Futari wa Pretty Cure: A New Legend

by Ashbel Longhart

Ichi Dai had a somewhat good life. Working at his uncle's orphanage, taking care of the kids, and so on. But on his birthday, he was suddenly transported to PreCure no Sekai. After a year of living in this new world, he later finds out that Grongi are here, causing chaos and death wherever they go. As the new Kamen Rider Kuuga, he must protect this world's smile. "Chou Henshin!"

31. Ride 31: Take Off: BeatChaser 2000!

Hello Fanfiction readers! Ashbel Longhart here back from my usual long absence to bring you more Kuuga! You know the usual story, life's complicated, motivations going left and right until I finally settled on something. And that something happened to be Kuuga. Let me tell you, despite being excited to do this chapter, this took a lot longer than I anticipated. I won't go into details, but let's just say there were a couple of rewrites here and there. But enough about that, you guys are here for the actions and I am here to deliver! But first, cue disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Kuuga or Futari wa Pretty Cure. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own this story and my OC's.)

Last time: Pollun was feeling a bit of the homesickness, but after sitting down and talking with Dai and the others, Pollun got over his problems, for now. But the group was given no chance to rest as the Grongi rider, Go-Bada-Ba took his turn at the Gegeru. As Ryo works to get Dai the new BeatChaser 2000, what follows is a highspeed chase and a test of Dai's riding skills, but at the climax of their fight, the TryChaser ends up breaking down due to all the accumulated stress from all of Dai's previous battles. And then, to the shock of everyone, Bada turns his bike into a Zakenna, becoming powerful enough to make quick work of our heroes and leaving them to bleed out and effectively giving them their second loss this entire story. And given how Pretty Cure handles things today, that's a rarity. So yeah, a lot of exciting stuff happened. And things are about to get even more exciting in today's episode! So without further, let's ride! Chou Henshin!

---

Ride 31: The Zakenna Rider, Bada! Take Off, Beatchaser 2000!

---

(One Year Ago)

On a bright, Sunday afternoon, we find the residents of the Misumi household surrounding one Ichi Dai. Why? Because the young man was currently working on fixing the fridge that Mrs. Misumi had suddenly found stopped working, causing panic as the housewife scrambled to save whatever she could. Having gotten off work early, Takeshi was about to call for a repairman when Dai stepped forth to fix the cold storage box. And so, after borrowing some tools from some neighbors Dai had befriended, the adults watched as the young boy worked his magic with Nagisa and Ryota joining minutes later after hearing all the commotion.

"Tape this here...put that back there...and...done!" Dai announced, wiping some sweat off his brow before turning to Rie. "Plug it back in and see if it's working now."

Nodding her head, Rie did as instructed and plugged the cord back into the outlet. Once she did, the fridge's inside lit up and one could hear the inner fan moving.

"It's working!" Takeshi cheered before he patted Dai on the back. "You did it! Nice work, Dai!"

"Just happy to help," Dai said, putting the tools away before he got up to help move the fridge back into place.

"I didn't know you could fix machines," Ryota said, commenting on Dai's skills.

"I only know how to work with house appliances," Dai said while he and Takeshi worked together to move the fridge. "My uncle had me learn so that I could help around the orphanage whenever something went wrong with the machines there."

"You really saved us big time," Rie said as she moved away the tools so the men could freely move around. "For a second, I thought I would have to get a new fridge."

"I don't see why we can't," Nagisa said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you fixed it, but the fridge is kinda old. I remember it broke down one time when I was seven. Don't you think we should get a new one soon?"

"We could," Dai said, not arguing against Nagisa's offer as he and Takeshi pushed the fridge back into place. Once done, Dai took off his gloves and addressed the girl. "I've told my uncle similar suggestions about some of the stuff at the orphanage, but he always said that he prefers to keep things until they reach their absolute limits. And I've come to agree with him over the years. Plus, it helps us save money."

"Now that I can get behind," Takeshi commented.

"This fridge still has a year or two left in it. And I want to let it keep helping us for as long as it can until then," Dai said, patting the fridge as if it were alive.

"You make it sound like it's alive," Nagisa commented, seeing the way Dai was treating it.

"Is that weird?"

"A little."

A laugh erupted from Dai in response to Nagisa's blunt reply and soon everyone found themselves smiling and joining in on the laughter. Thus concluded another normal day for the Misumi family plus one.

---

(Now)

Inside a meeting room located at the Metropolitan Police HQ, Chief Hiwagawa rises from his seat to address the suited men sitting before him.

"Gentlemen. Regarding the matter of the BTCS...I've passed the orders on for the case to be dealt with without directly involving ULF #4."

All the men nodded in satisfaction. Hopefully, with this, they can get the media off their back until they can think of a way to gain back public support.

"However, I must regretfully report that we have made little progress in stopping ULF #40," Hiwagawa informed. "Not only that, but sources have informed us that ULF #40 seems to have undergone some sort of...mutation that has increased the speed of his killings."

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

"A mutation?"

"As if these killers weren't monstrous enough..."

Raising a hand in the air to get everyone quiet, Hiwagawa continued speaking.

"Gentlemen. I understand that due to recent events regarding ULF #4, distancing ourselves from him may seem the best and safest option. But I would like everyone to remember what it is we do: Defending the public. It is our duty to protect the people from threats, no matter what form it may take. In our pursuit of this, I ask you, how should we carry this out? If we make the wrong call, then the situation is guaranteed to get worse."

"What are you asking of us, Chief Hiwagawa?"

"Forgive me if I am stepping out of line, but..."

"I want to know where you personally stand on this, sir."

Thinking back to the question Ryō asked of him, Hiwagawa looked at every man here, most of whom were higher than him in status, and stood his ground.

"Our responsibilities as police officers...our sworn duty...I'm asking you all to think back to everything that has happened these past months and reconsider the matter regarding ULF #4. Is cutting our ties with him...truly the best thing to do?"

---

(Insert RISE by MADKID)

(Instrumental) The song starts as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, casting its light over the city. Over on top of the tallest building in the city, three figures can be seen standing, looking towards the sunrise.

(Oh oh oh oh oh oh~! Oh oh oh oh oh oh~!) As the sun rises higher and higher over the city, we soon see that the three figures are none other than Dai, Nagisa, and Honoka, all transformed as they look over the city protectively.

(Hikari mitsuketa kuuhaku no jikan) We first see scenes of Nagisa playing lacrosse with her friends on the lacrosse team. Sweat drops fly off of her as she catches the ball with her lacrosse stick before throwing it. Off to the side, Mepple is seen sleeping inside Nagisa's bag, dreaming about eating various foods.

(Mayoikonda chuuzuri no sekai) Honoka is seen in the lab with her friends in the science club. The girl mixes a vial of chemicals in her hands while the others watch with anticipation. A puff of smoke erupts from the vile, and the girls sigh in relief when that's all that happened. In the corner, Mipple watched nearby from within her carrier, looking on with interest.

(Shinjirareru kotae sagashimotomete) The scene transitions to Dai playing soccer with the rest of the soccer team. After scoring a goal, Dai switches with someone else and goes over to the bench, grabbing a water bottle. However, just as he's about to take a sip, he gets a phone call from Ryō. Answering the call, Dai's expression turns serious.

(Tada samayotteru) [Yeah] Nodding his head, Dai ends the call and runs off, running toward his TryChaser 2000. Getting on the bike, he revs up the engine and drives off. This doesn't go unnoticed by both Nagisa and Honoka as they stop whatever they are doing and race off to follow after the Rider.

(Yubi no sukima nigeru light, Yosomi shiteru hima mo nai) The scene changes again to show Ryō along with the other men of the Special Investigation Team, all running around as they all armed themselves and got into their respective cars, racing down the road to the scene of the crime.

(Uketa kizuna ato sae kate ni, Seijaku kirisaiteku) Darkness overtakes the scene as the Seeds of Darkness, Juna, Regine, and Belzei Gertrude all appear, glaring menacingly at the screen before all three of them get sucked into a portal and a shadowy form appears to replace them.

(Dare mo kare mo Dead or alive, Mamoru dake ja Can't survive) In an abandoned warehouse with flickering lights, the Grongi, mostly the Go Tribe, appear, flickering between their human and Monster forms in tandem with the lights.

(I don't wanna lie to myself) With Baruba and Dorudo at his sides, Daguva walks up, smiling as always as he raises his hand and sends out a blast of fire that momentarily blocks the screen.

(Keep on the fight, get right, I'll never lose and cry) Skidding the bike to a stop, Dai quickly takes off his helmet and gets off his ride as he faces off against the Go Tribe, accompanied by the Seeds of Darkness and a small army of Zakenna.

(Keep run up day and night, Time to rewrite) Just as Dai was about to summon the Arcle, both Nagisa and Honoka finally caught up with the Rider, appearing by his side with their Lovely Communes in their hands. Behind them was the Special Investigation Team as Ryō and the others all aimed their guns at the Dark Zone and Grongi.

(No matter what anyone says I find my way) Dai looks at both the girls who give him encouraging smiles before the three nod at one another and ready their respective transformations.

(Yeah, never go away) In a bright flash of light, Kuuga followed by Cures Black and White all leap out of the light and towards their enemies.

(Never go away) Both sides charge at one another and at the same time Dai throws the first punch, Ryō fires his gun and the fight begins.

(Now, nobody can't stop me no way) With both his hands and feet covered in flames, Dai throws a barrage of punches and kicks at any Grongi and Zakenna that get too close to him before coming to a deadlock with the leader of the Go Tribe, Go-Gadoru-Ba, whose eyes briefly flash gold.

(Wasurete shimau koto no nai you ni) With their backs to one another, both Nagisa and Honoka punch, kick, block, and throw back any Grongi and Zakenna that attacked them before coming face to face with the Seeds of Darkness.

(Nakushita mono subete torimodosu tame) Over with the Investigation Team, Ryō, and the others fought with their guns and bravery, not backing down against such overwhelming odds until Ryō came face to face with Baruba. The two have a staredown as Ryō aims his gun at Baruba who simply stares back, her expression unreadable.

(Rise suddenly in this world) [I don't look back yeah] In a flash of golden lightning, Dai assumes his Rising Mighty form while the girls equip their Rainbow Bracelets. Now ready, the trio stands up against Daguva in his Imperfect form.

(Kurikaesu tabi no hate) Taking the lead, Dai charges at the Grongi leader, throwing lightning-fast punches which Daguva simply guards against before he punches Dai back.

(Nouri ni nokotta shippai nante) The girls jump in this time to try their luck, they both attack in perfect sync as Nagisa's right eye and Honoka's left eye briefly flash gold.

(Zenbu torikaese ima Turn over) In a show of strength, Daguva pushes the girls away before a tornado envelops his entire form. With a swing of his arm that disperses the tornado, it reveals Daguva now in his Perfect form as the entire area is suddenly enveloped in flames.

(Rise suddenly in this world) [I don't look back yeah] Seeing the sight of Daguva at his full strength, anger seems to ignite from Dai as with a roar, darkness soon envelops the Rider as he transforms into Kuuga's Ultimate form.

(Oh oh oh oh oh oh~! Oh oh oh oh oh oh~!) The scene changes to a bright morning day, the sky bright blue with few clouds in the sky. Dai stands on top of a small hill looking up at the sky as Nagisa down below looks up at the Rider with worry. Turning around, Dai smiles at Nagisa, but this only seems to worry the girl even more as she quickly runs up to the Rider and grabs him by the arm in desperation. As soon as she does this, the scene returns to the battle as Nagisa tries to grab Dai's arm, but fails as the Rider charges forth, both he and Daguva meeting in the middle as they both throw a flaming punch at one another and just as both attacks connect, a bright flash of light blinds the screen and the song comes to an end.

---

(Coastline)

"Uh...ugh..." Groaning in pain, Dai's eyes slowly opened as the sound of crashing waves and seagulls awoke him. Blinking his eyes, he felt his body slightly burning, a feeling he had gotten used to over the last few months. That same feeling was slowly, but surely fading away, a clear sign that his body was rapidly healing itself.

"Dai!" A trio of high-pitched voices reached the boy's ears before the forms of Mepple, Mipple, and Pollun all entered his vision.

"You're awake-popo!" Pollun exclaimed as he threw his entire body at Dai's chest, hugging him as he cried joyfully.

"Thank goodness-mipo," Mipple said, breathing a sigh of relief as she wiped away her tears.

"We were so worried-mepo!" Mepple admitted, wiping tears of his own.

"You three...what...?" Dai blinked in confusion, wondering why all three fairies had tears in their eyes.

*VROOM!*

Like a flash of lightning, Dai soon recalled what had happened and shot up, groaning again when his wounds, which he found were bandaged up, flared up.

"Whoa, take it easy," Turning his head towards the voice, Dai found Rai kneeling towards him.

"Kuzaragi-san, how did you...no, the girls. Where...?"

"No need to worry, kid. They're right here," Moving his body aside, Rai revealed both Nagisa and Honoka lying on the ground next to him, unconscious with bandages wrapped around their torso and being the only things providing them modesty as their shirts had been taken off and folded under them to act as makeshift pillows. Glancing down, he saw Rai's folded-up coat acting as his pillow.

"I found you all pretty banged up with these kids bawling their eyes out," Rai explained as he closed a medkit next to him. "I applied some first aid, but there was a lot of blood. I was about to call the hospital when you woke up."

"How long were we out?" Dai asked, glancing up at the sky to get an estimate of how much time had passed while he and the girls were unconscious.

"About an hour."

"Shit." While most would consider an hour a small percentage of time to lose, to Dai any loss in time was a bad one, especially considering what he remembered happening before losing consciousness.

"Bada is still on the loose. We gotta go after him," Dai said as he pushed himself up.

"Easy! You're still healing-mipo," Mipple said, not wanting the Rider to push himself more than necessary.

"She's right, don't push yourself," Rai said as he got up before motioning with his head toward something. "Besides, you won't be getting anywhere with that." Following the man's direction, Dai turned his head and gasped.

Leaning against the wooden fence that separated the roads from the sidewalks and beach was the Trychaser whose sides were ripped wide open.

"Oh...right..." A somber expression formed on Dai's face as he walked over to his wrecked bike, remembering what had happened before being knocked out. Placing a hand on his bike, shame and guilt both stabbed into Dai's chest as his gaze lingered on the bike's new scars.

"I contacted the institute. They're sending a crew over to pick it up," Rai informed as he walked over to Dai and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, kid. For the BTCS to be unavailable when you need it most..."

"No, it's...it's fine. We'll just have to make do," Dai said, but his gaze never left the bike. Hanging his head, Dai apologized to the Rider Machine as if it were alive and could hear him. "I'm...I'm sorry, Trychaser."

"Dai..." The fairies all looked at Dai worryingly, sharing his sad expression. Seeing his trusted ride in this state, they could only guess what the Rider felt.

"...He won't..."

Hearing a voice, everyone turned to see Nagisa regaining consciousness with Honoka beginning to awaken as well.

"He won't...get away...with this..." Nagisa groaned out as she pushed herself up.

"Nagisa!" Mepple cried out his partner's name as he and everyone rushed over to the girls' side.

"Easy you two. You lose a lot of blood. Focus on resting for now," Rai said, trying to persuade the girls to lie back down.

Nagisa shook her head in response. "The longer we rest here, the more people die to that monster."

"She's right. We can't just sit here and..." Just as Honoka was about to get up to her feet, she stumbled down to her knees as did Nagisa when she tried to get up.

"Easy, easy!" Rai said as he and Dai quickly caught the two. "See what I mean? You two are in no condition to fight."

"What about him?" Nagisa directed her eyes to the one supporting her, that being Dai.

"I've almost recovered thanks to my healing factor," Dai explained as his physical condition was looking better compared to the girls.

"Lucky you," Nagisa commented in a slightly bitter tone. "We have pieces of that Ama-whatsit Stone inside of us, right? Why aren't we healing as fast as you?"

"You have pieces inside of you, Nagisa-chan. I've got the whole thing," Dai said as those two bits of info were enough explanation to the girls.

"We still can't just sit here doing nothing," Honoka said, insisting that they can continue fighting. "You can't face Bada alone, Ichi-kun. Not without a bike, or against that new power of his."

Reminding the Rider of the trashed Trychaser and Bada's new powers caused Dai's expression to grow grim as he had nothing to say in response. Just then, the radio in Rai's car started beeping.

{HQ to all units! There's been another fatality. ULF #40's body count is now at 51 victims.}

"Shit," Rai cursed, summarizing what everyone was thinking right now.

{According to a report from the Kanagawa prefectural police, ULF #40 has stopped in Miyukihama, Yokosuka, and is currently...ordering food from a WcDonald's?}

Now that was something nobody expected to hear.

"...come again?"

---

(WcDonald's)

*CRASH!*

Screams erupted inside the fast-food joint when a man and a motorbike broke through the window like a rocket and crashed into a table occupied by a family of four, which unfortunately quickly turned to three when the wrecked bike collided with the father of the group, killing him. Now with two dead men in front of them, the mother's screams grew to become the loudest as the daughter and son sat in horrorfied silence.

*VROOM!*

A roaring engine stopped all the screaming as Bada on his Zakenna-transformed Bagibuson stopped just outside the broken window. Getting off, the scarf-clad Grongi stepped into the restaurant through the fractured window followed by the Bagibuson whose form bent and stretched unnaturally, further freaking out the occupants there as they all quickly realized just what Bada was.

Looking over at his latest kill, Bada let out a small laugh before he and his trusty steed made their way over to the counter to look over the menu, seemingly ignoring the female worker manning the register and shaking in complete fear.

"C-C-Can I h-h-help you, s-sir?"

"Hmm..." Bada hummed to himself as he looked over the menu, looking like anything but a regular customer. Taking a moment to assume his altered human form, Bada looked down at the worker and said, "Two #1's. For me and my buddy here."

"Zakenna..."

"Make sure they have large fries."

"R-R-Right away, s-sir!" Fearing for her life, the worker bowed before running to the back to inform the cooks and escape the monster as quickly as possible.

And so both rider and steed stood in silence, quietly relishing in the fear surrounding them. Nobody dared to move to escape for fear that Bada would go after them if they so much as twitched. Bada wouldn't, of course, since doing so wouldn't count toward his kills, but no one knew that and thus the people sat in silent fear.

Glancing over to his right, Bada looked at a man shaking in fear next to him and wordlessly took his drink from him, causing the man to flinch and let out a small cry. Sparing no further attention to the terrified civilian who looked on the verge of pissing himself, Bada drank from the drink he stole.

'Hm. Fizzy. Taste kinda like orange.'

"You must be quite confident to take a break like this."

Still sipping his stolen drink, Bada turned around to find Baruba walking into the restaurant accompanied by Dorudo and Gadoru.

"Hmph! I can finish my turn within the next hour," Bada said, his voice filled with arrogant confidence.

"So sure of yourself. Perhaps you should save such talk until after you've completed your objective," Baruba said before glancing over at the Bagibuson. "Is the source of your confidence due to your reunion with your long-lost steed?"

"Zakenna...!" In response to being addressed, the Bagibuson turned and glared at Baruba who remained unfazed.

"To think I would see the true Bagibuson reincarnated like this," Gadoru spoke up as he examined the Zakenna bike. "I suppose strange things like these can happen if one lives long enough, especially in these strange times."

"You're not going to forbid me from using him, are you?" Bada asked, raising an eyebrow at his Group's leader.

"...No," Gadoru answered after a moment of thinking. "If Lord Daguva was generous enough, which he isn't well known to be so, to give you your partner back then I see no reason to forbid you from using him. In fact..."

A small smirk formed on Gadoru's usually stoned face, which scared the people even further to the point a few passed out from the fear alone.

"I can still remember, clear as day, the sight of you and your steed as you both carved a road of death through the villages we attacked in the past. I wouldn't mind seeing such a thing once again."

"We'll be sure to put on a show then," Bada said as his order finally arrived. The worker who delivered the meal quickly ran to her co-workers hiding in the back, knowing it was pointless to ask Bada to pay.

"It seems those people...what were they called again?"

"The police," Dorudo answered.

"Right, the police." Not even giving the judge a small thanks, Gadoru continued from where he left off while walking over to a random table, scaring its occupants as he took a nugget from them. "It seems the police have issued a warning to all riders to stay off the streets. What will you do now that your targets are getting off their horses before you can kill them?"

"Oh, don't worry," Bada said, taking a bite out of his burger and tossing the other one to his ride, who viciously ate it. "There are still plenty of riders I can go after."

"Is that so?" Gadoru said while taking a bite out of the nugget he took. A displeased look appeared on his face before he threw the bitten nugget back away.

"It's not just the horses that are all shiny and metal. Even chariots have a whole new look to them. And the Lintos drive them around everywhere."

---

(Special Investigation HQ, Science Division)

"Well now, isn't this weird? Just where did I put that darn thing?"

To say things were awkward in the room was an understatement. Ten minutes had passed since the arrival of the Kanto Policemen, much to their displeasure since they weren't supposed to be here for long. What should have been a quick grab-and-go assignment had turned into a game of patience as the Kanto men waited on Sayuru to find the BTCS' ignition key, claiming to have misplaced it.

"I am so sorry! I've been such an airhead lately. Please believe me I'm normally better organized than this. Perhaps it's just me getting old..."

It was obvious to everyone in the room that the scientist was stalling. The Kanto men weren't bothered at first, knowing there was no delaying the inevitable, but having stood around for ten minutes was starting to wear their patience thin since they were still under strict orders.

"Look," One of the men stepped forth to put an end to this farce. "corporate, or we'll take it by force!"

"Ah! I found it!" Unfazed by the man's threat, Sayuru laughed as he took a briefcase from a storage cabinet. "So sorry for the wait, gentlemen. Here!"

Both Kanto men stumbled back when Sayuru shoved the case into their arms. Regaining their balance quickly, they glared at the scientist's rude behavior who simply stood and smiled in response. Letting out a huff, they opened the case, revealing a handle rod much like the Trychaser's Tryacceler rod.

"This is the ignition key?"

Sayuru nodded. "That's right."

Satisfied, the men closed the briefcase and turned to leave.

"However...!" Sayuru spoke up, getting the two to stop. "You'll need more than that to get the BTCS running."

"What?"

"You need the key code, too."

"A key code? And just what is that code?"

"It's his birthday."

"Whose?"

"Why, No. 4's."

"No. 4's birthday!?" Both men looked at the scientist as if he had a second head. The key code to activate the BTCS was some arbitrary birthday, let alone No. 4's, an Unidentified Lifeform?

Suddenly, just when it looked like the men were about to get even more annoyed, the room door opened before Ryō rushed inside only to slow down once he saw the Kanto men and their expressions.

"Ah! Perfect timing!" Sayuru cheered as he made his way over to his kouhai. "This here's my friend and the only one who knows it. No. 4's birthday, that is."

Taking stock of the situation, Ryō awkwardly bowed to the Kanto men and introduced himself.

"I'm Ichijo Ryō of the Metro PD's Unidentified Lifeform Task Force. I'd like to discuss the matter regarding the BTCS with you gentlemen."

---

(With our heroes)

Leaving the wrecked Trychaser to the pickup team once they arrived, everyone got into Rai's car as they headed off to meet up with Hiroshi's team in charge of setting up roadblocks. While Rai wanted to speed down the road as time was of the essence, he couldn't do that due to his injured passengers.

"How're you girls holding up back there?" Rai asked as he checked the girls through his rearview mirror.

"Still alive..." Nagisa said, slightly groaning as she and Honoka held their bandaged chest which peeked through the cuts on their shirts.

"You two really should be resting," Dai said, looking worriedly over the girls.

"And like we already said, we can't let you fight alone," Nagisa argued back, moving up only to wince back when her wound flared up.

"I appreciate the support, really I do, but you'll only put yourselves in more danger if you two fight in your current conditions," Dai said as he stared in displeasure at the blood on their clothes.

"He's right," Rai said. "Unless you two have some magical way of healing yourselves, you'll only be a burden."

"...actually," Honoka spoke up, eyes widening as an idea formed in her head.

"What is it?" Nagisa asked, seeing the expression on her partner's face.

"I just had a thought," Honoka began as she gazed down toward Pollun. "Pollun can stay in his true form for an extended period thanks to the power of the Prism Stones."

"Popo?" Hearing his name, Pollun poked his head from out of his carrier.

"Yeah, and?" Nagisa raised an eyebrow, wondering where her friend was going with this.

"Well...what if he could do the same for others?"

"What do you mean?" Dai asked as Honoka pulled out the Pretty Cure Cards and sorted through them until she found the one depicting the fairy nurse known as Palp.

"Nagisa, remember back when Mepple was sick and you healed him with Palp here?" Nagisa nodded, thinking back to that time when she and Honoka were still getting used to their duties as Pretty Cure. That incident taught her always to keep an eye on Mepple's health.

"Well, despite being sealed, Pollun's still able to access a portion of the Powers of Creation, such as when he summoned the Rainbow Bracelets for us. If he can do that, then what if he could summon the other fairies like Palp here to this world? And not just in their bubbles, but actually, physically here?"

"Wait, are you suggesting we get Palp here to heal us?" Nagisa asked, seeing what Honoka was trying to say.

"Her medicine was strong enough to cure Mepple of his sickness in an instant completely. Surely she must have something that'll help us."

"It's worth a shot," Dai said before looking down at Pollun. "That is if Pollun can summon her into this world."

"I'll give it a try-popo!" Pollun exclaimed, wanting to be of help in any way he could.

"Okay, first things first," Instead of just swiping the card, Honoka addressed Pollun directly. "Pollun, I need to ask, do you really not know how you summoned the Rainbow Bracelets for us?"

"No," Pollun shook his head. "So much was going on and it just kind of...happened."

"Then what were you thinking about then?" Dai asked, assisting. "Think really hard, Pollun. What were feeling then? What were your thoughts?"

"I...I..." Nervous with all the attention he was receiving, ironic considering his usual behavior, Pollun nonetheless did as instructed and thought back to the battle against the Dark Seeds. How they had taken away Wisdom from them. How they were ruthlessly beating on the girls. How...helpless he felt as he could do nothing but watch it all happen.

"I...wanted the bad guys to stop hurting my friends-popo. I...felt helpless because there was nothing I could do-popo."

"Okay. And...?"

"I...hated that-popo. I hated those guys for hurting my friends-popo. I hated feeling so helpless-popo. I...I wanted to do anything to help them. To save them-popo!"

Suddenly, a soft glow surrounded Pollun's body, surprising everyone.

"What's going on?" Nagisa wondered out loud.

"It's just like that time when Pollun summoned the Rainbow Bracelets. Only it's a lot softer this time," Honoka said before holding up Palp's card. "This might just work!"

"Pollun! Hold onto that feeling! Focus!" Dai cried out, trying to support the baby prince.

"POPO~!"

"Here we go!" Honoka said as she swiped the card across the Pretty Commune.

"Nurse Palp! Please use your medicine to cure sickness and injury-popo!"

With his voice echoing with power, the light around Pollun slowly rose out of his body and formed a small ball of light. This light then rose into the air before exploding into particles, revealing Palp's bubbleless, physical form to everyone in the car.

"It worked!" Dai cheered as the bird-like fairy floated down.

"Well I'll be," Rai stared (through the rearview mirror) in awe as the new fairy took in her surroundings.

"Oh my!" Looking down at her body before taking in her surroundings, Palp's eyes widen in surprise. "Am I...am I actually here in the Garden of Rainbows?"

"I...I did it...popo," Pollun said, gasping for air as he looked incredibly exhausted.

"Pollun!" Nagisa cried out in worry for the baby prince.

"I'm...okay...just really...tired-popo..."

"You did well. Now rest up," Honoka said, smiling down at the exhausted fairy.

"Okay...I'll do that...popo..." And with those final words, Pollun closed his eyes with a small smile on his face.

"Good work, Pollun. Leave the rest to us," Dai said before everyone sans Rai turned their attention to Palp.

"Nurse Palp!" Mepple spoke up as he and Mipple popped out from their carriers. "We need you to heal our friends-mepo!"

"Do you have any medicine that can help us-mipo?"

"Let me see here..." Floating over to the girls, the fairy nurse checked their injuries and winced. "Oh, these are very serious injuries. I'm not sure if I have anything that can patch this up quickly."

"Please, you gotta have something," Nagisa pleaded. "Just...anything that can get us into fighting shape right now."

"Well, I specialize more in curing sickness than physical injuries, but I might have something..." Reaching into a sachel by her side, Palp pulled out a needle filled with a bright green substance. "This here should accelerate your body's natural healing abilities. Whether you'll be fit enough to fight depends on how fast the medicine works."

"It's better than nothing," Honoka said as she and Nagisa lifted the sleeves of their shirts, exposing their arms to the nurse.

"You wouldn't happen to have any painkillers on you too, would you?" Dai asked.

"I do."

*BEEP!*

Suddenly, Rai's radio beeped as Nodoka's voice came through.

{HQ to all units. ULF #40 is on the move again. According to a report from the Kanagawa prefectural police, ULF #40 is heading from Miyukihama, Yokosuka, in the direction of Chojagasaki.}

Stopping Rai so he could focus on driving, Dai pulled up a map on the GPS.

{The next blockade has been set around the Zushi Coast. Part of it will be in the nearby town of Hayama. Sakurai and the assault team will assemble in this location.}

"That's not too far away," Honoka said after analyzing where they were on the map.

"Well girls, whatever you're going to do, you better do it now," Rai said as his instincts told him they would be seeing action soon.

"Right," Nodding their heads, the girls looked back at Palp. "Miss Palp, please!"

"Time for your injection!"

---

Near the Zushi coast, a group of six police cars pulled over as Hiroshi and members of the assault team got out, carrying rifles specifically designed to shoot Sayuru's newly developed rounds. Seeing no signs of their comrade or No. 40, Hiroshi addressed the team, shouting instructions.

"I want three teams—A, B, and C—lying in wait! Once you're in position, check your weapons, and then we wait for the special ammo to arrive."

"Roger!"

"Detective Sakurai!" A policeman rushed over to Hiroshi while everyone else spread out, checking their weapons as told while also beginning to set up their blockade.

Quickly saluting, the policeman spoke. "The transport from the institute in Chiba should be here any minute now."

"Good," Nodding in satisfaction, Hiroshi turned his eyes onto the road they were standing on, looking towards the horizon for any signs of their target.

*BEEP!*

Suddenly, Hiroshi heard the sound of his car radio beeping. Quickly running over to it, the detective picked up the transmission.

{This is Kanagawa TR 05 calling Metro PD 06, over.}

"This is Sakurai with Metro PD 06."

{I'm currently proceeding from Shimoyama Bridge with ULF #40 in pursuit. I should reach the blockade shortly, but he's already passed the four escort cars I had and he's gaining on me, fast!}

'They're already here!? The blockade's not finished yet!' Not to mention they didn't have the special ammo yet, Hiroshi looked back to the road before making a quick decision.

"Just get here in one piece!" Despite their unfinished preparations, they would do whatever they could to stop ULF #40, just like they've always had.

"I can see the 2000A!" Someone shouted as appearing over the horizon was TR 05 with an untransformed Bada hot on his trail.

"Oh? Is that how they plan to stop us?" Seeing the barely finished blockade up ahead, Bada smirked to himself as his eyes ominously glowed red under his helmet. "Fools. It'll take more than a measly blockade to stop Bagibuson and me!"

"Zakenna!"

As one, both Bada and his steed transformed, and once they did, their speed increased as the Grongi rider jumped over TR 05, surprising everyone watching. Landing and skidding to a stop, Bada pulled out his duel sabers just as TR 05 hastily braked to avoid crashing into the Grongi who merely scoffed at the action.

"You should have kept driving."

*CRASH!*

"NO!" Hiroshi screamed as the knocked-over Trychaser 2000A skidded across the now blood-soaked road with both halves of its rider tumbling down.

"Heh! And that makes 52," Smirking to himself, Bada brandished his weapon to get rid of the blood on it before he turned his sights on Sakurai and his team.

Changing back to his human form, Bada pointed to himself and said in their language, "Just try and catch me."

"What!?" Growling at those mocking words, Hiroshi raised his customized rifle only to remember that he had no ammo in it. Laughing at his blunder, Bada transformed back into his true form and drove Bagibuson...towards the blockade!?

*VROOM!*

*CRASH!*

"Gah!" Hiroshi and the other men cried out in surprise as Bada and Bagibuson barreled their way through the spiked roadblocks meant to impede them, only for Bagibuson's bladed wheel and supernatural armor to cut and break through the obstacles. Everyone quickly moved out of the way when the Zakenna bike continued driving forward, knocking aside the police cars getting in its way much like a bull that continued charging forward no matter what was in front of it. One even ended up getting sliced in half as Bagibuson's bladed wheels tore through the vehicle like paper.

"It's gonna take more than that to stop us, Lintos!" Bada shouted to Hiroshi and the men as the Grongi continued to ride off in search of more prey.

"Shit!" Hiroshi cursed to himself as everyone picked themselves up and helplessly watched as their target got away.

"What the hell was that!?"

"That was no normal bike."

"Was it just my imagination, or was that bike alive?"

As panic and confusion began to set into the group, Hiroshi meanwhile looked back at the sliced corpse of their comrade and bit his cheek to stop himself from crying out in anger.

"Someone call an ambulance! Everyone else, regroup and look over the damages. I'll report to HQ."

Ten minutes later, Rai's car had finally arrived, passing by an ambulance just now taking its leave. Parking the car, Rai and the group all got out, gaping at the damage done to Hiroshi's team.

"Oh my god..." Honoka breathed out as she stared in horror at how much blood was on the road. She could only imagine just what the ambulance was carrying inside of it as it left.

"Did Bada do this?" Nagisa thought out loud as her eyes landed on the police car that was torn in half.

"Sakurai!" Spotting his friend, Rai rushed over to the man who was sitting in his car, head hung down in shame.

"Kuzaragi-san," Getting out of his car, Hiroshi walked over only to look surprised once he saw the girls. "You girls...aren't you two...?"

"Yeah," Nagisa nodded, confirming Hiroshi's thoughts that they were indeed Pretty Cure. There wasn't any need to hide it considering the man had already seen their faces.

"Are you okay?" Honoka asked, looking worriedly at the adult. While he bore no physical wounds, the young girl could tell that he was suffering from mental ones.

"I'm fine...no, no I'm not," Hiroshi admitted, looking at the blood on the road before he lowered his head again in shame. "I'm sorry. We were so close, but..."

"I heard the report over the radio. Don't blame yourself," Rai said, placing a hand on the man's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

Dai went to say something, anything that could comfort the distraught adult, but no words came to mind that could help. Another life had been lost and now it was known that Bada had grown more powerful. As the situation worsened, so did the morale of everyone here.

Just then, Dai's eyes landed on a 2000A, the one the now-deceased policeman had ridden on as the specs of blood on it and scratched paint gave it away. Seeing it in the state it was in, and briefly imagining his own Trychaser in its place, the young teenager knew what he needed to do.

"Kuzaragi-san," Calling to the adult, Dai pointed over to the 2000A. "Can I borrow that?"

Taking a look at the bike, Rai turned to Dai and asked, "You're going after him?"

"I can't just stand here and do nothing. It may be pointless what with its lower speed, but that's no excuse to just give up. No matter what, we need to do everything that we can to stop these monsters!"

Seeing the determination burning within the boy's eyes, Rai felt his morale shoot back up and he nodded.

"Okay. In that case..." Reaching to his side, Rai pulled out his gun and handed it to Dai. "You might need this."

Hesitant for a moment, Dai accepted the gun with a thankful nod and placed it in his pants as he ran over to the 2000A.

"We're going too!" Nagisa said as she and Honoka ran to join Dai.

Putting on their borrowed helmets, Dai had Nagisa ride in front of him while Honoka was placed in the back before they all rode off, leaving Rai and Hiroshi to watch as they left.

"Kuzaragi-san," Hiroshi spoke up as his gaze landed on Dai. "That boy...so he really is...?"

Rai nodded. "Yeah. He's No. 4."

---

"Henshin!"

"Duel Aurora Wave!"

The echoing cries followed by the burst of light alerted Bada as he turned around and saw Kuuga and the Pretty Cure chasing after him. The Grongi couldn't help but laugh at how slow they were compared to him.

"I thought I told you three I would save you for last? We'll play some other time," Bada said mostly to himself as he increased the speed of the Bagibuson, further widening the gap between him and the three.

"Dammit! He's too fast!" Black exclaimed. Even with her and Honoka somehow empowering the bike, perhaps due to Pollun's new Creation powers, they were still lagging.

"At this rate, he'll get away!" White said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know," Kuuga responded before looking down at Black. "Nagisa-chan, take control."

"What?" Black replied in confusion before hastily grabbing the handles when Kuuga let go of them. "Hey, what are you doing? You're the better driver here!"

"We'll never catch Bada at this rate. So instead of pointlessly chasing after him, we need to slow him down," Kuuga explained as he took out the magnum Rai had given him.

*zzzzzzZZZZZZZ*

Suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard that quickly got louder. Everyone looked up and saw Kuuga's trusted sentient horse armor, Gouram, arriving from the air.

"Gouram!" White cried out, surprised to see the Armor Machine.

"Did you call for him?" Black asked, glancing back at the Rider.

"Yeah, I mentally called for him. Focus on driving," Kuuga said before shouting, "Chou Henshin!"

In less than a second, Kuuga assumed his green Pegasus form as the gun in his hand morphed into the Pegasus Bowgun. Then, with a spark of golden electricity, Kuuga and his weapon both assumed their Rising states.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to transform for two hours if you used this form?" White said, not needing to shout over the winds due to knowing Pegasus' powers.

"I'll be fine so long as I transform out before my senses overload me," Kuuga assured the white Cure before he shouted to his metal companion flying above them.

"Gouram, attack!"

As commanded, Gouram flew after Bada, reaching the Grongi Rider in under a minute. Readying its pincers, Gouram dived down at Bada who quickly drove to the right, having heard the living horse armor coming. Debris flew everywhere as Gouram struck the ground before it flew back up to attack Bada again who began swerving left and right to avoid Gouram's constant attempts at hitting him.

"Tch! Annoying pest!" Bada growled out as he took out one of his sabers to hit the Armor Machine.

*BANG!*

Just as Bada pulled out his saber it was instantly knocked out of his hands by a wind bullet. Looking behind him in surprise, the Grongi saw the heroes had gained on him as Kuuga held onto Black with his free hand to steady himself.

"Keep it steady, Nagisa-chan!" Kuuga said as he fired more shots at Bada only for him to dodge swerving left and right.

"You try driving with a gun over your head!" Black shouted back as she had to slightly lean forward due to the size of the Rising Pegasus Bowgun.

"Honoka-chan!"

"I got it!" White said as she reached and pulled back the hammer of Kuuga's Bowgun, reloading it.

"Tch!" Bada clicked his teeth as he had to swerve once again to dodge Kuuga's shots, only for Gouram to get a hit in as its pincers struck the side of Bagibuson's head.

"Zakenna!" The living bike cried out in pain as its speed was lowered even further.

"All right!" Kuuga and the girls cried out in delight as Black was able to shorten the distance between them and Bada even more.

"So that's your game," Bada muttered to himself, seeing what the heroes were trying to do. "Smart...but you underestimate just what my partner is capable of!"

"ZAKENNA!"

With a loud, unnatural-sounding cry, the Bagibuson's 'tails' grew slightly bigger before large grasshopper legs grew from the end of each tail.

"What!?" Kuuga and the girls all cried out in surprise as the Bagibuson had just turned its 'tails' into a pair of grasshopper legs. They were then further surprised when the living bike jumped by itself using those new legs, leaping over the Gouram who had tried to dive in for another attack.

Now over the Armor Machine, Bada took out his second saber and threw it down, striking one of its wings and sending the sentient Horse Armor crashing into the road.

"Gouram!" Kuuga cried out in worry as they drove past the downed Armor Machine.

"We're not done yet!" Bada shouted out as the Bagibuson skidded across the road, its blades leaving marks behind before its wheels rapidly spun in response to Bada revving up the engine—Bagisbuson's heart. Then, using its legs to kick off the ground, both rider and steed blasted off like a rocket, speeding toward and covering the distance between him and the heroes in the blink of an eye.

"Shit!" Kuuga, the only one who could see the Grongi rocketing toward them thanks to Pegasus' boost, dropped his Rising boost and transformed back into Mighty before holding up his arms for a quick defense. It did little to stop Bada's attack as he swung his arm, missing Black due to her still leaning but struck Kuuga, knocking him and White off their bike.

"Dai! White!" Seeing her friends roughly rolling on the road, Black quickly hit the brakes.

"Hahahahaha!" Meanwhile, Bada skidded to a stop too as he laughed at the sight of the heroes on the ground. "Is that really the best you can do without your own steed? I'm disappointed, Kuuga."

"Kh!" Kuuga could only grunt in frustration as he and White picked themselves up with the latter getting up first and standing in front of the former protectively.

"But I must say, for amateurs, you girls are better than I expected," Bada said as Black drove back to her friends along with Gouram who had picked itself up, albeit still wobbly. "Yeah, you two are definitely worth killing."

Both Cures could only glare back, looking brave while trying to hide their nervousness.

"But, like I promised, I'm saving you three for last. So until then, either wait for me or get a new steed. Not like you can find one that'll best Bagibuson though, much less keep up."

"Zakenna-na-na-na-na..."

Sharing an evil laugh, the Grongi rider and his steed drove off, resuming their search for more prey and leaving the heroes to wallow in their second defeat.

Left alone, the trio let down their guards and transformations as feelings of shame hung over them.

"We couldn't stop him," Dai said, dropping to the ground while looking at the gun in his hand, frustrated that he couldn't keep his promise to Rai.

"That speed of his, it's just too much," Honoka said, thinking back to the sudden burst of speed Bada and Bagibuson displayed earlier.

"It's not just that-mipo," Mipple said, popping her head out of her carrier. "That Zakenna, I can feel it growing stronger by the minute-mipo."

"We have to defeat it quickly, before it and Bada become too powerful-mepo," Mepple added.

"But what can we do?" Nagisa asked as she got off the 2000A. "If he's just gonna keep getting faster and stronger, then we'll never catch him, much less beat him!"

"What about Gouram?" Honoka suggested, gesturing to the floating Armor Machine. "It's fast enough to catch up to Bada, right?"

"By itself, yeah. But if we try to hang off it, we'll only slow it down with our weight. That's why I didn't try it earlier," Dai said, shooting down the idea. "At this point, the only hope we have left...is the BeatChaser 2000."

"But Ichijo-san said the Kanto Police were going to take it away," Honoka said, remembering what the man had told them.

"He also said he would find a way to get it handed to me," Dai said, getting back up. "And I believe in Ichijo-san. He'll come through, I know he will."

"But what do we do until then?" Nagisa asked.

"Until then...we can only do what we can.

---

(Special Investigation HQ, Science Division)

"You two are police officers, much like myself. I have my duties, and so do you. Right now, your duty is to confiscate the BTCS as per order. And as much as I want to, I can't stop you. I don't have the status or power to do so. But before you ask me for the key code and leave, allow me to say this. When we became officers, we took an oath. A promise to protect the peace and the people. Both things are under threat because of the Unidentified Lifeforms, and despite all our best efforts, we have shown poor results. At any other time, the army would have gotten involved to take over the situation. But they haven't...and that's because of No. 4. Because of him, the situation regarding the ULF is still in police hands. Because of him, we are still able to save lives and prevent the worst possible outcomes. A lot of us here still don't know why he lends us his aid, but we're grateful nonetheless. But right now, he's in trouble. He's out there facing an enemy he can't catch who's getting stronger and stronger. I know what he did scared us. It scared everyone. People are beginning to turn their backs on him because of it...and yet he's still out there fighting for us! He's been helping us all this time...so shouldn't we start returning the favor? Please, for the sake of everyone...think about what it is you should do. What is the best decision you can make? How can you, as both an adult and officer, help protect everyone?"

What followed after Ryō's speech was a tense silence. Despite what it may look like, his entire conversation with the Kanto policemen had taken around ten minutes to finish. Sayuruu looked between both sides, seeing that neither had yet to break eye contact with the other.

"...Is that all you have to say?" The Kanto policeman said, breaking the silence. For a moment, Ryō and Sayuruu assumed the worst...until he walked over and set down the briefcase on the room's coffee table.

"It's as you said. I'm a police officer, sworn to do everything I can to protect the peace. As such...I want to make the right call for the police as an organization. That's what it boils down to."

"Then..."

"Without informing command, this decision will most likely get me in trouble with my superiors. Perhaps this will be the first and last time we see each other. But, I will admit, your words have struck a chord in me." With that, the man released his hold of the briefcase and motioned his partner to follow him out the door. "Good luck."

"Thank you for understanding!" Ryō said, bowing his head in thanks as the Kanto men took their leave.

"Now that was impressive, kouhai," Sayuruu said, giving a proud smile to his friend. "Looks like that speech class I had you take wasn't a waste after all."

"Maybe," Ryō said, smiling as he went and grabbed the case, gripping it tightly as if to make sure not even God himself could take it away from him. "I'll be taking this then."

"Right. Be careful out there. Give those kids my regards."

"I will," Nodding, Ryō ran out the door, rushing off to help his friends as quickly as possible.

Watching his college junior leave, Sayuruu smiled to himself. Then, walking back to his desk, he looked at the e-mail that had been sent and its attachment.

"Ryō...perhaps you're the one we need for this," Sayuruu said to himself as the schematics of a...suit reflected off his glasses.

---

(With our heroes)

"How are you girls holding up?" Rai asked as he drove his car to the next blockade point.

"We're fine. Nurse Palp's medicine seems to be working, and the painkillers are doing their jobs," Nagisa said, slightly rubbing her bandaged areas to get a feel of how her wounds were doing. For the most part, she and Honoka had stopped bleeding.

"That's good. And the kid?"

"Still asleep," Honoka answered as she looked down toward Pollun's carrier where the sound of the fairy prince sleeping was heard.

"I swear, the last thing I thought I'd see as an officer were real fairies and magic," Rai said, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Hehe, neither did we," Dai said and he and the girls all shared a smile, briefly thinking back to their first meetings with the fairies.

"And what about you?" Rai asked, directing his question to Dai. "I heard from Ichijo that going green was risky for you."

"I wasn't green for long, so I'm sure I should still be able to transform," Dai said, assuring everyone in the car that he was okay to still fight. "Unfortunately, that doesn't change the problem at hand."

"Yeah..." Rai frowned, thinking back to what he had been told by the heroes about their earlier chase. "I hate to admit it, but this bastard's a real badass."

"Hm," Dai reluctantly nodded in agreement. As much as he didn't want to compliment the enemy, he had to admit that Bada had proven to be a strong opponent.

"To make matters worse, he's slowly starting to get stronger...but that won't stop me from stopping him. No matter what, we've got to defeat Bada before he does any more damage."

The girls nodded in agreement with their friend. This wasn't their first time going up against a foe stronger than them. As for Rai, he couldn't help but smile at all the determined looks at the kids with him.

"Heh, looks like Sumiko was right."

"Huh?"

"It's something my niece said to me a while back. Despite our earlier treatment of you, you're still helping us out without asking anything in return. 'If he's still helping you geezers after being shot at, then he must be an idiotic good guy,' she said."

"E-Eh...?" Dai and the others blinked in confusion. Was he being complimented or insulted by someone who he hasn't even met?

"Don't take it the wrong way. She's got a bit of an attitude, but she's surprisingly idealistic despite her age. She tries to hide it, but I can tell she's a big fan of yours. She's got this thing for heroes, you see."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," Rai nodded. "And honestly, she is right. We owe you a lot after everything you've done for us."

"Oh no. It's okay, really," Dai said, waving his hands.

"...I also have to apologize."

"Eh?"

"I remember pointing my gun at you once, too," Rai said, frowning as he thought back to the incident with Mebio, ULF #5. "I'm sorry."

"Oh no no, it's okay. I mean, back then, you guys had no way of knowing and you were just doing what you thought was best at the time."

"That doesn't change the fact that I tried to gun down an innocent kid. And yet, when I was in a pinch, you still saved me. I never did thank you that time."

"Again, it's fine."

"Dai-kun's the type to forgive and forget, you see," Nagisa said with Honoka nodding in agreement.

"Still, I didn't know a damn thing. About you, or how you felt going into those battles," Rai said. A part of him was always conflicted over having a single person fight most of the police's battles for them against the Unidentified Lifeforms. The fact that that same person was someone still in junior high only made that part bigger.

"I just...feel the same way you guys do," Dai said. "It's tough and very scary...but I fight so that others can continue smiling. No matter how many bruises I get, that alone will be enough for me."

"Dai-kun..." Nagisa muttered to herself, looking worriedly at her friend. While everyone else was smiling at what the Rider had said, focusing on the nobility of it, she was the only one who noted just how self-sacrificing Dai's words were.

Suddenly, Rai's radio beeped as Nodoka's voice came through.

{HQ to all units! This is an emergency update! No. 40 has suddenly broken away from his route to Hiratsuka!}

"What!?" Everyone in the car exclaimed in surprise.

{The Kanagawa police have reported that he has entered the Ken-o expressway and is attacking civilian cars!}

"He's attacking cars!?" Dai exclaimed in both surprise and confusion.

"It must be because of our warning," Rai said as he took a sharp right. "He must be having trouble finding bikers, so he's going after cars now. That bastard's either getting desperate or he's stopped giving a fuck about his own rules."

"Which way to the highway?" Honoka asked as she looked over at the GPS to see where they were.

"Better tighten those seatbelts, kids. I'm going to be breaking a few speed laws from here on out," Rai said as his foot slammed down on the accelerator.

"Oh boy..." Nagisa nervously said as she and everyone else did as told and tightened their seatbelts.

---

(Highway)

Chaos. That was the only way to describe what was currently happening right now.

*VROOM!*

Looking through the eyes of a random driver for just a moment, the man was in the middle of a call with a co-worker as he kept his eyes on the road of the highway when all of a sudden a blur suddenly sped past him. Momentarily surprised for a second, the man focused back on his call, when...

*SLICE!*

Blinking his eyes in confusion, the driver found himself tumbling down the road as the sliced pieces of what used to be his car fell all around him. Getting up to his feet in confusion and shock, the man looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened to him.

*VROOM!*

The sounds of an engine mixed with the growling of an animal alerted the man as he spun around and saw the blur from earlier racing towards him, trampling over the remains of his car as if they were trash. The man's echoing screams were the last thing he heard before sharpened steel filled his vision.

"And that makes 80," Bada said to himself as panicking drivers drove their cars to avoid the Grongi only for most of them to crash into one another. Fire and smoke erupted as people fled from their wrecked cars screaming in terror.

"Hmph! I was expecting more from these metal chariots, but this is just disappointingly easy," Bada said, shaking his head at the people fleeing.

"Zakenna..."

"Hm?" Bada looked down at his steed who used its eyes to direct him toward a passing-by semi-truck driving on the other lane. "Hoh? You want to go after that behemoth?"

"Zakenna!"

"Hehe. Okay then. Trampling that huge one seems like it could be fun." Smiling to himself, Bada revved Bagibuson's engines as the living bike used its legs to jump them over the divider to the other lane, landing right on top of an unfortunate car and driving right off it as they chased down the truck, not the least bit concerned about the crash he just caused behind him.

In less than a minute, Bada and his steed reached the truck, driving right up next to it. Giving the surprised truck driver a mocking wave, Bada lifted a leg and kicked the truck, sending it swerving out of control and hitting a few nearby cars with its trailer. As the truck driver frantically tried to regain control, Bada and the Bagibuson laughed at the cars crashing behind them as they sped up to pass the truck. Once they were a good distance away, the Grongi rider U-turned and drove back towards the truck that had managed to recover. Seeing the Grongi speed towards him, the truck driver thought he could run the monster over with his size and so slammed his foot down on the accelerator. One would think size would win in this clash, but those who thought that forget what Bada was currently riding on.

"ZAKENNA!"

The ribs of the Bagibuson twitched before they slowly started to grow in size and stretch out, becoming claw-like appendages as a pair of new, smaller ribs took their previous place to cover its organic, metal organs. Then, its 'head' slightly grew in size as well, not as much as its arms or legs, but just enough to be noticeable as its eyes flared up with life, giving the illusion that they were on fire as they spiraled with mad power.

Now stronger, both rider and steed roared as they charged straight at the truck, reaching speeds even faster than before. The truck driver didn't even get a chance to scream as flames quickly overtook him.

*BOOOOOM!*

Driving out from the flaming wreck of the truck, Bada and Bagibuson were revealed to be just fine with not even a scratch on either of them. In fact, along with Bagibuson, Bada had changed slightly. While lean before, Bada's muscles seemed to have grown, still keeping his athletic build while being on the verge of looking like a bodybuilder. And whether it was because of the flames or his connection to Bagibuson, Bada's scarf had become tattered while sporting a darker shade of red, resembling blood.

"HeheheheHAHAHAHAHA!" Bada madly laughed to himself, bathing in all the carnage he was committing as well as the new surge of power flowing through him and his steed.

"This speed! This power! I can't get enough of it! The Gegeru is practically as good as mine now! HAHAHAHAHA!"

*WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!*

Bada's fun was cut short (or was it?) as police cars arrived, surrounding him as Hiroshi and his men rushed out and aimed their weapons at the evolving Grongi.

"Fire! Take him down!" Hiroshi yelled out his order as everyone wasted no time shooting the Grongi. Massive amounts of smoky gas erupted from each hit.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

The Grongi couldn't help but laugh as bullets rained down on him.

"Oh please. Is all this smoke supposed to hurt—*cough*!"

To Bada's surprise, he found himself coughing as both his eyes and lungs began to burn. And it wasn't just him as even Bagibuson seemed to be affected.

"Za-Zakenn...!"

"*cough* *cough* W-What is this!?"

"That's it, men! Keep him pinned down!" Hiroshi yelled out over all the shooting. When it seemed like they were all about to run out of bullets, a new team stepped forward to take their place as the previous team began reloading.

"We gotta buy time until Kuzaragi-san gets here! Even if we can't physically hurt him, don't stop shooting!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Tch! Annoying pests!" Fighting through the gas, Bada revved Bagibuson's engine, giving it the energy needed to spin around at high speeds, creating a tornado that blew away all the smoke and Hiroshi and his men.

"Gyah!" Hiroshi and his team all cried out as half of them were knocked to the ground while the other half were knocked against their cars.

Coming to a stop, Bada and his steed let out a few more coughs as the former directed his gaze down toward Hiroshi.

"I—*cough*—I don't know what that smoke of yours was, but it won't be enough to stop me!" Removing one of his elbow daggers, Bada threw it at Hiroshi who, having seen the Grongi's movement, held up his rifle to act as a makeshift shield.

*Stab!*

It did little to help as the dagger struck through the rifle, destroying it, and stabbing itself into Hiroshi's shoulder.

"GYAH!" Hiroshi cried out loudly as he fell, holding his wound.

"Sakurai-san!" One of the men shouted before he and everyone else got back up to their feet, aiming their guns at Bada while a few went over to protect the injured officer.

"You've seen what Bagibuson and I are capable of, and yet you still stand and fight?" Switching languages, Bada gazed at everyone before him. The fear in their eyes was evident, and there was no way of hiding the slight shaking of their hands, but the team all refused to run away. Even Hiroshi, despite his wound, still held a fierce look on his face as he was helped up to his feet.

"Heh, gotta admit, compared to back then, you Lintos of this time are a lot braver," Bada said, genuinely complimenting them as he brought out and connected his two sabers. "However, bravery can only get you so far."

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Seeing Bada preparing to attack, the assault team all began firing at Bada once again. Only instead of simply tanking the bullets, Bada used his Saber to block and deflect the bullets coming at him. Smoky gas still spewed out from each bullet that hit, but before Bada and his steed could be affected, the living bike jumped, carrying its rider with it as everyone looked up in alarm. They soon scrambled, moving out of the way as rider and steed crash-landed on top of one of the police cars, crushing it as if it were made of tinfoil. Riding off of it, Bada then grabbed the crushed car by stabbing his saber into it and raised it much to the disbelief of everyone.

"Catch!" Shouting in a mocking tone, Bada threw the car at a random select group who all dove out of the way as the car crashed into another one. As sparks flew, they reached the engine and oil within, causing an explosion that threw anyone still near into the air.

"C'mon, is this all you can muster? Entertain me more!" Bada exclaimed as he directed Bagibuson to charge toward Hiroshi.

"Shit!" Cursing, Hiroshi quickly scrambled to grab his revolver as the men with him all fired at the approaching Grongi.

Spinning his weapon like a fan in front of him, Bada blocked all the bullets trying to hit while also blowing away all the gas that spewed out. He then had Bagibuson take to the air again by jumping, escaping the reach of anyone trying to hit him as he came down and crushed Hiroshi's car while also knocking the man in question and his team down with the force of his slam.

"Hmph! I guess this is really it, huh?" Bada said as he looked down at Hiroshi and his team, who seemed to have run out of special bullets. "Not that this hasn't been fun, but it's time to return to my game. Feel free to come after me though. Adding any of you to my kill count would be quite satisfying."

"Bastard...!" Growling in anger, Hiroshi pushed himself up and aimed his gun at the grasshopper Grongi. "Don't look down at us!"

*BANG!*

The bullet fired fast and true but was literally cut down before it could even reach Bada who deflected it with his saber. Laughing at Hiroshi's attempt to hurt him, Bada directed his steed to leave.

*zzzzzzZZZZZZZ*

Only for a familiar buzzing sound to be heard as it grew noticeably louder by the second. Recognizing the sound, Bada quickly brought his saber up, guarding his left side just as Gouram came flying in and tackled the Grongi rider, knocking them off Hiroshi's wrecked car.

"Zakenna...!" Bagibuson growled as its bladed wheels landed and skidded across the pavement.

"Tch! This again!" Bada gritted out as he gripped his two-sided saber and knocked the living horse armor away. "If you're here, then..."

Just as Bada finished saying that Kuzuragi's car came racing down the road before skidding to a stop. The driver himself came out, gun in hand, while the others...

"Henshin!"

"Duel Aurora Wave!"

From a pillar of rainbow light came Kuuga and the Cures, stepping forth to take on Bada.

"You guys again," Bada said, shaking his head in disappointment. "How many times do I have to tell you three to wait your turn?"

"As if we'd listen to you!" Kuuga exclaimed as he and the girls took fighting stances. "We're stopping you here and now!"

"I'd like to see you try," Bada said, twirling his weapon around as Bagibuson glared at the trio while growling.

"The Zakenna, it's evolved again," White pointed out, looking fearfully at the mutated bike Bada was riding on.

"And I thought that thing couldn't get any more uglier. Arienai(I can't believe this)..." Black said, muttering her signature catchphrase.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," Bada said as his and Bagibuson's eyes glowed ominously red.

With bladed wheels slicing the ground beneath it, both Grongi and Steed took off, becoming a blur to the normal human eye. Even Kuuga and the girls had trouble keeping up with him as before they knew it, they were all sent flying and crashing into the remaining police cars. As the three picked themselves up, the sound of the ground cracking was heard before they looked up to see Bada and Bagibuson in the air, having jumped.

Spitting out a curse, Kuuga dove out of the way as Bada landed his morphed bike onto the car the Rider was just next to, crushing it. As the Rider rolled up to his feet, the Cures jumped over him and attacked Bada with a double-flying kick. Rather than dodge the attack with his speed, Bada instead held up his duel saber and blocked the attack, not even budging an inch despite the girls' power. Kuuga dashed in to help, looking to tackle Bada off his bike, but just as he got near the Bagibuson suddenly spun, creating a small tornado that blew away the three heroes. Flipping over, they all managed to land on their feet, but they were given no room to breathe when Bada zoomed past them, grabbing Black along the way.

"Wha-!?/Black!" Both Kuuga and White cried out in alarm as they could only watch as Bada swung around their friend like a ragdoll before throwing her toward a divider with enough force to break the concrete barrier. Both Rider and Cure ran to go check on their friend, only for Bada to reach them first as Bagibuson's arms stretched out and slashed them across the chest. Sparks, cloth, and a bit of blood flew through the air as both heroes were knocked off their feet and landed roughly on their backs.

"Guys!" Seeing her injured friends, Black picked herself up and glared over at Bada who skidded to a stop to check his work. Angry and desperate to land a hit on the monster, the Cure raised her hand into the air and cried, "Black Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

From the sky came Black's signature black thunderbolt. Catching the bolt in her hands, Black then thrust her hand at Bada, firing it at him. Like the real thing, the black thunderbolt traveled fast, and the Cure hoped it would be fast enough to catch and hurt the grasshopper Grongi. However, to her disappointment, the Bagibuson reacted in time to leap away from the attack just as it was about to hit them. Clicking her teeth, Black fired off another bolt only for the Grongi rider to dodge that too. Not wanting to take a chance at a third one, Bada threw his duel saber at Black which flew and spun like a disk. The Cure narrowly dodged the throw by ducking, losing a few hair strands in the process. She wasn't given a moment to breathe as Bada came racing toward her, forcing her to quickly dodge by rolling out of the way as Bagibuson's bladed wheels clipped her boot. Not satisfied with that, Bada reached down and grabbed Black by her leg just as he was about to fully pass her, getting a cry out of the girl as she once again found herself dragged by the Grongi rider.

"Hey! Let go!" Black cried out as she tried to kick Bada's hand off of her using her free leg.

"Careful what you wish for!" Bada said as he spun around and threw Black away, sending her over the highway bridge they were all on.

"Black!"

*GRAB!*

Just before Black fell off, Kuuga arrived just in time to catch her by grabbing her leg.

"Safe..." Black breathed a sigh of relief at having been saved. At the same time, she mentally thanked that her transformation gave her shorts under her skirt, otherwise this situation would have been a lot more awkward between the Cure and Rider.

"Not for long," Kuuga muttered as he could hear Bada racing toward him to take advantage of their current state.

*BOOM!*

"Not so fast!" White cried out as she caught her signature white-colored thunderbolt before firing at the Grongi rider.

"Too slow!" Bada declared as Bagibuson once again leaped out of the way of the attack.

"Dang it!" White said, disappointed that the monster had dodged her attack. At the very least, she was able to save her friends.

"You can say that again," Black said as she was pulled back onto the road before the three regrouped. "We haven't been able to hit him at all, no matter what we do."

"He's just too fast," Kuuga said as he eyed the Bagibuson. "We've got to find a way to knock him off his bike."

"But how? Sakurai-san and the others are all out of special ammo," White said, noticing that the adults had yet to support them throughout the fight. Sure, they could switch to regular ammo and use that to try and pin down the Grongi rider, but given their lack of effect on the monster plus his speed making him a difficult target to hit, such a route was unfortunately cut off.

"I don't know, but we've got to think of something," Kuuga said, refusing to lose hope. "It's just like our fight against Illkubo. We can't expect a miracle to come crashing down and save us."

"So we'll just have to make a miracle of our own!" Black said, recalling the memory the Rider brought up.

"That's the spirit!" Kuuga said before he charged toward Bada. "Gouram!"

Calling upon the living horse armor, Gouram flew by Kuuga's side before flying past him to attack Bada. Moving at its top speed, Gouram opened its pincers in an attempt to grab the Grongi rider only for him to leap away. Undeterred, Gouram flew after him.

"Chou Henshin!"

Changing from red to blue, Kuuga assumed his Dragon form as he jumped up, reaching where Gouram had flown up. Using the Armored Machine as a platform, Kuuga landed and jumped off Gouram's back, leaping towards Bada who looked surprised.

"What!?" Bada exclaimed, having not expected the Rider to use the horse armor as a platform to reach him.

"Got you!" Kuuga declared loudly as he flipped over and executed a dropkick, transforming back into his Mighty form mid-flight. In the air and thus unable to move, Bada had no choice but to block this attack.

"Zakenna!" But as if to remind everyone that Bagibuson was still here, the eyes of the living bike glowed before it used its leg to kick off the air, allowing the two to dodge Kuuga's attack.

'Was that a double jump!?' Kuuga thought in disbelief, staring in surprise at this reality-breaking feat. This unfortunately left him open to an attack as Bagibuson swung its claws, striking the Rider across the chest and sending him falling. Just as he was about to crash, Gouram swooped in to save him by catching the Rider between its pincers before setting him down gently.

At the same time, due to their angle, Bagibuson landed itself against a highway signboard, the impact of which knocked over the entire structure as the steed and its master roughly landed. Seeing the Rider still reeling from Bagisbuson's earlier attack, Bada drove his bike over to where his duel saber was, picking it up before driving over toward Kuuga, twirling his weapon threateningly.

*BOOM!*

"Not so fast!" White shouted as she and Black joined hands while their respective others gripped the colored thunderbolts in them.

"Take this!" Black shouted as the two thrust their hands at Bada.

"Pretty Cure...!"

"Hmph! As if you could catch me with that!" Bada exclaimed as his Bagibuson was already moving to dodge.

"Marble...!" As per usual, the twin-colored thunderbolts blasted out from the girls' hands. By then, the Grongi rider had dodged out of the way, but to the surprise of everyone, both girls lifted their hands, causing the spiraling bolts to curve upwards into the clouds.

"What are they doing?" Rai said, speaking for everyone as they watched in confusion, wondering why the girls had deliberately missed the Grongi. They were given their answer soon enough when the girls finally finished calling their attack, only different now.

"...Shower!" Crying out that final word, the Cures swung their hands downward. Up above, the sounds of clapping thunder were heard as the clouds flashed between black and white. Then, to the surprise of everyone, again, multiple thin bolts of duel-colored lightning rained down upon Bada and his Bagibuson.

"WHAT!?" Slipping into his native language, Bada looked up in surprise before crying out in pain as multiple bolts rained down upon him. Try as he might to direct Bagibuson away, there were just too many to dodge as the morphed bike itself was struck with a few spears.

"ZAKENNA!" The Bagibuson screamed in pain as the bolts struck its body and suffered more damage than its rider due to its literal dark makeup. Soon enough, the attack ended leaving behind clouds of dust and debris that filled the area and masked the Grongi and Zakenna from view.

"Wow..." Kuuga couldn't help but comment as he looked over at the girls and asked, "Where'd you two learn that?"

"We just came up with it, actually," Black said as she and her partner took a moment to catch their breath. "It was all White's idea."

"Considering his newfound speed gives him considerable mobility, I figured attacking the area around him would be more effective than trying to chase him," White explained as she and everyone anxiously looked at the dust clouds hiding Bada from them. "I don't think that finished him off. At the very least, I hope this attack is enough to slow him down."

Suddenly, flying out from the dust was Bada's duel saber spinning and cutting through the air toward the girls. Quickly the two separated and dodged, only for the spinning weapon to curve and hit Black across her left shoulder.

"Black!" Both Kuuga and White cried out in worry as the Cure fell to the ground.

"I-I'm fine!" Black said as she pushed herself up before holding her bleeding shoulder. "It just clipped me."

Relieved that their friend still had her arm attached, they all then looked towards the dispersing dust cloud, revealing Bada who caught his returning weapon. Multiple cuts can be seen on Bada's armor; even the Bagibuson was sporting a couple of wounds.

"I'll admit, you caught me by surprise. That was a good technique," Bada said as he dusted off his armor. "Unfortunately for you, it's gonna take a lot more than a surprise attack to knock us down."

"Zakenna...!" The Bagibuson growled as slowly its wounds were beginning to close up.

"And now it's healing itself. Of course, it is," Kuuga said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Could it be evolving again?" White wondered, looking nervous at such a thought.

"If it is, then we gotta finish this now," Black said, testing her arm to see if she could still move all right.

"It's admirable that you three haven't given up yet. Makes you all worth killing," Bada said as he reached down and grabbed one of Bagibuson's handles. "But you're all forgetting one important thing."

*VROOOOOOOM!*

"You're still too slow."

"WHOOOOOOSH!*

"GYAH!" Crying out in pain, Kuuga and the Cures were thrown into the air as blood spiraled around them, spewing from their wounds.

"Oh no!" Rai cried out in worry as he helplessly watched the trio fall roughly to the ground.

"Dammit, is there nothing we can do?" Hiroshi said, holding his bandaged shoulder.

"Unfortunately, we'd be nothing more than a burden in a battle like that," Rai bitterly said, gripping his gun in frustration. Once again, they could only hope the Rider would prevail against all odds.

"Khh...!" Gritting his teeth underneath his helmet, Kuuga slowly pushed himself up, fighting through the pain as he glared over at Bada who brandished his blade to rid of the blood on it.

"Normally, this is the part where I tell you to stay down," Bada said as he turned to the Rider.

"We're...not done...!" Kuuga gritted out as the Cures beside him pushed themselves up, refusing to stay down despite the pain.

"I figured as much," Bada said as he turned Bagibuson around, preparing for another attack. "Since you three don't have the patience to wait your turn, I'll just go ahead and kill you three now. Without a horse, you're as good as dead anyway."

"We won't...go down...without a fight!" Black gritted out as she got to her feet.

"We will...stop you!" White said, breathing out her words as she went and grabbed Black's hand. A shared glance between one another was all they needed to decide on a course of action.

"Going for that attack again? I don't think so!" Seeing what the girls were doing, Bada revved up Bagibuson's engine, preparing to intercept.

"You won't get past me!" Kuuga shouted as he was about to transform—

*BANG!*

When a loud gunshot echoed in the air, stopping everyone from moving. Kuuga, the girls, and Bada all looked over toward the police group, but even they looked around in confusion. And then...

*vvvvrrOOOOOOM~!*

They heard it. They all heard. The sounds of an engine that was getting closer by a second. Pinpointing the sound, everyone turned to see someone on a motorcycle driving towards them. Someone that the heroes all knew.

"Hey, is that...?" Black began, making out the suit the driver was wearing.

"That bike, it resembles the TryChaser," White said, seeing that the bike had similar-looking horns to the aforementioned Rider Machine. "Could that be...?"

"It's Ichijo-san. And he's got the BeatChaser!" Kuuga exclaimed, widely smiling under his helmet as the man in question skidded to a stop once he reached them.

Kicking the stand, Ryō got off the bike and turned towards Kuuga and the girls. He took off his helmet and said, "Sorry I'm late."

"Ichijo-san!" Cheerfully crying out the man's name, Kuuga ran towards him followed by the girls. Bada, meanwhile, did nothing as he looked on with interest.

"You made it!" Black said, happy to see the man had succeeded in bringing Kuuga's new ride.

"So, this is...the BeatChaser 2000," White said as she looked at the bike that was to become Kuuga's newest asset. Right away she could tell that the BeatChaser shared the same model as the previous TryChaser, that being a Gas Gas Pampera 250. The main color of the bike was a sleek silver with the only other being a navy blue that colored the seat and the 'horns' of the bike. Along with the headlights being a narrower shape and a few differences here and there, the BeatChaser was overall nearly identical to the TryChaser, only giving off the impression that the bike was built for speed.

"That's right," Ryō nodded, putting away his gun that he had fired earlier before he reached down and entered the activation code on the bike's keypad. Once that was done, he pressed a button and the bike began to change before everyone's eyes.

The bike's main color went from silver to black as red outlined certain sections of the bike. Both the exhaust pipes and the 'horns' turned into a shining gold color, and to finish off the transformation, Kuuga's symbol appeared on both sides of the bike's body, colored white to stand out from all the black, along with a third once place right in the center of the horns, colored black instead.

"EEEEEEEEEE~!" Squealing like a girl, Kuuga began to examine the BeatChaser from all angles with star-filled eyes.

"That is so cool-mepo!" Mepple commented, popping his head out to gaze at the bike in awe. Had Pollun been awake right now, he would have the same opinion.

"This should level the playing field now," Ryō said as he glanced over to Bada who seemed to be waiting on them. "Looks like a lot has happened since I was away."

"You can say that again," Black said.

"Can you win?" Ryō, despite having nothing but faith in his friend, couldn't help but ask the Rider that once he saw Bagibuson's appearance.

"...I will," Kuuga said, having calmed down as he got onto his new bike. "You went through a lot just to bring this to me. So there's no way I can lose now!"

Nodding in satisfaction, Ryō gave the Rider a thumbs up and said, "Good luck."

Returning the thumbs up, Kuuga revved up the engines of the BeatChaser and drove it out until he stood right across from Bada.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, it's no trouble. Especially considering you finally got yourself a new horse," Bada said as he gazed at the Rider's new bike. "And I must say, I do like the look of it. But the real question is, just how fast is it?"

"Oh, you're about to find out." Gripping both handles tightly, Kuuga glared at Bada and declared, "Go-Bada-Ba! You've taken your last life!"

"Hardly! So long as Bagibuson and I can keep running, we'll never stop!"

"In that case, I'm knocking you off right now and finishing this!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

*VROOOOOOOOOOM!*

Revving up the engines of their respective rides, both riders took off racing, neck in neck as they soon became blurs to everyone. Everyone except two.

"He's keeping up with him!" White said, cheering at the sight of their friend keeping pace with Bada.

"Yeah," Black nodded, amazed at how fast Kuuga drove as she watched the two race off.

"With that type of speed, Ichi-kun should be all right now."

"Yeah..." Again, Black nodded to her partner's words, and yet her expression developed into one of worry. This did not escape White's notice.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I'm still worried. Maybe Dai could have won, but that was before the Zakenna. Even now, it's still getting stronger as we speak. Who knows just how fast that monster is now? We can't just stand around here and pray. We gotta help!"

"But...how?" White asked as she gestured to the wrecked vehicles around them. "Nearly everything here's been destroyed. Even if we had a working car or bike, they wouldn't be able to keep up."

"Not everything," Ryō said, getting the girls to look at him in confusion. Seeing their expressions, the bespectacled man gestured with his chin upward, and the girls looked up to find Gouram floating right above them, lowering its arms.

The living horse armor buzzed softly as if asking the girls, "Need a lift?"

"Huh...that works."

---

(BGM: Kamen Rider Kuuga OST - Senshi)

Speeding down the quiet roads of the highway, both Kuuga and Bada raced past empty cars which had all been abandoned, having received the news of the Grongi's attack. With vehicles of varying designs strewn about, both riders treated them like obstacles to get over as they swerved and leaped across these makeshift roadblocks.

Coming up on a truck, Kuuga raced ahead and leaned sideways, causing the bike to tip over and allowing the Rider to skid right under the cargo trailer before he pushed himself back up once he was on the other side. As for Bada...

*SLICE!*

Using its claw-like arms, the Bagibuson sliced apart the trailer blocking them, allowing Bada to continue forward unimpeded, reaching Kuuga from behind. Performing a wheelie, Bada sped up and brought the wheel down, attempting to hit Kuuga with the bladed wheels of his steed. Having seen this coming, Kuuga dodged by speeding up himself, narrowly avoiding the attack. Still revving the handle, Kuuga pushed the BeatChaser to its top speed, pulling ahead of Bada who looked on in surprise.

"Ohoh? Looks like your new horse is a lot faster than your last one. But..."

*VROOM!*

"It's gonna take more than that to leave us in the dust!"

"ZAKENNA!"

Roaring in agreement with its rider, the Bagibuson's engines rumbled beneath its ribcage as Bada pushed the Zakenna faster, catching up to Kuuga.

"Kh!" Underneath his helmet, Kuuga gritted his teeth as he tried to pass the Grongi, but both riders proved their skills to each other as they stayed neck and neck.

'The original Bagibuson's max speed was around 400 km/h. The BeatChaser should've had no trouble out-speeding it. But it looks like the Zakenna really has empowered the bike. It's just as fast as the BeatChaser now! No, maybe it's even faster!'

Refusing to let Bada get the lead, Kuuga swung his arm out, only for it to get blocked and knocked away. Bada threw a punch which Kuuga leaned back to dodge before knocking it away and retaliating with a punch of his own. Blocking the punch, Bada then pushed the Rider away, creating distance between them as they avoided crashing into a car. Pulling out one of his sabers, Bada closed the gap between them and swung his weapon at Kuuga's head. The Rider ducked and fought back with a kick which managed to land and push Bada away while also pulling his leg back in time to avoid another car they raced past. Grunting in annoyance, Bada closed in again and went for a downward swing. With no way to effectively dodge without putting the BeatChaser at risk, Kuuga quickly changed to his Titan form and brought his arm up to block. Thanks to his enhanced defense, the Rider was able to block the attack, but with his new increased weight, the BeatChaser ended up slowing down just enough for Bada to finally take the lead on him.

"Dammit!" Cursing, Kuuga switched back to his Mighty form and regained his speed, but just as he feared, the Bagibuson proved to be faster than the new bike as Grongi and steed were slowly pulling further and further ahead.

"What's wrong, Kuuga? Having trouble keeping up?" Bada taunted the Rider as the winds carried his laughter to his enemy.

"Don't look down on me! The BeatChaser isn't just for show!" Kuuga shouted as his eyes landed on a nearby truck whose back made for the perfect makeshift ramp.

"Come on, BeatChaser. Show me what you can do!" Kuuga shouted, speaking to the bike as if it were alive. At the same time, unnoticed to the Rider, golden lightning sparked from his hands and traveled down into the bike. For a brief second, the BeatChaser's headlights lit up golden before its wheels spun faster and harder, making it race at speeds past its recorded limit.

With the ramp, Kuuga jumped the bike, launching himself into the air as the bike's increased speed boosted them enough to reach Bada who looked up in surprise as the Rider came down on him.

"What!?"

"TORIYAH!" Releasing a battle cry, Kuuga did not hesitate for even a second as he crashed himself upon Bada.

*CRASH!*

(BGM End)

As the sounds of metal colliding and scratching against one another filled the air, the world spun around in Kuuga's eyes as his body roughly skipped like a pebble across the pavement before crashing into a van hard enough to bend its metal body, leaving behind an imprint of his body.

"Ugh..." Kuuga groaned in pain as his body fell from the van and onto the ground, getting a pained cry from him. Still groaning, Kuuga ignored how his body ached and cracked as he pushed himself up, locating his BeatChaser which was knocked over against a nearby car. Getting up to his feet, the Rider made his way over to his bike, limping a little along the way.

*Whoosh!*

Hearing something cutting through the air, Kuuga's body moved faster than his mind as he leaned back just in time to dodge the saber thrown at him narrowly. As the bladed weapon stabbed itself into the car next to him, Kuuga turned and saw Bada charging at him with a rushing knee strike. Kuuga quickly jumped back in time as Bada's attack struck the car his weapon was stabbed into, actually pushing the entire thing back while also leaving behind a dent. Removing his saber from the car, Bada turned to face Kuuga.

"You...are one crazy bastard," Bada said, leaning slightly as he held his ribs, showing that the crash had also damaged him.

"Takes one to know one," Kuuga replied, taking a fighting stance.

"Heh, honestly, you're a piece of work, you know that?" Shaking his head in amusement, Bada laughed to himself before he threw away his saber and charged at the Rider. "That just makes you all the more fun to kill!"

(BGM: Blazblue OST: Gluttony Fang II *Skip to 1:02*)

Bada came in with a wide swinging right hook to Kuuga's face which the Rider ducked under. Kuuga quickly had to bring his arms up to block a fast uppercut that sent him stumbling back. Seeing him off balance, Bada rushed in with a kick to the chest that sent the Rider flying and crashing into another car. Falling to the ground, Kuuga groaned in pain as he looked up to see Bada leaping toward him, arm pulled back for a punch. Kuuga quickly rolled away, dodging the attack that sent the car skidding away as he pushed himself back up and saw Bada throwing a left hook at him. The Rider ducked the attack, and having learned from earlier, dodged the follow-up uppercut by leaning to the side and finally struck back with a punch to Bada's damaged ribs, getting a pained grunt out of the Grongi. Seeing him stunned, Kuuga dished out further payback by giving the humanoid grasshopper an uppercut to the chin followed by spinning around to execute a shoulder rush to Bada's chest, sending him stumbling back. Refusing to let the Grongi recover, Kuuga ran and jumped, delivering a dropkick to Bada's chest which sent him flying back and crashing into the guard rails. Hurt but not out yet, Bada grabbed the bent rails and pulled himself back up only to see a charging Kuuga who then tackled him, sending them both off the highway bridge and down below.

*CRASH!*

Crash landing on top of a van, its driver let out a startled cry as the vehicle swerved in a panic. Trying to hang on, the two fighters continued to trade blows, exchanging punches to the shoulders and chest before they were suddenly knocked off by the van crashing into a car which the two fell upon. Managing to land on top, Bada rained down blows upon Kuuga while the owner of the car they were on quickly got out and ran for her life. The same went for the van's driver as everyone nearby fled at the sight of the two fighters.

Having been defending himself by covering his head, Kuuga acted once he saw the civilians were gone and slipped one of his arms through an opening, striking Bada in the throat which stunned him long enough for Kuuga to kick the Grongi off him. Getting up, Kuuga jumped off the car to throw a punch down at Bada who quickly dodged by rolling away. Getting up to their feet, both fighters charged at one another and clashed as their fists met. Another clash occurred as they both threw their other fists only for them to meet and soon enough, both sides pushed against one another, trying to overpower the other. Due to his height, Bada seemed to have the advantage as Kuuga was slowly being pushed back. Thinking fast, Kuuga leaned back before launching a headbutt to Bada's face, getting a pained cry as the Grongi's head snapped back. Stunned for a third time today, Bada wasn't about to let history repeat itself as he recovered fast and retaliated with a head butt of his own, stunning Kuuga this time as his head was whipped back. The Grongi then followed that up with a knee to the chest before ending the deadlock swinging Kuuga around before sending the Rider crashing back against the car. Refusing to let the Rider recover, Bada closed the distance and landed a combo of two punches to Kuuga's face. Although dizzy, Kuuga was able to bring up his arms to block the third punch before quickly grabbing it to not let Bada escape. Bada tugged his arm back, but Kuuga refused to let go as he dragged the Grongi to the side, forcing him to follow lest he lose his footing. Now running, Bada figured out too late where Kuuga was taking him as the Rider brought them over to a nearby lamppost and charged straight at it. And with Bada's left arm still in between them…

*CRACK!*

"GYAH!" Bada let out a cry of pain as Kuuga slammed Bada's arm against the metal body of the lamppost, breaking it and letting go once he heard the sound of bones cracking.

Both fighters rolled to the ground, but Kuuga was the first to get up on his feet while Bada rolled to his knees, holding his broken arm while glaring at the Rider who wasted no time to take advantage of his condition to run up and kick him across the face, knocking him back to the ground. Deciding it was time to finish this, Kuuga took a couple of steps back before taking his stance, preparing his signature Rider Kick.

However…

"ZAKENNA!"

Just as Kuuga was about to run, he turned around to see the Bagibuson leaping off from the highway bridge and descend upon him. Kuuga moved to dodge, but his reaction was too slow as the living bike zoomed past him, sparks flying as the Zakenna's claws struck the Rider and sent him rolling on the ground. Shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness, Kuuga pushed himself to sit up only to find Bagibuson upon him, roaring like an animal as it brought its front, bladed wheel down on the Rider who quickly grabbed the spikes on the sides to prevent the pseudo sawblade from reaching him. As the Rider struggled to push the Bagibuson away from him, the living bike didn't seem pleased with the Rider's resistance and reached down with its clawed appendages, grabbing him by stabbing into his sides, getting a pained cry from Kuuga before throwing him away. As the Rider rolled and skidded across the ground, Bagibuson drove over to its master where he grabbed one of the bike's claws to help himself up before getting on. By the time Kuuga got up to his feet, Bada was already driving towards him, performing a wheelie as he aimed to strike the Rider with his bladed wheels. Kuuga jumped to the side to dodge, but the Bagibuson wasn't going to let him escape as it reached out with its clawed appendages and caught him. Dragging the Rider along for the ride, Bada brought him over to another lamppost and as if to pay back the Rider for his broken arm, slammed him into it, releasing him as the entire post was knocked over. As Kuuga lay groaning on the ground, Bada drove away for a moment before quickly turning around.

"While I can't say this hasn't been fun, it's time I ended this," Bada said as he revved Bagibuson's engines, causing a dark aura to envelop the both of them before taking off toward the Rider. "Farewell, Kuuga!"

"Kh!" Underneath his helmet, Kuuga gritted his teeth as he struggled to push himself up. Just when it seemed Bada would do what many other Grongi's couldn't…

*BOOM!*

A bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Bada, kicking up dust and smoke that blinded the Grongi, slowing him down just enough for a blur to come flying in and snatch the Rider away to safety.

(BGM End)

"Ichi-kun!"

"Honoka-chan?" Finding himself in the air, Kuuga looked up to see White holding his arm while hanging off the arm of Gouram.

"I got you. You're safe now," White said as the Gouram lowered the two down to the ground.

"Thank you," Kuuga said, nodding in thanks as the Cure helped him stay on his feet. "But if you're here, where's Nagisa-chan?"

*VROOM!*

"EYAAAAAAAAAH!" From up on the highway bridge, the BeatChaser was seen jumping off it as its rider was none other than Black screaming her head off. From the way she was falling, she would crash land on top of Bada. Not wanting a repeat of last time, the Grongi wisely drove out of the way as Black hit nothing. And due to her still minimal level of skill when riding motorbikes, the Cure had a hard time regaining control when she landed, causing the bike to tip over and knock her off.

"Nagisa-chan/Black!" Both Kuuga and White cried out in worry as they rushed over to the Cure.

"I-I'm okay," Black assured them as she was helped to her feet, still a bit shaky.

"That was reckless of you," Kuuga said, chastising the girl for her stunt.

"Pot calling the kettle black," Black shot back. "Besides, we couldn't let you fight Bada alone. Not when he's still got that Zakenna with him."

"And it looks like we were right to follow," White said, taking another look at Kuuga's condition.

"I…" Kuuga wanted to say something back but couldn't since it was true that he was having trouble with Bada. Seeing as both their enemies had joined together to create a force greater than either of them could've imagined, the Rider relented and nodded in agreement.

"Okay then, let's do this together!"

"Right!" Both Cures nodded before they turned to face Bada who had been waiting for them to finish.

(BGM: Dragon Ball FighterZ OST - Nappa's Theme)

"You three done talking? Cause it's time I finish this."

"The only thing finished here is you!" White declared as the trio all took fighting stances.

"We're ending this, here and now!" Black shouted as she and White charged first. Kuuga, meanwhile, ran over to his BeatChaser.

Seeing that he was now dealing with the Pretty Cure, Bada revved Bagibuson's engine and drove forward to face his new opponents. At the sight of them, the Zakenna seemed to grow more agitated as its eyes glowed brighter before attacking with its clawed appendages, extending them out to act like spears. Reacting quickly, both girls knocked away of the claws away while using them to push them away, allowing the two to dodge the rest of the claws. Spinning around, both girls landed on their feet before dashing forward to attack different targets. Black threw a punch straight at the Bagibuson while White jumped up to deliver a kick to Bada. The Grongi ducked under the attack while the Bagibuson felt nothing as Black's attack struck its face. Growling as if offended, the Bagibuson used its claws to smack Black away while Bada reached up and grabbed White's leg, getting a surprised cry from her as she was swung around a few times before being thrown away.

As White flew, Black skidded across the ground before stopping and launching herself back at the Grongi rider. At the same time, White flipped herself over so her feet would land against a nearby sign and used it as a makeshift launchpad to spring herself back toward Bada. Raising his good arm, Bada blocked White's incoming kick while Bagibuson covered for its master by using its claws to block the charging Black. Or so it planned to, only for Black to suddenly skid to a stop next to it and hold up her hands at it.

"Black Thunder!"

With still some juice left in her from earlier, Black shot out two bolts of black-colored thunder, striking the Bagibuson's side who cried out in surprise and pain as it was pushed back. This also caught Bada by surprise as he quickly held on lest he be knocked over. But that would be more difficult than Bada realized as White used this chance to hop on and grab him, trying to pry him off the bike.

"Get…off!" White gritted out as she pulled left and right to try and drag the Grongi off from the Zakenna.

"You get off!" Bada exclaimed as he tried to pry the Cure off him. He grabbed, pulled, and even elbowed the girl, but she refused to let go, determined to pull the Grongi off his prized 'horse.'

Too busy trying to get the white Cure off him, Bada was unable to direct Bagibuson properly, allowing Black to jump in and help her friend, attacking with a flying kick to Bada's chest that would have knocked him off if he hadn't quickly grabbed his bike's handle to catch himself. With both Cures on him, Bada struggled to defend himself as the girls rained down blows while pulling left and right to pull him off. Seeing that its rider was in trouble, the Bagibuson reached up with its claws to pry the girls off Bada only to get surprised when Kuuga came driving in with Gouram having equipped itself onto the BeatChaser, transforming it into the BeatGouram.

The Zakenna let out a pained cry as the BeatGouram's pincers dug into its side, causing what looked like blood to spill out as the armored bike rammed the monster up against a car. And as if to showcase the power behind the new BeatGouram, not even the car was enough to stop it as the Rider machine kept moving forward, knocking away any other cars in the way. The Bagibuson tried retaliating by using its claws to slash at both the BeatGouram and its rider, but the former's armor protected the bike well while Kuuga merely raised an arm to defend himself, not caring how damaged his gauntlet was becoming as he focused all his efforts on driving.

Seeing that his horse was in trouble, Bada managed to land an elbow strike to White's gut, stunning the girl and causing her hold to loosen, allowing the Grongi to punch her across the face and knock her off. As Black cried out in worry, Bada drew out a saber and swung it at her, forcing Black to jump off to dodge. Kuuga reached and grabbed Black by the arm just before she flew past him and swung her onto his bike just as they reached a semi-truck and rammed the Bagibuson into the vehicle's nose.

"Finish him off!" Black shouted, seeing as this was a good chance to use the bike's finishing move.

However, Kuuga shook his head. "I can't. We're too close to the city."

Seeing that his enemies were refusing to capitalize on his situation, Bada quickly acted and stabbed his saber into the truck's damaged engine. Sparks erupted from the grinding of steel and metal, reaching the spilling gas and oil within, and causing…

*BOOM!*

…an explosion that pushed back Kuuga and Black, knocking them off the seat of the BeatGouram which skidded back, but looked no worse for wear besides some soot covering it.

"He blew himself up!?" Black exclaimed, pushing herself up as she looked at the flames that had consumed Bada and his steed.

*VROOM!*

Appearing as if to prove Black wrong, Bada drove out of the flames, driving past a surprised Kuuga as Bada reached down and grabbed Black by the bow of her outfit, almost ripping it off as the Cure was pulled off her feet.

"Black!" Kuuga exclaimed in alarm before he quickly got back on the BeatGouram and chased after Bada.

Back with Black, the Cure was not having a good time right now as Bada made sure to hit her against every sign they passed by. The Cure was sure there was a rip in the back of her outfit due to feeling a breeze, but that was the least of her concerns as Bada decided to end her suffering by throwing her at a nearby car where her body flew and broke through the front window. As the black Cure groaned while half her body lay inside the car, Bada empowered his steed by revving its engine, causing a dark aura to envelop them once again. The Zakenna roared as all its blades glowed purple with energy while its clawed appendages extended out as if trying to reach the girl sooner so that it could rip her apart.

Just then, flipping over the car and landing in front of it, White held both hands up and yelled, "White Thunder!"

*BOOM!*

A blast of duel white thunderbolts erupted from the Cures hands and struck the Grongi rider head-on. But to the white Cure's surprise, the aura that was covering Bada and his steed protected them from White's attack, acting like a shield as they continued unimpeded. White tried putting more energy into her attack, but all it seemed to do was slow Bada down, and even then, it was too late as the Grongi reached them. As darkness and light met, two explosions occurred; the first coming from the clash between dark and light, and the second coming from the car that was caught up in the first one. From the smoke, both Black and White were thrown out, covered in soot with their outfits ripped and dirty. As they roughly rolled across the pavement, Bada soon appeared from the smoke, no worse for wear as he drove Bagibuson over to the two, intending to finish them off right there and then. But just as he was about to reach them, Kuuga finally caught up and once again rammed the BeatGouram into the side of the Zakenna bike, pushing it and its rider away from his friends.

(BGM End)

"Persistent little fuck!" Bada exclaimed, having grown tired of how many times the heroes were preventing him from killing them.

Kuuga didn't respond as he focused on pushing the Grongi rider back only for the living bike to escape by batting the armored bike away with its claws before leaping away using its legs. As Kuuga braked to a stop, he followed where Bada landed and took in the Grongi's current state.

Along with his left arm still hanging uselessly, the grasshopper Grongi was covered in wounds as his armor was noticeably cracked in some places, his right shoulder pad had at some point been knocked off, and one of his antennae was bent awkwardly. By some miracle, his blood-red scarf remained untouched despite how many times the Grongi was caught in an explosion today.

Along with its rider, the Bagibuson was also covered in wounds as the ones on its side were still bleeding though they were slowly starting to close up. Its armored body, or perhaps it was its skin, was cracked and dented in a lot of places. One of its clawed appendages had also fallen off, perhaps from the clash with White.

In comparison, Kuuga wasn't doing too hot himself. Covered in wounds himself, the most noticeable ones were three slash wounds that marked his chest armor and his damaged left gauntlet which looked ready to fall off at any moment. The Rider's left lens was also noticeably cracked.

As for his bike, Gouram had done well to protect the new Rider machine from harm as it bore most of the damage with the damaged golden sections being the most noticeable.

As both sides huffed and puffed, trying to catch their breaths, they both realized that they were at the end of their ropes. One way or another, this next clash would decide everything.

*Spark!*

Golden electricity danced around Kuuga's body as he soon assumed the Rising state of his Mighty form. Along with his transformation came another one as the electricity that empowered the Rider traveled down to Gouram whose eyes flashed gold before its body started to change. Along with its pincers growing noticeably bigger, the golden sections of Gouram's body seemed to grow and pop out. Along with golden armor appearing to cover the back boosters, the Rising BeatGouram was overall more armored in appearance.

"Hoh? Interesting..." Bada said, taking note of the Gouram's transformation. Refusing to be outdone, the Grongi gripped both Bagibuson's handles, even using his broken arm to do so, and revved Bagibuson's engine as hard as he could. Empowered, the Zakenna's eyes glowed brightly looking almost like wisps and its earlier exhaustion seemed to have faded. Extending all of its claws out, a dark aura once again enveloped both rider and steed.

Now ready, both sides stared each other down, preparing to take off.

*VROOM!*

*VROOM!*

*VROOM! VROOM!*

*VROOM! VROOM!*

*VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!*

*VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!*

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

And so, for the third time today, both riders charged at one another and as they did so, the two sides shared a single thought:

WIN!

(BGM: Rise by MADKID)

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

A great sonic boom occurred as both riders met, crashing into each other as their respective sides were colored dark purple and bright gold. Sparks flew as both bikes pushed against one another, trying to overpower the other as their respective riders focused on nothing but moving forward.

"Win! I'll win! I'll defeat you and win the Gegeru! So long as I have Bagibuson with me, there's no way I'll ever lose!" Bada declared, his own eyes glowing red with madness as he revved up his bike again, giving it more power to try and overtake the Rising BeatGouram. It seemed to be working as the Bagibuson was slowly, but surely pushing the golden bike back.

But Kuuga refused to give up, revving up his bike in response to counter Bada.

"All you Grongi's are the same! Fighting for nothing but yourselves! All the smiles you've taken away in your sick game...and that's why I refuse to lose to any of you! No matter how much my body gets battered, no matter how many of my bones are broken, so long as I still breathe I'll continue to fight until I've taken back everyone's smiles!"

"Pretty words, but it seems you lack the energy to back them up!" Bada shouted, pointing out how the gold on both Kuuga and Gouram's bodies was blinking between bright and dim, showing that the Rider was starting to run out of energy to maintain his Rising state.

And yet...he wasn't the least bit worried. Why?

"You forget, Bada...I'm not alone!"

*SHINE!*

"WHAT!?" Shouting in surprise, Bada whipped his head around to see the Pretty Cures back on their feet, holding hands and glowing brightly as they now had on the Rainbow Bracelets.

Having finally recovered and awoken from his slumber, Pollun's body glowed gold as his voice echoed, "Recieve the Power of Light-popo!"

"Kibō no chikara yo! Hikari no ishi yo! (O Power of Hope! O Will of Light!)"

"Mirai e mukatte tsukisusume! (Face toward the future and press onward!)"

The girls were not in the best state right now. Their outfits were ripped and dirty, bruises and blood covered their wounded bodies...and yet, the light that came from the two of them seemed to be even brighter than when they last faced the Seeds of Darkness. Thrusting their hands out, they both shouted,

"Pretty Cure...RAINBOW STORM!"

Screaming out the last two words, both girls pulled their arms back before punching forward, the speed and force of which seemed to break the sound barrier as...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

...a grand beam of rainbow light erupted from their fists, breaking the sound barrier again as the girls were thrown off their feet by the recoil. They quickly caught themselves and directed the beam toward Bada.

Bada went to escape just as the girls were about to thrust their fists out by directing his bike to jump but found he was unable to as the Rising BeatGouram's pincers momentarily broke the clash between them to move and grip onto the Bagibuson's face, preventing it from escaping.

"You're not going anywhere!" Kuuga exclaimed, refusing to let the Grongi make a last-second escape as he revved up his bike, giving it more power to make sure Gouram had more than enough strength in its pincers.

Just as Bada was about to curse the Rider, the Rainbow Strom finally arrived and struck both him and the Bagibuson. They both screamed in pain as their new dark nature made the Pretty Cure's attack do much more damage than they would normally do. And so, caught between two attacks with no way to escape, Bada...still refused to give up!

"GraaaaaAAAAAAH!" Letting out a desperate cry, Bada pulled out his duel saber and swung at Kuuga who quickly caught the blade in between his hands. Not in the least bit bothered that his attack had been stopped, Bada pushed forward to overpower the Rider even as cracks started to form on his and Bagibuson's bodies.

"It's over, Bada! Give up!"

"Never! Don't think I didn't see what happened to Gamego. You kill me here and my death will take thousands with me! Even if I die here, I'll still have the last laugh!"

Despite the distance between them, the girls heard what Bada had said and responded.

"That's what..." White began as she and her partner opened up their hands.

"...you think!" Black finished as the Cures swung their hands up.

Seeing what the girls were about to do, Kuuga summoned the last bit of strength he had left to have one of his hands quickly grab onto Bada's saber before using his now free one to punch it, breaking it as if it were made of glass. Bada let out a startled cry before Kuuga grabbed the handles of his bike and pulled up, making it perform a last-minute wheelie as the maneuver picked up the Bagibuson in the process. Then, still gripping the handles tightly, Kuuga flipped his body over, defying gravity as he pulled his leg back and delivered a Rising Mighty Kick to Bagibuson's face, knocking it out of Gouram's grip and into the air where its form was soon enveloped by the Rainbow Storm that curved upward in response to the Cure's movement.

"This...can't be..." Bada gritted out as he and his steed were carried off into the air, soon rising into the clouds. "Bagibuson and I...we lost...?"

"Za...Zakenn...ZAKENNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

(BGM End)

It was like a star had appeared over the entire city, causing all the people to look up in alarm before screaming as the shockwave broke the surrounding windows. Unaware of the confusion and panic setting over the people of the city, our trio of heroes were found flat on their backs, de-transformed as they all gasped for breath.

"You girls...still alive?" Dai called out, gasping between breaths as his entire body ached, making him unable to move and check up on his friends.

"Yeah..." Nagisa called back, raising an arm weakly which fell as soon as it was up. "Though I wish...I wasn't right now..."

"We...we got him...right?" Honoka asked despite looking up at the explosion occurring in the sky. Logically, nothing could have survived that, but after the events of today, she wasn't sure if she could trust her own eyes.

"Yeah...yeah, we got him," Dai said, weakly raising his signature thumbs up.

"Great..." Nagisa groaned out, trying to raise her head, but found she didn't have the energy to do even that.

"Hey...I normally don't say this...but can we skip school tomorrow?" Honoka asked, looking ready to fall unconscious at any second. "I don't think any of us...has the energy to attend class."

"Sounds great to me," Nagisa replied, letting out a quiet "woopie..." before falling asleep.

"Sure, let's do that," Dai said before he soon followed after Nagisa.

"Okay. Good night..." And with those last few words, Honoka soon joined the realm of sleep. Not even the approaching sirens of Ryō and the others woke them up as they all dived deeper into their dreams, content that they had saved the day by the skin of their teeth.

---

(Special Investigation HQ, Hiwakawa's Office)

As the clock on the wall read 6:30 PM, Hiwakawa sat in his chair, facing the window as he watched the setting sun bath the skies orange. Looking down at the city below him, it was almost hard to imagine that chaos had run rampant hours ago.

'And we have those kids to thank for that,' Hiwakawa thought, smiling a little to himself before the door opened.

"Excuse me." Coming through the door, Ryō excused himself as he walked in. Hiwakawa turned his chair around to face him, the bespectacled man said nothing for a moment before suddenly bowing his head. "I'm sorry, sir."

"...Whatever for?"

Surprised and confused, Ryō raised his head and said, "For ignoring your orders and delivering the BTCS to No. 4?"

"Oh, that? There's no need to apologize. By the time you took it from the institute, the top brass were already on board. Thus you never defied orders."

"But sir...I don't think the order was rescinded at the time."

"It was just a matter of time," Hiwakawa said as he rose out of his chair. "The media remains an annoyance still, but I think they all know what the right call is now."

Ryō couldn't stop the smile forming on his face even if he wanted to and it seemed the chief shared his feelings as his lips also turned upward. With nothing else to say, Ryō bowed once again, this time in thanks.

"Ichi Dai...Misumi Nagisa...and Yukishiro Honoka..." Hiwakawa listed off the names of their heroes, getting Ryō to look up in surprise. "Are they doing okay?"

"Uh, yes. They're currently being treated by the best doctors we know."

"That's good," Hiwakawa said, nodding in relief. "From the reports I've read, their powers are extraordinary. But we must never forget, they are still children. It's the responsibility of adults like us to support and nurture the young so that they may grow healthy and wise. Ichijo-san, please continue to support those children and do everything you can to keep them safe."

"Yes sir," Ryō said but couldn't stop himself from looking down. "Though, if I may be honest, sir, I'm not sure how much I can do as things stand."

"Your doubt is understandable," Hiwakawa said, fully understanding why his subordinate doubted himself. With the situation regarding the ULF continuing to escalate, combined with today's events, it looked like they would have to rely on Dai and the girls even more.

"However," Reaching into his drawer, Hiawakawa pulled out a folder and handed it to Ryō. "I believe I may have the solution to your problem."

"Sir?" Raising an eyebrow, Ryō took the offered folder and opened it up, reading out loud the first letters that caught his attention.

"Project...G?"

---

And...done! Holy shit! That took way longer than I expected. Once again, I'm sorry this took so long, but like the saying goes, 'you can't rush greatness.' And boy was this great! There are some things here and there that I think could be better, but at this point, I'm too tired to care. Not a lot from the Pretty Cure's side of things, but I made sure to make that up by including them in the action as much as possible. And BOY was this action-packed! Even more than even I expected! It was a ton of fun to write and I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter as much as I did. I also hope I conveyed well enough just how much of a threat this Zakenna-empowered Bada was to you, readers. But this hype train does not stop as next time...oh boy. Kuuga fans, if you know...you know just who our heroes are going to face next time. And trust me when I say the effect he'll have on the gang will be scarring. We can only hope they come out of this experience still sound of mind. But that's for the future. I've got some other stuff I need to work on, so this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. And now, for our usual scheduled program of...

---

Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts

"Hello minna-san! It's been a while, but welcome back for another segment of Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts-mepo!" Mepple cheered as he and everyone all greeted the clapping audience.

"Can I first just say, wow did a lot of stuff happen today," Nagisa said, watching the events of today's chapter play out on the screen. "I know we tend to leave the Grongi's to Dai-kun, but man was this guy tough to take down."

"Indeed. But perhaps that's mostly due to the Zakenna that aided him," Honoka said as scenes of the Bagibuson were displayed.

"They were really scary-popo," Pollun said, referring to both Bada and his steed.

"They sure were-mipo," Mipple said, nodding in agreement. "Even with the new BeatChaser to help Dai, Bada and his steed proved to be formidable foes-mipo."

"Speaking of today's subject..." Mepple began as the bike in question was displayed. "Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the BeatChaser 2000, Kuuga's second Rider Machine-mepo!"

"Sometimes abbreviated to BTCS, the BeatChaser 2000 is faster and more durable than the previous TRCS aka the TryChaser 2000 model-mipo," Mipple explained. "And because the bike was designed specifically for Kuuga, the bike is also more resistant to the metal corrosion caused by Gouram-mipo."

"Just how much faster is it compared to the TryChaser?" Honoka asked, curious.

"According to the fandom wiki, the top speed of the BeatChaser clocks at around 420 km/hr, making it 1.4 times faster than the TryChaser-mipo."

"Now that's fast," Nagisa commented, letting out an impressed whistle.

"It can go even faster when it equips itself with the Gouram, becoming the armored BeatGouram-mepo!" Mepple said, displaying the transformed bike on the screen. "With a new top speed of about 570 km/hr, the BeatGouram, much like the previous TryGouram, is a combination of the BTCS and Gouram, resulting in this monster of a vehicle-mepo."

"And with a new bike, the previous TryGouram Attack has changed to be called the BeatGouram Attack-mipo."

"That's amazing-popo!" Pollun exclaimed, eyes sparkling as he gazed in awe at the armored bike.

"But wait! There's more-mepo!"

"More!?"

"That's right-mepo! As you saw in today's chapter, Kuuga can apply his golden powers to the BeatGouram, transforming it into the more powerful Rising BeatGouram-mepo! With new golden armor giving it better defenses, this machine's top speed has been increased to 700 km/hr, and its ramming finisher attack is upgraded to the Rising BeatGouram Attack-mepo!"

"Amazing-popo!" Pollun exclaimed, looking ready to bounce all over the place as if he had a sugar rush.

"That truly is amazing," Honoka said, looking impressed at the golden armored bike. "With that type of speed, there's almost nothing that can outrun Ichi-kun."

"Yeah, and that makes it just as hard to believe that Bada almost held his own against this guy," Nagisa said, turning her attention to the screen that showcased the final clash between Kuuga and Bada.

"Yes, I suppose that is something that deserves a segment of its own-mipo," Mipple said as the Bagibuson was displayed. "Back when this transformed bike was still-er, 'normal' its top speed clocked around 400 km/hr-mipo. Just slightly under the BeatChaser."

"However, when it got turned into a Zakenna was when things started going off the rails-mepo," Mepple said as the Zakenna-transformed Bagibuson was displayed.

"According to information given to us by the author, its first transformation increased the bike's speed to 420 km/hr, the same as the BTCS-mipo. However, what made this morphed bike so dangerous was that it was able to reach that top speed in an instant thanks to its flexible nature as a Zakenna-mipo."

"So that's how it caught us by surprise the first time," Honoka said, thinking back to their first loss in the last chapter.

"That's right-mipo," Mipple said, nodding. "If things had just stayed there, even if it matched the base BTCS' top speed, it still wouldn't have caused so much trouble for Dai and the others-mipo."

"But it did, and that's because it was evolving thanks to it resonating with Bada-mepo," Mepple said, bringing up the multiple forms the Bagibuson had taken throughout the chapter.

"This wasn't just any regular Zakenna-mipo. When Daguva had given Bada the knife containing the dark monster, it had fused with the soul housed within, Bada's old horse, the true Bagibsuon-mipo."

"Based on how Bada acted and treated the Zakenna, we can tell that he and the true Bagibuson got along very well, and that bond caused them to resonate with one another, empowering the both of them-mepo."

"And through that, the Bagibuson went through multiple evolutions and got stronger with each transformation, resulting in what might be the Grongi equivalent of the BeatGouram-mepo."

"No matter how many times I look at it, it still grosses me out," Nagisa commented, looking at the Bagibuson's final form.

"Do you know just how more powerful this evolved Bagibuson was?" Honoka asked, looking to the fairies for answers.

"Since this transformation was based on the Bagibuson in the Kuuga manga, it can do the same things it can-mepo," Mepple said. "Bladed wheels and spikes, dangerous clawed appendages, and if it were ever knocked into the water, it can spin its wheels in a way that allows it to swim and hover with no problems-mepo. And as shown multiple times, those back legs aren't for decoration as they give the bike the ability to leap high distances in the air, allowing it to dodge attacks that would normally be difficult if it were a normal bike-mepo."

"According to the author, by its final evolution, the Bagibuson's durability had grown to the point that it could even take a direct hit from a tank shell without a scratch, and its top speed clocks around 600 km/hr-mipo."

"So without Ichi-kun's golden powers, it would have been faster than even the BeatGouram," Honoka said, looking at the Bagibuson with disbelief.

"Geez. With all of that, it's hard to believe we managed to beat this thing," Nagisa said, nervously scratching the back of her head.

"Well, it's not that hard when you realize it has one glaring weakness-mepo," Mepple said, getting confused looks from the girls.

"It does?"

"That's right-mipo," Mipple said as she took the lead in explaining. "You see, despite how strong it is, it must be remembered that it is still a Zakenna-mipo. Due to its own body and nature, it has a major weakness to light-based attacks, such as your girls' finishers-mipo."

"Oh yeah, I think I do remember that thing looking really hurt whenever our attacks managed to hit," Nagisa said, thinking back the few times she and Honoka were able to hit the monster bike with their attacks.

"But wait, I remember Bada having this aura that protected them against my White Thunder," Honoka pointed out.

"That's because Bada and Bagibuson were on the verge of evolving yet again-mipo. Had you guys failed to finish Bada right then and there, then he would have become powerful enough to rival even the Rising BeatGouram-mipo."

"Now that...is scary to think about," Nagisa said, shivering at the thought of the grasshopper Grongi and his bike becoming even more powerful than they had ended up becoming.

"We really did win by the skin of our teeth," Honoka said, nervously sweating at the thought.

"Indeed. But we should just be glad we won the day in the end-mipo. After a battle like that, I think we all deserve a well-earned rest-mipo."

"Now that's something I can get behind," Nagisa said, smiling.

"Ditto to that-mepo," Mepple said before addressing the audience. "Well folks, that's all the time we have today. Tune in next time when Dai and the others face off against...our most vilest foe yet-mepo."

"I do not like the sound of that," Nagisa said with Honoka nodding in agreement. Nonetheless, they and the fairies waved goodbye to everyone.

"Until next time, everyone!"

Next Time: Can Teamwork Save The Day? Anger, Explode!