21: Fanfic Generations: Crossing Worlds Part 1
Denver, Colorado, United States of America:
“No, no, you see,” Adagio Dazzle said to her sister. “We can’t just feed a Greeed to some Great White. As tempting as it is, I’d like to keep the Great Whites are man-eaters reputation away from my Aquarium.”
“...well, it’s technically not a man…” Aria said with a drawl and a roll of her eyes. “...though it’d probably just give poor sharkie a case of indigestion. I mean, if I fed a shark Ankh, he’d be sick to his stomach!”
“Poor sharkie?” Adagio blinked. “You’ve got issues sis. In any event, we can’t even keep Great Whites in captivity. Some California aquarium tried it, guess what happened. It ate all the other sharks.”
“Bull sharks then!” Aria proclaimed. “They’re even bigger bastards!”
Adagio just facepalmed. “My sister everyone,” she uttered gesturing to the woman who beamed unashamedly. “If she became a Rider, we’d all be calling her Kamen Rider Meathead!”
“Ye… HEY!”
Adagio just smirked to herself. Victory was hers.
“Oh, you are coming home for horror night right?” Aria asked. “Rainbow got the genius idea of hosting it.”
“Wait, Rainbow got the idea of hosting a horror night? And you, you agreed with her?” Adagio stared at her sister, seemingly judging how crazy she was or figuring out if she’d been replaced with an imposter. Either one was likely nowadays. “Wait, wait, wait… back the truck up here just a tad m’kay? I thought you two couldn’t spend a moment alone without strangling each other!”
“Look, okay?” Aria said. “Way I figure it, if she’s your friend, then she’s my friend okay?”
Adagio raised an eyebrow. “...Plus your girlfriend is threatening to kick you out to the curb if you strangle Rainbow, am I right?” she said in a flat deadpan.
“That has nothing to do with it,” Aria said in reply. “Absolutely nothing at all.”
“That’s denial I hear in your tone…” Adagio teased with Aria gently shoving her away.
Adagio had to laugh at this, it’d been far too long since she’d actually spent any quality time with her sister in any capacity outside of the hospital or sending Greeeds flying. It was… nice, actually. Sad as it was, Adagio couldn’t actually remember the last time when she could pull some time out of her own life just to spend time with her sister. Life just caught up with them, she supposed. Aria was wanting to become a rockstar and her? Well, Adagio knew she was a very business-oriented woman and whenever she got caught up in her work -which was, I will be honest 99% of the time- it took a lot to pull her out of it.
“Anyways, horror night?” Adagio asked. “You really sure that’s such a good idea? I mean, the last time I watched a horror movie -Saw, I think it was- I just pointed out how unrealistic all the blood was.”
“I was trying to forget,” Aria deadpanned. “You’re a real mood killer, you know that right?”
“No, mood-killing is when I ruin the love life of you and your latest boy toy,” Adagio deadpanned. “Which is… oh yeah, about every time I find you having sex on my couch.”
“That was one time, ONE TIME!” Aria snapped, people by this point paying far more attention to the two squabbling siblings than to the actual exhibits. “...you still haven’t forgiven me for that, have you?”
“Not in the slightest,” Adagio said. “I swear I was decontaminating my couch for weeks afterward. There are things an older sister should not see, and that’s just one of them as it happens.”
“You’re just a stick in the mud,” Aria grumbled. “Seriously, I’ve never seen you excited about… anything. Except for marine animals as new exhibits.”
“I do get excited about things!” Adagio shouted in a tone that sounded suspiciously like denial. “It’s just… sex isn’t one of them.”
“Tell that to your bird-brained boyfriend,” Aria teased.
“...for the last time,” Adagio grumbled rubbing her forehead. “Me and Ankh were not dating. Nothing even close to that.”
“...Notice how I didn’t say Ankh,” Aria smirked resembling the cat who’d gotten his canary. “You just ‘so happened’ to fill in that particular gap yourself.”
“You’re a real bitch, you know that right sis?” Adagio grumbled to herself. Somehow, she was now remembering the exact reason why she and Aria almost never hung out. It always ended up with the two of them trying to pull each other’s hair out.
To be entirely fair, Aria was plenty angry at the world, and she had every right to be -Adagio blamed Aria’s pony world counterpart- given the cards that life had dealt her. Okay, sure, it didn’t entirely excuse Aria for acting like a bitch, but it explained some of her attitude. There was a reason she, when not playing guitar, was found next to several destroyed punching bags.
Actually, Adagio would be completely over the moon if Aria and Fluttershy suddenly started dating. Fluttershy was a lot more even-tempered, and probably the only sane woman between them in their small circle of friends. Probably. Adagio still wasn’t sure about Sunset Shimmer yet. Actually, Adagio wasn’t even sure if she could consider Sunset a friend yet. That bridge had yet to be crossed.
“Oh, by the way?” Aria said. “You’ve got that school tour Ms. Cheerilee is bringing in, apparently when what’s her name filled in for you? She was apparently… and I quote: “Quite dull”. Star Hunter’s words, not mine. But that’s what he said.”
“Noted,” Adagio grumbled, muttering something under her breath in Hawaiian. “I swear, I adore Ms. Satonaka, but she has no passion! None!”
Aria had to suppress a snort. “Nobody has as much passion for sea life as you ‘Dagi. I still can’t believe you named that seal of yours that you love so much Arthur. ...actually, I still can’t believe you adore a leopard seal that much. Not my first choice for an animal companion, let me tell you!”
Of course, Adagio’s phone had to choose that moment to ring, playing a snippet of ‘What’s Up Danger?’ before Adagio answered it.
“...you want me to tell them to take a rain check, don’t you?” Aria sighed. Adagio simply nodded. “...Okay, but I will be blaming you when they ask exactly who and what went wrong this time. Not the Greeed.”
For the record, Adagio didn’t actually have to blame the Greeed this time. Actually, she didn’t know who to blame.
All the same, it didn’t exactly change the fact that -only about 30 minutes later- she was dodging and weaving the strikes from a Chinese Dao, or a type of short sword.
Backflipping atop a pipe, she scanned three medals and with a call of “Henshin!” transformed into her Rider form. Grabbing her staff, she flipped off the pipe and became a whirling dervish of water.
The opponent in front of her was clad in white robes, well mostly white anyways. Where their face was, well that was a black gaping maw. This was the user of the dao sword, spinning the blade like a creature possessed. It was all Adagio could do to keep on the defensive, as it was clear her opponent knew his(?) way around a blade.
Then a palm strike to the chest sent her sprawling backwards before Adagio’s eyes widened as her opponent manifested twin burning lion dog heads sending her flying through a wall.
“Who… who are you?” Adagio whispered as her opponent stood over her, before the dao sword was discarded for a simple katana.
“Masamune…” growled out a voice, though if it belonged to the white one in front of her, it was hard to tell. Adagio then yelped as she rolled out of the way to avoid a downward slash.
She grabbed her Ookamiuo spear and swung it sending a massive tidal wave of water towards her opponent. All she could do, however, was watch in shock as her attack was simply cleaved in half.
“Do not beg for your life, it is a waste of time.” said the White One, before he reached for his belt. It said nothing, even as it’s user leaped upwards and massive black wings sprouted from his back. He was then launched forwards, feet ablaze with black flames. Adagio’s eyes widened under her helmet. They then closed, awaiting what came next.
She never felt the hit, and Adagio’s eyes opened in abject shock as she saw Uva in front of her, the Insect Greeed having taken the blow. Well, this was new.
“...okay, what the…?”
“Don’t misunderstand this for us suddenly being friends,” Uva snarled as he forced the White One off of him, the ghostly figure backflipping and wings retracting into his back. “Only reason I saved you was so that you can be defeated by my own hands!”
“Yeah, what he said,” came a familiar, rather irritating and frankly unwelcome voice as a man with very distinctive almost feathered blond hair ran up. He helped Adagio off the ground, though the Rider pulled herself away from his grip. “Oh, so rude!”
“Well, considering that you ditched me in favor of bug boy…” Adagio drawled. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not welcoming you home with open arms just yet!”
“Why I oughta…” Ankh grumbled. “You owe me some ice pops woman! I just saved your life!”
“Me owe you ice pops?” Adagio growled. “I don’t owe you anything, you didn’t even save my life! If anything, I should be giving the ice pops over to Uva!” she shouted as said Greeed punched the White One hard enough to knock him back before he was kneed in the gut.
“Oh, you two want to put a can in it?” Uva said as he continued pummeling the enemy. “Your little lover's spat is starting to make me go ape! And I’m not even the Heavy Animal Greeed!”
He grabbed the enemy, before giving him a straight-up piledriver. “...Though you know, I could branch out…” Uva commented. “Now scram!”
“...you’re so ungrateful, you know that Adagio?” Ankh said sitting atop a tree. “I don’t even know how you got into this mess -not that I really care- but here I am, dragging you out of it!”
“Here we are, birdbrain,” Uva said and Adagio had to stifle her laughter. Apparently Uva and Aria were two birds of a kind. She should probably refrain from telling her that though. “Remember, you owe me!”
“Fine… fine,” Ankh said before quite literally coughing up some cell medals and then tossing them to Uva. Adagio couldn’t imagine how much Ankh hated to do that. “Your little friend’s getting away though, just wanting to point that out.”
Uva looked and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he saw his opponent running like hell towards a bike, before he got up on it and drove off. “Alright you bastard, come back here and take your punishment like a man! Like a small, herbivorous shrew, you are nothing! I will hunt you to the ends of the earth, I will burn your empire to the ground I... I... I really hate that guy…”
“And only one fight too!” Ankh chirped. “That must be a record!”
If looks could kill, Uva’s glare could probably melt steel.
Ankh just nibbled on a cell medal, not really caring or paying him any mind. He then leaped off as Uva gave Adagio a begrudging look and followed, clearly planning on dueling her another time.
Adagio then found her voice.
“...what the hell just happened? Was I just saved by Uva, of all people!?! That’s it, I officially have no clue as to what’s going on around here.”
Rainbow chose that very moment to arrive on the scene, in her Hellcat. Adagio could only imagine the scenes in traffic that day as everyone stopped and stared at the golden warrior driving a car like a normal person.
“You’re late,” Adagio commented somewhat torn between laughing at the whole ludicrousness of it all and shooting Rainbow an annoyed glare for being so late.
“Yes, well, I sorta got hung up in midtown traffic. Eiji told me you ran off on your own again, and they call me the impulsive one!” she remarked.
“...Well, at least you being here is confirmation I’m not completely insane…” Adagio remarked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow said as she canceled out her transformation tossing her deck up in the air and then catching it.
“Well, let’s just say some other bird saved me.”
“Oh, that makes perfe…” Rainbow started before she blinked as she registered what her fellow Rider had just said. “Wait… WHAT!?!”
“...welcome to my world. Population? One very confused Rider.”
Ponyville, Pony Safe Zone.
In another world dominated by not humans, but equines was Ponyville. At the center of a place known as the Pony Safe Zone which had been set up following the takeover of Equestria by the Changelings. That had been decades ago and they were doing their best to survive.
But still, even in the harshest of times, life went on. Ponies had gathered at Sugarcube Corner in town where a band was setting up. The lead singer, a dark blue mare with a blue-green mane took out a guitar and took a seat as she adjusted the mic and began to play her guitar.
“I’m waking up at the start of the end of the world,
But it’s feeling like every other morning before,
Now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it's gone.
The carts are moving like a half a mile an hour,
And I started staring at the passengers who are waving goodbye,
Can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?”
She smiled a little as she kept playing and looked out at the crowd. Her eyes fell on a purple Unicorn with an orange mane and a lavender stallion as they listened to her and the band play. The Unicorn continued to play as she closed her eyes, letting the music flow through her as she sang, running her hoof along the strings.
She finished singing as she took a deep breath and walked over to the counter where her friends were waiting. “How’d I do? We had just finished that song when, well, you know…”
“You did fine, Sea,” the purple Pegasus said with a smile. “Your singing is always beautiful. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Thanks, Jasper,” Sea Spray replied with a smile. She glanced at the lavender Unicorn who just rolled his eyes. “Come on, Khepri. You know you like my music.”
“Tch, you have more important things to worry about right now than singing for ponies,” Khepri reminded her. “You’re the one who decided to keep fighting. You still have a lot to do to be ready for…”
“Khepri, shut up, we’re in public, you know we can’t talk about that in front of everypony else,” Sea said through gritted teeth. “And yes I am dealing with, that. But I’m not going to let it stop me from living my life.”
“Tch, pointless, it’s only a matter of time before…” Khepri started to say before Sea shot him a look. “Okay, okay, whatever.”
“Both of you, this isn’t doing you any good,” Jasper groaned. “Sea, you’re going to be okay, don’t listen to him. Just because, you know, that is happening, doesn’t mean you should lose faith in yourself. You’re a good, strong pony, and that’s not going to change, no matter what he says about it.
Sea paused a moment and smiled a little at her Pegasus friend. She had recently found out that the Change Driver and Shifter that allowed her to become Kamen Rider Scarab was turning her into a Changeling. It hadn’t been an easy choice to make, but in the end, she had decided to keep fighting.
Though Khepri had been less than optimistic about her chances. She didn’t want to think about that to be honest, she was focused more on living her life just like she said.
“Tch, whatever. If you want to keep deluding yourself I’m not going to stop you,” Khepri snorted. He walked off and out the door, leaving the two mares to talk.
“Remind me why we put up with him again?” Jasper asked as Sea ordered herself a drink.
“Because we need him to protect the Ponies,” Sea reminded her. “And yeah, he is a pain in the flank. Be glad you don’t have to hear him in your head too.”
“Yeah… I’ll bet that’s creepy,” Jasper said as she took a drink. “So, what should we do with the rest of our evening?”
“Eh, I was thinking about taking a walk alone or something,” Sea replied with a shrug. “I need to get some fresh air, honestly. Right now I’ve got a lot on my mind and Khepri wasn’t exactly helping with that.”
“I don’t blame you,” Jasper agreed. “See you back in our room at the Communal House?”
“Yeah, see you there,” Sea said with a smile as she gave her friend a quick hug. “Stay safe, okay? We don’t know if anything else might happen.”
“I’ll be fine, I’m more worried about you,” Jasper said with a shake of her head. Sea released the hug and headed back outside.
She took a deep breath as she went back out into the cool night air. She hummed a tune to herself as she did, barely noticing that Khepri was following her in his insectoid form. The Shifter finally made his presence known with a telepathic nudge.
“What do you want, Khepri?” Sea demanded.
“I’m just checking on you, you’d be surprised to know that I actually don’t want anything to happen to you,” Khepri replied.
“Oh? Is the high and mighty Khepri getting sentimental?” Sea asked with a smirk.
“Tch, nothing like that, you just make my life interesting,” Khepri retorted. “You don’t want my life to get boring do you?”
“Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, you like me under that hard exterior,” Sea said with a laugh out loud. “Look, I know you’re not exactly, optimistic about my chances. But I think that I’ll be okay, so can we just move on, please?”
“Tch, whatever,” Khepri said. “I don’t really care. Either you’re right or you’re going to become just another member of the Hive. I find the latter to be much more realistic, but perhaps you might be right. Whatever happens, I would be careful if I were you. The Hive isn’t going to be the only ones interested in you.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sea replied as Khepri landed on her head. “Come on, let’s just enjoy the night together, okay?”
Khepri just made the telepathic equivalent of a shrug as they started walking around. She took a deep breath as she reached the edge of town, looking around a little. She could’ve sworn she saw something in the distance for a moment before the ground started shaking a little beneath her hooves.
“What the…” She said as she looked around confused. “What’s going…”
Before she could say anything else, a swirling vortex appeared before her and drew the two of them into it.
Manehattan, United States of Equila
In yet another world a man in a black leather jacket, orange, and red hair, as well as light orange skin, was walking up a seemingly never-ending stairwell. After what had felt to him like ages he finally took the last step and was now face to face with a grey metal door. A frown crossed his lips as he pushed the door open, letting the orange light of the sunset illuminate the stairwell behind him. After his eyes had adjusted to the new light it didn’t take him long to find the person he was looking for.
“I knew you would be here Ocean,” was all he said as a woman with light blue skin, long dark and neon blue hair and a black jacket turned around and staring at him with a somber look in her eyes.
“Really, wasn’t hard to figure out. Every time something goes through your head you come here and ever since you came back from Quarzquarry you’ve been here a lot So, what is it that keeps your mind occupied?” He continued with a warm smirk on his lips, taking a few steps closer to her as she leaned over the fence and stared off into the sunset and the city bellow.
“Nothing important,” she returned, not looking away from the city beneath her for even a moment.
“Nothing important, eh? And that’s why you spend at least an hour every day up here, just staring into the distance? Sure,” he returned, shaking his head as he did so before joining her on the fence and stared in the same direction as her. “I kinda remember someone who told me not to just bury stuff like this. To talk to someone about stuff that keeps you up at night, or you just eventually collapse. And I actually thought you got that after last time.”
She just lowered her head a bit and let out a defeated sigh. “You know, you know me far too well. Keeping anything from you is fucking impossible I tell you. It’s… It’s just...”
“You don’t have to say it, I can guess. It’s what you had to do in Quartzquary, isn’t it?” He said, wrapping his arm around her.
“If it only were that. No, that was just what I had to do. I accept that; it’s just...“ Ocean said before biting her lip. “It’s just that I’m afraid that she might be right. The world is changing. Corrupted are appearing all over the country, these Changelings are currently rampaging through Canterlot City and I have the feeling this Orphenoch situation isn’t over just yet. It reminds me of Haruto’s and Scootaloo’s world. A new evil constantly arises, a new world-ending threat… I’m just afraid that at one point no one will stand up to fight against it…” She finally said with a loud sigh, letting herself be pulled towards Phoenix.
He just looked down at her and her worried expression. “So, that’s it. I see. Would you stop fighting though?”
That actually got her to look up to him with a confused look on his face. “What do you mean? Why would I stop fighting?”
“If you really think that this world is doomed to live through catastrophe after catastrophe until it eventually falls apart why are you here and not with her? Why did you stand up to her? Why aren’t you out there, trying to stomp out any danger that might come from what’s out there and force this world under one rule so it will be able to stand up against the threats to come? Tell me,” he smiled back at her.
“I… I just don’t think that’s the right way, but she isn’t wrong…”
“I see, so you think what we are doing is the right one then? You know, as much as I dislike her, I get where she is coming from, but things like Scoot’s and Haruto’s world kinda give me hope. They faced this stuff for decades and they are still standing. Their world might be bonkers crazy, but they are still there. There were always people who did the right thing, who stood up to those who fought for their own gain. I can accept a bonkers world when it means that there will always be people to look up to, that simply do the right thing. And I will make sure we can move forward towards a bright future like that in our world too. That’s what I’m fighting for,” he smirked, a smirk that also forced a smile on Ocean’s face.
“Did anyone ever tell how damn sappy you can be?” She just sighed, now fully turning towards him.
“A few times, but don’t lie to me, you love it,” he winked at her, receiving a chuckle from her.
“Oh, you damn idiot. I swear you are the biggest idiot in the whole world, but damn if you don’t get me every time with your dumb speeches,” she said with a smirk on her lips. “Come, it’s getting cold out here and I have no interest in getting myself a cold like Scorched Earth. How about we check out another pizzeria? It’ll probably pale in comparison to Thunder, but I’m hungry. What do you say?”
“Hmh, you are right about the Thunder bit, but yeah, we can’t just call him here every time we want one, even if he would be insane enough to do it. Though, do you have any idea what you want to order? Letting you figure that out in the restaurant always takes ages.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you rather have something normal? I’m sure I could go for fungi-ham if that is what you want,” she returned.
“No,” he simply returned.
“Good, then deal with it,” she said with a chuckle. “And, don’t worry, I didn’t waste the whole hour just brooding, I actually thought of something to eat. Now, listen up: Pineapple-Chilly-Sweetcorn-Fungi-Bacon. Doesn’t that sound great?” She finished with a wide smile on her lips.
“Not really, but I long since just learned to roll with it, so I’m not worried,” he chuckled.
But before they could open the door again the roof started to shake a bit. “Oh, this can’t be good…” Was all Phoenix managed to say before both of them were sucked up by a vortex that appeared right where the door should have been.
Just a minute later the door opened once again, a muscular man with black hair and grey skin stepping out: ”Phoenix, Ocean, did you feel th-” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw no one but himself on the roof. “Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about this…” Was all he managed to say as he stared at the empty roof in front of him.
Denver, Colorado, United States of America:
Atop a rooftop, Uva and Ankh ‘talked’.
“Ask me again, why did you have me save that bint?” Uva snarled, slapping Ankh’s arm away. “That new boy could have killed her right then and there, and all of our problems would have been solved!”
“I have my reasons, tch!” Ankh commented. “You don’t need to know them. All you need to do is be your brainless self, and follow orders when commanded!”
“C-Commanded?” Uva said, grabbing Ankh by the throat. “Who do you think you are? I am not to be commanded!”
Ankh didn’t even look remotely nervous. “You’re such a child Uva, you fail to think of the long term,” the King of Birds sighed. “Adagio gets killed, and then some other idiot comes along to take the OOO Medals. Plus, doesn’t it worry you? Adagio’s one of the only ones to match us in pure combat, and there that new Rider was, throwing her around like a rag doll! Now think about it, use what little brains you surely have! If she can get beaten easily, what does that mean for us?”
Uva thought about it, and he didn’t like it. Ankh smirked.
“Exactly,” he said. “Be that as it may, we can still revive as long as we have enough Cells and our Cores are intact, but what’s stopping the new Rider from taking as much as he wants? We’re all targets now.”
“Gah!” Uva hissed. “I preferred it when all I had to do was use my two fists and rampage, not when there’s four to five Riders running about, they’re just popping up like rabbits these days!”
“Everyone’s getting in on the fun, tch!” Ankh grimaced. “Still, I haven’t seen that Eiji boy around in days, makes me wonder what happened to him!”
“Oh, do you actually care for the Kougami?” Kazari remarked as he stepped into view. “Why, I never thought that you had a heart…”
“Shut it cat!” Ankh snapped. “It just makes me… concerned. What is he plotting? Why has he not suited up?”
“Perhaps someone finally beat him? Trashed his Rider system beyond the point of repair?” Kazari pondered sitting down atop an air conditioner. “It’s an amusing thought, no?”
“If that’s the case, remind me to thank the person responsible!” Uva laughed. “I’ll shake their hand!”
“Use your brains, if you have them,” Kazari sighed. “If someone could take down Eiji’s system, trash it beyond repair then that means there’s someone else we have to worry about right now. Maybe it was the same person who quote: “Threw Adagio around a rag doll” unquote or maybe it’s someone different!”
Ankh meanwhile felt his face falling. He hated to admit it, but Eiji made his heart… dance. He was a curiosity really. He honestly believed that he could take it upon himself to save the King of the Birds. It was nonsense really, no human had that power to change a Greeed’s nature.
He should have just jumped in bed with that Adagio woman, both of them shared the same naivete! It was frankly embarrassing really. Ankh didn’t even know why he associated himself with Eiji that one time, even if he had recovered one of his cores in the bargain. He cast a glance to Kazari, he knew the Cat Greeed had one of his core. That was the only reason he’d gone back to the Greeed in the first place, wait for the right time to strike and recover his Condor.
Ankh went for a ‘borrowed’ phone and opened up a list of the cores he had currently. Two Takas, and one Kujaku. No, it wasn’t enough. There were still six more cores out there, and he knew the other Greeed had them. It was the only logical explanation for why he was just an arm. As soon as he recovered the rest of his Cores, that would soon be remedied.
“And then…” Ankh thought casting a longing glance towards the sky. “And then? That’s when I’ll take to the skies once more, burn and make my desires whole again…”
He remembered the freedom of flying through the clear blue, it was something nothing else could quite replicate. No rules, nobody to tell him off. He was at peace up there.
“Oh,” Kazari asked. “Ankh? Did you know that Adagio has siblings?”
“I’m aware,” Ankh muttered in distaste rubbing the spot on his face where he’d been stung by the youngest Dazzling sibling’s bees. “That was not a… fun realization. Still not sure that Adagio forgives me for…”
Then he realized, and his eyes widened in shock. Kazari knew about them. Kazari knew about the two younger ones. His hand and he didn’t quite know why reached out to grab Kazari by the throat before he shoved the Cat Greeed up against a wall. Uva gaped. Kazari smirked.
“Oh?” he remarked. “So you do have human emotions, I wasn’t just kidding myself. You do… care.”
“Don’t mistake this for me going soft,” Ankh growled. “I just want you to leave them out of this. I prefer not to play dirty, and threaten a Rider’s loved ones. I want Adagio to face me without anything holding her back, and if she faces me knowing that her siblings are on the line it will be far from the fight I desire!”
“Is that all?” Kazari asked. “I could be mistaken, but is that actually fear I hear in your voice? Makes my heart dance at the sheer prospect of it all!”
Ankh gave the cat a look of disgust, dropping him with a thud. “I just want a fair battle, that’s all. I prefer not to resort to the same underhanded tactics that you love so much.”
“...Suit yourself…” Kazari answered.
Unknown to them, a taka candroid watched with a batta candroid in its claws. It flew back to its master ready to report its findings. In the back of his company car, Eiji watched with interest. “Well then,” he mused. “Ankh… Kazari, what will you do next?”
Eiji should have seen Ankh’s betrayal coming, and yet still it surprised him. He’d actually thought Adagio had gotten through to the bird. Oh well, given Ankh was 800 years old and literally an incarnation of desire he should have expected nothing less. Asking Ankh to change was like asking for an act of God. Neither was likely.
His teaming up with Kazari was even more surprising, given that all accounts indicated the two hated each other with a burning passion. Okay, so maybe they hated Adagio more, or more accurately wanted their medals back more than they hated each other.
No, that wasn’t right. If Ankh wanted his medals more than he hated Kazari, he’d do something different. Ankh had to be playing the long game. That was the only explanation. Did Kazari suspect he was being had? Probably, as after all, it was in their very natures to naturally distrust the other.
There were other matters as well. Namely, the theft of Takeru’s Eyecon. X had to be involved, they were the only ones known to be investigating anything and everything relating to Riders.
Well, at the very least, there was some slices of good news. One, Takeru felt confident Adagio could control herself for at least 30 minutes in a battle with a full medaled combo. Two, he -Eiji- had a candidate for Birth picked out.
Eiji adjusted his tie as the car pulled up at Buckley Air Force Base. The trouble was, getting his commander to sign off on the whole thing. He shuddered, he’d rather be in a board meeting right now rather than negotiating with Spitfire for one of her soldiers to be the next Birth.
But needs must. This would also solve the problem of the US Government sticking their noses in where they weren’t wanted, and getting ahold of Birth to be used as a military weapon.
Eiji gave the guard outside of Spitfire’s office a quick salute, the sound of fighter jets screaming in the background.
“Mr. Kougami,” Spitfire said, barely looking up from her paperwork. “Can you come back tomorrow, or better yet actually schedule an appointment?”
“Ms Freeflight,” Eiji cleared his throat. “I actually wanted to-”
“Look,” Spitfire sighed rubbing her forehead. “I’d love to talk, look I honestly would, but right now I’ve got an entire squadron that needs to be shipped out to Tokyo, on loan to the John C. Stennis. I’ve got to decide who goes, and who stays. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Just… just for now can you take your leave?” she asked gently waving Eiji off.
“Actually, I may be able to help in that regard,” Eiji said. “See, I need one of your men, or women, for my own purposes. I sent you a notice last week, didn’t I?”
Spitfire groaned, and checked the sea of paperwork on her desk. Sure enough, she saw it. A transfer paper for anyone of Spitfire’s choosing that she’d yet to fill out. Her eyes widened at what exactly Eiji was requesting they be transferred for. “...I’ll see who I can spare. They’ll be on board for this. Just watch.”
Sure enough…
“...There’s no way I’m on board for this,” Soarin’ Skies said looking Eiji in the eye. “Look, I get it. You need help. And I’d like to help, I really would. But I’ve got to pack for Tokyo, I’ve only now just gotten started.”
“Congratulations,” Spitfire said crossing her arms. “You’re not going to Tokyo. You’re staying right here. You’re the best marksman we have on the range, and from what I hear Eiji’s little project requires a very good shot.”
“Shame really,” Fleetfoot commented with a little smirk. “I heard Akihabara is nice this time of year, they’ve got some really good figurines. Very sexy ones. Maybe a few nerdy ones, as well… Like for that magical girl series you like so much? What’s it called? Lyric-”
“Oh shut up,” Soarin’ groaned hanging his head. “You know I hate you right now, right?”
“Hey,” Fleetfoot said patting him on the shoulder. “I’m your flightmate, it’s my job to give you shit. Tell you what though, I’ll see if I can get Rainbow to stop by there okay?”
“Hey, don’t drag me into this!” Rainbow said before turning back to Soarin’. “I’m actually sorta jealous really. This Birth thing? Sounds cool. I’d think of this as an opportunity really.”
“Rainbow’s right,” Spitfire said. “This could open a few new pathways to you. Like it or not, you can’t be in the service forever. I’d suggest you take Eiji up on his offer.”
“...I feel like I’m being railroaded,” Soarin’ muttered. “But since you put it that way, okay yeah, I’ll do it. One question though,” he asked turning to Eiji. “...The suit doesn’t blare AC/DC does it?”
Everyone just facepalmed.
Sea groaned as she placed her hoof on her head. “Ugh… that’s the last time I let Jasper talk me into drinking after a show,” she groaned as she looked up and realized she was no longer in Ponyville.
The buildings around her were too tall and clean. For a moment she thought she had wound up in one of the Hive Cities somehow, but they lacked the Changeling architecture she had seen from Canterlot in the distance. Wherever she was, it was too metal, more like pictures she had seen of old-world Manehattan. Tall, glistening glass structures with towering snow-capped mountains in the background.
And then she looked at her hoof when she realized it felt wrong. She let out a scream when she realized that in its place was a strange appendage with long odd attachments. What was going on?
“Okay… Sea, clearly you’re having some sort of weird dream… just give it a few minutes and you’ll wake up…” She muttered as she looked down at herself. She was dressed in a black jacket over a shirt and pants. “Weird dream… why am I on my hind legs anyway?”
“I’m not sure that this is a dream,” Khepri’s voice echoed in her mind. She looked down at the mechanical scarab. “I don’t feel the usual ambient magic, or at least not any that’s as strong as back home. If I had to guess we got dumped in another reality.”
“Oh great… here we go…” Sea groaned. Not for the first time, she remembered when she became a Rider, life got very weird. “I suppose this was inevitable. So, what should we do now?”
“I don’t know, but I have to conserve energy,” Khepri answered. “The ambient magic is too low for me. Tch, I’m not sure how this world’s survived.”
“Yeah, well we’ll figure something out, I’d rather be ready for anything…” Sea said as she stepped forward, wobbling a little. She felt like her whole center of gravity was thrown off, this wasn’t like being bipedal in Rider form, it felt so weird. “Maybe I should see if I can talk to some of the locals, see if they’ll help…”
So Sea walked up to the nearest person she could find, staggering somewhat as she struggled to find her balance. Eventually, she opted to balance herself on a building.
“Hey, can you tell me where I am?” She asked the person. She was tall, muscular. Dark-skinned with her purple hair tied in twin pigtails.
Let it be said, Aria Dazzling had seen plenty of drunk party-goers. Hell, she’d been one more than a few times herself. So she was no stranger to questions like this. She knew a bouncer, someone originally from Los Angeles. Tempest Shadow, odd name really but she was intimidating enough. She’d learned all she knew about recognizing a drunkard when she saw one from her. It was clear that this woman in front of her was one. “...Lady, look, I’d suggest you go home. I’ll call you a cab.”
“Home? Yeah… I don’t think your cabs go that far…” Sea groaned.
Yep, she was definitely drunk, Aria decided. “I don’t know,” she drawled with a little dismissive wave of her hand. “Pay them enough of a fair, and they’ll go anywhere.”
“Trust me, I doubt they’ll go where I come from,” Sea replied with a shake of her head. If she told her the truth then she would sound crazy, but she didn’t know anything about this city to try and bluff her.
“Ha! You’re a strange one, aren’t you?” Aria laughed. “This city does get all kinds… Really now, if it’s not the birdbrain or Kougami, it’s people like this! Come on, I’ll see if I can whistle you a cab. ...Now, how do the New Yorkers do it again?”
“New Yorkers?” Sea asked confused. “Look, uh… really that’s not necessary. I’m just trying to figure out where I am and what I should do next. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m from… really far out of town, like, really far.”
“Tch, real subtle,” Khepri commented. “Might as well try and tell her you’re from Prance.”
“You shut up,” Sea snapped at him.
“...wow, you really are out of it, aren’t you?” Aria blinked. “New York? The Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps? The Capital of the World? The City So Nice, They Named It Twice? Any of these ringing any bells?” she asked snapping her fingers in front of Sea’s face.
“How are… never mind…” Sea groaned. There was no point in hiding it at this point, she already looked crazy and drunk. “I’ll tell you, but you’ll just think I’m crazy… crazier.”
“Trust me, already there lady,” Aria drawled crossing her arms. “Go on, out with it. Don’t have all day here.”
“I’m from another universe, I’m not even a… whatever you are, I’m a pony, I got sent here by a weird vortex portal thing and I don’t even know what’s going on,” Sea said simply. “I honestly have no idea how I got here or where I am… or what New York is.”
She waited for Aria to laugh. She didn’t.
“You know… that would actually explain a lot,” Aria admitted rubbing her chin in thought. “This portal thingy, it wasn’t near Canterlot High by any chance?”
Aria had been hoping this woman was either a very dedicated LARPer or just outright drunk, but this just created a whole ‘nother set of headaches. Perhaps needless to say, after two Adagios running about she wasn’t exactly a… fan of the pony world.
“Uh, no it deposited me right here,” Sea replied as she looked back behind her. “Why?”
“No reason…” Aria muttered feeling that headache returning. Why Lord, why she had to ask herself. Why was her family a magnet for this kinda thing?
“Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble, I just need to get back home, things aren’t going well over there…” She muttered and shook her head. “I’m guessing it won’t be that easy.”
“I dunno,” Aria muttered. “Not the kinda person you should be asking about magic. ...Oh for fuck’s sake, I really should have Sunset’s number on speedial. Might as well go for the next best one really. Hopefully Flutters isn’t too busy…”
Before she could go for her phone however, there came the sounds of screams. A trash can went flying into the side of a building as crowds scattered as this massive dark green stag beetle creature walked into view.
“Uva…” Aria sighed. “As if things couldn’t get anymore headache-inducing.”
Uva was not a happy Greeed, perhaps needless to say. He’d been absolutely humiliated this past week, first by that monk backhanding him. A mere human handing him his ass on a platter! Now, he’d been forced to help his archenemy against another Rider! And Ankh asking him to do so, at that! He needed an outlet. Perhaps terrorizing some humans would be a good thing. He’d be able to blow off some steam at any rate. Flexing his muscles, he let out a low growl as he spotted Aria. She’d been responsible for his humiliation earlier that week, it was time to repay the favor.
He threw a punch, only for it to be easily caught by Aria who grumbled: “So predictable.”
He was judo flipped into the ground, the Batta and Kuwagata medals flying into Aria’s hands. “Welp, that’s two more for Adagio…” the woman remarked pocketing them.
“I’m guessing this isn’t a new development,” Sea commented as she took a step back. “Khepri, can you handle a transformation?”
“Yeah, it’s sorta a regular thing,” Aria said as she roundhouse kicked Uva as he tried to get back up. “Why aren’t you running? Are you that stupid? I’m guessing pony magic doesn’t work here!”
“Tch, no problem,” Khepri replied. “As if you needed to ask!”
Sea reached into her jacket and took out a belt with a slot on it for something to slide onto it. It was black with several holes in it as she spun it around her waist, connecting the two pieces as Khepri flew into her hand.
“...Um, okay then,” Aria muttered blinking a bit in shock. “I’mma guessing it does work here…”
“Only one way to find out,” Sea said as she held the shifter up and slid it into her Driver. “Henshin!”
“WHAT IS BORN IN THE DARK MUST COME TO THE LIGHT!”
Energy flew off Khepri as it attached to her body. Purple and black armor formed over her with pink lines crossing it. Her head was covered with a helmet with a silver mouthpiece and large pink eyes with two curved horns sticking out of the top. She gripped her hands and two tonfas appeared in them as she swung them around and glared at Uva.
Uva blinked and then shouted: “Not another one!”
“I’m not going to let you do this… whatever you are…” Sea said as she ran forward and swung one of her tonfas at Uva. “You’re not going to hurt innocent… whatever you call the locals!”
“Oh, so you want to play hero, girlie?” Uva chittered. “Fine then, I think you can amuse me for a bit!”
He swung, the blades on his hands connecting with Sea’s tonfas. He forced her arms upwards before scoring a few slashes across Sea’s chest. He then kicked her through three solid pillars.
“Just as I thought,” Uva remarked. “You can play the hero, but you can’t back it up in actual combat!”
“Nope, just getting used to this…” Sea muttered as she straightened herself out. “You try going from four legs to two! And these… things aren’t helping any either!”
Uva just headbutted her, before grabbing Sea by the chest, and then he tossed her into the side of a building. He then began delivering a series of powerful right hooks to her helmet pressing his advantage. Throwing her to the ground, he grabbed her in a chokehold.
“Give up,” Uva chittered. “I don’t want to have to hurt you girlie.”
“Yeah, sure… and I’ve got a bridge in Manehattan you can buy…” Sea gasped out. With that, Khepri slid off the Driver and flew into Uva’s face.
“Gah!” Uva shouted as Khepri bit him. “You little bitch!”
He released Sea, giving her a chance to finally counterattack. Sea swung her fist around and hit him hard in the chest causing a few cell medals to plonk out. Uva staggered back, but quickly recovered, nailing Sea with a powerful uppercut, before forcing her back with green electricity blasts from his horns.
“So you’ve got some fight in you, after all!” Uva laughed. “Well, isn’t that just interesting!”
“I’ve dealt with worse than you,” Sea growled. She dug her foot in for a moment then sped forward at him, hitting him several times in quick succession with her tonfas.
Uva dodged the next few strikes before sending Sea staggering back with more electric blasts, and then picked up a dumpster and tossed it at her. Sea’s eyes widened, but she could do nothing about it as she was then sent flying through the wall of a building. “Clearly,” Uva deadpanned recovering his cells. “I can see that, yep!”
He then blocked or caught a few punches from Aria, kneeing her in the gut before shoving the Dazzling away. “Impudent girl…” he muttered as he looked at her laying sprawled out on the ground in pain. He quickly recovered his stolen Cores, absorbing them back into himself and his armor began to regenerate.
“Okay… that could have gone better…” Sea muttered as she groaned a little.
“So, is that all you got?” Uva commented slowly striding forwards into the wreckage of the office around him. “And I thought a Rider could do more damage!” he remarked crossing his arms, his horns crackling with green electricity.
“No… it’s not over!” Sea said as her back armor opened and insectoid wings appeared as she took off. She connected her two tonfas together and twisted them.
“TRANSFORM: SCARAB TONFA RIFLE!”
She flew up into the air as the weapons turned into a rifle and she leveled them at Uva and fired several shots at him. Uva ducked and covered behind whatever he could find, before he grabbed a desk and tossed it at Sea. She just punched right through it, and suddenly Uva was on his feet as he was hit again, and again, and again by pure lightning speed.
“...Damn you…” Uva muttered, seeing the blur of the mare turned woman dancing around the room. His eyes narrowed, and he let himself get hit, only to strike at the last moment with his blades. Sea was sent tumbling along the ground.
“Tch, you might want to do better, this is embarrassing,” Khepri commented.
“Shut up, I’m trying my best…” Sea grumbled as she got to her feet and stared Uva down. “Okay, so you’re a bit better than what I’m used to, I’ll give you that. But I’m not going to let you win!”
“You mean you’re not going to let him embarrass you like this, right?” Khepri snarked.
“SHUT UP YOU ANNOYING BUG!” Sea shouted before running straight at Uva even faster this time. She slammed hard into him with her fist, sending him flying through a window and out of the building from the impact.
“But I didn't say anything!” Uva whined as he tumbled along the street.
“NOT YOU!” Sea shouted, and as Uva picked himself back up off the ground Sea braced for another fight. Only for poor Uva to get rear-ended by the back of a car, the driver drifting just so that she’d hit him.
“...Picking on little girls now, Uva? I thought you had more common sense than that,” Adagio remarked slinging her belt around her waist. She blinked at the sight of Scarab before sighing. “...They’re like rabbits, aren’t they?”
“Sai, Unagi, Zou!” called the belt as Adagio transformed, spinning her whips around and allowing them to strike Uva, again and again, each time shocking him with electricity.
“You gotten the message yet?” Adagio asked holding up the Gorilla medal. “Leave. Now. I won’t be asking again.”
“Does that ever work?” Sea asked.
“Nope,” Adagio said making a mental note to talk with this one later. “So, plan B.”
“Sai, Gorilla, Zou: Sagohzo, Sa-Goh-Zo!” the driver shouted.
“Shall we?” Adagio asked looking to Sea.
“Let’s do this,” Sea said as she detached her rifle again to form the tonfas.
“You hit him high, I’ll hit him low!” Adagio said tossing one fist forwards and sending Uva rocketing skywards. The Kugawata and Kamakiri medals fell into an outstretched hand. “Here we go!”
Sea nodded before jumping skywards and hitting Uva with a powerful ax kick sending him flying to Celestia only knew where. She swore she could hear the thud on the other side of the city.
Canceling out her transformation, Adagio smiled. And no berserking to boot! She’d have to thank Takeru, preferably by dinner date.
Sea took a deep breath as she removed Khepri from her belt. The scarab rested on her shoulder. Clearly, that had taken a lot more energy than he had anticipated.
“Thanks for your help back there,” she said as she turned back to look at Adagio.
“Hey, it’s what I do,” Adagio said. “Riders should help other Riders out. Now, you are?”
“Sea Spray, or Kamen Rider Scarab I guess,” Sea replied with a shrug. “Always thought it was a bit on the nose, but if it works, it works.”
“Least people know who you are,” Adagio laughed rubbing the back of her head. “I’m still trying to figure out the meaning of OOOs. Well, I’m glad to have another Rider about, now that Birdbrain’s gone and taken off for Japan. Not her fault of course, but…” she sucked in a breath.
“Yeah… uh… I’m not sure how long I’ll be around,” Sea said as she rubbed the back of her head a little. “I’m not exactly from around here.”
Adagio picked up the hidden hint, noting her sister picking herself up in the background. “Ah well, sorry for your first greeting being Uva, all around resident pain in the neck. He’s persistent, I’ll give him that much…”
Then she heard the roaring cheering of the crowds, and noticed they weren’t just cheering her name like usual. “Seems someone’s famous,” Adagio commented eyeing the reporters. “Careful now, this is where it gets… difficult.”
Well, at least Vignette wasn’t here, Adagio commented to herself. She would have been the real trouble. That devil woman, she added. “So,” Adagio said turning to her new friend as she pulled Sea away from the crowds not sure on how the Rider handled fame and all the misfortune that came with it. “I assume you have a motorbike?”
Later when night had already set over the city, two other individuals were laying in an alleyway, one of them completely knocked out cold while the other one was just walking up. “Oh, my head,” Ocean muttered, rubbing her temple as if she had the worst hangover in human history. “What was that?”
As she finally opened her eyes again she quickly took note of the fact that they were no longer on the roof of the MRG-building, but instead in a rather filthy alley, Phoenix snorting next to her. With a resigned sigh, she started to shake him, taking a few seconds to get him back to the world of the waking. “Wake up you idiot!”
“Wha?” He groaned back as he was shaken awake and after a few solid seconds of shaking he actually pulled himself up enough to actually sit and not lie on the ground. “Hey, why are you waking me this early in the mor-” That was when he abruptly stopped, staring with wide-open eyes at Ocean. “Uhm, Ocean, you look… different…” he stammered.
She just looked at him when it hit her like a truck, Phoenix had lost all his color. “Ph… Phoenix, you… You are so pale…”
“Oh, son of a bitch, not this again,” he sighed, letting himself sink back onto the ground. “Why does this keep happening? What time is this now? The fourth? This is getting ridiculous.”
“Can’t disagree there,” she muttered back, pushing herself off the asphalt. “But we can’t just sit around here and turn our thumps like a bunch of idiots.” With that, she offered him a hand.
“Yeah, fair,” he returned as she pulled him up. “But what are we gonna do? Not like we know jack shit about this world.”
“True, but we might gain some information if we just ask around a bit. Maybe we find something that might help us like a map, or something like that.” With their plan set, they followed the light of the streetlamps that lead them to a street filled with shops and restaurants, one of which stood out to them in particular.
“Well, that’s convenient,” Phoenix chuckled as he pointed towards a pizza parlor named ‘Magnum Opus’. He was about to walk over to it when he noticed Ocean didn’t make any sign of following him.
“You’re sure this is a good idea? I mean, what if they freak out when they see you or me? In the last universe we were the MRG didn’t even exist. Everything could be completely different here,” she hesitantly said.
“Well, any better ideas? It’s at least something familiar. Worth a shot at least,” he shrugged and continued to cross the street, Ocean shaking her head one last time and following him.
They didn’t miss the newspaper on the street, reading:“Kamen Rider OOOs does it again…”
“Well, at least we are not alone...”
What had they gotten themselves into?
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
1,082 users online
1,952,279 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
9883232
Oh, yeah.
He.
It has stepped through the fifth wall.
I'm sure he will handle.
HATE!
9885707
No.
Summs it up pretty much.
Sure, totally not mistaking the restaurant from ZI-O with the AgitΩ
"Woz... Iwae!"
A lawsuit waiting to happen.
I still had a good amount of fun with it.
It's great!
To be fair, neither could it beat the Gammaizers.
9885726
"Rejoice! The Ultimate King of Time who reaches over space and time, and reigns over the past and future. His name is Ohma Zi-O! And he shall now put an end to these foolish mortals! After all, they are nothing to a King!"
"Wait... where did he come from? Security!"
...No, it's imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! hits with monk staff
I actually meant Tenkatoitsu, but... yeah. Now, about Grateful, I am concerned I should have switched it out for Boost given Grateful needs all fifteen souls to work properly, but if Nobunaga is at least functional and cooparative it should still work... right? At least that's my understanding.
9901457 I mean, that's generally bad for any Rider's final form unless its a really sucky one.
9901469
You get my point.