CHAPTER 12
The New Warrior
Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, Satoshi Tajiri, and the Pokémon Company International, while Super Sentai belongs to Toei Company Ltd. Both Morgan Alter and I own nothing but the idea, story, and our OCs.
Written by MagicWings001 and Morgan Alter
Picking up from the events of Chapter 11, Kyouhei had just returned back to the Guardia Base after spending some time with Kengo, as he had gotten a night shift that evening, but when he had entered the briefing room, the Unovan trainer discovered that one of the computers was still on, although there was no one in the room besides him. The monitor was off, though, so when he ultimately turned it on, he was shocked to find that N's documents containing his detailed plans was opened by someone, making him suspicious almost immediately. The documents were supposed to be top-secret after all, and only 5 people know of its existence and remember the passwords to unlock them before Ran had discovered it, including Kyouhei himself. Speaking of the other four, though, Shigeru and Lillie was sitting in the lounge room right now, and N was taking Momoka out on a romantic date, thus ruling out any possibility of them opening the file.
"Shigeru and Lillie's in the lounge room right now, and N is taking that future wife of his on a date, which means... There's someone who managed to enter the passwords and bypass the security features, meaning... It's probably Ran, isn't it?" Kyouhei said to himself, with him coming to the conclusion because he'd known that the Shinkaiger member had a high IQ and is literally a child genius. If there was someone who can figure out the passwords, then Ran opening it has a high possibility of being true. Which, ended up being correct.
Kyouhei then briefly manned the computer for a few moments, closing the document and exiting the file manager before pausing for a second. He then shut the computer down to let the systems cool off, before pausing silently as he was beginning to get lost in thought. 'N... Looks like the Shinkaigers are one step ahead of you now.'
Meanwhile, Ran would later request to have a talk with Shigeru, Lillie and Takeru at the lounge room, with the rest of the Shinkaigers going away to do their own things. The 16-year old then kept the three of them up to speed with the current situation, revealing everything about what he had discovered on the computer back at the briefing room of the base. They were basically shocked when Ran had told them the contents of the file which he had opened earlier that evening. Well, shocked may be an understatement.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?" Takeru yelled, with him being surprised after finding out what N had intended to do with his team via Ran telling him about it.
"I'm afraid that's right, Takeru. N had intended to use the divide and rule strategy on us in order for him to easily manipulate the team. He was basically planning to use us as his pawns in order to execute the grand design that he had meticulously planned out." Ran explained.
"And you're telling me that all this time, my hardcore training sessions were pointless because you don't have any stronger medals, and it was HIS decision to have all of them moved to my possession!?"
"Yeah, it was his decision. He put in all that effort into planning this scheme." Ran replied. In response, Takeru then glared daggers at both of his mentors before confronting them for withholding the information. "Why did you tell me and the others that it was your own fucking decision, Ohkido-san? Hikaru was getting salty because of him not having any medals!"
"N, again. Since both me and Shigeru are now technically his puppets, we both have to act as... Well, his intermediary. His bridge to the general public, if you want to put it simply." Lillie explained, with her lips curling up into a frown at the end.
"We've felt guilty to him for the past few months now because of the medal problem. It's just that N has a very, very strict guideline that only makes things much worse. Heck, he also forced the both of us to be more rigorous and stern towards Hikaru, but..." Shigeru added, before Takeru then promptly interjected his explanation. "Let me guess, Professor... You can't bring yourself to be too rigorous to him since you're his biological father, and I take it that Ohkido-san has the same case. I can see why, though; it's just that you don't want to restrain him too much that he feels like he's being oppressed."
"Yes. And we honestly don't know what to do about it. N did tell me to let him keep the Blastoise Medal in order to not upset his emotions, since, you already know that he can be quite the mommy's boy sometimes, but we can't be too laid-back on him or else N is going to be disappointed at us." Lillie said.
"If that's the case, then we probably should outsmart N at his own game... And I think I have an idea on how are we going to pull it off. But this plan needs the involvement of someone who are willing enough to help us. We don't want to become his pawns, after all." Takeru suggested.
"Oh?" Ran, Shigeru and Lillie said together at the same time while tilting their heads in confusion.
"The government."
Meanwhile later that night, N and Momoka was now returning back from their romantic date at one of the Lumiose Metro train stations to get to the Guardia Base, not knowing what had happened earlier that evening. A few minutes later, their train would then arrive, and the couple would then board the subway train, with the door closing in on them. Said train was already crowded with passengers at the time, yet N didn't know what was about to happen next.
The train then departed the station soon afterwards, and everything seemed normal for N and Momoka for the first 3 minutes or so. However, once the train was far enough from the station (with the next one being a few miles or so away), all of the passengers in the train car then suspiciously eyed the ex-Team Plasma member and his wife-to be, before they then pulled out their mass-produced versions of the Infernal Blade; those train passengers were actually Kalosian Army soldiers disguised as ordinary people, and they were executing Takeru's plan from earlier with approval from the government. This, of course, caught the engaged couple off-guard. They were just returning from a date, after all, and they didn't expect an occurrence like this interrupting their alone time.
Taking out their Falinks Brass and Trooper Medals, the undercover soldiers then scanned their respective medals at the sword's scanner, before inserting them into the middle slot of the device, initiating the transformation.
FALINKS BRASS!
FALINKS TROOPER!
BURST!
INFERNO UP!
CONSTANT! TEAMWORK! PERFECT HARMONY! FALINKS BRASS~!
CONSTANT! TEAMWORK! PERFECT HARMONY! FALINKS TROOPER~!
"What's going on here?!" N said, with him being shocked at the fact that there were now a squad of troopers surrounding him and his fianceé. They were also pointing their assault rifles at them, effectively threatening to take their lives by holding them at gunpoint. Momoka though was literally panicking, so much so that she then began squeezing N's hand in a vice grip, but since she was a cyborg, she accidentally ended up bruising it instead.
N, sensing her distress, then calmly reassured his wife-to-be, not moving a muscle because of him being put at gunpoint. He was visibly sweating due to fearing for his life, while also trying to hide his pain from Momoka bruising his hand. "C-calm down, honey... Something must have happened behind my back that resulted in us being targeted like this..." However, to his dismay, the pink-haired woman was too scared, distressed, and panicked due to the sudden event, that she would actually end up triggering her cybernetic circuits, causing her to be enveloped in thick, black smoke with flashes of white light. She was transforming into her monster form that she gained as a result of her forced conversion by Zeus, Fallen Angel Inhumanoid.
"Momoka! Don't do it, honey!" N yelled, unfortunately moving for a bit. As a result, the Falinks Troopers surrounding him and his fianceé then fired their assault rifles. The former Team Plasma King then tried his best to avoid some of the bullets coming in his way, but he was then hit by a barrage at the shoulder, as he wasn't able to dodge on time. The bullets which were shot towards Momoka though simply bounced off of her body as the smoke dissipated to reveal a monstrous yet twisted humanoid version of Giratina standing in place of the pink-haired woman.
Seeing that her future husband was now injured and is now losing blood at a fast rate due to the bullets on his shoulder, the Giratina-based monster that was Momoka's alter ego then proceeded to conjure a beam of dark miasma, overcome with fury. But she wasn't able to shoot it on the troopers as N had attempted to calm her down, as the attack would also endanger his life.
"Don't do it, honey... If you attack them right here and now, you'll also endanger me instead..." He then shifts his gaze to the brass of the squad, making eye contact with him before saying something. "I surrender. I'll try to cooperate on whatever plan that you have for us."
The Unovan trainer had just meekly announced his surrender, causing Momoka to cancel charging her attack, signaling that she was also surrendering to the squad. However, the brass and the troopers wanted the couple dead, and as a result, they then ditched their assault rifles for the Infernal Blade before removing their medals from the middle slot and scanning them at the device's second scanner.
CHARGE!
Realizing that the squad is actually attempting to assassinate them both on the train, Momoka immediately took a protective stance, creating a shield using her powers to prevent herself and N from getting killed. However, the attempt was futile, as she would find out a few seconds later when the troopers then re-inserted their medals into the sword's middle slot.
INFERNAL FINISH!
The troopers then began slashing at the couple, which was hard at first due to the shield that was protecting them, but since there were dozens of troopers attacking at the same time, the shield would then break, and the troopers' energy slashes would then hit them, causing a small explosion which would knock them out cold and worsen their injuries. With their mission accomplished, the troopers then opened the doors of the subway by force before jumping out of the still-moving train like a paratrooper, leaving an unconscious and bloodied N and Momoka as the only passengers in the train car.
Meanwhile, Keito, who had departed from Satoshi and Serena's home in Vaniville Town after the events of Chapter 11 earlier that day, was also intending to go to the Guardia Base in order to pay Takeru and Erina one last visit before returning to his home in Aquacorde Town. The 19-year old then decided to take the Lumiose Metro in order to go there, as it was the fastest way to get to the Shinkaiger headquarters without using a car or a motorbike, and the young man certainly didn't want to walk to the outskirts of the city just to get to the building. And thus, he was already at one of the underground train stations.
However, coincidentally enough his train was actually the same one upon which N and Momoka had ridden on during their return trip from their date and where the couple was assaulted by Falinks Troopers on Takeru's orders a few minutes earlier. When the train had arrived, Keito then entered the train car... Only to find burn marks, blood stains, a mysterious shard on the floor, and N and Momoka themselves, unconscious and covered in blood. The latter had reverted back to her human form due to the explosion and recoil, and the two lovebirds looked like they were cuddling, even though they had lost consciousness, as the couple had fell from their seats after the assault, and Momoka had wrapped herself around N shortly before blacking out.
"What in the...?" Keito exclaimed to himself, seeing the horrid mess that was the train's interior. He then noticed the two lovebirds, which was now covered in blood (some of them dried, some of them still fresh) and were basically unconscious by that point. With his pupils shrinking out of concern, Keito then hurried over to N and Momoka's bodies, before taking out a first aid-kit and opening up the box.
"My Arceus, what happened in here...?" Keito thought. Deciding to tend to N first after spotting his bleeding shoulder and a bullet hole in his clothes, the young man gently places Momoka's hand, which had been wrapped around N, on the floor in order to not hinder his work, while also checking if N still has a pulse. After determining that he was comatose, he then tries his best to remove N's clothing for a bit in order to expose what he deduced as a gunshot wound on his shoulder. It was difficult, though, since N had lost consciousness and the 19-year old had no choice but to move his body around as it had gone limp by then. After making sure that the wound isn't too deep to be fatal using his observations, Keito then takes out a silver handkerchief from his jacket, using it to wipe off any of the blood that would come out. He then uses a pair of tweezers to remove the bullet in N's shoulder, before quickly applying gauze to the gunshot wound, pressing it tightly to stop the blood loss, adding more gauze as needed in order to fully stop the hemorrhage. After that was taken care of, Keito then treated N's deep gash from being slashed by the Falinks Troopers, before wiping some of the blood on N's face with his handkerchief and applying iodopovidone at any small wounds and covering them up with gauze. With the threat done, the 19-year old then puts N's clothes back on before moving the Unovan trainer to lie down on the train seat.
Next, Keito then decided to tend to Momoka's wounds, at first checking her pulse like what he did to N. The young man also determined that she was comatose, although he made sure to prioritize treatment first before trying to find any information about what caused this mess. The pink-haired woman had a scar on her cheek as a result of being slashed, with blood seeping out of it, and Keito was quick to treat it by applying a few layers of gauze to stop the blood. Momoka's smaller wounds though was able to be treated by covering it in iodopovidone and then applying a layer of gauze, mostly because there wasn't a lot of blood coming out of it. The 19-year old then moved Momoka to the train seat beside N, with the former leaning on the latter like a pillow.
'Why are there burn marks in here? I mean, the blood stains are self-explanatory and I did remove a bullet earlier, but it's rather uncommon seeing burn marks on the site of a shooting...' Keito thought, noticing the burn marks on the train from the earlier explosion. He would then notice a mysterious shard on the floor of the train, causing him to pick it up in order to find more information about the earlier assault. But what surprised him is that the shard actually felt somewhat similar to reptilian skin, causing him to suspect something. This shard was actually a piece of Fallen Angel Inhumanoid's reptilian scales, which was scraped off by the small explosion from the earlier assault.
'Did an Inhumanoid manage to attack this train unimpeded earlier? I've heard about M.Y.T.H.O.S sending out their monsters at night, but that's impossible given that they already sent out one this afternoon... And why was there a gunshot wound filled with bullets? That's weird...'
Keito then kept the shard, storing it in his first aid-kit box in order to use it as evidence of a monster attack, taking out his Rotom Phone to photograph the burn marks and blood stains on the train. After doing that, he then opened his contact app, scrolling down until he reached a contact labelled as 'Lillie-san' and hovering his finger over it. He was intending to talk to Lillie. Sighing, he then pressed the contact before making the phone call, sitting down on the seat across N and Momoka's as he waited for the Shinkaiger mentor to pick up on the other side of the dial.
The next day...
Lillie and Shigeru were already informed about N and Momoka's assault on the subway, along with an update on the couple's current condition by Keito, with the young man later sending them the pictures of the burn marks and blood stains that he had photographed while on the train. This signaled to them that Takeru's plan to attack the couple was successful, but the lovebirds managed to survive the attack, causing them a lot of confusion on how they would cover up the incident to the top brass, and they were currently talking about it in their private quarters that morning.
"So? What are we intending to do with them? The government is obviously not going to be happy with us if they know that N and Momoka managed to survive it all." Shigeru said.
"Takeru's going to be miffed too, Shigeru. It's his plan, after all, but as much as I hate doing this to Momo-chan, I have no choice but to do what he wanted us to do." Lillie admitted. Momoka wasn't just her co-worker, but she was her best friend too by this point.
As she was starting to run out of ideas, Lillie's U-Phone then ringed, signifying a call. The one on the other side of the dial was her brother, Glazio. Knowing that this may be important given the current circumstances, the Alolan woman then picked up the phone call. "Hello? Brother?"
"Hey, Lillie. Sorry if I can't really talk much right now, but I need to get straight to the point. I've heard about what had happened to N and Momoka yesterday. How's their current condition right now?"
"Comatose, but alive. They haven't woken up yet. Takeru's cousin Keito found them injured and already unconscious on a Lumiose Metro train and treated them with first-aid; they were assaulted by Falinks Troopers after returning from a date." Lillie explained. She knew her brother was busy with his duties in Alola, and as a result, she just told him everything about the train incident on the previous day. No chit-chat, just straight to the point.
"So, an assassination attempt. Who ordered it?" Glazio deduced.
"Takeru, with support from the government. That was in retaliation for sabotaging Shinkaiger after Ran had managed to leak N's top-secret text files the other day."
'Sheesh, Satoshi, your son is one vindictive boy...' Glazio thought, before continuing his call. "I'll be transporting N and Momoka to Alola, but I can't do that right now. I'll have the time, don't worry, It's just that Elite Four duties are taking up much of my free time.
"I'm sure that could be arranged, brother. What time will you pick them up?" Lillie said. However, the room's doors would then open to reveal Momoka, who already woke up by the time Lillie was calling Glazio. Shigeru just gestured something to his wife, who later noticed Momoka's arrival. As a result, the Alolan woman then immediately decided to hand her U-Phone over to the former M.Y.T.H.O.S member just to cut off unnecessary time.
"Brother, Momoka just woke up. I know you're busy right now, so I"ll just hand over the phone to her." Glazio then affirmed his sister's decision, waiting until Momoka had received the phone.
"Hello, Glazio."
"Hello, Momoka. I assume that you just woke up from your coma? I've heard about what had happened to you and N."
"Yes. In fact, N hasn't woken up yet. The last thing I remember before passing out is that the troopers which attacked us jumped out of the train, leaving the both of us wounded, but when I woke up, we were already here on the same bed. My wounds were also patched up as well."
"You better thank Takeru's cousin Keito for that. He found the two of you on that train last night already unconscious and injured. He also treated your wounds with first aid before informing Lillie and Shigeru about that. Can you still remember what happened when you got attacked?" Glazio explained, before asking.
"We were just returning from a date at the time and we decided to take the subway to return here. However, to our surprise, all of the passengers turned out to be a whole squad of Falinks Troopers. They then assaulted us, and I remember N getting shot in the shoulder as well... But who ordered it, if I may ask?" Momoka answered, before politely asking back.
"Takeru planned to have the two of you assassinated on the train, and the government ended up working together with him to carry out that assassination attempt. While his motives regarding N are clear, I don't know why he decided to put you into the crossfire, seeing that you haven't done anything."
"Wait, what? That's impossible... He's usually civil and polite towards me, but this is a big shocker..."
"I assume that he may have his own motives to target you, Momoka. However, Lillie doesn't seem to know what he has on his agenda yet."
Momoka then simply sighed in frustration, before continuing to speak up in the phone call. "I suppose I can ask her or Shigeru to get out some information from him, then. Do you have anything planned for the two of us, Glazio?"
"As a matter of fact, I do, Momoka."
70 minutes later, the five Shinkaigers were already on the battlefield fighting against a new Inhumanoid based off of a Sceptile, with Takeru assuming his stronger Infernal Blade form while Erina assumed her Swellow form at the same time. The siblings were working together to deal the super-effective combo damage to the monster, as Sceptile was a Grass-type and it was weak to Fire and Flying, and the EvolMedals which contained those types had happened to be in the possession of the team. Ran had decided to go for Galvantula despite the Electric-type being resisted by the cyborg, and Ryouma had decided to default to his usual Umbreon form during the attack. Hikaru though, wasn't faring much better, as his attacks got resisted easily by the monster despite using Blastoise.
"Now, tell us your plans, Gecko Inhumanoid! What does Zeus intend to do with it!?" Takeru said aggressively, putting the gecko monster in a chokehold.
The Sceptile-based Inhumanoid then broke free of the chokehold all by himself, with him punching Hikaru first before retorting to the question. "G̵̨̛̟o̵̲͌ͅȯ̸͕d̷̛̺̭̏ ̴̫̍q̵̼̱͠ư̷̻͝ē̷͚̦s̵̡̩͘t̶͖͊ì̴̞̖o̵͇͑n̷͔̍̐,̴̠̍͂ ̸͉̒̌S̴̨̈́h̶͉͎̉̕i̶͖̐̀n̷̖̿k̷̭̲͊̍a̶͖͒͌i̷͍̓ ̸̨̘̈́͐Ṛ̴́ẻ̵̝͖̀d̴͉́̚!̴͍̈́̔ ̴̢̙̀T̸̫̲̐h̷͚̯̀͠i̷̺̩̚s̶̛͕͐ ̷̈́͋͜i̶̡̭͑̾s̴̘͑̚ ̴̳̤̾͌p̸̨̀a̸̢̔r̷͖̓͒ͅť̸̨͑ ̶͖͝o̵̪͖̓f̶̬̈́ ̶͈͙͂̉m̸̛̩̣y̷͍͑ ̵̠̟̓́O̵͓̾͝p̸̺͋ė̸̮̘́r̸̼̔̌ȃ̵͖̏ͅt̷̞̟̓i̷̫͍̚͝o̸͚̦̓̈́n̵͙͂͌ ̵͖̿͝ͅḺ̵͕͝ę̵̇̈́a̶͍̣̾͗f̷̘̐̕͜a̸̫̅̓g̵̥̣̓e̶͕̓̑ ̸̭̀ṕ̵̖l̷͎̕a̶̢̪͑n̶̨̤̈́!̸̤͐̚ ̴͖̜͗Ĥ̴̢̬o̶̱̾w̵̭͒͂ę̸͇̌v̶̜̑̅ͅȩ̸̅ṟ̸̰̇,̷͚͍̀ ̴̧͔̑y̴̢͐̑ǫ̶̟̍û̶̖̏'̶̩̤͆r̵̤̭̅͑e̶͎̅ ̷̝͋ǫ̶̼̕ñ̸͇l̷͚͗͒ỳ̵͍̑ ̷̖̌̑g̵͙͎̈́̀ǒ̸̢̞̋i̶͍̟̋n̵̢̟̊̄g̷̲̈́̊ ̶̬̑f̴̫̣̾̈́ĭ̷̝͔n̴̦̊͑d̷͇̽ ̶͈͊ỏ̸̮͆u̷̥̐ͅt̵̢͈͆̔ ̸̱͊w̸̘̠̾͠h̷͓͠ă̶̙̟t̷̜̣͒̓ ̴̣̱̉̚i̴̡̽t̵͚̊ͅ ̵͙̏̽ì̸̧̱̈́s̶̰͆ ̶͘͜s̶͍͑̓o̴̙̅̓ö̶̥̮́̀n̸̟͊͒ ̷̝̦͘͠e̶̡͉̅̕n̵̢̰̋̊o̷͈̔̉ű̸͓͝g̶̞̒h̷̡͙̑!̷̞͕͐̈"
The fight would then continue on, with both Gecko Inhumanoid and the Shinkaigers punching and kicking each other for a few minutes until the gecko-inspired monster sensed that he was getting tired. Deciding to hurry up in order to not get killed off by his enemies, the Sceptile-humanoid hybrid would then cover himself in a spinning tornado of leaves courtesy of the move Leaf Storm, before it would then dissipate to reveal that the monster had just gotten away, much to Takeru's chagrin.
"Damn it. He's gotten away already..."
"He must've probably retreated to his hideout, Red. He might've known that he was getting tired out from you and Erina fighting him, and then decided to backpeddle out of the situation. We could've killed him already if we were quicker, though." Ran explained, as he and the rest of his team was disengaging their transformations, reverting back to their human identities.
"Ah, well. Such is life, I guess. Back to base for now, team." Takeru ordered. The Shinkaigers then returned back to the Guardia Base as a result. Unbeknowst to them, however, a certain gray-eyed, black-haired Trainer was watching them nearby, with him later going off to find Gecko Inhumanoid by himself.
Olympus Castle, Kalos
At the courtroom of the Olympus Castle, Zeus, seated on his throne beside Hera, was asking Apollo about Gecko Inhumanoid's progress, pressuring the young man to have the monster's scheme be a complete success. After all, Zeus was a person with delusions of grandeur that made him despise failing very much, and since the Shinkaigers were formed, M.Y.T.H.O.S' records of crimes against humanity and other equally severe atrocities wasn't as stellar as before.
"How is the progress on Operation Leafage, Apollo?"
"No worries, Your Imperial Majesty. Gecko Inhumanoid was just injured after that run-in. I assure you that Kalos will be overgrown with leaves and vines in no time, and its people, including that damned Shinkaigers, be killed with its poison gas! That way, M.Y.T.H.O.S will easily take over Kalos. We'll just have to conquer the rest of the world from here... BY COMMENCING A LARGE-SCALE GENOCIDE!" Apollo said, laughing maniacally to himself. This, in turn, amused Zeus. "Ever so ambitious, eh, Apollo? However, I would like to see that your plan be successful before I would be able to authorize such acts!"
"With due respect, Your Imperial Majesty!"
"But, darling," Hera interjected, questioning something. "What about those blasted Shinkaigers?"
"Do not worry, Hera. As for Apollo and Artemis, the both of you don't need to face off against the Shinkaigers for now... Because I have a plan in store for them!"
Fast-forward 20 minutes or so and coming back to Lumiose City, Keito was now taking a leisure walk at the city streets before deciding to relax at a cafe near the Prism Tower. The 19-year old Trainer looked very much pissed, though, sighing and mumbling something under his breath after he'd ordered a cup of caffé latte and some chocolate croissants to the waiter. "Gecko Inhumanoid's gotten too far away for me to track down... Hmph, so much for putting all the effort."
The waiter would then come back with Keito's latte and croissant, with the 19-year old thanking said waiter with respect before taking a sip of his coffee and a bite of his chocolate croissant to calm his bad mood down. The young man would then eventually eat at the cafe soon enough, trying to cool off from the uneasiness... Until it was interrupted by the sounds of people literally screaming for their lives more than ten minutes later.
Gecko Inhumanoid was back. As a result, Keito then quickly finished eating his croissant and drinking his latte before sneaking away near where the Sceptile-based monster was situated, seeing everything from a nearby alleyway. And, sure enough, Takeru and the rest of the Shinkaigers were already there.
"Well, then. Looks like Sceptile-man here is back." Hikaru quipped. In response, Takeru then simply reminded his teammates to focus, making eye contact with the cyborg soon after. "Concentrate, you four! And, we still have a score to settle with you, Gecko Inhumanoid."
"V̴̲͌͘ḙ̷̘̐́r̷̭̝̀͝y̴̲͝ ̵̛̠̿w̷͎͓̄̿e̸̬̽̈́l̴͔̉͛l̶͍͆ ̴͕̠̌̎t̷͕̔͊h̵̲̓̌e̴̞͠ń̶̨͂,̶̘̒ ̴̥̞́͐S̷̨̠̚ḫ̴̛̱̆ȋ̷̝̎ñ̵̨̥k̸̦̯̉ḁ̸̦̐i̴̖͒̈́g̷̘̽͜e̴̦͕̿ȓ̸͖̺s̷̞̃͝!̶͎̊̉ ̸̗͠͝Í̸̝t̵̫͖̀́'̵̛̺̋s̸̬̒͑ͅ ̴̟̎ạ̷̾̓b̵̪͐̆ö̶͍́͠ư̸͎͈͋t̶̨̒ ̷͓͗͜t̸̤͎̋́i̸̜̋m̷͔̘̈́̕e̷̘̿ ̸̛͎͙̏I̶̫͉͒ ̵̙͊̒s̷̙͠h̵̦̜͒o̸͉͗͊ẘ̴̺ ̴̟̜̐͌y̴̗̕o̸̧͌͐͜u̷͍̤̽ ̶̪̓͐m̷̫͝y̶̯̙͋ ̵͖́t̴̠̺͐͛ŕ̸̦̄u̸̳͋͠ȩ̷̍ ̸͇̀p̷͚͑õ̶̟̘̚w̶̢̍ê̸͙̚r̴̝͉̄̽!̶͚̽̈́" The Sceptile cyborg boasted, with him being ready to reveal what Operation Leafage was to his opponents. Takeru and his team then summoned the EvolBracelets as a result, before inserting their personal medals.
TALONFLAME!
JOLTEON!
UMBREON!
SHARPEDO!
SYLVEON!
"Spark Change!" The team proclaimed, pressing the top buttons of the bracelet to initiate the transformation.
CHANGE, SHINKAIGER!
Now in their suits, the Shinkaigers then charged towards Gecko Inhumanoid, who had just summoned a platoon of Hoplite Soldiers to assist him. The team just fought them off effortlessly, however, snapping their fingers to begin their roll call just as they were kicking or punching the platoon, with Erina managing to insert a twirl at the end.
"Shinkai Red."
"Shinkai Yellow."
"Shinkai Black!"
"Shinkai Blue!"
"Shinkai Pink!"
"Shuugo Sentai, Shinkaiger!" The team said in unison to end the roll call, with them eventually being able to finish off the soldiers that the Sceptile cyborg had summoned to assist him. As a result, Takeru and the others would then begin practically engaging Gecko Inhumanoid in a full-out brawl, with it going on for a few minutes until the gecko monster had took a bit of damage. However, the Inhumanoid then revealed his vines from the leaves on his forearms, extending them out and using it to tie up all five members of the team by their necks and strangling them as a result to the point of almost suffocating, and they were struggling to break free of the vines as it was made impervious to the Shinkaigers' enhanced strength.
Seeing this, the Sceptile-based monster then began to charge a lethal, upscaled, and more powerful version of the move Solar Beam, with him aiming it at the powerless Shinkaigers. He then fired the beam at them without mercy, breaking the vines and forcibly disengaging the team's transformations, injuring them to the point that they were bloody and some of their synthetic skin was ripped, exposing their cybernetics, though not to the point of causing extreme pain. To rub salt into the wound even more, Gecko Inhumanoid then began taunting Takeru and his fellow teammates.
"F̶̯̤̀Ũ̷̡̈́Ḧ̸̲́̚Ą̵̫͛H̷̭̗̎Ã̷͔̜͝Ḧ̴͕́̆Å̵̗̺H̵̖͗Ã̸̗͑Ḥ̵́͝A̶̦̣̿͛H̴̙́A̴̋͜H̷̹̬͝Ä̴̲̕!̷̢̦̓!̸̐͜!̵͉͑͌͜ ̸̍͜I̴͈̿ ̸̢̛̲̌c̵͍̐͊ǎ̶̦͗n̶͉̖̋͝'̷̝̤̑t̴̞̣̃̈ ̷͚̈b̵̛̥̫̑e̵̙͆ḻ̴̱̌ȋ̴͖̌ě̵ͅv̸̭̽̕e̴̜̰͛̓ ̶̢̔t̴̙̉ẖ̷̏a̴̼͊͘t̴̖̙͗ ̶͍͆͂t̷̯̉́ḩ̵͂̚͜è̴̠͓̈́ ̷̧͈͒S̷͇͖͌ḩ̴͎̽í̴̮̓ͅn̸͚̲̊k̵̛̟̏a̸͍̹͂͝í̸͔̥g̸̙͗e̸͍̓̾r̴̼̚s̸̜͂̿ ̶̝̆w̶̲̠͑͒h̷͍̩͌̎o̶̖̅͒ ̷̪̲̿͝a̷͔̥̓r̸̫̘̃e̶̫͉̎̚ ̵͓͝s̷̮̓̒͜ú̴͍̗p̸̛̬͊͜p̷̧̃ö̵̮͚́s̸͎̔̆ͅě̴̤͜ḍ̶̽̕ ̵̣͇͆t̷̹͌ơ̷͎̓ ̷͚́̓s̸̥̀̊ã̵̘v̵̦̙̇ȩ̸̢͐̋ ̸̪͒t̷̡̲͊̈́ḥ̴̈́͠e̷͝ͅ ̶̡͍̋̽ẅ̶̳̥o̷͔͑̚r̷̮̔l̶̝̀d̶͕̮̀́ ̴̱͓̓̇ą̶̀͝r̵̘̀͝ẽ̷̞ ̵͚͈̎͝ä̵̱̰́c̷͈͊̚ẗ̴̗u̵̜͆ạ̴͊l̸̛̦̿l̴̙̏̏y̶̺͐͘͜ ̶̖̝̄w̵̦̉ȅ̷̤̠a̷͓͂k̵̨͍͆̉ë̵̤́ȑ̸̤͐ ̷͈̲̌̔ţ̷̞̑ĥ̸̹́a̴͍̠̐̕n̸̝̄̃ ̴̳̑̂ͅt̷͖̰̕h̵̘̍e̸̥̯͌y̸̧͓͂̈́ ̸͔̥͂ẅ̴̗́̕e̶̱̿r̵̼̈͝ē̷̩̎ ̸̬̞̎͘s̷̭̑̕u̶̞̒̎p̷̳̉͝p̷̪̂o̶̡̳͛ṡ̶͔̏ẹ̵̏̓d̴̟͓̿͠ ̴͉͒t̷͍̻̓o̵̭͑ ̴̺̑̓b̵̡͕͛̿ē̴̺̆!̵̻̩̅̄ ̵̬͐Ṇ̵̢͠o̸̜͌w̶̮͖̿ ̵̭͘t̷̛̟͇̓h̶̫̱͊̏e̴͚̥͆̊n̵͒͜,̸͎̈́̎ ̶͖͍̏h̷̜̳̒a̵̖̥͝ṽ̸̢͈̇e̸̦̪͂̐ ̵̤̙̈́́a̸̺͠ ̸̗̼̔͗ṫ̵͉a̶̦̝͠s̸̨̺͆̔t̶͎̾͜é̷̩͋ ̶̢̫͊o̶͇͚͠f̶̙̬́̐ ̸͓̌̚m̸͕̍͒y̷͈̳̓ ̸̟̞̓p̷͎̹͘ó̶̬͊ȋ̵̡͆s̴̡͎͆ǒ̶̟̑n̴̳̉ ̷̣̺̄̚g̶̘̤̓ā̵̢s̴̲̊̈!̵̫̄"
But before the gecko hybrid was able to release said poison gas from his body to harm the team even more, he was then alerted by the sound of mysterious footsteps coming from the nearby alleyway, surprising both Gecko Inhumanoid and the Shinkaigers and throwing both parties completely off-guard. It was Keito, who was currently approaching the plaza where the team was battling. This surprised Takeru and Erina, as well as the other warriors and the M.Y.T.H.O.S monster. Back at base though, Shigeru and Lillie was also, very, very shocked.
"Keito?! What in the world are you doing here?!" Takeru yelled in shock.
"Cousin, please get to safety! This is a danger zone!" Erina reprimanded. However, Keito ignored both of his cousins' pleas, while the other Shinkaigers were shocked, confused, puzzled, and baffled by his situation.
"Gecko Inhumanoid of M.Y.T.H.O.S, was it?" Keito asked to the Sceptile cyborg, which was met with a reply. "Î̵̞̺n̶͈͌̿ḍ̵̔͆e̷͍̫̎e̸̺̽d̴͍̿̄!̷̯̭̂̔ ̴͙̱͒I̷͓̼͂ ̸͍͝ḁ̶̫̆̑m̴̝̻̄ ̴̪̊G̷̊͂͜e̵͓̔͝c̴͔͎͆k̸͕͊ȍ̸͍͇̒ ̴͈̙̽I̴̱̝̓̄n̸̖̬̉h̸̞̪̄ú̸̝ͅm̸̺͙̉͋a̶̖̔́n̵̤̭̏ǫ̵̭̈́͝i̶͖͍̽d̴͎̀̐ ̶̨̃ǒ̴̬̐f̷͔̿̐ ̸̹̯͝M̶̧̃̍.̷̖̈́̈́Y̶͚͇͗.̷̱̹̏T̴̩͗.̵̟̉Ḧ̶̢͈́.̸̤̿̋O̶̙̙͆.̴̲͕̍̂Ṩ̵!̶͇̌̀ ̶̤̽̚H̵̯͆o̷̞̽w̴͉̙̿̆e̵̟͌͠v̶͕̤̂ḙ̴͋̀r̷̰̱͒̎,̶̱̊ ̷͎̖̈͝t̶͓̂h̷̘̝̐o̴͈͚͒s̸̳̯̕e̶̹͑̆ ̷̣̰͐͌w̶̢͛͝ͅh̸̢̿̚o̷̰̔̒ ̵̹̼̈́̇k̵͕͇͋͝n̶̬͝o̷͙̽̓w̷̩̌͘ ̷̣͛͜m̷̱̩̃͋ŷ̶̲̳ ̴͛͘͜n̵̼͋̏ạ̷̞̽m̵͕̈́̈ḙ̸̻̾ ̴̠̇a̵̱̱̓n̷̥̺͆d̷̨̠͗̈́ ̶̭̚s̵̰̓e̶͖̿̀e̸̗͍͌̆ ̷̝̈m̶̡͍̉̿ỳ̸̹̕ͅ ̸̮̌ͅţ̸̒͠ͅr̸̰͋u̵͎̒̕é̶̱͘ ̸̳͍̅͗f̵̤̘̀̿o̷͕̰͐͠r̸̙̉̓m̶͉̓̃ ̵̹̬̃s̷̘̈h̷̹̐á̴̮̞l̸̯̀l̵̨͒̏ ̸̖͎̎̈́f̵̤̾a̶̩͙͝c̷̜͓͂̚e̷͔̎ ̴͈͐̈́c̷̞͂ȅ̷̘̲̀r̶̫͆̅ṫ̸͓͈a̴̰͘ỉ̶̠̻n̴̝͝ͅ ̷̰͑͠d̵̨̍ë̵̺́̀ȃ̶͎̝̿t̷̖͒͑h̵͈̓̃!̵̡̬̓̉"
"Oh, is that so? However, it looks like I'll be your opponent in this battle, Gecko Inhumanoid." Keito defiantly declared, causing everyone in the area to be even more surprised.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Takeru and Hikaru both yelled at the same time. Erina herself was so surprised that she was utterly speechless, with her just staring at her older cousin, a clear surprised expression plastered on her face.
'What the hell!?' Ryouma thought.
"What the heck is his problem!? Does he have a death wish!?" Ran muttered barely audible to himself. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Inhumanoid only taunted Keito at the bold declaration.
"A̶̬̎ṋ̴̱̀ď̴̻ ̷̫͛͘w̵̨̆͑h̶͉̓a̴̘̓t̸̲͋̍ ̸̓̔ͅw̴̺̗̄i̷̳͍̍l̷͖̆l̵͖͛ ̴͇̐͗ỳ̵̡̖̌o̷̦̰͒ṷ̵̾̚ ̷̙͊̉d̷̪́̉ͅo̶̮͌ ̷̗̥̾̔t̶̥͆o̵̡͋̿ ̴̪̠͌̿f̴̱͑i̸̡̟̐̀g̵͉̋h̷̛̺̅t̷͔̀͊ ̵̯̪͛̒m̸̻̿̀ȩ̶́,̵̢̇̔ ̷̖̄̽y̵̞̘̽̓o̸̞͝u̸̪͉̐̔ ̷̬͆̇l̷̥̙̉͘o̷͎͌̿ẇ̷̘̇l̴̯͉̏y̵͖̩̓ ̴̦̀h̴̜̏ů̷̼͉͛m̸̨̆͛a̴̹͍̋n̶͇̒?̵͎͕͑"
"Wrong." Keito said, before unzipping his jacket, and openjng it... to reveal a golden EvolMedal Holder. "I'm a cyborg." The revelation would then surprise literally everyone, including Takeru and Erina, as a result.
The 19-year old then bent his left arm upwards by 90 degrees, before a dark gray bracelet would then appear by itself, implanted seamlessly with his left hand. The bracelet had a button at the bottom side of the device (unlike the EvolBracelet, which has its button at the top side). The aforementioned button was made completely flat to provide comfort for the user, similar to the EvolBracelet. The bracelet itself was also decorated with silver accents, and below that was the most prominent feature; a black, circular-shaped slot implemented in the middle of the bracelet. However, unlike the EvolBracelet, the slot wasn't covered up with a glass lid, thus giving the user easier access to utilization. This was the SolvBracelet, Keito's secret transformation device.
Keito then opens his EvolMedal Holder, taking out a silver medal with gold accents and a gold symbol reminiscent of a Skarmory's overhead view, with it being his personal Skarmory Medal. He then simply inserts it into the SolvBracelet, with no other flashy poses.
SKARMORY!
In an instant, the bracelet then plays its looping standby music, as Keito performs a simple pose by immediately bringing his right hand at the button of the SolvBracelet. The 19-year old then proclaims the Shinkaigers' transformation phrase.
"Spark Change!" With that, Keito then presses the bottom button of the bracelet using the palm of his right hand, hard.
A different standby music then begins to play from the SolvBracelet, as pools of liquid metal (similar to quicksilver) would then appear surrounding the 19-year old, before the liquid would then encapsulate his body from his legs right up to the neck, hardening to form an entirely silver suit with a white collar, complete with metallic blue boots, accented with gold soles, and metallic blue gloves with red rhombus-shaped ornaments attached to it. Pieces of the suit's armor would then appear, before they would then attach themselves to Keito's body, completely covering his upper torso and shoulders, equipped with silver shoulder pads. On the young man's waist was a golden belt, complete with a matching EvolMedal Holder on his right hip. His belt also had a black buckle similar to the Shinkaigers, with it being decorated with a silver Roman numeral 'VI' and complete with the team's trademark square Poké Ball design.
SHIN~ KAI SILVER!
A mechanical model of a Skarmory then appears overhead, with said model later breaking up to become many smaller pieces. They would then slam into Keito's head before locking into place, forming his helmet, which looked similar to the head of a Skarmory, complete with a head crest and an open beak as the helmet's visor.
Keito Auclair had just transformed into Shinkai Silver, as a result becoming the sixth Shinkaiger.
"W̷͍͂h̴̦͈̀o̶͚̓ ̸̖̄ḁ̴̱̈̕r̸̰̓ę̸͚̐́ ̸̢̯́y̷͓̹̿̾o̵̼͓͗̆u̴͓͑́!̶̤̏?̷̤͐"
"I am the first Shinkaiger..." Keito said, pausing for a moment to lightly punch his chestplate in order to create a 'clang'. "Shinkai Silver! "
"Wait, hold on, hold on, what!?" Ryouma exclaimed.
"This is unbelievable!" Ran said, with him being just as shocked as Ryouma is. However, on the other hand, Hikaru was quite loud about it. He was in disbelief, after all. "WAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAITWAIT WHAT!? THE FIRST!?"
"The first Shinkaiger...!? What's going on here?" Erina said to herself, noticing what her cousin had said. What Takeru and the others didn't know, is the fact that Keito was already a cyborg for about one and a half years now, as he had volunteered to become a prototype ranger in order to perfect the team's technologies as a beta tester. After the Shinkaiger project was finalized, Keito then left Kalos for other regions, only returning the previous day after buying out all of his old technologies via a brokered deal with Aether Foundation staff during the events of Chapter 10. He was the first member to be recruited into the team, hence the epithet, but if the current team members are to be counted, he would be the sixth as of this moment.
'I guess that explains how he, Uncle Calem, and Aunt Sana are able to access the Guardia Base freely without having to need permission from the government... He's a fucking Shinkaiger from the get-go!' Takeru internally thought.
"Well then, Gecko Inhumanoid... Let's go, shall we?" Keito asked, challenging the monster to battle with him.
"G̸͎͖͒̄l̷̞̈̔â̷̮̭̕d̴̗̘͠l̶͇͚̀͐y̴̩͇͂,̶̬̤̆̚ ̷̢͆S̸̲̃h̴͔́̀i̵̬̘̽̄n̶͍̈́ķ̵̈͜a̵̭̼̓̚į̸̯̆̈́ ̴̳̑̓S̵̰̟̀i̷͇̳̓͠l̵̳͙̈v̴̖̭̒é̷͓̼̏ŗ̷͆!̸̯̔"
Hearing this, the new Silver warrior then proceeds to press a hidden button located on his cybernetic hand, causing a weapon to materialize in Keito's hands out of thin air. This was the 19-year old's personal weapon; a silver, two-handed halberd with two large axe blades and two pommels at the top and bottom ends, with each blade facing opposite directions. The polearm also had a medal slot near the bottom of the weapon, although Keito would need to grip it at the middle, as the halberd was heavy. Heck, it was probably even heavier than Takeru's large, two-handed EvolGreatsword.
EVOLHALBERD!
With that, the Gecko monster and Silver warrior would then begin charging towards each other, and Keito would then begin clashing his halberd against the twisted cyborg. The M.Y.T.H.O.S Inhumanoid later kicked the Steel-type Shinkaiger in the knee before punching him in the gut, but the 19-year old was able to barely scratch his opponent's abdomen with one of the blades, although the slash wasn't deep to cause any major damage.
Keito would then stab the EvolHalberd into the ground, pressing the bottom button of the SolvBracelet once. causing it to play another standby music.
APPEND!
He then opened his medal holder before taking out the Excadrill Medal; a dark brown EvolMedal with gold accents and a symbol reminiscent of its original Pokémon. Keito then removed the Skarmory Medal, inserting the aforementioned new medal in its place.
EXCADRILL!
He then pressed the bottom button of the SolvBracelet, once again.
BUILD UP! ARMED! EXCADRILL!
The procedure would then cause red, dark brown, and silver mechanical pieces to appear in mid-air around Keito's unoccupied right arm, with the pieces later slamming down and locking themselves on his arm to form a brown drill with red markings and a silver drill bit, with the weapon's aesthetics being similar to a real Excadrill when they are folded up into their drill forms. Unlike Takeru, Erina, and the other Shinkaigers, Keito was only equipped with a limited "armament system", which would only equip one of his limbs with a variety of weapons depending on the medal used, as opposed to a full form change. This provoked varying reactions from the team.
"He has a different form system!?" Ran exclaimed in excitement while spectating the fight.
"Keito's an amazing guy, innit, right, Takeru?" Ryouma said, also spectating the fight together with the rest of his teammates. However, Takeru didn't respond, as he was pissed off at his cousin, and he had made a mental note to confront him about his identity when they were done with this mess.
Meanwhile, now that his left arm was free, Keito then proceeded to try and deal some damage to the gecko monster by either kicking or punching him with it, but however, the Inhumanoid was able to completely dodge the attack. In response to this, Keito would later turn on the drill on his right arm, launching himself forward in order to stab his opponent. The plan worked, but before the drill could cause major damage, Gecko Inhumanoid then released his body's poison gas. Fortunately, the gas didn't get through to the Silver warrior due to his helmet protecting his respiratory system, and he was also careful enough to prevent Takeru and the rest of his team to get hit by the gas as well, as they were untransformed at the time.
'Poisonous gas? Well then, looks like I'll have to quickly blow him up before Takeru and Erina is affected.' Keito thought. As a result, he then grabbed the EvolHalberd with his left arm and pulled it out of the ground, with his drill detaching to allow space for his right hand. With that, he then inserts the Skarmory Medal into the EvolHalberd's medal slot, pressing its trigger at the bottom.
FINISHING BLOW!
The Silver warrior then readies himself to deliver one big slash to his opponent, as liquid metal then gathers onto the EvolHalberd, elongating it and enlarging it to a massive size. This would provoke a reaction from Takeru, who immediately knew what was about to happen.
"Oh no, we're going to get slashed if we don't get out of the way at this rate! Team, GET DOWN! AND I MEAN, QUICK!" The Pallet-native trainer ordered to his teammates.
"Argent Steelstrike Slash!"
Keito then proceeds to charge the halberd with silver energy before performing a large, horizontal slash, which would bisect the Sceptile-based cyborg monster into two pieces due to the sheer power of the attack. Even the Shinkaigers themselves had to duck down in order to get out of the way, or else they would've been cut off into pieces.
SKARMORY! ONE STRIKE SLASH! STEEL!
The dying Gecko Inhumanoid would then let out an ear-piercing scream as a result, exploding to his first death a few seconds later. The explosions were massive, however, and if Takeru and the rest of the Shinkaigers was just a bit closer to Keito than where they were currently, the explosion would have rendered them unconscious. Due to this, the team's jaws then dropped, as they were surprised at seeing just how powerful the Silver warrior was.
Moreover, Apollo's fail-safe program, which would normally revive a dead Inhumanoid and grow them into giant size, didn't activate due to the attack having destroyed the monster's cybernetic circuits completely, and with extreme precision. Keito didn't just shock the Shinkaigers and their mentors, he also baffled M.Y.T.H.O.S themselves.
With the problem taken care of, the 19-year old Silver warrior then calmly chuckled, before speaking to Zeus in order to taunt him for his recent failures.
"Is that the best of the Inhumanoids that you've gotten so proud of, Zeus? You've just witnessed me kill your latest monster in just one slash. Pfft, what a joke!" Keito then proceeded to laugh at the M.Y.T.H.O.S leader while disengaging his transformation, making Zeus very, very angry due to the taunt while moping at the loss of one of his monsters at the Olympus Castle and making Takeru almost want to punch his own cousin in the face. Back at the site of the battle though, the Kalos native then turned to the Shinkaigers, walking up to the team before proceeding to literally taunt them like what he just did to Zeus earlier.
"Well, well, if it isn't Takeru, Erina and the rest of the Shinkaigers... You call yourselves true warriors while that red-colored leader of yours is being brainwashed by some former Team Plasma member. Well, is that supposed to be some kind of stupid bullcrap?"
"What's that supposed to mean, Keito?" Takeru said, getting up from where he was and making eye contact with his cousin. He was clearly not in a good mood due to what had just happened.
"I've heard from Professor Shigeru and Lillie-san about you and your escapades as Shinkai Red. They even told me that you put Ran, Ryouma, Hikaru and Erina to super rigorous training due to the team 'underperforming' despite the fact that they were just lacking stronger medals due to N sabotaging you. And let's not forget your rant in front of my mom and dad yesterday, Takeru. You're just being manipulated by N all this time, worsening your performance as leader of the Shinkaigers." Keito explained. He actually already knew everything about N and all of his attempts to divide and rule the Shinkaigers due to him being contacted by Lillie in secret after the worldwide identity reveal.
"Eh?" Ryouma and Erina said in unison due to them both not knowing about N and his plans. Hikaru also didn't know everything, though, and he was quite loud about it instead, just like what had happened a few instances before. "EEEEEEEEEHHHH!?"
In response to his three teammates' confused reactions, Ran then sighed. "It's a long story..."
"I know, I know, Keito, but wha-" Takeru replied to his cousin's taunt in a miffed tone, but he was promptly cut off by the 19-year old continuing to corner him. The Silver warrior that was his own cousin was now starting to yell, as Takeru wasn't going to talk.
"Again, is this supposed to be some stupid bullcrap, Takeru!? So far, your own management's performance is nothing but lackluster! Yeah, sure, you're actually able to give Zeus and his lackeys a good thrashing, but you can't lead a team to war if you keep making fatal mistakes like that!"
"I- WHAT!? WHAT FATAL MISTAKES HAVE I DONE, KEITO!? I HAVE NO IDEA ON WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Takeru retorted. Seeing this, Ran and Erina then just sighed as the rest of the team would just watch the two cousins quarreling with each other, intent on hearing Keito's explanations, as they had realized that he knew more about what was happening compared to themselves.
"N was planning to sabotage you by moving over Ran, Ryouma, Hikaru and Erina's medals into your possession, right? Well, you've already ordered an assassination attempt against him with the government supporting you, and guess what? The Falinks Troopers carried it out successfully yesterday, and he's now dead! Like, come on! Now's your chance to undo all of his changes! If you still want to lord over your leadership like that, then I have no choice but to challenge you into a fight." Keito replied back, with him lying about N's condition in order to provoke Takeru into changing.
"Well then, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you get... Jūkei-san." Takeru replied back, with him using the Kantonian phrase he'd usually used to call Keito. At the same time, he then gestures to his teammates to get to a safe distance if they would want to spectate, with the aforementioned Red and Silver warriors taking their positions in the area.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to make this quick if you still decide to be an idiot." Keito said, with him already taking out the Skarmory Medal in order to transform. The 19-year old then inserted said medal into the SolvBracelet, quickly pressing the button at the bottom of the device.
SKARMORY!
"Spark Change!" He proclaimed.
SHIN~ KAI SILVER!
Pools of liquid metal would then appear around where Keito was standing, later completely covering his body and hardening to form the Shinkai Silver suit. His helmet would then be formed by the mechanical Skarmory, completing his transformation sequence before the young man then urged his cousin to concentrate. "You better get serious right now, Takeru!"
"Heh. You got it, toots." Takeru calmly responded while smirking, summoning the EvolBracelet.
TALONFLAME!
"Spark Change!"
CHANGE, SHINKAIGER!
Flames then burst out of the ground where Takeru was standing, engulfing him to form his Shinkai Red suit before an astral projection of a Talonflame then nosedives into him, forming his own helmet.
The two Shinkaigers then proceeded to get into their respective battle stances, ultimately staying like that for a solid minute of silence... Before Keito then proceeds to make the first move, the EvolBlade and EvolHalberd clashing with each other with a resounding 'clang.'
To be continued
Author's Note: And that's a wrap on Chapter 12! A very, very late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2023 for all of you who are reading this story. We weren't able to get this chapter on time for Christmas due to lack of ideas, and while I had more free time due to not celebrating the festivities, it was the opposite case with Morgan Alter, who was celebrating Christmas when we were about two quarters of the way into finishing this story. I decided to push back the deadline to New Year's Day, but personal issues ended up postponing work again.
We now have Keito officially debuting as the Sixth Ranger to the team, and he'll be a regular character from this point forward. He was the mysterious person that had bought the rights to the prototype technology that was eventually revealed to be the Shinkai Silver equipment in Chapter 10, and there was a few hints alluding to his true identity at his debut in Chapter 11, so congratulations if you've managed to figure out what was going on. We have now entered the second arc of the story, and things will get a little more spiced up by the time we will enter the third arc. Ranger debut aside, Takeru, Ran and the rest of the core team now know about N's divide and rule plans, and let's just say that there will be some... conflict going on after this chapter. N trying to form a new Sentai team was actually Morgan Alter's idea, and we've planned everything out way back when Chapter 1 was still being written in December 2021. Had it not for Keito interfering with the Shinkaigers and Ran managing to hack the super secret documents on Lillie's computer, N would've gotten complete control and absolute power over the Aether Foundation and manipulate them from behind, but, as we've known now, that isn't the case.
And yes, Gladion was the person codenamed as 'Enforcer' that had called N to talk about his secret Sentai team plans. Lillie hasn't found out about her brother's involvement yet, but whether or not this would lead to complex problems that is basically a big sibling fight in a nutshell would be for you to find out. Takeru's ways of leadership is also currently facing opposition from Keito, and he has a specific plan in store for the Shinkaigers if he would win this fight. But let's wait until Chapter 13 to see the outcome. As always, read and review, give us some feedback, and point out our mistakes.
Last but not least, onto the medal recap:
Medals in Takeru's possession: Talonflame, Golem, Charizard, Swellow, Bike, Barrier, Clone (7)
Medals in Ran's possession: Jolteon, Galvantula, Bike (3)
Medals in Ryouma's possession: Umbreon, Bike (2)
Medals in Hikaru's possession: Sharpedo, Blastoise, Bike (3)
Medals in Erina's possession: Sylveon, Bike (2)
Medals in Keito's possession: Skarmory, Excadrill (2)
Medals in N's possession: Silvally (1)
Medals in Gladion's possession: Reshiram, Zeraora (2)
Total count: 22
And with that, MagicWings001 here, signing out. Jaa ne!