//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Kamen Rider: Equestrian Shade // by The Dark Brony //------------------------------// As Alex made his way below the castle into the cells, he heard Harmony talking to him as he went towards the cells. “I have sent for both Rainbow Dash and that belt of hers.” “Harmony, the belt as you aptly put it does have a name,” Alex responded calmly. “Maybe it does, but I don’t think that belt has much it can do for us.” Harmony stated. “Maybe not, but if you think about it he can’t do much without some to support him, and the same goes for everyone. Some people may need more help to others to do things but with the right people backing them up, they can do anything.” Alex stated with a smile. “Heck, I have you backing me up and it got me this far.” “You are one of a kind, you know that. I can see why old Celly and little Luna are so fond of you.” Harmony responded, her voice seeming to chuckle as they spoke. After a few moments, Alex switched back into his Alicorn form as he reached the cell containing the noble he had spoken to earlier that day who was sitting on a crudely crafted bed made of stone. “Can we please talk about getting me some better accommodation?” The Noble asked uncomfortable with his situation, “if nothing else something more comfortable than this stone floor. It’s undignified for a stallion such as myself.” “Of course, we’ll get you a nice hot cup of coffee while we’re at it,” Shade responded sarcastically. “Can I please crush him between the walls,” Harmony requested in annoyance. “No Harmony you can’t… but you can make a point,” Shade mentally responded causing Harmony to chuckle. “That would be great!” the noble responded gleefully most likely expecting to get a room in the castle above and hopefully a comfortable bed to sleep on. After a few moments the cell he was in began to shake before the walls closed in on him rapidly only leaving a millimetre of space beside him before the wall behind him closed in leaving him pushed up against the bars of his cell, “I trust these accommodations are better arrangements for you?” Shade responded with a glare. “Please… I’m sorry,” the noble responded in terror as he visibly began to shake as Shade saw a small puddle begin to appear on the floor below the noble. “Pathetic,” Harmony muttered to herself before lowering the ceiling to rest against his head, “this fool deserves to be treated much worse than this,” before she forced the noble onto the ground his face in the puddle he had created. “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” the noble responded, tears running down his face, as he began sobbing like an infant “I’ll tell you everything I know of the Cult, every base they have, every experiment they’ve done and any of their contacts I have information on. Just please forgive me.” Harmony then began to chuckle before she said, “Oh, I really enjoyed that,” before reverting the room to how it was before she shrunk the room. It was then that the Noble curled up into a ball still shaking clearly unaware to the room having reverted to normal as he said, “I’ll behave, I’ll keep my promise, just say when and I’ll follow all of your order from now on, just stop.” Shade then walked up to the bars of the cell the noble was in before he placed a hand on his head before saying, “get up, clean yourself up and then get your head on straight.” “Prince Shade?” the Noble responded in confusion. “The information you know may end up saving the lives of thousands of people if you can get it all to us before the Cult can sort everything out and make what you know useless,” Shade stated as Harmony created a stone desk and chain in the Nobels cell that had multiple sheets of paper on it along with some ink and a quill to write with, “If you want to atone for your sins, then get everything you know written down.” The Noble then slowly got to his feet before he said, “Yes sir!” before running to the desk sitting down on the chair as he began to write on the paper before saying “I shall atone for my sins, then I shall devote my entire existence to serving you.” “What the hell, an hour ago he was arguing against what I thought. Now he devoted his existence to me. How does that work?” Shade asked himself before he noticed a small flickering eye shaped symbol on the back of the noble’s neck that was seemingly beginning to burn out leaving the symbol branded into his skin. “I didn’t use a finisher on him so my powers shouldn’t have affected him.” “It may be down to the fact that your Alicorn Magic is slowly growing in strength. I would think that your magic may have taken a form linked to commanding others and with your power to force your will onto others, I would assume the magic was used without using your horn when he submitted to you and swore to follow your orders.” Harmony responded, “Or it could have been done from when you placed your hand on him.” “Do you think my Rider Powers are improving to a point I could access them without transforming?” Shade asked. “I think it’s less that and more that you had that magic from the second you arrived in this world and as you started to use it more it grew in strength until it has become an effect on your own magic. An archetype, no other pony has at their disposal, in simple terms a skill that only you possess. The sisters’ magic is powerful but only to the point of moving the celestial bodies in all other situations, their magic is not as strong as it seems. It’s about on par to your average Unicorn’s, whenever they used it to beat anyone they had the elements and used my power to help them win.” “So you’re saying the Princesses aren’t as strong as everyone thinks?” “I know it, Celestia, Luna and Cadence, all three of them could never use their magic to a point it could be used to protect people, sure they give an illusion that they are strong but in actual fact in a fight they are no stronger than the average pony, the only thing they have going for them is the fact they have the powers of all three races.” “So they each have one magic type they excel at.” “It seems you are grasping that yes. When one of the races ascends to and becomes an Alicorn they gain magic from the other races as well as their own, and as they become older their own magic they can use allows them to use their own specialised magic to greater effect. When you gained your Alicorn form you had only your corruption magic and it was barely usable and after one-thousand years your magic reached the point that it was finally at a usable state for you, and it should only get stronger the longer you live… well; are around I guess for you,” Harmony explained. “So what now can I use my magic on them to tell me what they know?” “Yes. Right now contact with someone makes them do what you wish, and from what I just saw if that person makes an oath to you prior to contact they seem to be bound by that from that point, almost like what happened to that Phantom of the day you were sent to the moon. Maybe when you grow even stronger that magic of yours would be able to force it on someone a distance away from you, or even affect multiple targets at once.” “So what do you think in the future I could become the Alicorn of Interrogation?” Shade asked curiously. “I think Celly’s jab at Alicorn of War is closer, I mean you could eventually turn an entire enemy army into your own without bloodshed. Magic like yours could one day bring true unity to the world.” “Well here’s to a target to aim for in the next thousand years,” Shade responded. “Now that I can get behind,” Harmony stated before pausing and saying, “it appears miss Dash and the belt have just reached the town… and from how they are acting I think they are shocked… I’ll create them a path here or I can get you to them.” “Create a path to them, I’ll explain it then we’ll deal with Simon,” Shade responded as a long stairway appeared in front of him that was dimly lit as Shade quickly turned Hellhounds band on his wrist before placing his hand against the shadows as he quickly forced his way upwards through the darkness to the surface. As Shade reached the top of the stairs he appeared into the light right in front of the perimeter walls of the city spotting Rainbow Dash looking around in shock before he approached her. “This place is amazing, I’ve never seen so many monsters in one place that aren’t harming anyone. Some are even helping ponies with their daily lives,” Rainbow stated in shock. “I know just standing here I can see every race of pony, Phantoms, Gamma… hell, even a single Roidmude who’s helping in that restaurant over there, I can’t believe somewhere this peaceful while being full of monsters exists,” Chris responded in awe. “I guess I’ll take it as a compliment to all our work here then,” Shade responded from behind them, making Rainbow jump in surprise as she quickly turned around to see Shade as she grabbed a Shift Car from her side seemingly on instinct. “Rainbow this is not the time to fight. Besides, nobody here right now is hostile so let’s not anger everyone here by attacking their leader.” Kris suggested as Rainbow placed the Shift Car back to her side. “Thank you.” Shade responded, “Now I’m sorry for calling you both here but I have captured someone I think you may want to see Kris.” “What do you mean?” Kris asked curiously. “It may be easier to believe if you see it yourself,” Shade responded, “follow me.” “Why would I follow you?” Rainbow asked, “I don’t know anything about you!” “Okay, let’s start with this Rainbow. My name is Shade, I am soon to be publically made a prince of Equestria by the princess’s and have already been told what I will be doing for Equestria.” “And that is?” Rainbow asked. “Essentially the national defence of Equestria from attacks both inside and outside of Equestria, in other words, I’ll be handling the task of protecting everyone from danger, and currently I need the help of Kris to try and get someone to assist in that regard.” “And you think the belt can help?” “I know he can.” “Rainbow, I want you to trust him and help,” Kris requested. “What! Why should we do that!” Rainbow argued. “Remember last time we saw him and what I told you. I trust him so at the very least you can hear him out.” “Fine, I guess it can’t cause too much trouble to listen to him,” Rainbow responded begrudgingly as he added, “So where do we need to go?” “Follow me, it’s just down this tunnel,” Shade responded as they all made their way down the stairway Shade had used to come up to the surface. Once the group reached the bottom of the stairs Shade looked back to Rainbow as he calmly said, “be aware you are walking through the castle dungeons right now, admittedly we don’t have many captives right now, only two really… well three if you count the accessory.” “Accessory?” Kris responded. “As I said before, it’s easier to show you than try and explain.” “If you say so,” Kris responded with a sigh as the group continued to walk, “so, how have you been since we last saw each other?” “I’ve been okay, oh and Alexis woke up yesterday.” Kris didn’t respond for a second, “Wait… did you Alexis?” “Yes, she’s here as well, and arrived on a train with two kids, two men and a few loud demons,” Shade responded. “Loud demons?” Rainbow responded, “That sounds a little farfetched.” “Let me guess, red skin, looks like he has armour on, ugly face and won’t ever stop shouting,” Kris responded “Pretty much,” Shade agreed with a smirk. “Momotaros? How is that loudmouth still around?” Kris asked asif he was alone. “I assume it’s the red one your referring to,” Shade responded. -Meanwhile in the hospital- “Did someone just insult me?” The red demon now known as Momotaros responded as he looked around angrily as he knocked a bed over, and began shouting as he ran around the room hitting anything in sight. “It is,” Kris responded. “I’ll need you to explain a lot later,” Shade responded as he shook his head. “You always did,” Kris responded, the face on the belt looking to almost smirk as he did. “So… you mind explaining something to me?” Rainbow asked. “Depends on the question,” Shade responded. “The first time we met, you said a few things about yourself, but you left a lot of things up in the air, and I didn’t get a chance to ask you about it last time. I want to know one thing about you.” “And that is?” “Why do you fight?” “That’s all? I fight because if I don’t others suffer, and unlike everyone else, I don’t have a life to put on the line, I don’t need to worry about dying and can take more risks than anyone else.” “Those are?” “The risk I took to capture one of the criminals who helped murder the other riders one-thousand years ago.” “Wait… you didn’t capture Wizard did you?” Kris asked. “No… not him. That one ended up escaping.” “Then who?” Kris asked as Shade stopped walking. “Him,” Shade responded, pointing into the cell next to him. The group then stopped as turned to look into the cell Shade had pointed to find Simon chained to a wall his head looking towards the ground with a black and yellow belt similar in design to Kris on a table on the other side of the room as Kris seemed to freeze up for a second, “How did you!” “What are you on about?” Rainbow asked. “How did you capture my brother!” “When they were escaping I managed to wrap a chain around his leg and drag him away from the portal leaving him on this side, while the others escaped,” Shade responded. “Wait, they? Who do you mean?” Rainbow asked. “Wizard, Fourze, Genm… I think they said Zeronos and him,” Shade responded. “But… that can’t be right… all of them serving him,” Kris responded, his voice sounding downtrodden. “Hey cheer up. I was able to get one of them back, so I can get the others as well,” Shade responded with a smile. “I am right here and I have a name,” Simon responded from the cell as he looked up to Shade “Yes I know you do Simon… but right now, I think someone’s trying to understand what he can hear,” Shade responded. “And who is that?” Simon asked. “Simon… you are an idiot,” Kris responded before Rainbow stood in clear view of Simon with Kris facing him. “That’s… not who I was expecting,” Simon responded looking down again trying to avoid looking at Kris. “I can still see you even if you don’t want to see me,” Kris responded, his face almost looking like a glare. “Not if I close my eyes,” Simon responded. “Was he always this stupid?” Rainbow asked. “Yes,” both Shade and Kris responded in unison. “Okay then,” Rainbow responded with a shrug of her shoulders. Shade then walked into the cell reverting into his human form before he said, “considering nobody else who knew you before has a body to do this. I’ll have to sort it.” He then stood in front of Simon who was trying to avoid eye contact with Shade. After a few seconds Alex suddenly slapped him with the palm of his hand along Simon’s face before saying, “Simon. Wake the fuck up you moron, and sort yourself out!” A faint chuckle was then heard before Simon said, “did Kris tell you that one?” “Nope, that would be the asshole called your father, before I was killed,” Alex responded. Simon then paused before looking up again, his eyes focusing on Alex before wincing in pain, “Okay… maybe I both needed and deserved that one.” “Sure you don’t need another to balance the red handprint out?” Alex responded. “Ha, ha… Fuck you too Alex,” Simon responded before looking directly at him, “so you gonna explain this whole mess and how your here or do I get fifty questions?” “Okay… I think I need an explanation,” Rainbow Dash responded. “Our dad was an abusive asshole, and all around a disgraceful human being,” Kris responded, “but he did find that a hard enough slap to Simon’s face normally got his head back on straight.” “And Shade knew that how?” “He was the oldest of our group back when we were all together, admittedly we were his little brother’s friends but he normally got saddled with keeping us all in line… maybe why we were all so useless when we got here, nobody would keep the others in line.” “So what? Shade was like your leader?” “More like a big brother to us all… he always was there for us when we needed him back then… then after he left for university we expected him to come back again like always and keep our group together and guide us.” “But that never happened… he died on his way home on his birthday. We had all planned to meet up with him again for old times sake, and yet the last time we saw him was as he died in hospital.” Simon started looking at both Kris and Rainbow. “We all began to grow apart after that until one of us suggested we all meet back up at a convention for the fun of it, one last group meeting before we gave up and went our own ways.” “And yet that dramatically backfired on us all… sure we went our separate ways, and it led to us all kicking the bucket alone with nobody by our sides,” Kris stated. “Okay… enough of being depressed,” Alex responded, “nobody wants to hear the story of how you all screwed up.” “That’s uncalled for Alex!” Kris shouted. “Really?” “Umm…. I’m not going to comment,” Simon added, looking away from the group. “Exactly,” Alex responded, “I’m the only one here who can sound and act edgy.” “Sure,” Kris responded, “Alex, the edgehog returns again.” “And there it is,” Simon responds with a chuckle. “Seriously… you’re both back to normal just like that?” Alex asked. “What do you expect? He got his big brother back… and I got the one I see as my big brother back again as well,” Simon responded, “say… you wouldn’t mind letting me back down, would you?” “Simon… do I need to slap some more sense into you?” Alex asked. “No… why?” “From what I know, you murdered the others and tried to kidnap everyone in the train that crashed.” “You mean the Den-liner?” “The Den what now?” “The train of time, the Den-Liner,” Simon said. “That doesn’t ring a bell.” Alex responded. Simon simply groaned in annoyance before he said, “it’s the train that those Imagin were on, it has the ability to travel through time.” “Imagin?” Alex asked. “Are you really that clueless?” Simon asked. “Unlike you, I don’t have prior knowledge of Kamen Riders to fall back on,” Alex responded rolling his eyes. “How have you not died yet?” Simon asked. “...You saw my belt, you know the answer to that.” “Maybe I need more sense beat into me,” Simon responded. Alex then pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “I really don’t need to become a damn father to another lost child, especially a man-child.” “Oh come on! It can’t end up that badly with the old gang calling you dad, instead of being an older brother.” Simon responded. “Simon,” Kris responded before saying. “Yes.” “I don’t think he can currently try and look after another child.” “Of course he can, he only needs to look after me-” Simon responded “And three others,” Alex interjected. “Oh he would have four…” Simon began to say before looking at Alex, “Wait what.” “I have three adopted children of my own,” Alex responded. “So… what your saying is… I could become the fourth, and be a big brother to the other 3?” Simon responded hopefully. “You’re really persistent now aren’t you?” Alex responded. “I’ve been alone with a group of mind-controlled friends who won’t speak for years unless spoken to and an angry, forceful belt I couldn’t get rid of controlling me. I think I can get away with trying to get someone I like to try and correct by behaviour, by my own choice don’t you?” Alex just groaned in annoyance before saying, “Fine, but only on a trial basis.” “It’s a start Dad,” Simon said with a smirk. “I’m going to regret this,” Alex responded with a shake of his head before Harmony suddenly released the chains around Simon’s wrists as he fell to the ground below him. “Oh you’ll regret keeping me like this! I will end you all!” a voice shouted from behind the group. “So… You wouldn’t happen to own a signal ax would you?” Kris asked Alex. “Do you?” Alex responded. “No.” “Then why would I?” “Point taken… I guess the vault with that gear in wasn’t opened yet,” Simon responded. “Put me on you fool so we can kill everyone as we were ordered too!” the voice shouted as Alex looked down to see a belt that looked almost exactly like Kris except where Kris was silver with a golden stripe, this belt was black with a golden stripe in the same place with the face on the front being yellow instead of red. “Do we not have something to crush it into millions of tiny pieces instead then?” Simon asked. “I don’t know… maybe throw that thing into a volcano?” Kris suggested. “What’s the issue, it’s just a loud obnoxious belt?” Alex argued. “A loud obnoxious belt, with the personality of Banno,” Simon responded. “Banno?” “Simon… he knows nothing about Drive as a series,” Kris responded. “Okay… big villain of the series,” Simon responded. “Oh… Got ya,” Alex responded, “So… throw him up into the air with the door gun and shoot him?” Simon responded “You all really hate this guy don’t you?” Rainbow Dash responded. “I don’t think you need an answer to that,” Kris responded. “Okay… So how about this,” Alex responded, placing his hand over the front of the belt a familiar flame beginning to descend down his arm. “Hey, I’m sure we can talk about this,” the belt responded it’s faces looking almost nervous as the flames crept closer to it. “Oh, we can… After I finish sorting you out,” Alex responded. “I’d prefer before,” the belt responded as the flames touched the belt, “Maybe right now!” “As I said,” Alex began to say before the flames touched the belt, as the voice in the belt screamed the face starting to glitch, “after I’m done.” “Stop! Stop it right now! I’ll kill you all! I swear I will if you don’t stop this second!” the belt shouted through what seemed to be pain before the light on the face faded as the screen turned from a black background to red while the screen stayed blank and the gold on the belt turned red as well. “I think that will handle it,” Alex responded, tossing the belt to Simon as a black eye shaped symbol appeared on the face which suddenly opened turning into black marks resembling a face. “What did you do?” “...Think of it as reprogramming a computer,” Alex responded. “What do you desire of me lord Shade,” a distorted calmer version of the voice responded from the belt. “Give Simon full control of the belt and follow his orders, your only purpose is to protect the innocent,” Alex responded. “That will never work,” Kris responded. “Of course lord Shade,” the belt responded. “How? Just… just how!” Kris shouted. “I believe the term, ‘fuck you that’s how’ would work,” the belt responded. “Did you choose to add that into him?” Kris asked. “No… I don’t think I did?” Alex responded. “You do realise I was like you before Demigra right?” the belt responded. “Wait… you’re not the real Banno?” Kris asked. “No… I’m a Displaced, like you. Demigra just messed with my mind making me act like Banno. Whatever he did, seems to have fixed me… apart from me calling him Lord Shade,” the belt responded. “Yeah… sorry bout that one,” Alex responded with a wince, “So, do you have a name to call you by?” “Or do we call you belt 2?” Rainbow added. “Are we sure she’s not a reincarnation of Shinnosuke?” the second belt asked. “I’m pretty sure,” Kris responded with a groan. “Can you please give us an answer so we don’t call you Belt 2,” Alex responded with a shake of his head. “Well… I barely remember my old name… what was it, Dio… not that was in the last anime I watched… what was it… it’s on the tip of my tongue… was it Brandon… I think that was my name.” “Brandon?” Kris responded. “No, that doesn’t sound right… maybe a new name would be better if I can’t be sure who I was,” the belt responded. “Why not just shorten Brandon, and take the n off?” Simon said, “it’s close enough to what you thought your name was, but also near to the monster you became.” “Two things, one screw you for the last bit and second, Brando… did you do that to take Dio’s last name because it fits?” the belt asked before saying with a sigh, “but I can’t deny it’s not a bad one. I suppose being called Brando isn’t bad… even if it sounds like a bad nickname.” “It sounds like something Pinkie would come up with,” Rainbow Dash added as he shook her head. “It’s better than Belt 2,” Brando responded, seemingly glaring at Rainbow Dash. “It’s not that bad of a name,” Rainbow Dash argued. “It’s not good either,” Alex responded. “I suppose we should get moving, no need to stay down here if we don’t need to,” Alex responded before grimacing as he felt a burning sensation in his arm as he looked to find a small band burn into the skin on his arm this one however looked to have a completely red version of the Drive symbol on it. “I knew something would appear on me like normal, but it never burned like this, normally they’re on metal bands, not my skin,” Alex thought to himself before the pain subsided as he looked at his arm to find the symbol faintly scared into his arm. “And that one’s weird.” He then slowly lifted his arm to find a faint line connected to the mark to Simon & Brando to him, but with nothing else seeming to come from it as Alex just decided to ignore it for now looking back to the group before saying, “If everyone is good, then we might as well head back above ground.” “I think I could agree with that dad,” Simon responded, smirking as he did. “You are going to keep doing that ain’t you?” Alex responded. “Yep,” Simon simply responded. “Great… that’s just great,” Alex muttered to himself before the group began to walk out the cell towards the stairs before a sudden rumbling noise was heard. “What in Faust’s name was that!” Rainbow shouted in surprise as he jumped into the air. “No idea,” Alex responded. “It’s an attack on the town… by a magic bearing rider… not Wizard though, also some sort of magic golem that’s a rider, you could hijack that one.” Harmony responded to Alex as the rest of the group ran back up the stairs while Alex quickly reverted back to his Alicorn form as activating Hellhounds band again to quickly reach the top of the stairs. As Shade reached the top of the stairs he saw smoke plumeing from the lower parts of the town as he quickly leaped into the air quickly flying towards the smoke as he saw flames beginning to spread through the lower part of the town and he quickly began to drop towards the ground using the Wizard Eyecon to transform before landing creating runes around him pulling the flames into them. “I swear this would have become like The Great Fire of London, in this world if I didn’t stop it… so where’s the baker who started the mess?” Shade thought to himself as he looked around seeing many of the town citizens running into burning houses pulling out the injured with others using magic or abilities to heal wounds as soon as the flames weakened in any home. It was then Shade looked forwards before he saw a figure standing in the distance ahead of him. The figure had what looked to be a long flowing black cloak with what looked to be golden marking adorning it the figure also looked to wear what almost looked to the serotical wizards hat, and on a second look the whole design of what the figure wore seemed to fit that. The figure was also holding what looked to be an axe of some kind, the handle to the weapon was completely black while the axe-head was silver and had a large black gemstone in the centre of it. However the bit that alarmed him the most was the belt around the figure waist, it held many similarities to the one Wizard had been wearing but instead of the golden outline on the hand on the belt this one looked to be red. “Okay… so another Wizard?” Shade muttered to himself, before he suddenly saw the figure seem to place something on it’s hand before placing it against the belt as what looked to be a golden set of runes appeared in front of him, “Why do I get a feeling this isn’t good?” It didn’t take less than a second before Shade got an answer as he heard a voice shouting; “Explosion! Now!” before the figure forced its hand forwards before a rune appeared in front of Shade’s faces before he was suddenly knocked backwards from the force that was pushed out of the rune, before he crashed into the brick wall as his transformation cancelled. “You know… I really, really hate people like you,” Shade responded as he rose to his feet again seemingly ignoring the fact that he was no longer transformed, as looked forward his tone almost distorting even though he was no longer transformed as Simon, Kris, and Rainbow Dash appeared just behind him. “How did this happen? I swear it wasn’t on fire when we arrived,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around. “I would say, blame the Sorcerer,” Simon responded as he made his way over to Shade, “I guess you’ll want the back-up?” “I imagine there is more help on its way,” Shade responded as Rainbow joined on the other side of him. “Well… I guess we’ll just have to stand in until they arrive,” Rainbow Dash added as she looked towards the rider ahead of them. Simon then looked over to her before calmly saying, “Hey, new me.” “What?” “Try not to hold us old pro’s up.” “Whatever you say,” Rainbow Dash responded as both she and Simon reached for their type speed shift cars before they looked at each other as they both transformed at the same time their stances almost mirroring each other. Shade then paused as he threw his hand downwards as a flaming portal appeared by his hand before the Damned Shade Eyecon appeared in his hand as he held it out in front of him activating it as a burning eye began to suddenly begin to fill with blood from a portal next to it as Simon and Rainbow stepped beside the eye and began their own transformations, before a few seconds later all three of them transformed at the same time looking towards the rider ahead of them. “You know what… I think mercy is off the table,” Shade responded as the last parts of his transformation finished forming as he held his hand out to the side before blood rose beside him before bursting outwards as what almost looked to be a guitar of some kind appeared in his hand, it held many similarities to the one he had found on the moon when he first found the moonbase but the symbol had changed into that of his Shade Eyecon’s persona. He then turned to look at Simon as he saw that unlike Dash and himself, Simon hadn’t transformed as they saw the Type speed Shift car seem to fade from existence in the drive bracer, as pixels slowly faded around the bracer. Simon then looked down to Brando before saying, “Do you know how that one happened?” “I have no idea… that was the spare right?” Brando asked as he looked to both Shade and Rainbow sounding slightly embarrassed about what had happened. “I suppose it may have been Demigra’s fault, maybe set the shift car to disappear if I was ever captured and tried to use it?” “So… it’s not Decades fault?” Kris asked. “No it’s not Decades fault.” Simon added before he paused his hand shaking before he reached into his jacket before slowly pulling out a black and yellow shift car that had blue markings on the front of it. He then slowly looked at everyone before he said, “Don’t ask… just don’t.” Simon then quickly repeated the same motion as he had before this time with the new Shift car before he reappeared in a suit that held some similarities to that of Drive’s, but where drive’s suit was red, this one was most black with jagged blue lines running over it, while the shoulderpads looked almost like they were made by a computer, while running diagonally over his chest was a large black and yellow tyre. He was also wearing black boots with shin guards that had a few lines of blue at the knee part of it. “So… you have another form you can use?” Shade asked as he looked at Simon. “Lets deal with this first,” Simon responded, looking towards the Kamen Rider ahead of them before they saw multiple Ghouls form between them that were being flanked by three Phantoms. “Gladly,” Shade responded as he stepped forwards gripping the guitar shaped weapon in his right hand along what would be the neck of it, before his other hand ran along the strings before the bits of his armour that flaked off during his transformation rose from the ground suddenly turning into multiple blade that hovered around him. Simon then looked towards Rainbow Dash before he held both his hands out as two weapons flew towards him, the first being a steering sword which he tossed to Rainbow Dash while the second was a blue and black sword that had a handguard that covered curved around where he would grip the handle. Both Simon and Rainbow then dropped into a lower stance before they both suddenly pushed off their back legs before charging into the horde of Ghouls at the side as Shade charged into the main group used the blades that had formed to cut them as they seemed to travel in an arc following the direction of each swing of his weapon, as the blades struck the Ghouls in the rows behind the ones he hit with his blades. Within seconds multiple Ghouls that had narrowly avoided Shades first attack quickly turned ready to attack him as they swung their staff towards Shade, who quickly stepped backwards causing the staff to strike each other in the middle where he had been standing moments before. It was then without hesitation he quickly swung his weapon in a wide arc as he decapitated each of the ghouls as each turned back into the shards they formed from. This continued for a minute as explosions rang out throughout the town as the group cut down each of the ghouls until they ended up facing the three phantoms along with the Kamen Rider behind them, who seemed to be just observing the fight, now seeming less interested in the destruction he had caused, and more interested in the individuals who had appeared to stop him. The group then looked at the three Phantoms ahead of them to find that the first looked to be a large cat with multiple spines sticking out it’s form. The second and third however were to Shade’s surprise two familiar faces, the second being that of Valkyrie and the last was that of Minotauros. “I’m pretty sure that one not me,” Valkyrie responded in Shade’s head from the band on his arm. “I know. It’s likely the cult somehow mutated someone into a Phantom, like they seem to be doing with most of the people they capture.” Shade responded as his eyes flickered between the four enemies ahead of him, and focusing on the Rider behind them, “Why did he not attack again since he knocked me out of my transformation before?” “Maybe they are limited on how often they can use that skill,” Chrysalis suggested. “Or maybe he’s just watching?” Valkyrie suggested as Shade began to ignore them as he refocused on the group ahead of him. “Dash, Simon… think you can handle Valkyrie?” Shade asked as he looked at them. “Isn’t the larger question if you can handle the other three?” Simon asked. “Three against one… then it’s a fair fight,” Shade responded almost cockily. “You really are a lot different now,” Simon muttered to himself before walking to the side as he and Rainbow Dash kept an eye on the Valkyrie as the three of them seemed to walk away from the group. “Okay… why would he just walk away from the group?” Shade asked in confusion. “Maybe they’re just that stupid?” Chrysalis suggested. “Says the Changeling who tried to take a ghost’s body,” Shade responded, only to receive a growl of annoyance from Chrysalis which caused most of the others to chuckle at her. As this was happening Shade was looking onwards at both minotaurus and the new Phantom before bringing his own weapon out to the side of him as he saw that along where the neck of the guitar was were three eyecon shaped indents inside it that looked deep enough for an eyecon to be placed inside. He then quickly threw his free arm upwards as three eyecons appeared in front of him before he quickly grabbed all three eyecons placing them inside the weapon as the words “Wizard! Drive! Shade!” were shouted out from seemingly nowhere before Shade saw the Phantoms had almost seemed to slow down to a crawl. While this was happening Shade turned his head towards Rainbow Dash and Simon to find that they both were moving at normal speed striking Valkyrie who looked to be under the same effect as the others as part of his armour became dented and in some cases broken apart. Shade then turned his attention back towards his opponents as multiple burning red runes appeared around the phantoms before Shades chains suddenly burst out from inside of them coiling around the phantoms limbs and restaining the slowed forms as their faces seemed to slowly shift to look shocked. Shade then held up his weapon before pulling the handle of his driver with his free hand and quickly pressing down the Wizard and Shade eyecons, before his belt shouted out, “Wizard! Shade! Omega Drive!” before he fell into a portal and reappeared above the two phantoms while both of them had been lifted off the ground into the air both in front of each other below Shade. It was then that Shade began to fall towards both Phantoms his leg out sideways as he fell while the blades of blood seemed to reform around his legs angled below him like an arrow aimed directly downwards towards the Phantoms. After a couple of seconds he reached the chest of Minotauros before piercing directly through the Phantoms chest following directly through him, leaving a large hole in the monster’s chest. Following the same process with the second Phantom as the blades of blood dispersed and encircled both Phantoms wounds and filling them as large red eye shaped markings remained where the holes had been while the chains that had held them burrowed under both Phantoms skins. He then landed on the ground as his weapon reformed beside him standing upright in the ground. He reached back across and picked it back up before looking back towards where the Rider had been to find that he had seemingly disappeared into thin air with the only remnants of him being a faint wisp of fading black mist. Shade then took a deep breath before turning his head to look towards Rainbow Dash and Simon as he looked to find that they had somehow managed to cut off the wings on Valkyrie’s back as both seemed to be jumping off two faint moving object moving around Valkyries which they used to attack the Phantom multiple times until after a couple of seconds the Phantoms body disappeared in a large explosion as both Riders landed landing in the opposite direction to where Valkyrie had once stood. “That was way easier than I thought it would be, I doubt I would have even needed your help,” Rainbow Dash remarked with a smirk as she looked at Simon. “Oh trust me… I could have taken you down in 10 seconds falt,” Simon responded, smirking as he turned to look at Rainbow Dash. “Keep dreaming,” Rainbow Dash responded with a smirk. “Are we sure they aren’t one in the same?” Harmony asked Shade couriously. “I’m pretty sure they aren’t,” Shade responded with a smile. Shade paused as he saw what looked to be a faint black, red, purple and green mist drift over to where Valkyrie had been defeated. It fell on the spot where the Phantom had fallen; seconds later, the ground began to violently shake as both Rainbow Dash and Simon quickly moved away to stand at Shade’s side. After a couple of seconds the shaking stopped, then a large beam of dark light in similar colour as the mist shot up into the sky. Before long; a loud feral shout was heard as a large version of Valkyrie stood in front of them towering over them higher than 100m tall. “Okay… seriously are their fucking power rangers in this world now!” Simon shouted in annoyance. “Yes there are… theirs a displaced person who lives in the woods with the Timberwolves who’s one.” “Fucking fantastic,” Simon shouted in anger, “and I bet we have nothing like a megazord or whatever the hell they are called in the Japanese version!” “Harmony!” Shade shouted out. “It’s on its way,” Harmony responded. Only seconds later the ground next to them burst open before tracks began to appear front inside the tunnel before Shade’s train came out of it stopping just alongside Shade as the door opened as he ran inside before shouting, “are you two getting on!” They both looked at each other before jumping on after Shade as they followed him into the front of the train before they looked inside to find a few large seats that were resting against the walls with around 10 in all spread around with large computers like consoles and controls in front of them. Shade however didn’t stop to look at the room they were in as he immediately jumped into the seat at the front of the room before he shouted, “Get in a seat and buckle up!” “Yes sir!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Sure Dad,” Simon added with a smirk as they both sat on a seat that was on either side of Shade. It was then that the console in front of him shifted as multiple eyes shaped indents appeared in front of him before all of his eyecons moved to rest in each of the holes as a similar process happened with the consoles in front of Simon and Rainbow Dash with theirs having spaces for shift cars instead of Eyecons. “Are you both ready?” Shade asked as he looked at Rainbow Dash and Simon. “What is this even going to do?” all four of them asked at once. “Just watch,” Shade responded as he pressed a button on the console in front of him before pressing the Shade eyecon in before a voice calmly said “Shade Eyecon Activate! Shade Gattai activating!” before the whole train began to shift and reform. “What the hell is this thing!” Simon shouted in shock. “I don’t know!” Rainbow added. “You asked if we had a megazord… well here it is!” Shade responded with a smile as the train reformed itself into a human shape like form robot that was adorned with Shade’s chains which was in a similar style to that of the Shade Damashii. “Okay… why do you have a megazord…. Or what did it call it, a gattai?” Simon asked. “You think any of us know?” Kris responded before pausing as he said, “Rainbow, put the Type Speed Shift car into the console in front of you.” “Why would I do that?” “Just do it!” Kris ordered before Rainbow Dash placed the shift car into the console before a red drive Symbol appeared above the console they were sitting at. Simon took note of what Rainbow had done as he repeated the same process with his own Shift car as a silver Drive symbol appeared above his console. “Okay… that’s not something I expected.” Shade admitted. It was then that the voice from the console was heard as it said, “New operators found! Deploying new armaments!” It was then that two large red portals appeared outside of their robot before two large versions of their Shift cars appeared from them as both cars raced towards the large version of Valkyrie on what looked to be levitating roads ramming past the monster. Both cars turned back around before the roads ended near each leg of their mech before the large shift cars seemed to deform before rising up along the legs of the robot before reforming and replacing them. A voice shouted out inside the robot, “New armaments applied! Transferring control to Shade!” “Were those our shift cars?” Simon asked. “I think so?” Shade responded in confusion as he stood up as his Damned Shade form dripped off of him as it reverted back to the form of his standard Shade Eyecon. “Well… how in gods name do we use this thing?” Simon asked as he looked to Shade. “Like this,” Shade responded as the red markings over his suit began to glow as the mech began to react, “Follow my lead.” Both Simon and Rainbow hesitantly agreed before standing up while the markers above their consoles began to glow and both red and blue lights flickered into the main console. It was then that Valkyrie began to fly off the ground in an attempt to get above them only for the chains on the mech to lash out and grab ahold of its wings, suddenly crushing them as the monster began to fall towards the edge of the everfree. “Do you have a plan to stop it hitting the ground?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m assuming we hit it, very… very hard,” Simon responded. “I really don’t think that’s the answer,” Kris responded. “To be fair, it always worked for everything else,” Brando argued. “Everyone focus okay.” Shade responded before he placed his hand against the Drive eyecon before pressing it into the console in front of him, before after a few seconds what looked to be multiple large coloured tires seemed to fly towards Valkyrie knocking it further away from the town. “Okay… do we seriously have the Tritoron here?” Simon asked. “The what now?” Shade asked in confusion. Simon paused before he said, “Right… you never watched much of the series did you… it must have really sucked when you were first Displaced.” “Let’s talk more about this later,” Shade responded as he quickly pressed in the Billy The Kid Eyecon as the head of the mech reformed again this time into that of a cowboy hat while a large black and red rifle appeared from a flaming portal beside them, as the words “Shade, Billy The Kid Gattai activating!” was heard around the group. Both Rainbow and Simon looked at Shade as he seemed to ignore them for the moment as his hand was placed against the handle on his belt before pulling it outwards as the mech slowly lifted the rifle into the air towards the falling Valkyrie before what looked like chains and lines of blood began to glow on the rifle before a second later a beam of crimson light was shot out of the barrel towards Valkyrie. As soon as the light struck the monsters body before it began to almost hover in the air before what looked like chains wrapped around them monsters arms, legs and neck before pulling its entire body together immobilising it before the chains began to retract pulling Valkyrie towards the chestpiece of the mech as the monster seemed to shrink as it moved towards it. Once Valkyrie was close to the chest it seemed to open up revealing what looked to be a small cage with hanging chains holding what looked to be a skeletal corpse. It was then that Valkyrie began to struggle again as he was pulled inside the cage as the chest closed before a scream was heard which was suddenly silenced. It was then that the rifle was slowly lowered before it dissipated into flickering black flames that drifted away in the wind. “What in god’s name was that!” Simon shouted as he looked at Shade. “I don’t actually know. It’s the first time I’ve used this thing on a living target.” Shade admitted before the mech began to reform into the train it was previously before nor sporting three new carriages two of them bearing the Drive symbol with the other having no markings on it. After a couple of seconds a distorted voice said, “you are now free to roam the carriages, we will be returning to the Everfree Haven soon. Please enjoy your trip.” Shade then looked at the others before saying, “well… shall we?” Only to get everyone nodding back to him as they all cancelled their transformations and walked into the next carriage of the train. Meanwhile on the outskirts of the Everfree Haven a small group was lying in wait. The group consisted of multiple monsters and ponies who were each holding Gaia Memories along with two separate Kamen Riders leading them. The first Rider looked to have a suit that was split down the centre with one half being black with purple markings on the chest while on the other side the colour was green with yellow marking with both sides seeming to mirror each other. The second rider looked to be wearing a silver suit that seemed to have a large black rectangular watch strap shaped design with green markings on the outline and where the holes would be running down the centre of the chestpiece. The shin guards on the suit looked to feature a similar colour scheme and the helmet looked to have two handles of a clock on the headpiece with Katakana written into the mask. “So let me get this straight. You just want to get revenge on the rider leading this place?” the second rider asked. “Yes, thanks to him our leader is unable to walk, uses any limbs and is blind and dependent one us to move him around,” the first rider responded angrily. “Well… maybe we can both have some fun with this,” the second rider responded, “I mean he just had to deal with that lot so they should be worn out by now.” “So, what did he do to you to get your attention?” the first rider asked. “Not much… I just want his powers.” “You want his power? How does that work?” “Kinda like this,” a new voice responded before the second Rider gasped in shock before falling forwards as his armour fell apart and he fell to the ground unconscious. The remaining rider suddenly turned towards the new figure to find a figure covered in a long black cloak that covered its entire body obscuring all their features from view. “What in tartarus did you do!” the remaining rider shouted as he paused before he saw the new figure holding a watch shaped object in his hand that looked to be held outwards from where the other rider had collapsed. “You asked how I was going to take his powers?” the new figure asked before pulling out a black and green belt shaped object from below his cloak. It was then that he held the object beside his head before placing it beside his head and lowering it to his waist before a voice shouted out “Beyondriver!” before he held out the watch shaped object from before holding it out and pressing the button on top before the word “Woz!” was shouted before it was placed against a large catch on the belt before the same voice shouted “Action!” as he pressed the button again and the face of the belt opened up. As soon as he did this some techno style music began to play as what looked to be a holographic version of the face of an apple watch appeared behind him as zagged lines of light surrounded him. The music seemed to chime on for a few seconds before he calmly said “Hensin” and pushed the handle holding the watch towards the belt before a voice shouted out “Touei! Future Time! Sugoi! Jidai! Mirai! Kamen Rider Woz! Woz!” as the green lights surrounded the figure. Once the lights faded the group around them looked to retreat back slightly with some of them dropping their Gaia Memories and running away as fast as they could as they saw the figure was now covered in the same armour as the Rider from before. “You know, I need to thank him for allowing me to have his power. I’m sure it’ll be more useful for me than it is for him,” the new figure responded. “Who in Tartarus are you!” the first rider once again shouted. The new figure paused for a second before he said, “what did my father say the person who used these powers was called.” he then clapped his hand before saying, “Oh right that’s the one. You can call me Kamen Rider Woz.” “Woz?” the other ponies holding the Gaia memories asked. “Yes that sounds right,” the new rider now known as Woz responded before saying, “oh I almost forgot. Before he held out a strange book that had green marking on the front before he opened it and wrote something inside as he said, “the ponies wielding the Gaia memories began to attack each other,” before closing the book. After a matter of seconds the ponies suddenly turned to each other before activating their own Gaia Memories and started to attack each other as they scattered into the Everfree seemingly following what the new figure had said. “What did you just do!” the First rider shouted. “Just got rid of the distractions, it’ll be less annoying with just you to deal with,” Woz responded calmly, before holding his hand out as green lettering appeared in the air of him before what looked to be a green and black spear appeared in front of him which he grabbed hold of as a voice shouted, “Zikan Despear!” “I’d tell you to start running,” Woz responded before saying, “but that option is already out of your hands,” as he suddenly thrust his weapon towards the remaining Rider striking his armour before moving forwards swinging wildly each swing hitting its target. “How in tartarus are you doing that!” The rider shouted as he swung his first towards Woz but just seemed to throw his fist beside him as Woz didn’t move an inch. The rider looked at Woz in confusion as he said to himself “wait… what?” “Maybe you aren’t as good at this as you said. I told you we should have used the Fang Memory for this,” another voice said from the rider as the light on the other half of the mask lit up.. “And if we used Fang we would have just been mindlessly attacking everyone, including our allies!” the original voice shouted only to pause as Woz struck the rider in the head with his spear. “Fang eh.. What was the rider my uncle said that used that memory…” Woz responded, “Oh right, Double… or was it W?” “Shut it!” the rider shouted as he swung his fist yet again as he just hit air, “how the hell am I only hitting air and you’re not moving!” “I would say it’s not in your future to hit me,” Woz responded before holding his book out again before writing something in it before closing it, “but maybe I should just put you out of action before anything can happen.” “Like you could do that,” the rider responded before swinging and missing again. “Shall we see?” Woz asked before quickly stabbing the rider in the chest four consecutive times as sparks flew from his suit and he collapsed onto one knee, “you know, I’m getting a strange feeling of da-ja-vu? Are you?” The other rider then paused as Woz wrote something in his book again before pulling out a blank watch, “Cancel the transformation now!” one of the two voices shouted. “What why?” “No time!” the voice shouted again as one of the riders hands began to reach towards the belt around his waist as he began to push one of the memories inside it upwards. “Wait stop you’ll!” The other voice began to say before the watch reached the riders armour making contact as the first voice screamed out in pain as the side of the belt that was being pushed upwards made contact with the other half as the remainder of the suit faded while green lights were absorbed into the watch as it changed colour. Woz then looked at the new watch as he said, “that went as easy as I expected it to,” before throwing the watch into the air and catching it as he continued to say, “I’d better clear the Dopant out.” He then paused looking to the two unconscious figures before placing a hand on the floor before saying, “Hey Harmony. I got two criminals for you to take in. Put them in the smallest, most cramped cell you have.” before he walked off into the forest searching for the dopants as he wrote something else in his book as he left. “Wait? How did he even know I existed?” Harmony asked as her avatar stood over the two unconscious bodies, “Who even was that?”