A/N: Suggested OST: W-G-X~~W Goes Next
Anne sat on her bed; head pressed against her legs as she hugged them close to her chest. She heard the door open but didn't bother to raise her head to see who it was.
"Anne, how're ya holdin' up?" Hop Pop asked.
The Thai teen sighed heavily. "I honestly don't know right now. I've gone through so many scenarios in my head about how this would turn out. And, roughly speaking, most of them ended up just like what happened down there. Although Dad didn't seem as upset as Mom did, so, maybe that's a plus?"
Sprig hopped on her bed and gently placed his hand against Anne's shoulder. "I'm sure they'll understand. They just need time to take it all in. I mean, we were all there when you first transformed, and it took us all a bit to get used to it."
"I know it did for me, you kinda freaked me out at first, Anne," said Polly. "But I did get over it, and now, you transforming and fighting monsters is the coolest thing I've ever witnessed in my life!"
Anne raised her head a little and smiled down at her adopted little sister. "Thanks, Polly. Thanks, Sprig." Anne lowered her legs and leaned back against her headboard. "I don't know what I find more infuriating about that conversation. The part about Mom wanting me to give up my Driver when, clearly, I can't do that because it's connected to me. Or the fact that she thinks that I was just going with the flow of the situation in accepting the feelings of Sasha and Marcy."
Sprig winced when reminded of that. He partially felt responsible for Anne's heartache, mostly because if it wasn't for his meddling back in Newtopia, Anne might not have accepted Marcy's feelings, and this whole chain of events probably could've been stopped. "I'm sorry, Anne."
Anne glanced over at him in confusion. "Why are you apologizing?"
"Because…if it wasn't for me, you and Marcy might still be just friends." The pink frog boy removed his hand as he stared down at the mattress. "I meddled in your love life, and because of that, you fell for Marcy, and she ended up breaking your heart…and it was only made worse when Sasha got in the mix…I should've done more, tried harder to convince you, done less to push you into Marcy's arms!"
Anne furrowed her brow as she bonked her adopted little brother on the head.
"Ow!"
"Stop that. It's not your fault. It was my decision in the end, Sprig. I made the choice to accept Marcy's feelings and go out with her. I made the choice to forgive Sasha and agree to the throuple situation. Everything was my choice." Anne brought Sprig into a hug as she said, "You were just doing what you thought was right, as my best friend, and as my little brother, as my family. So, don't put yourself down like that. Plus, if it wasn't for all of that, I wouldn't have discovered what I did about myself."
Sprig teared up a little as he returned the hug.
Anne gently broke the hug and looked to the rest of her froggy family. "You guys have accepted me, both for the person I was when we first met, and the person I've become now. And I can't thank you enough for letting me be a part of your family."
Hop Pop joined his grandchildren on the bed and gave Anne a half hug. "Ah'll always be proud to call you a Plantar, Anne."
"Thanks, all of you. I'm glad you have my back." Anne sighed heavily again as she briefly glanced at her door. "I just hope my parents do in the end."
Just then, Anne's phone went off with the sound of the emergency broadcast system. Anne quickly opened her phone and saw that the alert was warning people to stay away from downtown Los Angeles due to an attack on the city.
"Attack…? Oh no!"
The Platnars moved away from Anne as she bolted from the bed and ran down the stairs with Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig right behind her. The Thai teen entered the living room. Her parents were already in there with the TV on, and that's when Anne watched the news report.
{We're coming to you live from downtown LA where, yet again, another monster has been spotted and is currently attacking the city! Take a look at the devastation this thing is causing!}
The camera panned to the monster in the middle of the street. It was big, about seven feet tall. Its body was covered in dark blue metal plates, with its chest area colored gunmetal gray. It had thick legs with two talons in front and one on its back heels. Its arms were bigger than its buff body and extended past its knees. The metal around its fits was even thicker than the rest of it, with metal studs that capped the top of its knuckles. At the top of the creature's shoulders were two pistons that were drawn up. Red lines cut grooves into the monster's body, creating angular patterns. The creature's head was also angular in shape, possessing no mouth and instead had a mouth plate over it. Where the creature's eyes were was a black three inch wide slit, and from that slit were two glowing red eyes.
The monster raised its right fist and punched forward, at the same time, the piston on that same arm slammed down and released some kind of pressure wave that fired from its fist. The pressure wave sailed like a bullet and struck the side of a building, shattering the cement and glass as it created a ten-foot-wide hole in it. The monster cocked back its left fist and punched towards a street. The piston slammed down and another pressure wave was released. Several cars and objects were either crushed or tossed around like small toys. It displayed another show of force by interlocking both of its huge hands together and slamming down on the ground with both of them as the pistons fired at the same time. The street and sidewalks around the monster fissured and crumbled, tossing up cars and shattering glass for a wide radius. With all the destruction, it looked as if an earthquake had assaulted that section of the city, but this was an earthquake that was alive and knew what it was doing.
Oum had her mouth covered by her hands as she watched this monster go on a rampage. Bee was just stunned by it. However, the Plantars had their eyes locked on Anne, who was seething with anger at seeing how this monster was just destroying things and hurting people without any sign of remorse at all. With a furrowed brow and clenched fists, Anne turned her back and was about to leave. However, a hand reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.
Anne turned around and saw that it was her mother. "Mom, what are you doing?!"
"You're not going!" Oum stated.
"Are you kidding?! That monster's going to kill people! I need to go out and stop it!" Anne argued.
"Let the police or military deal with it! That's their job! It's not yours!" Oum retorted.
"You can't be serious right now! Even if they did show up, they'll only die! The police couldn't even hurt that flaming dinosaur monster with their guns, what makes you think the military is going to have any better luck?!"
"They have tanks, missiles, and weapons that police don't have, Anne! They are trained to protect people and fight against threats! You're just a teenage girl! That's not your job, that's not your responsibility!"
Anne chuckled at the irony of her mother's statement. "You keep saying you wanted me to apply myself. That you want me to do more. And now when I have the power and ability to do so, you don't want me to do it. What would you have done if I said I wanted to join the army? Or become a cop? Would you be doing the same thing then?"
"If that's what you wanted to do, no! Because then you'd be an adult, and you'd have gone through training and have more than just yourself to rely on! This! What you're doing! Is even more dangerous than that!" Oum rebutted.
"I'm going," said Anne.
"No, you're grounded, remember. You not going anywhere!"
Anne's eyes shined blue, and when they did, Oum yelped as she felt a shock on her hand, making her release Anne from her hold. "I'm sorry for that, Mom. But I can't just ignore people who are in danger when I have the power to help them! When I come back home, you can extend my grounding and I'll stay in my room. But when people are in danger, grounding or not, I'm going!"
Before either of her parents could say anything, Anne tapped into her powers and superspeed zipped out of her house, grabbed her bike, and used the speed to pedal away. Oum ran out of the house, but all she managed to see was a dust trail fading away.
"Anne…"
Kamen Rider Amp drove into the city with Machine Stormer 2, she passed by several police officers who were about to engage the monster, but she came to a screeching halt before them and held up her hand towards the cops.
"Don't! Let me handle this," said Amp.
"Are you kidding me?!" one of the cops shouted. "You really think we're just going to just let you fight that thing?!"
"You will if you want to make it home to your families today! None of your weapons can hurt that thing. I can! I don't want any more people getting hurt, so please, let me fight," Amp pleaded.
A lot of the officers glanced at each other; they were scared for more than one reason. They were scared to fight that monster, but they were also scared of what that monster would do if they didn't stop it. Amp has defeated two of these monsters already, but they were still weary of her. They didn't know her true intentions, and she still hid behind a mask. However, considering the amount of destruction that thing was causing, they were having doubts that they'd so much as slow it down.
"Fine, we'll fallback, for now," said the lieutenant.
"Thank you. I promise I'll take that thing down!"
Amp got off her bike and ran the rest of the way towards the monster. It seemed to have stopped its rampage and stood in the center of the destruction it caused. Arms crossed as if waiting for something, or rather, someone. Amp came to a half a few feet away from the monster as she got into her fighting stance.
The monster's eyes glowed as if now opening them and glared at Amp. "Kamen Rider Amp. Glad you finally showed up. I was wondering how much more of the city I was going to have to total before you came."
"Again? Another monster that's after me. Why? What do you want from me?!" Amp asked.
"My job is not to ask why, it's to my job. And right now, my job is to bring you in." The monster uncrossed its arms and smashed its fists against each other, creating some sparks as it got ready. "Make this easy on yourself, and just give up. Otherwise, this is gonna hurt, a lot."
"Heh, you have no idea what I've fought against. I fought monsters bigger and stronger than you," said Amp.
Amp used her speed and quickly closed the gap between them. The hero of lightning hit him in the chest with a knee strike. But the burly monster didn't move an inch, nor did it appear as if he registered the attack. The huge monster raised his fist to punch her, but Amp dashed away at the last second, allowing the monster's fist to strike the ground where she was. Amp came to a stop a few feet away and reengaged. She jumped into the air and came down with an ax kick to his head. But just like before, the monster was unaffected.
Holy crud! What's this guy made of?!
The monster grabbed Amp's extended right leg and tossed her straight for a building wall. Amp hurriedly pressed down on her left hip device as green light enveloped her body. She smashed against the wall and kicked up a dust cloud. The monster waited, not wanting to rush in just yet. From the dust and out of the hole, emerged Kamen Rider Amp in Spike Form. Amp began walking towards the monster, feeling confident in her choice of forms.
"Okay, you're tougher and stronger than you look. Let's see who's tougher!"
The monster roared and charged for Amp. The hero of lightning widened her stance and planted her feet as the monster drew back with its right fist and punched forward. Amp thrusted her left hand and caught the punch. The ground below them buckled and cracked from the sheer force of the stopped attack. But the monster wasn't done yet as its piston rose and slammed. Amp braced herself as the pressure wave blasted her. A few sparks flew off her armor, but it wasn't as bad as she was expecting. Although, she was not confident about how many direct blasts she could take before they started to show results. The monster seemed surprised that Amp was able to shrug off its attack, and even more so when Amp practically brushed his fist away.
Amp reached towards her MetamorphRing's crystal filament and drew out the Sting Striker. With her weapon in hand, Amp began her assault. She slashed upwards with her lance, releasing sparks from the monster's body, and causing a grunt of pain from him. Amp twirled the Sting Striker around and slashed again, and again. Each strike drew out more sparks and forced the monster to backstep with each landed blow. The monster was forced to raise his large fists up to act as a shield to keep himself from taking further damage.
"HA! Where's all that tough talk now?!" Amp mocked.
Although she could not see it and given that it was hard to see at all due to how the monster looked. The creature was smiling.
Just then, the monster jumped back to an undisturbed part of the street. Amp gave chase, but as soon as she stepped down, something beeped.
"What?" Amp looked down, she felt like she had stepped on something but there was nothing there. However, that changed as something appeared, it looked like a landmine, but with bones growing around it. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
A powerful explosion went off under Amp, tossing her back first into a chunk of street that had been raised due to the monster's earlier attack. Amp dug herself out of the rubble and growled angrily at him.
"A landmine?! Really?! Trust a bad guy to play dirty!" Anne accused.
"All's far in war, hero," he replied.
Amp was about to make a witty retort, but just then two slabs of broken off asphalt rose up and slammed down on her from both sides. A low rumble could be heard as the two slabs were broken apart, with Amp panting from the damage they caused.
What the hell was that?! I didn't even see him do anything! Does he have the ability to manipulate the earth or something? But then, what was that landmine earlier? Amp looked at the two slabs once she got out of them and noticed there were bone-like springs that seemed to push the slabs together like that. Something's off here. Is he really the one doing all of this?
"What's wrong, hero? Aren't you going to defeat the big bad monster?" he taunted.
"Oh, you are just asking for it!"
Amp took a few steps forward, but as soon as she did, she heard another beep sound. The hero looked down and watched as several more of those strange landmines appear.
"Oh, c'mon…"
Several more explosions went off around Amp, making her have to raise her arms into an "X" formation to weather them. However, the burly monster ran through the flames of the explosion and delivered a right hook to her left side. Sending Amp flying into another building. Just then, while in that building, the floor collapsed under Amp. Luckily, she was at the edge of the hole and managed to stab her Sting Striker into the side of the wall just in time to prevent herself from falling in. Down below there was a pit that was filled with several sharp bone spikes.
"Alright! That's it!"
Amp hoisted herself out of the hole and pressed down on the right hip device and changed into Poison Form. The hero of lightning jumped back outside, and before stepping into the street, Amp coated her hands in the poison plasma and fired a stream of it out into the street itself. As soon as she did, several more explosions went off as the corrosive nature of her poison set off the landmines. Amp smirked under her helmet, satisfied that she predicted that this would happen.
"Nice try big guy! No more surprise landmines for you! And as for that armored body of yours, I'll melt it right of you!" Amp stated as she readied to attack.
"Versatile, aren't you? Well then, come at me!"
Amp was about to dash towards him, but she was suddenly hit in the shoulder by something. That same something exploded as soon as it hit, throwing her against a lamppost. Another explosion went off against her chest, sending sparks flying from her body. Amp started moving around not sure where the attack was coming from, but she was too concerned with that to notice the big monster's fist. Amp glanced over her shoulder at the last second and watched as the burly monster's fist struck her in the back, and that's when the piston fell. A pressure wave blasted at her back, throwing her back to the street as several sparks went off from her armor.
Outside of Spike Form, the pressure wave did more damage now since this form did not capitalize on her defensive power. Amp's body shifted back to lightning form. The azure Rider managed to rise onto one knee, groaning painfully as she did so. "I don't get it, how is he doing all this?"
"Haven't figured it out yet, hero?"
Amp looked to the large monster, and that's when she saw it.
Another monster with a black body and several exoskeletal bones wrapped around it appeared next to the big monster. The monster had at least six sharp bones poking out from its back in two different rows. Its arms were long, with thin bone armor covering, and sharp claws. The creature was in a slouched position and had a skull mask that had one eye covered by a patch that had a strange "T" symbol on it. There was a third, and it was now perched on a lamppost and was holding a strange rifle. It was sandy brown in color, with sharp claws, a scarf that covered its mouth and neck, and armor plating. This new monster had a visor over its head, with wolf-like ears that twitched in different directions as if to catch onto the sound. There was a furry tail wagging back and forth as if waiting for Amp to make another move.
"So, there were three of you?!"
"Yeah, meet my crew. Trapper." The big monster pointed down at the boney monster. "Hunter." He threw a thumb up to the one perched on the lamppost. "And I'm Brawler."
"Nice to know. I hope you're this talkative when I take all three of you down!"
"That won't be happening, Amp."
Amp turned to her left and saw a new monster. This new monster was female, she had generous curves, and assets. A line of purple colored the center of her body, while her sides, arms, and legs were shimmering black. There were neon blue-green tattoos on the black parts of her skin, each of them weaving together and shifting to show different scary images. The top of this monster's head was covered in a shadowy veil, obscuring her face, but upon that veil was an eye painted in white.
"And you are?" Amp asked.
"My name is unimportant. What you need to concern yourself with is my ultimatum. We want you to come with us, willingly, without any more resistance.," she said.
"And if I refuse, you'll just start hurting people?"
"No, if you refuse, we MAKE you come with us the hard way."
Amp glanced to Brawler, Hunter, and Trapper, and then to the new female monster. That's when she made her decision as the MetamorphRing shifted into the MetamorphRing TRI. "Yeah, I'll take option C: none of the above!"
The new monster raised her right hand and pointed it towards Amp. The hero of lightning was about to press down on her hip devices to shift into Super Form but stopped as fear gripped her mind. And that's when she started hearing the monster's voice echo in her head.
"You have many fears, Amp. I won't pretend to understand what these all mean, but it's clear to me the fear that keeps you up at night. Thanatophobia, the fear of losing those you hold dear to you. It's strong. You must've either lost someone or they are close to dying. Let's see what we can do with that?"
Suddenly, images of Marcy and Sasha assaulted Amp's mind, each one showing her best friends dying in several different ways. Amp grabbed her head and screamed as she saw the horrible images over and over again. She fell to the ground and began writhing around as not only images of her friends dying appeared, but also the Platnars and her own parents, all of them dying in horrible ways by the hands of The Night and King Andrias.
"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Amp begged.
"Disengage your transformation and I will. It's that simple."
Amp looked to the monsters and heard the news helicopters overhead. If she changed back now, the whole world would know she was Amp. But that wasn't the worst part, if she did change back, these monsters would take her away, for purposes she had no idea about. But she couldn't give up now, she had to fight, she had to keep fighting. There was an evil that was coming for their world, and she had to stop it before it was too late.
"NEVER!" Amp yelled.
"I tried to show you mercy. Now, you'll have to suffer."
Two eyes shined purple from behind her black veil, and Amp resumed her screaming as she rolled back forth, seeing more and more images.
Back at the Boonchuy house, Oum, Bee, and the Plantars were watching in horror as Amp was rolling on the ground and screaming in pain.
"ANNE!" Oum cried out as she dropped to her knees in front of the TV.
{Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that there are now four monsters! And the newest one seems to be torturing Kamen Rider Amp right now! I can just make out her screaming from here. I can only imagine what horrifying things that creature is doing to her that we cannot see with our naked eyes. Folks, I hate to say this, but it looks like the hero of Los Angeles is in trouble right now.}
"I-I-It'll be okay! A-Anne's gotten out of bad situations before! She can do it again! Y-You'll see! She'll change into her Final Form and wipe the floor with those guys! Any minute now," said Sprig.
Bee and Hop Pop could tell from Sprig's tone that he was trying to convince himself more than anything.
Polly was hugging Frobo's head tight as she watched her adopted big sister writhe in pain, feeling angry that she couldn't do anything to help. Frobo was in the same boat, he too wanted to go out there and provide Anne with backup, but without his body and weapons, he was useless.
"Isn't there something we can do?!" Oum asked. She reached towards Hop Pop and grabbed him by his shoulders. "Please, tell me?! There has to be something we can do to help her! Anything?!"
"Ah…Ah don't know…Mrs. Boonchuy. The last time Anne had to fight three monsters, she had Sasha and Marcy at her side. But…those were Fallen, and these things are different from those creatures," said Hop Pop, just as distraught as she was.
Oum looked back at the TV screen with teary eyes. "Khır k̆dị̂ ch̀wy d̂wy s̄āw n̂xy k̄hxng c̄hạn (Someone, anyone, please save my little girl)!" she pleaded.
{Wait, hold on a minute folks! I see something in the distance! Hurry get a shot of that!}
Oum, Bee, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly held their breath and listened to the reporter.
The camera panned down the street from where the monsters were located.
{Folks, I don't know what I'm looking at, but it looks like a…a…I don't know how else to describe it other than a shooting star heading right for the monsters!}
Amp was still screaming her head off, feeling her mind about break with the horrible images she was seeing.
"She's almost ready, after she breaks, we'll take her to…" the female monster trailed off when she turned her head to the right and saw something coming up the street behind her compatriots. "What is…?"
There was a bright light shining from down the street. The light grew bigger and bigger, and it was becoming apparent that whatever that light was, it was coming at them at high speed.
"SCATTER NOW!" she ordered.
The three monsters looked behind them, however, it was too late. The shining light struck that area creating an explosion that threw Brawler, Hunter, and Trapper in different directions. The female monster managed to jump out of the way of the explosion just in time to avoid getting buffeted by the shockwave or the energy it released. A large dust cloud was kicked up into the air, obscuring everyone from view. But that's when two beings jumped out of the cloud and away from the explosion area.
Amp's head was still spinning from the images that she was seeing, but she was vaguely aware of someone holding her and putting her down. She was on her knees now, holding her head with her left hand as she tried calm down from what she saw.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"I…I don't…that monster, she…she made me see things! Horrible things!" Amp confessed.
"Yeah, that would be the Phobia Memory. It's a nasty piece of work. It'll make its victims see their fears and assault their minds until they have a mental break down or go comatose."
"Ten bucks says it's that Cassandra woman, that witch!"
Amp heard another voice. The first one that spoke was male, now this one sounded female, and it sounded bubbly. "I…I have to stop them…I have to…"
"Whoa there, no you don't. After what she did to you, you need to rest up for a minute," said the female voice.
Amp's vision was starting to return as she asked, "Did you save me?"
"Yeah, we did," said the female voice.
Amp's vision finally returned to normal, and that's when she saw a pair of feet in front of her, the left one was pink colored while the right was blue. She raised her head and gasped when she beheld who it was that saved her. It was a Kamen Rider, one that she hadn't seen before. It was hard to tell if this Rider was male or female as they had an androgynous figure. But that aside, this Rider was different from what she was used to seeing.
For one thing, there was a gray line that went down the middle of this Rider's body, dividing its right and left side's color, and at the center the line broke into two sharp angles on both sides. The right side was colored blue and had a silver pin on the right side of its chest that had a long white cape connected to it. There were silver bracelets and anklets around the right wrist and ankles, and an angular bar with an hourglass pattern on their chest. The right shoulder pauldron was also blue and had a "H"-like symbol on the side with flowing lines etched into the silver lining around it. The left side was pink and sported the same bracelets and anklets as the right side, but they were gold colored. The pattern on the shoulder pauldron resembled something like a shooting star, and the angular bar on their chest had black markings inside it. The Rider had a crest on their forehead that was made of two horns that formed an elongated "V", and another pair that were closer together. There was an emerald gemstone at the center of the crest that matched the Rider's eyes.
Finally, there was their Driver. The immediate thing Amp noticed was the neon Green symbol with one horizontal bar at the top, and another at the bottom. There were two more green bars in the center against a dark gray background that held the Driver together. Within those two bars were devices that were colored the same as the two halves of the Rider's armor and looked similar to USB devices. The blue one had an "H" with a cape, while the other was a stylized "S" in the shape of shooting star.
"Okay…I must still be out of it…there's only one of you, but I head two voices," said Amp.
"You're not wrong, you did hear two voices." The male voice sounded off, but when Amp heard it, she saw the right eye of the Rider glow for a moment.
"That's cause there's two of us in one body." When the female voice spoke, the left eyes glowed for a moment as well.
"Who…Who are you?"
The Rider glanced over their shoulder as they saw the Dopants assemble again.
"Who are we? We're the Kamen Rider who protects the world from the unknown and aims to solve its mysteries."
"Together we defend the helpless and protect the world against evil wherever it may show up!"
"We are Kamen Rider Gemini! Solving mysteries on the double!"
"We are Kamen Rider Gemini! Solving mysteries on the double!"
A gust of wind blew through the street, blowing away the remnants of the dust cloud and making Gemini's cape flutter. Gemini pointed their left index at the Dopants and then threw up two fingers.
"Now get ready for twice the trouble!"
"Now get ready for twice the trouble!"
The two-in-one Rider began to walk towards the trio of Dopants, cracking their knuckles as they smirked under their helmet.
"So, who do you want to take down first?" the right half asked.
"The big guy, I feel like punching something hard," said the left half.
The Brawler Dopant growled when he heard the taunting of the two-in-one Rider. He then knocked his fists together and charged straight towards them. Gemini got into a ready stance as the monster came down with a right straight punch. However, like Amp before them, Gemini caught the Dopant's huge fist in the palm of their left hand. The Brawler Dopant didn't stop there as he threw his left fist, but Gemini's right hand caught the attack as well. The Dopant smirked behind his metal mouth plate as both pistons rose up and fired. Two pressure waves were released at the same time as the ground below them cracked and fissured. And while a small amount of sparks did fly off their armor, Gemini wasn't phased in the least.
"Our turn!" the left half exclaimed.
Gemini slapped both of the monster's fists away and led with a left straight punch to the monster's chest, a burst of sparkling pink energy erupted at the point of impact, sending sparks flying from the monster. But Gemini didn't stop there as Gemini struck with a right hook to the side, releasing a ripple of blue energy that shot off more sparks from the monster. The Brawler Dopant managed to steady himself and fought back with another punch, but Gemini sped out of the way, appearing as a shimmering blur that rounded behind the monster. Gemini jumped up and struck the monster in the right side with a spinning roundhouse. The sparking energy erupted again, and this time sent the monster through the wall of a department store.
"Gotta say, for being the 'Brawler' Dopant, I'm not very impressed," the left side mocked.
"Mabel don't rile up the guy who's a big monster too much," the right side cautioned in a brotherly tone.
"C'mon, Dipper, just havin' a little fun. You can take it, right big guy?!"
A pressure wave was fired from the hole in the wall, making Gemini jump straight into the air as it the wave hit the building behind them. Amp watched as Gemini was just floating in the air, but then the Brawler Dopant smashed his way out of the wall and began punching the air in Gemini's direction, firing one pressure wave after the other. Gemini seemed to have the ability to fly as they easily dodged each of the monster's attacks but were also being careful to make sure that those attacks were only aimed towards the air and were not hitting anymore buildings.
"See, told you," said Dipper.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Let's take him down then," Mabel replied.
Gemini disengaged the pink USB device from their belt and put it into another device on their right hip. The two-in-one Rider quickly pressed down on that device and activated it.
} SHOOTINGSTAR! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {
Gemini dropped out of the air and back down to the ground. Their left fist was enveloped in sparkling pink and white light that flared like fire.
"STAR STRIKER!"
"STAR STRIKER!"
Using their incredible speed, Gemini dashed straight for the Brawler Dopant. The monster roared again and charged for them, cocking back its right fist to meet them. But Gemini proved to be the faster as they ducked under the attack and hammered their punch right into the monster's midsection. A powerful pink sparkling light was released in the form of a burst that enveloped the monster completely, making him cry out in pain right before an explosion went off. Gemini jumped back and watched as the Brawler Dopant went down, falling like a lead weight.
"One down," said Mabel.
"Three to go," said Dipper.
The Trapper Dopant melded into the ground, smirking the whole time. Gemini got on guard as they waited to see what this Dopant was going to do.
"HEY, BE CAREFUL!" Amp warned. "I DON'T KNOW HOW, BUT THAT THING CAN MAKE LANDMINES, PITS WITH BONE SPIKES, AND OTHER STUFF."
Gemini gave her thumbs up.
"Don't worry," said Dipper, "I made sure to look up the specs on these Gaia Memories. But I'd like to get a bit more data before I decide on what's best."
Suddenly, several bone spikes were fired from a wall, forcing Gemini to jump out of the way, but when they did, their foot landed on another of the Trapper Dopant's invisible landmines. But Gemini was quicker on the uptake as they backflipped away just in time for the landmine to explode. When they were close to a lamppost, they found their left ankle ensnared by a chain made of bones and were suddenly snapped off the ground. They were now dangling off the ground and right below a pit of razor-sharp bone spikes.
"How did we fall for that, bro?"
"I kinda wanted to, but I got what I needed, I know what we need use next."
"Good, because this is embarrassing!"
The bone chain released the two-in-one Rider, but right before they fell, Dipper switched out the blue USB device with a red one.
DRAGON-SHOOTINGSTAR!
Amp watched as Gemini fell into the pit, but a moment later, a red dragon was launched out of the hole and latched onto same lamppost they were dangling from a moment ago. The dragon reeled them up, and out of the hole where they flipped through air and landed right on top of it. The red dragon released the lamppost and then began to retrack back to Gemini's right arm. That's when Amp realized that the dragon was their right arm.
Gemini's right side had changed completely from what it was before. Instead of blue, it was now red. The shoulder pauldron had turned into a jagged state that looked like flames and was colored yellow with the anklet in the same state as the pauldron. The bar across the chest was now yellow colored and had jagged lines that represented flames. But the most notable change was the right arm. There were large, red metal plates surrounding that arm that led to a mechanical dragon head on the other end. The dragon head had two yellow horns, five white colored teeth, two sharp yellow eyes, and a yellow line going down its face. Gemini's right hand could be seen within the dragon head's mouth as well.
"Let's go fishing!" Dipper exclaimed.
Gemini cocked back their arm, as soon as they did this, the dragon head shunted forward, making Gemini's right hand disappear from its mouth as a hatch closed up the hole where that hand was. The two-in-one Rider thrust their right arm forward, and as soon as they did, the metal plates started to multiply, making the arm grow longer and longer as it struck the ground headfirst. A couple of seconds after, flames erupted from under the street, heating up the asphalt and surrounding area. A moment later, the Trapper Dopant jumped out of the street, wailing in pain from the intense heat that it was subjected to. Gemini retracted their left arm back to their body and stood up on the lamppost.
"Let's see how he likes being messed with," said Mabel.
Gemini disengaged the ShootingStar Memory and replaced it with a purple one.
DRAGON-FANTASY!
Gemini's left half changed, and now it was a purple color to match the Gaia Memory. The shoulder pauldron was a bit bigger and oblong shaped, along the edge of the pauldron were several pink, diamond shaped crystals. This new half kept the gold color on the chest bar, bracelet, and anklets, but all three of these now had the pink diamond shaped crystals.
Gemini raised their left hand into the air, and when they did, the pink crystals on their armor began to shine. Within seconds, the world around the Trapper Dopant, and really, around the entire area, changed into something different. The Trapper Dopant suddenly found themselves in a mountainous region, with gray skies and clouds hovering below and obscured how high up they were. Amp kept completely still, gulping as she looked down and got flash backs to when she was at the Temple of Heart. But the important part of this area change, was that Gemini had completely hidden themselves from view.
"You can take this one, Dipper," said Mabel.
"On it," Dipper replied.
Gemini took out the Dragon Memory and slotted it into the right hip port before pressing down on the button.
} DRAGON! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {
The dragon arm extended out from Gemini as it suddenly ignited, engulfing itself in roaring flames and taking on the appearance of an eastern dragon.
"BLAZING DRAGON!"
"BLAZING DRAGON!"
The Trapper Dopant yelled in horror as it now saw a giant, fiery dragon wind around the mountain that it was "trapped" on. The serpentine creature roared mightily as it charged straight for the Trapper Dopant, roaring the whole way. The monster flailed his arms, knowing there was no way he could block that giant dragon from eating him. However, it was all an illusion. The giant dragon was actually smaller, and instead of eating him, that blazing dragon pierced right through his chest. Gemini retracted their right arm and dropped the illusion, showing that nothing had changed, and they were all still in the city. But now the Trapper Dopant had a glowing orange hole in his chest. The monster fell forward and exploded a moment later.
"Two to go!"
"Two to go!"
Amp looked around for the third one, but she was unable to do find them. That was the same one that was able to shoot at her, so she kept her eyes on the rooftops, believing the monster was going to snipe at Gemini at any moment. Amp caught sight of a lens flare from one of the rooftops and that's when she saw him.
"ABOVE YOU! THE ROOFTOP!"
Gemini looked up just in time to jump off the lamppost before it exploded from the Hunter Dopant's shot. The sniper was angered by Amp's warning and decided to take her out before she could give away his position again.
"BRO! He's going to shoot her!"
"Like hell he is!"
Gemini took out the Dragon Memory and replaced it with a dark green colored Gaia Memory.
GUNSLINGER-FANTASY!
The right half changed to something else. The entire right half was dark green in color. With the pauldron having a blocky shape and sporting a silver strip around the edge. But attached to the pauldron was a brown poncho with a green diamond pattern along the bottom of it that obscured Gemini's right arm. The chest bar had a curling pattern on it that matched the anklet and bracelet. The anklet had a curved design that rose up the right side of Gemini's ankle, while the bracelet did the same with their wrist. On their right thigh was a holster that appeared to have weapon housed in it.
Once their transformation was finished, the Hunter Dopant fired their shot at Amp. But Gemini was just as fast if not faster. The two-in-one Rider quickly pulled out their weapon and pointed it in the direction the Hunter's Dopant energy bullet was heading, or rather, where it was going to be. Their gun weapon looked like a futuristic western revolver. It was dark green at the top and gunmetal gray on the lower half. The barrel had a symbol in the middle of it that looked like a "G" with a gun barrel and a revolver barrel. The middle of the weapon had the six-chamber revolver barrel, and where the hammer would be was a device that was similar to that of the right hip port.
Gemini took aim and fired a single green beam bullet that sailed through the air. Amp's enhanced reflexes and mental state allowed her watch as the Hunter Dopant's violet energy bullet was coming at her, but then Gemini's green energy bullet came in and intercepted the shot, making it explode before it reached her. The Hunter Dopant couldn't believe what he saw, so he dismissed it as a lucky shot and fired again. However, Gemini showed that if it was a lucky shot, then they were extremely lucky as Gemini fired back and kept intercepting the Hunter Dopant's shots. Once all six shots were spent, Gemini spun the revolver barrel until it clicked and stopped.
"You might as well stop trying to shoot her. The Gunslinger Memory not only gives us heightened precision and reflexes, but it also allows me to correctly calculate the trajectory of any projectile, be it ours or yours!"
"BOOM!" Mabel exclaimed.
Amp looked at this Rider with amazement. Seriously, who are they?! This Rider, they're way more skilled than me, Sasha, or Marcy. Heck, even Luz! It's like they've been doing this their whole lives or something!
The Hunter Dopant abandoned trying to take down Amp and shifted to Gemini. He refused to believe that they were that quick on the draw or that accurate. The Hunter Dopant camouflaged itself and began jumping to another rooftop to get a better vantage point. Once he had, he took aim and fired again. As soon he did, however, Gemini immediately turned in that direction and fired another interception shot, exploding the energy bullet before it could reach them. But this time, Gemini had pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, so when the first energy bullet destroyed the Hunter Dopant's energy bullet, the second broke through the explosion right behind the first shot and continued on the same trajectory. The Hunter Dopant panicked and jumped to the next rooftop, and began to take aim, but when he did, Gemini was gone.
Gemini had used the Fantasy Memory's power to shroud themselves and blend into the background. They hid in an alley and strategized.
"This guy's got us in a bit of a bind. Even if we can intercept his shots, we don't know where he is to actually get a good hit."
"Then let's make it so he can't hide anymore!"
Gemini took out their Fantasy Memory and replaced it with a white Gaia Memory.
GUNSLINGER-BUBBLE!
The illusion fell and Gemini's left half changed again. This time it was all white, with the bar on the chest plate colored a light-blue and had a bubble pattern in it. Their pauldron was dome shaped, and around the edge were several light-blue orbs that mimicked bubbles, with the anklet and bracelet matching this pattern.
Gemini nodded and ran back out into the street as Gemini raised their left hand. A bubble formed that had multicolored smoke inside of it, and once it had formed, they released it into the air. The bubble rose higher and higher until Gemini shot at the bubble and released the contents. That multicolored smoke was a kind of glitter that wafted through the air over the entire battlefield. Within seconds the Hunter Dopant's body was coated in the sparkling glitter, allowing Gemini to see them.
"Gotcha!"
"Gotcha!"
The two-in-one Rider took out the Bubble Memory and slotted it into the Gunvolver.
} BUBBLE! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {
Gemini jumped into the air and got right in the monster's face. They threw a roundhouse kick that threw the Hunter Dopant off the roof and aimed the Gunvolver at the monster.
"POWER BUBBLE BURST!"
"POWER BUBBLE BURST!"
Gemini pulled the trigger and at the opening of the Gunvolver formed a huge bubble that was glowing yellow on the inside. The bubble fired off like a bullet straight for the Hunter Dopant and was completely swallowed up by the bubble. Gemini jumped back down, but as they passed by, they quickly shot at the bubble. As soon as they landed, the bubble burst apart, causing a chain reaction that released the pent-up energy inside and created a huge explosion in the air above them. Gemini twirled their Gunvolver on their right index finger and holstered the weapon as the Hunter Dopant fell back to the ground in a smoking heap.
As soon as the trio was defeated, all three of them reverted to their human forms, which were men in black fatigues and ski masks which obscured their identities. But it wasn't long before the last Dopant, Phobia, used her powers and assaulted the minds of her three subordinates. The three mercenaries writhed and screamed for a few seconds before they were rendered silent, mouths foaming.
Gemini glared in the Phobia Dopant's direction.
"You guys really are evil in the worst sense of the word," said Dipper.
"We cannot afford loose ends. And on that note!" The Phobia Dopant pointed her right and left hand at Gemini. "I'll get rid of you and complete my mission!"
Gemini was about to move, but their minds were immediately assaulted by the power of the Phobia Dopant as they began to see frightening images in their minds.
Amp had had enough with watching from the sidelines and pressed down on the two hip devices. A dome of lightning formed around her as blue light shined from inside of it. A second later, the dome shattered and revealed Kamen Rider Amp Raging Heart: Vengeance Mode. With her power increased, Amp dashed across the battlefield and clocked the Phobia Dopant in the face, sending her flying into a taxicab and making it bend inwards from the impact. Gemini was released from the mental assault and shook as if literally trying to shake off that experience.
"You, uh, two, alright?" Amp asked.
"Yeah, we're no stranger to mental attacks," said Dipper.
"Still sucks either way," Mabel added.
"Okay! Then let's take her down together!" Amp suggested.
Gemini removed both the Gunslinger and Bubble Memories and replaced them with their original Hero and ShootingStar Memories.
HERO-SHOOTINGSTAR!
Both sides of Gemini's body glowed as they returned to their default form. Amp and Gemini nodded to each other and dashed straight for the Phobia Dopant. The monster managed pull herself out of the cab, but when she saw them coming, her eyes glowed again, and several pieces of debris began to rise around her. With a wave of her hand, the Phobia Dopant launched them at the two heroes, but they were not deterred. Amp extended her forearm blades and began slashing through the debris as it came at her and weaved around the others. Gemini was literally smashing through one piece of debris after the other, punching them with their fists or kicking through them as they came.
The Phobia Dopant hurriedly formed a tornado of debris around herself, making it spin at rapid speed to prevent the two heroes from getting closer to her. Amp and Gemini stopped a few feet from the debris tornado and decided to end this right here and now. Amp's dragonfly crest flared its wings as the lines in her armor began to glow. The symbol of Amp appeared on the ground below her as lightning arced off it and into her body. Gemini took out the Hero Memory, slotted it into the right hip port, and pressed the button.
} HERO! MAXIMUM DRIVE! {
Gemini widened their stance as blue energy raged around them, making their white cape flutter in the wind. Once they were ready, both heroes jumped straight up into the air, flipped once, and extended their right legs.
"LIGHTNING STRIKE!"
"HEROIC FINISH!"
"HEROIC FINISH!"
Navy blue and pink light wrapped around Gemini's right foot as lightning wrapped around Amp's right foot. The two heroes were propelled by their powers, launching them forward as both attacks crashed against the debris tornado. The telekinetically charged tornado was holding up against their combined power, but it was quickly becoming apparent that it was about to fail. The Phobia Dopant was becoming more worried by the second, dare she say, afraid? Gemini and Amp released a loud battle cry as they thrust forward and pierced through the tornado of debris and were on a direct collision course with the Phobia Dopant. But at the last second, a powerful explosion of energy erupted around them. Throwing Amp and Gemini back and away from the epicenter. When the explosion faded, they only saw a crater and no Phobia Dopant.
"Did we…Did we destroy her?" Amp asked.
Gemini scrutinized the aftermath and Dipper's half answered, "I don't think so. I didn't feel like we made contact with her. Something pushed us back at the last second."
"Do you think it was him?" Mabel asked.
Gemini glanced around the area and Dipper responded, "Probably. But that aside." Gemini turned to Amp and continued, "How're you holding up?"
"Better, thank you. Um, both of you?"
Mabel chuckled and said, "Don't worry, it's confusing for everyone at first. Anyway, we should get outta here before the fuzz show up."
"R-Right. COME MACHINE STORMER 2!"
The sound of a motorcycle echoed in the distance.
"Guess I better call our ride too," said Dipper.
Gemini held up their right hand and something flew to them. A large mechanical insect with a single horn that looked like a rhinoceros beetle. The mechanical beetle flew into Gemini's hand and morphed into a phone. The two-in-one Rider pressed a couple of buttons on the phone, and within seconds another motorcycle sounded off from the opposite direction.
"Oh, one more thing!" Mabel added.
Amp turned to Gemini and watched as they took out their ShootingStar Memory and replaced it with the Fantasy Memory.
HERO-FANTASY!
Gemini's left half changed into its Fantasy Form just as both bikes appeared. The two-in-one Rider's bike was split down the middle with two colors, one half pink and the other half blue. Gemini looked at Amp's bike and Dipper gasped. "Oh sweet! Yours has wheels made out of lightning!"
"Oh, uh, yeah. I can even use them to climb onto walls and stick to them," said Amp.
"Whoa, then it must use some form of electrostatic cling. Linking itself to the negatively charged electron atoms in order to achieve–!"
"Bro! Nerd out later! We need to go!"
"Oh, right, sorry."
Amp chuckled a little at their banter and mounted her bike as Gemini did theirs.
"Stay close to us, I'll use Fantasy to hide us so that no one can see where we go," said Mabel.
"Got it! Lead the way!"
Both Rider's twisted the throttles of their bikes and took off down the road as Gemini shrouded them in an illusion and made them disappear from sight.
On a rooftop far from the battle, Cassandra was alive. She had changed back to her human form but was still a bit winded from the battle. Standing before her at the edge of the building was Director Keisuke, looking down at the city below with his hands behind his back.
Cassandra lowered her head and said, "Forgive me, Director Keisuke. I was close to capturing the target until Gemini appeared. I should've been able to–"
"There's no need to apologize. I only got word not too long ago that those twins managed to escape the facility. I figured they would come to save that child so I rushed in when I could. It was an unforeseen factor. Even with your Quark powers, you're not much of a match for them if you can't take them by surprise," said Keisuke.
Cassandra sat on her rear as she held her left arm. "Thank you, for rescuing me, sir."
"I merely didn't wish to train a new assistant at this crucial time, you're an asset, nothing more."
The young woman sighed, she expected as much, such was the fate of a Quark.
"So, what are we going to do now that they're back?" Cassandra asked.
Keisuke furrowed his brow and replied, "I have no doubts that those twins will inform Anne Boonchuy of our organization and its goals. Before now she was weary of us, ignorant of our true motives. We had the element of surprise. But now she'll know about us, which will make her extra cautious when dealing with us. And I have zero doubts that the Pines twins will come to her rescue if we do try and make a move. For now, we'll have to fall back and reassess our strategy. But keep up surveillance, after analyzing those robotic parts, I want to see where that technology originates from. And I have a feeling that she'll lead us straight to the source."
A/N: Stay tuned this Halloween for a special Amphibia Halloween story! It's non-canon, so no need to think about how it fits into the Disney Riderverse. Look forward to it!