DISCLAIMER: All characters and themes are the property of their respective owners
Chapter 12: London Bridges falling down Part 2
From high up one could easily see London as Hell on Earth due to Vilgax's attack on its fair soils. Fires raged uncontrolled as the people fled away from his enforcers: Driscoll aka Dark Aries and Zombozo aka Dark Taurus. So far no one was able to halt their rampage as Vilgax stood on Big Ben, well aware of the irony of starting his revenge on a 'Ben' had all 12 Horoscope Switches flying overhead, ready to bring about the Dark Nebula and doom the citizens to a most painful death.
But his gloating was cut short by the flaming form of Cannonbolt as he reentered Earth's atmosphere, knocking Vilgax painfully down back to the ground below. As Cannonbolt cooled down and unfurled himself he smiled gently at the children there as they cheered Ben. Fourze soon landed by his side as Ben reverted to human form and the children were right up in Gentaro's face, wanting to know just who is Ben's new friend is.
Vilgax however soon got up even though he was a great deal of pain. "Save your photo shoots until you're sure your enemy is DEAD!" he boomed as he fired off a Ruby Ray blast and threw a spear at the two heroes. But they both were more than ready for his assault as Gentaro blew the spear away with Gyro's Module and Ben blocked the beam with NRG's suit.
Vilgax's woes were then noticed by D. Aries and D. Taurus. While Vilgax is far from their friend and in Driscoll's case his former enemy, they still had to help him out. After all he did give them the power to take revenge on Ben, didn't he not?
"Ah, dear Ben. I had such a lovely time here but I must be on my way now. But be sure to greet my two new apostles. They're just dying to meet you!" Without truly meaning the first thing he said but slyly referring to the fact that Driscoll and Zombozo could die from overusing their Switches Vilgax flew away, leaving the two Dark Horoscopes alone to face their enemies.
"I may be a minotaur now but you always were the one will a lot of Bull!" Dark Taurus spat out hatefully as he charged at NRG, trying to gore him but failing as Ben fired off a heat attack from the faceplate of NRG's armor. As D. Taurus stepped back, his chest sizzling from Ben's blast he couldn't help but make the observation that he's now "smoking hot" to Dark Aries's annoyance.
"Have at thee, slayer of heroes! I shall mount you head on my mantle as proof of my superiority!" Dark Aries gloated as he swung JASON, his sword at NRG but it was blocked off by Fourze's Drill Module, causing sparks to fly before he backed away.
Gen knew that their new Dark Horoscopes were stronger than anything he ever fought before and that Ben, unpopular with him as he was, still needed help. Taking out the S-1 Switch and plugging in Elec he then powered up into his golden form, Billy the Rod at his side.
"ELEC ON!"
As Fourze Elec States sword fought with Dark Aries he couldn't help but think back to Ryusei, his friend and rival, Kamen Rider Meteor. To think that he needed the powers of the Aries Zodiart to save his friend and that Emoto, the Virgo Zodiart, was helping him with that. A lot had happed to them all when they found Aries' Switcher, but odder still was now he was fighting his successor in a universe that was only a fictional world to him back home. But his lack of concentration on the battle was going to cost him and Ben knew it.
"HEY! Doofus, pay attention here! That's the Forever King you're fighting and he's still kinda mad at me for George's death" Ben shouted at the Rider. Gen wasn't pleased at Ben's bluntness, but he was thankful that he was warned fast enough to roll from a strike that would have taken off his head. As D. Aries attempted to stab Fourze he used Shield to stop his attack, to Driscoll's fury.
As NRG and D. Taurus wrestled with each other the London Bridge was starting to give way due to the damage it had taken during Vilgax's assault. As it was slowly falling apart the people on it were screaming in utter terror, too frightened to get off in time. "It looks like their party is going to go out to sea, but I can still shake things up a bit" Dark Taurus joked as he stomped the ground below him, causing a shockwave to knock three people over the sides to their deaths as the others were just thankfully knocked down. "AW! I think they don't want to dance anymore. But they do need to cool off and what better way than to go for swim?" Dark Taurus said as he laughed evilly.
Ben could stand no more of Dark Taurus's madness. As he went from NRG to Fourarms he began to punch the Horoscope with absolute fury. It's bad enough he killed people this day, but to laugh about it like it was nothing?! Ben could never forgive something so horrible. " I'm gonna turn you into tenderized beef!" he growled at Dark Taurus.
"Ah ah ah, you should know that if you mess with a bull, you get it HORNS!" as D. Taurus stabbed Fourarms' shoulders with his sharp horns. As blood leaked out of the wounds onto his green striped shirt Ben grabbed the horns with his lower arms and broke them off, causing Dark Taurus to howl in pain.
"Gee, thanks for the horns. But I don't really want em, although I did mess with ya!" as Fourzrms threw them over the London Bridge. While his tone was joking Ben's face was showing his true emotions. With a scowl he Big Clapped Dark Taurus's head, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Before he could regain his bearings Fourarms picked him up and started to spin him around. "Everyone get off the bridge now! I don't know how much longer it's gonna hold!" he warned the survivors as they finally ran off to safety. Ben really didn't want to do this but Dark Taurus left him no choice. The London Bridge was too far gone to save and he couldn't help but wonder if under all that Cosmic Energy was Zombozo, a foe that terrified him due to his Coulrophobia back when he 10 years old. But he wanted to know before he finished him off so he asked, "Is that you Zombozo?" The zombie clown started to laugh that creepy laugh of his and Ben knew it from the bottom of his heart: This is the same monster that tried to kill Gwen, who laughed when innocent people died earlier today. Ben knew for a long time that there was a death warrant out on Zombozo's head, but up until now he never wanted to really kill his enemies.
But things were different now. Now his enemies were willing to harm other people in other dimensions. They were now capable of destroying whatever they wanted to now with their new powers. As his grip on Dark Taurus tightened Zombozo knew that Ben was now willing to kill him. He cried out "PLEASE BEN, NO! I'm sorry about Gwen! I'm sorry about your poor, sweet mother! PLEASE DON"T KILL ME!" but his pleading was on deaf ears as Ben slammed his head down onto the Bridge, ending his life and his reign of terror once and for all. As Zombozo reverted to him normal form and evaporated to stardust Ben changed to Jetray and flew off the Bridged before it sank into the waters below.
As the people cheered Ben on for saving him he felt sick to his stomach. He never killed anyone before and it made him very upset. But still there was the thought that now no one else will suffer at Zombozo's hands ever again. Still in Jetray form Ben flew to where Fourze and Dark Aries were still fighting and it was looking bad for Gentaro. A bloody gash was on the arm that held Circle Modules and Gen was getting woozy from lack of blood, Driscoll would not let him be so he can heal with the Medical Module. Ben shot his eyebeams at D. Aries's back and he soon turned around to see Jetray flying just overhead.
"COWARD! You dare to strike a Knight in the back while he's in combat? You will die this day, Ben Tennyson!" as he changed Jason to Coppelius and started to blast out wave after wave of sand, hoping to catch the boy in a wave, but Gentaro knew that his sand attack would only send him to sleep. But he would not let D Aries get that chance at he slashed the tip off Coppelius, as Dark Aries switched to Supernova form and fired off orbs of energy at Fourze as he used Hopping to get onto a lamppost before prepping the Elec and Drill Switches for the finishing strike
"ELEC ON!"
"DRILL ON!"
"LIMIT BREAK!"
"Rider Lighting Drill Kick!"
As Fourze descended on Dark Aries, the Drill Module crackling with electricity he did a battle cry as the attack hit dead on, causing the Horoscope to blow up and Driscoll to return to human form. As Gen and Ben returned to normal Ben gave the Forever King this warning:
"Sir George died to give you and everyone else on Earth a life free from Diagon. I'll let you go this time but I want to let you know that George didn't die by hand. Diagon was his true killer. So if you can let everyone of your knight buddies know that I would be very grateful about that, OK?" Driscoll knew that he lost this day and gave Ben a curt "Thank you" before starting the long walk back to the main base of the Forever Knights.
All that fighting and the reenter stunt he pulled was too much for the ill Ben as he went on one knee and coughed up more blood. Gentaro ran to where he was and asked, "Ben! Are you alright? You should have never went with me. I should have been a better friend and fought them myself." But Ben just raised his hand and told him this:
"I knew that the life of a hero wasn't going to be easy. But just knowing that people are safe and sound, that they have a hero to look up to and keep them OK, is all the thanks I really need" Gentaro was moved to tears by his statement. It was becoming more and more clear that the dreams of both the Plumbers and the Kamen Riders weren't so different after all. But now he was feeling worse than ever before. He endangered his friends to attack a true hero and one who was dying on top of that. Worse still was the fact that he wasn't by Yuki's side right now. Although he knew she understands that it's Gentaro's job to protect people he still felt lousy about not being there with her right now.
As Gen was stewing in his own misery Ben placed a arm around the Rider. "Look, girls can be odd at times. But if there's anything that makes them happier than anything else, it's a man who puts others before themselves. You'll make a great boyfriend to her, dude" Ben comforted Gen. Gentaro was stunned that Ben knew about what he 'said' to Yuki, but he was pleased that Ben would support him in his new relationship. "People think I'm not paying attention, but I am" Ben slyly answered.
As they waited to be picked up Ben said," I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship"
Meanwhile...
Vilgax wasn't sad about Zombozo's death nor Driscolll's defection. He still had all 12 Switches and he still had his plan. When all 12 Dark Horoscopes were defeated he would be able to use them all to become the Circle Zodiarts, the one who shall have all the powers of the ecliptic constellations. "Soon" he thought to himself, "I shall rule over all!" He would let no one stop his quest, not Ben nor his odd little friend who claims to be 'everyone's friend'. Oh, how he waited for this day to come. Ben would die one way or the other and he would finally be overlord of all things! Laughing madly he raised his fist to his believed victory.
Let me know if things need improving or if you liked or disliked this story or any chapters in the Reviews section!