Zetsubou had ascended beyond what any Human before in their history. A land bathed in pure, white light with clouds lacing the floor. What, he had expected exactly that. He wasn't any Human after all. He thought himself above them, he was a King, nay, a God, and he would take his birthright.
Among the clouds, shimmering in the light, was a throne carved from marble with gold velvet draped over the ends. It was a throne fit for a God like him, and yet life could never be that simple, not even for a God.
Just before he reached the throne, he heard the engine of a motorcycle behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Kibou Kitai. An insignificant pawn used only to further his goals, but the fact that he was here now, staring him down, he couldn't believe that this Human continued to oppose him.
Zetsubou: "I must admit, you are anything if not tenacious." He spoke, turning fully to his guest.
Kibou's eyes narrowed at Zetsubou's new form. He had the legs of the Rabbit, the armor of the Pig, the horns of the Ox and Goat, the fangs of both the Dog and Snake, the muscles of the Monkey, the tail of the Rat, the feathers of the Rooster making a cape, the mane of the Horse, the claws of the Tiger, and the wings of the Dragon.
Kibou: "You're a monster..."
Zetsubou: "I'm a GOD, and as God's should be, I'll prove just how merciful I could be." He took a step toward Kibou, raising his finger and pointing it at the teenager.
Zetsubou: "Bow before me, and I'll make room for you in my newest world."
Kibou: "If you think I'm going to bow down to you after the Hell you put all of us through, you're even more delusional than I thought." Kibou reached up to his left wrist and cracked it.
Zetsubou: "Bold words, but futile nevertheless. For what is a Human to a God?"
The legs of Zetsubou flexed for just a second, then he lunged forward, extending his arm out to drive the claw through Kibou's chest.
Kibou: "You might be a God, but you're not a God I'll ever believe in."
A golden orb flew out of Kibou's chest and knocked away Zetsubou. The golden orb came to a stop next to Kibou and they both nodded to each other. Kibou rose his fist into the air, Aibo circling around him and attaching to his waist, then Kibou slammed the fist over his heart. He stared ahead, his eyes focused on the so-called God as he crossed his arms out in front of him.
Kibou: "Henshin..."
Aibo: "Got to go! Set to go! Believe in hope! Kamen Rider! King! Chrono! The light of our hope builds the future..."
Gliding his hands over the middle of Aibo, the middle opened, revealing the Roman Numeral clock that resided inside the Driver. The clouds of the area turned into a golden powder that swirled at his feet, slowly rising up and clinging to his body. His greaves were a pure gold, as pure as gold could be. His chestplate was bulky and covered a majority of his midsection, with the image of a clock imprinted on it, both hands pointing up at XII. The shoulder pads had curved upward the further out they went. Engraved on the gauntlets were each of the Roman Numerals on the clock. The black suit that he wore under the armor had shifted to a white coloring, blue energy lining the edges of the armor, and finally the red scarf he wore all the time had become a velvet cape.
At this moment, Kibou Kitai stood at the Genesis of creation. A space that was nothing more than a blank canvas for a person to twist into their image. It was here where Kibou had ascended to the status of King.
Zetsubou: "You...?" Zetsubou stood there in shock as the full impact of Chrono's Henshin shook him to his core. While he required all the Zodiacs to attain this power, it seemed like Chrono had matched him just through his own potential.
Chrono moved forward, the floor rippling under his soft step. This simple action was enough to trigger something within Zetsubou, who had summoned a rune to launch a javelin made of flames at him. The Rider moved his head to the left a bit. The javelin whizzing past his helmet, causing Zetsubou to scowl.
Zetsubou drew the Alter System from his side, loading in the Rabbit, Ox, and Dog coins, then firing it directly at Chrono. The coins flew through the air, the Zodiacs jumping out, but it wasn't like the Alter Zodiacs he faced in the past. These were the actual Zodiacs, not copies.
The Rabbit leaped into the air and was set to crush Chrono under its weight, only to have Chrono step off to the side and touching a stray cloud with his finger. The cloud gathered around his arm, becoming solid and taking the shape of a halberd. It was a mixture of his two weapons, the pole of the staff with the same rings, with the blade of his twinblade at the tip in place of the giant ring. The halberd sliced through the Rabbit like a knife through butter, reverting it back into its coin form that Chrono took for himself.
The Ox charged at Chrono, thrusting its shoulder forward in an attempt to overpower the Rider. Chrono took a step back and extended his left hand, stopping the Ox in its tracks and pushing it backward, stabbing through it with his halberd to defeat it.
With his back still turned to the Dog Zodiac, Chrono ducked in time to avoid the Zodiac reaching for his neck. He pushed his shoulder back into the stomach of the Dog Zodiac and tossed it over and onto the floor, leaving it vulnerable for Chrono to stab.
As Chrono collected the three coins of the Zodiacs, Zetsubou felt his power fizzle out. A low groan escaped his lips as he realized that he couldn't rely on the Zodiacs in this fight, only as a last resort against Chrono. That's why he chose to fight Chrono head-on.
The wings on Zetsubou flapped, waving away the clouds and lifting him into the air. He flew around 150 meters into the air, intending to divebomb Chrono when a flash of gold and red entered his peripheral. He had just barely turned away from Chrono, and Chrono had already jumped all the way up to him without making a single sound, kicking him back down to Earth.
Zetsubou bounced off the white floor of the space, tumbling backward and unable to correct himself, while Kibou fell in style, his cape acting like a glider. When Zetsubou could recover, he grew desperate, holding out his arm and summoning a rune of flames to blast Chrono with.
As the fire began to sputter out of the magical circle, a chain rose from the floor, wrapping around his arm and yanking it down so that the flames blasted all around him instead. The monster's thoughts were a panicked mess, wondering just how strong this King Chrono could be, wondering how this was all possible.
The flames eventually died out as the rune disappeared, with Zetsubou practically throwing himself at Kibou instead. He extended his claw to Chrono's neck, intending to tear it open. Chrono, in response, took a step forward and delivered a swift jab.
Even though the claws on Zetsubou reached much further than Chrono, and it should've stabbed through him first, he felt the blow of the punch before it even connected. The claw moved with Zetsubou's body, out of Chrono's way as the actual punch connected with him.
Zetsubou collapsed to the floor, grabbing his chest as he tried to figure out how Chrono could do something like that. There was something more to this King Chrono, something that Chrono and Chrono Boost didn't have, but no matter how much he thought he couldn't imagine what the actual answer was. Chrono had selected a moment from the future and pulled it into the present, in this instance it was the punch.
The monster struggled to pull himself together. It was a simple punch, and yet he found himself terrified of the person in front of him. It made him wonder if Chrono could even be considered Human at this point.
Zetsubou: "I can't take any chances... You... You must die!" Zetsubou loaded in six of the Zodiac coins into the Alter System, launching out the Pig, Rat, Rooster, Monkey, Goat and Snake.
Chrono lowered his head as Zetsubou stood with the six Zodiacs, his grip on the halberd tightening as all of them advanced on him. The Snake sped past everyone, slithering low to the ground and baring its fangs, poised to sink them into Chrono. Its tail shot around his ankle, trying to yank him toward its open mouth to only have Chrono jump forward with the momentum of the tug, slashing through it as he landed past it.
Once Chrono landed, he weaved under a swing from Zetsubou and kicked him in the gut, sending him stumbling backward. The Goat and Monkey tried their hand at attacking Chrono, flanking him from both sides.
Chrono twirled his halberd between his fingers and slashed ahead of him, the tip catching the Monkey in the chest, then swatting behind him with the opposite end to whack the Goat upside the head. They were disoriented for a second but didn't halt their assault. Continuing to take swings at him with the rest of the Zodiacs joining in.
The Pig attacked him in a reckless abandon, believing itself invisible due to its armor. It wasn't until Chrono twisted his arm around the Pig's and cracked it over his back that it thought something was off with the Rider.
With its arm broken, Chrono spun around and kicked it straight in the chest, a golden pulse coursing through its armor as it crashed into the Goat Zodiac. The Rat Zodiac then tried its hand at assaulting Chrono, spawning dozens of clones to swarm the King. Just as it did so, the visor of Chrono glowed and all of the clones vanished, with the Rat taking its initial position.
Chrono rammed his shoulder into the Rat, tossing it over his body and into the Monkey. With all the Zodiacs grouped together, he turned toward Zetsubou and snapped his fingers, chains raining down from the sky like spears and destroying the Zodiacs.
Zetsubou: "You... You...! Just WHAT are you? The way you carry yourself isn't like the Kibou Kitai I knew... That power should be impossible for Chrono to accomplish... It's almost like you've become a..."
Zetsubou trailed off as he was faced with the reality in front of him. The reality that Zetsubou wasn't quite the God he thought himself. That the power driving Chrono forward was the power he so greatly desired.
Chrono lowered his gaze and walked forward, disappearing in the process and reappearing in front of Zetsubou. Chrono had looked into the future and erased the cause, but left the effect. The action of him walking, but left the result of him ending up in front of Zetsubou.
Chrono drove his fist into Zetsubou, a golden energy pulsing from the contact and an image swarming their minds. An image of Sakura and Trish fighting for their lives in front of the school to protect everyone inside. Them getting overwhelmed and dying in the process.
King Chrono: "This power is one you can never attain. It is a power that Aibo and I share when our beliefs line up exactly with one another. When our bond is perfect."
Chrono felt his fist shake from the amount of force he was putting into it, then threw another punch at Zetsubou. An image of Mercy and Connor falling in battle in the middle of the graveyard.
Zetsubou stumbled back with the punch, looking down at his chest as his legs shook in fear. The fear and anger built up inside of him, leaving him paralyzed as his mind flickered between two thoughts, fight or flight.
Chrono took in a deep breathe, gazing into the palm of his hand before clenching it tight. He took a step back, sand particles raising into the air as he did so. Another step back, more of the sand floating around him, before he leaped backward through the air. The sand had followed after him, creating a golden ring with I in the middle at the one thousand meter mark, then a ring with II at the two thousand meter mark, all the way until he reached twelve thousand meters into the air.
The same energy that pulsed out of Chrono when he struck something began to coat his entire body as he shot forward, like a missile out of a cannon. He shattered the first ring he passed through with his kick, a second copy of the Rider appearing just slightly ahead like an ethereal figure. The rings kept shattering as Zetsubou stared on in awe, then Zetsubou's eyes widened as he snapped out of his fear.
He realized he had to move. He realized that if he allowed himself to get hit by this, then there was absolutely no way he could survive this. His muscles flexed as he tried jumping out of the way, but his body wouldn't move. It wasn't like the time where he was paralyzed in fear, this was different, but he couldn't tell why. He should've been immune to any attempts to stop time. There was nothing that Chrono could do to make him freeze in place like this, at least that's what he thought.
The secret to this trick resided in King Chrono's title as King of Time. He was erasing Zetsubou from every possible future, and with no future with Zetsubou in it, then he couldn't make a move. He was completely stuck in place, forced to take the full blow of King Chrono's finisher. A kick so powerful that it generated enough energy that it equaled the amount that was released in the Big Bang.
King Chrono: "Three... Two... One..."
In reality, it took less than a second from the start of King Chrono's Big Bang Kick to the point where he was in front of Zetsubou.
Zetsubou: "What... Are you...?"
King Chrono: "We're... a Kamen Rider." A loud crash of energy filled the hollow space of this white Heaven as King Chrono smashed straight through Zetsubou.
King Chrono slid to a complete stop on the opposite side of Zetsubou, his boot shining a pure white light. Zetsubou, his eyes wide in shock, stared down at his chest. A white hole swirling at the same spot that the Rider kicked.
Zetsubou was deconstructed at the cellular level and absorbed into the epicenter, followed by stardust flying past Chrono's head to join him. All the energy in the universe was being pulled into one singular location in preparation for the new Big Bang.
Aibo detached himself from Chrono's waist and flew to meet his partner in the eyes.
Aibo: "So, that's it... We did it?" He asked, a warm feeling building up in his chest.
Kibou: "Yeah... Even though it seemed impossible at times, I'd say we did it." Kibou smiled and turned to face the lone throne. The thing that Zetsubou sought.
Kibou: "The only thing is to shape the path of the future..." Kibou's gaze softened as he took a step toward the throne, only to have Aibo fly in front of him.
Aibo: "Heh... Stop right there, Kibou." He said, a smirk appearing on the dragon's face.
Aibo: "I can't let you take the throne. Not when you worked so hard already."
Kibou: "But if no one takes the throne, then we'll just be trapped inside a loop."
Aibo: "I know, which is why I'll take the throne. You'll be the one to enjoy the new future."
Kibou opened his mouth to protest, but he saw that look in his partner's eyes. Kibou couldn't help but shake his head, and close his eyes, imaging everything that led up to this moment.
The park where they met, the Rabbit attacking the school where they became Chrono, joining HOME and meeting Mercy and Connor, when they first used the Rabbit Zodiac coin to defeat the Pig, befriending Yuya and Tricia, when they evolved Chrono into Chrono Boost.
Aibo: "We didn't know each other for long, Kibou, but I doubt I would've been able to do any of this without you..."
Kibou: "I'll miss you, Aibo..."
Since Aibo was staying behind to build the future, he wouldn't be able to join Kibou in the new timeline, meaning that this would probably be the last time the two saw each other.
Aibo: "Just remember, Kibou Kitai. No matter what anyone says, you aren't a God, you aren't a King... You are a hero."
Kibou nodded as he opened his eyes to look at Aibo one last time. A smile was plain on his face as he was deconstructed to become the energy to help build the new world.
Aibo nodded back just in time for Kibou to see it before floating over to the throne. He landed on the middle of the seat and lowered his head to rest and dream of the perfect world where all his friends could live.
Aibo: "You all will get your happily ever after... I promise."