Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, nor do I own Nanoha. If I owned either, well… would I be writing fanfic of them?
Summary: What if Takamachi Nanoha were a detective in training under Narumi Sokichi? How will this affect the plots of the Nanoha series and Kamen Rider W? Rated T for Teenagers 13+. AU of Nanoha's original timeline.
Xamusel: This idea was not inspired by another story, but rather, it was thought of because I wanted to know which Kamen Rider would go best with Nanoha. Initially, I thought Wizard would be the best bet, but then I was given a few different varying ideas for Kamen Riders (post-Decade) that would be better. One of those ideas was W… and, quite gratefully, I decided to go with it.
Oh, for those of you who don't know when Nanoha is supposed to take place, it is slated at starting about three and a half years before W at the latest. Typically, this date is either in 2005 or 2006, but I decided to fudge it. This means that two Kamen Rider shows, including Kiva and Decade, happen during the time between the prologue and A's, while the events that start taking place in W start in September of '09.
Normally, I'd say more on the subject, but I'm less inclined to spoil where this is going… other than the fact that I intend to go through to StrikerS at least. That's not to say that I intend to stretch out the plot of W, but I do intend to use more Riders, at the very least… almost all of them will be post-W, anyway, if that says anything about my plans. In any event, I plan on wrapping up the plot of W by the end of this story at the earliest, though that's not to say that I'll succeed.
Now, then… The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning. Rebel 1, ACTION!
Kamen Rider W Lyrical
by Xamusel
A young girl who was almost the age of eight was walking home from school near the end of the Japanese school year with a spring in her step. She needed to get home to show off a special award that she had earned for placing top in her class for the previous year, which was the source of her very good mood, if that spring in her step was any indication. If anything, her enthusiasm was very infectious, which made her neighbors on her street smile just by seeing her smile.
She went over her phone's calendar to check the date, to make sure she knew her schedule for the coming days. It said it was March 8th, 2008… her enthusiasm went up a few notches, especially since it was Sunday the next day. She had promised her friends, Tsukimura Suzuka and Alisa Bannings, that she would head straight to the Tsukimura residence for a sleepover after getting her things together from her house. She had already gotten permission; she just hoped to find her family still at home. Either that, or a note from them; they were never very good with technology.
Takamachi Nanoha giggled slightly when she made it within three houses of her home. "I can't wait to meet up with Suzuka and Alisa," she said out loud. "Today's gonna be so much fun!"
Poor Nanoha could never have been more wrong than at that particular moment. As it turned out, "fun" was already over the moment she left school, as a house-sized explosion shook the neighborhood up and knocked Nanoha off her feet.
"Eh? Eh?!" Nanoha let out, blinking and looking around. "What the… what happened?"
Quickly making her way to the source of the explosion, her eyes widened at the sight of her home engulfed in flames. Then, from the inferno, a large shape began to approach. A creature made of flames walked out of the burning property, something that defied all laws of reality, even if she didn't realize that it really didn't.
Nanoha, in spite of knowing to run away from a fire, couldn't really move her body at all. She stood stock still, as if the fiery entity was capturing her ability to run, even as her conscious thoughts were yelling - no, not yelling, SCREAMING - for her to get out of there and never look back.
'What the…' she thought, even as her fear locked her whole body. 'I… I have to do something! I need to get help!'
However, the creature continued to advance on her location, even as she attempted to get out of her locked state of body. If only her body were able to let her go… unfortunately, the monster was advancing, slowly but surely. It was five meters away at that point, and its heat was starting to get unbearable… Nanoha was starting to get faint from heat exhaustion, which meant that she would be dead meat - no, perhaps it was barbeque, but you get my point.
'I… can't… hold… on… much… longer…' she thought, with her willpower running dangerously low. Just when the heat was about to fully knock her out, with the creature moving within three meters of her personal space…
A man's voice could be heard from two meters away and to Nanoha's left, "Stop right there, Inferno Dopant! Henshin!"
Almost as soon as he said 'henshin', a mechanical voice called out, "Skull!" When the voice called it out again a couple seconds later, a deep guitar riff sounded, which changed into a high guitar screech.
Of course, by that point, the creature, called Inferno Dopant, turned its attention to the newcomer far faster than Nanoha could. By the time she could start looking to the man, all she could see was a man wearing a black spandex outfit, some white to represent bones on his outfit, with a white mask that looked like a skull over his face, a white hat on top of it. The last thing Nanoha could comprehend before fainting was the man saying in a distorted tone, "Now, count up your accumulated crimes!"
'That's… what… who… is… he… any… way…' she thought, before finally giving in to exhaustion, fainting on the hard concrete.
Prologue: Promise Made in W
Nanoha stirred awake from her heat-induced coma, hoping that she was in her house, about to wake up from a nightmare. She barely had much time to start waking up fully when she heard the sounds of medical devices going off in her conscious hearing range. That dashed her hopes of being home…
"You're awake, I see," a man said near her bed. "Good thing, little missy. You're my only witness to what just happened out in Kobe-Uminari area, since nobody else was around to tell the tale… other than that pyromaniac, anyway, but he's in police custody in Uminari."
Nanoha looked over to her right, looking at the man in question. He was a black-haired man with a white posh coat, with a black shirt and white tie under the coat, although his most memorable feature was the hat on his head. It was the same hat that masked man had on!
Still, if she was with someone who knew where she was…
"Who… where… how…" she managed to get out, before her throat demanded water.
"My name is Narumi Sokichi," her rescuer said, walking over to her bedside. Pouring a glass of water, he helped her up in her bed, giving her the glass. "I suggest you drink this water," he said, getting her attention. "The medical staff here in the Uminari Municipal Hospital are going to have my head if you don't get something to drink. You don't want to be seen as someone who would have to live on the streets because of this, do you? Especially since you've been out of it for four days already…"
Nanoha's eyes bulged slightly, before she remembered that she was in the hospital, with no way out of that mess without causing undue attention. After calming down, she drank her water, the liquid of life giving her throat some nourishment. With the water down her throat, she placed the glass down, asking, "Did anyone… come here for me?"
Sokichi sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry, kid, but nobody came to pick you up while I was here," he said. "Where did you live here in Uminari, by the way? Maybe your family could come and get you after a quick phone call."
Nanoha's eyes went down to look at her sheets. "I used to live in the house that was burned down…" she admitted. "Was anyone home at the time?"
Sokichi felt his own throat get parch all of a sudden. "Sorry… there were four bodies in that house after the murderer was done," he said, getting her to look at him in horror. "Nobody survives at 100 degrees Celsius… that's the forensics report for the situation."
Nanoha felt her blood chill. "No… it can't be…" she said in horror. "Mom… Dad… Kyouya-nii… Miyuki-nee… you can't be dead, you just can't!"
Sokichi lowered his hat in respect, to make sure that the witness to the crime was able to get over her grief. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said, getting her to look at him.
Nanoha's eyes were brimming with tears, even as she yelled, "You're sorry?! You're SORRY?! I lost my only family to a fiery monster that who-knows what created, and I almost went with them because of the same monster! By rights, I should be with them right now in Heave—"
"Dopant," Sokichi said, breaking Nanoha's rant up early.
"Dopant?" she asked a few seconds later, unsure of what that was.
"It's someone who wants to become a Superman," Sokichi answered, "and attains that power by using what is called a GaiaMemory. Of course, there's another meaning, but that's the one that applies. Inferno was the specific GaiaMemory used, and you saw the result firsthand." Walking away from the bed to look out the window, he said, "Fuuto, where I set up shop normally, is the home of green energy, all generated by wind turbines, but also the home of whoever was making these GaiaMemories." Stopping in front of her window, he continued, "Should people suffer for what this entity calls their business practice, then Fuuto, the country, even the whole world will be forced to rebuild, but not in a good way."
Nanoha was silent for a short while, before she asked, "Why are you telling me this? Is this so that I don't have any connection to whoever makes these things?"
Sokichi stared out the window some, seeing a billboard advertisement on the next building over. "I'm telling you for your own sake," he answered. "It's for the better to know how to identify the signs of a Dopant attack and plan accordingly."
"I see…" Nanoha answered, looking down at her lap. After a few seconds of contemplation, she asked, "How do you stop these Dopants?"
Sokichi didn't have to look at her to understand her intentions. "The police are incapable of stopping them, because they don't have the right tools," he said. "Currently, only I have the right tools. Are you sure you wish to die, all while trying to use these tools?"
Nanoha opened her mouth to answer, but stopped before she could. About a minute of silence passed between them, before she answered, "I'm not sure I want to die yet."
Sokichi smirked as he heard that answer. "Smart move, kid," he said. "Admittedly, the tools I use make one less human than before. You just need to be sure of how to identify yourself in that case."
Nanoha was silent for another few seconds, before she said, "Nanoha."
"Hmm?"
"My name is Takamachi Nanoha," she said. "I know your name, but you didn't know mine, did you?"
Sokichi looked at her in a bit of surprise. "No, I didn't," he said with a shake of his head. "I guess that's what I get for being unobservant of things, then."
Nanoha giggled, before looking Sokichi in the eye. "Say," she said, "do you need anyone to help you with things like having a good home to live in? Or do you know anyone who needs that help?"
Sokichi looked like he was a tad constipated. On the one hand, he didn't want to leave this girl on the streets, alone and homeless. On the other hand, he didn't want to force her into his line of work, especially since she was originally a normal little girl who had the rotten luck of losing her previous life to a Dopant. Therefore…
"Narumi-sensei?" Nanoha asked. "Is something wrong?"
Sokichi cleared his facial expression in the blink of an eye, to look at Nanoha with an appraising look. "What did you call me?" he asked.
"Narumi-sensei," Nanoha answered. "Why? Did I say the wrong thing?"
Sokichi shook his head. "No, Takamachi-chan," he answered. "You can be my student… one of my proteges, in fact. I have another one, Hidari Shoutarou, who I need to ensure doesn't make fun of you for your age."
Nanoha beamed at hearing that. "Okay!" she exclaimed with a nod. "I'll be the best student you ever had!"
A year and a couple weeks had passed since the time Nanoha was accepted as Sokichi's protege. She had managed to get out of the hospital on her eighth birthday, after spending a total of a week in the same bed, and had moved in with Sokichi's other student in Fuuto. Not only had she learned a lot under the man while she was his student, she had become his successor as the chief of the Narumi Detective Agency via his last will and testament, which was a very impressive feat. Now, Nanoha was ready to do what she needed to do in order to properly run the place as a detective—
"Takamachi-chan, could I see you for a few minutes?" a teacher asked her as she was about to head over to the agency.
…oh, right, she's still a student. Of course, she's a student at Fuuto Academy these days, since she had transferred out of Uminari's district for until she was ready to go back. Fuuto Academy was a Pre-K thru Grade 12 school that took some of the best students from around the country, mainly those that were able to complete some of their rigorous tests, especially since those who manage to pass would be able to go onto the best of the best in their occupational choices. In fact, that was one of the best things about Fuuto to begin with, other than its green energy supply.
Nanoha looked at her teacher and answered, "Of course, Kishinami-sensei." Walking over to her teacher, she asked the older woman, "How might I be able to help you?"
Kishinami Haruka, a woman with red hair and green eyes, wearing a light brown blouse, a tan skirt, black high heels, black socks, and rectangular glasses sighed, before answering, "I was only informed two minutes ago that two transfer students from Uminari would be transferring to our school. More specifically, these two will be transferring to our Class, as your classmates and my students. There's a chance you might know them from somewhere, so, could you please get them adjusted to learning here in Fuuto Academy?"
Nanoha didn't even need to waste a moment of her time thinking on the subject. "Of course, Kishinami-sensei," she replied. "I'll do that and then some… supposing they moved to Fuuto for their education."
Haruka sighed in relief. "Thank you, Takamachi-chan," she said. "I'll make sure you won't have any trouble from the rest of the school for this."
"Not a problem, Kishinami-sensei," Nanoha bowed to her teacher. "I'll be sure to do this right for the students who wish to transfer in. When do they transfer in?"
Haruka gave a disgruntled sigh. "I was given extremely short notice about this," she answered. "I was told tomorrow, and not a moment sooner or later."
Nanoha looked at her teacher in surprise. "No wonder you said extremely short notice," she said. "Well, I guess I'll see who they are tomorrow, then." Turning to leave the school, she said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, Kishinami-sensei, I need to return home for a case that might or might not need my attention."
With that, Nanoha walked over to her place of residence, unaware of who would be joining her class the next day… or any other adventures she was bound to have.
Xamusel: FINISH!
…okay, so this prologue was shorter than I thought it should be, but I say that it's worth it to get this done in roughly two days. Granted, much of this was written on the second day, but I hope that the quality is good for you guys.
Also, don't worry, Nanoha will be able to see her family again… just not in the way you guys will expect. Internet cookie to whoever realizes what I mean first.
Now, before you guys ask, Magic is ineffective against Dopants in this story. Therefore, don't expect the TSAB to stop them so easily, especially since I'm calling the Dopants close enough to Mass-based Weapons for it to count. Then again, since a certain someone will be the Body of W, W will be able to use Magic as well… just FYI.
EDIT: So… I owe you guys a massive change of stance in the form of Dopants VS Magic. Please note that Dopants are going to be just like normal, even if Magic can hurt and/or bind Dopants, at least for until later on down the road. Some idiots are going to get it into them to use Magic to upgrade the Dopants… that's going to be a very dangerous thing to worry about. The above comment about how the Body of W will have Magic is still important, by the way, just as a very important FYI.
If you guys have any questions that you wish to have addressed, please, ask away. I'll see about answering them in this part of the chapter from the next one on.
Until next time… and preferably when I don't have to sleep nearly immediately…
~Xamusel