EPILOGUE

Back in Shinichi's (SV) world, the students which had vanished had suddenly reappeared. When asked by the police, they couldn't answer. It was like their memories of the incident had been erased. Shinichi was just glad that the students were unharmed and not traumatized. The experience itself had affected him as well. He'd just met himself, another version of him, more grown up and matured. Was it possible that he could turn out like that one day? Would it take years until he ended up with peace of mind? Shinichi wasn't sure, but he could at least have hope that things would get better. Their temporary fusion had also allowed him to see his other-world-counterpart's memories. Some of them at least and also feel his emotions. The other Shinichi was happy and content with his life. He wasn't obsessed with revenge, not anymore. He'd found closure. But things would only get better once GIN-SHOCKER was eliminated and blown off the face of the Earth.

Rika Furude stood before a woman identical to her, except that her twin wore a Gothic Lolita outfit with a cat's tail. The Rika lookalike was sitting at a table, drinking a cup of tea as if nothing was wrong.

"How did you like my little play?" Frederica Bernkastel asked.

"I should've known you were behind this," Rika frowned. "You never did like Shinichi."

"He was an anomaly and a dangerous one," justified Bernkastel.

"Hypocrite," Rika spat, "You're a dangerous anomaly. Might I remind you that you were created from all those deaths I went through in the failed Hinamizawas? And I'm surprised that you haven't tried to kill Alan yet, what with his presence in my era causing a time paradox, especially since magic drains his power. You were just bored again, weren't you?" Rika's frown deepened as Bernkastel smiled, confirming her suspicions.

"Exactly, and it was quite fun to see them argue and fight," admitted Bernkastel.

"Sometimes, I don't know whose side you're on," said Rika.

"Oh, I think you know," said Bernkastel. "Would you care to join me for some tea?"

"I am not in the mood. Just stay away from my family," warned Rika and she turned away before fading into the darkness.

"Oh, Rika Furude. Try as you might, your destiny is sealed. You will one day become like me," said Bernkastel as she took another sip of tea.

"You always did enjoy taunting others, don't you, Witch of Miracles?" Bernkastel stiffened as she turned to a young man sipping a cup of tea. He was wearing a green vest with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans and green metallic boots. His hair was in a deep shade of emerald, slicked back into spikes, with matching eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Bernkastel frowned.

"Did you think that your little dimensional stunt would not go unnoticed by me and the other Administrators?" the young man frowned, facing the Witch. "When we felt the spike, we knew only someone like you would do something like that. Someone who would screw with a mortal's life simply because she was bored, and a mortal she believes to be a threat no less."

"As much as a threat the boy is, it can't be argued that he's just as capable at saving the universe as he is at destroying it," she said to the young man, "You of all people should know how I operate, Dragon Sky."

The man frowned as green markings appeared on his face, markings that seemed to resembled the face of a Chinese Dragon. A green cyclone surrounded him and slowly enlarged in size before it dispelled and the young man had vanished completely, and a much larger being was in his place, floating before Bernkastel. It resembled a Chinese Dragon, for better lack of words. Its body was composed of green flame-like energy and it wore armor that resembled the creature it was based on. It had gold whiskers and horns as well as a gold Dragon symbol resting on its forehead. This being was called Dragon Sky, one of the three Satellite Administrators of SV no Sakei. They were counterparts to the Witches of the Meta World, but they didn't screw with people simply for the sake of boredom. In fact, they were rather displeased with what Bernkastel had pulled.

"Heed my words, Witch of Miracles," Dragon Sky bellowed. "You are no less of a danger than the Showa of your realm is. However, he wishes to protect the world he holds dear while you continue to interfere with him. You dare to call him a threat while you can alter any event possible so long as the probability of it happening is not zero?"

"It's not like I can leave this plane of space anytime I wanted to," Bernkastel retorted, completely unfazed by the sudden transformation, "His existence was a danger to this world before. I had no other choice."

"False conclusion," Dragon Sky rebutted, "You did indeed have a choice. You could have allowed him to resolve the incident on his own, to find his inner peace. He still has love ones to care for him, and you have no right to take it away." The alien slithered around Bernkastel and neared his face closer to hers, baring his fangs. "You are not to interfere with either of them again. What you see as a threat, we see as the light to wash away the darkness. If you continue, your actions will destroy the world rather than save it. Do not allow this to happen again... or you will regret it." With his warning set, Dragon Sky slithered around Bernkastel faster, creating a large green vortex that blew around the room. In a flash, the vortex dispersed, leaving only Bernkastel left in the room.

"Such a worrywart," Bernkastel sighed, drinking several more sips of her tea.

"Mama, must you always offend others like that?" asked Chaos (human form) as he appeared and sat across from Bernkastel. He had vanished after the battle without another word. There was no reason for him to hang around and be interrogated for his involvement in events.

"Kaze, you know that you and my father only do the things we do out of boredom," remarked Bernkastel. "Have you returned the students to their proper place?"

"I have," said Kaze. "And they don't even remember a thing so they won't be traumatized."

"Good," Bernkastel acknowledged proudly, "Congratulations on a job well done."

"I aim to please, Mama," said Kaze (Chaos) as he bowed. "But I don't deserve all the credit. This was your plan from the start. You were the one who manipulated Chorvax into destroying himself."

"A wild beast like him has no place in the Multiverse. All he does is destroy, destroy and destroy," said Bernkastel. "Once there was nothing left to destroy, he still wanted to destroy something so I contacted him."

"You told him how to find the Death Fang and told him where he could find ultimate power," continued Kaze.

"But you were the one who brought them to him and put all the pieces on the table. It was just a matter of time before his arrogance would lead him towards his downfall," Bernkastel finished. "As if I would want him to possess the TARDIS or keep Death Fang."

"He was destined to be destroyed by the 'Warrior who Comes in 2's' whose 'Eyes are Filled with Regret'." He paused for a moment to sip some tea. "You know, I think you've been spending a lot of time with Auntie Lambda that you're starting to sound like her," Kaze said in amusement. "Always saying that everything is Absolute and Certain."

"Everything is only Absolute and Certain when clever manipulators arrange for them to be," said Bernkastel. "And it all turned out well in the end, even if we had to manipulate a few emotions along the way."

"For the Greater Good," Kaze agreed. "For Balance like Papa said."

"Kamikaze Liquer," smiled Bernkastel, "You're starting to take after us more and more each day."

"I am yours and Papa's son, after all," said Kaze as he picked up a teacup. "Cheers."

"Cheers."

KAMEN RIDER CHROME: Well, that concludes this story and we find out more of what has been going on, of the forces working things behind the scenes. Hopefully, these clever puppetmasters don't lead themselves to destruction. However, fear and paranoia has a habit of forcing people to commit irrational acts in spite of their intentions. Well, some higher beings normally are self-righteous. They think they are right and they won't ever change their minds.