//------------------------------// // L: Law and Order / Retribution // Story: Kamen Rider Unicorn // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// After the attack, Shining Armor and Captain Broadside reconvened at PhoenEXE Corp. The newly minted Kamen Rider was astonished to see that Starlight Glimmer’s assistants really were all the same age or close to her age. The taller of the group, with white hair and a white complexion, Double Diamond if he read the name tag right. He seemed a lot more together, he wore a thin smile that was oddly disturbing to Shining Armor for some reason. “Are you okay, Ms. Glimmer?” Sugar Belle asked as she brought a cup of tea to the shivering Starlight. “I’ll be fine, really. I’m just a little shaken up is all.” Starlight’s eyes moved to Shining Armor. “I’m glad to see that my decision to make you a Kamen Rider was the right choice You seem to have adapted well to the Trigger Memory and the T-Driver.” “Thank you, ma’am. However, I am concerned that those monsters seemed to be after you, specifically,” said Shining Armor. “Do you have any enemies that might want you out of the picture?” Starlight took a sip of her tea and breathed a calming sigh. “Well, it’s not like a lot of people like the idea of a teenage CEO in charge of a major corporation, especially those who have built up their industries over a period of time. PhoenEXE is fairly young, but we’ve been rising fast in the business world, as well as our contracts. About the only one I could think of would be Rich Industries, however, considering the event with Mr. Filthy’s wife, I doubt he’d do anything to put himself in danger of losing his daughter again.” “Possible as that may be, we’ll look into Rich Industries anyway to cover our bases. Anyone else you could think of?” Captain Broadside asked? Starlight shook her head. “I’m not naïve enough to think that I got here without stepping on anyone’s toes, I’m sure I ticked off some people here and there along the way. I just don’t think it would be bad enough to make them use monsters against me.” Shining’s face became one of determination. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out what they’re after.” “Thank you, officers. I must ask you to please leave to give Ms. Glimmer some time to rest,” said Double Diamond. Both Shining Armor and Broadside nodded and exited the room. After a couple of minutes to make sure that they had left, Starlight began to tighten her grip around the tea cup, the cup began to creak until it shattered in Starlight’s grasp. Night Glider, Sugar Belle, Party Favor, and Double Diamond took a cautious step back. A vein popped out on Starlight’s neck as she slammed her fists against the table. “Double Diamond,” said Starlight in an even tone. “I thought you said you took care of the security problem, and the person who distributed the Gaia Memories…SO WHY IS IT THAT I GOT ATTACKED BY TWO GOLD TYPE DOPANTS!!!?” Double Diamond composed himself as he spoke. “Y-Yes, I did Starlight. I killed Open Skies, but it appears he had accomplices…Forgive me, I-I assumed he was working alone!” “Damn, you haven’t seen you pissed off this bad in a long time,” said Night Glider. An action the navy-blue girl regretted as Starlight rushed out of her chair and grabbed the girl by her collar and hoisted her up. “I am beyond ‘pissed’ right now! There isn’t a word in the English Dictionary that can adequately describe my feelings! So please, Night Glider, please choose your words carefully when speaking to me!” Night Glider nodded vigorously. Taking that as affirmation, Starlight released her. Sugar Belle went over to check on Night Glider, but she swatted the would-be baker away. Her pride was hurt more than her physical body. “We can assume that they’re going to try and kill me again,” said Starlight. “Any suggestions?” “Starlight, ma’am, why don’t we just all attack them? I mean, the four of us alone should be enough to take them down,” said Party Favor. “It would look too suspicious if four Dopants came to defend Starlight against two other Dopants. We can’t have the police or Kamen Riders knowing that the Gaia Memories are made by us,” said Double Diamond. “I could always wait for them to come and transform, but that field that Dopant created…I doubt I’d be able to think clearly enough to transform,” said Starlight with an annoyed look. “Which means we’re going to have to rely on the other Kamen Riders,” said Night Glider. “For now,” said Starlight, “at least until I can find an opening.” Starlight raised her right fist and clenched it. “Those fools actually thought they could instill that kind of fear into me and not think that there would not be any consequences? I need to teach them the error of their ways.” ***______________*** Sunset and Rainbow Dash had gone to Twilight’s house right after the battle. The genius girl thanked her friends for helping out her brother during the fight, but of course they didn’t need to be thanked. While Sunset still found him to be a bit of plot hole, he was still Twilight’s big brother and now a Kamen Rider. Not like she just couldn’t not help him. “Alright, ready for a Look Up?” Sunset asked. Twilight nodded. She stood at the center of her room and closed her eyes as she entered her meditative state. *~*~* “Okay, so where should we start?” Twilight asked. --- Try fear, --- said Sunset. “Look up: Fear.” Several bookshelves disappeared into the white void, leaving a hefty amount of shelves behind. “It’s too vague, there are mostly things about phobias, nightmares, and other things that cause fear.” --- How about headdress? --- Sunset asked. “Look up: headdress.” Many more bookshelves disappeared, and this time released single books from their shelves. But still, there were many, more than a hundred. “That was good, but we need something else.” --- What about dark pool? Y’know, because of that oozy stuff that appeared around it, --- said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s cross our fingers on this one. Look up: dark pool.” The books began to filter at rapid speeds, until only one remained. Twilight jumped in glee as the book shined. The book was black and gold, with creepy lettering like that of some online creepypasta story. “Got it…oh…It’s the Terror Memory. Its power creates an absolute Terror Field, and in this field, it can induce mind numbing fear into anyone caught in it. It’s also corrosive, able to burn whatever gets caught in it by the wielder’s command, as well as act as teleportation through umbrakinesis.” --- Uba what now? --- Rainbow asked. --- It means the Dopant can teleport through shadows, or in this case, the shadowy energy that it creates with that Terror Field. --- Sunset answered. “And something else called a ‘Terror Dragon’…Let’s hope we don’t see that. Okay, next one.” After a few easy keywords, Twilight was able to pull up the next tome. This one shined and took on an earthen theme, with brown colors and tribal-like markings. Twilight opened the book and read aloud. “It’s the Claydoll Memory, it can utilize gravity to hover and as offensive energy blasts, but probably its most powerful trait is its ability to regenerate. Once hit with a powerful attack, it can shatter, and those pieces can reform back to normal.” --- So, a tank and a caster, great. The Terror Dopant we might be able to beat…semi-easily, but that Claydoll will be something else, --- said Rainbow Dash. --- Guess I’ll have to use the Shining Memory for that one, hopefully I can figure out a way around its regeneration, --- said Sunset. *~*~* Twilight exited the Infinite Library and sighed. “Unfortunately, we don’t know what they’re objective is.” Rainbow grinned. “Well we don’t, but someone else does.” It didn’t take a genius to understand what Rainbow Dash was talking about. Twilight knew it, but she still did not like it, she had to hack her brother’s police files, again. Although, Twilight was mulling an idea around, and now that she had both Rainbow and Sunset in the room, now would be as good a time as any. “On that note, I do have a question for you two…” Twilight announced timidly. “Twilight you don’t have to act so shy about it, just speak your mind,” said Sunset. Twilight took in a deep breath and sighed. “I was wondering if we should consider……telling Shining Armor what we’re doing?” Rainbow bolted to her feet and prepared to say something, only for Sunset to quickly place her hand on Rainbow’s shoulder and gently guided her back down to the bed to sit. “Go on, Twilight.” “With Shiny as a Kamen Rider, our chances of protecting the city and collecting the other T2 Memories will increase, but neither Shining Armor nor the police force know what the Gaia Memories are fully capable of. With my ability of the Infinite Library, we can coordinate with the police force to mount attacks against the Dopant’s, and you two wouldn’t have to worry so much about coordinating with my brother during a fight since you’ll have the same intel. So……what do you think?” Twilight asked, awaiting a furious yell from both her friend and girlfriend. Rainbow looked to Sunset, even though she knew the two were dating, there was no way Sunset would agree with a plan like that. The police were clear in that they viewed them as vigilantes, which they were, and seemed bent on taking them in if given the chance. Now with Shining Armor as a Rider, the chances of that happening were higher, but Rainbow was betting on the monsters taking top priority for Trigger. After a moment to think, Sunset spoke, “I agree with part of that idea.” “What?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “It would make fighting Dopants easier if we coordinated with Shining Armor as Trigger. But first, we’d have to see if he’d be willing to show a little trust to us as Unicorn and Nasca. To be honest, Twilight, telling him now the way things are, he’s more likely to arrest Rainbow and I rather than work with us,” said Sunset. Twilight’s mind flashed back to the conversation she had with her brother, Sunset was right, Shining Armor would most likely take in Rainbow and Sunset. “I figured as much…At least you’re open to see if he can trust you at all.” Rainbow shrugged. “If, and that’s a big IF, he’s willing to show us a little trust as Riders, then…we’ll see.” At least it isn’t a no, Twilight thought. The girls heard the sputtering of a motorcycle, and new immediately that Shining Armor had arrived. Twilight headed downstairs with Sunset, Rainbow, and Spike bringing up the rear. However, Rainbow paused put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder to stop her. Rainbow waved on for Spike to go ahead. “What’s up?” Sunset asked. “I just want to make sure you’re okay, I mean, you and Twilight,” said Rainbow. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “As far I know we are…why? Did Twilight say something?” “No, no, just…I mean, with Shining Armor as a Kamen Rider and all…” Rainbow trailed off, not quite sure how to phrase her words. Sunset smiled as she realized her friend’s concern. “We’re alright Dashie, don’t worry. Although it’s true I still have a bit of an urge to at least gut punch him for not getting Twilight away from the Key Dopant…I do believe he’d never do anything to harm her intentionally. Which makes this all the more awkward and frustrating, he just makes it so hard – and the fact that he thinks I abandoned her makes me angry! If for nothing else than to make him stop thinking that, I would tell him I was Unicorn! But I’ll just have to endure it, or maybe he’ll wise up.” Rainbow Dash had a bit of a frown on her face. “It makes you think about freshman year again, right? How the old you acted. Sunset, you’re not that girl anymore, you never will be. Not with us around, and definitely not with Twilight by you.” Sunset’s smile widened as she felt a warmth in her heart. “I can’t believe I used to think having friends was meaningless. You’re right, thanks, Rainbow.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head as she blushed a little. “Jeez, don’t get all sappy on me! I’m just trying to help a friend!” “You’re such a Tsundere,” said Sunset. “I am not a Tsundere! Jeez, you’re going to make me regret ever teaching you about anime,” said Rainbow. Both girls got downstairs where they saw the Sparkle family embrace the eldest child, thankful that he was okay after the battle. Sunset admitted, she was relieved to see he wasn’t injured from the battle, despite her annoyance towards him, she would never wish harm on him, he was Twilight’s BBBFF. Rainbow Dash was the first to make her way down to the group and gave Shining Armor light punch on the arm. “Good work out there, glad you’re okay,” said Rainbow. “Thanks,” said Shining Armor with a smile. A smile that lasted all of ten seconds as his gaze drifted to the stairwell and saw Sunset Shimmer leaning against the wall. “Sunset Shimmer.” The girl in question sighed. “I’m glad you’re okay, too.” Rainbow could feel the tension between the two of them, it was thick enough to cut with her Engine Blade. “Okay, so I’m going to head back! My folks will probably have dinner ready, so…yeah, bye!” The rainbow haired girl zipped passed Shining Armor, revved her bike, and left. Shining and Sunset regarded each other for a moment, Velvet coughed to break the tension. “Well, if you don’t mind, Sunset, would you like to stay for dinner then?” “Eh, I don’t know, I have a left-over pizza that’s calling to me,” said Sunset. Twilight placed her hands on her hips and gave her an indignant look. “Oh no, you have to eat a proper meal once in a while, not just junk food. You’re staying for dinner, and that’s that.” “But–” Sunset began. “No ‘buts’,” Twilight interrupted. In the end, Sunset relented, making both parents chuckle at how their little girl put her foot down with Sunset. The whole time, Shining Armor watched how they acted. He knew from Cadance that Twilight had feelings for this girl, but at the same time, Shining Armor wasn’t sure about her. With what he learned about her from the teachers during that incident, and his own research, this girl was a definition of a Queen Bee Bad Girl. Yet, it seems like she had done a total one-eighty, becoming a girl that everybody looked up to. It just didn’t seem plausible, and then he learns that Twilight has a crush on her, and now the two are possibly dating or are already a couple? This was making his big brother instincts flare up. Shining Armor just didn’t get it, what was it that Twilight saw in this girl? Was it the bad boy/girl effect here? Twilight was never into making friends at Crystal Prep, and from what she had told him, she was too focused on her work, and the other Crystal Preppers didn’t really treat her that well. Now at CHS, she was surrounded by friends, could it be that she was confusing these feelings of friendship for love and Sunset was just playing along? Whatever the case may be, Shining Armor was going to protect his sister. Before they knew it, the sun was setting and dinner was served at the Sparkle house. Night Light sat at the head of the table, with Shining Armor and his mother, Velvet, sitting off to the right side of table, while Sunset and Twilight sat on the left. They exchanged pleasantries here and there, talked about each other’s day – minus the monster battle – and overall just enjoyed the company and meal. “So, Sunset,” Shining began, “Senior year is coming up for you guys. I know what Twilight’s going to do, but, what’s your end goal?” Sunset paused mid-bite of her food. She so wanted to shoot him a dirty look, but restrained herself, hiding behind a smile. “Well, I’ve have been giving it some thought lately. I have high marks in every subject, especially science and math.” “That’s true, Sunset even beat me in a game of chess.” Twilight gave her girlfriend a competitive glare. “I’m still trying to get a rematch.” “First rule of battle: knowing when to pick your battles. The problem before was you underestimated me, and fell into my trap at the last second, just as I planned,” said Sunset with a smug grin. Shining Armor’s mind played out that sentence, his imagination showing a crying Twilight, on the ground, while Sunset Shimmer laughed manically and mockingly at the beaten girl as lightning and thunder went off in the background. Okay, that was too over the top. Twilight bumped Sunset’s shoulder. “One would then say you’re afraid you’ll lose to me in a rematch then?” Sunset smirked, and decided to go back to Shining’s question. “So, I don’t really know just yet. I figured I’d just go to college and find out more there, maybe become a researcher or a teacher?” “That sounds wonderful, maybe you can go to the same college as Twilight. Canterlot University? They have the best programs for arts and sciences,” said Velvet. Sunset looked to Twilight, and she could see the giddiness begin to bubble within her, and she had to admit, the idea of going to college together was really nice. They could develop their relationship even more by then. Provided that the Dopant problem is ended before then, they could go into the science business together. “Mom, don’t put ideas in her head, I’m sure Sunset Shimmer has other plans, probably,” said Shining Armor. The happy thought bubble was punctured by that sentence, but just as Sunset was about to say something, she stopped. Something felt off, she could feel her magic reacting, reaching out like an invisible sonar wave. The wave reached out beyond the table, beyond the four people and dog in this house. The wave went outside, and made her aware of something, or rather someone, standing there and looking at the house. Normally that would not seem like anything to worry about, but in this case, that same magic sonar wave made her aware of a device in this person’s hands that radiated a familiar energy. When Sunset saw this person raise that device, and push it against her arm, Sunset sat up from her seat so fast she made the chair fall back. “Sunset?” Twilight asked with worry. “EVERYBODY GET DOWN!” Sunset ordered. Sunset quickly pulled Twilight out of her seat and took her down to the floor just as an explosion went off at the front of the house. Wood and glass were thrown about as furniture was sent airborne and collided against the walls. Night Light and Velvet hit the deck along with Sunset and Twilight, but Shining Armor stood up, and summoned his T-Driver. Shining took out the Trigger Memory and pressed the button. < TRIGGER! > “HENSHIN!” > TRIGGER! < The azure blue electrical field surrounded Shining Armor, transforming him into Kamen Rider Trigger. Once the transformation was complete, Shining took out the Chrome Magnum and looked to his family as he said, “Stay down!” Shining Armor ran out through the new entrance that was blown into his home, and pointed his blaster at the assailant who dared to attack his family. To his surprise, the one who attacked his home was the Claydoll Dopant from earlier today. The Dopant hovered in place as its arms were still pointed in the direction of Shining Armor and the house. Several people were exiting their homes after hearing the explosion, but stopped upon seeing the Dopant and Kamen Rider in a standoff. Crap…there are too many people here to go into a full-on battle…Which is most likely why this thing decided to attack now¸ Shining Armor thought. “What’s the matter officer? Afraid to shoot? Afraid you’ll miss?” The Claydoll Dopant mocked. To answer the question, Trigger raised his blaster and fired three shots in quick succession. All three bolts, struck the Dopant dead center, making sparks explode from each impact. Trigger dashed forward, firing two more shots before closing in on the Claydoll Dopant, as he did, Trigger opened the bottom of the Chrome Magnum and pulled another Gaia Memory. < KNIFE! > |^| KNIFE! ARMED! |^| The Chrome Mangum began to glow as its entire form shifted, no longer a blaster, but a bladed weapon. The barrel had become a seven-inch-long, chrome colored blade, with a blue, boxy guard, and black hilt. The Dopant tried to move back to put some distance between them, but Trigger managed to get in close and began fighting the Dopant. Trigger held the blade in a reverse-grip, slashing at the Dopant’s midsection and causing sparks to fly, he flipped it around and began slashing again, moving the dagger as if it were a paint brush upon a canvas. The Claydoll Dopant focused its gravity energy into its leg thrusters and shot off into the air, it began to descend at a slow rate, but used this time to fire multiple shots at Trigger. The Kamen Rider readied to deflect with the Chrome Dagger, but realized that deflection now would make the orbs of gravity energy strike against the houses nearby. With gritted teeth, Shining Armor took a defensive stance and allowed the gravity shots to hit him. Explosions went off around him, as Shining Armor braced against the damage. Once the Claydoll Dopant landed, she pointed her left arm at Trigger, and kept another one trained on his home. The Dopant glanced to her right and saw that Trigger’s family was trying to exit their damaged home, but stopped when they saw the glowing arm cannon trained on them. “Well I won’t say this was completely easy, but it went as planned,” said the Claydoll. At the entrance to the house, Sunset could see how bad this situation was. Shining Armor was going to get blasted repeatedly, so long as they were there being held hostage. If only she could transform and fight, but leaving now would look really bad, and there wasn’t any way for her to make an excuse to leave, especially not with the Claydoll Dopant pointing a cannon at them. “Leave them out of this!” Trigger ordered. “You’re not really in any position to give orders, officer. Perhaps you need a reminder.” The Claydoll Dopant glanced to each of the four people across from her until her eyes rested on Twilight. “Looks like the nerd gets the first shot!” Twilight’s eyes widened with fear, while Sunset’s narrowed with fury. The sphere fired from the cannon arm of the Claydoll Dopant. A few seconds before the sphere hit, Sunset grabbed Twilight and threw her to the side, Sunset closed her eyes and then gritted her teeth. This is going to hurt… The sphere of graviton energy struck Sunset Shimmer, the fiery haired screamed in pain as she and the sphere flew into the back of the house, slamming against a shed. Sunset felt like all the bones in her body had been broken, but thankfully the sphere didn’t explode. Her body hurt all over, even her eyeballs, and to top it all off she was buried under a lot of wood, metal, and an assortment of lawn care products and power tools. Well, Shimmer, good job. You managed to get away from everybody so you can transform…Problem now is… I’m buried and in a lot of pain right now… While Sunset tried to figure out a way out of this, she began to hear something clearing the debris. After a few seconds, Sunset managed to see all three mech-animals and Spike taking away pieces of the debris as quickly as they could. Once they had cleared enough debris away, Spike quickly went to Sunset and asked, “Are you alright?!” “Not so much no, but that’s for another day.” Sunset tried to get up, but thought against it for now. “This is going hurt.” Sunset called on her Uni-Driver, groaning in pain as she managed to put it on her waist. Once that was done, she pulled out both the Unicorn and Shining Memories. < UNICORN! > < SHINING! > “Hen…shin!” > UNICORN! < > SHINING! < A bright flash of gold and turquoise light enveloped Sunset, making Spike and the mech-animals back away to watch the transformation. The flash of light was then snuffed out, and Sunset Shimmer disappeared. ***______________*** Twilight stared at the direction that Sunset was blasted, her parents also had the same expression on their faces as well. Trigger was shocked, having watched Sunset get blasted away like that, and saving Twilight in the process. The azure blue Kamen Rider took a step forward, but the Claydoll wasn’t having any of that. “One more step, officer, and I’ll for sure hit that nerd girl!” she warned. Velvet and Night Light moved towards their daughter and held her close, both to protect her and to prevent her from running after where Sunset went. Twilight’s eyes began to shed tears as quiet sobs were let out, she couldn’t do anything to stop this, she just froze and Sunset saved her. Just then, a flash of golden light appeared before the Claydoll Dopant, and in the next moment, she felt a strong kick to her gut and was sent flying down the street. Trigger looked to who it was and saw Unicorn Shining Day. Twilight and her parents glanced at the golden Rider, with Twilight’s expression changing to one of relief at seeing Sunset okay. “I don’t have time to deal with you properly, so let’s make this quick!” Unicorn stated as she hit the button on her side once. \ HONEST! / Orange energy coated both of Unicorn’s fists, with a flash of turquoise light, Unicorn teleported right behind the Claydoll Dopant. The Dopant was still flying, but Unicorn had appeared in the intercept path and thrust both fists out, making contact with the Claydoll Dopant’s back. “Bunker Buster!” A shockwave of power blasted through the Dopant, making cracks appear all around its body until it completely shattered apart into pieces. Unicorn quickly hit the left hip port button six times. \\\\\\ MAGIC! ////// A purple aura appeared around Unicorn’s horn, combined with her turquoise aura. With a telekinetic spell, she gathered all the pieces of the Dopant, keeping them from coming back together. With a flick of her wrist, all the pieces disappeared in a flash of light. The battle was over. Trigger ran up to Unicorn as she walked towards the Sparkle family, and Trigger asked, “What did you do?!” “That Dopant is called the Claydoll. It’s special power, among other things, is regeneration. I haven’t come up with a proper plan, so I just gathered all the pieces and threw her into the outskirts of the city, far, far into the outskirts.” Unicorn knew she had to make the most of her time as Shining Day as she walked up to the house. “Mister and Misses Sparkle, and Twilight, right?” Twilight nodded, playing along. “Move into the street please.” Unicorn struck button three times. \\\ GENEROUS! /// “Art of Mending!” A white glow of energy passed over the entire area, and before everyone’s eyes it was as if time was being reversed as all the damage done by the Claydoll Dopant was instantly fixed, the pieces falling back into place like a puzzle. After a minute of the mending spell, Unicorn ceased and the Shining Memory power ended, returning her to default form. Trigger walked up to the young Kamen Rider, rubbing the back of his helmet. “Um…thanks for helping us out, me and family.” “Now do you understand why we keep our faces hidden?” Unicorn asked. “Because things like this happen, because you are a target.” Trigger went silent as he hung his head. Unicorn sighed. “But no matter what your stance on me and Nasca is, we won’t let anything happen to your family.” With those words, Unicorn teleported away. She then reappeared back behind the house, the shed was still in disarray, Sunset made sure to keep it like that for her alibi. Sunset quickly used her telekinetic magic to move the debris up, she laid back down in the relative position she was in before and placed the debris on herself as carefully as possible, once that was done, Sunset changed back, leaving enough wiggle room to take out the Unicorn Memory and slip it into her pocket. The Shining Memory seemed to have accelerated her healing factor, because now she didn’t feel that much pain compared to when she first was under the debris. Now Sunset just needed to wait until she was found. Thankfully, Sunset did not have to wait long as the barks of Spike made her aware that everybody was approaching. Trigger carefully took off the debris one piece at a time. After a minute of digging, Sunset was able to see all the worried – semi-worried in Twilight’s case – faces of the Sparkle family. “Sunset, how do you feel?” Twilight asked with concern heavy in her voice. “I feel as if I got ran over by a tank, getting pushed by a speeding locomotive, carrying cars full of anvils…other than that, I don’t think anything’s broken,” said Sunset. Trigger released his transformation, returning to his normal form. Shining Armor checked Sunset over to see if there were any signs of her bleeding from a puncture wound of any kind. When he was sure he couldn’t see anything bleeding, and from the numerous complaints from Sunset that she was fine, Shining Armor sighed in relief. “That was the craziest thing, I have ever seen anyone do, ever! You could’ve been killed! You’re damn lucky that that thing didn’t blow up in your face when you got hit! Or worse, have gotten hurt from the nails or tools in the shed!” Shining Armor calmed down a little and his features softened. “And with that said…thank you, for saving Twily.” Sunset gave a small smile to the older brother, and with some help, they managed to get Sunset over to the ambulance that was awaiting them, along with several other cop cars. Once the group reached the other officers and ambulance, Spearhead ran up to Shining Armor and whispered something to him. His eyes widened with surprise as he gave a loud “WHAT?!” Shining Armor pushed past the mob of officers and quickly mounted his bike, taking off in the direction of downtown Canterlot. Twilight and Sunset glanced to each other, a single though passed throughT their minds at the same time. This can’t be good. ***______________*** Meanwhile, at PhoenEXE Corp. Clear Skies had waltzed into the building, she glanced about the area, feeling good that the security was felled so easily. The armed guards were lying all about the floor, convulsing or curled up into a fetial position as they mumbled something, consumed by the power of her Terror Field. She continued to walk about, figuring out where she needed to go. Unfortunately, Open Skies didn’t tell them about where exactly he found the Gaia Memories, which was why they needed Starlight Glimmer, only she knew where the Gaia Memories were. Well, her and possibly another. < ICEAGE! > < HEAT! > Clear Skies stopped walking and watched as a fiery orange light flashed behind her, and a blue light flashed ahead of her. The Heat and Iceage Dopants emerged, both staring down the Terror Dopant. “I wondered when the attack dogs would be let loose,” said Clear Skies. “You tried to kill Starlight Glimmer, that we can’t allow,” said Double Diamond. “Why are you after her?” Sugar Belle asked. The Terror Dopant laughed at that question. “Oh, you know why! Mostly because I want to kill him!” Clear Skies pointed towards the Iceage Dopant. “And because I want to know how this company is making these Gaia Memories, honestly, all this power is wasted being used by a bunch of kids.” “You don’t know what Starlight wants to accomplish, but I’ll tell you one thing! It’s definitely better than whatever criminally stupid plan that you want to do!” The Heat Dopant stated. Terror growled and unleashed the Terror Field, making both Dopants jump back and away. Luckily, they weren’t limited to close combat. Heat and Iceage thrust their hands forward and fired beams of orange-red flames and cryo energy. Terror raised a shield of the dark energy ooze, protecting herself from the dual attack. She struggled a bit, she could tell that these two were stronger somehow, making her wonder if they too had gold type Gaia Memories. Terror wrapped herself in the dark ooze and shot up into the ceiling, piercing through several floors before stopping at the tenth floor. Heat rocketed up the hole by igniting her feet, while Iceage created a pillar of ice to rise up behind Heat. Both Dopants were on the same floor, but soon realized that Terror had laid a trap. The Terror Field was surrounding them, and Iceage quickly created another pillar of ice to keep from touching the fear inducing substance. Heat managed to keep airborne, and with this advantage began to unleash a torrent of flames on the dark energy ooze, trying to burn it away. While this seemed to work, it did not deter the ooze from still trying to get to them, with some of it rising up and creating hydra monster heads that snapped at the T2 Dopants. Iceage created buffeting blizzard winds to keep the Terror Hydra Heads from getting close to them. Terror was busy looking through offices, even from a distance she was keeping the Terror Field up and working. Clear Skies’ plan was so far working, while Sunflower kept the new Kamen Rider busy by attacking his home, and hopefully that would draw the attention of the other two Riders, it would allow Clear Skies to poke around the inside of the building. However, she knew she couldn’t stay long. Despite her fending off both guard Dopants, she didn’t want to risk getting overwhelmed if there were more, not without Sunflower providing backup. Clear Skies growled with frustration and summoned more of her Terror Field to punch another hole through many more floors. This time she decided to go to the very top, if anything there should be a clue in the boss’ office. Terror busted through the marble floor and saw two robot secretaries. The robots’ eyes shined red as their arms morphed into machine guns, but Clear Skies released her Terror Field and created a barrier around herself, and with that same field, she reached out to both of the robots and crushed them like cheap tin cans. Terror landed on the floor and kicked open the doors, as she entered, she noticed someone sitting in the desk. < BIRD! > A flash of red light went off, and the chair spun around to reveal the Bird Dopant. She stood up and began flexing her harpy wings and cracking her neck free of its kinks. “Finally, you got up her, I was starting to think they took you out and forgot to tell me! A-holes probably would leave me here all night, but you’re here, so let’s have some fun!” Terror growled again and launched the Terror Filed, but Night Glider flew up. The high ceiling provided her with a good amount of space to fly, as well as to attack. Night Glider flapped her wings forward, letting several quills loose. Those quills energized until they became a shower of blue lasers that cascaded over the Terror Dopant. Terror managed to create another shield, but not much else as the Bird Dopant kept bombarding her with several more energy quills. Unfortunately, this divided her attention as she felt her hold on the other Terror Field slip, and no doubt the other two Dopants would be coming for her soon. “What’s the matter?! Why are just playing defense?! If you don’t do something, my teammates will be here soon!” And right on cue, the elevator dinged and Heat and Iceage exited. Terror looked behind her, and saw that she was now outnumbered. “You’re better off surrendering, I’ll make your end quick and painless,” said Double Diamond. Terror looked between the Dopant attacking her, and the two about to attack. There was only one option left to her now. ***________________*** Trigger was peeling down the road at super speed on his bike. The PhoenEXE Corp. building was coming into view, but as Trigger got closer, he noticed a strange glow coming from the top floor. Suddenly, an explosion went off, sending chunks of mortar glass, and rebar flying from the fifty-story-tall building. Trigger came to a halt as he witnessed a beast come plowing through the hole it created. Its body was a deep, royal blue, with patches of a rusty red color long its wings, claws, and tail. The monster had silver eyes that gleamed in the lights of the city, and a wide mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Upon the back of this creature, Trigger could spot the Terror Dopant from before. The Terror Dragon began to flee, heading down the opposite street. “Oh no, you’re not getting away twice!” Trigger stated as he took out the Chrome Magnum and a new Gaia Memory. < SNIPER! > |^| SNIPER! ARMED! |^| The blaster glowed and changed as it elongated, when the light faded, Trigger’s right arm had become a long barrel sniper rifle. The barrel was chrome colored, with a square shaped muzzle; the shoulder pauldron had a long magazine loaded, and from the middle of the forearm was a scope that rotated to allow Trigger to aim. Trigger dismounted his bike and took a stance. The pile stakes on the back of his calves pointed out and fired, anchoring him to the asphalt. The scope zoomed in on the Terror Dragon, locking onto one of its wings. The muzzle glowed as energy built up, and in the next second, a bolt was fired. The force generated made Trigger skid back a few inches, but thanks to the pile stakes, he was kept from being thrown onto his back. The blue plasma bolt sailed through the night sky, whizzing by so fast that by the time the Terror Dopant realized a shot was fired, it was too late. The blot struck the Terror Dragon in the right wing, making it roar in pain as it began to descend rapidly down to the street. Shining Armor mounted his bike after deactivating the Sniper Arms and sped towards the downed dragon. Upon arrival, the Terror Dragon lashed out with its tail. Trigger immediately jumped off of his bike as the whip-like tail slashed through the bike. The Kamen Rider of the Law landed on his feet and pulled out his blaster, firing several bolts at the monstrosity. The creature roared at Trigger and swiped with its claws; Trigger narrowly dodged each attack, ducking at the last second as the claws gouged the street and then the parked cars. All the while, the Terror Dopant stood there, its headdress having turned completely black, and now looking around as if expecting another attack. Thankfully, at least for the Terror Dopant, a familiar figure jetted towards her. When the figure got close, it was revealed to be the Claydoll Dopant. “Sorry, I’m late!” Claydoll stated. “What took you so long?! I thought you would’ve had this guy’s family hostage!” Terror asked. “I did, but Unicorn showed up, shattered me, and then made me disappear to the outskirts of the city! I had to gather all my pieces together! But now that I’m here, let’s take him down!” Claydoll wasted no time in firing a volley of graviton spheres at Trigger. Now with the added trouble of dodging the spheres, Trigger was unable to dodge the incoming swipe of the Terror Dragon. The giant claw threw him into the side of a building, but before he could hit the ground, the Dragon raised its claw and pressed on Trigger, pinning him to the wall. “At least we’ll have one less Kamen Rider to deal with!” Terror stated. “Fat chance of that happening!” Soaring down from the sky, Kamen Rider Nasca descended with her Nasca Blade, cutting the Terror Dragon’s arm and making it release Trigger as it stumbled backward. The roar of a motorcycle echoed down the street as Kamen Rider Unicorn rode in, already transformed into Unicorn Empress. Unicorn dismounted her bike and pressed the Mimetic Drive port twice. \\ KNIGHTS! // The pink construct Knights appeared before her, and with a wave of Unicorn’s hand, charged forward for the assault. The Terror Dragon backed up as the construct Knights began slashing at the beast, herding it back and away from Trigger. Nasca landed next to Trigger and helped him up as Unicorn walked over to him. “You still breathing?” Nasca. “Yes, but I’m still trying to determine if it’s worth it after that,” said Trigger. “You’ll live, for now, let’s focus on taking these two down!” Unicorn stated. \ PAWNS! / \\\\ ROOKS! //// Eight armor clad soldiers appeared behind the two Dopants, along with two large shield bearers blocking the path. The Terror Dopant, Terror Dragon, and Claydoll glanced about, seeing that they were now completely surrounded. Terror growled at this development as her fists tightened. She then glanced to Claydoll and said, “Time for Plan B.” “Guess we really don’t have any other choice do we, Clear?”[/b] The Terror Dragon began to glow, changing into pure energy and zipping into Terror’s headdress, making it regain its blue color. Terror raised her right hand up slowly, making the Kamen Riders tense and ready to attack. “We’re willing to surrender, but we want to make a deal!” All three Riders glanced to each other in confusion. “What makes you think we’ll make a deal with you guys?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “Excuse me, she wasn’t talking to you. She was talking to the only Rider with a badge! We have information as to where the Gaia Memories are being produced, and who is making them!” Claydoll stated. Trigger looked at them, his eyes narrowing behind his helm. “You know who’s making them, and yet you have them. How do we know you two aren’t the ones making them?” Terror stepped forward. “Because I was just attacked by the goon squad of the ones who are, and they were using those fancy looking Memories like you Riders, except theirs turned them into monsters like us!” Unicorn glanced to Trigger. “She may be right, Nasca and I have deduced that someone is in fact manufacturing these devices. If they’re telling the truth, we could end this now.” Trigger took a moment to think about this, and after a minute he said, “Power down, and get on the ground with your hands behind your head. I’ll take this info to the DA and we’ll see what – if any – deal you can get.” “Sorry, but there will be no deals made.” All five heard this voice, turning towards one of the adjacent buildings as they saw the evil Kamen Rider Equal standing at the edge of the rooftop. “You two stole my precious Memories, I can’t abide that. And since it was my property that was stolen, I believe their punishment is left up to me!” Equal jumped into the air, did a backflip, and landed with perfect grace on the road. All parties present went into defensive stances, prepared to do battle with Equal. Equal regarded both factions with the same attention that one gave to a fly, something to be squashed. The dark Rider moved one of the arrow marks into her buckle, activating her power. | LESS THAN: < | The crystal orbs and facets of Equal’s armor began to shine, radiating a blue glow as a field as created. Claydoll fired its graviton spheres, but when the spheres reached the field, they began to shrink at a rapid pace until they were the size of marbles, and fizzled out by the time they reached the actual armor. “My Reduction Field lessens any and all damage dealt to me, either physical or energy based. But it also has another effect…” Equal dashed towards the Dopants, and in one swift motion, caught Claydoll by the throat and threw her into the side of a building, and followed up by pinning her there. “It also reduces the effectiveness of any abilities you may possess, in other words, your regeneration.” Claydoll’s face couldn’t make the expression, but Sunflower on the inside was starting to panic. Terror unleashed a tidal wave of dark energy ooze at Equal as she shouted, “LET HER GO!” Equal didn’t move as the tidal wave approached, but the Terror Field didn’t touch her, as if it was being completely erased. Equal glanced over her shoulder, her compound eyes glowing. “I haven’t forgotten about you, but first…” Equal pressed the arrow sign once. | NULLIFY! | Equal took her claw tipped left hand and shoved it through Claydoll, the Dopant gasped as a blue light shined over its body, and in the next second she went limp. Equal removed her claw hand, taking out a green orb and crushed it. “No more regeneration for you.” The dark Rider picked up Claydoll by the throat and tossed her like a rag doll at Terror. Terror dispelled her field and quickly caught her partner, asking repeatedly if she was alright. Equal removed the Less Than arrow and replaced it with the arrow from her left side and then pressing on it once. | GREATER THAN: < | | INTENSIFY! | Equal took out the Equal Memory and placed into her right hip port and pressed the button on the side. >} EQUAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {< The blue crystals shined red as both of Equal’s feet glowed with intense power. The dark Rider dashed forward at blinding speed, closing the gap between them. “Great Equalizer!” Equal struck Terror in the gut with her right foot, creating as shockwave of crimson energy, along with a stream of that same energy shooting out through her back. Claydoll rose to attack, but Equal’s other foot found its home in the other Dopant’s gut, creating the same shock wave and stream of energy. Sparks were released from their bodies as micro explosions went off all over them, and from the point of impact, a long stream of sparks flew out as is if they were bleeding. Both Dopants fell to their knees and then fell backwards, when their bodies hit the ground, two explosions went off, silhouetting Kamen Rider Equal in the burning flames as her eyes glowed red. On the ground, Clear Skies and Sunflower laid there motionless, the Terror and Claydoll Memories rose from their bodies and upon hitting the pavement, shattered like fragile glass. Equal looked upon both them, but noticed as that they were breathing, if not just barely. The dark Rider clicked her tongue at this revelation. “Jeez, you two are stubborn insects aren’t you. No matter, I’ll finish it.” As Equal raised her right hand, several blue bolts hit her in the back, causing her to stumble forward one step. Equal looked over her shoulder and saw that Trigger was ready to fire. < ACCEL! > < JOKER! > {< ACCEL! MIMETIC DRIVE! >} {< JOKER! MIMETIC DRIVE! >} Nasca was ablaze with red fire, and from it she emerged as Nasca Full Throttle, and from the violet light surrounding Unicorn, she had changed into Unicorn Ace High. Nasca’s bike charged in, transforming into its Engine Blade form and flying into Nasca’s right hand as all three Kamen Riders prepared to face Equal. “You’re not seriously going to fight me, are you?” Equal asked. “Depends, are you going to give up?” Nasca asked. “What do you think?” “There’s your answer!” Nasca charged ahead, swinging down with her Engine Blade. Equal summoned her Staff of Sameness and with it blocked Nasca’s attack, the interception caused a powerful shockwave that kicked up dust and pebbles that flew off in every direction. Nasca revved up the blade, driving the needle into the red zone. >>>> SPEED OF HEAT! <<<< The sword blade ignited with burning flames, making Equal push Nasca back. The air resonated with the powerful clangs of their weapons, flame embers and sparks flew from each blocked blow, with Equal keeping a wide berth between them thanks to the length of her weapon. However, Unicorn teleported behind her and struck out with a flying roundhouse kick. Equal raised her right forearm, blocking the kick before it could make contact with her head. At the same time, Nasca swung her Engine Blade. Equal saw this and countered with her staff. She was being pressed from the left and right by the two Riders, and that left her wide open. Trigger inserted the Trigger Memory into the Chrome Magnum, charging it up. >} TRIGGER! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {< “CHROME BUSTER!” A column sized beam of light roared straight towards them. Nasca and Unicorn broke off and prepared to attack. >} ACCEL! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {< >} JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {< Nasca’s Engine Blade blazed up as she shot a burning stream of plasma flames at Equal. Unicorn raised her hands up over her head, putting them together into a prayer position. When she separated them, dozens of energy orbs appeared and took the form of a playing card. With a whisk of her hands, the cards flew around Unicorn and zoomed straight for Equal. “Inferno Streak!” “Mad Shuffle!” Equal struck the butt of her Staff of Sameness against the ground, creating a crimson barrier that surrounded her just as the three attacks converged on her. Nasca, Trigger, and Unicorn kept the stream of attacks going, not stopping until they broke through Equal’s barrier and stopped her. The dark Rider glanced about, and grunted as she saw that this was not boding well for her. With another strike against the pavement from her staff, the sphere grew until it was the size of a sport SUV. The sphere then exploded, cancelling out all three Riders’ attacks at the same time. When the dust finally settled, they realized that Equal had disappeared. Forgoing their pursuit, all three rushed to the side of the two downed women. Trigger disengaged his armor, returning to normal as he knelt down and checked to see if they were breathing, then put two fingers to their carotid artery and felt a faint pulse. “They’re alive, but barely.” Shining Armor looked up to Unicorn. “Can you do that thing you did to get us to a hospital like last time?!” “Yeah, it’ll be easier now with my current form,” said Unicorn. “Nasca, do you mind heading back for now?” “No problem, I’ll scout the area to make sure that Equal’s gone,” said Nasca. “Be careful.” Unicorn placed her hand on Shining Armor’s back, at the same time, Shining Armor placed one hand on Sunflower’s hand and another on Clear Skies’ hand. Unicorn’s horn lit up with dual turquoise and violet light, and in flash, all four of them had teleported away. Nasca entered her bike form and began patrolling the area. Not knowing that Equal had returned to her perch up in PhoenEXE Corp. as she looked down at the city. The dark Rider turned around and spotted her lieutenants, still in Dopant form as they nodded to her. ***________________*** Case Report: Terror & Claydoll Dopant As much as I want to call this a win, it really isn’t. The Terror and Claydoll Dopants, now known as Clear Skies and Sunflower, are currently in the hospital in the ICU. The injuries they received from Equal were bad and had put them into a coma……It scares me, honestly. This Kamen Rider Equal, she’s ruthless. If she’s really behind the creation of the T1s and chasing down the T2s, then chances are she’s working with the Dopants who are collecting them, it may not be too far of a stretch to say that she may be the one leading them. When I think about how much damage they sustained, and can’t help but worry more for Sunset and Rainbow Dash, if Equal turned that power and ruthlessness onto them… Getting off topic…It was later verified that Open Skies was a peddler of the Gaia Memories, and possibly the one who gave Spoiled Rich her Gaia Memory. Now that I think about it, he may’ve been connected to Clover’s Taboo Memory as well. Open Skies and Clear Skies are actually related, cousins in fact, but beyond that there isn’t much other information. The PhoenEXE Corp. building was attacked at the same time my family was, Shining Armor said that the police were being funded by a corporation, after today, I’m starting to believe that PhoenEXE is the one responsible for creating Shining Armor’s Driver, and if that’s the case, it would make sense that the Dopants attacked them, trying to cripple the company that’s assisting the suppression of their Dopant creation business. Well, all of this is speculation, so long Clear Skies and Sunflower remain in their comatose states, we’ll never know their true motives. On a lighter note, I think Shiny may be opening up to Sunset more, and hopefully he’ll begin to trust her. As far as Unicorn…that’s still iffy. Twilight shut her computer, locking the case files in a securely encrypted folder in her computer, nothing short of another genius like herself could hack her files. At that moment, Sunset walked into her room, carrying a couple of soda drinks. Sunset sat on the edge of the bed next to Twilight, and after taking a sip of her soda, Twilight punched Sunset in the arm. “Ow! I said I was sorry,” said Sunset. “I’m still mad at you for taking such a risk! Even with your healing factor, you had no idea that that blast would’ve exploded in your face, or burned you into nothing! I know I said that Claydoll used gravitons, but for all I knew they were superheated!” Twilight scolded. Sunset lightly rubbed the spot where her girlfriend hit her, and showed an apologetic smile. “I know it was reckless, but, Twilight, I don’t ever want to see you hurt again….” A frown appeared in place of her smile. “When I saw you in that hospital bed, and when they had you on oxygen…I just never want to see that happen to you, not again.” Twilight glanced over to her girlfriend, a look of understanding spread across her face. “I understand, I never want to be in that position again. But, Sunset, that doesn’t mean I want to see you in that state, either. I know you’re tougher and stronger than most, and that you can heal faster, but you don’t need to take a bullet for me if it’s possible to avoid it for both us.” Sunset put down her drink and brought Twilight into a one-armed hug. “I get it, but you have to admit, it did provide me with a way to transform and help out Shining Armor. Soooo we can chalk it up to mad tactical genius?” Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. “Fine, but the next time that happens, I expect better than you just putting yourself in the line of fire, Ms. Mad Tactical Genius.” “Well, I may require some ‘incentive’ to make that happen,” said Sunset. Twilight blushed, she had an idea what Sunset meant by “incentive”. Both girls gazed into each other’s eyes as they slowly moved towards each other, eyes drooping, guided only by their instincts as they leaned in to kiss each other. “Hey, Twily, I was wondering if you wanted to go and…check…out…” Shining Armor’s mind trailed off as he walked in on his little sister and Sunset Shimmer paused, their lips mere inches from touching each other. “I KNEW IT!” Sunset and Twilight’s faces became beat red, and immediately Twilight shot to her feet and glared at her big brother. “SHINING FRANCIS ARMOR! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING!”