Kamen Rider Thrust

"Living life at the speed of Mach Justice!"

A Fan Made Kamen Rider Series

FIRST EVOLUTION: Poison Skies – An Unexpected Hero!

(Opening Theme: Wings of Despair - Kamelot)

Heat rolled out across the asphalt, causing the warm spring afternoon to ripple hazily, distorting the cheering throng occupying the stands.

"Next up in the Ishimori 500 Qualifier we have Ness Regal," boomed the announcer's voice. The crowd roared. "Regal, son of beloved MotoGP star Mugen Regal, led the way in the revival of Supermoto last year, but this is his first appearance on the GP circuit", the announcer continued. "Some have speculated that Regal has been reluctant to ride on the same track in the same race that claimed his father nearly ten years ago, but when asked Regal merely replied 'I'll do my best'..."

In the cavernous private garages below the track, a young woman with strawberry blonde hair rolled her eyes in annoyance. Even down here, the announcer's voice could be heard. Brushing her hair out of the way, she crouched down in front of bike.

"They just had to mention that, didn't they?," she muttered, tightening the last of the panel's bolts back into place. A cheerful looking young man poked his head out of the locker room adjoining the bay.

"What's that Sakura?," he asked, smiling. He was slender, with brown hair swept across his face, dressed in a blue racing jumpsuit. The girl shouted over her shoulder.

"I said that goddamn announcer just had to bring up your Dad!"

Ness shrugged, smiling still.

"Dad would say I shouldn't let'em ruffle my feathers, so I won't!"

Sakura made a face.

"Ness, sometimes you're such a ninny."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Ness cheerfully replied, slipping his helmet on and buckling it into place. Sakura stood, backing away from the bike.

"Alright, you should be good to go," she said, wiping her brow. Ness nodded as he slid astride of the racing bike. Sakura eyed him. "You going to be okay?"

Ness cocked his head. "Why wouldn't I be? Dad I rode this track a thousand times when I was little."

Sakura frowned. "Yeah, but this is... different."

Ness shrugged. "Wish me luck!"

Railings sprouted from the floor around bike and rider, and the platform began to ascend from the ceiling. Ness looked upwards as a square of light slid open in the darkness above him. A wave of sound and heat rolled over him as he appeared in the elevator's landing platform of the mechanics pit. Ness waved towards the adoring faces and shouts of encouraged as he rolled out onto the track.

The official mechanic came out, giving the bike a once over and then a thumbs up to the race officials. Support crews scuttled off the tarmac, leaving Ness all alone. Only then did the smiling cease, and his face instead become a mask of concentration. The lights of the starting line flashed down: 3, 2, 1....

At zero, Ness' foot snapped up off the pavement and onto the footpeg as his Custom Regal Motors' bike roared off the starting line. Ness hunkered down, accelerating towards the first turn.

"And Regal is off to a great start, coming out of the first turn and into the straightaway...."

Sakura took the stairs of the communications tower two at a time, winding her way up its rickety metal skeleton just as Ness was banking around and out of the first curve. She trotted up to the huge bank of windows, straining to see her friend as he shrunk into the distance.

"He's out of the first turn and headed into the first gambit, a series of switchback turns that often prove difficult for the first time riders..."

***

Donald Miller wasn't filling so good. The balding, middle aged office drone squinted from his nose bleed seats, despite being under an enormous awning. He loosened his eyesore of a tie some more and peered around, but his junior high daughter was no where to be found – he'd taken time off from work just so she could ditch him and hang out with her friends? His stomach gurgled, and he started to sweat heavily. Those nachos weren't hadn't been a good idea. Rising unsteadily, he stumbled down the deserted back stretch of the bleachers in search of the Men's room.

***

Sakura stamped her feet, shouting as Ness slalomed back and forth through the series of curves and then shot out along the back end of the track.

"Go Ness Go!"

***

Miller lurched down the last of the steps and into the darkened corridor. No one was around right now because they were all watching the qualifier race.

"And Regal finishes his first lap!," came the distant voice of the announcer, followed by the roar of approval.

Donald swayed, blinking a few times. His eyes were bulging slightly now, like a frog's, and his sweat slicked skin was clammy. Amphibian, one could say. After a few more blinks, he finally seemed to acknowledge the bathroom. Slowly, he began to head for it.

***

Ness' eyes darted up towards the timer as he careened underneath the start/finish line's scaffolding. Too slow, he thought, I'm barely going to place in the lower division. Flattening himself, he opened up the engine all the way.

***

Sakura's eyes widened.

"What?"

She watched Ness open the bike up as he whipped it around the first curve, and he wasn't slowing down...

***

Ness gritted his teeth as the bike slid up and high, arching around the outer edge of the track. I can do this. I can do this. He told himself, throttling up all the way as he left the turn and headed for the dangerous triple switchback.

***

"What's this? Looks like Regal isn't just satisfied with qualifying, but in beating his father's demons!" the announcer crowed.

Sakura grabbed her hat, tearing it off and jumping up and down.

"YOU NINNY!"

***

Miller crashed through the bathroom door, collapsing on the filthy tile. He shuddered.

***

The bike skidded, tires shrieking as it took the first turn too fast. Ness clung to it, not daring to throttle down as he barreled towards the second switchback.

***

Miller convulsed again, his body undulating right off the floor. He crashed through a bathroom stall door, seizuring on his feet. His limbs lashed out, splinter wood and tearing at his skin as he uncontrollably flung himself about inside the men's room.

***

Ness eyes' widened as the bike shook. He hit the brakes, fighting the machine's momentum.

***

Donald Miller, balding divorced father of two, clawed frantically at the edge of the sink, fighting to keep himself steady – instead, he puke a torrent of bloody black vomit and died.

***

Ness and the bike slammed down hard against the concrete, sliding out of the turn. The bike screamed. So did Sakura.

The entire field went silent. Not even the announcer had a soundbyte for the moment.

***

In the mens room, something crawled up from the ruins of Donald Miller's body. It was amphibian, and it was hungry.

***

Outside, a blue gloved hand pawed the air, and the world let out a collective sigh of relief. Ness unsteadily rose to his feet, one side of his suit shredded to reveal the armored plates layered within. He hauled the bike up, revealing an ugly black scar on the side of its body that had kissed the tarmac. The front fairing was completely gone, leaving a melted and torn stub in its place.

Emergency personnel rushed across the field while Ness wheeled his wounded bike towards them, waving to the crowd sheepishly. He was met by race personnel and after a moment, one of the officials made a gesture and the announcer immediately piped up, not missing a beat.

"What's this? It seems that Regal wants to continue his qualifier!"

The crowd irrupted in mixed emotions – disbelief mixed with cheers and jeers.

"They're talking it over... and it seems that they'll let him continue with a new bike and a fifteen second penalty added to his time, but he can continue from the second lap!"

***

The frog monster pushed its way out of the mens room and croaked, tasting the air with its tongue.

***

Sakura was waiting for him in the pit, a new helmet in one hand and a punch to the arm in the other. She choked back tears as she yelled him.

"Y-y-you NINNY!," she yelled, pummeling him. "I thought you said you weren't going to try to any stunts like that!" Ness winced, although the crash hurt far worse then her half hearted blows.

"Sorry, sorry," was all he could manage, trading helmets. A junior technician wheeled the wounded bike away as the spare was brought up.

"And your grand dad is going to KILL ME... that was a concept bike!"

"So... come up with a new concept!" Ness smiled and hurried off, pushing the new bike with him.

"Oh YOU-"

***

The janitors office door creaked open as a pudgy hand pawed its way around it. The janitor had his back turned, listening to a rather loud news report on the radio as he rather intently cleaned the lint from his belly button. He let out little more then the grunt as the ravenous frog monster pounced.

***

"Stupid, stupid, stupid...," Ness muttered quietly as the crews once again cleared the tarmac. This time, there was no count down, only the shift from the golden "caution" light to the green "go". Revving up, albeit more cautiously then before, Ness restarted his second lap.

***

The janitors' friend blinked and stared for a moment as he peer inside the splintered, bloody room. The frog monster croaked, turning sluggishly. The uninjured man turn and fled, screaming for help. The monster rose, lurching after this new meal. In the office, the bloody carcass of the dead man shimmered and a cancerous looking fog arose, seeping out into the hallway.

***

Sakura turned away from track as Ness neared completion of his second lap, hearing an uproar in the crowd. People were spilling out of their seats as some sort of commotion came from the hallways into the stands.

"...eh?"

A black cloud came billowing out as the frog monster appeared out of, croaking happily. Sakura spun and broke the glass surrounding a button on the wall. The announcer's own confused voice was cut out as an automated emergency message took over.

"MIASMA PRESENT, all civilians go to designated safe zones. Warning, outbreak eminent. SMASH has been notified... do not risk contamination. REPEAT. MIASMA PRESENT..."

***

Over the roar of the engine and his own lingering embarassment, Ness didn't hear the emergency broadcast. It wasn't until he was accelerating back towards the front of the track that he saw the flashing lights of the emergency broadcast system.

"What the...?"

People were scrambling down off the stands, pulling face masks on as others pulled packs off the wall, ripping them open to reveal self inflating biological contamination shelters. Some people wore simple paper face masks, others pulled more elaborate rigs from backpacks and off the walls. A few even tried to save their friends who had collapsed from the air born plague, but to no avail. The frog monster croaked loudly.

Several of the corpses transformed, the skin sloughing off as the Miasma mutated the cells into more of the frog monster's friends. Each arose, massive eyes blinking, until they all began to slowly croak in unison.

Sakura scrambled back into the garage, going for one of the industrial strength masks. In the pit, one of the mechanics had changed, and the frog monster leapt onto the track, eagerly waddling towards Ness. But Ness was still on his bike, slowing down. Instead, Ness gunned it, pulling the bike into a wheelie and smashing the monster into the ground.

"Ugh! Take THAT!," he hollared, squishing its face. The creature croaked, and then more of the Miasma began to seep out. "Oh shit," Ness said, ditching his bike and running for the garage – the stands were swarming now with Frog creatures, and another one leapt down after him.

"Get away!" Ness tried to scramble around it, but he was too slow. More of its friends began to pour out onto the tarmac. That was when helped arrive.

A massive aerodyne roared in from above, spitting energy blasts across the field. Emergency service vehicles rammed the gates, their doors emblazoned with the word SMASH. Another one of the aircraft paused, rotating in mid air as troopers slid down nylon ropes dressed in environmentally sealed riot gear. They engaged the frog monsters, driving them back as they pulled civilians to safety. Ness turned to watch two more SMASH personnel drop in. They weren't dressed in riot gear though – they wore dress casual and inspectors' pins. One was a man, tall and broad shouldered, stubble on his chin. The other was a woman, amazonian and not much shorter then her male friend. She gestured at the frog monster with the tip of her head.

"Hey, who let the science class experiments loose?," she sneered.

"Must've been some of those PETA bozos," her partner replied. She nodded.

"Why don't we do 'em a favor and dissect 'em?" She reached down with her hand, pulling back her jacket. There was a bulky looking belt around her hips. The man did the same, revealing a belt of his own.

"Sounds good," he replied. Badges appeared in their hands, and together they slid them into the buckles of their respective belts.

"Henshin" they said in unison, and then the world was bathed in light. Ness covered his eyes as the frog monsters croaked in alarm, falling back. Lines of light crisscrossed their bodies and the belts' replied.

"Armor up... Engage Fulcrum," the woman's belt said, encasing her in black and violet armor with striking yellow eyes. Her helmet that of a praying mantis.

"Armor up... Engage Vulcan," the man's added, his armor a deep red with a singular horn atop his head, his eyes were bright yellow as well.

The pair leaped into the fray, the man handily judo throwing the frog monsters and delivering mighty blows whilst his partner danced among them, raining down a flurry of strikes, ever moving. Ness took the opportunity to scramble towards the garage as the masked superman and superwoman went to work. Sakura met him, tearing off her mask with one hand, a crowbar in the other.

"Where have you been?," she hissed. Ness cringed and pointed back to where his bike was.

"I hit one of them, and then...,"

Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Never mind, c'mon."

***

High above, one of the SMASH aerodynes stayed on station to observe the action. In the back passenger seats was a large, enthusiastically loud black man – dressed similarly to that of his now armored colleagues, but with a flair indicative of someone about a year behind current trendy street fashion.

"Aw shit! Did you see that? Didja?!," he shouted, slapping his knee and nearly knocking his laptop out the open hatch.

"Fuck yeah, look at those stats..."

He pointed a big sausage finger at the screen, which displayed icons of the armored man and woman. The woman's was labeled "FULCRUM" and the man "VULCAN". Their enthusiastic friend put his hand to his ear.

"Shit, Roy, you just hit that motherfucker with 5000 PSI. That's some straight Rocky shit there man. Gonna call you Ivan Drago from now on," the black man chuckled. The woman could be heard sighing over the channel.

"Shut up, Daryl," she said. Daryl made a face.

"Aw, come on, Naoko. You guys havin' all the fun down there while I gotta cool my heels way up here. Don't even get to blast those motherfuckers...."

"Well, if you weren't always getting into trouble...," Roy replied.

"Not to mention your synch rate has been in the toilet, too," Naoko added.

Daryl frowned.

"Whatever, NAY-OH-KO," he said sullenly, closing the channel.

***

Sakura had pressed the mask over Ness' head as they ducked back inside the garage, trying to take one of the elevators down into the saferoom below, but it wouldn't respond.

"Dammit," she cried, slamming her hands on the panel. Ness looked around, holding the mask to his face. Something moved in the darkness. Ness tugged at her sleeve.

"Um, Sakura..."

She ignored him, trying to fiddle with the panel.

"Sakura..."

"What?!"

Ness pointed.

***

Vulcan backhanded a frog monster, but then turned as he heard a scream. Two civilians – one a young man in a torn up jumpsuit, the other a blonde in mechanics' coveralls – were running out of the garage, followed by another one of the gurgling monstrosities.

"Hey, Vector," Vulcan said casually to the frog monster. It stopped, turned to stare Vulcan down. Vulcan flexed his hand and it went to his empty hip. The vector charged just as an oversized revolver materialized on Vulcan's hip.

"Horn Magnum," the belt said. Vulcan snatched up the gun and fired, blowing an enormous hole in the Vector's chest. Vulcan sauntered over as it collapsed, and looked down on its corpse.

"You're under arrest."

***

"Daryl," Fulcrum said, ducking under the clumsy swipe of another Frog Vector. "Is the Miasma contained?".

Daryl's voice came back. "The Miasma's stopped growing, but there's a whole lot of Vectors down there... shit, it's like... it's like they're just appearing out of thin air."

Naoko sighed.

"Don't be stupid. There must be a reason," she replied, taking a couple steps back as she was surrounded by several of the Frog Vectors. Fulcrum straightened up, and her eyes flashed.

"Mantis Knuckle," her belt said, and then pieces of her arm flipped forwards, off the back of her arms and over her hands as massive gauntlets. Fulcrum spun, lashing out with renewed fury, knocking two, three, four of the Vectors out.

"Keep scanning," she said, "You've got to find the reason."

***

Ness and Sakura stumbled up onto the grass hill that rose above the pit in the center of the track, and looked down upon the carnage. Frog monsters were everywhere, devouring people, even as men in lacquered swat armor tried to beat them back. Sakura pointed and shrieked as she saw a frog monster wriggle its way out of one of the biohazard tents civilians would hide in during a miasma outbreak. Ness gasped moments later when more of the creatures tore their way free.

"They're multiplying!," Ness cried.

"SMASH is being overrun... I've never seen anything like it!," Sakura added.

***

Vulcan and Fulcrum regrouped down on the track, enjoying a brief respite when their radios crackled to life. It was a SMASH trooper from outside.

"Inspectors!, The Frog Vectors are escaping! We can't hold them!," the trooper added.

"What?!" They said simultaneously, looking at each other.

"This is different," Vulcan said. Fulcrum nodded.

"They don't try to escape normally... but if they do...."

"They could infect the city."

"Or the countryside.

"Inspectors!," the SMASH trooper cried again.

"We're on our way!," Vulcan said, and the two ran off, making for the stadium exterior.

***

Meanwhile, the aerodyne Daryl was in continued to circle above, with the large black man furiously typing away, trying to find an answer to add the madness.

"Dammit... why are they multiplying like this. They've never..."

Daryl's laptop began whooping frantically.

"What the...?"

He keyed in a command, zooming in on this new signature. His eyes widened.

"Shit!"

Daryl keyed the communications link back on.

"Naoko..." he began.

"Not now," she said testily.

"Sorry, Darryl," Roy added, cutting the channel.

"Dammit!" Daryl hissed. The laptop continued flashing its alert. After a moment of staring helplessly at the screen, he keyed the intercom for the aerodyne's pilot.

"Scan for these sensor readings. Let me know when we're over them."

"Yessir."

***

Sakura turned and headed down the hill, away from the worst of the fighting. Ness' eyes widened as he watched her go.

"Hey! Wh-where are you going?," he asked.

"C'mon, we're getting out of here."

"B-but...," he pointed back the other way. "There's SMASH Troopers over there, they can get us to safety."

"And that's where all the monsters are. I don't feel like getting eaten or turned into one. Do you?," she said, looking over her shoulder. "If we go this way, we'll avoid the worst of the fighting and the Miasma," she kept walking.

Ness hesitated. He had to stand on his tips toes to see over the top of the hill now. The SMASH troopers were falling back, and those two in the fancy armor were running towards the front entrance of the stadium.

"I-I guess you're right," he said. Sakura snorted, but it sounded like she had an awful cold... he turned. "Sakur...aaaaaaaah!"

Sakura was frozen in terror, splayed on the ground at the base of the hill. In front of her was the biggest of all the Frog Monsters they'd seen, the scraps of some awful looking men's necktie around its throat. The Monster blinked its enormous eyes and let out a thunderous croak.

***

Daryl gritted his teeth, going stir crazy inside the back of the aerodyne. The lights were dimmed and on alert mode, bathing the back cabin in red, all outside light shut out because of the NBC (Nuclear-Biological Contaminant) conditions. He clicked over various windows, watching the SMASH troopers holding the line, but barely, against an ever-increasing horde of Frog Vectors. Even Roy and Naoko seemed hard pressed to keep some of the creatures from escaping. The pilots voice interrupted his brooding thoughts.

"Sir, I've found it... it looks like a bigger version of one of the Frog Vectors, and it's attacking two civilians!"

"Can you take it out?"

"Not without hitting the civilians, sir."

Daryl's eyes darted to the case on the seat next to him. He reached for it.

"Then I'll engage it."

"But sir, you can't – you're – what about Inspectors Krueger and Romanova?"

Daryl cracked open the case, slinging the belt around his hips as he stood. "They've got their hands full with the situation out front," he told the pilot, making his way to the door. "I'll take full responsibility, Corporal." He keyed the controls, and door popped open with a hiss.

"A-aye, sir."

"Warning, cabin breach, MIASMA detected. Reseal door immediately...," the door suggested sagely. Daryl overrode it and peered out, his eyes half closed because of the violent surge of air created by the aerodyne's engines in hover mode.

"Get me in as close as you can!," Daryl yelled over the wind. He could see the Frog Vector towering over a girl in mechanics clothes, a young man was further up the hill, stunned. "Ugly motherfucker," he said to himself. The aerodyne came in closer.

"This is it, sir!," the pilot shouted.

"Understood! I'm going out!," Daryl shouted, and then he dropped into the fray.

***

"Sakura!," Ness yelled, running down the hill. He scooped up her dropped crowbar, shouting at the frog monster "You get away from her!", when one of the aerodynes swooped in low and a black man dropped out of it. He had a belt around his waist like the other two.

"Hey!," the man shouted, causing the Vector and civilians to pause. He landed heavily on one knee, rising slowly. "I'm tired of you terrorizing innocent people!," Daryl said, pointing at the Frog Vector. "And I won't let your slimy tyranny continue!"

Ness stared.

"Is this guy f'real?," Sakura said.

Daryl brandished a badge of his own, taking a step forward. The Vector actually took a step back. "Henshin!," Daryl said, slamming the badge into place. Light crackled around the belt, and Daryl staggered.

"Ar-mor Up... En...gage..." the belt stuttered, and then the armor's lines of light appeared haphazardly, encasing Daryl in some kind of deformed looking suit. He reeled drunkenly, before lurching with a wild hook at the Head Vector.

"ERRRARGH!," Daryl screamed.

The monster's head snapped back and it reeled, letting out a grunt. It shoved him back and leaped on top of him, snaking its tongue out and around his neck. Daryl clutched at the slimy tongue, struggling to get it off him. Ness dashed around the pair, pulling Sakura up.

"Let's book it while those two hump each other," she said. Ness was about to follow her when he heard Daryl scream. The frog monster had its claws around the belt and was prying it off. The black man thrashed in the dirt, suddenly helpless. The belt began to give, it made a wet ripping sound as the Vector threw the belt over its shoulder. It landed at Ness' feet.

"C'mon, what are you waiting for?!," Sakura hissed. Ness looked down at the belt, looked at Daryl and the Vector. The armor encasing the black man began to crack, let off a sickly light, before shattered into a cloud of glittering obsidian dust. Underneath, the man's skin was ashen and blistered. It looked freezer burned. His eyes rolled back into his head as the Vector squeezed. Daryl gurgled, and his hands dropped from the tongue around his neck.

"You Ninny, let's go!," Sakura ran back and was tearing at Ness' sleeve. But he couldn't take his eyes off the big black man who'd tried to save them. The Frog Monster promptly sucked him in, taking him in one gluttonous, murderous gulp.

Ness kneeled in the grass, picking up the belt.

"What are you doing?! That thing's going to trash you and have me for dessert!," she said. As if on cue, the Frog Monster turned.

"Urrrrrrrrrrp?," it said.

Ness stood, holding the belt and the black man's badge.

"Sakura – he died because of us. And if someone doesn't try – many more will die today."

Ness looked up at her, his eyes far away and yet so very much in the hear and now.

"Please understand," he said. Sakura backed away in bewilderment.

Ness buckled the belt on and took a deep breath.

"Hurrrrrruuuuurp," the frog suggested, ready for another meal.

"I don't know what dark place you came from, but someone must stop you... and I can't let that man's death go unavenged," Ness said, raising the badge up. He tried to ignore that both the belt and the badge were gooing with something unspeakable. "Sakura, please, get to safety."

Sakura shook her head and ran off. "What is it boys and their speeches?"

"RRRURP!," the monstrosity growled, ready to chase after her. Ness shook his head, stepping into its path. The monster stopped, taken aback by yet another stupid human.

"You want to eat my friend? So sorry, but you cannot." He shoved the badge into the slot on the top of the belt until it clicked.

"Henshin"

"Armor Up... Engage Thrust," the belt said clearly this time. Whatever wasn't working for Daryl, it wasn't a problem for Ness. Ghostly plates and panels appeared around him, shimmering in the air before closing in, snapping into place with a flash of light.

Where Ness once stood was a lanky armored warrior in bright green, its round eyes a shimmering scarlet. Twin antennae swept back over from above the eyes, completing the grasshopper motif. Thrust looked down at his hands, marveling at them.

***

Vulcan and Fulcrum were back to back, surrounded by Frog Vectors, when the call came in. It wasn't Daryl, but their aerodyne pilot.

"Inspectors! So sorry to bother you, but Inspector Yubari engaged the- the King Vector and he..." the pilots voice went out in static.

"Horn Magnum"

Vulcan squeezed off several more shots as Fulcrum dived into a roll past the others, lashing out with her fists. The Vectors collapsed onto one knee. Vulcan spun and head shot them. The final one tried to run, but Fulcrum leapt gracefully into the air.

"RIDER KICK!," Fulcrum shouted, her legs scissoring out in a slash of energy. The Vector collapsed in half. Landing, Fulcrum turned to see Vulcan trot up.

"Nice," he said. Fulcrum didn't answer, but instead cut in on the pilot, who's voice had come back from the static.

"What was that?"

"I said Thrust is engaging the King Vector."

"What?!," she replied, looking at Vulcan.

"KING Vector?," he said. She snapped back to the pilot.

"We're on our way," she replied. Vulcan motioned to the guards. Make sure no more Vectors come this way.

"Roger!" they shouted, as Vulcan and Fulcrum broke into a run for Daryl and the Vector...

***

Thrust marveled some more at his hands. "Such power..." he clenched them into a fist, but while he was busy he didn't see the frog creature charge him.

"Grurrrp!", it snarled, headbutting Thrust and knocking him into the ground.

"Oooph."

Thrust got up on one knee just in time to see the Frog Vector open its mouth and let its tongue shoot out. He clumsy rolled to one side. The frog reeled its tongue back in and tried again.

Thrust twisted out of the way, but this time let his hands grab the tongue, holding fast as the Frog Vector tried to reel its slimy extra appendage back into its mouth.

"REEEEURP!" it squealed as Thrust stood up and tugged hard.

"You are very naughty," Thrust chided, wrapping his armor hand around the tongue like he was getting a good grip on some rope. "This must stop."

The Frog Vector's bulging eyes widened more as Thrust ripped its tongue out, in a geyser of bright blue blood. The Frog Vector thrashed wildly as its tongue writhed in Thrust's hands. Ness imagined it looked like very much like a headless snake, except he yelped when the flesh began to dissolve, searing his palms. Thrusts eyes flashed, and suddenly the Ness-ness in its posture and body language went away. Thrust dropped the burning fleshy bit and confronted the twitching Frog Vector, it looked at Thrust with hateful eyes. Thrust broke into a run.

"RIDER...KICK," the belt said as Thrust leaped into the air, extending a single foot in a massive burning side kick. The Frog Vector collapsed on impact and Thrust pushed off its chest, flipping backwards to land in a crouch, facing away from the mortally wounded monster. It clawed its way up to its feet, only to freeze and fall backwards, exploding in a pillar of fire.

Vulcan and Fulcrum skid to a halt in front of Thrust.

"Daryl, what the hell are you doing?," Fulcrum barked. Vulcan nodded, gesturing with his chin.

"And since when did you synch up well enough to do that?"

A SMASH trooper broke in.

"Inspectors! The Vectors... they're dissolving!"

"Eh?," Vulcan said, turning around to watch the Frog Vectors all along the track and in the stands in the final throes of death, much to the relief of the SMASH troopers and civilians. Everyone broke out in cheers. Vulcan turned back in time to see Fulcrum get into Thrust's face.

"Answer me, you bastard!," she growled, shaking Thrust's arm, but he didn't react. Instead, the belt popped open on its own.

"Shift down," it proclaimed. The armor vanishing in a wave of light starting at the belt and radiating out. Ness reeled, as Fulcrum took a step back.

"What?," she said.

"Eh?!," Vulcan added, looking on in alarm.

"Ness!," Sakura cried, running up to him. He looked over, focusing in on her, but he couldn't stay standing. He collapsed gently to his knees as she slid to a stop in front of him, hugging his neck.

"Y-you NINNY! You stupid stupid ninny!" she sobbed, through happy tears of relief.

Vulcan and Fulcrum looked at each other, hitting a release on their belts.

"Shift Down," their belts said in unison, and then their armor dissolved like Thrust's, leaving Roy and Naoko to stare first at each other, and then back to Ness and Sakura.

"A... civilian?," they thought in unison.

FIRST EVOLUTION – COMPLETE

(End Theme: War is Necessary by Nas)