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Chapter 16: Lost Hope Part Three

The form of Cosmic States was truly a sight to behold. Cyan blue was its main color with a black chest piece with four different parts, each devoted to a set of Modules. As it shone in the morning sunlight Dark Aquarius could not help but say this:

"I take it you have no shame whatsoever. A pity you will never learn your place in this world or any other" as he swung his claw down over Fourze. But Gen was ready for that as he touched the parts of the Switching Lung that gave him Shield and Parachute, making the chutes harder than steel. Not surprisingly his claw was unable to penetrate his defenses. "What is this power?!" he exclaimed.

"It is friendship's true power, the power to overcome any obstacles" Fourze answered from the very bottom of his heart. While it was a corny response everyone but D. Aquarius was touched by what he said. Equipping Chain Array he then combined it with Fire's power, causing the ball at the end of it to come ablaze.

Benwolf was impressed with the abilities of Cosmic States. "Whoa! Why didn't you bust that out earlier, man? That is seriously cool!" From the safety of the window JK filled Ben in on Cosmic States' rundown.

"From what Kengo-san told us Switch 40 is an embodiment of Cosmic Energy and friendship. While it allows the user to combine the powers of all 40 Switches it needs the user to have strong bonds of friendship. If any of the bonds that made up the Switch are broken then it's rendered useless" JK answered.

"I was not being a good friend to you nor Yuki-chan" Gen admitted as he bashed Darkstar with the blazing Chain Array. "I lost sight of what truly matters but thanks to Ben I saw myself in him. We both wish to fight for our friends and befriend everyone in the universe!" With his heart's desire out for all to see Gen then did a jumping dive kick with the Drill Module, harming D. Aquarius and giving Ben an opening.

Ben did not waste the chance he was given and went for NRG, grabbing onto the hulking Dark Aquarius and punching him with red hot fists as he blasted his face with energy, burning him.

Yuki was quite touched by what Gen said. To think that they both felt the same way about each other! As their eyes met they couldn't help but be amazed by how much they meant to both the Club and each other. "Gen-chan..." she blissfully said as she was lost in the sight of her best friend, back in top form and with his bond with her stronger than ever before.

Gen gave her a thumbs-up then when back to the battle. He wanted to hold her in his arms, to take in her warmth and enjoy her company, but the duties of a Kamen Rider come first. As he roared into D. Aquarius with Wheel he summoned the Barizan Sword, placing the Fire Switch into its hilt. Pressing the button for Flash the sword then burst to life with blinding flame as he stuck Darkstar with it four times, causing smoldering slash marks to form on his Zodiart body. Before his mind could fully register the pain he was now in Ben turned into Armordrillo and uppercutted his chin with a drill. As he staggered back he blasted them both with dark water, draining their strength and adding it to his own!

To the horror of everyone there Gen and Ben fell down, too tired to fight back as Dark Aquarius then knocked them both into the air and kept them there with repeated attacks, causing them both much harm. Soon Ben was back to being human again, unable to fight on anymore, leaving Gentaro on his own.

Julie and the KRC knew not what they could do to help them! They were only human and Manny was still recovering from Darkstar's earlier attack. As they were forced to watch helplessly Julie turned to Charmcaster's slumbering form.

"I'll admit I'm still a little possessive of Ben. But I'm working on bettering myself so I can a better friend to him as well as other people. If you truly care about him, then help US!" she begged the mage. Charmcaster woke up to Julie's relief but she still looked uneasy about whenever she could even do anything to stop Dark Aquarius' rampage.

"I'm not sure if he even can be stopped now. He drains power from everything his waters touch and I doubt even Vilgax could stop him now. It's best to accept death as it's hopeless" she sighed. Charmcaster couldn't get out of her funk and while Julie was normally willing to help people out gently, now wasn't the time to sulk around and wait until she died.

Furiously slapping Charmcaster she yelled, "What do you mean there's no hope left?! There's always a chance if you just fight on! But you lost sight of everything good in your life because you got greedy! You were someone's hope once! I just know it!"

Hearing that brought life back to Charmcaster's eyes. To Julie's surprise she hugged her and thanked her.

"You're right. I was my father's Hope once. It's time I became that again, for all of our sakes"

As Dark Aquarius closed in on the limping form of Fourze he prepared to crush the very life out of the Rider. But then he was tackled by stone beasts. He knew where they were from, but he was shocked that SHE would set them loose on him! Her former boyfriend!

"CHARMCASTER! How dare you do this to meee?! I was to be your king!" he howled, giving up on attacking Fourze for the time being.

"What do you think? For using me and harming Legerdomain! But if you can remember my true name, then I MIGHT be merciful." Charmcaster vemomly spat out, her glare colder then ice. "You only get one more chance Michael"

Annoyed, Darkstar angrily answered, "Fine. But you do owe me a hint!"

Calming down a bit Charmcaster stated this riddle: "It's something Ben gives to the people. It's something you cannot touch but be gained and taken away. It's one of the most important things to everyone and it starts with a H. One word."

Like a hyper kid Fourze wanted to answer as he guessed correctly what Charamcaster's real name was, but she shushed him. She wanted to see if Mike could remember. Darkstar thought long and hard about this. When seven minutes have passed he answered her question. It was not what she was wanting.

"It's headaches! What else could the answer be?!"

Charmcaster was livid. She could stand no more of Dark Aquarius and his arrogance. "IT'S HOPE, YOU BASTARD! " she roared as she casted a lighting spell to hit him over and over while he was held in place with Turbo. "I can't believe I fell for you! I was so stupid that I was even able to let you sleep with me!" During her raging Ben woke up.

"Uggghhh. I never want to drink water without it being purified again for as long as I live" as he rubbed his head groggily. Seeing that Dark Aquarius was on the rope he shouted at Gen "I think he wants to get away, but he really needs to chill out!"

"You're right. I think I have a idea" as he saw the note Yuki made out to him, suggesting combining two Modules' powers for this occasion.

Summoning the Freeze Switch and setting it into the Fourze Driver he then pressed the button for Sheath on the Switching Lung. With those two powers combined a invisible gust of freezing air came out of the Freeze Module, though Darkstar didn't realize what their plan was until it was too late.

"Uggh-Uh-AAAGGHHHH! I'm stuck!" To his frustration his lower half was covered in thick ice."But it's not something my watery wings can't fix!" he boasted. As he flapped his wings the ice grew colder and harder and no matter what he tried he was stuck as Dante's version of Satan. He was finally helpless before the hands of justice.

"Thank you Hope. I gotta admit it's a pretty name you have there" Ben complemented her, causing her to blush, while Julie looked a little uncomfortable with what was going on right now.

But Gen was ready to finish the job. Thanking Yuki and the others for their help he closed the Barizan Sword to its Rocket Mode, opening a warp drive behind Dark Aquarius. He could do nothing but flail his arms around as he was forced into the portal and into outer space.

As he looked around he was scared out of his wits. "What is this power you wield? How can it be greater than my own?!" as he whined and pleated with Fourze. But Gentaro was in no mood for this.

Taking out the Cosmic Switch and plugging it into the Barizan Sword he then set up his Limit Break with said weapon. Soon he reopened the sword and slashed him with its full power.

As his body began to fall apart Darkstar was still unsure just why he lost to Fourze. "Tell me... the secret of your greatness"

Fourze answered "It's the hopes and dreams of all my friends. When we work together there's nothing we cannot do! It's the belief I treasure most dearly!" he proudly shouted at D. Aquarius before he blew up and from out of the destroyed Zodiart body came the dying Darkstar.

With his last breath he tried to return to monster form but he soon crumbed to stardust before he had a chance to do so. Fourze looked on sadly as his remains drifted away in the solar winds, wondering if he had gotten here sooner he could have been saved.

Later...

It took a long time but all the bodies were cleaned up by sanitation. It was heartbreaking to the KRC, having to watch helplessly as Darkstar killed them. As they sat down and discussed what they needed to do with their lives Emoto stopped by, looking a bit worn out. It was still hard to believe that this kind hearted, if eccentric man was Virgo of the Horoscopes.

"I've heard what happened during my drive here. I'm truly sorry you all had to deal with that" Emoto then took a deep breath as this next thing he wished to say was important. "I was able to contact the Rabbit Hatch back home and told everyone that apart from Yuta you were all safe. But we cannot go home just yet"

"Why can't we go back just yet? I'm worried about Haru-chan and I know he's worried sick about me too" Ran interjected. Haru was like a younger brother to her and she missed him dearly.

"When we crossed over to Ben's dimension the Horoscope Switched were overloaded for lack of a better term. They are filled to the brim with negative Cosmic Energy so if a person is struck with a Limit Break while in Horoscope form then there is a chance that they will crumble into stardust. This applies to very strong blows as well. Thankfully if the Switcher is not a evil person then they will just be reverted to human form, though as you all know they will need to get the energy drained from their bodies or there will be side effects."

"So that's why some of these 'Dark Horoscopes' are falling apart after Ben and Gen-chan battled them" Erin mused.

"Correct. But so far there's only 6 of these left. The Switchers for Dark Leo, Dark Sagittarius and Dark Scorpio have been found but I think they'll be safe for now. But there's still the matter of dealing with Dark Cancer, Dark Capricorn and Dark Libra." Emoto's words rung true in the ears of everyone present. Something must be done.

"We have been thinking this over for a long time now. We want to help out the people here and make things better for everyone!" Gentaro and Tojiro enthusiastically told Emoto. Yuki, JK, Ran and Erin nodded to let him know they felt the same way they did.

"We even thought of a name for our group! We'll be the Guiding Stars! We can do odd jobs for people so they can live happier lives!" Yuki cheerfully added. " I'm so excited about this" as she jumped up and down, looking like a kid in a candy store. Erin gently smiled at her enthusiasm as Gen wrapped his arms around her.

"We shall do great things here. We will make friends with everyone here!" Gentaro declared as Yuki rested her head on his chest, looking content.

"I'm glad to hear that. But I have something I need to give to Manny and then I have to go back to work." Emoto told the Kamen Rider Club. Sure enough Manny popped his head out from the living room.

"I take it you have a gift for me?" he asked innocently. Emoto smiled and opened a box and inside was a red hand. "Dude, no way! How'd you know I wanted something better than this crappy clamp?"

"I could see it on your face. I figured you deserved something more fitting to your personally" Emoto admitted. It took about five minutes to replace the clamp with the new hand. To Manny's joy it worked perfectly!

"Thanks man! Stupid Dr. Animo had a Null Guardian bite off my hand! It's great to have a hand again!" Manny was close to tears as the KRC hugged him. Emoto smiled at the heart warming scene. Still he couldn't help but wonder where Ben, Julie and Hope were.

Outside...

Hope had changed to a leather outfit holding a purple helmet. To her right were Ben and Julie looking at her and wanting to know her future plans.

"I'm sorry about freaking out about your crush on Ben. It's just I love him so much and every though I know other people love him I'm still learning to share him with the world. Can you ever forgive me?" Julie sadly asked.

"Don't sweat it too much. Your devotion to Ben is remarkable and to be honest I'm still learning to forgive myself. It's going to take a long time but I'm glad I have friends like you" Hope told them, a gentle smile on her face.

"Just so we're clear I'm touched that you feel that way about me, but I'm happy with Julie. Is that going to be OK with you, Hope?" Ben was worried his question would set her off but she was handling it rahter well.

"Of course I'm happy for the both of you! You saved me from things I was so close to becoming. I'll always be happy for you both! As for me, I'm going to go where the winds take me" Hope then placed the helmet on her head but took some time to kiss Ben and, to her surprise, Julie goodbye on the lips.

"Wait!" It was Gentaro, and he wanted to make sure she was a friend of the Kamen Rider Club as well. Soon they both shook hands then fist bumped and surely enough their friendship was set!

"Thanks for everything. But I have a lot to make up for and not a lot of time to do so. You only get one life and I don't want to waste any more of mine doing crime." Hope's motorcycle roared to life as she was about to head out. "Oh Ben! I fixed your car for you! It's not much but it's a start!" as she drove on, a new chapter in her life was just about to begin.

Two minutes later...

While everyone was out getting lunch Ben went to the garage where his car was. Now it was no longer wreaked and green. Now it was good as new. Better than new even! Instead of a green and black paintjob it was now white where the black was and where the green was there was now pink with sugar pink hearts on those parts.

"Thanks Hope. I hope that you find what you're looking for" as he got in, the insides now having pink and white upholstery as he got in and was about to drive to Mr. Smoothy. Surely enough life was starting to get a little better.

But his cellular breakdown caused him sharp and sudden pain before he could even get the key in the ignition. Trying to calm down Ben wondered if HE could be saved...

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