[guncannon109]

Part 1

Heavy bars opened to a cell in a high security prison on the outskirts of Ardent City.

“Alright Mavrick, your time is up,” the warden said to a prisoner with black ratty long hair who lay lifelessly against the cell wall.

“Is it?” he whispered looking blankly up at the ceiling, “Time seems to remain still here… how long has it been… since I was placed here?”

“You were given a twenty year sentence,” the warden proclaimed as two other guards came into the cell and strapped cuffs to the prisoner’s wrists and ankles, “and now that time is up. So it’s time to get you out of here.”

The prisoner slowly got and limped over to the door of the cell, “Alright… lead the way warden.”

The warden led the prisoner down a long hallway until they came to two large doors at the end of it. The prisoner was lead through the door where a receptionist stood behind a desk with a thin layer of glass dividing him from the prisoner.

The dark haired prisoner shrugged as he was unshackled and walked over to the desk.

The receptionist sighed before reading off a small sheet of paper in front of him, “We hereby return prisoner three zero nine six four seven with the following personal belongings that were found on his person at the time of his detainment,” he pulled out a small bin and handed the following items through a gap in the glass, “Two sealed packages of matches and one unsealed, one pack of cigarettes contents three, one XL leather jacket, one regular sized striped shirt and one pair of size thirty five denim jeans along with one pair of size twelve men's loafers.”

“Would there be anything else?” The prisoner asked raising an eyebrow grabbing his possessions.

“No,” the receptionist returned, “Everything else you had was either sold or destroyed.”

The prisoner scoffed, “Alright then… I’ll be going now.”

He walked out of the prison with his belongings in hand where a black car was waiting for him with a woman with long raven hair was standing in front of it.

“Been waiting long?” he asked the raven haired woman.

“Not at all,” she returned opening the back door of the car for him, “it’s been awhile Anton… should we grab lunch to catch up?”

“Of course,” he said getting into the back seat and closing the door behind him.

The raven haired woman got into the drivers seat and pulled off from the curb of the prison.

“Do you still have it?” Anton asked. The raven haired woman nodded, “and what of the others?”

“Everything is going ahead just as planned,” she returned looking at Anton through the rear view mirror.

Anton looked out the window and sighed, “and what of my brother?”

“Derek was a fool, he got what he deserved.”

“I see…” he looked back to the prison through the driver side mirror, “would you happen to know the time?”

“Exactly one minute to two,” she stated.

Anton smirked, “perfect.”

As the clock struck two the prison behind them erupted in a fiery explosion covering the entire lot in a cloud of ash and smoke.

“So what’s on the menu for this evening?” Anton asked, “I don’t know about you but I have a serious craving for Ardent Felle.”

“You sure you don’t want to take it easy for a little?”

“I’ve spent far too long behind bars,” Anton proclaimed, “It’s time to take over where Derek failed.”

Part 1: Memories of Light and Dark

It was summer, the sun was shining intensely and all that could be heard for miles was the cry of cicadas over the dry summer air.

There hadn’t been any dopant attacks for quite some time so the riders decided to take this time to bask in the pleasures that high school life had to offer by spending a carefree day at the Ardent City Water Park.

“Hey come on guys! The water is fantastic!” Tara shouted ecstatically bouncing around in the water in an electric yellow two piece swimsuit.

“Do we honestly have to spend today here of all places?” Alex groaned, “Isn’t there something more productive we could be doing?”

“Well it’s better than spending all summer cooped up inside like you usually do,” Cole said jokingly. He surveyed the plaza for a second, “Hey, where’s Shiore? Shouldn’t she be finished changing by now?”

Alex shrugged, “Hell if I know. That girl keeps to her own schedule.”

“Okay, I’m done,” a voiced called out.

“Well it’s about time,” Alex sighed turning around to find Shiore standing behind him in a light blue one piece suit a few feet behind him. His eyes widened a little, “... uh.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Something wrong?”

“No it’s just that well…” Alex stumbled awkwardly trying to figure out what to say.

“No it’s just that well what?”

Alex scratched the back of his head, “Well… I’ve just never seen you dress like a girl before.” He shut his eyes expecting to be hit.

“Fair enough,” Shiore shrugged, “I’m not really into this type of thing anyway.”

“COME ON GUYS I’M FREEZING MY BUNS OFF IN HERE” Tara shouted “YOU COMING IN OR NOT!”

“Well I’m going on ahead,” Shiore said walking by Alex and Cole, “someone needs to make sure she doesn’t drown out there.”

Cole grinned, “Sure is nice isn’t it? Getting a break like this I mean.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Alex returned, “Feels like forever since I’ve been able to just live my life you know?” He surveyed the area for a moment, “Although… this place isn’t exactly helping me unwind.”

“Bad memories?” Cole asked, Alex nodded. “Don’t worry about it man,” Cole said wrapping one arm around Alex, “just take today to relax and put the past behind you.”

“Easier said than done I’m afraid,” Alex sighed, “After all, this place is where I met Madison for the first time. If I hadn’t of come here that day… Sarah and her might still-”

“Enough of that!” Cole said slapping Alex on the forehead, “Tell you what,” he handed Alex a ten dollar bill before continuing, “since you aren’t that big on swimming why not you go fetch us something to drink, take the time to clear your head a little. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Alex said taking the money from Cole, “thanks man I owe you one.”

“Anytime,” Cole returned, “Just don’t forget to keep the receipt okay?”

“Right, gotcha,” Alex said walking off towards the snack area. “Oh right,” he stopped for a moment, “what do you guys want anyway?”

“Eh, just get whatever,” Cole shrugged, “not like it matters right.”

“True,” Alex said continuing over to the snack area, “I’ll be right back then.”

Tara shot through the water at lightning fast speed resulting in several large waves shooting off around her, drenching several people both in and out of pool. She continued this until she slammed into a hard surface halting her movement.

“Ow ow ow,” she cried rubbing her head, “the hell did I…” she looked up to see Shiore standing unfazed glaring blankly at her, “oh… hey Sayuri.”

“What are you doing?” Shiore asked letting out a small sigh.

“Uh… swimming?” Tara returned, “what else would I be doing?”

“You could try swimming like a sane person.”

“AH! But that’s boring!”

“Too bad, you’re disturbing the patrons so tone it down.”

Tara pouted, “easy for you to say,” she said crossing her arms and turning away from Shiore.

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “What are you going on about now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she pointed at Shiore’s chest, “YOU’RE A FULL THREE SIZES BIGGER THAN I AM! If anyone should tone it down it’s you!” Shiore slapped Tara on the top of her head. Tara began to cry “AW! Now you’re just being mean!”

Shiore’s eye sharpened, she surveyed the area.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Tara shouted, “Don’t ignore me!”

“Shut up for a moment will you,” Shiore instructed silencing Tara, She noticed several ripples in the water and they began to shift in the same direction. She turned back to Tara, “something’s here.”

Alex stood in line to the snack bar tapping his hand impatiently on a rail with the money Cole gave him in hand. He let out a small sigh, “Man what am I even doing here?”

“Next!” A man at the stand shouted.

“Oh right, coming!” Alex shouted back. As he proceed to the snack stand, he bump into someone, “Oh sorry…” his eyes widened as a girl about his age with long red hair and blue eyes in a pink one piece swimsuit entered his vision, “... Madison?” he whispered.

The red haired girl looked at him confused, “Um… sorry, have we met before?”

“So you really don’t...” Alex whispered as he felt his heart sink. He forced a smile and extended his hand out to her, “I’m Alex… Alex Darwin, we had a few classes last semester… though you probably don’t remember me do you?”

“We did? Wow small world,” Madison said laughing a little.

“Hey man, you gonna order or not?” The man at the snack stand shouted.

“Oh, sorry I’ll be right there,” Alex shouted back heading over to the stand.

“Hey Alex,” Madison called out, “Me and my folks are gonna be here all day. So… you wanna hang out for a bit?”

Alex looked away from Madison, “Sorry, I can’t… not now.”

“Oh, alright then,” she said with a grin, “catch ya later then. It was nice meeting you,” she added before walking off down to the pool with a tray of drinks and other snacks in her hands.

Alex looked over to Madison as she turned around a corner, he gulped then turned back to the stack stand.

“You know her?” the man at the stand asked.

Alex sighed, “it’s a long story.”

“I getcha, life if full of stories like that,” The man proclaimed drying off a glass before placing it down in a roll of several others. He was a fairly tall man with slicked back white hair and electric yellow eyes. He wore a white button shirt and a blue bowtie along with black dress pants that looked way too fancy for him to be working at a waterpark “Tell me something kid... that long story of yours, it wouldn’t involve masked heroes on motorcycles, a giant lizard and a man in a red cloak... would it?”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “what makes you say that?”

“Oh nothing in particular. I like asking questions like that, so here’s another one…” he glared over to Alex, “does the name ‘Derek Mavrick’ mean anything to you?”

Alex jumped back a bit and reached for the gaia memories in his back pocket, “Who are you?”

The man smirked, “Gotcha.”

Before Alex got more, the white haired man whipped out a driver similar to his own only with one slot instead of two and slapped it onto his waist as two belt straps shot out of both sides locking in place at the back.

The white haired man returned pulling out an orange gaia memory and hitting the button below the label.

“Gamma-Ray!” the gaia memory shouted as it was slammed into the driver.

“What was that phrase you riders use?” The man asked with a smirk placing his hand over the slot on his driving, “Oh yeah, I think it was… Henshin.” he added as he slammed the slot down on his driver.

“GAMMA-RAY!” The driver shouted as the sound of several amps blasting at max volume erupted from while electricity covered the white haired man in jagged yellow and green armor with a single circular blue optic for a visor. Cables wrapped around his arms turning into whips with several small blades along the length of them, the cable on his right arm being red and the one on his left blue.

The crowd of people scattered as the new rider leapt out from behind the stand and stuck Alex in the gut throwing him into a bush.

“GAH!” Alex shouted upon impact, “What... the hell... are you?” in said recovering from the pain.

“I do love it when they ask that,” the rider proclaimed throwing his hand up in the air in the shape of a flower, “I am the face of true beauty, the essence of perfection,” He threw both arms into the air as if presenting himself to Alex, “The one! The only! Kamen Rider… Gamma-Ray!”

Alex tilted his head, “Uh… okay?”

Gamma-Ray cracked his whip at Alex, “Are you not impressed by my glory?!”

“Uh… not really,” Alex said hopping back on his feet, “see you’re like the ninth rider I’ve met at this point. Plus with all the monsters I’ve been fighting recently… can’t say I’m all that surprised anymore to be perfectly honest.”

Gamma-Ray began to growl and tightened his grip around his whips, “You will pay FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!”

Gamma-Ray swung both his whips at Alex who quickly jumped out of the way, pulling his Star and Runner memories out from his back pocket as his driver materialized around his waist before landing on the ground again.

“I can however say that you’re still a threat, and I’m not going to let you cause anymore damage then you already have,” Alex said as he placed his two gaia memories into his driver, “Henshin!”

Alex split the slots of his driver apart, “Star! Runner!” his driver shouted as his his default black and red armor formed around him.

“Ah, looks like I’ve reeled in the famous Xtreme. Aren’t I the lucky one.” Gamma-Ray proclaimed pulling his whips back, “Looks like my partner will have to deal with the others on his own.”

---

“Wait, what do you mean something is here?” Tara demanded treading water behind Shiore, “Is it a dopant? I’m sure we can take it.”

“No, this different,” Shiore proclaimed as Cole arrived at the poolside, “Cole, you have your driver on you right?”

“Um… yeah,” Cole said tilting his head, “why do you ask?”

“Go find Alex,” Shiore instructed, “knowing him he has probably ran into the enemy already.”

Cole nodded, “Right got it,” Cole said before running off to find Alex.

“What do we do then?” Tara asked.

“Same as you always do,” Shiore returned, “go wild.”

“We’re closing the pool for a little while,” A lifeguard stated grabbing the attention of the two girls, “please exit the pool and wait until we reopen it.”

“Oh really, and what happens once we get out… what do you plan to do then?” Shiore said staring the lifeguard directly in the eye. The lifeguard said nothing at a loss for words, “Not talking huh? Alright then, how about this… you have a gaia memory on you, don’t you?”

The lifeguard sighed before standing upright, “Guess there’s no point in hiding it anymore… is there,” he said before pulling out a driver of the same make as Gamma-Ray’s and slapping it onto his waist, “though I suppose I shouldn’t expect any less from the great Yuki,” he proclaimed as he pulled out an ocean blue gaia memory and slammed it into his driver and pulling down the slot on it, “Henshin.”

“LUARENTIA!” The lifeguard's driver shouted as he was bathed in a wave of water which morphed into armor that resembled a pale blue medieval knight crossed with a fish aligned with light red accents along his armor.

He lifted his hand encasing Tara and Shiore in water before lifting them up onto the deck, releasing them from his hold.

“Ah man, and I was really enjoying my day off to,” Tara sighed as Kree descended from above and wrapped around her wrist becoming her driver, “Oh well, not like I mind this either.” She pulled out her Gale gaia memory and placed it into the top of Kree’s head, “you owe me for this by the way.”

“I’ll buy you a shortcake from that new bakery you like,” Shiore said as her driver materialized around her waist before pulling about her own Yuki memory, “deal?”

Tara nodded, “Deal.”

The two took one step forward, hitting the buttons on their respective gaia memories.

“Gale! Yuki!”

“Henshin!” The two shouted as they slammed their gaia memories into their drivers and activated them.

“Gale! Yuki!” Their respective drivers shouted as a tornado formed around Tara becoming her armor and Shiore was encased in ice which quickly broke off revealing her in her’s.

Several patrons began to take notice of what was going on. “Hey, what’s going on over there? Some kind of performance or something?”

Luarentia cracked his neck, “Such simpletons,” he said aloud as he drew a long rapier sword from his belt, “Oh well, not like it matters. This will all be over before they even know what’s even happening before their eyes.”

Tara whipped out her flail from the back of her belt, “Yeah, and you’ll be the running home with your driver round your ankles. Starting now!” She shouted hurling her flail at Luarentia with a flick of her wrist.

Luarentia dodged Tara’s strike and jumped off to the side. He looked over to the two riders and noticed that Shiore had disappeared. He then swung his sword over his back as another blade struck against it.

“You certainly are a fast one,” Luarentia said as he looked over his shoulder to see Shiore behind him forcing her blade down onto hers, “Yuki.”

“You aren’t half bad yourself,” Shiore returned keeping her guard up.

Luarentia forced Shiore back before quickly turning on his heeled and proceeding to jab at her repeatedly with the end of his sword, each motion flowing seamlessly into one another like a serpent swimming through a current.

“Damn it, what’s with this guy?” Shiore thought to herself, doing her best to keep up with his movements, “His fighting style isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before.” Shiore clashed her sword with Luarentia’s holding him in place, “Archer!”

“On it!” Tara shouted pulling her flail back and swinging it once again, this time going for Luarentia’s legs. The chain wrapped around him and brought him to his knees.

Luarentia then grabbed the chain of Tara’s flail with one hand and pulled Tara towards him, using her to slam into Shiore knocking both of them into the water of pool only a few feet away. Tara plummeted into the water while Shiore froze the water she hit using it as a platform.

“Your good at thinking on your feet,” Luarentia proclaimed as he got back up, “My partner fights just like you. Making the best of any situation.”

“Partner?” Shiore asked as Tara climbed up onto the block of ice Shiore had made for herself, “What do you mean partner?”

“You think I’d come here to fight you riders alone?”

Back at the snack bar, Gamma-Ray smashed through a wall trying to hit Alex as Alex kept evading every move he made.

“You know, you really shouldn’t telegraph your attacks,” Alex said panting a little, “makes each move you make ridiculously obvious.”

“Well forgive me for fighting with style Mister X,” Gamma-Ray returned twirling his whips around as sparks ran up and down both of his arms, “It’s rather sad that the art of war is one that’s lost on your generation.”

From out of nowhere, a giant hammer came out from behind Gamma-Ray and smacked him in the face knocking him to the ground.

“There’s a reason for that sparky,” Cole said as he rested his smasher on his shoulder already transformed into his rider form, “Style leaves you wide open.” he turned to Alex and extended a hand to him, “You alright there pal?”

“Excellent,” Alex returned grabbing Cole’s hand and pulling himself up.

“You know when I said ‘have fun and relax’ this is not what I had in mind,” Cole snarked, turning his attention back to Gamma-Ray.

“Forgive me for having people wanting to kill me at every corner,” Alex returned pulling out the Star and Runner memories from his driver and replacing them with Blade and Kicker.

“Blade! Kicker!” Alex’s driver shouted as his black and red Star Runner armor changed to his green Blade Kicker armor and the Bla-Jalibur formed in his hand.

“Nevertheless,” Alex added gripping his sword with both of his hands, “we should defeat this guy before he can harm anyone.”

Cole grasped his smasher in both hands and widened his stance, “Couldn’t agree with you more there pal.”

Gamma-Ray stood idle spinning his whips in his hands, “Well, if there aren’t any further discussions, shall we get this battle royale under way?” Without saying anything, Alex dashed at Gamma-Ray and slashed him in the chest with his sword Gamm-Ray blocking the blade with his bare arm. Gamma-Ray smirked under his mask, “Eager… I like that.” He pushed him back and swung at Alex with each of his electrified whips, “Unfortunately for you it’s going to take a lot more than that to beat me!”

Gamma-Ray swung both whips back to his side then swung them forward again in an x formation striking both Alex and Cole sending the two riders flying backward towards the pool where Tara and Shiore were still facing off against Luarentia.

“Alex,” Shiore called out as the two riders landed by her feet. She then looked up and noticed Gamma-Ray quickly approaching, “So there really is a second one… should have figured as much.”

“Yeah, and it appears both are strong as hell,” Alex panted as he got back on his feet. “Cole, Tara, you handle the yellow guy.” he instructed as he removed his Blade and Kicker memories from his driver.

“Right, got it,” Tara and Cole returned as Tara jumped over Alex landing beside Cole.

“Shiore, you and I will handle this guy,” Alex added turning to Luarentia placing the Blast and Diver memories in the slots on his driver and reseting the device with a quick motion of his hands, Shiore nodded.

“Blast! Diver!” Alex’s driver shouted as his Blade Kicker armor was replaced by Blast Diver and the Bla-Jalibur was switched out for his Corona Blaster.

“You switched out your battle partner?” Luarentia tilted his head, “Very well, it makes no difference who I fight.”

At that moment, a blinding light emerged from the center of the brawl taking all of the riders completely off gaurd. As the light faded, Alex Cole Tara and Shiore found themselves directly in line with one another with Luarentia and Gamma-Ray side by side directly in front of them with a white armored rider standing in between them.

“Now now,” the white rider called out, “don’t you think this is an unfitting place for a battle such as this?” she pulled out what looked like a hilt of a sword before pressing a button at the top causing a blue energy blade to shot out from the hilt, “surely you can postpone your fight until the proper conditions are met… can’t you?”

“Fine, as you wish!” Gamma-Ray scowled as he shut off the flow of electricity to his whips, “but don’t think this means you’ve seen the last of us kamen riders.”

Luarentia pulled a small blue ball and held it in his hand for a second, “Au revoir,” he said before throwing the ball to the ground causing a giant cloud of black smoke to form around them.

As the smoke cleared the five riders saw as Luarentia and Gamma-Ray vanished without a trace.

“Well, that certainly was quite the ordeal wasn’t it?” the white rider said as she turned around revealing a blue butterfly shaped masked covering her face and silver f emblazoned on her chest, “You lot alright?”

Alex’s eyes widened as he undid his transformation reverting to his civilian form, “Who are you?”

“Oh, how you rude of me,” the white rider said as she pulled her gaia memory from her driver undoing her transformation and revealing her as a young woman with long brown hair and green eyes that were of the same shape and shade as Alex’s, “you may call me Fata, Kamen Rider Fata if you want to be more formal.”

---

In the dark shadow of Vainglory’s layer, Rylee leaned against a pillar with Cheshire in her hands as Joel paced around the room, “So it’s seems as though more riders have emerged. Any data you have on them?”

“None whatsoever,” Rylee returned, “although we have been able to identify them, though they’re motives and where they came from are still a mystery.”

“Oh really?” Joel raised an eyebrow, “and who exactly are they?”

Just then the two large doors at the front of the room swung open as Vainglory entered carrying a file which he had open to one page, “Elisir Acapella D'Lebaron aka Gamma-Ray,” he stated as the doors closed behind him, “element thunder. Former occupation, scientist. Was detained and sentenced to life in prison after being deemed guilty of carrying out several lethal experiments done using live human test subjects. All of which were done involuntarily.”

Rylee looked at Vainglory with disgust, “That’s sick!”

Vainglory flipped the page, “Drake Kimblee: Luarentia. Former occupation: fencing instructor. Deemed guilty of first degree murder with a sharpened fencing sword. Along with his release from prison were three other convicts. James and Laura Carmichael who were accused and found guilty of mass blackmail and worldwide thievery of several artifacts and works of art from museums and galleries all across the globe, and finally,” he turned the page once again, “Anton Mavrick.”

Rylee and Joel stood silent, “Fury’s elder brother?”

Vainglory nodded, “the very same,” he said before shutting the file closed, “and if I recall correctly, he was given the one and only gaia memory of Shadow.”

“What are you going to do?” Joel asked.

“I’ve sent Carter out to investigate already,” Vainglory turned to Joel, “and if those riders haven’t been scared shitless by this new development they should be too far behind him.”

“You’re going to put your faith in your enemy?” Joel asked raising an eyebrow.

“As the saying goes, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’” he proclaimed handing the file to Rylee before sitting down in his thrown at the back of the room, “and in this case I’d much rather put of with a bunch of children than an ex-convict out for revenge.”

“So you’re just going to sit back and let whatever happens happen?” Joel spoke out.

“I don’t see why not,” Vainglory returned as he leaned back in his throne, “I’ve been doing that since that start, so I hardly see the problem of doing it for a little bit longer. So long as my bloodline isn’t on the line I don’t see the problem in letter this city get a little banged up here and there.”

“Your bloodline?” Joel scoffed, “What kind of bullshit is that?”

“I have no one of value in the line of fire,” Vainglory said coldly turning away from Joel, “the only family I had died long ago, or have you forgotten that little detail Inertia?”

“You have no idea what you’re even talking about any more do you?”

Vainglory turned back to Joel, “What was that?”

Joel sighed, “Never mind,” he grunted before making his way out of the room, “I suppose it’s better for your perfect world if you don’t know.” he whispered under his breath as the doors closed behind him.

“What was that about?” Rylee spoke up.

“Forget about it,” Vainglory returned avoiding eye contact with Rylee, “Inertia is too far gone, just ignore everything he says Spite.”

Rylee looked down to Cheshire in her arms and patted him on the head, “You say that my lord,” she thought to herself, “but sometimes I fear that it is you who is lost.”

End of Part 1