[guncannon109]

Episode 24: The Travellers

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!"

{Insert Opening Theme - Journey Through the Decade}

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!”

{End of Part A}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Star of Part B}

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