Back again with a new snippet series, this time the Japanese Toku.
And I knew the first thing I wanted to do is bring more dignity to Electro Wave Human Tackle...starting by making her a worthy Rider in her own right.
Kikaijin Elekiika of Black Satan looked over Yuriko Misaki aka the Electro-Wave Human Tackle. She was beaten badly, while Kamen Rider Stronger was wrapped up in the tentacles of the mechanical cephalopod. Yuriko could cursed herself. She was too weak. Stronger had to jump in to protect her and now he took a powerful blow for her, and now was slowly being squeezed by Elekiika. If she hadn't fallen for his tricks, Shigeru wouldn't have been harmed.
"What's up, 'little sister'? Not happy to see me?" Elekiika said.
"You are not my brother, you are an imposter whom wore his face. My brother is no homicidal mechanical soulless monster." Yuriko spat.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, dear. It seems eventually you figured me out though. Shame that I wasted so much money on acting lessons though. Oh well, I am sure my lessons on murder will have proven more beneficial in the long run." Elekiika said with…well, he couldn't exactly grin as his monster form wasn't emotive but you could feel it. "However, I have to put that on hold because you have something Black Satan wants."
Yuriko still held a little device behind her she had snatched from Black Satan after she figured out Elekiika's deception. She had trashed the lab and wiped most of the research about it, and stole the only prototype. The device was the first bit of tech developed for something called 'Project Delzer' (1). To create more powerful cyborgs for Black Satan. Couldn't let that happen. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb. The device. The last bit of the super cyborg research. Give it to me or I'll snap your boyfriend's spine like a toothpick!" Elekiika growled as his tentacles around Stronger tightened and a cracking sound was heard.
Stronger didn't scream, not giving the satisfaction despite the pain. "Don't give it to him. Forget about me. Take it away, destroy it! So that it cannot be used to hurt people. Continue the fight without me. One life for the whole world…"
"I won't do that!" Yuriko shouted. "The world needs Kamen Rider Stronger!"
"You are stronger then you think, Tackle. I know you can do it."
"I…can't." Yuriko hung down her head.
"It's touching and quite a bit sickening you have faith in her, Stronger!" Elekiika said. However, without you she is barely a threat. This sickly little ladybug can barely fight."
"Don't you dare call her 'sickly', while such a sick person as yourself exists." Stronger growled.
"You are brave to speak up while I have you in my grasp. But for your information, I meant that not as an insult…ok, maybe as an insult but it is also the truth. She is sick. She has an illness and lives on borrowed time." Elekiika said. Stronger looked at him impassively. "Oh, you didn't know? Now, that's funny."
"Yuriko, are you ill?" Stronger asked.
"I have…a sever form of asthma. When they turned me into a cyborg, they didn't know that…" Yuriko explained. "It limits my fighting prowess. If I overdo…"
"Yeah, we didn't do a background check on her and just was one of many experiments we either expect a fifty-fifty chance of either dying or becoming a good cyborg minion. Surprised she lived, but she was not going to be the good cyborg soldier no matter how you slice it. Quite useless, isn't she?" Elekiika mocked.
"Don't call her that." Stronger was confused as why Yuriko would hide that, but he still valued her as a partner. "Despite everything she was out there, fighting. She is stronger then you think. Even despite the handicap, she has come through, after all she stole the device from right under your nose." Elekiika squeezed harder.
"Silence!" Elekiika didn't sound as smug. But he regained the tone upon speaking to Yuriko again. "You can't win this war on your own, little sick girl. Just give the device back, and I'll let Stronger go. He will live long enough to see the rise of new supersoldiers whom may destroy him proper."
"You already have him in your grasp, whom is to say you won't destroy him if I were to give it back to you?" Yuriko asked.
"You don't. But it is the only outcome, right? Without Stronger, you aren't strong enough to tackle Black Satan on your own and we will get it back eventually. The offer I give is not out of kindness, I am a sadistic bastard whom wants to see you struggle in your final days, fearful for the days ahead something strong enough to easily wipe you off the maps may come around. No matter the outcome…Black Satan is the only one whom gets what they want in the end." Elekiika said.
Yuriko pulled out the device. She looked at it. "If the result is me and Stronger dying, may as well go out fighting. What were to happen if the device were to be destroyed? Or if I use it on myself?"
"We will have to start our research from scratch, but we will eventually recreate it, you'll only slow us down. As for you…maybe it works for you, but you are unstable. Your cybernetics and illness don't go well together. If you use it on yourself…chances are very high that you'll die. And then we just examine your corpse to further the research." Elekiika said. "Like I said, there is no scenario if you come out on top. The chances the device works for you is single digits."
"So damned if I do, damned if I don't?" Yuriko realized.
"Indeed. It's up to you to figure out how damned you'll be." Elekiika noted.
"Don't listen to him, there will be other heroes but me. Destroy it, get their help and strike back at Black Satan. I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the world. You don't have to, Yuriko."
"How many times do I have to say!" Elekiika said as he slammed Stronger into the ground. "Keep quiet!" Elekiika turned to Yuriko again. "Anyhow, one thing he is right about. You need help. You won't be able to do it. You are living on borrowed time. Even if Black Satan doesn't wipe you out from the face of the map, your condition may kill you eventually. You won't be able to do anything. Unlike him, you are no true Kamen Rider."
Yuriko scowled at the mechanical squid being. He was right. She was incomplete. Ill, a botched experiment. Stronger may not think any less of her…But Shigeru was a sweet guy whom didn't look down on anyone. He believes everyone can be strong in their own way. But she was not strong. She was sickly, she was not a Kamen Rider…how at times she wished for a normal life. Not much, but not to be ill, or the life of a hero. But she stood by Shigeru because she believed in him. And that selfish desire of hers is now secondary to doing what is right. Anything she may do is a risk. Better take one of those risks, then. "You're right. I'm not a Kamen Rider. Not yet at least."
She then raised her fist and thrusted it inside of her chest. Hard enough to pierce it. Behind his helmet Stronger's eyes widened…and Elekiika's bulging eyes couldn't get any wider but he still clearly showed surprised. As Tackle pulled her fist back, it was covered in a yellow substance that may be blood, as she wasn't hundred percent human anymore. She is spliced with a Ladybug after all. In the hole in her chest, she could see mechanical parts sticking out. Elekiika would blink if he could. "You're insane!" he said.
"Pot calling kettle black." Yuriko said as she held the device like a dagger. "Chance is in the single digits? I was never a gambling woman…But now seems like a good chance to try!" she then shoves the device inside the hole in her chest. Once she did, there was a huge burst of electricity. Her chest glowed light blue as lightning bolts and sparks flew everywhere. Yuriko screamed out in pain. She was no stranger to it, as she remembered the operating table at Black Satan. But she held on. She wanted it to work. She wanted to save Stronger, no longer be a burden, she wanted to be better. She wanted to live, to see a future with Shigeru, a future where they would be victorious over Black Satan, to protect a world for the people she cared about. Screw a normal life, she would be stronger.
The light brightened until it engulfed the entire battlefield, blinding everyone. Elekiika cursed being unable to blink. The static from the lightning also kind of did screw with his systems as he felt himself unable to move. He hoped his systems rebooted quickly. As he started to regain his bearing he wondered if it had worked. The light died down and where Yuriko stood was a burn spot. Just a black mark on the floor that smoked. "Huh…She was utterly vaporized. Well, I guess we'll have to go back to the drawing board, that is why you don't shove an untested device up your…" Elekiika was cut off by a sensation of pain as his tentacle was severed.
Stronger, after seeing the electric burst was too dazed at first, and the thought of Yuriko having died due to using the untested device upon herself hadn't sunk in. And it wasn't given time before cut him free from Elekiika, caught him out of the air and put him down gently. The first thing he saw was a yellow glove. The hand with the fingers outstretched, like someone readying themselves for a karate chop. And it sparked with electricity.
Stronger then looked at the whole of the person it belonged to. It looked like Tackle. Only…better. Her suit, which was made of a nanofiber appearing as cloth, was slightly more armor-like and leathery in some parts. Instead of bare legs, they were covered by a sort of black leggings. Her helmet, which only covered her upper head, now had become a full on helmet with a mouth-piece, and the antennas looked rather beetle-horn like. Oh and the hole in her chest was gone too. (2)
"Yuriko?" Shigeru asked. "Is it really you?"
"Well, how many ladybeetle-themed heroes do you know?" Yuriko asked cheekily. She sounded optimistic, fired up. "Love the new look."
"It looks awesome but…how do you feel?" Shigeru asked.
"Like a billion yen! I can breathe so much more easily, I feel no longer restrained by excessive movement. I am healthy. That device worked well. Good thing Black Satan never got to use it." Yuriko said.
"Yuriko, why did you never tell me you were ill? I wouldn't have brought you in…" Shigeru said.
"I didn't want to be seen as weak. And I owed so much to you…and I didn't have long after they turned me into Tackle, so wanted to make the best of it." Yuriko said.
"I never thought of you as weak, Yuriko. You are actually one of the strongest people I know. In your sheer perseverance and ability to surpass to limit. And for those whom know you well, they will all say the same." Shigeru assured her. Yuriko was glad her helmet covered her whole face, she didn't want him to see her blush. "Though you now got me terribly worried for jumping in the fray like that still and certainly with the risk of using the device in the first place."
"We'd be screwed either way, so I wanted to go out on my own terms. But it seems things worked out for the best." Yuriko said.
"This is bullshit!" Elekiika shouted. Oh right, the squid idiot…squidiot? "The chances were so slim to none, you should be dead! It shouldn't have worked for you. Why do you hero types get so terribly lucky all the freakin' time!"
"I guess the Luck Gods favor little old me over a your club of omnicidal maniacs." Yuriko said. She punched her fist into her palm. "And now…I want to use this new power to make you pay for pretending to be my brother and hurt my friend."
"You are still no match for me, Tackle." Elekiika growled.
"Not just Tackle…Kamen Rider Tackle!" she said as she struck a pose and electricity flowed off her. "Mind if I take care of him? I can handle him now. And I have some personal beef with him."
"I have utmost fate in you, Yuriko…No, Kamen Rider Tackle." Stronger replied. He could sense it, he was dealing with a new Tackle. Something inside him told him she had it. "Make Takoyaki out of him."
Tackle nodded and struck a pose, like an athlete ready for running. She then shot forward with great speed, leaving a trail of lightning behind. Elekiika stretched out his mechanical tentacles at her, but she charged her hands with electricity, and sliced the tentacles into pieces. Elekiika screamed out in pain. "You little bitch!" he growled as he sprayed globs of ink at her. However, she managed to swiftly dodge all of them. While Stronger exceeded in great physical strength, Tackle was in speed. "Missed me, you spoiled piece of calamari!" she closed the distance quickly and delivered a punch, which he actually felt. Most of the time her punches would merely annoy Kikaijin, but her blows hurt now.
Elekiika's hands morphed into a blade and a mace and he lashed, but she quickly stepped back, then closed the gap, struck with an electrified fist from another angle, stepping back once more to avoid another attack, then close in again, wince and repeat. Elekiika could not keep up with her speed and his armor started to dent, and the electrified blows start to mess up his system. "Stand still!"
"Make me!" Tackle was grinning behind his helmet. Elekiika spat more globs at her, but she avoided them rather easily. She jumped up, took a few of her spots from her costume (which were swiftly replaced) and threw them at Elekiika. "Tento Stink Bomber!"
It hit the squid cyborg head on, as the spots exploded in a yellow liquid substance. "Ah! What is this stuff? It burns my eyes and oh Great Leader, it reeks! Ah, got some in my mouth!"
"The natural defenses of a Ladybug. Should pay better attention in biology." Tackle said. She rushed in yet again and Elekiika swung his mace hand at her. She delivered and electrically charged kick, which shattered the mace. He then swiped with his blade hand, but she caught the arm and with an electrified chop, broke it off too.
"Those were part of my body!" Elekiika screamed in pain.
"Shockwave Toss!" she said as she grabbed the remains of his arm, threw him over her shoulder and slammed him in the ground so hard, there was an electrified shockwave coming from it. A dazed Elekiika got up and Tackle jumped up. She delivered a series of rapid electrified flying kicks that knocked Elekiika back, before the last one sent him flying. "To finish it up…" her belt buckle sparked with electricity, which flowed across her body. She jumped up. The next move would normally be a risky last resort attack for her, but with her being stable, healthy and strong she can use it without problem. "Ultra Cyclone!" She turned into an electric projectile and charged into Elekiika.
The Squid monster screeched out in pain. The electricity fired all of his circuits and overloaded his pain receptors. Not to mention how his tissue tore and burned as she shot through him. He looked down to see hole in his chest, which was still smoking. He stumbled around for a bit before he shouted: "Black Satan forever!" and blew up.
Tackle stood triumphantly. Stronger ran towards her. "Tackle…Yuriko…You were amazing." Tackle preened. "Though from now on, no more secrets. We are supposed to look out for each other."
"You wouldn't have been able to find a cure anyhow." Tackle noted.
"Not the issue here. We have to promise to always trust each other. And any obstacle we have, we face together. You scared me nearly have to death by taking a gamble with that device…" Stronger was quiet for a few minutes. "But I'm so glad you're alive."
"I'm alive…" Yuriko noted. She had in the back of her mind that she would die sooner rather then later. But now the 'later' was the more plausible option, she could act upon feeling she couldn't before. There was no limited time, nothing preventing her to have something meaningful. But now…she removed her helmet and let her long black hair flow. She then took Shigeru's helmet of him.
"Yuriko, what are you…" She then kissed him passionately. Shigeru was stunned for a few seconds, but he would soon return the kiss and wrap his arms around her. They didn't speak. They didn't need to. Talk was cheap. They were just living in the moment now. And they would use this moment as a reminder how much more they have to fight for now. And they'd fight harder. Black Satan wouldn't know what hit them.
We flash forward to see more events playing out in the life of Stronger and Tackle. We see the image of the both of them delivering electrified Rider kicks to Dead Lion, whom would blow up. During their victory, Stronger lifted Tackle up and spun her around in the air as she giggled. As she was put back down they touched their helmeted foreheads.
In the fight against Dr. Kate, Tackle used her Charge up, the Yellow accents on her suit become Golden, and two ladybug wings spouted from her back made from electricity. She charged in at the evil female scientist, her arm electrified and chipped her across the middle, separating Kate's upper body from her lower body.
She is seen standing alongside Stronger among a group of Showa Riders…and she wasn't the only new addition as several other female Riders had become her sisters in arms.
We cut to a wedding of Shigeru and Yuriko, the Legendary Riders and their spouses and allies also attending, everyone cheering and clapping when they sealed their vows with a kiss.
Their cybernetics would make sure they wouldn't be able to have children, but that wasn't the only way to start a family. They recall how they saved a couple of kids orphaned by Black Satan…and decided to adopt them. They were their children, blood or not.
Many battles to follow across the Heisei and Reiwa era, always by her husbands' side, kicking ass and taking names.
We see her, joined by several female Riders, even those not seen in the prime universe, tackling the Black Satan remnants and putting an end to the scheme of Mrs. Titan and Black Tackle.
The legacy of Tackle would live on.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(1) I think the prototype for cybernetics of the Delzer Army (or Delza Army, toe-may-to, to-mah-to) that would succeed Black Satan as Stronger's enemies. Would make a good explanation as any for an upgrade for Tackle as the Delza Army was already in the works at one point in time if General Shadow was able to introduce it shortly after Black Satan's demise. Not to mention he probably recreated or stole the original research for his own at one point, seemed like the best way to explain it without breaking too much continuity.
(2) Think of it as the Perfecter enhanced Tackle from the SIC Saga from Decade, only with black leggings.
Note that Yuriko's in universe illness is based on her actress' condition, whom also had asthma and hence couldn't do fight scenes for long. However, she lost her life to one of these asthma attacks. I pray for her and hope that I was able to pay great tribute to her and her role.
