//------------------------------// // Ride 17: The Man Who Sold the World // Story: Kamen Rider Achilles // by Axle the Cobalt Exorcist //------------------------------// "Why did you need me to come over Mr.Wave?” Shining asked, currently standing in the office of the company CEO as he looked over the city through his window. “Did you see that event that happened last week?" He asked before turning to face Shining, "a whole piece of the city vanished to another world.” “Um no, I was busy with my daughter that day. But I heard Achilles took care of it.” “Dang it!" He cried, slamming his fist onto his desk. "I was hoping to get some information on that.”Shining could tell he wasn’t in a good mood today, making him hope Mr.Wave wasn't gonna reprimand him for putting his family over his rider duties. “Please forgive Mr.Wave,” River interrupted. “He gets this way when we have to make business trips.” “Oh," the officer replied, "well...that should be nice." “Yeah," Mr.Wave replied, "it’s nothing special. Just looking for some new talent for the rider system.” When he wasn't looking, River stepped over to Shining and whispered to him. “He says that, but really we’re checking in on the main branches of the company. The Rider System may be his passion project, but passion won’t keep the lights on.” “Well," Shining replied, "I just hope you’re safe on your trip.” Mr.Wave smiled at his professionalism. “Yeah, good luck to you too. I’m sure you can handle things here without us.” “You can count on me sir,” Shining stood up with a salute. “Good to hear,” The CEO nodded as he made his way to the door. “Come on River, we’re burning daylight.” “Coming sir,” the assistant followed. “Well," Shining thought out loud, "I guess that means I don’t need to ask for time off to go to Twily’s birthday." He smiled at this and headed out, ready to go on patrol. The final bell ran, signalling the end of the day at CHS. Students filled the halls to deposit and withdraw items from their lockers. Walking towards the exit was the Rainbooms accompanied by Flash and Trixie, all discussing their afternoon plans. “Hey, Flash. Want to join Sunset and me to the arcade?” Trixie asked. “I don’t think I can," Flash answered as he looked down at his phone. "I have something important to pick up." The teen had just got an email from his new friend, Touma, who was telling him about how his book was being delivered. “Eh," Sunset shrugged, "more Roads of Fury for us." “That wouldn’t happen to be Twilight’s Birthday Present?” Pinkie asked as she tried to look over Flash’s shoulder to see his phone. “Hey," the young man responded, "that’s none of your business.” He tried to keep his phone away from the curious girl, deciding to try and change the subject. “What are you up to Fluttershy?” “Oh," Fluttershy smiled, "I have work today at the pet spa. Fortunately, Bulk offered to help me out. He loves helping with all the kittens we have today.” “I’m gonna help Wallflower with the gardening club,” Applejack added. “I got soccer practice,” Rainbow followed. “So I guess it will be Twilight, Pinkie and myself to go to the Dinner,” Rarity stated. The young fashion designer turned to Twilight, who was also looking at her phone. “Um, Twilight?” The girl didn't respond, causing Rarity to politely tap her on the shoulder. “Oh," she looked up, "sorry Rarity. I just got a text from Timber,” she explained. “He’s just saying that he has an amazing gift planned for me.” “So does that mean the guy is finally gonna visit us after so long?” Sunset asked as she punched Twilight, playfully. “Jeez," Rainbow put her hands behind her head, "it’s been like forever since we saw that guy.” “He can’t help it," Twilight responded. "Taking care of Camp Everfree is a full-time job, even if it’s the off-season.” She looked back at her phone and smiled. “It just makes the time we spend when he does get time off all the more special.” “He didn’t look all that busy when we were there,” Trixie whispered to Flash, who didn't seem to respond. “Um Flash?” Flash looked up from his thoughts, seeming kinda out of it. “Oh sorry, kinda spaced out there.” “Are you doing alright?” “Just tired," he answered. "Been having a weird dream the last few nights. I keep seeing this weird figure, but it's always too fuzzy to make out who or what it is.” He focus back on them, “what were you girls talking about?” “We were talking about Timber and how he may finally be showing up again,” Rarity answered. “Oh...him,” Flash responded reluctantly. Flash didn’t like Timber all that much. He remembered back when they went to Camp Everfree. Gloriosa, the camp counsellor, was stressed out to the point that she went mad with magical power. Her and Timber were siblings running the camp, but he looked like he was just slacking off, mostly talking to Twilight. It was one of the things Flash didn’t like about him, but it wasn’t right to say in front of the girls. He made Twilight happy and that's all he really cared about. As the group exited the building, they were greeted by someone a bit unexpected. “RUFF RUFF!” Barking filled the air, coming from a small blue dog waiting patiently in front of the stars. “Ember," Flash rushed over to her. "Gash darn it. I thought I told you to stay home. I can’t bring pets to school with me." Flash said as he picked up his dog. "You won’t hold still long enough to hide in my bag,” Since Flash adopted the dog, she was now sporting a new purple collar with red gemstones around it. “Looks like you have a rebellious one on your hands,” Fluttershy laughed. “This is the third time in two weeks she’s done this. I have no idea how she gets out all the time,” Flash continued. “She probably gets nervous when you’re not around,” Twilight stated as she gave the blue dog a scratch under her chin. “Spike went through something like that once I started middle school.” “I’ll try and keep that in mind,” he said as he looked at his phone to check out the time. “I don’t have time to drop her off back home. Well, Ember, looks like your riding with me today,” He said as the dog crawled into his bag. “I really need to get going. I hope you girls have fun,” the young man said as he walked off to his bike. At the abandoned hospital, Cypher has just walked into the room where Starlight and Terra were sitting at a table. As always, Terra was stuffing his face while Starlight was scrolling through her phone. “Hmm, didn’t take you as one to be into Social Media. Hope it’s not getting in the way of your master plan,” Cypher said. “Oh," Starlight didn't even look up from her phone, "were you trying to make a joke again? It's a good attempt. And I will have you know, this is all research. You will be surprised how many people willingly put their lives on the internet. Like, take this, that Rainbow Dash girl has a pet tortoise. Talk about ironic,” she explained as she showed her fellow Advanced a picture of Rainbow with said pet. “I like the cooking videos,” Terra chained in. “And how does any of this help us?” “You'll see." A smile appeared on her lips, "things are already in motion.” “Till all the pieces are in place, we should still try to take the riders down and I know just how.” Starlight put away her phone and stood up. “Are you gonna use some kind of weird modified Magi-beast?” Cypher asked. “No, nothing so complex. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.” “What do you mean,” asked Terra as he scrunched up his empty chip bag and threw it behind into a bin overflowing with other food related trash. “Don’t worry your pretty little head," Starlight stated. "All you need to do is make a Magi-Beast." “Yes!" Terra shouted, "I love doing that!” He leaned back in enjoyment, only to go too far and fall backwards. "Ow." Cypher rolled his eyes, feeling this was gonna be a disaster. At the mall, Sunset and Trixie were at the arcade stationed at one of the machines. On the screen were too well muscled characters, walking to the left of the screen in an urban environment. Punching any enemy that came towards them. The two girls hammered at the buttons as they were focused on their game. As they got to the boss of the stage, they put up a good fight but were defeated by the enemy. “Dang," Trixie groaned as she slammed her fists on the cabinet, "I always screw that one up." “Yeah," Sunset nodded, "that guy is pretty tricky. Fortunately, we have all day to try and beat him.” An idea popped into her head, “why don’t we hit the vending machines and get back at it after a break?” A moment later, the two got their drinks and sat at one of the tables. “Ya know, Trixie, there's something different about you lately,” Sunset pointed out. “What are you talking about? I’ve always been this great,” Trixie responded with a flip of her hair. “Well for one, you didn’t refer to yourself in the third person just now,” Sunset pointed out with a laugh. “But seriously you're not as standoffish as you were. You also got a bit more modest with how you talk to people,” "What, are you missing the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!?" The magician yelled out in her showboating way. “A little. You were so confident and not afraid to let everyone know it,” Sunset said as she sipped on her drink. “But I think I like this you more. Feels more real.” “Maybe hanging around Flash helped me get more comfortable being more real,” Trixie responded. “Why have you and Flash been hanging out a lot recently?” The fiery-haired teen asked. “Jealous?” Trixie replayed with a grin, Sunset responded with a roll of her eyes. “Flash has been going through a lot the past few months or so. I've just been helping him out where I can.” “Does he get a new job? Is something going on with his mom? I’m his friend, so if he’s having trouble I want to know about it,” “I think your friendship is why he’s being so private about it. He values your friendship too much to let this thing ruin it. At least, that’s the impression I get from him,” Trixie explained “But I can-” Sunset starred before being interrupted. “I know you can help, but sometimes it’s good to give people their space. When he’s ready to tell ya, he’ll tell ya,” The Magician advised as she finished her drink. Sunset was quiet for a moment, as she thought about Trixie’s words. “I guess you have a point. But why would he trust you with this stuff?” Trixie just smiled as she put a napkin over her drink can. “Cause magicians are great at keeping secrets,” She answered as she pulled the napkin away to show the can had disappeared, emphasising her point. “Now come on. I got a roll of quarters and I’m gonna feed them to that machine till we beat that stage.” “Alright, little green babies, drink up,” A young man with green dreadlocks said as he watered a whole bed of plants. The gardening club was hard at work with their upkeep with the school's garden. Applejack had agreed to help Wallflower with preparing the land for expansion. The main part of it being a sapling apple tree Applejack wanted to add. It would have normally taken days to prepare the land. But thanks to Applejack and some Equestrian magic, it was taken care of in just a few hours. “Well Bloomberg, hope you like your new home." Applejack said to the sapling. "Naw ah don't want ya to worry, the gardening club is great catering for the plants here. Ah’m sure as hay ya'h gonna love it here." The boy with Dreadlocks, Sandalwood, caused the farm-girl a surprise when he approached from behind. “Wow, sorry, guess ya think it's kinda weird to talk to plants like that.” “No way man," Sandalwood shook his head. "Talking to plants helps them grow. I do it all the time.” He then took a good look at the tree. “Bloomberg here is gonna do just fine.” “I’m glad ta hear that,” Applejack said with a smile. Before she could continue talking, a loud boom filled the air. Looking toward the forest, the group saw a large object fly into the air and landed with a slam. When the dust cleared it was revealed that it was Terra. “Ok who is gonna be my new friend today?” the Advanced said. With a card in his hand, he began pointing at each of the humans. “Eenie-Meenie-Miny,” he stated as he pointed till he got to Sandalwood and the card started to glow. “There we go!” Terra yelled out as he prepared to throw the card. However, he was interrupted by Applejack punching him right in the head. The impact caused the card to fly out of his hand and onto the ground a few feet away. “Oh no, ya don’t!" Applejack said as she cracked her neck, "there ain't gonna be any monster making today.” “Sorry lady, but I don't think you're gonna be much of a challe…” Terra started before he was interrupted by a punch from Applejack. However, the Advanced caught the fist in his own hand. “Best not underestimate me. Ah may not have any fancy armor, but that doesn’t mean I can't put up a fight.” Applejack then threw another punch with her free hand. The result was the same with Terra catching it. “Ok, maybe this will be fun,” the monster said with a bit of glee. The two were pushing back and forth before with neither one giving an inch of ground. Soon Terra threw his head back before head-smashing Applejack right in her skull. The impact caused a shockwave that sent the teenage girl flying back with a splitting headache. Everyone was running and hiding from the conflict unfolding. “Now where’s that card!?” He yelled out as he searched the card. He found the card laying on the ground and lunged for it. “You're not going anywhere!” Applejack yelled as she ran towards the Advanced. As their paths intersect, the young woman delivers a knee right into Terra’s abdomen. Terra doubled over before retaliating with a few punches. Applejack dodged them all before kicking the monster into the tree. “Having fun yet?” She asked. “A little, but you know what they say,” Terra started as he slowly raised his head. He then showed the young woman that he did manage to get the card. “The more the merrier,” he finished as he threw the card towards the tree Sandalwood was hiding behind. Applejack tried to catch the card but it curved mid-air to connect with its target. When the card hit Sandalwood, a magical aura came off of him before it formed into a Magi-Beast. The majority of the monster’s body was all back with, its chest sporting scaly green armor. There was a small bump for the head that had two bright green dots to indicate eyes. Its arms were massive looking, like thick pipes that ended with large beaks. When the beaks opened, three ways, a mess of tendrils came out. “RREEEEAAAAA!!!!” The monster let out a ghastly while as the tendrils warped around one of the trees, ripped it out of the ground before throwing it into the distance. “Ooooh you are a big one,” Terra smiled. The giant monster turned its attention to Sandalwood, its tendrils going wild. Seeing this, Applejack jumped into action to save the teen by tackling him out of the way. Instead, the vines took out a chunk of ground. “You alright?” Applejack asked. “I think so,” Sandalwood answered. When Terra got up, he walked over to the Magi-Beast and put a hand on it. “Well, then my dear…” he paused for a moment. “I’m gonna call ya Graboid. Why don't we level this whole forest.” The young farm girl turned to Wallflower. “Get this guy out of here. And call the others. Tell em to bring Shining asap,” Applejack ordered. “Way ahead of you!” Wallflower replied, her phone already out and sending emergency calls. “So the reservations are made?” Shining asked into the headset in his bike helmet. The officer was currently riding his motorcycle onto the main street on his way home from the office. “Yeah. Everything is set for Twilight’s birthday,” Cadance’s voice said on the other end of the call. “I just wish Pinkie didn’t bring this up to us at such last minute. Why couldn’t she make the reservations?” “Apparently, she didn’t want to make Twilight suspicious,” Shining replied as he stopped at the light. At that moment the officer got a notification about a text. Pulling out his phone, Shining saw that it was from Rainbow Dash. It was an SOS message. “I’m gonna have to go honey. Duty calls,” he said as he ended the call. He turned on the sirens and skidded the bike around to go in the opposite direction, only to be stopped out of nowhere. “W-what the!?” To the officer’s surprise, he and his bike were suddenly in the air. He quickly noticed the vehicle had a strange glow about it, and it wasn't the only one. He spotted many objects all around him, covered in a magical aura. “Hey, hey, where’s the fire,” Starlight said as she slowly walked up to the Shining in her monster form. “Out of my way you,” Shining demanded. “Is that any way for an officer to act?” Starlight asked as she released her magic, causing everything to fall to the ground. Shining acted quickly and jumped off his bike before it landed with a crash. Fortunately, it didn’t suffer any major damage. As Shining landed, he pleased the driver around his waist. “I just want to have a bit of a chat. We barely know each other.” “You are aware interfering with police work is against the law?,” Shining explained as he presented the Argo badge. Despite not having a mouth, Starlight was smiling ear to ear. 'My plan is working perfectly,' she thought to herself Earlier, at the hospital “That just sounds like what we always do,” Cypher addressed. As Starlight started to explain her plan. “Yeah, but there are three of us and only two riders. We use our numbers to our advantage to divide and conquer. You and I will preoccupy the Riders, keeping them away from the Magi-Beast and from each other,” Starlight continued as she stood up. “I mean, why haven’t we worked together before?” “Cause I don’t trust you,” Cypher replied as he crossed his arms. “Cause we seem to just have different goals in mind when we make Magi-Beast,” Terra followed. “I’ll let you take Achilles...” Starlight offered the grumpy advance. “Tch,” Cypher turned away for a moment before turning back to the group. “Fine, your plan does sound like it has a chance of working.” “Of course it will, I have calculated every possibility,” The young woman said as her face twisted to an evil grin. “Oh yeah," Terra tried to put his arms around their necks and pull them into a hug. "The dream team is finally on the same page!" “Don’t call us that!" The other two stated, dodging his attempts to grab them. “Henshin!” Shining yelled as he put the badge into the Driver and pulled the lever. In a flash, he transformed into his armoured form. “AR-AR-AR-ARGO!” Starlight was quick, as she fired several magical bolts at the rider. Argo ran out of the way to charge right at the Advanced. As he approached. he rammed into the monster with his shield and knocked her back a good deal. “If your not gonna get out of my way, then I’m gonna have to bring you in as well!” Starlight quickly recovered from her tumble. “That’s easier said than done,” She replied as she raised up her horn. A pink glow started to emit from the tip, as two orbs flew out and took positions on either side of her. These orbs then formed into exact copies of Starlight, all looking ready for battle. “Alright girls, you know what to do." The two copied nodded, as all three rushed at the rider. “You act like I haven’t had to do multiple bookings before,” Argo said as he pulled out his blaster. But one of the Starlight’s lunged forward with her horn, attempting to stab the rider. Argo ducked out of the way but soon found himself between the two other copies. The fire started to ignite around one of the copies while the air around the other begun to freeze. Both fired their attacks causing the rider to be caught in a vortex of freezer-burn. The attack sent the rider flying. As he started to fall, he saw the third copy with an electrical discharge coming off her horn. Acting quickly, Argo pointed his blaster at the Advanced and started firing, hitting Starlight and giving him a chance to land safely. However, he was greeted with the other two copies slowly approaching. “Flash better get to the girls. I think I bit off more than I can chew here,” he said as he put up his shield. “Please sign here sir,” the woman said on the other side of the desk. Flash had to go to a shipping office to pick up the book Touma ordered for him. It would have cost extra to have the book delivered to his house, due to how much it cost to have things imported, especially to have it delivered within a week, so Flash chose to pick the package up himself. “So is that everything?” Flash asked as he handed the forms back. “Yup," the woman said as she handed Flash the package, "everything should be in order,” As Flash left the office, he saw Ember was chasing after the Owl Phone and getting tangled up in her leash. “Ember No!” The teen yelled as he managed to stop the jumpy canine. “I thought keeping the Owl Phone around would calm you down. Apparently, a dog will always try to chase after birds,” Flash said to himself as he untangled Ember. “We really need to do something about this behaviour. I get that you may be anxious when I’m not around, but you can’t act up like this. I can’t be worrying that you will cause trouble when I’m not around,” he explained to the dog. Ember just turned her head to the side like a young child. As Flash was talking, her ears perked up and animal instincts kicked in. she jumped at her owner and tacked him to the ground. “Ember what the!?” Flash started only to be interrupted by a sword piercing the sidewalk and cutting the dog’s leash. The teen soon recognised the wing-shaped hilt on the sword. “You got lucky!” A voice yelled from the sky. Looking up, Flash saw Cypher staring him down. “Next time, the dog isn’t gonna save you.” “It’s not like you to attack in the open like this!” Flash yelled back as he stood up. Cypher remained silent as he flared his wings and dived down at the teen. Flash and Ember both ran away as the Advanced landed, grabbing his sword before giving chase. As Flash turned the corner, he picked up Ember and tried to hid her in an ally way. “Ok girl, I need you to stay here and stay safe.” “Quit stalling and transform," Cypher said as he caught up. "I’m feeling kind in giving you a chance to fight back,” “Was just about to get to that,” Flash pulled out his driver. But as he placed it on his waist, he heard a loud barking. “BARK AFFF!!!” Ember was standing in front of Flash, a serious look blazing in her eyes. “If you think I have any sympathy for animals, you are mistaken!” Cypher declared. As Ember stared down the monster that stood before them, something clicked in his brain. When he first found ember, she was a scared stay and he was the one who took her off the streets. Flash crouched down to comfort his angry dog. “It’s ok girl, I’m not going anywhere. It’s gonna take more than this guy to stop me from taking care of you or mom or First Base or...” He paused for a moment as listed all the people he cared so much about. “Or Twilight.” “Time’s up!” Cypher yelled, taking advantage of the distracted teen to launch a slash attack. Flash came to his senses quickly as he slotted the Rider card into the driver. The magic circle appeared from the driver and blocked the attack. Flash then sprinted forward and jumped through the circle and transformed into Achilles. In his armoured state, the rider punched out Cypher, followed by a spin kick. “See girl," the rider turned to his dog. "Everything's gonna be alright!” “Don’t be too sure!” Cypher followed as he swung his sword. Achilles caught the sword, but the Advanced charged and pushed the rider back. Once they stopped, Achilles shoved the monster out of the way before pulling out his spear and extending it to hit the monster. “As long as I'm able to protect others, I’m never gonna give up,” Achilles said as he spun the spear. The blade slashed the monster several times before the rider hit Cypher in the abdomen with the butt of his weapon. “You guys should have figured that out by now.” Cypher stumbled back but didn’t go down, his sword firmly gripped in his hand. “And you should have fingered out I will not stop till I complete my mission,” he replied Applejack managed to wrestle Graboid out of the forest and into the parking lot of the school. When the monster tried to attack with its tendrils, Applejack quickly grabbed them and wrapped them around her hands. With a firm grip, the farm girl swung her arms and threw Garboid over her shoulder. “Well that au’t ta stop ya from destroying any more of the woods,” she commented. Terra wasn’t far behind but was dealing with his own battle. Soon after Wallflower sent the text, Rainbow Dash was already on the scene to assist with Terra. The rainbow blur kept hitting the Advanced without giving him a moment to react. Once the two parties met up, Rainbow, still in her soccer uniform, finally stopped to catch her breath. “So, had enough?” “So you’re the speedy one,” Terra said as he finally had a moment to speak. “I gotta, say you have been making this fight interesting. I’m always excited to have someone new to play with,” He added with a crack of his neck. “You’re not bad yourself,” Rainbow replied. “Quit with the small talk, Rainbow!" Applejack interrupted, "ya can’t get distracted with these guys!” Gardoid took advantage of the distracted farm girl to sneak up from behind and slam his arms down. Rainbow Dash, seeing the large monster approaching, sprinted to pull her friend out of the way and caused the Magi-Beast to smash the pavement instead. “You were saying?” Rainbow asked with a cocky grin, as she held Applejack in her arms. “Shut up.” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes. Graboid went into a rage, swinging its tentacles faster than the two could react. Thankfully, a wall of hexagonal crystals appeared to black them. “Sorry for being fashionably late,” Rarity said as she ran up behind the monsters. “Always have to make an entrance,” Applejack commented as Rainbow finally let her down. Graboid continued to rage but was unaware of the purple aura that surrounds his body. As the Magi-Beast was lifted into the air, the girls soon saw Twilight had also arrived and struggling to keep her concentration. “It’s really hard to hold this guy back with him thrashing around.” “Just hang in there, Twilight!” Pinkie yelled as she ran past her friends. “Hahaha this just keeps getting better,” Terra laughed as he put up his fists. When Pinkie got close, Terra brought down his fist only for the girl to sidestep it. He tried again, with the same result. After another miss, Pinkie slipped next to him to wrap a rope of liquorice around the arm. “What is this?’ He asked as he looked at the candy. As if to reply, the rope began to glow before exploding and blowing him back. “Guess my little surprise was too much for him,” Pinkie laughed. As she checked to see how her friends were doing, Terra charged out of the pink smoke and tackled the teen. she was sent flying into Twilight which caused her to lose her concentration and doping the monster. “I don’t think he was too happy with it,” Twilight commented with Pinkie on top of her. “That was a cheap shot,” Terra huffed, coming out of the explosion with a few scuff marks. The Magi-beast was really angry now as it started to dig underground. “Oh great, now where did that thing go?” Rainbow asked. As if to answer her the monster’s tendrils came out of the ground and wrapped around her. “Never mind, found it,” she said as she struggled to get out. “Don’t worry Rainbow,” Twilight said as she got up and ran towards her friend. However, before she could get close she was tripped. Looking at what could have caused this, the purple-haired girl found a set of tendrils wrapped around her ankle. More of the tendrils came out and began to wrap around her. “Twilight!” Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie yelled out simultaneously. “I think they are the less of your worries,” Terra announced. The three girls saw the Advanced pound his fists together as a taunt. “I still wanna play.” Energy bolts flew through the air, as Argo tried to hit one of the Starlight clones. One of the clones performed a flip out of the way of the blast and landed on a car, returning fire with an electrical blast. Argo rolled out of the way just as another copy jumped to deliver a fiery punch but Argo blocked it and pushed back with his shield. After the rider threw off the magical construct to the side. He then turned to the third copy and opened fire which the Advanced sidestepped out of the way of. “Gotta say, you’re a lot nimbler than I thought,” Argo said. As he reached for the cardholder on his belt “This isn’t some game where the mage is some scrawny nerd,” Starlight replied. One of her clones blindsided the rider by bringing bother arms down on him behind. This gave an opening for the third copy to shoot a fireball that the rider needed to roll away from. “As you can see I’m very capable of fighting without my magic.” “Are you really saying that when you have me outnumbered with clones of yourself?” Argo replied as he loaded the card into the Defender. “SNIPER ACTIVATE!” When the scope appeared on his shoulder, the rider started to fire in random directions. “Jeez, I don’t think he’s even trying anymore,” The Starlight copy said to the other. Outside the clone’s view, the bolts started to curve and home in on the copies. The sudden bombardment sent the advanced flying and the copies to disappear. With Starlight down, Argo took the opportunity to get the monster into a hold. “I hope this show’s I’m not some tank that can’t strategize,” he said as he pulled out a set of handcuffs. “Yup, you sure showed me,” Starlight said, surprisingly showing little resistance. “And all it costed you was time you could have been using to save your sister from a magi-beast.” “I’m sure Achilles could handle it,” Argo replied as he was about to cuff the Advanced. “Oh, didn’t I tell you?" Starlight continued. "My associate is currently keeping the other rider occupied. I don’t think he’s gonna get the message that they’re in trouble before Terra and his new buddy take care of those magical girls." Argo stopped. “Why tell me this now?” he asked. “Cause ether you will waste even more time bringing me into custody, or you can let me go and save your darling sister,” Starlight answered as she turned to meet the rider’s gaze. “I think we both know which one you're gonna choose.” Argo was silent for a moment before letting out a grunt of anger. As much as he hated to give this crook the satisfaction, she was right. He pushed the Advance to the ground before getting onto his bike. “This isn’t over!” He declared before revving the engine. As he drove off, Starlight got back up and rubbed her wrists. “Those hero-types are so predictable. Not that I'm complaining, since it’s already too late. The wheels are already in motion." Blades clashed as Achilles’ and Cypher’s fight moved to the main street. Achilles spun his spear around before slashing Cypher across his chest. The rider then tried to grab the winged monster with the butt of his spear, but Cypher blocked it with his wing. The Advanced then spread his wings to get some more space between him and the rider. “What are you guys up to?” Achilles asked as he went on the defensive. “As if I would just tell you,” Cypher responded with an upward strike that threw the rider off balance. “And I really don’t care what the others are doing. Just as long as I turn you to ash,” He then lunged forward and slash at Achilles, sending him flying back. Achilles landed onto a fire hydrant and bent it out of shape. As he tried to get up, he saw Cypher standing over him with his sword raised and ready to deliver the final blow. Achilles came to his senses fast and rolled out of the way, causing the blade to hit the hydrant and shoot a jet of water right onto the monster. “You needed to cool down for a bit,” Achilles quipped as he pulled out a card and slotted it into his spear. “CHARGING!” Lighting covered the head of his spear as he threw it into the water. The electricity spread all over the wet areas and gave a massive shock to Cypher who was now paralysed for a moment. “STORM FEEDBACK!” “If your not gonna stop, then I’ll just have to make you stop,” Achilles said as he pressed the button on the Driver. When the electrical current finally stopped, Cypher saw Achilles begin to charge. Smoke was coming off of his body after the shock but he was still standing. “I would like to see ya try,” the monster said as a white light covered his sword. Magical circles began to form around Achilles' ankle as he ran till he got within range. At the same time as the rider raised his leg for a roundhouse kick, Cypher swung this sword. The two attacks clashed, causing a large flash of light that blinded the two. The two powers clashed and caused both of them to be thrown in opposite directions. When the two combatants hit the ground, their transformations were cancelled out. As Flash tried to steady himself, he saw Cypher doing the same. Their eyes met and only one thought came to Flash’s mind. “Why?!” he yelled. Cypher didn’t respond. “Why do you attack me. Why do you hate me so much? All I have been doing is protecting my friends from your experiments. You attacked me out of nowhere so I deserve some kind of reason to it!” Flash yelled out as his temper started to flare up. “You want to know why I do this?” Cypher started as he staggered towards Flash. “It’s what the Doctor ordered me to do.” “This Doctor's orders are hurting people. Can't, you see that?” Flash responded. “You are not some tool, You don’t have to do what this guy says.” “Doing what the Doctor says is all I ever knew,” Cypher responded as he continued to slowly close the gap between him and Flash. “Ever since the Doctor saved me, I owe him everything.” “That’s enough Cypher!” A voice yelled out. Out of nowhere, Starlight teleported between the two and sucker-punched the pale man, knocking the wind out of him. “The plan failed. There is no point in continuing this,” Starlight said as the man fell into her arms. “Darn you,” Cypher managed to get out. “Wait, what plan?” Flash asked at the confusion of what is going on. “Oh you’ll be finding out about that shortly,” Starlight answered as her horn glowed and teleported away. After being left alone, Flash just stood there, thinking about what he saw in Cypher. He finally discovered the man he had been fighting’s true nature. He even started to feel bad for him and wondered what happened to cause Cypher to turn out this way. All these thoughts continued to swirl in his head till interrupted by a mix of barks and chirps. Turning to the side, Flash saw Ember and the Owl Phone coming towards him. The blue dog tackled the teen to the ground and started to lick his face. All Flash could do was laugh as his dog was showing how happy she was to see him. “Didn’t I promise nothing was gonna happen. Though I’m a bit beaten up,” Flash said as he managed to get Ember off of him. The Owl Phone landed in his hand to show that throughout his battle Flash has been sent a long stream of texts from both Shining and Trixie. All telling him about the Magi Beast attack at school. “Oh crud, so that is what they were doing, but why did unicorn say it was a failure?” Flash asked. Another message from Trixie popped up saying that things have turned dire. “Dang it, no time to think about that, the girls need my help,” Flash got back up and ran to his bike. Making sure Ember was safe in his backpack, Flash hit the throttle and headed to the school. Explosion after explosion were set off, but nothing seems to slow down the advanced. Pinkie was doing her best to keep Terra busy, but she was starting to hit her limit. “Girls, I'm almost out of sweets!” Pinkie warned as she jumped out of the way of one of Terra’s punches. “Just hang in there,” Applejack replied as she tried to pull Rainbow free. Even with her magical strength, Graboid proved to be a match for her. At the same time, Rarity was using one of her crystals to cut the tendrils off of Twilight. Unfortunately, the appendages seem to regenerate faster than she could cut them. “Uh these things are so repulsive,” “Rarity!” Pinkie yelled. Turning around, Rarity saw Terra tearing up the pavement with his punches as Pinkie kept dodging his attacks. Running out of ammunition, the hyperactive teen resorted to playing decoy. “Are you all out of party favours?” Terra mocked. “Rarity," Twilight cried. "Go help Pinkie. She needs it more than I do right now.” Terra caught up to Pinkie and was about to bring his fist down on the girl. Before he could make contact, a crystal hexagon appeared between the two to block the attack. The shield shattered but gave Pinkie a chance to escape. “Wow, you girls are really fun,” Terra said with glee. “I never thought I would be so scared to hear those words,” Pinkie responded as she regrouped with Rarity near Twilight. “Dang it, where are the riders?” Applejack asked before the tendrils started to grab her as well. “Looks like the heroes got tied up in traffic,” Terra laughed as he approached the three girls grouped together. They all felt panic overflow them, the lot fearing this might be the end. But then...something happened. “Well then it’s a good thing I came around!” A voice announced. Everyone looked up to see the silhouette of a figure standing on the roof of the school. The figure was holding what looked like a double-bladed axe and threw it. The weapon flew through the air before hitting the ground. In the process, it cut through all the tendrils that were holding down Twilight. “What on earth?! Who’s this guy?” Rainbow said as she looked up. Twilight got to her knees and got a better look at the axe. The blades were a metallic green with a brass body that had a four-point star in the middle. Before she could say a word, the tendrils started to reform and shot forward to attempt to grab her. In a flash, the figure swooped down to pull the teenager out of the way. Out of harm’s way, Twilight found herself in the arms of her Savior. Looking up, she saw the figure’s helmet. It was a deep bronze-coloured armor with bright green compound eyes and two curved horns coming off the top. His chest was covered in green lines that branched off to resemble root. The green lines design continued through his leg and arm armor, with a grey under-suit showing between the segments. Around his waist was a belt with a rounded grey buckle and a slot on top along with a circular green gem in the middle. “A-are you a rider?” Twilight asked. “Of course I am,” The rider replied as he let the girl down. It was at that instant Twilight’s eyes widened as she recognised the voice. “Here comes a new challenger!” Terra yelled with excitement. “You riders always manage to get my blood pumping.” Before the Advanced could take any action, the ground around him started to crack and Graboid erupted to the surface. It let out a horrific scream as it pointed its arms at the Rider. “Ah I see, you want the first shot at the new guy," Terra said as he leaned up against the monster. "Ok, ok, but I’m not gonna leave ya alone.” He then pulled out a card and ripped it in half, summoning a troop of Nightmares. “Have fun champ!” Terra cried as he began to walk away. Released from her restraints, Rainbow ran up next to the figure. "Don't worry, we can take them all out together." "No need for that," the rider said with a wave of his hand. "I'm more than enough for these goons." The Nightmares charged at the rider, but the figure was ready. One of the goons swung its sword, but the rider ducked out of the way. Taking the opportunity, the rider delivered a chop to the Nightmare's head. Another tried to attack, but the warrior pushed the goon in the chest into another Nightmare. He then followed with a kick to send both of them to the ground. Two more of the soldiers tried to charge him from both sides, only for the Rider to stop them both by grabbing their chests and shoving them aside. "See, too easy," the man cockily chuckled. "Heads up!" Rainbow yelled. As he was showing off, he didn't see Graboid behind him swinging its tendrils and sent the rider flying. “Hey," Pinkie yelled, "that was a cheap shot!” The rider stopped himself and landed near his axe, which he picked up and spun in his hand before pointing at the Magi-Beast. "GAIA-HATCHET!" “Don’t worry girls, it will take more than that to stop me!” He announced before charging in. The rider used his axe to cut the tendrils and he closed the distance. Once he got close, he jumped up and brought his axe down on the monster. The rider continued to slash Graboid till the monster spun around to try and hit his attacker. Though the Magi-beast was successful in hitting him away, the rider continued his assault. As the fight continued, Sunset, Fluttershy, Trixie, And Bulk finally made it. “Is everyone alright?” Was the first thing Fluttershy asked as she ran to her friends. “Did Achilles finally show up?” Trixie followed. The new arrivals saw the rider fighting Graboid, figuring out the fact that it wasn't their usual masked hero. “Who’s that guy fighting?” Sunset finally asked. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told ya,” Twilight answered. “You should have just stayed in the ground, you worm!” He cried as he smacked the monster with the flat side of the weapon. The monster was in a total rage now, as his tendrils started thrashing around. The ground was getting smashed as the Magi-Beast went wild. “Quit playing around!" Applejack yelled, "that thing is gonna level the whole school!” “Hey," the Rider leapt back away from the monster, "I was trying to have some fun. This is my big debut.” The Rider threw his axe to the side. “But if you want to skip to the grand final, who am I to argue.” The rider then pressed the two buttons on either side of the gem on his belt. A green, leafy aura emitted from the driver and around his body. “GAIA FEEDBACK!” Graboid's tendrils swung towards the rider, but he jumped into the air to dodge. The fighter then did a flip spin in the air before getting in position for a dropkick. An energy construct of the Gaia Hatchet formed around his body. As the rider’s kick came down on the monster, the axe followed, cutting the monster right down the middle before the two halves exploded in green flames. "Huh," the rider laughed as he dusted himself off whilst walking away from the flames. “I think that went better than expected." As the dust cleared, Flash and Shining finally rolled up to the parking lot. They were shocked to find that not only that there was no monster causing destruction, but that a new rider was standing triumphant from his fight. The two walked over to the group with the same sense of confusion. “What just happened?” Shining asked. Before he could get an answer, Twilight ran to the rider and gave him a hug. The rider returned the affection to the teenage girl. “Wha-" Flash asked, "who's this guy?” “Oh," the rider pulled away from Twilight, "I guess I should let you guys know who the new hero is. Of course, it’s not gonna come as too much of a surprise." He pulled a card out of the driver. The suit dissolved to reveal a young man in a red vest and camouflage cargo pants. His skin was light brown and his green hair was covered by a grey bennie. "Who else could be this unequally cool." “TIMBER!!!!” The group yelled in unison. “The one and only!” Timber boosted as he turned to Twilight and gave her a wink. “I hope you like your birthday present,”