The weekend had come and everyone was trying to enjoy themselves, despite the looming threat of attack.
Several days had passed since the Mimic attack and in that time, there hadn't been any sign of a monster attempting to harm anyone. Nor had there been any sight of Canterlot's newest hero, Kamen Rider Shifter.
Said Kamen Rider, was using the free time of the weekend to do a little research.
Flash was in his room, laptop open as he sat at his desk. On the screen were blurry images and shaky video files. It was all focused on one subject. "Kamen Riders." Ever since people had started calling him that, he had been interested in learning more about this group that he had apparently joined.
According to what he had studied, Kamen Riders had first appeared over fifty years ago. Armored individuals, who rode motorcycles and fought against monsters, robots and a bunch of other things. And from what Flash had discovered, a good many of them were themed after some kind of insect. Just like him.
"I wonder." Flash sat back in his chair and thought about the white cloaked individual, who had given him his bike. He couldn't help but wonder if the figure had intended for him to gain that name, or if it was just a coincidence.
A knock at the door caught his attention, Flash turning towards it as the door opened. In doing so, his sister stepped into the room. Scootaloo.
The orange skinned, purple haired girl, wearing a black zip-up hoodie, green cargo pants and black boots, looked him over. "What are you doing?" She asked, as Flash closed his laptop.
"Homework," he told her. "What do you want?"
"Can you give me a ride to the mall? I'm meeting Applebloom and Sweetie Belle there."
Flash let out a sigh. "How is it when I got my licence, I somehow turned into your private chauffeur?"
"Come on. What else are you gonna do all day? We both know that wasn't homework you were doing." Flash wasn't sure what she thought he was doing, but he quickly wanted to change the subject.
"Fine. Let's go." Scootaloo cheered, as they headed out towards his car.
In a dark place, the three cloaked figures were standing around a radio.
"It has been several days since the attack from the usual creature calling itself a Mimic, which was destroyed by the one calling himself Shifter. Many people are wondering if it was some kind of performance stunt, whilst others are claiming to have seen more of these monsters and Shifter. But those sources are unconfirmed. Many wonder if another attack will happen and if so, where?"
One of the cloaks growled. "Shifter. He's destroyed two of our brethren now. We must make him pay."
"And how do we do that?" The female voice asked. "We don't know where he is or what he looks like without his mask. And if he has the power to destroy Mimics, how can we be sure he won't use that power to destroy us?"
"She's right," the older male agreed. "We need more info before we can counter him."
"Then let me awaken another of our brethren. They will lure this Kamen Rider out and once he's there, I will discover who he is and eliminate him. Why have we not attacked again already?"
"We must keep the humans off balance," the older male replied. "If we attacked every single day, they would know to expect an attack every day. We must keep the element of surprise."
"But I'm with Gule," the female stated. "It's time for the next Mimic to awaken. And hopefully, it'll defeat this Kamen Rider."
"And even if it can't," Gule turned to leave. "I'll destroy them myself." With that, he headed out and the other two cloaked individuals continued to listen to the radio. But eventually, they turned it off and got to their own work. They really needed to get the lights working again.
Flash and Scootaloo had arrived at the mall, Scootaloo running off to meet her friends the moment they arrived.
Meanwhile, Flash was simply browsing as he looked around and saw everyone enjoying themselves. He smiled, happy to see that the Mimics weren't scaring people into hiding themselves away.
He soon arrived at a store that sold electronics and decided to head inside, wanting to see if there were any cool new gadgets he might enjoy playing with. The place had the usual stuff, like phones, music players, cameras and a few laptops. But there wasn't anything he would consider interesting.
"Flash?" He looked around and saw Twilight, who was carrying a box of new tech. She was dressed in her work clothes, a blue shirt and black pants, both of which had circuitry patterns on them, along with black shoes and blue socks she was wearing over her pants.
"Hey," he leaned against a table with some phones on it, "got anything new for me to play with?"
Twilight laughed. "Probably not. Unless you're interested in some new state of the art processors to upgrade your computer at home. But then you'd need to know about your laptop's gigabyte limit and data stream output." Flash was already lost. "Anyway, you come to the mall for a reason?"
"Dropping my sister off," Flash replied. "I was kind of expecting this place to be a ghost town, given everything that happened a few days ago."
"I thought the same thing. But I guess it takes more than a monster attack to make people scared these days." Flash nodded. "Honestly, I'm almost excited for another attack."
"Seriously?"
"Well, I don't want anyone to get hurt. But if a Mimic did so up, Shifter might show up as well."
"The one they're calling a Kamen Rider?" Twilight nodded, as Flash suddenly felt very hot under the collar. "Why would you wanna see him again? From what I've heard, not a lot is known about him."
"Exactly. And I want to know everything about him. Like what kind of technology he uses and how his bike's able to move at such an incredible speed. He doesn't use Equestrian Magic, so there has to be some other power source he's using. I'd love to study it, just for a minute."
"Well Shifter probably has his reasons," Flash shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't wanna risk his technology, falling into the wrong hands. Or maybe he's worried that if his identity got out, he'd never get to live a normal life again."
"I guess that makes sense," Twilight nodded. "Still, I hope he has someone that helps him out. I'd hate to have to fight a bunch of monsters, without Sunset or the other girls backing me up. Fighting on his own must be terrifying." Flash hadn't thought of that.
Was he really going to have to face every single Mimic on his own? So far, he had fought them one on one. But how long would it be before he was facing five or ten at a time. He was suddenly feeling very scared.
Outside the mall's back exit, a security guard was taking a break.
He stepped outside to have a smoke and unwind, but he wouldn't get the chance to do either of those things. For as soon as he closed the door, he suddenly heard a sound and looked around. And there, a few feet away, was the dark cloaked figure.
"Hello?" He asked, as the figure drew closer. "Can I help you?"
The figure stopped and spoke. "Awaken and remember what you truly are." The figure looked up and the guard was met with a pair of eyes, which caused him to suddenly go stiff before clutching his head. He cried out, as something without him broke and a flood of information was sent into his mind.
He stayed like this for a moment before stopping and looking up. "I am Lek-Nee-Ray."
The figure nodded and stepped back. "Destroy anything you find. Make the humans fear us and if someone tries to stop you, make them pay." With that, he was gone and the one calling himself Lek looked around.
He spotted an ant on the ground and thrust his arm out, said arm morphing into a slimy orange tendril that flew down and struck the ant. As soon as it was struck, the ant was trapped as the man pulled his arm back. The slime around the ant began to harden and morphed into an amber cocoon, with the ant trapped inside.
His body then began to melt into the slimy substance and reshape itself, eventually hardening to reveal a humanoid ant monster. It was brown in colour and had the head of a giant ant, whilst it had four arms that ended in small crescent pincers. Sticking out of its butt was a large thorax and the creature snapped his mandibles together.
Flash and Twilight laughed at something Flash said, the teens having a fun talk as Twilight used her magic to put everything that was in the box on display.
"Scootaloo really did that?"
"Yup," Flash nodded. "And ever since, we've had to mix our cake and pancake batter by hand. Seriously, of all the places to stick your tongue." They laughed and as they did, someone stepped into the store.
"Twily." They looked over and saw a man, with white skin and blue hair walking towards them. He was wearing a gray button up shirt, black pants and a silver coat over it. Flash had a feeling that despite looking friendly, Flash wouldn't wanna get on his bad side.
"Hey, Shining." Twilight turned to Flash. "This is my brother, Shining Armor. Shining, this is Flash. A friend from school."
"Oh yeah," Shining nodded. "Twilight's told me about you. The guys she tutors from time to time."
"And trust me, I wouldn't be passing Math class without her." Twilight blushed at the praise, as Flash suddenly noticed something on Shining's belt. A gun holster. "Um...are you licensed to carry that?" Shining saw what he was looking at and smirked.
"Sure," Shining took out his wallet and opened it up. "Here's my licence." He flipped it open and showed a policemen's shield, Flash relaxing at this as Shining put it away. "Anyway. Twilight, your lunch break soon?"
Twilight checked the time. "Another couple of minutes. Did you wanna get something to eat?"
"Sure." He turned to Flash, "you wanna join us?"
"Really?" Flash asked, "you're okay with that? We've just met."
"Yeah, but I'm good at telling if someone's trustworthy or not. Always been a sixth sense of mine. So, you in?" Flash thought for a moment and was about to say yes, but then another voice caught their attention.
"Twilight!" They all looked around and saw a brown skinned teen with green hair, wearing a red shirt under a sleeveless blue jacket, yellow-brown pants and a black beanie on his head.
"Timber?" Twilight laughed as she ran up to him. They hugged and as they did, Flash noticed Shining looking a little upset. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Camp Everfree?"
"Things have been pretty slow around camp," Timber explained. "My sister also hired some new workers and things are working pretty smoothly. So I thought I'd use the time to come see how everything's going around here." He then noticed the other two and smirked. "Shining. Long time, no see."
"Yes," Shining nodded, "I guess it has."
Timber smiled at him and turned to Flash. "Hey, we've met before, right? Dash?"
"Flash," he corrected him. "And yeah. I was at the camp with Twilight and the others. How's your sister been after the whole..." He glanced at Shining, "incident."
"Oh, she's fine now. Helps that the camp's future is secured...at least for now." He turned to Twilight. "Anyway. I thought we could spend the day hanging out together. Maybe go see a movie or get something to eat."
"Thanks Timber," Twilight smiled. "But I've only got about thirty minutes for my lunch break. Besides, I was gonna go eat with Flash and Shining. But you're welcome to join us. Right guys?"
"I don't know," Shining frowned. "I guess it's okay, but finding a place that seats four might be tricky. Unless we go to the food court, but I'm not a big fan of the food they serve there."
"There's a burger place that's not too far from here," Timber smirked. "But you're right about them usually only sitting two or three. Four might be a bit of a stretch."
"It's cool," Flash told them. "You guys have fun. I should probably get going anyway." Flash wasn't sure why he suddenly didn't wanna have lunch with them, but something about Timber was making him lose his appetite.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "It wouldn't be fair if you didn't get to go."
"It's cool," Flash assured her. "You've only got a limited break time. Spend it with your brother and Timber." He started walking away. "I'll see you later." With that, he was gone and they watched him leave.
"Nice kid," Shining told Twilight. "Considerate." Twilight nodded, as Timber turned to her.
"So, burger place? Sitting three shouldn't be a problem for them." Shining frowned at him. "Come on. We going or not?" He headed out and Twilight followed once she cleared her lunch break with her boss. Shining was the last one, a frown on his lips as he headed out.
Flash was making his way through the mall, having stopped off to get a smoothie from Applejack.
As he slurped up his drink, he thought about what had just happened. Why had he been so annoyed, when Timber showed up? He figured he had put his feelings about the guy behind him, when he realised he and Twilight didn't have a future. But seeing the two together like that had made him want to transform and Rider Kick the guy into next week.
"Come on, Flash." He shook his head, as he slurped up more of the orange and passion fruit. "You've got more important things to think about." Number one was finding the Mimics and stopping them before they could hurt anyone. Until then, he didn't have time to be interested in girls. He needed to focus on fighting, so he could learn the truth about what happened to him.
He headed past the sporting goods store and noticed Rainbow, using her super speed to stack boxes and put up signs. He wished he could use his powers for everyday activities, but he doubted being able to destroy things with a kick had many uses outside of fighting monsters.
Back with Twilight and the boys, they had arrived at the burger place Timber had suggested.
Unfortunately, the place was jam packed when they got there. Every table was full and wouldn't be empty for a while, meaning eating there was out of the question. "Oh, great." Timber cried. "Sorry guys. I was sure this place wouldn't be jam packed."
"That's okay," Twilight assured him. "We'll just go somewhere else. Sunset works at a sushi place."
"I'm not a big fan of sushi," Shining stated. "What about that pizza place?"
"Pizza, for lunch?" Timber clearly didn't like that idea. "There's that fried chicken place. Eleven herbs and spices." The siblings seemed to be considering this. But before they could say yes, they suddenly heard a bunch of screams.
They all turned towards the source of the commotion and Shining rushed forward, Twilight going with him. Meanwhile, Timber stood there. "Where are you going?" The siblings said nothing and kept running, until they reached a large crowd of people running away.
Pushing through this group, they reached the middle of the mall and were shocked to see a monster attacking it.
The ant human hybrid roared, as it grabbed the mall's fountain and ripped part of it out of the ground. The beast looks around and sees them before throwing the fountain part towards them, Shining looking ready to tackle his sister out of the way.
But Twilight reacted first and ponied up, using her magic to stop the piece of concrete before it could hit her.
Shining looks impressed by this, as Twilight spun the fountain part around her before throwing it back towards the monster. But the ant simply backhanded the piece of marble and turned it to dust, Twilight frowned. "This must be another one of those Mimics."
"So that's what they look like." Shining pulled out his gun and fired, but the creature didn't even bother to dodge. And for good reason, as the bullet just bounced off its shell like it was nothing. "Seriously?" They both frowned, all the while Timber snuck over and hid around a corner to watch.
The three all thought the same thing. This creature wasn't going down easily.
Back outside, Flash was heading towards his car.
But just as he took out his key to open it up, he was overwhelmed with a feeling. One that made him look towards the mall, as a large group of people started running out of it. "That can't be good." He rushed towards the building and grabbed someone who ran out of it. "What's happening?"
"A monster's attacking. It's one of those Mimic things!" The man pulled himself out of Flash's grip and ran for it, Flash frowning as he turned to the building.
The first thing he thought about was his sister. He had to make sure she was safe. As such, he ran inside and prayed she had gotten out unharmed. But if he found the Mimic first, he would destroy it before it could harm anyone else.
"Raaah!" Twilight grabbed another piece of damaged fountain in her magic and threw it.
The ant saw it coming and leapt into the air, showing impressive jumping skill as it landed on a nearby wall and stuck to it. As it did, Shining kept firing. He hoped hitting the same spot would damage his shell, creating a weak point they could target. But no matter how many times he fired, the shell did not allow itself to be damaged.
"Damn it!" Shining cried, as the Ant Mimic leapt off the wall and landed right next to Twilight. "No!" Before his sister could react, the creature grabbed her around the neck and threw her across the room. Shining watched as Twilight crashed into the wall and hit her head. "TWILIGHT!"
She fell to the ground and laid there, slumped along the floor not moving. After a few seconds, she returned to normal and was still knocked out.
Shining turned to the Mimic and roared, but the creature was faster and rushed over to grab him by the neck. He then spun around and threw Shining away, the man flying through the air and crashing through a clothing store's window. He then hit a rack of clothes and knocked it over, getting buried by the clothing in the process.
Timber watched, as the Ant Mimic clicked its pincers together and looked around.
It then turned to Twilight, who was still unconscious. And just as it was about to do something, footsteps filled the air and it turned to see Flash. The teen ran forward and spotted the monster, then noticed the girl laying on the floor.
"Twilight!" He rushed to her side and tried to shake her awake, but found she was completely unconscious. As this was going on, Shining was pulling himself out of the clothing whilst Timber continued to watch. Flash turned towards the monster and stood tall, as the Mimic Driver appeared on his wrist.
He took out the screen device and held it up, pressing the button to activate it. "STRIKE!" He quickly opened the side of the Driver and placed the screen inside, completely unaware that he was being watched by Shining and Timber.
As the Ant Mimic stared at him, he struck a pose. "Henshin!" He slammed the draw shut and the belt activated.
"MIMIC! LIGHTNING BUG!" Flash crossed his arms, as the liquid flew out of the pipes and began to cover him. It quickly solidified before breaking apart, revealing the suited up teen before the amber slammed into him and formed the armor. As the transformation completed, the Driver spoke. "Illuminate the light, striking through the darkness!"
Both Shining and Timber were shocked by what they had just witnessed.
"The winds of victory have shifted," the Kamen Rider announced before running forward. Before the Mimic could respond, the Rider leapt at it as he slammed the side of his belt inwards.
"CLIMACTIC STRIKE!"
His boot was surrounded with energy and with a mighty kick, he slammed it into the Mimic and sent it flying backwards whilst it was electrocuted by the energy. This wasn't enough to destroy it, but it did give Shifter the time he needed.
He pulled out the motorbike toy and threw it at the ground, causing it to melt and grow before reshaping. Once the bike was completed, Shifter grabbed Twilight and carried her over to the machine. But as he placed her on it, the Mimic picked itself up.
Shifter growled, wishing there was a way for him to get Twilight to safety and stop this thing from doing any more harm.
Then, suddenly, the bike revved up on its own and raced off with Twilight on it. "Huh?" He watched it go, Twilight not falling off at all. "Okay. Wasn't expecting that." He heard the beast roar, as it charged forward to attack.
He thrust his foot back without even looking, knocking the creature away. As it hit the ground, Shifter prepared for a fight. "Bring it on." He charged, as the beast picked itself up and the two began to fight. Shifter jumped around, leaping off the wall and dodging all the ant's attacks.
Their fight caused them to both move away from the area, allowing Shining and Timber the chance to let what happened sink in.
Shining finally acted, jumping out of the window and running off somewhere. This just left Timber, who stared at the spot Flash had last been in. And after a few moments, he nodded and ran off somewhere as well.
Shifter and the Ant Mimic continued their battle, with Shifter having a clear advantage as he fought against the monster.
The Ant threw its claw at Shifter, but the Kamen Rider easily caught it by the wrist before flipping it around. The alien roared, as it was sent flying and crashed into the ground. Flash kept hold of the creature's arm and pulled it upwards, whilst slamming a boot into its chest.
The creature roared in pain, as Shifter tried to think of what to do.
He could destroy the monster, but that would only nullify the threat. There had to be a way he could get some information out of the creature. Find out how to defeat the Mimics, once and for all. Because once that happened, he might finally have some answers from that weird cloak guy.
However, something happened that soon caught him completely by surprise.
Out of nowhere, something flew towards him at high speed. "Huh?" He looked around, just as the creature slammed into him. "GYAH!" He was thrown off the Mimic and sent flying through the air, the Rider doing several spins before landing on his feet and sliding along the ground.
He slid to a stop and looked up, his eyes going wide at the sight of another monster helping the ant up.
It looked like the cross between a man and an insect. Its body was humanoid, but it was surrounded by a green exoskeleton. It had a pair of insect wings on its back and its hands and feet looked like that of an insect with three fingers that were like insect arms. On the back of each of its elbows and on its knees were some kind of glass dome that looked like they lit up. The head appeared to be humanoid, but it was wearing an insectoid mask.
"Another Mimic?" Flash asked, as the creature laughed.
"I'm not just any Mimic." Shifter's eyes went wide, not expecting to hear these things talk. "I am Gule-Far-Tar. General of the Mimic army." Shifter let that sink in and realised, this guy had to be one of the big bosses. "I came here to uncover what's been destroying my fellow Mimics. And now I've uncovered it. You."
"Your Mimics are trying to destroy my world," Shifter stated. "If they wanna do that, they're gonna have to go through me!" He ran forward and Gule did the same, the pair meeting in the middle and throwing a punch at one another.
The impact knocked the two back, Shifter off his feet whilst Gule staggered back.
As this happened, the Ant Mimic charged and dived on Shifter. The Kamen Rider managed to raise a leg, so the creature slammed into his foot. But as he kicked it away, Gule attacked.
Shifter leapt to his feet and the pair traded blows, whilst the Ant attacked as well. It was two on one and Shifter was clearly at a disadvantage, not getting a second to catch his breath as the monsters attacked one after the other. If something wasn't done to change the odds, Flash would be in real trouble.
Outside, many people were grouped up in a large crowd.
Whilst they were worried the monster would attack them outside, curiosity also got the better of them. They were all wondering if Shifter would show up and fight against the creature, or maybe someone else might find a way to stop it.
Rainbow, Applejack and even Rarity were outside. They all wanted to go back in and help, but they had their own issues to worry about. Scootaloo, Sweetie and Applebloom were with them, having escaped once they heard about the monster attack. The girls had to make sure the three were safe before they could think about going in to fight a monster.
"Is everyone okay?" Rarity asked, the girls nodding as Scootaloo looked around.
She spotted Flash's car and suddenly grew worried. "Where is he?" She looked around, but there was no sign of him. "Is he still inside?"
"A'h doubt it," Applejack told her. "He probably left ages ago and didn't want to find another parkin' space. A'm sure he's fine." Scootaloo wasn't so sure, but an engine pulled her attention away from searching for her brother.
From out of the mall, a bike flew out with somebody on it. That somebody was Twilight, who Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity rushed over to. "Twilight!" Rarity cried, as they recognised the bike. "Isn't this Shifter's bike?"
"Yeah," Rainbow nodded, "where'd you get it?" But Twilight didn't answer and they realised she was unconscious. "Twilight!" She tried to pull Twilight off, but the girl didn't move. Looking down, they realised part of her body had something fused to the bike. Her legs had the metal melded to her pants and shoes, whilst her hands were stuck on the bike's handles.
"What the hay?" Applejack tried to pull her off, but it didn't work. "Come on. Let her go." The others tried to follow suit, but nothing happened. "What's wrong with this thing?"
As they tried to extract her from the bike, sirens filled the air and they looked around. They soon spotted ambulances, police cars and even a few news crews. Clearly, news of the Mimic attack had reached the authorities and they wanted to do something about it.
Back inside, Shifter and the two Mimics continued to fight.
Shifter was growing more and more tired, as he did his best to fight to two off. And as he blocked a slash from the Ant, Gule suddenly dealt a kick to his chest. "Gyah!" He was knocked off his feet and slammed into the ground, Gule quickly grabbing him by the foot and flying him into the air before throwing him across the room.
He hit the ground and slid across it, moaning at the impact until he came to a stop.
Gule laughed as the Ant charged again, whilst Shifter tried to pick himself up. And as it got close, the Kamen Rider raised his arms and unleashed a bright flash of light from bulbs on his suit. The light struck the creature's giant eyes and made it scream in pain, allowing Shifter to rise.
He ran at the beast and dealt a swift punch into its chest, knocking it back as he quickly fired off two more punches before swinging his leg around to kick it.
As the Ant tried to recover, Gule flew in and blocked another punch. And as Shifter pulled back to deliver another strike, Gule's own body unleashed a brilliant light. "Augh!" Shifter hissed, his visors doing nothing to protect him from the bright flash.
As he staggered back, he remembered those glass domes on the Mimic General's body and realised they were the same as his own lights. This thing had his ability.
The world around him still blurry, Shifter was unable to defend himself when Gule flew forward and grabbed him by the neck. The next thing he knew, he was lifted into the air and flown over to one of the walls. He was smashed into it hard before being pulled away and flown over to another wall, smashing into it just as hard.
This happened two more times before Gule flew him down and threw him towards the Ant Mimic, which slammed one of its pincer fists into Shifter and sent him flying in another direction.
He crashed into a pillar and broke right through it, falling to the ground as Gule and the Ant moved towards him. He tried to pick himself up, but he needed a moment to recover.
"With you out of the way, there'll be nothing to stop us from taking over." But as Gule was about to attack, a noise caught their attention. One which made them look around and see something, moving towards them.
It was a bike, which looked like a blue version of Shifter's bike. It had silver under the bodywork and yellow streams on it. And riding it was a figure, dressed in a silver suit with blue armor themed on a hercules beetle.
The figure drove and before the Mimic could comprehend what was happening, the bike accelerated and rammed into Gule. The impact sent the Mimic General flying, eventually crashing into the ground.
The bike had stopped seconds after slamming into Gule, the rider throwing a kick towards the Ant and knocking it away as well. Then, he got off his bike and moved over to Shifter. "You alright?"
Shifter looked up at him and finally realised, he was just like him. Wearing the same belt and screen device as him. "You're...like me."
"Name's Morphic." He held out a hand, "Kamen Rider Morphic. You looked like you could use some help." Shifter took the hand and was pulled to his feet, as Gule picked himself up.
"Another one!?" He cried, as the Ant pushed itself to its feet. "No matter. I will destroy you both."
"You deal with the loudmouth," Morphic announced. "I'll take ant head over there." Shifter nodded and charged towards Gule, whilst Morphic walked towards the Mimic.
Shifter leapt into the air and dealt a powerful kick to Gule, who tried to block with his hands but had little success. As he was sent staggering back, Shifter continued to throw punches and kicks at him. Gule quickly managed to recover and started fighting back, the pair appearing at a stalemate one on one.
Meanwhile, the Ant Mimic charged and tried to grab Morphic. But the blue Rider was able to easily knock his pincers away and deal his own punch to the creature.
The Ant staggered back. From what it could tell, Morphic was slower than Shifter. But he had more strength than the orange Rider, allowing him to hit harder. And with the Ant being at around the same speed, the two appeared to also be at a stalemate.
Morphic charged forward and dealt several strong punches towards it, the Ant doing its best to block or dodge them. It managed to avoid two and deflect two, but still got hit several times. It cried out, but kept fighting and slashed its pincers towards Morphic.
The Rider was struck in the chest, but his armor was able to protect him from any serious damage. And when the Ant tried to go for an unarmored section, Morphic grabbed his arm before it could deal him any damage. And with a powerful kick to the stomach, the Ant was thrown backwards and crashed into the ground.
The Mimic hissed, but it hadn't taken any serious damage. Despite how strong Morphic was, the Ant's armor was clearly able to take his attack. No matter how hard Morphic struck it, he couldn't destroy it.
However, it seemed Morphic realised this too. And was ready.
"Blitz Blaster!" Suddenly, part of his gauntlet turned to liquid and flew down into his hand. Once there, it solidified and reshaped itself. Soon enough, a blue handgun with a long barrel was in his grasp. And as the ant charged, he quickly fired a blue energy out of it.
The Ant saw this coming, but couldn't move in time to dodge. The energy slammed into it and when it did, a powerful explosion caused its chest armor to crack. This made the Mimic scream in pain, as it staggered back and clutched its chest. Morphic then fired again, hitting another section of his chest and blowing that apart as well. He then fired multiple times.
All the creature could do was scream. With each strike, its body was blown apart. Its hands were blasted off, its legs were destroyed at the knees and several holes were sticking out of the armor.
As the Mimic fell to the ground, Morphic slammed his hand into the side of the belt.
"CLIMACTIC BLITZ!"
His armor glowed before the light began to fly through his body and into his blaster, which started lighting up as Morphic pointed it towards the sky.
The Mimic saw this and tried to crawl away, but it was no use. All it could do was drag itself, helplessly, a few inches at a time.
"Feel the full force of my justice." Morphic fired the weapon and it flew straight up, with him suddenly leaping right after it. Somehow, he was able to fly past the energy sphere that had formed and spun around. He slammed his foot into the orb and kicked it, the blast flying back towards the ground even faster than before.
It morphed into a glowing blue meteor, which shot down to the Mimic and exploded upon contact.
The beast roared, as it exploded and Morphic landed on the ground in front of the explosion. When the flames and smoke from the blast faded away, the Mimic was nowhere in sight.
Shifter and Gule continued their fight, both still at a stalemate.
Shifter threw a kick at Gule's neck, but the Mimic General blocked before trying to kick him back. But Shifter was able to grab his foot and the pair could only stand there, each on one foot, as they fought against the other's strength.
Eventually, they pushed away from one another and staggered back. As they did, the lights on their bodies glowed and they unleashed the beams towards the other. Both were blinded, unable to properly fight back.
They quickly shook off the blindness and both ran forward, Gule taking flight whilst Shifter leapt up and swung his leg to kick. But Gule quickly swung his claws around and the two were knocked away from one another, landing as they panted.
Gule growled, wanting to end this nuisance once and for all. But before he could, blaster fire flew towards him and he was forced to leap back. "What?" He looked over and saw Morphic, running towards him with his weapon in hand.
"Give it up!" Morphic announced, stepping up next to Shifter. "You can't beat us both."
Gule growled and looked ready to attack, but then they all heard noises. More footsteps and voices, coming closer. It appeared the police had arrived. "We'll finish this later," Gule stated before leaping into the air.
Morphic tried to blast him, but had no such luck and Gule broke through a nearby skylight. "Ahhh," Morphic cried. The noises got closer. Any minute, the place would be swarming with police. "We need to get out of here." As he said that, his bike rolled over to them.
"Not good," Shifter gulped. "My bike's still not back yet."
"Get on!" Morphic climbed on the bike and Shifter stared at him, clearly unsure if he should trust this guy. "I'm on your side." Shifter sighed and climbed onto the bike, holding onto Morphic's sides as the bike revved up.
As the police and news crews arrived, the two raced off and flew out the nearest window they could find.
Back outside, they were still trying to figure out how to get Twilight off of the bike.
"Come on!" Applejack did everything she could to pry the metal off of her, but she couldn't without risking injury to Twilight. "Why won't it let her go!?" The others frowned, wishing they had an answer. But the bike kept its hold on her.
It was then that they heard a loud smashing sound and turned towards it, as another bike suddenly raced out from around the building. It was moving so fast, they couldn't tell who was on it. But as soon as it passed, the bike Twilight was on suddenly revved up.
The metal holding her to it also gave way, causing her to almost slip off as her friends caught it. The bike then raced off, following the other bike in becoming a blur and disappearing.
"That was weird," Rainbow stated before Twilight let out a moan. "Twi! You okay?" She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing she was outside.
"What happened?" The others frowned, wishing she would have the answers for them.
Morphic raced through the streets, swerving between the bikes until he turned into an alleyway and drove down it.
Once they were safely out of the public's eye, he rolled to a stop and allowed Shifter to climb off his bike. "Thanks," he told him. "I might have been in trouble, if you hadn't gotten me out of there."
"No problem," Morphic told him. "Us Riders have to stick together, huh Flash." The orange rider's eyes went wide as he leapt back, ready to fight. "Wait, just relax."
"How do you know who I am?"
"You transformed right in front of me." Shifter tilted his head, as Morphic reached down and opened up his Driver. Once he took out the screen, the armor began to melt away and his suit disappeared. This revealed the person underneath.
"Shining?"
Shining Armor smiled, as his bike shrank back down. As it did, Shifter's bike finally arrived and rolled next to him. "You should really be careful when you transform. You're lucky I was the one who saw you. You might not be so lucky next time."
"But...how? How are you a Kamen Rider?"
"Honestly, I have no idea." Shining held the screen in his hand. "One day, I was chasing after a criminal when I suddenly blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up and this thing was in my hand. What about you?"
"Same," Flash nodded. "Have you...talked about this with anyone?"
"No. But since you have a bike, I'm guessing you met our friend in the cloak." Flash nodded. "He said all would become clear when I defeated the Mimics. But before I could find one, you suddenly showed up and started kicking butt. Thanks for stealing my thunder. I had a whole speech planned out for when I revealed myself to the world."
"Um...sorry."
"It's cool. I'll admit, you made up on the spot something that was way better than what I came up with." They both looked down at the screen devices, curious about what had happened to them. "Flash. I know you're a kid who's probably in over his head, but I need you. I can't do this on my own and you can't do it either. We need to work together."
Flash smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. Because based on what happened today, there's no way I'd win this fight on my own." He held out his hand. "Partners?"
Shining smirked and took his hand, "partners. Now. let's get back to the mall. I need to check on my sister."
"Same," Flash nodded. "I just hope they're okay. Your sister looked like she was in pretty bad shape when I showed up. Where were you and Timber?"
"I'd been knocked into some clothes," Shining led him out of the alleyway. "I don't know where Timber went. But I'm more worried about that Mimic General. He was pretty strong, for someone who was probably just a high up grunt. Makes me wonder who the big boss is. And how many more generals he has."
Flash nodded, wondering the same thing. He knew it was just a matter of time before they met all those in charge, especially if they kept messing up the Mimics' plans. But since the Mimics had no idea who Flash and Shining were under the masks, they had nothing to worry about.
Gule had returned to the dark place that acted as the Mimic's base, the insectoid monster sighing as he sat down.
"Chosen to get rid of the cloak, I see." Gule rolled his eyes, as he turned towards the female voice. "Good. I'm starting to get sick of this thing as well." A ripping sound filled the air. As it did, a feminine monster suddenly appeared out of the darkness.
Her body was mostly black, being rather slim in appearance with a large bust and hips along with thick arms and legs. Her hands and high-heeled feet were red. Her arms, legs and hips were covered in red web-like designs and around her neck was a long black collar that flowed down over her shoulders, chest and back. Along the collar were eight red lines that resembled spider legs that were connected by red spider-webbing. She was also wearing a skirt that mimicked the rear of a spider, the same webbing pattern on it. Her head was entirely round with black skin and four red eyes that appeared to be divided into four sections.
The woman stepped forward and smiled at him. "Well aren't you a sorry sight."
"Back off, Maya. I'm not in the mood."
"Now now," a male voice replied as another figure stepped forward. "Let's not fight. We're all on the same team, after all."
Another monster appeared out of the darkness. Its body looked like the cross between a man and a bird, as a pair of black wings came out of its back. Most of its body was also covered in black feathers, with only its neck, head, hands and feet having visible skin. That skin was pink and wrinkly around its hands, neck and head, whilst the feet were grey and thin with three long toes. Its neck was long and curved, with a round head and slanted beak for a mouth.
"Frill," Gule glared at him. "We may have the same goals, but that doesn't make us a team. My only care, is to protect the Mimics and allow them to complete their mission."
"Indeed," the vulture Mimic nodded. "But to do that, we must work together. And based on your injuries, I'm assuming you had a little tussle with the one they call Shifter."
"Not just Shifter. There's another one, calling himself Morphic. He's just as dangerous." The other two frowned at this. "But I have uncovered something. Shifter's true identity."
"Really?" Maya asked, "how did you discover that?" Gule stood up and as he did, his body began to melt and change. Slowly, he took a new form and his body eventually solidified. When it did, it revealed a brown skinned teen with green hair. Timber Spruce.
"I saw him," Timber replied. "And now that I know who he is, I will destroy him."
"Well, don't forget you're not in this alone." Maya raised a hand and snapped her fingers, causing light to flood the room. Doing so caused the entire place to be revealed. A giant laboratory of some kind, full of tables carrying glass jars.
Inside those jars, pulsing orbs of orange-brown slime were moving around within them. Enough to make an entire army of creatures, ready to destroy the Earth. Timber, or was it Gule, smiled at the sight of them all.
"Soon, those Kamen Riders won't know what hit them." He and the other two laughed, as they knew this fight had only just begun. The Riders might be winning the battles, but the war would end in Mimic victory.