That's right, kids! More Smash Mind expanded universe shenanagans! This time, we're going to tackle Toei's wide catalogue of Super Heroes through the eyes of the main villain of one of it's less successful adaptations.

Smash Mind: May the Power Protect You

/Karl Ziktor/

I love Japan.

From creating heroes to crafting villains, the fun just never stops!

And with Yggdrasil and this whole 'Lock Seed' craze that's going on, I couldn't wait to break out my latest group of Puppets to the World... I remember when I first got into this business...

I had but recently acquired Smart Brain and all of it's facilities, ranging from Science Labs, Warehouses, and the Occasional High School. The first thing I had them produce is Unit IV-666: Kamen Rider Xin. Then I heard whispers pertaining to a world accessed by mirrors called 'Ventara' and I offered to produce more of these 'Advent Decks' their riders tend to use...

...A lot more!

Needless to say, Eubulon was a bit skeptical at first, but in time, he trusted me with his blessing, his schematics, and the cure for alsheimer's which I plan to release in the coming year. But back onto the topic at hand, I would go on to produce as many advent decks as there were Advent Beasts captured by my Riotrooper Army, fifty in all! I even create one of those beasts through a White Wizard bringing my collector's edition Dark Magician Girl to life, thus began the life and adventures of Kamen Rider Moonbeam.

The Following Year, I heard from one of our investors representing Foundation X about creatures called Fangires and how they and other creatures like them can be manipulated through mind control and how they'd be empowered by these 'Gaia Memories' Another Investor by the name of Ivo Kintobor sent me some Gaia Memories to try out when building a new version of the Double Driver that was stolen from us... All I needed were some -

Remember that Wizard who brought Kamen Rider Moonbeam to life? Well, when he did, I would have to repay him in some way, shape or form.

And he arrived just last year to do just that!

So Immediately after completing Astro Switches fourty-one through one-hundred and a new Kamen Rider to go with it (Kamen Rider Xiri). I programmed an app on our dTab that allows it to act as a makeshift Wizardriver, And the Wizard supplied the enchantment to summon the Magic Rings to be supplied to the Mages who the wizard would distribute the app to. In an effort to save his daughter through the philosopher's stone of Wizeman Ende Tyrannus, He's gathered some of them the old fashioned way, and a few others with my way... It's probably a force of habit, but I'm a man who's willing to let minor details slide through the cracks for the sake of the system.

Which brings us to the here and now, I happen to have with me a blood gnome (Yeah, A blood gnome, out of all the creatures of the Mystic Forest of Briarwood, this is one who's existance actually caught me off gaurd.) who had recently won a cooking contest with a magic ice cream princess with a utencil that looks all too familiar.

I had the small blood gnome, Lydia, disguise herself as a human (through a potion of some sort, I dont really know much or even care at this point) to appeal more to my humble guests at the quarterly shareholder's meeting I have where I show off the new toys I have lined up for the shareholders, leaving some for my 'personal projects' as usual...

"Gentlemen, I believe it's been a Magical Year for all of us here at Ziktor Industries." I started as my presentation was activated. "And I have a feeling things are going to get even better."

And at that moment I held up a coin and it astonished everyone at the shareholder's meeting. "Oh, so there are new faces in this meeting." I saw someone in the group raise his hand the moment I said that. "Garaku Yukiteru."

"Welcome to the team, Yuki! I can call you Yuki, Right?" I asked and he nodded in mindless agreement. "They're called Core Metals, We've manufactured plenty of these babies through years of experimentation and we're gonna ship them off to the guy who uses the most metals out of them: Mr. Eiji Hino. Now, if we could just find him somewhere in the world, then we'll be able give him the powers he needs to help the new Drive Rider we keep hearing about fight the good fight and all that."

Yuki was looking at the way I laid out the Core metals, each were set apart from one another far enough to not cause any trouble, except for three... "Whoa!" I slammed the table and grabbed two of the metals, one in each hand, when I said. "Hold on, Slugger. Creating Greeed out of these metals is an obvious way to get fired, Mr. Garaku. You wouldn't want to be fired, now, do you?" And the spineless mook shook his head on cue. "Good. Now it's time to put the real meat in meeting. Lydia, I believe you have something to show our panel of investors."

She Carted in the trio, one pink, one white, one brown, But Im not one to judge by the color of one's skin.

That's the police's job.

"These Three young ladies are Ice Cream Princesses I concocted from my Grandpa's old recipies and given some pretty neat utencils." Explained Lydia, as she came up and pointed out their flavors. "This one's made of chocolate Ice Cream, the shallow and emotionless broad to my left is Vanilla, (Naturally) and the one that started it all is made from Suculant, Sweet Strawberry!"

I brushed my hand upon the back of the last one's waistline as I added: "But this isn't why we've brought them here. What got them here is this: The Nobunaga Driver." I said pointing to the device on each of their belts. "By turning the knob on the driver to open one of our newly-patented Carton Lockseeds, It activates it's main function. Take a wild guess as to what it's for?"

The investors ultimately rise up and get out their dPhones to record the first suit-up of our latest and greatest suit-up gadget. The trio held their lockseeds aloft and undo their locks 'Strawberry!' 'Vanilla!' 'Chocolate!' Those three voices would soon be united upon their attachment to the belts 'Lock On' and the investors waited patiently for the familiar voice. Luckily they didn't have to wait for much because it was time for the lockseed scanner to be be inserted. 'Straw-Cherry-Berry Arms' 'Killi-Vanilli Arms' 'Choco-Taco Arms' They entered their codes by pressing buttons and D-Pad on their Scanners (It was the Konami Code because I love me some Contra) and that was when the trademark voice said the signature phrase 'Standing By...' and then removed the scanner the way you would open up a carton of Ice Cream and they reached for the scoop-shaped lever as all three declared "Henshin." as they scooped open the lockseed, prompting the three Drivers to finish the phrase 'Complete' Three holes in reality unzipped to drop three scoops of Ice Cream upon each warrior as their armor is woven around their bodies as the scoops exploded to reveal their finished work.

"Well, It's safe to say there's enough for everyone." I joked as the investors laughed along with me. "But all jokes aside, Say hello to the first in a new line of Kamen Riders sponsored by Brayer's! Kamen Rider Harvest, Kamen Rider Cocoa, and Kamen Rider Pallete Knight!" The ones clad in Pink, Brown and White all took their bow with Lydia to honor my humble guests who were, of course, congratulating me on a job well done.

"And with the Brayer's sponsorship, we intend to add more lockseeds based on their flavors, Mint, M&Ms, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, all that fun stuff so be on the lookout for those guys in the coming months." They applauded me and cheered for me like they always did. "A big hand to Lydia who prepared these ice cream treats for us. Feel free to stop by and try the brownies she's prepared for each of you on your way out."

The Investors all marched out, Lydia included.

All of them, but one.

"What are you still doing here, Mr. Garaku?" I asked the new shareholder on the block. "The meeting's over, Go get your brownie and be on your merry way."

"I don't want food! I want Answers!" The man declared in front of my face. "The earthquakes, the deaths, the colatteral damage! All because of your so-called Giant Robot Simulator, Why would you create something this destructive?"

Why, what was this man saying? "Of course I wouldn't create something that destructive. Even if I did, I wouldn't let it near my real estate." I snarked in an effort to dodge the question. But the man persisted by stating: "Innocent Lives were lost because of two giant robots rumored to be around 500 meters high! Surely, you must know even a behemoth of that size cant be ignored and swept under the rug!"

"Listen to me very carefully, Mr. Garaku, because your stake in the company may very well depend on it." I commanded with a tone as professional as I could Muster "I have not, nor did I ever, commission a Giant Robot Simulator... So forget about it!"

The man backed away slowly towards the door and went along to join the rest of the Investors as well as a few of my lesser employees who happen to be on hand to congratulate themselves on a job well done.

I retreat to my office to find the agents of the Subspace Army's Grazer Guild Hackers holding Jars of Cell Metals, waiting for me to insert the core metals they need. I was more than happy to oblogue with the thirty new Core Metals we produced, three for each jar. Sure these jars can't deliver themselves to Eiji, but Greeed certainly can.

As they head off to launch the jars across the earth, I take my seat and grasp my VR Crystal in my hand to head off to the digital world.

And they say brand loyalty is contagious.

In my case, it's because a good chunk of my employees are Skugs.

"Forces of Darkness, Empower me! Take me back to my Virtual Reality!"

/Player One/

Manufacturing Kamen Riders

Merely to redirect the side of good away from your attention?

How soulless can you get!

Grimlord must be planning something big

And I think I know just who might be involved.

I know they mentioned something about the Subspace Army

Otherwise, I wouldn't be here to observe it.

And the fact that they now have a 'Grazer Guild'

Merely Boggles the mind, you know?

What would they want with a bunch of computer programmers?

Unless...

No...

Those Dastards...

All I can say for these specific versions of the digital world is:

User Have mercy on them all...

What's Player One alluding to back there? And what's Grimlord up to with his army of Kamen Riders!? Find out sometime in the future! But for now, Let's all give a big hand to DragonFang-X from Deviantart as he supplied Lydia and One of the Riders. Read and Review, Folks!