pale man smiled. “I should have known those bastards had the audacity to summon you before handing your Token to me.” Niko said. “Oh, don’t fret. I have no purpose for this world. All I wanna do is get out of here. Stretch my legs.” The pale man turned around and extended his arms widely. Niko still pointed his gun at him. “And yet, you still threaten me. I thought I taught you well when you first did this.” He walked over to Niko, took his gun, and bent its barrel with a glow of olive light. “Never pick a fight with your Displacer. It’s just… messy.” He smiled while playfully slapping Niko’s cheek. He then unbent the barrel and went on his merry way. Niko pointed the gun towards him, but as he fired, the pale man burst into a cloud of gray smoke and disappeared. Niko then heard sirens. “Damn.” He muttered as he used the hook shots to get out while cops closed in on the corpse of the fat man.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 6: Who Cleared Our Names?Fire... Ross could see fire around Canterlot High. The smell of sulfur and ash got too much to him as he coughed. As he closed his eyes, a voice rang in his head. A man's voice. He felt like he heard it before, but the voice was in such a desperate tone, he felt like it was a whole new voice altogether. "Please, you have to stop her!" Ross' eyes opened up as he saw a woman on fire. As he glazed forward, he could recognize the girl on fire. "S-sunset?" He could see her blazing hair and fire coming from her eyes. She merely grinned and held up her hand, a ball of fire forming from the palm. "She doesn't stand a chance!" The desperate sounding voice rang out in Ross' ears as he could see a flash of gold. He could see Kelly walk up to Sunset, now as Gold Drive. Her body jerked around for a few moments before it stopped. Ross could hear the maniacal laugh of Banno as he took over Kelly's body and held up the Steering Sword. He walked towards Sunset, almost robotically. "Please, you have to save-" Ross couldn't take it anymore. With a scream, Ross wrapped himself in his cape and flew to Banno, scythe in hand as he slashed in two, then four. As the pieces fell, the blood red light in Banno's compound eyes faded out. Ross panted for a moment. "Please..." Ross' body shivered as he could see the armor of Gold Drive disappear. In its place was a girl with lifeless eyes. Ross couldn't bear to see Kelly's split-apart body and turned around, only to see the blazing Sunset Shimmer standing before a battered and beaten Twilight Sparkle, bits of clothing torn from her as blood seeped from her mouth. Ross stood still, unable to stop what happened next. Another voice, one female, then flooded Ross' mind. "Do you believe in destiny?" Sunset flung the fireball towards Twilight. As the fireball hit her, for a split second he could once again imagine the arrow piercing someone's heart, though now in a grander detail as he could see two people, murderer and victim, taking the place of Sunset and Twilight respectively. They were crimson silhouettes, though Ross could see that the two were women from their body figure. However, as the arrow pierced the victim's heart... Ross flung out of his bed and woke up. He trembled as he looked around. He was still in Sunset's room. Panting, he got out of bed and looked around. The dark of the night obscured most of his vision and he didn't want to disturb Miss Shimmer's sleep by cracking a light. He tip toed rather slowly and in five minutes, he had made it to the kitchen. There, he was less concerned with turning on a light and getting a drink. As he grabbed a glass of water and sat by the table, his legs became heavy as he could not help but stare at his drink. "Rough night's sleep?" Ross' spine tingled as he could hear that woman's soothing voice. Whipping around, Ross glared at Sunset's mom before calming down. It's not her. It's not her. Ross thought. Ross simply nodded. Sunset's mom sat down on the chair parallel to Ross. "It's... It's about your daughter." Ross said. He then closed his eyes. "Actually, it's more than that." He struggled not to beat around the bush. Even if she looked like the last person he'd ever have a drink with, Ross had to let it out. "I feel like the friends I've made will be torn apart from me." "What makes you think that?" Sunset's mom asked. "I have a friend and... she's slowly getting more and more aggressive. I fear it'll be to the point where she'll lose it." Ross said. "... Has Sunset been-" Ross then cut her off. "No! This is... This is another friend." Sunset's mom simply looked at Ross. "Fine. We'll go with that analogy." She said. "... Don't get me wrong. Sunset's also a bit on the bitchy side. But-" That's when Sunset's mom gave a frown. "It's the Fall Formal, isn't it?" Ross nodded. She got up to go over to the coffee machine. "I figured as such. Ever since she enrolled at Canterlot High, she's been overly ambitious of her goals. I guess she got that from my genes." She said. She turned to Ross. "Do you like coffee?" She asked. Ross nodded. "How do you take it?" "Cream and five sugars." Ross automatically said. It took a moment for her to register before she sighed and complied with the order. She returned with the coffee for both her and Ross. Ross hesitated before he took a sip. In any other world, they'd be fighting each other. However, Ross simply looked into the woman's amber colored eyes and felt calm. "T-thanks, by the way." Ross said. "It's nothing. To tell you the truth, Sunset's put me on edge too." That's when Ross leaned onto the table. "Wait, what?" Ross asked. "At first, I thought her desires were just competitive ambition, but each time she won the crown, she got more and more aggressive." Sunset's mother sighed as she sipped a bit of her coffee. "It's almost like the crown was driving her more and more up the wall." "..." Ross left his cup on the table. "The Fall Formal... Sunset told me how the princesses would embody the traits that each season represents. If... If it wasn't a metaphor and something literal..." Ross then chugged his coffee and put the mug on the table. He stood up and readied himself. "Thank you, Miss Shimmer." He said. "Um... No problem?" She raised her eyebrow as Ross then ran off, turning into a red blur as rose petals fluttered about. She blinked, then sipped more of her coffee. Ross stood on the rooftop, looking through the scope of the rifle. Canterlot High. He was pretty sure where the crown would normally be. If it's all in preparation for the Fall Formal, then it'd be in a safe place, now wouldn't it? He aimed at the Principal's office. The school, despite the recent Roidmude attacks, was not too keen on amping up security, it seemed. Considering that the school has Gold Drive, they don't seem that concerned with security. And so Ross calculated the way he'd be able to break into the school and steal the crown. And then, out of nowhere... "Psst," Ross' heart raced, "what are you looking at?" A female, cockney accent perked up in Ross' ear. Surprised, he flung his rifle, transforming it into a scythe and struck what appeared to be a flash of blue light. He heard giggling as he fired wildly at the swooshing light, all while tiny blue bullets fired from said light. They didn't seem to hit him hard, thanks in part to his aura and thanks in part to the pulsing nature of the bullets, but the tickling was more akin to getting shocked by static. Ross was able to see for a brief second what was firing at him. It was a woman... Someone he knew... "M-miss Oxton?!" Ross asked before the blur ran to him and stopped, showing that it was indeed Oxton. "Hello... Oh, is that you, Ross?" She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here, love?" "I could ask you the same thing." Ross kept his scythe close to Miss Oxton's side. "Well, it's my job to secure the area and make sure no one breaks in. So... why are you breaking in? Thought you'd get the answer keys to tomorrow's test?" She smirked. Ross shook his head. "No. It's..." Ross sighed and transformed Crescent Rose back to its stationary state. "I'm trying to steal the crown and try to destroy it." Ross said. "Well why do you want to do that?" Oxton asked. "Because my friend's becoming more and more mean! If I destroy the crown, maybe it can make her nicer." Ross said. "Oooh, Ross..." Oxton sat down next to Ross, patting on the ground next to her for Ross to sit on. Ross complied and sat down. "The crown means a lot to these people." She said. "I know, but... If it makes people embody the absolute worst part of themselves... I can't let it fester. If you knew of an artifact that made your friend a dick, would you do something about it?" Ross asked. Oxton gave a bit of a pause before she answered. "Perhaps, but this isn't the answer." Oxton said. "Then what is? My friend's resorting to slandering her competition! Next she'll probably hold someone hostage and maybe kill someone..." Ross sighed before he trembled. "Why do you think that, love?" Oxton asked. "... I..." He chuckled. "I get these dreams. Dreams that I felt as though they already happened before. Well, it's not really déjà vu, but rather... Memories." Ross said before he frowned. "And recently I'm having memories of everything falling around me and... I don't know why..." Ross said. He closed his eyes as a tear fell from them. Oxton sighed and held Ross. "Don't worry, love. I know how that feels... I'm sure everything will be alright." Oxton said. "... I hope so..." Ross said. Twilight and I awoke to the sound of gunfire. It was familiar gunfire. Ross. "Kelly, what's going on?" Twilight asked me. I peeked over to the window. "Bad stuff's happening. Let's go." I said as I got up and rushed out to the front field where I saw Ross fight off this blur... I was too far though and the fight ended with a conversation between him and... Wait, Miss Oxton? I took a moment to realize that Miss Oxton was the security guard that Celestia hired. I took a sigh and walked forward. When I approached them, I managed to see Oxton hugging Ross and comforting him on the rooftop. Twilight managed to catch up to me, though nearly tripping over as she was close. "So, what seems to be the problem?" I asked as I helped up Twilight. "Oh, hey Kelly. Ross here was just going on a nightly stroll. Ain't that right, Ross?" She elbowed Ross. I rolled my eyes as Ross stammered. "It's okay. You can tell me the truth." I said. "... Okay. I was trying to destroy the crown." Ross said. Twilight gasped as I looked to him. "What?" I asked. "The crown's corrupting Sunset every time she wears it! If I destroy it, maybe it'd revert her to being someone nicer!" Ross said. I took the palm of my hand and applied it directly to my face. "Ross, you don't understand. The crown you're talking about is not the crown inside the school." Twilight said. "Indeed. Which is why I don't want you to do that." I said. "W-what? Why?" Ross asked. "I need this crown for my..." Twilight stopped herself from talking. "You need this? For what? Did you see what the crown did to Sunset? I don't want anyone else to wear that corrupting piece of-" "Ross, love, language!" Oxton slapped Ross' face playfully. I sighed and shook my head. "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna let you destroy it." I said. "Or what?" Ross stood up. "You know what." I edged my fingers to the ignition and smirked. "Kelly..." Twilight tried to talk me out of it. Ross just glared and readied is scythe. I smirked, and I could feel that Banno was smirking too. "Hen-" Just then I heard sirens wailing. I turned around and saw two police cars pull onto the front lawn of the school. One of the cops came out. It was Soarin' as he pointed a gun at me. "Jetstorm Silverbolt! Twilight Sparkle! You two are under arrest!" Soarin' shouted. I groaned and raised my hands. Twilight just raised my arms with eyebrows raised, shivering a bit. "Oh for what now?" I muttered. "Murder." Soarin' said with a glare. "Excuse me?" I asked. "W-what?" Miss Oxton muttered. Ross only gave a sigh. "Officer, we never killed anyone! What makes you think-" Twilight protested, but Soarin' cut her off. "You're under arrest for the murder of Shigekiyo Yangu. Or at the very least, assault and fourth-degree murder." Soarin' said. I then realized who he spoke of. The fat man I fought at the field. I sighed and simply held my hands up. "Ah shit. Okay. Let's go." I came over to him. He simply frowned. "... I had so much faith in you." He said as he took me to the car and slapped the cuffs on me. "I know." I said. Another cop, Spitfire, came over to apprehend Twilight. "But we didn't-" "Save it for when we get to the station. Miranda rights and all th- Hey, do we even have Miranda rights here?" I asked. "You have the right to remain silent until-" Soarin' said before I cut him off. "Okay, just wanted to know." With that, I stayed silent as he tossed me and Twilight into the car and drove off. "... What just happened?" Oxton said. "What do you think? Kelly murdered someone. And I'm not going to let Sunset fall down the same path." Ross tried to jump off the roof, but he soon heard the sound of wire zipping through as he was suddenly tackled. "Ross!" Niko shouted to him. "W-what the?!" Ross exclaimed. "Ross, we don't have time. I have to warn you and Kelly about-" That's when Niko turned around and saw Kelly in the police car as it drove away. "What the hell happened!?" Niko said. "Kelly got arrested for murder." Ross said. "W-what!? How?" Niko said. "Dunno. You're the one who stuck that psychopath on her waist." Ross said. "She chose him! I was offering her something completely different! You saw, right?" Niko said. "I'm sorry... what's going on here?" Oxton asked. Niko and Ross took a moment before Niko sighed. "Okay... Let's convene somewhere... quieter." Niko said. Though Ross didn't seem to think that the Rabbit Hole would qualify as 'quiet'. Music blared loudly as people constantly chattered about random stuff. It didn't help that glasses were being slammed down as the words CHUG echoed throughout the bar and pool balls clattered. Ross, Niko, and Oxton were sitting in a booth, Oxton and Ross sitting next to each other with Niko sitting parallel. "And that'll be all, thanks." Niko slipped a gold coin into the waitress' hand. "No problem." She bowed and walked away. "So... you and Ross aren't from this world." Oxton held a cup of coffee in her hands and sipped it. "Yep. We're just people who've been Displaced." Niko said. "Displaced... I heard that term before." Oxton said. "It's getting tossed around here and there. No thanks to Foundation X." Niko said. "Foundation X?" Ross asked. "Yeah. They're an organization I've been assigned to keep a close eye on. They're the reason why Kelly was put here in the first place." Niko said before taking a swig of some hard lemonade. "What do you mean?" Ross asked. "Foundation X... They're the reason the Roidmudes are here. I sent Kelly to go take care of them and it seems you got wrapped up in the chaos." Niko said. "... Why? Why did you let Kelly fight?" Ross asked Niko as he went over the table and grabbed him by the collar. "Because of you, she's killed someone!" He growled. "Ross! Calm down!" Oxton tried to pull back Ross. Niko shook his head. "She didn't kill him though. I saw who murdered him." Niko shoved Ross off and he fell down back to his seat. "... The man who murdered him was my Displacer." Ross blinked. "You were a Displaced as well?" Ross asked. "We're not so different, huh? Not all Displacers are Gods bored with life and wanted to fuck around with life... Pardon my French." He said to Oxton. "But my Displacer... he's worse. He is perhaps the very personification of darkness. He doesn't care for anyone else. We can't apprehend him, but we can clear Kelly's name." Niko said. "And how do you know this? For all I know, you're lying to me." Ross said. "I would never lie about something this serious... But, you have a point. Which is why you'll have to see it for yourself." Niko then handed a slip of paper to Ross. "The man was murdered outside Everton. You'll find security footage inside." Niko then got up. "Why can't you do it?" Ross asked before giving the slip of paper back. "Because you need to see it with your own eyes. Besides, I scored some bad blood with the Foundation. They'd be less than thrilled to see me in their place after the shit I pulled. Not to mention the police at the crime scene." Niko said. He then left as the waitress returned with some baby back ribs. "Sir! Your ribs!" She said. "Give it to the boy in the hood." Niko said. The waitress looked to Ross, shrugged, and gave him the ribs. Ross just looked over the ribs. He simply thought of the situation he was in. Sunset's being more and more of a bitch, Kelly may or may not have murdered someone, and Niko just asked him to break into a building. He sighed. "Now I know where I heard the term before!" Oxton's cheery tone snapped him out of it though. "H-huh?" Ross asked. "Our leader, Rose... He's a Displaced." She said. "W-what?" Ross asked. "Ooh, sorry, gotta keep on the downlow..." Her voice turned into a whisper. "I'm actually a member of the Wonderbolts. You know them, right?" She asked. "Erm... somewhat..." Ross replied. "So, it turns out, Rose is a Displaced too." She then got out her phone and dialed up a number. "Huh... Small world." Ross said. Oxton waited a bit before she spoke up. "Hey, Cam! Listen, can you round up Rose and Shadow and have them rendezvous with us at Everton? Alright, perfect! See ya." She said before she hung up. "What the..." Oxton then placed a finger over Ross' lips. "Don't worry, love. The cavalry's here." She said. The lights flickered on as I sat in the interrogation room for a third time. However, I wasn't alone this time. Next to me were Twilight Sparkle and the five students who I teach. Sitting in front of me was Soarin'. I have never seen him this upset since he arrested Wind Rider. I looked around and saw the girls mostly sharing the feeling of shock, except for Rainbow Dash, whose grin was so large and wide, it felt almost unsettling. "Autopsies report that Shigekiyo died of a heart attack outside of the Everton Independent Study building, presumably caused by the stress you gave him when you were beating him up outside CHS. This is footage captured near the bleachers at the field, sent to us by an anonymous tip." Soarin' took out an iPad which showed footage recorded from the bleachers of us fighting the little fat man. "Well, have you seen the part where he started it?" Applejack scowled. "The video began with you guys already in the middle of the fight. As such, we can only take evidence from what we're seeing and not some word from the accused." As I observed the footage, I realized that the little men, those Harvests, were not seen. Plus I had high doubts that Fluttershy's newfound ability could let Soarin' see them. The scene where Applejack hit me was seen. Applejack extended her arm to the screen. "Well, what about that? Aren't you gonna ask why I hit her?" Applejack asked. "I would, but I would also ask about what went on with this." The next bit had Pinkie teleporting to me as we punched the fat man in the face. "Oooh, yeah, that's our new abil-" Twilight then held Pinkie's mouth closed. Soarin' merely glared at the two. "Well, what about when he held the professor and Pinkie hostage?" Rainbow Dash said as the footage then went to me and Pinkie standing perfectly still while a single red jewel floated over to the fat man. "Didn't look like that to me. In fact, it looked like you pretty much blew him up." Cue the exploding jewel. "And don't get me started on this little line:" The camera then zoomed in as it focused on me attempting to use the Tridoron Shift Car. "Allow us to finish him off." I shuddered as I heard myself and Banno say that. "You guys didn't go through with it, thankfully, but the wounds he had seemed to have caused him to die of a heart attack. Thus, fourth-degree murder." Soarin' said. "But we didn't kill him!" Rainbow Dash said. I sighed and spoke up. "Fourth degree means we killed the guy on accident without any intent to kill him in the first place." I said. Soarin' simply nodded to me before I shut myself up. "Now, you'll be put in jail for approximately 48 hours. At which time you will either obtain a lawyer or have one be given to you by the court of law. After that, the trial will commence, which will be pretty lengthy. Because a lot of you are minors, I'd expect something like six months of community service or juvenile detention, but in the case of your teacher here." He looks to me. "The sentence might be heavier. We're talking years in prison..." He frowned again. That's when I heard the door knocking. Soarin' turned around as he saw the door fling open. "Wait, dad!" It was Flash Sentry. I saw Twilight blush a little as I rolled my eyes. "Son, what are you doing here? This is official police business! You should be in bed!" Soarin' said. "I looked at the autopsy reports you left on the table and-" Flash held up the folder with the words detailing the victim's name, date of death, and cause of death. "You what?! Look, this is very serious stuff, you shouldn't be handling..." Soarin' said, though Flash ignored him and slammed the folder on the table, causing the photos of the deceased fatty to slide out. Upon close inspection, the wounds that I saw on him were not on his body. "If he indeed died from the wounds, then why are there none on these photos?" Flash said. Soarin' stammered a bit. "And who gave you the video footage? It seemed awfully coincidental that this was even recorded from such a convenient enough place." Flash said. Soarin' took the photos and scooped them back into the folder. "These shouldn't be questions you should be asking." I get chills every time Soarin' sounds more and more serious. I never thought I would say this, but I wanted the silly Soarin' back. "It's the police's job to find out those answers. You have your own answers to find." He said. "Like what happened to my mom?" Flash said. An air of silence filled the room as Soarin' sighed. "Like how you're going to graduate from school if you're spending time being awake when you should be asleep." He patted Flash on the back and pushed him out of the room. "Now go back to the house. I have to finish up the interrogation." Soarin' said as he shut the door. He paused for a bit before he turned around. "...This is out of my hands. I have questions about this myself, but the only way I'll find them out is if you guys get on your best behaviour and go through the court. Hopefully the judge will have a better idea on what's going on." With that, Flash took the folder, shut off the iPad, and walked out of the room. I sighed and leaned back against the chair. "This can't be happening... I can't go to jail!" Twilight said. "Well, it's like he said: out of our hands." I threw my hands up said. "No, you don't understand! I need to..." I noticed Twilight look around before going silent. "I really need to go to school..." Twilight just said. I shook my head. "Hey, Kel, you can bust us out, right?" Rainbow Dash asked me. "Erm... What?" I asked. "That belt of yours, you can just become Golden Drive and get us out of here, right?" Rainbow Dash turned her head to me. I sat up straight and focused on Dash. "No. I will not let us be fugitives." I said. "But it may be inevitable..." Banno piped up. Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy got up in surprise and looked at the belt as Banno's face appeared. I just facepalmed. "Banno, girls. Girls, Banno." I said. That's when Fluttershy poked the belt. "Quit it!" Banno said. "You're the voice that came from our teacher when she tried to fire that gun at me..." Fluttershy said. Applejack merely looked at me before I glance back with a dull look. "Yeah, Banno's the reason why I get a little... ruthless." I said. "Sure, blame me and not yourself. Last I checked, you enjoyed the previous times we fought together. You liked the ruthlessness." Banno chuckled. "And try as he might, I'm not gonna cut any Gordian knots with him. If we're going to get out of here, we're gonna get out the old fashioned way." I said. "Staging a prison break?" Rainbow Dash smiled. "... Waiting for a trial and hope the judge and jury don't have us meet the executioner." I said. Rainbow Dash sat back in her seat and frowned. "Can we have Banno please?" Rainbow Dash said. "He's cool." "He's the guy who considered chopping off your arm!" I barked. "Really? I'm pretty sure you thought of it first." Banno said. With that, there was a long moment of silence before I exhaled. "... Yes. I did. If only to save you, Rainbow. Every evil act I did was to protect other people." I felt a tear go down my cheek as I began to say something I never thought I would say. "But... If I were to ever be as ruthless as Banno without the good intent that I have..." I looked to Applejack, then to Rainbow Dash, then passed a glance to Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and finally Twilight. "I want you all to put me out of my misery, then destroy the belt." I said. The girls gasped. "H-heh... Like that's gonna be easy." Banno was pretty good at hiding his cowardice through arrogance. "Kel, we can't do that to you. You know that!" Applejack said. "Then what choice do you have? You're just gonna let me be a monster then!?" I asked them. "Kelly..." That's when Twilight placed a hand on my shoulder. "I once knew a pon... A person, who succumbed to dark forces, but me and my friends were able to save her without killing her. We were able to make her remember who she was. If you ever feel like this will happen to you... I'll make sure to free you." Twilight said. I notice her frown. I took a moment and sighed. "Thank you. And I apologize for not helping you with your thing... As well as getting you into this mess. In fact..." That's when I thought of something. "You never actually partook in the fight." I said. "You're right. I didn't." Twilight said. So why are you lumped in with us? I thought. I didn't want to smirk, I didn't want to clamp my hands into fists, and I didn't want to do anything that would be a dead giveaway to what I was thinking, lest the girls conclude with the same thing. All I just said to them was something simple: "We just need to have faith now." Flash Sentry sat by the desk of where his father would work at as Soarin' walked over to him. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Flash asked. "Dad, I know you think Twilight killed that guy, but the evidence just isn't there." Flash said. "How the hell did you know about this? This is supposed to be classified." Soarin' said. "You gave the girls one phone call, right?" Flash said. "... You gave her your number?" Soarin' asked. "... Y-yeah." Flash blushed. "She's sort of my type, you know? Nice, smart, a little on the funny side." Flash then took out a locket. "Sort of like mom, you know?" He opened it as it showed a woman with short light blue hair tied in pigtails and dark blue skin covered by orange and gold street clothes. Flash smiled a little as Soarin' patted Flash on the shoulder. "Even though I don't know her... I miss her, you know?" Flash said. Soarin' shed a tear as he spoke up. "I know." He said. Soarin' stretched his arms. "She's that new kid that was gonna go for the Fall Formal, right?" "Yeah... Awfully convenient that she got arrest..." Flash then got up and blinked. "ed..." Flash then went into a thousand yard stare as Soarin' looked at him. "Flash? Flash, you okay?" Soarin' said. In Flash's mind, thousands of pictures swirling around him. Scenes of Twilight in the school, vowing to become the next Princess of the Fall Formal, followed shortly by Sunset Shimmer, eventually playing the video of Twilight's fail on the computer. As soon as he saw a picture of the two confronting each other. "That's it..." Flash then put away the locket. "What's it?" Soarin' asked. "I'm done thinking about this." Flash then straightened up his leather jacket. "It's all come together." He said. "What are you talking about?" Soarin' asked. Flash then walked away. The only thing he said before he left was: "Dad, my brain's in top gear now." As Flash left the police station, he entered a black sedan with golden stripes that taper off into a lightning bolt, with the hood having a large blue shield with a lightning bolt over it, and drove off. Soarin' ran after him, only to be out of breath as soon as he got down the steps. "Uuugh, I knew I shouldn't have given him a car..." He said. Flash Sentry drove down the street on his car. The GPS pointing towards where Sunset Shimmer's house was. "I'm going to make her squeal like a pig!" He said as he gripped on the steering wheel. Just then, he heard a motorcycle humming besides him. He looked to the left side of him and saw Ross and Miss Oxton, clinging onto Ross, on the Rose Attacker. Ross moved his hand downward as Flash knew what he was pantomiming. He rolled down the window. "Flash Sentry! What are you doing up so late, love?" Miss Oxton said. "I have to clear Twilight's name!" Flash Sentry said. "Well, we can help. We need to go to where the guy's corpse is found and get the footage. Apparently that'll show how he really died." Ross said. "You sure about that?" Flash asked. "Better lead than no lead." Ross said. "But I have a lead: Sunset." Flash said. Ross looked down a bit before speaking up. "Well, the one we're going to is better than marching right up to someone's house and confronting them on something they'll easily deny." Ross said. Flash thought a bit about it before nodding. "Alright, let's go. Where to?" He asked. The Everton Independent Study Building was surrounded to the brim with cop cars as "CRIME SCENE" ticker tape strewn across the entrance way. Flash and Ross parked their vehicles a stone's throw away from the building and walked over to it. "So... How the hell are we gonna break into the place?" Ross asked Flash. "Easy. Watch and-" Flash tried to look for any officer he could say hello to, but the area was scarce. The cars had no lights on and the ticker tape fluttered about. Ross looked around as well. "Where is everyone?" Miss Oxton asked. "I dunno. Cops don't leave crime scenes unattended, especially murders." Flash said. Ross stood his ground. "Be ready for anything." Ross said. Just then, the doors outside Everton opened up as Double Diamond walked out of it, his hands folded behind his back as he had a nice smile on. "Welcome, welcome! I apologize for the appearance." Double Diamond said as he stepped over the chalk outline of the fat man. "Cops don't clean up after themselves." "For good reason." Flash glared at Double Diamond. Miss Oxton walked to Double Diamond. "I was taking two of my students on a tour to Everton. I realize the timing's a little bad, but-" "No, don't worry! Everything's perfectly fine!" Double Diamond prepped himself up. "He says as he stands on a crime scene." Flash Sentry rolled his eyes. "Come in! Come in!" Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry walked around the crime scene before entering the doors, with Ross and Miss Oxton doing the same. "You have picked a great time to take a trip here. Everton has received a huge amount of funds from a very well-versed foundation and has picked me to be the overseer of the project we're working on." Double Diamond said as he walked the three down a large hallway full of windows, each either peeking into an empty lab or a padded room. "And that project being?" Flash asked. "A project that had been a long time in the making, but we're finally cracking the code on." Double Diamond said. "Just tell us what it is..." Flash rolled his eyes. "The project was based off a few observances we've made over the past few years. People would just randomly disappear from their homes and end up in different parts of... Well, do you believe in the multiverse theory?" Double Diamond turned around and stopped. "Yeah. Every decision you make creates a different universe." That's when Double Diamond laughed at Flash's statement. "Yes, that's the simpleton version of it, but it is just a small idea in a much grander theory. See, you may think we're crazy, but we have proof that our Earth is just one of many different worlds." Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry blinked, then glanced a bit while folding his arms. "Okay then, what proof do you have?" Flash asked. "Do you recall the Everton Eruption?" Double Diamond asked. Flash just raised an eyebrow. "N-no... But it's familiar..." Flash asked. "The Everton Eruption, that's the event when one of the Everton research faculties collapsed in on itself seventeen years ago, right?" Miss Oxton asked. "Yes. It's been so long ago, I'm surprised someone can remember it." Double Diamond said. "... Well, it's easy if you were in it." Oxton muttered. "Ah... My condolences. It was as much a tragedy on Everton's part as it was on yours, Miss Oxton." Double Diamond said. Oxton just smiled and waved her hand. "Eh, don't sweat it. It was an accident." She said. Ross noticed the muscles in Double Diamond's lips struggled to keep straight. "So... This eruption, how does it confirm the multiverse theory?" Ross asked. "Well, from my research, it was what happened during that very incident that confirmed it. Everton was working on a means to create teleportation from one space to another and-" Double Diamond was soon interrupted. "And let me guess... The experiment failed and caused someone to be caught in some void?" Ross asked. "Well, you're right about the void part. The problem was that it didn't fail. They succeeded." Double Diamond said. The three looked to each other before Flash asked. "What do you mean, succeed?" Flash asked. "Imagine, if you will, a space in between spaces. A void... The experiment was to ensure that they could 'scoop' into the void and be flung into another space entirely. Well, they got their void..." Double Diamond said. Oxton's jaw dropped. "You... You're telling me that... the Eruption was not a disaster but some... experiment?" Oxton asked. "Yes. A successful one at that. The only problem is how it managed to go so horribly wrong..." Double Diamond said. "Maybe it's because these guys were dabbling in shit that shouldn't be messed with?" Ross glared. "I can't blame them for what they did. We all have burning questions to be answered. That's actually the project we're working on right now: Project Tataricus. Our objective is to find out why the Eruption happened and how we can improve upon it." Double Diamond said. "..." Ross simply gave a glance towards the white-haired man. "I can see you don't trust us. Why don't I let you guys take a stroll in the facility? They always say seeing brand new technology can open up people's eyes." Double Diamond said as he patted Ross on the back. Ross could feel Crescent Rose being pressed onto his back as he saw him smile. "Oooh, what do I feel here?" He then let his hand go from the weapon and began to walk away. "Such splendid technology. Perhaps you could show it to one of our specialists in the Research Room? It's down the hall, to your left." He said. Ross and Oxton glanced at each other as Flash ran to catch up to Double Diamond. Ross and Oxton walked down the hall. "So... Good guess, Ross." Oxton said. "Wasn't a guess. Back in my world, there was a movie with a similar premise. Scientists were working on a means of teleportation and experimented with a human being..." As he walked forward, he frowned. "She never returned." Ross said. "So... What you're thinking is something similar happened?" Oxton asked. Ross nodded. "And... if it is like that... Then I'm worried." Ross said. "About?" Oxton asked. "This... Eruption... How many people were lost?" Ross asked. "It's not much Ross, only a few people." She said. "... You think someone would be upset if they found out the true origins of this incident?" Ross asked. "Well, I'm kinda ticked, but it's in the past and, truth be told, I'm a better person because of it." Oxton said. "Yeah... But some people just... don't move on from stuff like that, y'know?" Ross said. Oxton then frowned. "I know..." She said. "Double Diamond!" Flash Sentry ran to Double Diamond before he ran out of breath. The two were in the middle of a lunch room. Double Diamond sat down on one of the tables while Flash sat parallel to him. "So, what curiosities do you have in mind?" Double Diamond asked. "... Foundation X... Do they have anything to do with this Golden Drive that's running around? Or Everton?" Flash asked. "Huh... Why do you ask that?" Double Diamond shrugged. "I dunno. It's been a few months since Golden Drive started showing up out of the blue, and your talk about other universes has me wondering if Golden Drive had anything to do with it." Flash said. "No. We have no affiliation with Golden Drive." Double Diamond said. He then leaned in and glared. "And I wouldn't affiliate with her if I were you." He said. "Are you... threatening me?" Flash raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm warning you. Golden Drive is what we here at Foundation X call a Kamen Rider." Double Diamond said. "Kamen? I don't think I heard the term." Flash Sentry said. "Kamen is, in a language from another universe, Masked. Makes sense, right? The guy is masked and rides an ATV?" Double Diamond said. Flash Sentry nodded. "But why should I not trust her? She seems to be doing good." Flash Sentry said. Double Diamond sighed and pulled out an iPad. He turned it to Flash Sentry and began to show him some video footage. "My name is Kamen Rider Eternal. I have the fate of the GaiaMemories in the grip of my hand." The video showed a man, cloaked in white armor with blue flamed gloves, a cape, and a bandolier. His mask was also white, with three prongs on the top of his helmet and golden eyes underlined with black. Standing by him were four similar people, though they looked less like the man and more like the monstrous Roidmudes that attacked the city. "This was taken six years ago. A man calling himself Kamen Rider held an entire city hostage and nearly destroyed it before being put down." Double Diamond said. "And what of the other guys?" Flash pointed to the four monsters standing by his side. "No. They're not Kamen Riders. Only the man in the middle was." Double Diamond said. He then swiped to the left and displayed footage of another Kamen Rider. "The time has come..." The Kamen Rider could have been mistaken for a magician had it not been for the helmet. He had white robes with gold linings, while his helmet seemed to look like an orange jewel carved out to resemble a face, with silver lines to make out eyes. He had a golden ring on which he had placed over his belt. As he did that, the sky became dark as a solar eclipse seemingly came out of nowhere. "This was three years ago. A man discovered magic, declared himself a Kamen Rider, and created an eclipse for a dark ritual that nearly killed hundreds, if not thousands. This was also stopped." Double Diamond said. "So... if we leave Golden Drive unchecked, she could cause some damage?" Flash Sentry asked. Double Diamond chuckled. "Worse..." He then played another video. This time, it was a reddish-orange Kamen Rider with golden horns running out of the flames. Flash had no time to pick up any additional features as vines began to emerge from the Rider's chest before overtaking his entire body. As the vines disappeared, the Rider had changed to something barely resembling a Kamen Rider. It was a monster who kept its red armor, but added a yellow plated chest. Replacing the Viking horns were two long black ram-like horns. Its hellish blue eyes seared itself into Flash's soul. "KAZURABA!!!" It roared as it continued its run unfazed. "She'll become a monster if left unchecked." As the video played, the monster called out something, that's when he saw another Kamen Rider. This one was wearing orange armor not unlike that of a samurai and had golden pointed horns. "Wait, that one's fighting the monster..." Flash pointed to the orange Rider as the two clashed. "So... Does that mean there's good Kamen Riders?" Flash asked. Double Diamond nodded. "Yes... But..." He closed his eyes and played another video, interrupting the fight between the samurai and the monster. In its place were two other Riders fighting, or rather, the climax of a fight. "You'd say you'd do whatever it took for my friend, right?" The Kamen Rider that was talking was brightly colored compared to the other three Flash saw, all blue with golden shoulder pads and glittery bits of silver to resemble stars. His helmet resembled that as well, with two golden horns looking like two meteors. He held a rod and began to strike at what appeared to be an astronaut, though the similar eye shapes confirmed that it was a Kamen Rider. "Then do what has to be done! Die for me, Kisaragi!" The blue Rider shouted as he leaped in the air and kicked the astronaut. The kick was so hard that it actually changed the astronaut's armor, changing from a bulky silver armor to a slimmer, white one. The blue Rider picked up the other Rider and with one punch, knocked all the energy out from him and reducing the astronaut to a human form... It was something that caused Flash to bite his lip. The rider was a teenager who looked to be Flash's age. Tears rolled from Flash's eyes as he saw the teen fall in front of what appeared to be his friends. Double Diamond stopped the video. "It always happens... Riders will die to other Riders. It's a cruel game if you ever decide to play it. That's why you must stay away from this Golden Drive at all costs." Double Diamond said as he closed the video and put away his iPad. "Kamen Riders... They've done nothing but destroy. Foundation X always comes across them, as if we're inevitably tied to a cross of fire. The best I can do is to get you away from that cross." With that, Double Diamond walked away. Flash shook a bit before he got up and looked around. "So, Miss Oxton... The Wonderbolts. What about them?" Ross asked Miss Oxton as they went down the hall. "Well... The Wonderbolts are an elite group of people who have powers and use them to protect people." Miss Oxton said. "So... How come you're not fighting the Roidmudes?" Ross asked. "Come again?" Miss Oxton asked. "The Roidmudes... These robots that stop time. You know the massacre at CHS?" Ross asked. "Oh... Yeah." Miss Oxton frowned. "The Headmaster brought that up as a reason for my presence at CHS. To prevent that from happening again." "... That's the reason for my presence too." Ross said. "So... The Headmaster sent you too..." Miss Oxton said. She then stretched her arms and placed the hands at the back of her head. "You must be pretty cool for him to notice you." She said. "Yeah... Hey, Miss Oxton, do you have any idea what this guy looks like?" Ross asked. "Hmmm... Nah. He just sends us messages through our Principal, Mr. Rainheart." Miss Oxton said. "Ah... Thought you'd have an idea." Ross said. Oxton looked to him. "Do you have an idea?" She asked. "Yeah... But it's more of a familiar feeling than anything else... You know when you have déjà vu, but you're so sure that you aren't experiencing something a second time?" Ross asked. "Mmm... Sorta, love..." She said. "I feel that too..." Ross frowned as he could hear a voice in his head: "You want to come to my school?" He slowly smiled, a sense of joy entering his body. "As for why we weren't fighting these Roidmudes... There's something a little more pressuring that we face." Oxton said. "Huh?" Ross asked. "Not sure if you noticed, but after the massacre, monsters began coming outta the woodwork. We Wonderbolts were prepared for them more than we're prepared for these Roidmudes." She said. "Monsters... You mean, the Creatures of Grimm?" Ross asked. "Huh, so you know of them too." Oxton said. She then smiled. "We could use another member. Cam's just our eye in the sky, so our active members are just three right now." She said. "You... want me to join the Wonderbolts?" Ross asked. "Yep! I'm sure you can be as great a member as I am!" Oxton said. "Thanks... but... I'm having trouble fighting my own monsters." Ross said. "The Roidmudes." Oxton patted Ross on the back. "No... It's my friends. Both of them." Ross said. "Don't worry, Ross. You'll be able to handle it. First, we'll clear Kelly's name, then you'll deal with your other friend." She said. "What about you?" Ross asked. "Well, this is a problem you need to handle. I'm acting mostly as a security guard for the Formal." Oxton said. "So what am I supposed to do!? She's doing bad things because of this stupid crown and I need to stop her!" Ross asked her. "Well... She's your friend, right? I'm sure you can remind her of that." Oxton said. "... I guess I could..." Ross said. That's when Ross stopped and began to sniff. "You smell that?" Ross asked. "Y-yeah. I do..." Miss Oxton then walked over to a janitor's closet and slowly opened the door. The corpse of a police officer flopped out as Oxton jumped out. Ross took out Crescent Rose as it transformed into its scythe mode. "Well, well, well... To think I'd keep this hospitable charade for a little while longer." Ross and Oxton turned to face Double Diamond, with half a dozen people wearing the Foundation X uniform standing behind him. "What is this!?" Oxton asked. "Just someone whose nose was getting too close to the truth. I'm disappointed our janitor just stuffed the corpse instead of cleaning it like we requested. Well, I guess I'll have to take out the trash myself. Men!" Double Diamond said. The Foundation X members all took out what appeared to be USBs with a ribcage design, all having the same symbol of a sinister looking mask in the shape of an M. They all pressed on a button located on the USB. MASQUERADE! They all shoved it into their necks as the USB changed their skin and face to resemble a black mask being laid over them. Its designs bearing resemblance to a ribcage, with some of the middle bones bent to resemble the shape of eyes. "Oh, and don't worry about your friend. We'll take care of him as well..." Double Diamond smirked as Ross and Oxton posed, ready to fight. Flash looked around the facility until he came across a door labeled SECURITY. Looking at the door, he gained a smirk and entered the room. He looked around for any computers or server consoles in the dark area. That's when he found it. A computer console with a glowing blue screen. He went over to it and scrubbed through footage from a few hours ago. "Hello there. You remember me, don't you? It's been such a long time since we last saw each other..." Flash could see the footage of the white-haired man in black crocodile leather approach Shigekiyo. "This place held me prisoner for seventeen damn long years. I really don't want you to be subject to the same experiments I was put through." Flash raised an eyebrow. Seventeen years... Where has he heard that timespan before? He saw more of the footage, such as the man healing Shigekiyo and even offering him a bar of solid gold. That was before Shigekiyo seemingly rejected his offer and got his heart ripped out. Flash retched a bit before remembering why he came. He took out a flash drive from his jacket, a standard requirement for students to have in the digital age nowadays, and plugged it into the computer, copying the footage over to his USB Drive. He then pulled it out and turned around, only to find Starlight Glimmer behind him. "Ah!" He screamed a bit before Starlight patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, it's okay." Starlight said. "Who are you? Are you with Foundation X?" Flash asked. She shook her head. "I work for Everton. I'm currently heading Project Tataricus." She said. "... The Eruption..." Flash muttered. "Yes, I'm trying to find out the cause of it." Starlight said. "So you can improve upon their failures, right?" Flash asked. "Well... No. Double Diamond sees some potential in improving on a broken formula, but me? I just... I just want closure." Starlight said. "Closure? For what?" Flash asked. Starlight then unveiled her white lab coat and took out what looked to be a slab of black plastic with silver lining the edges of it. She gave it to Flash as he looked at the prominent feature: a golden knife just hanging by the side of an octagonal gap. "People have lost so much that day. I need to find out why and how so that these mistakes never happen again. One day, you'll understand." Starlight said as Flash observed the device. She then gave him one more device: an orange padlock. "Until then, use these to keep yourself alive. The world's growing more and more dangerous by the second and eventually the very foundations of our city will fall." She said. "... Is this a threat?" Flash asked. "No. It's a warning." Starlight Glimmer said. "You guys always insist it as such." Flash said. Starlight then smiled. "I want to prepare you for when it falls." With that, she turned around and left the room. Flash ran after her, getting out into the halls as well. He looked around. Seemed she had vanished. "Hey!" Flash turned around and saw a bulky security guard come to him. He backed away, then turned around and ran. He would have gotten far... FLASH Had he not felt as though his legs were not weighed down by a strange force. The weird part was that he felt this effect a couple of times before. Once when his school was attacked by a squad of killer robots, the other when Golden Drive made her debut. He turned around and, sure enough, he saw the guard change his body to that of a robot. His body had four pink tubes that connected themselves to four large silos on his shoulders. There were several holes peppered around its body, though lined up in a straight line, five on his chest, three on his stomach, with a green gem centered in the middle of the body. It had only one green eye in its dead center. "Found the intruder... Now, to eliminate him." He said as he thrusted his body. Flash suddenly had darts pierce his back and knocking him down, though the density caused him to fall slowly. He screamed in pain as the robot marched forward, ready to send another volley. Flash tried to push himself up, but the pressure of the Slowdown kept him down. "Don't struggle... It's only gonna make it worse." He said. As Flash grunted, he gripped onto the padlock that he held in his hand. As he did, he pressed a button that made the lock pop open. ORANGE! Suddenly, an orange wave of light particles flashed from the lock, pushing the Roidmude back and cancelling its Slowdown. "H-How are you able to..." The Roidmude looked at Flash as he got up, holding the open lock. Flash then looked at the slab that was also given to him. He recalled how the device seemed similar to the belts that the Riders he saw in the videos had. With a grunt, he slapped the device on his waist, creating a yellow strap that came out of one side of the belt and towards the other side. With the orange lock, he placed it onto the belt and closed the lock. As he did, it created a Japanese trumpet melody. "Y-you're a..." The Roidmude muttered as Flash just glared. There was now one thing to left to try out on the device: The knife attached to the belt. He flicked the knife, cutting the orange padlock and splitting it in two, showing two pictures on the padlock's top and bottom halves. The top half had what appeared to be an orange cut down the middle while the bottom half had a sword with its blade being what appeared to be a slice of orange. As he cut the lock, a small splash of orange juice came out of the lock. SOIYA! ORANGE SLICE! CUT THROUGH... TWICE! Appearing in Flash's hands were two daggers, as shown on the padlock's picture. Flash looked at the sword's orange blade. "Seriously?" He asked. He then snapped his attention to the Roidmude as he ran towards him. Flash ran his daggers through the Roidmude, causing minimal sparks. The Roidmude backed up before he grunted. "No... You're not a Kamen Rider..." He asked. "No. And I will never be that kind of monster. This is my game now... and the rules just changed!" Flash declared as he rushed forward. The Roidmude just scoffed and fired his darts at Flash again. While Flash managed to end up being fast enough to cut down the darts, several of them did hit him in the legs, causing him to go down. The Roidmude walked over to Flash, picked him up, and fired point blank at his chest. Flash coughed up some blood as the Roidmude tossed him away. The Roidmude then flexed his chest as the pink covers of his silo opened up, revealing four warheads. "Now... die!" The Roidmude shouted as he fired the warheads at Flash. As they hit him, the missiles exploded. The Roidmude chuckled and turned around, only to cock his head back and notice the smoke clear. "What!?" To his surprise, Flash was not a smoldering pile of gibs, rather, a new person appeared, one he hasn't seen before. The woman had blonde hair, swept downwards to partially cover one of her eyes. Her uncovered eye was blood red. Other than the inhuman eye, though, her appearance was fairly human. Her clothing was a white dress with purple inner sleeves and a brown belt slung around her waist. She turned to Flash and waved her hand, his wounds closing up and healing. Her face looked familiar to Flash, even if her hair and skin were different coloring. "M-mom?" Flash asked. She shook her head. "Be warned..." She said to him as she gave him her hand. Flash could hear her soft voice echo in his head. He then struggled to get up. "You're about to go down a path that is not to be taken by normal humans... If you wish to continue, then allow me to help you." Her red eye flashed as a vine began to grow near her feet, growing large purple fruit. She then picked up the fruit and gripped it tightly until it changed into an identical orange padlock. "Hey! This doesn't concern you!" The Roidmude shouted. "Silence." The woman said as she flicked her wrist, knocking the Roidmude down with an invisible force. She continued to look to Flash. "Now... Take this Lockseed, and you will continue down this path as a Kamen Rider, destined to protect your friends, your family, and even your world from the threats that will try to dye everything in their image..." She said. Flash just looked at the padlock in her hands... Before he slapped it out of her hand. "No." He said. "What?" The woman asked. "I'm not gonna succumb to being a monster like those other Riders. If I am to protect my friends and family, I'll do so as a human!" He said. The woman merely frowned. "Have you've seen your own limitations? If you continue to fight like this, you'll die." She said. "I don't care. I've seen the end results of being a Rider and I can safely say that I'd rather die a human than go down that path." Flash said. The woman merely shed a tear before nodding. "If that is what you wish..." She said. As she tried to leave, Flash handed her the USB. "While you're here though... If I am to die, fulfill my last wish... Give this to my father." Flash said. "You..." The Roidmude growled as the woman nodded. She created a zipper in the middle of a wall. The zipper seemed to be a portal to another world, one filled with forests and trees. She walked through it as the zipper closed. "You just made the dumbest decision of your life! Now you really are gonna die!" "Did you not hear what I said? If it means not being a monster like what I've seen, then I'll gladly die protecting the people I love!" With that, Flash rushed forward, daggers plunging right into the Roidmude's warheads. Ross and Oxton pounded their way out of the crowd of Masqueraded Foundation X members, Ross cutting them down with his scythe and Oxton shooting at them with her pistols. The people who were hit went down before fading away into black smoke, not unlike the Grimm. Despite this though, Ross winced. More Masquerades rushed in to attack, firing guns towards the two. Ross ran in the way of Oxton, taking the brunt of the bullets. "Ross!" Oxton said, though she noticed that he was unscathed. Despite this, she rushed in, firing her pistols before twirling them to have them cool down. The men who shot at Ross went down, also dissolving into smoke. She then rushed at the remaining crowd, only to disappear and reappear behind them. Shortly afterwards, she disappeared in a small air bubble before reappearing besides Ross. She smirked. "You guys need a time out." That's when the members noticed a bomb planted by their feet. Sadly, it was too late as the bomb blew them to smithereens. As the mixture of blue and black smoke cleared, Double Diamond remained. Oxton aimed her pistols at him. "Give it up, Double Diamond! There's nowhere for you to run!" She said. Double Diamond just chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, believe me. I have no intention of running." Double Diamond then walked towards the two. "You see, Double Diamond already ran. I'm just here to cover for him." He said. Ross backed away and readied his scythe. "So... That cop... You just set him up for us to find..." Oxton said. "Yep. Nosy people need to be punished." With a smirk, his body dissolved into a blur of pixels. Ross fired at the blur as they shifted to a shape that was more familiar to Ross: a Spider-Class Roidmude. The Roidmude flicked his wrists as Slowdown commenced. However, Ross ran to the Roidmude and began to slash at him with the scythe. To his surprise, though, there was a blur of blue light as Oxton joined the battle, punching the Roidmude along with Ross' slashes. "Miss Oxton? You can move in Slowdown too?" Ross asked. "Well, I would say move at super-fast speeds, but-" Ross just nodded. "I get it." Ross knocked the Roidmude back with his scythe. "Our speed is able to push past the Slowdown, enabling us to move like they do." Ross said. "So... these are the Roidmudes you're talking about?" Oxton asked. "Yeah." The Roidmude ran towards them, only for Ross and Oxton to fire at him with their guns. "Well, I'm glad to have a speedy guy by my side. Codename's Tracer." She extended her hand to him. "We should get one for you too. Rose is already taken sadly." She smirked. "... How about Ruby?" Ross asked as he shook her hand. "That works!" Tracer said. Just then, the Roidmude rushed at the two, grabbing them by the throats. As he held them by the throats, their skin slowly began to change color from the bottom up, turning from their normal skin color to a more reddish color, akin to a rash. "I'm going to silence you two..." He said. Just then, he noticed a red laser heading towards him. "What the!?" He noticed it too late as it hit him, causing the particles to die down and knocking Ross and Tracer to the ground. The two struggled to get up as a man walked to the two of them. The man had tanned skin with hazel eyes and was wearing a white button shirt with a pocket and brown cargo pants. He had short black hair and was wearing a necklace holding three dog tags, one with an upside down lightning bolt engraved to it, the other a shooting star, and the last being a heart with wings. He held a red and silver laser pistol. Tracer looked up. "Rose! You're here!" Tracer said. "Where's Shadow?" "Shadow's busy taking care of some mooks outside the building. You really got yourself in trouble here. Fortunately, I'm here now." Rose said. He then stepped forward, his black army boots pressing against the floor. "Another one!? Well, might as well just kill you all!" The Roidmude asked. Rose flinched somewhat. Ross could definitely see something in Rose. A sense of fear, perhaps. However, Rose quickly glared at the Roidmude before giving a smirk. Ross looked at the man's smirk and could feel that it was just one shade away from being an outright sadistic smile. "I was always curious about one thing..." Rose stopped walking and pulled out a pink device from his wrist. While mostly pink, it had a blue LCD screen with three small buttons underneath. "Does a machine like yourself ever experience fear?" He asked. "Of course! We Roidmudes are able to copy human emotion!" He said. "... Good." Rose held the device as he placed his free hand on top of it. Ross could see a faint, reddish aura come from him. At first, Ross assumed it was akin to his Aura and that a Semblance would be shown, but he noticed the aura had tiny squares flowing from it, almost pixelly in a sense. Soon, his entire body began to morph into these pixels. "What the hell?" The Roidmude commented. Rose's body trembled. Before Ross or the Roidmude could comment, the man just gave an anguished shout: “BIO HYBRID DNA… FULL CHARGE!” The device soon spread out golden pixels as they spread out all over Rose. As the pixels began to disperse, Rose was gone. In his place was a woman dressed in a pink latex jumpsuit with a lotus-style cut on her stomach. She had pink leather gloves that reached to her shoulder as well as cables that wrapped around her arm. She also wore black thigh-high latex boots and a white petal cape. The last major detail, aside from the giant syringe that stuck behind her head, was a pink mask that hung over her face save for her mouth. The mask looked like that of a blooming rose. “BioRosemon!” She declared herself. "What the hell?" Ross echoed the Roidmude's remark for a completely different reason. Back in his world, this kind of rose monster was actually in a cartoon show about kids bonding with digital monsters. To see a real life version of it was surreal compared to the Roidmudes. "Ruby, allow me to introduce you to Rose. As you can tell from the name, he turns into a rose woman!" Tracer said. "... Please tell me there's more to it than just that." Ross said “THORN WHIP!” BioRosemon swung the cables on her arm at the Roidmude. As they connected with the Roidmude, the whips began to send off electrical shocks to it. Sparks flew a bit as the Roidmude staggered back. "D-Damn it... At this rate..." The Roidmude then took out a toy car, one that had a cockroach mounted on it with a long cape. He placed the car inside of him. As it sucked itself into the plate showing his number, a long brown cape resembling a cockroach's shell sprang out of his heck, followed shortly by his bald face being obscured by a bronze cage that concealed the entire head. He held a scythe of his own. Ross remembered this type of Roidmude as a member of the Reaper Legion. "Such an unsightly view. A weed amidst my beautiful garden of flowers. I’ll do everything in my power to pluck you out!" BioRosemon took her cable and cracked it, creating thorns on it as well as straightened it out. “ROSE RAPIER!” BioRosemon swung her newly made rapier at the scythe as the Roidmude clashed at it. While the scythe was easily the larger weapon of the two, the rapier managed to out maneuver the scythe several times before impaling right into the palm of the Roidmude and giving him another shock, causing him to drop his scythe. Before the Roidmude could reach at it, BioRosemon stomped on it with one of her heels, breaking it. She then smirked to the Roidmude as she swung her whip at the Roidmude, consistently shocking him as he grunted in pain. "Do you not see the beauty of my power?" BioRosemon held her hand to her chest, revealing a pink jewel as it began to glow. "Humans are so arrogant to believe they can achieve this power with cheap robotics." The jewel began to fly off his chest and hover outwards as she cupped the jewel with her hands. "You're better off being scrap!" BioRosemon’s outfit then exploded, her body engulfed in a pink light as she shouted out: “FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION!” She pushed her hands out as energy came out in the form of a large, pink beam that shot towards the Roidmude. The beam engulfed the Roidmude, reducing his body into rose petals as his Core, 019, slowly crumbled to dust. The beam hit the wall where it caused a hole to be made. BioRosemon smirked before her body jerked. Orange 1s and 0s began to overtake BioRosemon as her body dissolved, leaving behind Rose. He then fell over as Tracer ran to grab him, her skin and Ross' skin reverting back to normal. Ross got up as soon as he heard Rose heavily breathing. "It's okay, love. Rose is just tuckered out. It takes a lot out of him to fight." Tracer said. Ross only had his jaw drop. He had so many questions to ask... But as he saw the hole in the wall, he realized that this wasn't the time. He saw Flash staggering against what he presumed to be his would be assassin. As Flash stabbed into the warheads, the Roidmude just chuckled. "Fool! You fell right into my trap!" He then fired darts point blank at Flash's chest, knocking him down. As he tried to get up, the wall behind him was blasted apart. He didn't take a glance, focused more on defeating the Roidmude. His hand hovered over the belt before flicking the knife twice. SOIYA! ORANGE SPLIT! With blood dripping from his mouth, Flash held his two daggers as they glowed, the aura of an orange shining behind them. He raised them up and then slashed downwards. Despite being the stronger one of the two, the slashes did some damage to two of the four silos. Flash staggered and then flicked the knife once more. SOIYA! ORANGE SPLASH! He then stabbed one of his daggers right into the green gem on the Roidmude's chest. Sparks flew from the Roidmude's wounds. "Hhhnnn... How... How are you still alive!?" The Roidmude growled. "Because... I'm will not give up!" He tried to plunge the other dagger, but he fell down, only having enough strength to hold onto the dagger inside the Roidmude. "Well, I guess this is game over then..." The Roidmude was about to strike Flash when his head was suddenly blown off by a sniper rifle. His body disintegrated into rose petals as his Core, 091, floated away. Flash fell down onto the ground, his daggers transforming into orange juice as Ross ran over to him. "Flash, you idiot! You coulda gotten yourself killed!" Ross said. He winced at the many darts impaled on Flash and the blood from his mouth. "We gotta get you to a hospital!" Ross said. Flash shook his head. "N-no... I need... I need to help Twilight..." Flash said. "You can't help her if you're dead!" Ross said. That's when Oxton entered the room, Rose on her back. "Ruby, what's going... Oh God!" She gasped upon seeing Flash. "What happened, love?!" She asked. "He took on a Roidmude, that's what happened." Ross said. That's when Flash placed his hand on Ross' shoulder. "I... I found it... And I took the footage..." Flash said. "That's wonderful! But... we really need to get you patched up." Oxton said. Ross sighed. "I'll call an ambulance." Ross said as he took out his phone. The girls were fast asleep as I looked to the moonlight shining through the window in our jail cell. I looked down to Banno. Not once did I ever think of me using him to bust me or the girls out. And quite frankly, that was for the better. That's when a door opened up as Soarin' entered with a key. "Well, I have some good news. An anonymous tip left us with a USB containing video footage of Shigekiyo's death. I can't really explain it myself, but my conclusion from seeing the footage is that the reason he died of a heart attack is not due to the shock, but because someone literally ripped out his heart and crushed it." ... I took a few moments to realize Soarin' was, for the first time since meeting him, being very serious about a sentence that would otherwise pass off as one of his 'gushing about Silverbolt' moments. "We also caught some chatter between the murderer and the victim. Seems you and the girls were onto something. Apparently Everton had called for this guy and from the conversation, they seemed to be partaking in human experiments. Our culprit, or at least our lead, isn't you, thus, you and the girls are free to go." He said as he opened up our cell. That's when the phone rang. He ran over to answer. "Hello? ... What? Shit, I was just talking about that place... I'll be right over." I could hear Soarin's end of the conversation. I blinked, then looked to the sleeping girls. I gave a warm smile. We're free, and I didn't need to do anything. But it did make me think: Who cleared our names? The Woman of the Beginning sighed. She did as the boy ordered her to, much to her chagrin. For whatever reason, he refused to be a Kamen Rider, denouncing them as monsters. She had no idea why he thought that, but she knew that his mind was made up. There was a smile to her though. He wasn't going to be binding him to the road of a Kamen Rider. She stood in the middle of a closed art museum. She had visited this place a month or two ago, if only to help an actual Kamen Rider. She frowned though. She clearly wasn't the Rider the Woman of the Beginning was expecting, but she had her faith. She remembered using her ability to create cracks to this world to drop off an incomplete Lock Vehicle to the Rider in the hopes that she would complete it. The Rider seemed to handle things very well, though. The Roidmude threat was diminishing each and every day, though another sigh left her as she realized that the worst is yet to come. She could only shed a tear from her unnatural red eye and look at the painting of the King of the Forest. In particular, she focused on the red dot. To the naked eye, it seemed to just be a red dot. To someone who stared at it long enough, though, it became a sort of magic eye picture. Next to the majestic white deer stood a man in silver armor with a white cape behind him. He had blonde hair almost in the same shading as hers and like much like her, he had one natural eye and one red eye. She looked at this painting longingly, especially at the man. She then created a zipper portal behind her and just frowned. "Wait for me, Kouta... We'll save you soon..." And with that, she left the empty museum as if she never entered. Flashes of red and blue flooded the area as police and ambulance trucks stationed themselves outside of Everton's building. One of the cops exited the area. "We found some bodies. They were cops." He said. Soarin' sighed. "Get some people to extract them. We'll announce their deaths in the morning." He said. He looked to Spitfire. "Take over for me." She nodded and went forward. Soarin', meanwhile, went to his son, who was on a stretcher, bandages applied to his body. "Dad, I know what you're going to say but..." Flash could see his father shake his head. "You disobeyed my orders, recklessly went into a dangerous place, and almost got yourself killed in the process." Soarin' gave Flash a glare. "But I-" "All for the purpose of finding out the truth." He then lightly hugged Flash. "I'm proud of you, son." "... Thank you, dad..." Flash said. Soarin' let go of Flash as the latter noticed the former's eyes shedding. "Y-you're crying!" Flash chuckled. "N-no... it's liquid pride." The two then laughed. Starlight Glimmer walked down the warehouse as several Foundation X members were unloading cargo. As she did, she noticed someone behind her. "Starlight... I'm not surprised you're the last one to evacuate Everton." Double Diamond said. Starlight turned around. "I'm sorry, but that place was my facility. I didn't want to abandon it but..." She muttered. "I told you to leave immediately. Someone was gonna investigate what happened with the experiments. Then all the hard work on Project Tataricus would have been for naught." Double Diamond said. "I know..." Starlight said. "I also can't help but notice our countermeasure against the Roidmudes is gone as well." Double Diamond approached Starlight. "Must have been lost in the confusion." Starlight said. "Or... It could have been given away." Double Diamond then revealed a phone which played footage of Starlight giving away the belt to Flash. "You let this man get away. Why?" He asked. "... You and I aren't the only ones hurt by the Everton Eruption. I researched all the names of the people lost to that disaster... That boy lost his mom to that awful experiment. I consider giving him the Frubask Driver an apology of sorts." She said. "And do you think he'll forgive you when he finds out your role in this?" Double Diamond asked. "... That's what I want to know." With that, Starlight left. Double Diamond just sighed. "You know, I could just erase her for you..." An eerie and sinister voice rang behind Double Diamond as a purple-skinned man with combed back brown hair edging off into a braided pony tail approached him. He had tiny golden eyes, arched eyebrows, sported a constant evil grin, and wore the same Foundation X uniform as Double Diamond. "No. Leave her. When the police come for us, she'll be our scapegoat. No need to kill her just yet." Double Diamond said. He then glared at her. "Starlight Glimmer... What is your end game?" Rose slowly awoke on Tracer's lap as she ruffled up his hair. The two stood on top of a rooftop a block away from the Everton building. "Hey, Rosie..." She whispered. "T-tracer..." Rose said. "Don't worry. The cops are handling this now. You can rest." She said. "Good..." Rose said. "Hey, there's this guy I think would be an amazing member to our team. His name's Ruby and..." Tracer spoke to him. "Ruby you say?" That's when Tracer heard a voice she had not heard all day. She turned to see a woman who had a gray mask concealing half her face with two small slits on each side of the mask. She wore a white long coat with a black tank top underneath and a belt slung over her shoulder. A white and gold belt held up her black leather pants as she wore high heels. Contrasting the cool outfit was a cute black bow on her head. "Yeah, Shadow. He's pretty good at fighting and can move fast like I can!" Tracer said. "Yeah... he could be some help against those robots." Rose said as he got off of Tracer's lap, sitting upright. "Tell me, does this Ruby hold a scythe?" Shadow asked. "Yeah, he does! Well, it's also a gun but..." Tracer sheepishly giggled. "... I want to meet this Ruby for myself." Shadow glared. Ross drove back to Sunset's residence as he yawned. As he entered the door, he saw Sunset's mom arrive. "Ah, Ross, you're back." She said. "Did you find out what you set out for?" "Yeah... I'm gonna save Sunset Shimmer, but I'm gonna do it by being her friend." Ross said. Sunset's mom just smiled. "That would be wonderful." She said. I took the girls back to the school via the Tridoron. They seemed to have been sleeping rather soundly all things considered. I couldn't blame them. They're still teenagers, they needed the sleep. I placed the girls in individual beds in the library. At least they'll be ready for school when morning hits. Before going to sleep, I looked towards the falling moon. That's when I heard a preppy tune followed shortly by a ding dong. Despite the loud song of the Colorful Commercial Shift Car, the girls remained asleep. I smirked. "What have you been planning, Kelly?" Banno asked. "Well, Banno, yesterday, when I caught the boys spying on Twilight, I had Colorful Commercial follow them and whoever sent them to do it in the first place. I doubt the boys are smart enough to do things on their own volition." I said. "So, you're not as dumb as you make yourself out to be..." Banno said. "Well, I inherited Ryoma's genius, after all." I chuckled before I transformed into Gold Drive, twisting the key twice to shift to my control. As I did, Colorful Commercial went to me as I plugged it into the Shift Brace. That's when I saw in my HUD everything the Shift Car recorded since yesterday. I saw it follow the boys around, only to stop by Sunset Shimmer. "Bingo." I said. The Shift Car followed Sunset as I saw her receive the very footage she'd use to sabotage Twilight's reputation. "I'll crush you yet, Twilight Sparkle..." She muttered. That's when I saw, in the corner of the footage, a sleeping Ross. I frowned slightly before I skipped the footage. There, I saw the battle between me and Shigekiyo in full detail. However, I saw Sunset pass by the field, only to see us. She then proceeded to get her camera out and record the footage. I smirked. I caught her. Finally... However, the story didn't end there. Soon, I was able to see Colorful Commercial follow Sunset down to a dark area of the downtown area. That's when Sunset encountered this emo goth douche. Pale skin, red lips, bleached hair, leather? Was he trying to pass for a Vampire LARP? Perhaps he was and some merchant got him a one way ticket to some pony world. Though, I noticed an air of him. He didn't feel like a Displaced like Ross or me. Rather, someone of a more powerful persuasion. Perhaps it was because I was reminded of the Wiseman, a villain from Kamen Rider Wizard, or perhaps it was the way he talked. "Sunset... I'm glad to have encountered you again." The man said. "I thought our deal was done." Sunset said. "It is, but I want to make another one..." The edgy dude said. "Not interested." Sunset said. "Oh, you will be... Because the offer and the price are right up your alley." I raised an eyebrow. The hell was he? Some drug dealer? "Oh yeah? What is it?" Sunset asked. "I noticed you recorded that fight between the Displaced, and I can't help but feel like I need to liberate my fellow Displaced in some way. So, I figured to... make it so that he had an accident. That'll be my end of the bargain." ... Did he just imply that he killed Shigekiyo? My breathing shallowed. I realized I wasn't dealing with some punk or emo. This was a psychopath. "Hmm... Then I can send in the evidence and have it so that Twilight and her loser friends did the deed... I like it. But... what of the price?" Sunset asked. "Oh, it's something you and I both want. The invasion of Equestria... That world made you suffer and they've also made me suffer. It would only made sense if you repaid the favor and made Equestria suffer twofold. Snuff out the light, and I will be in your debt..." He pulled out and showed what seemed to be a dagger, with the blade bent to a wavy pattern, to Sunset. Colorful Commercial was unable to look closer at the dagger, but I was able to tell from its golden detailing that it could definitely pass for a magical artifact. He put the dagger away as Sunset nodded. "Very well, but do note that I'm doing this not for you or your power, but for my sake. Celestia has long denied me my rightful place and I will make her suffer for it!" Sunset said. "She had denied me my place too... Make her suffer for both our sake." He then puffed into a pile of gray smoke. "Well, it seems the plot thickens..." Banno chuckled. I nodded in agreement. I thought I'd be dealing with some Regina George-style bitch. But no. I'm dealing with someone much worse. I'm dealing with a full blown villain in the making. Ross then went upstairs, only to find Sunset fast asleep on her bed. Ross frowned, went over to her, and brushed her hair a little. That's when he noticed that Sunset's desktop computer was still on. Ross took a gulp before walking over and moving the mouse just a bit. There, he saw a video editing program where footage of a fight was seen. The fight between Kelly and the supposed Displaced that died. He blinked, then noticed the fight seemed to be in medias res, as the girls joined the fray already. That's when he noticed the undo button highlighted. He clicked on it, only to find that the video expanded. He pressed play. The first line of dialogue pierced his heart: "This is a race, Kelly. Who can kill who the fastest? Me... or you?" "Kelly, of course you were fighting him... Why would I be so stupid to assume you killed someone..." Ross muttered. That's when he saw a short, chubby guy. He noticed the footage was recorded from the bleachers. "Found you..." "Who the fuck are you?" "I think you should know by now." From there, the battle broke out, with the fat man being the instigator. He then clicked the redo button and realized that the exchange was cut. "Sunset... No..." Ross realized why it was cut. "Uuuugh... Ross?" That's when Ross heard the sound of a groggy Sunset Shimmer. Ross turned around, only to notice she was now wide awake, well aware of Ross being in front of her computer on her software. "Ross... What are you doing?" She glared at Ross. Ross could only look like a deer in headlights "... Sunset... Did you make it look like Kelly killed someone?" Ross asked. "Of course not! I made it look like Twilight killed someone. You should know by now that this is a dog-eat-dog competition." Sunset said. "... So... You finally show your true colors." Ross asked. "Yeah. It's getting tiring playing goody-two-shoes around you, especially when you keep snooping behind my back!" She said. Ross could only frown as the memories of Mercury's betrayal play in his head. "Besides, what are you going to do about this? I'll just play innocent if you bring this up to the Principal!" Sunset said. "No... I won't. I'm going to free you from the crown's influence. You're being corrupted. That's why you're rude." Ross said. "... Heh... You really think that? Hah! The crown isn't what made me who I am. It's me who made me who I am! My desires, my ambitions, my passion... All of it is what made me into the person I am! You really think a cheap plastic crown was responsible for my attitude? You really must be a dumbass for coming to that conclusion! No wonder it was so easy to fake being friends with you! You're just some naïve brat!" Sunset said. Ross couldn't control the tears that came from his eyes. What was worse was that he felt this exact pain before... Or rather, Ruby did. The pain of betrayal. Ross, however, then remembered the anger that came from it. He remembered how the act of betrayal cost people their lives. People he... no... people that Ruby cared about, dead because of the monsters she thought were her friends. He remembered all of Ruby's suffering, all of Ruby's torment, all of Ruby's despair. All wrapped up into one emotion. That's when Ross gripped his scythe. He was going to do something he would definitely regret. Ross glared at Sunset Shimmer. This was something Ruby Rose would never do. This would be something he would never do. But when confronting a mean girl like Sunset Shimmer, what choice did he have?
Shimmering Sunset Arc 7: Who Will Fall?Fire… The smoke choked out the young pony’s vision, to the point where she could only see the dancing flames that she had caused. The pony looked around. It was meant to be a simple spark. How did she managed to cause a massive fire? “Mom!?” She shouted out her name as she weakly walked across the smog of smoke and ash. She coughed and fell to the ground. She began to sweat, the heat overbearing her body. She was about to black out had it not been for a golden light. In this light, the heat died down, the smoke faded, and even the fires went away. The filly struggled to get up, her vision slowly returning as she saw a pony before her. At first, she thought it was her mother, but she noticed just how big she was. No. This was her ruler. She began to tremble. The large winged unicorn merely looked down to the younger unicorn. She observed the destruction the fire brought. What was once her beautiful home was now reduced to cinders and ashes. “Where’s mommy?” The pony asked. The alicorn needed to only look at the two collapsed unicorns, their furs a scorched black. The alicorn then looked down to her and frowned. “… I’m sorry. Your mother and father can’t be with you anymore.” She said. The unicorn just froze, looked to the smolders that were once her parents, then began to sob. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to practice my magic!” The little unicorn whimpered. “I know… You were born with an unusually high amount of it, however. I’m sorry for the loss of your parents…” The alicorn said as she laid her large wings over the unicorn. There was several moments of silence or sobbing before the unicorn spoke up. “… Where will I go?” The unicorn cried. “Don’t worry. I will help you control your magic and ensure it will never hurt anypony anymore.” She said. “… Y-you will?” She asked. “Yes. I’m even considering you living with me while you learn.” The alicorn said. “… Thank you, Celestia…” She didn’t smile, but her frown faded. “… Do you need some time to say goodbye to your parents?” Celestia asked. The unicorn merely looked to the corpses, then nodded. “Very well. I will be waiting for you when you’re ready to leave, Sunset Shimmer.” With that, Celestia flew away. Sunset went to her parents, knelt, and cried. “I’m sorry… I just… I wanted to be the very best… like no pony ever was…” She said. Sunset glared at Ross as he readied something behind his back. “Ross, I’ll give you to the count of three to step away from the computer. One…” She got up on her fours, relying on her pony instinct to grab Ross if need be. Ross just stared. “Two…” Ross crouched. Sunset gritted her teeth. “THREE!” Before Sunset could jump though, Ross disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. She heard mechanical whirring as a blade suddenly came inches before her throat. “If you’re not gonna be nice, then I won’t.” She heard Ross growl into her ear. Ross could feel Sunset tremble as he held the blade of Crescent Rose against her throat. “Nngh…” She muttered. “You said that the Princess of the Fall Formal represents how thankful she is… But I have not seen that from you. Do you think you can become the Princess by being such a jerk?” Ross asked. “…” Sunset had no idea how to respond. She felt Ross press against her back. She remembered how she found him injured on the streets. She expected Ross to be at the very least controllable. “No. You can’t. Which is why I will do everything in my power to ensure you don’t become the Fall Formal Princess.” With that, the blade goes away as Sunset heard the whirring again. Ross then walked away, leaving a shocked and confused Sunset on her bed. Papers of various notes were scattered across the table. I decided to take Silverbolt’s lab to my advantage and move my study over there, far from where the girls were. I didn’t want to send them into a panic by telling them that their bully is intending to commit world domination. Speaking of, I had Colorful Commercial track down Sunset and continue to record her. Something told me that she’d be doing just more than speak with psychotic edgelords. I had a lot of things to recap on now, such as who the man that Sunset talked to was or the significance of his dagger. I occasionally had Banno recite to me the statistics of various items, such as when I previously scanned the crown, to see if there was anything I could piece together. I stood back when I ran out of space on the whiteboard to place my sticky notes on. When I looked at the monstrosity of sticky notes, with some even beginning to peel off, I felt ill. “Think I’m gonna faint…” I had no idea where to begin. I only got one piece of information right: that Sunset is planning to take over Equestria, but other than that, I don’t know who the guy she talked to was, how she’s gonna get to Equestria, where I can best stop her, when will the plan take place, and why Sunset would be stupid enough to deal with a psychopath. “So, you met him, I take it?” I turned around to face Niko. For the first time since I met him, I didn’t aggressively attack him. Rather, I just looked at him. “You know him?” I sighed. Of course he does. “No, forget that. At this point I’m not surprised. Let me guess, one extra layer of the bullshit cake you’ve fed me?” “No. I always intended you to fight the Roidmudes. He just went and changed up everything. I didn’t even know he was here.” Niko said. “Oh, you mean like the Displaced or the pony from ponyland?” I rolled my eyes. “Everything would be so much easier if I didn’t have to handle all this crap! Did you know that since I met Twilight and got wrapped up in her bullshit, I never once faced a Roidmude? I’m scared they’re setting up some sort of operation that I don’t know about because I’m too busy with stupid high school shit and when I’m not doing that, I’m fending off random assholes like that fatass! Now you’re telling me there’s a new threat I have to be aware about?” I yelled. “… Yes. He is far more dangerous than the Roidmudes can ever be. They can destroy a world, yes, but their numbers are reduced, thus their efforts will be notably slowed down. This man, however, can destroy multiple worlds and all he has to do is whisper sweet nothings to some fool’s ear.” Niko said. I then groaned. “Sounds like he’s your problem. My problem is apparently goddamn prom. PROM! I’m too old for this shit!” I turned back to the board, only for Niko to grab my wrist. “He is my problem. I’ve been trying to make sure no idiot grabs his Token and summons him for the past five years. I’ve spent more time in other worlds than in my very own home just to make sure that monster never destroys anyone again. You feel pissed about being Displaced? Try being away from your family for longer than you’ve spent in a goddamn hospital! You’re sobbing about your belt taking over you? Try falling asleep and praying no monster comes and eat your face off in your makeshift shelter made of sticks and stones! You’re bitching about high school life? I’d kill for that life! I’d kill to take back the years that were stolen from me!” Niko shouted. I just stood there and saw him pour his heart out. When he was done shouting, I was rendered speechless. What do I say to him? I always saw Niko as this smug git, always having some new piece of information whenever he pops up… But now? I saw something in him in his eyes. I saw something in his fists. I saw something in the way he glared at me. I saw humanity. He sighed and began to speak. “Sorry… This whole Roidmudes issue is to me like this prom thing is to you. I’d rather be done with it now so that I can deal with more stuff like my Displacer and giving people the thrill of survival.” Niko said. “You know…” I closed my eyes. “I never really saw things from your perspective before.” “Hmm… Maybe I should yell at you to get you to understand my perspective.” Banno said. “You just had to pick the mouthy belt, didn’t you?” Niko chuckled. “Hey, you’re the one who propped it dead center for me to see!” I barked. “Regardless,” Niko raised his voice slightly, “I’m warning you that what you’re dealing with is more than you can handle. That crown you’re after? That’s a powerful artifact in Equestria. It has such magical properties that it can be able to bring magic to any realm that lacks it. Case in point…” He then points to the floor. “… So now I have to deal with magic. Great. Let me know when aliens come to Earth.” I said. “Goddamn it, Kelly! This is no laughing matter! This guy is a powerful sorcerer! With magic coming to this realm, he can simply flick his wrist and kill you. If he sets his sights on you, you’re dead!” Niko said. “Let him. I’m practically the strongest person in this world. Were it not for my son, I would have been ruling the Earth with an iron fist. I was never a believer in magic anyways.” Banno said. “I’ve seen the things his magic can bring. Even the best of heroes fall to its might. This is the only warning I’m gonna give. If you ever see that guy… run. Don’t fight. Just… run.” Niko said. With that, he walked away. “Like you have?” I retorted. Niko only turned back. “… Yeah. But I’m different. Running… is the only thing that makes me feel alive now.” He then zipped away. I then looked at the notes and realized something. Somepony has a lot of explaining to do. Ugggh… Did I just say “somepony”? “I have to say, Sunset, your studies in magic have been growing in excellence.” Celestia trotted down the long ivory hallways of her kingdom with her pupil, Sunset Shimmer, by her side. “Thank you, Celestia. I do try to make the most of my talents.” Sunset smirked as she strode alongside Celestia. “However, I realize that you have been neglecting one aspect of your studies.” As soon as Celestia said that, Sunset leaped in front of Celestia, eyes widened. “W-what is it!? Is it my abjuration spells? I admit, I’m rusty in the shield spells, but-” Though Celestia just chuckled at her. “No, my faithful student, the aspect I’m talking about is one of friendship. You haven’t been taking the time to work with your fellow students and all your group projects ended with you taking the whole project for yourself. Alone, you are great, but with friends, you can be even better.” Celestia said. “Hmph. Friends… I hate to disagree with you, but-” “Then don’t.” Celestia noticed a shimmering object her way. A mirror. Perfect! This would be the thing she’d need to give Sunset a lesson. “Now, look into this mirror and tell me what you see.” Sunset went over to look at the mirror. “I see…” Sunset looked into the mirror and then swayed her hair so that her red-and-yellow colored hair could cover one of her eyes. She smiled. “A beautiful pony with great potential and power…” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Mmmm… Can you be a little more humble about it?” Celestia said. Sunset sighed and looked into the mirror some more. As she did, Celestia stood behind her. Sunset could see herself in the mirror. “Humble, huh? Okay…” Sunset’s voice was reduced to a hush as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked into the mirror again. “I see somepony who’s not perfect…” Celestia smiled for a bit until Sunset continued. “Not yet.” That’s when Celestia’s smile faded. “I see a pony who needs to be more great. A pony who wants to be more powerful. A pony…” Sunset could see a faint light in the mirror. The light ended up shimmering over Sunset’s body and in a moment, she could see wings and a crown on her. “… A pony who will one day rule Equestria.” “Weeeeeeeell… We should move on...” Celestia said as she walked away. As Sunset turned around to follow Celestia, she noticed a flash of light from the mirror. She turned around and saw the brief glimpse of flames. “Huh? What was that?” Sunset asked. “Hmm?” “There! In the reflection! I think I saw something!” Sunset said. “I think we’re done for the evening.” Celestia unfolded one of her wings and began to push Sunset towards her. “For homework, I want you to reflect on this conversation we had.” Celestia said. Sunset simply scowled. Celestia’s wing obscured any vision of the mirror. Celestia gave a heavy sigh. She had just realized what the mirror she showed Sunset was. It was an invention from her old friend, Star Swirl the Bearded. One that, as it pains her to recall, could cause tons of devastation if one is to get too curious with it. As she saw the disappointed student in her wing, she knew that would be the case for Sunset. As I walked down the hallway, I began to overhear some people. “So who are you voting for?” One guy asked. “I dunno. The options are limited.” His friend responded. “Well, at least we have options this time around!” The guy said. “Yeah, but we have to pick between a bully and some psychopath. Have you seen the video?” He then took out his iPhone and showed his friend the video. Already I knew what he was talking about. I walked faster, trying to get to Twilight as soon as I could. Principal Celestia sighed as Luna stood next to her in her office. On the Principal’s laptop was a site called YouHoof, in which a video entitled “PSYCHO STUDENTS AND THEIR PSYCHO TEACHER BEAT UP FAT GUY” played. She frowned as it showed not only five of her students, but also Golden Drive and her newest transfer student, Twilight Sparkle, fighting a small chubby man with spikes growing out of his bald head. “To think this would be uploaded the eve of the Fall Formal… The students will be hard pressed to vote.” Luna sighed as Celestia turned her chair around. “What do you mean by that?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “The students have to pick between a school bully and some new kid who ended up making not only an ass of herself, but also is an accomplice to a beating. It is like witnessing a presidential election.” Luna sat down and massaged her forehead. “Have faith, sister… Hope will spring eternal soon.” Celestia clicked off the video. “I heard the students in the hall on my way here. They saw this video as well. They are scared.” Luna then grabbed the mouse and clicked on FireHorse and restored the closed window. She then scrolled down to where the uploader’s name is at, then moved her cursor towards the uploader’s avatar. Celestia looked at it and just scowled as she saw it was a picture of Sunset Shimmer. To further confirm it, it had the name S. Shimmer on it. “One side is obviously attacking the other and the damage is already irreversible. There’s no favorable option, sister… I suggest we cancel the Fall Formal.” Luna said. “Absolutely not.” Celestia clicked off the browser again. “Why not!? This is barely a contest anymore and I cannot bear to see that ruffian win again! Especially when she is using dirty and underhanded tactics!” Luna shouted so hard, students outside stopped to look at what was going on. One simple glare from Luna caused them to scurry by. “Even if the people are scared, you have to remember why we chose to do these ceremonies in the first place.” Celestia got up and went over to the bookshelf. “Yes, you don’t need to remind me of that fable.” Luna crossed her arms. As she said that, a melody of chimes and rings prompted Celestia to look at her computer. She saw a message in front of her saying: INCOMING MEETING FROM THE HEADMASTER “Luna, we can discuss this another time.” Celestia said. Luna simply nodded and left the room. Celestia opened up the messenger program, ChatNoir, and saw four small windows opened up. Each window showed one face and titled with one title. “What seems to be the problem?” Celestia looked at one of the windows. It was grayed out, showing no face. It still showed the title of ‘Principal of Everton Independent Study’. “It would appear that Everton has gone rogue.” The Principal of the Wonderbolts Academy spoke with such a gruff voice. He had brown skin, a black beard shaped to be an upper portion of a bat, short black hair, hazel eyes, and an olive green coat. “Gone rogue?” Celestia widened her eyes. “I knew there was something suspicious about that school the moment they took an interest in one of my professors.” To contrast the brown-skinned Principal, this Principal had a bluish hue that could have her easily mistaken for a cadaver. She had purpleish curled hair, purple eyes, and wore a preppy enough business uniform. Celestia knew her personally as Principal Cinch, who ran Crystal Prep Academy. Cinch then smirked. “Speaking of, how is Silverbolt doing?” She asked. “Let’s not change the subject, Cinch.” Celestia knew that dry tone anywhere. She looked towards the upper left window, having the title of Headmaster. There she saw the silver-haired bespectacled man wearing a green turtleneck underneath a black business suit. Celestia, in her history with talking with this man knew that, when he isn’t seen with a mug of coffee on the ready, some serious shit was about to happen. “Everton has allied with what would appear to be a terrorist organization. The same one that is responsible for the recent attacks and experiences of slowdowns.” The man simply had his hands clasped. “I presume you’re thinking about the upcoming Fall Formal, correct, Celestia?” He asked. “Y-yes. A new student has entered the contest of who would be the Princess of the Fall Formal.” As soon as Celestia said that, she noticed the man’s hands tighten slightly. “I see… Then my decisions to have Tracer and that boy enter your school have been in the right. Which also means that my hunch was correct.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Rainart, have the Wonderbolts increase security throughout the city. Cinch, because of Professor Silverbolt’s ties to Everton, I’m assigning you to hunt down their allied organization. As for you, Celestia,” he proceeded to glare, as if directly staring at Celestia, “prepare for the worst case scenario. If the Fall Formal Crown falls in the wrong hands, then our hope with Canterlot High surviving tonight will dwindle to almost nothing.” Before Celestia could even comment on it, the Headmaster logged off. The remaining three went into silence. “Prepare for the worst!? What the hell is this man talking about? He’s senile! That’s what he is!” Cinch began to speak up. “Shut it.” Only for Rainart to bark up. “I have faith in him. Celestia, I pray things work out.” Rainart then logged out. Cinch was left to just babble a little before she too logged out. Celestia was now left alone. She simply lowered her head and began to softly cry. How the hell could she ‘prepare for the worst’? As soon as I entered the library, I shook Twilight awake. I noticed the other five girls were fast asleep, leaving me and Twilight to have our chat. “What happened?” Twilight slurred as she slowly got up. I decided to drag her by the wrist over to behind one of the bookshelves. I had no time for Twilight to sober up. “Did you know?” I growled. “K-know what?!” Twilight took a considerable amount of time to let my question enter her mind as she shook. “Don’t bullshit me, Twilight! Did. You. Know!?” I restrained myself from grabbing at her collar. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight tried to lower her voice. “That your little crown brought magic to this world?!” I said. She paused a bit before I calmed. “No… Of course not.” I muttered. “The Element of Magic… Of course! That’s what Sunset was talking about!” Twilight then froze up again before making a somewhat silly looking face as her eyes went wide, her pupils shrunk, and her mouth ridiculously huge. “Oh no! Sunset must be wanting to use the crown to increase her magical potential!” Twilight said. “Not only that, but she’s in cahoots with this guy who wants her to invade Equestria.” I said. “I-invade Equestria!?” I reached out to her mouth to shut her up. “Yes.” I hissed. “Obviously your crown is a powerful item. Ross is right. The sooner it’s out of here, the better.” I pulled my hand away from Twilight’s mouth. “So we have to win it no matter what!” That’s when I looked at her. “So what do you stall for?” I asked. Twilight just winced, then tilted her head. I looked behind me and saw the five girls sleeping. “So?” I asked. “You may know Equestria, but the others don’t. If I up and tell them I’m some pony princess, they’ll just look at me funny.” Twilight said. That’s when I saw Spike approach Twilight. “Twilight, these people have supported you ever since you came to this place. I doubt they’ll easily dismiss you if you claim to be a princess.” Spike said. “But what if they will? What if when I needed them most, they’ll just abandon me?” That’s when I could see Twilight tear up. I slightly looked down, only because I too felt that same way before. BANG! I remembered myself falling against the locker as my glasses fell off. I tried to get to them, only to end up cutting my finger at the glass. The harassment began before I even stepped into the school, when some of the girls tripped me and made me fall on the pavement on my knees. I was too busy walking off the scrapes to notice someone else pushing me into the locker when I went to it. “Wow, look at her! What a total dork!” One of the girls said to me as I struggled to get up. I saw a crowd of girls in front of me, all of them laughing. I began to wonder what had happened that caused this to happen. That’s when I saw something get tossed at me. It was a picture of me singing karaoke. It took me a while to piece two and two together. I remembered the cute pair of pajamas I had when I sang the song “Sunflower” by the band SOPHIA. I then remembered when that exactly was. It was a sleepover with just me and one other girl. And sure enough, I saw her standing in front of the bullies. Ashley Neige. She was my closest friend… In fact, she was my only friend. It was weird in retrospect. I was the nerdy, nose-in-her-book type while she was your ordinary rich bitch. Well, not really. She was actually very sweet. Was being the keyword. There was a rumor circulating the school that Ashley’s father had been embezzling funds ever since a cop investigated them. I had supported her while she got ridiculed for the scandal. But as I saw her look at me and heard the students, I realized what happened. “Nice work!” “Yeah, you really exposed this nerdy bitch!” “You can sit with us back at the cool kids table!” I began to tear up as Ashley began to sink back into the crowd of girls. My body trembled and I continued to sob by the lockers. “Then that’s when their true friendship is tested.” I muttered. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She asked. “If they abandon you in your time of need, then they’re not your friends. They just use you as a stepping stone to up their own status. If they don’t, then they are indeed your friends.” I said. That’s when Spike spoke up. “Yeah! You helped them reunite. I doubt they’ll easily forget that when taking you into consideration.” Spike said. I smiled a bit. “Yeah… Let Spike do the talking. He makes a lot more sense than I’ll ever be.” I bit my lip as my personal past came back to haunt me. Twilight went over to the girls, but before she spoke up, we all heard a crashing sound. I ran off to investigate the noise. As I arrived, I saw nobody, but rather an entire gym decorated with what were the remains of party decorations. The girls entered at the same time as me, only to look at the carnage that went on, what with tossed tables, broken chairs, and even popped balloons. I could almost hear Pinkie about to scream before Celestia entered. “What in the blue blazes… Oh my!” Celestia said. She was soon followed by a dark-skinned woman with long midnight blue to light purple hair. I presumed this was Luna. “W-who would do such a thing?” Luna held her hand close to her mouth. “I have a hunch…” I then eyed a toy car barely trying to wheel itself close to me. I just walked over to it, picked the Shift Car up, and placed it in my pocket. “Professor, we don’t need to be pointing fingers.” Celestia said. “Even if it’s obvious who did it?” I rolled my eyes and looked at her. “It doesn’t matter who did it… What’s done is done. There’s absolutely no way we can clean this mess up in time.” Luna stepped forward. “I’m going to have to cancel the Fall Formal.” That’s when I saw Twilight lose it. “What!? No! Nonononononononononononononononononono!” Twilight cried out. I merely tittered as she sunk to the floor on her knees, her hands pressed onto the ground. “What’s wrong, Sugarcube?” Applejack placed a hand behind Twilight’s back. Fluttershy knelt over and held Twilight. “Yeah, you can tell us.” Fluttershy said. Twilight simply got up and looked to Celestia. “Principal Celestia, please, reconsider!” Twilight said. I decided that we weren’t gonna do things her way. I walked over to the doors, intent of marching right into Celestia’s office and grabbing the crown myself, when suddenly I saw a red blur zipping into the room with several rose petals following him. The blur created such a wind that it picked up all the debris off the floor. The blur stopped and unraveled itself, revealing Ross. As the debris As the debris fell, Ross ran over to set the tables back up. Rainbow Dash looked at it, then proceeded to run to the debris as well, helping Ross fix the tables and chairs. The other girls realized what was going on and went over to fix up the room. I merely smiled as I saw Celestia and Luna look with widened eyes at the sheer velocity of Rainbow and Ross. By the time Ms. Oxton came, they were already done with the gym and it looked as good as new. Celestia and Luna blinked. As Ross and Rainbow stopped running, the tables gently dropped to the ground, legs touching the floor, along with new sheets to cover the tables on. “Hey loves, what did I… Oh… Oh wow…” Oxton was able to see the tail end of the girls fixing up the gym. I merely looked to Luna. “So… About that cancellation?” I asked. “… Yeah, let’s pretend this never happened…” Luna took a moment before speaking up. “The whole ‘cancelling the Formal’ thing, I mean, not the kids who are suddenly super-fast…” Luna gulped, though ultimately, me, Celestia and Oxton all nodded. I could hear a bit of crying nearby. I looked around to see where it was coming from, but aside from Ross who did the same thing, I didn’t find the source. I noticed Ross stuck his head at one particular area before glancing away. He knew something. By the time we left the gym, I looked over to Ross. I stopped walking and let the other people go, then glared at Ross. “So… Was it her?” I asked. “… Yeah. It had to be. Kelly, I think Sunset’s upset.” He said. “No shit, Sherlock.” “No! I mean… I broke up with her last night.” Ross frowned. “Broke up? What, you two were dating? Well, it does explain why you were kissing her ass.” I chuckled. “W-what!? No! I-it’s not like that!” Ross blushed and hid his face. “I… I told Sunset that I won’t help her become Fall Formal Princess because I saw who she really was…” I proceeded to pat him on the back. “Bra-vo! Congrats on being smart for once in my entire time of meeting you!” I said. “But I feel bad about how I reacted! I held my baby to her throat!” Ross said. “… Baby? What, did you guys have some secret love affair or some shit?” I asked. “N-no… That’s what Ruby called this…” He lugged the scythe in its inactive form out a bit before tucking it behind his cape that he seemed insistent on wearing on his school uniform. “You could have…” I bit my lip as I caught myself about to finish the sentence with: ‘done this world a favor by killing her right then and there’… I could hear Banno chuckle darkly. “I was tired. It had been a long night of me busting my ass to try and clear your name.” Ross said. “Oh, so that was you? Thanks, by the way.” I said. “Stop changing the topic! I was tired and Sunset pissed me off and… And…” I then saw Ross have a thousand mile stare. That very same thousand mile stare that I saw Fatty had. Ross was remembering something from this Ruby’s past. “… Could that be why?” Ross muttered to himself. He then looked at me and sighed. “I’m sorry. But, rest assured, I will help you help Twilight from now on.” With that, he ran off. As he ran off, I had some time to reflect on what I was about to say to Ross. Sure, I hated bullies, but to suggest for Ross to murder her? Have I really become that ruthless? I frowned as I remembered a Kamen Rider character who was also a bully before she became a good guy: Miu Kazashiro. In fact, I actually remembered a similar story arc in which Miu tried to be a prom queen… Soon, the wheels in my head started to turn as I smirked. I had thought of a master plan. Ross slowly approached the tombstone. He was surprised that, despite his last sortie resulting in him revealing his true form, Tachibana still got a funeral. Ross smiled, though he then shed a tear. “Hey, mom.” Sure enough, it began to trigger memories of Ruby. He didn’t want to admit it, but ever since he left Sunset Shimmer that night, he began to think about what caused him to put a blade to Sunset’s throat. At first, he thought it was his tiredness and stress taking over, but the more he thought, the more he remembered of the nightmare he had. He trembled as he saw the entire turn of events play out, starting from the tombstone. There was a tournament, Ross could definitely conclude that it was the Vytal Festival, the tournament RWBY hyped about for the past two volumes. It was going well, and telling from the memories of Qrow, Ruby’s uncle and mentor figure was gonna be a pretty cool dude. At first, Ross wondered why the events playing out in his head were happy memories… Then it came down to Ruby’s sister Yang and a man known as Mercury. The fight ended with Yang seemingly injuring Mercury’s leg, thus causing a downward spiral of events from doubt being placed on Yang to RWBY being disqualified from the tournament. It got worse. Now were the memories that kept playing in Ross’ head. He remembered himself… No… He remembered Ruby going on a lead that put her in a maintenance hallway where Mercury was, completely fine and standing on his two legs. A fight ensued, with Ruby escaping, but gaining some wounds in the process. As soon as Ross saw what Ruby saw upon entering the stadium, one of her friends brutally killing one of her other friends, he fell on his knees, much like how he remembered Ruby. The next few events became a blur. An attack ensued, Ruby fought a man by the name of Roman Torchwick who was quickly dispatched by a Grimm, her own sister brutally hurt… And then… The moment that always haunted Ross… It soon became clear why he was remembering it. A woman named Cinder had become friends with Ruby. Of course, this was merely a ruse, but the way she revealed her true colors was far from how Sunset revealed her true colors. Ruby had to witness Cinder murdering a close friend of hers… Just then, in the middle of a cry, everything became white, and that voice came up once again. “It's alright. I got ya, kiddo. I got ya.” Ross took a while to get up from that, but that’s when he noticed there was more to Ruby’s memories. Not much, just her recovering from that night and Qrow coming to talk to Ruby about what happened. Chills went up his spine as he began to hear Ruby say Cinder’s name with such malice and anger. What shook Ross to the core, however, was that he felt the exact same way. As he dwelled on the memories, he began to think about the feelings Ruby had. Ross had always thought of Ruby as a nice, sweet, kind girl, always optimistic about the world. Of course, Cinder and her friends did quite a number on that worldview, as telling from the memories he saw, but he never quite expected the mood to take a downpour. He never thought Ruby would have an outright desire to kill Cinder, or at least avenge the deaths of her friends by her hands. The last memory seemed to confirm it for Ross as he saw Ruby going off with some of her friends to pretty much hunt down Cinder, or at least get some answers. Ross wasn’t sure Ruby wanted to kill Cinder or if he wanted to kill Cinder. The more he thought, the more he began to feel as though he had lived through all of Ruby’s memories, as if he had became Ruby. Then he remembered how he attacked Sunset. Those memories played in his head when he was confronted with the fact that Sunset Shimmer was a jerk. He had been a spectator to Ruby’s most tragic moments for the past week now. If anything, he was the one reacting to those moments with such vile desires to kill Cinder, not Ruby. Not that it helped him calm at the slightest. That just meant that he’s the one out for blood, not Ruby. Ross simply cried at the tombstone and began to weep out some words he’d never thought he’d say. “I want to go home… I want to look up cute images of puppies on the internet…” Ross soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He got up and saw… “Fluttershy!” “Ross, what are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked. She was in a yellow dress with a cyan, see-thru fabric draped over her dress with yellow high heels. Ross just got up and shed a tear. “I… I was just…” He then looked to Tachibana’s grave. “Tachibana was a friend of mine. He’s the first guy I met upon coming here. I… I owe everything to him. You?” “… Tachibana died to save my life. The least I can do for him is pay my respects before I have to go for the Fall Formal.” Fluttershy left a bouquet of roses at Tachibana’s grave. “Speaking of, are you going?” “I guess.” Ross said. “Anyone in mind?” Fluttershy asked. “Huh?” “Who are you taking to the Formal? Flash is taking Twilight, Applejack’s gonna chaperone her little sister, same with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie’s gonna be too busy running the guest list to dance.” Fluttershy said. “And you?” Ross asked. “…” Fluttershy simply blushed. Ross just sighed. “Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m not going with anyone as well. I sort of blew my chances with Sunset.” Ross said. Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “You what?” Fluttershy squealed. “I know she can be rude at times, but, I really liked being with Sunset. It was like she had my back and-” “No! That’s amazing!” Fluttershy said. “It… is?” “Yeah. She may be rude, but I doubt she was born that way. If you could see the good in her, maybe the others can as well!” Fluttershy said. “So… Even if Sunset ruined your lives, you still think she has a chance to be a nicer person?” Ross asked. “Well, if Tachibana can change, so could she.” Fluttershy and Ross looked at the grave. Ross then extended a hand to Fluttershy. “To the socially awkward.” Ross smiled. Fluttershy merely laughed and shook his hand. “We should hang out together after the dance. It’d be great to know who Tachibana was to you.” Fluttershy looked into Ross’ eyes. “Yeah. Same with you.” That’s when Ross looked at something at the corner of his eye. It was Rose, the person from last night that destroyed that one Roidmude. He approached three gravestones that were positioned closely together compared to the other graves. Ross turned to Fluttershy. “I’ll see you at the dance. There’s someone I have to talk to.” Ross said. Fluttershy simply smiled and went away as Ross ran to meet Rose. He saw Rose kneeling before the three graves. Ross then noticed that the three graves each had the same symbols that Rose had as dog tags: the lightning bolt, the winged heart, and the shooting star. The graves also had their respective names etched in: Sky Stinger, Angel Wings, and Vapor Trail. “So… Who are you visiting?” Ross suddenly saw Rose stand up and turned to stare at Ross. “Who’s ther-… Oh, it’s you.” Rose sighed and looked back at the graves. “Sorry. I’m just a little tense right now is all. I’m always like this when I’m here.” “So… who are they to you?” Ross asked. “My team. My… My former team, at least. They were some of the nicest friends I met…” Rose shed a few tears as Ross began to remember some of the fonder times of Team RWBY’s exploits, such as fixing up their room for the first time or eating food during the tournament. Of course, once he thought of the tournament, he began to think about the series of unfortunate events that followed. From there, he remembered one thing about Rose that stuck with him the entire night. “Rose, I was wondering… Miss Oxto- Er… Tracer, told me that you were a Displaced.” Ross said. “And?” “Well… I’m a Displaced too! Erm… How long were you a Displaced?” Ross asked. “… About a few years now. You?” He asked. “Well, since July.” Ross laughed quietly. “Hmm… So, I guess you want to know about being a Displaced?” Rose asked. “Y-yeah! Well, one thing…” Ross looked to the graves. “The memories, they’re a common occurrence to Displaced, right?” “Yeah. You remember the past deeds of your hero or villain, for better or worse. It comes with the territory of having your body be modified to accommodate for the newly obtained powers. I mean, without them, you’d have no idea how to hold that weapon, correct?” Rose asked. Ross remembered someone asking Ruby who taught her to fight with a scythe, citing it as one of the most dangerous weapons of all time. He slowly nodded to that statement. “So… is there ever a moment where you start to feel like you’re thinking and acting like your character?” Ross asked. “All the time. When I turned into BioRosemon yesterday, that was still me… But deep down, I felt like a monster had taken over my body. The real me would never be that cruel or sadistic. That’s what I always say to rationalize myself, at least. I’m guessing you’re getting that feeling too?” Rose asked. “Yeah… I… don’t know what happened, but I reacted negatively to a friend of mine, and I’m not sure if my intent was truly my own or if it was my character’s.” Ross said. “You feel like someone’s possessing you.” Rose said. “No. I just worry that I’ll become something I’m not one day.” Ross said. “… Well, that’s life.” Rose began to walk away from the graves before Ross ran to him. “No! It’s not! I never asked for this! I never asked to feel like I’m being torn apart!” Ross screamed out. “Well, you did when you accepted that damn merchant’s offer, did you not?” Rose asked. Ross became silent. “I didn’t even have a choice.” Rose continued to look at the graves. “I should be dead. I have died. I remember my time in the afterlife quite well… It wasn’t until a friend of mine came and rescued me with that offer. It was either get Displaced or rot in hell. And quite frankly, I didn’t enjoy the underworld.” Rose closed his eyes, exhaled, then looked into the sky. “We became Displaced because we wanted to be something we’re not: our heroes. The best we can do now is live like them, lest we get ruled by them.” Rose began to walk away, before he stopped. “Kid, what’s your name? Like, your actual name.” Rose asked. “Ross… Ross Roosevelt.” Ross said. “Joey. Joey Chandler.” Joey turned around and shook Ross’ hand. “If you still remember your name, you are still yourself. Remember that.” Joey then proceeded to leave. Ross stood still for a bit before doing the same. “Come on! Where is it?” Sunset thrashed through the library as she looked for a specific book. “It’s not this one… nor is it this one!” She tossed away several books, all of them having such lovely titles such as ‘Magic for Evil Overlords’, ‘The Art of Displacement’, and ‘The Secrets of the Heart-Shaped Moon’. One book even had just a face on it. Well, several books did. “Hah! Here we go!” Sunset pulled out a book from the shelf entitled ‘Starswirl’s Forbidden Fruits of Labour’. Confirming her suspicions as the cover showing the exact same mirror she saw. Sunset began to read. “The Crystal Mirror was perhaps one of Starswirl’s most exquisite and refined inventions. Based off the Looking Glass, his prototype, the Crystal Mirror allows for one to jump to a certain realm, the magic inside allowing them to take a form to blend in to society, an improvement from the Looking Glass. However, the realm lacks Equestrian Magic and thus, the only way to be able to cross into it is to wait until the moon is at its peak, which happens every thirty moons, thus granting you a window of time for you to cross over.” Sunset pulled her nose from the book. “Why would Celestia keep this from me?” “Why don’t you ask me up front?” Sunset turned around to face Celestia, who had two guards on her side. “… I will. How dare you keep this from me?! This could grant me great power!” Sunset said. “It’s always about you and power, isn’t it? True power rests on compassion and sincerity, not ambition and selfishness.” Celestia said. “I am not being selfish! I merely want to be the best!” Sunset threw the book at Celestia, who created a brief shield that stopped the book from hitting her. The book then fell onto the ground and opened to a random page. Both Celestia and Sunset read the title of the chapter: “The Destiny Spell”. The book was situated right in front of Sunset, ready to be read by her. “Starswirl’s unfinished spell, no pony knows what his intent with the spell was, but it is able to switch Cutie-” before she could finish, Celestia took the book away from her. “Hey!” “You are not ready for this kind of power, Sunset. Power like this must be earned the correct way.” Celestia said. “It said it was unfinished… I could finish it and unlock its true potential!” Sunset said. “Sunset, I’ve seen the price of this spell. It can destroy lives. Are you willing to ruin the livelihoods of ponies everywhere?” Celestia asked. “Yes! I’m destined for greatness! I can solve this spell and gain so much power that I can-” “No longer be a student of mine.” Celestia closed her eyes. “W-what?” Sunset asked. “That mindset confirms that you are no longer a student of mine. No pony should ever make their fellow pony suffer for their personal gain and ambitions. You might mean well with fixing the Destiny Spell, but deep down, we both know you won’t stop there. Eventually you’ll want more power, believing that you deserve it. Reality is, Sunset, you don’t deserve more power.” Celestia said. “Why not?! I am meant for-” “Do not confuse entitlement for destiny. Just because you’re my student does not mean you have a free pass to be selfish and ambitious. In order to have that sort of power, you need to think with kindness, honesty, generosity, loyalty-” “SCREW ALL THAT! I am going to rule Equestria as the greatest and most powerful pony who ever lived! If this book can give me power, then I will take it for all its worth!” Sunset’s horn began to glow. Celestia merely smirked before Sunset fired a blast at Celestia. Celestia’s horn merely flashed, redirecting the scorching ray to Sunset, burning her horn and knocking her into a bookshelf. Celestia then marched to Sunset. “If that is where this conversation is going, then you are no longer welcome in this castle. You are no longer my student.” Celestia began to make her horn glow. “Am… Is that all I ever was to you? Just a student? Nothing more? Did you… Did you not in your entire life consider me more than just a student?” Sunset said. “If I did… then I’d be hurt by what I’ll do next.” Celestia said as she caused Sunset to glow as well. “I’m going to cast a simple teleportation spell. If you ever step foot into this castle again, I will cast a much more potent spell to get you to understand that you are not welcome here.” “You are making a huge mistake!” Sunset cried out as Celestia caused Sunset to pop out of the room and into her garden. Celestia then looked to the sky and saw a full moon containing the outline of a horse’s head. She then closed her eyes and shed a tear. “One of many…” She said as she walked away. “Flash Sentry, you’re clearly not well to go to the Fall Formal!” Soarin’ watched as Flash staggered. There some bandages still on his body from last night, but most of the bandages applied were absent. However, Soarin’ only needed to look at the way he walked, a staggering, almost hesitant walk from his closet to the door, to know his condition. “I’m fine, dad. I can go.” Flash didn’t give any sort of aggression in his voice. Only when Soarin’ tried to block the door did Flash attempt to commit some violent act. “Dad… Move!” He subtly pressed against Soarin’s chest, though it wasn’t strong enough to push him. “I promised Twilight a dance at the Fall Formal and I’m gonna commit to it.” “You’re not gonna be dancing much. You can’t even walk right!” Soarin’ said. “I was able to hold my own against some kinda robot, I can dance fine enough.” Flash said. “You are not going- Wait, what?” Soarin’ asked. “At Everton, I got into a fight with one of those robots that attacked the school a while back.” Flash merely sighed and went over to wardrobe, pulled out a drawer and pulled out the Frubask Driver and the Orange Lockseed. “I was given these by one of Everton’s researchers. She told me to use these to protect myself… And I did. I almost defeated it, dad.” Soarin’ merely closed his eyes and sighed. “You’re that determined to find out the truth, huh?” Soarin’ asked. “No. I just want to defend people. Sometimes I think you and the police can’t handle everything. I don’t want what happened to the school to happen to anyone else… I… I don’t want people to lose their mom like I have…” Flash frowned for a brief moment before realizing something. “I… I saw my mom!” Soarin’ looked to Flash. “You did?” Soarin’ raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… Though, she didn’t seem to confirm or deny it. I… She looked like my mom! So… Maybe… Maybe my mom is alive and is out there!” Flash looked at the Frubask Driver. “She only came when I started using this… Perhaps… Perhaps if I continue to use it some more, she’ll come again and I can talk to her some more… Even… Even if she wants me to be a monster.” “… A monster?” Soarin’ asked. “… It’s a long story.” Flash said. Soarin’ just smiled and sat on Flash’s bed. Flash sat down next to him. “Son… I have something to say. It’s… something I dwelled upon for a while.” Soarin’ closed his eyes. “I hope he chokes on the dark truth once it is revealed.” He still remembered his old coach’s words to him. For a moment, he hesitated to say the truth. “You may not be the best cop in the world, but damn it if you’re not trying to be. I appreciate your atonement, Soarin’, and I hope Flash will if and when he finds out.” But it was Professor Silverbolt’s words to him that helped him get the words out. “Flash… You’re… You’re not really my son.” Soarin’ said. “I’m… not?” Flash asked. “I know, I don’t like to drop a bombshell on a night like tonight, but recent events had me thinking about it. The night your mom disappeared, I took you in and tried to find your real father.” Soarin’ said. “You couldn’t find him, did you?” Flash asked. “No. I did. The problem was that he didn’t want to accept you.” Soarin’ said. “What?” “I first found it dickish, especially with the reasoning he gave, but… in retrospect, I can now see where he’s coming from.” Soarin’ said. “What did he say?” “He told me that your strength needs to be your own. If he were to raise you, you’d just rely on his strength and can never truly get strong yourself. Last night… you were able to find your own strength. I doubt I’m the only one who’s proud of you.” Soarin’ said. Flash simply smiled before he thought of something. “Who… Who was my dad?” “…” Soarin’ sighed. “He… he’s a leader of a notorious street gang. That’s all you need to know.” Soarin’ got off the bed. “Now go, your dance awaits.” Flash just looked to Soarin’ before he nodded and got up. It seemed that question time is over. He left the room as Soarin’ simply frowned. I think I made it clear that I hated prom. That I wanted nothing to do with prom. That it was contributing absolutely nothing but wrecked psyches and yet another tale to tell at the shrink. And yet, I’m forced to attend not because Celestia intended to do so, but because an artifact that could very well be the thing that can end not just this world, but another world entirely is on the line. And it’s being used as a goddamned crown for the prom queen. “Evenin’ Professor!” Miss Oxton kept a cheery voice towards me. I just glared and grunted before heading towards the dance hall. There I saw several students dancing the night away. I spotted Flash and Twilight dancing. Huh, wonder if I should burst the hormonal kid’s bubble and say he’s gonna make out with a horse. Though, I saw that there were some bandages on him. The kid must have gotten in a scuffle. Well, time to play the role of teacher and ignore any sort of injury this kid might have had. I continued down the dance hall, inspecting everything, but more importantly, locating Sunset. That’s when I noticed two that weren’t dancing. Fluttershy was obvious, but Ross was different. I would have guessed he’d dance his way into someone’s pants by now. The two were drinking punch as everyone else danced. I eavesdropped on what they were saying. “You like it? Rarity had this made for me. She’s just loves fashion.” Fluttershy said. She wore a, admittedly, lovely blue and yellow dress. Ross, on the other hand, wore his usual black school blazer, something I found odd due to the fact that CHS lacks any dress code. However, underneath was a gray waistcoat with a red bowtie. Huh, guess he considers bowties as cool as well? “Huh. Um… Don’t tell anyone this, but I sort of like fashion as well. See this?” He pulled up the blazer. “I sewed this. It took a while, but I managed to get the right materials for it.” “Oh, it looks great!” Fluttershy said. “… Thanks. You have no idea how much that means to me. I’m… Well, nobody expected me to be a fashion designer and to be truthful, I don’t think they even wanted me to be one. But… I decided to stick to my guns and continue my passion. So, yeah, I’m glad you like it.” Ross then chuckled. “Maybe me and Rarity could do a collab one day.” That’s when Fluttershy joined in on the chuckling. I frowned only slightly. I caught the implication of what Ross meant, though I didn’t exactly have the time for sympathy. Especially since I saw Celestia and Luna approaching to the stage. I merely walked towards the stage as well. “Professor?” Miss Oxton tried to follow me, but I soon heard a vibrating. “Hello? … W-what? Now!? How many? Oh God!” I slightly turned around as Oxton hung up and ran off. I blinked. What the hell was that? I saw Ross looked somewhat concerned towards the teacher, but I had no time to wonder what is going on. I need to take a certain bitch down a peg. Sunset Shimmer ran off far from the castle grounds. She knew she wasn’t welcome anywhere near Celestia’s vicinity anymore and the further she got, the better. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed out a loud sob, louder than when her parents burned away in the fire she made. Eventually, her legs gave out and Sunset stopped in front of a lake. She took some time to look at the lake, even looking at her own reflection. When she noticed something odd in the distance. It was a swan. A swan with wings of such a shiny white that when it opened its wings, she mistook it for Celestia and hid away. “I’m sorry, Celestia!” She cried out. “No… You are not sorry.” The swan spoke out. Sunset poked her head out from her legs and looked at the swan. Its wings were spread wide before it flapped and flew into the air. It expanded its wings and neck before exploding in a flash of light. What remained of the swan turned into a grayish smoke and swirled towards Sunset. She prepared to defend herself when the smoke passed her, then settled on the ground before forming into a man. The man with bleached hair that she would soon associate as an ally. “She is.” He sneered. “Who? Celestia?” Sunset began to shake. “Yes… I am just one of many who Celestia has betrayed and left for dead. Just like you.” He said. “You are?” She asked. “Yes… I am. Let me ask you, do you believe in destiny?” He asked. “Of course I do! I just saw my fate in the mirror and Celestia denied me it!” Sunset said. “Funny… I always saw her as one who would cram destiny onto others. Regardless, we both share a common enemy.” He said. “… I… I don’t see Celestia as an enemy.” She muttered. “You said it yourself! Celestia snubbed you out of a life you deserved! Just like she did with me!” The man went on his knees and had his hands close to Sunset’s neck. “She… She what?” Sunset asked. “…” The man pulled away and sat down. “I am not from this world, obviously. In fact, I am not in this world right now. I am merely a projection of residue magic.” “Residue magic… So you were here… To cast some sort of magic spell that could be triggered long after it’s placed. Right?” Sunset asked. “You are talented at magic. I am surprised Celestia snubbed your position so quickly.” Sunset frowned as the man continued. “But yes, I placed part of my magic onto this lake in the hopes that someone like me would come across it and hear my tale of why Celestia needs to suffer.” He said. “So, what are you waiting for? Tell it! I doubt this magic’s gonna last long.” Sunset said. “… I fell in love with a Pegasus. She was the most beautiful Pegasus I have ever laid eyes upon. But Celestia insisted that we should not be together. She insisted that she’d marry some dumb soldier. All on the insistence that it is her destiny. And my love bought her lie. It’s one thing to have your true love be torn from you… It’s another to have them be torn from you because someone else had plans for them. I suffered without my love… But I found a new one. One who understood my pain. One who will help me exact revenge on Celestia. I’m here to help you do the same.” He said. “… I’m sorry, this is all too much for me. I-” “Do you want that power you thirsted for? It is waiting for you.” He then looked at the moon. “The moon is at its peak tonight.” “It is?” Sunset looked at the moon. “Indeed. Are you still unconvinced? Then perhaps this will convince you. Do you know why we have a mare in the moon? Do you wonder who the mare in the moon is?” He asked. “Of course I do! It’s a bedtime story! The story of Nightmare Moon. One day, a monstrous pony vowed to plunge Equestria into eternal night. Celestia stopped her before any damage could be done and she banished her to the moon.” Sunset then paused. “Nightmare Moon is some pony she betrayed too, isn’t she?” Her mouth drooped as her eyes simply watered. “… Yes. Her sister.” Sunset ended up shaking in her hooves. “She merely wanted her nights to be cherished by the other ponies, but Celestia insisted otherwise. Eventually, she grew tired of her sister’s complaints and banished her to the moon. If she can be that cruel to her own sister, imagine just how cruel she can be to anyone. That’s why I vow to snuff out the light. So what do you say?” He asked her. “…” Sunset merely looked to the castle, her horn alit with her getting a cocky grin. “I don’t want to snuff out the light.” She then ran towards the castle. “I SHALL REPLACE IT WITH MY OWN!” The man just smiled as he faded away in a shimmer of light, leaving behind a few swan feathers as they floated away. “Rose, talk to me, what’s going on?” Tracer spoke into her phone as she ran through the streets, blue streaks lighting up the night sky as she continued to run. “There’s a bunch of Grimm on the horizon. Way more than we could account for!” Loud energy blasts punctuated his sentences, causing Tracer to clench her teeth when she heard them. “They seemed to be heading towards-” That’s when Tracer ran into the claw of a large black furred werewolf with bones jutting out of its body and its face covered in a skull like mask that was decorated with red tribal markings. Tracer fell onto the ground before she got up and saw the creature. She recognized it as a Beowolf-class Grimm, but it was slightly larger and had more sharp bones. It roared and tried to pounce on Tracer before a violet-colored slash cut the wolf in half. Its remains began to fade away as the sword that cut into the Grimm boomeranged back to its holder. “Shadow! Thank God you’re here! We need all the help we can get! Grimm are-” “Fall back.” Shadow merely spoke in the coldest tone she could. “Fall back?” Tracer got up and raised an eyebrow. “Yes. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this many Grimm at once.” She said. Tracer looked to Shadow as she sighed. “The last time this happened…” Shadow froze for a bit before holding the side of her belly. “Urg…” She grunted. Tracer merely stood back. “Are you alright?” Tracer asked. Shadow nodded. She then let go of her stomach and looked to Tracer. She paused a bit before she took her hand to her mask. As she took them off, she showed her eyes to Tracer. Tracer stepped back a bit, if only because of just how vivid her golden eyes were. Not only that, but Tracer can’t help but admit that Shadow was beautiful underneath the mask. Though that was only before Tracer noticed the tears from her eyes. “The last time this happened, my friends and I got hurt. Buildings were destroyed. People died.” Her voice cracked. Tracer stopped moving. For a moment, she was a statue. However, her ring tone managed to break her concentration. She went for the phone. “Talk to me.” Tracer said. “Tracer, it’s Cam! Rose is still holding off the Grimm, but some are slipping his notice!” Cam said. The two then felt rumbles on the ground. Shadow turned and saw a gigantic black elephant with the same bony structure and tribal markings as the Beowolf. It stampeded across the street, knocking away cars and stoplights before running into Shadow. Tracer ran and got Shadow out of the way. As the two got up, they saw a few Beowolves latching onto the elephant. “That’s not good!” Shadow said. “Cam, where are the Grimm going?” Tracer asked. “Let me see… They seem to be heading… Oh God!” Cam asked. “What? What is it?” That’s when Shadow got up and shed a few tears. “It’s happening again…” She cried. It didn’t take Tracer too long to figure out where they were heading. She then ran off, hoping to beat the elephant there. “If I may have your attention, please!” Celestia had the envelope ready. I knew I had to get to the stage pronto. I pushed some of the students aside as I went on the warpath to the stage. “Although there weren’t a number of votes, there were enough to decide a clear winner.” She then proceeded to open the envelope. That’s when I marched onto the stage. “Atatatatat!” I spoke up as I snatched the envelope from her hands. “Professor Silverbolt, just what do you think you’re doing?” Celestia glared at me. “As a teacher in the science department, I am meant to promote the idea of making a well-informed decision. And unfortunately, these students are not well-informed.” I said. “Silverbolt, give that back this instant.” Celestia said. “Hang on…” I opened the envelope and pulled up the result. I read the paper and instantly groaned. “Really? Only seven people voted.” While the results were a landslide in my favor, I began to feel a rush. I looked to Sunset and began to imagine her as Ashley. All Celestia could do was pound her foot and pester me. I merely glared daggers at Celestia and began to have a smirk. This was it. This was the moment where I betrayed Celestia. Where I usurp all power from her. In this one moment, I would experience a power rush that rivaled Ryoma’s own rush when he finally staged his coup against Takatora. “I propose we extend the voting by just a few minutes… Because that’s all I need to convince you of who to vote.” I took Colorful Commercial from my pocket. I placed him on the podium as it began to play video footage of Sunset recording the battle between me and Fatty. It then switched over to her editing the video to purposefully look like we picked a fight with him instead of the other way around. It soon switched to her talking with the goth about invading Equestria. Though, the kids were not convinced. By the time it showed Sunset trashing the gym with tears flooding her eyes, I smirked as the kids gasped. It then showed how Twilight and her friends managed to fix up the gym. It continued to show Sunset harassing some of the students to get her votes all while Twilight and her friends comforted those exact students. I turned to see Celestia merely face palm. I was tempted to laugh, but I felt it would be over the top. The footage ended as I took the Shift Car and placed it in my pocket. “Tell me now, who’s the real psycho?” I asked. In an instant, the students all turned to Sunset and booed at her. The moment I saw Sunset glare at me, almost about to pop a blood vessel, I began to cackle like the mad scientist I was dressed up as. Finally. Perfect. Sweet. Revenge. “It’s already unanimous,” I turned to Celestia, “so I doubt we need this anymore.” I tore up the envelope. “Twilight, congrats, you won in a landslide!” Twilight just looked at me. She looked around and saw the students nod. But as soon as she got up onto the stage… “Help!” Spike cried out as Sunset ran off with him in her hands. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” I screamed out. Twilight and I began to chase Sunset as some of the students, Twilight’s friends included, followed. It was just one bitchy bully being chased by half the student body. Part of me wanted this to happen every day when I was in school. Another part just smiled so wide, you could have thought I inhaled some Joker Venom. As we ran, I saw the flurry of rose petals as Ross ran alongside me. “Joining in the hunting season?” I asked. “What the hell were you thinking? You destroyed her reputation! Sunset’s just acting desperate!” Ross said. “She did this to herself!” I barked back. I saw Sunset run off around a corner across a hallway filled with windows. As we tried to catch up, a large freaking elephant ran across the hall, shattering the windows and destroying the hall. Some werewolves hopped off the elephant as Ross and I stopped in our tracks. “Grimm…” Ross muttered. I turned the ignition as I muttered the word: “Henshin!” Transforming into Gold Drive, Banno ran to attack one of the Beowolves while Ross took out his scythe and cut through the other Beowolf. “Go! We’ll hold them off!” Ross shouted. Twilight and her friends complied while the rest of the students no doubtedly ran back. Banno sidestepped the claw of his opponent before punching the Grimm in the gut and then roundhouse kicking it to oblivion. One more Beowolf was left, but before any of us could move, I heard the sound of tiny pistols blasting out. The Beowolf began to get mowed by what appeared to be bullets of pure plasma. “Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here!” I saw Miss Oxton holding two pistols and sporting a goofy smile before she began to pant. Ross just turned to me. “Yeah… See, there’s this superhero league and Oxton is one of them and-” “And the rabbit hole just goes deeper and deeper… Look, I have someone to stop, so if you excuse me…” Banno ran off, out of the exit that the elephant had made. I could feel Ross and Oxton beginning to follow me. “Let go of Spike!” Twilight cried out to Sunset just as the two were in front of the statue. Twilight’s friends caught up to her as Sunset began to laugh. “Alright then…” Twilight tensed up as she feared the worst. As she closed her eyes, she waited for the painful moment where Sunset would torture Spike to break her… Instead, he felt Spike climbing up to her. She blinked for a moment. “I’m not a monster, Twilight.” Sunset said. “Yeah, right! You bully people left and right and break their hearts! I doubt you can even feel!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “There’s a difference between what I do and what a monster would do. For one, I would have just smashed Spike in with this!” She pulled out a sledgehammer from her coat. She grunted a bit as she lifted up the steel attached to a wooden shaft. “But instead…” Sunset began to smirk. “You know something, Twilight? I wish to make a deal with you. Give me the crown, and I’ll let you and Spike return to Equestria… You don’t? I smash this and seal you in this realm forever!” Sunset held the hammer, pressing all her strength into positioning the hammer for the right swing. “Of course, there’s the alternative. We stand still and this portal closes, sealing you here either way!” Twilight stood still. “Twilight, don’t do it!” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah, we got this!” Applejack prepared herself, only for Sunset to twitch her muscles. “I bet I can smash this faster than you can stop me.” Sunset said. Rainbow Dash only growled. However, that’s when the group heard what could be the worst sound they could ever hear. A mad scientist driven to the lowest point of sanity laughing hysterically. The girls turned to see Banno walk down towards the statue. “Stop bluffing. My host has been doing some digging around last night. You need the portal more than Twilight does.” He said. I saw Sunset lower the hammer for a bit. “Even if you are intent on being a woman of your word, which I highly doubt, all I have to do is make your entire body so heavy that it would feel like time has slowed down. While I,” Banno then pulled out the Door Gun, “can move freely. I bet I can shoot you faster than you can break the statue.” Banno said. I could see Sunset tremble. Banno merely chuckled as he stepped forward. “Tick tock, Sunny…” He sang out in a slow and eerie lullaby. That was when he froze. I could sense it, our time as Gold Drive was running out. “Banno, switch!” I said to him. Banno just groaned as his fingers reached to the ignition. That’s when I saw Sunset smirk. “Seems you’re locked to a cage. Luckily, I’m an opportunist. The Element of Magic can grant me unlimited power. It might grant me enough magic to free you.” Sunset said. “Hmph… And what is there to say that you can’t?” Banno asked. “Well, if I can’t free you, I’ll let you have the first hit.” Sunset said. “Banno, don’t do it!” … What the hell am I trying to say? I know what Banno’s first response will be. Banno invoked Slowdown as he walked towards Twilight and took the crown. Rainbow Dash was the first to respond, followed by Ross and Oxton. All three of them threw a punch towards Banno, only for him to walk towards Sunset and cancelled his Slowdown, causing all three of them to collide into each other thanks to their super speed. Banno merely walked to Sunset as the other girls tried to go to him. Pinkie Pie teleported to Banno, only for him to teleport behind Pinkie Pie and continue his walk. Rarity tried to throw an explosive gem at him, only for Banno to casually launch an energy lance behind him at the gem, creating a giant explosion. Applejack ran to Banno and grabbed him, her strength stopping him from reaching Sunset. Sunset, however, chuckled and went to him. She took the crown from his hands. “Finally, after all these years, I finally have the power!” Sunset laughed as she placed the crown on her head. As Applejack tried to stop her, something happened. Sunset’s eyes began to glow in an orange aura as she began to float up into the air. Waves of fire began to circulate around Sunset Shimmer before creating a shockwave that knocked Applejack back, causing her to fall and creating ripples of orange aura around her. Sunset was soon concealed in a cocoon of flame as we all heard her screaming. These screams, however, turned into laughter. As the flames died, a monster had taken Sunset’s place. It had Sunset’s hair, but it flowed like fire. She had blood red skin and devil wings with some holes in them (I wonder how the hell she uses them to fly), she wore clothes that were burning like fire (obviously a pattern here), pointy ears and black eyes with only cerulean lights coming out of them. “Yes… I can feel the power!” She cackled. “Now, test it out. While I have time, that is.” Banno said. “Of course…” She waved her hand and I felt the one thing I never thought I would ever fear feeling: Banno being off of my waist. Gold Drive’s armor came off of me as I saw the belt levitate towards Sunset as she gave a smile that only Satan could adore, what with the pointy teeth and all. “See? I told you it could work… But, I’m curious… How much more powerful would I become if I were to put you on?” She said. “No! Don’t!” I shouted. Sunset only smiled more. “All the more reason for me to put you on, right?” She asked. “Yes… Start my engine!” Banno said. Sunset grabbed Banno and placed him on her waist, a belt forming on her waist. “This is more than I ever dreamed of! More power! Yes! Unlimited power! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She and Banno began to laugh as I saw something that Banno never showed off for a long time. Tendrils came out of Banno, each with very pointy blades at the end of them. These were the tendrils used to kill 006 and… And… My eyes widened as Sunset’s laughing stopped cold as Banno’s tendrils impaled right into her skull. Banno continued laughing. “YOU IDIOT! BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY! I AM FREE TO DO WHAT I WANT! And I know what to begin with.” Banno’s voice came out of Sunset’s mouth. I looked around and everyone else felt the same fear as I did. No doubt I could guess that they were concerned for Sunset’s well-being. However, I was afraid for a completely different reason. “I’ll erase you off the face of the earth! I won this race, after all!” As his fingers reached the ignition, I knew my fears would be realized with just one little word: “Henshin.” As he turned the ignition, his body erupted into a burst of flame. Gold Drive’s armor came onto Banno, but along with it was fire that seared the armor until it created a long red cloth that hung off of Gold Drive’s belt, draping over the black spandex. Red pauldrons that were molded to look like fire were placed on Gold Drive’s shoulders. Perhaps the most notable feature was his helmet. It was more akin to a Roidmude’s helmet, with a smiling set of shark teeth as the mouthpiece and the spoiler on his head replaced with devil horns. The eyes were the same cyan that the demon had, though on the outer edge were a shade of orange. Banno levitated in the air as he looked at his arms. “This… This power is exactly what I need to destroy those who would stand against me.” He laughed and raised his hands, creating pillars of fire around him. I could only watch as the world began to burn around me. I could only stand as what would likely be my executioner stared down at me. The moment I feared since he spoke was realized: Banno is back.
Shimmering Sunset Arc 8: How Will The Sun Set?Fire… Principal Celestia couldn’t help but look at the blazing fire coming from her courtyard from her office window. She could only look and frown. “I’m sorry.” Celestia turned to see the Headmaster. She took a moment to realize that this was him in the flesh. Usually she’d have to come to him or talk with him over ChatNoir. “This is all my fault.” He walked forward. Celestia merely winced as she saw him walking with a cane to support him. “What’s going on?” Celestia asked. “The Fall Formal… When I helped restructure the school board, it was my idea to have CHS hold the Seasonal Dances. A means to give the students importance and fulfillment. Had I known this would happen…” He kept his head down and just walked slowly to the window to observe the blazing chaos that unfolded. “What are you talking about?” Celestia glared at the silver-haired man. “Do you know why there’s never a Prince of the Fall Formal? Because when I created the Seasonal Dances, I had an old fairy tale in mind. One of an old man being greeted by four sisters, one representing each season of nature.” He said. “I… haven’t heard of that tale.” Celestia said. “For good reason.” As he said this, he reached the window. He could feel the heat from the glass alone, though he passed it off as him sweating. “In that tale, the old man was so awed by the girls’ kindness, he returned it by granting them magic. Magic that was so powerful…” He sighed. “When I warned you about the Fall Formal, this was what I was worried about. A Princess of the Fall Formal inheriting that very same magic.” “So… You mean that Sunset is some sort of… wizard?” Celestia asked. “No. She’s become something else. She’s become more than Princess of the Fall Formal… She’s what I would consider…” He closed his eyes. “The Fall Maiden.” That’s when he heard cackling. He opened his eyes and saw what would appear to be a belt latching itself onto the monsterish Sunset Shimmer, and then a few moments later, transforming into an armored version of that devil. Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw this happen. The Headmaster could only think of one thing now: It’s all over. BLAM! Ross opened fire onto Banno as soon as he processed what happened. “Give Sunset back, you bastard!” He screamed. Banno just deflected the bullets with his hand, no need to tap into Golden Energy. “No. She’s my new puppet for this world’s domination. And once I take over this world, then I’ll focus on destroying my bastard of a son, his bitch of a sister, and finally, that traitorous Krim and his meat puppet!” Banno shouted as he raised his hand up. I saw a glowing orange circle appear underneath Ross as a bird’s screech could be heard. “Ross! Look out!” Rainbow Dash ran forward and knocked Ross out of the way as the circle exploded into a pillar of flame. ”Hmm… Perhaps I’ll experiment on these powers by dealing with you all!” Banno shouted. That’s when I noticed a horde of black and white creatures. No doubt Grimm. “I prefer to keep this experiment… closed off.” Banno then created a wall of fire as the Grimm ran into it. Some of them made it through, only to succumb to being on fire, turning into smoke in the process. Banno then let the firewall cool down. Well, guess we won’t have to worry about the Grimm for a while. “Sunset! Sunset!” Banno turned his attention to Sunset’s two lackeys, the fat and skinny students. “Can we transform too!?” He asked. Banno just looked to them and darkly chuckled. “Hey! Get away!” I screamed out. As much as I want to see retribution to a couple of bullies, the safety of my students was a concern I have obtained through my brief time as teacher. They just stood there as Banno raised both his hands, turning into the golden digital energy I know… That’s when the energy turned dark blue, almost like an inversion. He shot two beams right at the students. Their bodies began to fade away into blue bits of code… before it turned dark purple. Their bodies returned to normal, but the shade of purple remained in a form that almost made me shriek in terror. Purple cracks appeared over their skin. This was something entirely different to what I or Banno had expected, as Banno merely hummed in curiosity. I ran towards the two, trying to stop the inevitable from happening. But as I reached towards them, two imp-like monsters burst out of their bodies like cocoons and clawed at me. I fell onto the ground with two large claw marks torn right into my clothing. As I looked at the two closer, I noticed that while they have monsterish features, they still had the body of a Roidmude’s, it was like that of Chase’s Roidmude Form, a sleek metallic body with the plate on the chest. “Kahahahaha! Wow! That was such a ruuuush!” The blue imp chuckled. He had the plate designation of SNP. “Yeah! To be born in just a few moments then burst right out of the Gate! This is gonna be so awesome!” The orange imp shouted. On his chest was the designation of SNL. “[b]Gate? As in…” Banno looked at his hands as he and I made the same realization. Banno just laughed, like usual. “To think that whole thesis on Gates and Phantoms were just musings from a grieving father!” “T-that was magic he just used!” Twilight ran to me and picked me up. “He used magic to turn them into monsters!” No shit, Sherlock. “So what? He turned them into flyin’ monkeys! We can kick their butts back to their sorry selves!” Applejack said. “… No… You can’t.” I muttered. “Huh?” Twilight asked as I looked at the two monsters. “Those are no longer Snips and Snails.” I said. I spared the girls from the cold truth. That Snips and Snails, when they were hit by Banno’s beams, instead of turning into data like he had intended, instead had monsters born inside them called Phantoms that proceeded to rip out of their bodies, killing them in the process. Though, considering the Roidmude shape, I’m not sure if that’s entirely accurate. Although the students were confused, Twilight just frowned, then glared at Banno with pure anger. “You… Do you have any idea what you’re toying with!?” Twilight growled. “To be frank, I don’t know and I don’t care…” Banno merely snapped his fingers as the two imps flew to Twilight. Fortunately Ross managed to fire at one while Tracer shot the wings off the other. “You took over the mind of an innocent girl,” I wouldn’t call Sunset ‘innocent’, “stole my crown, and now you’ve turned two more people into your slaves! I’ll stop you no matter what it takes!” Twilight said. “E-even if it means not being able to return to Equestria?” Spike asked her. “… I don’t care. My friends and I will find a way to return.” Twilight smiled. “No… You will not return! Not after this!” With that, Banno flung a fire ball right at Twilight. However, another fireball flew towards Banno’s and both destroyed each other. “WHAT!?” That’s when a puff of gray smoke appeared between me and Banno. As the smoke cleared, I saw the pale-skinned leather suited man that Sunset spoke to. “What the hell are you doing to my pawn?” He merely barked to him. “I’m merely trading in a crappy car for a more efficient one. And I do have to say, you’ve picked a very efficient car…” Banno said. “She’s essential to my plans of conquering Equestria. Return her to me or suffer my wrath.” He glared. “You haven’t seen true wrath.” Banno’s compound eyes then flashed as waves of fire pulsed out of his armor. The gothic man merely just slapped the waves away, his hand visibly burning but never once feeling the pain of it. He looked to his blistered and boiled hand, only to wave his other hand over it, becoming good as new. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that.” The man stepped forward as Banno laughed. “GLADLY!” He launched a series of icicles at him. The goth just vanished into smoke. When he appeared again, he was over on top of Banno before slashing him with a dagger, the same one he showed Sunset. As Banno fell to the ground, the goth merely landed on his feet. Banno got up and shrugged off the slash. “You’re lucky you have your armor. My dagger would have cut through you.” The goth man said. “What a boast. But you don’t have the power to back it up.” Banno said. “You have no idea what I’m capable of…” “I could say the same about me!” With that, Banno just launched a lightning strike at him, knocking him across the ground and slamming him right into a curb. However, the man just got up and readied himself. He prepared to launch two fireballs at Banno… WHIZZZZZZZ! Only for two hookshots to impale his hands. He looked to see… Shit! Niko!? Niko flew in, guns out as he pointed them right to his head. Using the hookshots as rappels, he zipped in, right into his face. At point blank, he fired two large flare-like blasts. “DIE, BITCH!” He unloaded two whole barrels before unloading the barrels and clipping two more on from ammo belts on his legs. He breathed in as he saw the smoke clear. The man’s head was completely intact save for a few bruises. “Ha… Hah… I didn’t know you had it in you, my apprentice.” He smirked. “I will never acknowledge a monster like you to be anywhere close to a teacher…” Niko growled. I just went up to him. “Niko! What the fuck? He was kicking Banno’s ass!” I told him. “If he wins, it’s game over!” He said. “Well, who the fuck do we root for then?” I asked. “You guys, of course!” Niko grabbed the man with his bare hands. He grunted and just looked over to me. “You’re right, Kelly, the Roidmudes are your problem and they should be your problem. The Dark Swan…” I saw Niko look to the bleached haired man who just smirked. “He’s my problem.” With that, the Dark Swan just raised his hand and both him and Niko disappeared into smoke. Well great, the one person evening out the playing field is gone. Banno’s strength is unbound compared to when he was just Gold Drive. I doubt Ross, even with his super speed, could take him out. I knew if I had to beat Banno, I would need a belt… With that, I turned to face Banno. I simply smirked… Then I ran to the Tridoron. “Kelly! What the hell!?” I heard the students call me out. “Don’t worry! This will be cool, I promise!” I hopped into the Tridoron and rode off. I looked at my rear view mirror and saw Banno deciding to chase me instead of killing the students or Ross. Good. That’s exactly what I wanted him to do. The smoke exploded in the middle of a park in the middle of the night. Niko and the Dark Swan pushed each other out and stood off. The Dark Swan looked to the full moon. “Everything was going to be perfect. Then you ruined everything!” He said. “Granted, I didn’t intend for Banno to take over Sunset, but it’s a good thing I stopped your plan.” Niko said. “You… You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long.” The Dark Swan said. “Likewise.” Niko stepped forward and began to fire at the Dark Swan. He merely just sidestepped the bursts of gas and flung some fireballs right at Niko. He shot them away, causing them to explode in a burst of fire. Niko was knocked away. He managed to use the hookshots to swing himself around a nearby lamp and flew straight to the Dark Swan, guns ready to fire. The Dark Swan just rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist. A grayish colored field appeared all over Niko’s body as he was frozen in midair. The Dark Swan just walked towards Niko. “And this is why you never fight with your Displacer. You may feel like you have power, but compared to the person who Displaced you? You’re… just…” The Dark Swan plunged his hand right into Niko’s chest. “Weak.” He could feel Niko squirm as he ripped out his glowing heart. He flung his hand and knocked Niko aside, cancelling the immobilization. He looked at Niko as he got up, eyes widened. The Dark Swan just clenched his grasp over the heart as Niko began to clutch his heart. Before he could completely crush the life out of Niko, The Dark Swan felt something grip over his neck like a garrotte with tiny, razor sharp thorns... But when he looked down to his neck, there were no thorns to be seen. “OVERDRIVE!” His neck soon got overloaded with thousands of jolts. He screamed out and let go of the heart. Niko ran over and grabbed it, shoving it right back. That’s when he noticed who saved him. A tan-skinned man in a white button shirt and brown cargo pants. “J-joey!” Niko said. “… Long time, no see.” Joey stepped forward. “Another Displaced? To whom may I have the displeasure of meeting?” The Dark Swan asked. “Joey Chandler. And that,” he pointed to Niko, “is my Displacer you’re trying to kill.” “Figured he’d be another pawn of yours.” The Dark Swan said. “I’m not.” Joey took out his Digivice. “I’m his friend.” “Friend?” The Dark Swan just laughed. “Displacers and Displaced can’t be friends. Only a naïve idiot would think that!” “Good thing I’m one then.” He then placed his hand on the Digivice. “BIO HYBRID DNA… FULL CHARGE!” His body dissolved into data and in his place was: “BIOROSEMON!” The Dark Swan just glared at the rose woman as she prepared her whip. “You pick the weirdest people to Displace. No matter. You couldn’t beat me, Sid. What makes you think your Displaced will be any better?” The Dark Swan created a sphere of fire in his hand before his wrist got grabbed by the thorny whip. “Poison Ivy!” BioRosemon shouted as the thorns dug into the Dark Swan’s wrist. He grunted as the poison seeped into his wrist. Before the poison turned into a rash, he merely cancelled the flame and cut the whip, severing its tendrils. “Gah!” He grunted as he tried to heal his hand before a rash set in. As he finished that, he saw BioRosemon fling the whip towards him. “Needle Spray!” Hundreds of tiny thorns flung themselves towards the Dark Swan. He raised both hand up and created a wall of fire that burned the thorns. That’s when he saw BioRosemon jump over the flame and create a huge rose shaped cannon with his hands. As he saw that, he noticed Niko zip up behind him. “Flower Cannon!” Both Niko and the cannon fired at the Dark Swan. Needless to say, he couldn’t dodge the large green blast and two gas powered bursts to the chest. The Dark Swan merely twitched as there two holes in his chest and his leather suit was absolutely scorched and ruined, what with flowers starting to bloom where the Flower Cannon blast exploded. He stumbled and nearly dropped. Niko went out of the way as he saw BioRosemon float above the villain. BioRosemon got out the pink Tifaret and aimed right at him. “D-damn it! Don’t think this is over! I’ll return! I’ll snuff out the light and Equestria will suffer!” The Dark Swan said. “This ends now! Forbidden Temptation!” She then fired the large pink blast at the Dark Swan as he instinctively raised both hands up. The blast hit the pillar of smoke that engulfed the Dark Swan, spreading the smoke outwards before creating a large pink sphere of destruction that destroyed part of the pavement before clearing up. BioRosemon flew down and the bits of data consumed her, turning back into Joey. Niko ran up to Joey, only to slow down, almost to a point where he was just standing. “What have you become?” Niko asked. “You’d be surprised.” Joey sighed and walked away. “… To think you’d be Displaced here as well.” Niko muttered. A few moments passed before Niko pulled out a pistol. He reloaded the barrel as Joey stopped in his tracks. He zipped over to Joey and fired… Right into the skull of a Beowolf. Its head was blown apart, leaving the neck a red stub as it turned to smoke. “That’s twice I saved your life. Now, we’re even.” Niko said. Joey chuckled. “I never properly thanked you when you saved me the first time. I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to save my life even when it was beyond saving.” Joey said. “Well… You saved my life… Back… Back when…” Niko just sighed as he shook off the painful memory he had. “Val misses you.” “So I’ve noticed…” Joey looked down. “And… She has a kid.” That’s when Joey’s eyes opened. “Your kid.” “… When?” Joey asked. “When we were stuck in that world. He’s a cute little bundle of joy. I try to visit him once and a while…” Niko went to Joey. “You should come too. It’d probably make Val happy to know you’re alive.” “… No.” “No?” “I’m not going with you. I don’t know how much time as passed since I died… Maybe Valerie has made peace with my death. Besides… I have a city to protect now and a team that needs me.” Joey said. “… Valerie hasn’t moved on, at least not in the sense where she’s seeing other people… She needs someone to help her. If you change your mind, let me know.” Niko walked off to where he was close to a brick wall and took out a small gun like device with a large green lightbulb. He shot out a person-sized green portal that began to swirl. “You’re not gonna help out?” Joey asked. “Trust me, I am. I just need to get something from my storage.” With that, Niko entered the portal. I drove the Tridoron as fast as I could. Banno’s possibly made me his primary target, so time was of the essence. The Grimm slowed me down, but not enough to make a dent. I employed the tried and true ‘hit and run’ method, some of them managing to turn into smoke upon impact. Thankfully, the laboratory wasn’t far from the school. As I got onto 108 Somerset, I got out of the Tridoron and ran to the lab. As I entered, I could feel an increase in heat followed by several high calibre rifle blasts… Goddamn it, Ross! I had to make this quick. I tossed out several files and vials, trying to search for the thing that would beat Banno. Luckily for me, it was right under my nose. And just in time too, as I heard Banno smash through the entry way of the door. “A shame it came to this, Kelly…” I heard Ross scream and saw his body slam right into the wall before falling onto the floor. “We could have ruled together… But then again, I always liked to step over people.” “You know who else liked to step over people?” I gave a smirk and turned around. “The man I chose to dress up as: Ryoma Sengoku. And this,” I held up a red belt buckle with a plunger on one side of the belt and what could best be described as a high-tech juicer at the bottom of the buckle, “is his legacy!” I slapped the belt onto my waist. “What the!? How did you manage to make a belt without my knowhow!?” Banno asked. “You remember when I was looking over the notes back when we were bailed out?” I smirked as I remembered when I looked through some papers, I made sure that I did it on a table that was above my waist, making sure that Banno’s vision was blocked as I built the belt. I was somewhat glad he never caught on to that. “YOU BASTARD!” Banno roared and tossed a fireball at me. I dodged out of the way, though the ball exploded, destroying much of the lab in the process. Fire began to blaze out. I only had a little bit of time before the fire incinerated the whole lab. Thankfully, I had time. I pulled out a padlock, similar to the Lockvehicle, but there were a lot of differences. First was a clear blue plastic shell. Next was the design on it: a lemon with the initials “E.L.S.-01” on it. And finally, the most important feature of all… “Henshin…” By pressing the button on its side… LEMON ENERGY! The lock opened as a zipper, going in a circle, materialized out of the sky and unzipped, revealing an endless forest of trees on the other side as a glowing mechanical lemon began to descend from the crack. I placed the lock onto a hole in the belt. LOCK… ON! And then pulled the plunger. SODA! Lemon juices began to build up inside as the mechanical lemon opened up and fell on me. LEMON ENERGY ARMS! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT F-F-F-F-F-FIGHT! Inside the lemon, my helmet appeared in a flash of white. It was a knight’s helmet with a large blue crown on it with five red jewels on its spikes, befitting the name of the Rider. A glass slice fell down in a gap between my eyes and the helmet, creating a yellow-tinted HUD for me. One thing I missed about being Gold Drive was that Gold Drive’s HUD was more technologically advanced, feeding me tons of info about the battle situation. This HUD, however, felt bare bones. There were only two bars, one on the top and one on the side, both seeming to keep a track on my enemy. There was a circle that moved where my eyes would be looking. As I gazed at Banno, it gave me only a picture of him with some stats in a very small font. Geez, I thought that the “incredible Ryoma” would have made cooler HUD. Then again, I guess I was spoiled with Banno’s HUD. The lemon unfolded, some of its peels became the cape, while a majority of its pulp became a set of golden asymmetric armor, with my right shoulder having the top of the lemon as a sort of pad. A splash of lemon juice confirmed my armor’s appearance as I began to hold a red and blue bow. “Who… Who are you!?” Banno asked me. “Kamen Rider… Duke!” With that, I aimed with the bow. There was a nice, nostalgic beeping sound as it aimed right at Banno. I smirked and fired. Banno easily smacked that away, the arrow exploding and taking out a bit of the lab. I then rushed in and slashed at Banno with the blade part of the Sonic Arrow, the bow I was using. Banno just swung his hand and created a flaming version of the Steering Sword. The two blades clashed, sparks flying. I had time to glare at Banno. “I will end you!” Banno said. “This is the final lap!” I slid my bow against his sword and struck him where he truly resided: his belt. Banno staggered back. He created a series of icicles and flung them at me. I ran over, hopped over a table and kicked it down. Using it as a makeshift barricade, I shielded myself from the icicles and began to fire my arrows. I didn’t aim at Banno and just fired directly where I was facing. The arrows then flipped upwards and sought out Banno, hitting him all onto the belt. “Gah! Y-you coward!” Banno said. “Only a coward would use someone else’s body to do his dirty work!” With that, I jumped over the barricade, using the plunger on the Genesis Driver to juice the energy. LEMON ENERGY SQUASH! Suddenly, four different Dukes appeared. Together with me, they all slashed at Banno, though as Banno tried to counter attack, each one of the duplicates turned into a ghost image, passing through him. As he turned around, another would “attack”, only to phase through him. Once Banno had went through this a few times, I slashed him with my Sonic Arrow’s blades glowing gold. I knocked him out of the lab and approached him. Banno created another fire version, this time of the Door Gun. He fired as I responded with fire from my own arrow. The arrows and bullets collided, though I was admittedly slower at the draw, and soon I was bombarded with bullets. I fell over as Banno ran to me, gun pointed right to my face. “You’re right… This is the final lap! And I’m about to hit the finish line.” Banno sneered. “Good! Because only despair awaits you there!” I aimed my bow and fired a point-blank shot at Banno’s head. “DAMN YOU!!!” He staggered before raising his hands. Winds began to pick him up as storm clouds began to form. I immediately dodged out of the way of a lightning bolt, then another, and another. “DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIIIIEEEE!” Banno cackled as he threw a fireball right at me as I was about to dodge another lightning bolt. Instinctively, I sliced the lightning bolt and used its energy to slash at the fireball. There was a large explosion that knocked both me and Banno down. I struggled to get up. The HUD began to notify me that Banno was weakened, as I assume that’s what the red bars around a screenshot of Banno’s current state showed. “End of the road…” I got up and lined my final shot. With my free hand, I pressed onto the plunger two more times. LEMON ENERGY SPARKING! Ross woke up from the brief black out. As he got up, he saw Banno was missing. That’s when he heard lightning bolts. Ross ran over to see the fight. “End of the road…” He saw what he assumed to be Kelly inside a suit of cyan spandex and gray and gold armor, almost akin to a lemon. She aimed a bow at Banno… Suddenly, Ross began to have flashes. He remembered the dreams. He remembered the arrow. He saw one person about to kill the other with the arrow. He realized what would happen. And he wasn’t gonna let it happen again. “Goodbye, Banno!” I said. However, just before I let loose the final arrow, I heard winds picking up. Worse, I smelled roses. “PYRRHA!!!” I heard Ross let out a cry as he tackled me, causing me to fire the arrow as it whizzed passed Banno. As we fell to the ground, I immediately slapped Ross in the face. “What the fuck, Ross!?” I shouted. Ross could only look at me with that goddamned scary Vietnam stare. It took a while before Ross realized he was looking at me rather than someone else. “K-kelly… What… What happened?” I could only get up as Banno laughed. “Luck is on my side it seems, Kelly Randall! Now, to eradicate everyone in my way!” Banno held out his arms as we all turned into golden data. For a moment, I thought we’d be transported to a database. However, we were right back at Canterlot High. What the hell were we doing back at… Oh no. I could see Twilight and the others trying their hardest to fight the two Phantoms as well as the Grimm. While they were able to take out several Grimm, they were no match for the Phantoms. Applejack tried to throw a punch at the blue imp, only to shrug it off and punch Applejack right onto the ground. Rainbow Dash tried to run circles around the orange imp, only for him to trip her, pick her up, and toss her towards Applejack who was just getting up. Rarity threw several gems towards the two, each of them exploding into various elements such as fire, water, wind, and even earth. One of them looked weakened, the orange imp, but the other seemed raring to go. He noticed Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. All of them were tired, presumably due to fighting the Grimm that had come. The four of them barely stood a chance to the blue imp as he knocked them all down. I also saw Flash Sentry fighting the remaining Grimm and easily slashing through them with… Were those tiny Daidaimarus? The Daidaimaru, a sword that Kamen Rider Gaim used, is now in Flash’s hands… and he wasn’t even transformed. How? How was this possible? Whatever the case, he had himself occupied with the Grimm, too occupied to help with Twilight and the gang. I tried to run to the group, but then I looked under the ground as it began to flare up. I heard what sounded like a screeching bird as the ground exploded into a pillar of flame. It knocked me down and separating me from the belt. My armor liquidified and I was back to my normal state. I saw Banno floating in the air with large devil wings spread out. No doubt he send the flame at me. Soon, I saw several pulse bullets hit what looked to be a personal shield. Aura? Banno looked to Oxton who held her pistols. “Erm… No hard feelings, love?” She gave a nervous smile. Ross just ran to her and fired a sniper bullet right at Banno’s attempt at a fireball, blowing it up. What he didn’t see though was that he lobbed a second fireball… right at Twilight and the gang. “NO!” I shouted, struggling to get up. Why? Why did I shout that? The fireball exploded, pretty much burning them to a crisp. I sunk to my knees, not even sure how to respond. I barely knew these kids. And yet, I’m upset. I’m angry. I failed to save them. I only knew Twilight for a few days and yet I felt as though she was a close friend that I just… let die. Banno could only laugh menacingly before he held his hand out at me. And I just sat there. I lost. I’m in last place. Banno won. That’s when I saw a magenta aura. I looked and saw the girls were being shielded by the aura. However, this wasn’t the Aura that Ross had. It was more standout, in your face. Like a magical aura. “Professor Silverbolt, I’ll show you how friendship is magic. Even if I had known these girls for a brief time, my bonds have made us stronger than just mere magic.” Twilight said. The group levitated in the air as a flash of light blinded me. When I opened my eyes, I saw the girls had changed just slightly. They now had pony ears and tails. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight all had wings adjacent to their skin color. Welp, now I’ve seen everything. Twilight and the others flew up and created a swirling rainbow double helix that turned into a beam, firing right at Banno… However, the two imps got in the way of the blast, causing them to be engulfed in a rainbow tornado. Banno, however, managed to escape while the two fell to the ground, changed back to their normal forms. “Friendship? HAH! Is it truly more powerful than me!?” Banno fired several fireballs. The magical aura managed to block the fireballs, but with each blow, I noticed the aura grow weaker. I saw Flash run out from a cloud of smoke, presumably made from the remains of Grimm that he had killed. He yelled and tried to attack Banno with his swords, only to be knocked down, his swords clattering next to him. Ross fired several rifle blasts and Banno just blocked the bullets with one hand. I held the Genesis Driver, ready to transform, though I noticed it was charred a bit. It likely wouldn’t have any functionality unless I repaired it. Shit. Need a miracle now… That’s when I saw a green portal emerge on the ground from behind me as Niko came out. “Yo, Kelly. This one’s on the house.” He told me as he handed to me… Oh, hell yes. The limited-edition Sengoku Driver with Duke’s faceplate and the Lemon Lockseed, just as I had originally wanted. I took the two and smiled. “Now take this monster out!” He said. “With pleasure.” With that, I turned to Banno and slapped the Driver on my waist. “Looks like Friendship won’t be the only magic that’ll beat you, Banno! HENSHIN!” I activated the lock. Like before, a lemon appeared, though less mechanically advanced. I did the same motions as before, though this time, I cut into the lemon with a small plastic knife. LEMON! LOCK ON! COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA!!! The armor unfolded, flaps still becoming the cape, but now the armor was more symmetrical, with all sides unfolding to their respective spots on the body. I held a rapier this time. I just looked to Banno, rapier pointed right at him. “Now is the final lap. Ross!” I shouted. “Right!” Ross leaped up and fired his rifle on the ground, causing him to propel up to Banno and slash at him. Likewise, I leaped into the air and struck him with my rapier. I couldn’t really fly, so I landed onto the ground. I looked back to Twilight. “Twi, we’ll hold him off. You power up that rainbow tornado thingy.” I said. Ross managed to stay in the air longer, dodging several fire blasts from Banno. “Got it!” Twilight said. Ross maintained himself in the air. He curled himself into a ball and flew to Banno like a grayish blob. Banno tried to strike, lighting his hand on fire so as to burn Ross, but he managed to fly past Banno, grabbing his back. Ross got his scythe over one of Banno’s wings and pulled the trigger, the recoil causing it to outright amputate it. Banno screamed as he fell. I ran to him, as did Oxton. Oxton fired her pistols at Banno, though it did nothing to whittle the shield. It had to be a direct hit, I noticed. “Oxton! Get closer to him!” I shouted. “Okay, love!” Oxton then rushed over to Banno. He held up his hand and tried to fling a stream of fire, only for Ross to bonk him with the blunt end of his scythe. When Banno recovered from that, he noticed a small little bomb beneath him. “Here’s a present for ya!” She then grabbed Ross as the two of then went back to her original position, as though they were flying back through time. The bomb exploded, knocking Banno into the air as I saw the ripples that signify an Aura Break. As he landed, I prepared to attack, but that’s when I saw Flash cut into Banno with his Daidaimarus. I had so many questions to ask Flash, but now was not the time. “Professor… I’ll make this my fight too!” Flash said. I just sighed. “Aright.” Your funeral. Banno stood up and saw the four of us readying our weapons. “Come at me if you dare! I’ll destroy you all!” We all ran at him as Banno laughed. Ross and Oxton both fired their weapons point blank at Banno. The pulses caused his shields to lower slightly while Ross’ high calibre blast shattered some of his armor, leaving me a good space to cut right into him with the rapier. While it was made to be a stabbing weapon, I swiped fast enough to cause more sparks to fly, taking off more of his armor. Most of his chest armor was gone, revealing Sunset’s demonic dress underneath. Flash began to slash away at his back. Although not being able to dish out heavy damage like Ross’ rifle, out of all of us, he managed to do the most damage, causing Banno to get onto his knees. Banno screamed and slammed his hand onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that knocked us down. “I won’t go down like this! I will take over the world!” Banno laughed even harder than normal. I got up, my belt still functional to keep my armor. “No… I’ll make sure you die for real!” I said. “Kelly, my friend… We were a good team. Surely, you don’t want that to end.” Banno said. “… We are a good team, yeah.” I used the knife to cut the Lockseed. “But that doesn’t mean we’re friends.” I cut again. “Thank you, Twilight,” I looked at Ross, Oxton, Flash, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, each one at a time, “for showing me what a true, true, friend is.” One final cut. At the same time, Flash did the same thing. COME ON! LEMON SPARKING! SOIYA! ORANGE BURSTING! Flash’s swords glowed orange. He struck with both, overlapping into an X shape. It cut into Banno’s back, staggering him enough for me to land the final blow. As the rapier glowed with the same golden energy that I used as Gold Drive, I leaped into the air and as I landed, I stabbed the Banno Driver with the rapier. Lightning emerged from the belt as Banno just let out a painful wail. “KEEEEELLLLLLYYYY!!!” “Banno… This… is truly the end of your terror.” I turned to Twilight. “NOW!” I shouted. Twilight activated the rainbow beam again, engulfing the two of us in a large tornado of rainbows. “SUNSET!” I could hear Ross shout while we were inside the tornado. Banno let out a weakened rasp. “Kelly… Do you truly think this is the end of me? I came back from death twice now. At this point, me coming back won’t be a possibility. It will be an inevitability.” Banno used the last of his energy to give one last laugh. “Then I guess I’ll have to put you in your place when you come back.” I pulled out the rapier as Banno went limp. He fell and exploded. As the smoke cleared, Banno was gone and in his place was a weakened Sunset Shimmer who was thankfully back to her human form. As the tornado died down, I saw Ross, Twilight, and her friends rush to Sunset. “No! Sunset! Wake up!” Ross began to shake Sunset. I then noticed the visible wound I inflicted onto her waist. There wasn’t any blood, but seeing that small little hole caused me to drop my rapier. I closed the lock and pulled it out. LOCK… Off… And my armor went away. The others ran to see Sunset while I just backed away. My body shook. Wasn’t this what I wanted? I wanted to stop Sunset from being a bitch… But… I looked at my hands. No. I had to stop Banno. There was no other option. I could feel someone’s hand pat me on the back. “You did good. Couldn’t have been prouder myself.” I slapped Niko’s hand away. “We’re not friends and we never will be friends. You could have helped us, you know.” I glared to him. “But I did. That belt is the very reason you won.” As soon as Niko said that, I ran and grabbed him by the collar. “And you’re the very reason this was even a mess in the first place!” I growled. “I wasn’t the one who picked Banno.” He smirked… Shit, he had a point. And even if I picked someone else, chances are I wouldn’t have been able to stop the Roidmudes, even if I had picked normal Drive or even Mach or Chaser. Then again, I had no idea I’d be fighting Roidmudes. I sighed and shoved him. “Just make sure no more Grimm come.” I muttered. “That won’t be an issue.” I heard a new voice and turned around. I saw a man with tanned skin. “Me and Shadow took care of the remaining Grimm. Well, mostly me.” He frowned. “Shadow’s out of it.” “And you are?” I asked. Niko just stepped forward. “Joey Chandler. My other Displaced.” I looked to Joey and just sighed. “So, you’re roped into his bullshit too?” I asked. “No. I chose to be Displaced.” I saw Joey and Niko share a bit of a stare. It wasn’t the awkward ‘we had a bad history’ kinda look. It did imply they had a past together at some point. “Well, hope to see you again, I guess. I gotta attend to a wounded student now.” With that, I ran. As I stopped, I noticed the giant crater I created. My jaw dropped at how powerful the blast was… Then I saw Sunset crying. On one hand, I smirked. She’s finally put in her place… But on the other hand, I can’t help but feel pity. This whole time, I went about this thinking about Ashley. That it was Ashley that I was exposing. However, when I saw Twilight help her up and heard something about learning friendship, I knew exactly where the crazy train was going, especially with what little I knew of the show. “EX-CUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS?” I shouted and approached Twilight. “Huh? What is it?” Twilight asked. “I can’t help but notice you are gonna forgive the person who made your life a living hell.” I said. I could see Ross glare daggers at me. “Kelly, she’s in need of friendship.” Twilight said. “She drove friends apart! She made them think they were liars and assholes! She had us accused of murder! She even tried to murder us!” I paused for a moment. “Okay, Banno tried to murder us. Point still stands though.” Twilight was about to speak when Sunset spoke up herself. “It’s… It’s okay.” She sighed. “I… I did a ton of terrible things here. I… I understand if you won’t forgive me. Or any of you.” Sunset just continued to cry before Ross came down the crater and hugged her from behind. “Sunset… Don’t worry. I forgive you. I’ll be there for you. Just like how you were there for me.” He said. Blech! I could hear some of the girls awwing at her. I could just see Sunset cry even harder. Twilight just stared at me. I groaned. “Oh, all right…” I then skidded down the crater myself and approached Sunset. Kamen Rider had its fill of evil characters who became good… But most only did so through realizing the pain they put on others and the price they had to pay. “I won’t forgive you, yes. But, I can say that I approve of you making up for what you’ve done. If everyone else is cool with it… Then I guess I’ll be too. But I will warn you. You toe the line of evil again? Then you won’t find mercy from me.” I glared at her. “Kelly!” Twilight then got down onto the crater and pulled me to the side. “What the hay?” “Sorry, but just because someone plays the ‘I’m good’ card doesn’t always mean they’re legit. But hey, now Sunset has incentive to be good.” I said. “Incentive? You’re threatening her!” Twilight said. That’s when I heard Applejack and Rainbow Dash come down. “Yeah, well, hate to break it to ya, Twi, but Kel has a point.” Applejack said. “She tricked me and the others into hating each other for years. We’ve only just now mended our friendship. … Knowing it was Sunset that said those things to Fluttershy… It’s hard to just be friends with her.” She frowned a bit before turning to me. “But, I’m gonna make sure she’s honest about it. We won’t need you to keep her in line.” Applejack smiled. “Yeah. I’m gonna have her do some serious trust tests before I start considering her a friend.” Rainbow Dash said. I turned to see Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie tending to Sunset. I sighed. “Well, she has friends regardless.” I muttered. “Have her count up her crimes. Then I’ll consider her a friend.” I said. I almost tripped over something on my way up. I looked down and noticed the Banno Driver. I picked it up and observed it. “Hey, do you think forgiving people, even when you know they’re villains and are bound to be evil again, is a dumb thing?” I asked. “… I never really considered. I know someone we befriended who is like that. I’ll have to see.” Twilight said. “Good. I guess I’ll experiment as well.” I said. “What are we waiting for! LET’S BOOGIE!” Pinkie shrieked out. The dance resumed almost instantly. True to Joey’s words, the Grimm didn’t decide to bother anyone for the night. Given what they’re attracted to, I could only assume that once the main source of upset was called off, the Grimm stopped noticing. It’s a little worrisome that such negativity could call forth a shitstorm of monsters. With the Roidmudes, I only need to worry about them attacking on a weekly basis and I have the knowledge that their number are very scarce, even more considering I took out about two dozen by now. The Grimm? I don’t even know if they have a limit. From what Ross and Sebastian said to me, they have no limits. High school is what I consider the most toxic place next to the internet. That thought alone made me worry what’d happen if this school ever had to deal with cyber-bullying. “And that’s when Flash Sentry took out these orange blades and started cutting those creatures!” I was with Rainbow Dash as she was talking about Flash’s accomplishments to a little kid with purple hair and orange skin. She seemed to be grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t sure what her relation to Rainbow Dash is, nor was I too interested to check. I walked around a bit. Twilight and Flash had their slow dance. Applejack and Rarity were gossiping by the punch bowl. Pinkie was chatting it up with the DJ. And Fluttershy was just sitting by a wall, all by her lonesome. I walked to her and sat next to her. “Oh! Professor!” Fluttershy spoke up. “Hey.” I kept silent for a moment. I wanted to form the right words to say to her. “When… When you got that text from Rainbow Dash… How upset were you?” I asked. Fluttershy just looked down and shed a tear. “A lot. Rainbow meant the world to me and… when I got the text from her calling me a dy…” Fluttershy trembled. “Sorry. It’s just…” “So why forgive Sunset? She’s the one who called you that.” I said. Fluttershy stopped trembling. “Because… I feel like people have the potential to change, no matter how bad they are. Tachibana for instance...” Fluttershy just smiled briefly. I just sighed and looked at the flooring of the gym. “I guess… I guess I have my views on who should be forgiven.” I had to admit I had a tough time forgiving a villain in Kamen Rider Gaim once he saw the error of his ways and began to redeem himself. Only because he spent his time as a villain being a little shit. “And it’s okay that you do. I just hope you and Sunset get along.” She said. That’s when I noticed… Where were Sunset and Ross? Sunset stood outside the school, waiting by the statue. She shivered in the dead of the night, though her leather jacket kept her somewhat warm. “Something wrong?” Ross approached her. “Ross… I… There’s something you have to know. I’m… not of this world.” Sunset said. “You’re… a Displaced?” Ross asked. Sunset took a moment before shaking her head. “No. I’m from another world. This statue can take me back there.” Sunset said. “So… Why aren’t you going?” Ross asked. “I… I don’t know if I want to. When I left, I was just as much of a jerk as I was this past month. Selfish, obsessed with power… I… I even burned bridges with someone who was like a mom to me. When I return… Will I be scorned?” Sunset began to cry. “…” Ross just wrapped his arms around her. “If those girls can forgive you, I bet she will too.” “I know… But… There’s so many things I wanna ask her… The night I left, I became so disillusioned with her that I began to be convinced that she’s nothing but pure evil. What if she does forgive me, but I can’t help but see her as a monster?” Sunset then went on her knees and grabbed the stone base of the statue. “And… I only have thirty minutes to decide!” “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “This statue is only open for a limited amount of time. Once that’s up, it won’t be accessed for another thirty moons… And… I don’t know how long that is in this world. I don’t have enough time!” Sunset said. “Then make time. You’re not ready yet. You just got possessed by a belt and gained… whatever the hell that kind of power was. You just realized the error of your ways. Take your time. You will get a chance. Trust me.” Ross just hugged Sunset for as long as he could. “Stop… I… I don’t want you to pity me…” Sunset began to cry. “I used you like I used those boys! You saw me for who I truly was! I don’t need you to feel sorry for a monster like me!” Ross only hugged tighter. “I’ve seen monsters, Sunset. And you’re not one.” He turned Sunset around and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re an angel. And you just don’t know it yet.” Ross smiled. Sunset looked at Ross and smiled back briefly before looking away. That’s when Ross noticed something off. He heard someone approach the scene. “How sweet. However, we can’t let a traitor have his happy ending…” Ross heard a metallic voice. Instantly, had Sunset crouch to the ground and took out Crescent Rose. WHOOO-WHOOO-WHOOOSH! As soon as Ross heard the movement, he swung Crescent Rose at the assailant. I continued to observe the dance, walking around. Seems Oxton had left, her job now done for the time being. Hadn’t seen Niko or Joey as well, so I presume they left. I decided I’d take the bullet and find- “Professor Silverbolt.” Principal Celestia approached me. Right on cue. I turned to greet her, only to notice she wasn’t alone. There was a man with her. He looked to be old, what with his graying short, bowl-cut hair, yet at the same time, he looked younger than he lets on. He walked with a cane, though I could tell from his statue that he didn’t exactly need it. He wore a black suit with a green turtleneck underneath. He also wore tiny spectacle sunglasses, almost akin to Ozzy Osbourne if his shades were so tiny they barely covered his eyes. “Ah, Celestia, I apologize, but these kids are in the wrong generation to know who Ringo Starr is.” I had to remind myself that this world probably didn’t have the Beatles. “Do you have any idea how reckless that stunt you pulled was?” Celestia glared at me. “Twilight would have still won, but you decided to make it a spectacle and turn this entire school against one student.” I smirked. I had prepared my comebacks the moment I took the envelope. “I opened their eyes. I called attention to a bully when even you, the principal, turned a blind eye to it.” I said. Celestia just stared harder. “I noticed Sunset had won the Fall Formal multiple times, and each time, she became obviously more and more insane in those photographs. I don’t know how many kids she’s harassed in her life. I don’t know the number of lives ruined by her. I don’t even know if her bullying claimed lives. But all I know is that you let it go on for far too long.” I said. “It’s not that.” The man spoke up. He had a bit of an old voice to him, something akin to a wise king rather than a pop star. “At the time, emotions were building up. There was fear, doubt, insecurity. By showing the video of Sunset breaking the gym, you caused everyone to react negatively, and as you have seen, that attracted…” “Grimm.” I took a moment to look at him. “You know what they are, don’t you?” I asked. Celestia looked to the man. This was definitely something that was not in her knowledge. “Celestia. Leave us.” Celestia’s eyes widened a bit, before she decided to walk away. I proceeded to walk with the man through the dance hall. Some of the kids noticed him, but made no note of it. “The Wonderbolts weren’t prepared for an onslaught of Grimm, but with the help of you and the others, including Ross, they weren’t a threat. I feared that it would be like a similar scenario, but thankfully it was not the case.” He said. “Similar? You mean that this happened before?” I asked. “Not here.” He said. I instantly concluded what he meant. “You’re a Displaced.” “No. But you’re close. I’m from another world. One where the Creatures of Grimm run rampant. However, it is also a world where there is hope. Heroes like you and Ross who take up arms and fight off against them.” He said. “So, what brought you here?” I asked. “An incident that happened about a decade and a half ago, during that scenario. And the cause of it made his presence known tonight.” He said. “So, that goth?” I asked. He chuckled. “Funny, but he’s no laughing matter. The Dark Swan, as he calls himself, is a dangerous adversary. In a realm without magic, he is harmless. However, as you have seen tonight, magic has returned and with it, so has his power.” He said. “He’s not my problem though.” I said. “But he will. Even if you have nothing to do with him, if his ambitions line up, he will make himself your problem. Just like he had with me.” He said. “So… He’s someone to look out for, got it.” I sighed. “There’s also one more person I should notify you about.” With that, he glanced at me. “Professor Silverbolt, and we both know I’m not talking about you.” I just looked to him with a deadpan expression. “Last I checked, he got himself eaten by some giant. I wouldn’t worry too much about him.” I said. “Even so, I should say that he is also from my world. For the longest time, I didn’t know where he came from, but thanks to an incident last night, I was able to find out who might have been involved.” He took a moment to get some punch from the bowl, poured it into a cup, and drank it. “Foundation X.” I muttered. As soon as I saw him smirk, we heard Ross’ weapon go off. The man didn’t flinch though. He just kept that look on his face. I look to him for a moment. I could see that he was calm. I saw some of the students beginning to run and hide under their tables, probably a safety precaution. The students don’t know of the scythe. But he does. “So, you know what that weapon is?” I asked. “Yes. And so far, Ross has handled it with just as much skill as the simple soul who held it before.” He said. Good. Chances are Ross knows who he is. With that, I nod to him. “We will meet again.” I said. “That we will.” He stood by as I rushed out. Twilight and the others followed. As I ran out to the courtyard, I saw Ross fall onto the ground and rolling away. His scythe falling just a few feet before him. Sunset rushed to tend to him. I looked to see who he was attacked by. That’s when I saw him. Another Kamen Rider, one I haven’t seen before, or rather, one I’ve only seen briefly. He was one of the ten Riders that came before Double, the Rider I watched. The rider wore black spandex with what appeared to be magenta armor attached to him. Parts of the armor, notably the side of the arms and legs that went into the body, were white. Another part that was white X on the right side of his chest. His mask had bars embedded into it, a magenta base, green compound eyes that the corners seemingly ‘leak out’, giving the mask a fearsome look. Though It struck fear for a different reason. Most Riders have a jewel on their forehead. This Rider lacked it. Instead, on his forehead was a familiarly-shaped plate with a three-digit number: 010. There were two reasons why this had me quake. The first was that this confirmed to me that this Rider’s a Roidmude. It hadn’t been the first time a Roidmude took a Rider’s form, right down to the plate being on their head instead of their chest. The second was that, for a long time, I had speculated the whereabouts of Roidmude 010, the Paint Roidmude. Back during the Museum incident, I had thought for sure that he was involved in it before realizing that it was his apprentice that was the true cause. Now he is right here, in front of me. “W-who are you?!” I asked. “Just a passing through Roidmude King… Remember that.” The Roidmude King. He was the Roidmude King? I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even a more memorable Roidmude. Paint!? He was the second major Roidmude to be taken out by Drive right after Iron. I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even the Roidmudes’ Recreator, but PAINT!? “And you just took out our major obstacle.” Shit. Banno was the reason these Roidmudes were so easy to take out. With him gone… “Now, the invasion can begin!” He then turned his head to the statue. “Or perhaps… We shall take over that world…” That’s when Twilight exited the school and saw him. “Oh no! He’s gonna enter the statue!” Twilight said. “We’re running out of time! Twilight, you need to get to the statue now!” Sunset told her. I looked to the Rider, then took out my Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and then took out my two Lemon Lockseeds. “I’ll hold him off. Twilight, run!” She nodded and ran. I opened the two Lemons. LEMON! LEMON ENERGY! The two Lemons appeared side by side as I locked the Lemon Lockseed onto the main part of the driver. For the second part, I salvaged from the Genesis Driver its Core. I plugged it into where the faceplate was and then put the Energy Lockseed on it. LOCK ON! “HENSHIN!” I shouted before cutting the Lockseeds. MIX! JINBA LEMON! HA HA! The two Armors merged to create what was an old Japanese looking box. It slammed onto me as it created the spandex for Duke’s outfit. As it unfolded, the armor became something akin to a kimono that samurai wore, a Jinbaori. An old Japanese robe, stylized to have lemon slices on the flaps of the robe as they set onto me. As the armor clicked and fruit juices exploded from the armor, I held both the Sonic Arrow and the Lemon Rapier. I fired my arrow at the Roidmude King who slapped it away and walked towards me. He took out a card, a loud vroom of a motorcycle played out as he put it into the belt, having to turn it upwards to put the card in before slamming it back in its place. ATTACK RIDE: BLAST! He took out what appeared to be a photo album and pulled out the handle, holding it like a gun. He fired, his hand and the gun splitting into five different, magenta aural copies. I couldn’t hold off the bullets as they riddled my armor. It felt weird. I figured by using both Lockseeds, I’d be able to have more power than if I were to just use the Lemon Energy Lockseed. Instead, I took as much damage as I would if I were to just use the original Lemon Lockseed. I wondered why I was so weak. Had I relied on Banno’s power too much? Was the Roidmude King more powerful than I could fathom? Did Ryoma not have the foresight that he could have been more powerful if he just combined his Lockseeds? This wasn’t the time for guessing though. I had to fight and hold down the fort for Twilight to get to the statue. Especially once he aimed his gun at Twilight and fired, causing her to jump up and fall on her knees. I cut into the Lockseeds. COME ON! LEMON SQUASH! JINBA LEMON SQUASH! Like before, copies of myself appeared, all readying their Sonic Arrows and Lemon Rapiers. “Your opponent is me! I’m one half of the team that destroyed your army! Banno may be gone, but so long as I remain, you pieces of scrap will not win!” I shouted. “You think you’re the only one with that trick?” He pulled out another card and slammed it in. ATTACK RIDE: ILLUSION! Like that, he too split into five copies of himself. As my copies attacked his, they faded. Meanwhile, his copies just fired, causing the illusions to be destroyed and me to take now five times the number of bullets that I took. Though it was thanks to the timely appearance of a literal fire wall that I survived. I looked over and saw Sunset’s eyes flaring up like she did when she got the crown. However, she didn’t have the crown anymore… So how was she doing this? Unless the power from the crown transferred to her… “Go! I’ll protect you from his attacks!” Sunset said to me. I felt stunned. I gave her shit these past few days and yet she is helping me… Right. No time to think. Weapons in hand, I ran through the flames, not even burnt once, and slashed through the illusions. As per usual tropes regarding making duplicates, they weren’t as strong as the real thing and thus they were destroyed easily. I ran to clash with the Roidmude King, who in turn pulled his handle out even further, now becoming a handle for a sword. He held it out, the edge of it unfolding until became a blade for the newly minted sword. I swung the rapier to him, but he parried with his sword. Swinging overhead with the Sonic Arrow, my slash was met with one from him. We locked swords. “You think you’re the first Kamen Rider I’ve faced? I’ve defeated Riders before.” He said. “What?” I began to remember what Niko said to me about the Riders being displaced. “It was you…” I growled. “Exactly. The Riders have tried to stop our kind from being revived… I took the form of one of their own and gained the ability to use his belt, and with it, I defeated them all. Allow me to show you the spoils of that war.” With that, he pulled out a card from the sword as he held out a card with Kamen Rider Drive’s face on it. “Henshin.” He turned the card over, creating a loud flashing sound before he plopped into his belt, a circular camera lens-like belt with six symbols, three on each side. I took time to notice each of them. A W, three Os, the helmet of an astronaut, a magical circle, a symbol of what appeared to be a samurai clan, and the letter R inside of a circle. These were the symbols of Double, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, and Drive. The Riders he possibly had faced and defeated. KAMEN RIDE:DRIVE! A white cylinder barrier pushed me away as red tire-like circles began to display in the cylinder. A popping song played as armor materialized and clicked themselves onto the Rider’s armor. The cylinder disappeared and I saw his new form. It looked almost like Gold Drive, but the gold was now red, the black metal now silver, and the blood red eyes now a passive white. Instead of a red circuit board, he had a tire with a red line in the center and the words of TYPE SPEED on it. This was the Drive that Banno based himself off, and now I’m seeing the Paint Roidmude doing the same thing. “Let’s go for a ride.” He ran to me, sword in hand and slashed at me with the sword. To be frank, fighting Drive was something I never wanted to have. Even if he was a duplicate. He tried to strike again, but I blocked him and I saw Twilight enter the statue. I saw the moon shine for a brief moment. “There! The statue’s sealed!” Sunset said. She then flung a fireball at the Roidmude King. He drew a card and slammed it in. ATTACK RIDE:TRIDORON! The Tridoron drove towards him and blocked the fireball. The King then leaped over the car, changed his sword into a gun, and fired at me. I rolled out of the way. I then ran towards the Tridoron and got on it. We began to clash swords just as the Tridoron began to drive off. I tried to keep my footing on the machine as the King began to strike at my armor with his sword. He got me on my knees as I used the rapier to attack his belt. Though sparks flew, the belt was barely scratched. I attacked again. Another explosion of sparks. The King grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I was still able to attack using the Sonic Arrow, cutting him across his armor. Despite this, it was sturdy. The Tridoron began to swerve, knocking both me and the King off. As we tumbled, I grabbed the ground and stood up. He flawlessly kept his footing. We both stood as the Tridoron drove itself next to the King. “Now… to finish you off like I had the other Riders.” With that, he drew a card and placed it in. FINAL ATTACK RIDE:DR-DR-DR-DRIVE! The Tridoron drove around in circles. Eventually it created a wall of energy that it drove around in. All while the King crouched, ready to attack. This was preparations for his Rider Kick. I decided to prepare myself as well. I cut the Lockseed three times. COME ON! LEMON SPARKING! JINBA LEMON SPARKING! I leaped over to the Tridoron behind me, then used it as a springboard. The car rolled around for the King to jump and do the same thing. We both clashed in the middle of the ring as we used the car as a spring board. While I had been kicked in the chest by a powerful Rider Kick, I had slashed at his armor with the power of two highly powerful Lockseeds. Either him or me will fall in this fight. We kept slashing and kicking in the ring before it came down to one final clash. “HAAAAH!” The King roared. “TORIYAAAA!” I responded. We came across each other, dealing our blows. The Tridoron stopped driving as we landed. It was something out of a samurai movie. The two of us standing still to see which one of us landed the fatal blow. As I heard the sparks coming from the King, I smirked. “Looks like I’m the only winner here.” I turned to look at the King, who had a massive black line across his armor, crossing that where the tire was. He fell over and exploded. I expected his Core, but instead, I saw the Drive insignia floating out of the smoke before exploding. “What the?” I then noticed the Roidmude King, back in his magenta armor, walking out of the smoke. “You bastard! Why won’t you die!?” I shouted. I then took the Lemon Energy Lockseed from the belt and placed it onto the Sonic Arrow. LOCK… ON! I aimed. There was a long droning sound as I looked down the aiming reticle. Why? Why is the King just standing there? How was he able to come back? No matter. This ends tonight. LEMON ENERGY! I fired a large energy lemon towards him. He just chuckled as I saw someone leap over him and slam their fist into the ground just as the lemon hit. There was a huge explosion of fire so loud, I shielded myself. As I put my arms away from my face, I looked to see large flames. Inside the flames was a person I never saw before. I knew from her statue and hair that she was a woman. The flames were so violent that I could only see a silhouette of her with a pair of blood red eyes. Next to her was the King’s own silhouette with his green compound eyes. “Prepare yourself, Kamen Rider. For our war will now resume…” With that, he laughed as the flames died down. I ran after them, but as the flames died down, I noticed they were gone. “DAMN IT!” I shouted before I took off the belt, my armor going off. I looked to the school. I saw Sunset standing by. Most of the other students came out of the school to see what was going on, most staying away from Sunset. I glanced at Celestia as she got onto the courtyard as well. That night, I decided to make a vow. I will win this war and stop the Roidmudes. I looked to Banno’s belt. I gripped it tightly. I knew what the next step was. Yellow, tiny LED lights began to appear on the LCD screen of a computer. The lights began to form into a frowning face… Banno’s face. “Aaaah, finally. I was able to back myself up without them noticing. Good thing I had kept quiet… Just you wait, Kelly. I will destroy you and take over this world! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Banno laughed as his face moved to the edge of the screen… Where it zapped him. “W-what the!?” Banno looked around. Four borders encircled him. No way out. “What is this!?” “The Lapis Lazuli Program.” I said to Banno. He looked at me, at least that’s what I felt. He was just a 2D image of some face, so I had no idea if he was actually turning his head to me. “KELLY! What is the meaning of this!?” Banno asked. “The Roidmudes are resuming their attack on this world and unfortunately, both the Genesis Driver and the Sengoku Driver lack the Core Driviars needed to counteract their Slowdowns nor the strength to fight evenly with the Super Roidmudes. As much as I hate to say it, I need you. However, you are a very loose cannon. This, I created a program to keep you inside.” I said. “Heh, you think you’re smart, inheriting the brains of Ryoma Sengoku… But in time, I will break out and-” “Be automatically detected by my anti-virus program then be quarantined right back into the Lapis Lazuli Program. Or be deleted outright if you’re able to override that.” I smirked. I then pulled up the Banno Driver. “The only means for you to leave the Lapis Lazuli Program is to be summoned by the Banno Driver. In that time, we work together to beat the Roidmudes, then you go back into your little cubby hole. Rinse and repeat until all one hundred and eight Roidmudes are eradicated. At that point… Who knows? All I know for sure is… You won’t be out of this program any time soon…” I smirked, then walked away from the computer. “Wait! Kelly! Come back!” I ignored him. “So… Shall we start the experiment?” I slapped the Banno Driver on my waist, ready to take the new program for a test drive. Ross and Sunset were at the mall, sitting by the fountain. Most of the adults passed by them, no problem. But the students who went to CHS, the ones who knew first hand her tyranny and ambitions, made themselves scarce and went the other way upon seeing them. Sunset sighed. “Do you think I’ll ever be forgiven for my crimes?” Sunset asked. “Yeah. If you mean well.” Ross said. He then had his hand touch the water. “I’m sorry about that whole scythe thing…” “Don’t be. I betrayed you. I made you think I was some nice girl when in reality, I wanted to drive people into the mud. It…” She hugged her knees. “It was the first time anyone as actually stood up to me outside of Twilight Sparkle. It showed me that I wasn’t some perfect girl who can get anyone to do what I want. Afterwards, I began to think irrationally. I even made a deal with…” She buried her head into her knees. “That monster taking over my body… I never felt so controlled in my life… It made me realize what I was doing was wrong…” She cried. Ross just hugged her, only for Sunset to pull herself away. “NO! I… I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve a second chance! I don’t deserve to have friends! I don’t deserve those powers... I don’t deserve you!” She got up. “Sunset, I-” “Please, Ross… Find someone who is an actual angel… Find someone who will be kind to you… Find someone who isn’t a devil like me.” With that, she ran off. Ross tried to get up, but as soon as he noticed how far she was running, just stood there. “She needs time, love.” Ross turned to see Miss Oxton approach him. “I think we all do.” She frowned. Ross looked to Oxton, then sighed. He gripped his hands. “Miss Oxton… No… Tracer. I want in.” Miss Oxton’s eyes opened wide. “What, love?” She asked Ross. Ross just smirked and stood proud. “I want to be a Wonderbolt.” The major police department downtown had been working around the clock to figure out the recent cases of monster attacks, including an incident down by an abandoned building, formerly the Everton Institute. “What the hell are the police uptown even doing?” The commissioner slammed his hand on the desk, creating a crack on its surface. “Now there’s reports of a demon attacking the school!? And I thought reports of man-eating werewolves were ridiculous.” He sighed. “They’re not.” He looked up to see a person who entered his office. He walked on a cane, had silver hair, his eyes obscured by tiny shaded glasses. “I have seen first hand what these creatures can do.” “Who are you? What are you doing in my office?” He asked. The old man just winced. He could see an old friend inside the commissioner. Although he had steel-colored skin and a stubble, he still wore a white uniform, had black hair with graying sideburns, even a staple on the left side of his head. He wanted to call him by the name of his friend, but he knew full well that he was in another world. The name he had there is not the same name here. “Mr. Burr, sir, I’m here to offer you a spot in the Academia School Board. A spot that had been vacated thanks in part to what happened with Everton.” He said. “And why would I want to be in a school board? We’re a police station.” He said. “If you have noticed, most of the incidents that have occurred in the past three months have to do with the schools in the board. Canterlot, Crystal Prep, Wonderbolts, even Everton. By joining this board, you will be given information of these incidents as they happen on a first-hand basis. Not only that, but you will receive young adults ready to become the next guardians of this town.” He said. “… You have my interests. But that still doesn’t clear up who you are. I never saw you in this town before.” Burr said. “Because I’ve never felt the need to make myself known… Until now.” He approached Mr. Burr. “My name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of the Academia School Board. It would give me great honor if you were to join the board, Iron Burr.” He said. The Roidmude King returned to his lair along with the Grim Reaper. As they walked forward, the Grim Reaper spoke up. “You could have let me kill her. She’s nothing without Banno by her side.” She said. “Patience.” With that, he took off the belt. His armor dissipating into ten different copies as he turned to her. The form he took was a man with black, spiky hair, wearing a black leather jacket. The sleeves and legs going into the body were magenta, while on his right pant leg, there was the symbol of his Rider’s helmet. He then pulled up a small phone with ten numbers. Five of them were lit: 001, 002, 006, 008, and 009. “Four Roidmudes remain. Once they unlock their true potential, they will take their place into the New Promised Number. After that, not even Banno can stop the Roidmudes. Our revolution is imminent.” The Roidmude King said. “So, what do you stall for?” His Grim Reaper asked. “The right moment.” He then snapped his fingers as four people approached him. One was a human with long black hair and steel-colored eyes wearing a black leather long coat. The other three were Roidmudes. Two of them were Cobra-classes while the remaining was a Spider-class. The three had the numbers 090, 067, and 050. “I shall send the Fusion Roidmudes to handle the third wave of Roidmudes. Sword, I expect you to destroy Banno’s partner.” With that, the black-haired man bowed. “It shall be done, my King.” As he said that, several more Roidmudes showed up. All of them wearing the cockroach-themed outfits of the Reaper Legion. “And no Roidmude army is complete without their Grim Reaper to keep them in check.” The King said. “So, this is it? I’m finally gonna kill them?” She asked.The King turned to pat his Reaper on the shoulder and smiled as her Lilac eyes turned blood red. “Yes. This will be the day you’ve waited for, my Grim Reaper… Yang Xiao Long.” SHIMMERING SUNSET ARC: END
Interlude 2Author's Note This chapter is both a bridge into the next arc as well as my side of the crossover with Jsyrin's story: Ka~Puu/CHANGE! Double Henshin Blasts the Heart with Sisterly Feelings! Interlude 2 Despite the Roidmude King’s warnings, the war didn’t seem to resume immediately as I had thought. Even after a patrol with Soarin’, I noted how quiet the streets were. If the Roidmude were gonna invade, I’d expect the streets to be crawling with them. Though there were the occasional creatures of Grimm. Perhaps the only time where deliberately running over an animal was encouraged by a cop. After a good night of hunting, I returned to the school, parking the Tridoron in the process. That’s when I noticed the statue, the apparent portal to Equestria, shimmer. Wasn’t the portal supposed to be closed for thirty moons? How long is thirty moons anyways? I inspected the statue… Suddenly, two girls came out of the statue. Their hairstyles were distinct, as were the outfits and belts. I recognized one of them instantly. Mach’s belt. Well, I’m glad Mach’s a Displaced and not Gou. I asked for their names. We had a brief conversation regarding who they are and where they came from. Apparently, they were encased in stone for a few thousand years and were from the same realm Twilight came from. How she never mentioned them is something I must ask, though I presume it was the similar case with the two brothers knowing Pinkie, yet she didn’t know them. Perhaps the Twilight and Pinkie they met were not the same ones I met. We discussed a bit regarding the situation, to the point where we began to discuss Grimm. Thankfully, I knew a guy. “Thanks for coming with me, Fluttershy.” Ross said as Fluttershy patted his back just as they were about to enter the pet store. “Sunset’s just being too hard on herself. She’ll come around.” Fluttershy just smiled as they entered the shop. Ross turned his head and saw Miss Oxton chat with Joey, no doubt talking about his request to join the Wonderbolts. That’s when he noticed a third person: Flash Sentry. Ross remembered how Flash used a device like what Kelly ended up using at the climax of her fight with Banno. He had no idea what differentiated the two though. Flash’s device gave him weapons while Kelly’s gave her armor. Yet… they looked the same. This was something he had to check with Kelly. “You coming? Pets can be very relaxing.” Fluttershy said. “O-oh, yeah, of course.” Ross said as he entered the store. In the shop, they looked at various animals, eventually ending with looking at Corgis. That was when Kelly came in with two girls. The situation was explained to Ross. The girls were Displaced and wanted to know what Grimm and Grimmudes are. The result was the two girls transforming into Kamen Riders, much like Kelly, and rushing off to fight such a Grimmude. Double Diamond returned to his new base, smirking at the data he had received. His Grimmude creation, a Cobra-Class Roidmude fused with a Beringel, was defeated at the hands of two ZECT Riders. Mass Produced Roidmudes seemed to be weaker than the 108 that Banno made. He looked through the notes to wonder why that is. He was able to make the two fuse, so why was it significantly weaker than the Raven Grimmude? He splayed the notes out and looked through it. Banno’s collection of notes from when he pitched the idea to Foundation X, back before he grew insane from his constant failures. He would create groups of robots that would grow and adapt with humanity, eventually bridging the gap between man and machine. There were hitches though. Even before the Core Driviars needed to give them the powers they have, they were considered imperfect. Just machines that obeyed a human’s orders. While ideal for Foundation X, Banno didn’t seem to like the results. He wanted the Roidmudes to be more man than machine. He wanted to give them… Personality. Was that it? The Mass Produced Roidmudes were just the Roidmudes that Banno first pitched. Subservient machines that obey orders. And yet, they were easier to destroy than the usual Roidmude. They had no personality. They had no numbered Core. … They had no soul. Souls… That’s it. He needs souls to power up his Roidmudes. Give them a personality beyond that of obedient. Even if it would cause them to take over, perhaps them succumbing to their emotions and desires might indeed power them up. That’s what seemed to be the key to unlocking Super Evolution, after all. That settles it then. All he needs to create the weapon he desired… All he needs to acquire victory… Is in a simple soul. Niko tossed the geode onto the desk of his hideout. He sighed. He already had a client who desired the stones. He arranged payment of a hundred US dollars per jewel. Seven hundred. Enough to support his sister and nephew for a month or two. That’s when he heard a zipper. “You…” Niko turned around to see a woman with bleached blonde hair covering one of her eyes, a blood red left eye, and a white silk outfit that looked like Tetsuya Nomura had designed it. “You gave her the wrong belt.” She said. “I gave her a belt! Like you asked.” Niko glared at her. “Why did you let her take that belt, though? You should have declined.” She said. “Hey, your little problem’s taken care of because of her decision to get the belt. If I had given her the Sengoku Driver like she wanted, the Roidmudes would have killed her and we’d be back to square one!” Niko shouted. “When I let you give those belts, I intended you to give at least one of them Drive’s belt. But instead, you gave the belts of two of the most villainous men I have had the displeasure of seeing to someone who might be toeing the line to evil.” She said. “And yet she managed to stop Banno anyways! I don’t get why you’re here. As far as I know, my work with you is done. Now, if you excuse me, I have a client from Universe C-137 who is requesting big money for some tiny little jewels.” As Niko said that, he heard several zippers open as vines came out from what appeared to be portals to a forest, all with a zipper-like outline. The vines grabbed Niko by the arms and legs. “I hate to use force, but you left me no choice. Your actions almost caused the creation of a monster tonight. I’m not gonna take any chances with you. There are two people that I have selected to be Kamen Riders. You will be taken to them and you will give them their belts. In the meantime, I’ll explore the multiverse and try to find the other Riders. When I do, you will give them back their belts. Do we have a deal?” She asked. The vines tightened. “Do I have a choice?” Niko chuckled. She shook her head. “Fine. I’ll do it. Tell me who and I’ll do it.” With that, the vines let go and zip away into the portals. “I’ll give you the coordinates.” The woman then opened a zipper behind her and walked off. As the zipper closed, Niko just sighed. “Crazy bitch.” He took out something. He was gonna give his nephew something once he’s sold the geode. An orangeish-yellow coin that had a tiger’s face engraved on it. Later that night, Ross and I dropped off Fluttershy. Ross seemed like a good kid despite siding with Sunset for a good chunk of the Formal. Eventually the two girls returned, and I handed over some Shift Cars and Signal Bikes to them, including my own Token. It gave me time to test out using the Lapis Lazuli Program on Banno. I twisted the ignition and transformed into Gold Drive, going right into my control. I used the power of Gold Conversion as well as Dream Vegas to turn what seemed to be currency in Equestria into money for this world. After figuring out what to get for food, we went for Canterlot Sushi. The Beowolf howled before the moonlit sky at a parking lot. It looked around, snarling. There was so much negativity that night, more than it could ever sense. There were other times where the negativity got high enough to catch their attention, but they were usually killed by what it might consider Huntsmen. Huntsmen… Their old enemy. It growled. It wanted to feast on just one of them, strike fear into the hearts of those foolish humans… Without a leader to tell its kind what to do, it was, for lack of a better term, a lone wolf. Finally, the Grimm found an easy prey. A man with bleached white hair and a black leather jacket. It licked its chops and began to pounce… STAB! Only for its skull to be impaled by a silver wavy-bladed dagger. It only had a moment to see that the man in the leather jacket held it before dying to the wound, fading away into smoke before being sucked into the dagger. The Dark Swan held the dagger in front of him as the rest of the smoke seeped into the blade. He stared at the black carvings onto the metal, including a name carved into the dagger: Emma Swan. He sighed. “Why… Why isn’t it working?” He glared into the dagger. “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, dearie, then I’m gonna tell you to just give up.” The Dark Swan turned to see a pale golden skinned man with curly, dirt brown hair, wearing a reddish-brown leather robe sitting on a bench. “The Grimm are creatures of darkness, right? So if I were to kill them and let the dagger absorb the darkness, then I could gain more power! So why… Why hasn’t the blade-” “Turned black? Well, I see that I was right. You’re trying to do what another version of me did. But, here’s the thing, dearie…” He got up and walked to the Dark Swan, his amber, almost reptilian-like eyes glaring to him. “He managed to absorb the darkness of all the Dark Ones. If you think a simple werewolf will be enough to create that same amount of power… Well, hate to say it, dearie, but you’re doing it wrong.” The Dark Swan just glared back. He held the dagger out. “I doubt you’d be able to stab mental illusions, but you can give it a try…” The man giggled. “Shut up and let me talk with her.” The Dark Swan growled. “Oh, alright.” The man rolled his eyes as the name on the dagger began to shift and change, almost like a slot machine. It shifted through many names before it landed on one: Nimue. The vision of the man faded and in his place was a robed woman. However, she had the same skin and eyes as the man, scaled as though it was made of metal and amber snake eyes. The Dark Swan bowed before her. “Nimue, I have failed you. I thought that by having the Fall Maiden by my side, I would be able to lay waste to Equestria.” The Dark Swan said. “Your failure was only because of the intervention of a third party you had no idea about. Rise, brother. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” With that, the Dark Swan got up. “Is that why you seek power on par with all of us combined?” Nimue asked. “Yes. If I have enough power, I can help you to my full extent! You want me to snuff out the light, right?” He asked. Nimue just touched the Dark Swan’s face. “Yes, I do… But you have enough power as it is. You just need… help.” With that, she smirked. “You’re not the only being who benefits with magic entering this realm. I detect three beings in this town who may become your new allies. With their help, I believe you can achieve our goal.” The Dark Swan just smiled. “Show me where they are, my queen.” He said. Our dinner was short lived as a Roidmdue came to attack us. Surprisingly, it was a mass produced Roidmude, eventually revealed to be made by Foundation X… Not only that, but it seemed they had been busy with a Shocker-Zangyack union… As well as Grimm attacks. It was just a clusterfuck of monsters. Thankfully, we had our own clusterfuck: the Kamen Riders. It was a quick, dirty battle, all things said and done. With the dust settled, there were a few remaining monsters to clean up. While I helped settle the girls with a hotel, the girls gave Ross the Sasword Zecter. It was a purple scorpion machine from an old Kamen Rider show back in 2006, five years before I got into Kamen Rider. Apparently, his gimmick is that he can move very fast, a perfect counter to Slowdown. With Ross’ Semblance, that would create even more speed for him. I modified Crescent Rose to cooperate with the Zecter via Banno’s ability to create seeming from his data. With that, Ross transformed into what was basically a pink Kamen Rider with a rose blooming on his head… He will never fucking hear the end of this, I swear. We then departed to clean up the streets of monsters. Ross rushed into the town slashing away several mooks with just his normal speed. Rose petals scattered about as he used his scythe to cleave through the clusters of monsters. Eventually, he stopped and saw a horde of freakish looking green husks. Their faces looked like an extra pair of hands were holding it as they were crying. However, they just rasped and ran to attack Ross. Ross shot one and then dug his scythe into the ground, spinning on the pole to kick the other monster down. Both exploded into green fire. The last one, though, turned bright red before molting into a silvery-gray monster with several small holes around its armor. He had a blade mounted on his left arm and his helmet looked like that of a scorpion. He roared and ran to attack Ross. Ross parried with his scythe, blocking the stinger-like appendage before trying to fire point blank. However, the monster just turned into a blur and ran off, appearing behind Ross and stabbing him in the back. “Gah!” Ross fell down as the monster began to run circles around him. “… In that case…” Ross looked for any sort of button to give him the advantage. These Rider doohickeys have to have some kink to them… Ross thought. He then found a small button on top of his belt. He pressed it. He pressed it. CLOCK UP! Time began to slow down for Ross, but not in the same way that involved fighting Roidmudes. Instead, he saw the monster slowing down to normal speed… or rather, he was moving up to his speed. Ross smirked and flew off, using his own Semblance in tangent with the Clock Up, out-maneuvering the monster and giving him multiple slashes. Indeed, he was giving the monster a beating unlike any other. And just as he was about to lay the final blast… CLOCK OVER! He slowed down. “What?!” Ross muttered as the monster realized that Ross was no longer faster than him. Ross managed to use his Semblance to reach his speed, though, but the two were fighting at the same speed now. And unfortunately for Ross, the monster managed to strike a few more blows with its stinger-like appendage on his arm. With one last stab, Ross could feel his Aura breaking as he is knocked down. “Shit…” One more hit, and Ross would be done for. He struggled, trying to keep his guard up, but he stumbled down. He could feel some of the poison seeping through his blood stream. The monster, disabling his ability to clock up, took its time to attack… And then suddenly he is shot in the face. Ross got up to see a masked woman wearing a white long-coat holding a long sword with a smoking gun built into the hilt. Ross blinked as he recognized her. “No way…” Ross muttered. She just ignored Ross and rushed to the monster, swinging her sword at him while it clashed against his silver armor. He tried to get a strike in, but as he hit, he saw that the woman faded into a shadow, with the real version just behind it. She fired at the monster as sparks flew. She then looked to Ross. “Rest. I’ll deal with him.” She said. Ross shook his head. “No! This is my fight too!” Ross stood up as she just sighed. “Your aura’s depleted! You can’t use your Semblance anymore!” She readied herself as Ross ran to the monster, leaping into the air and bringing down his scythe upon it. “I don’t care! I’ll protect this city with everything I got!” The woman just smiled for a bit. “Heh… Of course.” She then rushed into the fray as well. As soon as Ross was done his strike, the woman leaped in with her cut. The two did not let up on their attack. Whenever Ross landed a hit, the woman would follow up with a strike of her own, and vice versa. They kept at it for a bit before the monster staggered. The monster tried to speed up, but Ross managed to cut into him and stop him from going anywhere past him. “It’s funny, the more time you spend going fast, the slower everything feels afterwards…” Ross chuckled. He unloaded Crescent Rose and noticed that the stinger on the Sasword Zecter looked like a lever. So, he flipped it, then pressed it down. RIDER ROSARIO! Red currents of lightning course up Ross’ arms and all over his body. Once the lightning reached the rose part of his helmet, his silver compound eyes glowed and he ran towards the scorpion monster. The scythe’s blade propped itself up, acting more like a halberd than a scythe. The woman saw him charging up and decided to do her own attack. She took out a padlock with what appeared to have a strawberry designed on it. She placed it in in a slot that was on her sword. LOCK ON! 1… 10… 100… STRAWBERRY CHARGE! The woman swung her sword, creating dozens of tiny aural daggers that flung to the monster and stabbed him, the daggers exploding on impact. Ross then ran to the monster and preformed a series of ten stabs, five of them diagonally from top right to bottom left, and the other the complete opposite direction, top left to bottom right. Ross noticed amounts of red, vicious liquid seeping from the blade of Crescent Rose. Venom? Blood? He wasn’t too sure. All he knows is that, with one last slash, he would have defeated the monster. Well, that was the idea. Ross did land the final blow, but as the monster landed on the ground, he didn’t explode. Instead, he got up and, after turning his head to both him and the woman, ran off. Ross tried to catch up, but he fell onto his knees and panted. As he did, the Zecter pulled itself off of Crescent Rose and scurried off. “H-hey! Where are you going?” Ross shouted. The woman then approached him. “So… You know how to hold her weapon?” Ross remembered her voice. Ross looked at the masked woman. She sounded so much like her. Displaced tend not to match voices, which led Ross to one of two conclusions, helped with the fact that Ross eyed her sword. It was not the sword he remembered from the show. Instead, it was a simple sword with a silver edge to one side. There was a golden strip that was lit with red juices, a padlock that was plugged onto the hilt, a gun built right into the hilt, and a symbol of a yellow lightning bolt in the middle of a blue sticker placed on the barrel of the gun. “And you don’t have Gambol Shroud.” Ross took a gamble. “… So you know who I am.” And he won big. “Yes, I do, Blake.” Ross stood up as the woman sighed. She took off her mask as Ross saw her face. Sure enough, Ross recognized the face of RWBY’s brooding, serious Blake Belladonna. Blake then turned around and walked away. “I’m glad… and yet, I’m disappointed that you’re not Ruby.” Blake said. “What do you mean?” Ross asked. “I… I don’t know what I’d do if you were really Ruby. I don’t want to face her. Not after what I did.” Blake said. Ross was about to ask what she meant, but a voice rang in his head. “And Blake ran!” A mixture of anger and sorrow twisted the woman’s tone of voice, but he still knew it belonged to Ruby’s sister, Yang. Ross just stood still and lowered his head. “I’m not Ruby. I admit that. But I’m trying my hardest to be like her.” Ross said. “Don’t. It pains me just to see that you’re dressed like her and hold her weapon. I don’t want you to pretend you’re someone you’re not.” Blake said. “I want to be a hero. Are you telling me that’s not who I am?” Ross asked. “No… I’m saying that… maybe you should step back and look at what you have to lose before you make some stupid decision.” Blake looked away with a frown on her face. “Do me a favor… Don’t join the Wonderbolts. If not for me, if not for you, then… Do it for her sake.” With that, Blake leaped off, landing on a rooftop where she ran off. Ross took a moment before he concluded what she meant. “Sunset…” Ross said, with any amount of joy in his voice gone. My fight with the combined armada led me to the Canterlot High field. There, I saw three monsters stand before me. The one in the middle was a man with a large baseball for a head, wearing a baseball uniform. The other two were just an oversized armadillo and an oversized rhino. “What’s the matter, Rocksteady? Bebop didn’t wanna join this?” I chuckled. “Fear us, Kamen Rider! We are the Sportsmen Three!” The Baseball monster then posed with a baseball bat. “The Legendary Baseball Star… Baseball Mask!” “The Mythical Soccer Star… Soccadillo!” The armadillo posed by curling up into a ball. “The Fabled Football Star… Rhinoblaster!” The rhino touched the ground with his hands, as though he was an actual football player. “Together we are…” Baseball Mask extended his arms outward like some sort of generic Sentai hero. “THE SPORTSMAN-” Yeah, enough of that. I shot him in the face with the Door Gun. “H-hey!” “That’s a red card violation!” Soccadillo got out of his ball form and wagged his finger at me. “Yeah! You should be playing by the rules!” Rhinoblaster said. “You guys are kinda late to the silly contest because pony princess won that loooooooong ago. Really, I just wanna get this over with.” I said. “Very well. We challenge you to a game of baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “What? N-no! I wanna challenge her to football!” Rhinoblaster got in front of Baseball Mask and glared at him. “I thought we’re playing soccer! You said yourself that we were playing football!” Soccadillo said. “WE ARE! AMERICAN FOOTBALL, YA DINGUS!” Rhinoblaster bapped Soccadillo on the head. “How about a nice game of ‘I win, you die’?” I asked. “No! We refuse to play by the rules of the standard monster of the week! If you wanna fight us, you’ll have to play baseball!” Baseball Mask said. “Football!” Soccadillo and Rhinoblaster shouted. “Actually, I wanna play soccer.” A new voice was heard as I saw two men approach me. Both of them roughly teenage. One teen wore a beige jacket with a light blue shirt, the top part of it looking more like some ancient vase than anything. He had a bracelet on his right wrist. The other teen wore a brown biker jacket, a dark red shirt and black pants. Both had short black hair. “And if you wish, I’ll play baseball.” The teen in the leather jacket spoke very gruffly, almost sounding like he could double for Kamen Rider Ichigo, the first Kamen Rider. I knew at least one of the two teens, Lapis from Kamen Rider Gaim’s movie, but the other teen I couldn’t recognize. Sure enough, the two of them were Riders, as they got their belts ready. Lapis had a Sengoku Driver while the other had a black belt with a red center, a callback to the old Showa Riders, though the texture made the belt sort of akin to a volcanic mountain. Lapis took out a silver Lockseed that had an apple design on it and raised both it and his free hand over his head. SILVER! It summoned a large, blue and silver apple over his head. Meanwhile the other teen just preformed a weird move with his arms, where he slowly waved his hands higher and higher until they were over his head. “Riiiiiiider…” He bellowed. “HENSHIN!” They both said. Lapis placed his Lockseed into the Driver and cut it while the teen just exploded into flames. LOCK ON! SOIYA! SILVER ARMS! THE SILVERY… NEW STAGE! The apple came down upon him, folding outwards to make a silver and blue armor. As the armor “splashed” he held a large fanned staff, then struck a combat stance. I, however, merely looked at the black and crimson clad Rider with vents built into his chest, gloves, and boots. “I don’t think I know you…” I tried for the life of me to recall all the Showa Riders, and this guy was not ringing a bell. “Worry not, for you shall know… I am the divine fires of justice! Kamen Rider… Dante!” With that, he too struck a pose. “... A little on the nose, huh?” I sighed and readied my own battle pose. “Very well! We shall commence our sports game!” With that, Dante and Baseball Mask ran off to the baseball field while Rhinoblaster raised his arms up. Five large golems clawed their way out of the dirt below us like they were zombies. Their appearances looked as though they were made from the very ground. Soccadillo ran to Rhinoblaster and curled up into a ball. “READY! TEN! HIKE!” With that, Rhinoblaster kicked the ball towards me. I tried to kick back, but Soccadillo managed to hit me with his body, knocking me back. As the ball landed, Lapis ran over and kicked the ball a bit, dribbling it until he kicked it up into the air, leaped over, and cut his Lockseed once. SILVER SQUASH! With that, his leg glowed blue as he kicked the ball towards the golems. The sheer force ripped through the golems and broke them apart. “H-hey! No fair!” Rhinoblaster shouted as Soccadillo returned to his leg. “I think I overdid it…” Lapis muttered once he landed and saw the destruction of his kick. “Well, it’s still pretty good. The field’s now evenly matched.” I said. “Look! The goal!” Lapis pointed to an empty net on Rhinoblaster’s side. “It’s unattended!” “Aight, let’s win this!” With that, Lapis used his staff to turned himself into a ball… Yeah. I still can’t believe that. “WHAAAT!? WE CAN’T HAVE TWO BALLS! THAT’S AGAINST THE RULES!” Rhinoblaster shouted. “Screw the rules, this joke’s overused!” With that, I turned the throttle and shifted over to Banno. “You’re summoning me to play soccer? Is there no lengths to how stupid this can get?” Banno asked. “Again, Pony Princess!” I said. Banno kicked Lapis a few times before turning the throttle and pressing the button on his Shift Brace. “FINISHING MOVE! FULL THROTTLE!” Controls were passed to me as I kicked the ball right at Rhinoblaster. The golden energy overwhelmed Soccadillo and as he hit Rhinoblaster, both exploded. Lapis harmlessly rolled into the net. As soon as he entered, he morphed back into his rider form and cheered. “GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL~!” Lapis exclaimed. I sighed as Lapis came to me. “Hey! We should watch Dante’s match!” Lapis ran off as I followed him. “HEEEEEY! DAAAANTE! HOW’S YOUR MATCH?” He asked. “Well, I managed to get three outs on Baseball Mask…” I saw Dante standing up to the plate while Baseball Mask stood at the pitcher’s plate. “I will avenge my loss by making you strike ou- Hey, where’s your bat?” I noticed Dante doesn’t even have a bat on him. “The only bat I have is my fist, blazing with a sense of burning justice!” … What. The. Fu- “ENOUGH OF THIS! DIIIIIIIE!” Baseball Mask then threw a baseball that turned into a grenade. “Secret Technique: Black Cross Bomber!” He said. “RIDER PUNCH!” Dante’s hand caught on fire as he punched the grenade right back at Baseball Mask with double speed. “OH SHI-” The grenade impacted Baseball Mask and he exploded into a firey ball of doom. “Let justice be burned into all those who are evil.” Dante’s armor then turned into ash and broke apart, scattering into the wind. Likewise, my armor’s timer went off, disappearing into a glow of gold data. Lapis took off the Lockseed and cancelled his transformation as well. “We make a good team! We should do this again sometime.” Lapis said. “Yeeeeeeah…” I shifted eyes for a second as I chuckled. “Right, introductions. I already know Lapis, but I don’t quite know you.” Dante asked me. “Oh… I’m Kelly, Kelly Randall, but most people call me Professor Silverbolt now.” I said. “And what do you fight for?” He asked. “Oh… Well, mainly to survive. I mean, people want me dead every day. Just last night, some bitch became a demon then took my belt to become a Kamen Rider. It was nuts! Guess I’ll bite and ask you.” I begin to regret doing so. “My name is Hotaro Dairou and I fight a never ending battle against the evil forces of Re:Shocker to avenge my girlfriend, Yuna, who died by their machinations. Using the Volcano Belt, I become Kamen Rider Dante, the Divine Inferno of Justice, who blazes with the fires of Prometheus and-” “Okay, I’m gonna stop you there before you make me invent a drinking game.” I said. “Drinking is wrong!” Hotaro said. “Trust me, once you hit that age, you’ll want to drink. Well, seems the threat’s gone for now. Guess we’ll go back to our worlds.” I said as I walked away. “Kelly, I have the feeling like we’ll meet again in some way.” Hotaro said. I just shook my head. “In your dreams.” I chuckled. Morning broke and we reconvened, discussing our various exploits. I mostly kept the fact that I had help to myself while Ross vaguely mentioned someone helping him. I could tell just from how he described her mask that he knows something about her. I told him about how she’d be our ally and that’s when Ross just insisted I don’t get involved. Well, that confirmed him knowing who she is and that she doesn’t want me or the others to know. I then got the tokens from the two Displaced and made a Shift Car out of them. Well, they were two Shift Cars that fused together into one. Then Niko showed up and told us about how he’s not gonna be helping for the time being because his nephew ended up displacing himself. After trying out the new Shift Car, the two girls departed and me and Ross went back to our homes to sleep. Thank God that this night’s over. Now I can look forward to tomorrow. Nimue led the Dark Swan to a 24/7 diner full of people. He looked behind and saw the numerous smoldering corpses of Grimm he had to cut through to get there. “A lot of negativity here…” The Dark Swan felt uneasy. “You will find them here.” She said. “And if they don’t bend a knee?” The Dark Swan asked. “Then make a deal with them.” The Dark Swan’s hand’s trembled a bit. “A Dark One always makes a deal.” Nimue then faded away as the Dark Swan entered the diner. As he did, he heard an enchanting song. Not enough to bring him into the same noticeable trance that the other patrons were in, however. He looked at the customers. They bickered amongst themselves, arguing and yelling. He’s heard this kind of song before. It was the song of sirens, magical sea creatures that would enchant men to ram their ships into the rocks and sink them. There was one such legend of Poseidon using his own daughter to do this exact thing as a means to exact revenge upon humanity. He followed the trio of songs over to a table where he saw three hooded figures. He could notice three rubies, all on their necks. They looked at him. “You’re not angry like the others…” One woman revealed her purple skinned face, two twin-tails of purple and green hair tied in a star-themed scrunchie flopped out as her hood came down. She sounded like a usual gothic teenager. The girl next to her did the same, showing her blue face with a cyan and navy colored ponytail. “I am not like the others.” He said. “Of course you’re not… Dark One.” The third person revealed her yellow-skinned face. She had orange and yellow curly hair. “The Dark One!?” The blue skinned girl looked at him and beamed. “EEEEEE!” She squealed. No one seemed to notice her, though, as they were busy bickering. “You three have drifted far from home, haven’t you?” The Dark Swan asked. “Yes. I could say the same for you, Dark One.” The yellow-skinned woman said. “Why I’m here has nothing to do with why you’re here.” The Dark Swan said. “If you gotta know, we were banished here.” The purple woman said. “Yeah. By Starswirl The Bearded.” The yellow woman said. Starswirl. That name evoked the image of a man who once spurned Nimue. The Dark Swan only gripped his fists. “You wish for revenge against Equestria?” The Dark Swan asked. That’s when the blue woman shrugged. “Nah. We just want a meal right now. This world doesn’t really have a lot of nourishment. It’s like fast food, you know what I mean?” She asked. The Dark Swan knew that they didn’t mean literal food, rather the emotional energy that they feed off others, the exact same feelings that the Grimm are attracted too. “We were able to get that nourishment in Equestria, when we had magic. Here? There is none.” The yellow woman said. “Until now.” The Dark Swan held his hand and made a small fire. The three girls looked at him with awe. “NO WAY!” The blue girl said. “I will help you get the nourishment you need to be strong and in return, we will return to Equestria and show that world what happens when they mess with us.” The Dark Swan smirked. However, the four heard a bell ring. The Dark Swan turned to see a white skinned man with pale vermillion curly hair wearing a business suit. The three girls got up as soon as they saw him. The Dark Swan pulled out his dagger. “Shed that human form. Now!” The Dark Swan said with a stern voice. The man just smirked as a robot walked ahead of him. The robot had the imperfect face of a bald human, the scalp looking more like a skull than a normal head. Brass tubes extended over his body like spider legs as the Dark Swan saw a plate on his chest showing the number 050. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” He asked. “I was just introducing my friend to a wonderful power when we saw this.” The robot said as the man stepped forward. “You three are talented singers. We can use that for our operation.” He said. “… What operation?” The Dark Swan asked. “See, my friend here is a manager and he’s looking for the next top idol. And I’m looking for the next massive storm.” The robot said. The four raised their eyebrows as the man held a red toy car. The robot soon turned into a mass of blurry data and merged with the man, turning him into what appeared to be a robed wizard with multiple tiny blue eyes on his face. He then walked over to two people. He touched one hand with his left palm and after that, he used his left to touch the other person’s hand. Immediately, one person punched the other in the face. The wizard chuckled to himself as he proceeded to do the same to the next row of people and so forth. Once he was done, the entire diner was now a bunch of angry people punching each other. “I believe my services are to your liking?” He asked. The four just looked, with the yellow woman stepping forward. “Consider this an… unlikely alliance.” She smirked.
Golden Drive Arc 1: Where The Hell Am I? "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body. " At first, I had no idea what to wear. Should I wear his signature scientist outfit or go with the silly summer outfit during the end game? Well, what would people recognize Ryoma Sengoku better as? That was what helped me decide my outfit as I went for a simple white lab coat with a green button shirt and brown khaki pants. I straightened out my black hair and got a friend of mine, real great barber, to give me a silver highlight to match Ryoma’s hair. Finally, I was ready for Comic Con. It wasn’t easy getting a ticket, let me tell you. Game Theory was right. Line-ups were long. Tickets were expensive too. However, I managed to pull through, made a few sacrifices in not buying a lot of the Drive merchandise, and save enough to buy myself a one-way ticket to paradise. I realized that the only people who’d even recognize my outfit would be fellow Kamen Rider fans. No one who had worked on the shows would have come, so they wouldn’t see me. Most others would just look at me and think I’m some generic mad scientist. Well… I am dressed as a mad scientist. Generic though? … I’m getting ahead of myself now. Hello, my name is Kelly Randall. Since around 2010, I have become a huge Kamen Rider fan. I guess I should probably explain what the show is. Long story short: pretty men become bug-eyed people and kick monster ass. The shows vary as the years go by, much like Final Fantasy in a sense. Characters change, premises update, but all around, the idea is preserved: heroes who fight in the name of justice and freedom. I think it was because of Mitsuru Matsuoka, a J-Rock singer, that I became hooked onto the series. Even if he was in only two movies from one Kamen Rider show, he managed to pull off that black and red uniform really well… Looking back, I notice just how much I’m into the villains. Ankh with his flamboyant flare, Hayami with his good looks, Sora with his charismatic charm, Chase with those leather pants… ooooh, those leather pants… But, if I had to pick favorites, it’d have to be Ryoma from Kamen Rider Gaim… He combines the best aspects of those guys and does it in style... Well, except for the leather pants, but he makes up for it by being a cyborg... twice. Yeah, he’s a backstabbing prick, but he’s still an amusing guy to hang around with. I think that’s why I dressed up as him. However, as I walked through the con, I slowly thought of what I wanted to do. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing for me to do. Yeah, I could talk to some of the guys who created stuff like Steven Universe or Adventure Time, but I never had time to watch those shows, so all I’d know about it is “it’s a show about a kid and some gems” or “it’s a show about a kid and his dog”. Maybe I could grab a few sneak peaks at the newest entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I mean, I’ve been keeping up with it since the beginning… CRASH! I bumped into a guy. I fell onto the floor as I heard a “sorry!” from a boy. Well, that's one way to derail the train of thought. Now I'm worried about straightening up my jacket and making sure my hair didn't get messed up. I got up and dusted myself off. Thankfully, my clothes were intact. Still, some people have got to learn, right? "Hey, watch it, okay?" I said. I didn't bark at him, however. I said it in the most polite tone I could muster. Well, as polite as a girl dressed as a mad scientist who got inconvenienced by a minor bump could be. I got to look at the guy who crashed into me. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, and from the looks of his outfit, I wasn’t the only cross-dresser here. I glanced at his costume from the bottom up. He had black boots with red laces, black cargo pants, a gray, long sleeve shirt with a bullet proof vest over it, a red cloth belt with the symbol of a burning rose on it, and, the most eye-catching detail, a red cape. I first mistook it for a scarf, though it seemed rather hood-like. The boy nodded to me. "Again, sorry." He said. “The hell are you supposed to be? Little Red Riding Hood?” I asked him. He chuckled. “Actually… Yeah. I’m Riding Hood. In a sense. You some sort of mad scientist?” He asked me. “Yeah. The incredible Ryoma Sengoku!” I smiled. “Ryoma… Is that your name? Or the guy you’re dressed up as?” He asked me. “The latter. So… what?” I looked at his outfit some more. “What what?” He asked. “Is there some sort of grimdark Little Red Riding Hood movie that’s coming out soon?” I couldn’t for the life of me get over the attempted gothic look. It’s like if Tim Burton took a hatchet to that fable… Part of me worried that he has and Johnny Depp is cast as the wolf. “Huh? No. You heard of RWBY?” He asked me. RWBY… RWBY… RWBY… I sort of remembered it… but all I know of it was that someone who worked on the thing died. I shook my head. I figured it’d be too soon if I mentioned what I know of it. “You should seriously watch it. It’s great! Hey, look at this!” That’s when he took out a freaking scythe. I leaped back at the sheer size of the scythe. “THE HELL!?” I screamed. “This is just one of the weapons seen in the show. It’s also a gun.” H-how can you fit a gun into a scythe!? How would that even work!? Then again, I’m a fan of a show that had axes that can become guns… My eyes looked at the scythe’s blade. The metal on the blade looked shiny and sharp. Almost… real. “Don’t worry about that, m'dear. That prop is just a replica. It’s not an actual weapon.” I looked to see a man dressed in a gray business suit sitting by one of those cyan fold-out tables. He also wore a white fedora. A legit, honest to God fedora, not one of those tacky trilbies. It actually looked a bit familiar to me. Though, I guess I was just thinking about that badass white fedora from Kamen Rider Double, a pretty cool detective-based Rider series. I actually got that pulp noir feeling from this guy though. Maybe it was his posture and the goatee, but I could have almost sworn I saw Sid, a dealer who was also from Kamen Rider Gaim. It didn't help that he seemed to be playing the role of a dealer, as I saw him sitting before a collection of various trinkets. Most of them were from things I recognize. A collection of Soul Gems from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, wands from Harry Potter, keys to various cars, each with the names on them, such as KITT or the General Lee, and even a Fire Flower from Super Mario Brothers. There were countless others, each looking surprisingly accurate to detail. “Oh hey. This is Mr. Zoloto” The boy waved to him. “Though, you may refer to me as Niko, if you wish." He said to me. He turned his attention to the boy. "Afternoon, Ross. What brings you here?” He asked. “Oh, well, you know. The usual. Say, you should buy something from this guy. He has a lot of cool stuff. That’s where I got Crescent Rose from.” He tapped onto the red metal part of the scythe. “He also sold me this sweet rose necklace that fit my outfit perfectly!” “And… where is it, Ross?” Niko asked. “Oh… That… Well, I left it in capable hands.” Ross said. Niko placed his palm squarely onto his face. “Goddamn it, Ross.” He muttered. He took his face out of his palm and looked to me. “Well, do you want to buy something? I have something for you that will fit your character.” He pointed to a Sengoku Driver- IT HAS DUKE’S FACEPLATE ON IT! AND IT’S THE LEMON LOCKSEED! “It’s yours for free…” He said. I always wanted this when they announced it for Gaim Gaiden. I especially wanted to use both the Lemon Lockseed with its Energy counterpart, as I felt like that'd be super cool. I could have this cool, awesome toy for free, and I don't even had to go to any import markets to do so! I almost touched it when I noticed something else. It was simply the Drive Driver, but it was painted completely black… Is… No way… They don’t even have this out yet! I'm sorry, but... MY WANT FOR THIS DRIVER IS FAR GREATER! I had to have it! There's no other way around it! “On second thought…” I tried to keep my dignity intact. God only knows I'll embarrass myself in front of dozens by geeking out over an oversized belt buckle... and I'm in geek central for God's sake! “Is it okay if I take this for free instead? I’ll probably grab the Sengoku Driver in the second-hand market.” I asked him. I frowned as I looked toward the Sengoku Driver... maybe next time. He clicked with his tongue. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Well, I’ll certainly let you have it without any demand for currency, but you won’t have it for free.” He handed me the black Drive Driver. It was here that I noticed a bit of an accent. It felt... not too redneck, but somewhere around Texan. “Huh? The hell do you mean?” I said as Ross backed away from me. I placed the belt on my waist. “Well, I believe an old friend of mine put it best.” A red belt formed around my waist. Once the belt clicked into the other side of the belt, a flash of light blinded me as I could feel my body slow down to a crawl. It was only a matter of time before I completely froze. “All things come with a price.” It was the last thing I heard as I blacked out. “Hey, get up!” I heard a voice as my eyes slightly opened up. I saw a girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair with a cowboy hat. In fact, her entire outfit could best be summed up as a cowgirl’s sort of outfit with a white and green button shirt and a blue jeans-like skirt. Not to mention those cowboy boots. “Ah, good. Now you can start answering some questions, sugar cube.” She told me. I began to think about if I was just kidnapped by Niko and brought over to his house. Oh God, I'm gonna have to start practicing the banjos soon in order to duel them, am I? “Huh? The hell are you talking about?” I reeked at the smell. It was a familiar smell, a mixture of hay and manure. I looked around and saw I was in a wooden building. Yep, I was at a barn… How the hell did I manage to get into a barn, I’ll never know... “Big Mac found you here after we heard a ruckus this mornin'. I'm just gonna ask ya one thing: what are ya doin' at our barn?” she asked. “Look, I don’t know! All I remember was that I was at Comic Con, I bought this sweet belt and…” That’s when I looked at my waist. There it was, the black Drive Driver. “Fancy belt buckle. Kind of big, dontcha think, sugar cube?” She asked me. I struggled to pull it off. “Y-yeah. It’s more than a buckle though.” I yanked the Driver, even tried to pinch the sides to take off the belt, but it still was stuck onto my waist. “Pretty stubborn one at that.” The cowgirl smirked as she tried to pull it off too. “NGH!” She pulled, only to fall backwards and tumble into the hay. “Yeah, preeetty tight.” She got out of the hay and fixed herself up. “Come on then, sugar cube. We have a lot to talk about.” She said. I gulped and followed her to her house. As I had predicted, her living room was pretty old-fashioned in terms of houses. It seemed to be like a wooden cabin. In fact most of everything was wood. The cupboards, the doors, the walls. The only things that were not wooden were the utilities like the sink and fridge, and even then, they looked like they dated back fifty years. I was sitting on the dining table as the girl set down a basket of food. “Apple fritter?” The cowgirl picked up a fritter and offered it to me. While I’m a sucker for baked goods, a small thing wouldn’t sate my hunger. Though... I was hungry and it did look scrumptious. I took the fritter and ate it. “Mmm… Anything else?” I asked her. “We made some apple pie the other day. Oh, and also some apple turnovers! We also have some leftover candy apples from Halloween if you’re interested.” I began to sense a pattern. “… You know, I’m thinking of breakfast. I mean, it’s morning, right? What do you have for cereal?” I asked. “Oh, that’s easy!” She went over to a cupboard and opened it up. When she returned, she held a box of: “Apple Jacks!” Alright. That does it. I’m stuck in one of those families it seems. “Yeah… Okay, I don’t wish to be rude, but… does your family have some… thing for apples?” I asked. “Of course we do! We own a family business of pickin’ apples, after all.” She said. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that everything you eat should be apples, right?” I asked. “Yeah, but let’s be honest, sugar cube, nothing beats a good ol’ apple. Ever hear the saying of an apple a day keeps the doc away?” She said. I rolled my eyes. “I have a name, you know. How’d you like if I just called you Applejack? Like the cereal?” I pointed to the cereal. That’s when I noticed her snickering. “Well, you’re right on the dot.” She wiped her tear and offered me her hand. “Name’s Applejack.” She said. “… Seriously, that’s your name?” I muttered. I shook my head and sighed. Eeeyup, I’m in that family. Well, it’s better than staying with the Sawyers, right? “My name’s Kelly.” I shook her hand. “Nice to meetcha, Kelly. So, can ya tell me what the hay’s goin’ on?” she asked me. "Well... first, do you know a Niko Zoloto?" I asked "Nope. Name doesn't ring a bell." she said. "Okay. Well, I'm out of ideas as to what the hell is going on. All I know is that I put on this belt, time slowed down, and I woke up here.” I said. She stared at me for a bit before she sighed. Great, I sound like a crazy person. When I dressed up as the mad scientist, I wasn't aiming to be just as mad. “Well, I know a liar when I see one.” My hands instantly slam on the table. “That’s all I know, swear to-!” And she placed her hand in front of my view. “And you are no liar. I trust ya, suga- I mean, Kelly. This does raise some questions, though.” Applejack said. "I know, I know. I don't know all the answers though. I'm just as confused as you are." I sighed. I began to think that the freezing was just my imagination. I saw a big beefy orange-haired man enter the room. I didn’t need Applejack to even tell me that’s the Big Mac she told me about. “Mornin’.” Big Mac said. He looked to me. “What’s goin’ on?” He asked. “Excuse me for a moment, Kel.” Applejack got up and walked out of the kitchen and towards a room I couldn’t see from my seat. Big Mac followed her. I inhaled. I knew that they’re going to talk about something they don’t want me to hear, so I snuck off of my chair and edged myself to the kitchen wall. “Okay, so her name's Kelly and all she knows is that she got a belt. Everything else is a blur to her. I can feel like she’s tellin’ the truth, but I can’t fully trust her yet.” While I couldn’t hear what Big Mac was saying, I did know that it was a question considering how Applejack responded. “It might be better to turn her in to the cops.” I muffled myself to prevent my gasp from being heard. Great, not five minutes into this weird day and already I'm gonna get sent to jail for something I have no idea about. In that silence, I could hear some faint knocking. I saw a girl, no older than 10, with long red hair running to the door. I saw her leap up to peak at the eye hole, and I couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she is. However, once she caught a glimpse of what was outside the door, she ran towards the room where Applejack was. “Applejack! Applejack!” I raised an eyebrow at her yellowish skin when she ran back, but I didn’t mention it out loud. “Some guys are at the door! They say they're looking for someone.” She said. “Huh?” Applejack cracked her knuckles and walked towards the door. I rushed back to my seat and luckily, I sat in time for her to pass into the kitchen. “Wait here, sugar cube.” She walked to the door and opened it up. I disobeyed her orders and snuck off. Their room was modeled in a way where I could peak around the corner and hide behind the fridge. I saw three people standing on the porch. One wore a green army vest with a black shirt and black shorts, while the other two seemed to be dressed in white tuxedos. I began to wonder if these guys were related to Mr. Zoloto. “Hello there.” The vested man said. “What are you folks doin’ here?” Applejack said. “We’ve came looking for something. I have the feeling that it's here in this very house.” He said. "Is this something a girl with black hair? A little silver highlight to it as well?" She asked. The man chuckled. "No. This something's a belt." As soon as he said that, my body tensed up. The Driver. He wants the Driver. “Well, unfortunately for ya, it has the problem of being stuck onto someone. Someone who I ain’t givin’ to ya unless you tell me what the hay’s goin’ on.” Applejack glared to the man. My heart raced. Only a certain group of people would ever want this Driver. The man nudged his head to the door as the two suited men barged in. “H-hey! What are ya doin’!?” Applejack tried to push them away, but they simply backhanded her. “We’re not entitled to tell you anything! What you need to know is that, unless you hand over the belt to us, people will get hurt and possessions will be stolen.” He said as the two dragged out Big Mac and an old lady that… Wait, when the hell was green a color of skin? I looked to Big Mac and noticed that, despite the mass difference, the gangster easily overpowered him. “Okay, that does it! We’re callin’ the cops on you!” Applejack got up, raised her leg up high and kicked their leader in the jaw. He reeled back while he held his jaw. He rubbed it a bit before he smiled. “No… That won’t be necessary.” My body went completely numb as he waved his arm. Without ever seeing the flashy particles emerge, I have confirmed that these people were indeed Roidmudes, robotic doppelgangers with the ability to make people's perception of time slow down. Once the flash happened, I could feel the Slowdown happen again. And it seems I’m not the only one. “W-what the?!” Applejack said as the leader walked up to her and grabbed her by the throat. “That little number you did… I liked it. Your body… is perfect for my tastes.” His body began to morph into a blur of red pixels before they settled on a new body: Applejack’s. He tossed her as I saw her body fall in slow motion. “Apple Bloom! Run!” She yelled. I look to see the little girl had begun to run off, though thanks to the heavy pressure, the Roidmude easily caught up to her and kicked her in the face, knocking her back. He laughed. “Apple Bloom!” “Yes… These is indeed… the perfect legs…” He shifted back to his male form, though now with Applejack’s legs. He compared his peach-color skin to Applejack’s slightly orange skin. ... Yeah, now is the time to start wondering about the skin colors of... wherever the hell I'm in. He screamed. “NO! THEY MISMATCH! You!" He pointed to Applejack. "You’ve made me imperfect! Now you must pay!” And with another shift of pixels, he transformed into someone I now recognize: The Iron Roidmude, a perfectionist who spent his time stealing aspects of different humans and combining them to make his own body perfect. The other two Roidmudes shed their human disguises too and showed their true form. As they did, I could see their numbers printed on their chests: 042 and 088, as well as their class of both Spider and Bat, respectively. “Boss, our priority is the girl, not these guys.” 042 said. The Iron Roidmude decked him in the head. “Shut it! They must be punished for ruining my perfection!” He said. He nodded to 088 as he pointed his fingers to Applejack. “Go! Now!” I could hear Applejack yell to me as she shed a tear and shut her eyes. That’s when I noticed… My body wasn’t being weighed down. I flexed my fingers. Yeah. I could move. I turned around and ran. I could hear the Iron Roidmude grunt. “Change of plan! After her!” He said. I heard the flapping of wings. I ran as fast as I could. I was able to lose the Roidmude in an acre of apple trees. I slumped to the ground to catch my breath. I winced as I thought of the family I left behind to be killed. I sat up, huddled my legs, and cried into them. I couldn't save them... “They are quite a piece of work, are they?” I heard a voice from somewhere. A very familiar voice too. I looked around. When I remembered where I heard the voice from, my only conclusion was to look down onto my Driver. There, I saw a golden frowning face with a big, long nose presented in LCD. I began to shudder as I knew this face. It was the face of Tenjuro Banno, inventor of the Roidmudes and enemy to both their kind and humankind. And right now, he’s right on my waist. “They are my Magnum Opus. Perfect beings, don’t you think?” He said. “They’re going to murder innocent people!” I yelled. “Such is life.” He chuckled. I tried again to take off the belt, though now with more aggression in my strength. “Please, if that was possible, I would have taken myself off of you the moment you got here. Hate to say it, but you’re stuck to me as much as I am stuck to you.” I breathed in. “I figured as such.” I muttered. I already knew that they were after Banno, though. “Seems the Roidmudes want me back.” I could hear 088’s wings as they flapped. “Fortunately, given the choice between you and the Roidmudes, I’d rather be stuck to you than spend the rest of my life back inside an iPad.” Dead leaves crunched as I could hear the Roidmude grunt. “You know how the Driver works, right?” He said. A chill went up my spine. “T-turn on the ignition. I know.” I remembered how the Banno Driver worked in the show. It was less of a transformation device and more of a brainwashing device. This thing could use Roidmudes like puppets, even if their Core is destroyed and all that remains is their empty husk. I concluded that what would happen will be similar to that. “Good. If you could do that and let me transform, I’ll see about getting the Roidmudes out of the way and maybe even save that family.” He said. My hand hovered over the ignition. “You better hurry.” Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The Roidmude looked for us. It was only a matter of time before he found us. Only a matter of time before that family is killed. I gulped. I had no other choice but to trust this madman. “Alright… but you have to save them, alright?” I asked him. “Very well.” My hand shook. I’d be trusting the lives of people I barely met to this monster. How would I know he’d be true to his word? He views practically everyone, even his so-called “Magnum Opuses”, as nothing more than lab rats. How could I even trust him with my life? “What are you waiting for? Start my engine.” Any second now, the Roidmude would have found me, and I don’t think he was intent on taking me alive. However, it wasn't my life that made me decide to do what I did. I knew full well that Banno was a complete monster, but as I looked at the Driver, part of me felt that I could be able to save someone with this, even if it'd be Banno calling the shots. I touched the Ignition Key and turned it. “Henshin…” He muttered. A bright yellow light emerged from the Driver. Yellow lightning bolts sparked out of the Driver and enveloped my body as a light blue barrier was formed around me. My body surged. I felt like each part of my skin was being pulled apart and electrocuted at the same time. The pain lasted for a moment before my body had changed. Now I had the under suit to my Rider form. This was followed shortly by the golden pieces of armor that gave my form the name of Gold Drive. They snapped onto me as one last flash of golden light emitted from the Driver. That’s when I felt my entire body become numb. I tried to lift up my arms and legs, but they didn’t seem to respond. However, my body got up regardless. It didn’t take me any time to know what was going on, especially after I threw my head back in Banno’s laughter. “Yeah, this feels right…” Banno said as my hand gripped. I knew it. He took over my body. God, this is gonna be confusing. I heard the Roidmude creep right behind me. He made a mad dash. All this while Banno just stood, chuckling. Idiot! Someone’s gonna kill you! Move! Although I couldn’t feel my body tense up, I braced myself for impact. Banno spun around and roundhouse kicked the Roidmude. It was sudden and loud, like a gunshot. The Roidmude fell over to the ground, sparking with the same yellow lightning that preceded my transformation, and exploded. His Core, represented by his number, floated up before it too exploded. “I’ve adapted to your body easier than I thought. Well, I might as well fulfill my end of the bargain, right?” Banno said. He ran off at super speed. I worried that in the time it took for us to get there, the family would have been killed already. Even though I only knew them for half an hour, I felt sorry for them. Maybe it was just because I wound up inadvertently involved them in this mess. However, I felt relieved when we arrived and saw that the family was alive. The Roidmudes were careless enough to leave the door wide open. However, I could see that 042 had just shot the old lady in the arm, with numerous screams heard among the family. He pointed his finger guns to her head. That's when Banno leaped up into the air upon entering the house and axe kicked him to the ground. As he landed, the Roidmude was forced in a kneeling position before he exploded. Banno stomped into the ground right as its core was about to fly off, crushing it on his heel. Banno looked to Iron and laughed. “Is this the best you’ve got against your creator? I thought I made you out of sterner stuff.” Banno said. “I’ll show you!” Iron ran to Banno and tried to punch him, but Banno dodged out of the way and punched the Roidmude five times in the stomach at blurring speeds. Iron stumbled back as Banno punched one more time into his head. Iron fell back. He got up as his arms changed. He punched as one of his arms stretched out to the end of the hall. Banno grabbed it. “Heh.” he pulled the Roidmude towards himself. He held his fist out as the Roidmude ran into it. BLASH! His fist smashed through the Roidmude’s chest and he held its Core in his hand. Iron writhed as Banno slowly crushed the core. When it was nothing but crushed dust, Banno retraced his arm and let the Roidmude fall. Its corpse had tiny bits of lightning springing from the open wound. It exploded when it landed as time returned to normal. Applejack rushed over to the elder. “Granny!” Banno walked away before I could even know if she would be okay or not. When we were about a mile from the house, Banno stopped walking and laughed maniacally. It was at this moment that I realized that I have made a gross mistake. “Starting today, there will be a return! The return of Tenjuro Banno! Humanity will cower before my feet! Oppressors will fall before my might! And I will rule everything over with an iron fi-” As he gloated, the Gold Drive suit disassembled. I could finally move my arms and legs again. I felt very cold when I regained them. “Oh thank God!” I muttered. “Wh-what happened!? I was close to domination! What caused my transformation to give out?!” Banno babbled. While I was indeed thankful for the sudden depower, it had me wondering that too. Just what the hell happened? One minute, Banno was using my body, the next, he's back to being a belt. “… Perhaps it’s a technical glitch.” I remarked how short my time was as Gold Drive, or rather, Banno’s time. I rested my index finger onto my chin. I tried to think of an idea, but I couldn’t help but think of Applejack trying to revive her grandmother. I wondered where the hell her parents were. I shed a tear as I believed that her parents must have died. I looked at the house. Like hell I was gonna leave the family orphaned. I took out my phone. Much to my relief, my cell had service. I called a simple, three digit number. “Hello, Nine-One-One?” The dispatcher asked. “Hello, I wish to report of a mob breaking and entering a home. There’s a grandmother who might be critically injured from their attack.” I said. “Alright, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” The dispatcher said. As I hung up, I turned around and walked toward the house. “You’re going back for them?” Banno asked. “Yeah. They saved our lives just now and you just returned the favor. Of course I’ll do my part.” I said. “You know, I was going to take back what I thought of you, but now you’ve shown me that you are truly an idiot. That girl just said that she’ll turn you in first chance she has.” Banno said. “So? We don’t know the extent of what she meant." I thought back to what Applejack said. Maybe I jumped the gun when I thought that she was considering having me thrown in jail. She might have meant it in another way. "Whether she thinks we’re criminals or victims, I’d rather be in the care of cops than have anyone risk their lives to cover our asses.” I said. As I walked back into the house, I heard Banno say: “You’re just as dumb as my son.” I entered the house as I saw Applejack preform CPR on her grandmother. “I called for an ambulance. They’ll arrive shortly.” Applejack looked up to me and smiled. “Thank you, Kelly.” She said. I paused for a moment before I knelt down to her. “And… maybe it’s for the best if the authorities took me in. I have no idea what’s going on and I have a feeling like there’ll be more gangsters where that came from. The cops could probably protect me and maybe get to the bottom of what’s going on.” I said. Applejack hesitated, but she nodded soon after. Of course, that’s part of the reason why I wanted to turn myself in. As I heard the sirens, I rested my mind, knowing that I’ll finally answer questions that had been searing in my head since I first got here: What the hell is Banno doing on my belt? Where did the Roidmudes come from, especially since the ones Banno fought were dead to begin with? Who names their kid Applejack? Who the hell was that Zoloto guy? And perhaps the most important question of all: where the hell am I?
