[guncannon109]

Episode 15: Strength of the Earth

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.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

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.”

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

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

{Insert Ending Theme - Stand By Me}

[guncannon109]

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.

[guncannon109]

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.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

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.”

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

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

{Insert Ending Theme - Stand By Me}

[guncannon109]

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.

[TheFightingSpirit]

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

[guncannon109]

Episode 17: An Untimely Farewell

"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."

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

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?"

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

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

{Insert Ending Theme - Stand By Me}

[guncannon109]

Thank you all for following Act Two Wind and Earth. Kamen Rider Xtreme shall return January 2014 with Act 3 Ice and Fire.

[guncannon109]

Episode 18: Y, the Girl Named Snowstorm

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.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

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.”

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

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

{Insert Ending Theme - I’ll Believe}

[guncannon109]

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?

[guncannon109]

Episode 19: Between Comrades

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.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

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?”

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

“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

{Insert Ending Theme - I’ll Believe}