Rider Time: Decade Vs Zi-O - Zi-O vs Decade: How it Should Have Ended Chapter 2: How Zi-O vs Decade Should Have Ended, a kamen rider fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

…

The two Sougos changed out of their Rider forms and stared at each other, confused.

"No way!" Exclaimed Misa, girlfriend of the second Sougo.

"You're me?!" Sougo cried, pointing at his doppelgänger.

Changing back to normal, Geiz stammered, "Wh-What?! Two Sougos?!"

"I'm finally here!"

A THIRD Sougo came up behind Geiz, freaking him out. The newcomer paused, did a double-take at seeing two identical strangers, then murmured, "One, two…"

He pointed at himself. "… Three mes? What?!"

Rushing over to his Sougo, Geiz exclaimed, "Hey, hey, hey! What's going on?!"

"I don't know!" Sougo replied.

"How intriguing!" Remarked the second Sougo.

Suddenly, a fourth Sougo appeared. "Finally, I made it… What the?!" He cried, staring in shock at the other three, who stared back at him.

"ANOTHER one?!" Geiz shrieked.

"The fuck is this? There can only be ONE Sougo, who the hell are you posers?!" Demanded yet another Sougo, dressed like a delinquent.

Another, harmless-looking Sougo gasped and clutched a teddy bear to his chest. "Please don't use such language! It offends Mr. Teddy!"

"Huh, and here I thought the last dimension was weird," remarked still another Sougo, wearing a basketball uniform.

"Why… Why do you all look like me?!" Yet another Sougo cried.

"Why are all of you guys?" Wondered a confused girl who looked very much like Sougo if he had been born of the opposite sex.

"Why do none of you look like me?" Wondered SOUGO Tokiwa, leader of Quartzer. "I'm the real Sougo!"

"No, I am!" A little boy declared, suddenly transforming into Oma Zi-O.

"Wait, you're Oma Zi-O? But I am Oma Zi-O!" Protested a second demon king.

"Really? Me too! Wow, and here I thought I was the only one," commented a third Oma Zi-O.

As more and more confused Sougos appeared, each wearing a different outfit and gradually becoming more absurd than the last – there was a ninja Sougo, a Kaiju Sougo, an alien Sougo, a magical girl Sougo, an anthropomorphic duck Sougo, a regular duck Sougo, a brain in a jar Sougo, a zombie Sougo, a bewildered Hiryu Kakogawa for some reason – Geiz started pulling out his hair in clumps. "Ehhhhh?!"

Swartz, observing the increasingly growing throng of Sougos showing up outside the school, had a haunted look on his face. "I've had nightmares about this…"

"And I've had really good dreams about this!" Heuer exclaimed joyfully, figuring that odds were at least one of the Sougos would return his affections.

"Me too," commented Misa, staring at the increasing throng of boys resembling her boyfriend with naked lust.

"As have I," Woz added giddily.

A Jeep drove up. Tsukasa Kadoya poked his head out the window, blinked a few times at the sight of all the Sougos, then slowly shook his head. "Nope."

He promptly shifted into reverse and drove as far away from the school as possible.

…

How Rider Time: Kamen Rider Zi-O VS Decade -7 of Zi-O!- Should Have Ended

…

Swartz looked out the window at the horde of Inves shambling outside the school grounds grimly. "Students," he declared to the worried teenagers filling the classroom behind him. "We seem to be in dire straits. Our school has somehow been transported to another dimension full of monsters intent on killing and eating us all. We have no way to call for help, no way to get home, and sooner or later we will run out of food and fresh water. It would seem that all we can do is sit here and wait for our inevitable demise…"

Abruptly, he turned around and revealed he was holding the Another Decade watch. "Is what I would be saying if I didn't have power over dimensions, and so could transport us all back to our world right now! Who wants to go home?"

"YAY!" The students cheered.

"Wait, you got your powers and memories back?!" Geiz exclaimed in disbelief, shooting to his feet and reaching for his watch. "Have you just been pretending to be a principal all this time?!"

"No, I really am a principal," Swartz insisted. "Who also happens to be a Time Jacker. We can deal with that later. Right now, I have to get us all home!"

"YAY!" The students cheered, even Sougo.

Geiz glared at him. "Really?"

"What? I want to go home too!" Sougo protested. He frowned, a sudden thought occurring to him. "But wait… Mr. Swartz, what if there are other schools trapped here?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine," Swartz said dismissively.

Meanwhile, at Hanazono Academy…

Swartz, sporting an Afro and a wicked 'stache, looked out the window at the horde of Inves shambling outside the school grounds grimly. "Students," he declared to the worried teenagers filling the classroom behind him. "We seem to be in dire straits. Our school has somehow been transported to another dimension full of monsters intent on killing and eating us all. We have no way to call for help, no way to get home, and sooner or later we will run out of food and fresh water. It would seem that all we can do is sit here and wait for our inevitable demise…"

"YAY!" The students cheered.

Alternatively…

He turned around, nodding at Sougo. "Is what I would be saying if one of you weren't a Kamen Rider possessing the powers of every primary Rider from the last 20 years, many of which would surely be able to extricate us from this precarious situation."

Geiz cleared his throat.

"Also his sidekick is here as well."

"HEY!"

"So, Mr. Tokiwa, can you get us all home?" Swartz asked Sougo seriously, the rest of the students looking at the young king-to-be with desperate hope.

Sougo smiled and nodded, producing his Ziku Driver and GrandZi-O watch. "Sure, no problem!"

ZIKU DRIVER! ZI-O! GRAND ZI-O!

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O! GRAND TIME! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRANDZI-O~!

Now in his golden and ridiculously ornate ultimate form (depending on whether or not you count Oma Form or Oma Zi-O), Sougo touched his Den-O statuette.

DEN-O!

"Den-O can summon the time-traveling DenLiner to get us out of here!" Sougo explained as a time portal opened, and Den-O appeared.

"Wait, we're trapped in another dimension. How will time travel help us?" Asked a confused Ora.

The newcomer Rider shrugged. "Time is a dimension," said Momotaros, since Ryotaro was, as usual, absent with no explanation.

He raised his Rider Pass, and the sound of a train horn could be heard outside, startling the Inves milling about the school grounds. Without warning, the DenLiner slid into view right outside the window, a door sliding open to reveal Naomi, the rest of the Taros waving from behind her.

"All aboard!" She cried, flashing everyone a cheerful smile. "Let's get you kids home!"

"YAY!" They all cheered.

"Also, you're paying for the tickets," Momotaros told Swartz.

He did a double-take. "Wait, what?!"

Alternatively…

Now in his golden and ridiculously ornate ultimate form (depending on whether or not you count Oma Form or Oma Zi-O), Sougo touched his Gaim statuette.

GAIM!

"Gaim has the power to open dimensional cracks," Sougo explained as a time portal opened and Kamen Rider Gaim appeared in his Kiwami Arms form. "So he can take us home no problem!"

"It will be even easier than that," Kouta Kazuraba explained. "Since there are Inves here, this dimension already has a connection to Helheim. Once I get you home, I can transport any other people that might've gotten trapped here back to their worlds, and then assimilate this place with my planet to make sure it never poses any danger to anyone ever again."

"YAY!" Everyone cheered as Kouta gestured, and a portal literally unzipped itself in the air before them.

"I'm definitely converting after this!" An ecstatic Ora exclaimed.

Heure frowned. "Wait, does Gaimism exist in the continuity of the story? I thought this was supposed to be more in line with canon."

She shrugged.

Alternatively…

Now in his golden and ridiculously ornate ultimate form (depending on whether or not you count Oma Form or Oma Zi-O), Sougo touched his Decade statuette.

DECADE!

"Decade can freely travel between dimensions," Sougo explained as a time portal opened and Kamen Rider Decade appeared in his Complete Form 21 form. "So he can get us all back home without any problem!"

He turned to the bewildered Tsukasa. "In fact," he said, a thought occurring to him. "I bet he was on his way here to save us already! He's usually around wherever there are dimensional shenanigans afoot, and seeing as how he's my sempai, he probably dropped everything to rush over when he heard I was in trouble!"

"That's… Right," Tsukasa said slowly, aware of all the expectant eyes on him. "That's exactly what I was doing. I certainly wasn't running around murdering versions of yourself from alternate timelines."

Sougo laughed and clasped him by the shoulder. "Gosh, that's an oddly specific thing to say! But thanks for coming to rescue us! And once we're back, you'll save anyone else trapped here before destroying this world, right?"

"Right. Yes. That is exactly what I'm going to do, and what I was always planning to do the whole time," Tsukasa mumbled stiffly.

"YAY!" Everyone cheered.

"I knew I could count on you!" Sougo said proudly, patting Tsukasa on the back. "Gosh, I don't see why everyone keeps blaming you for everything, you're a swell guy, Tsukasa!"

"… I'm really not…" Tsukasa muttered in resignation, summoning a silver curtain to transport the entire school back to Earth.

Alternatively…

"Or," Geiz spoke up before Sougo could change into his Grand form. "We could always summon our Time Mazines. It'd be a bit of a tight fit, but I imagine we could ferry everyone back in a few trips. While we're at it, we might as well scout the area and see if there's anyone else out here who needs a ride home."

"That's a great idea, Geiz!" Sougo enthused, clasping his friend on the shoulder. "See, this is why you're going to be a great Savior someday!"

"Wait, how are time machines going to get us home?" A confused Ora pointed out. "We're in another dimension, not another time."

"Time is a dimension," Momotaros spoke up from the side her, freaking her out. "Wait, I already did that bit."

FFWD

"Hurry up."

"Be careful."

"Got it."

"Hurry up."

Three students carefully crawled through the barricade blocking the school's front entrance and opened the door a crack.

"You see them?" One of them asked.

"We're good," another replied. "Let's go."

He started to open the door carefully…

"Wait, wait, hold on, are you guys actually going outside?!" The third student spoke up suddenly, horrified.

The other two gave him a confused look. "Well, yeah. Why did you think we were coming down here? And carrying makeshift weapons?"

"I don't know, I thought it was some sort of kinky sex thing," the third boy confessed. His friends gave him incredulous looks. "What? It makes way more sense than going outside, considering there's nothing outside the school but a wasteland full of monsters who want to eat us, and I don't think a baseball bat or shovel are going to have much effect on them!"

His friends considered this. "You know, that's actually a good point," one of them admitted.

"Yeah, we'll probably be killed right away if we go outside," the other one agreed, tapping his shovel against the floor with a frown. "I mean, it's not like we're Kamen Riders like Sougo or Geiz. We're just regular guys."

"Yeah, I guess this was always a pipe dream," his friend admitted. "So… What we do now?"

"Gay threesome?" the third of them suggested hopefully.

They considered this for a moment. "Yeah, okay."

FFWD

Swartz shook his head in frustration as they watched the three idiot boys who tried to escape get torn apart by Inves. "What fools."

Sougo raised his Ride Watch, only for Geiz to push it down. "It's too late," he told him sadly as below, the Inves tore out one of their classmate's throat.

"No it isn't," Sougo insisted, plugging his watch into a second, black and gold one.

ZI-O II! ZI-O!

ZIKU DRIVER!

"Henshin!"

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER~! (RIDER~!) ZI-O! (ZI-O!) ZI-O~! II!

As the last of the students was devoured, the clock hands on Sougo's face started winding backwards, and so, too, did the flow of time.

A few minutes ago…

The three students cautiously crept out the main entrance to the school, and were immediately spotted by Inves. "Oh no!" One of them cried. "We've been spotted!"

"This was a terrible idea!" The second one wailed as the monsters rushed towards them.

"I thought this was going to be a gay threesome!" The third whined.

Saikyo Girade!

Suddenly, Sougo appeared in his Zi-O II form and cut down the nearest Inves with his sword. "All of you, get back inside!" He cried at his classmates. "I'll take care of this!"

"Thank you!" One of them shouted gratefully,

"Next time we get bored, we'll just go for a gay threesome!" Another added.

They quickly rushed back inside while Sougo started laying into the hungry monsters.

"You know, I kinda forgot he could do that," admitted Geiz, watching from one of the classes.

Swartz nodded. "Yes, it's an incredibly useful power, you'd think he'd use it more often."

Geiz nodded in agreement. "Yeah… Wait, how did you know he could do that?"

The principal's eyes darted back and forth nervously. "Uh…"

FFWD

"Oh, principal Swartz!" Sougo cried as the frowning Swartz entered the classroom he'd decked out like a festival, completely devoid of anyone except for Sougo himself and another student trying to catch a goldfish. "What are you doing here?"

"When you didn't attend the mandatory meeting of Romance Club, I came to see what you were up to," the principal said gravely, frown deepening as he took in the completely untouched sharpshooting and ring toss games, before his eyes widened when he saw the goldfish. "Wait, you have goldfish?! Tokiwa, we have a food shortage! Some of your fellow students went crazy and tried to hold a girl hostage just last night to try and get more food, leading to a horrible death! I'm confiscating these right now so that we may stave off starvation and anarchy for just a little longer."

"But-" Sougo protested, only for Swartz to completely ignore him and the other student, pick up the tub full of goldfish, and leave. "Sorry about that," Sougo apologized to the other student, who just stared blankly at where the goldfish had just been. "I don't suppose you'd like to play another game?"

"No," the student said bluntly, dropping his paper net and leaving.

Sougo sighed. "Well, this was a bust."

FFWD

"So there are other schools besides our own," Swartz mused, staring at the ceiling, his back to the three Sougos, Misao, and Heuer and Ora peeking through the door. "That means other survivors."

The Sougo that attended Hikarigamori stood up. "That's not the problem!" He exclaimed. "Why are there three of me?!"

Swartz waved him off. "Oh, that's obvious. They're parallel versions of you from alternate dimensions who must've gotten dragged here the same way we were. We'll have to find some way of distinguishing you from one another…"

He stood up and turned to face the two newcomer Sougos and Misa. "What matters is that if there are other schools, we may just have a chance of survival! Since you three got here, that means there might be a way to establish communications with the other schools. We can set up trade routes, exchange goods and services, pool our resources, and maybe even figure out a way to get home, or at the very least build SOME manner of civilization in this harsh world!" He nodded at the three Sougos. "And since there are three of you, all of whom are Kamen Riders, it isn't much of a stretch to assume that there are other schools out there with other Sougos who are also Kamen Riders. Surely with your combined powers, we cannot only survive, but thrive!"

Everyone was very impressed by this plan. "Wow, that's a really good idea, principal Swartz," the Sougo of Hikarigamori exclaimed.

The Sougo from Misawa nodded in agreement, humbled. "As aspiring kings, we should've thought of that."

"Certainly blows my plan to become student president out of th' water," the Sougo from Hanazomo added.

"Don't be preposterous," Swartz snorted. "Neither of you go here, and while I suppose you could transfer here – which would mean selfishly abandoning your own schools and the people who have no doubt put their trust in you – we already have a student president, who is – rather fortunately – not here right now."

Out in the wilderness, Tsukuyomi sneezed.

FFWD

"Hey, principal Swartz, are you sure it's a good idea to be making food out of Inves, considering that they're an invasive species from a parasitic other dimension who exist to help spread that dimension into others by carrying seeds and a virus to grow Helheim fruit, which turn more people into Inves?" Sougo wondered as he started helping Swartz butcher a dead Inves.

"Blowfish are ridiculously poisonous, and are still considered a very popular dish," Swartz pointed out. "I'm certain as long as we take the proper precautions in preparing the meat, it should be fine."

The next day…

"I stand corrected," Swartz grunted to a horrified Sougo as the cafeteria descended into chaos, students fleeing for their lives as their peers mutated into Inves or turned into glorified bushes and started attacking everyone in sight.

"Kill me!" Geiz begged Sougo as vines slithered out of his mouth to envelop his form, which was already turning gray and chitinous. "KILL ME!"

"Misa!" Sougo B cried as his girlfriend transformed before his eyes.

She laughed sadly as more and more of her humanity was overridden by the second. "Told you this is why we should go vegan, babe. Can't trust the mystery meat…"

"You should probably do something about this," Swartz suggested to Sougo.

Sougo nodded, producing his Zi-O II watch.

FFWD

"it's tough bein' popular," Sougo C remarked as he and Sougo A hid from the amorous Heuer.

Sougo A nodded sadly. "I'm bad at this kind of thing."

Sougo C nodded, then brightened, struck by an idea. "Got it!" He exclaimed. "Leave it t' me! I'll take yer place."

Sougo A frowned skeptically. "But…"

"It'll be fine!" Sougo C insisted. "No one'll see if we swap here. C'mon, take yo' clothes off already. I'll pretend to be you and accept Heure's love letter…"

"Okay…" Sougo said slowly, started to take his clothes off.

"And then, if he sees through it, I'll knock him out, then you can pretend to be me and threaten to feed him to the Inves so I can jump in – still pretending to be you – to save him, and the two of us will have a battle to the death!" Sougo C continued excitedly.

Sougo A gave him a confused look. "… Why?"

Sougo C opened his mouth… And paused, a confused look on his face. "That's… A good question."

Sougo A stared at him, then slowly started putting his clothes back on. "You know, I think I'm just going to deal with Heure myself, this is getting too complicated."

Sougo C nodded in acquiescence. "Fair enough. Also, Misa is th' one who let in th' Inves last night."

Sougo did a double-take. "Wait, what?!"

FFWD

Tsukuyomi was carrying the amnesiac, nameless boy in the direction he claimed his home was. "Are you sure it's this way?" She asked, grunting from the effort of carrying the child on her back all this way.

"ONEECHAN!" He cried in alarm.

"Eh?"

Suddenly, an Inves attacked! Tsukuyomi flung the boy away as she was knocked to the ground, glancing up as more Inves appeared to join their hungry comrade. She thrust her hand at them, a wave of power washing off of her and causing the monsters to freeze in place, glitching visually.

The boy's jaw dropped in amazement. "Whoa! You can control time?!"

Tsukuyomi nodded as she took out her Ride Watch. "And that's not all I can do!"

TSUKUYOMI!

She transformed into her Rider form and quickly took down the monsters while they were still frozen in time, avoiding any arbitrary leg injury that would prevent her from being involved in the climax of this adventure.

FFWD

"Just as well," Misa, having been exposed as having conspired with Sougo C to let an Inves into the school, snarled. "It's still one less Sougo Tokiwa!"

"What is it, Misa?" Her boyfriend, Sougo B, asked, coming out of a nearby classroom.

"It's nothin'," she assured him.

"She cheated on you with Sougo C and A," Heure said bluntly.

"WHAT?!" Sougo B bellowed, furious.

"Babe, you know I've got a type!" Misa protested. "And that type is you! Or…" She glanced lustily at Sougo A. "Sougos in general, apparently."

"Also, she let an Inves into the school," Sougo A added.

"WHAT?!" Sougo B shouted. "That's it, we're breaking up!"

Misa gasped in horror… Then shrugged. "Well, okay. Hey, cutie," she crooned seductively, turning to Sougo A. "You single?"

Sougo A considered for a moment. "Do you think you would mind dressing up a sailor occasionally?"

Misa shrugged. "Sure, not the worst kink I've heard of."

Sougo B gawked in disbelief. "SERIOUSLY?!"

Tsukasa, who had been standing outside on the balcony preparing to make an entrance, wisely decided to come back another time, since he wanted nothing to do with this teenage drama.

FFWD

"I want a name too," the nameless, amnesiac boy told Tsukuyomi as they sat by the campfire. "Hey, Oneechan. Can you name me?"

She gave him a surprised look. "Eh?" She chuckled slightly. "But…"

"You can name me after your friends," he suggested.

Tsukuyomi considered this. "Well, I suppose you're more of a Sougo than a Geiz," she admitted.

His face lit up. "Then from now on, I'm Sougo!"

But Tsukuyomi was already shaking her head. "No, no, that won't work, then everyone will get confused. I'll say, "Hey, Sougo!" And both of you will think I'm talking to you, and I'll need to clarify which of you I meant. And what am I supposed to do, call one of you Sougo A and the other Sougo B? And of course, neither of you will be able to agree on which one would be A or B…"

"But I want to be Sougo," the boy protested.

"I appreciate that, but… How about Susan?" Tsukuyomi suggested. "It sounds close to Sougo, and back where I come from, it's a very popular boy's name."

He scowled. "My name is Sougo."

"Are you sure?" She asked gently. "Susan really is a fine name, my dad was named Susan, and we almost called my brother that-"

"My name is SOUGO!" The boy roared, eyes glowing red.

There was a thunderclap, and suddenly Tsukuyomi found herself sitting next to Oma Zi-O. She stared in horror at the reborn demon king.

Oma Zi-O coughed. "Well, this is awkward."

FFWD

Tsukasa kicked in the barricade blocking the front entrance of the school, looking impassively at the horrified students clustered at the other end of the room, and turned to leave…

Walking face first into the horde of slavering Inves waiting outside, who fell upon him before he could pull out his Driver.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA-"

FFWD

"And what the hell is a "true Sougo"?!" Sougo A demanded of Tsukasa, who had just revealed his intentions to kill him and all the other Sougos.

"The one and only one Sougo capable of becoming Oma Zi-O," Tsukasa explained, drawing his personal Rider card. "That's one of you."

KAMEN RIDE!

"Henshin!"

DECADE!

Changing into his Rider form, Tsukasa lunged at Sougo A, who dodged a punch and pulled out his Driver and a watch.

ZIKU DRIVER! ZI-O! GRAND ZI-O!

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O! GRAND TIME! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRANDZI-O~!

"Wait, you're going into your final form right off the bat?" Tsukasa asked, startled, as Sougo A changed into GrandZi-O.

"You're vastly more experienced than I am and fully intend to kill me and as many people you deem necessary to stop this "true Sougo," Sougo A pointed out. "Why wouldn't I go all out?"

"… Fair point," Tsukasa admitted, pulling out his K-Touch 21. "I guess I'll have to go all out as well!"

DOUBLE, OOO, FOURZE-

Abruptly, Sougo B ripped the smart phone out of Tsukasa's hands, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it until it broke. "Hey!" Tsukasa spluttered, shocked. "You're not… You're not supposed to do that! That's against the rules!"

"Like the other me said, you're vastly more experienced than us and plan to kill us all," Sougo B pointed out. "I think the usual rules of standard transformation etiquette no longer apply."

He shrugged, taking out his own GrandZi-O watch. "And besides, it's your fault for having a transformation device that requires you to stand in one place pushing so many buttons in sequence for several seconds and not expect anyone to try and interrupt you."

Sougo E held his teddy bear up to his ear. "What's that, Mr. Teddy? You think Mr. Decade should die? Okay."

He pulled open the zipper on the back, reached in, and pulled out his own GrandZi-O watch.

ZIKU DRIVER! ZI-O! GRAND ZI-O!

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O! GRAND TIME! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRANDZI-O~!

And suddenly, there were three ridiculously ornate golden Riders standing before Tsukasa, who was actually starting to get concerned. "… Shit."

"Thanks for helping out," Sougo A thanked his doppelgängers.

Sougo B shrugged. "No problem. This guy wants to kill all of us. What, were we just supposed to stand around and do nothing?"

FFWD

Sougo B and E arrived just as the young boy who was apparently the "True Sougo" was explaining who he was and how he became a child.

"What is going on?" Asked the confused Sougo B.

Sougo E activated his watch.

ZI-O!

He plugged it into his Driver, and held out his teddy bear, which glowed, waggled its arms, and floated into the air. "Henshin!"

He twisted his Driver, and the Teddy released energy streamers which flowed into the driver before it floated behind him and started enlarging.

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O!

The Teddy bear burst, energy and katakana swirling around Sougo before converging on him to form his Rider suit.

True Sougo blinked. "… Okay, that's adorable. You win. You get to be the new king."

"WHAT?!" Tsukasa, A, and Sougo B cried.

"Yay!" Sougo E cheered.

FFWD

"Don't," Sougo A warned his last remaining doppelgänger. "There's no point in becoming king like this."

"Forgive me," Sougo B said quietly, raising his watch.

"WAIT!" Swartz shouted, appearing on a nearby ridge. "Just now, in this emergency situation… Someone made a vote for the student president. It's Sougo… A."

Sougo A blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

"This vote has decided that Sougo Is the new class president!" Swartz declared, raising the folded vote.

Sougo B frowned. "That one vote… Can counter even 10,000 votes."

Then he shrugged. "Except I want to become king of the world, and democracy has no part in that. So… Yeah, I don't care. We're still fighting."

Sougo A's face fell. "Aw, man!"

FFWD

"Now," the True Sougo declared, having finished his transformation into Oma Zi-O. "Submit your life!"

He fired an energy blast at Sougo A, the last Sougo standing…

"NO!"

And suddenly, the blast stopped.

Sougo stopped.

Tsukasa stopped.

Oma Zi-O stopped.

EVERYTHING stopped… Except for Heure, his hand outstretched towards the energy blast.

He looked around in confusion, before looking down at his hand. "Did… Did I just do that?"

"You did indeed. Welcome back, Heure."

"Eh?!"

Heure whirled around to discover that Swartz and Ora seemed to be unaffected by the time freeze, and were walking towards him. "Principal Swartz? Ora? What… What's going on?"

"At last, you have regained your Time Jacker powers," Swartz intoned dramatically. "And so, we three are complete again."

"I… I don't understand," Heure stammered, though a part of him sensed, deep down, he knew that wasn't true.

"Don't worry," Ora promised. "It was confusing for me too. The memories will return in time."

"Ora?" He whispered, frightened, begging his best friend for answers.

"In a timeline now lost, the three of us worked together to try and reshape the world to our liking," Swartz explained. "But we were defeated, perhaps rightly so, and the timeline reset so it was as it never happened."

He glanced at Sougo. "However… Some things are so set in stone, not even changing time itself can undo what has been etched. Just as it is destiny that Sougo Tokiwa will embark down the path to become king, so too are we Time Jackers fated to walk our own road through the gap of time, for better or worse."

"Just like I got my powers back to save you from the Inves the other day, your desire to save Sougo must've triggered your own awakening," Ora theorized.

Heure's eyes were wide. "Wow, that makes perfect sense! And here I was just going to throw myself in the way of the blast and sacrifice myself to save Sougo!"

Swartz scoffed. "Well, good thing that didn't happen."

Ora nodded. "Yes, this makes much more thematic sense, plus it doesn't have the potential unfortunate implications of you being killed off because you're gay."

"Yeah, I hate when that happens," Heure agreed.

FFWD

Fingers trembling, Sougo fumbled open the love letter the dying Heure handed to him.

To Sougo-sempai

Let's always be together

from Heure

"… Want to always be together…" Heure whispered, managing a smile, before his head fell back and his eyes closed.

He stopped breathing moments later.

"Hey…" Sougo murmured, shaking his friend. "Hey!"

There was no response. Heure was dead.

"… You're right," Sougo said finally. "Who cares about being King? Everyone should be happy… And always be with the one they love."

He gently laid Heure down, rose to his feet, and turned towards Oma Zi-O, a worryingly blank look on his face.

And then, in a flash of golden light, his Driver transformed, becoming larger, more ornate, and covered in gold.

Tsukuyomi's eyes widened in horror. "No…"

Swartz blinked, shocked. "What?!"

"No… no!" Tsukasa cried, horrified.

The True Sougo tilted his head, intrigued. "Most interesting…"

Screaming in fury, face twisted in rage, Sougo activated the Driver.

THE BLESSED TIME!

GREATEST KINDEST MAXIMUM STRONGEST KING!

OMA ZI-O!

And suddenly, there were two demon kings standing on the field.

"Sougo… No… Not again!" Tsukuyomi wailed.

"Why… Why did you take that form?!" A shocked Tsukasa demanded.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sougo replied coldly, not bothering to deign the Destroyer of Worlds with a look. "The last time a good friend of mine died, I took this form. It only seems appropriate I do it now."

He snapped his fingers. "Woz?"

"But of course, my overlord," the prophet simpered, appearing at his right hand. Clearing his throat, he joyously proclaimed, "Rejoice! The Ultimate Time King who reaches over the space and time, and reigns over the past and future. His name is Oma Zi-O! We are now reaching the last page of history itself!"

True Sougo chuckled. "That brings me back…"

Swartz paled. "I'm getting some pretty serious PTSD flashbacks right now."

Tsukasa looked back and forth between the two Sougos, stricken. "I think I may have made a horrible mistake."

"I'll deal with you next," Sougo said harshly. "You and I need to have a talk about you murdering my doppelgängers. Tsukuyomi? Get out of the way. Now."

"Sougo-" Tsukuyomi stammered.

"I won't ask again."

Tsukuyomi quickly wised up and dragged herself away from the side of True Sougo. The demon king scoffed. "You have nothing to worry about. I have no intention of hurting her."

"Nor do I," Sougo replied. "I just don't want to get any blood on her when I rip your head off."

True Sougo laughed. "Marvelous. This will truly be a clash for the ages. Come then, my other self! Let us see which of us is worthy to rule!"

The earth shook as the two of them powered up. Inves ran in fear. Their friends (and Tsukasa) looked on in horror – or in Woz's case, rapture – as the two ultimate Riders prepared to battle to the last breath.

Alternatively…

"… You're right," Sougo said finally. "Who cares about being King? Everyone should be happy… And always be with the one they love."

He gently laid Heure down, rose to his feet, and turned towards Oma Zi-O, a worryingly blank look on his face, producing his GrandZi-O watch.

GRAND ZI-O!

RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O! GRAND TIME! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRANDZI-O~!

"Wait, you're using that form right off the bat?" Asked a surprised Tsukasa.

"He's the most powerful villain in the history of Kamen Rider and he just killed a good friend of mine. Why wouldn't I use this form?" Sougo retorted.

"Fair point," Tsukasa conceded. He frowned. "Wait, didn't we do this bit already?"

FFWD

"Use this…" The dying Tsukasa gasped, pressing a watch into Sougo's hands. "It's a watch I can't use…"

Sougo examined the watch, then nodded. "Okay!"

As Tsukasa lay back down, Sougo stood up, turned around, and inserted the watch into his DecadeRide watch before plugging it into his Driver.

SABER! FINAL FORM TIME! KAMEN RIDER! SABER BRAVE DRAGON!

Tsukuyomi frowned as she examined Sougo's rather underwhelming new form. "Wait, shouldn't that form be based off of Saber's super form and not his base?"

"Uh…"

RIDE HEISABER!

Rather than answering her, he summoned his sword and charged at Oma Zi-O, who also looked rather disappointed and underwhelmed. He swung the blade at the demon king, who brought up his arm to block it…

And the sword shattered.

Sougo stared at his wrecked weapon, startled. "What?!"

"I'm the most powerful villain in Kamen Rider history," Oma Zi-O pointed out. "While you're trying to fight me in an upgrade form using the base form of a Reiwa Rider. What did you think was going to happen?" He shook his head in disappointment. "Honestly, it's like you aren't even trying. If you aren't going to take this seriously, I'm going to pick another Sougo. Surely Kadoya didn't kill all of them."

"Um, well…"

Sougo whirled around to glare at Tsukasa, who was still lying on the ground dying slowly. "Why did you give this to me?!"

"Another you gave it to me! I thought it would work! This isn't my fault!" Tsukasa protested.

"Why didn't the other Sougo use it, then?" Asked a confused Tsukuyomi.

Tsukasa paused. "You know, looking back, that is a bit of a red flag…"

Sougo sighed. "I'm just going to turn into GrandZi-O, I'll probably have better luck that way."

Oma Zi-O nodded. "Yes, that may be for the best."

FFWD

END TIMES!

KAMEN RIDER!

OMA ZI-O FINISHER MOVE!

FINAL ATTACK TIME BREAK!

As the demon king's Rider Kick clashed against Sougo's burning blade, Tsukuyomi cried, "Stop it, Sougo!"

Both Riders glanced at her in confusion. "Which of us?" They asked in unison.

This turned out to be a costly decision, as they lost control of their finishing moves and were both blown away by a horrible explosion.

"NO!" Tsukuyomi cried in horror. "Why couldn't one of you have been named Susan instead?!"

"I wish I'd been named Susan…" Swartz muttered. "It's much more respectable."

FFWD

Tsukasa sighed in relief as Oma Zi-O exploded. He glanced at his hand, which was glowing and starting to disintegrate, and calmly stated, "My journey… Is finally… Ending."

He closed his eyes, more of his body dissolving into light…

Then cracked one eye open again. "So… Is anyone going to show up to mourn me? Maybe perform a reenactment of Valjean's death from the 2012 film version of Les Miserables, with someone showing up at the last minute to save me?"

"No, just me," Narutaki said, leaning over the dying Tsukasa with a smug look on his face. "Sorry, you're just not as popular as Hugh Jackman."

Tsukasa groaned. "Of course it's you."

"Well, it's not like anyone's left," Narutaki pointed out. "All of your other friends are – possibly – dead, and considering that you've more or less thrown away any hero cred you had left by murdering all those innocent Sougos and unleashing a monster horde on a school full of civilians, at this point I don't think anyone's really going to care if you die. Well, except for your most die-hard fans, I suppose." He snorted. "It also doesn't help that you got smacked down like a bitch in the grand debut of your new final form, while Tokiwa somehow managed to win using a form that shouldn't have even managed to scratch Oma Zi-O, even if he did sort of throw the fight."

"I… Suppose I could've gone about things differently," Tsukasa admitted.

"You think?" Narutaki sneered.

Tsukasa sighed. "Okay, you know what? What exactly is your beef with me, anyway? You've been harassing me for over a decade!"

Narutaki narrowed his eyes. "Oh, now you think to ask? After all these years? Isn't it obvious, Tsukasa? You destroyed my world!"

Tsukasa blinked. "… Oh. Yeah, that… That would do it."

"Yeah."

"I don't suppose an apology would help?"

"A bit too late for that."

"Worth a shot."

"And now, I will have the privilege of being the last person to see you before you die," Narutaki said gleefully. "Well, until you're inevitably resurrected for a future crossover or other event, but I'll take what I can get."

"Curse you… Narutaki…" Tsukasa breathed his last, before dissolving completely.

"Curse you too, Decade," Narutaki said, a wicked grin on his face. "Curse you too."

BUT THIS IS HOW IT REALLY SHOULD HAVE ENDED…

Oma Zi-O sighed in disappointment as Sougo fell before him, his armor dissolving. "Pathetic. I expected more from you, my other self."

"Should probably have used my ultimate form, rather than an upgrade form using the watch with the powers of the base form of a Reiwa Rider," Sougo winced, clutching his chest.

"Sorry!" Tsukasa shouted from several meters away.

"Well, since you're the only one here, I suppose you will have to do," Oma Zi-O declared, powering up as he prepared to finish Sougo off…

When suddenly the sky transformed into stained glass.

Sougo and Oma Zi-O looked up in confusion, while Tsukasa blinked. "Wait, what?"

The stained-glass suddenly shattered as a colossal gold and white Dragon with stained-glass wings carrying a fairytale castle which wouldn't look out of place in a Disney movie on its back descended, its strident cries echoing across the dimension they were in as it gracefully swooped down and landed nearby.

The Dragon lowered its head to the ground, the ridges on the back of its neck turning into steps as the doors of the palace swung open, smoke billowing out along with a swarm of Kivats which scattered flower petals and confetti all over the place as the sound of violins filled the air, and a red carpet unfurled down the back of the dragon's neck.

"Rejoice!" The Kivats sang. "Rejoice, for the advent of the True Queen! Bow your heads in welcome for the Empress of Fangires, Queen of Queens, Patron of all female Riders, Guardian of the Multiverse, and Destroyer of Destroyers! Behold our mistress, the one, the only, the inestimable Natsumi Hikari, Kamen Rider Kiva-la-"

"NOPE!" Tsukasa shouted, shooting to his feet.

"Wait, weren't you dying-" a confused Sougo pointed out.

"Nope! We aren't doing this! We used this ending last time, do something else!" Tsukasa shouted at the heavens as everyone looked at him in confusion.

OH, FINE.

BUT THIS IS HOW IT REALLY REALLYSHOULD HAVE ENDED…

Oma Zi-O sighed in disappointment as Sougo fell before him, his armor dissolving. "Pathetic. I expected more from you, my other self."

"Should probably have used my ultimate form, rather than an upgrade form using the watch with the powers of the base form of a Reiwa Rider," Sougo winced, clutching his chest.

"Sorry!" Tsukasa shouted from several meters away.

"Well, since you're the only one here, I suppose you will have to do," Oma Zi-O declared, powering up as he prepared to finish Sougo off…

When suddenly, a silvery curtain appeared and Kamen Riders Kuuga, Diend, and Kiva-la jumped out of it, in their Super Rising Ultimate, Complete Form 21, and Empress forms!

"Not so fast! I have to defeat you!" Yusuke Onodera declared.

"It's time to steal your treasure," Daiki Kaito bragged, brandishing his NeoDiendriver.

"Looks like it's time to take out another destroyer of worlds!" Natsumi declared, brandishing her saber.

Tsukasa managed to lever himself up on his elbows, shocked. "You guys… You're still alive?!"

Daiki scoffed. "Well, of course we are! You survived, didn't you?"

"I'm here too," said the robot Sougo in his Oma form. "Also, sorry other me, I meant to give Tsukasa my Oma watch, but I malfunctioned due to damage I took from Oma Zi-O and getting an ax driven into my chest by another Yusuke Onodera, so I gave him the Saber watch by accident."

Sougo nodded in understanding. "Oh yeah, that makes a lot more sense!… Wait, malfunctioned? Ax to the chest?!"

"I'm a robot. It's no big deal," the other Sougo said dismissively.

"So, you all survived…" Oma Zi-O mused. "You're more resilient than I expected." He glanced at the Sougo on the ground, then at the robot one. "Perhaps I should've chosen you after all, even if you are a machine."

The mechanical Sougo frowned. "Wow. That's super racist. I didn't think any of us could be that much of a jerk."

"Really? That's what you're taking issue with?!" Tsukasa asked in disbelief.

"You can be a tyrant without being a racist," the robot Sougo insisted.

"You won't be choosing anyone, demon king!"

"GEIZ!" Sougo and Tsukuyomi cried in delight as their other friend appeared, resplendent in his Majesty form.

"Oma Zi-O… I never got a chance to fight you for real," Geiz declared as his cape billowed dramatically behind him. "And I know you aren't the one from my original timeline… But you're close enough! Let's see how the ultimate overlord can deal with the power of the ultimate Savior!"

"Or the ultimate herald!" Woz proclaimed, suddenly appearing in a really fancy new outfit resembling a more ornate recolor of his Ginga form.

"Woz!" Sougo exclaimed in delight. "I was wondering where you were! You've been oddly absent for most of this adventure."

Woz bowed in apology. "My sincerest apologies, my overlord, but that dastardly White Woz was causing trouble again, and I had to team up with several of my counterparts from alternate timelines to stop him, resulting in us fusing together in a singularity and creating the form I have now. It was quite the adventure, which would definitely make for an excellent direct-to-DVD movie, or at the very least a YouTube special."

"Don't forget me!" Tsukuyomi cried, holding up her watch. "My ankle has recovered enough for me to fight. Sougo, I don't want to fight you-"

"Why would you fight me?" Asked a confused Sougo.

"Or me?" The robot added.

"I'm talking to the other you!" She snapped. "I don't want to fight you, Sougo, but if you don't stand down, I'm not giving you a choice!"

Oma Zi-O actually hesitated at this. "Tsukuyomi, I… I don't want to hurt you."

"Then I suggest you surrender before it comes to that," Tsukuyomi said harshly, actually causing the demon king to flinch.

"Don't start the party without me," Sougo B added, running over in his GrandZi-O form. "I may not be the superior Sougo, but what kind of King would I be if I didn't help out where I could?" He hesitated, then reluctantly added, "Also, I had an argument with Misa over her trying to kiss another Sougo, and I kinda need to work out some frustration right now."

"I shall help as well," Swartz declared, walking over in his Another Decade form. "Because of this villain, many of my students have lost their lives! Also, it'll be therapeutic for me to help beat up a version of the person who killed me once."

"Wait, you remember that?" Tsukuyomi asked in surprise. "Hang on, how long did you have your powers back-"

"Another time," her brother interrupted.

"I hope you won't have a problem if I intercede as well."

"OMA ZI-O?!" Everyone cried in disbelief as a second demon king appeared.

"What is this?!" The startled Oma Zi-O who called himself the "True Sougo" demanded.

"Oh, come on, seriously? This is getting ridiculous," Tsukasa complained.

"Don't worry, everyone," the second Oma Zi-O said soothingly, noticing everyone staring at him in alarm. "I'm here to help. I'm Sougo from the future, and I traveled back in time to help you defeat the so-called "True Sougo.""

"Wait, which of our futures?" Asked the confused Sougo A.

"Yours."

"Oh, neat!"

"Wait, then does that mean Sougo is going to become an evil overlord after all?!" Geiz asked in dismay, horrified that he may have to kill his best friend after all.

"No, I'm a good overlord," the new Oma Zi-O insisted.

"Then why do you look like that?" Tsukuyomi demanded.

"Because I look cooler this way."

All the Sougos murmured and nodded in agreement at this, even the robot one.

"Oh my Gaim, will all of you just fight already?" Tsukasa complained. "Dragging this out is almost more painful than my dying!"

"Wait, you're dying?!" Yusuke cried in horror.

"Don't worry, we'll fix him up once we finish the battle," Natsumi promised him.

"No, don't!" Narutaki cried, suddenly rushing over. "I've been waiting YEARS for this! Let me have this!"

"No," Daiki told him bluntly.

"Then you leave me no choice!" Narutaki declared, transforming into General Shadow from the Delza Army for some reason. He snapped his fingers, and an assortment of monsters from multiple past Rider series appeared, including a massive Bakegani. "Decade MUST die this day!"

True Sougo blinked. "I… Don't actually need the help, but thanks, I guess?"

Tsukasa groaned. "Right, because of course you'd show up. Who else is going to turn up? SOUGO Tokiwa? Hiryu Kakogawa?"

Kamen Rider Barlckx and Another Oma Zi-O, who had indeed been about to make an appearance, got embarrassed and walked away.

"Come on, Sougo, let's take this guy down!" Geiz declared, squaring up for a fight.

"Sure thing, buddy!" Said Sougo A, B, the robot, and the (presumably) good Oma Zi-O.

"I wasn't… Oh, whatever," Geiz snapped.

"I will become a king one day," Sougo A declared, gripping his GrandZi-O watch. "And I will do it with my own power, not because someone gave it to me or possessed me or anything like that! And I will do it with my friends alongside me, unlike you, "True Sougo," who has no one!"

General Shadow coughed.

"You don't count, you're only here for Tsukasa."

"Fair," the general admitted.

True Sougo hesitated, and glanced at Tsukuyomi. "Tsukuyomi…"

She glanced away.

"So, for the sake of all Sougos, and all worlds, we WILL defeat you!" Sougo A cried. "HENSHIN!"

Later, at Cous Coussier…

"And then you defeated him?" Yusuke Godai, the original – and, depending on who you ask, only – Kuuga inquired.

Sougo smiled and nodded "Yep! Narutaki, too!"

"He was cursing all of us by the end," said a very much alive Tsukasa.

"I was genuinely surprised when Oma Zi-O surrendered," Geiz remarked, still having trouble believing it.

Tsukuyomi shrugged. "Me being nice to him when he was amnesiac and weak reminded him of the humanity he'd given up long ago, and he decided he didn't want to keep doing this anymore. So, he handed over his title to Sougo-"

"Which Sougo?" Ren Akiyama questioned.

"Me," Sougo explained.

Ren nodded. "Right, just checking."

"And he's moved in with us at 9 5 DO," Tsukuyomi continued.

"He's actually a pretty good roommate," Geiz admitted grudgingly. "Always does his chores on time, gets the groceries, remembers to replace the toilet paper…"

Sougo rolled his eyes. "It was one time, Geiz, let it go."

"He also healed Tsukasa, brought everyone back from the dead, and sent them home to their respective worlds, which was very nice of him," Tsukuyomi added.

Sougo nodded. "Which just goes to show you, sometimes you can solve your problems without killing people, isn't that right, Tsukasa?"

Tsukasa put his face in his hands. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"No. No I am not," Tsukuru said coldly.

"So everyone went home?" Godai inquired. "Including the other Sougos?"

"Well, yes, where else would they go?" Asked a perplexed Tsukuyomi.

Sougo nodded. "Yeah, what, were they supposed to get stranded in our world for some reason? With no IDs or place to live since they've already got counterparts here? How weird would that be, right?"

On the street outside, Ryuga Banjo froze, coming face to face with someone who looked exactly like him, only with darker hair. As they stared at each other, the woman accompanying the darker haired Ryuga glanced back and forth between the two of them in confusion.

"And speaking of counterparts, I've already started looking for our world's version of Misa Kuon," Sougo added happily. "I'm pretty sure she's the sailor girl from my childhood!"

Geiz rolled his eyes. "You're still hung up on her?"

"I think it's romantic, Geiz," Tsukuyomi chided him.

"There are worse kinks," Tsukasa muttered.

"Well, not that we don't appreciate you telling us this whole story, but… Why exactly did you invite us in particular here to tell to us in the first place?" Asked a confused Godai.

Ren nodded in agreement. "Yes, we barely know each other."

"This is a How it Should Have Ended parody, and you're the closest we have to Superman and Batman," Tsukasa explained.

Ren considered this for a moment. "Okay, that makes sense," he admitted.

"Wait, if you wanted Superman, why didn't you invite Shigeru Jo?" Asked Godai. "He's the one with an S on his chest."

"Yeah, but you're stronger than he is," Sougo pointed out. "One of the strongest of all Riders, really."

"Which kind of puts the lie to his name, doesn't it?" Tsukuyomi pointed out. "If there are Riders stronger than him."

"Well, there weren't at the time, I think," Godai pointed out. "What's he supposed to do, change his name?"

"Minami did," Ren reminded him.

Godai waved him off. "Not the same thing. Besides, we all know he's a bit of a special case. Only one of us to get two series, after all."

"So… Are you going to do anything about your principal apparently still being an evil Time Jacker the whole time?" Ren asked the group of friends (and Tsukasa).

Sougo shrugged. "He vanished, along with Ora and Heuer. No clue where or when they went. But if they show up to cause trouble again, we'll deal with them."

"And speaking of trouble… Kadoya, they just let you off the hook for murdering a bunch of Sougos and threatening a school full of innocent civilians?" Godai asked, frowning at Tsukasa in disapproval.

Tsukasa sighed. "No, I have to do community service."

Ren gave him an incredulous look. "That's it?!"

"On the DenLiner."

"Ah. Never mind."

The bell over the door jingled as Momotaros popped his head in. "Oy, Decade! Break's over. Time to get back to work! Ryuutaros got his head stuck in the toilet again, and it totally wasn't because I was trying to give him a swirly."

A dead look in his eyes, Tsukasa slowly rose to his feet. "Pray for me."

"No," Geiz told him bluntly as the Destroyer of Worlds miserably trudged out of the restaurant.

"You know, there's one thing about this whole story I find disappointing," Ren spoke up.

"What?" Sougo asked.

"You and Kadoya never really went head-to-head. You fought each other briefly, but then the True Sougo showed up and you had to team up against him," Ren pointed out.

"Which leaves the question of which of you is stronger, and therefore the true King of the Heisei Riders, up in the air," Godai added.

"It's probably for the best that the two of them never really had an all-out battle," Geiz pointed out as Sougo contemplated this. "I doubt the rest of us would survive."

"Yeah," Sougo agreed, lost in thought. "But still… You have to wonder…"

Woz, sitting at a table nearby, smiled and closed his book before turning to look at the reader. "A fine thing for my overlord to wonder indeed. Alas, the answer to that question will have to wait for another day. For now, this chapter in the saga of my overlord has come to an end, as the tale of Kamen Rider Zi-O continues… And I shall, as always, be there to chronicle every part of it-"

"Excuse me, who are you talking to?"

Startled, Woz looked up to see the confused Chiyoko Shiraishi standing over him. "Oh, uh… Myself, more or less."

"Well, could you please stop it? It's upsetting the other customers," she said, nodding at the customers at the surrounding tables, who were shooting Woz annoyed looks.

"Oh. My apologies," the prophet said, chastened.

Turning back to the reader, he said, in a lower volume, "It seems as if this chapter has come to a close, but rest assured, our tale is not yet finished-"

"Also, are you going to order anything?" Chiyoko interrupted. "Because you can't sit here if you're not going to eat anything."

Woz threw his hands up in exasperation and stormed out of the restaurant.