Kamen Rider Element

Experiment 11: The Metallic Strongman

Tachibana is sleeping in his lab, multiple ElemenTubes sitting on his lap. As Makura walks in, he notices one of these tubes before his attention reaches the others: the Zinc ElemenTube. With the atomic number 30, this element plays a role in creating DNA and cellular growth. Tachibana had created it to be stronger than the others. Makura gave his partner a slight tap on the shoulder, scaring the young chemist and causing all of the ElemenTubes to fall from his lap.

"Ahh!!" Tachibana hysterically belches. "Makura, don't do that to me!!"

"How long have you been here?" Makura enquires.

"You're aware I live here, right?"

"You know what I mean, Tachibana."

"I was up until three AM."

"Doing all of this? Without a wink of sleep till three?"

"You should know by now I take my work VERY seriously, Makura. Someone has to be ready for that Jungle guy and, last time I checked, he didn't take any of your equipment. He took mine."

"Yeah, but we got two of--"

"That's not good enough, Makura!! You know that. Every one of these tubes is dangerous enough on its own; if you put any of them in the wrong hands, we could have an apocalypse on ours!!" Makura looks down, almost in shame. Tachibana cools down before speaking again. "I'm sorry, Makura. It's just...something like this never happened to me before. Jungle is the only being, human or otherwise, who's ever been able to get one up on me like this. I haven't been a Rider that long--but I've been one long enough to know this: you start to feel invincible after a while. I had a pretty good streak going before he showed up. I felt invincible. I thought that I had all of this power, that others couldn't even lay a finger on me. Then, he shows up and takes that all away."

"We will get Helium back, Tachibana. From where I'm standing, you've lost faith in yourself. So, for now, just put your faith in me." Tachibana looks at his partner, with somewhat of a smile on his face.

"Okay."

Meanwhile, at the office, Rage is staring into Intelligence's office. He's baffled by the inefficiency of this self-appointed genius that he works with. Suddenly, Ichido and Intelligence walk into Rage's office.

"Good," Ichido begins. "Everyone's here."

"What are you talking about?" Rage asks. "Where's Calm?"

"Behind you," Calm remarks. "I've been sitting here for two hours."

"How have you managed to stay in here, without making a sound, for two hours?"

"You had your mind set on your hatred for Intelligence. About a half-hour in, you lost any sense of the outside world—even your own office."

"This conversation is moot," Intelligence intercepts. "I and the boss are here to discuss plans."

"I've decided not to step in with mine until you've run out of attempts, Intelligence."

"You're willing to wait that long, just to see me be destroyed?"

"Part of the identity that was created for me is patience. With that, I'm harnessing that part of myself until your time with us is done."

"You're that confident that I won't succeed?"

"Dude, the number of attempts you have left are falling—and they are falling quickly. Speaking of which, we have yet to hear of the Zaku you have prepared for your next one."

"You'll see how she fares soon enough. Observe." With a snap of his fingers, the tv turns onto Channel 18 news.

At the lab, Makura and Tachibana see the broadcast. There are reports of a blue streak of light flashing around, moments before the destruction of multiple pieces of property. Cars are being taken apart, windows are being removed from buildings. Criminals are taking extreme advantage of this anomaly, fearlessly robbing banks in broad daylight. The two Riders know too well the definite cause of this chaos and ride into town in response.