//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Hope and Harmony // Story: Kamen Rider/MLP: Battle For Equestria // by KnightBrony //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Hope and Harmony The Riders quickly made their way outside, dodging and fighting stray Kaijin as they went. When they managed to get outside of the ship, they saw Spike in combat with the Corrupted Elements. Mezool/Fluttershy and Medusa/Rarity were trying to keep Spike restrained with their tentacles while Nazca/Rainbow Dash and Applejack/Demushu slashed at him with their blades. Meanwhile, Gemini/Pinkie Pie was blasting Spike with exploding playing cards. Spike let loose a gout of green flame at Gemini/Pinkie Pie, causing her to recoil in pain as she tried to put herself out. With one enemy out of the way, Spike then focused on Mezool/Fluttershy and Medusa/Rarity. He struggled against their bonds, managing to break free just enough to spread his wings. With his wings free, he flew upwards, the two Kaijin getting dragged along for the ride. As he continued to ascend, Spike began to spin, causing Mezool/Fluttershy and Medusa/Rarity to become entangled in their own tentacles. Once the two were thoroughly entangled, Spike folded his wings and made a steep dive towards the ground. Mezool/Fluttershy and Medusa/Rarity struggled to untangle themselves to no avail. When Spike was still a fair distance from the ground, he unfolded his wings and made an abrupt stop in midair. This caused the tentacles that had been wrapping him before to snap, sending Medusa/Rarity and Mezool/Fluttershy plummeting to the ground and impacting on the surface. Spike quickly tore off the rest of the tentacles and flew back up to the Exodus. No sooner had he landed was he met with a slash from Nazca/Rainbow Dash’s sword. Spike roared in pain as his chest turned crimson. He turned to Nazca/Rainbow Dash with a murderous look in his eyes. Nazca/Rainbow Dash readied herself for another blow but paused when she saw smoke billowing from the cut she had just delivered to Spike’s chest. The cut was already beginning to heal, the blood disappearing and becoming replaced with new scales. “Im-impossible!” she said in disbelief. Spike let out another deafening roar before lunging at the Kaijin. Before Nazca/Rainbow Dash had a chance to respond, she found herself being slashed across the chest by Spike’s razor-sharp claws. Spike then proceeded to blast the Kaijin with a gout of fire and reared his tail back to slam her with it. However, Demushu/Applejack managed to get a hold of Spike’s tail and was keeping a death grip on it. “I will not let us be defeated by some lizard!” Demushu/Applejack yelled as she lifted Spike by the tail and slammed him into the deck of the ship. Spike was dazed by this, laying on the deck of the ship and trying to regain his bearings. Demushu/Applejack summoned her weapon and walked slowly over to the dazed dragon. “Now to finish this,” Demushu/Applejack said as she raised her weapon. BIND! PLEASE~ Demushu/Applejack suddenly found herself wrapped in metal chains coming from several red magic circles on the ground. Nazca/Rainbow Dash turned to see who had summoned the chains when she was wracked with pain as several shots were fired from Gaim’s Musou Saber. “Haruto, you and Shotaro handle the Kaijin. Kouta and I will handle Spike,” OOO said. The Riders all voiced their agreement and readied themselves for battle. Wizard changed the ring on his left hand from his Flame Style ring to his Land Style ring. Shotaro placed the Lost Driver on his waist and pulled out his Joker Memory. Gaim took the Orange Lockseed from his belt and replaced it with his Pine Lockseed. OOO changed the red and yellow medals on his belt with his other two green medals. LAND, PLEASE: DODODO DODODON, DON DODODON! JOKER! PINE! LOCK ON! SOIYA! PINE ARMS: FUNSAI DESTROY! KUWAGATA, KAMAKIRI, BATTA: GA~TA-GATA-GATA-KIRI, BA! GATAKIRIBA! The Kaijin were momentarily blinded as the Rider’s armors changed. As a yellow magic circle passed over Wizard, his circular ruby armor changed into square yellow topaz armor. Shotaro transformed into armor that was much like his normal Double armor. The major difference was that this armor was all black and purple, and it lacked the Windy Stabilizer of CycloneJoker. As Gaim’s orange armor dissipated, a large set of pineapple armor floated above him for a moment before crashing down and forming his Pine Arms armor. Once the armor had finished forming around Gaim, the Pine Iron appeared in his hands. Three green medals materialized around OOO, crashing into him and turning the different pieces of his armor green. He now had a much more insectoid theme, with his head looking like a stag beetle and his arms now sporting praying mantis like blades. Demushu/Applejack snarled at the Riders. She used her strength to break the chains that Wizard had wrapped her in. Now free, she raised her weapon and yelled “Damn Riders!” before charging at the group. “Go!” OOO yelled as the group split up. Wizard activated his Connect Ring and summoned his WizarSwordGun, clashing swords with Demushu/Applejack. As Wizard fought, Joker made his way over to Nazca/Rainbow Dash, who was only then recovering from Spike’s assault. As the Kaijin took a shaky step, Joker hit the Kaijin with several kicks and punches. While Joker and Wizard were busy with them, OOO and Gaim set to stopping Spike. He had recovered from Demushu/Applejack’s attack and was looking for his next opponent. Before he could move properly, Gaim threw the Pine Iron and wrapped it around Spike. While Spike struggled against his restraints, OOO used his Branch Shade power and split into ten of himself. Each one took a different spot to restrain Spike more, while the original grabbed onto Spike’s neck and tried to reason with him. “Spike, get ahold of yourself! This isn’t you!” OOO yelled. Spike’s only response was spewing forth a stream of fire which caught three of the OOO clones, making them disappear. “I don’t think that’s going to work Eiji!” Gaim yelled as he struggled to keep hold of Spike. Suddenly, Gaim found himself bombarded with explosions, causing him to lose his grip. With Gaim’s hold of him broken, Spike tossed the Pine Iron aside and shook OOO off his neck, taking out the other OOO clones in the process. OOO and Gaim looked toward where the attack had come from and saw Gemini/Pinkie Pie standing there, her playing cards held in her fingers. “You didn’t forget about lil’ ol’ me, did you?” she said, throwing a few more cards at the two Riders, explosions firing around them. Before OOO and Gaim could respond, Spike let loose a deafening roar and swiped his tail at Gemini/Pinkie Pie, splitting the Kaijin in two. However, instead of exploding like most Kaijin do when defeated, the two halves of Gemini/Pinkie Pie reformed into two new Gemini/Pinkie Pie. The two put their hands on their hips and wagged their fingers at Spike “Now that wasn’t very nice mister dragon”. More cards and knives appeared in their hands, which they then launched at Spike.  The berserk dragon raised his wings up in a makeshift shield, to protect against the barrage of cards and knives that exploded on impact. Both Gemini/Pinkie Pies continued their onslaught, but Gaim jumped into the air and swung his Pine Iron towards the two clones. The action forced both Gemini/ Pinkies to stop and dodge the attack.  Meanwhile, with the barrage ceased, Berserker Spike readied to eviscerate the two clones, but before he could even attempt that, his path was hindered by multiple OOO clones, about thirty in all. The original stepped forward and tried once again to reason with his friend. “Spike, please don’t make me do this! We were going to try and come up with a catchphrase, you and me buddy!”  “OUT! OF! MY! WAY! SPIKE, KILL!!!” Berserker Spike roared, his bloodlust for the ones who hurt his family dripping with every word uttered.  Berserker Spike reared back and unleashed a torrent of emerald flames at the clones. The fire blast traveled quickly, only allowing the original to escape via jumping as high as he could into the air. Eiji, with a heavy heart, decided that he must stop Spike, otherwise not only would he kill his friends who were changed against their will, but also everyone and everything else. Eiji took out the three green medals in his Driver and took out three red medals. After placing them into the Driver, Eiji took the scanning device and, with a sigh, ran it over the three medals.  TAKA, KUJAKU, CONDOR: TA~JA~DOL! Three crimson circles appeared before Eiji, the three then layered atop each other and transformed OOO into his third most powerful form, the TaJaDol Combo. These armor plates were a deep crimson red over black armor, his chest plate sporting the image of a fiery bird. On his left forearm was the Taja Spinner, a disk weapon that housed multiple medals. His helmet’s eyes were now red instead of the green as it normally would look in the TaToBa Combo, and now sported wing frills on both sides of the helmet. From OOO’s back, sprung red metallic wings, the Kujaku Wings. With this OOO flew towards Berserker Spike, cocking back his right fist and delivering a powerful punch straight to the behemoth’s gut, causing Berserker Spike to release a loud grunt of pain as he was sent tail spinning for a couple of minutes before finally righting himself in the air.  “Let’s go, Spike!”  *** There was silence for a long while, and then, there was an ungodly amount of noise, but it was like a thrumming in the back of her mind, like an alarm clock that wouldn’t shut up, when all you wanted to do was sleep. But then, slowly, memories started to rise, memories, or rather, nightmares. Scenes of an invasion, the capturing of Canterlot, reuniting with friends only to see them transformed into horrible monsters, and…death.  Twilight took in a huge gasp of air as she was finally brought back to the realm of the living. Her body hurt all over, and she felt very weak, but she was alive. The alicorn princess realized that she was lying on her back, looking up into the dingy sky, but then her vision of the sky was blocked by two familiar faces, one belonging to Phillip, the other half of Kamen Rider Double, and Gentaro, currently in his armored Kamen Rider Fourze form. However, he canceled the transformation once he saw that Twilight had regained consciousness. Gentaro’s eyes glistened with tears of joy at seeing the Princess of Friendship awake once again.  “TWILIGHT!” Phillip exclaimed.  “YOU’RE ALIVE!” Gentaro shouted in happiness.  At this proclamation, Demushu/Applejack and Nazca/Rainbow Dash paused in their battle against Kamen Rider Joker and Wizard. Even Mezool/Fluttershy and Medusa/Rarity looked in the direction that Gentaro had yelled. Wizard and Joker glanced to the Corrupted Mane 5 and saw a tear form in their eyes. They looked across the battlefield and saw that Gaim’s opponents, the Gemini/Pinkie Pies, also stopped to shed a tear at the news.  “Did…Did I…die?” Twilight asked in slight horror.  “You were, technically, medically speaking, dead, yes. But Gentaro used his Medic Switch to help heal you. However, your injuries are still bad, we need to get you out of here as soon as possible,” said Phillip.  Twilight turned her head to and fro, looking for somepony who should be there with them. “W-Where’s Spike…! Is he okay?!”  Gentaro and Phillip looked hesitant to answer that question. However, the answer came in the form of OOO flying overhead and firing several fireballs at something. That something appeared before OOO, a giant, purple and green scaled dragon, with large wings that roared with a ferocity that scared Twilight, because it was undeniable who this dragon looked like, having seen such a transformation before.  “That’s…That’s Spike, isn’t it?” Twilight asked.  “Yes, he went completely berserk when he thought you died, and transformed into that giant dragon!” Gentaro explained.  “Unfortunately, while he’s powerful, he’s also in such a state that can’t distinguish friend from foe. Anyone in his way is attacked, and it seems that Eiji’s had to resort to drastic measures just to combat him,” said Phillip.  Twilight gritted her teeth as she struggled to sit up, much to the protests of Gentaro and Phillip. But she gently batted their hands away and said, “Help me to him! He has to see that I’m okay!”  “Twilight, the way he is now and with your injuries–” Phillip began.  “I don’t care about my injuries, I’m fine!” Twilight interrupted. “Spike became a monster like this once before, and he still blames himself for that! I won’t let him live with the burden that he not only became a monster, but also hurt so many in the process! Please, Gentaro, Phillip!”  Both Riders looked to each other, they knew that Twilight needed a doctor to treat her as soon as possible. However, Gentaro’s face became serious as he said, “Okay.”  “Okay?!” Phillip asked.  “If there’s anyone who can reach Spike, it’s Twilight. We need to believe in our friends, and I won’t let anyone be lost!” Gentaro proclaimed.  Phillip knew logically they needed to help Twilight back to their ship, but in his heart, he knew Gentaro was right. “Princess, lean on us.” “Thank you, both of you.”  Phillip directed his thoughts to Shotaro saying, Shotaro, clear us a path! Joker nodded and dashed towards Nazca/Rainbow Dash. He moved the Joker Memory into the Max Driver slot and pushed it in.  JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!  The half-boiled detective collected energy into his right and left fists and shouted, “RIDER PUNCH!” The purple energy blazed over Joker’s fist as he struck Nazca/Rainbow Dash in the chest, sending her skidding backwards. Mezool/Fluttershy lashed out with her electric tentacles, but Joker managed to weave through them, and strike her in the chest as well, sending Mezool/Fluttershy flying into Nazca/Rainbow Dash.  Wizard took up one of his rings and placed it over his Driver.  COPY! PLEASE~ In an instant another Kamen Rider Wizard appeared next to the original. Wizard 1 took up another ring and activated it, while Wizard 2 summoned the WizarSwordGun, opened the hand attachment and placed his topaz ring over it.  VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS~ C’MON SLASH! SHAKE HANDS! SLASH STRIKE![/i]  The WizarSwordGun of Wizard 2 switched to blade mode and ignited with a collection of energized rocks, at the same time, Wizard 1’s right foot blazed yellow with earth energy. Wizard 2 dashed towards Demushu/Applejack, the Corrupted Element of Honesty raised her sword, but was not fast enough as Wizard 2 slashed across her body, causing sparks to fly from the slash mark, and send her flying. Medusa/Rarity readied to attack Wizard 2, but Wizard 1 jumped over his clone and kicked Medusa/Rarity in the chest, throwing her in the same direction as Demushu/Applejack.  The Gemini/Pinkie Pies witnessed these attacks and prepared to switch their targets, but Gaim tossed his Pine Iron and lassoed both halves of the Corrupted Element of Laughter, forcing them to become one. Gaim used his right hand and pushed down on the sword shaped lever on his Sengoku Driver twice.  “You’re not going anywhere!”  PINE AU LAIT!  Gaim pulled hard on the Pine Iron, making Gemini/Pinkie Pie fly towards him. He quickly drew the Musou Saber and once she was in range, slashed at the pony turned Kaijin, the result was a shower of sparks and slices of pineapple shaped energy. Gemini/Pinkie rolled across the surface of the Exodus, joining her fellow Corrupted Elements in a heap, completely disabled, at least for the moment.  “The way is clear, Twilight,”[/b] said Wizard.  “Go and do what you can, we’ll keep you covered,” said Joker.  Gentaro and Phillip nodded to their comrades, while Twilight smiled appreciatively at the Riders. The two humans helped the pony princess to the center of the Exodus, she then looked up into the sky and shouted with all the strength she could muster. “SPIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!!!” Berserker Spike raised his claw and OOO cocked back his fist, but before either one could initiate the attack, Spike’s ear frills vibrated at the familiar voice. The dragon lowered his claw as he looked about, his gaze eventually brought him back to the ship below, spotting Twilight. The Berserker’s eyes widened as the beast flew down and landed against the ship with great THUD, causing the metal to groan slightly from his great weight. Gentaro and Phillip backed away slowly, giving Twilight privacy to talk to Spike herself. The Princess of Friendship craned her neck up, gazing at this intimidating, living example of draconic fury and power. However, she did not back away, she was not afraid, for Twilight knew that beneath the exterior of this behemoth was a baby dragon, lashing out in anger and sadness. The green slit eyes of the dragon narrowed, and the beast released a powerful roar that made the other Riders enter attack stances, yet Twilight wasn’t fazed.  “Oh Spike, look at what you have become…” Twilight’s eyes began to glisten with tears. “I’m supposed to take care of you, and yet I drag you into situations like this…”  Spike roared again and stomped hard against the Exodus, making a claw sized dent.  “I always tell you you’re my number one assistant, and that’s true, but sometimes I forget that you’re not just my assistant, you’re more than that Spike, you’re like my little brother. I don’t know how you think of me, but I’ve had to play the role of mother and big sister, and sometimes just a friend. I’m constantly switching roles that I treat you differently because of it. I’m pushy when I get into my research and studies and make demands of you. You cooked and cleaned for me, put up with my neurotic tendencies, and hardly ask for anything in return.” Twilight took a step forward, which made Spike growl, but the intensity in his eyes was gradually lessening.  “Friendship isn’t just about take, it’s give and take, to rely on others and have them rely on you. I rely on you, Spike, and you me. I won’t let you stay like this, as your friend, as your sister, and as your surrogate mother, please, come back to us, Spike. We still have so much to do together, parties, adventures, and a whole lot of other things I can’t think of…” Twilight was crying, and yet she smiled up at the giant dragon. “I won’t give up on you Spike, no matter what you become, that will never happen! So please, come back to us – to me – Spike!”  Spike shook his head, as if trying to shake something from his mind. The behemoth dragon placed his right claw against his head as his body began to shimmer. Within seconds Spike’s body began to shrink, his wings degenerated until they were completely gone. After a few seconds, the behemoth of a dragon was no more, and in its place was a baby dragon, looking around in a daze for a moment until the realization of what happened struck him.  “T-Twilight I…and then you…I…I…”  Twilight carefully approached Spike and brought him into a comforting embrace as he cried into her chest. “It’s okay, you’re back, everything’s going to be okay.”  OOO landed on the Exodus’ hull, joining Joker, Wizard, and Gaim. Even with their helmets on, you could tell that they were just as relieved as Twilight. Gentaro tucked in his arms and crouched low, and in the next moment sprang up as he gave a triumphant cry. Phillip merely smiled, his mind remembering the few happy memories of his own family, and greatly happy that Twilight and Spike were able to reunite theirs.  “Oh, isn’t this a touching moment.” The Riders, Twilight, and Spike turned around as they spotted Retsu, walking towards them slowly with a disgusted look on his face. “It makes me sick.” He then snapped his fingers, and the Corrupted Elements’ eyes glowed. The ponies turned Kaijin appeared beside Retsu as he glared at his enemies. “Now that they’ve had their little moment…KILL THEM ALL!”  “That’s not happening,” said Phillip. “Shotaro!”  Phillip tossed the Double Driver towards Joker, who snatched it right out of the air. Shotaro cancelled his transformation, removing the Lost Driver and replacing it with his own. The moment he did, a copy of the Driver appeared around Phillip’s waist, with Phillip taking the Cyclone Memory into his hand.  CYCLONE! JOKER! “HENSHIN!”  CYCLONE! JOKER![/i]  A dual electric field appeared around Shotaro, transforming him into the true Kamen Rider Double. The moment the transformation was complete, Phillip’s body went limp and began to fall. But Twilight quickly used her magic to keep the young man from hitting the hard metal surface, and gently lower him down to it. Spike quickly ran over to Phillip’s body and carefully dragged it where they were.  “Alright, it’s fight time!” Gentaro announced as he summoned his Driver and flipped all four switches.  3! 2! 1! “HENSHIN!”  A platform appeared above him, releasing smoke and lights. After a second, a light shined and Gentaro was donned in the armor of Kamen Rider Fourze.  All five Riders stood not but a couple of meters away from the Corrupted Elements, and the one responsible for changing the five mares into their Kaijin forms, Retsu. Each Rider remembered the words spoken when Twilight was reaching out to Spike, and it stirred something inside them.  “Friendship isn’t just about take, it’s give and take, to rely on others and have them rely on you…We still have so much to do together, parties, adventures, and a whole lot of other things I can’t even think of…I won’t give up on you, Spike, no matter what you become, that will never happen!” Fourze looked at Gemini, the pony mare behind that monstrous form, was someone like him. Someone who didn’t want to see anyone cry, who sought friendship and wanted to put a smile on everyone’s faces. “I will not lose; I’ll wipe away that frown and put a smile on your face again.” Wizard’s gaze fell on Medusa, the mare within that Kaijin was a generous soul. She cared not if it was practical, only if it would help and bring comfort to another living soul. “Your generous acts bring hope to those around you, and so, I will do the generous thing, and give you hope again.”  Double met eyes with Nazca, Shotaro and Phillip heard of this mare from Twilight. She was loyal to a fault, never one to abandon her friends, no matter what happened. A fierce friend and athlete, comparable to no one. “And now, against your will, you fight against your friends.” “We swore to help the Princesses bring back their friends, and we never go back on our promises, our loyalty lies with our friends.”  Gaim glanced at Demushu, the mare inside that monster was a family mare. A brother, a little sister, and a grandmother, parents taken from her at a young age, she had to be strong. Honest in all things, never one to accept anything less than the truth and she would speak true to you as well. “I won’t let them take away your honest spirit, I will fight so that you may once again speak your honest heart!”  And lastly, OOO’s heart was heavy seeing Mezool. Underneath that aquatic Kaijin was a poor mare that was in pain and crying out to stop the violence against the friends she held dear. “A kind spirit who is crying out in pain, I will reach out and bring her back from the abyss!”  Just then, pillars of light erupted from the five Riders, Gaim’s was orange, Fourze was blue, Wizard purple, OOO was yellow, and Double was blue. The Elements of Harmony that first summoned the heroic warriors now appeared before them as the necklaces, but soon those items began to transform, the crystals embedded into them were released from the necklaces, and the necklaces themselves began to morph.  For the Loyalty Element the metal reshaped itself into something akin to the Xtreme Memory, but the feathers were more defined and segmented. The bird head was replaced with that of a horse, and the claws with hooves. Where the X would be, the red lightning bolt crystal zoomed towards that spot and embedded itself there, forming the LoyaltyXtreme Memory. That same Memory flew over to where Phillip’s body was and released a rainbow light over him. Phillip’s body was then digitized into the LoyatlyXtreme Memory and flew back to Double.  The Kindness Element had its necklace split up to form three Medals, the crystal split apart into threes and fused into each Medal, taking on the shape of a unicorn, a pegasus, and a horse. Though separated, these medals were one, these were the Kindness Medals.  The Laughter Element’s metal molded into a switch, the balloon shaped crystal affixing itself atop the newly created item, the Laughter Astroswitch. The Generosity Element had its metal change into a ring, the purple diamond shaped crystal fitted itself into the shape that was molded for it, creating the Generosity Wizard Ring. Last, but not least, the metal of the Honesty Element formed into that of a Lockseed, the orange colored crystal melded into the golden item, creating the Honesty Lockseed.  Twilight and Spike stared in disbelief at what they had just witnessed, the Elements of Harmony, those once possessed by their friends, had changed their physical forms to fight alongside their new wielders. Each Rider took their newly formed item, a glance to each of their comrades told them that this was the Elements’ way of answering their desire, their wish to save the former bearers.  “Ready guys?” Double asked.  “READY!” Gaim, OOO, Fourze, and Wizard announced.  OOO ejected the current TaJaDol Medals and switched them out for the newly created Medals, took up the scanning device, and ran it over all three medals.  YUNIKŌN, PEGASASU, UMA: YU~SU~MA! YuSuMa! All three Medals appeared before OOO, combined into one, and fused with his body. When the light faded, OOO had entered a new combo form. The helmet had a spartan-esque pink plume that ran down the back of the helmet, going all the way until it met the spiral horn at the center of the forehead. The eyes of the helmet were a teal color, the color of the helmet was yellow gold, overlaying pink armor. The large circle disk on OOO’s chest had three separate images, the first was a unicorn, the second a pegasus, and lastly a horse. The shoulder pauldrons were oval shaped, and had grooves etched into them that imitated wind currents. The elbows were protected by yellow-gold armor that had a feather motif to them. On the left arm was a shield that had a pink butterfly emblazoned onto it called the YuSu Aegis. On the back were two golden wings that fanned out their metal feathers. The lower half had a bit more armor than the top half, with thick boots that looked as if they could crush stone. This was Kamen Rider OOO Kindness Combo.  Gaim removed the Pine Lockseed and replaced it with the new Honesty Lockseed.  LOCK ON!  SHŌJIKI ARMS: SHŌJIKINA KOTOBA NO TSUYO-SA! (Strength in honest words) A hole in space unzipped, literally, above Gaim. A large, crystal, orange colored apple descended. The Pine Arms disengaged just in time to allow the new crystal armor fruit to land on Gaim’s head, and then fold out as it released its energy and fully transformed the Armored Rider. When the armor was shown, it resembled that of the Ringo Arms, however, with some key differences. The armor pieces were orange and made of ultra-dense crystal around the chest and shoulders, and the helmet. While the lower half’s armor plates were made of green crystal. The mesh-mail beneath the plates was black in color, Gaim’s helmet visor shined with a sparkling orange intensity as his green crystal crest shined. In his right hand was a new weapon, an ax. The ax was orange and black, with the blade extending a good six inches out and with a width of two feet. The vermillion blade had a Lockseed slot connected to the head of the weapon, the hilt was boxy, with intricate machinery keeping it together, and from its side it produced a handle to carry it, the weapon’s name was the Honesty Smasher. This was Gaim Honesty Arms.  Wizard took the new ring and replaced his Land ring with it and placed it over the WizarDriver.  GENEROSITY! PLEASE! TO~UINKURU! KAGAYAKU! SHIMĀ~ (Twinkle! Sparkle! Shimmer!) A purple magic circle appeared to the left of Wizard and passed over him, and in a flash of purple light, Wizard had attained a new style. This new form resembled that of his Dragon Style, but also different. The black cloak was replaced with a purple cloak, and the dragon motif on his chest was now more of a horse. The shoulder pauldrons had two light-blue diamonds in them, and the eyes of the horse motif were also sparkling light-blue diamonds. Wizard’s visor was all purple, with a silver spiral horn jutting from the top. In Wizard’s right hand was a spear weapon, the shaft was about five feet in length, the blade was about three feet. The blade itself was diamond shaped and looked to be made of diamond as well, below that was a Hand Author, and its name was the Di-Assail. The Rider twirled his spear around and struck a pose, introducing Wizard Generosity Style.  Fourze wasted no time and quickly inserted the Laughter Switch into his Driver and pressed the button on the back of the crystal balloon.  LAUGHTER ON! Balloons made of blue and yellow light swarmed around Fourze, and in the next moment all of them popped and created flashes of light that obscured his form for a moment. But when the light faded, Fourze was now donned in his new power. The suit had turned completely pink, the modules around his left forearm and lower legs were colored yellow, while the different shapes like the X, square, and triangle were all colored blue. The suit was also decorated with dozens, upon dozens of blue and yellow balloons all over. The helmet now had bright blue compound eyes, with a yellow backdrop, and the rest of the helmet was colored pink as well. On Fourze’s right arm was a bazooka-like weapon. It was attached to where the circle module would be, it was colored pink, with a charge bar on the side, it had a blue handle that could retract under the forearm and back up to connect to the weapon. The module around it was yellow colored with a random assortment of shapes in different colors, the weapon’s name was the Party Bazooka. Fourze had entered Laughter States. Double placed the new Gaia Memory atop his belt and activated it, releasing a burst of rainbow colors.  LOYALTY! XRETEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMEEEEEE! When the light faded, it appeared as if Double had entered his CycloneJokerXtreme form, but it was different. On the right side, which Phillip occupied, had warm colors of red, orange, and yellow. While the left side, Shotaro’s side, consisted of cool colors such as green, blue, and violet. The Crystal Server which ran down the middle of this form had changed from all white, to sky blue, and around their neck were two Windy Stabilizers that blew in the winds. The eyes of the helmet were a rosy color, and both were glowing as the Crystal Server blinked for a few moments and produced two weapons into either hand of Double, these weapons were the Loyal Sabers. The swords were single edged weapons, the guard appearing as one half of a red lightning bolt, and the blade’s edge was colored sky blue. Now they were Double LoyaltyXtreme.  “T-T-Twilight…what just happened?!” Spike asked.  “The Elements of Harmony, they’ve…they’ve become one with the Riders!” Twilight exclaimed.  Retsu gritted his teeth at this latest development, but it didn’t matter. The Riders may have been powered up by those magical artifacts, but their original bearers were standing at his side, now in the forms of Kaijin, there was no way they would fall. “Kill them all!”  Nazca/Rainbow Dash flared her wings and dashed across the battlefield, she then shot up and dove down, aiming for Twilight and Spike with her sword. However, with unexpected speed, Double appeared in front of her, catching her downward stroke with both of his Loyal Sabers. Nazca/Rainbow didn’t understand it, this Rider didn’t have the capability to fly, at least that’s what she thought until she saw the Windy Stabilizers, which had now transformed into feathered wings.  “Your opponent–!”  “–is us!”  Double pushed Nazca/Rainbow away and flew off towards her with a rainbow wake trailing behind them. The two speedster sword wielders clashed in the air as the sound of metal striking metal rang in the skies. The two became like blurs, moving so fast that the only thing visible was their streaks and afterimages as they momentarily paused during their attacks.  Demushu/Applejack brandished her claymore sword and charged straight ahead, ready to sweep the other Riders in one swing. Gaim stepped away from the group and then dashed to meet his opponent. Demushu/Applejack swung her sword and Gaim swung the Honesty Smasher. The great ax and great sword clashed, sending a resounding shockwave that forced both combatants back from the sheer force. The recoil of the attack didn’t last long as once again they charged for each other, but this time slowing down before getting close. Demushu/Applejack swung her sword, but Gaim raised his left forearm and blocked it. Gaim’s crystal armor didn’t even have a dent, no sign of damage whatsoever. The young Rider pushed the blade away and brought down his Honesty Smasher right across the Kaijin’s chest, causing sparks to fly from the blow and forcing Demushu/Applejack back.  Wizard wasted no time, jumping into the air and twirling around the Di-Assail as he aimed for Medusa down below. With his target in sight, Wizard threw the spear straight at Medusa/Rarity, but the Kaijin hybrid only scoffed as she easily dodged the weapon before it could hit, allowing it to sail further and further away.  “Well that was predictable, darling.”  “Really now?” Wizard raised his left hand. “Ibar!” The Di-Assail stopped midflight, spun around, and aimed itself right back for Medusa/Rarity. The Kaijin was completely caught off guard as the spear struck her in the back, causing Medusa/Rarity to fall to one knee as the weapon flipped into the air from the impact.  Wizard’s ring glowed again as he recited, “Athibar!” The Di-Assail flew straight back to Wizard’s hands, upon which he dove back down. Medusa/Rarity summoned her own spear weapon and met Wizard’s attack head on. Both fighters broke off and then went in again, their weapons twirling around as they struck with precise and fast thrusts of their spears, matching each other blow for blow as each tried to get the upper hand. Gemini/Pinkie had summoned her knives and prepared to enter the fray, but then got tapped on the shoulder. She looked over said shoulder and saw Fourze there.  “Hey.”  “Hey!”[/b] Gemini/Pinkie exclaimed as she whirled around and tried to stab Fourze. Only to find out that he wasn’t there anymore. Another tap came on the opposite shoulder and forced Gemini/Pinkie to turn her head again and once again exclaim, “Hey!”  The pony turned Kaijin took another stab at Fourze, but once again, the Rider had disappeared. There was another tap on the right shoulder, and then on the left, and then the right, and the left again. Gemini/Pinkie became frustrated enough that she split herself in two, now the dual Gemini/Pinkie’s stood back to back, knowing that there was no way for Fourze to come up behind them. That was until they felt two boots standing on their heads.  “You guys lookin’ for me?”[/b] Fourze asked while standing atop the heads of both Gemini/Pinkies.  “Wow, from this side, that is annoying,” said Alpha.  “I know, right?” Beta greed.  “Probably, but it is fun!”[/b] Fourze stated as he pointed the bazooka down at them. When he felt them begin to move, Fourze fired his rocket back and shot straight up as Gemini/Pinkie Alpha and Beta split up and went in two different directions. Fourze fired and released a sparkling, crackling ball of energy ordinance straight down. Both Kaijin believed he misfired, but before the orb could hit the hull, it split in two and shot in both their directions. Before they knew it, Alpha and Beta were hit with sparkling cannon ball shaped blasts of energy that sent both halves to the ground.  OOO advanced slowly on Mezool/Fluttershy, the Kaijin summoned her electric whips as she lashed at OOO, but each blow was countered by the YuSu Aegis, further increasing the frustration of the Kaijin. Mezool/Fluttershy drew the whips back and changed them to electric swords as she ran towards OOO. The nomad Rider got into a defensive position as Mezool/Fluttershy brought down both blades on his shield, again and again she struck at his defense, trying to find a way around it. The Corrupted Element of Kindness moved to attack, but at the last second turned into water and flowed around OOO.  When Mezool/Fluttershy reappeared, she was behind him, ready to stab the Rider. But the pink butterfly that was on the shield glowed, and right as she moved to attack, a hexagonal barrier formed around OOO, blocking the strike as electricity crackled against its surface. OOO widened his stance and spun around, picking up his leg as he delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the Kaijin’s side. The moment he impacted, the heel of the boot cocked back like a hammer and slammed back in, and right after, the tip of the boot shunted forward and released a burst of energy that added to the kicking power, sending Mezool/Fluttershy flying and rolling across the hull of the ship.  Double and Nazca/Rainbow continued their aerial duel, until Double managed to land two blows across the Corrupted Element of Loyalty’s midsection, causing her to go into free fall for a few seconds before stabilizing herself.  “Shotaro, it’s time to free her from this nightmare!” “Right there with you Phillip!” Double took both Loyal Sabers and combined them together into one double edged sword. He then tossed the weapon into the air and placed both hands on the wings of the LoyaltyXtreme Memory, pressed them in, and then pushed them back out.  LOYALTY XTREME! MAXIMUM DRIVE!  Double reached up and grabbed the sword, and the moment they did, Double split apart into seven different colored versions of themselves. Three were colored red, orange, and yellow, another three were green, blue, and violet, while the middle copy was an all sky-blue color. The warm colored Doubles took off first, and the cool colored Doubles right after. The first three slashed at the Nazca/Rainbow Dash leaving three glowing gashes, the next three attacked from different sides, down, right, and left. The seventh Double got into a thrust position with the combined Loyal Sabers and flew towards Nazca/Rainbow with the blade out in front. “CHROMATIC FINISH!” “CHROMATIC FINISH!”  The other six copies flew around him and transformed into balls of light that gathered at the tip as they became a spiral. The spiral burst and soon it was an aurora drill that was heading for the Kaijin. Before Nazca/Rainbow could react, the massive spiral had struck her in the chest and then washed over her like a tsunami. The aurora was dispelled and revealed Double with all his colors back in place, and the sword still in hand as he gave it a quick swipe, which was then followed by a bright red explosion behind him.  Wizard had managed to get the upper hand, as he spun the Di-Assail around and slashed off the snake hairs of Medusa/Rarity, causing her to reel back in pain from the injury. The hopeful Rider placed his hand and the Generosity Ring over the Hand Author of the spear, causing it to glow. “I will be your final hope.” VERY NICE! FINISH STRIKE! FABULOUS!  Wizard slashed the air multiple times, causing a barrage of diamond shards to fly at Medusa/Rarity. Each hit resulted in sparks flying from her body again and again, it was if mini fireworks were going off all over her body. Wizard twirled the Di-Assail around as diamond shards gathered around the blade, making it glow a clear blue color, he then tossed the spear into the air and jumped after it. Wizard focused his magical energy into his right foot, and then gave the spear a kick, timing it just right so as to make contact with the butt of the spear, sending it careening, blade first, right for Medusa/Rarity. The spear hit its mark and Wizard landed on the hull just as a purple explosion went off where the Kaijin was. Demushu/Applejack and Gaim were still going at it, their swings causing shockwaves from their immense strength. The corrupted Element of Honesty huffed and growled as she looked upon her opponent. “Dammit all, why can’t Ah kill you?! Ah’m stronger than you!”  Gaim unsheathed the Musou Saber and combined it with the Honesty Smasher to use its Halberd Mode. “Because you’re not being honest with yourself! You don’t want to fight me or kill anyone! And that’s why your swings lack the power needed to beat me!” The Armored Rider detached the Honesty Lockseed from the Sengoku Driver and attached it to the Honesty Smasher.  LOCK ON!  1, 10, 1000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000, 100,000,000, UNLIMITED! SHŌJIKI CHARGE!   The ax blade was lit with dazzling flames that sparkled as if tiny fragments of crystals were laced within the flames, along with the flames, were faint images of crystal apples that faded in and out as the flames lapped off the blade. Demushu/Applejack funneled all the power she possessed and charged once again for Gaim. The Rider and Kaijin met in the middle, both slashing at the same time as a flash of orange light went off. Gaim reappeared on the opposite side, and Demushu/Applejack on the other. After a few seconds, a burst of energy went off around the Kaijin, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Demushu/Applejack released her sword and fell to the ground as an orange explosion erupted.  Mezool/Fluttershy was getting restless with OOO, each attack of her electrified whips either missed or hit his barrier, and it didn’t help that he was flying all over the place. “STOP RUNNING AWAY YOU COWARD!”[/b] “Sorry, I’d just rather do as little harm to you as possible, which is why I’ll end it quickly!”[/b]  The moment OOO stated that, the horn on his helmet glowed in unison with his teal compound eyes. The moment Mezool/Fluttershy met those eyes, her body seized up, her limbs becoming utterly still as if every muscle in her body had ceased to listen to her. OOO took all three Medals from the belt, and when he did, the butterfly on the YuSu Aegis slid back and revealed three slots. Eiji placed all three Medals into the slots as the butterfly symbol returned, afterwards, Eiji took the scanning device from his belt and placed it over the butterfly symbol.  GIGA SCAN![/i] The horn, wings, and legs of the Kindness Combo, all that power funneled into the shield as OOO flew in at incredible speeds. Once he was in range, OOO thrusted with his left arm, the lower half of the YuSu Aegis shunted forward and struck Mezool/Fluttershy in the chest, sending all the stored-up energy through the Corrupted Element of Kindness and created a yellow explosion.  Fourze, strangely enough, was annoying the hell out of Gemini/Pinkie, both of them. Fourze’s dimensional teleportation had him ducking in, out, and around both Kaijin, causing them to either hit themselves with an attack meant for Fourze, or Fourze hitting them with the Party Bazooka. Gemini/Pinkie-Alpha looked around for the space themed hero.  “Where are you?! This isn’t fun anymore!”[/b] Alpha yelled.  “Sorry, yeah, I know, so why don’t we wrap this up!”  Fourze appeared behind Alpha and fired a round of the bazooka into her back, sending her flying into the air. Beta flung her knives in Fourze’s direction, but the moment they hit him, he popped, revealing that it was in fact a duplicate. Fourze reappeared in the flight path of Alpha and hit her with an ax kick, sending her careening right for Beta at rapid speeds. Beta only had time to pull out a sign that read, “Uh-Oh”, before Alpha slammed into her. The impact caused both halves to merge back into one Zodiart Kaijin, albeit very disoriented from the forced merger.  “I’ll make sure you can laugh and smile again!”[/b] Fourze proclaimed as he took the Laughter Switch and placed into the slot behind the Party Bazooka.  LIMIT BREAK![/i] The Party Bazooka began to glow until it grew – in a comical way – three times its normal size. The barrel began to crackle and glow with built up power, from the other end it looked like a fireworks show was being condensed into a ball at the end of the barrel.  “RIDER PARTY PALOOZOOKA!”[/i]  The giant cannon fired, releasing a small, pea sized, ball of crackling light. The light traveled at a medium speed and stopped about six inches from Gemini/Pinkie Pie. The Corrupted Element of Laughter looked at the ball and gestured to it as she asked, “Is that it?” No sooner had she asked that did the pea sized ball explode into a grand detonation that sparkled, crackled, and popped, obscuring Gemini/Pinkie Pie from sight before having it all end in a one giant pink explosion.  Twilight and Spike held their breaths, while they felt a sense of relief that the Elements of Harmony had acted, the fighting they just saw made them worry, the attacks the Riders dealt hit them hard. Now they feared and wondered if the Elements of Harmony felt it more merciful to end the lives of their previous bearers than to save them? However, their fears were erased when the smoke cleared and laying before each Rider was the mare who once bore the magical artifacts. The bodies had been cleared of the corruption, their cutie marks returned to normal, and each one had a content look on their faces.  Each of the Riders quickly picked up the mare before them and rushed them over to where Twilight and Spike were. Cautiously, Twilight bent down and gently nuzzled each of her friends, trying to rouse them awake. After a few seconds they started to moan and groan, and after a minute their eyes started to flutter open. The first to come to her senses was Applejack, she looked around, whipping her head left and right, and then looking behind her and seeing the Riders.  Rarity was the next one, her hooves going to her head as she touched her mane and felt a sense of relief when she confirmed it wasn’t a literal nest of vipers. Fluttershy remained hidden behind her long bangs and cried softly, Pinkie Pie comforted the shy mare, but her smile was small, not big and boisterous. Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground, angry, not even making eye contact yet.  “Girls, you’re alright!” Twilight exclaimed.  “Thank, Celestia,” said Spike.  Applejack rose up on shaky legs but managed to stand to her full height as she said, “Ah’m sorry Twi, Ah…Ah couldn’t – we couldn’t stop what we were doin’!”  “I…I hurt you…killed you…” Fluttershy sobbed.  Twilight grimaced a little, there was no denying that that was a fact, Twilight had come as close to death’s door than she would’ve liked. “But I’m okay, I’m alive thanks to them.”  “It still doesn’t erase what we did! We tried…We tried so hard to fight against it! But we couldn’t…” Rainbow Dash stated.  “I took away your smiles…I’m supposed to bring smiles to ponies, not take them away,” said Pinkie with a sniffle.  Fourze knelt down and gently placed his hand on Pinkie’s withers. “Pinkie Pie, right?”[/b] the mare nodded. [b]“It wasn’t your fault; it was those Foundation X bastards that did this to you all. And besides, Twilight knows you were trying.”  “Of course, why else would you all shed a tear for her when you saw she was alive,”[/b] said OOO.  The five mares recalled that moment, when they heard Twilight was alive, they felt such a sense of joy and relief that it was strong enough to manifest physically even in their Kaijin forms.  Twilight moved closer to her friends and said, “Not once did I ever think you were lost, I knew we just had to try and bring you back, and the Elements, and these six heroes, helped us in doing that, and now I have my best friends back.”  The girls all broke into sobs as they lunged for the alicorn mare and hugged her tightly, uttering apology after apology. The five Riders merely looked on and smiled at this tinder scene of friends reunited.  “UNACCEPTABLE!” The Riders, ponies, and dragon all looked in Retsu’s direction. “UNACCEPTABLE! All my hard work, all ruined because of you five! And that magic!”  “Oi, don’t go spouting crap now, Retsu. You’re about to get yours here in a second,” said the left side of Double.  Retsu began to laugh maniacally, cackling like a madman as he threw back his head and pressed his palm against his forehead. “It can’t be helped; it can’t be helped! All scientific breakthroughs require radical and drastic measures, sometimes even requiring…!” Retsu reached into his coat pocket and took out a syringe with some unknown substance. “…Using one’s self as a Guinea pig!” Retsu took the syringe and plunged it into the vein at the crook of his right arm. The other Rider’s entered defensive stances, unsure if it was wise to attack. Retsu’s eyes glowed a bright green as his body underwent a horrifying transformation. His skin became gelatinous, and completely green colored. At the core of his being was a green sphere, and soon the green light sphere created a humanoid body. The gelatin substance began to reform around that core, taking on a different shape. In a flash of light, the body solidified, and the heroes beheld Retsu’s experiment.  This Kaijin was unlike anything the Riders had seen before, it had a silver, insectoid exoskeleton. Upon its chest were five embedded crystals which formed a star pattern, ranging from red, blue, yellow, navy, and purple. Upon its head was a crest in the shape of two large pincers like that of a stag beetle, where its eyes would be, was a visor that had a compounded pattern on it. Retsu’s hands had become armored claws, and around the elbows were elongated blade-like protrusions that gleamed in the light that he generated. All throughout his body were intricate engravings that pulsated with yellow energy, all of which led right back to the center of his chest where the gems rested. Retsu looked upon his newly transformed body, examining his transformed flesh and bone, and relishing in the feeling of the immense power that now flowed through his body.  [b]“Ha,hahahahahahaahahahahahaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” Retsu laughed maniacally. “So much power, I should’ve just done this from the start!”[/b] “Anybody else getting the feeling that this just went from bad to worse?” Gaim asked.  “Eyup,” Applejack responded.  Without warning, Retsu disappeared, causing the Riders and Elements to get on guard. However, Retsu reappeared a moment later, but this time he was behind them, now standing a good five meters away from where the group was. Everyone quickly turned around once they had spotted him, and quickly went on the defensive. But Retsu didn’t attack yet, indeed, he seemed more interested in his new form. He quirked his head to the side and threw a swift kick, followed by a few punches, and ending with a jump into the air before landing back down with fluid ease.  “I see, faster than I thought, it might take me a minute to acclimate to this new form.”[/b] Retsu turned around and, despite his lack of a mouth, was smiling wickedly. “Riders, ponies, and reptile–!”[/b] “I’M A DRAGON!” Spike shouted.  “Would you be so kind as to help me test out this new body of mine?”  It was more of a rhetorical question as Retsu didn’t wait for a response. The blue and red gemstones on his chest began to glow, and the etched in lines began to glow with the same two colors. Into his right hand, which now resembled that of Demushu’s forearm, a flash of red light went off and from it formed Demushu’s signature claymore sword. Into Retsu’s left hand, his forearm taking on the form of Nazca, a flash of blue light ignited and now he was holding Nazca’s single edged sword. At that same time, the fiery wings of Nazca flared from Retsu’s back. The newly transformed Kaijin took one step, and in no time, he had closed the distance between himself and the heroes.  Double and Gaim reacted quickly, with Double blocking the Nazca Sword with their Loyalty Sabers, and Gaim blocking Demushu’s Claymore Sword with his Honesty Smasher. The action created a shockwave that forced the other heroes back, thankfully, Twilight used her magic to wrap her pony friends in her aura to keep them from being thrown off the ship, while the Riders were able to stand their ground under their own power.  “W-What in the world…is this?!” Shotaro asked.  “He’s as fast as Nazca, no, I’d wager faster, as if he was red Nazca!”[/i] Phillip exclaimed.  [b]“Not only that, but he feels stronger than Demushu, how is that possible?!” Gaim shouted.  Retsu laughed mockingly at his opponents as he took a step forward and pushed them back. “It’s very simple, Riders!”[/b] Retsu pulled his weapons back, and with one swift motion, slashed Double across the chest, and on the back swing, struck Gaim with the claymore. Both Riders were sent flying away as sparks erupted from their armor. Twilight used her magic, once again, to catch her friends before they were completely blown away, but since she was still recovering, Rarity threw in her own magic, slowing them down enough for Double and Gaim to right themselves.  “Remember, Princess, when I said I had something special for you?”[/b] Retsu waited until he noticed the realization upon Twilight’s face. “Yes, what I have injected myself with was meant for you. Experimenting with Changeling DNA has opened up so many new avenues of genetic and magical experimentation! You’ve already seen Chrysalis’ new form, but I wanted to try something a little more outrageous.” Retsu dismissed his weapons and brought his hands to his chest. [b]“I always wanted to combine different Kaijin abilities together, but the problem lied in their compatibility. A Phantom could not mix powers with an Inves, nor could a Greeed mix powers with a Zodiart or Dopant, it was so frustrating! But that’s when the Changelings come in! Their genetic makeup and magical energy allows them to change practically everything about themselves! They can become male or female, use magic similar to that of the copy, and can change to match non-sentient creatures! When I extracted their DNA and used it as a base before combining Kaijin powers, I got my results!” “I tested this out further with those five.” Retsu pointed to the five mares who were now free from his control. [b]“The Changeling Cells allowed the power of five different types of Kaijin to meld with their DNA without any ill side effects!” “YOU TURNED US INTO MONSTERS! YOU MADE US HURT OUR FRIENDS!” Fluttershy shouted in a rage. The silver Kaijin just shrugged. “Well it seemed to have some personality alteration, but once I saw that it was easy enough to correct for the next batch, and honestly, it was much easier to control you that way. I wanted to create the ultimate Kaijin, and what stronger Kaijin could I make then by combining five different Kaijin types into the body of one of this world’s most powerful beings, and the wielder of the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle! Could you imagine how powerful you could’ve become?!” Twilight paled for a moment, had the events in the lab not occurred as they did, had she not been so close to death’s door and if Spike hadn’t gone berserk, she could’ve become the most powerful and dangerous creature in Equestria. She could’ve killed everyone, and no one would’ve been able to stop her.  “I see you understand how things could’ve turned out. Sadly, that overzealous Mezool hybrid went and nearly killed you, and then that lizard changed–” “DRAGON!” Spike corrected, again.  “But, not to worry, since you seem back to nearly full health, I’ll just take you all again, and this time we’ll go for TEN different Kaijin types in one body! There might be a degree of cellular degeneration, but I’m confident that–!” Several diamond shards flew towards Retsu, the yellow gem glowed, and suddenly, he split in two. The diamond shards flew down the middle where he would’ve been, but then shortly after sparkling balls of light and fire came whizzing towards both halves of Retsu. The cannonballs exploded upon impact, kicking up a smoke cloud that obscured him from view. Gaim and Double charged back in, with Gaim aiming for the left Retsu and Double the right one.  Left Retsu summoned the power of Demushu, the red overtaking most of his lines as he summoned the claymore sword and began dueling with Gaim, their mighty blows creating shockwave after shockwave with each hit. Right Retsu was dueling with Double, their attacks were quick as the ring of sword blades clashing rang out through the air.  Left Retsu dueled with Gaim, locking their blades as they struggled against each other. “You know, you really should remember, you’re not only fighting an Inves, buuuuuuut…” The navy crystal shined, and suddenly tentacles sprouted from Left Retsu’s back and shot forward, wrapping around Gaim’s arms and legs. “You’re also fighting a Greeed as well!” Electricity coursed through the tentacles, hitting Gaim and making him cry out in pain from the electrocution.  Dropping down from the sky, OOO came in and struck with the YuSu Aegis. The blow sliced the tentacles, causing Left Retsu to back up as Gaim went down on one knee, waiting for the partial paralysis to wear off. OOO took this chance to attack, but this time used his horn to release the immobilizing Stare. The purple crystal on Retsu’s chest glowed, causing his visor to change to the same color as it released a flash of light. In the open air between both Left Retsu and OOO, a clash of energies ensued, yellow light fought against purple, releasing sparks here and there as the two visual powers clashed against each other.  Meanwhile, Double was still engaged with Right Retsu, but now that the red gem was glowing, Retsu was channeling the strength of the red Inves, and the speed of Nazca, making Double have to be on the defensive as each blow knocked him back. The silver Kaijin and rainbow-colored Rider clashed blades once again, the reverberating force causing Double to stagger. Right Retsu took this chance and closed in for another attack. At the last second, Fourze appeared and grabbed ahold of Double, the two of them disappeared as a balloon appeared where they once were just as Right Retsu slashed at it and popped it.  As Right Retsu searched for his opponent, he realized too late that in the small window of time between when Double was saved by Fourze, the sky was littered with dozens of cannonball sized crackling balls of energy. In a split second the crackling fireworks cannonballs all launched at the same time, which converged on Right Retsu, creating a massive explosion. Fourze and Double waited for the smoke to clear to reengage, but their observation was cut short as Right Retsu burst from the smoke and smashed into both heroes with a clothesline attack with both of his arms, snagging both Riders. Fourze and Double were dragged across the battlefield at great speeds until they were upon OOO and Gaim. Right Retsu stopped suddenly, sending Foruze and Double flying from the sudden stop in momentum. Fourze crashed into OOO, and Double into Gaim. The current wielder of the Element of Honesty managed to dig his heels into the hull of the Exodus. OOO flared his wings at the last second, acting as a parachute to slow them down and stop their forward movement. All four Riders stopped at the same time, each of them physically worn from the relentless attacks from Retsu and their battle to free the true bearers of the Elements earlier.  Both halves of Retsu reunited into one being, the Super Kaijin laughing boisterously and manically as his five gemstones began to glow. “All your wondrous power amounts to NOTHING!”  All five gemstones released a burst of energy that streamed towards the four Riders, an aurora of colors that roared with fury as it drew closer and closer. Wizard appeared before his allies and switched out one of his magic rings.  DEFEND! PLEASE~  Wizard stabbed the blade of the Di-Assail into the hull and immediately formed a dome around them made of pure white diamonds. The beam crashed against the barrier, washing over it like a stone in a raging river. Inside the dome, Wizard was visibly straining to keep the shield up, but fissures began to show with each passing second, spider webbing and connecting to other fissures that formed.  “I can’t hold it!” *** Princess Celestia, Bringer of Light, Ruler of the Sun, had been defeated. The Diarch of Equestria was barely standing, her legs were shaking, breath ragged, and Celestia’s once vibrant mane was dull and limp. Standing a few feet away was the Queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis, now in her Kaijin form, and looking very pleased with herself.  “That was a fun little fight, Celestia, and I’m a big enough mare to admit that you caught me off guard with that speed and power you were hiding, but sadly, it wasn’t enough,” Chrysalis mocked.  Celestia raised her head and smirked at the insectoid queen, “Oh, it was plenty…especially considering that this was nothing but a distraction!”  Chrysalis’ eyes burned with green flames, “YOU LIE!”  “I have been keeping tabs on the goings on, I felt the Elements of Harmony resonate a moment ago, and by now the original bearers have been freed from your and Retsu’s control!” Celestia gathered her strength and stood tall before the Changeling Queen, and Chrysalis took a step back. “It’s over Chrysalis!”  At that exact moment, an aurora beam roared past both Celestia and Chrysalis. The beam struck against the hull, setting off an explosion that made both rulers turn away from the brightness. Smoke and dust were kicked up, obscuring whatever was inside the smoke cloud. After a moment, a gust of wind blew on through, pushing the cloud away and bringing into view that which was hidden. To Celestia’s dismay and Chrysalis’ delight, all five Kamen Riders were on the ground, each of their forms were in various states of armor damage. Damage that their Elemental forms could not bear as Wizard, Gaim, Double, OOO, and Fourze each had their new forms disengaged as they returned to civilian form. The five Elements of Harmony floated before them, but only for a moment before changing back to their original state and falling, unceremoniously, onto the ground. Before Celestia could call out to the heroes, Chrysalis had crossed the distance between them in a matter of seconds and was now holding the alabaster alicorn by her throat, lifting her up as she watched Celestia struggle against her iron grip.  “AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Behold the brave heroes, and your ultimate weapon! This is just perfect!” Chrysalis shouted.  The Changeling Queen tossed Celestia like a ragdoll across the hull, her body landing before the six defeated Riders. Chrysalis walked towards them, but stopped short of the Elements, her horn glowed as she waved her claw tipped hand over the ancient artifacts, making them float around her in an orbit as she admired Equestria’s legendary defensive weapon.  A beam of rosy-violet light shot towards Chrysalis, but the Queen merely fluttered her wings and sped away from the blast as it hit the hull and exploded. To her displeasure, Twilight Sparkle and her – apparently freed – friends were galloping towards their position, in a matter of seconds six pony mares and one dragon were forming a protective semi-circle. Chrysalis sneered at them, but her attention was drawn elsewhere when she felt a presence approach them. Walking towards them was a silver insectoid type Kaijin, even in this form, Chrysalis could sense the familiar presence, but still had to be sure.  “Retsu?”  “Indeed, Chrysalis, the fruit of my labor and your contribution to science! I now have the power to wield five different Kaijin types within one body. Your kind are truly remarkable,” said Retsu.  Chrysalis chuckled as her body was engulfed in green flames, changing her back into her normal form. Silver flames engulfed Retsu, returning him to his human form, and looking quite pleased with himself.  “We now have five of the six Elements of Harmony, while not the Element of Magic, the power these five hold is nothing to laugh at either,” said Chrysalis.  “Indeed, considering what I just witnessed.” Retsu straightened his suit out and then snapped his fingers. All at once, different Kaijin, ranging from Inves, Phantoms, and Yummies, descended around the group of heroes. “My minions, kill them all, but take care not to completely kill those three alicorns, half dead will do, I need them alive enough to run experiments.”  Chrysalis scoffed. “You and your experimentation, better to kill those two outright.”  “Don’t start, Chrysalis,” Retsu warned.  Both Chrysalis and Retsu made their way towards the hatch that led to the inside of the Exodus, with both the Foundation X member and the Changeling Queen disappearing below and leaving the group to the mercy of the Kaijin surrounding them.  “Well, this sucks! We finally break free of that mind control, only to be killed by a buncha monsters five minutes later…!” Rainbow commented.  Shotaro managed to get to one knee. “We aren’t dead yet!”  Phillip managed to stand up and offered his hand to his partner, helping him back to his feet. “That’s right, so long as we breathe, we will continue on!”  Rainbow Dash had a cocky grin form after hearing the duo speak and shouted, “What was I thinking? That’s quitter talk, and I’m not a quitter! You guys are right, let’s go!”  Kouta chuckled and tried to rise, but only to wobble a bit before Applejack rushed to his side to keep him from falling back. “Thank you, sorry for being a burden.”  Applejack vehemently shook her head. “Fella, after all you did for us, yer definitely not a burden.”  “We can’t let hope die out, not here, not for this world or any world, we’ve come too far to let them win now!” Haruto declared as he stood to his feet.  “I must agree, my hopes and dreams, those of my friends, and of my little sister, everypony precious and dear to me, I won’t let them flicker into nothingness!” Rarity added.  “I normally can forgive a lot of things…but…I will NOT forgive them for making me hurt my friends,” said Fluttershy.  Eiji stood beside the yellow mare and smiled at her. “Well said, Miss Fluttershy, we mustn’t let their evil deeds go unpunished!”  Pinkie Pie looked up at the teenager with the pompadour and grinned, “Ready to kick some tail?!”  Gentaro smiled back and beat his right fist against his chest before extending that fist to Pinkie Pie. “Always ready, I just caught my second wind!”  Spike and Twilight helped Celestia back to her hooves. The Solar Diarch looked to the group and smiled warmly. “The Elements couldn’t have chosen better candidates to come to our aid, wouldn’t you agree?”  Twilight looked back to her friends, pony and human, and smiled a broad smile as the despair of this situation began to melt away with her growing confidence. “I do agree, and everybody’s right, we have to press on!”  Spike smacked his left fist into the palm of his right claw and snorted out emerald flames. “I got your back Twilight; I still owe them payback for what they did to you!”  “Still…” Twilight eyed the Kaijin who were steadily getting closer. “A moment to catch our breath wouldn’t hurt…” Just then a sound like thunder erupted behind the small army of Kaijin, the sound originated from a portal of swirling blue, purple, and green light that only seemed to expand more and more with each passing second. When the thunder died down, another sound took over, the unmistakable sound of roaring bike engines.  All at once, four bikes leaped out of the swirling portal, and atop those mighty machines, were the Secondary Riders. At the far right, wearing knightly armor in the fruity theme of a banana, and riding a rose decaled motorcycle, was the leader of the Beat Riders group, Team Baron, was none other than Kamen Rider Baron. On his left was a Rider in black, green, and silver armor, with a jade colored orb mounted in his right chest plate, and his name was Kamen Rider Birth. Next to that Rider was a space themed hero much like Gentaro, but this Rider had a helmet with the top half blue with four comet-like tails coming from it, and a suit that looked as if space itself was stitched into it. The kung-fu, blazing Rider, Kamen Rider Meteor.  The last was donned in gold and black armor, his left shoulder pauldron had a lion’s face and mane, and his helmet was in the shape of a lion’s mane. Another magic user, one who wields ancient magic, Kamen Rider Beast. Compared to the other motorcycles, the one Beast rode looked like another Rider, it was red and silver, with a blue visor. Actually, it was another Rider! “Accel?!”  “Terui?!”  “This is completely undignified!” Accel shouted in annoyance.  “Excuse me if I’m the only Rider here without a bike of my own! I mean, seriously, how unfair is that?!” Beast replied.  “Guys, please focus on the task at hand!” Meteor scolded.  The space themed hero hopped up, and then jumped off his bike, the vehicle disappearing in the form of particles that got sucked back into the portal. Meteor landed on the hull of the Exodus, skidding to a halt as his boots caused sparks to fly off. Using the momentum, Meteor spun around as he neared the first Kaijin and delivered a spinning roundhouse kick to the creature’s head, sending it flying across the hull and off the side.  Two other Kaijin moved in to engage, but Meteor was ready, blocking the first Kaijin’s fist with his forearm. Meteor gave a loud “Hooo-Wah!” before slamming his fist into its chest, making sparks fly off from its body. The second tried to swipe at his legs but he jumped up at the last second to avoid a direct hit, while in the air, Meteor pressed down one of the levers on his Meteor Galaxy device. * MARS! READY? OK, MARS! * Meteor’s right fist was surrounded by a red energy construct that resembled the planet Mars. The construct planet ignited into flames as Meteor descended and struck the Kaijin with his Mars Breaker, making the monster explode in a magnificent blaze. The first Kaijin got back up, roared, and then charged for Meteor in an attempt to avenge his comrade. Meteor took the Meteor Astroswitch from his belt and placed it into the Meteor Galaxy.  * LIMIT BREAK, OK! * Meteor dashed straight ahead, meeting the Kaijin at the halfway point. Once he was at point-blank-range, Meteor began throwing rapid fire jabs with his right fist, each fist was coated with blue energy that made it look like comets were raining down on the Kaijin, this was the Starlight Shower attack. The punches kept coming until the Kaijin erupted into an explosion.  Kamen Rider Birth landed next, dismounting from his bike quickly and having it return to the portal. “We can’t afford to hold back here!” Birth produced six medals and inserted them into his Driver. In a flash of green light, Birth had changed into his final form, Birth Day. A form which granted him access to all his CLAWS weapons. Aerial Kaijin began to approach them, but Birth used the Cutter Wing to fly into them and slice some of them with the edge of his wings, and for one unlucky bird Kaijin, getting a drill arm into the gut before exploding into nothing. The other aerial Kaijin began to chase after him, but little did they know, they were falling into his hands.  “That’s right, line up just like that!” Birth stated as he turned around at the last second. The muzzle of the Breast Cannon began to glow, and in the next, released a bright red beam of light that washed over the flying Kaijin, setting off several explosions and obliterating them on the spot.  Kamen Rider Baron had long since abandoned his bike and began slicing through one Kaijin after the other with his spear. One creature after the other tried to attack him, but each one was met with a quick sidestep and spear through their guts before either exploding or dissolving into nothing, dependent on Kaijin type.  “Kazuraba, you have some explaining to do as to why I was brought into this ridiculous situation,” said Baron.  Baron sidestepped another Kaijin and pressed down on the blade of his Sengoku Driver twice.  BANANA AU LAIT! The fruit themed Armored Rider swung his spear around and thrust it into the hull of the ship. For a moment, nothing happened, but after a minute, the metal beneath the feet of the Kaijin began to rumble violently, until banana shaped projections erupted from the ground, skewering all the Kaijin that were around Baron as they exploded.  Beast and Accel drove around the hull, with Accel – in bike form – striking the Kaijin with the front wheel or balancing on the front wheel and smacking some unsuspecting Kaijin in the face with the rear tire. After about the seventh Kaijin, Accel, like a bucking bronco, made Beast get off his back, having him land on his rear.  “Oi, what gives Terui?!” Beast asked.  “Get off my back and do your own fighting!” Accel stated.  Beast crossed his arms and legs as he huffed. “Well ya didn’t have to throw me off like that.”  Accel stopped, turned around, and then took off towards Beast tires screeching. Beast looked panicked, thinking he may have ticked off Accel. However, Accel shifted back into his humanoid form at the last second, brandishing his Engine Blade as he cut down a Kaijin that was about to attack Beast from the back.  “Stay on your guard, this isn’t the time to be sitting around!”  Another Kaijin ran towards them, Beast took one of the magic rings that was shaped like a bull and pressed into his Driver.  BUFFA, GO: BU-BU-BUBUBU-BUFFA! Upon Beast’s right side, formed a mantle which bore the head of a red bull with gold horns, and a red cape. Beast drew his Dice Saber and charged straight ahead for the Kaijin, the first blow was struck with a shoulder bash into the Kaijin, the super strength that was granted by this mantle made the Kaijin fly into another group of Kaijin that were gunning for the Mane Six and Riders.  The same portal which brought the five additional Riders then spat out Princess Luna who released magical lightning bolts from her horn that zapped a number of aerial Kaijin right out of the air.  “I don’t get it, how are they all here?!” Kouta asked.  “The plan worked!” Phillip exclaimed.  “Plan?” Rarity asked.  “Sir Phillip came up with the idea of bringing forth more Kamen Riders from the world that our current allies were summoned from, however, without the other Elements of Harmony as a conduit, the summoning took a toll on both Captain Armor and Discord’s magic, they will be unable to lend us aid at this time!” Luna explained.  “Everyone, hurry after the one responsible!” Baron ordered.  “We’ll provide support from up here, go and end this invasion!” Meteor added. The Main Riders nodded to each other and ran towards the hatch that Chrysalis and Retsu retreated into. Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash quickly ran after them, each running beside the chosen substitute of their Elements.  “This is going to get dangerous, you guys may want to hang back,” Shotaro suggested.  “Please, after what those plot holes put us through! It’s time for some payback! No one makes me hurt my friends!” Rainbow Dash countered.  Phillip chuckled, “Well, she’s as hardheaded as you are, that’s for sure!”  Haruto looked like he was about to say something, but Rarity cut him off by saying, “And don’t think just because I’m a lady that I cannot ‘kick butt’ as it were!” “Never even crossed my mind,” said Haruto.  Eiji glanced to Fluttershy in worry and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”  “I have to do this! I…I hurt my friend…those meanies made me hurt her! I can forgive a lot of things, but not that!” Fluttershy stated with determination.  “Yeah! I bring smiles, not frowns! Friendship power!” Pinkie exclaimed.  “Friendship power!” Gentaro echoed.  “Hope y’all can keep up with me, Sugarcube!” Applejack teased.  Kouta gave a confident smirk. “I’ll try, Miss Applejack!”  “Call me, AJ!”  Twilight looked to her friends and the Riders, but then she glanced back to Princess Celestia and Luna.  “Don’t worry, Twilight, we’ll be safe and help the rest of the Riders keep the monsters at bay. Go now, and end this plight upon our land,” said Celestia.  Twilight nodded, unfurled her wings and raced off to join the rest of the group. Both Princesses looked down at the young dragon who remained in place beside the two sisters.  “I’m surprised, young Spike, you didn’t run off to join them,” said Luna.  “I’ve caused enough damage…this is something that they need to finish themselves, plus, I know Twilight will come back, they all will,” Spike said with determination.  Celestia and Luna smiled at the young drake, noting that his tone was more mature than it once was.  “Well then, Spike, since our Captain of the Guard is currently indisposed at the moment, will you do us the honor of guarding us in his stead?” Celestia asked.  Spike turned around and saw the look in Celestia’s eyes, this wasn’t some way of consoling or placating him, the Princess of the Sun was genuinely asking for his help in their defense. The purple dragon glanced to Luna and saw the same look mirrored in her eyes. With a confident snort of flames, Spike stated, “You can count on me!” Chrysalis and Retsu have five of the six Elements of Harmony, and now Retsu has become stronger. Do the Mane 6 and the Kamen Riders have enough strength left to pull out a win for peace and justice?! Find out in the exciting final battle! Next time!  Special thanks to FangDriver8 for the Harmony Farms of the Riders! They were fun to write!