//------------------------------// // Time Out // Story: The Light Beyond Despair // by Ultimate Mayhem //------------------------------// The Riders regrouped back at Sunset's place. In the time they had taken to get back Twilight had played back the footage in an attempt to find who Drive Next was while the others kept an eye on the monitors. A few minutes later the Riders returned in civilian form. "So any idea who that guy was?" asked Indigo. "I've been checking the cameras to see if there was any footage of Next transforming but he's blurred out up until he transforms." explained Twilight showing them a video which showed someone who was blurred moving towards the skate park. The person became surrounded by something after transforming the blur was shown to become Drive Next. "So we've got nothing." said Vinyl. "Who he is doesn't matter." said Sunset surprising them. "We need to focus on finding the Worm." "Are you sure? It seemed like you didn't recognize that Rider." said Vinyl. "I can call Nee-san about that tomorrow. The priority right now is taking out the Worm." replied Sunset. "What I can tell you is that he seems to be a more advanced version of Kamen Rider Drive. He's definitely got an edge over Types: Speed, Technic, Wild, or Formula." The others looked at her confused. "I'll explain later. Twilight did you pick up anything from the Worm or that girl?" "Nothing. She actually appeared in the same way she left. Just on the roof of the bathrooms." replied Twilight. "This is gonna be tricky." said Sunset. "You guys should probably head home. I'm gonna have to pull an all nighter." "Better idea." said Sunny. "How about if we have a sleepover?" Everyone look at her surprised. "Sunset, you've been trying to shoulder this responsibility even with the support we try to provide. I'm sure you know that if you try to spend to night working you'd lose efficiency. I propose we have a sleepover. That way we can all relax tonight and when we leave for school tomorrow morning you'll be able to think clearly during the day so you can look at the possible data with fresh eyes." "Sounds fun." said Lemon. "Totally!" added Indigo. Sunset looked a bit uncertain but then sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt." she said. "But if we're gonna do this you all of you should get some stuff from home you might need." "Alright." said Vinyl with a smile. "Sunset." She turned to Octavia. "I was wondering if perhaps you'd be interested in playing a duet." "I don't mind but are you sure? I'm still pretty new to it." "You might still be learning but you're fantastic." encourage Octavia. "If you're fine with it then sure." replied Sunset. "This will be quite fun." said Octavia feeling excited. After she followed the others as they left. Once they were gone Sunset turned to Sunny. "How long have you been planning this?" she asked. "So you knew I was going to do this?" countered Sunny. "Yesterday when you came back I saw you were hiding clothes by bunching them up. You've got some similarities with Rarity so it was pretty easy to figure out that if you were to bunch up clothes it'd be to hide something." said Sunset. "So are you still worried I put you and the others on the same pedestal I had my former friends?" "How did you...?" began Sunny. "What do you think I do here all day?" asked Sunset. "I keep an eye on CHS's security system to make sure someone doesn't try something while you guys are in class." "Then the cameras must be quite advanced to pick up on the conversation we had in front of the school." said Sunny. "So are you still worried?" "Have you thought of it?" "I know myself well enough to understand my limitations." replied Sunset. "At one point I did consider it. I wondered if my reason for trusting you was as simple as you reminding me of them." "And is it?" "It was the reason I was willing give you a chance, that much is true. However I know you are better than them." said Sunset. "What do you mean?" asked Sunny confused. "When I first came here I was guided by ambition. The desire to complete my objectives no matter the cost. It didn't matter who I had to crush. After I realized I had much learn about friendship so I never questioned what they did. Back then I realized I was wrong when I held my tongue about their mistakes. They thought that because they try to be good they were never wrong. From what I've seen you and the others always saw your flaws. That's why I felt I could trust you and the others." "I see. You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?" "Not as much as you'd think. After we had our little chat I started questioning myself." replied Sunset. "So what's your interest in me?" "You've been though a lot. It just seems like you need someone to watch your back." "Try again." said Sunset. "So you've already learned to read me as well as well as I've learned to read you." said Sunny. "Considering how often we hang out after the others leave it was only a matter of time." replied Sunset. "So what's the truth?" Sunny looked side and then looked back at her. "I see myself in you." "You see yourself in me?" asked Sunset a bit confused. Sunny nodded. "While going to Crystal Prep the others and I stayed close but it was more for the security than anything. We did start getting close over time but I decided that if we were going to stay together our little group required some leadership. So...I took control. Originally it was just to make sure we were safe from the rest of the school since there's hardly any loyalty, even within clubs. Eventually we sort of became the ruling group of the school because we stood above in each of the clubs we were in." "What about Twilight?" "We told her to sit with us during lunch because most of the other students resented her. I'm sure you've realized she would sometimes get so nervous she wouldn't leave her lab." "She's definitely different than Princess Twilight." "I'll have to take your word for it." said Sunny. "That's part of why I see myself in you. We stood above everyone at Crystal Prep but it's something none of us ever really thought it would happen. We stood on top but all that did was put targets on our backs. Personally I still sometimes feel on edge when we're at school. From what I've heard back then you ruled with an iron fist much like we wound up doing. I'm glad I met you." "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" "What?" "How different things would've been if things had been different." "Actually I'm pretty happy with things now." "Me too." said Sunset. "As odd as my family is they've treated me like I've always been one of them from the moment Nii-san took me to the base." "There's something the others and I are a bit curious about." said Sunny. "For the most part it seems that when you use your modules the armor you use is the only thing that changes." "So why did my helmet's eyes change color?" Sunny nodded. "I bond with the modules by connecting with their hearts but I don't connect with all of them at the same level. It's like when one becomes friends with someone new. You'll be more likely to get closer to someone with whom you've got more in common." "So what do you have in common with Cure Beat?" "Cure Beat, Cure Passion, and Cure Scarlet." said Sunset. "They were the first I could relate to because the three of them were former villains. They understood what it was like to struggle with the confusion of losing one's sense purpose when their eyes were opened to the evils they were participating in. They gave me the courage to fight so when I use their modules I can synchronize 100% with them. That's why my helmet's eyes change color. With the others I use their power because they let me but with Setsuna, Ellen, and Towa I don't just use their power. When I use their modules each of them becomes one with me because our hearts resonate." "That's amazing." said Sunny. "Does that have to do with why you press the button on your modules multiple times when you use them in your weapons?" "No. That's to charge them up. Every time I press it the module charges about ten percent. I can only go as far as charging one fifty percent if I'm not able to completely synchronize with it. If I were to try to go past fifty with Sunshine, Sword, or Whip the backlash would hurt my target and me." "Did you learn this from personal experience?" "Yeah. When I trained they tested me and one of those times I tried seeing how much I could handle. I used Sword's module at 100%. I damaged the nerves in both my hands. It took my nanites four days to fix the damage." "Were you in any pain?" "At first. When it happened I passed out from the pain but when woke up I couldn't feel my hands. They told me I burned out my nerves. The first day I had a hard time controlling my hands because I couldn't feel them. The second I was regaining the feeling in them but it was small bits of pain. The third I felt an almost unimaginable pain for almost a full day. It wasn't until the fourth when my hands finally returned to normal." explained Sunset as she turned her head. "Is something wrong?" "I'll be right back." she said. She went to her room and checked her communicator and saw a flashing dot on a map. Her eyes narrowed. She picked it up, put on a jacket, and headed out. "Sunny I'll be back in a bit. When the others get back tell them to relax." she said as she left too quick for Sunny to say anything. Sunset walked for a few minutes following the map. She became surprised when she wound up in front of the warehouse where she'd lost control. "Nice memories, wouldn't you say?" asked a voice. "Hardly. I keep myself in check for that reason." replied Sunset. "Why did you send me that map?" she asked turning to the person, unsurprised it was Amaya, only wearing a tiger mask. "I thought about what happened when I watched your show." she said. "I enjoyed it so much I wanted to ask for an encore." "That's not happening." replied Sunset. "Then maybe this will change your mind." said Amaya throwing something at her. Sunset caught it but when she opened her hand her eyes widened. The item was what looked like a flash drive that was whitish gray and had an E and had Eternal printed on the side. "This is..." "Eternal's memory." finished Amaya. "He took it as a trophy." Sunset's left hand clenched tightly. "Who is he?" "His name's Zeal. He's a Roidmude. He copied some guy out in England. I'm sure you're well aware of the ability Roidmude's have." "Density Shift. The capability to slow down the world around them making anyone around them easy targets. The only ones equipped to fight them are Drive, Chase, and Drive Next." "Not entirely true." said Amaya. "When you went wild you created distortions around you. I don't know what it was exactly but it was interesting." "Do you have a grudge against him?" "No. I just think he'd be your best possible opponent." "What are you?" asked Sunset. "You'll find that out in time. He'll be soon so I hope you give a good show." said Amaya before vanishing. Sunset looked at the memory. "I will avenge you Star." she said before heading back. By the time Sunset got back the others had arrived. Sour Sweet was playing on a portable console she didn't recognize while the others were messing around with some other things. "Welcome back." said Sunny causing the others to turn to her. "Thanks." "Where'd you go?" asked Vinyl. "I...I met with Amaya." replied Sunset. The others looked at her confused before remembering who she was talking about. "Why?" asked Indigo. Sunset looked down and then showed them the memory. "What is that?" "A Gaia Memory. Specifically the Eternal Memory." "Is it a weapon?" asked Octavia. "It's a transformation item like Vinyl's Lockseeds." replied Sunset. "It belonged to a friend of mine." "Belonged?" asked Lemon. "The Rider who used it...died." The others looked at her shocked. "We were on a mission. We had to split up. The others distracted the bulk of their forces while Eternal and I were supposed to go after some guy who had been dealing Gaia memories to find out how he'd gotten them. That's when things went bad." A two months ago Eternal and Seiko walked into massive office that looked like a penthouse. "He must be making a lot of money." said Eternal. "Where do you think he is?" asked Seiko. They look around and spotted a seat turned away from them. They went up to it and became shocked. Their target was sitting there only with multiple burns. "He'd dead." said Eternal. "That's right." They turned and saw a humanoid creature that seemed to an arm with ice, one with fire, the legs with a white armor, the body with a green armor, and helmet with a single visor. "Who are you?" asked Seiko. "Beat me and you'll see." he replied. Seiko pulled out a module as she hit the modify arrow. "Pretty Cure, Love Link!" yelled out Seiko pressing the module. "Cure Sword!" it called as she inserted it, changing her armor. "Cure Sword. Yuki no Yaiba!" Eternal summoned her weapon which was a combat knife with a narrow slot as Seiko summoned her weapon in sword mode. The two, however, held their weapons in defensive stances. The creature raised it's frozen arm and an icy mist which covered everything blew out of it. The two moved back to back as the icy mist became thicker. Back with the girls "So what happened?" asked Sunny. "I'm still not completely sure myself." replied Sunset. "One minute we were in that huge office and the next in some sort of glacier in a blizzard. We kept our guard up but it didn't help. We both took several hits and were forced apart. I'm not sure why but while he did attack both of us, he focused more on me. I took enough damage to change back. He was about to kill me so Eternal used her Maximum Drive to blocked the blasts. I think she realized she wouldn't be able keep taking out the blasts so she created a shockwave. I was thrown back at that office but I didn't know what happened to her...until now." she said looking at the memory. "Why did she tell you?" asked Sunny. "She said she enjoyed my 'show' so much she wanted an encore." replied Sunset. "Your show?" asked Octavia. "She wants to see you go crazy again?" asked Vinyl surprised. "Yeah." "What will you do?" asked Octavia. "It's impossible for me to know how I'll react to fighting the one who killed my best friend." "What was her name?" asked Sunny. "Starlight Glimmer." replied Sunset. "What kind of person was she?" asked Indigo. "She became a Rider six years ago. Her family was killed when she was eleven. A Rider had gone to face the creature but she didn't make it in time. By the time she got there the Fangire had already fed off her parents and was about to finish her off." "Fangire? Is that like a vampire?" asked Lemon. "Kind of." replied Sunset. "A Fangire doesn't feed on the blood of others. Instead they feed on the life energy of humans." "What's the difference?" asked Sour. "Vampires drink blood so they usually have to make some kind of cut or puncture to get it out. A Fangire sort of forms these fangs near their victim which drain their life force. There's no mess aside from the victim being left as a transparent husk. Visually speaking it's like their color gets drained and they're left kind of like a crystal." "Whoa. So what happened?" asked Vinyl. "She was taken to the base. They found the Eternal Memory resonated with her so she was trained. She just had somewhat different training than I did. She taught me a lot of things." "Hey Sunset?" asked Twilight. "Yeah?" "We were thinking about something." said Twilight. "Okay." "Do you believe it'd be possible for you to synchronize with your Furia module?" asked Octavia. "It's impossible." replied Sunset. "Why?" asked Twilight. "I can synchronize with the Pretty Cure's modules because there's someone to synchronize with. The Furia module contains nothing but raw emotion. The reason I can't use it without losing control is that every day, from when I wake up in the morning to when I go to sleep at night, I always remember their words and the pain as if it had just happened. The only time I forget the pain is when I'm around my family or when I'm with all of you." "You don't think us being around you would help?" asked Lemon. Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Right. Stupid question." "So what should we do?" asked Indigo. "I think a little sparring session might do us some good." said Sunset. "Sparring?" they asked surprised. "You've fought and tried to learn more about the powers your devices allow you to wield but the only time you actually test yourselves is when we fight the creatures that are sent. It might help with future battles if we were to spar every once in a while." "Should we spar here?" asked Indigo. "I was thinking about it and I think we can start that tomorrow. We're having a sleepover so let's have fun." "Alright!" the others cheered. Another Sleepover a distance away. The Crusaders were currently having a sleepover as well at Apple Bloom's while Applejack spent the night at Fluttershy's to keep the shy girl company. For a while the three hadn't been allowed to spend extended periods of time together without supervision or checking in but a few weeks ago their parents decided they'd proven they could be trusted so they were allowed to have a sleepover. The three girls currently sat in Apple Bloom's room silently. The three of them had been so horrified by Sunset's transformation that when she was fighting her friends who protected their sisters and the others they found themselves unable to move. Like their sisters the three had been having nightmares. Prior to Sunset's reappearance they'd planned to have the sleepover on this night since it was the first day their home punishment ended but right now none of them were feeling up to it. "So how've your sisters been?" Scootaloo asked her friends. "Rarity was scared...I heard her crying last night but I think it was in her sleep." replied Sweetie. "Applejack just kept doing her chores, she even skipped dinner." replied Apple Bloom sadly. "Dash started avoiding me again." "Really?" asked Sweetie. "Yeah. She started leaving to school before I get up. She doesn't even look at me during soccer practice. Even during dinner she doesn't look at me and she barely says a word to me." "I still can't believe Sunset transformed into that...monster." said Sweetie holding herself as she shivered. "I'm sure it'll be okay Sweetie." said Apple Bloom. "How can you say that?!" demanded Sweetie with tears forming in her eyes. "That monster...Sunset became that because of us. Our sisters almost died because of us." "Yeah but our sisters forgave us." countered Scootaloo weakly. "Yeah..." said Sweetie. "They forgave us even when we're the reason she was forsaken. We ruined her life and worse of all we're the reason she tried to kill herself." "What are you talking about?" asked Apple Bloom. "A few days ago I was hiding in one of the tree in front of the school and I heard that Sugarcoat girl say that Sunset tried to kill herself." "I-I'm sure you heard wrong." said Apple Bloom. "I know what I heard." said Sweetie wiping her tears before getting up. "I'm gonna go for a walk." Sunset and Octavia were playing for their friends who were surprised how the two could play so well together despite never having practiced. They enjoyed the concert after having dinner and afterwards they checked the large tv which was hidden behind one of the walls in the living room for the video/audio jacks. Once they found them Sour Sweet plugged in a game system she'd brought from home which surprised the other ex Shadowbolts since none of them had ever known she was actually a Genius Gamer, much less that she owns several systems. Once they got it on they Sour put in a fighting game. "By the way what's that game you've been playing?" Lemon asked Sour. "A game I got the other day with a new system. I think the system and the game are still in Beta testing but the game's really fun." replied Sour as she took out the controllers and remotely turned on the system with one of them. "Alright how about having Sunset and Sunny start?" "I'm not one for games." said Sunny. "Don't be a such a stick in the mud. This is a sleepover and we need some games." said Lemon. "Let's get started!" "Fine. If it'll get you off my back I'll play." said Sunny. Sour put in a game and set it. They saw it was a fighting game and the set up had a large character selection with three slots for each player. The two of them played, pulling off things Sour had only seen experienced player pull off. The match ended with Sunset's victory since Sunny wasn't exactly interested. They played for a couple of hours with Sour only playing occasionally. At around midnight when they started feeling drowsy so they set up sleeping bags in the living room. That night Octavia dreamt she was walking through what looked like the lobby of a building. She looked around until she heard the elevator ding. She turned to look but saw a bright light and a silhouette. It looked to be a man, as far she could tell, with his hands in his pockets. "Who are you?" she asked. "It doesn't matter." replied the man as he took a few steps forward. "Do you desire the power to fight?" "I've been forced to watch my friends fight, completely unable to help in any way. If I can find a way to fight along side them I'll take it." "You seem to be of a high social standing." "Yes." "Do you know the concept of Noblesse Oblige?" asked the man. "I believe I heard of it as a child but I was told to continue my practice so I never heard what it meant." she replied. "Those who own power and privilege have a duty they must fulfill. That's what Noblesse Oblige means." he explained. "I did what I had to in order to protect my world. Will you accept your responsibility as one with privilege?" "Yes. If I can help others and the friend I failed I'll do it." declared Octavia. "I look forward to seeing what you do." They slept for a few hours before being abruptly awoken by an alarm. The friends got up and headed down to the control room. Twilight got in the control seat and started typing. The screen changed showing the portable emergency button she'd given to Thunderbass had been activated from his home. "Let's go." ordered Sunset. The other Rider nodded and they left. They looked at one of the screens which now had a map and showed Four dots moving through the roads when one of screen started flashing. "What's that?" asked Lemon Zest. "Hang on." said Twilight as she typed. The flashing monitor changed showing Mercy. "Is Sunset still there?" she asked. "You just missed her." replied Sour. "Damn. Alright. Listen to me carefully." A few minutes later they arrived at the house though Sunset recognized the street from one of the sleepovers she'd had before being disposed of. The four Riders saw the door was partially open and were about to go but when Thunderbass flew out the door, damaging its hinges. The four went up to him. He was alive but unconscious. "Get ready for a fight." said Seiko bringing out her weapon in its rifle form. The four stood ready to fight as the Worm stepped out. "You came to interfere?" it asked. Before any of the Riders could respond he sped up but something was different. "Damn it." cursed Seiko. "What happened?" asked Twilight over their comms. "There's three of them now." replied Seiko. "Great. Like we didn't have enough trouble with just one." said Meteor as they got up. "Any ideas?" Necrom asked Twilight. "Just hold on. Help is on the way." "Who's helping?" asked Gaim. The three Worms kept attacking them up until Meteor moved one of the switches she had up and tapped the pad. "Saturn, Ready? Ok, Saturn!" it said as it formed a sphere with a ring around it. She jumped swinging her arm how one would while swinging a sword sending several rings out, a few of which hit some of the Worms throwing them back. She activated the Mars switch but was hit by the third Worm before she could strike the other two and was thrown back. The other two got up and sped up hitting Necrom, who didn't have the reaction time to change form, Gaim, and Seiko. "I'm starting to think we should've planned a strategy for this." said Meteor. It was then another motorcycle arrived. Everyone watched as the person on the bike removed their helmet and got off. "I didn't hear you complaining when we were playing that game." said Sunny Flare walking towards them. Seiko noticed she now wore a belt around her waist with a curve in the front which looked to be for something. "Sunny?" asked Sugarcoat surprised. "What are doing here?" asked Meteor. "Following my path and helping my friends." replied Sunny as a hand sized mechanical rhino beetle with a circle near the center of its back flew near her. She held her right hand up and it flew into it. "Henshin." she called out sliding it with the horn pointed to the left. "Henshin." said a mechanical voice from the beetle as the circle lit up causing a heavy armor to form from hexagons which had circles on the shoulders, the right one having a rhino beetle on the right one which had ZECT in the middle. "Kabuto." said Seiko surprised. The Worms attacked her but didn't do much damage. "My turn." said Kabuto as she flipped the horn of the beetle causing it to play a charging sound as the heavy outer armor loosened. "Cast off." she said pulling the horn to the opposite side like a lever extending part of the beetle. "Cast off." said the mechanical voice as the loosened armor exploded off her causing it to hit and destroy the two weaker Worms and a horn which was revealed to move up making the helmet resemble the beetle a lot more. "You're gonna pay for that." said the Thunderbass Worm as it sped up. "Clock up." said Kabuto tapping a pad on the side of her belt. "Clock up." said the mechanical voice as Kabuto sped up a the same speed as the Worm but with an edge of skill as she was able to counter the Worm's wild strikes. The other Riders watched as two blurs repeatedly clashed around them until one attack launched the Worm into the air. Kabuto moved ahead of where the Worm was gonna land and hit the three buttons on the side of the beetle before pushing part of the shell back as well as the horn. "1, 2, 3." it said. "Rider kick." said Kabuto pulling the horn back. "Rider Kick." said the mechanical voice as electricity was released from the beetle and traveled up Kabuto's armor to the horn before going down to her right foot as she roundhouse kicked striking the Worm when it got close enough to her causing it to explode. "Whoa." said Meteor unsure of what else to say. "Let's get Thunderbass back inside." said Seiko as she picked him up over her shoulder. After putting him in what she figured was his room they put the door back and left. Twilight took off her headset and sighed. "It looks like things went well." said Octavia. "Why did it have to happen so early." said Sour grumpily. "Heroes don't always have time to rest." said Lemon with a sleepy laugh."Right Twi?" She turned but then saw Twilight had fallen asleep still in the control seat. "Well...let's go back to the living room." she said. "Hey Octavia, can you give me a hand?" "Sure." replied Octavia with a yawn. The two got Twilight out of the chair and they made their way to the elevator with her arms around each of them while Sour just looked out of it. By the time the Riders made it back the others were already asleep so they decided to do the same. Later that morning when the others got to school they still felt a bit drowsy. There was one difference though. Sunny noticed someone seemed to be observing them and smiled. "Why don't you guys go on ahead. There's something I need to do." "Alright. Just do whatever you gotta do fast." said Lemon as they went ahead. Sunny walked to the side of the school and stopped under a tree. "You seem to be quite interested in us." she said. "It's not you I'm interested in. I know guys hang with Sunset." replied a voice. "Then you know we're helping her." said Sunny. "Yeah." "Were you one of the ones who tried to prove her innocence?" asked Sunny. "I had to. My cousin's one of the reasons she tried to kill herself. I have to make things right." "Would you like to see her?" "Not yet. Just keep stay with her. Don't hurt her like my cousin and the others did." "Might I ask your name?" The girl jumped off a tree branch and landed behind Sunny. "Name's Surprise. Wondercolt midfielder." replied the blond before walking away.