I was originally going to wait until more information on Miraculous Ladybug Season 4 came out, in particular what the remaining Miraculouses can do, but some of my fans of this series got impatient, and I am only ten chapters away from completion (including the special that takes place after the main story). Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, Cyborg 009, or any other referenced media.

*Stronger, Tackle, and Stream drive along a large field in a V formation. Up behind them approaches a fourth armored warrior that seems modeled after a tank, complete with a tank turret attached to his back. His Rider Machine is a shrunken-down Panzer with himself acting as the turret. This is Kamen Rider Arsenal and his Atomic Panzer.*

Kamen Rider Stronger!

*A stylized S appears on the screen as the music picks up and we get our title.*

Cyborg Stronger

Ride as swift as wind! Flying through the skies!

*The four Riders race past each other in a stunt pattern.*

Black Satan has seen its end today

*Delza Army Corps appear on motorcycles.*

Protect Japan, the one home that we have known

*The Corps circle around the Riders as if trying to confuse them.*

Let my raging heart burn with justice now

*The Riders break free of the formation and begin their attack, Arsenal firing off his turret.*

Behold! My deadly Denshi Shock!

*The Riders start causing the enemy bikes to crash one after another.*

Your evil life will be stolen from your wicked form!

*The Riders confront the Corps on foot as they prepare to battle.*

Who am I? Ask, who am I?

*Stronger starts displaying his electrokinetic powers, stealing a gun from a Soldier's hands.*

Kamen Rider Stronger

*Tackle showcases her magnetic powers whilst Stream shows off his own powers of gravity manipulation. Arsenal flexes to showcase his atomic-powered body.*

Joe Shimamura was transformed into Cyborg 009 by the Black Ghost organization, but escaped with his fellow 00 Cyborgs thanks to the scientist who made them.

*The Riders continue to battle the Delza Army Corps.*

With the defeat of Black Ghost, Joe joins his girlfriend Francoise Arnoul, 003, and his best friends Jet Link, 002, and Albert Heinrich, 004, as they become the Kamen Riders Stronger, Tackle, Stream, and Arsenal to fight against the new evil of the Delza Army.

Chapter 31: Skull Faces the Charge

Thus far the four Riders, Stronger, Tackle, Stream, and Arsenal, had successfully defeated the majin of the Delza Army. But each fight was a struggle, and the victory over Doctor Kate had only been possible due to Albert's cybernetic body, which only had a small percentage of his original organic body. Two things were clear. One, the Riders had to get stronger somehow. And two, they needed the Kamen Riders that preceded them as backup. Shadow's deadly majin were just that much of a threat.

As the group stood near a rocky shore with Tobei, Joe noticed something. "Looks like Delza wants to say hello." He took off one of his gloves and struck the ground. "Electro Touch!" A stream of electric energy shot through the ground and struck a Skull Corps hiding nearby. "He was able to get that close despite my radar senses," Francoise realized. "That's not good," Tobei said, "We should get out of here! Assuming we're not already surrounded..." Luckily they weren't, the Skull Corps having just been a scout.

Skull himself was speaking with Shadow at the Delza Army's hideout. "Stronger will soon fall by my hand!" He raised a glass in anticipation of victory. "Such bravado," Shadow noted, holding a goblet of his own, "But I would expect no less from our most resourceful tactician. May I assume then that you've already begun preparing for his defeat?" "Naturally," Skull replied, "I have a specially trained group of spies tracking Stronger and his allies everywhere they go. They will wait for the perfect chance to strike. Once Stronger is worn down, I will deliver the killing blow myself." He peered into his goblet. "Let's check in on him... Show me Stronger!" A Skull Corps appeared in the liquid. 'He's on the cliffs of Cape White-Bone!'

The group was busy setting up a large fire. "Are you sure this is wise?," Tobei asked, "This could give away our position." Joe said nothing, but just winked. In fact, the group was planning on setting a trap. They had already noticed the Skull Corps nearby, and once the fiends poked their heads out, Jet tossed some water onto the fire to create a smokescreen. "They vanished!," one of the Skull Corps said in shock. Indeed, the smoke provided just the cover they needed to disappear. The Skull Corps quickly moved to regain contact.

Landing near the fire, one of them picked up the kettle Jet had in frustration. "They escaped right out from under our noses!" "Why would we need to escape?," came Joe's voice. The Skull Corps looked up to see that Stronger, Tackle, Stream, and Arsenal had moved to a large hill just above them. "We had to lure you out somehow," Stream pointed out, "We knew the best way to do that was to make you think we were gone." "And you guys fell for it," Tackle noted, "Hook, line, and sinker." The Skull Corps tossed one of their number up so he could throw a small explosive at the Riders.

The explosive did little more than temporarily flinch the group, who leapt down to deal with the Corps. "We'll show you the power of the Skull-Spy Squadron!," one of them announced, leaping off his teammates arms to try and attack. He and several others that tried that tactic found themselves knocked out of the air, mostly by Stream's fly-by strikes. Before long, the entire squad was down. Tobei then came out of hiding. "So much for their ambush." "Yeah, but now we can ambush Skull," Arsenal noted.

Unaware of his squadron's defeat, Skull chuckled. "It would appear I shall be the one to defeat Kamen Rider Stronger, General Shadow. Fire Vanishing!" The bony tip of his scythe caught aflame and he disappeared amid the smoke. "Rather optimistic," Shadow said, "But I'd be very surprised if Stronger and his fellow Riders haven't caught on by now. Not to mention Skull seems to forget he has other competition. So, who will dare to interrupt Major Skull in his moment of triumph, I wonder? Perhaps the cards will enlighten me..."

Skull appeared on the cliff overlooking the shore. "My soldiers...," he began, but stopped when he saw the bodies of the Skull Corps strewn about the shore. He hopped down to inspect the scene. "Damn fools...," he muttered, kicking at the them, "Get up! Open your eyes!" Suddenly, one of them grabbed his foot as he tried to stomp down on him. "What are you doing!?" Skull wound up toppling to the ground as the Corps member got up and pinned him. "Looks like we got the drop on you," he said, and Skull realized it was Joe's voice.

"Bastard!," he called out as he wrestled on the ground with the disguised Joe. Joe soon pulled off the disguise as the other Riders ran up. "Underhanded worm!," Skull called out as he managed to toss Joe off of him. "Pretty big talk considering the cowardly tactics you and the other majin pull off," Joe retorted as he got up, "What, only you're allowed to set ambushes? At least we don't take prisoners to get you to lower your guard." He pinned Skull again, only for the majin to laugh. "Did you really think it'd be so easy to capture me? Look over there!"

Sure enough, the group was shocked to see another Major Skull standing on the rocky cliff, also cackling. Joe quickly leapt back as the one he had pinned burst into flames before disintegrating. The other Skull also faded into flames. "I have you now, Kamen Riders!" The group searched near the cliff, but Skull had completely vanished without a trace. Just then, automatic gunfire went off, scattering the group. A sudden explosion went off as each of them was hit. Skull then reappeared with a cackle. "So is that finally the end of you?"

He was then shocked at the sudden laughing of the Riders from seemingly nowhere. "It's no use hiding!," Skull declared, using a special lens hidden behind his eye patch to scan the area, "My eye will find you anywhere!" He spotted the Riders standing near the cliff and aimed the end of his scythe. "Skeletal Machine Gun!" The scythe opened fire, but the burst of ammunition did little to damage the Riders as they leapt onto an outcropping above Skull. "This battle ends today, Major Skull!," Stronger declared.

"That's one thing we can agree on!," Skull said, "But I will be the one to lay it to rest!" The four Riders leapt into battle, Stronger grappling against Skull's scythe before the majin suffered a double punch from Tackle and Arsenal, knocking him back. He moved to strike, Stream catching the oncoming scythe as Stronger punched Skull right in the gut. Stream soon disarmed Skull, throwing the scythe far away. "Don't think numbers will give you an advantage!," Skull said, "Skeletal Separation!"

Skull's head and limbs detached from his body, all of them floating around randomly, making them difficult to hit. Stronger tried his Accelerator to strike at them, only to find they were intangible in this state. "Skeletal Flame!" Skull's head emitted flames from its mouth, surrounding the Riders and nearly engulfing them. "Skeletal Rebirth!" Skull reformed himself. "Now I will end your miserable life!" He threw his scythe in an effort to slash through Stronger, only for a large boulder to come down and block the attack, letting the Riders dive into the water to escape the flames. "Damn...," Skull muttered, "I was so close..."

Just behind him appeared the rock humanoid majin from the Delza Army. "Baron Rock?," Skull asked, "What are you doing here? It was supposed to be my turn." "I was sent by General Shadow," Rock replied, "He asked that I see you die with my own eyes. But I guess that won't be happening just yet. I'm actually impressed. You even found a way to counter Stronger's Accelerator. But let's be honest, it would be foolish of me to let you claim all the credit!" "You say even as you interfere!," Skull called out. Rock scoffed and raised his club. "Want to fight about it?"

"Not yet," Skull said, "Once I've finished off Stronger, then I'll deal with you." Rock laughed. "Not if I finish off Stronger first! Rock Vanishing!" He turned into a large boulder before launching into the air. Skull scoffed at the stone majin's bravado. "Stronger was gravely injured during my last attack... I doubt he and his friends could have gotten far." He had noticed Stronger getting engulfed by the flames he emitted. He wasn't worried about his chances of finishing the job before Rock could. "Flame Vanishing!" He disappeared from the shore with a cackle amidst his emitted fire.

Meanwhile, some kids had found the Rider Machines and were admiring them. Tobei was with them, smiling as the kids gushed over how cool the Kabutoro and Tentoro looked, the sleekness of the Jet Streamer, and how awesome the Atomic Panzer looked. "Alright, kids," Tobei said, "You should get home before your parents start to worry." The kids said their goodbyes and headed off, leaving Tobei with just the Riders Machines, his jeep, and his concerns. "I hope the Riders are okay. Naofumi always said a Kamen Rider is immortal, but I've never been sure if that was an exaggeration or not..." He didn't notice Skull on the bridge nearby, cackling to himself.

The Riders wound up separated from each other due to the currents, Joe having managed to save himself on a rocky outcropping. "So much for an ambush...," he muttered, "I really need to find a way to get stronger..." He heard the sound of rocks crashing and quickly dodged away from a group of boulders launching at him. The boulders broke apart to reveal the Rock Corps, Baron Rock's personal footsoldiers. "Oh this is the last thing I need right now!," Joe said. That's when Rock himself emerged from behind Joe and grabbed him. "Permit me to introduce myself. I am Baron Rock, descended from the Greek Sphinx!"

Joe managed to get free of Rock's grip, then dodged a few strikes from the majin's club before activating his Electrer. "Henshin!" "Stronger!" "So you decide to transform," Rock noted, "Very well. As you are, you might stand more of a chance against me." Unfortunately, Stronger was still feeling the pain from his injuries against Skull, bending over from the pain. "Or not," Rock corrected himself. "I've got one shot at this," Stronger muttered, "Accelerate!" He hit his top speed and struck as hard as he could against Rock, but the majin was as solid as his name suggested, leaving Stronger worn out when his Accelerator shut down. "Guess it's my turn then!," Rock called out.

He charged at Stronger, knocking him into the water. Stronger dodged Rock's attacks before leaping to a nearby cliff. "I'll have to take a rain check, Baron Rock! I still have some friends to find!" He ducked behind the cliff to run. Rock turned to his Rock Corps. "Follow him, but don't engage. He may lead us to his friends and we can take them all out." As the squad headed for the nearby road, Rock noticed a van coming up. "There's something suspicious about that van... Block it off at once!"

Rocks were tossed into the path of the van, causing it to stop, the driver getting out to inspect the sudden avalanche. As he started moving the boulders, Rock emerged from one near the back and opened the trunk quietly. He was hoping to find Stronger hiding in there, but only found produce. "Guess I was wrong," he decided, closing the trunk door. But he had been far too hasty in his decision, because Joe had been hiding in the produce, having snuck inside using his Accelerator. It had worn him out, however, and he lost consciousness.

When Joe came too, he found himself in a glass container. That would have been worrying, except the only other person in the room was a woman with raccoon ears. "Raphtalia Iwatani?," Joe asked. "Good to see you're awake, Joe," Raphtalia said, "Sorry for tying you down, but I had to minimize your movement while giving you a full diagnostic. The driver of the truck you stowed away in is part of my cybernetics research team, and when he told me you were a cyborg, I had to see for myself. Naofumi really learned a lot since I remodeled hi all those years ago. Your specs are even more advanced than V3 or X."

"A lot of that was due to Black Ghost," Joe pointed out, "Evil as they were, their science at least was ahead of its time." "So was Shocker's," Raphtalia reminded him, "Speaking of which, Naofumi informed me of the notification he got regarding the Delza Army. He's still dealing with remnants of Black Satan elsewhere, but he should be able to arrive before long. As for you, it looks like you'll need some upgrades in order to match those cybernetic majin. Ever since Great Leader restructured the remnants of Shocker into Destron, I've been researching new and stronger means of fighting evil. A recent breakthrough I had involves Super-Electronic power. Roughly one hundred times stronger than your baseline."

Joe's eyes widened. "Even a quarter of that would make me strong to destroy the Delza's majin." "Funny you should say that," Raphtalia said, "Because with the system we developed, you can divide the Super-Electronic power amongst your team, making them stronger too. Doing so will also shake off the time constraint, since there's less strain on your body. Under normal circumstances, the Super Electronic Dynamo can only last for one minute, and dispersing the energy to your team only halts the timer. You need to completely flush out the system before then, either with a big finisher at max power, or a system reset at quarter power. One thing I should warn you about, the installation is going to be painful."

"If it means I can stop the Delza Army from destroying the world," Joe said, "Then I'll take the pain." Raphtalia nodded, and she had her team get to work. The first step was using a precise laser to reconfigure Joe's electronic generators. Joe wound up passing out from the pain, which made the later stages go smoother. "Electric current back to full capacity." "Dynamo installing." When Joe came to, he saw Raphtalia smiling. "Joe, the operation was a complete success. The Super Electronic Dynamo is fully installed in your body and working at full capacity. It's been programmed to only activate by your voice key while you're transformed, and will remain dormant otherwise."

Meanwhile the other Riders had caught up to Tobei. Skull didn't make his move yet, since there was no sign of Joe. Just then, a white van pulled up, and Tobei's eyes widened as he recognized Raphtalia stepping out of the driver's side. "It's been a while Tobei. Still hunting for that champion BMX racer?" Tobei smiled. "Well, I was until recently." "Right," Raphtalia said, "With Black Satan and now the Delza Army, yeah? The Junior Riders have been all over the place looking for information. Speaking of which, Joe's just fine. He's at my lab resting." Francoise breathed a sigh of relief.

Skull, meanwhile, suddenly perked up. He had at first brushed off the newcomer, just two old friends meeting. But when the demi-human mentioned Joe, he became interested. "Good things come to those who wait..." He hopped on the truck and waited until it reached the lab. "My thanks for leading me right to Stronger!" "Major Skull!," Jet called out, "He must have been spying on us!" "Not to worry," Raphtalia said, "He doesn't know what Joe was doing here, only that he is here."

She and Tobei dodged Skull's flames as Joe came out, still weak from the surgery but otherwise healed. "There you are, Joe Shimamura!," Skull called out, "Prepare for you demise!" The Skull Corps appeared as Francoise, Jet, and Albert regrouped with their leader. "Are you alright?," Francoise asked. "Never better," Joe said with a grin, "Raphtalia gave me a special new gift the whole team can share." They started taking out the Skull Corps. "Caltrops!," Skull called out, throwing the spiked balls on the ground. "Bad move calling that out!," Jet called as he stomped on the ground, "Gravity Wave!"

Skull growled in annoyance as his caltrops were sent flying off the battlefield, whist the Riders activated their devices. "Henshin!" "Stronger!" "Tackle!" "Stream!" "Arsenal!" The four Riders leapt down to a walkway over a reservoir. "Called by Heaven, Earth, and man! Kamen Rider Stronger!" "My graceful dance strikes down evil! Kamen Rider Tackle!" "Riding the highway of the skies! Kamen Rider Stream!" "I am the one-man artillery corps! Kamen Rider Arsenal!" Skull and his Corps leapt down to battle the Riders, swinging his scythe only for the team to dodge his every attack.

The Skull Corps was taken out quickly. Up above, Tobei and Raphtalia watched the battle. "Looks like your repairs did the trick," Tobei said, "Stronger's looking stronger than ever." "I did more than repair him," Raphtalia clarified. Tobei looked curious. "You'll see," Raphtalia assured him. "Skeletal Machine Gun!" The team scattered as Skull opened fire. He then threw his scythe to attack Stronger, only for him to duck out of the way. Skull cackled as he charged at Stronger invisibly, knocking him around. "I'm getting real tired of that laugh," Stronger said, "Time for that secret weapon. Team, get ready!"

"Ready for what?," Stream asked. "For this!," Stronger called out, "Charge Up! Disperse!" The Super Electronic Dynamo activated as the S on Stronger's suit spun, bathing the other three in energy. Stronger's red highlights became steel-colored, Tackle gained black accents along her sides, Stream's silver outfit turned chrome, and Arsenal's blue suit gained bronze accents along his joints, highlighting his weapons. Skull looked at them all, flabbergasted. "What thee hell is this?" "Whoa, what did Raphtalia do to you?," Tackle wondered, "And what did it do to us? I suddenly feel more powerful."

Stronger checked himself out. "I was expecting the power boost from the Super Electronic Dynamo, but not the change in color." "It's just like Naofumi's Charged mode," Tobei realized. "It's where I got the idea," Raphtalia admitted, "The total power output is being split four ways, but that still means that each Rider is now twenty-five times stronger than normal." The four Rider rushed at Skull. "Super Electro Drill Kick!" "Super Magnetic Shockwave!" "Super Graviton Sphere!" "Super Atomic Reactor!" The four kicks knocked away Skull's head, arms, and torso, all of which exploded upon hitting the ground. His legs fell over and exploded and well.

The Dynamo reset after the attack, returning the Riders to normal, but they were still in shock. "We did all that...?," Tackle murmured. "Even at a quarter of their max strength," Stronger said, "The Super-Electronics hold that much power..." "That was only a quarter...?," Stream asked, still in shock. "Guys!," Tobei called out, he and Raphtalia running to the group. "Not bad for a first field test," Raphtalia said, "But remember, at max power you can only hold for a minute. Even a second longer, and you'll explode." Stronger nodded. He and his friends now had a new power to wield against Delza, but they would no doubt redouble their efforts to defeat him in kind. The battle was far from over.

To be continued...

So now we have Stronger with a brand new power-up, and under Raphtalia's care he can share it with his friends. The downside is the individual power drops. The upside is that while it's split there's no danger of it overwhelming and destroying Stronger. But we will get a chance to see the full power of the Charge Up form soon enough. Read and review.