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:
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?