Kamen Rider Kabuto Episode #48

Here we go, the penultimate episode, where everything really starts going to hell. Yet again.

In other words, now would be a good time for a Spoiler Warning!

Last time, things were looking grim as Kabuto has seemingly gone rogue, destroying the necklaces ZECT is handing out to aid in their final strike against the Worms. Tendô is a wanted criminal, Dark Kabuto is once again in the hands of Mishima, and evil forces are preparing to make their intentions be known. In the end, Kabuto escaped from Gatack and ZECT, leaving our heroes puzzled by his actions.

Thanks to the necklaces, the last of the Worms are being quickly eliminated, with ZECT jumpin' out of the bushes and stuff before the evil space creatures can claim more victims. But Tadokoro gets a harsh dose of reality after saving a woman by changing to his Native form. To humans, Worms and Natives are the same, and they fear them both. Kagami shows up to defend Tadokoro from some people, and scares them away. Negishi appears, impressed with Kagami's bravery. He states that he only wants to create a peaceful world, free of conflicts between Humans, Natives, and free from internal conflicts as well. Misaki calls and informs that Kabuto has reappeared.

Kabuto destroys several Natives and then the boxes of necklaces before Clocking Up, escaping right before Kagami arrives on the scene. "I cannot forgive you...Kabuto" he states angrily.

Mishima stops Negishi's car, scattering the capsule supplements he eats across the hood with disgust. When confronted by Negishi, Mishima asks if he is aware of the Kabuto and Gatack Zecter's override switch, the "Red Shoes System" as Riku had called it. Negishi is surprised, and Mishima is tired of the theatrics under which ZECT has been operating, now that "this is in my hands." He shows Negishi the Dark Kabuto Zecter, and states that although Negishi's own secret plan is good, he needs Mishima's help if it is to truly succeed.

Hiyori is still cookin', now at Tendô's house. Hiyori cooking blah blah blah Juka shows up blah blah more cooking blah. Really, there ain't gonna be much else in Hiyori's future any time soon, so Hiyori fans, if you wanted to see her turn into a Worm and then show up during the final battle and be all like "I got my OWN Masked Rider System! TOH!"...don't get your hopes up.

Renge is in the hospital, and finds a heated pack with Omuraisu and a letter from you-know-who.

Tendô trails a ZECT flunky, and runs across the ill Kageyama. Kageyama tells Tendô of the light which he and Yaguruma are finally about to go to, but suddenly transforms into a Native. Horrified at this, he runs off, and Tendô grimly notes that his suspicions about the necklaces have been confirmed.

At ZECT HQ, Riku is in handcuffs. With Negishi's help, Mishima has staged a coup and is now the head of Zect. "You're fired" he tells Riku, intending to now finally fulfill his own secret agenda. Negishi reveals his newfound knowledge of the belts' overriding berserk system, a secret trump card Riku had been keeping up his sleeve from the start. As the system forces the Riders to keep fighting until all the Worms are destroyed, so too would it work against the Natives- who are, really, just another variety of the same species, but ultimately Worms all the same. Riku, brought to tears as he sees all his dreams, struggles, and triumphs crushed before his very eyes, gets punched out by a very ticked-off Mishima.

EVIL! Tendô awakens to find himself back in Area X, Area Z, or some Area X/Z-ish looking place. Maybe he's in Area Y, I dunno. Anyway, Mishima and Negishi go to visit him, and he snarls that he'll kill them both. Negishi reveals that Tendô's doppleganger is in fact, human, a revelation that shocks our dark Rider as well. Negishi explains that EVIL! Tendô was once a child who had been experimented on by the Natives, given a necklace made using a piece of the Shibuya Meteorite. Turned into a Native himself, he was then covered with an iron mask and kept in Area X, used for various experiments in creating the Masked Rider System. The real Tendô appears, stating that he now understands how he was able to be mimicked by the Native that is now EVIL! Tendô/Dark Kabuto. When Mishima asks how he found them, Tendô simply transforms, Casts Off, and Clocks Up, knocking Mishima aside and rescuing his impersonator.

Now understanding that he was once human as well, Tendô tells EVIL! Tendô that he has given him the freedom to make his own way in the world for once. But the doppleganger is too filled with anger at Negishi for what has been done to him, and runs back to confront the treacherous ZECT members. Tendô is about to give chase, but is shot at by the Zectroopers. Kagami appears.

Tendô's doppleganger confronts Mishima and Negishi, stating that he will "erase" them. Transforming into Dark Kabuto, he prepares to lay the smack down, but Mishima has a nasty surprise.

As their plans are to turn all of humanity into Natives with the necklaces, Mishima reveals that he has already become the strongest Native of all. Transforming, he easily defeats Dark Kabuto and knocks him out.

With their philosophies over the necklaces, ZECT, the Natives and the fate of the world divided, Kabuto and Gatack decide to settle things once and for all. It's take-no-prisoners as they duke it out, constantly under fire from the 'troopers supporting Gatack. The Hyper Zecter appears to help Kabuto, but he shrugs it off, and instead charges up for a Rider Kick. Gatack does the same.

The Zectroopers open fire, knocking Kabuto back, and he takes a direct hit from Gatack. The ensuing explosions destroys much of the area. Kabuto is buried under rubble, and Kagami is left with a heavy heart at what he has just done. He suddenly gets a phone call from Misaki, about Mishima's treachery and his father. Furious, he rescues his beaten father from ZECT and informs him of Kabuto's destruction.

Kageyama weakly stumbles up to Yaguruma, turning once more into a Native before reverting back to human. "I've fallen into a darkness that even you don't know of, Aniki. I wanted you to take me with you, but we can't escape from this darkness together." he then stumbles off, turning into Punch Hopper, and says goodbye. Yaguruma, as Kick Hopper, delivers a killing blow to him from behind. They are next seen sitting together, an unmoving Kageyama on Yaguruma's shoulder. "We'll always be together, partner. Let's go...to the light that only we can grasp." he says, before closing his eyes and smiling.

Kagami and his father flee from ZECT, and Riku tearfully tells his son of Mishima and Negishi's plan to turn all humans into Natives. He begs for forgiveness, and Kagami realizes that Tendô was right all along. But...

Tendô, buried in rubble, awakens and remembers how Hiyori was once in this same position. He sees a single flower, and tries to grasp it...

...right before more debris rains down, crushing him.

To be continued...