//------------------------------//
// Golden Drive Arc 5: When Will The Surprise Happen? 
// Story: A Golden Drive Through Equestria 
// by Psyga315 
//------------------------------//

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.