//------------------------------// // The Dead Live Longer // Story: Ride Saga: Kamen Rider Charge x Kamen Rider Diend: Hunt for Ω // by Layton13 //------------------------------// Ocean let herself slump down on an old bar-stool that hadn’t been cleaned in ages with a loud sigh. “That could have gone a lot better. Certainly not how I expected this to go. You?” She looked over to Scorched Earth, who shook his head in return. “Not at all, this was well beyond my wildest imaginations. These things are scary, I tell you. Those eyes, nothing but hatred in them,” he returned with a shudder. “And the fact that they become ash when defeated makes it only worse. I tell you, these things sure as Tartarus ain’t human.” He almost spat the last part of that. “Disagree, at least partially. That… Rider was human, and he became dust as well. Probably same type of creature if you ask me. Oh, I wish Iv… Light Bulb was here; she would be all over this and could possibly give us some answers to what these things are. But thanks to the jammer, we can’t get in contact with her. It seems we have to either finish this without intel or get that one through another way. And then there is this Kamen Rider. He reminds me of Decade, a lot actually. Wouldn’t be surprised if he knew Tsukasa. Might actually be worth it asking him about that. Let’s hope they are on friendly terms. But as it stands now, we can’t be sure of his help, especially after what he said,” she sighed, opening a bottle of water and instead of pouring it into a glass just drunk from the bottle. “If he isn’t on our side, he’s probably an enemy. I don’t believe in the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. At best, they are a tool to be used. It’s rare to find allies that way; most of the time, they just wait for you to turn their backs towards you and stab you themselves,” Scorched returned. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be too sure of his help. Right now, we know next to nothing, he could be far worse than those… things.” He said the last bit with a cold shiver running down his spine. “Yeah, he could be, but I somehow have the feeling that he could be an ally. I don’t know what it is, but he really gives me a similar vibe to Tsukasa. Dick on the outside, but not so bad after all on the inside, but that’s nothing but speculation as of now. Right now, we have to figure out how to act, and we shouldn’t stay here for too long. They now know that we are here, and I’m sure they don’t take kindly to intruders. We need a battle strategy. Rushing in there in hopes of finding anything probably won’t work out,” she finished before taking another sip from her bottle. “Well, our best lead right now is what happened to the town. All these pipes and cables have to have some sort of reason for being there…” He muttered back, picking up a bottle of water as well. “Yeah, there has to be. And they aren’t done yet how it looks. They must have been busy since this town went dark. I have a feeling that all of this could end really badly if we hadn’t picked up that dimensional signal,” Ocean returned before finishing the last of the water and putting the bottle back on the counter. “You know, all of this probably costs a lot of money. Like, a large amount of money. Who do you think could even pay for something like this?” “Well, most likely, the ‘Circle’ if I’m honest. They got their grabby hands in everything it feels. And by the looks of things here, I would definitely bet that they are connected to this as well. It could also be the mining company. They would have noticed if one of their mines went dark for a few months, but nothing of the sorts. Maybe they just wanted to push it under the rug or something to that extent, but I don’t believe that.” “I agree. I actually got the updated files with me right now,” she nodded in agreement before pulling out her new phone. Right out of Light Bulb’s forge, so to say. It was far more comparable to an old flip phone and well deserved the nickname of brick. She probably could have knocked someone out with the thing and still be able to call someone later. It was mainly black with light-blue strips on its back. With a few presses on the weirdly laid out number pad, the files in question opened. “A bit big, but the new Charge-Phone still does its job. Probably won’t be long till this becomes standard gear for operatives. Shame the signal is jammed, or I might be able to get more than the files I downloaded before leaving. Probably means I won’t get to use my new toy either… Well, unless we somehow find a way to stop the jamming,” she sighed as she looked up towards the ceiling with a frown. “Well, doubt we need something as destructive as that anyway. Or at least I hope so.” Ocean suddenly stopped and smirked: “Ah, here it is! Rockson Mining Corporation. All in all looks like a completely normal company, nothing shady going on, until, well, February 15th, 2018. That was when the whole company was suddenly bought out of the blue by a company called Smart Rock. Just appeared on the scene. It’s CEO was the son of a large businessman, his name is Blooming Rock. Until then, he had managed to bankrupt three companies in the span of three years, but it looks Smart Rock is doing good. Thing is, he didn’t get the money from his dad apparently, or least that is what they say in the high-society. And it’s just around the time this town went silent, isn’t that interesting?” Ocean smirked before closing the phone again. “So, you’re saying that he somehow got all of this running on his own, probably with help from Circle money?” Scorched raised his eyebrow a bit. “Partially. I’m not suggesting he is the mastermind here. His reputation is… questionable, to say the least. And I don’t think someone who managed to sink three companies in three years would make a great mastermind at all. And I doubt that if this is really connected to them, and not just a colossal coincidence that they would hide their tracks better. The moment someone starts asking questions, they would be done for. No, I think our rich kid here is just another tool to be discarded when things get heated. This is bigger, and he just stumbled into it,” she finished with a sigh. “I had really not expected this. I knew it could get weird, but all of these reaks of multiverse trouble. Maybe this is a test side for an invasion from another world?” “Whatever it is, this entire thing is meticulously planned through; otherwise, they would have blown their cover way earlier. But I’m sure they won’t stand against a Kamen Rider, right?” He chuckled, giving Ocean a hopeful look. She smiled back at him before returning: “Oh, a Rider fan? Fair enough. I have no intention of letting them get away with all of this in any way, shape, or form. Still, we shouldn’t get cocky. They have monsters and seemingly Riders on their side as well. Until now, they all have been very weak, but we shouldn’t underestimate them. But that are all problems for tomorrow; right now, we should get a bit of shuteye, at least in my opinion. I was the entire day riding my bike, and after that little fight, I think we should be on our a game for this.” “But… But we can’t let them recover. We can’t stay here for too long. They know we are here, they certainly will start looking for us,” Scorched encountered, looking at her in confusion. “Calm down. I’m aware, but while this town is small, it’s still big enough that it will take them a bit till they search it all. I made sure that we chose a building they wouldn’t immediately realize someone broke in. The door is locked again, and I don’t plan on sleeping here in the middle of the bar. I already scouted out a good supply closet on the upper floor. It should be enough for one at a time. They won’t have enough time to look thoroughly, so if we do this clever, we can pull this off. I’ll take the first shift, and after five hours, you are gonna wake me up so we can switch. I want to get up in the night, so we still have a bit of the darkness clouding us when we start investigating, gives us a bit of an idea of how their security works when things are a bit easier. Any complaints?” She stated, in a tone that let every word he wanted to say just shrivel up in his mouth and die. When he finally shook his head, she smiled back at him. “Well, then, I hope you sleep well. Tomorrow will be a crucial day for both of us. We’re gonna get to the bottom of all of this.” >--------------< The cold night air silently blew through the town, letting a shiver run down Scorched Earth’s back as he quietly followed after Ocean, who was sneaking through alleyway after alleyway, her Charge Magnum in her hand. His shift had been mostly uneventful, well, minus the sounds of a group of these creatures walking past the bar on the ground. Thankfully they hadn’t decided to pay them a visit, instead just continuing with their patrol. Even from the window, they looked wrong like they wouldn’t belong in this world. He had seen monsters on TV and mission reports, but never so closer and so many of them. Things like these really shouldn’t exist… “Scorched? Are you coming?” Ocean hissed back to him from behind a large dumpster that stunk to the heavens. Apparently, the Monsters hadn’t bothered cleaning the trash; that was something he had noticed in the bar as well. Thankfully it hadn’t been too bad. Shaking his head, he nodded, and with a quick look to either side of him, he quietly dashed over to her, pressing himself against the disgusting container. “You need to be concentrated, Scorched. We are in enemy territory; we can’t take any slip-ups right now. If we get spotted, this could be the end, you got that?” “Yes, of course. I’ll be more careful,” he returned, giving the area another look around. What he, however, didn’t notice was the small camera, partially hidden behind some of the pipes and wires above them. With a quiet mechanical noise, it zoomed in on the two. “This can’t be happening, right?” A man with pale blue skin and light grey hair stood in front of several monitors before slamming his fist on the ground. “First, Diend showed up and decided to mess with us, and now these two.” “Haruki, what is it this time?” another man groaned, walking into the large open room, his shoes creating echoing sounds that bounced off the walls of the big room. The entire thing was tiled with old, dark green tiles. The ceiling was about twenty meters above them and shielded the giant, now empty pool in the middle of the room. Well, devoid of water at least, instead, it had been filled with rows upon rows of canisters of what could only be assumed to be some sort of gas, all linked up by tubes and cables. The lights hanging from the ceiling drenched the old pool in artificial and sterile light. Up above in what was once a small room for the lifeguards overseeing the entire pool Haruki Hamasaki, dressed in his best lab coat, was cursing to the high heavens, but primarily at the monitor. Another figure stepped into the room. His skin was a far darker blue with grey hair and compared to his more slim looking compatriot, he was far more muscular, two cups of coffee in his hand, still steaming hot. Placing down one of them next to Haruki, he sighed: “I was just about to go on my break, man, you can’t do this to me.” “Taichi, I have no time for you’re damn laziness right now! We have guests,” Haruki growled at Taichi Mizushima, who just shook his head in annoyance. “And who is it? I know Diend showed up earlier, but we already increased security around the pool. He won’t get through. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. I know they tell ghost stories about him and that Decade, but not even he will get through here,” Taichi returned with a relaxed smile on his lips before pouring one of the coffee down his throat. “Oh, of course. One of the Riders responsible for taking down Dai-Shocker is nothing to worry about then? That has almost been ten years, and he is still out there stealing whatever he can get his hands on. You really expect him to be stoped by a few Plankton Orphenochs and Riotroopers? I know you are lazy, but this is taking it to a new extreme. When Diend sets his sights on something, he usually gets it, or no one does. I would like to survive this day. And that isn’t even factoring in the other two. No idea who they are, but they seem-“ Haruki hissed back before he was interrupted by one of the monitors suddenly springing to live. “Her name is Ocean Skies. Kamen Rider Charge, one of the four active Riders of this world. The other one just a rooky agent of the MRG, Scorched Earth. It seems the citizens of this earth have caught onto the fact that we are operating here,” the man with pale white skin and brown hair, dressed in an expensive business suit said, adjusting his tie as he did so. “Do… Doctor Maeda!” Taichi stammered out, almost dropping the half-empty mug of coffee he had in his hand. “What… What brings us the honor? Everything is going exactly like scheduled, we-“ “I know, I know Mizushima. Well, besides your little Rider problem. How could this happen? We made sure that no one would suspect a thing, we even used some Changelings to fool the most persistent idiots, so why are they here?” Maeda returned, his cold glare square on Taichi. “We don’t know. It might be connected to Diend showing up here. He might have drawn their attention and made them look into our area here. Whatever it is, right now, we only have these two here. We still can salvage this somehow, we just need time,” Haruki returned, the sweat already rolling down his forehead. “Oh, really, Hamasaki? Good to hear because if you don’t, I hope the Riders take care of you because disappointing our benefactors or me is really not something you would like. We are still in dire need of test subjects to test the formula. If you would volunteer, I’m sure we could skip several steps in the process. You would die a hero for the cause of the Orphenochs, but right now, that would be a massive waste since you deliver quality work down there. So don’t make me regret anything, got it?” The doctor returned with a chilling undertone. “Of course, Doctor Maeda. We’ll take care of this, don’t worry. We’ll be right on tha-“ Once again, the skinny scientist was interrupted. “No, you will not. Nothing drastic for now; just bunker yourself in there. Minimize patroles to the lowest they can be without losing track of them and pull everyone back to the pool. I’ll send her down there. I will not chance this, not with Riders. Especially not with one like Diend. He wants his treasure back, but I’m not willing to give up one of the most integral parts of my research just yet. If things change, call me again. Until then, keep everything under control.” With that, the connection broke up, leaving both Haruki and Taichi standing in the room with shocked expressions on their faces. “So, she is coming, isn’t she? How long do you think she will take?” Taichi was the first to find his voice again, emptying the last of his coffee just to get back a feeling to his face. “Probably a few hours. She most likely won’t be coming alone; she’s smarter than that. Judging by everything, she will probably come with the next convoy, which means roughly around morning. We just need to keep the two Riders distracted until then, and everything should work itself out. At least in theory. We need to keep Diend from interacting with that Charge girl. If they decide to work together, we will be at a disadvantage,” he sighed, letting himself sink into his seat. “You know, I had hoped we had still two more months to finish this up in peace, but now, it seems like we are getting into the hot phase. I’m not even sure if we can do the field test at this point any more… All of these ginny pigs are going to waste if we can’t.” “Yeah, that stinks. But the Doctor would be happy, at least. He never liked this in the first place, his invention being already perfect and whatnot. It doesn’t need any testing and all that crap.” “Yeah, as much as I admire his intellect, you always test inventions before using them. That is just common sense, but the only ones who can argue with the Doctor are the people with the money. So thank god for that,” he chuckled before picking up his own mug and downing the entire content in one swop. “Ahhh, exactly what I needed right now. Hey, if it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle for you, could you get me another one of those? I have the feeling this is gonna be a very long night…” “Sure, I need another one as well,” Taichi chuckled in return, taking the two mugs and walking back towards the door. “You think we can handle it?” “We have to, simple as that!” He returned with a somber tone in his voice. >--------------< Atop the town, amidst the pipes and cables, a slim figure rushed through the night. It almost seemed like every obstacle was just an inconvenience for him as he parkoured over them with ease, his gun tightly clenched in his hand. All of a sudden, he came to a screeching halt, letting himself sink to the ground and laying between two of the larger pipes on a smaller one. Not even five seconds later, a patrol of the ten Planktons and two Riotropers passed by under him. But what definitely caught his eyes was the fact that they weren’t so much searching the area; no, if that had been the case, they would have stayed longer; they were on their way to somewhere. It didn’t even take them ten seconds to pass him by and disappear around another corner. With a sigh, he pushed himself off the pipe and back on his feet, brushing through his hair. “What could have them so rilled up? I would have expected this to be at least a bit harder, but they make it almost too easy,” Daiki chuckled. “Maybe the other Rider managed to get herself spotted again? Or was it her little friend? Either way, not like it’s my problem. As long as they can soak up some bullets for me, it’s all fine.” He was just about to continue his sprint when he spotted something on the street below him. Two figures emerged from the shadows behind a dumpster not long after the patrol had moved on. Raising an eyebrow, he watched as the figures sneaked forward, clinging to the sides of the building like glue, staying perfectly in the shadows. Raising an eyebrow, he followed their movement down the streets, seemingly following the pipes and wires just like him. He had to admit, the two were persistent, not particularly smart; after all, they were still here, but persistent. As they were out of sight again, he once again pushed himself up, leaning against the pipe with an amused grin on his lips. “Riders, always the same. So damn stubborn. But if they weren’t the cause for our little Orphenoch friends to run around like scared chicken, what else could it be? Mhm, might they be a bit scared? Two Riders are nothing to scoff at, even with this level of security. I have to be careful; I’m getting the feeling that it won’t be as easy as sneak in and leave. Oh well, nothing stands between a thief and his treasure,” he chuckled before continuing his sprint across the pipes and roofs of the town. Every time he reached a higher vantage point, it was easy for him to figure out where to go next. All lead to one point, a big building somewhat in the middle of town. It stood out like a sore thumb in between the other buildings. It just was far too large to blend in, like a massive concrete box with just way too many windows one couldn’t even properly look into. The old pool looked like it would have needed a proper renovation in the last twenty years, but from what he had managed to gather, the town wasn’t really in any position to do that. And so it had slowly withered and rotted away until it was just an empty building, no longer fit for public use. It had become a place for the teenagers of the town to hang out at, and now, it looked like someone else had set up shop. Dozens upon dozens of pipes and hundreds of wires ran towards the building, flowed together, merged, and created a mess of metal and rubber that gradually disappeared in the building. Several of the pipes seemed to lead nowhere, but he could see some parts of unused material right below where they ended—all of this capped off by a large antenna sitting right atop of it. But at the same time, it seemed like the work wasn’t entirely done. The closer he got to the abomination that once was a public pool, the more he noticed the growing amount of Orphenoch and Riotropers below. What at first was a Trooper or two to three of the Plankton Orphenochs quickly grew until it took a minute for him to move forward in between patrols passing by under him. And worst of all, at times, there seemed to be more coming as well. When he finally reached one of the closest buildings to the pool, he could see a massive amount of Riotropers and Orphenoch lining the street. At first glance, there were at least over ten dozen of the planktons around the building, with about twenty Riotropers split evenly between them. And that didn’t even factor in the other fifty Orphenochs and ten Riotropers that were scouting the area where he had come from. There was an ungodly amount of them here, and if this were any indicator, he wouldn’t be able to fight himself through that hoard without a lot of effort, but more importantly, time. He definitely didn’t have time to get distracted by the army of goons down there. With his cards, there was definitely no chance of losing against them if he did play them right. The Orphenochs were surprisingly weak for their species, and the Riotropers were just weaker versions of Faiz. Staying in the shadows and letting his summons deal with most of them wouldn’t be too difficult all things considered, but he had a better idea. He wasn’t a thief for nothing, and he would get good use out of these pipes as well. He simply had to sneak past them, just above their noses. The whole plan didn’t prove to be too complicated, only slow and tedious. He couldn’t just run, or the would either hear or see him, so he had to more or less crawl along the largets pipes, all while occasionally slowing down when he assumed he could have been spotted. The entire process took him over fifteen minutes, but at least he had managed to slip through undetected. The last thing was lockpicking the window to an old restaurant above the entrance and slipping inside. Thankfully that only took a few seconds, and he finally was in. Now he only had to sneak past the guards inside, locate the main computer and slip out undetec- That was the moment the sound of an explosion rippled through the air from outside. With a sigh, Daiki pushed deeper into the building, far quicker than he actually would have preferred, accompanied by more and more explosions from outside. It seems like the Riders of this world were determined to make things harder for him. >--------------< A few minutes earlier, both Ocean and Scorched Earth had reached the pool as well, just barely avoiding running right into one of the returning patrols that were swarming the place. Behind one of the corners inside an alley, the two were carefully examining the situation. “Damn it… We aren’t getting in there like this… Well, not without a fight, at least,” Ocean sighed as she leaned back around the corner. “We could try sneaking across the pipes. Maybe they won’t see us that way…” Scorched returned, looking up at the net of them all leading towards the building. “Sure, and we could fall to our deaths just as easily. We had to find a way up there without getting noticed and get over there without falling down or getting any attention. Possible, just very unlikely, or do you have experience in that?” She returned with a somewhat annoyed tone. “Not really…” “See. Only an expert could do that, and we are more likely to just make their jobs easier. No, we need another way in, just how…” Ocean sighed again, shaking her head with a frustrated look in her eyes. After a good minute of silence, Scorched simply asked: “You think you could take them?” “Maybe, well, as long as they are comparable to the ones we faced before. They are just as weak as Remnants, well the monsters at least. The Riders are a bit weaker than Thunder Charge. Still, they have a huge number advantage, and we still don’t know if they have something more powerful in their arsenal. Maybe with Friendship Charge, I could have a chance, but I would prefer it if we found another way. I don’t want to risk it, but I just can’t think of a better way then using the pipes, and that is pretty much suicide if they spot us…” she hissed, the thought of storming the castle, so to speak, getting more and more tempting with every second. “I mean, if we wait, they just get more and more, and eventually they are gonna spot us if we stay here. And we still don’t know what they are planing. We have to do something, and if it is going in guns blazing! A Kamen Rider doesn’t fear the danger, right? And especially not against monsters like those? We can’t let them continue! They already know we are here, so we can’t use the element of surprise anyway, so why not try it at least?” Scorched returned, a determined look in his eyes. “Look, I get that, but storming directly at them should be a last resort. I don’t want to expose us to a potentially far stronger foe after I dealt with the group out here. We are the only ones here, no one to fall back on, so we can’t just play the big hero and pretend like this is an action movie. Tactics like these are only viable if one has all the information, or it is a last resort, not any time else! You got that Agent Scorched Earth?” She asked sternly, her eyes staring directly into his eyes. But before he could answer, they heard a loud screech. As he turned around, the Plankton Orphnoch was already rushing towards him; out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Ocean dashing forward and past him, slamming her fist in the creature's gut. While it seemingly went down, several more screeches were heard, only for more and more to join the chorus. “Crap! Seems like storming the castle it is... “ She sighed as she activated her Driver once more, the Orphnoch next to her slowly starting to rise again. “You get somewhere safe! This won’t be clean, and I can’t afford to lose you in the collateral!” She barked back while pulling out a purple Charger from her pocket and spun it in her Driver. \ SCANNING CHARGE! / “Henshin!” \ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! / The orb of surging energy around her appeared again, this time in a bright purple, knocking the Plankton next to her away as the armor formed. The bright blue undersuit had been replaced with a bright purple one, through the silver plating with it black edges had remained. The Rider now held a futuristic rifle in her hands, and without even looking down, she pulled the trigger, letting a ball of energy shoot straight through the Orphnoch she had just knocked back. She didn’t even watch it turn to ash, already spinning around and unleashing a barrage of shots towards the crowd that had gathered in front of the pool. With a loud explosion, the orbs slammed into the ground, taking several of the monsters with them, the Rider dashing out of the alley and to the side. Scorched could just watch in awe as she continued to unleash Tartarus on the monsters. He didn’t even notice that none of the monsters seemed to show any interest in him, far too enamored with the display of what a Rider could do. After the fourth round of projectiles had taken out another chunk of the numerous guards in front of her, they had finally managed to cross the distance, the first thing jumping at her was one of the Planktons. Like a wild animal, it threw itself on her, only to be greeted by the barrel of her rifle right into its eye. Without any sort of hesitation, she pulled the trigger, three balls of purple energy flying out of the back of its head as it fell apart. The three orbs zoomed around over the crowed before crashing into three unsuspecting Orphnoch, dooming them to a similar fate as the one that had attacked her. Not that this display did anything to deter the bunch of them from trying it as well. The process repeated itself about two times again until the first Riotrooper reached her. Kicking down one of the Plankton in front of him, he aimed his gun at Charge and pulled the trigger. In the last second, she managed to dodge the attack and dashed forward right into the crowd. This did, however, nothing to slow him down as he pulled the trigger, again and again, every time missing the Rider. Instead, he only managed to hit his own subordinates. It didn’t take long for him to lose track of the Rider only to suddenly feel a kick in his back that sent him flying into a group of Orphnoch. As he managed to look back up, she had her weapon already pressed against his chest and pulled the trigger. All of them were consumed in a massive explosion, several of the orbs flying out and hitting some of the Planktons as they zoomed around. The Plankton themself didn’t seem too impressed though, jumping into the dust around Charge. At first, only the shoots of Charge’s rifle could be heard, followed by screeches of Orphenochs that had been hit in the crossfire. But eventually, that stopped, and as the dust had settled, one could see the Rider wrestling with a group of Planktons that had managed to pile up on her, some even already clawing at her armor. “Damn it!” She grunted as she tried to push the monsters of her, but they just proved too damn stubborn, refusing to let off of her for even a second. Not soon after, one could hear her screams as the Orphonchs started to pull once again on her armor, sparks flying from it. What they didn’t notice was Ocean, through all the pain of being ripped apart alive, pushing down to the cylinder on her Driver and spun it again. \ Maximum Charge! / Within moments the barrel of her gun started to glow a bright purple, with every second glowing ever brighter. Still, every one of these seconds felt like an eternity, an eternity where the monster could just claw and pull away on her armor like it belonged to them, accompanied by the feeling of pain that surged through her the entire time. Then she could finally pull the trigger. A barrage of orbs burst out of the weapon, dozens upon dozens of them. Several flew back towards her, letting the Planktons end in a fiery explosion and leaving nothing but their ash on the Rider. The rest of her energy balls flew around the area before striking a target, all pretty much detonating at the same time. A massive series of explosions rocked the battlefield, coating about half of it in them. This must have taken at least half of the remaining combatants out of the fight, Charge thought as she pushed herself off the ground with a low grunt. Only about forty or so left if she wasn’t too optimistic, at least. Almost daring to challenge that notion, five Riotroopers dashed out of the smoke and dust straight towards her, their sprint kicking of the ash that now covered the place. Three of them quickly went down on their knees before transforming their swords into their gun forms. LIke on command, all three fired at once, Charge just barely managing to dash out of the way of their attack, the shots landing behind her on the next best wall. As she was about to stand back up from her dodge roll, she was greeted by a sword to her face. Only in the last second, she managed to get the long part of her gun between herself and the incoming blade, stopping it dead in its tracks. That, however, didn’t stop the second blade that sliced clean across her stomach, accompanied by a loud scream and sparks flying. What followed was a swift kick to her stomach as she stumbled backward. With a pained grunt, she landed on her back, the two Riotroopers dashing quickly after her. One of them tried to stab his blade at her, only for the Rider to roll to her side and back up again. In one flowing motion, she threw her gun to her side and dashed towards the attacking Trooper, keeping an eye on the other one who was about to stab her once again. With a calculated strike, she knocked the weapon out of his hand and, with another swift motion, grabbed his hand. The next few actions of her happened within moments, she twisted his arm around and pulled him right in front of her, just in time to let him get stabbed through the gut by his companion instead of her. Another kick pushed the dying Riotrooper on top of his attacker, knocking them both to the ground. Without even a second to think, she already leaped backward, the other Riotroopers resuming fire. Letting out a few grunts as a couple shots hit, letting sparks fly off her, she powered through it, picking up her gun once again, and as she landed, she had already turned back towards the two Troopers she had knocked down. One trigger pull later, and they had thoroughly been reduced to ash. Still, victory wasn’t at hand just yet. She picked herself off her knees just in time to escape the next barrage of shots from the remaining Riotroopers. She raced across the battlefield like a train on its way to the next station, unstoppable. Every single shot the enemy did hit was only returned with a pained grunt and even more retaliation on her end. It didn’t take long for her shots to hit their targets, one of the Trooper losing his weapon thanks to a particularly well-aimed shot that was quickly followed up by a focus of shoots on him. After he had been turned to ash, Charge had already cleared about more than half of the way to them. One of the two was quick to falter and tried to retreat, trying to take a few steps back. But that had precisely been the thing Charge had waited for. When he showed the first signs of standing up again, she focused her entire fire on him, his armor sparking under the sudden in succession following strikes as he stumbled backward until one last shot shattered his helmet. He fell to his knees, the Trooper inside falling apart to ash as the suit exploded. His comrade dared to take a look over to him. That, however, turned out to be a mistake as Charge slammed the butt of her rifle right into his stomach. As he fell down, he had just enough time to pull his head back up to see Charge’s red eyes as she pulled the trigger on her gun again. Several shots hit him point-blank, and within moments his armor had been shattered, and his stomach turned to dust. He didn’t even feel the explosion anymore as it went off. Charge meanwhile was breathing heavily, her armor was scorched on so many points that it looked like she had just run through a burning building. Still, as she turned back around, there were still a good number of opponents left, but nothing a simple Maximum Charge couldn’t take care of. She was about to spin the cylinder again as she heard loud clapping. “Impressive, but that’s what you expect from Riders after all. Always messing with our plans,” a deep voice said. Out of the crowd of Orphnochs stepped a muscular man with dark blue skin and grey hair clad in an open lab coat. “What do you want? Either you step out of the way, or I’ll take you with them,” she huffed back, trying to hide her own exhaustion from the man. “You wouldn’t. Isn’t the Rider way most of the time. And given how much control you have with these things, I’m sure you’d manage to avoid me regardless. But, it’s not like you have to worry about that anyway. I’ll make this easy for you,” he chuckled as his face started to morph, shifting into something monstrous. What followed was his whole body quickly changing into one large grey one. His chest was covered in spikes, just like his shoulders, elbows, and the back of his hands. Generally, everywhere where spikes could be, that didn't hinder his ability to move, one could find them. One large eye stood out amidst his almost afro-like spiked head. Swinging his hands forward, he screamed: “Get her!” With loud screams, the remaining Plankton and Riotroopers dashed forward and past him, much to Ocean’s dismay. >--------------< The lamps inside the building once again shook, but this time far more than before as a series of explosions shook it to its very core. The Rider outside was definitely making quite a ruckus. Diend just shook his head and continued down the corridor. “I had a feeling you would use all of this to your advantage, Diend,” an annoyed voice suddenly cut through the silence of the hallway, and before Kaito could even screech to a hold, Taichi stepped out from a corner. “Oh, it seems you have already been informed of my arrival then? Nothing slips by you then it seems,” Kaito chuckled, spinning his gun around a bit before pointing it at the scientist. Taichi, however, didn’t seem all that phased by the man and simply continued: “My name is Taichi Mizushima, a scientist here.” “Sorry, but I’m not that interested in meeting new people here, I’m here for my property,” he returned, still with his signature smile, but far more forceful, pulling out a card. “Heh, the thief complains about being robbed. Very funny. But I’m sorry, the Orga Driver is property of the Orphenochs, no matter the universe it originates from! And because of that, I can’t let you continue!” Taichi said with a low tone, his face shifting, just like his coworker before, and within a few moments, he had transformed into a pale grey monster. He looked like he was wearing an old diver suit with two large shoulder pats that reached to the tip of his eel-like head with one eye and something akin to a respirator. Diend didn’t even wait for him to do anything as the first shoot already hit him, quickly followed by his own card inserted into the Driver. |KAMEN RIDE| “Henshin!” |DIEND| Once again, the light blue and black armor formed over his body, the Rider quickly dashing forward to his newfound target. The gun let loose several shots that went straight for the Orphnoch, but to his surprise, the monster seemed to easily dodge them by stretching his body. And without even wasting a second, he threw a punch at the furrowy out or reach Diend. Or at least that would have been if the Eel-Orphonoch’s arm didn’t suddenly extend and slam right into Diend’s chest, knocking him back a few steps. “You’re the infamous thief Rider Diend? I had expected more from you. Seems like the doctor overestimated your abilities. But regardless, let’s finish it!” The Orphnoch chuckled before dashing forward. “Your overconfidence is amusing,” the Rider returned with a mocking tone as he pulled out two cards and inserted them into the Driver quickly after. |KAMEN RIDE| |TIGER| |KAMEN RIDE| |GILLS| With a simple pull of the trigger, two Riders appeared in front of him, one, clad in a black undersuit with a silver and blue armor over it distinctly designed after a Tiger with two massive claws on his arms, Kamen Rider Tiger. The other was a black and dark green Kamen Rider with golden accents and red glowing eyes. He almost seemed feral, especially with how his mouth opened as he growled, Kamen Rider Gills. Both Riders quickly dashed forward, Tiger blocking the incoming attack of the stretchy arm with the backside of his claws while Gills rushed past him, ripped open his mouth, and bit down on the limb. An agonizing scream filled the halls as the Orphnoch pulled his arm back, but not without a pice of it being ripped off by Gills, ash falling down from the open wound. “You damn thief with your damn puppets!” He growled as he held his arms tightly. “You are not going to survive this one! The question is if you are going to fall by my hands or by someone else!” Both Tiger and Gills didn’t seem to care for his little speech and just pushed forward, but Taichi wasn’t blind and quickly extended his arm towards the attackers. Like a snake, it coiled around Tiger’s leg and pull hard on it. With that, he was dragged across the tiled floor, his claws cutting through it like butter, but to no avail. Ultimately he ended up right in front of the Orphenoch, who was ready to crush him into smithereens only for Gills to rush past him with a loud screech crashed right into the monster, pushing him back a bit. Taichi hissed as the feral Rider grabbed ahold of his other arm and started to pull on it. He was about to use his other arm to free himself when he suddenly felt a similar pull on that one. As he looked back, he could see how Tiger had managed to get back up and was just grabbing his arm and pulling it in the other direction. Both Riders began to pull the Orphenoch apart, his arms being drawn to the two opposite sides of the room. He had enough! He wouldn’t be beaten by a common thief like this. If these Riders thought plump tactics like these would win them this fight, then they were dumber than they looked. With a low chuckled he extended his arms, letting both Riders stumble and quickly pulled his arms back, ready to slam the two victims against each oth- |Final Attack Ride| |DIEND| Both Riders suddenly disappeared, leaving Taichi’s arms empty as they slammed together. His eyes followed the two beams that flew back into a ring of cards right in front of Diend and his gun. With one last cocky smirk, he pulled the trigger, the blue energy beam rocketing towards him and consuming the Orphnoch as well as the corridor. As the light haded faded once again, Diend simply twirled his gun and deactivated his transformation. “As I said, I’m here for my property. And I don’t appreciate people standing between me and what belongs to me,” he said in that smug, superior tone before continuing to walk through the chared and battle-damaged corridor. >--------------< While Diend was busy with his own opponent, Charge was having a hard time of her own. Every time she attempted to get a good hit on the spikey, Orphnoch managed to either slip between her and one of his men or bridge the distance and slam his fist right into her. Each time she could feel the armor bending and groan under the power of his strikes, sometimes even feeling the sudden surge of pain when the plating gave in a little bit, and he reached her skin. “Coward!” She hissed, stumbling back after another strike had hit her square in the chest, leaving a few puncture wounds. “Do I look like I care?” It came back as the Sea-Urchin Orphnoch stepped out from a few of the Planktons. He moved without a care in the world, the few hits she had managed to land until now not seeming to be that detrimental to him at all. “These little ones only follow orders. That’s pretty much all they are good for. If you can’t become a proper Orphnoch, then you can at least serve us. Isn’t that right?” He chuckled as he punched the Plankton next to him straight at Ocean. She only realized that when it was already too late, the in pain wailing monster stumbling right into her, and within moments the Orphonoch appeared and punched right through his underling. Even though the beast had taken the brunt of the attack, she could still feel the spikes dig into her as she fell down, the ash of the Plankton falling atop of her. “Well, that looks like it was it, wasn’t it? You managed relatively well against the rest of my guards, really. I wouldn’t have guessed that someone would decimate them like this. But seems you finally ran out of steam, didn’t you?” Taichi gloated, standing over the seemingly defeated Rider. “You did very well. What one expects of a Rider after all. But this is where I’m gonna have to end it. And don’t worry, your little friend over there will make a good little lab rat. Now, any last words?” Ocean grunted as she glared up at the Orphnoch, his fist ready to slam down on her as she pressed out: “Yeah, thanks for standing still!” The sound of a single trigger being pulled was all that the monster could hear before a bolt of purple energy shot out of the weapon she had grabbed in an instant. What followed was the sudden burning pain in his stomach as he stumbled backward. The Rider, with seemingly newfound strength, pushed further, forcing herself off the ground and slamming her shoulder into his body, accompanied by a blood-curdling scream filled with pain. Still, he couldn’t other than stumble back, and as he looked back towards the woman, a low growl in his voice, he stared straight into the barrel of her gun and then, nothing… The agonizing screeches of Taichi could be heard across the entire street as he was holding his eye. He stumbled around like a cave-dweller that had just been shown a bolt of lightning for the first time. Charge was panting heavily, a few drops of blood running down the holes in the shoulder of the armor, but she held the weapon steady with one hand while spinning the Driver again. “End of the line!” \ Maximum Charge! / “No!” Was all Taichi could scream before the burst of projectiles burst out from the barrel of her rifle and within seconds shot through him like paper. Beyond the burning pain, the only thing he could make out was the sound of something crashing into the ground behind him, then it all faded. Charge stood in front of the remains of the battlefield, debris, and ash, looking at all of it with an exhausted look from behind her helmet before sinking down to her knees, her transformation breaking away. “Not a second too late…” “Agent Skies? Are you ok?” It echoed over the now-empty street as a panicking Scorched Earth ran up to Ocean. She looked awful; her jacket was a good number of holes in them, a good number of them at least partially soaked with blood. To that came the bruises and burns as well as ash all over her body. “We should probably get you out of here. Let you take a rest and take care of your wounds!” He continued frantically. “No…” She huffed back before pushing herself off the ground, letting out a low grunt as she did so. “We can’t… They are going to come to check on this place soon… There could be even more… And the city will be turned upside down… We have to strike now!” Scorched looked at her in a mixture of amazement and shock before stammering: “And how… How are you gonna do that? What if there are more?” She shot him a determined look before managing to push herself back up. “Don’t… Don’t worry… I still got enough Charges to get me through this before I need to take a break,” as she said that she pulled out a few multicolored battery-like devices. “As long as I still have some, I can go on… We can’t retreat in enemy territory… But for the time being… I need your help.” Scorched looked at her for a few seconds before he quickly nodded and rushed over, grabbing her arm and supporting her as they both dragged themself to the pool. “I have the feeling we’ll find our answers in there…”