Derek stood at the end of a dock over looking a harbor with an old run down prison behind him. In his hand he held a cell phone pressed up to his ear.

“The rider is in custody my commander,” He said into the receiver.

“And of the devices?” Vainglory asked from the other end of the line.

“The one that the girl had in her possession has already been secured,” Derek returned, “I'm currently working on removing the other from the boy.”

“Currently?” Vainglory asked, “Why haven't you done that already?”

“Well, there's a slight complication it would seem,” Derek explained. “It appears that there has been a lock placed upon the driver, and it seems to only materialize when the boy feels threatened... and his will is a strong one.”

“The solution is simple then,” Vainglory proclaimed, “force him to remove the lock.”

“and if I can't?” Derek asked.

There was a slight pause before Vainglory returned with his response, “... break him.”

Derek smirked, “My thoughts exactly. I shall return shortly with both devices in hand, Fury out.” He closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket. “This is proving to be more interesting then I thought. Oh, how I wish you were here to see this. I find it sad you won't be able to witness the demise of your own bloodline... Kamen Rider Fata.”

Sampson cleared away the debris and rubble left by Fury's assault. Marcoh and Cole were clearing away some of the rubble in other places of the room while Sarah paced around the center of the room and Tara had stepped out for the time being.

“I figured that they would eventually show themselves,” Sampson said cracking open a filing cabinet that had been thrown to the ground, “but I never expected they would show up here in my own office.”

“I should have known something was up when the receptionist told us to wait outside,” Sarah proclaimed while biting her thumbnail. “Regardless of what she said, I should have just barged in anyway. What's worse is that now Madison is in danger and I have now idea where she is,” She sighed, “I hope she's alright... where ever she is.”

“She will be,” Cole said patting Sarah on the back, “After all, Alex is right there with her.”

“I know,” Sarah sighed before she sat down on a chair that rested against the wall, “To think that she'd do something like that for him. Never in a million years would I have ever guessed that she'd throw her life on the line in that way,” Sarah looked over to the whole in the wall left by Gorge. She sat back in her chair as a single tear ran down her face, “especially to save Tara of all people.”

“It wasn't to save Ms Archer or Alex,” Marcoh stated. “Ms Tyler simply wished to be of help in whatever way she could.” He placed a box of files in Sarah's lap, “As should you.”

“What am I supposed to do with these!” Sarah demanded.

“Sort them,” Marcoh returned. “If you're not going to help clear away the damage, you might as well do something useful.”

“Well why isn't Tara helping!” Sarah shouted in protest.

“Ms Archer is looking for leads as to where Fury ran off to with Alex and Ms Tyler,” Marcoh explained, “something that is far more important than worrying about things that we don't have any control over.”

“But I-...” Sarah hung her head, “I see your point... how do you want me to organize these then?”

“Just put them in order of when then were written, oldest to newest,” Marcoh instructed. Marcoh turned away from Sarah and went back to the rubble, “We'll sort them further once we deal with the situation at hand.”

Sarah let out a small sigh, “Man I hate him.”

“He's just doing his job,” Cole whispered, “Besides, he's not so bad once you get to know him. Like that Ashley friend of yours.”

Sarah smirked, “You know Cole, you are going to make a girl very happy one day.”

“Cole, can you help me lift this?” Sampson called out.

“Oh sure,” Cole returned getting up to his feet and walking over to Sampson, “We'll talk later.”

“Alright,” Sarah returned. “You can't say a bad thing about anyone can you Cole?” She thought to herself. a small smile appeared on her face, “It takes strength to do that... I envy you for it.”

Tara stood atop a tall building, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed shut. She took in a deep breath, then exhaled. She repeated this action in a sort of meditative state before eventually letting her arms down and opening her eyes. She then placed her hand over the wound on her right arm where Gorge had bit her.

“Kree...” She sighed, “why can't I hear you anymore?”

“Excuse me Miss!” A voice called, “It's awfully windy up here, wouldn't you rather come inside?”

Tara turned to see a middle aged man with silver hair clad in emerald green who held a large case in his left hand standing by the door. She stared at him for a while before he spoke again.

“Something wrong?” The man asked as he walked up to Tara.

Tara simply nodded.

“Would you like to tell me?” He asked again, “Maybe I can help.”

Tara looked to the ground and shook her head.

“Could you tell me your name at least then?” He asked. “Mine is Joel, Joel Revant.”

“It's... it's Thea...” Tara asked.

“That's not the name I'm looking for,” Joel said, “I don't want the name that was given to you, but the one you chose for yourself.”

Tara looked up to Joel silent.

Joel smirked, “I'll be honest, I never expected the famous Kamen Rider Gale to be so shy.”

Tara blinked, “How did you know that?”

“Yesterday while I was walking by this same building, I saw a bird,” Joel proclaimed, “and today, you. So tell me, where is that yellow friend of yours?”

“I...” Tara hung her head, “we were separated during a fight, and for some reason I can't see where he is at the moment.”

“I see,” Joel sighed, “Well, I then. Would you mind me offering my assistance?”

Tara turned back to Joel, “You would do that?”

“Of course,” Joel said with a smirk, “But first, you must do me a favor.” He then held out the case he held in his hands to Tara, “You must help me find someone with a heart strong enough to wield the power of the earth itself.”

“What do you have in there?” Tara asked.

“One of the four keys,” Joel said as he unlocked the case and lifted it open, “that hold the power to change this world.”

Alex and Madison sat chained to the pillar. Madison leaned against the stone of the pillar deep in thought while Alex squirmed frantically trying to get out of the chains.

“Hey,” Madison said turning slightly towards Alex, “you should conserve your energy for now, you'll need it for later.”

“What difference does it make?” Alex returned, “We're in trouble now and I'm sure we're going to be in even more shortly.”

“I still think you should calm down for the moment,” Madison said, “The others will be here soon, I'm sure of it. Then we'll-”

“I'll take care of Fury before they get here then!” Alex interrupted.

“What is with you?” Madison demanded, “You've been acting weird all day,” She sighed, “ever since Cole said...”

“You don't get it, do you?” Alex asked, “Have I ever told you about the Kamen Riders?... and about my folks?”

“You mentioned it once,” Madison returned, “but it wasn't in much detail.”

“Well, you see... I'm not the first of my family to be one,” Alex explained. “My mother was long before I even knew they existed... her name was Fata. Well her rider name was, her real name was Alice,” he sighed and looked up to the ceiling, “she must have been pretty good at it too, because I didn't even know how important they were until I met Marika... and of course, Tara.”

Madison smiled a bit, “Sounds like she was a nice lady, and a good mother.”

“Yeah, she was,” Alex returned. “How ever, ten years ago... she was killed by a dopant named Shredder, a fact I wasn't aware of until a while ago. All I knew was that she was gone, and with how young I was... I had no idea what to do, or how to feel.”

“I'm sorry,” Madison said looking down to the ground.

“You don't have to apologize,” Alex said, “You had nothing to do with it, it isn't your fault my childhood sucked... it's his.”

“His?” Madison asked raising an eyebrow, “Who is he?”

“... my father,” Alex balled his hand into a tight fist. “The day my mother died, he just took up and left. He didn't even care enough to say goodbye. I don't know if he's even alive, but to be honest I don't care... I hate him for what he did.”

“Oh...” Madison said quietly, “I'm so-”

“Hey,” Alex said turning back to Madison, “what did I say about apologizing for things you have no control over?”

Madison sighed, “To not to.”

“There we go,” Alex said with a smirk. “Besides, it's not the worst of it. You see, ever since the day I received my driver, I've started having these weird dreams... well, not so much dreams, more like nightmares.”

“What exactly happens in them?” Madison asked.

“It's always the same one,” Alex stated, “Four riders in a ruined city. By the end, they all get killed fighting by someone that I can never make out... except for a large x mark on their armor.”

“A large x...” Madison thought for a moment, “you mean like-”

“Yes,” Alex interrupted, “exactly like the one on mine.”

“Have you told anyone else about this?” Madison asked.

“No,” Alex returned, “I thought it was just something my imagination cooked up, but ever since Tara showed up I began thinking that it wasn't just a dream... that somehow it's a warning of something that has yet to pass.”

“Well, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” Madison said, “After all, there's only one of those riders from your dream that has shown up so I'd say that you have plenty of time before that battle comes around.”

“That's just it though,” Alex sighed, “the way Cole was talking about becoming a rider, it worried me.”

“Why would it worry you if Cole became a rider?” Madison asked, “Wouldn't it be better if you had more people to help you fight?”

“It would... but not if it's Cole,” Alex stated. “I owe him enough as it is. I need to be able to stand on my own two feet... otherwise, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.”

“Aw, how touching,” A voice called out. Alex and Madison to the source of the voice to see Derek standing at the end of the room, “Oh, don't mind me. Please, continue with your little sob story.”

“Fury!” Alex shouted, “Let us go already!”

“Oh, so scary,” Derek said with a light chuckle, “Though I'm curious what do you plan to do if I don't?”

“I'll kill you!” Alex growled.

Derek tapped his foot, then checked the watch he wore on his wrist, “...Would you be doing that now by any chance?” Alex glared at him. “Oh well, no matter,” he said reaching into his back pocket and pulling out Alex's six gaia memories along with Tara's gale memory and presenting them to Alex and Madison, “Even if you could escape, it's not like you would get very far without these.”

“Damn it Fury!” Alex shouted, “What do you want from us?”

“Didn't I tell you already? All that I seek is that device you wear around your waist,” Derek said pointing to Alex “Once you hand it over, I'll gladly release you and your pretty little girlfriend.”

“No way in hell,” Alex returned.

“Well, I must say I'm disappointed,” Derek snapped his fingers, “Gorge.”

At the snap of his fingers, Gorge emerged from the shadows and approached Madison and undoing her shackles, leaving Alex chained to the pillar. Gorge then grabbed Madison by her arm.

“Let go off me!” Madison shouted as she was pulled her to her feet.

“I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this,” Derek proclaimed as Gorge dragged Madison to the other side of the room, “but unfortunately you leave me no choice.”

“Wait, what are you doing!” Alex cried out.

Derek walked over to a cell covered by a curtain, “If you won't remove the lock on your driver willing,” he said grabbing one end of the curtain, “then maybe you will when the life of someone you love is on the line.” Derek pulled down the curtain revealing several large black furred beasts with blood red eyes growling viciously with foam coming out of their mouths. “Put her in the cell next to this one.” Derek instructed to Gorge.

Gorge growled as he pulled open the door of the cell next to the one with the rabid beasts and pushed Madison into slamming the door and locking it behind her. The beasts clawed at the bars that divided the two cells while Madison cowered in the corner on the other end of the cell she was placed in.

“I'd say she's got a good hour or so before they rip through those bars,” Derek said turning over to Alex, “and all you need to do in order to save her is remove the lock and hand over that driver... or just let her die, the choice is yours. In fact, since I'm feeling merciful today...” He took three of the gaia memories from his hand and threw them to the ground just out of Alex's reach, “I'll give you three memories just so you have a bit of a fighting chance.”

Alex looked over to Madison in the cell and gritted his teeth, “Damn you Fury...”

“Hey, the choice was yours kid,” Derek said as he walked out of the room, “you're the one that got her involved in this ordeal after all.”


Cole, Marcoh, Sampson and Sarah stood around Sampson's desk that had several files spread out across the scorched surface.

“Alright,” Marcoh said taking in a deep breath, “based on what we have gathered thus far with our previous encounters with the past dopants I think we can easily say that Fury is no different. All we need to do is find him and he'll be done just like the rest.”

“Um, no disrespect Marcoh but...” Sarah spoke up, “I'm pretty sure the other dopants didn't charge into a police station, use another to blow a hole in the wall and run off with a rider and his girlfriend leaving another one powerless!” She sighed, “Besides, something about him was different. He seemed to be more in control then the others, if we simply hunt him down and rush in like we did with the others I doubt it would turn out successful. He's planning something... I can feel it.”

“We have thought about this,” Sampson stated, “and we've decided that locating them has top priority, then we'll figure out the rest.”

“GAH! You guys don't get it do you?” Sarah shouted, “Even if we find them, how exactly would we get them back from Fury? I'm not too sure you realized this but only a rider can defeat a dopant, especially a dopant like Fury.”

“We are fully aware of that Ms Gardner,” Marcoh returned. “We have considered every possible means of action already. However the truth of the matter is that we are keepers of the peace, not soldiers. Besides, what stakes do you have in this matter? You're not an officer, you're not even a rider yourself. So if you aren't going to add any useful aid, then leave.”

“Marcoh!” Sampson shouted, “Do forgive him Ms Gardner he's only-”

“No, I get it. After all I'm not an idiot,” Sarah said as she marched over to the doorway and disappearing around the corner, “I'll just go. I can find them on my own.”

Cole sighed, “I'll go get her,” He said before running out what was left of the door after her.

Sarah stormed out the front door of the station slamming it behind her. She then proceeded down the street without giving a second glance over to the station.

“Sarah wait,” Cole said as he dashed out of the station after her.

Sarah clenched her fists as tight as she could, “Leave me alone Cole,”

“Why, so you can just run off and get yourself killed?” Cole asked grabbing Sarah by her arm. “Look, I know that you're worried but you need to hold yourself together. What would Madison think if she saw you like this, you think she would be happy?”

“No... she wouldn't,” Sarah said bowing her head down, “I guess I must look pretty pathetic right now, don't I?”

“You're not pathetic, it just means you're human,” Cole proclaimed. “Now, will you come back and help us figure something out?”

Sarah nodded, “but, when we do find them... how are we going to beat Fury?”

“Did someone call for plot convenience?” A voice called out.

The two turned to see Tara standing just behind them with a metal case in her hands.

“Tara,” Sarah said, “Where have you been?”

Tara's regular smirk appeared on her face, “In a meeting with Inertia.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow, “A meeting with slacking off?”

“Eh, I'll explain later,” Tara said handing Sarah the case, “We've got a couple of princesses to save.”

“That's true,” Cole said, “but we still don't know where to look.”

Tara turned to Cole and smirked, “You just leave that to me big guy.”

Cole, Sarah and Tara marched back into Samspon's office. Sarah walked up to Sampson's desk and placed the case onto it.

“Gentlemen,” Sarah said with a smirk, “we have a plan.”

“That would be?” Marcoh asked.

“Fury hit us on our home field,” Sarah said as she opened up the case, “It's generally believed that the team with the homefield will win the match. However, if it's a grudge match and the team is truly united it doesn't matter which team's field it is. So, in terms of us and Fury...” She lifted up the lid of the case and pulled out a green gaia memory marked with an R, “We take the battle to him.”

“I take it you found out where he's hiding?” Sampson asked.

“You got it buster,” Tara stated. “There's an abandoned prison on an island just outside the harbor. Apparently it was used as some sort of experimentation facility. Anyway, that's where that Fury has Kree, Superstar and Maddy Paddy.”

“You sure about this?” Sampson asked, “Where did you learn about this?”

Tara turned to Sampson with a smirk, “Some old pervert told me.”

Alex itched his foot along the ground in attempt to grab one of the three gaia memories that Fury threw on the floor. Kree was chirping frantically in a cage behind him and Madison still faced the unrelenting growls of the beasts in the cell on the other of the bars.

As Kree continued to flutter rapidly around in his small cage Gorge walked over to it a smacked it as if to demand Kree's silence, but Kree did not abide by Gorge's wishes. Gorge growled at Kree as he picked up the cage and smacked it around. Suddenly, Kree fired two laser shots from his eyes at Gorge. Gorge dropped Kree's cage to ground and smashed it with his foot cracking the cage open as Kree flew out of the whole in the cage and up into the air disappearing from sight.

“Must you be so destructive Gorge?” Fury asked as he emerged from the shadows.

Alex let out a small chuckle, Fury turning to face him. “What's with the laughter?”

“Oh, nothing,” Alex said turning back to Fury with a smirk on his face, “I just realized that your pet is just as mindless as the last time I fought him. I find it kind of funny, that's all.”

“Insolent child,” Fury said grabbing Alex by his neck, “do you wish for me to kill you?”

“Might as well,” Alex said keeping the smirk on his face as a single tear ran down his face, “I've already lost.”

“Well then,” Fury raised his fist to the air in line with Alex's face as a ball of energy began to form in his hand, “if you insist.”

“Stand down Maverick!” A voice called out.

Fury turned around to see Marcoh standing a few feet behind him with a gun aimed at him.

“Marcoh,” Fury snarled, “You came here alone?”

“What makes you think I did?” Marcoh said looking over to the cell where Madison had been placed.

Fury looked over to the same cell to see Cole and Tara breaking the cell open and pulling Madison out locking it behind them.

“You alright?” Cole asked.

“So that's how you want to play is it?” Fury growled releasing his grip on Alex's neck and rising to his feet. “What honor is there in attack an enemy when their back is turned?”

“Oh, you mean like what you did?” Marcoh retorted. He gestured behind him, “do your thing.”

“Fury,” Sarah exclaimed as she stepped out from behind Marcoh, “your rampage has gone on long enough,” she held out the green gaia memory along with a device that had the same shape as Alex's driver only with a single slot and a large lever hanging off the right side of it, “and it will end here.”

Alex's eye's widened, “A driver?”

“Will it now?” Fury asked.

Sarah placed the memory into the slot on the top of the driver and brought it to her waist. However, nothing seemed to happen.

“What?” Sarah said as she repeatedly pulled the driver away from her and placed it back to her waist.

Fury smirked under the shadow of his hood. The eye's on his shoulder armor opened wide as an explosion went off just in between Sarah and Marcoh.

Fury then flashed over to Sarah swiping the device from her hand and throwing her across the room, her back slamming against a steel bar.

“Sarah!” Madison shouted as she ran over to her friend on the ground, “Are you alright?”

“I'm fine damn it!” She said gritting her teeth as she attempted to make her way to her feet. Her arm then slid out from under her forcing her back down to the ground, “GAH!” She cried out in agony as she hit the ground.

“Well dear child, it seems that despite your motives you were unable to get this to work,” Fury said holding the driver in his hand, “No matter, it's not like you would have been able to beat me with anyway. It's better off as trash then in your hands.”

As the eyes on Fury's armor began to open, Kree descended from the ceiling and snatched the driver from Fury.

“Damn bird!” Fury shouted snatching at Kree, “Give that back!”

Sarah reached out her arm as Kree flew over to her but then the bird took a sharp turn and flew over to Cole dropping the driver into his hands before perching on Tara's shoulder.

“Oh yeah,” Tara said looking at the driver, “That old man said that it would take someone with a strong heart to wield it.” She looked up to Cole, “I guess Kree has decided that that strong heart belongs to you big guy.”

“Cole!” Sarah shouted. Cole then turned to Sarah who looked him dead in the eye, “... kick his ass!”

Cole nodded back to Sarah before turning to Tara, “go free Alex.”

“Right, got it!” Tara shouted running off to where Alex sat chained to the pillar.

“Free them if you wish,” Fury cackled, “You're all going to die here anyway.”

Cole pressed the memory back in the driver as a charge up sound began to erupt from it, “We'll see about that.” He placed the driver onto his waist as two belt straps shot out of the sides and connected at the back securing it in place. Cole then grabbed the lever on the right hand side of the driver with his left. “Tension!” He shouted as he pulled the lever over to the left hand side.

“Rock!” The driver shouted as bits of stone rose up from the ground and engulfed him transforming into a green suit of armor with a silver trim and a bright green visor on his helmet.

“Whoa,” Cole said in awe of his new form, “Alright, this is official bad ass.”

“You look just like a true green ranger cole!” Madison shouted.

Sarah slapped Madison on the head, “Stop wasting time and get that guy!”

“Right, I know,” Cole said turning back to Fury and cracking his knuckles, “Just savoring the moment is all.”

“By all means, savor it all you wish,” Fury said with a small gesturing of his hand, “because it will be your last.”

The eyes on Fury's armour opened wide as another explosion went off by Cole, Cole however jumped out of the way and dashed over to Fury punching him in the area his face would normally be.

“Nice trick you got there,” Cole said.

“Trust me,” Fury cackled, “you haven't seen anything yet.”

In less time than it took to blink, Fury flash out of sight leaving Cole on edge. Fury then reappeared behind Cole and kicked him down to the ground, causing a small handle to flipped out from Cole's shoulder armour. Cole jumped up to his feet and grabbed the handle.

“What'cha got there boy?” Fury asked.

“I have no idea,” Cole said tightening his grip on it, “but it better be something useful.” Cole ripped off the handle from his shoulder causing a huge chunk of his armor to detach before it began to shift around becoming a giant hammer with a blade on the end of it. Cole held the hammer in both his hands, “Well... crap damn.”

“Nice toy you got there,” Fury said, “let's see if it's more than just for show.”

“Gladly,” Cole said tightening his grip on his hammer and charging towards fury.

Cole smacked Fury with his hammer throwing him to the ground as four gaia memories flew off of him and into the air. Cole caught them in his hand and inspected them. “Runner, Kicker, Diver and Gale.”

“Cole,” Alex shouted as he ran up to Cole and hugged him tightly, Tara walking up just behind him.

“Easy there dude,” Cole said patting Alex on the head, “we're not out of the woods yet.”

“You're right,” Alex said breaking away from Cole.

“By the way,” Cole threw Alex the four memories in his hand, “You're probably going to need these.”

Alex caught the memories in his hands, “Right,” he then handed Tara back her Gale memory, “here Tar-”

Tara snatched the memory from Alex before he could finish speaking, “Yeah, thanks,” She said as Kree flew down onto her wrist and transformed into her driver as she placed her gale memory into the slot in Kree's head, “Now let's kill this son of a bitch!”

“That's more like it,” Alex said as he placed his Star and Runner memories into their respective slots on his driver.

“Henshin!” Alex and Tara shouted as the switched their drivers into their activation position.

“Gale! Star! Runner!” Their drivers shouted as their respective armor formed around them.

“Fury!” The three riders shouted pointing to Fury, “Your rampage, ends here!”

Fury snapped his fingers as a portal opened up behind him, “Not today children.” The eyes on his shoulder armor opened up one last time as an explosion went off by the prison cell that contained the rabid beasts. “I'm afraid that this is where we part was. But don't worry, I shall leave you with a parting gift.” He jumped into the portal as Cheshire jumped into his arms, “we'll meet again.”

As the portal closed, the three black beasts gathered in a line across from the three riders.

“Marcoh!” Alex shouted, “Get Sarah and Madison out of here!”

“Right, I've got it,” Marcoh shouted back helping up Sarah with Madison acting as support.

“Ah!” Sarah shouted.

“You alright?” Madison asked.

“I'm fine,” Sarah returned. “Alex! You three be careful alright?”

“We will,” Alex nodded, “Now get out of here!” He instructed as Marcoh assisted Sarah and Madison out of the front entrance of the prison disappearing behind a corner.

“Three dopants, and three of us,” Tara sighed, “any ideas?”

“Divide and conquer,” Alex instructed, “take 'em out one on one.”

Tara smirked, “my thoughts exactly.”

The three black beasts charged towards the riders, Tara kicking one off to the side and Cole smacking another with his hammer, leaving Alex with one which he punched directly in the face knocking it to the ground. The three riders engaged in a brawl with their respective dopant, each one having the upper hand in their fight. Before too long, they back them all into a single corner.

“Let's finish this,” Alex instructed removing his Star memory from his driver, Tara and Cole following suit.

Alex placed his Star memory into his maximum drive slot as Tara pulled out her slicer and placed her memory into the hilt.

“Star, Maximum Drive! Gale, Maximum Drive!” Their memories shouted as a charge up sound erupted from both.

“Um... where do I put this thing?” Cole asked looking for a slot on both his weapon and his driver. After a few moments of looking, he found a slot at the top of the head of his hammer, “Oh, here it is!” He said as he placed the memory into the slot.

“Rock, Maximum Drive!” His memory shouted as the blade on the end of his hammer flipped around to the front.

“This thing is an axe!” Cole shouted, “Awesome!”

At that moment, Cole and Tara pulled on the triggers of their weapons while Alex hit the button on his Maximum drive slot.

“Triple Maximum!” The three riders shouted as Tara threw her slicer at the beasts and Cole swung his axe firing off a wave of energy.

“Xtreme Memory Storm!” Alex shouted as he leapt into the air and shot back down in a kicking pose towards the dopants as all three finishers hit their marks engulfing the beasts in a cloud of smoke and fire.

As the smoke cleared, three stray dogs ran out of it and towards the entrance of the prison, the three riders gawking in confusion as they ran off.

The three pulled their memories from their drivers and reverted back to their civilian forms.

“So,” Cole said swinging his arm around Alex, “I make a pretty good rider, don't I?”

“Uh... yeah, I guess,” Alex returned.

“Okay, what's up?” Cole asked, “Do you have a problem with me being able to help you out now?”

“No,” Alex said looking away from Cole, “it's just that-”

“Guys!” Madison shouted interrupting Alex, “Come quick!”

“What's wrong?” Tara asked.

“It's Sarah!” Madison explained, “She's hurt!”

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

Sarah is taken to the hospital to get her injury looked at while Fury plans a counter attack against the riders.

Will Sarah be alright?

and how will Fury strike back?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 16: Aftershock.

“Worthless!” Vainglory shouted throwing Derek to the ground, “You Fury, of all people, should know that I do not tolerate failure.”

“Yes, I am aware of that my lord,” Derek returned, “You must understand tha-”

“Do you think I am a fool Fury?” Vainglory said pulling out a remote control from his back pocket, “I am well aware of your plotting to usurp me.”

“Usurp you my dear commander? I would never do such a thing,” Derek proclaimed as a bead of sweat ran down his face, “I live to serve only you-”

“Do you now?” Vainglory asked before hitting a button on the remote causing a wall of monitors to switch on behind him with the image of Derek in Vainglory's main chamber.

“You're rather fond of me aren't you Cheshire?” asked the recording of Derek on screen, “Even more so than Spite or Vainglory?” Derek smirked, “I knew you were.” He stood up from Vainglory's throne, “and your loyalty will soon be rewarded,” he said as he waltzed with the cat around the room, “once we dethrone the current lord. Can't you see it Cheshire? First Inertia, then Vainglory and now... Lord Fury. The sky will soon be dyed a crimson red, in a storm of furious anger. It shall mark the end of Kamen Rider... and you shall bow before me my lord.”

Vainglory then switched off the monitor, “Anything else you'd like to add to that Fury?”

“My lord, I assure you I merely was planning a head in the chance of something happened to you,” Derek stated, “after all, someone would need to take over in your stead.”

“After you eliminated me yourself?” Vainglory snarled back as he grabbed hold of Derek and lifted him to his feet by his neck, “Not only did you fail me, but you allowed the birth of yet another one of those riders. I really should kill you you know.” he tightened his grip around Derek's throat, “Only now I'm torn. Should I feed you to Gorge... or should I just end your worthless existence now?”

“Please my lord,” Fury said gasping for air, “think about this for a moment... you can't just kill me.”

“Give me a good reason why I shouldn't,” Vainglory demanded.

“I am the one in charge of gaia memory manufacturing. You get rid of me, you get rid of your power,” Fury proclaimed, “besides, I'm the only one that has seen the riders faces... I can get rid of them if you want, just give me one more chance.”

Vainglory released Derek from his grasp letting him fall to the floor. “I shall give you one final chance,” Vainglory stated, “Bring me the rider's head... or I shall have yours.”

“Thank you my lord,” Fury said bowing to his commander, “you shall not regret this.”

Sarah lay across a hospital bed while Alex, Cole and Madison sat next to each other on the other side of the room. Alex held onto Madison's hand and rabidly tapped her foot against the floor while biting down on her lip. Tara paced around the room beginning to lose patience while Marcoh talked to someone on his cell phone.

“Alright, I'll tell them,” Marcoh said before hanging up the phone and walking over to Alex, Cole and Madison while Tara hovered around him. He took in a deep breath then spoke, “Sampson is overseeing the repairs on the station, so he won't be able to make it down here at the moment. But...” Marcoh turned to Sarah “he wishes you the best Ms Gardner and hopes you make a quick recovery.”

“Well tell him I said thanks Marcoh,” Sarah said with a grin, “Oh... and sorry for how I acted before.”

“There's no need for you to apologize,” Marcoh stated, “Your friends were in danger, it was only natural for you to be concerned. All that matters is that we all came out of it alright.” A small grin then appeared on Marcoh's face, “Now, all we need to do now is sit back and hope for your recovery.”

“Let's just hope that hope will be enough eh?” Tara said trying to force her usual smirk.

Sarah glared at Tara, “Shut up.”

At that moment a doctor in a long white coat walked through the door at the front of the room and approached Sarah, everyone remained silent.

The doctor sighed, “I don't know how to tell you this Ms Gardner but... I'm afraid that your injuries are more serious than we initially thought.”

“Okay...” Sarah returned, “How serious?”

The doctor took in a deep breath and then exhaled, “It appears that there has been a major fracture in your spinal column. It has left you mostly paralyzed from the waist down.”

“Oh...” Sarah said quietly.

“But, she'll get better... right?” Madison asked.

“I'm afraid that seems highly unlikely,” The doctor sighed, “For someone to recover completely from an injury like this would take nothing short of a miracle... I'm sorry.”

“I see...” Sarah said, “Well, thanks for being honest with me. It's good to know what exactly is going on... even the bad stuff.”

“Well then, I believe that's everything then,” the doctor said making his way to the door, “I'll leave you for the time being.”

“Okay,” Sarah said as the door closed behind the doctor.

“Um... Marcoh?” Sarah asked turning over to the officer, “Could I talk to Alex and Madison for a moment?”

“Alright,” Marcoh returned, “You two, come with me.”

“Aw, why do we have to go?” Tara whined.

“Just do it Tara,” Cole said pulling her towards the door. his way towards the door.

“Kay fine, but only because it's you you got that!” Tara exclaimed following Cole out the door.

“You just take it easy,” Cole said turning back for a moment, “alright Sarah?”

Sarah smiled, “Alright, thanks Cole.”

“Don't mention it,” Cole said as the two followed Marcoh out the door, “Would you just keep it down already!”

“Kay!” Tara shouted over the click of the door closing.

“What's her problem?” Sarah asked.

Madison shrugged, “She digs dirt?”

Sarah laughed a bit, “That's certainly one way to put it.”

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Alex asked getting right to the point.

“Oh yeah,” Sarah said, “I wanted to ask how you two were holding up.”

“We're fine,” Alex stated, “though I'd be lying if I said we weren't a little bit shaken from the whole Fury ordeal.”

“Oh come on,” Sarah sighed, “you know that's not what I mean.”

Alex and Madison tilted their heads to the side, “Huh?”

“I'm talking about emotionally,” Sarah explained, “You two still madly in love with one another?”

Madison's face turned a bright red, she then began to scratch the back of her neck, “Well... I'm not sure if madly would be how I would describe but... but uh, I mean what I mean is-”

“Is that really important right now?” Alex asked. “Fury is still out there somewhere and we have no way of knowing when he'll strike back. We were lucky to make it out of that prison alive.”

“Besides,” Madison cut in, “what about that competition you have coming up?”

“I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed,” Sarah said, “with the way my leg is currently, there's no way I could run in race like that.” A small grin then appeared on her face, “This is just a minor set back, there's always next year. You just wait. I'll be up and running in no time, then all those big city runners will wish they ran a different race!”

“It's good to see that your ego wasn't injured,” Alex said snarkingly.

“Well of course it wasn't,” Sarah returned, “If I let something as small as this get me down I don't think I'd ever be able to get back up again.” Sarah stretched her arms into the air, “But that's enough about that. Now then, I doubt you two want to spend such a lovely day stuck inside a dull hospital all day now do you?”

“Are you sure?” Madison asked.

“Of course,” Sarah said with a smile, “I need to get some rest anyway, so you two run along and enjoy yourselves okay.”

“Alright, if that's what you want,” Alex said turning to the door, “Madison, you coming?”

“Okay,” Madison returned, “You just try and get some rest, alright Sarah?”

Sarah nodded, “I will.”

“I'll come by to check up on you later,” Madison said as she and Alex walked out the door while Sarah waved them goodbye with a smile on her face.

As soon as the door closed behind Alex and Madison, Sarah slowly lowered her arm as the look on her face changed from that of a chipper grin to more sombre expression.

“I guess she's just fine on her own,” Sarah said as a single tear ran down her cheek. She raised her fist into the air and smacked it against the metal frame of her bed. She then grabbed her fist and held it with her other hand “Seems all I'm able to do is hurt myself... isn't it?”

“Yes it appears so,” A voice called out as the door to Sarah’s room opened, “Though of course that can be changed... if you want it to.”

Alex and Madison walked down the long hallway of the hospital. Alex held his head up high continuing forward while Madison moved along slowly looking towards the ground.

“You alright?” Alex asked.

“Huh?” Madison jumped a bit, “Oh... yeah. I'm just a little shaken up a bit, I guess.”

“Hey, don't worry okay,” Alex said wrapping his arm around Madison. “Everything is going to be alright. I'll make sure of that.”

Madison smiled a bit, “Thanks for that.” She then turned to face Alex, “Just out of curiousity, do you still have that replica set I gave you? The Homura one?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Alex returned, “It was a double that you had after all.”

“That's the thing though...” Madison said scratching the back of her neck, “it wasn't.”

“Oh...” Alex said, “Do you want it back?”

“No no no, that's not it at all,” Madison explained, “I gave it to you as a gift. I only said I had doubles to make it less... awkward.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “How was it awkward?”

“Well...” Madison said beginning to blush, “I uh, what I mean is-”

“MAN, THE ROMANTIC TENSION BETWEEN YOU TWO SUCKS!” Tara shouted popping out in front of them from seemingly no where. “Seriously, if this were a romance novel I'd throw it out, bury it in a landfill and then burn it to the ground.”

“How exactly do you burn a landfill to the ground?” Alex asked.

“That doesn't matter,” Tara returned, “I mean honestly, you two need to show a bit more of the vavavoo. Show a bit more passion, oh I know! You two need to make out, like right now!”

“We can't do that right now!” Madison shouted.

Tara blinked, “Oh, do you need me to show you how it's done again?”

Madison's face then turn a bright red, “NO WAY IN HELL!”

“What to mean by again?” Alex asked.

“Oh, that's simple,” Tara said, “You see when-”

Madison placed her left hand over Tara's mouth and held it closed, “NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!” Madison then felt something slimy slither across the palm of her left hand, “AH!” She said pulling her hand back which was now covered in Tara's saliva, “THAT'S JUST DISGUSTING!”

“Anyway, as we were saying,” Tara said holding Madison back, “Maddy Paddy was a little nervous about how eventually she was going to kiss you, so we gave her a few pointers of how to do correctly. Since she was able to confess her love to you after that we figured it did the trick.”

Madison's jaw dropped, “I-I... abadegeh.”

“We're actually surprised to see that she hasn't put any of what we taught her to use as of yet,” Tara stated, “It's kind of worrying us to be honest.”

Madison continued to blink uncontrollably as her jaw hung open, “... abadegeh.”

“Oh my,” Tara said looking over to Madison with her usual smirk on her face, “It appears we may have broken her again, didn't we?”

“What kind of 'pointers' did you give her anyway?” Alex asked.

“It was only a quick peck on the lips,” Tara said, “Besides we were within the three second rule, and you two weren't a thing yet so there wasn't any lines crossed.”

“Uh huh,” Alex said raising an eyebrow, “You really don't know anything about personal space, do you?”

Tara blinked, “Personal what now?”

“That's what I thought,” Alex returned, “We're going to have to work on that.”

“As my mother once said, 'Don't fix what's already broken',” Tara said with a smirk.

“I'm going to need to meet your mother,” Alex returned before walking over to Madison and grabbing her the arm and pulling her down the hall, “Come on Madison, let's go.”

Madison fell to her side as she was dragged along the hallway, “... abadegeh.”

“Oh, I'll go with you!” Tara shouted, “Cole wants us to help him with his new rider powers so we'll have to get there soon!”

“Wait…” Alex said coming to a halt, “What did you say?”

A few moments later Alex and Madison quickly found themselves on the roof of Tara's favorite building, the same one that she ran into Joel on. Cole stood in the center while Tara and Kree hovered around him.

“HEEENSHIN!” Cole shouted waving his arm around in the air before placing his Gaia Memory into his driver.

“No no no! You've got it all wrong!” Tara shouted back at him. She jumped up a struck a wide stance next to Cole, “You've got to do with emotion, your stance needs to be strong while your voice must be stronger.”

“Why are we here again?” Madison whispered to Alex.

“To keep on eye on them,” Alex whispered back, “Just on the off chance Tara tries to pull something.”

“Why do I need to do all this?” Cole asked letting out a big sigh.

“Because!” Tara said smacking him over the head, “Your presence in battle is all in the cry of 'henshin!' It's something that you must take one hundred percent seriously or else the enemy won't take you one hundred percent seriously.”

“You have to be kidding,” Cole said rolling his eyes, “What exactly does henshin even mean anyway?”

“TRANSFORM!” Tara shouted, “When you shout it in the midst of battle, it's like a declaration of being transformed and reborn under the name of the mask that you dawn whenever you enter a fight. It's a philosophy that all Kamen Riders hold close to their hearts. To not uphold by would be a complete disgrace to the legacy of the mask!”

“This coming from experience I take it?” Cole asked.

“Well...” Tara said looking off to one side, “Superstar, back me up here!”

“Heck if I know,” Alex shrugged, “I've only fought along side two veteran riders and neither one of them said anything about that.”

“But they didn't not say it did they?” Tara returned.

“Sorry, I was a bit too busy to ask at the time,” Alex said as his eye twitched a bit.

“See, so it must be true!” Tara shouted.

“I would really be interested in learning how that girl thinks,” Alex whispered to Madison.

“I think that's something we'd all like to know,” Madison whispered back. “Though I'd be a little terrified to find out to be honest.”

Alex laughed a bit, “Good point.”

“Great! That's perfect!” Tara shouted jumping up in the air, “Now once more from the top!”

“I thought this was going to be a fighting lesson.” Cole said.

Tara raised an eyebrow, “This is a fighting lesson.”

Cole sighed, “Yes, but I was expecting something that was a bit more active if you know what I mean.”

Tara blinked, “Oooh, I see what you mean.” She snapped her fingers as Kree flew over and wrapped around her wrist transforming into Tara's driver as a devilish smirk emerged on Tara's face, “If it's a sparing match you want, then it's a sparing match you'll get.”

She whipped out her Gale memory and slammed it into her driver switching it over to it's activation position, “Gale!” Tara's driver shouted as a tornado swarmed around her quickly becoming her armor.

“Alright, let's set a few ground rules,” Tara said cracking her knuckles, “no weapons and no maximum drives, you got that.”

Cole's jaw dropped, “You've gotta be kidding me.”

Tara turned to Alex and Madison, “This would be a good time for the none riders to go the bathroom... this could get ugly.”

“Tara!” Alex growled.

“No, it's alright,” Madison said with a grin picking up her bag, “I had to leave soon anyway.”

“You sure?” Alex asked.

“Yeah,” Madison nodded, “I have some work I need to finish for tomorrow plus I was thinking of picking something up for Sarah as a get well soon present.”

“Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then,” Alex said waving farewell to Madison as she walked towards the door leading to the stairs off of the room.

“Okay, see you later,” Madison said with a smile before closing the door behind her.

Alex turned back to see Tara glaring at him tapping her foot, “... What?”

“Not even a goodbye kiss? What kind of boyfriend are you?” Tara sighed.

“Why the hell do you care so much about what Madison and I do as a couple anyway?” Alex demanded.

“Well somebody has to,” Tara shrugged. She turned back to Cole, “Now then my young padawan, declare this sparing match... BEGUN!”

The next day, Alex sat on the bench of the boy's change room tying up the laces of his running shoes. After a quick tug on both of them he got up and proceeded out the door to see Madison waiting for him just outside. The two exchange a quick grin at the sight of one another before making their way to the track behind the school.

“So, you've chosen to continue this morning run thing?” Madison asked.

“Yeah,” Alex returned, “Don't want Sarah to think that her efforts went to waste while she's the hospital. Plus I find it hard to break routine.”

“That's good,” Madison said with a small grin, “I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that.”

Alex and Madison walked up the small hill to the track. As Alex looked over to the field he came to a halt as his eyes widened.

“Something wrong?” Madison asked.

Alex stood silent looking forward to the track as Madison looked over to where Alex froze his gaze. Madison dropped her bag to the ground, for there, stretching out her legs preparing for a sprint... was Sarah fully dressed in her track uniform.

“...I-Impossible,” Alex whispered.

Sarah turned her head up as Alex and Madison entered her line of sight, her expression then changed from that of preparation to that of horror and uneasiness, like one a person gets when they discover a dead rat behind their kitchen sink.

“Unbelievable!” Madison cried out as she dashed over to Sarah, “Sarah, you're alright!”

As Madison ran over to her, Sarah jumped to her feet and took off in the other direction running out the gates on the other side of the track.

“Hey wait!” Madison shouted before quickly running out of breath, “Where are you... going?” Alex walked up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, “What's up with her today?”

Alex looked over to the gate that Sarah just ran out of and took in a deep breath before exhaling, “We're going to find out.”

Sarah ran out the gate and turned a sharp corner before resting on the trunk of a tree in order to catch her breath.

“Well then,” A voice called out, “I see everything is working out smoothly.”

“What are you doing here...” Sarah asked turning around to see Derek standing behind her, “Fury?”

“I'm only checking in to see how that memory of yours is working out,” Derek proclaimed. He grabbed Sarah by her right arm and turned it over to reveal a small bar code imprinted on her wrist. “Ah, I see it's growing quite nicely... Tell me, have you experienced any side effects you've experienced as of late?”

“It's fine,” Sarah said as she ripped her arm out of Derek's grasp, “Now leave me alone.”

“Now now, there's no need for that kind of behavior,” Derek proclaimed, “I'm only doing this as a formality, once I do my standard check ins I'll be out of your hair for today. After all, it's common for a seller and a costumer to have a healthy relationship.”

“You held two of my friends captive and blew up half of a police station,” Sarah stated, “How exactly do you expect to have a healthy relationship with me?”

“Healthy only means stable,” Derek explained, “I never said anything about it being a good one.”

“Okay, then just do your check ups and go,” Sarah exclaimed.

“You serious?” Derek chuckled, “or have you forgotten our bargain?”

“No... I haven't,” Sarah returned.

“Good,” Derek smirked, “Now, all you have to do now is get that Kamen Rider boy to remove the lock on the driver... and deliver it along with Gale's and Rock's to me.”

“How do you expect me to do that?” Sarah demanded, “and what do you want with them anyway?”

“Why did you sell out your friends?” Derek retorted, “You have your reason... and I have mine.”

“I guess I should've expected much,” Sarah sighed.

“Indeed you should have,” Derek added, “Now then-” He reaching out and grabbed Sarah's chin forcing her to look him directly in the eye, “Simply give me what I seek and you can keep the usage of your legs... Understand?”

Sarah closed her eyes and nodded without saying a word.

“As I expected,” Derek smirked letting his arm drop down to his side. He then walked away from Sarah as she fell to the ground, “We'll be in touch kid.”

Sarah looked back to the School building as the pace of her breathing increased, “Madison... I'm sorry.”

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

I wasn't sure what to think when all of this began, but now I have one question to ask.

How does one go back to way things were after so much bad had happened?

Can they ever go back, or are they forever stuck in the changed world they once called home?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme Act 2 concludes with Episode 17:
An Untimely Farewell... goodbye.

Even though I have yet to finish Strength of the Earth, I've got to say, I like where you're going with this series. Just wish I had more time to sit and finish this in one sitting!

EDIT: Okay I'm up to date (guess I did have time hah!). To keep this spoiler-free, I'll just leave a emoticon :-O

"Hold on, back up a moment," Cole said, "Did you say that you guys saw Sarah run off?"

"That's pretty much the jist of it," Alex stated.

"That's a good thing isn't it?" Tara asked, "I mean she can walk again, that means everything is fixed!"

Cole smacked Tara on the top of her head, "People don't recover from having their legs broken in one day. Obviously the problem is how she recovered."

"Oh..." Tara returned, "You don't think she could have...?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Alex sighed, "But as much as I don't want to think about it, we can't ignore the possibility that Sarah is now a dopant."

"It's not possible!" Madison shouted, "I know Sarah, there's no way she would become one of those things. She just wouldn't!"

Alex placed his hand on Madison's shoulder, "It's a bit of a stretch... but at the moment it's the most likely explanation."

Madison leaned in to Alex and buried her face in his chest. He held her tightly in his arms.
Alex patted her gently on the back, "I know it's hard to believe, but try to hold on for the moment." He said looking Madison in the eye, "There's still a chance we're wrong."

Madison gulped and then slowly nodded.

Alex smiled back at her, "That's my girl."

"Now then," Cole said getting the discussion back on track, "How exactly do we go about figuring this out? I mean, do we even know where she is?"

"Tara, have Kree do a search of the school," Alex instructed.

"Already on it," Tara said releasing Kree into the air as he flew off into the sky above.

"Perfect," Alex returned, "Now then, everyone else. Split up and search the surrounding streets, she couldn't have gotten that far. Meet back here if you find any leads."

"Right, got it," Cole and Tara said before taking off in opposite directions.

Alex looked over to Madison who wore a gloomy look on her face. He took hold of her left hand with his right.

"Don't worry okay," He said to her calmly, "we'll find her."

Madison kept her head to the ground, "... I hope so."


Sarah walked slowly down an empty street looking down at the ground below her feet. As the wind rushed over her she heard the call of a bird, she looked up to see Kree flying over her. In a panic she ran down the road until she came to a corner that turned to the right.

She dashed down the corner to see Tara coming up the street towards her. She looked around her to find another route but found none. With no other options available she ran back down the way she came until she came to a bridge with a forested area off to one side. As Tara drew in closer to her she jumped off the road and ducked under the bridge.

Within a few short moments she heard the sound of footsteps over top of her that stopped at the top of the bridge as Sarah's heart began to pound rapidly. The sound over top of her shifted over to the right, then to the left. After a few seconds they turned back and walked off into the distance in the direction that they came from. Sarah let out a small sigh of relief. She poked her head out from under the bridge and looked over to either side to make sure that no one was there.

As she stepped out from under the bridge a flash of yellow flew in front of her causing her to jump. Once she regained her composure she realized that the flash was Tara who hung upside down from the branch of a tree.

Tara glared at Sarah with the eyes of an interrogator as if she was not looking at her, but instead through her, "You honestly expected that cheap trick to work?... Who the hell do you think we are?"

Sarah sighed, "Just leave me alone will you."

"Give me one good reason why we should," Tara demanded.

"Ugh, never mind," Sarah said as she pushed Tara aside a proceeded up the hill back to the road.

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand."

Tara swung herself around the branch and landed on the ground, "What makes you think we wouldn't understand?"

"You really want to know?" Sarah turned to Tara, "You never take anything seriously do you? Everything is just one big game to you isn't it? Well you know what there are some people that would kill to be in your position and yet you've thrown all of the things you've been given in life away like they were nothing."

"Is this about me throwing up in your gym locker that one time?" Tara asked.

"It's about everything you idiot!" Sarah shouted, "Do you know how much I've had to work just to get where I am now? How much pressure is put on me by my parents because of my siblings?" She balled her hands in tight fists as she began to cry, "Older sister? who graduated top of her class in every subject. Older brother? He has his own law firm... Where does that leave me? I'm just some worthless cripple that can't even tell the person they love how I feel..." a small smirk appeared on Sarah's face as she whipped her face, "But who am I kidding... I don't deserve someone like that."

Tara tilted her head, "Wait a minute, are you..."

"Like I said, you wouldn't understand," Sarah said turning her back to Tara, "so please... just forget I was ever here."

Tara said nothing as Sarah turned away and began to walk down the road.

Kree flew down and perched on Tara's shoulder, "You couldn't be more wrong."

Sarah stopped, she then turned back to Tara, "What was that?"

Tara let out a sigh, "nothing."

"As I thought," Sarah said turning her back to Tara. As she turned around, a small glare bounced off her back and into Tara's eye blinding her for a moment.

"AH!" Tara shouted. She looked back to Sarah and saw a small patch of silver scales on the back of the girl's neck. She rubbed her eyes and looked back to Sarah only to realize she had already left. She leaned back against a tree and turned to Kree, "Humans don't have scales... do they?"

Alex and Madison walked down along an empty street looking for Sarah. Within a few minutes they met up with Cole with a glum look on his face.

"Find anything?" Alex asked.

"Do you see her standing next to me?" Cole returned.

"Sorry, guess I should've figured that," Alex said hanging his head.

"It's alright, it's only natural I guess," Cole returned. He looked over to Madison, "How are you holding up?"

"I'll manage," Madison said avoiding eye contact with Cole, "I'm more concerned about Sarah."

At that moment the call of a bird filled the air overhead. The three looked to the air to see Kree swoop down to them and land on Cole's shoulder.

Cole blinked, "K-Kree?... But where's-"

Alex pointed over Cole's shoulder, "There."

Cole looked over his shoulder to see Tara running up behind him. As soon as she caught up to

Alex, Cole and Madison she hunched over and panted frantically.

"Any sign of her?" Alex asked.

"Yeah..." Tara panted, "I found her... but, then I lost her."

"I guess that means we're back to square one then," Cole sighed.

"Not exactly," Tara said standing up right, "We were able to uncover something."

"What would that be?" Alex asked

"Our suspicions were correct," Tara proclaimed, "Sarah at the moment, is a dopant."

"Well then that's perfect," Madison said, "Now we just need to get the memory away from her and our problems are solved right?"

Tara shook her head slowly, "I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"What do you mean it's not that simple?" Madison asked frantically grabbing Tara by her shoulders, "How much more simple could it be?"

"Kree and I did a scan of her to find out whether or not she had a memory on her," Tara explained, "and... well..."

"'Well' what?" Madison demanded.

"That's the complicated part," Tara proclaimed, "It seems that despite how they normally work Sarah's memory is different from the others. It's inside her and it seems to be growing the more mentally unstable she becomes."

Madison removed her hands from Tara's shoulders and let them drop to her side, "No... That can't be true, it just..."

Alex placed his hand of Madison's shoulder, "Madison, please ju-"

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Madison shouted slapping Alex's hand off of her shoulder. She looked Alex in the eye in shock of what she just did. Before either of them could say a word, Madison took off down the road as fast as her feet would carry her.

Vainglory stood behind his throne looking out a large window pane looking over the city.

"Were you able to retrieve it?" He asked to Rylee who knelt on the floor behind him.

"Yes my commander, the driver and memory have been safely returned, "though there were a few... complications."

Vainglory turned to face Rylee, "What sort of complications?"

"While we were able to retrieve the driver and memory, the host was... unrecoverable," Rylee said with sorrow in her voice.

"That is of little concern to me," Vainglory returned coldly, "Now that we have reclaimed the unit, all we must do is find a new, more durable host."

"I understand my commander," Rylee said getting up onto her feet, "I shall begin the search for one im-"

"There shall be no need for that, as I have already taken the liberty of selecting one myself," Vainglory explained, "and with all that has happened, I feel it would be best to keep this one within our bloodlines."

Rylee's eyes widened, "Sir, you don't mean-"

"As a matter of fact I do," Vainglory proclaimed, "This is something I can't simply give to just anyone, as I need them to have the same blood as someone I trust completely. That of course being your blood Spite," He sat down in his throne and put his hands together, giving his full attention to the woman who stood before him, "Rylee... I need Carter."

"Sir I..." Rylee said before hanging her head, "I understand... Commander."

A warm grin appeared on Vainglory's face, "Thank you... Spite."

"What about the others then?" Rylee asked.

"Fury is taking care of them," Vainglory returned, "It shouldn't be long now."

"You sent him in again?" Rylee said, baffled by the idea, "Didn't he fail the first time?"

"Indeed he did," Vainglory stated looking over to a pack of dogs in the corner of the room, "so much so that I was willing to feed to the wretched vermin that he calls dopants," he sighed, "however, he promised that he would return successfully this time. So I allowed him one last chance to prove his worth to me."

"You think he has any chance?" Rylee asked.

"Of course not, a fool like him never had any chance," Vainglory said coldly, "Though he claimed he had recently created something that would sway the odds in his favor...," he sighed once more, "For his sake, he better be correct."
Madison ran up the hill back to the school building as her legs would carry her. She came to a halt as she reached the top of the hill with a forested area behind her. She looked over to the gate that lead to the track field.

"Madison wait!" Alex shouted as he ran after her. Madison began to run over to the field as Alex caught up to her and grabbed her by her arm, "Just... wait a moment... will you," he panted.

"Let go of me!" Madison shouted trying to break free of Alex's grasp. She squirmed around frantically trying to get Alex to release her. In her panic, she ripped her arm out from Alex's grasp and slammed her foot down over the edge of the hill leading down into the forested area that surrounded the hill as the ground broke off from under her.

"Madison stop!" Alex shouted as he grabbed the girl's arm in an attempt to pull her back up only to be pulled down the hill along with her.

The two rolled down the hill as Alex wrapped Madison in his arms and used himself as a shield to break her fall. Within seconds the two smacked down hard into a bush at the the bottom of the hill.

"Ah," Alex said in agony trying to recover from the fall. He looked to Madison who he held tightly in his arms, "You alright there Madison?"

"HMMM!" Madison exclaimed with her face buried in Alex's chest. She pushed herself free and took in a big gulp of fresh air, "You're stronger than you look you know that?"

Alex blinked, "Huh?"

"You were squeezing me so tight that I couldn't breath," Madison explained. She then looked down, then back up to Alex, "Also," She said looking away from Alex, "I'm not sure if now is a good time to be coping a feel."

Alex looked down to see one of his hands placed on Madison's breast. He quickly removed his hand as his face turned bright red, "He he he, sorry about that."

"It's alright," Madison giggled, "just be sure to ask next time alright?"

"Yeah I got that," Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh please, get a room you two," A voice called out.

Alex and Madison turned to the source of the voice with their backs to the hill
Madison's eyes widened, "... Sarah?"


Madison ran up to Sarah and wrapped her arms around her in a great big hug, Sarah quickly doing the same and wrapping her arms tightly around Madison.

"Thank god you're alright," Madison said in Sarah's embrace.

"You don't have to worry," Sarah said stroking Madison's long red hair, "I'm right here."

"Madison," Alex shouted walking over to Madison and Sarah, "Get away from her."

"Why?" Sarah asked, "do you suspect I'm going to hurt her or something?"

"Just let her go Sarah," Alex demanded.

"Give me one reason why I should," Sarah returned, tightening her hold on Madison.

"You're a dopant now right?" Alex asked, "With the power you now have, there's no telling what you could do." Alex extended his hand to the blond haired girl in front of him, "Sarah please.. just give me the memory... we can work through this."

Sarah slapped his hand, "No," She shouted, "The three of you all have them! Heck, you have six of them yourself. There shouldn't be a problem with me just having one now can there?"

"Of course not, you shouldn't even have one in the first place!" Alex shouted back, "How exactly did you get it anyway?"

"I think I can help you out on that one," Another voice called out.

Alex looked over to his left to see Derek leaning against the trunk of a tree. He snarled, "...Fury."

"You see Alex Darwin," Derek said with a smirk, "All poor Sarah wants... is the power to protect the one she loves."

"Stop..." Sarah whispered.

"Wait... do you mean...," Alex whispered to himself.

"For you see dear child," Derek said with a mocking laugh, "the one that the poor girl's heart belongs to..." he pointed to Madison, "is her."

"Please stop..." Sarah whispered again, this time slightly louder.

"After you lot left her alone in her hospital room, the poor girl had been brought to tears," Derek explained, "She kept crying about how she was unable to save her beloved with her own hands, and the fact that the weapon she planned to rescue her princess had other plans." A sinister smirk emerged on Derek's face, "Face it kiddo, whatever happens from here is all on you-"

"SHUT UP!" Sarah shouted as she swung her arm over to Fury as five razor sharp projectiles fired out of her fingertips and into the tree the Derek leaned against.

Sarah looked over to Madison who cowered behind Alex staring right at her, both of them had their eyes wide open.

Derek smirked, "I see your new capabilities are coming in nicely... Reptilian."

Sarah turned back to Derek and lowered her arm as scales began to form on her hand where she fired the projectiles from, "What did you call me?"

Derek chuckled, "We had a deal... remember?"

"Bastard!" Alex shouted as he rose to his feet and standing Madison upright. "You think that people are just things to be toyed with?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Star and Runner memories as his driver materialized around his waist. "I will not allow you to hurt anyone else ever again!" He slammed the two memories into his driver and prepared to split the two slots apart, "HEN-"

As he readied his transformation, three sharp points pressed up against Alex's neck. He looked over to see Sarah who had three blade like weapons jutting out of her fingertips and into Alex's neck.

Sarah gulped, "Sorry Alex... a deal's a deal."

"Nothing in this world is free kid," Derek stated, "and this one paid a heavy price."
Alex looked Sarah in the eye, "What's he talking about?"

"The price I paid for the memory he gave me... was your driver," Sarah explained in a cold voice. "Now please... give it to me."

Alex looked over to Derek, "and if I refuse?"

"I kill all three of you right here and now," Derek returned, "The choice is yours."

"Rock! Maximum Drive!" The voice of a memory shouted as two green blades of light sliced through the trees in between Alex and Sarah before hurling towards Derek, Derek jumping out of the way as the tree behind was ripped apart.

Cole emerged from the trees and placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, "You guys alright?" He asked with his hammer in his other hand while Tara descended from above, both of them in their respective rider forms.

"Yeah..." Alex returned, looking over to the scale's on Sarah's arm, "mostly."

"We'll worry about that later," Tara exclaimed while cracking her knuckles, "right now we have bigger fish to fry."

"I was wondering when you two were going to show up," Derek proclaimed, "Gale... and Rock."

"Argh! You again?" Tara sighed, "Didn't we kick your ass hard enough the first time?"

"That defeat was… a minor set back," Derek said as he pulled his driver and slapped it onto his waist as two belt straps shot out of the sides and connected at the back, "but I guarantee that it shall not happen again."

"We defeated you once before Fury," Alex shouted, "and we'll defeat you again."

"Well, let's see if you can," Derek said with a smirk as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a deep, almost black, red gaia memory with an R marked on the label, "now that I have this." He cackled as he hit the button below the label.

"RUTHLESS!" The gaia memory in Derek's hand shouted as he rammed it into his driver, "RUTHLESS! FURY!" The driver shouted once again as Derek was engulfed in red fire which formed into a dark red suit of armor with a jagged black trim. The usual eyes on his shoulder armor being replaced with hungering mouths and the hood being switched out for a jagged helmet with two large horns that looked like they were on fire along with three similar looking adornment on his shoulder armour as well to match.
Fury cracked his neck once to the left and then to the right, "There, I think that evens things up a bit, don't you?"

"This isn't good," Alex said to himself.

"I'll say," Cole returned, "Any ideas?"

Alex nodded, "Tara!" He shouted, "get Sarah and Madison out of here."

"Got it," Tara returned changing Kree into her glider and strapping it to her back before grabbing Madison by her arm.

"Like hell I'm going with you," Sarah said in protest.

"Sorry, agreement not required," Tara said as she grabbed Sarah before pulling the two girls in close to her and shooting off into the sky.

Alex placed his hands over to the two slots on his driver. "Ready Cole?"

Cole nodded, "Always."

"Alright then, here goes nothing..." Alex said as he stared down Fury. He took in a deep breath, then exhaled. "HENSHIN!" He shouted as he split the two halves of his driver apart.

"Star! Runner!" Alex's driver shouted as the black and red armor of his Star Runner form materialized around him and formed over his body.

"We'll take him out here then see to the girls," Alex instructed.

"Got it," Cole returned.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them," Fury said smirking under the void of his helmet, "I'd worry about yourselves."

Tara flew down from the sky and touched down onto the track field, she quickly letting go of Sarah and Madison as they regained their footing on the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Sarah shouted, "Why would you just leave them there, we could've helped you know!"

Tara walked up to Sarah and slapped her hard across the face. She sighed, "Man you're a piece of work. You know that?"

Sarah stood gawking at Tara, "You're kidding right?"

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want to die?" Tara asked.

"Well, no," Sarah returned, "It's just that-"

"It's just what?" Tara asked tilting her head to the side, "Cole and Superstar can handle the big boy on their own and think about it, the two of you are safer here then you would be back there-" as Tara spoke, the growl and breath of rabid dogs filled the air. Tara turned around to see a pack of five black furred beast dopants with blood red eyes lurking behind her, "On second thought... maybe not that much safer."

Back in the forest, Cole and Alex dashed over to opposite sides of Fury. Alex landed on the ground a few feet to the left of Fury and kicked himself forward throwing a punch at him. Fury moved his hand over to a dial on the side of his belt until a blue S was at the top under a red arrow.

"Shift! Maximum Drive!" The dial shouted as Alex's fist connected to Fury but proceeded to phase through him, the rest of Alex following shortly.

Alex fell to the ground, "What?" He thought to himself as he saw Cole rush over to Fury, "Cole wait!"

As Cole charged towards him, Derek moved the dial once more until a violet M came up.

"Major! Maximum Drive!" The dial shouted as Fury extended his arm to Cole as a violet shield of light shot out of his hand knocking Cole into a tree before he fell to the ground.

"How is this... possible?" Alex said as he inched along the ground before Fury stepped down on his hand and twisting the heel of his foot.

"You honestly don't think I sent out all those memories for nothing did you?" Fury asked with a light cackle to his voice. "Each one that you have destroyed has been to further my own agenda. Now that I've tested it against you lot, I'm sure it will be more than enough to overthrow Vainglory."

"Like hell you will," Cole shouted, picking up his hammer and rising to his feet.

Cole ran over to Fury as Fury switched the dial to a silver S, "Shredder! Maximum Drive!" The dial shouted as three large blades formed on Fury's right arm.

Fury slashed Cole across the chest tearing into his armor knocking him back to the ground "Dear child... why would I tell you the details of my plan if there was any chance of you stopping me?"

"Monster," Cole grunted gripping his chest.

"Oh please. I'm not a monster, I only create them." Fury said kicking Cole in the head, "Speaking of, my guess is that Reptilian and those Rabids I sent after Gale should be done ripping her and that pretty little girlfriend of yours to pieces by now," He knelt down to Alex's eye level, "would you like to see?"

Alex growled at Fury, "You bastard."

Fury smirked under the void of his helmet, "I thought you might."

Back at the track, Tara threw one of the beast dopants into one of the benches causing it to shatter to pieces. Before she had a second to breath, two more jumped on her. She kicked one of them to the side and punched another in the face before she whipped out the flail on the back on her belt as all five of them recovered from Tara's attacks and circled around her.

"Crap damn..." she panted, "these things just won't give up."

"Well of course they won't," Fury called out emerging from nowhere behind Tara, "that's how I programmed them after all."

"Damn bastard," Tara shouted turning around flail in hand to face Fury.

"Now now," Fury said as Alex and Cole dropped from the shadow of Fury's cloak, "you wouldn't want anything to happen to these two would you?"

Tara gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the chain of her weapon, "I'll kill you and smash you memory before you can."

Fury moved the dial on his belt to a red F, "Flame! Maximum Drive!" The dial shouted as a ball of fire ignited in each of Fury's hands, both pointed at either Alex or Cole.

"You sure you're quick enough?" Derek asked.

Tara growled for a moment, then lowered her flail, "Alright... you win."

Fury smirked, "As always."

Madison and Sarah watched helplessly on the other side of the beasts.

Sarah fell to her knees as she began to tremble, "This is all my fault."

Madison placed her hands on Sarah's shoulders and looked her in the eye, "Snap out of it Sarah, you had nothing to do with this. Fury's only trying to get into your head, don't let him!"

Sarah placed her hand over Madison's and shook her head, "I'm afraid it's too late for that." She said as a tear ran down her cheek, "You see... everything he's said... has been right. The thing is Madison... I," Sarah leaned in close to Madison and wrapped her arms around her before giving her a single passionate kiss on the lips. She held Madison in her embrace for a few seconds, then broke off and looked Madison in the eye, "I'm sorry."

At that moment, the scales growing on Sarah's body fully engulfed her as her hands changed into the claws of a dragon. "AHH!" Sarah shouted as two large silver wings tore out of her back followed by a a tale as her human form morphed completely into that of a large dragon with silver scales and two angry golden eyes.

Madison sat on the ground in awe of that beast that was once her best friend only moments ago, "... Sarah?"

The beast snarled before flapping it's wings and flying over Madison and over the quarrel between Fury and the riders. It plowed through the black beasts and snatched one into it's jaws before landing on the ground and devouring it whole.

"Well Reptilian, you turned out better than I expected," Fury proclaimed. Reptilian turned it's attention to Fury and the riders a large swarm of voices filled the air. Fury turned to the main school building to see that a crowd of students and teachers had gathered outside the fence to the field, "An audience has gathered to witness your demise... how touching."

"This isn't good," Alex thought to himself.

Alex jumped to his feet as Reptilian charged towards him. Reptilian opened it's mouth and fired off five balls of blue fire four of which hit the four remaining beasts, burning them to an ash instantly, while the fifth smacked Alex square in his chest knocking him to the ground. Reptilian then hovered over Alex and wrapped it's jaws around his head before biting down hard on his helmet.

"Alex!" Cole and Tara shouted running to Alex's aid.

"I think my work is done here," Fury said as he turned his back to the battle that was unfolding in front of him and began to make his leave. As he proceeded to the gate at the other end of the track, he felt a small tug on the end of his cloak, "Huh?" He said as he turned to see a teary eyed Madison grabbing on to his cloak.

"Change her back," Madison cried.

"You're kidding right?" Fury laughed, "Just look at that thing, that is the fate of all that use gaia memory. Once a host reaches it's limit, the memory takes over and throws away all humanity the person once had until they are nothing more than what you see now, a shattered shell of something that you would never consider to be human," He smirked, "That is the shattered state, and once it is reached there is no going back."

"LIAR!" Madison shouted choking on her own tears.

"Believe or not, it really doesn't matter," Fury said as Madison's hand fell to the ground, "It won't bring her back, nothing will." Fury turned his back to Madison as he disappeared into the shadows cast by the morning sun.

Madison looked over to the battle between the riders and the beast that was once Sarah. She balled her hands into fists as tightly as she could, "I won't believe it."

On the other side of the field, Alex Cole and Tara held their ground against Reptilian, neither one of them wanting to do any harm to it for fear of hurting Sarah.

"Sarah!" Alex shouted as Reptilian struck him with the spines on it's tail, "Sarah, I know you're in there! Please Sarah, just listen to me!"

Reptilian whipped it's tail at Cole and Tara knocking them to the ground before forming the spines on it's tail it the shape of a blade and hurled it towards Alex. Alex, seeing he couldn't avoid it, shut his eyes and braced for the impact.

After a few seconds, Alex noticed that the blow he had anticipated had not come yet. He slowly opened his eyes and looked in front of him. Upon doing so his eyes shot open to the horror of Madison standing in between him and Reptilian with the lizard's tail jutting out her back covered in blood.

Alex stood frozen, "Madison..."

"Well Alex... was I finally of use to you?" Madison asked with a grin coughing up blood. Reptilian pulled it's tail out from Madison's gut as she stumbled towards the beast. Madison walked up to Reptilian and wrapped her arms around it, holding the beast tightly in her embrace, "Sarah, I know that... you're scared... but you don't have to be anymore... I'm here for you, so please... stop this..." She said as she collapsed in Reptilian's claws, losing consciousness as she did.

Reptilian closed it's eyes before a single tear ran down it's scales. "You always were an idiot... but I guess that's part of what I love about you," the beast said in Sarah's voice. Reptilian opened it's eyes as they changed from gold to the same blue as Sarah's eyes. "Alex... I think you know what to do."

"Are you sure?" Alex asked.

Reptilian nodded, "I think it's best... if I just disappear. Besides, I'm done for anyway, might as well be by your hand."

"Alright... I'll end... your rampage," Alex said as he removed the Star memory from it's slot on the driver and placed it in the maximum drive slot.

"Star! Maximum Drive!" Alex's driver shouted as a charge up sound erupted from the memory.

"Just promise me something..." Reptilian said "look after Madison for me, alright?"

Alex nodded "I will... always."

"Thank you..." Reptilian said closing it's eyes and it took in a deep breath, "Alex."

Alex hit the button on the side of the maximum drive slot before forming his right hand into a fist as it was engulfed with a light violet flame. Alex dashed over to Reptilian and threw a single punch as the giant lizard turned to dust leaving not a single sign that it was ever there.

Alex turned back to where the beast once stood and closed his driver, removed the memories from it and reverted back into his civilian form, Tara and Cole doing the same. He watched as the dust left by Reptilian was swept up into the air.

"Goodbye... Sarah." Alex walked over to Madison and knelt down beside her, "Guys! Come over here!"

"What is it?" Tara asked as she and Cole rushed over to Alex.

"She's lost too much blood," Alex explained, "She'll die at this rate."

"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," Alex returned.

"Perhaps I can be of help," A voice called out.

The three of them turned to see a familiar face standing a few feet away from them, "... Joel." Tara and Alex said in a somewhat surprised voice.

"Who?" Cole asked.

"He's the guy I got your driver from Cole," Tara explained.

"Sorry, I guess this isn't a good place for proper introductions now is it?" Joel said scratching the back of his neck. "Looks like you have a serious issue on your hands there."

"Isn't there anything you can do to help her?" Alex pleaded.

"Well, there is one way," Joel said hanging his head, "but it comes at a price."

"Please just tell me! I'll give you anything just help her!" Alex demanded.

"This price isn't one that can be paid with physical property," Joel explained, "For you see, my gaia memory gives me the ability to take and give energy. However that energy must come from somewhere." He sighed, "In short, I can restore her to before she suffered her injuries using her body's physical memory ... but to do so I'll need to use up a portion of her mental memory."

"In English?" Alex asked.

"If I use my power to restore her, the memory that she has gained between the last few months and today will be completely erased," Joel explained. "All that she has experienced, all that she has know from her last birthday to today shall be lost."

"You've done this before I take it?" Tara asked.

"A couple of times," Joel returned looking over to Tara, "One, wasn't so easy."

Cole placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, "Alex, that means-"

"I already know," Alex interrupted, "She'll forget all about the dopants, kamen riders, and me... but in the end... it's better that way. She deserves a normal life... away from all of this, and I'm going to give it to her." Alex turned to face Joel, "It might hurt me, but... I'll give her up," He said holding Madison tightly in his arms, "I won't let Madison die!"

"Alright then," Joel said pulling out a golden gaia memory, "let's begin."

He placed the memory into a similar looking driver to Fury's which he had around his waist, "Inertia!" The memory called out as pale white armor with blue accents and a skull shaped helmet with two large horns formed around him.

Joel sat down in front of Madison and placed one hand on her forehead and the other on the wound in her chest as a golden light spread from his hands and engulfed the unconscious red haired girl. Inertia took in a deep breath, then exhaled as the light faded from Madison as the wound in her chest began to slowly heal.

"Her mind is reworking itself," Joel said as he rose to his feet, "She'll live but it will be a while before she wakes up again."

"That's good enough for me," Alex said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small silver ring with a violet gemstone, "I know you told me to keep it, but I think it'd be best if you had it," he said as he slipped the ring on Madison's finger before kissing her on the forehead, "So as long as you wear this, I'll always be with you... even though it might not seem like it." He placed his hand over Madison's, "I'll never forget you, Madison."

Alex rose to his feet and handed Madison over to Cole, "Cole... hold onto her please."

"Alright," Cole said taking Madison from Alex.

"And... these as well," Alex said as he placed something into Cole's hand as he began to walk off down the track.

Cole looked into his hand to see Alex's six gaia memories, "Wait, these are-"

"I will not allow anyone else to be harmed because of me," Alex said without turning around, "So I'll leave protecting this city up to you two. From this moment... I am no longer a Kamen Rider."

Tara jumped to her feet, "What! You can't just-"

Before she could finish, Joel placed his hand on Tara's shoulder. Tara looked to Joel who shook his head slightly at Tara.

"I didn't ask to be a hero, I just happened to become one by accident," Alex said tightening his fists and keeping his eyes shut. "So now, I'm going to quit being one on purpose."

Cole, Joel and Tara watched as Alex proceeded down the track and disappeared around the gate.

Tara turned around and slapped Joel, "Why did you stop me from talking him out of quitting!"

"It wasn't your decision to make... it was his," Joel sighed, "Some people just aren't cut out to be a hero. If you were Alex right now, I bet you would've done the same."

Tara looked over to the gate, "Well yeah but-"

"Just leave him," Cole said patting Tara on the head, "He just needs some time to himself... Maybe someday, you'll understand."
In a high rise condo overlooking the city, the front door opened as a girl with long navy blue hair walked through with a suitcase in her hand. She was accompanied by an older man who brought in three larger bags along with him.

"Alright, you should be all set," a man said turning on a light, "I'm right down the hall so you know, shout if you need anything."

"Alright, thank you for the assistance," the girl returned setting down the bag she held in her hand.

"Anytime," He said as he stepped out of the condo and closed the door behind him.

"Actually," The girl said turning back to her assistant, "would you mind getting me a copy of today's newspaper?"

"Of course," The man proclaimed, "I'll go get you mine."

"Thank you," The girl returned as the man closed door on his way out.

The girl then walked across the condo floor to the large glass door on the other side and ran her hand along the handle of the door. Her hand then dropped to her side.

"Looks like I have finally found you," She said balling her hand into a fist, "Your end draws near... Kamen Rider."

End of Act Two

It was a calm and cold night as a strange wind blew over Ardent City.

The roar of an engine filled the air as a man ran down an alleyway. He stopped and leaned over a trashcan to catch his breath before the glare of headlights blinded him as a deep green dirt bike style motorcycle turned the corner and roars down the alleyway. Cole breaks on a hard turn to the left right in front of the man and shuts off the engine.

“You've been stirring up a lot of trouble tonight. Andrew Dekerman,” Cole said dismounting from his bike, “Or should I say... Scam.”

“Come on man, give me a break here,” The man pleaded, “Just let me go, you'll never have to see me again, promise!”

“You've been on a country wide scamming spree for the past month and a half,” Cole stated as he pulled out his smasher from his shoulder armour, “Promising people to make their dreams come true only to leave them crushed. Tell me, did you give those people a break?”

“Fine then, take me in,” Scam said raising his arm in the air, “But I won't make it easy for you!” He shouted as he whipped out a green gaia memory and jammed it into a barcode on the palm of his hand.

“SCAM!” The memory shouted as he transformed into a pale white creature covered in black spots with several spikes of the same color jutting out of his body

“Try this on for size!” He shouted at Cole as he conjured a barrage of gunmetal black slivers with a deep violet aura around and hurled them towards the rider who stood in front of him.

“Damn,” Cole whispered as he evaded the slivers and whacked a few with his hammer. Cole looked down the alley to find that Scam had run off, “Why do they always run?” Cole hit a button on the side of his helmet, “Tara, target is on the run down Burrow Drive.”

“Roger, we're on it,” Tara said through the other end of the radio.

“Alright, I'll be coming around. Rock out,” Cole said getting back on his bike and driving down the road in pursuit of the Dopant.

Scam turned around a sharp corner, hope over a tall fence and dashed out the back of the alleyway and onto the street on the other side. He managed to get a few feet out of the alley before a gust of wind rushed towards him knocking him to the ground.

“I swear, out of all the dopants we’ve encounter you’re the worst,” A voice called out as a pair white boots came into Scam’s eyesight. He looked up to see Tara in her Gale form standing above looking down at him, “You could’ve at least taken the finisher like a man,” she shook her head and sighed, “but alas you chose the cowards way out.”

Scam coughed a bit before looking over to Tara, “You guys have been on my back for far too long,” he rose back to his feet and formed more of the same slivers he hurled at Cole moments ago, “I’m ending this chase right now!”

Scam hurled the slivers at Tara as the yellow rider evaded the slivers in way that made appear as she was dancing around each and every one of them each movement flowing into the next with style and grace.

“This is getting a bit tiring so I think we should wrap this up now,” She said twirled around in a full circle once until she faced Scam on the other side of her. She reached for the flail on the back of her belt and swung it at the dopant, wrapping Scam tightly in the chain bringing him to the ground once again.

“Damn bitch, you’ll pay for this!” Scam shouted.

“Yeah… hate to break it to you but,” She said said pulling out her slicer and removing her memory from her driver, “Your rampage, ends here pal.”

Tara placed her Gale memory into the hilt of her slicer, “Gale! Maximum Drive!” The memory shouted as a charge up sound erupted from her slicer.

“Gale Tornado!” Tara shouted as she threw her slicer at Scam causing him to explode on impact.

As the smoke cleared, Andrew fell down hard on the ground along with the fragments of what was his gaia memory as Cole ran out of the alleyway and noticed the aftermath of the quarrel between Gale and Scam. Tara forced Andrew’s hands behind his back and bound him with a pair of cuffs before pulling him to his feet and looking over to Cole.

Tara smirked under her mask, “Situation cleared.”

Cole sighed, then proceeded to remove his gaia memory from his driver and revert back to his civilian form, “Must you always show off so much?” he said with a slight laugh.

“We got the guy didn’t we?” Tara asked. “Let’s just call up the boys and let’em know that we took him down alright.”

“I guess that’s true. Speaking of...” Cole walked towards Andrew and knelt down in front of him. “Scam, does the name ‘Derek Maverick’ ring any bells?”

“Never heard of him,” Andrew returned.

“Then how about ‘Fury’?” Cole asked again.

“You riders and your demand for names,” Andrew laughed, “So you’re looking for Fury is that it? Yeah I’ve heard of him, but I’ve never met in person... nor do I know anyone that has and lived.”

“Well would you know anyway of tracking him down?” Cole demanded.

“Were you born yesterday or something?” Andrew laughed, “META and their commanders are always shrouded in mystery. Some people don’t even believe that they exist.” He said pulling out a small pill from his back pocket.

“Wait, what the hell are you doing?” Cole demanded while Andrew slipped it the pill into his mouth.

He laughed, “You know nothing of hell,” He whispered biting down on the pill , “See you there… Kamen Rider.” He said with a smirk before a white foam filled his mouth and he fell as limp as a bone in Cole’s grasp.

“Damn it!” Cole shouted throwing Andrew’s lifeless body to the ground.

“Hey,” Tara said as she placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder, “Take it easy… You think Alex would like to see you like this?”

“True,” Cole sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone before hitting a few numbers and placing it up to his ear. “Sampson,” he said after a few rings, “We secured the target but… he didn’t make it… Uh huh… alright, we’ll do that.”

“What’s the word from the boss?” Tara asked as Cole slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“Wait for support to get here,” Cole said sitting down on the side of the road, “They’ll handle the rest from there.”

“Always going by the book,” Tara sighed as she removed her memory from her driver and reverted back to her civilian form before sitting down beside Cole, “Though I guess it’s one of your better traits I guess.”

Cole’s eye twitched, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you don’t know how to take a compliment,” Tara said with a smirk, “Big guy.”
“That reminds me,” Cole said turning back to Tara, “Why did you bring up Alex a moment ago?”

“No reason, just thinking about him is all.” Tara proclaimed, “You think he’ll be alright?”

Cole sighed, “I hope so.”


Alex sat at the very back of his third period math class in the desk furthest away from the window with all of his focus on the notebook and textbook in front of him, paying no attention to what was going on around him. Though there really wasn’t much to pay attention to, as the rest of the class was just as inactive as he was. The class and the rest of the school for that matter wasn’t very energetic as of late, and it was noticeable to everyone… especially Alex.

After a while the sound of footsteps began to approach him, though he did not seem to notice them. In a few short moments, something tapped him on the shoulder but he didn’t react to it. It tapped his shoulder once again, but again nothing.

“Hey, I’m trying to talk to you!” A voice shouted as Alex was turned around by force to see Cole standing in front of him.

“Oh…” Alex said in a low voice. He turned back to his work, “Hi Cole… what’s going on?”

“I’m checking to see if you’re okay,” Cole stated.

“Of course I am… I’ve never been better,” Alex said keeping his eyes fixed on the work in front of him, “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Don’t lie to me,” Cole said placing his hand down on Alex’s desk, Alex slowly balling his hands into fists. “I know that you’re shaken up by what happened, but could you at le-”

“Could I at least what Cole? Alex shouted back turning to look Cole dead in the eye, “If you have some magical button that will fix everything and make it so that the whole thing never happened then I’d love to hear it!” He looked around to see that the entire class including Ms Foster was staring directly at them. Alex turned back to his work, “Just… leave me alone will you.”

Cole sighed, “Fine, I’ll talk to you later then.” He said before turning away from Alex and walking back over to his desk.

Alex watched in the corner of his eye as Cole sat back down at his desk by the window on the other side of the room. Before too long, Alex’s eye drifted over to the two empty desks behind Cole. He gulped, then turned his eyes back to his work.

After a long bit of awkward silence, there came a knock at the door. Ms Foster slowly walked over to the door and pulled it open.

“Oh, hello,” She said as the person at the door handed her a note. She read of what was on the note, “Oh… I see, alright then. Come right in.”

Ms Foster walked back into the room as a girl about Alex’s age with navy blue hair and cold teal eyes followed her. The girl wore a pale purple and grey sweater over top of a long sleeved purple shirt and black shorts, along with white flat shoes and violet knee high socks.

“Ehem,” Ms Foster said getting the attention of the class sans Alex, “Class, allow me to introduce to you Sayuri Fobiki-”

“Shiore,” The navy haired girl said quietly.

Ms Foster turned to the navy haired girl, “Um… excuse me?”

“It’s pronounced Shiore,” The girl explained, “Shiore Fubuki.”

“O-oh… Sorry about that,” Ms Foster said as her face began to turn a bright shade of red, “Ms Fubuki has just transferred here today however due to how late we are in the semester she won’t officially be enrolled until early September so she’ll just be seeing what the school is like. I know it’s rather sudden, but help her out if she ever gets stuck and needs a little help alright.”

Shiore bowed to the class, “I hope to get along with you all for as long as I am here.”

“Now let’s see…” Ms Foster said looking around the sea of desks in front of her, “Ah, there are two desks open behind Cole. Why not take one of those ones by the window.”

“Okay,” Shiore said as she proceeded down the row to the far left of the room where Alex was sitting not paying much attention to her.

As Shiore passed by Alex she stopped for a moment, she looked over to him in the corner of her eye, then continued walking. She took the long way around the classroom before finally reaching Cole by the window. She paused for a moment before calmly sitting down at the desk furthest away from him.

Once Shiore took her seat, the class fell silent once again. The silence went on for a good half hour until it was eventually broken by the ring of Cole’s cellphone.

He fished it out of his pocket and brought it up to his ear, “Hello?... I see… I’ll be right there.” Cole slipped his phone back into his pocket before getting up from his desk and making his way to the front of the class, Shiore following him with her eyes.

Cole walked up to Ms Foster at her desk at the front of the class.

“Miss,” He said grabbing her attention, “I just remembered, I have a doctor’s appointment in about an hour. So I’ll need to be leaving soon.”

“Do you have a note?” Ms Foster asked.

“Right here,” Cole returned handing her a small slip of paper.

Ms Foster took the note and looked it over before handing it back to Cole, “Alright, everything checks out. You may go now.”

Cole took the note back from her, “Thank you,” He said bowing a bit before walking away from the teacher’s desk.

Cole made his way down the aisle across from the window. He past Alex as Alex looked up to him for a moment the two making eye contact as Cole passed by before he walked out the door at the back of the room.

Shiore looked over to Alex in the corner of her eye. She sighed quietly, “Anata ni... hakken.”


Cole ran down the second floor hallway until he came to a stairwell behind a pair of large doors. He pushed the doors open and stepped into the stairwell to see Tara leaning against the rail as if she had been waiting there for him to arrive.

Upon noticing Cole, Tara’s usual smirk appeared on her face. “You sure took your sweet time getting here.”

“Sorry about that,” Cole said returning a grin to Tara, “got held up a little bit.”

“and Alex?” Tara asked.

Cole looked down to the ground, “He’s… not coming.”

Tara looked over the edge of the rail, “Still shaken up about what happened with the lizard?”

“You have no idea,” Cole returned. “You think he made the right decision? To quit I mean.”

“That’s something that only Alex can decide,” Tara said she swung over the rail, “But enough about that. You’re here now so let’s get going,” She said before she dropped down the gap in the stairs disappearing from sight.

Cole rolled his eyes, “Always in such a hurry,” he said before running down the stairs after her. “Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Sampson told us the whole shabang!” Tara shouted, “Some cold blooded looking guy downtown, not too far from here by flying!” Tara said jumping off the rail, “Though with your new ride I’m sure you’ll get there right after I do. Though I’ll probably get it all done by the time you do.”

“Don’t you think you’ll be needing help with it?” Cole asked.

Tara turned to face Cole looking him in the eye, “You’re kidding right?” She placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder, “I’m always going to need your help Cole,” she said with her usual smirk, “After all, who else has armor strong enough to take on all the fire?”

Cole sighed, “So in other words… I’m the decoy.”

“You got it,” Tara exclaimed before slapping Cole on both side’s of his face with the palms of her hands. She turned away from Cole on the heel of left foot and proceeded over to the door just behind her leading to outside, “Now, let’s nab this guy like the good old days!”

Alex made his way to his fourth period science class. He walked up to the door of the classroom and grabbed the handle, he gulped and then pushed it open. He looked around the classroom which was rather empty considering that class hadn’t started yet. He looked down to the ground then sighed before slowly walking over to his desk at the far side of the room.

He dropped his bag on the ground and then sat down in the chair at his desk as the bell rang signaling the start of class.

“So what was your friend up to last period?” A voice called out to him.

“GAH!” Alex shouted nearly jumping out of his seat as he turned to see Shiore sitting in the chair beside him looking over handouts from her other classes. “Hey... Shiore, right?”

Shiore pulled her attention away from the paper in front of her and stared blankly into space for a moment, then responded, “That is my name.”

“Okay, just checking…,” Alex returned, “My name is Alex by the way… Darwin, Alex Darwin,”

“Pleasure” Shiore said quietly turning away from Alex as several students flooded into the room.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking…” Alex began, trying to jump start a conversation, “what exactly is with you transferring this late into the semester anyway?”

“Reasons,” Shiore said, keeping herself turned away from Alex.

“Okay… what kind of reasons?” Alex asked

Shiore sighed, “Why do you want to know?”

“Hm? Oh… no real reason I guess,” Alex proclaimed, “I guess I was just curious is all… I mean it is a little odd for someone to transfer to another school before just as the school year is ending.”

“There’s a lot of odd things in this world,” Shiore said keep her eyes on the handouts in front of her, “Some of which is best left untouched.”

“I guess,” Alex returned as Shiore tore out a page from her notebook and started scribbling something down onto it, “but even so, no one transfers schools this late unless there was some big reason as to wh-”

At that moment Shiore grabbed all of her stuff, got up from her chair and slapped the slip of paper onto the desk before walking out the door and slamming it behind her. Alex looked down to the note Shiore left, but all that all that was written on it were five characters that Alex did not recognize, “尻込みする”

Alex scratched his head, “Uh… what?” A few quiet murmurs filled the room as Alex turned around to see various people in the class giving him snide looks with a bit of snickering, “Fine!” He shouted as he turned away from the class, “and good riddance too!”

Downtown, Cole rode his bike up to a construction site located in Ardent City’s financial district. He hopped off his bike as Tara touched down beside him glider in hand. The site had been abandoned for sometime now, except for a line of police officers that stood guard at the site making sure that no one gets in or out.

“See anything?” Tara asked as her glider shifted back into Kree before shifting again into her driver and wrapping around Tara’s wrist.

“Not yet,” Cole returned as he walked up to the site attempting to make his way in, “We’re going to need to get a closer look.”

“Excuse me sir,” an officer said placing his arm in front of Cole, “This site is off limits, no one is allowed in or o-” Before the officer could finish speaking, Cole held a silver badge up to the officer’s face, “Oh… you two are freelance agents from Sampson?” He said awkwardly stepping aside and lifting a bit of yellow tape up, “My mistake, go right in.”

“Thank you,” Cole said as he ducked under the tape and stepped into the site. Tara shortly following after, sticking her tongue out to the officer as she walked by him.

The officer blinked for a moment, then shook his head, “Kids today.”

Cole and Tara pulled out their respective gaia memories and hit the buttons on just below their respective labels, “Rock! Gale!”

“Henshin!” The two of them called out as they placed each of their memories into the slots on their drivers and switched them into their activation positions.

“Rock! Gale!” Their drivers shouted, Tara being swarmed by a tornado which formed her armor as rocks came up from the ground around Cole before latching on to him becoming his.

“Keep your guard up,” Cole instructed pulling out his smasher.

“I’ll be careful,” Tara said with a slight laugh in her voice. She unclipped her flail from the back of her belt, “No need to worry about little old me.”

“Alright then,” Cole returned, “spread out.”

“I’d rather fan out,” Tara retorted.

“Not the time Tara,” Cole sighed.

“Party pooper,” Tara pouted.

“Tell you what,” Cole turned to Tara, “If you behave we’ll go to that cafe you like so much.”

Tara gasped, “For real!”

“For real.” Cole nodded, “But only after we’re finished here.”

“EEEEEE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Tara shouted in glee before taking off in a random direction down the construction site, “Meet back here when we find the guy!”

“What am I going to do with that girl?” Cole asked to himself shaking his head. He turned to the other side of the site and proceeded cautiously down the path before him, “Not like I can blame her though I guess. Can’t imagine anyone wanting to stay in place like this for longer than they would need to.”

As Cole walked down the path through the site, he heard a quiet growl fill the dead air behind him. He turned around and tightened his grip on his hammer.

He walked over in the direction the growl came from. As he stepped forward, his foot slipped out from under him causing him to fall to the ground, “What the...” he said as he felt the ground under him which, to his surprise, turned out to be rather cold and slick, “Ice?”

The growl became louder and now seemed to be emanating from behind Cole. He turned around as he got sight of a white wolf lunging out of the shadows. Cole swung his smasher as the beast grabbed the handle within it’s jaws before pinning Cole to the ground.

“Well then,” Cole said gritting his teeth, “looks like we won’t be here for much longer.” As he spoke, a pale white boot set down on the ground by his shoulder. He looked up to what appeared to be a pale white samurai standing above him, “... or not.”

On the other side of the site, Tara leaned against a steel girder panting heavily. “Alright, that should be head start enough,” Tara said, forcing herself to stand upright. “Now then,” She added, surveying her surroundings, “Where are you my little dopant?”

At that moment, the air became filled with the sound of claws scratching over metal. Tara then quickly turned on her heel to where the scratching was coming from, tightening her grip on the chain of her flail.

Tara saw a small barrel move in the corner of her eye. She turned her foot slightly over to the barrel, “There you are.”

Tara whipped her flail at the barrel knocking it over on it’s side, however, to her surprise nothing was behind it. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, after a few moments her right ear twitched slightly. Tara once again whipped her flail over to her right hand side passed a pile of raw construction materials and with a small flick of her wrist it snagged onto something.

She whipped her flail back over to her pulling out a white wolf with an icy coat which fell down hard on the ground in front of her. The wolf squirmed a bit on the ground as it tried to break out of the chains, but soon halted it’s movement.

“A dog?” Tara thought aloud. She walked up to the wolf and knelt down beside it, “Is it possible for a single animal to be the cause of all this?... Of course not, the must be someone or… something that’s commanding it to do so.”

As Tara spoke the wolf began to melt through the chains that restrained it. In a few short moments the beast that attempted to ambush Tara was only a puddle of water. The puddle then moved a few feet away from Tara and reformed back into the wolf. It glared at her for a moment, then ran off in the direction Tara had come from.

“A wolf… made of ice?” Tara thought to herself, she then jumped to her feet, “Oh crap!”

Tara reattached her flail to the back of her belt and took off after the wolf. She ran down the path she came that was now lined with small puddles in the shape of wolf paws,

“Cole, where are you?” She thought as her eyes looked over to the site frantically. “I have to warn him, before it’s to-” Before she could finish her thought, she slammed hard into something which knocked her to the ground. “Ow ow ow,” she said rubbing her forehead, “ what did I hit?” She looked in front of her to she what she ran into, and there, frozen in ice… was Cole.

Before she could even react to the sight in front of her, two wolves with the same likeness to the one she encountered early jumped down from the scaffolding that surrounded them and encircled Tara.

They growled at Tara, scratching their claws against the ground as if they were planning to attack her.

“Calm yourselves,” a voice called out. Tara and the wolves then looked over to the right as a figure in pale white samurai style armor and a belt buckle in the shape of a wolf’s head emerged from the shadow of the scaffolding, “You don’t need to kill the poor things.”

“So you’re their master I take it?” Tara asked.

“Master isn’t the first word I would use,” The samurai returned, “but you’re pretty much correct.” The samurai then raised a katana with a pale blue edge adorned with a violet gemstone at the hilt of the blade up to Tara, “Now Tatsumaki, allow me to ask a question of you… where is Ryuga Hono’s heir?”

“Give me one good reason why Is should answer any of your questions!” Tara demanded.

The samurai looked over to Cole frozen in ice, “Iwa over there doesn’t seem to be looking very good… does he?”

Tara rose to her feet, “What the hell are you even talking about? This is just another attempt to get at Alex isn’t it?”

“Alex?” The samurai asked.

“Well in case you didn’t know he quit so there’s no reason for you to go after him anymore!” Tara shouted pulling out her slicer before hurling it at the samurai, “So back off!”

The samurai vanished without a trace as Tara’s slicer whipped through the air and into the scaffolding behind where the samurai once stood. Tara looked around panting rapidly in search of the samurai. Tara then felt a sudden pinch in the side of her neck which caused her to fall to the ground.

“Sorry Tatsumaki, it’s nothing personal,” the samurai said as it reappeared above her. “I’m on a mission and I cannot allow you, Iwa or anyone else to get in my way.”

Tara tried to get up, but quickly discovered that she was unable to.

“Don’t bother trying to move. I stuck a pressure point in your neck, you’re not going anywhere for awhile,” The samurai stated, “I’m only after Hono, once I take care of him I’ll be out of your hair… Thank you for your assistance in tracking him down.”

As the samurai finished speaking, it vanished from sight taking the two wolves along with it. Once it left, the ice that engulfed Cole faded away. Once freed from the ice, Cole’s smasher hit the ground as if Cole had been in the process of swinging it over his head with both hands before he had been frozen.

Cole panted heavily for a moment before he noticed Tara on the ground behind him.

“Tara! Are you alright?” He shouted as he rushed over to her. He took hold of Tara’s arm and yanked her gaia memory from her driver as her armor dissolved into a golden whirlwind.

Tara took a deep breath before looking up to Cole, “Call Alex! We need to warn him!”

At the school, the final bell rang signaling the end of the day. Alex quickly backed up his things and made his way to the door. As he exited the classroom, he finished out his cell phone and flipped it open.

“No bars and low battery… might want to save that just in case,” Alex said to himself before shutting off his phone and putting it back into his pocket.

“Oh Alex!” The teacher called out.

“Yeah!” Alex shouted back.

“If you’re going by the office, would you mind taking the attendance down for me?” The teacher asked.

“Sure thing,” Alex returned stepping back into the classroom.

Back at the construction site, Cole dialed Alex’s number as quickly as he could.

He pressed his phone up to his ear as his foot tapped rapidly, “Come on man, pick up.”

The phone rang once before flipping to an automated message, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

“Damn it!” Cole shouted as he slammed his fist against a wall of concrete beside him.

“Maybe his phone died or something,” Tara suggested.

“I don’t see how that changes anything,” Cole returned, “No matter how we rationalize it he’s still in trouble.”

“Well, why don’t we just head back to the school and see if we can beat that guy there?” Tara asked. “I think I can move now… so we should be good.”

“You sure about that?” Cole asked back.

“Yeah,” Tara said as she attempted to pull herself to her feet, “I think I can manage.”

“Easy there,” Cole said grabbing on to Tara and helping her up, “don’t want to rush things now.”

Tara grinned, “Thanks Cole.”

“I appreciate the gesture,” Cole said, “But you should wait to thank me until after we put that samurai in his place.”

Alex walked out the front entrance of the main school building and slowly made his way down the hill to the street below.

As he walked down the hill he looked up to the sky. He sighed, “I hope Cole and Tara are alright without me.”

As he put his left foot down onto the ground, he felt it slip out from under him causing him to fall onto his back.

“OW! Not fun!” he exclaimed in pain as he felt the ground under him which, to his surprise, turned out to be rather cold and slick, “What the…” He looked under his hand to see a puddle of frozen water below it, “Ice? In the middle of June?”

“How does it feel, now that the tables are turned?” A voice called out.

Alex turned around to see a familiar face covered in navy blue hair standing behind him, “Oh… Shiore. Thank god it’s just you.”

“I wouldn’t be saying that if I were you,” Shiore said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a blue gaia memory marked with a Y made of ice.

Alex’s eyes widened, “Shiore… you’re a dopant?”

“Worse,” Shiore returned as she unzipped her sweater revealing a driver with a buckle that resembled the head of a wolf.

“For the honor of my clan, your end shall be now,” Shiore proclaimed before hitting the button below the label of her gaia memory.

“Yuki!” Her memory shouted.

Shiore took in a deep breath, then exhaled, “Henshin.”

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

Shiore has Alex backed into a corner, while Cole and Tara rush to his rescue.

Will the two riders be able to make it in time?

And will Alex ever be able to forgive himself and reclaim his position as a Kamen Rider?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme Act Three continues with episode 19:
Between Comrades. Xtreme, do you regret your decision?

Shiore took in a deep breath, then exhaled, “Henshin.”

Shiore slapped her memory into a slot at the side of her driver in the same spot as Alex’s maximum drive slot, only instead of activating a maximum drive she turned the slot ninety degrees so that the top of her memory faced away from Alex.

“Son of Hono, In the name of the wolf of snow…” Shiore said as she ran the slot on her driver along a track until it clicked into her buckle, “your end has come.”

“Yuki!” Shiore’s driver shouted as a blizzard rose around her encasing her in ice.

The ice soon cracked to pieces to reveal her donning the armor of a white samurai covered in ice. Sharp pale blue eyes and a tiara made of ice behind a Y shaped crest and a violet gemstone adorned her cold steel mask that sat in the middle of her pale white helmet.

“Well don’t just sit there,” Shiore said as she reached to sheath on her belt and drew a katana with a violet gemstone on it’s guard and aimed it at Alex, “Get up and fight… Kamen Rider.”

“Wait a minute,” Alex pleaded as he got back on his feet, “how do you-” Before Alex could finish speaking, Shiore vanished from sight as Alex felt something slice across his cheek. He placed his hand against his cheek before raising it in front of his face, “... blood?”

“Spare your pleading,” Shiore said as she reappeared behind Alex, raising her sword against his neck, “It’s useless.”

“Just tell me, what’s this all abo-” Alex turned around to face Shiore before being kicked back to the ground.

“Don’t play dumb, you know what you did,” Shiore proclaimed as she whipped her sword to her side, “and now you’re going to atone for actions. So stand and fight.”

Alex sat silent looking down to the ground, “I-I… I can’t.”

Shiore lowered her sword, “Why not?”

Alex closed his eyes and sighed, “I just can’t… not anymore.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “and why is that?”

“I just… can’t,” Alex returned as he began to choke up, “Not after what I allowed to happen.”

“Urusai!” Shiore shouted at Alex shutting him up, “You sure have a lot of nerve. You think after such the crimes you’ve committed that you can just hang up your sword and not be responsible for the blood on it’s blade? I’m sorry but that’s not how the world works.”

“I already know that… I’ve done some pretty stupid stuff in the past, so I guess I have no excuse,” He turned his head up to Shiore and looked her in the eye, “So… make it short.”

“I expected you to put up a more of a fight,” Shiore sighed, “One such as yourself doesn’t deserve mercy, but even so... I shall grant your final request.”

Shiore removed her memory from her driver and placed it into the hilt of her sword. “Yuki! Maximum Drive!” Her memory shouted as the blade of her sword changed from blue to white.

Shiore raised her sword high above her head as several blades made of ice formed around her, “Proceed on your way to oblivion.”


Shiore swung her sword down to the ground causing all the blades around her to fire off in Alex’s direction, Alex crossing his arms over his face bracing for the impact. However, before they made contact with him a giant whirlwind formed between him and the blades forcing them back at Shiore, Shiore jumping out of the way before they hit her.

Soon after, a yellow rider descended from the air landing in between Alex and Shiore.
“Tara?” Alex asked.

“The one and only,” The yellow rider said as she turned to face Alex, “Superstar.”

“Where’s Cole?” Alex asked.

“On his way,” Tara stated, “I figured something was up, so we went on ahead. We cut it close Looks we made it just in time.”

“A little too close if you ask me.”

“You know, it’s not a very good idea to attack someone at a place that they spend at least six hours at every single day of the week,” She quickly pulled out her slicer, “especially when said person has two super powered friends that are more than willing to kick the asses of anyone who gives him trouble.”

“Rather ironic that it’s you Tatsumaki who’s saying that in the defense of a member of the Hono Clan,” Shiore proclaimed.

“Since when does putting your hyde on the line for a friend have anything to do with iron?” Tara returned, “Superstar and I may argue from time to time but we’ve still got his back no matter what. Sure, we may no longer be partners but we’re still friends.”

“Friends?” Shiore laughed a bit, “Spare me the sentimental nonsense.”

“We would but it isn’t nonsense,” Tara retorted, “You might not know this but being friends means that you look out for one another eve- no,” She looked back to Alex, “especially when times aren’t looking so good.”

“Well aren’t you the optimist,” Shiore said as she gripped her sword with both of her hands, “let’s see if you’re able to back up those words.”

“Gladly,” Tara returned raising her slicer to Shiore.

Without a second’s delay Tara charged at Shiore with a swing of her slicer, Shiore parrying the wind rider’s swing with her sword. Shiore broke the parry before returning with a swing of her sword. Tara jumped up out of the blade’s path before flipping herself over Shiore’s shoulder. As Tara jumped over her, Shiore jabbed her sword at her which Tara blocked with one of her slicer’s four blades before landing on the other side of Shiore.

The two rider’s glared at each other eye to eye as Shiore reached to her belt and pulled out two kunai knives before hurling them at Tara. Tara twirled her slicer around in front of her batting the knives off course to either side of her before charging at Shiore again as Shiore pulled out another kunai with her left hand and raised her arm to throw it at Tara once again. However, before the knife left the grip of her hand, Tara grabbed Shiore by the wrist and yanked the knife out of her hand.

Shiore then balled her left hand into a fist and punched Tara in her gut. Tara grunted as her slicer fell from her hand and down to the ground. She gritted her teeth before grabbing Shiore’s wrist again, this time with both her hands as she jumped into the air and flipped herself over Shiore. As she landed on the ground on the other side of Shiore, she pulled the ice rider’s arm and threw her to the ground.

“Now,” Tara shouted holding Shiore’s kunai up in the air with both her hands, “Your rampage… ends here!” Without a second thought Tara rammed the kunai right into Shiore’s chest forcing it right through to the other side.

“So you think…” Shiore whispered as cracks began to form where Tara stabbed her. She tilted her head back to face Alex who knelt on the ground behind her, “Consider yourself lucky this time Hono… but I shall not rest until your blood stains my sword.”

At that moment Shiore shattered into several shards of ice which quickly melted into a giant puddle of water.

“Okay, that trick is really starting to get on my nerves,” Tara shouted as she threw Shiore kunai to the ground before removing her gaia memory from her driver, reverting her to her civilian form. She jumped back to her feet, “What the hell is that guy’s deal anyway?”

“You mean girl,” Alex sighed.

Tara blinked, “Come again?”

“That rider is actually a girl, not a guy,” Alex explained, “The same one that just transferred into pretty much all of my classes.”

“Ouch, talk about dramatic irony.” Tara said grabbing her shoulder. “Speaking of…” She added poking Alex in the cheek that Shiore sliced, “You hurt anywhere?”

“I’ll live,” Alex rubbed his cut cheek. He picked himself up from the ground and began to make his way down the hill, “I’ll see you around… alright.”

“Hey!” Tara shouted, “Where are you going?”

“Home,” Alex returned keeping his back turned to Tara, “Where else would I go?”

“Hold up there bucko!” Tara shouted running past Alex and snatching his backpack away from him, “You aren’t going anywhere!”

“Tara!” Alex grunted making several attempts to take his bag back from her, “Give that back!”

“No!” Tara returned, playing keep away with Alex’s bag, “Not until Cole gets here… We still need to figure out what we’re going to do about the snow girl.”

“Fine,” Alex pouted, “but as soon as Cole gets here I’m leaving.”

Tara let out a small sigh, “thank you… Alex.”

“Was this one of the complications you spoke of?” Vainglory asked to Rylee who knelt before him.

“Yes my commander,” Rylee returned, “It seems that, despite my efforts, Ryu-O’s activation test and immediate feral state caused a few civilian casualties… One, I believe, is the white rider that has just appeared.”

“So all four have been gathered,” Vainglory sighed.

“It would appear so,” Rylee returned, “What do you plan to do?”

“No point in worrying about it,” Vainglory proclaimed “so long as there at odds with one another. After all, we have more important matters to attend to and I won’t allow anyone to get in the way of the birth of my perfect world.”

“Yes, of course...” Rylee said bowing her head to Vainglory, “and… what about Fury?”

“Fury is a lost cause,” Vainglory stated, “My new world has no place for vermin like him. It’s what’s best for the dream we both share.” Vainglory raised an eyebrow, “Unless of course... you have your doubts Spite.”

Rylee shook her head, “No, of course not.”

“Very good,” Vainglory said with a warm grin. “Now then,” He added as he rose from his seat, “we must carry on with appointing a commander to take Fury’s place at my side… Now.”

“Are you sure he’s strong enough to handle it?” Rylee asked.

“Carter is one of your children,” Vainglory stated, “surely one with your blood coursing through their veins holds the strength necessary to wield the power of a dragon’s flame.”

“I-I… I understand my lord,” Rylee returned, “I shall send for him immediately.”

Rylee quickly rose to her feet and excused herself from her commander’s chamber before heading out the two large doors at the front. Vainglory sat back down in his throne.

He took in a deep breath, then exhaled, “It’s good to know that you remain loyal to me Spite,” he pulled out a silver gaia memory marked with a golden F and held it gently in the open palm of his right hand, “unlike some.”

Shiore stood perched atop the roof of a tall building looking down to the street below. She held her gaia memory in her hand gripping it tightly.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Shiore proclaimed, “why would the heirs of the Iwa and Tatsumaki clans side with a Hono clan member?” she sighed as she let her arm fall to her side, “and why wouldn't Hono fight back?... Ni-san,” She sighed, “this is all very confusing.”

“Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?” a voice called out. Shiore pulled out a kunai knife and threw it behind her in the direction of the voice. She turned around to see Derek standing behind her twirling the knife in his hand, “now now, there’s no need for such violent behavior… yet.”

“Who are you?” Shiore demanded.

“Who am I isn't important,” Derek stated, “though what I am… is the same as you.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “How exactly?”

“We are people that act for own our desire,” Derek proclaimed, “Mine is for power, and yours is for blood. We take action based on what we crave, though left unchecked… our desire might consume us.”

“Where are you going with this?” Shiore asked.

“We both could use someone to keep us in line, and someone to aid in our efforts. A brother, or sister if you’d rather, in arms is one way you could look at it,” Derek suggested, “So how about it Yuki… do we have a deal?”


“So let me see if I’ve got this right,” Cole said scratching his head a bit, “so that blue haired girl that transferred into our class this afternoon is the rider that attacked us at the construction site?”

“That’s pretty much how it is,” Tara returned, swinging Alex’s backpack over her shoulder. “Though we’re still confused over one thing… what exactly was with those names she kept bringing up? Iwa, Hono and… Uzumaki?”

“Tatsumaki,” Alex interjected.

“Oh yeah,” Tara shouted back with a smirk and the snap of her finger, “that’s the one. Thanks Superstar, knew we could count on you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Alex grunted, “Now will you give me back my bag so I can leave already?”

Tara smacked Alex over the top of his head and swung it back over her shoulder, “NO!”

“Ugh!” Alex sighed, “Why not?”

“Because,” Tara pouted, “You might not be a rider no more but you still need to hear this stuff.”

“You know what?” Alex sighed, “Keep the bag, I’m leaving.” Alex walked, passed Tara and began to make his way down the hill to the street below the school, though he did not get far as Cole stuck his arm out in front of Alex preventing him from moving any further. He looked Cole in the eye, “What are you doing?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Cole returned.

“Just get out of the way,” Alex demanded.

Cole raised an eyebrow, “Do you think Fury would move if you asked him?”

“I’m not having this conversation right now,” Alex said as he lifted Cole’s arm and inched his way under it.

“You might not be,” Cole said as he grabbed Alex by the wrist and twisted Alex around to face him, “but I am.” Alex turned his head away from Cole, “Look at me!” Cole shouted as he grabbed Alex’s chin and looked him dead in the eye, “I know you’re torn up about what happened, but you can’t just run away from your problems… because I won’t let you.”

“But, I-I…” Alex hung his head, “All I just keep screwing up, then others pay the price… That’s why I’m better off alone.”

At that moment Cole punched Alex square in the face knocking him to the ground, “Don’t you dare say that about yourself!” He cracked his knuckles, “You ever do, let’s just say you’ll think that punch was a little pat on the back compared to what I’ll do to you.”

“Sorry,” Alex whispered.

“Sorry is right,” Cole said, “You think Sarah or Madison would like to see you like this? You think they’d be happy seeing you the way you are now?”

“Cole that’s enough,” Tara said placing her hand on Cole’s shoulder, “We still have that other rider to attend to. ”

Cole nodded, “I guess you’re right,” he said as he took Alex’s bag from Tara. He threw the bag to the ground by Alex’s feet, “I guess I’ll see you around then.” He hopped onto his bike and revved the engine, “Mope all you need to, just don’t put all the blame on yourself while you do it. Otherwise... I’ll never forgive you.”

Cole kicked off from the curb and drove his bike down the hill.

Tara walked up to Alex and placed her hand on his shoulder before pulling out her glider and taking off into the skies.

Alex looked up to the sky and watched as Tara vanished behind the cloud layer. He rose to his feet and picked up his bag. “GAH!” He shouted as he threw his bag to the ground, “What the hell am I supposed to do!”

He buried his face into the palms of his hands and sat back down on the side of the road. As he did, he caught a glimmer of light bounce into his eye that came from his bag. He looked over to his bag to see something familiar… and black gaia memory marked with an S.

Alex scurried along the ground and grabbed the memory and held it in the palm of his hand, “Tara you sneaking bitch,” he said inspecting the memory, he then placed it back on the ground, “but what do you expect me to do with it?”

“Isn’t that part obvious?” A voice called out.

Alex turned around to see a blond haired girl in black leather standing behind him, “... Ashley?”

“It’s been a while,” The girl said with a grin, “hasn’t it Alex?”

“I can tell by the look in your eye that you’re a rather smart child, as was I when I was your age,” Derek proclaimed stepping towards Shiore, “All I needed was someone to help me polish my raw talents, as does everyone.” He raised his hand to Shiore’s face and ran his fingers down her cheek, “I could be that polish… if you’d like.”

“I… I,” Shiore said looking Derek straight in the eye. She then slapped his hand away,“... I’d rather die.”

Derek’s smirk turned to a somber frown, “Fine,” he said as he slipped the black and blue gaia memories back into his pocket and holding the red one up to Shiore as he slapped his driver onto his waist, “have it your way then.”

“RUTHLESS!” Derek’s gaia memory shouted as Derek rammed it into his driver, "RUTHLESS! FURY!" Crimson red flames engulfed Derek as the armor of his Ruthless form was forged onto his skin.

“I shall warn you though,” Fury cackled, “I won’t hold back.”

“Good,” Shiore returned pulling out her own gaia memory before unzipping her sweater unveiling her own driver with the wolf head buckle, “because neither will I.”

Shiore slammed her gaia memory into the slot on the side of her belt and ran it along the strap to the buckle at the front, “Yuki!” her driver shouted as a layer of ice formed around her which quickly shattered to bits revealing her in her white samurai armor.

She drew her sword from the sheath on her belt and aimed it at Fury, “Count your sins… for now you shall atone for them.”

“How can I?” Fury said with a smirk, “There are too many to count them all.”

“HOLD IT!!!” A voice called out from above.

Shiore and Fury looked up to the sky to see Cole in his rider form fall down from the sky and smack the ground in front of Shiore, a fully armored Tara gracefully descending shortly after.

“Warn me next time before you do that!” Cole shouted at Tara as he jumped to his feet.

“He he sorry about that,” Tara laughed awkwardly scratching the back of her head, “wasn’t enough time to. Besides at least you landed on your… face?”

“Remind me why I agreed to work with you again?” Cole asked.

“Ah that doesn’t matter right now,” Tara proclaimed patting Cole on the back, “we’ve got…” Tara quickly noticed Shiore standing behind Cole, “Oh crap not you again!”

“I was just thinking the exact same thing,” Shiore’s proclaimed, “only far less aggravatingly loud.”

“GRRR!” Tara growled, “Why I outta!”

“Are you two going to finish bickering soon?” Derek asked, “because I’ll just kill you right now so you can argue in hell.”

“You shut up!” Tara shouted, “If you’re that eager to fight let’s just do that right now!”

Fury smirked, “If you insist.”

---
“So, you just got out of prison then?” Alex asked to Ashley who sat next to him on a bench not far from where Tara and Shiore fought only moments ago.

“Well, not exactly,” Ashley returned, “I’m on parole at the moment and I’ve still got a few loose ends I need to tie up. However, that by the book hard ass Marcoh says that if I can walk the straight and narrow for the rest of high school I should be good. But hey all I need to do is not steal, I mean how hard can that be?”

“I see,” Alex said, “so… how have things at home been then?”

“Well…You see, I-I mean…” Ashley tried to find the right words to say but then hung her head, “Look Alex there was one thing that’s been on my mind since I got back on the streets. You see, I’ve really wanted to thank you.” She bowed down in front of Alex, “You helped me get my life in order and I’m forever in your debt… so if there is anything that I can do for you, all you need to do is ask and I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

“Can you wind back time to a couple months ago and have me stay home on the day that we met at the waterpark?” Alex asked, “Because that’s the only thing that would help me at the moment.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow, “Why would that help?”

“If I had never gone to the waterpark that day, I would have never met Madison, she would have never developed a crush on me,” Alex buried his face in the palms on his hand, “and then maybe she could’ve gone out with someone else and Sarah would still be here.”

“Oh… sorry,” Ashley said quietly. She thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers together, “you know… I went to see Madison in the hospital before coming over here.”

“How is she?” Alex asked.

“She seems to be doing pretty well all things considered.” Ashley stated, “I mean she’s awake so that’s a plus. Though according to the doctors she hasn’t been able to remember anything of this past year… So, I can’t say for sure.”

“I guess that’s for the best,” Alex said hanging his head, “She’s better off not remembering someone as pathetic as me. I set out to protect this city, but I couldn’t protect Madison, Sarah or even my mother when it mattered… what good am I if I can’t even protect the people I care about the most from my enemies?”

“But you did... more than you realize.” Ashley said wrapping her arms around Alex, “What happened to Sarah sucks but it wasn’t your fault, so you shouldn’t blame yourself for it.”

Alex turned to Ashley, “then why do I feel this way?”

“Because you’re human,” Ashley said with a grin, “Do you know why people wish are stars Alex?”

“No,” Alex returned, “why?”

“Because even when the night is cold and dark, the stars remain to light the way. They see what people going through hard times can’t,” Ashley proclaimed, “I find it rather amazing that even after so many centuries of war and heartache, the stars remain as bright and full of warmth as they did when they were first born.”

“What’s your point exactly?” Alex asked.

“Well, put simply,” Ashley said holding up Alex’s Star gaia memory to Alex, “With their age comes wisdom, and people hope that if they wish upon a star that some of their wisdom shall be granted to them.” She handed the memory over to Alex, “But that wisdom can only be given to one who is willing to listen.”

“What would you wish for?” Alex asked.

“Me? I’m not really into that kind of stuff,” Ashley said as she leaned back on the bench, “Although… if I had to make one wish. It be for you to help others in the same way that you helped me,” Ashley placed the memory into Alex and closed his hands around it, “I’m asking you not as Ashley Haze, but as Shift. Use this to help others like me, that’s all I want.”

“But, what if I screw up again?” Alex asked.

“If you say you’ll fail then you will, if you say you’ll succeed then you will,” Ashley proclaimed, “One more thing,” in a mere instant Ashley grabbed Alex by the chin and brought her lips to his, held it for a few moments, then pulled away.

“What was that for!” Alex shouted.

“That kiss was from Madison,” Ashley said with a grin.

Alex blinked, “... come again?”

“My guess is that with your reserved attitude that you were never able to gather the courage to plant one on old Maddy Paddy were you?” Ashley asked.

“Uh… no,” Alex returned, “Guess I was a pretty shit boyfriend wasn’t I?”

“Seems so. But hey, you got Maddy to like you so you must have been doing something right. You be sure to remember that alright?”

“Yeah sure I will,” Alex pouted.

“and remember this as well,” Ashley said as she grabbed hold of Alex’s hands and held them close together in hers, “My wish is also partly from Madison, and Sarah too. So please, for myself Sarah and Madison, grant our wish to save all dopants you can from themselves if you can, no matter what it takes. Think you can do that... Kamen Rider?”

Alex nodded, “I will.”

“Madison sure does know how to pick ‘em,” Ashley said with a grin, “Now then… isn’t it about time you got going?”

“But, I don’t know where I’m going,” Alex stated, “How will I-”

“Trust in the star’s light,” Ashley interrupted, “listen closely and it will show you the way.”

“Okay…” Alex raised the gaia memory up to his ear and closed his eyes, waiting patiently for a sound or a light or something. After a few moments, he heard the clang of two swords clashing accompanied by several explosions. He opened his eyes and sprung to his feet panting rapidly.

“What’s wrong?” Ashley asked.

Alex turned to Ashley and cleared his throat, “... I know where they are.”

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

As Cole, Tara and Shiore fight off Fury, Alex must decide to take up his driver once again or let his past rule him forever.

Will Alex reclaim his title as Kamen Rider?

and what of Shiore and her intentions?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 20: Vows and Ancient Memories. Will you ride again Xtreme?

Shiore dashed behind Fury and swung her sword at him with full force. Fury grabbed the dial on the side of his belt and turned it until a blue S appeared at the top under the red arrow.

“Shift! Maximum Drive!” The dial shouted as Shiore’s sword phased right through Fury and she fell to the ground on the other side of him.

“A strong fire burns in your eyes young one, I like that,” Fury stated, “Truly we can both benefited from a partnership. You’ll have your revenge and I’ll have a strong warrior as my second in command once I take over this useless rock. So… what say you?”

“A wolf hunts alone,” Shiore said while gritting her teeth as she rose to her feet, “I’ve told you one and I’ll tell you again... I’ll never join the likes of you who use the power of the earth for selfish and unjust reasons.”

Fury sighed, “Pity…” he said turning the dial on his belt until a silver S appeared until the arrow, “I really hoped that you of all riders would see things my way.”

“Shredder! Maximum Drive!” The dial shouted as three large blades shot out of each of his forearms.

“Oh well, at least this way I’ll be able to add the power of three riders to my own,” Fury cackled, “NOW DIE!” He shouted as he raised his blades into the air and slashed them at Shiore knocking her back to the edge of the roof by Tara and Cole.

“Alright,” Shiore grunted as she recovered from the blow, “I might have an idea of how we can beat this guy.”

“Alright,” Tara said looking back to Shiore, “shoot.”

“Temporary truce,” Shiore stated, “we deal with this guy and then we don’t ever have to speak with each other ever again.”

“Will you give up trying to kill Alex?” Cole asked. Shiore said nothing, “I’ll take your silence as a no?... Well then, just know this. If you try to go after Alex you’ll have to go through me. Got that?” Shiore nodded, “Good.”

“Oh, speaking of,” Tara said as she undid her driver from her wrist allowing Kree to change back into his bird form.

“A guardian… here?” Shiore asked.

“I’m not sure if ‘guardian’ is the word I would use, where more of partners in crime. I helped him out, so now he helps me out,” Tara proclaimed, “Now go get Alex,” she instructed to Kree before allowing him to take off into the air.”

“Not sure what the point of sending for Subject X is, but it doesn’t really matter to me,” Fury cackled as he scraped the edges of his blades together, “because in a few short moments… you’ll all be dead.”


Alex road down a busy street on his bike, evading cars and other vehicles attempting to move as fast as he possibly could. He continued this tactic until he passed by a pair of familiar looking gates. Alex slammed on the breaks and took a closer look at the gates as well as the building that stood behind it.

“That’s… the same hospital I woke up in,” Alex said aloud to himself, “All those months ago.” At that moment Alex heard the small chirp of a bird. He turned his head to see a yellow robot bird sitting perched on the dashboard of the X-Cyclone, “Kree?” Kree nodded a bit, a small grin appearing on Alex’s face, “Good to see you pal.”

The sound of blades clashing together then filled the air. Kree turned around to where the sound originated from.

“They need my help… don’t they?” Alex asked.

Kree turned back to him and gave a small chirp.

“Ah, who am I kidding? Of course they need me,” Alex said slapping himself in the face, “but how am I supposed to get to them in time?”

“You already know the answer to that… brave youth,” A voice called out.

“Eh, who said that?” Alex asked looking around frantically.

“I did of course,” The voice called out once again.

Alex looked to Kree who sat staring directly at him, “Kree… did you just?”

“Speak to you? Well of course I did,” Kree returned, “do you see anyone else before you?”

“But… you’re a bird? How are you talking to me!” Alex demanded.

“With my condition being what it was I was unable to communicate with you directly,” Kree explained, “However, because of your strong bond with my partner I have since been able to speak with you telepathically.”

“You can speak to people who are close with Tara?” Alex asked.

“Correct,” Kree returned, “However, my connection with you seems rather weak in comparison to the other member of your group so I don’t have much time to explain. Much how I am able to change my shape upon my partner will I am also able to share that ability with others so long as they are of the same morality as said partner.”

Alex scratched his head, “I’m sorry... I don’t follow.”

“Allow me put it a bit more simply than,” Kree returned, “Do you wish to fly Alex Darwin?”

Fury threw Cole and Tara to the ground as Shiore prepared one final strike against him. She charged at the raging dopant at top speed raising her sword above her head.

Fury switched the dial over to red F, “Flame! Maximum Drive!” the dial shouted as a ball of fire ignited in his hand. As Shiore came within swinging range of Fury, Fury grabbed her sword by the blade and punched in her chest.

“You never learn,” Fury said with a smirk, “do you?”

“Funny,” Shiore returned, “I was just about to say the same thing.”

Fury looked down to see that where he had hit Shiore had become a puddle of water by his feet. Shiore then melted right in front of him causing water to run down his arm and cover almost half of his body which quickly froze back into ice.

“Yuki! Maximum Drive!” Fury heard a gaia memory called out as Shiore reappeared directly in front of him.

“Now… Proceed on your way to oblivion,” Shiore said raising her sword high above her head as several blades made of ice formed around her. “Diamond Snowstorm!” She shouted as she swung her sword down towards Fury causing every blade around her to hurl themselves at the dopant standing frozen in front of her.

The blades rammed themselves into Fury one by one causing him to go up a icy blue blast of fire and ice.

“Well…” Cole panted as he got back on his feet, “thank god he’s dead.” Cole turned to the yellow rider that stood beside him, “How about you Tara? You doing alright?”

“You know it,” Tara said as she punched Cole in the shoulder. She looked over to Shiore, “What do we do about her though?”

“Aren’t you three celebrating a bit too early?” Fury cackled as he emerged from the smoke of Shiore’s blast.

The three riders retook their stances and drew closer together.

“Crap damn it,” Tara returned, “This guy just doesn’t know when to stay down does he.”

“Well then, I’d say it’s about time that we make him,” Shiore said.

Tara smirked under her mask, “I think I’m starting to like you Sayuri… real shame we’re going to have to fight you after we’re through with Fury if you ask me.”

“Well if you ask me,” Fury interrupted as he drew closer to the three riders, “I’d say it’s about time that I show you my true power,” he added as he turned the dial on his belt until a dark red R appeared below the arrow.

“Ruthless! Maximum Drive!” The dial shouted as the two mouths on Fury’s shoulder armor opened wide and a giant ball of fire began to grow in each.

“Ruthless… MAELSTROM!” Fury shouted as the two balls of fire shot out of the mouths on his armor and hurled themselves at the three riders.

As the three riders braced for the impact a large tornado came down from the sky and encircled them both firing them right back at Fury, Fury jumping out of the way before they hit him.

Fury looked back for whatever it was that caused the tornado before looking up in the air to see a shadowy blur fly up from above before coming to a grinding touch down on the ground in between him and the riders. Once the blur landed, Fury was able to see that it was a black motorcycle with a red X emblazoned on the side. A pair of golden wings now adorned the sides of the bike and the face of an eagle had mounted on the windshield.

“I was wondering when you’d coming out of hiding… Kamen Rider,” Fury said smirked. “But now I’m confused, didn’t you quit after what became of that cute little girlfriend of yours?”

“You’re right, I did,” Alex said as he dismounted from his bike. He turned back to look at Cole and Tara who stood directly behind, “I’ve made some mistakes in the past and innocent people were forced to pay the price… However,” he said turning back to Fury, “I’m no longer going to just sit by and watch others fight my battles for me.”

“So… the short version?” Fury asked.

“I’m not going to allow anyone else to be harmed because of me, because I’m not going to let anyone with the intention of hurting them get anywhere near them,” Alex stated as his driver materialized around his waist, “Not even you.”

“Always jumping to extremes,” Fury chuckled, “Who exactly do you think you are anyway?”

“I’m just the guy that’s going to kick your ass,” Alex returned as he pulled out the Star and Runner memories from his back pocket and held them up to Fury, “That’s all you need to know.”

“Not today,” Fury said with a snap of his fingers causing several explosion to go off around Alex and the other three riders knocking them all to the ground along with portal opening up behind Fury. Alex looked back to the portal to see that Fury had already jumped into it.

Alex gritted his teeth, “Get back here!”

“It’s been fun riders but I think that it’s time we take a little bit of a break for today,” Fury said as three black beasts jumped out of the portal in his place, “But just so you don’t feel lonely, this lot should be more than enough company…” He smirked as the portal closed behind him, “Enjoy.”

Tara ran over to Alex, “Superstar! You alright?” she asked helping him up to his feet as Kree detached himself from Alex’s bike and returned to his place around Tara’s wrist.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Alex returned as he got back on his feet. Alex looked over to the other two riders, “Shiore… I know we haven’t exactly gotten off to a good start, but do you think maybe you could help us out just this once?” Shiore nodded, Alex returned with a grin, “thank you.”

“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, how’s about dealing with these guys?” Tara suggested pointing over to the three beasts that encircled the group. “Wouldn’t you agree Cole?”

“Well it’s not like I have a choice at the moment do I,” Cole said snarkingly.

“Great!” Tara shouted with a smirk, “So Superstar, what’s the plan?”

“Same as always,” Alex said placing his two memories into their corresponding slots on his driver, “We fight together.”

“Great to have you back pal,” Tara said patting Alex on the back as she Cole and Shiore formed into a line alongside Alex.

“Great to be back,” Alex returned, “Now, let’s end this… Henshin!” He shouted as he split the slots of his driver apart.

“Star! Runner!” Alex’s driver called out as his black and red armor formed around him, Shiore taking note of it in the corner of her eye.

“Tara, let’s go!” Alex shouted as he dashed over to the beast up in front, Tara following on the other side of it.

The two encircled the beast and ran around it several times as their speed increased rapidly as a tornado began to form in the gap between them lifting the beast into the air.

Alex and Tara flipped back and Alex singled Tara, “Finish it!”

“On it!” Tara returned as she pulled out her slicer and placed her gaia memory into the hilt.

“Gale! Maximum Drive!” Tara’s gaia memory called as the blades of her slicer split apart

Tara then shouted “Gale Tornado!” before hurling her slicer at the beast suspended in the air tearing it to shreds upon impact.

Alex then turned on his heel and ran over towards Cole, “Cole, Smash!”

Cole knelt down on one knee and rest his hammer on his shoulder as Alex jumped up onto the head of the hammer. “Going up!” Cole shouted as he swung his hammer around and launched Alex into the air, Alex switching his Star and Runner memories out for Blade and Kicker.

“Blade! Kicker!” Alex’s driver called out as his armor changed from red to green and the Bla-Jalibur formed in his right hand upon descending upon the second beast with one quick swing of his sword.

Cole then removed his rock memory from his driver and placed it into the slot at the top of his smasher, “Rock! Maximum Drive!” The memory shouted as the blade on the back of the hammer flipped to the front forming an axe.

“Rock Gasher!” Cole shouted with two swings of his axe causing two green blades of light to shoot out of blade at the second beast causing it to explode on impact.

The four riders then turned to the third and final beast. Alex approached Shiore and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Ready?” Alex asked.

“Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it,” Shiore returned.

“Alright then,” Alex said removing the Blade and Kicker memories from his driver and replacing them with Blast and Diver, “freeze it.”

“Blast! Diver!” Alex’s driver shouted as his armor changed from green to blue and the Bla-Jalibur was replaced with his Corona Blaster.

“As you wish,” Shiore said as she placed her hand on the ground causing a line of ice to shoot out from her hand and connect to the beast’s feet freezing it where it stood. “Now what?”

“One final blow,” Alex said as he removed the blast memory from his driver and placed it into the top of his blaster.

“Blast! Maximum Drive!” The Corona Blaster shouted as Alex aimed it at the final beast, Shiore placing her hand over top of it.

“Freezing Blast Charge!” Alex shouted pulling back on the trigger as a thousand shards of ice fired out of the barrel of his blaster at the last beast destroying him almost instantly. Shiore then removed her hand as Alex let his arm fall down to his side.

“Yahoo! Go Superstar! Go Snow Woman! Go Cole!” Tara shouted as Alex and Shiore both removed their gaia memories from their drivers returning to their civilian forms.

Shiore then began to walk away from Alex over to the edge of the roof.

“Hey, where are you going?” Alex asked.

“I made a mistake. You aren’t the one I’m looking for,” Shiore stated, “Sorry for the confusion, you don’t have to deal with me any longer.”

“Wait a second, if you’re looking for someone why not let us help you?” Alex asked back.

Shiore stopped for a moment then turned back to Alex, “You would do that… for me?”

“Of course,” Alex returned, “however, I do have one request.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “What would that be?”

“I want you to tell us everything that’s going on,” Alex request, “You think you can do that much for us… Shiore?”

“Yes… you three deserve that much at least for all the trouble I’ve caused you,” Shiore nodded, “But it can’t be here. I have a condo that isn’t very far from here, I can tell you everything there.”

“Thank you Shiore,” Alex said bowing slightly.

“No… it is I who should be thanking you,” Shiore returned, “Now… let’s get going. It’s quite a long story and the quicker I can begin the better.”

Derek pushed through the large doors that led into Vainglory’s main chamber and made his way up to the throne where Vainglory was currently sitting.

“Alright Vainglory,” Derek said pointing a finger at his commander as the doors closed behind him, “I’d say it’s about time w-”

“Hold your tongue Fury,” Vainglory demanded, “You’ve been a pain in neck for long enough as it is, and you are not going to interrupt this with your idiotic ambitions.”

“Idiotic ambitions?” Derek asked, “What could be so important to put my so called ‘idiocy’ on hold my dear commander?”

Vainglory leaned back into his throne, “Carter… you may come in now.”

The doors opened once again as a young lad who looked to be about Alex’s age walked through. He had short messy brown hair and fiery red eyes and a black collar around his neck. The clothes he had on were fairly simple, black pants and shoes along with a plain red shirt with a black sideways moon pattern with three three spikes jutting out the bottom of it along with a single spike in the crevice.

“So, you’re recruiting children now are you?” Fury asked.

“Spite restrain him,” Vainglory said as Spite pulled out her whip and prepared to strike Derek around his wrists with it.

“Now now,” Derek said raising his hand to Spite and stepping off to the side, “There is no need for that here.” He turned to Vainglory, “Excuse my incompetence my lord, I was simply verifying what it was that you were up to is all.”

Vainglory raised an eyebrow, “Who exactly are you trying to fool Fury?”

“Only a cat of a different coat, that’s all the truth I know,” Derek said with a smirk. He then bowed his head to Vainglory, “Now please… proceed.”

Spite placed her hand on Derek’s shoulder and whispered into his ear, “Don’t think that you’re fooling anyone, because if you try anything I will kill you.”

“Why I wouldn’t even dream of it,” Derek returned, “After all whether it has a coat of gold or a coat of red a lion still has claws.” He turned away from Spite and focused his attention on Vainglory, “and mine are long and sharp my lord,” He thought to himself, “as long and sharp as yours.”

The front door to a highrise condo opened as Shiore stepped through. She slipped her shoes off and placed them gently against the wall to the right of the door.

“Please, come in,” she said bowing slightly to Alex, Cole and Tara along with Kree who was perched on Tara’s shoulder.

“Okay,” Tara shrugged. She took a few steps forward into the condo before Shiore stuck her arm out in front of her. “What?”

“Shoes,” Shiore scowled.

Tara looked down at her feet then back to Shiore, “But… I’m wearing boots.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Shiore returned, “take them off.”

“Fine,” Tara sighed before reached down to her boots and undoing the laces.

Shiore looked back to Alex and Cole.

The two blinked for a moment before cluing in to what Shiore was saying through her gaze, “Oh right,” the two said before slipping off their shoes and placing them next to Shiore’s.

Tara hopped on one foot trying to get her boot off, “Come on… you… stupid… piece of-”

Shiore rolled her eyes and grabbed the bottom of Tara’s boot and pulling it right off causing Tara to lose her balance and fall to the ground, Kree flying off Tara’s shoulder and on to Cole’s. Shiore then grabbed Tara’s other boot and slipped it off before throwing both of them on top of Tara.

Tara blinked her eyes in a daze, “... thank you.”

“Baka,” Shiore sighed.

“The heck does that mean?” Tara asked.

“You’re welcome,” Shiore returned.

“Oh…” Tara said looking up to the ceiling, “okay then.”

“I’ll go make some tea,” Shiore said as she made her way passed Tara and disappeared around the corner to the left, “you three just… make yourselves comfortable.”

Alex and Cole snickered a bit.

“What’s so funny?” Tara growled glaring at the two.

“Nothing!” The two shouted.

“Good!” Tara shouted back.

Cole knelt down over Tara and extended his hand out to her, “Need some help?”

“Thanks,” Tara said as she grabbed Cole’s hand and pulled herself up off the floor, Kree jumping back onto her shoulder from Cole’s. Tara turned around, her eyes widened as the rest of Shiore’s condo came into view.

The room was fairly bare with a single small table and four cushions placed around it along with a flat screen tv placed hung up on the wall to the left and a two seater couch against the right. A large glass window spanned across the back wall

Tara’s jaw dropped, “... Woah, check out the view!” She shouted as she grabbed Cole by the wrist and ran over to the window.

Alex took a few steps forward before taking in a whiff of an odd scent of something burning, “Is that…” He thought for a moment trying to figure out what the smell, “incense?” He looked into the kitchen, “Hey Shior-” he then caught a glimpse of Shiore reaching for a cup on the top shelf of a tall cupboard but just couldn’t get at it.

Alex walked up to the cupboard and grabbed the cup from the top.

“Here you go,” He said with a grin as he handed it to Shiore.

Shiore blinked for a moment before grabbing the cup from Alex and placed it on the counter next to three others of a similar design. She turned her back to him and walked over to a white stove that had a single kettle resting on it slowly being brought to a boil.

She turned slightly back to Alex but avoided looking directly at him, “… thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Alex returned, “Anything else I can help you with?”

“No,” Shiore said tending to the kettle on the stove, “I have everything taken care of.”

“Alright just checking,” Alex stepped slowly back over to the entrance way he came through, “Just you know shout if you need anything okay.” He said before quickly leaving the room.

"The cut I gave you..." Shiore spoke up, "How is it?

Alex felt along the cut on his cheek, the bleeding had stop but the wound was still there.

"Fine... nothing too serious," Alex returned.

"Oh," Shiore turned back to the stove, "Alright then... just checking."

"Alright," Alex said as he stepped out of the kitchen, "just let me know if you need any help okay?"

Shiore grunted “I try to kill him and he’s the one asking me if I need anything…” She sighed, “Alex Darwin, you sure are an interesting one,” she sighed as she looked up to the ceiling, “To be able to forgive someone so easily. I wonder, what gives you the strength to do that?”

Alex stepped into the living room where Cole and Tara were. By this time Tara was sprawled out on the couch with her feet up on the armrest and Cole was by the window looking over the city.

“Everything okay?” Cole asked.

“Yeah,” Alex returned as he walked over to the small table and sat down on one of the cushion in front of it.

“Something happen?” Tara asked.

“Nope. I just offered to help and she said she was fine,” Alex explained, “nothing else to it.”

“Oh… alright then,” Tara returned, “By the way I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“Well… I’ll admit it was pretty cool and everything but…” Tara began as she sat up straight and looked directly at Alex, “How exactly did you manage to combine that bike of yours with Kree’s glider form?”

“It just sort of happened,” Alex explained, “It was Kree that suggested it actually.”

Tara raised an eyebrow, “You serious?”

“Yeah…” Alex returned, “why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well you must’ve hit your head or something because that’s impossible,” Tara said snickering a bit, “There’s a lot of crazy stuff in this world Superstar, but a bird that can talk? That’s pushing it a little don’t you think?”

“But…” Alex looked over to Kree on Tara’s shoulder who looked back at him through his green mechanical eyes. He sighed, “I guess you’re right… I must’ve imagined it or something.”

Tara nodded a couple times, “Yeah, that’s basically what I thought,” she said stretching out her arms and letting out a rather loud yawn, “Anyways I guess that’s not really all that important. Right Cole?”

“Right,” Cole returned turning his attention back to his companions, “what matters is that we figure out who it is that Shiore is after and then think of a way to find them.

“Good to know we’re all on the same page,” Tara said as she lifted her feet up and rested them on the table, “After all that’s the whole reason why we’r-”

Just then, a blur whipped across Tara’s face as she just barely dodged it by ducking. Tara slowly looked up see a kunai knife just inches above her head, the three then looked over to where the knife came from to see Shiore standing tapping her foot with a tray holding four cups on the other side of the room.

“Tea is ready,” She said coldly as she walked over to the table and placed one the four cups at each end.

“Uh… mind telling us what the hell that was?” Tara demanded.

“Feet,” Shiore returned avoiding eye contact with Tara, “They should remain on the floor.”

“You told me to make myself at home!” Tara shouted.

“I told you to make yourself comfortable,” Shiore retorted, “Even if I did, do you have such little respect for your own property to rest your feet where others eat food?”

Tara scratched the back of her head, “Well… no, it’s just that-”

“It’s just that you what?” Shiore interrupted glaring at Tara, “Have no concern for the personal space of others?”

“Wasn’t there something important you were going to tell us!” Tara shouted back.

Shiore’s right eye twitched, “You’re one to get right to the point… I guess that’s one positive about you Tatsumaki.”

“That’s another thing,” Tara said as she slid off the couch and over to the cushion on the floor in front of her, “What’s with all this Tatsumaki business?”

“So you three don’t know of the four great clans then, and where the gaia memories you have originally came from?” Shiore asked. The trio shook their heads in unison. “Alright then,” Shiore said taking a sip of her tea, “I allow me to start at the beginning then.” Shiore dipped her index finger into Tara’s tea and placed it near the centre of the table.

“Hey!” Tara shouted, “Weren’t you the one complaining about personal space?”

“It’s my table I can mess up it as I see fit,”

“Won’t your folks be mad when they get back?” Tara asked.

“No… now, on to business,” Shiore said as she drew a line with her finger, “long ago, a being known simply as Sekai maintained peace and balance in the world. But this peace was not to last as eventually, a dark destroyer emerged and threatened to crush all that Sekai had built and leave her…” Shiore struck another line through the one she had already drawn, “with nothing.”

“Wait… but how come we’re all here today then?” Alex asked.

“Simple,” Shiore said moving her over the four corners over the cross on the table, “Sekai summoned the assistance of four of her strongest guardians. Okami the wolf, Tori the eagle, Ryujin the Dragon and Gaia the minotaur,” she then drew four characters around the cross in the clockwise order of 氷風火土, “Each one upheld one of the earth’s many elements, Okami of Ice, Tori of wind, Ryujin of fire and Gaia of earth.”

“and I’m guessing that through the help of these four beasts and the magic of friendship that Sekai was able to prevent the world’s destruction?” Tara asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Well, not exactly,” Shiore said with sorrow in her voice, “Even with the help of the four guardians, Sekai was only able to put the destroyer into a state of deep slumber… and at a terrible price. Sekai was forced to seal herself away along with the destroyer.”

“And the guardians?” Cole asked, “What became of them?”

“She intrusted them guardians with the task watching over her as she slept until the day that they would be needed to fight fight the destroyer once again… however she did not want them to do it alone,” Shiore proclaimed, “It was then that Sekai instructed them to seek out a companion, someone to share their power with and help it to grow. The four that ended up being chosen were Ryoko Hono, Takeshi Shirayuki, Daichi Iwa and Kaoru Tatsumaki and each one of them received a gaia memory containing a portion of their respective guardian’s power.” Shiore placed her yuki memory onto the surface of the table, Tara and Cole holding their memories in the palms of their hands, “These of course were the gaia memories that three of us now hold.”

“and… the fourth?” Tara asked.

“That’s where things get complicated,” Shiore proclaimed, “each of the four memories and their respective drivers were passed down from parent to child and for nine generations, peace and order was maintained by the four clans that were formed under the power of the elements.”

“They must’ve been rather close huh?” Alex asked.

“Indeed they were,” Shiore returned, “However… it was not meant to last.”

“Did the destroyer return?” Cole asked.

“No,” Shiore said, “What tore them apart… came from within. You see, for reasons I’m not sure of, the guardians were forced to seal themselves away as well but the memories they gave to their companions ancestors remained. Then things took a turn for the worse when Ryuga, the ninth head of the Hono clan, fell in love with Haruka Tatsumaki… but she had already been betrothed to another.”

“What did Ryuga do?” Tara asked.

“He pleaded with Haruka and begged that she accept his feelings for her, but she the person she was set to marry was someone who she cared for very deeply.” Shiore looked Tara in the eye, “and with no other options, Ryuga decided that if he couldn’t be with Haruka then he wouldn’t let anyone else be with her either… and so he killed Haruka’s beloved and then killed her, destroying her driver along with the rest of her clan and taking Haruka’s gaia memory to make sure that no one else would steal that last bit that remained of Haruka away from him.”

Tara tightened her grip on her memory, “That’s horrible…”

“What about Ryuga?” Alex asked, “what happened to him?”

“His actions sparked anger between the Hono clan and Iwa and Shirayuki clans,” Shiore explained “The tension between the three quickly escalated into a ten year war between the Hono, Iwa and Shirayuki Clans which eventually came to an end with Ryuga’s own life being claimed by his brother Ryusei.”

“And Ryusei?” Alex asked, “what happened to him and the rest of the Hono clan?”

“As punishment for his brother’s actions, Ryusei vowed to not allow his blood line to continue and the Hono clan ended with his death several years later.” Shiore explained, “After that, the remaining two clans slowly died out and disbanded, leaving only their drivers, memories and legacy behind.”

“That’s all well and good,” Cole said, “but… how exactly does all that relate to what’s going on now with us?”

“Well you see, the last head of the Shirayuki clan was someone very close to me,” Shiore stated, “and he was killed by someone under the guise of Ryu-jin’s mask and I fear they carry the same wrath as Ryuga Hono. The last head of the Shirayuki clan entrusted his driver to me and I attempted to kill the savage right then and there… however, he was snatched away by some green haired woman who called herself Spite.”

“So you tracked her here and confused me with the guy you were tracking… is that about right?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Shiore returned, “and now I must ask you three,” she placed her hand over her knees and bowed her head to the three riders before her, “I know I’ve caused nothing but trouble for you since I’ve arrived here in your city, but if I can ask one thing of you I beg you… help me prevent the flames of the past from resurfacing.”

Vainglory sat leaning forward in his throne while Carter knelt before him. Derek and Rylee stood off to the side, Rylee biting her lip with a black case in her hand and Derek with his usual smirk.

“Carter Damon, son of Spite,” Vainglory said to the boy, “Do you pledge undying loyalty to your commander, and swear to uphold order in your stead as one of META’s elites?” Carter nodded, “Very good… now then,” he turned to Rylee and extended his hand to her, “Spite, the driver and memory if you’d please.”

“Of course,” Rylee said walking over to Vainglory and handing the case she held in her hand. She bowed slightly before handing the case over to her commander.

“Thank you Spite,” Vainglory nodded as he took the case from Rylee, “You may go now.”

“My lord,” Rylee bowed once more before returning to her place beside Derek.

“Nervous?” Derek asked.

“Of course not,” Rylee returned.

“Don’t lie to me,” Derek said with a smirk, “I can smell it… you obviously fear for him,” He placed his hand on Rylee’s shoulder, “Though it’s only natural for a mother to worry for her children.”

Vainglory opened the case and walked over to Carter, “Now then, with your oath complete all that needs to be done is see if you are able to wield the power contained within this driver and memory,” He turned the case to Carter to reveal a red gaia memory and circle shaped buckle with the face of a dragon in the center and four ruins around the rim, “But take heed, this is one of the most powerful memories in existence. If you cannot control it, it will consume you instantly… are you prepared for this?”

Carter nodded, “I am… my lord.”

“That’s good to hear,” Vainglory said handing the case over to Carter, “you may proceed.”

Carter took the driver and memory out of the case, holding them in his hands and inspecting them with his eyes. He slapped the driver onto his waist as two red belt straps shot out of each end and connected at the back.

He held the memory up to his eye and looked deep into the two dragons circling around each other forming an O shape on the label of the memory. He flipped the memory around and hit the button below the label, “RYU-O!”

Carter took in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, “Hen...shin!”

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

With their newly found information, the riders must decide whether or not to help believe it and lend their assistance to Shiore as the flames of Ryuga's hatred begin to reignite.

What choice shall the riders make?

and will they be enough to prevent the tragedy of the past from repeating itself?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 21: Rise and Fall.
Yuki, what horrors have your eyes seen?

Why are you taking orders, Derek >_< Shred his ass already! *Shakes fist at but eagerly awaits the next chapter*

Shit be getting serious up in here.

Awesome!

This episode of Kamen Rider Xtreme is brought to you in part by:
XW1n5t0nX

Episode 21: Rise and Fall

A towering inferno rampaged wildly in the center of Vainglory’s chamber. The madness of it soon reduced itself as it shrunk it’s size before quickly dying down, revealing Carter who had transformed into a crimson rider.

He wore red scale textured armor with two large deep red spikes forming his shoulder armor which curved upward. His helmet was primarily black that held a red mask with burning amber eyes and the horns of a dragon adorning it. The japanese kanji for fire had been emblazoned on his chest 火.

A small applause emerged from Vainglory, “You have stepped through the gates of the abyss and have come out reborn on the other side,” he said as he approached Carter. “Now rise warrior of fire, wielder of the flames of destruction. Rise... Kamen Rider Ryu-O.”

A slow applause filled the room, “Very impressive,” Derek proclaimed as all eyes became fixed upon him, “When the riders pose a threat to your dream, you create a rider of your very own… but is it enough to take on the strength of the other three, I wonder?”

“What are you getting at Fury?” Spite asked as an orb of red energy formed in her hand.

“Spite… at ease,” Vainglory instructed, Spite lowering her charge as the orb faded, “The strength of Ryu-O is surely more than a match for the other three… however, if you’d like to his strength you’re more than welcome to.”

“Oh I would gladly do so,” Derek proclaimed as he pulled out his Ruthless memory and placed his driver around his waist, “but you see it’s not his strength that concerns me.”

“Then what is?” Vainglory asked.

Derek smirked, “It’s whether or not he can prevent me from getting over to you.”

“RUTHLESS! FURY!” Derek’s memory shouted as he rammed it into his driver causing him to change into his Ruthless form before dashing over to Vainglory.

He turned the dial on the side of his belt until a silver S appeared, “Shredder! Maximum Drive!” the dial shouted as three large blades formed on Fury’s forearms.

“DIE!” Fury shouted as he slashed his blades at Vainglory only to have them stop moments before they made contact. Fury returned focus on Vainglory to find a large buster blade holding back his strike. His eyes widened, “What the...”

“Fury, you have always been a fool,” Vainglory said as a black spike shrouded in a violet aura formed in his hand, “and you shall die a fool.”

Vainglory then threw the spike at Fury, Fury turned the dial on his belt to a violet M “Major! Maximum Drive!” the dial shouted as Fury raised his right hand along with a shield to block the spike, however the spike simply phased straight through the shield and burrowed itself deep within Fury’s arm.

“AHHHH!” Fury writhed in agony as he fell to the ground clenching his right arm. “W-What the hell did you... do to me?”

“My perfect world only has room for those that I can trust. That spike is highly corrosive, it will devour you from the inside… then kill you,” Vainglory explained, “I can remove it, but at a price.”

“What will I have to do?” Fury asked.

“I only have room for one of you,” Vainglory proclaimed, “In order to save your life you must earn… by taking it from Ryu-O.”

“So if I kill him…” Fury panted looking over to Carter, “You’ll remove it?”

Vainglory nodded, “Yes.”

Fury smirked, “It would be my pleasure… my lord.”


“Bull crap!” Tara shouted, “You expect us to believe all that mythical junk?”

“Believe it or don’t believe it, either way it’s the truth,” Shiore said taking a sip of her tea, “Even so, it does not dismiss the reality of the situation we’re in. If something is not done to halt whoever it is that holds the power of Ryujin then the entire world may soon go up in flames.”

“She has a point you know,” Cole said to Tara, “If this fire rider is left to roam freely, there’s no telling what he could do.”

“It’s a lot to take in I know but let me just ask you this,” Shiore said looking Tara straight in the eye, “Would you rather throw yourself into the fire that consumes the world, or simply sit back and watch it burn?”

“I don’t know!” Tara shouted slamming her hands down on the table. She sighed, “Sorry, it’s just that… at the moment all that I know is that I have absolutely no reason to trust you.”

Cole placed his hand on Tara’s shoulder, “Tara could you at least try t-”

“I need a moment,” Tara interrupted brushing Cole’s hand off her shoulder and walking out the front door slamming it behind her.

Alex looked over to Cole. Cole Sighed,“I’ll… I’ll be right back,” he said as he got up and walked out the door after Tara closing it gently behind him.

“So what’s the story on those two?” Shiore asked.

“Sorry, what was that?” Alex asked back.

“They seem close,” Shiore proclaimed. “Are they… well, you know.”

“I honestly can’t say for sure,” Alex shrugged, “They never tell me anything… why do you ask?”

“Just curious,” Shiore returned.

“Uh… if you wouldn’t mind me asking,” Alex began, “Have you ever been close with someone… like that?”

Shiore looked at Alex in the corner of her eye for a moment, “Relationships like that serve no purpose to me,” she said in a cold tone of voice, “They only make you weak, nothing more.”

“Yeah,” Alex sighed, “I guess I can sort of see where you’re coming from.”

“Getting back on topic,” Shiore said taking one last sip of her tea before setting it down on the table. She turned to face Alex, placed her hand over her knees and bowed her head to him, “I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and your friends since I’ve arrived here. So please, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me and shall be forever in your dept and shall assist you in your mission, so long as you assist in mine.”

“Yes… yes I-I mean we will,” Alex nodded, “we’ll be happy to help you out for however long you need it.”

Shiore sighed in relief as she clapped her hands together, “Thank you.”

A small beeping sound erupted from Shiore’s school bag. She reached into her bag and pulled out a grey handheld device before hitting a button on right side of it with her thumb causing the screen to switch on and a small keypad at the bottom to spring open.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“GMR scanner,” Shiore returned, “When gaia memories are activated they release a surge of energy that spans across a minimum ten kilometer radius, though it varies depending on the memory. This device picks up those signals and pinpoints the direction and distance of the memories activation point. It also detects near by radiation left behind from recent or excessive usage of gaia memories.”

“That’s how you were able to find us wasn’t it?” Alex asked.

“Correct, ” Shiore replied, “and with how many you three had on you it was pretty easy.”

“Figured as much,” Alex returned, “So where are they anyway?”

Shiore hit a few of the keys on the pad, “seven point five kilometers south west,” she said, tapping on the screen a couple of times, “and by the looks of things, it appears as though we’ve got two extremely powerful ones on our hands.”

“That’s pretty far away, and knowing my luck,” Alex sighed, “I think we already know full well which ones they single belongs to.”

Tara stormed down the hallway over to the elevator and slammed her fist on the down button.

“Come on come on come on,” She whispered to herself, tapping her foot in rapid succession.

“Tara wait up!” Cole shouted as he ran up to her from down the hall.

Tara rolled her eyes, “What do you want Cole?”

“I just want you to talk to me,” Cole returned, “Is something wrong?”

“I… I can’t say,” Tara said keeping herself turned away from Cole.

The door of the elevator opened as Tara stepped into it.

“Tara!” Cole shouted as he pulled her back and turned around to face him, “Just tell me… what’s bothering you?”

Tara balled her hand into a fist, “It’s just that… something about what Shiore said got to me. I just can’t help but feel that I’ve heard somewhere before… I just, can’t figure out where.”

“Guys,” Alex called out from the door of Shiore’s condo, Tara and Cole turning their attention to him. He held the scanner in his hand, “You may want to come have look at this.”

Tara and Cole came back in through the door, Alex shutting it behind them.

“What is it this time?” Tara asked.

“We may have found who Shiore has been hunting,” Alex stated, “and Fury as well.”

Tara turned to Shiore, “That true?” Shiore nodded. “Well then,” Tara said trying to force her usual smirk while awkwardly cracking her knuckles, “we’ll be killing two birds with one stone then! Let’s get going people!” She turned on her heel and walked over to the door only to have her right foot slip out from under her.

“Woah!” Cole shouted, catching Tara before she fell over, “Easy there. You okay?”

“Thanks I’m fine,” Tara said getting back on her feet with Cole’s assistance.

“You sure?” Cole asked.

“Once I get up in the air I’ll be fine,” Tara proclaimed, “I’m a better flier than I am a runner anyway so don’t worry alright.”

“I think it might be better if you ride with me this time,” Cole said placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Cole I’m fine I swear,” Tara grunted taking Cole’s hand off of her shoulder.

“Tara please,” Cole pleaded, “just this once.”

Tara sighed, “Fine, I guess you’re right… So long as I can drive.”

“No way,” Cole returned.

Tara’s jaw dropped, “Why not?!”

“I just got the Rock Prowler, Marcoh would kill me if anything happened to it,” Cole explained, “Besides, I’ve seen you in Double Dash.”

“Fine I suck at driving!” Tara shouted, “There I said it, can we go now?”

“Certainly,” Cole said opening the door and bowing to Tara, “after you.”

“Thank you,” Tara returned as she stepped through the doorway, Cole following shortly after, “Just don’t go too slow this time alright.”

“Promise,” Cole said as he close the door behind the two.

Shiore looked over to Alex in the corner of her eye, “Still unsure?”

“A little bit yeah,” Alex nodded, “That reminds me, do you have any form of transport?”

Shiore shook her head, “I normally walk.”

“Alright then I got it,” Alex said with a snap of his fingers, “so long as we’re comrades you ride with me.. that alright with you?”

“Perfectly,” Shiore nodded.

“Great,” Alex said grabbing Shiore by her wrist, Shiore’s heart skipping a beat, “now let’s get going,” he added with a grin, “we don’t want those two to leave us behind do we?”

Fury and Carter stood on the roof of a tall skyscraper, they stared each other down a few feet apart as the wind whipped around them. Vainglory and Rylee stood to the side, Cheshire being held in Rylee’s arms.

“I’ll explain this once,” Vainglory said grabbing Fury and Carter’s attention, “This will be a sudden death duel. Winner takes their place at my side, loser dies… is that clear?”

Carter nodded.

“Crystal,” Fury said with a smirk.

“Alright then,” Vainglory said taking in a deep breath, “... begin.”

On command, Fury and Carter launched themselves into the sky above the skyscraper, leaving the three commanders behind on the ground.

“So passes Derek Maverick, formerly known as Fury,” Vainglory proclaimed. He turned to Rylee, “Be sure to wipe Fury’s access data from our system.”

Rylee nodded, “I’ll get right on it.”

“Good,” Vainglory returned, “Fury won’t go down easily. Even on the off chance that he does survive, as of now he is dead to us.”


Joel stood atop a tall bridge leaning against a steel rail, in his hand he held a scanner similar to the one Shiore had in her possession, “So the Ryu-O memory and driver have been successfully activated,” he said to himself, “I wonder who the host is, must be someone strong. Ryujin wouldn’t let just anyone wield his power.”

Joel turned off the scanner in his hand and slipped it into his pocket.

“Though regardless of who it is,” Joel said with a smirk, “he’s going to be difficult to work with if Vainglory expects to control him. Even more so if he intends to remake the world with Ryujin’s fire alone.”

He looked to the horizon and took in a deep breath, “The minotaur will shake the earth, the eagle will bring the mountains to their knees, the wolf will freeze the shores and the dragon will burn what’s left, and with their power combined they will destroy this world and create a new… the name of the dragon being Ryujin and the only one of the four we could make out when we found those damn memories.”

As he spoke a blue butterfly flew up and perched itself on the rail of the bridge.

“Isn’t that right?” he asked to turning his attention to the butterfly, “Alice?” The butterfly flapped it’s wings twice, “I hope that legend never comes to pass, especially not by his hand.” He let out a small sigh, “Though to be honest, I’m a little bit worried, about Alex… do you think he and the other riders will be strong enough?”

The butterfly rose it’s wings until they touched at the tips then lowered them once again.

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Joel said with sorrow in his voice, “Though, if I could be allowed, I at least hope that Thea gets out of this alright… poor girl has had enough trouble in her life, she doesn’t need anymore heartache.”

At that moment the butterfly flapped it’s wings rapidly and took off into the air, Joel keeping his eyes fixed on it as it disappeared into the distance.

“No matter what comes, we all need to keep moving sooner or later,” Joel sighed, “I think I know what I must do now.” A small grin appeared on his face, “Thank you… Alice.”

Fury charged at Carter in the open air using Flame’s maximum drive to propel himself forward and keep himself airborne. Carter did the same only he instead used his suits own ability to keep himself lifted and a fair distance away from Fury via small thrusters the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet.

Fury hurled three fireballs at Carter as Carter evaded all three with ease before firing three of his own at Fury. Fury evaded those with equal ease before dashing over to Carter and elbowing him in the gut, with a second delay Fury then linked both his hands together in a single fist and smacked Carter over the head with enough force to send him plummeting down to the busy street below.

“Aw, did you die already?” Fury asked mockingly as he descended over the crater made by Carter, civilians running at the sight of the scene, “I expected for this to go a little longer but oh well, whatever moves my plans along faster I guess.” he reached for the dial at the side of his belt, “but just in case…”

“Shredder! Maximum Drive!” The dial shouted as three large serrated blades formed around each of his wrists.

Fury began to make his way over to the crater before a single hand rose out from the void, Carter then using it to pull himself up and back onto his feet.

“So you still live I see,” Fury said scrapping the edges of his blades together, “Should’ve figured as much. Oh well, guess it doesn't matter as you’re going to be right back in the ground in a few moments anyway.”

Carter snapped his fingers as a burst of fire ignited at his fingertips as a giant buster blade formed in his hand.

“Nice new toy you’ve got there,” Fury said, “too bad I’m going to have to break it.”

“Just try it,” Carter returned, “It will just make it all the worse when you fail.”

Fury gritted his teeth, “Man you certainly are a cocky one.” Fury threw his blades at Carter, Carter parrying with his buster blade, “Guess that must run in the family!”

Fury struck Carter with both sets of his blades, Carter blocking both with the broadside of his sword. In one quick motion, Carter batted Fury’s blades off of his and forced Fury back a few feet.

“Your good kid, I’ll give you that…” Fury panted, “Unfortunately you’re not good enou-” Before Fury could finish speaking his heart skipped a beat. He grabbed his chest and fell to his knees. His panting quickened, “Crap… not now…”

Carter walked up to Fury and grabbed his right arm pulling him to his feet. He placed the edge of his blade on Fury’s right arm.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Fury shouted, “Stop it!”

“Shut up,” Carter instructed.

Carter then raised his blade up until he was holding it over his head, both hands clasped around the handle tightly, his knuckles turning as white as a ghost under the suit. He let out a fierce roar as he threw his arms downward, the blade slashing through the air as he did so, it producing a slight whistling sound as it hit the wind.

Fury’s eyes widened, everything around him seeming to slow to a halt. Carter’s buster blade slammed down against the right upper bicep of his arm, cutting through the armor and straight into the skin. As the blade tore through his arm, blood spurted out high enough for it to fall down like rain, splattering against the two and anything close to them. The blade soon broke through the bone of Fury’s upper arm, a cracking sound audible as it did so, before proceeding cleanly through the rest of the bicep.

Fury looked over to the side at his arm, blood continuing to spurt out. He watched in horror as his flesh slowly separated and his bone fully broke apart. Due to this, his arm from his mid upper bicep down would slide off from the rest of his arm, allowing more blood to cascade out of his arm rapidly. The only part of that portion of his arm being strings of flesh and a jagged pieces broken bone.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” Fury shouted in agony as he fell to the ground holding tightly onto his arm, “You bastard… I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!”

“I’m sorry did you want to die?” Carter asked holding the now sevared half of Fury’s arm up to him, “because if this arm remained attached to you for a second longer, you would have.”

Fury raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t you trying to kill me?”

“If that’s how this is going to end I want it to be by my blade,” Carter proclaimed throwing Fury’s arm off to the side, “not by some handicap placed on you by Vainglory.”

“You show mercy to me?” Fury laughed, “You’re an even bigger fool than I imagined.” He gritted his teeth and rose to his feet clenching his the gash where his arm used to be, “and even more so than your pathetic excuse for a bloodline.”

“If you think my blood is weak…” Carter said raising his sword to Fury “why not prove that yours is stronger?”

Fury grabbed the dial on his belt and turned it until a blue M appeared at the top.

“Minor! Maximum Drive!” The dial shouted as four large spikes shot out of the ground behind Fury and hovered around him.

“Dear child...” Fury said smirked, “That’s what I intend to do!”

Tara sat at the back of the Rock Prowler, her arms wrapped tightly around Cole and Kree locked around her wrist. Cole roared down the highway, Alex and Shiore just a few feet ahead of them on the X Cyclone.

“So… any idea of where you might’ve heard that story before?” Cole asked.

Tara shook her head, “Afraid not.”

“Oh, I see…” Cole returned, “Is it possible you could’ve heard it from a friend or something?”

“Sorry,” Tara sighed, “I honestly just don’t know.”

“Well, maybe we could try and jog your memory,” Cole suggested, “Would that help?”

“No, that wouldn’t help either,” Tara said as she shook her head once again, “Besides, it would be completely pointless.”

“Why is that?” Cole asked.

“Jogging my memory wouldn’t work because I have no memory to jog,” Tara proclaimed, “Truth is Cole… I barely remember anything about my life before I started high school.”

“Wait what!” Cole shouted in disbelief, “What about that story you told me about how you met Kree and that white rider?”

“I did say barely didn’t I?” Tara retorted, “Besides, that memory itself is fairly vague and even so it’s all I have left.”

“A-any idea when this all happened?” Cole asked.

“You remember that giant tornado that swept over the city ten years back? That one that wiped out half the population?” Tara asked, “Well apparently I was caught up in the centre of it, only it didn’t hurt me in the slightest. The reports said that it instead wrapped around me as if it was trying to protect me from something, though of course I can’t say if any of it is true or not. All that I do know is that I woke up seven years later in the hospital with a man and woman crying over me, and I just sat there not even knowing they were my mother and father… I didn’t even know my own name.”

“I had no idea…” Cole whispered, “Tara, no matter what happens I hope that someday you remember everything. Though if you do remember anything, anything at all please tell me right away alright?”

Tara thought for a moment, “... nah.”

“Why not?” Cole demanded.

“I appreciate the sentiment but I honestly don’t care if I get my memory back or whatnot,” Tara proclaimed, “I don’t care about who I was in the past, I’m only concerned with who I am right now…. although…” she said as her usual smirk appeared on her face, “If I ever remember anything embarrassing about a certain rock boy I know I’ll be sure to let the whole world know.”

“You do know I could crash this thing at any moment right?” Cole said coldly.

“Aw!” Tara pouted, “You’re no fun!”

Alex kept his eyes fixed on the road in front of him while Shiore had hers on her scanner.

“How far now?” Alex asked.

“Three point six kilometers,” Shiore returned, “We should be there shortly. Though looking at the single pattern, they’ll come to us.”

“Works for me,” Alex said as he revved up the engine of his bike.

“You’re overworking yourself,” Shiore stated.

“How can you tell?” Alex asked.

“Your body heat is climbing at an unsteady pace,” Shiore proclaimed, “You should learn to control your body’s emotional state. You’re enemies will use it against you if you’re not careful.”

“How exactly do I prevent them from doing that exactly?” Alex asked, “Taking advantage of a weakness I mean.”

Shiore turned her attention to the road in front of her, “... don’t show it.”

Carter threw the one armed Fury down to the ground knocking over several trash cans as a result of Carter’s force.

“Even if you cut my arm off, it’s not going to be permanent,” Fury said grabbing the nub where his right arm used to be and gripped onto it tightly with a smirk. After a few seconds his smirk turned into that of a more confused expression, “What’s going on-”

“You’r Fury memory allows you to instantly heal any wounds sustained in battle, that’s how you’ve managed to survive this long,” Carter stated, “However, the regeneration process only covers damage done to your dopant form,” Carter held the edge of his blade to Fury, “My Ryu-O Buster is sharp enough to cut right through the layer of armor generated by gaia memories and cut the flesh and bone that lies directly underneath.”

“What the hell are you trying to pull kid!” Fury demanded.

“In short, you’re not as invincible as you thought Maverick,” Carter returned.

“Bullcrap!” Fury shouted back, “I am Fury! I am the ultimate!”

“Still delusional as ever,” Carter said, “Why do you insist on fighting? This could be over right now, all you have to do is stop resisting.”

“You’re kidding right?” Fury cackled as he cracked his neck and forced himself back on his feet. He rose his head and looked up to the sky, “You don’t know anything do you kid? I was a lot like you when I was your age, so naive.

“What do you mean?” Carter asked.

“I had a mother, a father and siblings that I cared for deeply. They made me happy, but I should’ve known that my so called happiness was not meant to last… nothing good ever is.” Fury looked Carter in the eye, “My family and I found ourselves in the middle of a hostage situation. Every hour the kidnappers demands weren’t met they killed a member of my family one by one. First my parents, then my siblings… and I was forced to sit there and watch.”

Carter sighed.

“You don’t believe me… do you?” Fury asked with a light chuckle, “After I determined that help wasn’t going to arrive, I slit both of their throats and strapped them both for every bullet they put into my family. You understand now kid?” Fury cackled, “It doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t stop death no matter how hard you try.”

“I guess we agree on something,” Carter said balling his right hand into a fist, “Because as far as I’m concerned… one of us won’t be coming out this alive.”

“Looks like that’s two things,” Fury hissed, balling his hand into a fist as well. “Well then…” he smirked, “LET’S END THIS!”

“Shredder! Maximum Drive!” The dial on Fury’s belt shouted as three blades shot out of his remaining arm before launching himself at Carter, clawing at him with everything he had left.

After a couple of clashes, Carter grabbed hold of Fury’s with his right hand and grabbed the face of the dragon on his driver with his left.

Carter tightened his hold on Fury as the roar of an engine filled the air. He looked over to see two motorcycles, one black and one green, just a few feet away from where he stood. Alex and Shiore on the black and Cole and Tara on the green, all four of them in their rider forms and Alex in Star Runner.

A small chuckle came from Fury, “You know what I find particularly funny?” He asked Carter, though it seemed that he did not expect an answer as he continued talking regardless, “Even though I know full well what I did was terrible… I enjoyed every minute of it.”

“You’re twisted you know that?” Carter growled.

“Oh course I know that, the whole damn world is sick,” Fury retorted, “The only difference with me is that I don’t try to hide it.”

“Then why tell me all this crap?” Carter asked.

“Because there’s something else you should know,” Fury returned, “The way the blood splurted out from those crooks, the rush of jabbing them until they could no longer move, it consumed me. I began to crave it, I began to crave the feel of fresh blood on my hands and the cold eyes of someone who was alive only moments ago,” he cracked his neck and forced his gave over to the four riders standing a few feet away, “especially the blood belonging to the loved ones of anyone who thinks they can control me.”

“I’ll kill you before you can do harm to any of them,” Carter proclaimed, crushing Fury’s face even further causing cracks to appear in his armor.

“Just try and stop me!” Fury cackled, “It’ll make it all the more satisfying when you fail!”

Carter turned back to Fury, “... if you insist.”

With a quick flick of his arm, Carter sent the dragon head buckle spinning clockwise at high speed as fire began to ignite around the rim.

“Ryu-O! Maximum Drive!”

“Burn... Ryu-O Blaster!” Carter shouted as a blast of fire shot out of the cannon embedded in his palm engulfing Fury in flames and burning him to a crisp.

The fire slammed into Fury’s body, almost immediately engulfing his entire body. As this occurred, Fury cried out viciously, his voice a combination of a scream of pain and laughter. The fire burnt through his armor until it revealed his human form, the heat of the flames burning his flesh right off of his body.

Fury continued to cry out as he was burnt alive, the fire burning through his skin right down to his muscle tissues, and in some places burning strong enough till there was nothing but bones left, collapsing into pieces as the fire ate them, they eventually turning into ash.

“HAHAHA! YOU SEE NOW VAINGLORY!” Fury laughed uncontrollably as he was burned alive. “DEATH IS SOMETHING THAT NO ONE CAN ESCAPE! NO ONE!”

Carter sighed, “It appears so… Derek Mavrick.”

“So I’ve finally found you,” Shiore said drawing her sword, “Kamen Rider, Ryu-O.”

Carter tossed Fury’s lifeless body to the ground and turned his attention to the white rider that stood before him. “Yuki… should’ve figured you would show up here.”

“That voice…” Tara thought to herself, “It sounds… familiar.”

“Indeed you should have,” Shiore returned, pointing her sword at Carter, “and now you shall atone for the crimes you have committed.”

Carter snapped his fingers summoning a burst of fire that formed into his Ryu-O Buster, “If you claim it to be… make it happen.”

To be continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme

Shiore and Carter face off as Tara uneasiness continues to grow.

Will Shiore be able to exact her revenge against the wielder of fire?

And what connection does Tara have with this new rider?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 22: Ash and Snow.
Ryu-O, what secrets do you hold?

Dark vs light, riders vs riders.

Ardent City is turned into a battlefield as a new team of riders arrives with the intention of destroying everything in sight.

A savior shall emerge and a brand new Xtreme shall be revealed in Kamen Rider Xtreme The Movie: X and Y Elemental Burst, Memories of Darkness and Light!

Coming soon to a forum near you!

... *throws up arms, storms off the court*

Uh oh. Gun cheese it!

Well... that went over as well as I expected. :lol

At least he didn't go on a rampage :lol

“So that’s the guy you’ve been looking for?” Alex asked to Shiore, she nodded once. “Alright then, let’s take him out and end this once and for all,” Alex said taking a step forward only to have Shiore raise her arm out in front him preventing him from going any further.

“No,” Shiore said without so much as giving Alex a second glance, “this is my fight.”

“Are you crazy!” Tara shouted, “He’ll smoke you!... Or melt you in this case… I think.”

“Tara’s right,” Cole said, calmly walking up to Shiore, “Whoever that guy is, after what he just did to Fury I doubt he would be hard pressed to do it again.”

“Please Shiore,” Alex said placing his hand on her shoulder, “Let us help-”

Before Alex could finish speaking, Shiore smacked Alex’s hand off her shoulder before a giant wall of ice shot up from the ground between her and the other three riders surrounding them completely from all sides.

“Baka…” Shiore whispered to herself. She clenched her hands tightly around her sword and stared down Carter who stood mere feet away from her, “You’ll only get in the way, and that’s something I’m not going to allow… ever again.”

“What exactly just happened?” Carter asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Shiore raised her sword to Carter, “Because you see, Ryu-O,” she widened her stance and pulled back her sword so that the tip of the blade was aligned her line of sight, “Your rampage… ends here.”

“Does it now?” Carter sighed as he rested his sword against his shoulder, “Then why not back up that statement with your own blade?”

Shiore moved her right foot back a few inches and tightened her grip on her katana, “I intend to.”


“God I hate that girl!” Tara grunted, smacking her fist against the wall of ice that Shiore had erected. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, “What’s her deal anyway? She hasn’t even been here for an entire day yet and she’s walking around like she owns this town! Well there’s only room for one big shot rider in this city and that rider is Gale!” She looked up to the ceiling of the cage made of ice, “Doesn’t help that she sealed off the roof so we can’t just fly ourselves out of here.”
“Tara, you’re not helping” Alex sighed, “No matter how much you complain it’s not going to change our situation, so could we just focus on what’s going on right now please?”

“Excuse me?” Tara scoffed as she raised an eyebrow, “Who died and made you leader?”

“I only suggested that we think of a plan to break out of here,” Alex grunted, “I never said anything about becoming the leader of anything!”

“WILL YOU TWO JUST BE QUIET FOR A MOMENT!” Cole shouted, grabbing the attention of his fellow riders. “Now look, I get that everyone is a little bit stressed out right now, but if we turn on each other we’re screwed. Even if we may argue from time to time, but we’re still friends aren’t we? Actually, with all that’s happened I’d say we’re closer to being family.” Cole extended his arm out to Alex and Tara, “So… what say you two?”

Alex stood still for a moment, then placed his hand overtop of Cole’s, “Yeah,” he nodded, “No matter what changes or what may come our way, the three of us are in this together… whether we like it or not.”

Alex and Cole looked over to Tara who stared back at them blankly for a second.

“GAH! Alright fine!” Tara grunted slamming her hand down overtop of Alex’s, “We see your point… A little too sappy for our tastes, but I see the point.”

Cole laughed a bit, “A little sappiness never hurt anyone, did it?”

“Bleh!” Tara stuck her tongue out, “Objection, so much objection!”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Um… agree to disagree?”

“Yeah sure,” Tara sighed, “let’s go with that.”

“Alright then,” Cole said with a smirk as the three pulled their hands away from each other’s, “Then it’s decided, the three of us are in this together until the bitter end.” Cole looked up to the ceiling, “Now then… how exactly do we break out of here?”

Tara closed her eyes and crossed her arms and proceeded to tap her right index finger against her left arm. After a few seconds of thinking, she snapped her fingers as her eyes shot open.

Tara’s usual smirk appeared on her face, “I've got it!”

On the other side of the wall, a heated battle between Carter and Shiore was well underway. The two rider’s held their blades in a clash with neither one willing to let up. After holding his guard up for a few moments, Carter used the weight of his Ryu-O Buster to force Shiore’s blade back breaking their clash. Once broken from the clash, Carter elbowed Shiore in her gut forcing her to her knees and let go of her katana.

“Is this all the great Yuki can muster?” Carter asked as raised his sword up and rested it on his shoulder, “I had hoped you’d be more of a challenge… shame you turned out to be nothing more than a mere child.”

“Piss off!” Shiore coughed violently. She grabbed her katana and propped herself up on one foot, “In the name of the Shirayuki clan,” she coughed again, “I’ll have your head!”

Carter slammed his foot onto the blade of Shiore’s sword preventing it from leaving the ground. He stared at her through the fiery red eyes of his mask, “If you want it, then claim it.” He then delivered a quick jab to Shiore’s face knocking her to the ground undoing her transformation.

Carter took his foot off of Shiore’s sword and walked over to where she lay on the ground. He then proceeded to grab hold of the girl’s neck and force her to her feet.

Shiore glared at Carter, gritting her teeth while panting rapidly.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” Carter asked tightening his grip around Shiore’s neck.

Shiore spat on Carter’s mask, “What difference does it make if I’m not?”

“Ardent City is under META’s jurisdiction, and the rider’s are street rats of this already troubled excuse for a community,” Carter proclaimed, “Since you are not connected to either what purpose do you have in being here?”

A small smirk appeared on Shiore’s face, “Isn’t that obvious?... I came here to kill you.” She grabbed hold of Carter’s arm with her right arm and swung her left out to the side, “and I’m not leaving until I do just that.”

Carter looked over to Shiore’s left arm as it began to morph into that of a wolf’s claw. He looked back to Shiore’s face and saw the angry yellow eyes of a white wolf glaring back at him. The wolf swung it’s silver claws at Carter and kicked at him profusely. Carter punched the wolf away knocking it back a few feet, but that didn’t hold it back for long as it quickly readied itself to charge itself at Carter.

Carter grabbed his blade and swung it in front of the beast’s path as the wolf bit down on the blade of his sword.
“So that’s how you fight is it?” Carter gritted his teeth as he held the beast back, “Well then, looks like I won’t need to hold myself back.”

In one quick motion Carter kicked the wolf back and chopped off it’s head with his Ryu-O Buster. With a flick of his wrist he shot out a fire blast from the palm of his hand at the body of the wolf causing it to melt into a small puddle before his feet.

“A duplicate…” He surveyed the area in search of Shiore, “which means the real one is…”

“Right here,” A voice called out as Carter felt the edge of a blade press against his neck.

Carter balled his hand into a fist, “Tell me Yuki… do you know what happens to ice when it meets fire?” Shiore raised an eyebrow. Carter then turned on his heel and blasted Shiore with a single ball of fire from the canon in his gauntlet sending her flying backwards a few feet. “If you didn’t before,” Carter said as he removed his gaia memory from his driver and placed it into the hilt of his sword, “you’re about to find out.”

“Ryu-O! Maximum Drive!”

Shiore’s eyes widened, “Is this guy insane?”

“Burn…” Carter called out as a whirlwind of fire constricted it’s around the blade of his sword, “Ryu-O Inferno!”

Carter raised his sword skyward with both hands and prepared to swing it. As he readied his strike however, a shock ruptured from the blade and ran along his arm all the way down to his driver causing him to collapse, hurling the wave of fire at Shiore in the process.

Shiore raised her arms in front of her, bracing herself for the impact. However, after a few moments she had realized that the fire hadn’t even touched her. She lowered her arms and, to her surprised, found not a blazing inferno but Alex in his Blast Diver form fending off the flames.

Once all the fires were out, Alex lowered his blaster and turned to Shiore, “You alright?”

Shiore blinked for a moment, “You’re… helping me?”

“Of course I am,” Alex returned, “I promised that I would didn’t I?”

“But why?” Shiore asked.

“Oh geez, you’ll never learn will you?” Tara proclaimed as she appeared behind Shiore, “When Alex makes a promise he keeps it.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “What if that promise leads him to do something stupid?”

“Then we’ll be there to back him up,” Cole said placing his hand on Shiore’s shoulder, “a fight for one of us is a fight for all.”

“Do you understand now Shiore?” Alex asked, “that’s how we fight, as one. So… you think it would be easier for you, to be a part of that one?”

Shiore didn’t know what to say, the three people who she had just left frozen in ice only moments ago were now right along her side with no sign of anger towards her. Shiore then noticed a bit of movement over Alex’s shoulder as Carter began to climb back onto his feet.

“If we’re going to fight as one…” Shiore turned back Alex, “then let’s end this as one.”

Alex grinned under his mask, “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“Kamen Rider Ryu-O!” Alex called out as the four riders turned to face Carter. Alex then removed his Blast memory from his driver and placed it into the slot on the top of his blaster Cole, Tara and Shiore did the same with theirs and placing them into their respective weapons.

“Blast! Maximum Drive! Gale! Maximum Drive! Rock! Maximum Drive! Yuki! Maximum Drive!”

“Your rampage… ends here!” Alex shouted as he pulled back on the trigger of his blaster as a high powered blast of water shot out the barrel, the other three riders doing their respective finishers, “Tetra Maximum! Xtreme Memory Storm!”

As the wave of finishers hurled themselves at Carter, the red rider grabbed the Ryu-O memory from the hilt of his sword and chucked it out the line of fire before taking on the full force of the combined attack, a giant explosion engulfing him upon impact.

As the smoke cleared, the Alex, Cole, Tara and Shiore removed their memories from their drivers and reverted back to their civilian forms.

The four of them slowly walked over to where Carter lay facedown on the ground, Shiore in front with the others close behind her. Shiore kicked Carter onto his back and glared at him, watching for any sign of movement.

Tara gulped, “Is he… you know?”

Shiore shook her head, “Still breathing.” She pulled out a kunai knife from her sleeve and made her way over to Carter, “But not for much longer.”

“Hold on a second!” Tara shouted jumping in front of Shiore, extending her arms out to the side blocking Shiore’s path, “Can’t we just think about this for a moment?”

“I’ve had more than enough time to think about this,” Shiore returned raising her knife up to Tara, “The crimes that man has committed are punishable by death, and then some… Now stand aside Ms Tatsumaki.”

Tara shook her head rapidly, “No, if I let you kill him I’m no better than a killer myself! I get that you suspect him for killing a friend of yours, but what if it’s just some sort of misunderstanding?”

“Tara does have a point,” Cole interrupted, “after all you confused Alex for being the person you were after, it’s possible that things aren’t exactly as black and white as they appear to be.”

“At the very least he should be brought in very questioning,” Alex pleaded, “If he is indeed the person you’ve been looking for for all this time then you can do with him what you wish. However, until then I think it would be best if we assume the best and not jump to conclusions,” he walked up to Shiore and extended his hand out to her, “Do we have a deal?”

Shiore took in a deep breath then exhaled before putting her knife away in the folds of her sweater, “Fine… but afterwards, I shall inflict the same torment he inflicted onto that of the Shirayuki,” She looked over to Tara, “got it?”

Tara sighed in relief, “Thanks Sayuri.”

Shiore’s brow twitched, “and for the last time, it’s pronounced ‘Shiore’ she or ray!”

Tara shrugged, “Eh, same thing.”

Shiore growled a bit, “I really don’t like you, you know that?”

“Yeah yeah, get in line sister,” Tara chuckled, “and believe me, it’s a pretty long one.”

“My lord…” Spite said hanging her head down, “it appears that Carter has been… defeated.”

Vainglory sighed, “and so it does.”

“My lord I beg you,” Spite pleaded, “please, allow me to retrieve him. I’ll bring him back now matter what I must do!”

“That will not be necessary,” Vainglory proclaimed, “besides, in the state you’re in you would only make the situation worse if you were to go in alone.” He knelt down before Spite and lifted her head up with his right hand, “You needn’t worry about Ryu-O, he’ll be returned to you soon enough… I promise you that.”

“My lord…” Spite said softly, “how are so certain of that?”

“I have allowed more then enough failures in my time. If the gate to the new world is to be opened, we must gather the four keys and place them into the lock ourselves. To guarantee that, the final key must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands,” Vainglory proclaimed as he released his hold on Spite and rose back to his feet, “and I shall see to its return myself.”


At the police station Alex, Cole, and Tara sat along the wall of a hall just outside a single door. Shiore leaned against the wall just in front of it looking in through a small window near the top, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot repeatedly against the floor. After a few moments, Marcoh and Sampson walked out from the door and closed it behind them.

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Well?”

Sampson sighed, “It’s as we feared.”

“What’s as you feared?” Tara asked, jumping to her feet.

“That boy,” Marcoh said, clearing his throat, “ is Carter Damon, son of Rylee Damon.”

“Wait, you mean the head of research that resigned a couple months ago?” Cole asked.

“The very same,” Marcoh returned, “and by the way he spoke about her it’s safe to assume that she’s fully aware of what he’s been up to as of late. As a matter of fact that would explain her resignation as well.”

Alex gulped, “Are you suggesting that Ms Damon was…”

“Unfortunately… yes,” Sampson nodded, “Rylee was in someway connected to the dopants.”

“That’s completely irrelevant!” Shiore shouted, all eyes turning on her, “Were you able to make him confess to his crimes?”

“Other than his name, he has told us nothing,” Sampson explained.

“His silence is evidence of his guilt,” Shiore proclaimed. She pushed herself off the wall and stepped over to the door, “I’ll make it quick.”

“Hold on a minute!” Tara shouted, stepping in front of Shiore blocking her path, “Let me talk to him, maybe I can get more out of him.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “How exactly?”

“I have my ways,” Tara said with a smirk, “You may not know this but I can be very persuasive.”

Shiore nodded a bit, “Yeah… keep telling yourself that.”

“Ehem,” Marcoh coughed, “Care to get started now, Ms Archer?” he asked opening the door for the short statured rider.

“Of course, right behind you Johnny Boy,” Tara returned with a small curtsy before stepping through the door, Marcoh rolling his eyes before following her through and closing it behind him.

“Is she always that intoxicating?” Shiore asked.

“Eh, you get used to it,” Cole shrugged, “She’s better than Mr Merde that’s for sure.”

“Merde?” Shiore raised an eyebrow, “That guy must stink.”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Alex said laughing a bit, “That reminds me,” he turned to Shiore, “Back during the fight, any idea what caused Ryu-O to collapse like that?”

“It’s because he attempted a second maximum drive,” Shiore stated, “Which is something that should never be done.”

“A second… maximum drive?” Alex whispered.

“You really don’t know much about this stuff,” Shiore turned to Alex, “do you?”

“Uh, no… not really,” Alex said bluntly blushing a bit, “Maybe you could explain a bit?”

Shiore sighed, “Do you remember the first time you ever activated a gaia memory’s maximum drive? How exactly did you figure out how to it?”

“Yeah, it was back when I became a rider. I was fighting a dopant and…” Alex scratched his head, “It just sort of happened, I guess. Kind of like instinct or something.”

“Exactly,” Shiore stated, “You saw that your enemy was weak so your body acted to finish what you had started.”

“But I had never seen gaia memories before,” Alex explained, “How could I ha-”

“Has a newborn baby ever experienced walking on two legs before?” Shiore asked back, “His mind doesn’t know anything about it, yet his body does. It’s much the same for riders and their maximum drive.”

“Shiore,” Cole interrupted, “I’m sorry, but if you wouldn’t mind me asking, what exactly is maximum drive? I mean, I know what it is, but what exactly is it?”

Shiore looked up to the ceiling, then back to Cole, “Think of it like a miniature atomic blast that’s contained within a highly focused strike. Anything hit with that amount of raw power, well I believe you know the rest.”

“Wait a minute, so how does this relate to Ryu-O collapsing exactly?” Alex demanded.

“Well you see, with that much built up energy naturally a memory’s maximum drive puts an incredible amount of strain on the user’s body,” Shiore explained, “That’s why a single memory can only pull off a successful maximum drive once… or it could destroy you from the inside out.”

On the other side of the door, Tara sat in front of Carter with a white table between the two of them. Marcoh leaned against the door paying close attention to the two.

“I’ve seen you somewhere before, so tell me…Who exactly are you?” Tara said as she placed her hands down on the table, “You can tell, none of the others will ever know.”

Carter raised his right hand and tapped the black collar that was strapped around his neck.

“What? Can’t you talk?” Tara asked raising an eyebrow. Carter continued to tap his collar, Tara quickly taking notice of it, “That collar… is it hurting you or something?”

Carter nodded.

Tara noticed a lock on the collar. She looked to the door behind her, then back to Carter, “Alright, give me a second.”

Tara jumped up from her seat and removed one of the clips in her hair.

Marcoh took a step forward, “Archer, what ar-”

“Just be quiet!” Tara shouted back, “Let me do this… we won’t be able to get anything useful out of him otherwise.”

She then walked over to Carter on the other side of the table and grabbed the collar with on hand and slid her hairclip into the lock with the other.

“You can pick locks now?” Carter asked.

“Now?” Tara returned as she fiddled with the lock, “I’ve always been able to.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “You sure about that?”

Tara grunted, “Look will you just-”

The lock clicked open and the collar unhinged itself from Carter’s neck.

Tara blinked, “Well… how about that,” she grabbed the collar and placed it on the table. “Now then,” she said as she sat back down on the other side of Carter, “I’ll ask you one more time… who the hell are you?”

Carter took a deep breath then looked Tara in the eye, “So you really don’t remember anything… do you Thea?”

Tara’s eyes widened, “... what was that?”

Carter glared at Tara, “That is your name, isn’t it?”

“YOU’RE WRONG!” Tara shouted, slamming her hands down on the table, “Thea doesn’t exist, I’m Tara got it! Tara!”

“Archer!” Marcoh placed his hand on Tara’s shoulder, “Calm yourself.”

Tara looked back to Marcoh, “But-”

“Stand aside,” Marcoh instructed.

Tara sighed and backed away from the table, “fine.”

“Thank you,” Marcoh said, taking Tara’s place at the table. He leaned in closer to Carter, casting a large shadow against the wall behind him. “Now then, who is that you work for young man? Tell me or I’ll be required to use force.”

Carter’s eyes shifted over to the shadow behind Marcoh, the shadow beginning to change from the silhouette of Marcoh to that of a knight in heavy armor with a long dark cloak and six large spikes jutting out of his shoulders. The shadow raised his arm as a single blade formed in his hand, his eyes becoming a deep crimson red.

Back in the hall, Alex, Cole, Sampson and Shiore waited patiently for Marcoh and Tara to finish with Carter.

“AAAHHH!” The four heared cry out of no where.

They jumped to their feet and slammed open the door to the sight of Tara being thrown across the room and into a wall by a black knight standing at the back of the room with Carter at his side, the four of them struck speechless.

“Bastard,” Sampson exclaimed, pulling out his gun and aiming it at the knight.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” The knight proclaimed. He pointed over to the side of the door.

Sampson looked over to beside the door and to his horror found Marcoh bleeding against the wall. “Marcoh!” He shouted as he ran over to the side of subordinate.

“What the hell are you?!” Alex demanded, stepping in front of the two officers.

“You riders ask too many questions,” the knight proclaimed, “but very well, if you must know, my name is Vainglory. If I’m not mistaken, you must be that Kamen Rider I’ve been hearing so much about correct?”

Alex gritted his teeth, “Yeah, what’s it to you?”

“Well that’s simple, it’s everything to me,” Vainglory proclaimed, “For you see young rider, you and your gang of miscreants have been causing quite a bit of trouble for me and my organization. More recently you’ve been the target of one of my ex-commanders. Though to be fair Fury was always a hand full.”

Alex’s eyes widened, “Fury? You’re a friend of Fury!”

Vainglory chuckled, “Not sure if ‘friend’ is the word I would use, but I knew he existed… once.”

“Then I’ll kill you!” Alex shouted, pulling out his Star and Runner memories as his driver materialized around his driver materialized around his waist.

Vainglory raised his arm and swiped it through the air in front of him, causing the entire room to rumble in such a way that all but he and Carter were knocked to the ground.

“There is a time and place for everything little one,” Vainglory proclaimed, “but now is not that time.” He raised his hand to the ceiling, “We’ll be in touch… Kamen Rider.”

“Like hell we will!” Alex shouted clawing his way to his feet, “Get back here!”

Alex charged after Vainglory, but before Alex came anywhere close to him Vainglory snapped his fingers causing himself and Carter vanish before Alex’s very eyes, resulting in the young rider falling flat on his face against the wall on the other side of the room.

“Damn it!” Alex shouted, punching the wall in front of him, “Not again! Why do I always let them get away!”

“Chief?” Marcoh said gasping for air.

“Marcoh!” Sampson cried out, “are you alright?”

“I’ll live,” Marcoh said with a grin, “But... I think it’s time.”

“You’re right...” Sampson nodded looking over to Alex, “He’s ready.”

Vainglory warped back into his chamber, Carter still by his side.

“Carter!” Rylee cried out as she ran up and wrapped her arms around her child, “Thank god you’re alright.”

“It wasn’t much trouble,” Vainglory proclaimed, “Those riders are nothing, not sure why Fury had such a hard time with them.”

“It’s because he was a spineless coward,” A voice called out.

Rylee and Vainglory turned to the source of the voice to find a man with silver hair standing before them by the door.

“Joel…” Rylee said softly, “what are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ask you the same question,” Joel proclaimed taking a few steps towards Rylee, “Only now I see that you’ve gone and gotten Carter involved in all this. You’ve certainly reached a new low haven’t you?”

“You’re one to talk, “Rylee shouted back, “What kind of father endangers the life of their own daughter by forcing her to fight!”

In one quick motion, Joel raised his hand a struck Rylee across her cheek, “Last I checked... she was your daughter too wasn’t she?”

“Enough with this meaningless strife,” Vainglory demanded. Joel and Rylee turned to face Vainglory, “You went off the grid for almost an entire decade Inertia… So why is it that now you choose to return to the fold?”

“You want to know why?” Joel asked, “... because the dream must end.”

To be continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

The riders take a moment to recover as the hunt for Ryu-O continues.

What trials do the riders face now that Vainglory has revealed himself?

and where exactly does Joel's loyalty lie?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 23: Calm Before the Storm
Vainglory, who's dream do you wish to fulfill?

Alex stood in the center of an empty street. The destruction of buildings and cars surrounded him as the sky burned in a hue of crimson red.

A strong wind blew from both sides of him as two riders charged towards each other, sword in hand and clashed their blades together.

Alex looked at the two riders and instantly recognized them.

“Yuki?... Ryu-O?” He thought to himself, “Wait, if they’re here then that mean,” he surveyed his surroundings before returning his focus back to the two riders that were engaged in combat before him, “Shiore! Carter! You two need to stop this!” he shouted as he tried to move his feet, however they seemed to be bound to the ground he stood on, “I can’t move… what’s going on?”

The two fought in a state of deadlock for a long while before the the seemed to tire each other out and they both fell back out of breath. The two readied to charge at each other once again however at that moment a giant laser blast came from out of nowhere and struck the ground between the two riders, engulfing them in the blast and knocking him to the ground.

As the smoke cleared, two neon green eyes lit up as a dark figure emerged from the fallout of the blast aiming a gun at Alex.

Alex clawed his way to his feet and took off down a near by alleyway. He turned a corner and rested on a trash can.

“Xtreme,” a voice called out. Alex looked in front of him and saw a figure clad in white armor wearing a butterfly shaped mask standing before him, “The devil draws near, he will
destroy your world… be sure you’re ready to face him.”

“Wait, what?” Alex asked as the figure faded away almost as quickly as it had appeared. “What do you mean by devil?” He sighed and hit the lid of the trash can he was leaning on.

He then turned around to the sight of the green eyes of the figure that had been chasing him.

"Pity," the green eyed figure said switching his gun into a sword, "I honestly thought that at least you would be able to defeat me." He raised his sword for one final strike, “No matter, I’m sure you’ll fare better in the next life.”

Alex fell to the ground before shutting his eyes and bracing himself for the impact. He then reopened them to see the alleyway had replaced by his bedroom and himself on the floor.

He looked around his room and rested his eyes at the doorway to see Cole standing just outside the door.

“About time you got up,” Shiore said.

“Shiore?...” Alex asked in a daze while rubbing his eyes, “What time is it?”

“Seven o five,” Shiore returned, “day one schedule.”

“Seven o five...” Alex said yawning, “I don't have class until nine forty-five. Go on without me.”

Shiore counted to three on her fingers.

“Wait...” Alex added turning back to Cole, “Did you say day one schedule?”

“Yep,” Cole returned with a sigh.

Alex stared blankly at the ceiling for a second, after about three seconds his eyes widened. “...Oh my god.”

“Oh crap, Mr. Merde is gonna kill me if I’m late again!” Alex shouted jumping out of bed. He stopped for a moment and looked over to Shiore, “... um.”

Shiore blinked, “what?”

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”


Alex stood in front of a mirror brushing his teeth excessively fast. He stopped for a moment and banged his head against the bathroom mirror. “What's wrong with the world?”

“I'm going on ahead!” Shiore shouted back to Alex while opening the front door to Alex's apartment.

“Okay.” Alex replied.

“Try not to be too late this time,” Shiore added before walking out the front door, “makes the rest of the team look bad when one member can’t even make it to class on time.”

“Hey, I'm never...” Alex began while running out of the bathroom, “that late...” Alex surveyed the room to find that Shiore had already left. “Woah… talk about deja vu”

Toast popped out of the toaster. Alex grabbed it immediately “Ha ha hot,” he said fumbling it a bit. Alex dropped the toast on a plate, spread peanut butter over it and headed for the door.

Alex then grabbed his bag and opened the front door and stopped for a second. He looked over to the picture on the mantle. “Bye mom, I'll see you later.” He said before walking out the front door of his apartment and down a flight of stairs to the street below.

He looked down the street in front of him and saw Shiore hadn’t gotten very far. “Hey wait up!” He shouted catching up to her.

Shiore turned around as Alex ran up to her side, “That was quick.”

“INCOMING!” A voice shouted from behind him.

Alex looked behind him to see Tara on roller blades hurling towards the two of them.

In one quick motion Shiore pushed Alex out of the way and grabbed Tara by her wrist swinging her around until the two were right in the other’s faces, “Gensoku shite... kudasai.”

“Uh… thank you?” Tara said shaking a little.

Shiore let go of Tara, Tara stumbling a bit as she regained her balance.

Shiore sighed, “Baka.”

Tara tilted her head to one side, “What exactly does that mean again?”

“Special,” Shiore returned, “As in a very special person.”

“Oh… Thanks, good to know someone out there’s sees it besides me!” Tara exclaimed with her usual smirk. “Anyway, we’d love to stay and chat but we’ve gotta jet,” She turned on her heel and took off down the street, “Catch ya’ you later Super Snow Stars!”

Alex’s eye twitched, “If she thinks that’s actually what baka means than she really is one.”

Shiore snorted for a split second.

Alex looked over to Shiore, "What was that?"

"I sneezed," Shiore said avoiding eye contact with Alex.

"Oh..." Alex returned, "Well, that's one weird sneeze."

"Let's just go," Shiore demanded as she walked ahead of Alex, “Cole said you had something you needed to take care of before school started?”

“Oh yeah, I never told you did I?” Alex returned, “every morning I go for a twenty lap run around the track before school starts.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Why is that?”

“I used to do it with a friend of mine,” Alex said as his eyes began to tear up, “however she…” he gulped, “Isn’t around much anymore… but I still keep to the schedule she laid out for me. As a reminder of all the good times we spent together, and the bad.”

“That’s pretty noble of you,” Shiore said, as she turned on her heel and continued down the road, “I’m sure that friend of yours is happy… wherever she is now.”

“Try to keep up,” a voice echoed in Alex’s head, “because I won’t slow down for you.”

“I will,” Alex nodded before running after Shiore, “count on it."

Sampson sat in his office looking over a few files, with several others in boxes lining the floor.

He threw the file in his hand down on his desk, “After so many years… why now does he choose to return?”

The door cracked open as Marcoh walked in with his arm in a sling.

“Chief?” Marcoh asked closing the door behind him, “Everything alright in here?”

“I wish I could say,” Sampson sighed, “But with the chaos that’s been going on in past couple of days it’s hard for me to tell. Poor kids, no one especially children should have to go through what they’ve been through. What makes it worse is that I can’t get help but feel that things are only going to get worse for them.”

“I know what you mean. Feels like just yesterday Alice was doing everything she could to make sure that kid was safe, now he’s in the same position she was,” Marcoh added leaning against the wall behind him, “Time moves so fast it’s hard to keep track of it all… and all we can do as adults is make sure the next generation is ready to pick up where we left off.”

“Very true my friend,” Sampson said with a somber tone to his voice. “Which is precisely why…” Sampson reached under his desk and pulled out a black brief case similar to the one he gave Alex the day he received the X Driver, “the time has come for this to come into play. After all, you said that yourself right?”

“Indeed I did,” Marcoh nodded, “and the boy has indeed proven himself if I do say so myself.”

“Agreed,” Sampson returned, “However, the shadows grow strong… and I’m certain they won’t remain dormant for much longer.”

At META headquarters, Vainglory stood in the shadow of several large pillars as Joel and Spite stood on the landing below him.

“I shall ask you one final time Inertia,” he proclaimed turning to his former commander, “Why now do you choose to return?”

“I already told you,” Inertia replied, “the dream we shared when META was established must end… No matter the cost.”

“I see,” Vainglory said avoiding eye contact with Joel, “So you’d risk the lives of the innocent to achieve this selfish goal of yours?” He disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind Joel, “Or have you forgotten the very reason why META was formed in the first place?”

“Indeed I do,” Joel sighed, “We both realized back in those ruins… we realized that this world was rotting away, we knew that humanity was doomed if something was not done soon. That’s why we formed META, to assure that change was made by any means necessary,” he turned to face Vainglory and looked him in the eye, “However what you plan to do to save this world is unacceptable. If Alice were here, she’d never allow you to get away with what you’ve done.”

“Save this world Joel?” Vainglory laughed, “Is that what you think I’m attempting to do?... on the contrary, the world I seek is not this one, but another. One where there is no fear, no hatred and most of all no one has to die.”

Joel smirked, “So even after all these years, you’re still only a child.”

“What was that?” Vainglory demanded.

“It figures as much. You still don’t understand that no matter how powerful you become you’re still only human,” Joel proclaimed, “You can’t bring the dead back to life my old friend… no matter how hard you try.”

Spite held out her hand as a red ball of energy formed in her palm, “You barge in here, uninvited, insult our intentions and now you dare speak to Lord Vainglory in such a tone? I’ll have you killed for this you worthless little-”

“Hold your fire Spite,” Vainglory instructed, placing his arm between Spite and Inertia, “I’m curious though Inertia… what’s the true reason for you coming here?”

“I’ve prepared the riders as much as I can… now I merely wish to watch as things unfold,” Joel proclaimed, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Vainglory raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure that’s the only reason?”

“Yes,” Joel nodded, “This is not my fight so I shall let the pieces fall where they may.”

Vainglory smirked, “Then you shall have it.”


Alex stood on the roof of the school, a cool breeze rushing over him. He heard a quiet flapping sound which ended with a small ding against a metal surface. He turned around to see Kree perched on the rail opposite him.

“Kree?” Alex asked. He then grunted and turned away from the bird, “What do you want?”

“I merely wish to talk,” Kree stated, “Are you be able to spare a moment?”

Alex sighed, “Sure... what is it?”

“It’s nothing major,” Kree proclaimed, “But I’m beginning to sense an unusual amount of tension between the three of you ever since Yuki and Ryu-O. I was wondering, would you have any theories as to why this could be?”

“I can’t say,” Alex returned, “Why not ask Tara?”

“Well, there’s a slight problem with that,” Kree lowered his head a bit, “The girl for whatever reason cannot hear me… I’m not entirely sure why but I believe it has something to do with her inability to allow anyone to get too close to her.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alex asked.

“My partners heart is tricky to understand,” Kree explained, “It’s like a storm that refuses to die down and is always shifting, refusing to let anyone in to resolve it. I had hoped that with time, she would allow at least someone to get close to her, but sadly this has not come to pass.”

“What about Cole?” Alex asked back, “Didn’t you say that he was getting close to her?”

“Indeed he is,” Kree sighed, “But the closer that boy gets, the more he is pushed away.”

“I see…” Alex said balling his hand into a fist, “Isn’t there anything we can do to help her?”

“Brave youth, I am most certain that there is… though it pains me to say that I don’t know it,” Kree proclaimed, “all I can say for sure is that memory is the key.”

“Memory is the key…” Alex repeated.

“Alex?” A voice called out.

Alex turned around to see Shiore standing directly behind him.

“Oh... Shiore,” He said with a jump in his voice, “You really need to stop sneaking up on people you know that?”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Who were you talking to?”

“Oh, I was…” Alex turned back around to the rail only to notice that Kree had vanished, “... he left?”

“Are you alright?” Shiore asked.

“Yeah, perfectly fine,” Alex said turning back to Shiore, “How’d you know I was up here anyway?” Shiore pointed to Alex’s shoulder as a small white wolf poked it’s head out of his sweater.

“I placed a tracker on the three of you a while ago,” Shiore stated as she quickly turned away from Alex and headed for the door to the roof of the station, “thought it would be best to keep a close eye on you.”

Alex blinked, “Oh… I see. A trick like that must be pretty handy I guess.”

“It has it’s uses,” Shiore said as she leaned against the fence. She raised an eyebrow, “Hey, that tower over there… what exactly is it?” she asked pointing to a large structure in the distance.

Alex looked to what Shiore was pointing to, “Oh, that’s Ardent Tower. It’s the tallest structure in the city, it’s actually a centerpiece to the whole thing really. Believe it or not there’s actually an entire network of ecologically clean generators that supply power to the entire city.”

“Alright,” Shiore returned taking her first step down the stairs. She stopped for a moment, “Also, you don’t need to thank me… for anything. If I remember correctly it was designed by an architect named Kirito-”

“Fubuki,” Shiore interrupted, “Kirito Fubuki… he was my father’s brother.”

“Wow, that sure is one hell of a legacy,” Alex proclaimed resting on the fence beside Shiore, “I wonder though, what exactly was he like?”

“He left for the west before I was born, so I didn’t know him very well,” Shiore sighed, “Still… glad to know he’s doing alright.”

“Must be difficult being so far away from home, huh?” Alex said looking down to the ground a bit, “But, you’ll see your folks again someday.” He smiled and placed his hand on Shiore’s shoulder, “Besides, with social networking it’s not like you’re completely cut off from them right?”

Shiore slapped Alex’s hand off her shoulder and stepped away from the fence.

“Uh… did I say something wrong?” Alex asked.

“Sorry… it’s just that I need to be getting back to class now,” Shiore returned as she headed for the door to the roof, “You should too… if you don’t want to be late.”

“Oh yeah,” Alex said to himself, “Uh, thanks I guess.”

“I already told you,” Shiore’s hand twitched, “you don’t need to thank me… for anything.”

“Huh?” Before Alex could respond Shiore had already disappeared as if she was never even there to begin with. Alex blinked, “... Was it something I said?”

An hour or two later, Alex sat at his desk in his fourth period math class. The bell rang as several students shuffled in and took their seats. Alex looked over his shoulder to the empty desk behind him, for some odd reason this made him feeling a little uneasy.

“She not showing up today?” Cole asked taking his seat in front of Alex.

Alex shrugged, “She was here at lunch, heck I even talked to her for a bit.”

“You say something to piss her off?” Cole asked once again, “You never were that good in conversation, especially when it came to girls.”

Alex slammed his fist on his desk, “THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!”

“I’m joking,” Cole chuckled, “Though it is rather odd that Shiore of all people would skip. She’s only been here for about a week and yet she hasn’t missed a single class, even when she was trying to kill us.”

Alex sighed, “That’s the part I’m worried about.”

“Maybe she’s just really stressed out,” Cole suggested, “I know I’d be after what she’s been through the past couple of days.”

“WELL OF COURSE SHE IS!” Tara shouted as she popped her head into the open window of the class.

“GAH!” Alex screamed, “Tara, what the hell are you doing here?”

“My class got boring, so I came to see what you guys were up to,” Tara proclaimed leaning against the ledge of the window. “And it looks to me like we showed up just in the nick of time.”

“How exactly are you even staying up here?” Cole asked.

“Tree branch,” Tara returned, “Anyway, that’s not important right now. We gotta find a way to defrost the ice queen and luckily I know how to do it!”

“Darwin! Desmond! Keep it down over there!” Ms Foster shouted.

“Oh boy, looks like you two got yourselves into big trouble,” Tara laughed, she let go of the ledge and ran off down a row of tree branches by the window, “We’ll catch ya later once you get out of jail cirimals!”

Alex’s eye twitched, “... what just happened?”

Cole sighed, “I’ll go and knock some sense into her later.”

“Yeah, you go do that,” Alex nodded, “God knows somebody has to.”

After that bit of excitement, Alex and Cole worked on their work along with the rest of the class. About an hour and a half later the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Alex and Cole made their way to the door and down the hall. The two soon came to a fork in the hall.

“I need to go to my locker,” Alex said pointing down the right hallway, “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Kay, see ya,” Cole waved proceeding down the hall to the left.

“Yeah later,” Alex returned before going down the other.

Alex walked down the hall until he came to his locker on the right hand side. He removed the lock, opened up the door, put his books into his locker, grabbed his bag and closed the door again putting the lock back on it immediately after.

Upon closing the door he looked up and saw Tara right in his face.

“Gah!” He jumped, “How many times do I need to tell you to stop doing that!”

“Yeah yeah, over nine thousand I got that,” Tara said waving her hand in front of Alex’s face, “So, getting back to what we were talking about in class I know the perfect way to defrost Sayuri.”

“Her name is Shiore,” Alex butted in.

“Whatever like I was saying,” Tara continued completely ignoring what Alex just said, “I was thinking we take that poor girl out for some fun at my personal favorite place in the whole world, the Cat’s Eye Cafe.”

“The Cat’s Eye?” Alex asked raising an eyebrow, “I’m not sure that Shiore would be very interested in something like that.”

“Ah shows what you know,” Tara exclaimed slapping Alex in the back, “Listen, once you’ve tried what the Cat’s Eye has to offer no one, not even that sour wolf Shiore would be able to hold themselves back! Besides, it’ll be fun for all of us so what do ya say? How about we go tomorrow after school?”

“Actually, you do have a point there,” Alex said thinking for a moment, “Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I’ll ask Shiore and see if she would like to go with you.”

“With you?” Tara raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean you?”

“Well…” Alex scratched the back of his neck, “I was kind of planning to the library to do a bit of research on… personal stuff.”

“Aww! Man that sucks!” Tara grunted, “Fine, I guess two will work just as good as three.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh… nothing,” Tara said as her face turned a bright red.

“Tara,” Alex demanded.

Tara sighed, “Okay fine, you see I told my dad that I’d be bringing some customers by tomorrow and well… He got all excited and started preparing special menu for it.” She clapped her hands together, “So, could you possibly reschedule that trip maybe?”

“Sorry, has to be tomorrow,” Alex returned, “If I don’t do it tomorrow I’ll just end up putting it off and then it will never get done.”

“Alright, I see you’re point,” Tara sighed, “Oh well,” she added regaining her usual smirk, “A party is still a party, even with only two guests!”

Back at the police station, Sampson was putting the filing cabinets in his office back together when the door opened and Marcoh stepped in.

“I’m heading out now,” Marcoh said grabbing Sampson’s attention.

“Alright, be careful out there,” Sampson returned.

“Don’t worry I will,” Marcoh assured him stepping back into the hall and shutting the door.

A few seconds passed before Sampson ran over to the door of his office and stepped out into the hall, “Marcoh wait a minute!”

Marcoh stopped and turned back to Sampson.

“Do you think… what we’re doing is right?” Sampson asked.

Marcoh turned back around, “In a world like this it’s hard to tell… the difference between right and wrong,” he said in a somber tone, “All that we can do is what we think is best.”

Sampson nodded, “True.”

Marcoh smirked and shook his head, “You worry too much.” He opened the front door of the station and made his way outside closing the door behind him.

“Thanks Marcoh,” Sampson said with a grin, “I needed that.”

Sampson made his way back to his office. He opened the door to the sight of a young man with black hair making his way out the window. Sampson reached for his gun.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” The young man said pointing a black twin barreled blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights, “You see this treasure is mine… and I intend to keep it that way.” The thief spun the blaster around in his hand, “Catch ya later.”

The thief jumped out the window as Sampson ran over to him. He looked out the window in search of the thief but couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Damn it!” He shouted punching the ledge of the window. He pulled a small radio out from his pocket, “Attention all available units, a highly classified piece of equipment has just been stolen from ACPD HQ. Suspect appears to be rather young and of Japanese descent with black hair wearing a brown cargo jacket. He is armed and extremely dangerous… proceed with caution.”

Alex opened the door to his apartment, stepped through it, threw his bag onto the couch and closed the door behind him.

“Gah, what a day!” He sighed as he made his way to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of pop out of the fridge. He slumped back to the living room, collapsed onto the coach and switched on the tv, “Man, I’ll never understand women no matter how hard I try.”

“Well if you give up that easily you never will,” A voice called out.

Alex looked over to a large shelf where he kept his DVD collection to see Shiore standing in front of it. His eyes widening, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!”

Shiore looked to Alex then back to the shelf, “Your DVDs are a mess… Seriously who organized this? You have Azumanga Daioh and Zeta Gundam next to Rosario to Vampire and School Days… why do you even have School Days anyway?” she asked rearranging the various DVDs in alphabetical order, “Hm? Hey, what’s this?” She picked up a somewhat large pastel colored box and read off the title on the top, “Ma-do-ka Ma-gi-ca…”

Alex ran over to Shiore and grabbed the box from Shiore, “That one is… personal.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

“It was a gift… from someone that’s very important to me,” Alex said avoiding eye contact with Shiore, “Oh, that reminds me,” he turned to Shiore and looked her in the eye, “Tara asked me to ask you if you were interested in going with her and Cole to this cafe she keeps going on about. It’s called the Cat’s Eye I think.”

“A Cafe huh?” Shiore asked, “I don’t know, I don’t really care for that kind of stuff… Plus I find that girl to be kind of a pain.”

“Oh come on,” Alex pleaded, “Just this once?”

“Alright fine I’ll go,” Shiore said crossing her arms, “But on one condition.”

“and what would that be?” Alex asked.

Shiore held up the Madoka Magica box set, “I want to watch this, right now.”

Alex’s jaw dropped, “... serious?”

“Dead,” Shiore returned, “Is there a problem?”

“No, of course not,” Alex said taking the box from Shiore and walking over to the TV, “I just didn’t expect you to be interested in this kind of stuff.”

“Fair enough,” Shiore said sitting down on the couch, “but maybe you shouldn’t judge people before you get to know them.”

“That’s for sure,” Alex laughed a bit, “Now I’m gonna warn you, this one gets rather… dark let’s say… like really dark.”

Shiore shrugged, “Can’t be any darker than the world we live in.”

“Good point,” Alex returned opening up the DVD player, “Okay then, let’s get this show on the road then.”

A young man with a twin-lense magenta camera stood on the outskirts of Ardent City, a white cruiser style motorcycle with magenta highlights parked directly behind him.

He took a shot of the cityscape, “So this is the World of Xtreme,” he said letting the camera drop down on the strap around his neck, “A world of five riders, each based on an element of nature… I wonder how much of that is true.” He hoped on his motorcycle and put his helmet on, “Guess I’ll find out soon enough.”

To be continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

Four travellers arrive in Ardent City.

Who are they?

Where did they come from?

What do they plan to do?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 24: The Travellers
Stranger... what are you?

In the dead of night, a cold wind blew over Ardent City. The alarm sounded at a laboratory as a young man leapt over a tall fence with a briefcase in hand. Several police officers charged out from the building after him.

"Getting all worked up over it?" The young man smirked, "This treasure must really be something then."

"There he is, get him!" One of the guards said as he noticed the thief.

The thief pulled out a black blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights and spun it around in his hand, "Well, I guess I could humor them." He pulled out a card and slid it into the side of his blaster and cocked it once.

"Kamen Ride," The blasted called out as he held it above his head.

"Henshin!" The man exclaimed as he pulled back on the trigger.

"DiEnd!" The blaster called out as a black and blue jumpsuit with black blocky armour materialized around the thief.

"They never make it easy do they?" The thief thought as he was surrounded by guards.

Sirens and spotlights blared down on the thief as helicopters hovered over top of him.

"We have you surrounded," A guard stated over a megaphone, "Stand down or we shall be forced to use force."

"Well, I guess that's enough excitement for one night," The thief said as he pulled out a card and slid it into his blaster. He raised the blaster to a guard which stood in front of him.

"Stand down now!" The guard from the helicopter shouted.

The thief chuckled cocking his blaster. "Attack Ride," His blaster called out.

"See you around boys," He said pulling back on the trigger.

"Invisible!" The blaster called out as the thief disappeared into thin air.

“Damn it!" An officer shouted punching the air in front of him.

An officer on the ground blinked his eyes,"Spread out, he couldn't have gotten far!"

"Yes sir, right away sir," Several guards said all at once.

The commander growled, "I want that bastard found!"


Tara skipped along down the sidewalk with Cole and Shiore not far behind her.

"Alright, we're just about there!" Tara shouted back to them, "I swear this place is the absolute
best! Sayuri, this is just what you need to get you mind out of the gutter."

Shiore dragged her feet along "It's nice for you to treat me Archer, but I don't-"

"No buts!" Tara exclaimed shove her open hand into Shiore's face, "and haven't I told you already to lay of the Archer crap? You can just call me Tara."

"Sorry if I have offended you," Shiore said bowing her head, " ... T-Tara."

Tara raised an eyebrow, "What, you didn't offend me? Why must you be so uptight all the time? Lighten up and have some fun for once!"

"Sorry," Shiore said bowing to Tara again, "I'll do what I can."

Tara gave Shiore a big grin, "That's better."

Shiore looked back at Tara, "and while we're on the subject, it's Shiore not Sayuri."

"But Sayuri sounds so much cuter!" Tara exclaimed.

"Well to me Archer sounds better than Tara," Shiore retorted.

"But... that's not my name," Tara blinked her eyes.

"and..." Shiore said crossing her arms and tilting her head.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, I see your point," Tara sighed. "Anyway, to each her own I guess."

"Hey girls!" Cole shouted from up ahead, "It's just up ahead!"

"Oh, right coming!" Tara shouted back, "Shall we go She-or-ray?"

"Yes..." Shiore said walking past Tara, "Archer." She adding as she ran off towards Cole.

"Hey, I thought we had an agreement!" Tara exclaimed chasing after her.

Shiore and Cole stood outside a small building as Tara ran up to join them and slammed into a pole before falling over onto the ground.

"Actually, I think Tara-Baka might work better," Shiore whispered to herself.

"You alright?" Cole asked reaching his hand out to Tara to help her up.

"Peachy!" Tara returned grabbing Cole's hand and pulling herself off the ground.

"This is it right?" Cole asked.

"Yeah..." Tara panted before standing back up again, "Fellow Riders, welcome to the Cat's Eye! The finest cafe in all of ardent, neigh the world!"

Tara went on and on about how great the place was as Shiore looked over to a sign in the window, "Hikari Studios?" she thought to herself, "Must be a shared building."

"Yeah, that's great. Can we go inside now?" Cole asked trying to hurry up Tara's pace.

"You're right, I should know better than to keep the finest from you two any longer," Tara shouted as she went for the front door, "Come on Shiore, heaven is calling!" She exclaimed as she charged through the door.

Cole shrugged, "Can't stop Tara from being Tara."

Shiore sighed, "That's one way of putting it."

"WHA!" Tara yelled to the horror of her favorite cafe being replaced by what appeared to be a photography studio, "You there!" Tara shouted to a young woman behind a desk, "EXPLAIN THIS, RIGHT NOW!"

The woman blinked her eyes, "Um, come again?"

"Don't you 'Come again' me!" Tara yelled as she stormed up to the woman and slammed her hands down on the desk, "This was the Cat's Eye Cafe yesterday! Where is it?!"

"Tara, calm down," Cole said placing his hand on Tara's shoulder, "Please don't mind her, we'll just be going now."

"The Cat's Eye was the best!" Tara cried out, "Their cakes were to die for, and the coffee, oh the coffee was simply out of this world!"

"We've got Coffee," An elderly man said peering out from a hallway on the right side of the room.

Tara wiped her tears from her face, "Is it any good?"

"Yes," the old man nodded, "Come this way, I'll get some for you."

Tara took in a deep breath, "... YAHOO!"

Alex sat at a table in the Ardent City central library. He had pulled several books off the shelves which sat in a large stacks beside him.

He flipped through multiple pages only schimming some of them, "Devil, devil..." He slammed the book shut, "Nothing. Man you think that guy could've been more specific with that warning of his." He thought for a second and tried to recall the warning, "The devil draws near, he will destroy your world." The image of his dream flashed in his mind.

"Need help finding anything?" a voice called out.

"Hmm?" Alex turned to see a young man with a magenta twin-lens reflex camera around his neck leaning on the table a few feet away from him, "Oh no, thank you I'm fine."

"Myths and Legends, Elemental Fables, The Ragnarok Connection," The man said reading off some of the books Alex had pulled off the shelves, "Rather interesting choices."

"Are you looking for something?" Alex asked the man.

"Yes actually," The man stated.

"Well, what is it?" Alex barked at him, "I'm kind of busy here."

The man sighed, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find information on strange events going on recently would you?"

"Strange events?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," The man returned, "I'm doing a bit of research on the riders of this city and it would help to have a few leads?"

Alex thought for a second "Riders?... wait, do you mean Kamen Rider?"

"Yes," The man confirmed, "The one they call X and the four elemental riders that fight along side him. Gale, Rock, Yuki and Ryu-O."

"Uhh..." Alex paused for a moment, "I'm not sure where you got your information but they mostly fight each other, fight Ryu-O I mean."

"Oh, I see," The man said, "Sorry, my mistake. Alex Darwin." The man said as he began to walk away.

"Wait," Alex said jumping out of his chair, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"I am just a photographer that's passing through," The young man said as he turned to face Alex, "My name... is Tsukasa, Kadoya Tsukasa. There are a few things that I would like to discuss with you."

"Me?" Alex asked pointing at himself.

Tsukasa nodded, "and if you may, I would like to know a little more about your city."

"Uh, sure..." Alex looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to them.

Tsukasa sighed, "Too crowded?"

"Uhh..." Alex stood puzzled.

"No trouble," Tsukasa said gesturing towards the door, "Come on, we'll discuss this elsewhere."

"Okay, where?" Alex asked.

"Let's just go," Tsukasa instructed.

Alex blinked his eyes, "Alright fine," He said grabbing his sweater, "It's close by right?"

Cole, Tara and Shiore sat with the young woman from the front desk around a small table. The old man approached them with a tray with five coffee cups.

"Allow me to introduce myself," The old man said as he placed the tray on the table, "I am Hikari Eijiro, and this is my daughter Hikari Natsumi."

"So you're Japanese then?" Cole asked.

"Japanese?" Tara shouted, "That's awesome Mr. Eijiro and Ms. Natsumi! Sayuri here is Japanese as well!"

"Have you two lived here for a while or did you just move here?" Shiore asked.

"Oh, we're just visiting," Eijiro smiled, "Now please, enjoy your coffee."

"AWESOMENESS!" Tara shouted grabbing the first cup, Cole and Shiore grabbing one for themselves shortly after.

Tara paused for a second before drinking any, "Um, excuse me sir. What's with the extra cup?"

"I thought your friend might want a bit of a drink as well," Eijiro said with a slight grin.

"Uh..." Tara puzzled.

"Your little bird friend," Eijiro said back.

Tara looked over her shoulder as Kree's head popped out from under the jacket she had on.

"Uh, I don't think he'd like coffee," Tara said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I see," Eijiro said bowing his head a bit, "Never mind then." He added as he disappeared
into the back room.

Tara shrugged and began to drink from her cup.

"I'll just take the extra one back," Natsumi said reaching for the cup.

Just then the room was filled by the sound of the front being opened and quickly closed.

"I'm home!" A male voice called out from out in the hall.

Tara slammed her cup down on the table, "Man that's good!"

"Oh, I see we have guests," A young man said as he turned the corner.

"Welcome back Yuusuke," Natsumi said to him.

"Oh, there's coffee," Yuusuke said as he reached for a cup only to have his hand swatted out of the way by Tara.

Tara growled back at Yuusuke as she swiped the cup away from him.

Yuusuke blinked, "I take it you like the coffee." Yuusuke walked around the table and sat down in between Natsumi and Shiore, "That's good, enjoy it."

Shiore held her cup in front of Yuusuke.

"..." Yuusuke paused for a moment. He pointed to the cup, "You don't want it?"

Shiore said nothing and simply shook her head.

"Okay," Yuusuke said taking the cup from her, "thank you."

Tara slammed her cup on the table, "Ah!" She then eyed the cup in front of Natsumi, "... you gonna drink that?"

Natsumi slid the cup towards Tara.

Tara's eyes widened along with a big grin, "Awesome!"

"So... you're a photographer?" Alex asked eyeing Tsukasa's camera trying to stir up a conversation.

"Yes," Tsukasa returned avoiding eye contact.

"I see... you any good?" Alex said scratching the back of his neck, "Then, what exactly were you doing at the library?"

"Volunteer work, apparently," Tsukasa stated.

"Hm, interesting," Alex returned, "... So, you from around here?"

Tsukasa looked up at the sky for a second, "Not exactly." He turned back to Alex, "Now then, how about we get on to the matter at hand?"

"Oh, alright," Alex returned. "Well, there are currently five riders that I know of. There's the first one X who showed up a little while ago. He seems to be the most versatile of the group with three different forms ranging from hand to hand to mid-range and long-range weapons.

"A well rounded fighter I see," Tsukasa added. "A good trait, what about the others?"

"Well there's Gale, she was the second," Alex stated. "She appears to be modeled after a bird of some kind though I'm not exactly to sure which. Not to mention she tends to get a little carried away when fighting."

"So she's a loose cannon," Tsukasa said bluntly, "I've met a few of those. You're not exactly to sure where their loyalty lies."

"Isn't that a pain," Alex said with a light chuckled. "So, next would be Rock I guess. Not much to say other then he's a strong fighter with an even stronger heart. He's a rider with power and knows when and when not to use it."

"A rare trait," Tsukasa proclaimed. "But I suppose it's a good one."

"Third would be Yuki," Alex said. "Talk about an ice queen. There's not much I can say about her because there's really not much known about her, she's very secretive and doesn't really talk all that much. I guess you could say that she's a strong and precise fighter, and she whenever she swings that blade of her's she aims to kill."

"Interesting," Tsukasa said quietly, "Think I've run into at least one person like that... once. What about Ryu-O then?"

"That one is... complicated," Alex stated. "He seems to be rather hostile towards the others. Like he shares the same mentality as the average dopant only... he's slightly different. I just don't know."

"Oh, I see," Tsukasa said, "I'll give you a moment to think about that. You can tell me when you've put your thoughts together in a form that makes sense to you."

The two walked along in silence for a few seconds.

Alex looked around for a bit until finally deciding to open his mouth again, "So, anyway-"

At that second a man in a black trench coat stepped out in front of them.

"Your end is now... Kamen Rider," The man said to the two as he held out a memory and hit the button below the label.

"Glitch!" The memory called out as he rammed it into the back of his head and his appearance changed from a normal person to a mechanical bug like creature.

"Damn it, why now?" Alex thought to himself. He looked around to find that Tsukasa was nowhere to seen, "Where did he..." he thought to himself, he shook his head "doesn't matter right now."

He reached into his pocket a grabbed the Star and Runner memories as his driver materialized around his waist. He then pulled out the Star and Runner memories and slammed them into the corresponding slots on the belt.

The Dopant growled at them as Alex glared back at him.

"Henshin!" Alex shouted as he split the slots apart.

"Star! Runner!" The driver called out as black and red armour formed around Alex.

"Let's make this quick," Alex said cracking his knuckles.

"Yes... let's," Glitch said back with a growl as he charged towards Alex.

Alex punched Glitch in the face as the Dopant charged through him and dragged the two of them across the street. Alex broke free of Glitch's grip and jumped a few feet back.

"Going to need an edge here," Alex said as he pulled out the Star memory and replaced it with Blade.

"Blade! Runner!" His driver called out as Blade's armour formed around the top half of Alex's body.

"So he's a combo changer," Tsukasa thought to himself, "A rare one."

Alex sliced at the Dopant and managed to push it back a bit, but to ill effect.

"Well, I guess it's my turn," Tsukasa said as he re-appeared out of nowhere. He pulled out a device that resembled a camera and slapped it onto his waist as a belt strap wrapped around him.

Alex turned his attention to Tsukasa as he pulled out a card from a book attached to his belt.
"Tsukasa..." Alex gawked "you're a-"

"I was wondering when you would figure it out... X," Tsukasa interrupted as he held the card up to Alex and the Dopant, "Henshin!" Tsukasa flipped the card around so that the back was facing Alex and the Dopant and slid it into the device around his waist.

"Kamen Ride, Decade!" The device called out as nine emblems shot out of it and merged back over him becoming a black, grey and white suit of armour. Seven red squares of light then shot out of the lens of the belt and merged with the helmet as the grey sections of his armour became a deep magenta.

"Tsukasa..." Alex said in awe, "What are you?"

Back at the studio, Tara was downing yet another cup of coffee.

Yuusuke leaned over to Shiore, "How many does that make now?"

"Thirty seven..." Shiore said avoiding eye contact with Yuusuke as Tara slammed down her cup again, "Thirty eight."

Tara whipped her mouth, "Hey gramps, let's have another round over here!"
"Very well, Miss," Eijiro said peeking out from the back room.

At the moment, Cole's phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Cole asked as he answered the call, "Uh huh, I see. Okay, we're on it." Cole said hanging up and putting the phone back in his pocket.

Shiore looked over to Cole and tilted her head slightly, Cole nodded back.

"Tara, we have to go," Cole said as he and Shiore got up from their seats.

Tara kept her attention on the back room like a dog waiting to be fed, "Okay, just one more."
Cole stepped in front of her line of sight, "Now."

"Oh..." Tara said making eye contact with Cole. She coughed for a second and then got up from her seat, "Thanks for the coffee, but we need to be leaving now." She said as the three of them headed for the door.

"Feel free come by again sometime," Eijiro said popping out from the back room.

"Don't worry, we will!" Tara shouted back as the three of them walked out the front door.

Yuusuke sighed with a slight smile, "I hope they make it in time."

Cole, Tara and Shiore walked out the front door of the studio.

"Well, that was better than we expected," Tara said with a grin.

"So another dopant has appeared?" Shiore asked completely ignoring Tara.

"Yeah, I just got the info from Sampson," Cole explained, "Alex is already down there. It's not to
far from the city library."

Tara burped very loudly before cutting into the conversation, "Well, let's get going then!" She exclaimed walking past Cole and Shiore.

"Archer!" Shiore shouted as Tara began charging down the road.

"Yeah?" Tara replied.

"The city library is this way," Shiore stated pointing over her shoulder.

Tara paused for a second and blinked her eyes "We knew that... we're were just testing you is
all." She said as she walked past Shiore and Cole.

"Sure you did," Shiore snarked as Tara past her.

"Pretty bad when someone who has only been here for a few weeks knows the city better then you do huh?" Cole whispered to Shiore.

“Come on slow pokes!” Tara shouted back at them, “If you don’t hurry we’ll take out the creep before you get there!”


Alex and Tsukasa sliced away at Glitch as the creature took every blown with no effect.

"Damn... what's with this guy?" Alex said gasping for air.

"Are they normally this tough?" Tsukasa asked.

"Not exactly... but it doesn't matter," Alex said tightening his grip on his sword at leaping into the air and swinging down over the Dopant.

Glitch evaded Alex's swing jumped over to the other side of the road.

"Damn... this guy's fast," Alex panted.

"Fortunately for us, I have a trump card," Tsukasa said opening his driver and pulling out a card with what appeared to be a red beetle on the front from the book attached to his belt. "To beat a bug, I must become a bug." He said as he slid the card into his driver and pushed the sides closed with both of his hands.

"Kamen Ride, Kabuto," Tsukasa's driver called out as Tsukasa armor changed to resemble a red rhinoceros beetle.

"Woah," Alex whispered to himself.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Tsukasa proclaimed following the same steps he did to change the appearance of his armor.

"Attack Ride, Clock Up!" Tsukasa's driver called out as he assumed a stance as if were about to run.

In less then a second Tsukasa bolted across the street at a speed impossible to see. He then engulfed the Dopant in a barrage of attacks that seemed to flow into one solid color.
Tsukasa ended his barrage on Glitch with a straight kick to the dopant's face causing it to fly backwards into the center of the road.

"I'd say that's how you get rid of a glitch," Tsukasa said as his armor reverted back to its original form.

"You think you're so tough huh?" The dopant said as he jumped back onto his feet, "Well, let's see how you do against this!" At that instant the dopant flexed his arms outward as two copies materialized in a cluster of pixels. "Now then... hit me with your A game!" The dopant roared.

"Good thing I can do that too," Tsukasa said pulling out a card and sliding it into his driver.

"Attack Ride, Illusion!" The driver called out as Tsukasa split into threes.

"This should even things up," The three Tsukasas said at once.

"Oh screw it, I'm getting out of here!" The Glitch Dopant screamed as he dashed down the road, "You two, deal with that pink son of a bitch!"

"... Seriously?" Alex asked as his jaw dropped a bit.

"X!" Tsukasa shouted getting Alex's attention, "You go after the original, I'll handle these two."

"Right, I'm on it!" Alex returned as reached into his pocket to grab the remote to his bike. He
dashed his fingers across the buttons as his bike came roaring down the road after him. Alex jumped onto the bike and sped down the road in pursuit of the Dopant.

"Goodluck... Kamen Rider," Tsukasa said to himself as the two copies of Glitch growled at him, "Now then, how shall I deal with you two?"

Alex roared down the highway quickly gaining on Glitch.

"Don't you ever give up!" Glitch shouted back to Alex.

Alex said nothing and pulled back hard on the handle of his bike and increased his speed, evaded multiple cars in pursuit of the dopant.

"Alex!" Tara's voice called out from the sky as she flew in on her glider already transformed.

"Tara," Alex said with relief as the roar of an engine filled the air behind him. Tsukasa turned to see Cole and Shiore riding in behind him on the Rock Breaker, "Cole... and Shiore."

"Hey dude, mind filling us in on what's going on?" Cole asked as he drove up to match Alex in speed.

"Another Dopant has appeared," Alex stated, "However this one is extremely... pathetic."

"How so?" Shiore asked as she hoped from the Rock Breaker over to the X-Cyclone.

"Well, after we kicked his ass a bit he ran off," Alex explained.

"We, who's we?" Cole asked.

"It's kind of complicated," Alex stated, "Anyway, that's not important right now. What we need to do is corner this guy and finish him off before he can do any serious damage."

"There's an old warehouse not too far from here," Shiore stated, "we could trap him there if we could get someone to chase him in."

"Perfect," Alex returned, "Tara!"

"On it!" Tara said shooting off through the air on her glider after

"We should split up and trap him from all directions," Cole proposed.

"Good idea, we'll regroup at the warehouse," Alex agreed as the three split up, Cole going on a head and Alex and Shiore getting off the highway on the next exit.

As Alex and Shiore turned the corner, a white motorcycle with light red accents followed not far behind them.

As Alex and Shiore drew closer to the bottom of the ramp so did a sharp turn draw closer to them

"Hang on," Alex shouted over the roar of the wind and the engine of his cycle, Shiore tightening her grip on the seat of the bike.

As Shiore tightened her grip around Alex, she noticed that he was shaking a little.
"Nervous?" Shiore asked.

"A little," Alex returned.

"Don't be." Shiore sighed, "The enemy is going to look for any sign of weakness. It's best not to have any."

"And if I do have a weakness?" Alex asked.

Shiore paused for a moment, "Don't show it."

Glitch dashed down an alleyway before resting against a oil drum to catch his breathe.

"Damn... X has back up… I wasn’t told about this," He panted.

"KYAH!" Tara screamed as she delivered a flying front snap kick to the Dopant's face.

The shock from the kick sent Glitch flying through the wall of a warehouse and across the
concrete floor a good distance before coming to a halt at the center of the large vacant room.

"WOO, first strike! That's what we're talkin' 'bout!" Tara exclaimed bouncing a bit on her feet.

"That's enough boasting Tara!" Alex called out as he and Cole drove up to the hole in the wall,
Shiore hopping off the back of Alex's bike.

"Aw, why you gotta ruin our fun?" Tara pouted.

"Because you always get lost in your ego," Cole retorted as he, Alex and Shiore ran up to Tara.

"Let's just get this over with," Shiore said, "then you can get back to your coffee princess."

Tara cracked her knuckles and smirked under her mask, "I like that idea."

"Alright," Alex said stepping in front of Tara, "I'll land the first hit, then you guys follow."

Alex ran at the dopant preparing to throw a punch.

Glitch smirked, "Now, it's my turn."

As Alex threw his first blow, Glitch ducked below his fist and jabbed Alex's driver. Alex fell to the
ground as his armour dissolved into the air.

Alex reset his driver a few times but nothing seemed to be happening. The Dopant threw a hard
kick to his face and threw him across the room.

"What... did you... do?" Alex said crawling on the ground.

"I severed the connection between your driver and your memories," The Dopant stated, "Put
simply, you're powerless now."

A small applause filled the warehouse. Everyone turned to the opening in the wall to see
Tsukasa slowly coming towards them.

Tsukasa came to a halt a few feet away from where Alex lay. "In all of the worlds I've been to, I've
never seen a trick like that," Tsukasa proclaimed.

"Tsukasa," Alex said attempting to get on his feet.

"Careful," Tara said helping Alex up.

"Yeah, I know," Alex said pushing Tara off him.

"Who is that?" Shiore asked.

"A friend," Alex said as he limped towards Tsukasa.

Glitch chuckled, "I must admit, you're persistence is impressive." Glitch held his hand out
towards Alex, "But unfortunately, your end has-"

Before Glitch could finish speaking, he was suddenly engulfed in flames and reduced to a
smoldering ash. As he fell to the ground, the red armor of armor of Ryu-O emerged from behind
him.

"Rouge… you never know when to shut up," Carter said as his hand fell to his side.

Cole and Shiore tightened their stances, while Tara stood in awe.

"and finally... Kamen Rider Ryu-O." Tsukasa whispered to himself. "Ryu-O, you are what's threatening this world are you not?" He asked to the red rider.

Carter said nothing.

"I shall take your silence as a yes," Tsukasa said changing his sword into a blaster, "Then you
shall meet your end here." Tsukasa stated pointing the blaster at Ryu-O.

"Stop!" Tara said stepping into the line of fire.

"Step out of the way Gale," Tsukasa demanded.

Tara stood her ground and removed her memory from the driver on her wrist as she reverted to
her civilian form, "Hell no."

"I'll ask you again... stand aside," Tsukasa demanded pulling slightly on the trigger.

Tara glared at Tsukasa, "Just back off!"

At that moment Carter stepped to the side of Tara and aimed his gauntlet to Tsukasa ready to
fire.

Tsukasa quickly moved his blaster over to Carter and fired off a single shot. Tara jumped into the line of fire as the shot struck her in her left shoulder.

"Gah!" Tara shouted as she fell to the ground clenching her shoulder as blood ran down her arm.
Tsukasa stepped back and pointed his blaster up to the sky.

"Tara!" Alex exclaimed as he ran to her side.

"The hell..." Cole exclaimed, "Are you psycho!" He yelled as he switched his hammer to axe
mode and pointed it at Tsukasa.

"I didn't mean to cause harm to her," Tsukasa explained lowering his blaster, "She inflicted it onto
herself when she jumped into the line of fire."

"Bullcrap!" Alex barked, "Why did you fire in the first place?!"

"Ryu-O is the one threatening your world," Tsukasa proclaimed, "I thought that I would be
courteous and remove him for you."

Tara looked over her shoulder to Carter who stood still, paying little attention to her.

"Well who asked you to!" Alex demanded.

"It is my purpose," Tsukasa proclaimed, "I journey through different worlds to prevent their
destruction. However I suppose that some worlds are better off being destroyed."

"That's one way of putting it." Alex growled.

"Then we agree," Tsukasa said switching his blaster to sword mode, "I'll just have to destroy this
world myself then."

"Like hell you will," Alex said as he charged towards Tsukasa only to be batted away like a fly.

"Pathetic," Tsukasa said walking past Alex on the ground, "You are no longer a Kamen Rider, what stakes do you have in this matter?" Tsukasa turned to Cole, Tara, and Shiore, "As for the rest of you, Prove to me that your world is worth saving... if you dare." He pulled out a card and opened his driver, “However, I feel that I should set a proper stage first.”

He slid the card into his driver and slammed it closed “Attack Ride, Explosion.”

A giant explosion then erupted from where Tsukasa stood and engulfed the riders in it’s void.

Alex slowly opened his eyes in a daze, he then realized that he was being carried along what looked like a road left in ruin. He looked up to see that the ones carrying him were none other than Cole and Tara their respective rider forms.

“Morning there sleeping beauty,” Tara said snarkingly, “good to see you’re still alive.”

“Tara… Cole,” Alex grunted, “Wh… what happened?”

“That guy Tsukasa made the entire warehouse go up in flames,” Cole explained,
“Needless to say we’re lucky to be alive right now.”

“I see,” Alex sighed looking down to the ground, “and Shiore… what happened to her?”

Cole shrugged, “Your guess is as good as ours. She disappeared after the blast, with how fast she is she most likely was the first one out of there. ”

They soon came to an intersection that was engulfed in smoked. The three proceeded with caution through the smoke before coming to halt only moments later. Because there, standing just on the edge of the smoke and rubble... was Tsukasa.

"Looks like I've finally found you," Tsukasa said running his hand along the length of his blade,
"Gale... Rock."

Tara pulled off the flail from the back of her belt and grasped it with both her hands, "What a coincidence, we were looking for you as well Pinkie."

"Alex, you better go," Cole said tightening his grip on his hammer.

"But what about you guys?" Alex returned with concern.

"We'll be fine," Cole returned. "Just focus in finding Shiore, you’ll be safer with her."

Alex took a long pause before responding, "... alright." He turned away from Cole and Tara, "Just be careful alright." He said before running down the street where the three just came from.

"Always such a worry wort," Tara said swinging her flail around. "But I guess that's one of his better qualities. No then, how's about we deal with this guy?"

"Try and defeat me if you’d like," Tsukasa said drawing closer to Cole and Tara, "But I won't make it easy for you."

Alex ran down the ruined street until he came to the building that he Cole and Tara were just using as shelter. He surveyed the area as he heard the faint sound of a revving engine. He then followed the sound until he came to a mass of piled up cars.

A small shimmer caught his eye, it was the shimmer of light being reflected off a mirror. He followed the light until he saw that there, just by the pile up working on his motorcycle which he had abandoned there as if she was fated to be there, was Shiore.

Alex slowly walked up to her but then stepped on small piece of glass causing it to crack as the sound carried throughout the dead air. Shiore grabbed hold of her sword and pulled it slightly from it's sheath, turning to where Alex stood ready to strike.

She then slowly slid it back and relaxed her grip, "Oh... it's just you. Where you followed?"
"No, at least I don't think I was," Alex returned. "Listen, Cole and Tara need help right now and your-"

"That's of no concern to me," Shiore returned keeping her eyes fixed on her work on Alex's bike.

"Are you kidding? They're your friends too aren't they?" Alex pleaded.

"I never said that they were," Shiore said coldly, "All I agreed to was helping to achieve our common goal. This is only a set back."

"Bullcrap!" Alex shouted walking up to Shiore a grabbing her by the collar her shirt. "With all the time that we were together, didn't you care? Even a little?"

"No," Shiore said pulling Alex's hand off of her collar. "There's only one thing that I care about," she turned away from Alex proceeded down the ruined street, "and that is my mission."

Alex looked down to the ground, "Shiore!" Alex shouted, "We had a deal..." Shiore stopped, "didn't we?"

Shiore clenched her fist, “... I...” She turned around slightly and looked back to Alex. Her eyes then widened and pulled out her gaia memory, “Move.”

“Yuki!”

“Huh?” Alex turned his head and saw Shiore rush towards him at high speed transforming into her rider form as she did so. “Crap!” Alex shouted as he jumped out the way, “What the hell is your!... problem.”

Alex turned around to the sight of Shiore in clash with Carter, Carter seeming to be more of the defensive and Shiore offensive.

“What the hell are you still doing here Hono?” Shiore growled pushing down on Carter’s blade with her own.

“I could ask you the same question,” Carter returned, he broke the clash and forced Shiore back a few feet, “This situation is officially under META’s jurisdiction. If you do not leave now… I’ll have no choice but to use force.”

“Use all the force you want,” Shiore tightened her grip on her sword and raised it to Carter, “It won’t change the outcome of all this.”

“Fine,” Carter rose his sword over his shoulder and drew closer to Shiore, “have it your way.”

As the two drew closer to each other, two laser blasts fired from out of nowhere and hit them both knocking them to the ground.

Alex looked over to the direction that the blasts came from to see who fired them. He then gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist, “... Tsukasa.”

“You were expecting someone else?” Tsukasa asked.

“Bastard!” Alex shouted, “What have you done with Cole and Tara!”

“You mean Gale and Rock?” Tsukasa asked back, “Simple,” he then pulled out two gaia memories, one green and the other yellow, “They were in my way… so I eliminated them.”

“The fuck is wrong with you!” Alex shouted as he began to approach Tsukasa, “I’ll kill you for this!” Just then, Shiore placed her hand on his shoulder preventing him from moving any farther.

“Stay back,” Shiore instructed, moving in front of him.

Alex tried stepping forward, “But-”

“Your friends paid with their lives to save yours…” Shiore said pushing him back once again, avoiding eye contact, “don’t let their sacrifice be in vain by dying in a place like this.” She gripped her sword with both her hands, “You leave this guy to me.”

Alex nodded, “Alright… just be careful alright?”

Shiore stepped forward towards Tsukasa, “I will.”

Shiore dashed over to Tsukasa and swung her blade at him, Tsukasa matching her strike and holding her back with little difficulty.

“You’re fast Yuki, I’ll give you that much,” Tsukasa said before pushing Shiore back with the end of his blade, “But speed won’t be enough to stop me.”

Shiore dashed in close to Tsukasa and brought the edge of her blade up to his neck, “You talk too much.”

“I see… fortunately for you you won’t have to hear my voice for much longer,” Tsukasa proclaimed. Shiore then felt a jab into her chest, she looked down and saw Tsukasa’s blade running right through her covered in blood, “In fact… you’ll never hear anything ever again.”

Shiore fell limp as Tsukasa pulled his blade out and wiped off the blood with a single swing, “You… bastard,” Shiore whispered as she fell backwards, Tsukasa kicking her sword out of her hand resulting in it flying through the air stabbing the ground next to Alex.

Alex fell to his knees, “Shiore ... no.”

Tsukasa walked over to Shiore’s body, knelt down beside her and removed her memory from her driver, “So that’s three, and the fourth would be...” he heard a footsteps walk up from behind him. He turned around to see Carter standing behind him sword in hand, “yours.” Tsukasa rose to his feet, “You aren’t associated with the others are you? So tell me, what exactly do you hope to gain by fighting?”

“You are a threat to this city,” Carter proclaimed, “It is my obligation to eliminate you.”

Tsukasa raised his sword to Carter, “You shall try.”

The two riders charged towards each other at full force. They clashed swords several times with neither one willing to let up. After a few more clashes, Tsukasa and Carter turned to face one another for one final strike.

Carter swung his sword hard at Tsukasa aiming to kill, however Tsukasa slipped out of the way of Carter’s swing causing his sword to plant itself into the ground. Not wasting the opening, Tsukasa kicked the blade of Carter’s sword shattering it in two. Tsukasa then swiped Carter’s Ryu-O memory and opened his driver.

“And with this…” Tsukasa said, pulling out a card and slipping it into his driver and slamming it closed, “I call check.”

“Final Attack Ride, Decade!”

Tsukasa leapt into the air as ten transparent cars emerged between him and Carter. He then propelled his way through each card extending his right foot forward as he closed the distance between him and Carter. Tsukasa kick hit Carter square in the face resulting in Carter bursting into flames on impact.

As the smoke cleared Tsukasa emerged from the ashes and held the Ryu-O memory in the palm of his hand, “and that makes four,” he said before placing the red memory with the other three he snatched from the other fallen riders. “However…” he turned around and looked over to Alex who sat on his knees in the rubble behind him, “there are still others.”

“Oh crap,” Alex shouted in his head. He tried to run away but his legs wouldn’t move.

Tsukasa began to approach Alex as storm brewed overhead. Alex grabbed Shiore's katana and stood to face Tsukasa to see that he had vanished. He then turned to see the Tsukasa directly behind him.

Alex swung Shiore's sword at Tsukasa, the sword breaking on impact. The remains of the sword was then struck by a bolt of lightning, the boy being sent of his feet from the blow and falling to the ground, the sword flying out of his hands in the process. The roar of thunder and rain began to drench the ruined city.

"Pity," Tsukasa said walking over to Alex, "I honestly thought that at least you would be able to defeat me." He raised his sword for one final strike as sparks began to come off the gaia memories in his hand, “No matter, I’m sure you’ll fare better in the next life.”

"Is this it..." Alex thought to himself as his vision began to blur, "Is this... how it all ends?"

To Be Continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme

Episode 25: Memory Lapse
Xtreme, will your journey end here?

Alex opened his eyes to the sight of his own bedroom. He looked around in a daze.

"A dream?" He thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes. He looked over to the clock as he saw that it was almost ten minutes to eight, "Yeah, must have been." He took in a deep breath as he got out of bed and got changed for school.

A few minutes later, he was preparing himself some bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast as Cole walked through the door.

He walked into the centre of the room and stopped when he spotted Alex.

"Oh... morning," Cole said stepping back a bit, "You're up early."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "This is when I normally get up on a school day."

Cole chuckled, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

"So, mind telling me what you came over here for?" Alex asked shutting off the element on the stove.

"Well, I was going to try and shake you awake like I do every morning," Cole explained placing his hands on his hips "but since you're already awake I guess I'll be heading out now."

"Alright, see ya," Alex said placing his food on a plate he had next to the stove.

"That's my line," Cole said as he walked towards the door, "anyway later." He added as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Alex placed his breakfast down on the counter. "Something feels... off," He thought to himself, "Ah well, it's probably nothing."


After lunch had ended, Alex had gone to his third period class, math. He sat at his regular seat by the window. He moved around a bit with the feeling that something was off. However, at the moment, the thing that stood out to him the most was that the seat behind him remained empty even long after the bell rang.

Cole walked over to Alex's desk noticing the empty one behind him.

"So she's absent today huh?" Cole asked, "That's not like her."

"Understandable though," Alex said looking out the window, “She has had a bit of a rough time.”

"You two get into a fight or something?" Cole asked.

"What, of course not," Alex shouted back.

"Alright, you mind if I sit here then?" Cole asked pointing to the desk behind Alex.

"Go for it," Alex said gesturing to the seat behind him.

"Alright, thanks," Cole said as he sat down and Alex turned his chair around to face him.
About half an hour later, the door at the front of the class room opened and the room filled with the patter of foot steps.

Alex and Cole remained focused on their work as a few voices spoke out.

"How're you holding up?" a female voice asked.

"I'm much better thank you," said another.

"You sure you're okay to be at school?" the first voice asked.

"Yeah, the doctor said it was just a sprain. I should be fine," the second returned, "Sorry, I just need to put my bag down." they said as they proceeded down the aisle.

"Oh, I better move," Cole said as the person who just entered the room approached them.
Alex turned around to see where the voice was coming from. He gasped and his eyes widened.

A blonde haired girl walked up to where Alex and Cole were sitting.

"Sorry, I'll just be a second Sarah," Cole said packing up his stuff as quickly as he could.

"It's okay, I just came to drop off my bag," The girl said as she tucked her bag under the chair Cole was sitting on.

Alex jumped out of his seat, “Alright, what’s going on here!” Cole and the girl blinked their eyes, "You’re a Dopant aren’t you!"

"Um Al, you okay?" Cole asked raising an eyebrow, "You look like you just saw a ghost or something?"

"Don't you find it at all weird that she's standing there?" Alex asked, "and why did you put your bag under Shiore's chair?"

"What are you talking about? Sarah's been in our class since day one," Cole explained, "Ms. Foster even had the seating arrangement changed so she could keep an eye on you. Come on man don’t you remember, or did you hit your head again?"

"Is there something wrong with me being here or something?" Sarah asked, "Well go on, spill it. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that it’s physically impossible!" Alex shouted out loud, "Shiore sits here and… and I… you… I ki-"

"Al, there's no one in this class or even this school with that name," Cole proclaimed, “You sure you’re okay?”

"I think I can settle this," Sarah sighed, "Cole, hand me the class roster from my desk."

"Huh, oh sure," Cole said reaching into the desk in front of him and pulling out a green folder, "Here," He added as he handed it to Sarah.

With a quick motion Alex swiped the folder and opened and read all the names from top to bottom, with no sign of Shiore's.

Alex stood frozen, "Cole... pinch me."

"Um, why?" Cole asked.

"I know, I’m dreaming..." Alex said shaking a little, “I think… I think I'd like to wake up now...”

"Okay," Cole reached out and pinched Alex on the arm as Alex closed his eyes.

He reopened them a few seconds later and rechecked the roster, again Shiore's name was not listed.

Alex collapsed knocking a few chairs over in the process. "Impossible," He thought to himself.

"Al, you okay?" Cole said looking over the desk he was sitting at.

"Mr. Darwin," Ms. Foster called out getting the classes attention, "Is there something wrong?"

Alex sat on the floor quietly for a few good seconds. "Tara, she'll know what to do!" he said as he charged out of the room slamming the door behind him.
Sarah blinked, "Um... mind telling me what that was about?"

Cole shrugged, "Beats me."

Alex charged down the hall, "Let's see, it's third period so what class would she have right now? PE? No, that's her second period class. Damn it, what was her schedule like again? Oh, I know, she would have art right now!"

As he turned a corner he rammed into something and fell to the ground.

"Ow," Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, are you okay?" A familiar voice called out from in front of him. Before him stood a girl with short brown hair and glasses. Her outfit consisted of a pale yellow hoodie along with a blank white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Tara?" Alex asked to the girl in front.

"Um, excuse me?" The girl asked.

"Tara, oh thank god!" Alex said standing up and grabbing the girl's hand, "Listen, something weird is going on, Shiore has disappeared and Sarah is... is..." Alex stopped as he saw the girl beginning to shake.

"Um... I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about." The girl stated, “Um... Could you let go of my hand now please?”

"But, you're Tara Archer aren't you? You're the rider of the wind, Kamen Rider Gale right?" Alex asked repeatedly pulling on her hand multiple times. He repeated this motion until he was thrown to the ground by a punch that seemed to come out of no where.

Alex quickly got back on his knees and looked up to see what hit him, "... Carter?" he saw the burning red eyes that he saw when he first encountered Ryu-O with the other riders.

"This guy giving you trouble Thea?" The boy with the burning red eyes asked.

"Um, no... He was just asking me about something," The girl answered, "It was nothing to worry about brother."

Alex’s eyes widened, “Brother?... Wait, what do you mean brother?”

Carter sighed, “Figures you wouldn’t know this but Thea is my little sister,” he walked up to Alex and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt bringing him to his feet, “Got a problem with that?”
"No n-no,” Alex stammered, “I-I… I didn't mean to cause any trouble,"

"I hope not," Carter said, "But if you pull something like that again, there will be." Carter added shoving Alex away from him violently, "Understand?"

Alex stumble over his feet, "Yeah... sorry."

“What’s his problem?” Carter asked, “Thea, do you know him?”

“I don’t know I’ve never seen him before,” Tara returned, “Although… He does look familiar.”

Alex sat at the bottom of a stairwell. He held his phone open to address book and was shuffling through it. After a while he flipped it closed.

He sighed, “I never did get her phone number did I?” He placed his phone down on the stair he was sitting on and leaned over resting his head in the palm of his right hand, “Plus I can’t just go over to her place, it’d be rude to just show up uninvited.” He curled up into a ball and buried his face in his knees, “What am I supposed to do… Shiore?”

“Um… excuse me,” A voice called out as someone tapped him on the shoulder, “Uh... Are you alright sir?”

Alex looked up as he saw a young girl with red hair and blue eyes standing above him looking down on him.

He sat speechless for a moment, then spoke, “... Madison.”

“You might want to check in with the nurse’s office if you aren’t feeling very well,” The girl said as she continued down the stairs walking by Alex, “If you are then you better get to class, unless you want Sarah to get mad at you again.”

Alex reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Madison’s shirt, “Wait a minute…” He looked up to her, “Do you… know who I am?”

Madison turned back to Alex and smiled, “What kind of question is that? Of course I know who you are. You’re Sarah’s friend, the one who keeps getting into trouble.”

Alex let go of Madison’s sleeve and let his arm fall back down to his side, “Would you… consider us friends?”

“A little bit I guess,” Madison shrugged, “Though I haven’t exactly gotten the chance to speak with you all that much. To be honest, outside of class… this would be the first.”

“Oh… okay then,” Alex said slowly getting back up on his feet and walking back up to class, “Sorry to waste your time.”

Madison looked down to see Alex’s phone still on the staircase, “Hey wait up!” She shouted grabbing the phone and heading up a few steps, “You forgot your-” she looked back to see that Alex had already left, “... cell phone.”

Madison looked back at the phone in her hand and noticed a small violet charm in the shape of a diamond with a gold trim hanging off of it. She flipped the charm over and saw a small inscription carved onto the back of it that read, “Never Forget - 05/17/13”

“Ah, so he’s a Madoka fan then?” She said looking up the stairs, “That’s a good thing… doesn’t hurt that he’s kind of cute too.”

After a long and dull afternoon, Alex found himself walking home by himself. He didn't want to talk to Cole, nor did he have anything to say. He just wanted to get home as fast as he could.

He walked up the steps to his apartment, stopping for a moment to look over at the window. He then finished out his key and unlocked the door. He grabbed the doorknob and gulped, after a few seconds he opened the door and stepped into an empty room with no one in it.

He let out a sigh, “Figures she wouldn’t be here,” he said throwing his bag on the couch before collapsing on to it himself. “Was it all just a dream… was any of it real?”

He sat there in silence for quite sometime unsure of what to do. The silence went on until it was interrupted by a large crash. He looked over and saw that his entire DVD collection had fallen over on the ground with the shelf they were on broken in two.

“GAH! Stupid shelf!” He grunted getting up from the couch and slowly walking over the DVDs on the floor, “That’s what you get when you buy ‘em cheap I guess.” He said picking the cases up until he came across the same one that Shiore series had wanted to watch not two days ago, he picked the box up and held it in both his hands “Madoka Magica…” His eyes widened, “Magica.”

He dropped the other DVDs onto the floor and ran into his bedroom and dashed over to a desk at the far end by a single window. He slammed his hand down the surface of the desk and grabbed the handle of the top drawer. He took in a deep breath then pulled it open, inside was a small black box amongst paperscraps and other random thing, he grabbed the box and held it in the palm of his hand.

He placed one hand on the lid and gulped. Slowly pulled the lid off and looked into the box to see a small purple gem in a silver base along with a ring marked with a large X with a small three on the side of it.

He brought the box to his chest and fell to his knees, “They’re still here… it wasn’t just a dream,” he said as he began to cry, “Thank you Madison… thank you… Marika.”

The next day, Alex sat as his desk in his fourth period math class. He looked down to his open left hand where he held the ring that Marika gave him.

“I wasn’t a dream. It really did happen…” He thought to himself closing his hand around the ring, “all of it.”

“Hey man,” He heard a voice call out.

He looked up to see Cole taking his usual seat in front of him, “Oh... hey,” he said slipping the ring into his pocket.

“So that episode you had the other day,” Cole said pulling his work material out of his bag, “Care to explain what the that was about? You hit your head or watch too much anime before bed again or something like that?”

“Oh… that,” Alex scratched the back of his neck, “Well, you see it’s kind of… complicated.”

“Alex listen,” Cole said placing his hand on Alex’s shoulder, “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me… you know that, right?”

Alex stared blankly into space for a moment, “... I”

Just then, Sarah slammed open the door at the back end of the class and stormed over to Alex and Cole. “A ha, I thought that name sounded familiar!” She shouted slamming a newspaper down on Alex’s desk. Alex and Cole looked at the paper and saw three young girls that appeared to be of Japanese descent in the same black and blue school uniform, “Shiore Fubuki,” Sarah said pointing to the one on the far right.

“Shiore…” Alex whispered taking a closer look at the girl Sarah was pointing to. She had long navy blue hair done up in a ponytail.

“Turns out that she along with the other two in that photo are highly renowned honor students who moved to Ardent a while ago,” Sarah explained, “Currently they’re attending classes at one of the best private school in the entire world.”

“So that’s Shiore huh?” Cole said taking a look at the photo, “How about the other two?”

“Oh, those two?” Sarah raised an eyebrow, “They’re names are Ayu Yukishiro and Sora Yukishiro. They’re sisters but appear to be polar opposites, you can tell just by looking at them.” She pointed to the girl in the centre of the photo, “That’s Ayu, notice how her uniform is to regulation? Everything is where it’s supposed to be and nothing is missing,” she moved over to Sora, “Now her sister on the other hand… Well, she doesn’t have her tie and her jacket is all messed up and-”

Alex then shot up from his seat and grabbed Sarah by the collar of her shirt, “YOU SLITHERING REPTILE!”

Sarah blinked, “What the heck is wrong with you this week?”

“I have no idea!” Alex shouted back, “How long have you known about this?”

“You are one piece of work you know that?” Sarah said pulling Alex off of her, “Seriously, did you see her somewhere and fall in love with her or something?”

Alex grabbed Sarah’s arm and looked her right in the eye, “Where is she!”

“She’s at Ophelia Winston Academy!”

Alex’s eyes widened, “You mean that preppy all girl school?”

“Well duh, were you even paying attention to anything I was say-” Alex pushed Sarah back a bit into a row of desks and grabbed his bag. Sarah jumped back onto her feet, “Where the hell do you think your going!”

“If Ms Foster comes back tell her I’m sick. I have a fever, a cold, and influenza too. I felt like I was dying so I left,” He shouted as he ran for the door. “Oh and Sarah,” he stopped and turned back to Sarah, “Thank you… for everything.”

Sarah crossed her arms and scoffed, “Well… your welcome I guess.”

“One more thing,” Alex said as a smile appeared on his face, “Madison’s a nice girl… you should tell her how you feel while you still can.”

The entire class then turned to Sarah, Sarah’s face slowly turning a bright red. She then rolled up her sleeve and balled her hand up into a fist, “Why you!”

“Later!” Alex shouted as he dashed out the room slamming the door behind him. He dashed down the hall until he came to the door of a stairwell. He pushed the door open and ran down the stairs.

He jumped down to the landing on the first floor and pushed through a set of double doors. As he stepped into the first floor hall Alex noticed Thea turning the corner before stepping out in front of him. The two stopped and looked at each other.
Alex said nothing and simply walked by Thea and made his way to the front door of the school just a few feet away.

“Sorry,” Thea spoke up, “... about my brother.”

Alex turned back to Thea, “What was that?”

“My brother can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but he isn’t a monster,” Thea said with a grin, “He’s just looking out for me, that’s all. I hope your little quarrel the other day doesn’t affect your opinion of him… or myself for that matter.”

Alex smiled back at Thea, “It’s alright, and I get it. He only acts that way because he cares,” He turned away from Thea and continued to the door, “Besides, he’s not the worst brother in the world.”

“Hey, what’s your name?” Thea asked.

Alex stopped, “You can call me Superstar.”

Thea raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“It’s just a nickname a friend of mine gave me a while back,” Alex explained, “My real name is Alex if you’d prefer that.”

Thea burst out laughing, “Whatever you say Superstar,” she cried wiping her eyes, “Anyway, I gotta get back to class. Don’t go and do anything too crazy alright?”

“Yeah got it,” Alex said as he turned on his heel and ran out the door, “and back at you!”

“He sure is a strange one,” Thea thought to herself, “Come to think of it… what was that name he called me earlier? Tara was it?” A devilish smirk appeared on her face, “I kind of like the sound of that.”

Alex ran out the front door of the school and charged down the hill leading to the street below “I’m on my way Shiore,” he thought to himself, “So please… wait for me.”


The final bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Cole stepped out the front door.

“Everyday it’s something new with that guy,” Cole sighed, “Hey Cole, have you heard of this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see a movie based on this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see another movie based on this new anime!” He let out a groan, “I swear Alex, if you freak out one more time I’m gonna-”

“Did you just say Alex?” A voice called out.

Cole turned around to see Thea standing behind him with Carter a few feet behind her. He raised an eyebrow, “Yeah… why?”

“You wouldn’t happen to mean Alex Darwin… would you?” Thea asked, “Are you a friend of his.”

“Sort of,” Cole returned, “Though to be honest, we’re more like family at this point.”

Thea ran up to Cole, “Really!” she shouted looking him right in the eye with a giant grin on her face, “That’s so cool! Bet you guys must be like brothers in arms then, huh? Like lone rangers against the evils of the school right?”

Cole laughed a bit, “That’s certainly an… interesting way to look at it.”

“Thea!” Carter shouted pulling his sister back, “Please excuse her behavior,” he pleaded wrapping his arm around Thea looking over to her who still had her giant grin on her face, “She doesn’t get out much.”

“Oh please,” Thea spoke up pushing her brother off of her, “I’m not a little kid anymore Carter, I can look after myself.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “Thea.”

“And that’s another thing!” Thea interrupted once again, “I would appreciate if you would stop referring to me by that tacky old grandmother name. Starting today I’m officially dropping it and renaming myself.” She pointed her finger into Carter’s face, “Say goodbye Thea Revant and hello Tara Archer!”

Cole’s eye shot open, “So you’re that ‘Tara’ girl that Alex was talking about earlier?”

Tara flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder, “Aw, look at that I’m famous.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re that famous,” Cole chuckled a bit.

“Yeah whatever,” Tara returned smacking Cole in the arm, “Now then, you have Alex’s number right? Would you mind giving him a call?”

Cole raised an eyebrow, “Why exactly?”

“Because, I want to get to know him a little better,” Tara said with a smirk, “Mind asking if he’d like to hang for a little bit?”

“Oh, sure I guess.”

Cole fished out his phone and dialed Alex’s number before placing his phone up to his ear. The phone rang once before going straight to voicemail, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

“Was that... Must have his phone off or something,” Cole put his phone back into his pocket, “Look, we live in the same building so I’ll just give him the message when he comes home and then you two can meet up some other time-”

“Nope!” Tara shouted putting her arms in the shape of an x, “Has to be today, gotta strike while the iron’s hot and all that jazz.”

Cole’s eye twitched, “Look, I get you want to talk with him but he’s somewhere downtown at the mo-”

“Where downtown?”

“I don’t know, some place called Ophelia Winston Academy or something. Point is he’s going to be there for a while so-”

Before Cole could finish speaking, Tara grabbed both his and Carter’s arms and pulled them charged down the hill pulling the two along with her.

“Ophelia you say? I know where that is,” Tara shouted with a smirk, “If that’s where Superstar is you should’ve just told us! Now hold on boys cause this is gonna be a bumpy ride!”

Alex stood at the front gates of Ophelia Winston Academy, steel bars standing between him and the old limestone building of the academy. He surveyed the campus with his eyes and saw multiple security guards by the gates as well as by the main building.

He sighed as he slumped over to a bench a few feet away from the gate, “I over shot it,” He said aloud to himself, “That’s what I get for assuming that a private school would have the same schedule as my own I guess.” He looked to his watch, “Two forty-five on the dot… by the look of things it seems that she won’t be let out for a while. Guess I should call Cole and tell him I’ll be coming home late tonight.”

He reached into his pocket for his phone however when he felt around for it he couldn’t find it, “Huh? He checked all of his pockets rapidly “Oh come on, you can’t be serious! I lost it?” He then thought back to when he ran into Madison on the stairs, “Oh crap…” he planted his face into the palm of his hand, “Cole is going to kill me.”

Alex sat back down on the bench and let out a sigh, “Ah well, nothing I can do about it now I guess. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Alex sat in silence for about half an hour until the bell finally rang. Alex jumped up from the bench, the gates opened and students in the same black and blue uniform started flooding out into the street, Alex’s heart becoming to race as he searched for Shiore.

After about a few minutes of looking, he caught a glimpse of navy blue hair in the corner of his eye. His heart stopped for a moment as he focused on who it belonged to, and there, walking out the gate and only a few feet away with her hair done up in a ponytail… was Shiore.

He stood silent for a moment as his heart began to beat even faster. He balled his hands up, took in a big gulp, and after a few seconds took one step forward, and then another. Before long, he shook his head and ran up to the girl that stood a few feet from him.

“Uh, excuse me…” he called out, tapping Shiore on the shoulder.

She turned around and stared at him through her cold pale blue eyes, “… can I help you?”

“Uh… well I uh…” Alex paused for a moment thinking of what to say next, “You see I-”

Alex felt and tug on the hood of his sweater as he was pulled away from Shiore. He looked over his shoulder to see an angry looking girl standing directly behind him with her hand gripped tight around the hood of his sweater.

“Let me guess,” She said with daggers in her eyes, “you’re one of those low life good for nothings who think this school is nothing but an all you can eat girl buffet, aren’t you?”

“No no, you’ve got the wrong idea,” Alex pleaded as he tried to pry himself free of the girl’s grasp, “I only wanted to talk with her, honest!”

The girl raised an eyebrow, “Uh huh… Yeah, likely story,” she said throwing Alex down to the ground, “Look, I don’t care why you came here but you better scram before security notices what you’re up to.”

“Geez Sora…” Alex coughed, “I didn’t expect you to be so rough.”
The girl blinked, “Hey,” she said grabbing Alex by the collar of his shirt and forcing him to his feet, “Last I checked I didn’t give you permission to call me by my first name. How the hell do you even know who I am anyway?”

“Sis,” Another girl called out from beside Shiore, “Let’s just go.”

“That must be Ayu,” Alex thought to himself.

“Just a sec,” Sora returned, “Listen here, whoever you are, just be sure I never catch you snooping around here again okay?”

“Sora!” Shiore shouted, Sora and Alex turned to Shiore, “Leave him be… he’s not worth it.”

“Alright,” Sora grunted letting go of Alex as he fell to his feet, “Just making sure that guy doesn’t try anything.” She said joining up with Shiore and Ayu, “Geez, you’re pretty much a magnet with that hair of yours, you know that?”

“I know,” Shiore said laughing a little, “Geez, you’ve told me that a four hundred and seventy-six times already.”

“You’ve gotta admit though, you stick out like a sore blue thumb,” Ayu added in, “You ever consider dying it. Maybe black or maybe even a deep green or something like that?”

“I don’t think so,” Shiore shook her head, “I like to keep it natural, just like my mother’s.”

Alex picked himself up off the ground and planted his feet firmly on the ground, “SHIORE!”

Sora sighed and turned back to Alex, “Look do I need to-”

“You shut it for a moment!” Alex shouted at Sora, “Just listen to me for a moment. Sekai the Creator… the wolf, the eagle, the dragon and the minotaur… any of that sound familiar?”

“That’s it!” Sora rolled up her sleeve and charged over to Alex, only to be stopped by Shiore who extended her arm out in front of her preventing her from moving any further forward.

“Hold on a moment,” Shiore said calmly, “Where did you hear that from?”

“From you… actually,” Alex thought to himself, “Though I doubt you’d believe me if I said that.” Alex took in a deep breath and then spoke up, “I heard a long time ago from a friend of mine, though I didn’t really believe her at the time. She told me that you would be able to confirm that it was true… I also hoped that you’d be able to help me with something important.”

Shiore lowered her arm from Sora’s path and let it fall back down to her side, “... what exactly do you need help with?”

“Um…” Alex looked around for a moment, “Could we talk about this somewhere a little more… private maybe?”

“Of course,” Shiore nodded, “Anywhere you had in mind?”

“Oh, I know!” Ayu cut in, “There’s a nice cafe not too far from here.”

“That ‘Average Joe’ one?” Sora asked.

“Yup, that’s the one,” Ayu returned.

“That’ll work perfectly,” Alex said with a sigh, “Finally,” he thought to himself, “some luck at last.”

Tara hopped in place in front of a bus stop, Cole and Carter sitting on a bench directly behind her.

“Uh… is she normally like this?” Cole asked.

“For the most part,” Carter returned, “I try to keep her calm but sometimes there’s just no stopping her.”

Cole shrugged, “Can’t stop Tara from being Tara I guess.”

Carter smacked Cole on the top of his head, “Thea, her name is Thea… remember that.”

Cole laughed a bit, “Yeah okay, I got it.”

“Good,” Carter said pulling his arm back, “You should show respect to your elders.”

Cole looked over to Tara, “But, she’s like fourteen?”

“I was referring to me. You’re seventeen, I’m nineteen. I think you can figure out the rest.”” Carter sighed, “Anyway, enough about that. What’s the story on this Alex guy, he escape from an insane asylum or something?”

“I honestly have no idea what’s up with him, just having one of those days I guess.” Cole shrugged, “Next time he acts up or goes crazy you let me know and I’ll smack it right out of him.”

“Deal,” Carter returned, “but only if you make sure to follow through with that.”

“Why’s that?” Cole asked.

“If you say you’re going to do something then do it and take what you want with your own hand,” Carter hunched over and put his hands together looking off into the distance, “Otherwise, you have no right to complain when someone else beats you to it.”

“Geez, you’re just a bucket of sunshine and rainbows aren’t you?”

Carter looked over to Cole, “I’m not too sure if you’ve noticed but I don’t exactly show my enthusiasm in the same way my sister does.”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Excuse me,” A voice called out, “I hate to interrupt but would you two be able to answer a few questions for me?”

Cole and Carter turned to see a young man in a brown cargo jacket standing to the right of the bench. In his hand was a small black case.

“Sure what do you want to know?” Cole asked.

“I’m a little unfamiliar with the area and I’m afraid I’m a bit lost,” the man said scratching the back of his head, “Would you possibly be able to help me find a friend of mine?”

“Sorry, but we’re busy,” Carter returned avoiding eye contact with the man, “You’ll just have to find him on your own.”

“Oh, but you see I’m on somewhat of a timer,” the man said as he pulled out a black blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights and aimed it Carter and Cole, “The way I see it is either you help me out or this bus stop will turn into a crime scene in the next five seconds…” he smirked “so what’s it gonna be dragon boy?”

Alex sat in a booth across from Sora and Shiore with Ayu right beside him. The group had moved to a cafe a few blocks away from Ophelia. Ayu had ordered a slice of strawberry shortcake and Sora a simple chocolate, Shiore had ordered a cup of oolong tea while Alex hadn’t ordered a single thing.

She took a sip of her tea then placed it back down on the table, “So,” She said looking directly at Alex, “how much do you know?”

“Well I uh…” Alex cleared his throat, “I know that, or at least I was told that back in the beginning there was that spirit named Sekai who created four elemental guardians to fight some ancient evil. Then if I remember correctly those four beasts formed partnerships with four humans and the formed the four clans that upheld balance in the world… Then a war between them broke out and they fell apart,” He looked back at Shiore, “That sound about right?”

Shiore nodded, “That’s pretty much the gist of it… however, the fact that you know that legend is rather confusing.”

“How come?” Alex asked.

“The four clans were rather secretive, so only their members even knew they existed,” Shiore explained, “The only reason I know is because my family was once servants to the Shirayuki clan… but that was all a long time ago.”

“So, my guess is that the story is true then?” Alex asked once again.

“For the most part,” Shiore returned, “Though I’m curious to know who it was that told you about it. What was their name?”

“Uh… Homura,” Alex spat out, “Homura Kasai.”

“So, a remnant of the Hone Clan then?” Shiore asked taking another sip of her tea, “Figures they wouldn’t have been completely wiped out after the war.”

“Oh come on,” Sora sighed, “You’re not telling me that you actually believe that junk are you?”

“Well, I’m not saying that I do or not, after all it was quite a long time ago,” Shiore turned to Sora and smiled, “So who can say?”

“I never thought I’d see Shiore smile like that,” Alex thought to himself, “It’s rather interesting… seeing a side of her like that.”

“I’d like to think it is,” Ayu butted in, “After all, I find the idea of those elemental beasts to rather cool. Especially the eagle, if I could for a bond with something as amazing as that it’d be the best!... Although,” she looked over to Sora, “The Tatsumakis were primarily yellow, and that’s more your color don’t you think sis?”

“Eh, I honestly don’t care about the color,” Sora shrugged, “So long as it’s not something freaky looking like a bug or what not I’m good.”

At that moment and small jingle began to emanate from Shiore’s bag. Shiore reached into her bag and pulled out a navy blue slim flip phone. Sora got up from the booth as Shiore flipped her phone open and read the caller ID, “Oh, sorry I need to take this.”

“Time?” Sora asked.

“Uh...” Alex checked his watch, “Three forty five.”
“On the dot,” Sora said sitting back down as Shiore walked out the front door of the cafe and leaned against a large bay window next to it, “He always calls her at this exact time.”

“Who always calls her?” Alex asked.

“Her older brother of course,” Sora returned.

“He never misses a single day,” Ayu said resting her head in the palm of left hand, “Wish I had a sibling that cool.”

Sora glared at Ayu, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ayu jumped back to sitting upright with her hands in her lap, “Nothing.”

“What I thought.”

“Uh… changing the subject,” Alex interjected as a bead of sweat ran down his neck, “What exactly is Shiore’s brother like?”

“Think Shiore only older, a brighter shade of hair and a guy,” Sora said bluntly.

“Not too mention incredibly smart,” Ayu added, “he held the top score back in Tokyo up until he graduated. At least that’s what I heard.”

“Top score?” Alex raised an eyebrow, “Top score in what?”

“Pretty much everything,” Sora stated, “Academics, athletics, arts. If there was a grade for it, Satoshi got a hundred on it. Haven’t heard much from him since he’s been busy preparing to take over as the head of his family, but he still makes sure to make time to check up on his little Imou-Chan.”

Alex leaned back in his seat and groaned, “Greeeat, sounds like a real Marty Stu.” He stood up and began walking away from the table, “I’ll be right back.”

“We’re you going?” Ayu asked.

“Bathroom.”

“Oh…” Ayu said slowly, “alright then.”
Alex took a steps away from the booth before coming to a halt and leaning against a counter on the other side of the room. He slapped himself in the forehead, “Okay… did not think this one through too well.”

“Here you are sir,” a familiar voice called out to Alex placing a cup of coffee on the counter, “one double double.”

“Wait I didn't-” Alex spoke out only to be immediately silenced by the shock of who it was that stood before him. The very same face that caused him and many others so much misfortune, how could he forget it. He quivered as he forced out a single word, “... Fury…”

“Hm?” The man turned to Alex, “Sorry, what was that?”

“Derek Mavrick, also known as... Fury,” Alex growled balling his hands into fist, “You think I’d forget someone like you?”

“Perhaps you’re confusing me with someone else,” The man behind the counter chuckled lightly, “That is indeed my name, however I’m afraid the only fury I have is after I read a negative review and even then it’s directed at yours truly.” He picked up a plain white mug from a sink behind the counter and began drying it off with a small cloth, “You see I am but an average joe just trying to get by the only way he knows how. Hence the name of the cafe,” he placed the mug down on the counter, “Average Joe’s.”

Alex tightened his fists, “Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Believe it or don’t believe it, doesn’t make it any less true,” Derek said with a grin. He turned to Alex and looked him in the eye, “Look kid, I get that you’re young so I’ll put it bluntly. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you’d expect them to, when that happens all you can do is the best to make sure things turn out alright… You understand?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, “Bet you had a rough day huh?”

“You could say that,” Alex returned.

“Wanna talk about it?” Derek asked, “Maybe I can help out a bit.” Alex said nothing, “Complicated?”

Alex nodded, “More or less.”

“Well listen here,” Derek pulled up a chair and leaned in close to Alex, “You want to know why I opened up this little cafe?”

“No… why?” Alex asked.

“My sister was sick with a cold once. It was so bad that even when it was boiling outside, she still felt so cold,” Derek explained, “Our parents were out one night and I was left alone to take care of her, so I wiped her up a bowl of hot soup however that only went so far… I stayed up with her that whole night, I even missed a few days of school in order to make sure that she was okay.

“She was okay… right?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek returned, “After about a week or so it cleared up and she was better than she had ever been in her whole life. However, she told me that she never would have made if it weren't for me refusing to leave her side. I then realized that now matter how cold the world may get, if someone has even just a little bit of warmth, things will be okay… That’s when I decided to be that warmth, and once I had enough money together I opened this cafe.”

“And… you’re happy with this?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek said with a grin. He pointed over to Sora and Ayu on the other side of the room “Just look at those friends of yours over there, they seem happy don’t they?”

“Yeah… I guess they do,” Alex said quietly.

“Exactly, and in the end isn’t that what makes it all worth it in the end?” Alex nodded. “Great,” Derek slapped Alex on the back, “Now then,” he said handing the cup of coffee on the counter to Alex before turning on his heel and walking off towards the kitchen, “Enjoy the coffee and have a nice day.”

“But I didn’t order any-”

“It’s on the house kid,” Derek said waving over his shoulder, “Take it as a thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” Alex asked.

Derek turned back to Alex with a grin, “For listening,” He opened the door to the kitchen, “As I said have a nice day.” He said before closing the door behind him.

Alex looked down to the cup of coffee in his hand. He sniffed it before taking a small sip, within a few seconds he gagged and spat it out, “ARGH! The heck am I doing? I don’t even like coffee!”

“Alex?” A voice called out to him.

Alex turned to see Ayu standing beside him, he blinked, “Oh… yes?”

“We’re leaving now,” Ayu said pointing over her shoulder to Sora and Shiore who were waiting by the door, “you coming with us?”
“Oh, of course,” Alex returned placing the cup back down on the counter, “Sorry about that, got a little distracted.”

The four exited the cafe and began making their way down a long busy street. After a few minutes of walking they came to a fork in the road.

“Well, I guess this is where we split,” Sora said turning back to Shiore and Alex, “you alright walking the rest of the way?”

“Yes,” Shiore nodded, “You worry too much.”

“Alright then, guess we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Sora said as she began walking off down the road to the right, “Come on Ayu.”

“Right coming,” Ayu said following her sister. She waved back to Shiore and Alex, “Sayonara.”

“Sayonara,” Shiore and Alex waved back.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Sora turned back to Alex looking him in the eye, “Darwin! You try anything and you’re dead you got that?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good! Just making sure that sticks!” Sora shouted back.

Ayu and Sora continued down the street eventually disappearing in the distance.

“She brings up a good point you know,” Alex said to Shiore, “You've never met me before, so you have absolutely no reason to trust me.”

Shiore shook her head, “You’re wrong… The thing is, I have.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I was new to this city, so I didn't know my way around it very well… Sora and Ayu were busy that day, so I figured I’d go explore on my own. However, when it was time to head home I realized I didn't have enough money left for the subway. I didn't want to bother Sora or Ayu so I just stood there looking pathetic. However, that’s when something unexpected happened. A complete stranger came up to me and introduced himself to me before instructing me to go through the gate with him. He then told me that the pass he had was good for up to four people at once. I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there without saying a word”

“I see…then what happened?”
“After that, he boarded the west bound train while I waited for the east. I thought that I would never see him ever again, but then I was let out of school earlier today and… there you were,” Shiore looked up to Alex, “It always bugged me that I was never able to thank you properly for helping me that day… so thank you.”

“Uh… you’re welcome?” Alex scratched the back of his head, “Though to be honest, it really wasn't...” Just then, Alex heard the faint chime of chains fill the air, “Hold that thought.” He surveyed their surroundings then turned back to Shiore, “Get down!”

Alex pushed Shiore down to the ground as a dark figure jumped out from the shadows and kicked Alex aside. Alex looked back to who kicked him to see a dark, rider like figure with bright yellow eyes clad in black, red and silver armor with silver chains adorning his shoulders and right leg guard.

Shiore felt someone grab her by her shoulder as she was forced to her feet. She looked back to see a pair of blank red eyes behind a set of two gold horns staring back at her.

“I was wondering when you’d show yourself…” Alex proclaimed gasping for air, “Decade.”

Just when things seemed to be at their worst, two riders jumped out from the shadows. One clad in red and gold armor than resembled a beetle and the other a deathly white with dusty blue whose appearance resemble that of a bat, a sword with a bat wing shape guard held tightly in her right hand.

The red rider beetle kicked the figure cloaked in chains to the ground releasing Alex from his grasp. Without wasting a second, he charged a punch and threw it at the figure causing it to dematerialize upon impact.

The white bat rider dashed over to Shiore and jabbed her capture in the side of the neck with the hilt of her sword, releasing Shiore from it’s grasp. She then delivered two quick strikes causing it to dematerialize the same as the other one.

The two undid their transformations revealing them to be the young man and woman from the photography studio that Tara, Cole and Shiore met only yesterday. The white bat being Natsumi and the red beetle Yuusuke.

“Kiva and Agito,” The bat rider said quietly lowering her sword, “Rather fitting choices considering the situation.”

“Using the illusion attack ride card along with form ride cards to create clones of other riders. That’s a new one,” The beetle rider proclaimed. “Though I’m curious to know where you picked up that trick,” He turned to where Alex lay on the ground, “Tsukasa.”

Alex looked behind him as Tsukasa emerged fully armored in his standard rider from around the corner.

“Should’ve figured you two would follow me,” Tsukasa said looking at the two riders, “Yuusuke… Natsumi.”

“Tsukasa, why are you doing this!” The white bat rider demanded, “Please… tell me.”

“The riders of this world challenged me to a duel,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “I believed that I destroyed them all once Ryu-O was dealt with… however,” He looked down at Alex on the ground, “It’s seems that one rider still remains in this world, and so long as there is still a single rider left, my fight against them shall continue.”

“Looks like we agree on something then,” Alex grunted as he forced himself to his feet, “If you want to fight, then let’s go… right here… right now.”

“There will be a time a place for that, but it is not now,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “You’re in no condition to fight me, plus this place simply won’t do as a battle ground.”

“Alright, then what is?” Alex asked. Tsukasa pointed over to a large tower far off in the distance. Alex’s eyes widened, “Ardent Tower?”

“That structure in the center of the city, that is where the final battle will take place,” Tsukasa said as his arm fell back down to his side, “If you wish to fight me, meet me at the top… alone.”

“That’s completely unfair!” Natsumi shouted.

“It’s simply a one on one duel, that seems to be relatively fair all things considered,” Tsukasa said as he turned to Natsumi and looked her in the eye, “You wanted to know why I’m doing all of this… to tell you the truth, not even I know the answer to that anymore.” He turned back to Alex, “As for you X, accept my challenge or don’t, that’s for you to decide… I hope for your sake that you make the right choice.”

As soon as Tsukasa finished speaking he vanished just as quickly as he had appeared.

“I’ve made my decision,” Alex proclaimed as he looked over to Ardent Tower off in the distance. He balled his hands into fists, “Decade… Your rampage, ends here.”

To be continued

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

The final battle between Decade and Xtreme.

Who will win? Who will lose?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme Act Three concludes with episode 26: The Ultimate Xtreme.
Xtreme, what is your decision?

I promised I'd post in here with my thoughts. I just finished Act One and I liked it quite a bit.

Few thoughts:

-Each episode gets better than the previous one, and it's starting to get really interesting. I think it started to really show its quality in the Flame Arc.
-The dialogue is pretty good. It felt natural and easy to follow.
-I like the idea of having police officers as the "mentors" or backup. Gives great support as well as provides some grounding for Alex.
-Pretty impressed you could juggle the characters you have and still make them interesting.
-Ah...I see why everyone is so obsessed with Madison. :D

Good stuff so far, impressed with the effort you put into this and I'm quite inspired, to be honest. Looking forward to reading the rest.

Alex stood looking up at Ardent Tower. He turned to Shiore and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Shiore… stay here,” He said looking her in the eye, “You’ll be safer here.” Shiore nodded. Alex turned his back to Shiore, “Now then… I should get going.”

He took one step forward only to be stopped by a small tug on his sweater. He turned back around to see Shiore loosely holding onto his sleeve.

Shiore’s cheeks slowly became a light red, “You’re going to come back… right?”

“I can’t say for sure...” Alex looked down to the ground, “all I know is that if Tsukasa wants to destroy this world, then I won’t let him do it without a fight.”

“But your driver is broken, isn’t it?” Natsumi asked.

“That’s right,” Yusuke added, “Surely you can’t expect to win against him in the state you’re in now.”

Alex turned to Yusuke, “True… but I have to try.”

“Don’t give me that!” Shiore shouted. Alex’s eyes widened as he slowly looked back to Shiore whose eyes looked back at him with an icy blue fire within them, “If you aren’t certain in your own ability then your efforts will only result in failure, that is the motto that everyone in my family lives and dies by... so please,” she grabbed Alex’s hand with both of her own, “promise me you’ll come back.”

Alex smiled back at Shiore, “Of course I will,” he said taking hold of Shiore’s hand with his free own, “count on it.” He turned back to Yusuke and Natsumi, “You’ll look after her right?”

“Of course,” The two nodded.

“Good,” Alex returned pulling away from Shiore “Now then… I should get going.” He turned away his back to the trio and began walking down the road toward the tower, looking up at it as he did. “Prepare yourself Tsukasa,” He thought to himself, balling his hands up, “because this time, I won’t hold back.”


Tsukasa stood at the top of Ardent City, looking down at the city below. Thunder roared as storm clouds rolled in above him. Off in the distance he could see Alex growing closer.

“So you’ve decided to come anyway…” he thought to himself, “You’ve been rendered powerless, and yet your determination to fight remains. Alex Darwin… what are you?”

Back on the ground, Shiore stood at the top of the large hill where Alex had left her.

“Running off into battle without a moment of hesitation. Rather stubborn… but still, fairly brave of him,” Yusuke said walking up to Shiore’s side, “I think I’m beginning to understand why it was him that was chosen as this world’s rider.”

“You were like that at the start too remember,” a voice called out, “or have you forgotten the path that lead you to where you are now?”

The trio turned around to see the same man with the case and blaster standing a few feet away behind them.

“Kaito,” Natsumi said, “I was wondering where you ran off to.”

“Yeah… sorry about that, had to pick up a few things on my way here,” Kaito said pointing over his shoulder revealing Cole, Tara and Carter, “Some of which required a bit of heavy lifting if you know what I mean.”

Natsumi eyed the case in Kaito’s hand, “I think I get it… what did you snatch this time?”

Kaito swung the case over his shoulder, “Nothing that you need to concern yourself with.”

Natsumi raised an eyebrow, “Figured as much,” she looked over to the three standing behind Kaito, “So… who are they?”

“Gale, Rock and Ryu-O,” Kaito said gesturing to the three, “Or at least, they’re supposed to be, as they are now though… they fall a little short of expectation.”

“WHO YOU CALLIN SHORT!” Tara shouted nearly taking Kaito’s arm off.

Carter bonked Tara on the head, “He wasn’t calling you or anyone short Thea. Now calm yourself, or I’ll hit you much harder.”

“Fine,” Tara crossed her arms and pouted, “and it’s Tara now you got it.”

“Doesn’t matter what you call yourself, you’ll always be Thea in my eyes.”

“So you must be Shiore,” Cole sighed walking up to the blue haired girl that stood before him. He looked up to Ardent Tower, “He’s up there… isn’t he?”

Shiore nodded.

“Ah man,” Cole slapped himself in the face, “why must he always get himself into trouble?”

“He’s done this kind of thing before?”

“You could say that,” Cole sighed, “Hell, when I first met the guy he was in the middle of a fight. Of course he was outnumbered, and losing. Despite that he kept on going. Rather pathetic… isn’t it?”

“You’re wrong.”

Cole raised an eyebrow and turned to Shiore, “What was that?”

“It isn’t pathetic,” Shiore returned looking Cole in the eye, “Even though it may seem pointless, continuing to fight in the face of doubt is a sign of true strength.”

“I second that!” Tara shouted running up to Shiore and Cole, “Even if things seem tough, you should never give up, ain’t that right big bro?”

Carter sighed, “Yeah sure whatever.”

“Sweet, the we all agree!” Tara said with a smirk wrapping her arms around Cole and Carter, “Though to be honest, I don’t think it’s really all that fair for Superstar to be the one doing all the fighting.”

“But what can we do?” Cole asked.
Tara snapped her fingers “I’ve got it!” she broke away from Cole and Carter and dashed up in front of the group, “the four of us shall work together to help Superstar in anyway we can,” she extended her arm out in front of her, “now who’s with me?

“He’s been alone all this time, I want to be able to help him in some way…” Cole said placing his hand over Tara’s “even if it’s only a little.” He turned to Shiore, “what about you?”

Shiore placed her hand over Cole’s “I owe him,” she said avoiding eye contact with Cole or Tara, “I’ll help in anyway I can.”

“Sweetness!” Tara shouted, “and Carter?”

Carter shrugged, “Mom and Dad will kill me if anything happened to you…” he said placing his hand over Shiore’s, “so I guess I don’t have much of a choice now do I?”

Tara slammed her free hand down on the collective, “That’s the spirit!”

Just then, a spark ignited from in between them and shot up into the sky before coming right back onto hitting the case that Kaito held in his hand forcing him to drop it. It shook on the ground, spark still going off from within the cracks of the case.

“What was that?” Natsumi asked.

“I don’t know,” Kaito said grabbing his shot hand, “this thing didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual.”

“Let me see,” Tara demanded going over to the case and kneeling in front of it. She grabbed the clasps holding the case closed, “okay… here goes nothing.”

Tara forced the case open, resulting in a giant beam of multi-colored light to shoot out from it along with a wave of energy which engulfed the group in it’s mass.

Alex reached the top of Ardent Tower where Tsukasa was waiting for him.

“I’m here Tsukasa,” Alex shouted grabbing his opponent's attention, “now let’s get this over with already.”

“Hold on for a moment,” Tsukasa returned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone with a diamond shaped charm attached to it, “I have to check something first.”

He flipped the phone open and hit a single button on the keypad causing the phone to read out a pre-recorded message, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

Alex’s eyes widened, “Where did you get that?” he demanded, balling his hands into fists.

“A girl with red hair had it,” Tsukasa explained, “It wasn’t her’s, and she was frantically looking for rightful owner,” he folded the phone up and looked over to Alex, “You wouldn’t happen to know her… would you?”

“Damn you!” Alex shouted taking a few steps forward, “I swear, if you hurt her-”

“Relax, she’s fine. I’m not a monster Alex,” Tsukasa proclaimed. He put the phone back in his pocket, “I merely told her I knew where it’s owner was and asked if I could deliver it to him, nothing more.”

“Good,” Alex growled, “that girl has had enough hardship because of me… she doesn’t need anymore.”

“Is that so?” Tsukasa asked, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card, “Well then, now that that’s out of the way I’d say it’s about time we settle this. Ready?”

“You’re damn right I am,” Alex proclaimed planting his feet on the ground, “and I won’t hold anything back.”

“Good, because I won’t either… be sure you remember that,” he proclaimed holding the card up to Alex. He flipped the card over so the back faced Alex, “henshin.”

Back on the ground, the light faded as the other riders regained their vision.

“The hell was that?” Tara asked rubbing crud out of her eye. She brushed the dust of herself rose to her feet, walking over to the case, “What the hell could’ve cased that anyway?”

She looked into the case. Inside was a gunmetal black device in the shape of a bird with two thick red lines that split off at the tail into an L shape on both sides.

“Alright, you’ve seen enough,” Kaito said as he slammed the case closed before picking it back up and tucking it under his arm. “This treasure is rather valuable and I don’t need a little runt like you breaking it.”

Tara growled, “WHO YOU CALLIN LITTLE!”

“Hey, I’m just calling it how I see it,” Kaito shrugged. “Besides,” he poked Tara on her nose, “I doubt that little brain of your would be able to comprehend the weight of this treasure anyway,so there really isn’t any point on me explaining it.”

“Why you!” Tara shouted back rolling up her sleeve, as she pulled up her sleeve however she noticed that a yellow gauntlet modeled after a bird was strapped to her wrist. “Where did this thing come from?” She asked fiddling with the gauntlet.

After a few moments of fiddling, the gauntlet unfurled itself from Tara’s wrist and took the form of a mechanical bird. The bird flapped around for a moment before perching itself on Tara’s shoulder.

“Kree,” Kaito said with a smirk, “I was wondering when he’d make an appearance. He’s a little smaller than I expected, but I guess people do change over time.”

Tara raised an eyebrow, “What are you talking about?”

“It would appear he isn’t the only one who’s changed,” Kaito raised his hand and pointed to Tara, “see for yourself.”

Tara looked up a little to see that her brown hair had become a golden blonde, “What the hell!” She shouted grabbing a few strands and looking at them closer. She then looked out the corner of her glasses.

She removed the glasses that framed her eyes and realized that her vision had cleared up a bit and was much better without her glasses then with them on.

“So it seems as though my assumptions were correct,” Kaito smirked, “A guardian of this world has a strong effect on the rider they bond with. In your case, it’s a change of hair colour to match the aura of your element and an increased field of vision.” He turned to Cole and Carter, “which would explain why your friends haven’t been effected, despite having a strong bond to their element.”

Carter took a step forward, “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

Kaito looked Carter in the eye, “It means that your little sister is a very special girl. I guess you could say that all four of you are special… but are you strong enough to hold your own in a world run by Tsukasa?”

The four turned to Kaito, their hands balling into fists in synch with one another. At that moment a spark ignited in their eyes causing the case in Kaito’s hand to burst open once again as four lights of yellow, green, blue and red shot out from it and into the hands of the four riders. The yellow light going to Tara, green to Cole, blue to Shiore and red to Carter.

The four opened their hands to reveal a small USB like device corresponding to the light that shot into their hands, their drivers materializing around their waists.

Shiore’s eyes widened, “Wait a minute… these are-”

“Gaia Memories if I recall correctly,” Kaito proclaimed, “Tsukasa tried to destroy them, but memories are something that can never truly be destroyed. I have a feeling Tsukasa might have forgotten that little detail.”

Tara smacked her fist into the palm of her left hand, “Well let’s go smack it into to him then!” Tara grabbed Cole and Carter by their wrist, “Come on! Let’s go give Superstar a hand!” she shouted before charging down the hill.

Shiore rolled her eyes, she paused for a moment then followed after them.

“They have strong hearts,” Kaito proclaimed with a grin, “I think I now understand what Tsukasa was trying to tell me back in the world of Faiz.”

Yusuke and Natsumi turned to him, “What’s that?”

“He said that there was an even greater treasure hidden in the rider worlds. I simply took it as there being stronger powers,” Kaito explained, “only now I realize that the treasure he was talking about is something even more invaluable. It’s not the rider gear, but the hearts of riders who wield them that are the true treasures of the rider worlds,” he chuckled a bit, “Shame I was too stupid to realize it, kind of reminds me of how Tsukasa was back when we first met.”

Natsumi turned to Kaito, “How did you two meet anyway?”

“Oh, I never did tell you before did I?” Kaito returned, “We were strangers really, met on the round and both on the run from Shocker. Out of necessity we agreed to work together in order to survive, all we had were each other and our rider gear.” He sighed, “However, during an ambush from Shocker grunts a commander got to Tsukasa and wiped his memory. I managed to get him away from the battle… but the damage had already been done.”

“That’s awful,” Natsumi proclaimed, “How’d you manage to escape them?”

“I honestly thought we wouldn’t… but then Ejiro showed up and offered his assistance,” Kaito explained “I figured they’d try to come after Tsukasa again, so I did everything in my power to drive Shocker away from him. That included dropping him off at the master’s place who was a good friend of mine as well as taking Tsukasa’s driver and hiding it somewhere that no one would ever think to look for it. After that I did and stole whatever I needed to get by as well as keep Shocker’s attention away from Tsukasa. Nothing else matter, so long as he remained alive.”

“That’s rather brave of you… Kaito,” Yusuke said patting Kaito on the back, “To go up against an entire army on your own, I honestly don’t I think either of us could do that.”

“Well, that’s what friends do,” Kaito said with a smirk, “They look out for one another, and they’ll do anything to make sure the other is alright,” He looked down the hill to Cole, Tara, Carter and Shiore, “That’s something those four know better than any of us.”

“I guess that’s true,” Yusuke returned with a grin, “However, I think we all know that even with their strong bond they won’t be enough to stand against Tsukasa,” He looked up to Ardent Tower, “Back during the rider war, Tsukasa defeated and killed every rider that stood against him,” he balled his hand up into a fist, “There’s no way they’ll be able to defeat him on their own.”

“Well then let’s go and give them a hand,” a voice called out. The trio looked up slightly as a small white bat descended from above, “If you feel that those four don’t stand a chance against Tsukasa, then why not help them to even the odds?”

“Kivara,” Natsumi exclaimed, “I was wondering where you wandered off to.”

“Wandering implies that I went around not knowing where I was, I however knew exactly where I was the entire time so you can’t really call that wandering now can you?” Kivara retorted in a snarking tone of voice, “It’s quite the same for you three. You know where you are where you’ve come from and where you’ll be going, correct?”

Kaito smirked, “As if you even had to ask.” He twirled his blaster in his hand and rested it on his shoulder, “Tsukasa is our responsibility. We’ll help those four fight him, then we’ll give him a good smack on his head.”

“That is exactly the response I wanted to hear,” Kivara said joyfully flapping her wings about, “Now we mustn’t dilly dally, so let’s get a move on!”

Tara dragged Cole and Carter towards Ardent Tower at high speed as Shiore ran close behind them. As the four drew closer to the base of the tower a stray laser blast came out of nowhere and struck the ground in front of them stopping them dead in their tracks.

The four turned to see where the shot came from as out from a cloud of fog came a black rider with light silver armor and red highlights lining his suit. A large circular visor and shark like fin adorned his helmet.

“Argh! Another rider!” Tara grunted, “this is getting really annoying. Who in the ever loving hell is he anyway?”

“That would be the fourth Heisei Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Faiz” Kaito explained as he Natsumi and Yusuke walked up from behind the four, “ It figures Tsukasa would set up some form of blockade in the event that we attempted to interrupt his fight with this world’s chosen rider.”

“One rider stands between us and Tsukasa,” Natsumi stated, “and I’m guessing the others aren’t far behind him.”

“Others?” Cole asked turning to Natsumi, “What do you mean ‘others’?”

At that moment the fog around Faiz cleared revealing seven other riders including the two which Yusuke and Natsumi fought earlier.

Natsumi sighed, “I hate it when I’m right.”

“Well, I for one hate losing,” Tara said cracking her knuckles. Her usual smirk appeared on her face as she held up her Gale gaia memory and Kree transformed into her driver, “So let’s not and win instead.”

Cole, Carter and Shiore nodded as they raised their gaia memories in line with Tara’s and hit the buttons below the labels of their respective memories.

“Gale! Rock! Yuki! Ryu-O!”

Tara turned back to Kaito, Natsumi and Yusuke, “You guys gonna join in?” The trio nodded and got in line with the other four, “You all ready?”

“Ready!” The others shouted as they all took a step forward. They all struck their transformation stances, Kivara fluttering in Natsumi’s right hand and Kaito placing a card into the side of hist blast before pointing it into the air above his head.

“Henshin!” The seven shouted as Cole, Tara, Shiore and Carter slammed their Gaia Memories into their drivers, Kaito pulling on the trigger of his blaster and Yusuke and Natsui running through their respective transformation motions.

“Gale! Rock! Yuki! Ryu-O! Kamen Ride, DiEnd!” shouted several drivers as all the riders respective armor formed around them in rapid succession.

“Alright,” Tara cracked her knuckles, “How should we divide this up?”

“You Rock and Kuuga will take care of Den-O, Blade and Faiz,” Kaito instructed gesturing over to the yellow eyed rider with the shark fin on his head along with a red-eyed silver and blue rider that had a spade emblazoned on his chest who stood beside and red silver rider with railway tracks running all over his armor.

Tara shrugged, “Seems easy enough.”

“Kivara, you and Yuki will handle Kiva and Hibiki,” Kaito said gesturing to the same bat-like rider Natsumi had fought earlier who stood beside a rider who resembled a blue demon with a blank face holding what appeared to be two large drum sticks in his hands.

Shiore looked over to three other riders who stood close to the center of the mob, one with blue eyes and the likeness of a red rhinoceros beetle, another whose armor resembled a red chinese dragon along with the gold horned rider Yusuke fought at the top of the hill.

“What about those three?” Shiore asked.

“You leave Agito, Ryuki and Kabuto to me and the dragon boy,” Kaito returned, he looked over to Carter, “Sound good?”

Carter nodded.

“Alright,” Kaito said cocking his blaster, “then let’s get moving.”

Tsukasa slashed at Alex with his sword, only to have Alex evade it by a hair nearly causing him to fall over backwards. Tsukasa slashed at Alex five more times and Alex evaded each one yet again. Tsukasa brought his sword up for a stabbing motion, however Alex caught it in the sleeve of his sweater which resulted in the blade running right through his sleeve.

Tsukasa smirked under his mask, “I must say I’m impressed.”

“Ditto,” Alex returned gritting his teeth, “I’ll admit... you’re a lot tougher than you look.”

“Too bad flattery will get you nowhere.”

Tsukasa forced his blade down through Alex’s sweater tearing half of it to shreds. Alex fell to the ground as the sound of three small objects hitting against the steel roof of the tower echoed through the air. Alex looked over to the source of the sound, his eyes widened as he laid sight upon the familiar shape of three gaia memories.

“Blast, Blade… and Star,” he said grabbing hold of the three memories, “The first two were obvious, however I didn’t know what star was supposed to mean… not at first anyway.” He tightly gripped the memories in his hand as his driver materialized around his waist, “however… now I do.”

“What are you babbling on about now?”

“A light in dark times… a light that brings hope,” He whispered slipping Blade and Blast into his back pocket and pulling out Runner before placing the two memories into their respective slots, “henshin,” he split apart the slots on his driver, “Star… Runner.”

Tsukasa switched his sword into a gun and shot Alex back into the outer wall of the tower.

He sighed and began to approach Alex, “Pathetic”

Tara leapt across several cars chasing after, the red rail covered rider Den-O.

“Damn it!” She grunted pulling her flail from off the back of her belt and hurling it at Den-O, “Quit bouncing around!”

Den-O grabbed four components off of his belt and assembled them into the shape of a sword. In one quick motion he blocked Tara’s flail with his sword and grabbed the chain pulling Tara towards him. Tara was forced over to Den-O only to be kicked away just as quickly, losing her hold on her flail in the process.

“Damn it what is with this guy!” Tara shouted jumping back on her feet.

“Den-O always was a pain,” Yusuke proclaimed, jumping over to Tara with his back to her. He deflected a few laser blasts off his arm guards, “Just be glad he isn’t the real thing.”

“Good point,” Tara returned pulling out her slicer, “If all they are is a bunch of fakes then there should be no problem in kicking their fake asses to the gutter!”

Shiore and Natsumi stood back to back as Kiva and Hibiki circled around them.

“You holding up alright Yuki?” Natsumi asked.

“My sparring matches with my brother are more of a challenge then these guys,” Shiore returned, “I can handle anything they can throw at me.”

Natsumi tightened her grip on her sword, “I hope you’re right about that.”

Alex stumbled around until he regained his balance. He pulled the Star memory out of its slot on his driver and placed it into the slot on the side of his belt, “Star… Maximum Drive...” He charged at Tsukasa “Extreme Star Storm!” He cried out throwing a punch in Tsukasa’s face pushing him back a few inches.

Tsukasa looked Alex dead in the eye, “Mind telling me what you’re doing?”

Alex gritted his teeth as he slowly pulled his arm back.

“I see,” Tsukasa punched Alex in the gut and rammed him into the outer wall of the tower, “Then I suppose that all you’ve done up until now was just a waste of time, wasn’t it?” He released his hold on Alex and let him fall flat on his face, “You can’t deny it, don’t even try. Be honest with yourself you had absolutely no idea what the hell you were even doing right from the start. All this ‘I must protect this city’ nonsense, that was just a big lie wasn’t it?”

“Shut up!” Alex shouted, “You have no idea what you’re even talking about!”

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow, “Oh really… then let me ask you a question,” he turned to Alex and looked him in the eye, “I’ve seen what this world has become. There isn’t a monster or rider in sight, it’s become somewhat of a paradise so to speak. So why are you going to all this trouble to get it back to the way it was?” Alex growled, Tsukasa sighed, “and you claim I don’t know what I talking about, just look at yourself.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “how do you mean?”

“You’re one sorry excuse for a rider, you know that?” Tsukasa proclaimed, “You had one single job and you blew it, and what makes it worse is that you don’t even have a proper name to call yourself.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“A name reflects it’s owner does it not? To have a name is the proof of one’s existence. But what if the name does not exist? Does it mean that thing doesn’t exist, or is it simply unfit to have one in the first place?” Tsukasa turned to Alex and looked him dead in the eye, “Face it, you are no Kamen Rider. To refer to as one would be a disgrace,” he added slapping Alex across his face knocking him to the ground, “just curl up and die already.”

Alex clawed his way to his knees, “Damn you… Decade.”

“I find it funny,” Tsukasa began, stepping on Alex’s hand in the process, “People keeping putting the blame on me for crimes I wasn’t even around to commit. I always wondered why that was, maybe it’s because they need someone other than themselves to blame for why their own lives getting turned upside down. They place the blame on others, as if to escape the idea that it was their own actions that landed them where they ended up,” Tsukasa sighed, “and yet they still have the nerve to continue fighting. It’s pathetic really.”

“You’re wrong.”

Tsukasa turned back to Alex, “What was that?”

“I’m not putting the blame on you,” Alex stated, forcing Tsukasa’s foot off his hand and quickly kicking himself away from him, “the only person I have to blame is myself. All I have against you is the fact that you’re the one standing in my way.”

Alex’s phone then fell into his face. Tsukasa flipped open the phone and brought up a photo of him with Sarah, Cole, Madison and Tara along with several blurred after images around the blond haired rider.

“Tell me something. The people in this photo, surely they must be worth something to you,” he closed the phone once again and stood up, “Time’s up, it’s time to make your decision,” he proclaimed kicking Alex over on his side, “Why go to all this trouble to go back to the world you were trying hard to escape from? Surely you must have at least one reason for it.”

“Yeah, of course I do!” Alex shouted. He jumped to his feet and looked Tsukasa in the eye, a small spark igniting within his own, “It’s because there are still people in that world that I feel obligated to protect. If I gave up on them now I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. That’s why I won’t ever give up, you hear me Decade!”

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow, “Why do you insist on fighting if you’re certain you’ll lose?”

“Because I have a promise to keep, and I’m going to keep it,” Alex proclaimed wiping blood from his mouth, “and no one is going to stop me. Not Fury, Vainglory or you.”

“If you won’t give up,” Tsukasa raised his blaster up to Alex, “then you’ll die.”

Back on the ground, the case in Kaito’s hand broke open and the device inside shot up into the air, Kaito and Carter watching in awe as it disappeared into the thick layer of clouds in the sky above.

“What is that thing?” Carter asked.

Kaito sighed, “Fine, I might as well tell you the truth,” Kaito turned back to Carter, “From what I’ve read it’s an expansion part for the X Driver. Once activated, the X Driver will realize it’s full potential and truly awaken.” He let out a small sigh, “I was hoping to use it myself… but it appears to be too late for that.”

“I get what you’re saying,” Carter looked back to Ryuki, Agito and Kabuto who still stood behind them ready to fight. He raised his sword and rested it on his shoulder, “but I think
it’s the least of our problems at the moment.”

Back atop the tower, Tsukasa pulled back on the trigger of his blaster, firing off a single shot towards Alex. As the shot drew closer to Alex, the device from the case Kaito was carrying flew down from the sky and intercepted the shot sending out a blinding light upon impact.

Tsukasa blocked the harsh light with his offhand, “The hell is that?”

“Whatever it is…” Alex whispered to himself reaching out to the light and grabbing the source of it, “I hope it can help.”


Alex opened his eyes to find himself in a blank white void which seemed to stretch on forever, with no beginning or end to it nor a top or bottom.

“Hello!” He called out looking for any sign of life or movement, “Is anybody out there?”

“Congratulations Alex,” A voice called out, “I always hoped you would be able to do it, and for once I’m glad to be right.”

Alex turned around to see a rider with a butterfly shaped mask and a driver similar to his only with a single slot rather that two. The armor around her quickly vanished to reveal a elderly woman with light chestnut hair and sapphire blue eyes.

Alex’s eye widened, “... Mother?”

The woman nodded, “It’s been far too long,” she said holding her arms out to Alex, “I’ve missed you.”

“Mother!” Alex shouted jumping into the arms of his late mother.

“My my you’ve certainly grown quite a bit haven’t you,” Alice patted Alex on the head, “You’re no longer my little boy, you’ve made me so proud.”

“Mom, where are we?”

“Right now, we’re in the rift between worlds. The place where all things begin and where they eventually meet their end,” Alice grinned, “and now, this is where your journey shall meet it’s end and a new one shall begin.”

Alice proclaimed. Just then two white doors materialized on either side of the her and Alex, one marked with a red x and the other blank.

“Doors?” Alex asked raising an eyebrow, “Where do they lead?”

“One leads to a world in the midst of chaos at the hands of dopants and gaia memories, the other a paradise with no monsters and no riders,” Alice stated placing her son down on his feet, “and now it’s time for you to choose, which world do you wish to go back to?”

Alex looked over to the blank door, then over to the one marked with a red x. He then looked down to the device in his hand that had moments ago saved his life, “I’ve already made my decision,” he said looking over to the blank door once again, “a world like that just doesn’t seem right. Besides, I just can’t abandon the people who need me.”

“You’ll go back to that world, even though saving it might end up being hopeless?”

“Cole once said that I was just wasting my time watching anime all the time, but there’s one single line that makes me glad I did,” Alex looked his mother in the eye with a grin, “If someone ever tells me that it’s a mistake to have hope I’ll just tell them that they’re wrong, and I’ll keep telling them until they believe… no matter how many times it takes.”

“Well then if that’s the case then it’s time that you got this back,” Alice said handing over the X Driver to Alex, “This damn thing has caused quite a bit of trouble hasn’t it? But I believe that in your hands in can do some good.” She placed the driver into Alex’s hands, “You think you can do that, Kamen Rider Xtreme?”

“What was that?”

“Every hero needs a name, and that shall be yours,” Alice proclaimed.

“What does a name like that even mean?”

“I think I’ll leave that part up to you,” Alice grinned and placed her hand on the top of Alex’s head, “Sound good?”

Alex nodded, “Yes.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” Alice said bowing her head. “Now then,” she turned on her heel, “what about you?... Tsukasa Kadoya.”

Alex looked over his mother’s shoulder to see Tsukasa standing on the other side of her.

“My journey is my world,” Tsukasa stated looking over to the x marked door, “So I’m going to continue it no matter what comes my way.”

“Excellent,” Alice said clapping her hands together, “then the journey for the two of you shall continue. Only this time because you choose it to.”

Alex and Tsukasa made their way over to the x marked door, Alex grabbing the handle.

Before turning it he stopped and turned back to Alice, “Wait a moment, aren’t you coming with us?”

Alice shook her head, “My journey ended long ago. But you needn’t worry, I’ll always be watching over you. So go on, you have people waiting that need you.”

“Alright, thanks mom… for everything.”

“Ready?” Tsukasa asked.

Alex raised an eyebrow, “huh?”

“Once you walk through this door there’s no going back,” Tsukasa proclaimed looking Alex in the eye, “You sure about this?”

Alex nodded, “I am.”

“Good,” Tsukasa pulled down on the handle of the door and forced it open, “Then let’s get going.”

Alex and Tsukasa stepped through the door, a blinding light engulfing the two riders as they did so. As the light faded, Alex and Tsukasa found themselves standing in the street below Ardent Tower with all the damage done to it seemingly all repaired.

“It seems to be that we’ve been sent back to before our battle broke out,” Tsukasa stated.

Just then Tsukasa felt a pinch in the side of his neck causing him to burst out laughing before falling to his knees. He looked behind him to see Natsumi glaring angrily back at him, Yusuke and Kaito standing directly behind her.

“Ha ha Natsumi?” Tsukasa cried laughing uncontrollably, “W-what are you doing here?”

“I should ask you the same question,” Natsumi returned, “Could we please visit a world without you going on a rampage please?”

“Alright alright!” Tsukasa pleaded, “Just stop with that damn laughing pressure point!”

Natsumi extended her hand out to Tsukasa, “deal.”

“Superstar!” A voice shouted. Alex turned around as a pair a feet flew down from the sky hitting him square the face knocking him to ground. “Are you alright! You aren’t hurt at all are? What year is this? What’s the color of a Kyokai Sayaka’s spirit stone?”

“No, 2013, it’s Kyoko Sakura not Kyokai Sayaka and it’s a soul gem not a spirit stone,” Alex said, his eye twitching a bit. “it’s red by the way.”

“Phew,” Tara sighed wiping sweat from her forehead, “that’s a relief.”

“Alright, that’s enough now get off him already,” Cole instructed pulling Tara off of Alex. Shiore standing directly behind him.

Tara looked back to Cole and scratched the back of her head, “Whoops, sorry about that.”

“You alright Al?” Cole asked helping Alex off the ground.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Alex returned getting back onto his feet, “Thanks.”

“Xtreme,” Tsukasa called out grabbing Alex’s attention, “Sorry for all the trouble I caused you and your friends.”

“Oh no, it’s alright,” Alex returned bowing to Tsukasa, “You don’t need to apologize for anything. I’m just thankful that everything turned out alright.”

Tsukasa shrugged, “If you say so.”

“Hey rider trash!” a beastly voice lashed out, “I’m still here! Don’t ignore me!”

The riders turned to the source of the voice to see the Glitch Dopant standing a few feet down the road from where they all stood.

“So you’re still alive Glitch?” Carter asked as he appeared beside Tara, “Now I get why you’re modeled after a cockroach.”

“Shut your mouth Ryu-O!” Glitch shouted at Carter, “My organization has put up with META’s crap for long enough and now I’m putting an end to it!”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “What organization would that be?”

“Oh wouldn’t you like to know,” Glitch chuckled, “Tell you what, you beat me in a fight and I’ll tell you all about it. Sound good?”

“One condition,” Alex spoke out, “We move the fight to somewhere other than the city.”

Glitch smirked, “Deal,” he then leapt up into the air and sprouted wings, “There’s an old quarry just outside the city, meet me there in less than half an hour! Otherwise, I’ll light up this entire city!” He shouted before disappearing beyond the horizon.

“Carter, would you mind if we had a truce for the time being?” Alex asked.

“Fine by me,” Carter returned.

“Good, then you and Tara go after Glitch from the skies. Cole, Shiore and I will follow on the ground.”

“Understood,” Carter nodded pulling out his gaia memory and placing it into his driver, Tara quickly doing the same.

“Gale! Ryu-O!”

Tara and Carter’s formed around them as the two shot up into the sky.

“Tsukasa,” Alex said turning to the world traveler, “I know we didn’t really get off on the right foot, but just this once,” he extended his hand to Tsukasa, “you think we can work together?”

Tsukasa smirked, “I try to kill you and you turn around and ask me for help. I’m not sure if you’re a saint or an idiot,” he reached out his hand and grabbed ahold of Alex’s, “To so easily forgive someone is a rare trait. I’d gladly fight along side someone like that.”

In a quarry just out the city, Glitch touchdown atop a large mound of dirt and gravel causing a wave of dust to whip up into the air. Glitch turned around as Tara and Carter touched down a few feet away from the small mound.

“So… you two want to take me on first?” Glitch asked with a smirk on his face.

Tara and Carter stepped back a few as the roar of several motorcycles filled the air. With in seconds, Alex, Tsukasa, Cole and Yuusuke road into the quarry on the bikes with Natsumi, Shiore and Kaito on the back seats of Alex’s, Tsukasa’s and Cole’s.

“If you wish to fight two of us, you better be prepared to take on all of us,” Tsukasa proclaimed as he removed his helmet and hopped off his bike, “For an attack on one is an attack on all.”

“You sound determined,” Glitch chuckled, “unfortunately for you determination does not equal strength.”

“That might be true, but with said determination you can eventually find strength along the way,” Tsukasa proclaimed taking a few steps forward, “Even in the face of doubt, if you keep on moving and never lose hope you can overcome any obstacle,” Tsukasa looked over to Alex, “All that you need is something worth fighting for.”

“Damn you Decade!” Glitch shouted, “what in the hell are you anyway?”

“I am only a kamen rider that’s passing through,” Tsukasa stated pulling a card from his back pocket and holding it up to Glitch, “Remember that!... Henshin!”

Tsukasa flipped the card over and slipped it into his driver, closing it with a quick motion of his hands, “Kamen Ride, Decade!” his driver shouted as seven red cards shot out of his driver and embedded themselves into his head as grey armour formed around him, becoming a vibrant magenta as the cards formed the mask of his helmet.

Kaito flipped his blaster up and slipped a card into the side of it, cocking it once before pointing it up to the sky and pulling back on the trigger, “Henshin!”

“Kamen Ride, DiEnd!” Kaito’s blaster called out as three multicolored silhouettes shot out of the barrel of his blaster and circled around him becoming his armor.

Cole and Shiore stepped forward and pulled out their gaia memories pressing down on the buttons below their labels.

“Rock! Yuki!”

“Henshin!”

“Rock! Yuki!” their drivers cried out as the two became engulfed in their respected elements which quickly broke off revealing them in their rider forms.

Kivara flew into Natsumi’s hand as Yusuke struck his signature transformation pose, “Henshin!” the two cried out as Yusuke dawned his red beetle armor and Natsumi her armor in the form of a white bat.

“Aw, eight riders,” Glitch spoke up, “but it appears you have one missing. I wonder, how that could be?”

Alex held his driver firmly in his hand, his eyes fixed upon it. He tightened his grip on it before slapping it onto his waist, two belt straps shooting out of it and connecting at the back locking in place.

Glitch chuckled, “I already broke it, you’re truly braindead if you think that piece of scrap metal will still work!”

“If you call me an idiot for having hope, I’ll just tell you that you’re wrong,” Alex proclaimed as he pulled out the Star and Runner memories from his back pocket and placed them into his driver, “and I’ll keep telling you until you believe it, now matter how long it takes,” he placed his hands over the slots on his driver and was about to split them apart from one another when all of a sudden the same black and red device flew down from the sky and slid itself onto of the Star and Runner memories as if it and the driver were always meant to be connected to one another.

“Go on,” Kaito said out of nowhere grabbing Alex’s attention, “That gaia memory was always meant to be in your possession. Besides, you’ve more than earned it.”

Alex nodded before turning back to Glitch, “I might not have known what exactly it was that I was doing back when all this began,” Alex proclaimed stepping forward to beside Tsukasa, “however that was a long time ago. I now know what I must do and that’s protecting the people and city I care about from people like you.” Alex shouted pointing his hand in the shape of a gun at the dopant, “Xtreme’s journey begins now, and your rampage… ends here. Henshin!”

Alex split the slots on his driver apart as a whirlwind erupted from the center of the memory. “Star! Runner!... XTREEEEEEME!!!” Alex’s new gaia memory called out as his standard Star Runner armour formed around him before a silver line formed down the middle of his entire body and rippled outward until the silver gap covered the inner portion of his body from head to toe.

Four red Xs then shot out from the memory, two embedding themselves on Alex’s ankles, another forming his mask behind a pair of fiery amber eyes and the fourth and final splitting in half with each half wrapping around his shoulder pads giving of the illusion of a X across his chest. In the center of the gap emblazoned an emblem made up of the head of wolf with a pair of dragon wings below it, eagle wings at either side and a pair of minotaur horns at the top. Three claw like blades adorned his forearms.

“You guys think you’re so tough? Well I’ll show you!” Glitch shouted as he planted his feet and divided himself into three, one red another blue and the center one green. “Let’s see how you fuckers handle this!”

The red and blue glitches raised their arms into the air as a massive black hole looking ball of energy formed above them before the two hurled it at the riders. The riders jumped to either side of the ball’s path, Kaito Cole Shiore and Tsukasa going on one side with Alex Tara Carter Yusuke and Natsumi on the other.

“Guess it’s time for a bit more firepower,” Tsukasa thought to himself as he pulled out a smartphone like device and switched it on revealing nine buttons each representing one of the nine riders that came before him.

“Kuuga! Agito! Ryuki! Faiz! Blade! Hibiki! Kabuto! Den-O! Kiva!” the smartphone called out as Tsukasa hit each of the buttons in the order they appeared on the phone. He flipped the phone over and brought it to his belt and removed the center of his driver before attaching the phone onto his belt and moving the core of his driver of to the side of his waste.

Nine cards materialized across his chest for each of the nine heisei riders along with a single card with a image of the form he now took on his forehead. His armor changing from magenta to silver with two stripes of magenta bordering the nine cards on his chest, his eyes switching from green to red.

“Yusuke!” Tsukasa shouted to Kuuga as he pulled out a card and threw it into the core of his driver and pressed down on it.

“Final Kamen Ride, Rising!” The core shouted as the cards on Tsukasa’s chest switched over to a golden form of Kuuga with jet black eyes as Yusuke took on the same form.

“Tara! Shiore! Cole! You’re with Natsumi, you handle the blue” Alex instructed jumping over with Yusuke to Tsukasa, “Carter and DiEnd go for the red.”

“Right, on it,” Carter and Kaito nodded.

“That leaves us with the green,” Yusuke said cracking his knuckles, “This should be fun.”

Tara and Cole dashed over to the blue Glitch encircling it before finally knocking it over to the side. Tara swung her flail at the blue Glitch wrapping it around him keeping him pinned to the ground.

“Alright ladies,” Tara called out to Cole, Shiore and Natsumi, “bring her home.”

Shiore and Cole removed their gaia memories from their driver and inserted them into the slots on their weapons, Natsumi charging up her own sword as a pair of bright pink wings sprout from her.

“Rock! Maximum Drive! Yuki! Maximum Drive!”

The three riders fired off their respective finishers at the blue Glitch all at once resulting in a giant explosion erupting from where the double had been chained.

Back on the other side of the quarry, Kaito and Carter faced off against the red Glitch.

“Seems a little unfair to send us off alone,” Carter sighed.

“It’s not that big a deal. Besides,” Kaito pulled out two rider cards and held them up to Carter, “gives me a chance to test these guys out.”

He slid the two cards into his blaster, cocked it once and pulled the trigger.

“Kamen Ride, Magica! Invocateur!” Kaito’s blaster called out as two shots fired off from his blaster, one becoming Magica, a pink and white magical girl styled rider with blond hair and pink vibrant eyes and the other Invocateur, a white sorcerer marked with gold accents donning a white cloak and mage’s hat. In his hand he held a single rose.

Magica glared over to Invocateur and slapped him over the head causing him to drop the rose. Invocateur dove to the ground and picked up the rose and handed it over to Magica. DiEnd tapped the two on the head getting their attention, he then pointed towards the red Glitch that stood before them. Within moments, the two summoned riders pulled out staff like weapons and charged at the Dopant’s double.

“Are they supposed to act up like that?” Carter asked.

Kaito shrugged, “I just ask for their help, I don’t control what they do.”

Magica and Invocateur ran past the red glitch throwing two heavy slashes at him sending him to his knees. They then switched the spell rings on their hands with one marks with several chains and swiped it over their drivers.

“Bind! Onegai? Liaison! S'il vous plaît!” Their drivers shouted as several chains sprouted from the ground pinning the red glitch double where he stood.

Kaito then pulled out a card and slipped it into the side of his driver as Carter spun the dragon head in the center of his driver clockwise generating a ring of fire.

“Final Attack Ride, DiEnd! Ryu-O Maximum Drive!” Their drivers both shouted as a twister of holographic cards swarmed around the barrel of Kaito’s blaster and a massive fire ball formed in Carter’s hand.

Carter and Kaito fired off both their finishers reducing the double to smoke and ash. Now only one Glitch dopant remained, the original. Alex, Tsukasa and Yusuke approached Glitch at a steady pace, Glitch standing his ground and refusing to move.

“Well Glitch, looks like this is the end of the line,” Alex stated as he held out his hand as a black a red sword formed in his hand with four maximum drive slots on the guard and one at the end of the hilt. Tsukasa switching his blaster into it’s sword mode and Yusuke cracking his knuckles.

Yusuke charged up his fist as it was engulfed in a red flame as Tsukasa pulled out a card and placed it into his driver, Alex closing and opening his driver in one quick motion.

“Xtreme! Maximum Drive! Final Kamen Ride, D-D-D-Decade!” Alex and Tsukasa’s drivers shouted as Yusuke lunched at Glitch throwing his flaming fist at the dopant. Alex and Tsukasa then turned to one another, nodded, then jumped into the air and propelled themselves forward at Glitch in a combined rider kick resulting in a massive explosion which engulfed Glitch whole.

Glitch fell down on the ground as the smoke faded, Tsukasa reverting back to his default rider form and Alex walking over to Glitch. Alex picked Glitch up and forced him to his feet.

“Alright, now tell us who it is you’re working for,” Alex demanded looking Glitch in the eye.

“Hehehe,” Glitch laughed, “I only agreed to tell you when you beat me, and seeing as how I’m still in my dopant form I’d say the battle is far from over.” He cackled as sparks began to fly off of him.

“Xtreme, get away from him!” Tsukasa shouted as he switched his sword back to blaster mode and fired off a few shots at Glitch forcing him back a few feet.

“You riders make me sick!” Glitch shouted as the sparks flying off of him intensified. “If I’m going down I’m dragging you all with me!”

Glitch then began to grow in size and become more beast like, crawling around on all fours instead of two. Within seconds he towered over all the riders and let out a roar that shook the entire quarry.

“Oh great, and I thought this guy was annoying before!” Tara exclaimed as the riders regrouped.

Alex looked over his shoulder to Ardent City off in the distance, “If he gets to the city like this there’s no telling what he might do. We need to take care of him now.”

“You have a strong heart Xtreme,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “I was wrong to claim that you were a disgrace. You have the makings of a fine rider indeed.”

Just then a light shone out from the book on the side of Tsukasa’s belt. The book opened as three cards flew out and into Tsukasa’s hand, illuminating as they made contact.

Alex looked at the cards and saw a picture of his Star Runner form on one of them, “What are those?”

“The proof that you are a rider,” Tsukasa proclaimed as pulled one card from the trio and opened his driver.

Tsukasa placed the card into his driver and swiped it closed, "Final Form Ride, Xtreme!"

“This might tickle a bit.” he said before slapping Alex on the back. As he did so four light colored in yellow, green, blue and red shot off from his back and into the chests of Tara, Cole, Shiore and Carter.

The four of them then transformed into the heads of their respective animals. Tara and eagle, Cole a minotaur, Shiore a wolf and Carter a dragon before sliding onto Alex’s sword with Carter at the hilt, then Shiore and Cole with Tara forming the end of the blade.

Tsukasa blinked for a moment, “I think I understand now. Your true power does not come from your own strength but from the strength of others,” he smirked as he grabbed another card from his hand, “Well, then this next one should prove quite interesting.”

Tsukasa placed the card into his driver and slammed it closed once again.

“Final Attack Ride, Xtreme!” Tsukasa’s driver shouted as the gaia memories of the four riders then broke off from them and slid themselves into the maximum drive slots on the guard of Alex’s sword with Alex’s own star memory being placed in the slot atop the handle.

“Gale! Maximum Drive! Rock! Maximum Drive! Yuki! Maximum Drive! Ryu-O! Maximum Drive! Star! Maximum Drive!”

A red surge of energy formed around the blade of Alex’s sword and in one final swing Alex sent all the power that he and the other riders had left hurling towards the giant rampaging Glitch in one massive strike resulting in a massive explosion which engulfed the entire quarry in the blast.

After a few moments the smoke cleared, revealing every rider had reverted to their civilian form except for Alex and Tsukasa.

Tara looked around for Carter, but it seems as though he had already disappeared while the fallout was settling.

Alex and Tsukasa turned to each other before powering down their drivers reverting them to their civilian forms. The two exchange a small smirk between themselves.

Tsukasa reached into his pocket and pulled out Alex’s cell phone, “This… should be yours.” He said handing the phone over to Alex.

Alex shook his head, “I don’t need it anymore. Besides, it will only serve as a reminder of the past and will prevent me from moving forward into the future”

Tsukasa shrugged, “If you say so,” he said slipping the phone back into his pocket and turning his back to Alex. He took a few steps forward then stopped, “That driver… I’ve seen one other like it,” he said turning back to Alex, “It belonged to a strong rider. I hope I can see the day when you become as strong as they were.”

Alex nodded, “I will be… count on it.”

“I’ll hold you to it then,” Tsukasa said with a smirk, “Kamen Rider Xtreme.”

A grey doorway descended down in front of Tsukasa, he walked through it as the doorway faded away without a trace.

“I’ll be sure to keep that promise,” Alex thought to himself, “Tsukasa.”

“Come on guys! Hurry up!” Tara demanded skipping down the street, Alex, Cole and Shiore a good distance behind her.

“Would it kill you to slow down every once and a while?” Shiore asked.

“You kidding? We’re like a shark, we’ve gotta keep swimming forward or we’ll drown!” Tara returned, “Besides, the studio isn’t too far ahead now. We promised Ejiro we’d come back soon and it’s soon.”

The group turned a corner and reached the front entrance of a cafe style building.

“So… why are we here again?” Alex asked.

“Oh yeah, you weren’t with us the last time,” Tara said snapping her fingers, “Well then, you are in for a treat.” She extended her hand out to Alex, “Superstar, welcome to Hikari Studios, the finest provider of coffee in the universe!”

Shiore sighed, “We going in or are you just going to talk about it all day?”

“Fair point, we don’t want to keep the people waiting,” Tara returned running through the front door of the building. Cole and Shiore following shortly after.

Alex looked up at a sign across the top of the building, “Cat’s Eye Cafe… this a shared building or something?”

“Excuse me sir!” a voice called out.

Alex turned over to his right to the sight of a middle aged man in a trench coat and glasses running up beside him.

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Uh… can I help you?”

“Yes,” the man panted, “would you have by any chance ran into a man named Decade anywhere in this world?” He grabbed hold of Alex, “He didn’t hurt you by any chance did he?”

Alex scratched the back of his head, “I’m afraid you just missed him… and no, I’m fine.”

The man in the trenchcoat let out a sigh of relief, “Thank god,” he let go of Alex, “Do you have any idea where he went?”

Alex shrugged, “he said something about going to the next world.”

“When was this?”

“Yesterday.”

“Then there’s still time,” the man in the trenchcoat proclaimed before taking off down the road, “Thanks Xtreme!”

Alex’s eyes widened, “Hey wait a minute minute, who are you and how do you know who I am?” He called out but by the time the man in the trenchcoat had already disappeared.

“GAH!” Tara shouted at an ear shatteringly high volume.

Alex ran slammed the door of the building open and burst into the front room of a cafe, “What’s wrong?”

“YOU’VE GOTTA BE FREAKIN KIDDING!” Tara cried out from the front entrance way of the cafe, “You there!” Tara shouted to a young woman behind a desk, "EXPLAIN THIS, RIGHT NOW!"

The woman blinked her eyes, "Um, come again?"

"Don't you 'Come again' me!" Tara yelled as she stormed up to the woman and slammed her hands down on the desk, "There was a photography studio here yesterday! Where the hell is it?!"

Shiore bonked Tara on the top of her head, “Calm down already,” she sighed. “Weren’t you saying that this place’s cakes were to die for? If it will shut you up I’ll give one a try.”

Tara blinked for a moment, “You serious?”

“Dead.”

Tara turned back to the lady at the front desk and held up four fingers to her, “Miss, table for four please!”

The lady nodded, “Yes, right away Ms Evonna.”

“Those two are like a pair of sisters sometimes you know,” Cole chuckled. “Wouldn’t you say so?”

“That’s one way of putting it I guess,” Alex said quietly.

Cole raised an eyebrow, “Something wrong?”

“Oh no I’m fine,” Alex returned scratching the back of his neck, “it’s just that, I kind of wish I had gotten to talk with Tsukasa and the others a little more.”

Cole patted Alex on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll see them again.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and made his way over to where Tara and Shiore were headed, “but we can cross that bridge when we get to it, for now let’s just enjoy the quiet moments while we still can.”

“I guess you’re right,” Alex said aloud to himself, “I hope we can meet again somewhere in the world... Kamen Rider Decade.”

Thank you all for supporting Kamen Rider Xtreme for the past year. It means a lot to hear that so many people have enjoyed the series thus far and I hope you continue to show your support for where ever else I choose to take this series.

Now, don't go thinking this is the end of Xtreme, as stated in the last chapter his journey has only just begun. Kamen Rider Xtreme shall return in Kamen Rider Xtreme the Movie: X and Y Elemental Burst, the Memories of Light and Dark, coming soon.