[XW1n5t0nX]

Uh oh. Gun cheese it!

[guncannon109]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sentai

... *throws up arms, storms off the court*

Well... that went over as well as I expected.

[XW1n5t0nX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guncannon109

Well... that went over as well as I expected.

At least he didn't go on a rampage

[guncannon109]

Episode 22: Ash and Snow

“So that’s the guy you’ve been looking for?” Alex asked to Shiore, she nodded once. “Alright then, let’s take him out and end this once and for all,” Alex said taking a step forward only to have Shiore raise her arm out in front him preventing him from going any further.

“No,” Shiore said without so much as giving Alex a second glance, “this is my fight.”

“Are you crazy!” Tara shouted, “He’ll smoke you!... Or melt you in this case… I think.”

“Tara’s right,” Cole said, calmly walking up to Shiore, “Whoever that guy is, after what he just did to Fury I doubt he would be hard pressed to do it again.”

“Please Shiore,” Alex said placing his hand on her shoulder, “Let us help-”

Before Alex could finish speaking, Shiore smacked Alex’s hand off her shoulder before a giant wall of ice shot up from the ground between her and the other three riders surrounding them completely from all sides.

“Baka…” Shiore whispered to herself. She clenched her hands tightly around her sword and stared down Carter who stood mere feet away from her, “You’ll only get in the way, and that’s something I’m not going to allow… ever again.”

“What exactly just happened?” Carter asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Shiore raised her sword to Carter, “Because you see, Ryu-O,” she widened her stance and pulled back her sword so that the tip of the blade was aligned her line of sight, “Your rampage… ends here.”

“Does it now?” Carter sighed as he rested his sword against his shoulder, “Then why not back up that statement with your own blade?”

Shiore moved her right foot back a few inches and tightened her grip on her katana, “I intend to.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

“God I hate that girl!” Tara grunted, smacking her fist against the wall of ice that Shiore had erected. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, “What’s her deal anyway? She hasn’t even been here for an entire day yet and she’s walking around like she owns this town! Well there’s only room for one big shot rider in this city and that rider is Gale!” She looked up to the ceiling of the cage made of ice, “Doesn’t help that she sealed off the roof so we can’t just fly ourselves out of here.”
“Tara, you’re not helping” Alex sighed, “No matter how much you complain it’s not going to change our situation, so could we just focus on what’s going on right now please?”

“Excuse me?” Tara scoffed as she raised an eyebrow, “Who died and made you leader?”

“I only suggested that we think of a plan to break out of here,” Alex grunted, “I never said anything about becoming the leader of anything!”

“WILL YOU TWO JUST BE QUIET FOR A MOMENT!” Cole shouted, grabbing the attention of his fellow riders. “Now look, I get that everyone is a little bit stressed out right now, but if we turn on each other we’re screwed. Even if we may argue from time to time, but we’re still friends aren’t we? Actually, with all that’s happened I’d say we’re closer to being family.” Cole extended his arm out to Alex and Tara, “So… what say you two?”

Alex stood still for a moment, then placed his hand overtop of Cole’s, “Yeah,” he nodded, “No matter what changes or what may come our way, the three of us are in this together… whether we like it or not.”

Alex and Cole looked over to Tara who stared back at them blankly for a second.

“GAH! Alright fine!” Tara grunted slamming her hand down overtop of Alex’s, “We see your point… A little too sappy for our tastes, but I see the point.”

Cole laughed a bit, “A little sappiness never hurt anyone, did it?”

“Bleh!” Tara stuck her tongue out, “Objection, so much objection!”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “Um… agree to disagree?”

“Yeah sure,” Tara sighed, “let’s go with that.”

“Alright then,” Cole said with a smirk as the three pulled their hands away from each other’s, “Then it’s decided, the three of us are in this together until the bitter end.” Cole looked up to the ceiling, “Now then… how exactly do we break out of here?”

Tara closed her eyes and crossed her arms and proceeded to tap her right index finger against her left arm. After a few seconds of thinking, she snapped her fingers as her eyes shot open.

Tara’s usual smirk appeared on her face, “I've got it!”

---

On the other side of the wall, a heated battle between Carter and Shiore was well underway. The two rider’s held their blades in a clash with neither one willing to let up. After holding his guard up for a few moments, Carter used the weight of his Ryu-O Buster to force Shiore’s blade back breaking their clash. Once broken from the clash, Carter elbowed Shiore in her gut forcing her to her knees and let go of her katana.

“Is this all the great Yuki can muster?” Carter asked as raised his sword up and rested it on his shoulder, “I had hoped you’d be more of a challenge… shame you turned out to be nothing more than a mere child.”

“Piss off!” Shiore coughed violently. She grabbed her katana and propped herself up on one foot, “In the name of the Shirayuki clan,” she coughed again, “I’ll have your head!”

Carter slammed his foot onto the blade of Shiore’s sword preventing it from leaving the ground. He stared at her through the fiery red eyes of his mask, “If you want it, then claim it.” He then delivered a quick jab to Shiore’s face knocking her to the ground undoing her transformation.

Carter took his foot off of Shiore’s sword and walked over to where she lay on the ground. He then proceeded to grab hold of the girl’s neck and force her to her feet.

Shiore glared at Carter, gritting her teeth while panting rapidly.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” Carter asked tightening his grip around Shiore’s neck.

Shiore spat on Carter’s mask, “What difference does it make if I’m not?”

“Ardent City is under META’s jurisdiction, and the rider’s are street rats of this already troubled excuse for a community,” Carter proclaimed, “Since you are not connected to either what purpose do you have in being here?”

A small smirk appeared on Shiore’s face, “Isn’t that obvious?... I came here to kill you.” She grabbed hold of Carter’s arm with her right arm and swung her left out to the side, “and I’m not leaving until I do just that.”

Carter looked over to Shiore’s left arm as it began to morph into that of a wolf’s claw. He looked back to Shiore’s face and saw the angry yellow eyes of a white wolf glaring back at him. The wolf swung it’s silver claws at Carter and kicked at him profusely. Carter punched the wolf away knocking it back a few feet, but that didn’t hold it back for long as it quickly readied itself to charge itself at Carter.

Carter grabbed his blade and swung it in front of the beast’s path as the wolf bit down on the blade of his sword.
“So that’s how you fight is it?” Carter gritted his teeth as he held the beast back, “Well then, looks like I won’t need to hold myself back.”

In one quick motion Carter kicked the wolf back and chopped off it’s head with his Ryu-O Buster. With a flick of his wrist he shot out a fire blast from the palm of his hand at the body of the wolf causing it to melt into a small puddle before his feet.

“A duplicate…” He surveyed the area in search of Shiore, “which means the real one is…”

“Right here,” A voice called out as Carter felt the edge of a blade press against his neck.

Carter balled his hand into a fist, “Tell me Yuki… do you know what happens to ice when it meets fire?” Shiore raised an eyebrow. Carter then turned on his heel and blasted Shiore with a single ball of fire from the canon in his gauntlet sending her flying backwards a few feet. “If you didn’t before,” Carter said as he removed his gaia memory from his driver and placed it into the hilt of his sword, “you’re about to find out.”

“Ryu-O! Maximum Drive!”

Shiore’s eyes widened, “Is this guy insane?”

“Burn…” Carter called out as a whirlwind of fire constricted it’s around the blade of his sword, “Ryu-O Inferno!”

Carter raised his sword skyward with both hands and prepared to swing it. As he readied his strike however, a shock ruptured from the blade and ran along his arm all the way down to his driver causing him to collapse, hurling the wave of fire at Shiore in the process.

Shiore raised her arms in front of her, bracing herself for the impact. However, after a few moments she had realized that the fire hadn’t even touched her. She lowered her arms and, to her surprised, found not a blazing inferno but Alex in his Blast Diver form fending off the flames.

Once all the fires were out, Alex lowered his blaster and turned to Shiore, “You alright?”

Shiore blinked for a moment, “You’re… helping me?”

“Of course I am,” Alex returned, “I promised that I would didn’t I?”

“But why?” Shiore asked.

“Oh geez, you’ll never learn will you?” Tara proclaimed as she appeared behind Shiore, “When Alex makes a promise he keeps it.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “What if that promise leads him to do something stupid?”

“Then we’ll be there to back him up,” Cole said placing his hand on Shiore’s shoulder, “a fight for one of us is a fight for all.”

“Do you understand now Shiore?” Alex asked, “that’s how we fight, as one. So… you think it would be easier for you, to be a part of that one?”

Shiore didn’t know what to say, the three people who she had just left frozen in ice only moments ago were now right along her side with no sign of anger towards her. Shiore then noticed a bit of movement over Alex’s shoulder as Carter began to climb back onto his feet.

“If we’re going to fight as one…” Shiore turned back Alex, “then let’s end this as one.”

Alex grinned under his mask, “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“Kamen Rider Ryu-O!” Alex called out as the four riders turned to face Carter. Alex then removed his Blast memory from his driver and placed it into the slot on the top of his blaster Cole, Tara and Shiore did the same with theirs and placing them into their respective weapons.

“Blast! Maximum Drive! Gale! Maximum Drive! Rock! Maximum Drive! Yuki! Maximum Drive!”

“Your rampage… ends here!” Alex shouted as he pulled back on the trigger of his blaster as a high powered blast of water shot out the barrel, the other three riders doing their respective finishers, “Tetra Maximum! Xtreme Memory Storm!”

As the wave of finishers hurled themselves at Carter, the red rider grabbed the Ryu-O memory from the hilt of his sword and chucked it out the line of fire before taking on the full force of the combined attack, a giant explosion engulfing him upon impact.

As the smoke cleared, the Alex, Cole, Tara and Shiore removed their memories from their drivers and reverted back to their civilian forms.

The four of them slowly walked over to where Carter lay facedown on the ground, Shiore in front with the others close behind her. Shiore kicked Carter onto his back and glared at him, watching for any sign of movement.

Tara gulped, “Is he… you know?”

Shiore shook her head, “Still breathing.” She pulled out a kunai knife from her sleeve and made her way over to Carter, “But not for much longer.”

“Hold on a second!” Tara shouted jumping in front of Shiore, extending her arms out to the side blocking Shiore’s path, “Can’t we just think about this for a moment?”

“I’ve had more than enough time to think about this,” Shiore returned raising her knife up to Tara, “The crimes that man has committed are punishable by death, and then some… Now stand aside Ms Tatsumaki.”

Tara shook her head rapidly, “No, if I let you kill him I’m no better than a killer myself! I get that you suspect him for killing a friend of yours, but what if it’s just some sort of misunderstanding?”

“Tara does have a point,” Cole interrupted, “after all you confused Alex for being the person you were after, it’s possible that things aren’t exactly as black and white as they appear to be.”

“At the very least he should be brought in very questioning,” Alex pleaded, “If he is indeed the person you’ve been looking for for all this time then you can do with him what you wish. However, until then I think it would be best if we assume the best and not jump to conclusions,” he walked up to Shiore and extended his hand out to her, “Do we have a deal?”

Shiore took in a deep breath then exhaled before putting her knife away in the folds of her sweater, “Fine… but afterwards, I shall inflict the same torment he inflicted onto that of the Shirayuki,” She looked over to Tara, “got it?”

Tara sighed in relief, “Thanks Sayuri.”

Shiore’s brow twitched, “and for the last time, it’s pronounced ‘Shiore’ she or ray!”

Tara shrugged, “Eh, same thing.”

Shiore growled a bit, “I really don’t like you, you know that?”

“Yeah yeah, get in line sister,” Tara chuckled, “and believe me, it’s a pretty long one.”

---

“My lord…” Spite said hanging her head down, “it appears that Carter has been… defeated.”

Vainglory sighed, “and so it does.”

“My lord I beg you,” Spite pleaded, “please, allow me to retrieve him. I’ll bring him back now matter what I must do!”

“That will not be necessary,” Vainglory proclaimed, “besides, in the state you’re in you would only make the situation worse if you were to go in alone.” He knelt down before Spite and lifted her head up with his right hand, “You needn’t worry about Ryu-O, he’ll be returned to you soon enough… I promise you that.”

“My lord…” Spite said softly, “how are so certain of that?”

“I have allowed more then enough failures in my time. If the gate to the new world is to be opened, we must gather the four keys and place them into the lock ourselves. To guarantee that, the final key must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands,” Vainglory proclaimed as he released his hold on Spite and rose back to his feet, “and I shall see to its return myself.”

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

At the police station Alex, Cole, and Tara sat along the wall of a hall just outside a single door. Shiore leaned against the wall just in front of it looking in through a small window near the top, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot repeatedly against the floor. After a few moments, Marcoh and Sampson walked out from the door and closed it behind them.

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Well?”

Sampson sighed, “It’s as we feared.”

“What’s as you feared?” Tara asked, jumping to her feet.

“That boy,” Marcoh said, clearing his throat, “ is Carter Damon, son of Rylee Damon.”

“Wait, you mean the head of research that resigned a couple months ago?” Cole asked.

“The very same,” Marcoh returned, “and by the way he spoke about her it’s safe to assume that she’s fully aware of what he’s been up to as of late. As a matter of fact that would explain her resignation as well.”

Alex gulped, “Are you suggesting that Ms Damon was…”

“Unfortunately… yes,” Sampson nodded, “Rylee was in someway connected to the dopants.”

“That’s completely irrelevant!” Shiore shouted, all eyes turning on her, “Were you able to make him confess to his crimes?”

“Other than his name, he has told us nothing,” Sampson explained.

“His silence is evidence of his guilt,” Shiore proclaimed. She pushed herself off the wall and stepped over to the door, “I’ll make it quick.”

“Hold on a minute!” Tara shouted, stepping in front of Shiore blocking her path, “Let me talk to him, maybe I can get more out of him.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “How exactly?”

“I have my ways,” Tara said with a smirk, “You may not know this but I can be very persuasive.”

Shiore nodded a bit, “Yeah… keep telling yourself that.”

“Ehem,” Marcoh coughed, “Care to get started now, Ms Archer?” he asked opening the door for the short statured rider.

“Of course, right behind you Johnny Boy,” Tara returned with a small curtsy before stepping through the door, Marcoh rolling his eyes before following her through and closing it behind him.

“Is she always that intoxicating?” Shiore asked.

“Eh, you get used to it,” Cole shrugged, “She’s better than Mr Merde that’s for sure.”

“Merde?” Shiore raised an eyebrow, “That guy must stink.”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Alex said laughing a bit, “That reminds me,” he turned to Shiore, “Back during the fight, any idea what caused Ryu-O to collapse like that?”

“It’s because he attempted a second maximum drive,” Shiore stated, “Which is something that should never be done.”

“A second… maximum drive?” Alex whispered.

“You really don’t know much about this stuff,” Shiore turned to Alex, “do you?”

“Uh, no… not really,” Alex said bluntly blushing a bit, “Maybe you could explain a bit?”

Shiore sighed, “Do you remember the first time you ever activated a gaia memory’s maximum drive? How exactly did you figure out how to it?”

“Yeah, it was back when I became a rider. I was fighting a dopant and…” Alex scratched his head, “It just sort of happened, I guess. Kind of like instinct or something.”

“Exactly,” Shiore stated, “You saw that your enemy was weak so your body acted to finish what you had started.”

“But I had never seen gaia memories before,” Alex explained, “How could I ha-”

“Has a newborn baby ever experienced walking on two legs before?” Shiore asked back, “His mind doesn’t know anything about it, yet his body does. It’s much the same for riders and their maximum drive.”

“Shiore,” Cole interrupted, “I’m sorry, but if you wouldn’t mind me asking, what exactly is maximum drive? I mean, I know what it is, but what exactly is it?”

Shiore looked up to the ceiling, then back to Cole, “Think of it like a miniature atomic blast that’s contained within a highly focused strike. Anything hit with that amount of raw power, well I believe you know the rest.”

“Wait a minute, so how does this relate to Ryu-O collapsing exactly?” Alex demanded.

“Well you see, with that much built up energy naturally a memory’s maximum drive puts an incredible amount of strain on the user’s body,” Shiore explained, “That’s why a single memory can only pull off a successful maximum drive once… or it could destroy you from the inside out.”

On the other side of the door, Tara sat in front of Carter with a white table between the two of them. Marcoh leaned against the door paying close attention to the two.

“I’ve seen you somewhere before, so tell me…Who exactly are you?” Tara said as she placed her hands down on the table, “You can tell, none of the others will ever know.”

Carter raised his right hand and tapped the black collar that was strapped around his neck.

“What? Can’t you talk?” Tara asked raising an eyebrow. Carter continued to tap his collar, Tara quickly taking notice of it, “That collar… is it hurting you or something?”

Carter nodded.

Tara noticed a lock on the collar. She looked to the door behind her, then back to Carter, “Alright, give me a second.”

Tara jumped up from her seat and removed one of the clips in her hair.

Marcoh took a step forward, “Archer, what ar-”

“Just be quiet!” Tara shouted back, “Let me do this… we won’t be able to get anything useful out of him otherwise.”

She then walked over to Carter on the other side of the table and grabbed the collar with on hand and slid her hairclip into the lock with the other.

“You can pick locks now?” Carter asked.

“Now?” Tara returned as she fiddled with the lock, “I’ve always been able to.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “You sure about that?”

Tara grunted, “Look will you just-”

The lock clicked open and the collar unhinged itself from Carter’s neck.

Tara blinked, “Well… how about that,” she grabbed the collar and placed it on the table. “Now then,” she said as she sat back down on the other side of Carter, “I’ll ask you one more time… who the hell are you?”

Carter took a deep breath then looked Tara in the eye, “So you really don’t remember anything… do you Thea?”

Tara’s eyes widened, “... what was that?”

Carter glared at Tara, “That is your name, isn’t it?”

“YOU’RE WRONG!” Tara shouted, slamming her hands down on the table, “Thea doesn’t exist, I’m Tara got it! Tara!”

“Archer!” Marcoh placed his hand on Tara’s shoulder, “Calm yourself.”

Tara looked back to Marcoh, “But-”

“Stand aside,” Marcoh instructed.

Tara sighed and backed away from the table, “fine.”

“Thank you,” Marcoh said, taking Tara’s place at the table. He leaned in closer to Carter, casting a large shadow against the wall behind him. “Now then, who is that you work for young man? Tell me or I’ll be required to use force.”

Carter’s eyes shifted over to the shadow behind Marcoh, the shadow beginning to change from the silhouette of Marcoh to that of a knight in heavy armor with a long dark cloak and six large spikes jutting out of his shoulders. The shadow raised his arm as a single blade formed in his hand, his eyes becoming a deep crimson red.

Back in the hall, Alex, Cole, Sampson and Shiore waited patiently for Marcoh and Tara to finish with Carter.

“AAAHHH!” The four heared cry out of no where.

They jumped to their feet and slammed open the door to the sight of Tara being thrown across the room and into a wall by a black knight standing at the back of the room with Carter at his side, the four of them struck speechless.

“Bastard,” Sampson exclaimed, pulling out his gun and aiming it at the knight.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” The knight proclaimed. He pointed over to the side of the door.

Sampson looked over to beside the door and to his horror found Marcoh bleeding against the wall. “Marcoh!” He shouted as he ran over to the side of subordinate.

“What the hell are you?!” Alex demanded, stepping in front of the two officers.

“You riders ask too many questions,” the knight proclaimed, “but very well, if you must know, my name is Vainglory. If I’m not mistaken, you must be that Kamen Rider I’ve been hearing so much about correct?”

Alex gritted his teeth, “Yeah, what’s it to you?”

“Well that’s simple, it’s everything to me,” Vainglory proclaimed, “For you see young rider, you and your gang of miscreants have been causing quite a bit of trouble for me and my organization. More recently you’ve been the target of one of my ex-commanders. Though to be fair Fury was always a hand full.”

Alex’s eyes widened, “Fury? You’re a friend of Fury!”

Vainglory chuckled, “Not sure if ‘friend’ is the word I would use, but I knew he existed… once.”

“Then I’ll kill you!” Alex shouted, pulling out his Star and Runner memories as his driver materialized around his driver materialized around his waist.

Vainglory raised his arm and swiped it through the air in front of him, causing the entire room to rumble in such a way that all but he and Carter were knocked to the ground.

“There is a time and place for everything little one,” Vainglory proclaimed, “but now is not that time.” He raised his hand to the ceiling, “We’ll be in touch… Kamen Rider.”

“Like hell we will!” Alex shouted clawing his way to his feet, “Get back here!”

Alex charged after Vainglory, but before Alex came anywhere close to him Vainglory snapped his fingers causing himself and Carter vanish before Alex’s very eyes, resulting in the young rider falling flat on his face against the wall on the other side of the room.

“Damn it!” Alex shouted, punching the wall in front of him, “Not again! Why do I always let them get away!”

“Chief?” Marcoh said gasping for air.

“Marcoh!” Sampson cried out, “are you alright?”

“I’ll live,” Marcoh said with a grin, “But... I think it’s time.”

“You’re right...” Sampson nodded looking over to Alex, “He’s ready.”

---

Vainglory warped back into his chamber, Carter still by his side.

“Carter!” Rylee cried out as she ran up and wrapped her arms around her child, “Thank god you’re alright.”

“It wasn’t much trouble,” Vainglory proclaimed, “Those riders are nothing, not sure why Fury had such a hard time with them.”

“It’s because he was a spineless coward,” A voice called out.

Rylee and Vainglory turned to the source of the voice to find a man with silver hair standing before them by the door.

“Joel…” Rylee said softly, “what are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ask you the same question,” Joel proclaimed taking a few steps towards Rylee, “Only now I see that you’ve gone and gotten Carter involved in all this. You’ve certainly reached a new low haven’t you?”

“You’re one to talk, “Rylee shouted back, “What kind of father endangers the life of their own daughter by forcing her to fight!”

In one quick motion, Joel raised his hand a struck Rylee across her cheek, “Last I checked... she was your daughter too wasn’t she?”

“Enough with this meaningless strife,” Vainglory demanded. Joel and Rylee turned to face Vainglory, “You went off the grid for almost an entire decade Inertia… So why is it that now you choose to return to the fold?”

“You want to know why?” Joel asked, “... because the dream must end.”

To be continued

{Insert Ending Theme - I’ll Believe}

[guncannon109]

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

The riders take a moment to recover as the hunt for Ryu-O continues.

What trials do the riders face now that Vainglory has revealed himself?

and where exactly does Joel's loyalty lie?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 23: Calm Before the Storm
Vainglory, who's dream do you wish to fulfill?

[guncannon109]

Episode 23: Calm Before the Storm

Alex stood in the center of an empty street. The destruction of buildings and cars surrounded him as the sky burned in a hue of crimson red.

A strong wind blew from both sides of him as two riders charged towards each other, sword in hand and clashed their blades together.

Alex looked at the two riders and instantly recognized them.

“Yuki?... Ryu-O?” He thought to himself, “Wait, if they’re here then that mean,” he surveyed his surroundings before returning his focus back to the two riders that were engaged in combat before him, “Shiore! Carter! You two need to stop this!” he shouted as he tried to move his feet, however they seemed to be bound to the ground he stood on, “I can’t move… what’s going on?”

The two fought in a state of deadlock for a long while before the the seemed to tire each other out and they both fell back out of breath. The two readied to charge at each other once again however at that moment a giant laser blast came from out of nowhere and struck the ground between the two riders, engulfing them in the blast and knocking him to the ground.

As the smoke cleared, two neon green eyes lit up as a dark figure emerged from the fallout of the blast aiming a gun at Alex.

Alex clawed his way to his feet and took off down a near by alleyway. He turned a corner and rested on a trash can.

“Xtreme,” a voice called out. Alex looked in front of him and saw a figure clad in white armor wearing a butterfly shaped mask standing before him, “The devil draws near, he will
destroy your world… be sure you’re ready to face him.”

“Wait, what?” Alex asked as the figure faded away almost as quickly as it had appeared. “What do you mean by devil?” He sighed and hit the lid of the trash can he was leaning on.

He then turned around to the sight of the green eyes of the figure that had been chasing him.

"Pity," the green eyed figure said switching his gun into a sword, "I honestly thought that at least you would be able to defeat me." He raised his sword for one final strike, “No matter, I’m sure you’ll fare better in the next life.”

Alex fell to the ground before shutting his eyes and bracing himself for the impact. He then reopened them to see the alleyway had replaced by his bedroom and himself on the floor.

He looked around his room and rested his eyes at the doorway to see Cole standing just outside the door.

“About time you got up,” Shiore said.

“Shiore?...” Alex asked in a daze while rubbing his eyes, “What time is it?”

“Seven o five,” Shiore returned, “day one schedule.”

“Seven o five...” Alex said yawning, “I don't have class until nine forty-five. Go on without me.”

Shiore counted to three on her fingers.

“Wait...” Alex added turning back to Cole, “Did you say day one schedule?”

“Yep,” Cole returned with a sigh.

Alex stared blankly at the ceiling for a second, after about three seconds his eyes widened. “...Oh my god.”

“Oh crap, Mr. Merde is gonna kill me if I’m late again!” Alex shouted jumping out of bed. He stopped for a moment and looked over to Shiore, “... um.”

Shiore blinked, “what?”

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

Alex stood in front of a mirror brushing his teeth excessively fast. He stopped for a moment and banged his head against the bathroom mirror. “What's wrong with the world?”

“I'm going on ahead!” Shiore shouted back to Alex while opening the front door to Alex's apartment.

“Okay.” Alex replied.

“Try not to be too late this time,” Shiore added before walking out the front door, “makes the rest of the team look bad when one member can’t even make it to class on time.”

“Hey, I'm never...” Alex began while running out of the bathroom, “that late...” Alex surveyed the room to find that Shiore had already left. “Woah… talk about deja vu”

Toast popped out of the toaster. Alex grabbed it immediately “Ha ha hot,” he said fumbling it a bit. Alex dropped the toast on a plate, spread peanut butter over it and headed for the door.

Alex then grabbed his bag and opened the front door and stopped for a second. He looked over to the picture on the mantle. “Bye mom, I'll see you later.” He said before walking out the front door of his apartment and down a flight of stairs to the street below.

He looked down the street in front of him and saw Shiore hadn’t gotten very far. “Hey wait up!” He shouted catching up to her.

Shiore turned around as Alex ran up to her side, “That was quick.”

“INCOMING!” A voice shouted from behind him.

Alex looked behind him to see Tara on roller blades hurling towards the two of them.

In one quick motion Shiore pushed Alex out of the way and grabbed Tara by her wrist swinging her around until the two were right in the other’s faces, “Gensoku shite... kudasai.”

“Uh… thank you?” Tara said shaking a little.

Shiore let go of Tara, Tara stumbling a bit as she regained her balance.

Shiore sighed, “Baka.”

Tara tilted her head to one side, “What exactly does that mean again?”

“Special,” Shiore returned, “As in a very special person.”

“Oh… Thanks, good to know someone out there’s sees it besides me!” Tara exclaimed with her usual smirk. “Anyway, we’d love to stay and chat but we’ve gotta jet,” She turned on her heel and took off down the street, “Catch ya’ you later Super Snow Stars!”

Alex’s eye twitched, “If she thinks that’s actually what baka means than she really is one.”

Shiore snorted for a split second.

Alex looked over to Shiore, "What was that?"

"I sneezed," Shiore said avoiding eye contact with Alex.

"Oh..." Alex returned, "Well, that's one weird sneeze."

"Let's just go," Shiore demanded as she walked ahead of Alex, “Cole said you had something you needed to take care of before school started?”

“Oh yeah, I never told you did I?” Alex returned, “every morning I go for a twenty lap run around the track before school starts.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Why is that?”

“I used to do it with a friend of mine,” Alex said as his eyes began to tear up, “however she…” he gulped, “Isn’t around much anymore… but I still keep to the schedule she laid out for me. As a reminder of all the good times we spent together, and the bad.”

“That’s pretty noble of you,” Shiore said, as she turned on her heel and continued down the road, “I’m sure that friend of yours is happy… wherever she is now.”

“Try to keep up,” a voice echoed in Alex’s head, “because I won’t slow down for you.”

“I will,” Alex nodded before running after Shiore, “count on it."

---

Sampson sat in his office looking over a few files, with several others in boxes lining the floor.

He threw the file in his hand down on his desk, “After so many years… why now does he choose to return?”

The door cracked open as Marcoh walked in with his arm in a sling.

“Chief?” Marcoh asked closing the door behind him, “Everything alright in here?”

“I wish I could say,” Sampson sighed, “But with the chaos that’s been going on in past couple of days it’s hard for me to tell. Poor kids, no one especially children should have to go through what they’ve been through. What makes it worse is that I can’t get help but feel that things are only going to get worse for them.”

“I know what you mean. Feels like just yesterday Alice was doing everything she could to make sure that kid was safe, now he’s in the same position she was,” Marcoh added leaning against the wall behind him, “Time moves so fast it’s hard to keep track of it all… and all we can do as adults is make sure the next generation is ready to pick up where we left off.”

“Very true my friend,” Sampson said with a somber tone to his voice. “Which is precisely why…” Sampson reached under his desk and pulled out a black brief case similar to the one he gave Alex the day he received the X Driver, “the time has come for this to come into play. After all, you said that yourself right?”

“Indeed I did,” Marcoh nodded, “and the boy has indeed proven himself if I do say so myself.”

“Agreed,” Sampson returned, “However, the shadows grow strong… and I’m certain they won’t remain dormant for much longer.”

---

At META headquarters, Vainglory stood in the shadow of several large pillars as Joel and Spite stood on the landing below him.

“I shall ask you one final time Inertia,” he proclaimed turning to his former commander, “Why now do you choose to return?”

“I already told you,” Inertia replied, “the dream we shared when META was established must end… No matter the cost.”

“I see,” Vainglory said avoiding eye contact with Joel, “So you’d risk the lives of the innocent to achieve this selfish goal of yours?” He disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind Joel, “Or have you forgotten the very reason why META was formed in the first place?”

“Indeed I do,” Joel sighed, “We both realized back in those ruins… we realized that this world was rotting away, we knew that humanity was doomed if something was not done soon. That’s why we formed META, to assure that change was made by any means necessary,” he turned to face Vainglory and looked him in the eye, “However what you plan to do to save this world is unacceptable. If Alice were here, she’d never allow you to get away with what you’ve done.”

“Save this world Joel?” Vainglory laughed, “Is that what you think I’m attempting to do?... on the contrary, the world I seek is not this one, but another. One where there is no fear, no hatred and most of all no one has to die.”

Joel smirked, “So even after all these years, you’re still only a child.”

“What was that?” Vainglory demanded.

“It figures as much. You still don’t understand that no matter how powerful you become you’re still only human,” Joel proclaimed, “You can’t bring the dead back to life my old friend… no matter how hard you try.”

Spite held out her hand as a red ball of energy formed in her palm, “You barge in here, uninvited, insult our intentions and now you dare speak to Lord Vainglory in such a tone? I’ll have you killed for this you worthless little-”

“Hold your fire Spite,” Vainglory instructed, placing his arm between Spite and Inertia, “I’m curious though Inertia… what’s the true reason for you coming here?”

“I’ve prepared the riders as much as I can… now I merely wish to watch as things unfold,” Joel proclaimed, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Vainglory raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure that’s the only reason?”

“Yes,” Joel nodded, “This is not my fight so I shall let the pieces fall where they may.”

Vainglory smirked, “Then you shall have it.”

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

Alex stood on the roof of the school, a cool breeze rushing over him. He heard a quiet flapping sound which ended with a small ding against a metal surface. He turned around to see Kree perched on the rail opposite him.

“Kree?” Alex asked. He then grunted and turned away from the bird, “What do you want?”

“I merely wish to talk,” Kree stated, “Are you be able to spare a moment?”

Alex sighed, “Sure... what is it?”

“It’s nothing major,” Kree proclaimed, “But I’m beginning to sense an unusual amount of tension between the three of you ever since Yuki and Ryu-O. I was wondering, would you have any theories as to why this could be?”

“I can’t say,” Alex returned, “Why not ask Tara?”

“Well, there’s a slight problem with that,” Kree lowered his head a bit, “The girl for whatever reason cannot hear me… I’m not entirely sure why but I believe it has something to do with her inability to allow anyone to get too close to her.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alex asked.

“My partners heart is tricky to understand,” Kree explained, “It’s like a storm that refuses to die down and is always shifting, refusing to let anyone in to resolve it. I had hoped that with time, she would allow at least someone to get close to her, but sadly this has not come to pass.”

“What about Cole?” Alex asked back, “Didn’t you say that he was getting close to her?”

“Indeed he is,” Kree sighed, “But the closer that boy gets, the more he is pushed away.”

“I see…” Alex said balling his hand into a fist, “Isn’t there anything we can do to help her?”

“Brave youth, I am most certain that there is… though it pains me to say that I don’t know it,” Kree proclaimed, “all I can say for sure is that memory is the key.”

“Memory is the key…” Alex repeated.

“Alex?” A voice called out.

Alex turned around to see Shiore standing directly behind him.

“Oh... Shiore,” He said with a jump in his voice, “You really need to stop sneaking up on people you know that?”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “Who were you talking to?”

“Oh, I was…” Alex turned back around to the rail only to notice that Kree had vanished, “... he left?”

“Are you alright?” Shiore asked.

“Yeah, perfectly fine,” Alex said turning back to Shiore, “How’d you know I was up here anyway?” Shiore pointed to Alex’s shoulder as a small white wolf poked it’s head out of his sweater.

“I placed a tracker on the three of you a while ago,” Shiore stated as she quickly turned away from Alex and headed for the door to the roof of the station, “thought it would be best to keep a close eye on you.”

Alex blinked, “Oh… I see. A trick like that must be pretty handy I guess.”

“It has it’s uses,” Shiore said as she leaned against the fence. She raised an eyebrow, “Hey, that tower over there… what exactly is it?” she asked pointing to a large structure in the distance.

Alex looked to what Shiore was pointing to, “Oh, that’s Ardent Tower. It’s the tallest structure in the city, it’s actually a centerpiece to the whole thing really. Believe it or not there’s actually an entire network of ecologically clean generators that supply power to the entire city.”

“Alright,” Shiore returned taking her first step down the stairs. She stopped for a moment, “Also, you don’t need to thank me… for anything. If I remember correctly it was designed by an architect named Kirito-”

“Fubuki,” Shiore interrupted, “Kirito Fubuki… he was my father’s brother.”

“Wow, that sure is one hell of a legacy,” Alex proclaimed resting on the fence beside Shiore, “I wonder though, what exactly was he like?”

“He left for the west before I was born, so I didn’t know him very well,” Shiore sighed, “Still… glad to know he’s doing alright.”

“Must be difficult being so far away from home, huh?” Alex said looking down to the ground a bit, “But, you’ll see your folks again someday.” He smiled and placed his hand on Shiore’s shoulder, “Besides, with social networking it’s not like you’re completely cut off from them right?”

Shiore slapped Alex’s hand off her shoulder and stepped away from the fence.

“Uh… did I say something wrong?” Alex asked.

“Sorry… it’s just that I need to be getting back to class now,” Shiore returned as she headed for the door to the roof, “You should too… if you don’t want to be late.”

“Oh yeah,” Alex said to himself, “Uh, thanks I guess.”

“I already told you,” Shiore’s hand twitched, “you don’t need to thank me… for anything.”

“Huh?” Before Alex could respond Shiore had already disappeared as if she was never even there to begin with. Alex blinked, “... Was it something I said?”

---

An hour or two later, Alex sat at his desk in his fourth period math class. The bell rang as several students shuffled in and took their seats. Alex looked over his shoulder to the empty desk behind him, for some odd reason this made him feeling a little uneasy.

“She not showing up today?” Cole asked taking his seat in front of Alex.

Alex shrugged, “She was here at lunch, heck I even talked to her for a bit.”

“You say something to piss her off?” Cole asked once again, “You never were that good in conversation, especially when it came to girls.”

Alex slammed his fist on his desk, “THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!”

“I’m joking,” Cole chuckled, “Though it is rather odd that Shiore of all people would skip. She’s only been here for about a week and yet she hasn’t missed a single class, even when she was trying to kill us.”

Alex sighed, “That’s the part I’m worried about.”

“Maybe she’s just really stressed out,” Cole suggested, “I know I’d be after what she’s been through the past couple of days.”

“WELL OF COURSE SHE IS!” Tara shouted as she popped her head into the open window of the class.

“GAH!” Alex screamed, “Tara, what the hell are you doing here?”

“My class got boring, so I came to see what you guys were up to,” Tara proclaimed leaning against the ledge of the window. “And it looks to me like we showed up just in the nick of time.”

“How exactly are you even staying up here?” Cole asked.

“Tree branch,” Tara returned, “Anyway, that’s not important right now. We gotta find a way to defrost the ice queen and luckily I know how to do it!”

“Darwin! Desmond! Keep it down over there!” Ms Foster shouted.

“Oh boy, looks like you two got yourselves into big trouble,” Tara laughed, she let go of the ledge and ran off down a row of tree branches by the window, “We’ll catch ya later once you get out of jail cirimals!”

Alex’s eye twitched, “... what just happened?”

Cole sighed, “I’ll go and knock some sense into her later.”

“Yeah, you go do that,” Alex nodded, “God knows somebody has to.”

After that bit of excitement, Alex and Cole worked on their work along with the rest of the class. About an hour and a half later the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Alex and Cole made their way to the door and down the hall. The two soon came to a fork in the hall.

“I need to go to my locker,” Alex said pointing down the right hallway, “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Kay, see ya,” Cole waved proceeding down the hall to the left.

“Yeah later,” Alex returned before going down the other.

Alex walked down the hall until he came to his locker on the right hand side. He removed the lock, opened up the door, put his books into his locker, grabbed his bag and closed the door again putting the lock back on it immediately after.

Upon closing the door he looked up and saw Tara right in his face.

“Gah!” He jumped, “How many times do I need to tell you to stop doing that!”

“Yeah yeah, over nine thousand I got that,” Tara said waving her hand in front of Alex’s face, “So, getting back to what we were talking about in class I know the perfect way to defrost Sayuri.”

“Her name is Shiore,” Alex butted in.

“Whatever like I was saying,” Tara continued completely ignoring what Alex just said, “I was thinking we take that poor girl out for some fun at my personal favorite place in the whole world, the Cat’s Eye Cafe.”

“The Cat’s Eye?” Alex asked raising an eyebrow, “I’m not sure that Shiore would be very interested in something like that.”

“Ah shows what you know,” Tara exclaimed slapping Alex in the back, “Listen, once you’ve tried what the Cat’s Eye has to offer no one, not even that sour wolf Shiore would be able to hold themselves back! Besides, it’ll be fun for all of us so what do ya say? How about we go tomorrow after school?”

“Actually, you do have a point there,” Alex said thinking for a moment, “Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I’ll ask Shiore and see if she would like to go with you.”

“With you?” Tara raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean you?”

“Well…” Alex scratched the back of his neck, “I was kind of planning to the library to do a bit of research on… personal stuff.”

“Aww! Man that sucks!” Tara grunted, “Fine, I guess two will work just as good as three.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh… nothing,” Tara said as her face turned a bright red.

“Tara,” Alex demanded.

Tara sighed, “Okay fine, you see I told my dad that I’d be bringing some customers by tomorrow and well… He got all excited and started preparing special menu for it.” She clapped her hands together, “So, could you possibly reschedule that trip maybe?”

“Sorry, has to be tomorrow,” Alex returned, “If I don’t do it tomorrow I’ll just end up putting it off and then it will never get done.”

“Alright, I see you’re point,” Tara sighed, “Oh well,” she added regaining her usual smirk, “A party is still a party, even with only two guests!”

---

Back at the police station, Sampson was putting the filing cabinets in his office back together when the door opened and Marcoh stepped in.

“I’m heading out now,” Marcoh said grabbing Sampson’s attention.

“Alright, be careful out there,” Sampson returned.

“Don’t worry I will,” Marcoh assured him stepping back into the hall and shutting the door.

A few seconds passed before Sampson ran over to the door of his office and stepped out into the hall, “Marcoh wait a minute!”

Marcoh stopped and turned back to Sampson.

“Do you think… what we’re doing is right?” Sampson asked.

Marcoh turned back around, “In a world like this it’s hard to tell… the difference between right and wrong,” he said in a somber tone, “All that we can do is what we think is best.”

Sampson nodded, “True.”

Marcoh smirked and shook his head, “You worry too much.” He opened the front door of the station and made his way outside closing the door behind him.

“Thanks Marcoh,” Sampson said with a grin, “I needed that.”

Sampson made his way back to his office. He opened the door to the sight of a young man with black hair making his way out the window. Sampson reached for his gun.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” The young man said pointing a black twin barreled blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights, “You see this treasure is mine… and I intend to keep it that way.” The thief spun the blaster around in his hand, “Catch ya later.”

The thief jumped out the window as Sampson ran over to him. He looked out the window in search of the thief but couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Damn it!” He shouted punching the ledge of the window. He pulled a small radio out from his pocket, “Attention all available units, a highly classified piece of equipment has just been stolen from ACPD HQ. Suspect appears to be rather young and of Japanese descent with black hair wearing a brown cargo jacket. He is armed and extremely dangerous… proceed with caution.”

---

Alex opened the door to his apartment, stepped through it, threw his bag onto the couch and closed the door behind him.

“Gah, what a day!” He sighed as he made his way to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of pop out of the fridge. He slumped back to the living room, collapsed onto the coach and switched on the tv, “Man, I’ll never understand women no matter how hard I try.”

“Well if you give up that easily you never will,” A voice called out.

Alex looked over to a large shelf where he kept his DVD collection to see Shiore standing in front of it. His eyes widening, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!”

Shiore looked to Alex then back to the shelf, “Your DVDs are a mess… Seriously who organized this? You have Azumanga Daioh and Zeta Gundam next to Rosario to Vampire and School Days… why do you even have School Days anyway?” she asked rearranging the various DVDs in alphabetical order, “Hm? Hey, what’s this?” She picked up a somewhat large pastel colored box and read off the title on the top, “Ma-do-ka Ma-gi-ca…”

Alex ran over to Shiore and grabbed the box from Shiore, “That one is… personal.”

Shiore raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

“It was a gift… from someone that’s very important to me,” Alex said avoiding eye contact with Shiore, “Oh, that reminds me,” he turned to Shiore and looked her in the eye, “Tara asked me to ask you if you were interested in going with her and Cole to this cafe she keeps going on about. It’s called the Cat’s Eye I think.”

“A Cafe huh?” Shiore asked, “I don’t know, I don’t really care for that kind of stuff… Plus I find that girl to be kind of a pain.”

“Oh come on,” Alex pleaded, “Just this once?”

“Alright fine I’ll go,” Shiore said crossing her arms, “But on one condition.”

“and what would that be?” Alex asked.

Shiore held up the Madoka Magica box set, “I want to watch this, right now.”

Alex’s jaw dropped, “... serious?”

“Dead,” Shiore returned, “Is there a problem?”

“No, of course not,” Alex said taking the box from Shiore and walking over to the TV, “I just didn’t expect you to be interested in this kind of stuff.”

“Fair enough,” Shiore said sitting down on the couch, “but maybe you shouldn’t judge people before you get to know them.”

“That’s for sure,” Alex laughed a bit, “Now I’m gonna warn you, this one gets rather… dark let’s say… like really dark.”

Shiore shrugged, “Can’t be any darker than the world we live in.”

“Good point,” Alex returned opening up the DVD player, “Okay then, let’s get this show on the road then.”

---

A young man with a twin-lense magenta camera stood on the outskirts of Ardent City, a white cruiser style motorcycle with magenta highlights parked directly behind him.

He took a shot of the cityscape, “So this is the World of Xtreme,” he said letting the camera drop down on the strap around his neck, “A world of five riders, each based on an element of nature… I wonder how much of that is true.” He hoped on his motorcycle and put his helmet on, “Guess I’ll find out soon enough.”

To be continued

{Insert Ending Theme - I’ll Believe}

[guncannon109]

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme:

Four travellers arrive in Ardent City.

Who are they?

Where did they come from?

What do they plan to do?

All will be decided when Kamen Rider Xtreme continues with episode 24: The Travellers
Stranger... what are you?

[guncannon109]

Episode 24: The Travellers

In the dead of night, a cold wind blew over Ardent City. The alarm sounded at a laboratory as a young man leapt over a tall fence with a briefcase in hand. Several police officers charged out from the building after him.

"Getting all worked up over it?" The young man smirked, "This treasure must really be something then."

"There he is, get him!" One of the guards said as he noticed the thief.

The thief pulled out a black blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights and spun it around in his hand, "Well, I guess I could humor them." He pulled out a card and slid it into the side of his blaster and cocked it once.

"Kamen Ride," The blasted called out as he held it above his head.

"Henshin!" The man exclaimed as he pulled back on the trigger.

"DiEnd!" The blaster called out as a black and blue jumpsuit with black blocky armour materialized around the thief.

"They never make it easy do they?" The thief thought as he was surrounded by guards.

Sirens and spotlights blared down on the thief as helicopters hovered over top of him.

"We have you surrounded," A guard stated over a megaphone, "Stand down or we shall be forced to use force."

"Well, I guess that's enough excitement for one night," The thief said as he pulled out a card and slid it into his blaster. He raised the blaster to a guard which stood in front of him.

"Stand down now!" The guard from the helicopter shouted.

The thief chuckled cocking his blaster. "Attack Ride," His blaster called out.

"See you around boys," He said pulling back on the trigger.

"Invisible!" The blaster called out as the thief disappeared into thin air.

“Damn it!" An officer shouted punching the air in front of him.

An officer on the ground blinked his eyes,"Spread out, he couldn't have gotten far!"

"Yes sir, right away sir," Several guards said all at once.

The commander growled, "I want that bastard found!"

{Insert Opening Theme - Journey Through the Decade}

Tara skipped along down the sidewalk with Cole and Shiore not far behind her.

"Alright, we're just about there!" Tara shouted back to them, "I swear this place is the absolute
best! Sayuri, this is just what you need to get you mind out of the gutter."

Shiore dragged her feet along "It's nice for you to treat me Archer, but I don't-"

"No buts!" Tara exclaimed shove her open hand into Shiore's face, "and haven't I told you already to lay of the Archer crap? You can just call me Tara."

"Sorry if I have offended you," Shiore said bowing her head, " ... T-Tara."

Tara raised an eyebrow, "What, you didn't offend me? Why must you be so uptight all the time? Lighten up and have some fun for once!"

"Sorry," Shiore said bowing to Tara again, "I'll do what I can."

Tara gave Shiore a big grin, "That's better."

Shiore looked back at Tara, "and while we're on the subject, it's Shiore not Sayuri."

"But Sayuri sounds so much cuter!" Tara exclaimed.

"Well to me Archer sounds better than Tara," Shiore retorted.

"But... that's not my name," Tara blinked her eyes.

"and..." Shiore said crossing her arms and tilting her head.

"Yeah, yeah whatever, I see your point," Tara sighed. "Anyway, to each her own I guess."

"Hey girls!" Cole shouted from up ahead, "It's just up ahead!"

"Oh, right coming!" Tara shouted back, "Shall we go She-or-ray?"

"Yes..." Shiore said walking past Tara, "Archer." She adding as she ran off towards Cole.

"Hey, I thought we had an agreement!" Tara exclaimed chasing after her.

Shiore and Cole stood outside a small building as Tara ran up to join them and slammed into a pole before falling over onto the ground.

"Actually, I think Tara-Baka might work better," Shiore whispered to herself.

"You alright?" Cole asked reaching his hand out to Tara to help her up.

"Peachy!" Tara returned grabbing Cole's hand and pulling herself off the ground.

"This is it right?" Cole asked.

"Yeah..." Tara panted before standing back up again, "Fellow Riders, welcome to the Cat's Eye! The finest cafe in all of ardent, neigh the world!"

Tara went on and on about how great the place was as Shiore looked over to a sign in the window, "Hikari Studios?" she thought to herself, "Must be a shared building."

"Yeah, that's great. Can we go inside now?" Cole asked trying to hurry up Tara's pace.

"You're right, I should know better than to keep the finest from you two any longer," Tara shouted as she went for the front door, "Come on Shiore, heaven is calling!" She exclaimed as she charged through the door.

Cole shrugged, "Can't stop Tara from being Tara."

Shiore sighed, "That's one way of putting it."

"WHA!" Tara yelled to the horror of her favorite cafe being replaced by what appeared to be a photography studio, "You there!" Tara shouted to a young woman behind a desk, "EXPLAIN THIS, RIGHT NOW!"

The woman blinked her eyes, "Um, come again?"

"Don't you 'Come again' me!" Tara yelled as she stormed up to the woman and slammed her hands down on the desk, "This was the Cat's Eye Cafe yesterday! Where is it?!"

"Tara, calm down," Cole said placing his hand on Tara's shoulder, "Please don't mind her, we'll just be going now."

"The Cat's Eye was the best!" Tara cried out, "Their cakes were to die for, and the coffee, oh the coffee was simply out of this world!"

"We've got Coffee," An elderly man said peering out from a hallway on the right side of the room.

Tara wiped her tears from her face, "Is it any good?"

"Yes," the old man nodded, "Come this way, I'll get some for you."

Tara took in a deep breath, "... YAHOO!"

---

Alex sat at a table in the Ardent City central library. He had pulled several books off the shelves which sat in a large stacks beside him.

He flipped through multiple pages only schimming some of them, "Devil, devil..." He slammed the book shut, "Nothing. Man you think that guy could've been more specific with that warning of his." He thought for a second and tried to recall the warning, "The devil draws near, he will destroy your world." The image of his dream flashed in his mind.

"Need help finding anything?" a voice called out.

"Hmm?" Alex turned to see a young man with a magenta twin-lens reflex camera around his neck leaning on the table a few feet away from him, "Oh no, thank you I'm fine."

"Myths and Legends, Elemental Fables, The Ragnarok Connection," The man said reading off some of the books Alex had pulled off the shelves, "Rather interesting choices."

"Are you looking for something?" Alex asked the man.

"Yes actually," The man stated.

"Well, what is it?" Alex barked at him, "I'm kind of busy here."

The man sighed, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find information on strange events going on recently would you?"

"Strange events?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," The man returned, "I'm doing a bit of research on the riders of this city and it would help to have a few leads?"

Alex thought for a second "Riders?... wait, do you mean Kamen Rider?"

"Yes," The man confirmed, "The one they call X and the four elemental riders that fight along side him. Gale, Rock, Yuki and Ryu-O."

"Uhh..." Alex paused for a moment, "I'm not sure where you got your information but they mostly fight each other, fight Ryu-O I mean."

"Oh, I see," The man said, "Sorry, my mistake. Alex Darwin." The man said as he began to walk away.

"Wait," Alex said jumping out of his chair, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"I am just a photographer that's passing through," The young man said as he turned to face Alex, "My name... is Tsukasa, Kadoya Tsukasa. There are a few things that I would like to discuss with you."

"Me?" Alex asked pointing at himself.

Tsukasa nodded, "and if you may, I would like to know a little more about your city."

"Uh, sure..." Alex looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to them.

Tsukasa sighed, "Too crowded?"

"Uhh..." Alex stood puzzled.

"No trouble," Tsukasa said gesturing towards the door, "Come on, we'll discuss this elsewhere."

"Okay, where?" Alex asked.

"Let's just go," Tsukasa instructed.

Alex blinked his eyes, "Alright fine," He said grabbing his sweater, "It's close by right?"

---

Cole, Tara and Shiore sat with the young woman from the front desk around a small table. The old man approached them with a tray with five coffee cups.

"Allow me to introduce myself," The old man said as he placed the tray on the table, "I am Hikari Eijiro, and this is my daughter Hikari Natsumi."

"So you're Japanese then?" Cole asked.

"Japanese?" Tara shouted, "That's awesome Mr. Eijiro and Ms. Natsumi! Sayuri here is Japanese as well!"

"Have you two lived here for a while or did you just move here?" Shiore asked.

"Oh, we're just visiting," Eijiro smiled, "Now please, enjoy your coffee."

"AWESOMENESS!" Tara shouted grabbing the first cup, Cole and Shiore grabbing one for themselves shortly after.

Tara paused for a second before drinking any, "Um, excuse me sir. What's with the extra cup?"

"I thought your friend might want a bit of a drink as well," Eijiro said with a slight grin.

"Uh..." Tara puzzled.

"Your little bird friend," Eijiro said back.

Tara looked over her shoulder as Kree's head popped out from under the jacket she had on.

"Uh, I don't think he'd like coffee," Tara said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I see," Eijiro said bowing his head a bit, "Never mind then." He added as he disappeared
into the back room.

Tara shrugged and began to drink from her cup.

"I'll just take the extra one back," Natsumi said reaching for the cup.

Just then the room was filled by the sound of the front being opened and quickly closed.

"I'm home!" A male voice called out from out in the hall.

Tara slammed her cup down on the table, "Man that's good!"

"Oh, I see we have guests," A young man said as he turned the corner.

"Welcome back Yuusuke," Natsumi said to him.

"Oh, there's coffee," Yuusuke said as he reached for a cup only to have his hand swatted out of the way by Tara.

Tara growled back at Yuusuke as she swiped the cup away from him.

Yuusuke blinked, "I take it you like the coffee." Yuusuke walked around the table and sat down in between Natsumi and Shiore, "That's good, enjoy it."

Shiore held her cup in front of Yuusuke.

"..." Yuusuke paused for a moment. He pointed to the cup, "You don't want it?"

Shiore said nothing and simply shook her head.

"Okay," Yuusuke said taking the cup from her, "thank you."

Tara slammed her cup on the table, "Ah!" She then eyed the cup in front of Natsumi, "... you gonna drink that?"

Natsumi slid the cup towards Tara.

Tara's eyes widened along with a big grin, "Awesome!"

---

"So... you're a photographer?" Alex asked eyeing Tsukasa's camera trying to stir up a conversation.

"Yes," Tsukasa returned avoiding eye contact.

"I see... you any good?" Alex said scratching the back of his neck, "Then, what exactly were you doing at the library?"

"Volunteer work, apparently," Tsukasa stated.

"Hm, interesting," Alex returned, "... So, you from around here?"

Tsukasa looked up at the sky for a second, "Not exactly." He turned back to Alex, "Now then, how about we get on to the matter at hand?"

"Oh, alright," Alex returned. "Well, there are currently five riders that I know of. There's the first one X who showed up a little while ago. He seems to be the most versatile of the group with three different forms ranging from hand to hand to mid-range and long-range weapons.

"A well rounded fighter I see," Tsukasa added. "A good trait, what about the others?"

"Well there's Gale, she was the second," Alex stated. "She appears to be modeled after a bird of some kind though I'm not exactly to sure which. Not to mention she tends to get a little carried away when fighting."

"So she's a loose cannon," Tsukasa said bluntly, "I've met a few of those. You're not exactly to sure where their loyalty lies."

"Isn't that a pain," Alex said with a light chuckled. "So, next would be Rock I guess. Not much to say other then he's a strong fighter with an even stronger heart. He's a rider with power and knows when and when not to use it."

"A rare trait," Tsukasa proclaimed. "But I suppose it's a good one."

"Third would be Yuki," Alex said. "Talk about an ice queen. There's not much I can say about her because there's really not much known about her, she's very secretive and doesn't really talk all that much. I guess you could say that she's a strong and precise fighter, and she whenever she swings that blade of her's she aims to kill."

"Interesting," Tsukasa said quietly, "Think I've run into at least one person like that... once. What about Ryu-O then?"

"That one is... complicated," Alex stated. "He seems to be rather hostile towards the others. Like he shares the same mentality as the average dopant only... he's slightly different. I just don't know."

"Oh, I see," Tsukasa said, "I'll give you a moment to think about that. You can tell me when you've put your thoughts together in a form that makes sense to you."

The two walked along in silence for a few seconds.

Alex looked around for a bit until finally deciding to open his mouth again, "So, anyway-"

At that second a man in a black trench coat stepped out in front of them.

"Your end is now... Kamen Rider," The man said to the two as he held out a memory and hit the button below the label.

"Glitch!" The memory called out as he rammed it into the back of his head and his appearance changed from a normal person to a mechanical bug like creature.

"Damn it, why now?" Alex thought to himself. He looked around to find that Tsukasa was nowhere to seen, "Where did he..." he thought to himself, he shook his head "doesn't matter right now."

He reached into his pocket a grabbed the Star and Runner memories as his driver materialized around his waist. He then pulled out the Star and Runner memories and slammed them into the corresponding slots on the belt.

The Dopant growled at them as Alex glared back at him.

"Henshin!" Alex shouted as he split the slots apart.

"Star! Runner!" The driver called out as black and red armour formed around Alex.

"Let's make this quick," Alex said cracking his knuckles.

"Yes... let's," Glitch said back with a growl as he charged towards Alex.

Alex punched Glitch in the face as the Dopant charged through him and dragged the two of them across the street. Alex broke free of Glitch's grip and jumped a few feet back.

"Going to need an edge here," Alex said as he pulled out the Star memory and replaced it with Blade.

"Blade! Runner!" His driver called out as Blade's armour formed around the top half of Alex's body.

"So he's a combo changer," Tsukasa thought to himself, "A rare one."

Alex sliced at the Dopant and managed to push it back a bit, but to ill effect.

"Well, I guess it's my turn," Tsukasa said as he re-appeared out of nowhere. He pulled out a device that resembled a camera and slapped it onto his waist as a belt strap wrapped around him.

Alex turned his attention to Tsukasa as he pulled out a card from a book attached to his belt.
"Tsukasa..." Alex gawked "you're a-"

"I was wondering when you would figure it out... X," Tsukasa interrupted as he held the card up to Alex and the Dopant, "Henshin!" Tsukasa flipped the card around so that the back was facing Alex and the Dopant and slid it into the device around his waist.

"Kamen Ride, Decade!" The device called out as nine emblems shot out of it and merged back over him becoming a black, grey and white suit of armour. Seven red squares of light then shot out of the lens of the belt and merged with the helmet as the grey sections of his armour became a deep magenta.

"Tsukasa..." Alex said in awe, "What are you?"

---

Back at the studio, Tara was downing yet another cup of coffee.

Yuusuke leaned over to Shiore, "How many does that make now?"

"Thirty seven..." Shiore said avoiding eye contact with Yuusuke as Tara slammed down her cup again, "Thirty eight."

Tara whipped her mouth, "Hey gramps, let's have another round over here!"
"Very well, Miss," Eijiro said peeking out from the back room.

At the moment, Cole's phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Cole asked as he answered the call, "Uh huh, I see. Okay, we're on it." Cole said hanging up and putting the phone back in his pocket.

Shiore looked over to Cole and tilted her head slightly, Cole nodded back.

"Tara, we have to go," Cole said as he and Shiore got up from their seats.

Tara kept her attention on the back room like a dog waiting to be fed, "Okay, just one more."
Cole stepped in front of her line of sight, "Now."

"Oh..." Tara said making eye contact with Cole. She coughed for a second and then got up from her seat, "Thanks for the coffee, but we need to be leaving now." She said as the three of them headed for the door.

"Feel free come by again sometime," Eijiro said popping out from the back room.

"Don't worry, we will!" Tara shouted back as the three of them walked out the front door.

Yuusuke sighed with a slight smile, "I hope they make it in time."

Cole, Tara and Shiore walked out the front door of the studio.

"Well, that was better than we expected," Tara said with a grin.

"So another dopant has appeared?" Shiore asked completely ignoring Tara.

"Yeah, I just got the info from Sampson," Cole explained, "Alex is already down there. It's not to
far from the city library."

Tara burped very loudly before cutting into the conversation, "Well, let's get going then!" She exclaimed walking past Cole and Shiore.

"Archer!" Shiore shouted as Tara began charging down the road.

"Yeah?" Tara replied.

"The city library is this way," Shiore stated pointing over her shoulder.

Tara paused for a second and blinked her eyes "We knew that... we're were just testing you is
all." She said as she walked past Shiore and Cole.

"Sure you did," Shiore snarked as Tara past her.

"Pretty bad when someone who has only been here for a few weeks knows the city better then you do huh?" Cole whispered to Shiore.

“Come on slow pokes!” Tara shouted back at them, “If you don’t hurry we’ll take out the creep before you get there!”

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

Alex and Tsukasa sliced away at Glitch as the creature took every blown with no effect.

"Damn... what's with this guy?" Alex said gasping for air.

"Are they normally this tough?" Tsukasa asked.

"Not exactly... but it doesn't matter," Alex said tightening his grip on his sword at leaping into the air and swinging down over the Dopant.

Glitch evaded Alex's swing jumped over to the other side of the road.

"Damn... this guy's fast," Alex panted.

"Fortunately for us, I have a trump card," Tsukasa said opening his driver and pulling out a card with what appeared to be a red beetle on the front from the book attached to his belt. "To beat a bug, I must become a bug." He said as he slid the card into his driver and pushed the sides closed with both of his hands.

"Kamen Ride, Kabuto," Tsukasa's driver called out as Tsukasa armor changed to resemble a red rhinoceros beetle.

"Woah," Alex whispered to himself.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Tsukasa proclaimed following the same steps he did to change the appearance of his armor.

"Attack Ride, Clock Up!" Tsukasa's driver called out as he assumed a stance as if were about to run.

In less then a second Tsukasa bolted across the street at a speed impossible to see. He then engulfed the Dopant in a barrage of attacks that seemed to flow into one solid color.
Tsukasa ended his barrage on Glitch with a straight kick to the dopant's face causing it to fly backwards into the center of the road.

"I'd say that's how you get rid of a glitch," Tsukasa said as his armor reverted back to its original form.

"You think you're so tough huh?" The dopant said as he jumped back onto his feet, "Well, let's see how you do against this!" At that instant the dopant flexed his arms outward as two copies materialized in a cluster of pixels. "Now then... hit me with your A game!" The dopant roared.

"Good thing I can do that too," Tsukasa said pulling out a card and sliding it into his driver.

"Attack Ride, Illusion!" The driver called out as Tsukasa split into threes.

"This should even things up," The three Tsukasas said at once.

"Oh screw it, I'm getting out of here!" The Glitch Dopant screamed as he dashed down the road, "You two, deal with that pink son of a bitch!"

"... Seriously?" Alex asked as his jaw dropped a bit.

"X!" Tsukasa shouted getting Alex's attention, "You go after the original, I'll handle these two."

"Right, I'm on it!" Alex returned as reached into his pocket to grab the remote to his bike. He
dashed his fingers across the buttons as his bike came roaring down the road after him. Alex jumped onto the bike and sped down the road in pursuit of the Dopant.

"Goodluck... Kamen Rider," Tsukasa said to himself as the two copies of Glitch growled at him, "Now then, how shall I deal with you two?"

Alex roared down the highway quickly gaining on Glitch.

"Don't you ever give up!" Glitch shouted back to Alex.

Alex said nothing and pulled back hard on the handle of his bike and increased his speed, evaded multiple cars in pursuit of the dopant.

"Alex!" Tara's voice called out from the sky as she flew in on her glider already transformed.

"Tara," Alex said with relief as the roar of an engine filled the air behind him. Tsukasa turned to see Cole and Shiore riding in behind him on the Rock Breaker, "Cole... and Shiore."

"Hey dude, mind filling us in on what's going on?" Cole asked as he drove up to match Alex in speed.

"Another Dopant has appeared," Alex stated, "However this one is extremely... pathetic."

"How so?" Shiore asked as she hoped from the Rock Breaker over to the X-Cyclone.

"Well, after we kicked his ass a bit he ran off," Alex explained.

"We, who's we?" Cole asked.

"It's kind of complicated," Alex stated, "Anyway, that's not important right now. What we need to do is corner this guy and finish him off before he can do any serious damage."

"There's an old warehouse not too far from here," Shiore stated, "we could trap him there if we could get someone to chase him in."

"Perfect," Alex returned, "Tara!"

"On it!" Tara said shooting off through the air on her glider after

"We should split up and trap him from all directions," Cole proposed.

"Good idea, we'll regroup at the warehouse," Alex agreed as the three split up, Cole going on a head and Alex and Shiore getting off the highway on the next exit.

As Alex and Shiore turned the corner, a white motorcycle with light red accents followed not far behind them.

As Alex and Shiore drew closer to the bottom of the ramp so did a sharp turn draw closer to them

"Hang on," Alex shouted over the roar of the wind and the engine of his cycle, Shiore tightening her grip on the seat of the bike.

As Shiore tightened her grip around Alex, she noticed that he was shaking a little.
"Nervous?" Shiore asked.

"A little," Alex returned.

"Don't be." Shiore sighed, "The enemy is going to look for any sign of weakness. It's best not to have any."

"And if I do have a weakness?" Alex asked.

Shiore paused for a moment, "Don't show it."

Glitch dashed down an alleyway before resting against a oil drum to catch his breathe.

"Damn... X has back up… I wasn’t told about this," He panted.

"KYAH!" Tara screamed as she delivered a flying front snap kick to the Dopant's face.

The shock from the kick sent Glitch flying through the wall of a warehouse and across the
concrete floor a good distance before coming to a halt at the center of the large vacant room.

"WOO, first strike! That's what we're talkin' 'bout!" Tara exclaimed bouncing a bit on her feet.

"That's enough boasting Tara!" Alex called out as he and Cole drove up to the hole in the wall,
Shiore hopping off the back of Alex's bike.

"Aw, why you gotta ruin our fun?" Tara pouted.

"Because you always get lost in your ego," Cole retorted as he, Alex and Shiore ran up to Tara.

"Let's just get this over with," Shiore said, "then you can get back to your coffee princess."

Tara cracked her knuckles and smirked under her mask, "I like that idea."

"Alright," Alex said stepping in front of Tara, "I'll land the first hit, then you guys follow."

Alex ran at the dopant preparing to throw a punch.

Glitch smirked, "Now, it's my turn."

As Alex threw his first blow, Glitch ducked below his fist and jabbed Alex's driver. Alex fell to the
ground as his armour dissolved into the air.

Alex reset his driver a few times but nothing seemed to be happening. The Dopant threw a hard
kick to his face and threw him across the room.

"What... did you... do?" Alex said crawling on the ground.

"I severed the connection between your driver and your memories," The Dopant stated, "Put
simply, you're powerless now."

A small applause filled the warehouse. Everyone turned to the opening in the wall to see
Tsukasa slowly coming towards them.

Tsukasa came to a halt a few feet away from where Alex lay. "In all of the worlds I've been to, I've
never seen a trick like that," Tsukasa proclaimed.

"Tsukasa," Alex said attempting to get on his feet.

"Careful," Tara said helping Alex up.

"Yeah, I know," Alex said pushing Tara off him.

"Who is that?" Shiore asked.

"A friend," Alex said as he limped towards Tsukasa.

Glitch chuckled, "I must admit, you're persistence is impressive." Glitch held his hand out
towards Alex, "But unfortunately, your end has-"

Before Glitch could finish speaking, he was suddenly engulfed in flames and reduced to a
smoldering ash. As he fell to the ground, the red armor of armor of Ryu-O emerged from behind
him.

"Rouge… you never know when to shut up," Carter said as his hand fell to his side.

Cole and Shiore tightened their stances, while Tara stood in awe.

"and finally... Kamen Rider Ryu-O." Tsukasa whispered to himself. "Ryu-O, you are what's threatening this world are you not?" He asked to the red rider.

Carter said nothing.

"I shall take your silence as a yes," Tsukasa said changing his sword into a blaster, "Then you
shall meet your end here." Tsukasa stated pointing the blaster at Ryu-O.

"Stop!" Tara said stepping into the line of fire.

"Step out of the way Gale," Tsukasa demanded.

Tara stood her ground and removed her memory from the driver on her wrist as she reverted to
her civilian form, "Hell no."

"I'll ask you again... stand aside," Tsukasa demanded pulling slightly on the trigger.

Tara glared at Tsukasa, "Just back off!"

At that moment Carter stepped to the side of Tara and aimed his gauntlet to Tsukasa ready to
fire.

Tsukasa quickly moved his blaster over to Carter and fired off a single shot. Tara jumped into the line of fire as the shot struck her in her left shoulder.

"Gah!" Tara shouted as she fell to the ground clenching her shoulder as blood ran down her arm.
Tsukasa stepped back and pointed his blaster up to the sky.

"Tara!" Alex exclaimed as he ran to her side.

"The hell..." Cole exclaimed, "Are you psycho!" He yelled as he switched his hammer to axe
mode and pointed it at Tsukasa.

"I didn't mean to cause harm to her," Tsukasa explained lowering his blaster, "She inflicted it onto
herself when she jumped into the line of fire."

"Bullcrap!" Alex barked, "Why did you fire in the first place?!"

"Ryu-O is the one threatening your world," Tsukasa proclaimed, "I thought that I would be
courteous and remove him for you."

Tara looked over her shoulder to Carter who stood still, paying little attention to her.

"Well who asked you to!" Alex demanded.

"It is my purpose," Tsukasa proclaimed, "I journey through different worlds to prevent their
destruction. However I suppose that some worlds are better off being destroyed."

"That's one way of putting it." Alex growled.

"Then we agree," Tsukasa said switching his blaster to sword mode, "I'll just have to destroy this
world myself then."

"Like hell you will," Alex said as he charged towards Tsukasa only to be batted away like a fly.

"Pathetic," Tsukasa said walking past Alex on the ground, "You are no longer a Kamen Rider, what stakes do you have in this matter?" Tsukasa turned to Cole, Tara, and Shiore, "As for the rest of you, Prove to me that your world is worth saving... if you dare." He pulled out a card and opened his driver, “However, I feel that I should set a proper stage first.”

He slid the card into his driver and slammed it closed “Attack Ride, Explosion.”

A giant explosion then erupted from where Tsukasa stood and engulfed the riders in it’s void.

…
…
...

Alex slowly opened his eyes in a daze, he then realized that he was being carried along what looked like a road left in ruin. He looked up to see that the ones carrying him were none other than Cole and Tara their respective rider forms.

“Morning there sleeping beauty,” Tara said snarkingly, “good to see you’re still alive.”

“Tara… Cole,” Alex grunted, “Wh… what happened?”

“That guy Tsukasa made the entire warehouse go up in flames,” Cole explained,
“Needless to say we’re lucky to be alive right now.”

“I see,” Alex sighed looking down to the ground, “and Shiore… what happened to her?”

Cole shrugged, “Your guess is as good as ours. She disappeared after the blast, with how fast she is she most likely was the first one out of there. ”

They soon came to an intersection that was engulfed in smoked. The three proceeded with caution through the smoke before coming to halt only moments later. Because there, standing just on the edge of the smoke and rubble... was Tsukasa.

"Looks like I've finally found you," Tsukasa said running his hand along the length of his blade,
"Gale... Rock."

Tara pulled off the flail from the back of her belt and grasped it with both her hands, "What a coincidence, we were looking for you as well Pinkie."

"Alex, you better go," Cole said tightening his grip on his hammer.

"But what about you guys?" Alex returned with concern.

"We'll be fine," Cole returned. "Just focus in finding Shiore, you’ll be safer with her."

Alex took a long pause before responding, "... alright." He turned away from Cole and Tara, "Just be careful alright." He said before running down the street where the three just came from.

"Always such a worry wort," Tara said swinging her flail around. "But I guess that's one of his better qualities. No then, how's about we deal with this guy?"

"Try and defeat me if you’d like," Tsukasa said drawing closer to Cole and Tara, "But I won't make it easy for you."

Alex ran down the ruined street until he came to the building that he Cole and Tara were just using as shelter. He surveyed the area as he heard the faint sound of a revving engine. He then followed the sound until he came to a mass of piled up cars.

A small shimmer caught his eye, it was the shimmer of light being reflected off a mirror. He followed the light until he saw that there, just by the pile up working on his motorcycle which he had abandoned there as if she was fated to be there, was Shiore.

Alex slowly walked up to her but then stepped on small piece of glass causing it to crack as the sound carried throughout the dead air. Shiore grabbed hold of her sword and pulled it slightly from it's sheath, turning to where Alex stood ready to strike.

She then slowly slid it back and relaxed her grip, "Oh... it's just you. Where you followed?"
"No, at least I don't think I was," Alex returned. "Listen, Cole and Tara need help right now and your-"

"That's of no concern to me," Shiore returned keeping her eyes fixed on her work on Alex's bike.

"Are you kidding? They're your friends too aren't they?" Alex pleaded.

"I never said that they were," Shiore said coldly, "All I agreed to was helping to achieve our common goal. This is only a set back."

"Bullcrap!" Alex shouted walking up to Shiore a grabbing her by the collar her shirt. "With all the time that we were together, didn't you care? Even a little?"

"No," Shiore said pulling Alex's hand off of her collar. "There's only one thing that I care about," she turned away from Alex proceeded down the ruined street, "and that is my mission."

Alex looked down to the ground, "Shiore!" Alex shouted, "We had a deal..." Shiore stopped, "didn't we?"

Shiore clenched her fist, “... I...” She turned around slightly and looked back to Alex. Her eyes then widened and pulled out her gaia memory, “Move.”

“Yuki!”

“Huh?” Alex turned his head and saw Shiore rush towards him at high speed transforming into her rider form as she did so. “Crap!” Alex shouted as he jumped out the way, “What the hell is your!... problem.”

Alex turned around to the sight of Shiore in clash with Carter, Carter seeming to be more of the defensive and Shiore offensive.

“What the hell are you still doing here Hono?” Shiore growled pushing down on Carter’s blade with her own.

“I could ask you the same question,” Carter returned, he broke the clash and forced Shiore back a few feet, “This situation is officially under META’s jurisdiction. If you do not leave now… I’ll have no choice but to use force.”

“Use all the force you want,” Shiore tightened her grip on her sword and raised it to Carter, “It won’t change the outcome of all this.”

“Fine,” Carter rose his sword over his shoulder and drew closer to Shiore, “have it your way.”

As the two drew closer to each other, two laser blasts fired from out of nowhere and hit them both knocking them to the ground.

Alex looked over to the direction that the blasts came from to see who fired them. He then gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist, “... Tsukasa.”

“You were expecting someone else?” Tsukasa asked.

“Bastard!” Alex shouted, “What have you done with Cole and Tara!”

“You mean Gale and Rock?” Tsukasa asked back, “Simple,” he then pulled out two gaia memories, one green and the other yellow, “They were in my way… so I eliminated them.”

“The fuck is wrong with you!” Alex shouted as he began to approach Tsukasa, “I’ll kill you for this!” Just then, Shiore placed her hand on his shoulder preventing him from moving any farther.

“Stay back,” Shiore instructed, moving in front of him.

Alex tried stepping forward, “But-”

“Your friends paid with their lives to save yours…” Shiore said pushing him back once again, avoiding eye contact, “don’t let their sacrifice be in vain by dying in a place like this.” She gripped her sword with both her hands, “You leave this guy to me.”

Alex nodded, “Alright… just be careful alright?”

Shiore stepped forward towards Tsukasa, “I will.”

Shiore dashed over to Tsukasa and swung her blade at him, Tsukasa matching her strike and holding her back with little difficulty.

“You’re fast Yuki, I’ll give you that much,” Tsukasa said before pushing Shiore back with the end of his blade, “But speed won’t be enough to stop me.”

Shiore dashed in close to Tsukasa and brought the edge of her blade up to his neck, “You talk too much.”

“I see… fortunately for you you won’t have to hear my voice for much longer,” Tsukasa proclaimed. Shiore then felt a jab into her chest, she looked down and saw Tsukasa’s blade running right through her covered in blood, “In fact… you’ll never hear anything ever again.”

Shiore fell limp as Tsukasa pulled his blade out and wiped off the blood with a single swing, “You… bastard,” Shiore whispered as she fell backwards, Tsukasa kicking her sword out of her hand resulting in it flying through the air stabbing the ground next to Alex.

Alex fell to his knees, “Shiore ... no.”

Tsukasa walked over to Shiore’s body, knelt down beside her and removed her memory from her driver, “So that’s three, and the fourth would be...” he heard a footsteps walk up from behind him. He turned around to see Carter standing behind him sword in hand, “yours.” Tsukasa rose to his feet, “You aren’t associated with the others are you? So tell me, what exactly do you hope to gain by fighting?”

“You are a threat to this city,” Carter proclaimed, “It is my obligation to eliminate you.”

Tsukasa raised his sword to Carter, “You shall try.”

The two riders charged towards each other at full force. They clashed swords several times with neither one willing to let up. After a few more clashes, Tsukasa and Carter turned to face one another for one final strike.

Carter swung his sword hard at Tsukasa aiming to kill, however Tsukasa slipped out of the way of Carter’s swing causing his sword to plant itself into the ground. Not wasting the opening, Tsukasa kicked the blade of Carter’s sword shattering it in two. Tsukasa then swiped Carter’s Ryu-O memory and opened his driver.

“And with this…” Tsukasa said, pulling out a card and slipping it into his driver and slamming it closed, “I call check.”

“Final Attack Ride, Decade!”

Tsukasa leapt into the air as ten transparent cars emerged between him and Carter. He then propelled his way through each card extending his right foot forward as he closed the distance between him and Carter. Tsukasa kick hit Carter square in the face resulting in Carter bursting into flames on impact.

As the smoke cleared Tsukasa emerged from the ashes and held the Ryu-O memory in the palm of his hand, “and that makes four,” he said before placing the red memory with the other three he snatched from the other fallen riders. “However…” he turned around and looked over to Alex who sat on his knees in the rubble behind him, “there are still others.”

“Oh crap,” Alex shouted in his head. He tried to run away but his legs wouldn’t move.

Tsukasa began to approach Alex as storm brewed overhead. Alex grabbed Shiore's katana and stood to face Tsukasa to see that he had vanished. He then turned to see the Tsukasa directly behind him.

Alex swung Shiore's sword at Tsukasa, the sword breaking on impact. The remains of the sword was then struck by a bolt of lightning, the boy being sent of his feet from the blow and falling to the ground, the sword flying out of his hands in the process. The roar of thunder and rain began to drench the ruined city.

"Pity," Tsukasa said walking over to Alex, "I honestly thought that at least you would be able to defeat me." He raised his sword for one final strike as sparks began to come off the gaia memories in his hand, “No matter, I’m sure you’ll fare better in the next life.”

"Is this it..." Alex thought to himself as his vision began to blur, "Is this... how it all ends?"

To Be Continued

[guncannon109]

Next time on Kamen Rider Xtreme

Episode 25: Memory Lapse
Xtreme, will your journey end here?

[guncannon109]

Episode 25: Memory Lapse

Alex opened his eyes to the sight of his own bedroom. He looked around in a daze.

"A dream?" He thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes. He looked over to the clock as he saw that it was almost ten minutes to eight, "Yeah, must have been." He took in a deep breath as he got out of bed and got changed for school.

A few minutes later, he was preparing himself some bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast as Cole walked through the door.

He walked into the centre of the room and stopped when he spotted Alex.

"Oh... morning," Cole said stepping back a bit, "You're up early."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "This is when I normally get up on a school day."

Cole chuckled, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

"So, mind telling me what you came over here for?" Alex asked shutting off the element on the stove.

"Well, I was going to try and shake you awake like I do every morning," Cole explained placing his hands on his hips "but since you're already awake I guess I'll be heading out now."

"Alright, see ya," Alex said placing his food on a plate he had next to the stove.

"That's my line," Cole said as he walked towards the door, "anyway later." He added as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Alex placed his breakfast down on the counter. "Something feels... off," He thought to himself, "Ah well, it's probably nothing."

{Insert Opening Theme - Journey Through the Decade}

After lunch had ended, Alex had gone to his third period class, math. He sat at his regular seat by the window. He moved around a bit with the feeling that something was off. However, at the moment, the thing that stood out to him the most was that the seat behind him remained empty even long after the bell rang.

Cole walked over to Alex's desk noticing the empty one behind him.

"So she's absent today huh?" Cole asked, "That's not like her."

"Understandable though," Alex said looking out the window, “She has had a bit of a rough time.”

"You two get into a fight or something?" Cole asked.

"What, of course not," Alex shouted back.

"Alright, you mind if I sit here then?" Cole asked pointing to the desk behind Alex.

"Go for it," Alex said gesturing to the seat behind him.

"Alright, thanks," Cole said as he sat down and Alex turned his chair around to face him.
About half an hour later, the door at the front of the class room opened and the room filled with the patter of foot steps.

Alex and Cole remained focused on their work as a few voices spoke out.

"How're you holding up?" a female voice asked.

"I'm much better thank you," said another.

"You sure you're okay to be at school?" the first voice asked.

"Yeah, the doctor said it was just a sprain. I should be fine," the second returned, "Sorry, I just need to put my bag down." they said as they proceeded down the aisle.

"Oh, I better move," Cole said as the person who just entered the room approached them.
Alex turned around to see where the voice was coming from. He gasped and his eyes widened.

A blonde haired girl walked up to where Alex and Cole were sitting.

"Sorry, I'll just be a second Sarah," Cole said packing up his stuff as quickly as he could.

"It's okay, I just came to drop off my bag," The girl said as she tucked her bag under the chair Cole was sitting on.

Alex jumped out of his seat, “Alright, what’s going on here!” Cole and the girl blinked their eyes, "You’re a Dopant aren’t you!"

"Um Al, you okay?" Cole asked raising an eyebrow, "You look like you just saw a ghost or something?"

"Don't you find it at all weird that she's standing there?" Alex asked, "and why did you put your bag under Shiore's chair?"

"What are you talking about? Sarah's been in our class since day one," Cole explained, "Ms. Foster even had the seating arrangement changed so she could keep an eye on you. Come on man don’t you remember, or did you hit your head again?"

"Is there something wrong with me being here or something?" Sarah asked, "Well go on, spill it. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that it’s physically impossible!" Alex shouted out loud, "Shiore sits here and… and I… you… I ki-"

"Al, there's no one in this class or even this school with that name," Cole proclaimed, “You sure you’re okay?”

"I think I can settle this," Sarah sighed, "Cole, hand me the class roster from my desk."

"Huh, oh sure," Cole said reaching into the desk in front of him and pulling out a green folder, "Here," He added as he handed it to Sarah.

With a quick motion Alex swiped the folder and opened and read all the names from top to bottom, with no sign of Shiore's.

Alex stood frozen, "Cole... pinch me."

"Um, why?" Cole asked.

"I know, I’m dreaming..." Alex said shaking a little, “I think… I think I'd like to wake up now...”

"Okay," Cole reached out and pinched Alex on the arm as Alex closed his eyes.

He reopened them a few seconds later and rechecked the roster, again Shiore's name was not listed.

Alex collapsed knocking a few chairs over in the process. "Impossible," He thought to himself.

"Al, you okay?" Cole said looking over the desk he was sitting at.

"Mr. Darwin," Ms. Foster called out getting the classes attention, "Is there something wrong?"

Alex sat on the floor quietly for a few good seconds. "Tara, she'll know what to do!" he said as he charged out of the room slamming the door behind him.
Sarah blinked, "Um... mind telling me what that was about?"

Cole shrugged, "Beats me."

Alex charged down the hall, "Let's see, it's third period so what class would she have right now? PE? No, that's her second period class. Damn it, what was her schedule like again? Oh, I know, she would have art right now!"

As he turned a corner he rammed into something and fell to the ground.

"Ow," Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, are you okay?" A familiar voice called out from in front of him. Before him stood a girl with short brown hair and glasses. Her outfit consisted of a pale yellow hoodie along with a blank white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Tara?" Alex asked to the girl in front.

"Um, excuse me?" The girl asked.

"Tara, oh thank god!" Alex said standing up and grabbing the girl's hand, "Listen, something weird is going on, Shiore has disappeared and Sarah is... is..." Alex stopped as he saw the girl beginning to shake.

"Um... I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about." The girl stated, “Um... Could you let go of my hand now please?”

"But, you're Tara Archer aren't you? You're the rider of the wind, Kamen Rider Gale right?" Alex asked repeatedly pulling on her hand multiple times. He repeated this motion until he was thrown to the ground by a punch that seemed to come out of no where.

Alex quickly got back on his knees and looked up to see what hit him, "... Carter?" he saw the burning red eyes that he saw when he first encountered Ryu-O with the other riders.

"This guy giving you trouble Thea?" The boy with the burning red eyes asked.

"Um, no... He was just asking me about something," The girl answered, "It was nothing to worry about brother."

Alex’s eyes widened, “Brother?... Wait, what do you mean brother?”

Carter sighed, “Figures you wouldn’t know this but Thea is my little sister,” he walked up to Alex and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt bringing him to his feet, “Got a problem with that?”
"No n-no,” Alex stammered, “I-I… I didn't mean to cause any trouble,"

"I hope not," Carter said, "But if you pull something like that again, there will be." Carter added shoving Alex away from him violently, "Understand?"

Alex stumble over his feet, "Yeah... sorry."

“What’s his problem?” Carter asked, “Thea, do you know him?”

“I don’t know I’ve never seen him before,” Tara returned, “Although… He does look familiar.”

Alex sat at the bottom of a stairwell. He held his phone open to address book and was shuffling through it. After a while he flipped it closed.

He sighed, “I never did get her phone number did I?” He placed his phone down on the stair he was sitting on and leaned over resting his head in the palm of his right hand, “Plus I can’t just go over to her place, it’d be rude to just show up uninvited.” He curled up into a ball and buried his face in his knees, “What am I supposed to do… Shiore?”

“Um… excuse me,” A voice called out as someone tapped him on the shoulder, “Uh... Are you alright sir?”

Alex looked up as he saw a young girl with red hair and blue eyes standing above him looking down on him.

He sat speechless for a moment, then spoke, “... Madison.”

“You might want to check in with the nurse’s office if you aren’t feeling very well,” The girl said as she continued down the stairs walking by Alex, “If you are then you better get to class, unless you want Sarah to get mad at you again.”

Alex reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Madison’s shirt, “Wait a minute…” He looked up to her, “Do you… know who I am?”

Madison turned back to Alex and smiled, “What kind of question is that? Of course I know who you are. You’re Sarah’s friend, the one who keeps getting into trouble.”

Alex let go of Madison’s sleeve and let his arm fall back down to his side, “Would you… consider us friends?”

“A little bit I guess,” Madison shrugged, “Though I haven’t exactly gotten the chance to speak with you all that much. To be honest, outside of class… this would be the first.”

“Oh… okay then,” Alex said slowly getting back up on his feet and walking back up to class, “Sorry to waste your time.”

Madison looked down to see Alex’s phone still on the staircase, “Hey wait up!” She shouted grabbing the phone and heading up a few steps, “You forgot your-” she looked back to see that Alex had already left, “... cell phone.”

Madison looked back at the phone in her hand and noticed a small violet charm in the shape of a diamond with a gold trim hanging off of it. She flipped the charm over and saw a small inscription carved onto the back of it that read, “Never Forget - 05/17/13”

“Ah, so he’s a Madoka fan then?” She said looking up the stairs, “That’s a good thing… doesn’t hurt that he’s kind of cute too.”

After a long and dull afternoon, Alex found himself walking home by himself. He didn't want to talk to Cole, nor did he have anything to say. He just wanted to get home as fast as he could.

He walked up the steps to his apartment, stopping for a moment to look over at the window. He then finished out his key and unlocked the door. He grabbed the doorknob and gulped, after a few seconds he opened the door and stepped into an empty room with no one in it.

He let out a sigh, “Figures she wouldn’t be here,” he said throwing his bag on the couch before collapsing on to it himself. “Was it all just a dream… was any of it real?”

He sat there in silence for quite sometime unsure of what to do. The silence went on until it was interrupted by a large crash. He looked over and saw that his entire DVD collection had fallen over on the ground with the shelf they were on broken in two.

“GAH! Stupid shelf!” He grunted getting up from the couch and slowly walking over the DVDs on the floor, “That’s what you get when you buy ‘em cheap I guess.” He said picking the cases up until he came across the same one that Shiore series had wanted to watch not two days ago, he picked the box up and held it in both his hands “Madoka Magica…” His eyes widened, “Magica.”

He dropped the other DVDs onto the floor and ran into his bedroom and dashed over to a desk at the far end by a single window. He slammed his hand down the surface of the desk and grabbed the handle of the top drawer. He took in a deep breath then pulled it open, inside was a small black box amongst paperscraps and other random thing, he grabbed the box and held it in the palm of his hand.

He placed one hand on the lid and gulped. Slowly pulled the lid off and looked into the box to see a small purple gem in a silver base along with a ring marked with a large X with a small three on the side of it.

He brought the box to his chest and fell to his knees, “They’re still here… it wasn’t just a dream,” he said as he began to cry, “Thank you Madison… thank you… Marika.”

The next day, Alex sat as his desk in his fourth period math class. He looked down to his open left hand where he held the ring that Marika gave him.

“I wasn’t a dream. It really did happen…” He thought to himself closing his hand around the ring, “all of it.”

“Hey man,” He heard a voice call out.

He looked up to see Cole taking his usual seat in front of him, “Oh... hey,” he said slipping the ring into his pocket.

“So that episode you had the other day,” Cole said pulling his work material out of his bag, “Care to explain what the that was about? You hit your head or watch too much anime before bed again or something like that?”

“Oh… that,” Alex scratched the back of his neck, “Well, you see it’s kind of… complicated.”

“Alex listen,” Cole said placing his hand on Alex’s shoulder, “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me… you know that, right?”

Alex stared blankly into space for a moment, “... I”

Just then, Sarah slammed open the door at the back end of the class and stormed over to Alex and Cole. “A ha, I thought that name sounded familiar!” She shouted slamming a newspaper down on Alex’s desk. Alex and Cole looked at the paper and saw three young girls that appeared to be of Japanese descent in the same black and blue school uniform, “Shiore Fubuki,” Sarah said pointing to the one on the far right.

“Shiore…” Alex whispered taking a closer look at the girl Sarah was pointing to. She had long navy blue hair done up in a ponytail.

“Turns out that she along with the other two in that photo are highly renowned honor students who moved to Ardent a while ago,” Sarah explained, “Currently they’re attending classes at one of the best private school in the entire world.”

“So that’s Shiore huh?” Cole said taking a look at the photo, “How about the other two?”

“Oh, those two?” Sarah raised an eyebrow, “They’re names are Ayu Yukishiro and Sora Yukishiro. They’re sisters but appear to be polar opposites, you can tell just by looking at them.” She pointed to the girl in the centre of the photo, “That’s Ayu, notice how her uniform is to regulation? Everything is where it’s supposed to be and nothing is missing,” she moved over to Sora, “Now her sister on the other hand… Well, she doesn’t have her tie and her jacket is all messed up and-”

Alex then shot up from his seat and grabbed Sarah by the collar of her shirt, “YOU SLITHERING REPTILE!”

Sarah blinked, “What the heck is wrong with you this week?”

“I have no idea!” Alex shouted back, “How long have you known about this?”

“You are one piece of work you know that?” Sarah said pulling Alex off of her, “Seriously, did you see her somewhere and fall in love with her or something?”

Alex grabbed Sarah’s arm and looked her right in the eye, “Where is she!”

“She’s at Ophelia Winston Academy!”

Alex’s eyes widened, “You mean that preppy all girl school?”

“Well duh, were you even paying attention to anything I was say-” Alex pushed Sarah back a bit into a row of desks and grabbed his bag. Sarah jumped back onto her feet, “Where the hell do you think your going!”

“If Ms Foster comes back tell her I’m sick. I have a fever, a cold, and influenza too. I felt like I was dying so I left,” He shouted as he ran for the door. “Oh and Sarah,” he stopped and turned back to Sarah, “Thank you… for everything.”

Sarah crossed her arms and scoffed, “Well… your welcome I guess.”

“One more thing,” Alex said as a smile appeared on his face, “Madison’s a nice girl… you should tell her how you feel while you still can.”

The entire class then turned to Sarah, Sarah’s face slowly turning a bright red. She then rolled up her sleeve and balled her hand up into a fist, “Why you!”

“Later!” Alex shouted as he dashed out the room slamming the door behind him. He dashed down the hall until he came to the door of a stairwell. He pushed the door open and ran down the stairs.

He jumped down to the landing on the first floor and pushed through a set of double doors. As he stepped into the first floor hall Alex noticed Thea turning the corner before stepping out in front of him. The two stopped and looked at each other.
Alex said nothing and simply walked by Thea and made his way to the front door of the school just a few feet away.

“Sorry,” Thea spoke up, “... about my brother.”

Alex turned back to Thea, “What was that?”

“My brother can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but he isn’t a monster,” Thea said with a grin, “He’s just looking out for me, that’s all. I hope your little quarrel the other day doesn’t affect your opinion of him… or myself for that matter.”

Alex smiled back at Thea, “It’s alright, and I get it. He only acts that way because he cares,” He turned away from Thea and continued to the door, “Besides, he’s not the worst brother in the world.”

“Hey, what’s your name?” Thea asked.

Alex stopped, “You can call me Superstar.”

Thea raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“It’s just a nickname a friend of mine gave me a while back,” Alex explained, “My real name is Alex if you’d prefer that.”

Thea burst out laughing, “Whatever you say Superstar,” she cried wiping her eyes, “Anyway, I gotta get back to class. Don’t go and do anything too crazy alright?”

“Yeah got it,” Alex said as he turned on his heel and ran out the door, “and back at you!”

“He sure is a strange one,” Thea thought to herself, “Come to think of it… what was that name he called me earlier? Tara was it?” A devilish smirk appeared on her face, “I kind of like the sound of that.”

Alex ran out the front door of the school and charged down the hill leading to the street below “I’m on my way Shiore,” he thought to himself, “So please… wait for me.”

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

The final bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Cole stepped out the front door.

“Everyday it’s something new with that guy,” Cole sighed, “Hey Cole, have you heard of this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see a movie based on this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see another movie based on this new anime!” He let out a groan, “I swear Alex, if you freak out one more time I’m gonna-”

“Did you just say Alex?” A voice called out.

Cole turned around to see Thea standing behind him with Carter a few feet behind her. He raised an eyebrow, “Yeah… why?”

“You wouldn’t happen to mean Alex Darwin… would you?” Thea asked, “Are you a friend of his.”

“Sort of,” Cole returned, “Though to be honest, we’re more like family at this point.”

Thea ran up to Cole, “Really!” she shouted looking him right in the eye with a giant grin on her face, “That’s so cool! Bet you guys must be like brothers in arms then, huh? Like lone rangers against the evils of the school right?”

Cole laughed a bit, “That’s certainly an… interesting way to look at it.”

“Thea!” Carter shouted pulling his sister back, “Please excuse her behavior,” he pleaded wrapping his arm around Thea looking over to her who still had her giant grin on her face, “She doesn’t get out much.”

“Oh please,” Thea spoke up pushing her brother off of her, “I’m not a little kid anymore Carter, I can look after myself.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “Thea.”

“And that’s another thing!” Thea interrupted once again, “I would appreciate if you would stop referring to me by that tacky old grandmother name. Starting today I’m officially dropping it and renaming myself.” She pointed her finger into Carter’s face, “Say goodbye Thea Revant and hello Tara Archer!”

Cole’s eye shot open, “So you’re that ‘Tara’ girl that Alex was talking about earlier?”

Tara flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder, “Aw, look at that I’m famous.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re that famous,” Cole chuckled a bit.

“Yeah whatever,” Tara returned smacking Cole in the arm, “Now then, you have Alex’s number right? Would you mind giving him a call?”

Cole raised an eyebrow, “Why exactly?”

“Because, I want to get to know him a little better,” Tara said with a smirk, “Mind asking if he’d like to hang for a little bit?”

“Oh, sure I guess.”

Cole fished out his phone and dialed Alex’s number before placing his phone up to his ear. The phone rang once before going straight to voicemail, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

“Was that... Must have his phone off or something,” Cole put his phone back into his pocket, “Look, we live in the same building so I’ll just give him the message when he comes home and then you two can meet up some other time-”

“Nope!” Tara shouted putting her arms in the shape of an x, “Has to be today, gotta strike while the iron’s hot and all that jazz.”

Cole’s eye twitched, “Look, I get you want to talk with him but he’s somewhere downtown at the mo-”

“Where downtown?”

“I don’t know, some place called Ophelia Winston Academy or something. Point is he’s going to be there for a while so-”

Before Cole could finish speaking, Tara grabbed both his and Carter’s arms and pulled them charged down the hill pulling the two along with her.

“Ophelia you say? I know where that is,” Tara shouted with a smirk, “If that’s where Superstar is you should’ve just told us! Now hold on boys cause this is gonna be a bumpy ride!”

---

Alex stood at the front gates of Ophelia Winston Academy, steel bars standing between him and the old limestone building of the academy. He surveyed the campus with his eyes and saw multiple security guards by the gates as well as by the main building.

He sighed as he slumped over to a bench a few feet away from the gate, “I over shot it,” He said aloud to himself, “That’s what I get for assuming that a private school would have the same schedule as my own I guess.” He looked to his watch, “Two forty-five on the dot… by the look of things it seems that she won’t be let out for a while. Guess I should call Cole and tell him I’ll be coming home late tonight.”

He reached into his pocket for his phone however when he felt around for it he couldn’t find it, “Huh? He checked all of his pockets rapidly “Oh come on, you can’t be serious! I lost it?” He then thought back to when he ran into Madison on the stairs, “Oh crap…” he planted his face into the palm of his hand, “Cole is going to kill me.”

Alex sat back down on the bench and let out a sigh, “Ah well, nothing I can do about it now I guess. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Alex sat in silence for about half an hour until the bell finally rang. Alex jumped up from the bench, the gates opened and students in the same black and blue uniform started flooding out into the street, Alex’s heart becoming to race as he searched for Shiore.

After about a few minutes of looking, he caught a glimpse of navy blue hair in the corner of his eye. His heart stopped for a moment as he focused on who it belonged to, and there, walking out the gate and only a few feet away with her hair done up in a ponytail… was Shiore.

He stood silent for a moment as his heart began to beat even faster. He balled his hands up, took in a big gulp, and after a few seconds took one step forward, and then another. Before long, he shook his head and ran up to the girl that stood a few feet from him.

“Uh, excuse me…” he called out, tapping Shiore on the shoulder.

She turned around and stared at him through her cold pale blue eyes, “… can I help you?”

“Uh… well I uh…” Alex paused for a moment thinking of what to say next, “You see I-”

Alex felt and tug on the hood of his sweater as he was pulled away from Shiore. He looked over his shoulder to see an angry looking girl standing directly behind him with her hand gripped tight around the hood of his sweater.

“Let me guess,” She said with daggers in her eyes, “you’re one of those low life good for nothings who think this school is nothing but an all you can eat girl buffet, aren’t you?”

“No no, you’ve got the wrong idea,” Alex pleaded as he tried to pry himself free of the girl’s grasp, “I only wanted to talk with her, honest!”

The girl raised an eyebrow, “Uh huh… Yeah, likely story,” she said throwing Alex down to the ground, “Look, I don’t care why you came here but you better scram before security notices what you’re up to.”

“Geez Sora…” Alex coughed, “I didn’t expect you to be so rough.”
The girl blinked, “Hey,” she said grabbing Alex by the collar of his shirt and forcing him to his feet, “Last I checked I didn’t give you permission to call me by my first name. How the hell do you even know who I am anyway?”

“Sis,” Another girl called out from beside Shiore, “Let’s just go.”

“That must be Ayu,” Alex thought to himself.

“Just a sec,” Sora returned, “Listen here, whoever you are, just be sure I never catch you snooping around here again okay?”

“Sora!” Shiore shouted, Sora and Alex turned to Shiore, “Leave him be… he’s not worth it.”

“Alright,” Sora grunted letting go of Alex as he fell to his feet, “Just making sure that guy doesn’t try anything.” She said joining up with Shiore and Ayu, “Geez, you’re pretty much a magnet with that hair of yours, you know that?”

“I know,” Shiore said laughing a little, “Geez, you’ve told me that a four hundred and seventy-six times already.”

“You’ve gotta admit though, you stick out like a sore blue thumb,” Ayu added in, “You ever consider dying it. Maybe black or maybe even a deep green or something like that?”

“I don’t think so,” Shiore shook her head, “I like to keep it natural, just like my mother’s.”

Alex picked himself up off the ground and planted his feet firmly on the ground, “SHIORE!”

Sora sighed and turned back to Alex, “Look do I need to-”

“You shut it for a moment!” Alex shouted at Sora, “Just listen to me for a moment. Sekai the Creator… the wolf, the eagle, the dragon and the minotaur… any of that sound familiar?”

“That’s it!” Sora rolled up her sleeve and charged over to Alex, only to be stopped by Shiore who extended her arm out in front of her preventing her from moving any further forward.

“Hold on a moment,” Shiore said calmly, “Where did you hear that from?”

“From you… actually,” Alex thought to himself, “Though I doubt you’d believe me if I said that.” Alex took in a deep breath and then spoke up, “I heard a long time ago from a friend of mine, though I didn’t really believe her at the time. She told me that you would be able to confirm that it was true… I also hoped that you’d be able to help me with something important.”

Shiore lowered her arm from Sora’s path and let it fall back down to her side, “... what exactly do you need help with?”

“Um…” Alex looked around for a moment, “Could we talk about this somewhere a little more… private maybe?”

“Of course,” Shiore nodded, “Anywhere you had in mind?”

“Oh, I know!” Ayu cut in, “There’s a nice cafe not too far from here.”

“That ‘Average Joe’ one?” Sora asked.

“Yup, that’s the one,” Ayu returned.

“That’ll work perfectly,” Alex said with a sigh, “Finally,” he thought to himself, “some luck at last.”

---

Tara hopped in place in front of a bus stop, Cole and Carter sitting on a bench directly behind her.

“Uh… is she normally like this?” Cole asked.

“For the most part,” Carter returned, “I try to keep her calm but sometimes there’s just no stopping her.”

Cole shrugged, “Can’t stop Tara from being Tara I guess.”

Carter smacked Cole on the top of his head, “Thea, her name is Thea… remember that.”

Cole laughed a bit, “Yeah okay, I got it.”

“Good,” Carter said pulling his arm back, “You should show respect to your elders.”

Cole looked over to Tara, “But, she’s like fourteen?”

“I was referring to me. You’re seventeen, I’m nineteen. I think you can figure out the rest.”” Carter sighed, “Anyway, enough about that. What’s the story on this Alex guy, he escape from an insane asylum or something?”

“I honestly have no idea what’s up with him, just having one of those days I guess.” Cole shrugged, “Next time he acts up or goes crazy you let me know and I’ll smack it right out of him.”

“Deal,” Carter returned, “but only if you make sure to follow through with that.”

“Why’s that?” Cole asked.

“If you say you’re going to do something then do it and take what you want with your own hand,” Carter hunched over and put his hands together looking off into the distance, “Otherwise, you have no right to complain when someone else beats you to it.”

“Geez, you’re just a bucket of sunshine and rainbows aren’t you?”

Carter looked over to Cole, “I’m not too sure if you’ve noticed but I don’t exactly show my enthusiasm in the same way my sister does.”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Excuse me,” A voice called out, “I hate to interrupt but would you two be able to answer a few questions for me?”

Cole and Carter turned to see a young man in a brown cargo jacket standing to the right of the bench. In his hand was a small black case.

“Sure what do you want to know?” Cole asked.

“I’m a little unfamiliar with the area and I’m afraid I’m a bit lost,” the man said scratching the back of his head, “Would you possibly be able to help me find a friend of mine?”

“Sorry, but we’re busy,” Carter returned avoiding eye contact with the man, “You’ll just have to find him on your own.”

“Oh, but you see I’m on somewhat of a timer,” the man said as he pulled out a black blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights and aimed it Carter and Cole, “The way I see it is either you help me out or this bus stop will turn into a crime scene in the next five seconds…” he smirked “so what’s it gonna be dragon boy?”

---

Alex sat in a booth across from Sora and Shiore with Ayu right beside him. The group had moved to a cafe a few blocks away from Ophelia. Ayu had ordered a slice of strawberry shortcake and Sora a simple chocolate, Shiore had ordered a cup of oolong tea while Alex hadn’t ordered a single thing.

She took a sip of her tea then placed it back down on the table, “So,” She said looking directly at Alex, “how much do you know?”

“Well I uh…” Alex cleared his throat, “I know that, or at least I was told that back in the beginning there was that spirit named Sekai who created four elemental guardians to fight some ancient evil. Then if I remember correctly those four beasts formed partnerships with four humans and the formed the four clans that upheld balance in the world… Then a war between them broke out and they fell apart,” He looked back at Shiore, “That sound about right?”

Shiore nodded, “That’s pretty much the gist of it… however, the fact that you know that legend is rather confusing.”

“How come?” Alex asked.

“The four clans were rather secretive, so only their members even knew they existed,” Shiore explained, “The only reason I know is because my family was once servants to the Shirayuki clan… but that was all a long time ago.”

“So, my guess is that the story is true then?” Alex asked once again.

“For the most part,” Shiore returned, “Though I’m curious to know who it was that told you about it. What was their name?”

“Uh… Homura,” Alex spat out, “Homura Kasai.”

“So, a remnant of the Hone Clan then?” Shiore asked taking another sip of her tea, “Figures they wouldn’t have been completely wiped out after the war.”

“Oh come on,” Sora sighed, “You’re not telling me that you actually believe that junk are you?”

“Well, I’m not saying that I do or not, after all it was quite a long time ago,” Shiore turned to Sora and smiled, “So who can say?”

“I never thought I’d see Shiore smile like that,” Alex thought to himself, “It’s rather interesting… seeing a side of her like that.”

“I’d like to think it is,” Ayu butted in, “After all, I find the idea of those elemental beasts to rather cool. Especially the eagle, if I could for a bond with something as amazing as that it’d be the best!... Although,” she looked over to Sora, “The Tatsumakis were primarily yellow, and that’s more your color don’t you think sis?”

“Eh, I honestly don’t care about the color,” Sora shrugged, “So long as it’s not something freaky looking like a bug or what not I’m good.”

At that moment and small jingle began to emanate from Shiore’s bag. Shiore reached into her bag and pulled out a navy blue slim flip phone. Sora got up from the booth as Shiore flipped her phone open and read the caller ID, “Oh, sorry I need to take this.”

“Time?” Sora asked.

“Uh...” Alex checked his watch, “Three forty five.”
“On the dot,” Sora said sitting back down as Shiore walked out the front door of the cafe and leaned against a large bay window next to it, “He always calls her at this exact time.”

“Who always calls her?” Alex asked.

“Her older brother of course,” Sora returned.

“He never misses a single day,” Ayu said resting her head in the palm of left hand, “Wish I had a sibling that cool.”

Sora glared at Ayu, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ayu jumped back to sitting upright with her hands in her lap, “Nothing.”

“What I thought.”

“Uh… changing the subject,” Alex interjected as a bead of sweat ran down his neck, “What exactly is Shiore’s brother like?”

“Think Shiore only older, a brighter shade of hair and a guy,” Sora said bluntly.

“Not too mention incredibly smart,” Ayu added, “he held the top score back in Tokyo up until he graduated. At least that’s what I heard.”

“Top score?” Alex raised an eyebrow, “Top score in what?”

“Pretty much everything,” Sora stated, “Academics, athletics, arts. If there was a grade for it, Satoshi got a hundred on it. Haven’t heard much from him since he’s been busy preparing to take over as the head of his family, but he still makes sure to make time to check up on his little Imou-Chan.”

Alex leaned back in his seat and groaned, “Greeeat, sounds like a real Marty Stu.” He stood up and began walking away from the table, “I’ll be right back.”

“We’re you going?” Ayu asked.

“Bathroom.”

“Oh…” Ayu said slowly, “alright then.”
Alex took a steps away from the booth before coming to a halt and leaning against a counter on the other side of the room. He slapped himself in the forehead, “Okay… did not think this one through too well.”

“Here you are sir,” a familiar voice called out to Alex placing a cup of coffee on the counter, “one double double.”

“Wait I didn't-” Alex spoke out only to be immediately silenced by the shock of who it was that stood before him. The very same face that caused him and many others so much misfortune, how could he forget it. He quivered as he forced out a single word, “... Fury…”

“Hm?” The man turned to Alex, “Sorry, what was that?”

“Derek Mavrick, also known as... Fury,” Alex growled balling his hands into fist, “You think I’d forget someone like you?”

“Perhaps you’re confusing me with someone else,” The man behind the counter chuckled lightly, “That is indeed my name, however I’m afraid the only fury I have is after I read a negative review and even then it’s directed at yours truly.” He picked up a plain white mug from a sink behind the counter and began drying it off with a small cloth, “You see I am but an average joe just trying to get by the only way he knows how. Hence the name of the cafe,” he placed the mug down on the counter, “Average Joe’s.”

Alex tightened his fists, “Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Believe it or don’t believe it, doesn’t make it any less true,” Derek said with a grin. He turned to Alex and looked him in the eye, “Look kid, I get that you’re young so I’ll put it bluntly. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you’d expect them to, when that happens all you can do is the best to make sure things turn out alright… You understand?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, “Bet you had a rough day huh?”

“You could say that,” Alex returned.

“Wanna talk about it?” Derek asked, “Maybe I can help out a bit.” Alex said nothing, “Complicated?”

Alex nodded, “More or less.”

“Well listen here,” Derek pulled up a chair and leaned in close to Alex, “You want to know why I opened up this little cafe?”

“No… why?” Alex asked.

“My sister was sick with a cold once. It was so bad that even when it was boiling outside, she still felt so cold,” Derek explained, “Our parents were out one night and I was left alone to take care of her, so I wiped her up a bowl of hot soup however that only went so far… I stayed up with her that whole night, I even missed a few days of school in order to make sure that she was okay.

“She was okay… right?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek returned, “After about a week or so it cleared up and she was better than she had ever been in her whole life. However, she told me that she never would have made if it weren't for me refusing to leave her side. I then realized that now matter how cold the world may get, if someone has even just a little bit of warmth, things will be okay… That’s when I decided to be that warmth, and once I had enough money together I opened this cafe.”

“And… you’re happy with this?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek said with a grin. He pointed over to Sora and Ayu on the other side of the room “Just look at those friends of yours over there, they seem happy don’t they?”

“Yeah… I guess they do,” Alex said quietly.

“Exactly, and in the end isn’t that what makes it all worth it in the end?” Alex nodded. “Great,” Derek slapped Alex on the back, “Now then,” he said handing the cup of coffee on the counter to Alex before turning on his heel and walking off towards the kitchen, “Enjoy the coffee and have a nice day.”

“But I didn’t order any-”

“It’s on the house kid,” Derek said waving over his shoulder, “Take it as a thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” Alex asked.

Derek turned back to Alex with a grin, “For listening,” He opened the door to the kitchen, “As I said have a nice day.” He said before closing the door behind him.

Alex looked down to the cup of coffee in his hand. He sniffed it before taking a small sip, within a few seconds he gagged and spat it out, “ARGH! The heck am I doing? I don’t even like coffee!”

“Alex?” A voice called out to him.

Alex turned to see Ayu standing beside him, he blinked, “Oh… yes?”

“We’re leaving now,” Ayu said pointing over her shoulder to Sora and Shiore who were waiting by the door, “you coming with us?”
“Oh, of course,” Alex returned placing the cup back down on the counter, “Sorry about that, got a little distracted.”

The four exited the cafe and began making their way down a long busy street. After a few minutes of walking they came to a fork in the road.

“Well, I guess this is where we split,” Sora said turning back to Shiore and Alex, “you alright walking the rest of the way?”

“Yes,” Shiore nodded, “You worry too much.”

“Alright then, guess we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Sora said as she began walking off down the road to the right, “Come on Ayu.”

“Right coming,” Ayu said following her sister. She waved back to Shiore and Alex, “Sayonara.”

“Sayonara,” Shiore and Alex waved back.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Sora turned back to Alex looking him in the eye, “Darwin! You try anything and you’re dead you got that?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good! Just making sure that sticks!” Sora shouted back.

Ayu and Sora continued down the street eventually disappearing in the distance.

“She brings up a good point you know,” Alex said to Shiore, “You've never met me before, so you have absolutely no reason to trust me.”

Shiore shook her head, “You’re wrong… The thing is, I have.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I was new to this city, so I didn't know my way around it very well… Sora and Ayu were busy that day, so I figured I’d go explore on my own. However, when it was time to head home I realized I didn't have enough money left for the subway. I didn't want to bother Sora or Ayu so I just stood there looking pathetic. However, that’s when something unexpected happened. A complete stranger came up to me and introduced himself to me before instructing me to go through the gate with him. He then told me that the pass he had was good for up to four people at once. I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there without saying a word”

“I see…then what happened?”
“After that, he boarded the west bound train while I waited for the east. I thought that I would never see him ever again, but then I was let out of school earlier today and… there you were,” Shiore looked up to Alex, “It always bugged me that I was never able to thank you properly for helping me that day… so thank you.”

“Uh… you’re welcome?” Alex scratched the back of his head, “Though to be honest, it really wasn't...” Just then, Alex heard the faint chime of chains fill the air, “Hold that thought.” He surveyed their surroundings then turned back to Shiore, “Get down!”

Alex pushed Shiore down to the ground as a dark figure jumped out from the shadows and kicked Alex aside. Alex looked back to who kicked him to see a dark, rider like figure with bright yellow eyes clad in black, red and silver armor with silver chains adorning his shoulders and right leg guard.

Shiore felt someone grab her by her shoulder as she was forced to her feet. She looked back to see a pair of blank red eyes behind a set of two gold horns staring back at her.

“I was wondering when you’d show yourself…” Alex proclaimed gasping for air, “Decade.”

Just when things seemed to be at their worst, two riders jumped out from the shadows. One clad in red and gold armor than resembled a beetle and the other a deathly white with dusty blue whose appearance resemble that of a bat, a sword with a bat wing shape guard held tightly in her right hand.

The red rider beetle kicked the figure cloaked in chains to the ground releasing Alex from his grasp. Without wasting a second, he charged a punch and threw it at the figure causing it to dematerialize upon impact.

The white bat rider dashed over to Shiore and jabbed her capture in the side of the neck with the hilt of her sword, releasing Shiore from it’s grasp. She then delivered two quick strikes causing it to dematerialize the same as the other one.

The two undid their transformations revealing them to be the young man and woman from the photography studio that Tara, Cole and Shiore met only yesterday. The white bat being Natsumi and the red beetle Yuusuke.

“Kiva and Agito,” The bat rider said quietly lowering her sword, “Rather fitting choices considering the situation.”

“Using the illusion attack ride card along with form ride cards to create clones of other riders. That’s a new one,” The beetle rider proclaimed. “Though I’m curious to know where you picked up that trick,” He turned to where Alex lay on the ground, “Tsukasa.”

Alex looked behind him as Tsukasa emerged fully armored in his standard rider from around the corner.

“Should’ve figured you two would follow me,” Tsukasa said looking at the two riders, “Yuusuke… Natsumi.”

“Tsukasa, why are you doing this!” The white bat rider demanded, “Please… tell me.”

“The riders of this world challenged me to a duel,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “I believed that I destroyed them all once Ryu-O was dealt with… however,” He looked down at Alex on the ground, “It’s seems that one rider still remains in this world, and so long as there is still a single rider left, my fight against them shall continue.”

“Looks like we agree on something then,” Alex grunted as he forced himself to his feet, “If you want to fight, then let’s go… right here… right now.”

“There will be a time a place for that, but it is not now,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “You’re in no condition to fight me, plus this place simply won’t do as a battle ground.”

“Alright, then what is?” Alex asked. Tsukasa pointed over to a large tower far off in the distance. Alex’s eyes widened, “Ardent Tower?”

“That structure in the center of the city, that is where the final battle will take place,” Tsukasa said as his arm fell back down to his side, “If you wish to fight me, meet me at the top… alone.”

“That’s completely unfair!” Natsumi shouted.

“It’s simply a one on one duel, that seems to be relatively fair all things considered,” Tsukasa said as he turned to Natsumi and looked her in the eye, “You wanted to know why I’m doing all of this… to tell you the truth, not even I know the answer to that anymore.” He turned back to Alex, “As for you X, accept my challenge or don’t, that’s for you to decide… I hope for your sake that you make the right choice.”

As soon as Tsukasa finished speaking he vanished just as quickly as he had appeared.

“I’ve made my decision,” Alex proclaimed as he looked over to Ardent Tower off in the distance. He balled his hands into fists, “Decade… Your rampage, ends here.”

To be continued