Ch. 10: The End JustiFaiz The Means

During her encounter with Kamen Rider Kabuto, Tendou Souji; Samus finds herself confounded by his arrogance, also realizing why the earnest of heroes never kill. Having accepted Tendou to her cause, Samus finally understood what it means to save the world by possessing such morality.

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The End Justiφ's The Means

Tribute to: Kamen Rider 555

NOTES:

• "φ" is the greek letter Phi, hence Phi's means "Faiz"
  
• Justiφ's is pronounced as "JustiFaiz", (which is a pun for the word "justifies") which is the name of the song by ISSA of DA PUMP, which is the opening theme for Kamen Rider 555.

After successfully convincing Tendou Souji to join with her, Samus has never been satisfied staying at the present time; fully relieved of worries from her timeline. She feels like connecting with the hearts of the Riders she had encounter from her journeys; and it was a dream coming true. Samus has never smiled in her life as change began to take place, with the Kureshima brothers being the only ones who took her in.

Moments later, Adam interrupts as he reads to her a message coming from Mitsuzane.

"Samus, I heard you fought an alien who appears to have connection towards you. Nii-san and I are waiting for you in the Drupers in Zawame. - Micchy."

"Mitsuzane?" Samus read the message from her phone again. "Did that Tendou guy told everything that we just fought Ridley?"

"Maybe, that Tendou almost knows everyone around the place." Adam stated about Tendou making a 'gossip' out of the bounty hunter. "I'm worried if anyone besides the Kureshima brothers are trying to expose your identity."

"I was also feeling the same thing, Adam." Samus said, feeling that her mission in the current timeline might be at the risk of being compromised. "If that happened, then, every Kamen Rider I met will turn against me, plus heightening the chance that Decade will destroy me."

"I understand your concern." Adam then reminds Samus to focus with the rest of the Kamen Riders, and dealing with Decade.

Before Samus heads for the Drupers, where Micchy and Takatora are waiting for her, she returned to the Kureshima manor to change clothes, this time with orange top and shorts, plus wearing a red lipstick.

When she arrived in the Drupers, she is greeted by Takatora. "You're late. What took you so long?" the older Kureshima asked.

"It's a long story." Samus wasted no time explaining everything. They went inside the fruit parlor, with Takatora being surprised by the Drupers' proprietor, Kiyojiro Bando, along side him are the Charmant's patissiers, Oren Pierre Alfonzo, and his apprentice Hideyasu Jounouchi, with Micchy following soon after.

"It's been a while, monsieur melon." Oren greets the older Kureshima. Then he turns his attention to Samus. "What a lovely lady? May I know your name, madame?"

"Her name is Samus Aran." Micchy introduces everyone to Samus on the latter's behalf, to make sure her secrets are safe. "She's from a distant place. Samus came to us for some reasons."

"Wow, Micchy!" Jounouchi was astonished of Samus' presence. "She's so beautiful!"

Samus stays with the brothers in the Drupers; Micchy treats both his brother and Samus with one of Bando's new melon parfait. When Samus tastes the parfait, it was sweet and a delicious marvel to behold!

Then, Oren and Jounouchi stared intently at Samus' beautiful and captivating face. They wonder why she has becoming close with the Kureshima brothers for a reason..

"Hey, madame Aran." Oren greeted the bounty hunter. "What kind of man do you like most?"

Samus is shocked with such ridiculous question. "What?! A type of man I like?" she said in a nervous tone. Mitsuzane and Takatora began to chuckle over Samus' shocked expression. But, Takatora backs her up, "You're a woman, remember? There is nothing to be ashamed of answering that question, no matter how ridiculous it is."

"Takatora-kun has a point." the Drupers' proprietor said. "Come on, lady. Don't be shy!"

Samus couldn't help but.

"I prefer gruff and serious men. That's all." Samus coldly said her answer, leaving Bando, Micchy, and Jounouchi speechless, except for Oren and Takatora. While bringing up her mutual feelings towards Commander Adam Malkovich, which in fact unknown to everyone minus the Kureshimas. "I used to admire a very serious superior at one time. He used to say this to me this, 'Any objections, lady?'."

"Samus.." Adam reflects how Samus feels about him. Referring how gruff and serious he was.

"Incroyable." Oren commends Samus' honesty. Then he pulls out another question that would make both Micchy and Takatora utterly dumbfounded. "Which one of the two Kureshimas do you like? Mitsuzane-kun or Takatora?"

"What?!" Takatora is shocked to hear that would put Samus under emotional pressure.

"Why us?" said Micchy.

"Now, now. It is the time for her feelings to be tested." Oren said gleefully at Samus and the brothers.

But, for Samus, as she does not want to embarrass both Micchy and Takatora, she reluctantly answered...

"Both of them."

"Ah mou!" Jounouchi muttered. "Oren-sama said that you have to choose Micchy or his brother!"

Then, Oren gazes at the bounty hunter as he gives a description of the older Kureshima.

"You like gruff and serious men, do you? I guess Takatora here fits the example! Come on, madame Aran, you do like Takatora-kun? Do you?!"

But, Samus again muted to prevent herself and the brothers Kureshima from getting embarrassed. With Takatora commenting, "...these questions are getting way out of hand..."

--------

Meanwhile, Micchy took Samus to shopping for her to buy new clothes, as she has been wearing the same outfit lately apart from the Zero Suit, making her try a plethora of clothes - among those were the clothes that Mitsuzane used to wear while with Team Gaim; which Samus finds it too boyish, then just a plain white dress, but Samus comments that finds it too cute. But she decided with one consisting with a black coat, undershirt and dark jeans.

When both Micchy and Samus are done shopping for the latter's clothes and important things she wants to get used with, Samus receives a new information of the next Rider she has to meet.

--------

Samus receives a text coming from Adam, containing her mission briefing.

"The next Kamen Rider you are looking for now utilizes a Rider Gear that was developed by a corporation so-called, Smart Brain. That organization was once a front for a race of monsters called "Orphenochs", that see themselves as inferior to humans. Today, Smart Brain was disbanded after the Orphenoch threat. The one who managed to stop the Orphenoch threat was a Kamen Rider, going by the name of Kamen Rider Faiz. The serial designation of his Rider Gear is SB-555. So far, we still don't have the identity of the Rider, but the only information we can provide you are the clues to find him. Is your objective clear?"

Samus finally understands what's next. Elsewhere, a mysterious man has been observing Samus lately, but his true motives are yet unclear...

On the way, Samus is attacked by Fangires and Orphnochs, forcing her to activate her Varia Suit. Samus effortlessly took out one of the Fangires with her new Homing Beam. But when she was attacked by a Cactus Orphenoch by surprise, she has to curl up in her Morph Ball form to back away, until a Rider came out of nowhere and destroyed the Orphnoch when a drill-like projectile stunned it, and delivering the Crimson Smash Rider Kick, dissolving the attacking Orphnoch into dust.

Samus' attackers fled in fear, to her surprise, the one who saved her is actually Faiz himself! But, in a split second, Faiz attacked her in a fit of rage!

"Samus, what's wrong?!" a transmission coming from Adam as he noticed Faiz attacked her abruptly.

Elsewhere, Takatora and Mitsuzane where watching Samus' progress on their home through Adam's footage; the brothers looked on the computer through Samus' point of view.

"What the-?" Takatora's expression of shock, thinking why the Rider is instead attacking Samus than thanking her.

"Nii-san, what's going on?" Mitsuzane looks on trembling in fear as he saw the bounty hunter being mauled by a Kamen Rider.

Returning to Samus' point of view, Samus attempts to escape using a Power Bomb, the explosion not only caused Faiz to be blinded, it bought Samus time to get out of the kill zone.

"Samus, what's going on?!" she receives a transmission coming from Takatora. "Since why did that Rider attacked you after he saved your life?"

"That was the question I was going to ask myself right now." the bounty hunter returns the same question to the older Kureshima. "That guy's a lunatic! He attacked me haphazardly after I was trying to escape an attack by a Fangire and an Orphenoch!"

"For the time being, Samus..." Adam then instructs Samus to continue along. "Keep searching for Faiz. If he attacks you again, return fire if necessary."

"Any objections, lady?" Takatora quotes the line that Samus told to Oren in the Drupers, much to the bounty hunter's surprise!

"Takatora... Why did you-" Samus couldn't believe her ears when she hears that familiar line when the older Kureshima had to say it.

Before she could react to Takatora saying that line, she had no time to waste responding to him. She instead continues finding Faiz. Wondering why what was his true motives on the attack against her.



Moments later, she spots Kamen Rider Faiz on a nearby open field. When Faiz senses Samus' presence, they fight! Faiz threw punches and kicks like a wild animal, stunning Samus before she had the chance to counterattack. Then, Samus delivers a punch with her left hand, with Faiz following afterward; their punch come contact with a thunderous collision.

"Damn, this guy is a deranged maniac!" Samus seethes as she feels the pressure of Faiz's attacks. As she continues exchange blows with the Rider. Then, Faiz began to pull out the Faiz Shot and inserted a Mission Memory on it to deliver a finishing attack.

    *EXCEED CHARGE!*

As Faiz is about to deliver a powerful right hook wearing the Faiz Shot on his fists at Samus, she then holds back, escaping death. The bounty hunter hides as she sensed that her suit's energy tanks have been depleted drastically after a melee mayhem against Kamen Rider Faiz. As she tries to leave the area, she gets a surprise attack by Faiz, who transforms into Faiz Axel Form!




    *START UP!*

The Faiz Axel Watch began a 10-seconds countdown, Faiz began to run at supersonic speed, and began to deliver a barrage of attacks in a blinding speed at Samus.

    *SYSTEM WARNING: ENERGY TANK CRITICALLY LOW!*

The suit's system is totally low on energy due to the brutal beating Samus took at the hands of Kamen Rider Faiz. Samus is completely stunned.

Faiz sends Samus in midair by brutally kicking her, then she is being surrounded by red drill-like projectiles; as Faiz launches the Axel Crimson Smash, the bounty hunter is impaled by the drill projections, thus deactivating her suit in the process...

"THREE... TWO... ONE..."

"TIME OUT!" The countdown finally ends. Thus, Faiz reverts to his basic form.

After an ensuing battle, Faiz de-transforms, revealing his identity to be Inui Takumi.

When Takumi checks out of the identity behind the robot-like creature, it turns out it was a suit of armor with a young woman wearing it. Shocked, Takumi tries to wake up the unconscious Samus, but to no avail.

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Meanwhile, Samus wakes up at the Kureshima's home.

Both brothers and Adam are relieved to see Samus okay. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter sustained an injury during the fight, this time she broke her right arm, again. The same injury that she sustained during her fight against Kabuto, it wasn't fully healed yet.

"What happened?" she glanced at the brothers (namely at Takatora) upon waking up, and finds out she sustained another injury.

"You broke your arm when you fought Faiz."  Micchy explained everything. "Adam asked us to look after your progress from the shadows. It seems Faiz is not friendly to strangers even after he saved you from a Fangire and Orphnoch attack."

"His attacks were powerful to forcibly deactivate your suit." said Takatora. "But, after that fight, a man named Inui Takumi brought you back here. But, he left without a word for us."

"Inui... Takumi." the bounty hunter began suspect of Faiz's true identity to be Takumi. "I have a feeling if that Takumi is Kamen Rider Faiz. I have to find him!"

"Samus, wait!" Mitsuzane tries to stop the bounty hunter, as he warns her about her right arm being badly injured. Samus realizes that was the same injury that was inflicted on her during her first battle against Kamen Rider Kabuto.

"Samus, stand down." Even Adam tries to reason Samus, but Takatora had to do the hard way.

When Takatora intervenes, he slaps the bounty hunter's face! Fuming, the older Kureshima had to take desperate measures.

"Nii-san... Why?" a shocked Micchy couldn't help but looking on in horror as his brother shows a harsher side of himself.

"That's enough!" an angry Takatora let's out his frustration. "Look at you, you're badly hurt. And then you try to desperately continue your mission out of your own personal gain."

"Huh, your missing the point-" Samus rebuked to the older Kureshima's reasoning.

"I don't want to hear it! Mitsuzane and I had gone into further heights looking after you. And now, you think we would allow you to throw your life away so recklessly?!" Takatora again shouted at Samus, leaving not only his younger brother, but also Adam speechless. Takatora, tearfully then makes an ultimatum; "The next time you do another thing like that without our consent, I will assume that not only you betrayed us, but so the other Kamen Riders you've met, and I am left without a choice but nail you myself!"

In retaliation, Samus returns the favor by slapping Takatora on the face as she runs off, as tears are falling from her eyes.

"Nii-san..." Micchy turned to his brother.

"Takatora, that was too harsh." Adam commented at the former's harsh behavior. "Samus had experienced emotional distress throughout her life, you should know that."

"My apologies..." the older Kureshima said, as he once again relents at his actions. "Because, I have been worrying at her too much as with Mitsuzane."

Micchy went on to find Samus elsewhere within their house. Then, Takatora knew that the reason behind his actions to the bounty hunter, as he had to do it out of her safety and well-being.

"She is from the future, and not too familiar of the Earth. That's why I-" the older Kureshima reflects as his thoughts are on Samus, with Adam also expressing his concern.

"You are not the only ones who are worrying for her, but your brother Mitsuzane does too." said Adam whilst he is being held by Takatora. "When my consciousness was embedded within a computer, I am also capable of looking after Samus. Samus lost her family when Space Pirates destroyed her home colony, and was raised by the Chozo and becomes bent into destroying evil space aliens in the galaxy."

"I never seen her that frail before." Takatora comments on Samus' behavior. "So, that's the reason why she lets go of her emotions just to lay waste on a planet to eradicate a threat in the galaxy?"

While Adam and Takatora converse, Micchy finds Samus in his bedroom, still weeping from the argument with the older Kureshima.

"Samus..." Mitsuzane rolled his eyes at a frail Samus, as he sat beside her. "Here, I'll wipe those for you."

The younger Kureshima grabs a handkerchief, wiping the tears on Samus' eyes.

"Your brother seems to be highly protective at times, Mitsuzane." the bounty hunter said in a frail tone, as she bites her lips. "I never seen him getting so angry whenever I get into trouble."

"It's okay. He always cares for me, given the fact our father left us to work overseas until he found out that father died." Mitsuzane looked onto Samus' eyes, while bringing up the times he had with Takatora.

"He loves you so much, no wonder you are still lucky to have him around." Samus admires Mitsuzane's love for his brother. Then, Mitsuzane taps the bounty hunter's shoulders. Micchy then explained why Samus was unable to beat Faiz; as a result he eventually explains to her about her flaw, Samus always puts herself under pressure whenever she encounters a Kamen Rider, to think they would be initially hostile towards her.

"Remember, you are no longer in space now." said Micchy reminding Samus that she is now living with Earthlings. "On Earth, you have to take time to plan precisely on whatever things you need to do. Sometimes, all humans make mistakes, you know? I bore so many imperfections throughout my life, as a result it brought me closer to becoming truly myself. You are still a human too, Samus. But, you must accept your flaws for you to know the best results."

"Mitsuzane..." Samus acknowledges Micchy's sentiments. Mitsuzane then removes the red band tied onto Samus' hair, unveiling her long and luscious hair. "Hey, give it back!" she tries to get the red hairband from Micchy, but the younger Kureshima continued teasing her.

Samus' face began to turn red as she begins to smile whilst trying to get her hair band back. 

"Now, you see." snorted Micchy when he convinced Samus to accept her flaws. "Behind that seriousness of yours is a kind and loving person. The guys at the Drupers admired your beauty."

"They said that?" Samus looked up, then Micchy returns the hair band to her.

It seems Mitsuzane was able to cheer the bounty hunter up; but she went off again to find Takatora. Meanwhile, on the office-like room where Takatora is seen standing on the window. Samus finds the older Kureshima standing intently from the outside.

"Hey." Takatora greets Samus when he learns her presence. Samus is still wearing a serious look on her face when she faced Takatora.

Samus does not made any reply. But senses Takatora having relented his actions from earlier.

"I'm sorry for earlier today." Takatora stoically said whilst facing the window; whilst his reflection and that of Samus being clear. "My emotions got the best of me, I... I mean, we were trying to protect you, Samus. You know that you are not in outer space anymore, you have to act accordingly into this world. That's why I am beginning to worry about you as much as Mitsuzane does."

"It's okay, Takatora. You don't need to feel bad about it, I understand how you feel..." Samus said after understanding the older Kureshima's sentiment through Micchy. "Mitsuzane helped me get through over it. It seems I realized why I-"

"Say no more. I assumed that you begin to acknowledge your weaknesses." Takatora sighed as began to broke into a smile. "I begin to see behind that seriousness in you lies a beautiful woman that captivates the hearts of men."

"What are you implying?" the bounty hunter blushes again in shock. The older Kureshima recalls back in the Drupers; where she was being asked by Oren, Jounouchi, and Bando about a type of man she likes.

Adam intervenes, and revealed that he learned everything from Takatora.

"A very gruff and serious type, I presume."

The older Kureshima and Adam chuckled and laughed over that particular answer by Samus back in the Drupers, much to the bounty hunter's chagrin and embarrassment. But, when Takatora turns to Samus' attention, she crept close to Takatora. Then again, hits him with a slap on the face!

"That hurts!" Takatora writhed in pain after the slap to the face by Samus, at a second thought, Samus begins to break into a smile and laughing; the older Kureshima then laughed soon after.

"I'm surprised that you finally found self-motivation from Mitsuzane and myself. I never seen you been able to reciprocate such feelings towards me and my little brother!" a surprised Takatora comments on Samus' sentiments.

Samus revealed to Takatora about what Micchy told her, the older Kureshima implied that it was the same advice given to him by Kazuraba Kouta. It seems that the Kureshimas' hospitality and care towards the bounty hunter began to develop a bond between her and the brothers. Samus then quickly removed her hairband, then lets her hair down, much to Takatora's surprise, almost captivated the older Kureshima.

Samus came closer to Takatora, wrapping her left arm to him. The older Kureshima finally saw the happiness on the bounty hunter's face. Finally coming to the conclusion of that argument earlier and subsequently burying the hatchet. Takatora thought of that of Mitsuzane in their younger times, as with Samus' case, he briefly reminisced the time with their household maid, Touka. Oddly enough, Adam begins to imply that Samus began to like Takatora, whom the latter reminded of himself in physical. Elsewhere, a blue butterfly began to look into the window where Takatora was seen staring from the outside.

----

Six weeks later...

Samus' right arm began to recover partially, but is refrained from using her power suit due to her condition. As a result, Micchy is forced to tag along with the bounty hunter to find Inui Takumi.

Along the way, they find a dirtbike that bears Faiz's serial identification, "SB-555". In order to wait for Takumi, they stood nearby the motorcycle intently. Moments later, the same Orphenoch and Fangire attacked Micchy and Samus, prompting the former to transform into Ryugen Budou Arms. Micchy protects Samus by fending off the attacking Fangires.

"Hey, I can still protect myself, Mitsuzane!" Samus arrogantly butted in as she flicks her left wrist and sent out the Zenrin Shooter from out of nowhere.

    *ZENRIN!*

Samus spins the wheel of the Zenrin Shooter and proceeds to slam it on an Orphnoch. Suddenly, Takumi appeared.

"It's him!" Samus senses Takumi's presence.

Takumi went on to the bike, as he collected the Faiz Gear and proceeds to transform. He pressed 5-5-5 on the Faiz Phone, which initiates the transformation code.

"STANDING BY!" the phone's activation response. With Takumi yelling out, "Henshin!"

"COMPLETE!" the Faiz Gear initiates the transformation, the linear patterns begin to emit from the belt upon forming the Rider's suit; as a result completing the transformation into Kamen Rider Faiz.

Faiz springs into action as he drew out a lightsaber-like weapon out from his motorbike, called the Faiz Edge, much to Samus' surprise. Faiz begins to swing his blade onto the attackers in a fit of rage, destroying them in the process.

"Thanks for saving us." Ryugen greeted Faiz. Then, the adroit Kamen Rider turned his attention to Samus.

"So, you were the one behind that robot suit?" Faiz sternly asked the bounty hunter.

"It's a POWER SUIT!" she shouted at him, knowing the fact that he defeated her in the first place.

"Relax, lady. I did not see that coming when I first saw you." Faiz sarcastically commented. "Nevertheless, you put up a good fight back there."

When Samus notices that Faiz recognizes her abilities, she begins to gain a positive thought at the Rider.

Seconds later, a creature began to form from ice right before Samus, Faiz, and Ryugen. But, this creature seems to be familiar to her!

"Samus, what's that?!" Mitsuzane asked, as he feels an amount of pressure as he feels something cold. The creature began to materialize itself from ice!

"That's Rundas!" Samus recognizes the being formed from ice, strangely enough Rundas remained corrupted despite the fact that Dark Samus is already destroyed. "He was one of my fellow bounty hunters in my time period. I thought he was already..."

"An acquaintance of yours?" Mitsuzane replied. However, Samus wasted no time explaining the whole thing, since she begins to wonder why that her former fellow bounty hunters who were once corrupted by Dark Samus were revived to the present time for unknown reason. An example of such was Gandrayda, when she was last seen where Samus encountered Kamen Rider Agito. Samus recalls her last fight against the revived Gandrayda, the downside to Gandrayda is she cannot take form of a Kamen Rider, but Decade does, as such Gandrayda was left at the mercy of Agito before she was finished by Samus and Agito himself.

"Hey, mind if I finish this guy for you, lady?" Faiz turns his attention to Samus, which she accepts; given the fact she is unable to activate her suit due to an injury. Then the Kamen Rider retrieves his attache-like device, at the moment he inserts his phone and activates his transformation code, Faiz then transforms to his Final Form - Blaster Form.



     *AWAKENING!*

    *FAIZ BLASTER, DISCHARGE!!!*

Kamen Rider Faiz then begins to shoot powerful fireballs of photon energy at the reanimated Rundas. The fireballs were even capable enough to penetrate his ice, stunning Rundas in the process. Faiz effortlessly kept Rundas at bay from setting his sights on an injured Samus. With the bounty hunter herself and Mitsuzane who de-transformed looked on as Faiz violently rained a hail of fireballs on the Phrygisian native without laying a scratch on the Kamen Rider.

"The finisher!" Takumi as Faiz as he initiates the Exceed Charge of the Faiz Blaster in Blaster Mode.

    *EXCEED CHARGE!*

Faiz fires a powerful blast of energy with the Faiz Blaster that resembles the Hyper Beam, almost frying Rundas to a crisp. But, the bounty hunter is still standing. Relentless as ever, Faiz fired a drill-like projectile from the blaster to stun Rundas, he furiously threw the blaster as he jumps exceedingly high as he prepares to put Rundas six feet below the ground with the Super Strengthening Crimson Smash, an extremely powerful Rider Kick. When the kick landed on Rundas, it began to emit destructive, red-pulses of energy causing collateral damage nearby.



Samus and Mitsuzane kept their distance from that radiating energy emitted from Kamen Rider Faiz's Rider Kick, subsequently killing Rundas in the process.

Before Rundas can finally pass away, he sees Samus.

"Samus... why did you..." Rundas finally explodes. Leaving Samus in total disbelief at the power of Kamen Rider Faiz.

"I never seen such power. I admit that I'm intrigued." Samus commends the power of the Faiz Gear.

Takumi de-transforms in front of Samus and Micchy. Samus felt in a loss for words. She realized it that Faiz was able to match her skills, as such so does Takumi when he learned that Samus is using a power suit. After exchanging compliments, Samus and Takumi shook hands.

"Inui Takumi, welcome to the team." Ultimately, Samus declared that Takumi has earned the respect of the bounty hunter after she admired his fighting skills in their previous encounter.

----To be continued----

-Credits to-

• Wallpaper courtesy of Yosua Onesimus Sanctuary (yosuaonesimus.wordpress.com/20…)