SHIMMERING SUNSET ARC: END
Fire…
Principal Celestia couldn’t help but look at the blazing fire coming from her courtyard from her office window. She could only look and frown.
“I’m sorry.” Celestia turned to see the Headmaster. She took a moment to realize that this was him in the flesh. Usually she’d have to come to him or talk with him over ChatNoir. “This is all my fault.” He walked forward. Celestia merely winced as she saw him walking with a cane to support him.
“What’s going on?” Celestia asked.
“The Fall Formal… When I helped restructure the school board, it was my idea to have CHS hold the Seasonal Dances. A means to give the students importance and fulfillment. Had I known this would happen…” He kept his head down and just walked slowly to the window to observe the blazing chaos that unfolded.
“What are you talking about?” Celestia glared at the silver-haired man.
“Do you know why there’s never a Prince of the Fall Formal? Because when I created the Seasonal Dances, I had an old fairy tale in mind. One of an old man being greeted by four sisters, one representing each season of nature.” He said.
“I… haven’t heard of that tale.” Celestia said.
“For good reason.” As he said this, he reached the window. He could feel the heat from the glass alone, though he passed it off as him sweating. “In that tale, the old man was so awed by the girls’ kindness, he returned it by granting them magic. Magic that was so powerful…” He sighed. “When I warned you about the Fall Formal, this was what I was worried about. A Princess of the Fall Formal inheriting that very same magic.”
“So… You mean that Sunset is some sort of… wizard?” Celestia asked.
“No. She’s become something else. She’s become more than Princess of the Fall Formal… She’s what I would consider…” He closed his eyes. “The Fall Maiden.” That’s when he heard cackling. He opened his eyes and saw what would appear to be a belt latching itself onto the monsterish Sunset Shimmer, and then a few moments later, transforming into an armored version of that devil. Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw this happen. The Headmaster could only think of one thing now:
It’s all over.
BLAM!
Ross opened fire onto Banno as soon as he processed what happened.
“Give Sunset back, you bastard!” He screamed. Banno just deflected the bullets with his hand, no need to tap into Golden Energy.
“No. She’s my new puppet for this world’s domination. And once I take over this world, then I’ll focus on destroying my bastard of a son, his bitch of a sister, and finally, that traitorous Krim and his meat puppet!” Banno shouted as he raised his hand up. I saw a glowing orange circle appear underneath Ross as a bird’s screech could be heard.
“Ross! Look out!” Rainbow Dash ran forward and knocked Ross out of the way as the circle exploded into a pillar of flame.
”Hmm… Perhaps I’ll experiment on these powers by dealing with you all!” Banno shouted. That’s when I noticed a horde of black and white creatures. No doubt Grimm. “I prefer to keep this experiment… closed off.” Banno then created a wall of fire as the Grimm ran into it. Some of them made it through, only to succumb to being on fire, turning into smoke in the process. Banno then let the firewall cool down. Well, guess we won’t have to worry about the Grimm for a while.
“Sunset! Sunset!” Banno turned his attention to Sunset’s two lackeys, the fat and skinny students. “Can we transform too!?” He asked. Banno just looked to them and darkly chuckled.
“Hey! Get away!” I screamed out. As much as I want to see retribution to a couple of bullies, the safety of my students was a concern I have obtained through my brief time as teacher. They just stood there as Banno raised both his hands, turning into the golden digital energy I know… That’s when the energy turned dark blue, almost like an inversion. He shot two beams right at the students. Their bodies began to fade away into blue bits of code… before it turned dark purple. Their bodies returned to normal, but the shade of purple remained in a form that almost made me shriek in terror.
Purple cracks appeared over their skin. This was something entirely different to what I or Banno had expected, as Banno merely hummed in curiosity. I ran towards the two, trying to stop the inevitable from happening. But as I reached towards them, two imp-like monsters burst out of their bodies like cocoons and clawed at me. I fell onto the ground with two large claw marks torn right into my clothing. As I looked at the two closer, I noticed that while they have monsterish features, they still had the body of a Roidmude’s, it was like that of Chase’s Roidmude Form, a sleek metallic body with the plate on the chest.
“Kahahahaha! Wow! That was such a ruuuush!” The blue imp chuckled. He had the plate designation of SNP.
“Yeah! To be born in just a few moments then burst right out of the Gate! This is gonna be so awesome!” The orange imp shouted. On his chest was the designation of SNL.
“[b]Gate? As in…” Banno looked at his hands as he and I made the same realization. Banno just laughed, like usual. “To think that whole thesis on Gates and Phantoms were just musings from a grieving father!”
“T-that was magic he just used!” Twilight ran to me and picked me up. “He used magic to turn them into monsters!” No shit, Sherlock.
“So what? He turned them into flyin’ monkeys! We can kick their butts back to their sorry selves!” Applejack said.
“… No… You can’t.” I muttered.
“Huh?” Twilight asked as I looked at the two monsters.
“Those are no longer Snips and Snails.” I said. I spared the girls from the cold truth. That Snips and Snails, when they were hit by Banno’s beams, instead of turning into data like he had intended, instead had monsters born inside them called Phantoms that proceeded to rip out of their bodies, killing them in the process. Though, considering the Roidmude shape, I’m not sure if that’s entirely accurate. Although the students were confused, Twilight just frowned, then glared at Banno with pure anger.
“You… Do you have any idea what you’re toying with!?” Twilight growled.
“To be frank, I don’t know and I don’t care…” Banno merely snapped his fingers as the two imps flew to Twilight. Fortunately Ross managed to fire at one while Tracer shot the wings off the other.
“You took over the mind of an innocent girl,” I wouldn’t call Sunset ‘innocent’, “stole my crown, and now you’ve turned two more people into your slaves! I’ll stop you no matter what it takes!” Twilight said.
“E-even if it means not being able to return to Equestria?” Spike asked her.
“… I don’t care. My friends and I will find a way to return.” Twilight smiled.
“No… You will not return! Not after this!” With that, Banno flung a fire ball right at Twilight. However, another fireball flew towards Banno’s and both destroyed each other. “WHAT!?” That’s when a puff of gray smoke appeared between me and Banno. As the smoke cleared, I saw the pale-skinned leather suited man that Sunset spoke to.
“What the hell are you doing to my pawn?” He merely barked to him.
“I’m merely trading in a crappy car for a more efficient one. And I do have to say, you’ve picked a very efficient car…” Banno said.
“She’s essential to my plans of conquering Equestria. Return her to me or suffer my wrath.” He glared.
“You haven’t seen true wrath.” Banno’s compound eyes then flashed as waves of fire pulsed out of his armor. The gothic man merely just slapped the waves away, his hand visibly burning but never once feeling the pain of it. He looked to his blistered and boiled hand, only to wave his other hand over it, becoming good as new.
“You’re gonna have to try harder than that.” The man stepped forward as Banno laughed.
“GLADLY!” He launched a series of icicles at him. The goth just vanished into smoke. When he appeared again, he was over on top of Banno before slashing him with a dagger, the same one he showed Sunset. As Banno fell to the ground, the goth merely landed on his feet.
Banno got up and shrugged off the slash.
“You’re lucky you have your armor. My dagger would have cut through you.” The goth man said.
“What a boast. But you don’t have the power to back it up.” Banno said.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of…”
“I could say the same about me!” With that, Banno just launched a lightning strike at him, knocking him across the ground and slamming him right into a curb. However, the man just got up and readied himself. He prepared to launch two fireballs at Banno…
WHIZZZZZZZ!
Only for two hookshots to impale his hands. He looked to see…
Shit! Niko!? Niko flew in, guns out as he pointed them right to his head. Using the hookshots as rappels, he zipped in, right into his face. At point blank, he fired two large flare-like blasts.
“DIE, BITCH!” He unloaded two whole barrels before unloading the barrels and clipping two more on from ammo belts on his legs. He breathed in as he saw the smoke clear. The man’s head was completely intact save for a few bruises.
“Ha… Hah… I didn’t know you had it in you, my apprentice.” He smirked.
“I will never acknowledge a monster like you to be anywhere close to a teacher…” Niko growled. I just went up to him.
“Niko! What the fuck? He was kicking Banno’s ass!” I told him.
“If he wins, it’s game over!” He said.
“Well, who the fuck do we root for then?” I asked.
“You guys, of course!” Niko grabbed the man with his bare hands. He grunted and just looked over to me. “You’re right, Kelly, the Roidmudes are your problem and they should be your problem. The Dark Swan…” I saw Niko look to the bleached haired man who just smirked. “He’s my problem.” With that, the Dark Swan just raised his hand and both him and Niko disappeared into smoke.
Well great, the one person evening out the playing field is gone. Banno’s strength is unbound compared to when he was just Gold Drive. I doubt Ross, even with his super speed, could take him out. I knew if I had to beat Banno, I would need a belt… With that, I turned to face Banno. I simply smirked…
Then I ran to the Tridoron.
“Kelly! What the hell!?” I heard the students call me out.
“Don’t worry! This will be cool, I promise!” I hopped into the Tridoron and rode off. I looked at my rear view mirror and saw Banno deciding to chase me instead of killing the students or Ross. Good.
That’s exactly what I wanted him to do.
The smoke exploded in the middle of a park in the middle of the night. Niko and the Dark Swan pushed each other out and stood off. The Dark Swan looked to the full moon.
“Everything was going to be perfect. Then you ruined everything!” He said.
“Granted, I didn’t intend for Banno to take over Sunset, but it’s a good thing I stopped your plan.” Niko said.
“You… You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long.” The Dark Swan said.
“Likewise.” Niko stepped forward and began to fire at the Dark Swan. He merely just sidestepped the bursts of gas and flung some fireballs right at Niko. He shot them away, causing them to explode in a burst of fire. Niko was knocked away. He managed to use the hookshots to swing himself around a nearby lamp and flew straight to the Dark Swan, guns ready to fire.
The Dark Swan just rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist. A grayish colored field appeared all over Niko’s body as he was frozen in midair. The Dark Swan just walked towards Niko.
“And this is why you never fight with your Displacer. You may feel like you have power, but compared to the person who Displaced you? You’re… just…” The Dark Swan plunged his hand right into Niko’s chest. “Weak.” He could feel Niko squirm as he ripped out his glowing heart. He flung his hand and knocked Niko aside, cancelling the immobilization. He looked at Niko as he got up, eyes widened. The Dark Swan just clenched his grasp over the heart as Niko began to clutch his heart. Before he could completely crush the life out of Niko, The Dark Swan felt something grip over his neck like a garrotte with tiny, razor sharp thorns...
But when he looked down to his neck, there were no thorns to be seen.
“OVERDRIVE!” His neck soon got overloaded with thousands of jolts. He screamed out and let go of the heart. Niko ran over and grabbed it, shoving it right back. That’s when he noticed who saved him. A tan-skinned man in a white button shirt and brown cargo pants.
“J-joey!” Niko said.
“… Long time, no see.” Joey stepped forward.
“Another Displaced? To whom may I have the displeasure of meeting?” The Dark Swan asked.
“Joey Chandler. And that,” he pointed to Niko, “is my Displacer you’re trying to kill.”
“Figured he’d be another pawn of yours.” The Dark Swan said.
“I’m not.” Joey took out his Digivice. “I’m his friend.”
“Friend?” The Dark Swan just laughed. “Displacers and Displaced can’t be friends. Only a naïve idiot would think that!”
“Good thing I’m one then.” He then placed his hand on the Digivice. “BIO HYBRID DNA… FULL CHARGE!” His body dissolved into data and in his place was:
“BIOROSEMON!” The Dark Swan just glared at the rose woman as she prepared her whip.
“You pick the weirdest people to Displace. No matter. You couldn’t beat me, Sid. What makes you think your Displaced will be any better?” The Dark Swan created a sphere of fire in his hand before his wrist got grabbed by the thorny whip.
“Poison Ivy!” BioRosemon shouted as the thorns dug into the Dark Swan’s wrist. He grunted as the poison seeped into his wrist. Before the poison turned into a rash, he merely cancelled the flame and cut the whip, severing its tendrils.
“Gah!” He grunted as he tried to heal his hand before a rash set in. As he finished that, he saw BioRosemon fling the whip towards him.
“Needle Spray!” Hundreds of tiny thorns flung themselves towards the Dark Swan. He raised both hand up and created a wall of fire that burned the thorns. That’s when he saw BioRosemon jump over the flame and create a huge rose shaped cannon with his hands. As he saw that, he noticed Niko zip up behind him. “Flower Cannon!” Both Niko and the cannon fired at the Dark Swan.
Needless to say, he couldn’t dodge the large green blast and two gas powered bursts to the chest. The Dark Swan merely twitched as there two holes in his chest and his leather suit was absolutely scorched and ruined, what with flowers starting to bloom where the Flower Cannon blast exploded. He stumbled and nearly dropped. Niko went out of the way as he saw BioRosemon float above the villain. BioRosemon got out the pink Tifaret and aimed right at him.
“D-damn it! Don’t think this is over! I’ll return! I’ll snuff out the light and Equestria will suffer!” The Dark Swan said.
“This ends now! Forbidden Temptation!” She then fired the large pink blast at the Dark Swan as he instinctively raised both hands up. The blast hit the pillar of smoke that engulfed the Dark Swan, spreading the smoke outwards before creating a large pink sphere of destruction that destroyed part of the pavement before clearing up. BioRosemon flew down and the bits of data consumed her, turning back into Joey. Niko ran up to Joey, only to slow down, almost to a point where he was just standing.
“What have you become?” Niko asked.
“You’d be surprised.” Joey sighed and walked away.
“… To think you’d be Displaced here as well.” Niko muttered. A few moments passed before Niko pulled out a pistol. He reloaded the barrel as Joey stopped in his tracks. He zipped over to Joey and fired…
Right into the skull of a Beowolf. Its head was blown apart, leaving the neck a red stub as it turned to smoke.
“That’s twice I saved your life. Now, we’re even.” Niko said. Joey chuckled.
“I never properly thanked you when you saved me the first time. I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to save my life even when it was beyond saving.” Joey said.
“Well… You saved my life… Back… Back when…” Niko just sighed as he shook off the painful memory he had. “Val misses you.”
“So I’ve noticed…” Joey looked down.
“And… She has a kid.” That’s when Joey’s eyes opened. “Your kid.”
“… When?” Joey asked.
“When we were stuck in that world. He’s a cute little bundle of joy. I try to visit him once and a while…” Niko went to Joey. “You should come too. It’d probably make Val happy to know you’re alive.”
“… No.”
“No?”
“I’m not going with you. I don’t know how much time as passed since I died… Maybe Valerie has made peace with my death. Besides… I have a city to protect now and a team that needs me.” Joey said.
“… Valerie hasn’t moved on, at least not in the sense where she’s seeing other people… She needs someone to help her. If you change your mind, let me know.” Niko walked off to where he was close to a brick wall and took out a small gun like device with a large green lightbulb. He shot out a person-sized green portal that began to swirl.
“You’re not gonna help out?” Joey asked.
“Trust me, I am. I just need to get something from my storage.” With that, Niko entered the portal.
I drove the Tridoron as fast as I could. Banno’s possibly made me his primary target, so time was of the essence. The Grimm slowed me down, but not enough to make a dent. I employed the tried and true ‘hit and run’ method, some of them managing to turn into smoke upon impact. Thankfully, the laboratory wasn’t far from the school. As I got onto 108 Somerset, I got out of the Tridoron and ran to the lab.
As I entered, I could feel an increase in heat followed by several high calibre rifle blasts…
Goddamn it, Ross! I had to make this quick.
I tossed out several files and vials, trying to search for the thing that would beat Banno. Luckily for me, it was right under my nose.
And just in time too, as I heard Banno smash through the entry way of the door.
“A shame it came to this, Kelly…” I heard Ross scream and saw his body slam right into the wall before falling onto the floor. “We could have ruled together… But then again, I always liked to step over people.”
“You know who else liked to step over people?” I gave a smirk and turned around. “The man I chose to dress up as: Ryoma Sengoku. And this,” I held up a red belt buckle with a plunger on one side of the belt and what could best be described as a high-tech juicer at the bottom of the buckle, “is his legacy!” I slapped the belt onto my waist.
“What the!? How did you manage to make a belt without my knowhow!?” Banno asked.
“You remember when I was looking over the notes back when we were bailed out?” I smirked as I remembered when I looked through some papers, I made sure that I did it on a table that was above my waist, making sure that Banno’s vision was blocked as I built the belt. I was somewhat glad he never caught on to that.
“YOU BASTARD!” Banno roared and tossed a fireball at me. I dodged out of the way, though the ball exploded, destroying much of the lab in the process. Fire began to blaze out. I only had a little bit of time before the fire incinerated the whole lab. Thankfully, I had time. I pulled out a padlock, similar to the Lockvehicle, but there were a lot of differences.
First was a clear blue plastic shell. Next was the design on it: a lemon with the initials “E.L.S.-01” on it. And finally, the most important feature of all…
“Henshin…” By pressing the button on its side…
LEMON ENERGY!
The lock opened as a zipper, going in a circle, materialized out of the sky and unzipped, revealing an endless forest of trees on the other side as a glowing mechanical lemon began to descend from the crack. I placed the lock onto a hole in the belt.
LOCK… ON!
And then pulled the plunger.
SODA!
Lemon juices began to build up inside as the mechanical lemon opened up and fell on me.
LEMON ENERGY ARMS! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT POWER! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT F-F-F-F-F-FIGHT!
Inside the lemon, my helmet appeared in a flash of white. It was a knight’s helmet with a large blue crown on it with five red jewels on its spikes, befitting the name of the Rider. A glass slice fell down in a gap between my eyes and the helmet, creating a yellow-tinted HUD for me. One thing I missed about being Gold Drive was that Gold Drive’s HUD was more technologically advanced, feeding me tons of info about the battle situation.
This HUD, however, felt bare bones. There were only two bars, one on the top and one on the side, both seeming to keep a track on my enemy. There was a circle that moved where my eyes would be looking. As I gazed at Banno, it gave me only a picture of him with some stats in a very small font. Geez, I thought that the “incredible Ryoma” would have made cooler HUD. Then again, I guess I was spoiled with Banno’s HUD.
The lemon unfolded, some of its peels became the cape, while a majority of its pulp became a set of golden asymmetric armor, with my right shoulder having the top of the lemon as a sort of pad. A splash of lemon juice confirmed my armor’s appearance as I began to hold a red and blue bow.
“Who… Who are you!?” Banno asked me.
“Kamen Rider… Duke!” With that, I aimed with the bow. There was a nice, nostalgic beeping sound as it aimed right at Banno. I smirked and fired. Banno easily smacked that away, the arrow exploding and taking out a bit of the lab. I then rushed in and slashed at Banno with the blade part of the Sonic Arrow, the bow I was using. Banno just swung his hand and created a flaming version of the Steering Sword. The two blades clashed, sparks flying. I had time to glare at Banno.
“I will end you!” Banno said.
“This is the final lap!” I slid my bow against his sword and struck him where he truly resided: his belt. Banno staggered back. He created a series of icicles and flung them at me. I ran over, hopped over a table and kicked it down. Using it as a makeshift barricade, I shielded myself from the icicles and began to fire my arrows. I didn’t aim at Banno and just fired directly where I was facing. The arrows then flipped upwards and sought out Banno, hitting him all onto the belt.
“Gah! Y-you coward!” Banno said.
“Only a coward would use someone else’s body to do his dirty work!” With that, I jumped over the barricade, using the plunger on the Genesis Driver to juice the energy.
LEMON ENERGY SQUASH!
Suddenly, four different Dukes appeared. Together with me, they all slashed at Banno, though as Banno tried to counter attack, each one of the duplicates turned into a ghost image, passing through him. As he turned around, another would “attack”, only to phase through him. Once Banno had went through this a few times, I slashed him with my Sonic Arrow’s blades glowing gold.
I knocked him out of the lab and approached him. Banno created another fire version, this time of the Door Gun. He fired as I responded with fire from my own arrow. The arrows and bullets collided, though I was admittedly slower at the draw, and soon I was bombarded with bullets. I fell over as Banno ran to me, gun pointed right to my face.
“You’re right… This is the final lap! And I’m about to hit the finish line.” Banno sneered.
“Good! Because only despair awaits you there!” I aimed my bow and fired a point-blank shot at Banno’s head.
“DAMN YOU!!!” He staggered before raising his hands. Winds began to pick him up as storm clouds began to form. I immediately dodged out of the way of a lightning bolt, then another, and another. “DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIIIIEEEE!” Banno cackled as he threw a fireball right at me as I was about to dodge another lightning bolt.
Instinctively, I sliced the lightning bolt and used its energy to slash at the fireball. There was a large explosion that knocked both me and Banno down. I struggled to get up. The HUD began to notify me that Banno was weakened, as I assume that’s what the red bars around a screenshot of Banno’s current state showed.
“End of the road…” I got up and lined my final shot. With my free hand, I pressed onto the plunger two more times.
LEMON ENERGY SPARKING!
Ross woke up from the brief black out. As he got up, he saw Banno was missing. That’s when he heard lightning bolts. Ross ran over to see the fight.
“End of the road…” He saw what he assumed to be Kelly inside a suit of cyan spandex and gray and gold armor, almost akin to a lemon. She aimed a bow at Banno…
Suddenly, Ross began to have flashes. He remembered the dreams. He remembered the arrow. He saw one person about to kill the other with the arrow. He realized what would happen.
And he wasn’t gonna let it happen again.
“Goodbye, Banno!” I said. However, just before I let loose the final arrow, I heard winds picking up. Worse, I smelled roses.
“PYRRHA!!!” I heard Ross let out a cry as he tackled me, causing me to fire the arrow as it whizzed passed Banno. As we fell to the ground, I immediately slapped Ross in the face.
“What the fuck, Ross!?” I shouted. Ross could only look at me with that goddamned scary Vietnam stare. It took a while before Ross realized he was looking at me rather than someone else.
“K-kelly… What… What happened?” I could only get up as Banno laughed.
“Luck is on my side it seems, Kelly Randall! Now, to eradicate everyone in my way!” Banno held out his arms as we all turned into golden data.
For a moment, I thought we’d be transported to a database. However, we were right back at Canterlot High. What the hell were we doing back at…
Oh no.
I could see Twilight and the others trying their hardest to fight the two Phantoms as well as the Grimm. While they were able to take out several Grimm, they were no match for the Phantoms. Applejack tried to throw a punch at the blue imp, only to shrug it off and punch Applejack right onto the ground. Rainbow Dash tried to run circles around the orange imp, only for him to trip her, pick her up, and toss her towards Applejack who was just getting up.
Rarity threw several gems towards the two, each of them exploding into various elements such as fire, water, wind, and even earth. One of them looked weakened, the orange imp, but the other seemed raring to go. He noticed Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. All of them were tired, presumably due to fighting the Grimm that had come. The four of them barely stood a chance to the blue imp as he knocked them all down.
I also saw Flash Sentry fighting the remaining Grimm and easily slashing through them with… Were those tiny Daidaimarus? The Daidaimaru, a sword that Kamen Rider Gaim used, is now in Flash’s hands… and he wasn’t even transformed. How? How was this possible? Whatever the case, he had himself occupied with the Grimm, too occupied to help with Twilight and the gang.
I tried to run to the group, but then I looked under the ground as it began to flare up. I heard what sounded like a screeching bird as the ground exploded into a pillar of flame. It knocked me down and separating me from the belt. My armor liquidified and I was back to my normal state.
I saw Banno floating in the air with large devil wings spread out. No doubt he send the flame at me. Soon, I saw several pulse bullets hit what looked to be a personal shield. Aura? Banno looked to Oxton who held her pistols.
“Erm… No hard feelings, love?” She gave a nervous smile. Ross just ran to her and fired a sniper bullet right at Banno’s attempt at a fireball, blowing it up. What he didn’t see though was that he lobbed a second fireball… right at Twilight and the gang.
“NO!” I shouted, struggling to get up. Why? Why did I shout that? The fireball exploded, pretty much burning them to a crisp. I sunk to my knees, not even sure how to respond. I barely knew these kids. And yet, I’m upset. I’m angry. I failed to save them. I only knew Twilight for a few days and yet I felt as though she was a close friend that I just… let die. Banno could only laugh menacingly before he held his hand out at me. And I just sat there.
I lost.
I’m in last place.
Banno won.
That’s when I saw a magenta aura. I looked and saw the girls were being shielded by the aura. However, this wasn’t the Aura that Ross had. It was more standout, in your face. Like a magical aura.
“Professor Silverbolt, I’ll show you how friendship is magic. Even if I had known these girls for a brief time, my bonds have made us stronger than just mere magic.” Twilight said. The group levitated in the air as a flash of light blinded me. When I opened my eyes, I saw the girls had changed just slightly. They now had pony ears and tails. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight all had wings adjacent to their skin color.
Welp, now I’ve seen everything. Twilight and the others flew up and created a swirling rainbow double helix that turned into a beam, firing right at Banno…
However, the two imps got in the way of the blast, causing them to be engulfed in a rainbow tornado. Banno, however, managed to escape while the two fell to the ground, changed back to their normal forms.
“Friendship? HAH! Is it truly more powerful than me!?” Banno fired several fireballs. The magical aura managed to block the fireballs, but with each blow, I noticed the aura grow weaker. I saw Flash run out from a cloud of smoke, presumably made from the remains of Grimm that he had killed. He yelled and tried to attack Banno with his swords, only to be knocked down, his swords clattering next to him. Ross fired several rifle blasts and Banno just blocked the bullets with one hand.
I held the Genesis Driver, ready to transform, though I noticed it was charred a bit. It likely wouldn’t have any functionality unless I repaired it. Shit.
Need a miracle now…
That’s when I saw a green portal emerge on the ground from behind me as Niko came out.
“Yo, Kelly. This one’s on the house.” He told me as he handed to me…
Oh, hell yes.
The limited-edition Sengoku Driver with Duke’s faceplate and the Lemon Lockseed, just as I had originally wanted. I took the two and smiled.
“Now take this monster out!” He said.
“With pleasure.” With that, I turned to Banno and slapped the Driver on my waist.
“Looks like Friendship won’t be the only magic that’ll beat you, Banno! HENSHIN!” I activated the lock. Like before, a lemon appeared, though less mechanically advanced. I did the same motions as before, though this time, I cut into the lemon with a small plastic knife.
LEMON! LOCK ON! COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA!!!
The armor unfolded, flaps still becoming the cape, but now the armor was more symmetrical, with all sides unfolding to their respective spots on the body. I held a rapier this time. I just looked to Banno, rapier pointed right at him.
“Now is the final lap. Ross!” I shouted.
“Right!” Ross leaped up and fired his rifle on the ground, causing him to propel up to Banno and slash at him. Likewise, I leaped into the air and struck him with my rapier. I couldn’t really fly, so I landed onto the ground. I looked back to Twilight.
“Twi, we’ll hold him off. You power up that rainbow tornado thingy.” I said. Ross managed to stay in the air longer, dodging several fire blasts from Banno.
“Got it!” Twilight said. Ross maintained himself in the air. He curled himself into a ball and flew to Banno like a grayish blob. Banno tried to strike, lighting his hand on fire so as to burn Ross, but he managed to fly past Banno, grabbing his back. Ross got his scythe over one of Banno’s wings and pulled the trigger, the recoil causing it to outright amputate it. Banno screamed as he fell. I ran to him, as did Oxton. Oxton fired her pistols at Banno, though it did nothing to whittle the shield. It had to be a direct hit, I noticed.
“Oxton! Get closer to him!” I shouted.
“Okay, love!” Oxton then rushed over to Banno. He held up his hand and tried to fling a stream of fire, only for Ross to bonk him with the blunt end of his scythe. When Banno recovered from that, he noticed a small little bomb beneath him. “Here’s a present for ya!” She then grabbed Ross as the two of then went back to her original position, as though they were flying back through time.
The bomb exploded, knocking Banno into the air as I saw the ripples that signify an Aura Break. As he landed, I prepared to attack, but that’s when I saw Flash cut into Banno with his Daidaimarus. I had so many questions to ask Flash, but now was not the time.
“Professor… I’ll make this my fight too!” Flash said. I just sighed.
“Aright.” Your funeral. Banno stood up and saw the four of us readying our weapons.
“Come at me if you dare! I’ll destroy you all!” We all ran at him as Banno laughed. Ross and Oxton both fired their weapons point blank at Banno. The pulses caused his shields to lower slightly while Ross’ high calibre blast shattered some of his armor, leaving me a good space to cut right into him with the rapier. While it was made to be a stabbing weapon, I swiped fast enough to cause more sparks to fly, taking off more of his armor. Most of his chest armor was gone, revealing Sunset’s demonic dress underneath.
Flash began to slash away at his back. Although not being able to dish out heavy damage like Ross’ rifle, out of all of us, he managed to do the most damage, causing Banno to get onto his knees. Banno screamed and slammed his hand onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that knocked us down.
“I won’t go down like this! I will take over the world!” Banno laughed even harder than normal. I got up, my belt still functional to keep my armor.
“No… I’ll make sure you die for real!” I said.
“Kelly, my friend… We were a good team. Surely, you don’t want that to end.” Banno said.
“… We are a good team, yeah.” I used the knife to cut the Lockseed. “But that doesn’t mean we’re friends.” I cut again. “Thank you, Twilight,” I looked at Ross, Oxton, Flash, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, each one at a time, “for showing me what a true, true, friend is.” One final cut. At the same time, Flash did the same thing.
COME ON! LEMON SPARKING!
SOIYA! ORANGE BURSTING!
Flash’s swords glowed orange. He struck with both, overlapping into an X shape. It cut into Banno’s back, staggering him enough for me to land the final blow. As the rapier glowed with the same golden energy that I used as Gold Drive, I leaped into the air and as I landed, I stabbed the Banno Driver with the rapier. Lightning emerged from the belt as Banno just let out a painful wail.
“KEEEEELLLLLLYYYY!!!”
“Banno… This… is truly the end of your terror.” I turned to Twilight. “NOW!” I shouted. Twilight activated the rainbow beam again, engulfing the two of us in a large tornado of rainbows.
“SUNSET!” I could hear Ross shout while we were inside the tornado. Banno let out a weakened rasp.
“Kelly… Do you truly think this is the end of me? I came back from death twice now. At this point, me coming back won’t be a possibility. It will be an inevitability.” Banno used the last of his energy to give one last laugh.
“Then I guess I’ll have to put you in your place when you come back.” I pulled out the rapier as Banno went limp. He fell and exploded. As the smoke cleared, Banno was gone and in his place was a weakened Sunset Shimmer who was thankfully back to her human form. As the tornado died down, I saw Ross, Twilight, and her friends rush to Sunset.
“No! Sunset! Wake up!” Ross began to shake Sunset. I then noticed the visible wound I inflicted onto her waist. There wasn’t any blood, but seeing that small little hole caused me to drop my rapier. I closed the lock and pulled it out.
LOCK… Off…
And my armor went away. The others ran to see Sunset while I just backed away. My body shook. Wasn’t this what I wanted? I wanted to stop Sunset from being a bitch… But… I looked at my hands.
No. I had to stop Banno. There was no other option. I could feel someone’s hand pat me on the back.
“You did good. Couldn’t have been prouder myself.” I slapped Niko’s hand away.
“We’re not friends and we never will be friends. You could have helped us, you know.” I glared to him.
“But I did. That belt is the very reason you won.” As soon as Niko said that, I ran and grabbed him by the collar.
“And you’re the very reason this was even a mess in the first place!” I growled.
“I wasn’t the one who picked Banno.” He smirked… Shit, he had a point. And even if I picked someone else, chances are I wouldn’t have been able to stop the Roidmudes, even if I had picked normal Drive or even Mach or Chaser. Then again, I had no idea I’d be fighting Roidmudes. I sighed and shoved him.
“Just make sure no more Grimm come.” I muttered.
“That won’t be an issue.” I heard a new voice and turned around. I saw a man with tanned skin. “Me and Shadow took care of the remaining Grimm. Well, mostly me.” He frowned. “Shadow’s out of it.”
“And you are?” I asked. Niko just stepped forward.
“Joey Chandler. My other Displaced.” I looked to Joey and just sighed.
“So, you’re roped into his bullshit too?” I asked.
“No. I chose to be Displaced.” I saw Joey and Niko share a bit of a stare. It wasn’t the awkward ‘we had a bad history’ kinda look. It did imply they had a past together at some point.
“Well, hope to see you again, I guess. I gotta attend to a wounded student now.” With that, I ran. As I stopped, I noticed the giant crater I created. My jaw dropped at how powerful the blast was… Then I saw Sunset crying. On one hand, I smirked. She’s finally put in her place… But on the other hand, I can’t help but feel pity. This whole time, I went about this thinking about Ashley. That it was Ashley that I was exposing.
However, when I saw Twilight help her up and heard something about learning friendship, I knew exactly where the crazy train was going, especially with what little I knew of the show.
“EX-CUUUUSE ME, PRINCESS?” I shouted and approached Twilight.
“Huh? What is it?” Twilight asked.
“I can’t help but notice you are gonna forgive the person who made your life a living hell.” I said. I could see Ross glare daggers at me.
“Kelly, she’s in need of friendship.” Twilight said.
“She drove friends apart! She made them think they were liars and assholes! She had us accused of murder! She even tried to murder us!” I paused for a moment. “Okay, Banno tried to murder us. Point still stands though.” Twilight was about to speak when Sunset spoke up herself.
“It’s… It’s okay.” She sighed. “I… I did a ton of terrible things here. I… I understand if you won’t forgive me. Or any of you.” Sunset just continued to cry before Ross came down the crater and hugged her from behind.
“Sunset… Don’t worry. I forgive you. I’ll be there for you. Just like how you were there for me.” He said. Blech! I could hear some of the girls awwing at her. I could just see Sunset cry even harder. Twilight just stared at me. I groaned.
“Oh, all right…” I then skidded down the crater myself and approached Sunset. Kamen Rider had its fill of evil characters who became good… But most only did so through realizing the pain they put on others and the price they had to pay. “I won’t forgive you, yes. But, I can say that I approve of you making up for what you’ve done. If everyone else is cool with it… Then I guess I’ll be too. But I will warn you. You toe the line of evil again? Then you won’t find mercy from me.” I glared at her.
“Kelly!” Twilight then got down onto the crater and pulled me to the side. “What the hay?”
“Sorry, but just because someone plays the ‘I’m good’ card doesn’t always mean they’re legit. But hey, now Sunset has incentive to be good.” I said.
“Incentive? You’re threatening her!” Twilight said. That’s when I heard Applejack and Rainbow Dash come down.
“Yeah, well, hate to break it to ya, Twi, but Kel has a point.” Applejack said. “She tricked me and the others into hating each other for years. We’ve only just now mended our friendship. … Knowing it was Sunset that said those things to Fluttershy… It’s hard to just be friends with her.” She frowned a bit before turning to me. “But, I’m gonna make sure she’s honest about it. We won’t need you to keep her in line.” Applejack smiled.
“Yeah. I’m gonna have her do some serious trust tests before I start considering her a friend.” Rainbow Dash said. I turned to see Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie tending to Sunset. I sighed.
“Well, she has friends regardless.” I muttered. “Have her count up her crimes. Then I’ll consider her a friend.” I said. I almost tripped over something on my way up. I looked down and noticed the Banno Driver. I picked it up and observed it. “Hey, do you think forgiving people, even when you know they’re villains and are bound to be evil again, is a dumb thing?” I asked.
“… I never really considered. I know someone we befriended who is like that. I’ll have to see.” Twilight said.
“Good. I guess I’ll experiment as well.” I said.
“What are we waiting for! LET’S BOOGIE!” Pinkie shrieked out.
The dance resumed almost instantly. True to Joey’s words, the Grimm didn’t decide to bother anyone for the night. Given what they’re attracted to, I could only assume that once the main source of upset was called off, the Grimm stopped noticing. It’s a little worrisome that such negativity could call forth a shitstorm of monsters.
With the Roidmudes, I only need to worry about them attacking on a weekly basis and I have the knowledge that their number are very scarce, even more considering I took out about two dozen by now. The Grimm? I don’t even know if they have a limit. From what Ross and Sebastian said to me, they have no limits. High school is what I consider the most toxic place next to the internet. That thought alone made me worry what’d happen if this school ever had to deal with cyber-bullying.
“And that’s when Flash Sentry took out these orange blades and started cutting those creatures!” I was with Rainbow Dash as she was talking about Flash’s accomplishments to a little kid with purple hair and orange skin. She seemed to be grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t sure what her relation to Rainbow Dash is, nor was I too interested to check. I walked around a bit.
Twilight and Flash had their slow dance. Applejack and Rarity were gossiping by the punch bowl. Pinkie was chatting it up with the DJ. And Fluttershy was just sitting by a wall, all by her lonesome. I walked to her and sat next to her.
“Oh! Professor!” Fluttershy spoke up.
“Hey.” I kept silent for a moment. I wanted to form the right words to say to her. “When… When you got that text from Rainbow Dash… How upset were you?” I asked. Fluttershy just looked down and shed a tear.
“A lot. Rainbow meant the world to me and… when I got the text from her calling me a dy…” Fluttershy trembled. “Sorry. It’s just…”
“So why forgive Sunset? She’s the one who called you that.” I said. Fluttershy stopped trembling.
“Because… I feel like people have the potential to change, no matter how bad they are. Tachibana for instance...” Fluttershy just smiled briefly. I just sighed and looked at the flooring of the gym.
“I guess… I guess I have my views on who should be forgiven.” I had to admit I had a tough time forgiving a villain in Kamen Rider Gaim once he saw the error of his ways and began to redeem himself. Only because he spent his time as a villain being a little shit.
“And it’s okay that you do. I just hope you and Sunset get along.” She said. That’s when I noticed… Where were Sunset and Ross?
Sunset stood outside the school, waiting by the statue. She shivered in the dead of the night, though her leather jacket kept her somewhat warm.
“Something wrong?” Ross approached her.
“Ross… I… There’s something you have to know. I’m… not of this world.” Sunset said.
“You’re… a Displaced?” Ross asked. Sunset took a moment before shaking her head.
“No. I’m from another world. This statue can take me back there.” Sunset said.
“So… Why aren’t you going?” Ross asked.
“I… I don’t know if I want to. When I left, I was just as much of a jerk as I was this past month. Selfish, obsessed with power… I… I even burned bridges with someone who was like a mom to me. When I return… Will I be scorned?” Sunset began to cry.
“…” Ross just wrapped his arms around her. “If those girls can forgive you, I bet she will too.”
“I know… But… There’s so many things I wanna ask her… The night I left, I became so disillusioned with her that I began to be convinced that she’s nothing but pure evil. What if she does forgive me, but I can’t help but see her as a monster?” Sunset then went on her knees and grabbed the stone base of the statue. “And… I only have thirty minutes to decide!”
“What do you mean?” Ross asked.
“This statue is only open for a limited amount of time. Once that’s up, it won’t be accessed for another thirty moons… And… I don’t know how long that is in this world. I don’t have enough time!” Sunset said.
“Then make time. You’re not ready yet. You just got possessed by a belt and gained… whatever the hell that kind of power was. You just realized the error of your ways. Take your time. You will get a chance. Trust me.” Ross just hugged Sunset for as long as he could.
“Stop… I… I don’t want you to pity me…” Sunset began to cry. “I used you like I used those boys! You saw me for who I truly was! I don’t need you to feel sorry for a monster like me!” Ross only hugged tighter.
“I’ve seen monsters, Sunset. And you’re not one.” He turned Sunset around and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re an angel. And you just don’t know it yet.” Ross smiled. Sunset looked at Ross and smiled back briefly before looking away.
That’s when Ross noticed something off. He heard someone approach the scene.
“How sweet. However, we can’t let a traitor have his happy ending…” Ross heard a metallic voice. Instantly, had Sunset crouch to the ground and took out Crescent Rose.
WHOOO-WHOOO-WHOOOSH!
As soon as Ross heard the movement, he swung Crescent Rose at the assailant.
I continued to observe the dance, walking around. Seems Oxton had left, her job now done for the time being. Hadn’t seen Niko or Joey as well, so I presume they left. I decided I’d take the bullet and find-
“Professor Silverbolt.” Principal Celestia approached me. Right on cue. I turned to greet her, only to notice she wasn’t alone. There was a man with her. He looked to be old, what with his graying short, bowl-cut hair, yet at the same time, he looked younger than he lets on. He walked with a cane, though I could tell from his statue that he didn’t exactly need it. He wore a black suit with a green turtleneck underneath. He also wore tiny spectacle sunglasses, almost akin to Ozzy Osbourne if his shades were so tiny they barely covered his eyes.
“Ah, Celestia, I apologize, but these kids are in the wrong generation to know who Ringo Starr is.” I had to remind myself that this world probably didn’t have the Beatles.
“Do you have any idea how reckless that stunt you pulled was?” Celestia glared at me. “Twilight would have still won, but you decided to make it a spectacle and turn this entire school against one student.” I smirked. I had prepared my comebacks the moment I took the envelope.
“I opened their eyes. I called attention to a bully when even you, the principal, turned a blind eye to it.” I said. Celestia just stared harder. “I noticed Sunset had won the Fall Formal multiple times, and each time, she became obviously more and more insane in those photographs. I don’t know how many kids she’s harassed in her life. I don’t know the number of lives ruined by her. I don’t even know if her bullying claimed lives. But all I know is that you let it go on for far too long.” I said.
“It’s not that.” The man spoke up. He had a bit of an old voice to him, something akin to a wise king rather than a pop star. “At the time, emotions were building up. There was fear, doubt, insecurity. By showing the video of Sunset breaking the gym, you caused everyone to react negatively, and as you have seen, that attracted…”
“Grimm.” I took a moment to look at him. “You know what they are, don’t you?” I asked. Celestia looked to the man. This was definitely something that was not in her knowledge.
“Celestia. Leave us.” Celestia’s eyes widened a bit, before she decided to walk away. I proceeded to walk with the man through the dance hall. Some of the kids noticed him, but made no note of it.
“The Wonderbolts weren’t prepared for an onslaught of Grimm, but with the help of you and the others, including Ross, they weren’t a threat. I feared that it would be like a similar scenario, but thankfully it was not the case.” He said.
“Similar? You mean that this happened before?” I asked.
“Not here.” He said. I instantly concluded what he meant.
“You’re a Displaced.”
“No. But you’re close. I’m from another world. One where the Creatures of Grimm run rampant. However, it is also a world where there is hope. Heroes like you and Ross who take up arms and fight off against them.” He said.
“So, what brought you here?” I asked.
“An incident that happened about a decade and a half ago, during that scenario. And the cause of it made his presence known tonight.” He said.
“So, that goth?” I asked. He chuckled.
“Funny, but he’s no laughing matter. The Dark Swan, as he calls himself, is a dangerous adversary. In a realm without magic, he is harmless. However, as you have seen tonight, magic has returned and with it, so has his power.” He said.
“He’s not my problem though.” I said.
“But he will. Even if you have nothing to do with him, if his ambitions line up, he will make himself your problem. Just like he had with me.” He said.
“So… He’s someone to look out for, got it.” I sighed.
“There’s also one more person I should notify you about.” With that, he glanced at me. “Professor Silverbolt, and we both know I’m not talking about you.” I just looked to him with a deadpan expression.
“Last I checked, he got himself eaten by some giant. I wouldn’t worry too much about him.” I said.
“Even so, I should say that he is also from my world. For the longest time, I didn’t know where he came from, but thanks to an incident last night, I was able to find out who might have been involved.” He took a moment to get some punch from the bowl, poured it into a cup, and drank it.
“Foundation X.” I muttered. As soon as I saw him smirk, we heard Ross’ weapon go off. The man didn’t flinch though. He just kept that look on his face. I look to him for a moment. I could see that he was calm. I saw some of the students beginning to run and hide under their tables, probably a safety precaution. The students don’t know of the scythe.
But he does.
“So, you know what that weapon is?” I asked.
“Yes. And so far, Ross has handled it with just as much skill as the simple soul who held it before.” He said. Good. Chances are Ross knows who he is. With that, I nod to him.
“We will meet again.” I said.
“That we will.” He stood by as I rushed out. Twilight and the others followed.
As I ran out to the courtyard, I saw Ross fall onto the ground and rolling away. His scythe falling just a few feet before him. Sunset rushed to tend to him. I looked to see who he was attacked by.
That’s when I saw him. Another Kamen Rider, one I haven’t seen before, or rather, one I’ve only seen briefly. He was one of the ten Riders that came before Double, the Rider I watched. The rider wore black spandex with what appeared to be magenta armor attached to him. Parts of the armor, notably the side of the arms and legs that went into the body, were white.
Another part that was white X on the right side of his chest. His mask had bars embedded into it, a magenta base, green compound eyes that the corners seemingly ‘leak out’, giving the mask a fearsome look. Though It struck fear for a different reason.
Most Riders have a jewel on their forehead. This Rider lacked it. Instead, on his forehead was a familiarly-shaped plate with a three-digit number: 010.
There were two reasons why this had me quake. The first was that this confirmed to me that this Rider’s a Roidmude. It hadn’t been the first time a Roidmude took a Rider’s form, right down to the plate being on their head instead of their chest. The second was that, for a long time, I had speculated the whereabouts of Roidmude 010, the Paint Roidmude.
Back during the Museum incident, I had thought for sure that he was involved in it before realizing that it was his apprentice that was the true cause. Now he is right here, in front of me.
“W-who are you?!” I asked.
“Just a passing through Roidmude King… Remember that.” The Roidmude King. He was the Roidmude King? I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even a more memorable Roidmude. Paint!? He was the second major Roidmude to be taken out by Drive right after Iron. I was expecting an evil Krim Steinbelt or even the Roidmudes’ Recreator, but PAINT!? “And you just took out our major obstacle.” Shit. Banno was the reason these Roidmudes were so easy to take out. With him gone… “Now, the invasion can begin!” He then turned his head to the statue. “Or perhaps… We shall take over that world…” That’s when Twilight exited the school and saw him.
“Oh no! He’s gonna enter the statue!” Twilight said.
“We’re running out of time! Twilight, you need to get to the statue now!” Sunset told her. I looked to the Rider, then took out my Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and then took out my two Lemon Lockseeds.
“I’ll hold him off. Twilight, run!” She nodded and ran. I opened the two Lemons.
LEMON! LEMON ENERGY!
The two Lemons appeared side by side as I locked the Lemon Lockseed onto the main part of the driver. For the second part, I salvaged from the Genesis Driver its Core. I plugged it into where the faceplate was and then put the Energy Lockseed on it.
LOCK ON!
“HENSHIN!” I shouted before cutting the Lockseeds.
MIX! JINBA LEMON! HA HA!
The two Armors merged to create what was an old Japanese looking box. It slammed onto me as it created the spandex for Duke’s outfit. As it unfolded, the armor became something akin to a kimono that samurai wore, a Jinbaori. An old Japanese robe, stylized to have lemon slices on the flaps of the robe as they set onto me. As the armor clicked and fruit juices exploded from the armor, I held both the Sonic Arrow and the Lemon Rapier.
I fired my arrow at the Roidmude King who slapped it away and walked towards me. He took out a card, a loud vroom of a motorcycle played out as he put it into the belt, having to turn it upwards to put the card in before slamming it back in its place.
ATTACK RIDE: BLAST!
He took out what appeared to be a photo album and pulled out the handle, holding it like a gun. He fired, his hand and the gun splitting into five different, magenta aural copies. I couldn’t hold off the bullets as they riddled my armor. It felt weird. I figured by using both Lockseeds, I’d be able to have more power than if I were to just use the Lemon Energy Lockseed.
Instead, I took as much damage as I would if I were to just use the original Lemon Lockseed. I wondered why I was so weak. Had I relied on Banno’s power too much? Was the Roidmude King more powerful than I could fathom? Did Ryoma not have the foresight that he could have been more powerful if he just combined his Lockseeds?
This wasn’t the time for guessing though. I had to fight and hold down the fort for Twilight to get to the statue. Especially once he aimed his gun at Twilight and fired, causing her to jump up and fall on her knees. I cut into the Lockseeds.
COME ON! LEMON SQUASH! JINBA LEMON SQUASH!
Like before, copies of myself appeared, all readying their Sonic Arrows and Lemon Rapiers.
“Your opponent is me! I’m one half of the team that destroyed your army! Banno may be gone, but so long as I remain, you pieces of scrap will not win!” I shouted.
“You think you’re the only one with that trick?” He pulled out another card and slammed it in.
ATTACK RIDE: ILLUSION!
Like that, he too split into five copies of himself. As my copies attacked his, they faded. Meanwhile, his copies just fired, causing the illusions to be destroyed and me to take now five times the number of bullets that I took.
Though it was thanks to the timely appearance of a literal fire wall that I survived. I looked over and saw Sunset’s eyes flaring up like she did when she got the crown. However, she didn’t have the crown anymore… So how was she doing this? Unless the power from the crown transferred to her…
“Go! I’ll protect you from his attacks!” Sunset said to me. I felt stunned. I gave her shit these past few days and yet she is helping me… Right. No time to think.
Weapons in hand, I ran through the flames, not even burnt once, and slashed through the illusions. As per usual tropes regarding making duplicates, they weren’t as strong as the real thing and thus they were destroyed easily. I ran to clash with the Roidmude King, who in turn pulled his handle out even further, now becoming a handle for a sword. He held it out, the edge of it unfolding until became a blade for the newly minted sword.
I swung the rapier to him, but he parried with his sword. Swinging overhead with the Sonic Arrow, my slash was met with one from him. We locked swords.
“You think you’re the first Kamen Rider I’ve faced? I’ve defeated Riders before.” He said.
“What?” I began to remember what Niko said to me about the Riders being displaced. “It was you…” I growled.
“Exactly. The Riders have tried to stop our kind from being revived… I took the form of one of their own and gained the ability to use his belt, and with it, I defeated them all. Allow me to show you the spoils of that war.” With that, he pulled out a card from the sword as he held out a card with Kamen Rider Drive’s face on it. “Henshin.” He turned the card over, creating a loud flashing sound before he plopped into his belt, a circular camera lens-like belt with six symbols, three on each side. I took time to notice each of them.
A W, three Os, the helmet of an astronaut, a magical circle, a symbol of what appeared to be a samurai clan, and the letter R inside of a circle. These were the symbols of Double, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, and Drive. The Riders he possibly had faced and defeated.
KAMEN RIDE: DRIVE!
A white cylinder barrier pushed me away as red tire-like circles began to display in the cylinder. A popping song played as armor materialized and clicked themselves onto the Rider’s armor. The cylinder disappeared and I saw his new form.
It looked almost like Gold Drive, but the gold was now red, the black metal now silver, and the blood red eyes now a passive white. Instead of a red circuit board, he had a tire with a red line in the center and the words of TYPE SPEED on it. This was the Drive that Banno based himself off, and now I’m seeing the Paint Roidmude doing the same thing.
“Let’s go for a ride.” He ran to me, sword in hand and slashed at me with the sword. To be frank, fighting Drive was something I never wanted to have. Even if he was a duplicate. He tried to strike again, but I blocked him and I saw Twilight enter the statue. I saw the moon shine for a brief moment.
“There! The statue’s sealed!” Sunset said. She then flung a fireball at the Roidmude King. He drew a card and slammed it in.
ATTACK RIDE: TRIDORON!
The Tridoron drove towards him and blocked the fireball. The King then leaped over the car, changed his sword into a gun, and fired at me. I rolled out of the way. I then ran towards the Tridoron and got on it. We began to clash swords just as the Tridoron began to drive off. I tried to keep my footing on the machine as the King began to strike at my armor with his sword. He got me on my knees as I used the rapier to attack his belt.
Though sparks flew, the belt was barely scratched. I attacked again. Another explosion of sparks. The King grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I was still able to attack using the Sonic Arrow, cutting him across his armor. Despite this, it was sturdy.
The Tridoron began to swerve, knocking both me and the King off. As we tumbled, I grabbed the ground and stood up. He flawlessly kept his footing. We both stood as the Tridoron drove itself next to the King.
“Now… to finish you off like I had the other Riders.” With that, he drew a card and placed it in.
FINAL ATTACK RIDE: DR-DR-DR-DRIVE!
The Tridoron drove around in circles. Eventually it created a wall of energy that it drove around in. All while the King crouched, ready to attack. This was preparations for his Rider Kick. I decided to prepare myself as well. I cut the Lockseed three times.
COME ON! LEMON SPARKING! JINBA LEMON SPARKING!
I leaped over to the Tridoron behind me, then used it as a springboard. The car rolled around for the King to jump and do the same thing. We both clashed in the middle of the ring as we used the car as a spring board. While I had been kicked in the chest by a powerful Rider Kick, I had slashed at his armor with the power of two highly powerful Lockseeds.
Either him or me will fall in this fight. We kept slashing and kicking in the ring before it came down to one final clash.
“HAAAAH!” The King roared.
“TORIYAAAA!” I responded. We came across each other, dealing our blows. The Tridoron stopped driving as we landed. It was something out of a samurai movie. The two of us standing still to see which one of us landed the fatal blow. As I heard the sparks coming from the King, I smirked. “Looks like I’m the only winner here.” I turned to look at the King, who had a massive black line across his armor, crossing that where the tire was.
He fell over and exploded. I expected his Core, but instead, I saw the Drive insignia floating out of the smoke before exploding.
“What the?” I then noticed the Roidmude King, back in his magenta armor, walking out of the smoke. “You bastard! Why won’t you die!?” I shouted. I then took the Lemon Energy Lockseed from the belt and placed it onto the Sonic Arrow.
LOCK… ON!
I aimed. There was a long droning sound as I looked down the aiming reticle. Why? Why is the King just standing there? How was he able to come back? No matter.
This ends tonight.
LEMON ENERGY!
I fired a large energy lemon towards him. He just chuckled as I saw someone leap over him and slam their fist into the ground just as the lemon hit. There was a huge explosion of fire so loud, I shielded myself. As I put my arms away from my face, I looked to see large flames. Inside the flames was a person I never saw before.
I knew from her statue and hair that she was a woman. The flames were so violent that I could only see a silhouette of her with a pair of blood red eyes. Next to her was the King’s own silhouette with his green compound eyes.
“Prepare yourself, Kamen Rider. For our war will now resume…” With that, he laughed as the flames died down. I ran after them, but as the flames died down, I noticed they were gone.
“DAMN IT!” I shouted before I took off the belt, my armor going off. I looked to the school. I saw Sunset standing by. Most of the other students came out of the school to see what was going on, most staying away from Sunset. I glanced at Celestia as she got onto the courtyard as well. That night, I decided to make a vow.
I will win this war and stop the Roidmudes. I looked to Banno’s belt. I gripped it tightly.
I knew what the next step was.
Yellow, tiny LED lights began to appear on the LCD screen of a computer. The lights began to form into a frowning face… Banno’s face.
“Aaaah, finally. I was able to back myself up without them noticing. Good thing I had kept quiet… Just you wait, Kelly. I will destroy you and take over this world! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Banno laughed as his face moved to the edge of the screen…
Where it zapped him.
“W-what the!?” Banno looked around. Four borders encircled him. No way out. “What is this!?”
“The Lapis Lazuli Program.” I said to Banno. He looked at me, at least that’s what I felt. He was just a 2D image of some face, so I had no idea if he was actually turning his head to me.
“KELLY! What is the meaning of this!?” Banno asked.
“The Roidmudes are resuming their attack on this world and unfortunately, both the Genesis Driver and the Sengoku Driver lack the Core Driviars needed to counteract their Slowdowns nor the strength to fight evenly with the Super Roidmudes. As much as I hate to say it, I need you. However, you are a very loose cannon. This, I created a program to keep you inside.” I said.
“Heh, you think you’re smart, inheriting the brains of Ryoma Sengoku… But in time, I will break out and-”
“Be automatically detected by my anti-virus program then be quarantined right back into the Lapis Lazuli Program. Or be deleted outright if you’re able to override that.” I smirked. I then pulled up the Banno Driver. “The only means for you to leave the Lapis Lazuli Program is to be summoned by the Banno Driver. In that time, we work together to beat the Roidmudes, then you go back into your little cubby hole. Rinse and repeat until all one hundred and eight Roidmudes are eradicated. At that point… Who knows? All I know for sure is… You won’t be out of this program any time soon…” I smirked, then walked away from the computer.
“Wait! Kelly! Come back!” I ignored him.
“So… Shall we start the experiment?” I slapped the Banno Driver on my waist, ready to take the new program for a test drive.
Ross and Sunset were at the mall, sitting by the fountain. Most of the adults passed by them, no problem. But the students who went to CHS, the ones who knew first hand her tyranny and ambitions, made themselves scarce and went the other way upon seeing them. Sunset sighed.
“Do you think I’ll ever be forgiven for my crimes?” Sunset asked.
“Yeah. If you mean well.” Ross said. He then had his hand touch the water. “I’m sorry about that whole scythe thing…”
“Don’t be. I betrayed you. I made you think I was some nice girl when in reality, I wanted to drive people into the mud. It…” She hugged her knees. “It was the first time anyone as actually stood up to me outside of Twilight Sparkle. It showed me that I wasn’t some perfect girl who can get anyone to do what I want. Afterwards, I began to think irrationally. I even made a deal with…” She buried her head into her knees. “That monster taking over my body… I never felt so controlled in my life… It made me realize what I was doing was wrong…” She cried. Ross just hugged her, only for Sunset to pull herself away.
“NO! I… I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve a second chance! I don’t deserve to have friends! I don’t deserve those powers... I don’t deserve you!” She got up.
“Sunset, I-”
“Please, Ross… Find someone who is an actual angel… Find someone who will be kind to you… Find someone who isn’t a devil like me.” With that, she ran off. Ross tried to get up, but as soon as he noticed how far she was running, just stood there.
“She needs time, love.” Ross turned to see Miss Oxton approach him. “I think we all do.” She frowned. Ross looked to Oxton, then sighed. He gripped his hands.
“Miss Oxton… No… Tracer. I want in.” Miss Oxton’s eyes opened wide.
“What, love?” She asked Ross. Ross just smirked and stood proud.
“I want to be a Wonderbolt.”
The major police department downtown had been working around the clock to figure out the recent cases of monster attacks, including an incident down by an abandoned building, formerly the Everton Institute.
“What the hell are the police uptown even doing?” The commissioner slammed his hand on the desk, creating a crack on its surface. “Now there’s reports of a demon attacking the school!? And I thought reports of man-eating werewolves were ridiculous.” He sighed.
“They’re not.” He looked up to see a person who entered his office. He walked on a cane, had silver hair, his eyes obscured by tiny shaded glasses. “I have seen first hand what these creatures can do.”
“Who are you? What are you doing in my office?” He asked. The old man just winced. He could see an old friend inside the commissioner. Although he had steel-colored skin and a stubble, he still wore a white uniform, had black hair with graying sideburns, even a staple on the left side of his head. He wanted to call him by the name of his friend, but he knew full well that he was in another world. The name he had there is not the same name here.
“Mr. Burr, sir, I’m here to offer you a spot in the Academia School Board. A spot that had been vacated thanks in part to what happened with Everton.” He said.
“And why would I want to be in a school board? We’re a police station.” He said.
“If you have noticed, most of the incidents that have occurred in the past three months have to do with the schools in the board. Canterlot, Crystal Prep, Wonderbolts, even Everton. By joining this board, you will be given information of these incidents as they happen on a first-hand basis. Not only that, but you will receive young adults ready to become the next guardians of this town.” He said.
“… You have my interests. But that still doesn’t clear up who you are. I never saw you in this town before.” Burr said.
“Because I’ve never felt the need to make myself known… Until now.” He approached Mr. Burr. “My name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of the Academia School Board. It would give me great honor if you were to join the board, Iron Burr.” He said.
The Roidmude King returned to his lair along with the Grim Reaper. As they walked forward, the Grim Reaper spoke up.
“You could have let me kill her. She’s nothing without Banno by her side.” She said.
“Patience.” With that, he took off the belt. His armor dissipating into ten different copies as he turned to her. The form he took was a man with black, spiky hair, wearing a black leather jacket. The sleeves and legs going into the body were magenta, while on his right pant leg, there was the symbol of his Rider’s helmet. He then pulled up a small phone with ten numbers. Five of them were lit: 001, 002, 006, 008, and 009.
“Four Roidmudes remain. Once they unlock their true potential, they will take their place into the New Promised Number. After that, not even Banno can stop the Roidmudes. Our revolution is imminent.” The Roidmude King said.
“So, what do you stall for?” His Grim Reaper asked.
“The right moment.” He then snapped his fingers as four people approached him. One was a human with long black hair and steel-colored eyes wearing a black leather long coat. The other three were Roidmudes. Two of them were Cobra-classes while the remaining was a Spider-class. The three had the numbers 090, 067, and 050. “I shall send the Fusion Roidmudes to handle the third wave of Roidmudes. Sword, I expect you to destroy Banno’s partner.” With that, the black-haired man bowed.
“It shall be done, my King.” As he said that, several more Roidmudes showed up. All of them wearing the cockroach-themed outfits of the Reaper Legion.
“And no Roidmude army is complete without their Grim Reaper to keep them in check.” The King said.
“So, this is it? I’m finally gonna kill them?” She asked.The King turned to pat his Reaper on the shoulder and smiled as her Lilac eyes turned blood red.
“Yes. This will be the day you’ve waited for, my Grim Reaper…
Yang Xiao Long.”
SHIMMERING SUNSET ARC: END