Kamen Rider Alterum

Episode 6: Mammoth And the Diamonds

"SUIT UP!"

And so Tamaru-san assumed his rider form, Bleach Ichigo, and started spamming his slashes with his so-called Zangetsu sword at the Solar Eaters. I left him to his devices behind and started moving around the barricaded town at a near-sonic speed, taking down all the zombies in my sight, not allowing even one of them to invade the town.

"I sense more zombies, and probably rogues, coming toward the town…"

"Got it," I said and made a run revolving the town before finally seeing the zombies coming from a direction not where the gate of the town was. As I reckoned, they brought a gigantic animalistic rogue that would penetrate the town's defense and invade the town. As usual, there might be some rogue behind this zombie army…

"Oi, don't leave me behind…" Tamaru-san, still in his rider form, climbed and jumped over the wall, landing behind me. He put his sword on his shoulder and silently stared at the zombies before commenting…

"A mammoth, huh…"

"Mammoth?" I asked.

"An extinct creature that looked like an elephant, but they were hairy, large, and absolute tanks."

"No, I know that," I replied. "You mean, that rogue is a Mammoth?"

"I'm pretty sure," he nudged my back. "I don't know who you are, but I think I'm gonna need your help, Alterum."

"Don't worry about that," I said and changed my proto-tool to a blaster. "I am also protecting the town."

"CHANGE: 001."

— Weapon Mode-change Announcement.

"Lucky," he said and repositioned his sword. "Oi, your weapon is so cool. What is it called?"

I pressed the Omnitrix disk on the side, opening the key slot to insert the Ripjaws Keys.

"INSERT: RIPJAWS."

— Insertion Announcement.

"Hmm," I quickly thought up a cool name. Proto-tool Mark II is cool, but I need something cooler, I guess.

"UPGRADE."

— Weapon Power-up Announcement.

"Alter-Tool…" I replied to Tamaru-san and aimed the weapon at the zombie army before pulling the trigger.

BAAANNG!

It released a deadly shining bullet that projected illusory Ripjaws hologram mid-air before exploding at the face of zombies, taking out a few several rows of them with ease.

Mr. Tamaru was speechless for a moment. "Wo… Wowww…"

The explosion dispersed the horde of solar eaters, leaving them confused. I transformed the weapon back into a sword again.

"CHANGE: 005."

— Weapon Mode-change Announcement.

"Let's go." (me)

"Alright, it's all heated up!" He said, charging at the zombies.

I took a good glance at the mentioned Mammoth rogue and replaced the Fasttrack key with Kickin Hawk before it wore me out.

"RECOGNIZED: KICKIN HAWK."

— Transformation Announcement.

I better save energy.

Tamaru-san jumped at the zombies and struck them with his sword. He then lowered himself to dodge the zombies and swept their legs bringing them to the ground. He spun himself around, easily cutting the enemies down.

I dashed at the zombies and swung my sword, slashing one enemy after another. I kicked the ones attempting to jump at me and slashed their torsos then jumped over them to attack the other zombies. Performing a backflip in mid-air, I cut down another batch of zombies before dropping an ax kick on an unfortunate enemy.

But solar eaters were no joke.

"Vroooomm!"

It was the rumble of the engine… of a motorcycle that interrupted our battle by crashing into the horde of zombies right before us.

"What?"

From the looks of it, it was a woman in a military uniform. The motorcycle stopped in front of me and she got off of it, taking a glance at me. She removed the helmet to reveal her shoulder-length hair. I got a good look at her face this time.

She was Yuuka Akaba.

"Oh, Yuuka-chan! You are finally here," Tamaru-san said in an excited voice.

"There are a lot of zombies here," she brought out a Zedgear Driver from her vest. "So I came out to help you."

She didn't ask who I was. She pushed a card-like key into the slot on the side of the buckle and pushed it down.

"Henshin…"

"SUIT UP! VIRGIN VALKYRIE!

VALKYRIE~

I AM A KAMEN RIDER."

Bright light engulfed her entirety before revealing a white female Kamen Rider in her place. She had a cape on her back and wielded a sword and a white shield.

"Yuuka-chan is a virgin as always," Tamaru-san said jokingly.

"Shut up!" She yelled and charged at the zombies, followed by her beloved teammate.

I stared at the two, thinking how the Zedgear Driver could shame the unfortunate user. I should probably remind Eunice to never announce me as a virgin.

My thoughts were interrupted when the ground shook as the Mammoth advanced closer to us. The solar eaters dispersed to make way for their trump card.

"Holy crap," Tamaru-san remarked. "It's fricking huge!"

It wasn't just a mammoth: it was a massive mammoth rogue with a tough hide instead of long hair. It had scary darkened husks and purple eyes. Its limbs were easily as large as five humans standing together.

Are we doomed? Heck, not.

"Otaku,... uh, virgin girl," I noted to not call them by their names so they couldn't catch on our identity. "I am leaving my back to ya."

"Oi, don't call me virgin—"

I dashed at the solar eaters, slashing them away to make my way toward the oversized Mammoth. Otaku and Virgin girl remained to fight the rows of zombies behind me.

"Oh, there… it is!" I cried out, leaping into the air like a flying rooster, and slashed the mammoth with my sword.

But unfortunately, the sword did little to no damage to its skin. Instead, I was bounced back— then struck away by its trunk.

"Oh, no, he's in trouble!" Otaku exclaimed, but Valkyrie interrupted him.

"Wait," she said. "Have faith in him. He is clearly stronger than us."

Stronger than them, huh…

"Human! Roll to the side!"

Hearing Eunice's alert, I rolled to the side. It was mere seconds before the terror stomped the ground, triggering a quake. I quickly got up and kicked the mammoth to propel myself.

I took down a few more zombies to give myself a personal space and exhaled:

"Let's try if it works…"

I looked down at the Four Arms and Diamondhead data keys in my hand. The Alter-Tool magically disappeared from my hand.

"Oi, what are you thinking?" (Eunice)

"Are you okay, Aruteramu-shounen?" (Tamaru/ Otaku)

"I'm good," I switched the Kickin Hawk key with the Four Arms key and inserted the Diamondhead key in the rightmost keyhole. "I will definitely defeat the mammoth—"

"RECOGNIZED."

The two holograms representing Four Arms and Diamondhead appeared in front of me scaring the zombies, solar eaters, and even Mammoth!

I took a deep breath and called out.

"... Henshin!"

"FOUR ARMS, DIAMONDHEAD, STACK UP!"

— Transformation Announcement.

Red armor appeared on my forearm first before greenish-blue crystals formed on it. Suddenly, the armor became heavier, even heavier than Four Arms armor itself. Guess it's bound to be. The burden is even greater than Fasttrack's energy thirst and Ditto's need for willpower.

"Tennyson Hiroki…"

The zombies were surrounded and observing me as I was petrified in place like a statue. I chuckled, out of annoyance.

"What's wrong?!"

Tamaru-san tried to shake me in vain but I didn't even bulge. Yuuka-san on the other hand slew the nearby zombies so they couldn't attack me.

"Oi, help me pull this guy," Otaku shouted at his commander as the Mammoth rogue turned toward us. "Why are you stunned here of all places, dammit, Alterum!"

"I will protect the town," I muttered and clenched my fists.

"Did you say something?" Otaku asked.

"Yes, I said," I poured all my energy into my muscles, finally taking a step forward. "I will f(censored)ing defeat that mammoth! Back off! It's dangerous."

The Mammoth finally moved toward me, but I prepared all limbs, including my crystalized mechanical arms.

Half-doubted, Yuuka-san dragged Tamaru-san away from the battlefield of two. Crystal shards then emerged from the ground, fixing me in place.

No sooner did the massive mammoth bastard enter my range than I pushed it back with all my might, using all my arms. My muscles felt like they were being crushed by extreme pressure. But my crystal-spiked fingers pierced into its thick hide, causing it to growl in pain. Then I began to lift it upward…

I don't know but this motherf(censored)er is hella heavy! Somehow, the holographic monitor showed it weighed 65 tons.

"I…" I slowly pushed myself to the limit as I lifted the mammoth rogue into the air. The zombies and solar eaters attacked me as I was essentially immobilized but my crystal/ metal defense was too tough for them to even harm.

"Grr! Cra— I can't! It's… Hero Time!"

I cried out, encouraging myself as I lifted its body entirely in the air. Then I threw it away, back onto the route it took to get here. But it lay on its side, and probably wouldn't be able to recover for a while.

But I was still standing in the same position. My limbs had gone numb, and my muscles ached everywhere. My bones felt like they had been crushed to pieces.

Kamen Rider Otaku and Valkyrie lady took down the zombies swarming over me.

"Oi, you still there?! Keep yourself together!"

Tamaru-san said with a worried face, slapping the cheeks of my helmet. It didn't even bulge though.

"I… Am fine…" I said. My eyes widened upon seeing the solar eaters surrounding the defeated Mammoth. No, wait, it's not just the end yet. I know it from the pattern of what has happened..

"... Don't let the zombies get close to the rogue!" I said.

"What, why?..." The Otaku asked me back. Yuuka-san didn't seem to know what I meant either.

"You guys… have never seen a mammoth fused with the zombies?"

"Aqua Virga!" A female voice called out from my behind, after which a load of water passed by my head, striking some zombies away from the lying rogue.

"He's right," she said, allowing me to recognize her as Roseanne. "If zombies get close to the rogue, it will absorb them and grow larger. And obviously stronger."

"That's news to me," Yuuka-san said glancing at the rogues.

"We've been fighting for rogues for years. Never heard something like that," Sutemi-san said with a distressed tone. "But we need to put a stop to it, quickly."

"And you know magic?" Yuuka-san questioned Roseanne, who was already in her knight armor, with her sword in her hand.

"You can't find an elf who doesn't know magic," she said as if it was a cool line.

"I know there are elves who can't use magic," the commander lady said and repositioned her sword. "Enough chatter. Let's get back!"

"Wait for me, Yuuka-chan!"

When the two left to fight the remaining zombies and the rogue, Roseanne silently stared at me for a moment. Then she left without a word to join the fight.

"This suit is a pain to wear…" I complained.

"I was trying to stop you," Eunice sighed. "You deserve a good scolding after this. Now turn back to Fasttrack and Bullfrag."

"... Ha, roger," I replaced the Four Arms with Fasttrack and Diamondhead with Bullfrag keys. When the armor on my body was removed, I felt refreshed all of a sudden… As if the burden on my poor body was lifted.

"Henshin…"

"RECOGNIZED: FASTTRACK, BULLFRAG, STACK UP!"

— Transformation Announcement.

"Oi, Eunice…" my forearm armor turned green and there weren't any dangerous blades sticking out. Instead, a red whip-like rope was sticking out of my palms. "I think I came up with a decent catchphrase— I mean, the best catchphrase!"

"Just focus on the battle, Baka!"

I got into a ready stance. "The catchphrase is… It's hero time!"

The speedometer went wild as I started running at supersonic speeds. Compared to the Fourarms Diamondhead armor that crushed my muscles, the tiredness brought forth by the burden of Fasttrack armor was almost nothing.

I didn't just run.

I jumped into the air, appearing here and there like a ghost or teleporter so I could crush the skulls of the zombies coming out of the forest on either side. I punched or kicked… Or maybe even struck with the whip, anyway, I was taking up the backup task while the trio— Roseanne, Yuuka-san, and the Otaku were making their way toward the weakened rogue.

"Incoming!" I called out and ran in a zip-zap pattern, wrapping the rope around the zombies along the way. Then I dragged them along at a supersonic speed. They were still flying off the road when I stopped moving because of the inertia.

"Time for the finisher!"

"FINISHING MOVE! BULLFRAG…

ONE, TWO, THREE, READY…"

— Finisher Announcement.

"Rider kick!" I leaped into the air and delivered an explosive rider kick, slaying the hordes.

The speedometer went down as I took a break to catch my breath. The two Kamen Riders and the elf swordswoman dashed past me to finally reach the villain boss— the Mammoth Rogue.

"Now no obstacles…" Kamen Rider Otaku thrust his sword into the ground and cracked his knuckles. "Let's finish this!"

"FULL POWER SOUL CRUSH!"

— Finisher Announcement.

Yuuka-san also put down her shield and sword and pushed the key down in her Driver once again.

"FULL POWER VALKYRIE FURY!"

— Finisher Announcement.

Roseanne was probably the only one who didn't put her weapon down.

"Let's go, Eunice!"

"Mm."

"FINISHING MOVE! FASTTRACK.

ONE, TWO, THREE, READY…"

— Finisher Announcement.

The two riders floated in the air toward the rogue as they were to perform a rider kick. I disappeared in a green/black blur, running at a high speed around the Mammoth, attacking it with punches and kicks while conveniently avoiding Roseanne and the duo fighting it as well.

Roseanne coated her sword with rocks and slashed the monster, which didn't really do anything. When the two rider kicks finally landed on the monster's body, I dragged Roseanne out as the explosion happened, hopefully obliterating the mammoth menace. But my wish wasn't fulfilled.

"Crap… Again?"

An energy shield covering the Mammoth was protecting it from the two riders' finishers… And those two— Kamen Rider Otaku and Yuuka-san were seen lying defeated. They were just forced out of their transformation…

And as the cloud of dust was blown aside, the man in the black robe was seen standing atop the mammoth's body.

"I can't just let this show die down so early, right?"

That voice… He is the mysterious man— one of the two leader-type rogues who turned all the townspeople of Neo-Bangkok into zombies.

"Damn you…" I cursed, clenching my fist.

"Sorry to inform you but," he suddenly disappeared from my sight and his voice was heard behind me. "You are still too slow for me to be a good …match."

When I turned around, he was nowhere to be seen. What's that power? Teleportation? Superspeed?

"You'd need to see this…" Roseanne notified me.

The Mammoth got up again, even growing bigger. All the zombie corpses around, numbering easily two or three hundred, all broke down into grotesque clusters of blood and flesh— and flew toward the revived Mammoth, strengthening it.

Shit, now we are in a Power Rangers episode now… The two riders of the town were also apparently out cold and injured.

"Rose—elf girl, please keep the Mammoth occupied for a few seconds," I said and ran toward the two riders lying on the ground.

Roseanne gave me a nod and raised her sword. I lifted Tamaru-san and Yuuka-san under my arms. They were surprisingly less heavy than I thought they would be— probably because of my rider armor.

Then I ran at high speed and carried the duo all the way into the town through the gate and put them down near other soldiers.

"Take care of them!"

"Uh, yeah, but who— wait!"

Without another word, I departed for the battle back in a few seconds.

When I arrived back in battle, Roseanne said:

"I used water and earth magic to bind it in mud. It won't be able to come out for a while."

The Mammoth struggled to get its limbs out of the mud but because of its immense weight, it was already several feet into the ground.

"But sadly, I don't know fire magic enough to harden the ground…"

"No, this is better," I said and prepared my whip. "The more it struggles, the deeper it will sink."

"I see."

Now the issue is… how to finish this guy?

"It is morphing again…" she said in a monotonous voice.

At this point, I am still trying to understand how it works. If my memory serves, the rogues would have either a humanoid form or a quadrupedal animalistic form. While I am not sure how it works exactly, there is a chance this mammoth can morph into a humanoid body…

My prediction was right. After absorbing all the corpses of zombies around, the mammoth began to morph into a humanoid form.

"That's bad…"

I quickly brought the Alter-Tool out of nowhere and inserted the Ripjaws key right away.

"INSERT: RIPJAWS. UPGRADE."

— Insertion and Weapon Power-up Announcement.

With a loud explosive noise, the bullet escaped the barrel at a high speed, projecting an illusory hologram of Ripjaws, and exploded at contact with the monster. However, it did little to no damage at all.

"Something's off…"

How did they even get such a powerful rogue? No, powerful isn't the right word. This guy is just hella durable…

The Mammoth growled and stood up out of the mud. The puddle was large enough to contain the entire monster's body but… once it stepped on the hard ground, it could easily get out of the swamp.

"I will go first," Roseanne said, hardening her sword with magic. "Please find a way to defeat it."

She charged at the now-humanoid mammoth and started swinging her massive sword at the monster.

"Eunice!"

"I knew you were gonna ask me," she said with an impatient tone. "Anyway, we are gonna use a new key… and it's time for that form, too."

"A new key and that form?"

The Mammoth tried to strike Roseanne back but she was too fast for the heavy monster to keep up with. She dodged it mid-air and propelled herself with a shot of high-pressure water onto the rogue's face. The mammoth growled and furiously stomped the ground.

"Ditto… and Snare-Oh."

Ditto… and… I took out the other four new keys to see which one was Snare-oh's.

Spidermonkey, Blitzwolfer, Spitter— and Snare-Oh keys.

"Alrighty," I replaced the Fasttrack Key with the Ditto key and Bullfrag's with the Snare-oh key. "Henshin!"

This time, the hologram of a mummy-like creature appeared alongside the statue of ditto.

"RECOGNIZED: DITTO, SNARE-OH, STACK UP!"

— Transformation Announcement.

"Oh… I've got a scarf…"

A green scarf appeared wrapped around my neck hanging on the left of my back from my left shoulder. Then it turned white as white bandages appeared wrapped around my forearms, ending in my palms.

"You stay here and clone yourself— then control them from here to attack the rogue!"

That's a good idea…

"Got it," I stood still and crossed my wrists, summoning a clone of myself. Then I closed my eyes, separating my vision from the clone's.

"Only one isn't enough…"

"How many can I make?" I honestly asked, crossing my wrists again to summon another one.

"As many as your mind could withstand… this form does need willpower," she remarked.

"Then I will make as many clones as I need to defeat that oversized elephant," I chuckled and produced five clones at the same time.

Now seven clones left me behind to attack the mammoth, some of them, unfortunately, went into the forest because of my messed-up directions. I tried and controlled the seven clones, even though it was hell to distinguish their positions and senses of vision.

"Use the bandages on your wrists to bind the rogue," Eunice suggested.

I see, she is trying to bind it down. It's a good idea but I am not sure why she'd think bandages are tough enough to keep this bastard in place. But she knows better… after all.

"Roger," I muttered and made the clones surround the rogues to shoot the bandages at the mammoth. Roseanne was confused to see them flying at the monster all of a sudden but she quickly acknowledged us before dodging the strike of the mammoth's trunk.

Everyone, pin it down!

With the bandages binding the mammoth from every direction, the ditto clones of mine tried to pin the mammoth in place.

"More! We need more!"

"I've got this!" I said and made five more clones again, moving them toward the rogue and making them join the party of fellow clones.

Once I've got them in position, all I need to do was… order them to put the effort into pulling the bandages. We don't need to care about the visions as much—

But I was wrong.

"Tennyson Hiroki!" Eunice alerted.

"What?!"

I suddenly saw the trunk of the mammoth coming at me in some vision— I wasn't sure which one. But… I felt like I was thrown away… I felt like my neck was broken, and the sudden pain struck my body.

"Arghhh!" I cried as I realized this was the drawback of using Ditto.

"Oi, keep yourself together… are you okay?! Hiroki!"

A vision disappeared…

One of me died, didn't I?

My body ached. It wasn't as bad as when I carried the Mammoth as Four Arms… but it happened again and again. The pain was overwhelming— I couldn't identify which part of my body wasn't in pain.

And the pain of death. It struck me over and over again as the visions blacked out, leaving me in complete darkness.

I heard someone arrive next to me. They then supported me by lifting me under my armpit.

I opened my eyes… to see Roseanne's face on the monitor.

"Elf girl…"

"Are you in pain?" She asked coldly. But I could still sense the hint of sympathy and worry in her expression.

"Don't worry…"

Anyway, I need more clones to pin it down. But even then I don't have a way to finish it…

Wait… clones… can give multiple finisher attacks in a row, right? It means… if a single rider kick doesn't work, I just need to perform the finisher rider kicks until it works— sounds very muscle headed but a cool plan again.

"This time, I will go first," I said, turning my head to her. "Come in at the right time."

She quietly nodded.

I tilted the Ditto GDSEL key to draw more power out…

"DITTO, D-D-D-DITTO ENHANCED."

— 5-tilt Power-up Announcement.

So can I do that too? Stacking up five power-ups, I mean.

The humanoid mammoth growled and stomped the ground with its forelimbs, creating a shockwave.

I created five clones at a time five times, summoning twenty-five clones in total. The clones went to the mammoth and tried to pin it down with bandages again. This time, I positioned some of them in front of the rogue so they could bind the trunk and husk of the rogue too.

I stepped forward and created ten more clones who immediately joined the battle and helped the others.

"DITTO! D-D-D-D-D-DITTO ENHANCED."

— Power-up announcement.

I tilted the key several times before summoning another thirty of my clones, who joined the binding party again. The Mammoth was still struggling but I decided to overwhelm it by numbers.

Once they are in position, it's easy to control but I still need to command all of them to exert force at the same time.

Alright, I guess I am summoning more clones, just in case.

"Now!" I called out.

With about a hundred of my clones restraining the gigantic rogue beast. Roseanne chanted some incantation, casting a spell and turning her sword into a massive sword coated with stones. Then she ran at the mammoth and brought down the sword on the mammoth, causing it to scream in pain.

I withdrew the Ditto key and scanned it with the core of the buckle.

"FINISHING MOVE! DITTO…

ONE, TWO, THREE, READY."

— Finisher Announcement

I threw the bandages which wrapped on the trunk of the mammoth and jumped into the air.

"Rider… kick!"

In the air, the clones of mine suddenly appeared… I don't know how many of them were… but we all performed explosive rider kicks on the mammoth which then growled in pain. The surrounding 80 clones of mine also exerted their respective rider kicks and destroyed the mammoth into dust.

All the clones except one turned into black mist and returned to the belt. One clone picked up the large supersized rogue core of the mammoth and brought it to me.

"Thanks…"

The clone then turned into black mist as well, and disappeared into the buckle. I examined the core for a moment. What interests me was the mammoth had a single large core instead of multiple cores… Hmm, that was indeed something else.

"You, too," I turned toward Roseanne who was intently staring at me. "Thanks for helping us defeat the monster. Now I shall take my leave."

The elf knight didn't talk back. She would have something to tell me but for now… I should just leave it at that. I removed the Snare-oh Key and replaced the Ditto with the Fasttrack key. Then I rushed back to our room at a high speed.

"CANCELLED."

— Cancellation Announcement.

"I am beat…" I groaned and dropped myself onto the bed as I saw Eunice reappear in front of me.

"Do you need someone to give you a massage?" She said with a grin, moving her fingers like pressing the keys of a piano.

Normally, I wouldn't have her massage me, since it would be so embarrassing. But I don't think I would be able to get up in the morning at this rate— with my sore muscles, exhausted brain, and aching back.

"Please," I quietly said and lay on my chest.

Her fingers gently landed on my back… and then started working their magic. Her hands were incredibly soft; I could feel each individual finger as she pressed against them. As she worked on me, her touch was very relaxing; I felt that I had been reborn again, as if I was being cleansed of all my worries and troubles. The warmth from her hands flowed through every part of me until I drifted off into a deep slumber.

Hold up, me…

My fun was shattered as we heard knocks on the door of our room.

"Hiroki, Eunice, you two, okay?" It was Roseanne. "Can I come in?"

"Yes," Eunice immediately answered.

I was almost half-asleep, but in a second, I realized what was going on. "Oi, wait, don't—"

But it was too late.

Roseanne stared at us with her usual calm expression. "What are you doing?"

"He has back pain, so I am massaging him," Eunice honestly answered with a grin. I didn't get why she invited her in. I reckoned it would blow our cover…

"I see," the elf replied coldly.

"Yes, we should check on those two kids, too," I suddenly heard Tamaru-san's voice. I was glad that he recovered already… but…

Sutemi Tamaru and Yuuka Akaba entered our room and encountered us in such an awkward position.

"Wait, I can explain—"

"Sorry for distracting you two," Akaba-san apologized and dragged the other two out of the room muttering "come on, we shouldn't disturb the youngsters' love."

I angrily looked at Eunice who just shrugged off my glare.

"Problem's solved," she whispered. "This way, they wouldn't be suspicious."

END OF EPISODE 6.

Christopher Paradox Chronos.