Kamen Rider Zard

by maxpower02

A transfer student is dragged into a secret war between humanity and a race of monstrous creatures seeking to overthrow humanity, the Evolve. Along the way he will learn more about the spearheads in the war, humans with mysterious abilities called Potentials, their connection with himself, as well as the connection between humanity and Potentials with the Evolves themselves.

A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to my newest story! And no, that doesn't mean that I'm abandoning Voyager, I'm still tinkering with its third chapter and hopefully if things go right it'll be finished at the end of this week…unless my other works in real life tell me otherwise. What I'm doing right now is one of the two side projects that will come with Voyager, and once both of these side projects have reached their third chapters, I'll continue with Voyager before alternating into this one and my other project.

So yeah, I'm using this A/N to tell you guys something about this little (I'm lying, it's actually massive as heck) project that I've been doing lately. Right now I'm creating a shared continuity between Kamen Rider stories in this site, meaning that crossovers stories or team up episodes between OC Riders in this site can be done easily. This shared continuity takes place in the same universe as the Neo-Heisei universe, meaning that canon Riders from said universe can also interact with the OC Riders from this site. Right now I have four authors (including myself) on board – my faithful friend xXRocketShark216Xx with his Kamen Rider Gadget, God90Zilla Studios with their story Kamen Rider Cryo, Celsius Fate with her story Kamen Rider Phantom, and of course myself with Kamen Rider Voyager and my two other side projects (including this one). So if you guys are interested in joining this shared continuity, hit me up through PM and we'll talk about it together.

Right, enough chit-chat, let's get down to the action! A fair piece of warning though – this story is considerably darker than Voyager and although it's rated T, I might consider changing it to M if people tell me to do so. I'm setting this story in Bangkok, Thailand, so Thai readers, if I haven't done your city justice, I apologize. Unlike Voyager, where I had experience in Ho Chi Minh City before, meaning that I could slightly describe the setting in detail by memory, I haven't been to Bangkok so I'm relying on Wikipedia etc to describe the places here. And if some elements looked familiar, yes, I'm basically mixing Hormones (a really famous Thai drama/lakorn) with Kamen Rider for this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, TOEI does. Oh shit, my favorite character in Hormones is named Toei lmao

xxx

Bangkok, Thailand

January 21st, 2023

It was raining at the Thai metropolis when that fateful battle unfolded. Taking place at an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Khlong Toei District by the banks of the Chao Praya River, the battle was between four strange humanoid beings, with three of them ganging up against one. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the lone armored warrior held up to its own, fighting valiantly.

Wearing a yellow bodysuit with an assortment of black lines that resembled circuitry, the lone warrior's torso and shoulders were protected by a set of silver armor, the stylized letter "Z" was emblazoned in black on the left chest region. Silver gauntlets with three serrated blades protruding from each of them adorned the warrior's wrists, while the warrior's shin-guards were colored the same as well. The armor pieces covering the warrior's shins, wrists, torso, and shoulders were made from die-cast reinforced metal, which protected its owner from both the elements and from outside attacks. The warrior wore a hornet-themed helmet that covered its head, made from the same reinforced metal but with a yellow splash of paint to it, the same black circuit lines also decorating the helmet. The helmet's eyes were black in color and compound in design, just like a hornet's, while its mouth-guard and antennae, both giving off an air of fearsomeness due to their jagged designs, were silver in color. Finishing the warrior's look was a silver belt around its waist, with an elliptical silver buckle and black buttons on the hip regions, one for each hip, while a circle-shaped yellow gemstone was embedded on the heart of the buckle.

The armored warrior's opponents were monstrous-looking, all of them looking like hybrids between humans and animals. Two of them were even identical, being based on spiders with hunched postures, spike-like limbs growing out from the shoulders and from the back, six black, soulless eyes on their faces, and a pair of silver fangs protruding from their mouth, venom dripping from them. The only difference between these two were the color of their furry bodies – one was black, the other one red.

The third opponent was based on a bat, with pointed ears and wearing a cloak that resembled bat wings on its back. Its face was strangely mask-like, silver in color with blue eyes, a sculpted mouth, and a patch of messy orange hair on its head. The bat humanoid was mostly black in color, apart from the silver pata (an Indian sword with a gauntlet integrated into its handguard) on its right arm, the silver hook on its left, the silver armor covering its shins and a silver boxer that it wore.

The two spider humanoids grabbed the warrior by its arms, before tossing it towards the bat's direction. Seeing the incoming warrior, the bat humanoid slashed the warrior twice across the chest with its pata, before kicking its opponent away to the ground.

Letting out a female-sounding grunt of pain, the warrior crumpled on the ground, pain wreaking havoc throughout her entire body.

"Finish her," the bat humanoid commanded to the two spider ones, its voice sounding female.

The spider humanoids nodded in acknowledgement, before they made their way towards the downed warrior.

"I can't lose here!" the warrior thought as she saw the spider humanoids coming towards her, "Not today!"

As the red spider humanoid approached the downed warrior, the latter silently pressed the button on her left hip.

VIOLENCE

Before the red spider humanoid could do anything, the warrior suddenly struck, swinging her energized right fist straight through the spider humanoid's body. As the red spider humanoid clicked its fangs in pain, the warrior pulled out her fist from her opponent's body, effectively pulling the spider humanoid's heart out of its body. Groaning in pain, the red spider humanoid slowly dropped to its knees, collapsing afterwards.

Breathing a brief sigh of relief, the warrior crushed the spider humanoid's heart with her bare hands, causing the humanoid's corpse to disintegrate into black goo. Tossing aside what's left of the spider humanoid's now crushed heart, the warrior prepared herself to take on its black twin, who is now clicking its fangs in rage.

"Bring it," the warrior taunted, gesturing for the black spider humanoid to come closer.

The black spider humanoid gladly accepted the warrior's challenge, swinging its clawed right hand at her. Immediately the warrior parries it away, the spikes on her right gauntlet slightly injuring the black spider humanoid's palm, before she lets loose with a cocktail of punches onto the black spider humanoid's torso, finishing it off with an uppercut to its chin.

As fatigue began to set in, the warrior pressed on her left hip button once again.

VIOLENCE

With her right fist now once again charged with yellow electricity, the warrior went in for the kill once again. Sadly her fatigued state made her rather slow and cumbersome in executing her Rider Punch, allowing the black spider humanoid to easily see the incoming attack and sidesteps it without any effort, smacking the warrior on her back in the process.

"Shit!" the warrior cursed as she lost her footing, falling face down onto the ground.

Cackling madly, the black spider humanoid spits out several globs of web from its mouth, the globs sticking themselves onto the warrior's armor and bodysuit, immobilizing her. Before long, the warrior's body had been covered in a moist webbed cocoon, her head and her right leg the only part of her body sticking out of it.

"Excellent," the bat humanoid applauded as she came to the black spider humanoid's side, her blue eyes glancing at what was left of the spider humanoid's twin, "It's a shame that we've lost one of our own…but if that's what it takes to stop the one who has been pestering with our goals, then so be it."

The bat humanoid crouched down, gone were her pata and her hook as they were replaced with her normal, clawed hands. Immediately the bat humanoid grabbed the warrior's right leg and gave it a violent twist, causing the warrior to scream out in pain.

"You liked that, huh?" the bat humanoid mocked, "I'll give you some more!"

The noises of bones being cracked and splintered as well as screams of pain and agony echoed throughout the warehouse as the bat humanoid twisted the warrior's right leg even more, effectively breaking it. As a final touch, the bat humanoid forcefully pulled the warrior's already crippled leg, dislocating her ankle in the process.

"I hope this will teach you a lesson in messing with us Evolves," the bat humanoid said as she stood up, gesturing for the black spider humanoid to come with her, "Let's go. She won't be able to bother us for a while now."

As the two Evolves took their leave, the crippled warrior remained motionless on the ground, clearly in agony from having her right leg broken like that. The warrior could barely hold onto her consciousness due to the intense pain ravaging her body, she could feel that in any moment she would pass out from both the pain and fatigue.

The sound of footsteps running into the warehouse was the last thing that she heard as she slowly drifted into unconsciousness…

xxx

KAMEN RIDER ZARD

Episode 1: The Mysterious PunPun

xxx

Six months later…

Nadao Bangkok College, Thawi Watthana District

"Thiti Chunhawat?"

The young man in question looked up, his chocolate eyes making contact with the stern-looking middle-aged man in front of him. The middle-aged man, aged around his late 40s, has short black hair that has been slicked back with a considerable amount of hairspray, causing it to glisten underneath the lights, while his formal-looking attire consisted of a lime green T-shirt, black trousers, and shoes of the same color.

"Call me Taku, Sir," the young man replied, a warm smile on his face.

The middle-aged man nodded, "Alright Mr. Taku. We've sorted out all of your administrative paperwork and assigned you to your new class. Welcome to Nadao Bangkok College."

Looking pleased, Taku immediately shook the middle-aged man's hand, "Thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm honored to be a part of this school."

"I'm sure that you'll enjoy your study here, Mr. Taku," the middle-aged man smiled, "Now let's go. I'll show you the way to your new classroom."

As Taku and the middle-aged man stepped out from the school's student governance office, Taku's eyes began to gaze upon the massive and awestriking Nadao Bangkok College complex around him, while at the same time his mind slowly began to reflect the series of events that led to him being transferred to one of Bangkok's most prestigious high schools.

Hailing from Chiang Mai all the way up in Northern Thailand, Taku has always been known as the star track and field athlete of his school, so much so that a mysterious benefactor, impressed by his achievements, granted him a scholarship to attend Nadao Bangkok College, whose track and field team has been known to dominate the national scene for several years. The scholarship allowed Taku to transfer out from his old high school in Chiang Mai to Bangkok, where he'll be staying with his grandfather during his stay in Nadao Bangkok.

For a 17-year old Taku's quite tall, towering over his peers at 190cm. His track and field days also made him quite athletic, with a slightly tanned skin thanks to all those hours competing and practicing underneath the hot Thai afternoon sun. His short black hair had a diagonal cut across his forehead, adding an extra charm to his already handsome looks. Considering his size, it's quite surprising that Mr. Jirawat (the stern middle-aged man who was the head of student governance of Nadao Bangkok) could manage to find a fitting uniform for him in such a short notice. The uniform's T-shirt was white in color, with Taku's name (written in Thai) and student ID emblazoned in red on the right chest side of the uniform, while his trousers are navy blue in color. Slung over his right shoulder was Taku's trusted backpack, an old black Adidas one. It's kinda rusty, but since it has accompanied Taku since his middle school days, it has been a reliable partner for the lad.

"Here we are," Mr. Jirawat said once he and Taku had stopped at a classroom on the second floor of the complex's largest building, "Class M.5/5."

Mr. Jirawat knocked on the door a couple of times, before he allows himself into the classroom. The class was quite crowded, with 35 out of 40 seats already being occupied by students, meaning that with Taku joining them, Class M.5/5 would have 36 members. Teaching inside the classroom at the moment was a middle-aged woman, who was teaching the class Thai literature.

Mr. Jirawat talked with the woman for a few seconds, before gesturing for Taku to come into the class.

"I'm sorry to interrupt today's class, but I would like to introduce a new transfer student that will join this class from today," Mr. Jirawat said, before signaling a nod towards Taku.

Knowing what the nod meant, Taku slowly stepped forward, trying his best to look as confident as possible.

"Sawadee ka. My name is Thiti Chunhawat, you can call me Taku. I'm a transfer student from Chiang Mai and I'll be joining you guys from this semester. Nice to meet you all."

Immediately the class exploded in roar of applause, with almost every student in the class looking eager to have Taku as part of their class. Some of the female students are even seen talking amongst each other, no doubt they're talking about Taku's handsome looks and questioning whether he's still single or not.

However there was one student who didn't show any enthusiasm towards the new student. Sitting near the rear corner of the class was a 17-year old girl, wearing the same uniform as Taku's only with a black skirt instead of trousers. She has a medium, rather athletic and well-proportioned build, fair white skin and complexion, and shoulder-length wavy dark brown hair that is styled into a ponytail. Despite her lovely looks, her expression remained stoic as she gazed outside the class window.

"Welcome to Class M.5/5," the woman smiled at Taku, before gesturing towards an empty table next to the girl, "Now Taku, I'm going to put you next to PunPun over there. I hope you two would get along."

Immediately every female student in the class went silent, as if their fantasies with the new student has been rudely interrupted.

"Oh my God, he's going to sit next to that antisocial girl!" whispered one girl.

"That lucky PunPun!" added another.

"I hope those two won't get together…" another one whispered.

Ignoring the whispering around him, Taku gave a nod to the woman, before he proceeded to make his way towards the empty seat next to PunPun. Placing his bag there, he immediately gave the stoic-looking girl a warm smile and his right hand.

"Hey there, I'm Taku," Taku introduced himself, "I'm going to be your seat-mate in this class. I hope we'll get along together."

PunPun turned around slowly, an eerie sense of coldness emanating from the young girl.

"Hey," PunPun replied briefly, before throwing her gaze outside the window again.

Taku sighed, "This is going to be a looong semester…"

xxx

During lunch time, Taku was immediately swarmed by the students of Class M.5/5, all of them eager to know him better. PunPun was the exception, obviously, and the moment everyone swarmed Taku, she silently took her leave, grabbing her crutch and limping her way out of class and into the cafeteria.

"Do you guys know what the deal with PunPun is?" Taku asked after he had made himself acquainted with literally almost everyone, "I mean…we rarely talked after I sat next to her and she always had that crutch of hers with her. Did something happened to her that I need to know?"

Immediately a nerdy-looking young man stepped forward, signaling everyone else to go back to their own businesses, which everyone complied. The young man then sat in front of Taku, adjusting his round-framed glasses that went "slightly well" with his Mr. Spock-style bowl-cut black hair.

"Sutatta Kamolpaisarn, better known as PunPun," the young man started his explanation, "She's a social outcast in this school. She doesn't like to hang out with people, she prefers to spend time alone by herself, and academic wise she's quite average. Some say that whenever people are too close to her, they'll get electrocuted!"

Taku immediately raised his eyebrows in interest, "Continue."

"It's true!" the young man continued, "There are cases of people who hanged out with PunPun who got electrocuted the moment they touch her. And I'm not exaggerating here! A good friend of mine once did some group work with her, and he told me that she's quite hard to work along with because of the fact that she almost short-circuited everyone's laptops whenever she's using it."

"Damn," Taku thought to himself.

"My advice to you is be careful around her, bro," the young man told Taku, "After school, go to the nearest convenience store and buy yourself some rubber gloves!"

"Noted," Taku nodded, "And about that crutch of hers…"

"Car accident before the start of last semester," the young man replied quickly, "Poor girl…she was walking back from school when some drunkard plowed into her. Broke her right leg quite bad."

"Ouch," Taku winced. He could not imagine how his brilliant track and field career would come into a halt should he wind up in such an accident!

"Thankfully her leg's getting better, but until then she's pretty much confined to her crutch," the young man finished, "Oh, my name's Somphong Chaijindachoke. Call me Pop. I'm the reporter for the school news, so I kinda know a thing or two about what's happening around Nadao Bangkok."

"Thanks man, your info would help me a lot in settling in here," Taku smiled.

"No probs," Pop smiled back, "If you need me, I'm at the other side of this class, same row as you, only at the second column."

Taku gave Pop a thumbs up as the latter returned to his seat, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth. Looks like Taku will get used to things here quite soon enough…

xxx

As some parts of the Nadao Bangkok College complex were undergoing renovations, several construction workers are seen going back and forth the school complex, bringing with them construction materials as they go. One of these workers was a tall, imposing-looking middle-aged man, with graying and balding hair and wearing a black tank-top. Right now he is carrying several beams of steel that would later be used as materials to create scaffoldings in order for the workers to be able to paint the newly renovated sections of the school easily.

But there's one strange characteristic about this man that sets him apart from the other construction workers – his cold, emotionless expression. As if he was a robot disguised as a human that had infiltrated human society.

"Just place them there," the foreman told the man as he placed the beams on its designated spot, "Nice job. Take a breather, will you? I've noticed that you've been working non-stop for the past hour and a half."

The man slowly nodded, taking out a bottle of water and drinking its contents.

As the foreman went away to oversee the other workers, the man in black slowly closes his eyes, his thoughts concentrating deeply.

"Have you found that girl?" a feminine voice asked the man in his mind.

The man nodded his head slightly, recalling the moment when he saw a certain girl and her crutch earlier at the school cafeteria during lunch break earlier.

"I knew it…that wretched wench is in this school after all…" the feminine voice spoke, "Classes will be dismissed in about 45 minutes. By that time, intercept that girl and destroy her Driver. That way…even if her injuries were healed…she will never ever interfere with our plans again."

The man nodded again, wiping away the sweat from his forehead before checking out his wristwatch. An evil smirk began to appear on the man's face as he went off to continue his work…

xxx

Meanwhile, in Class M.5/5, the students were learning their last subject of the day – Biology. As the Biology teacher droned on about cells and their functions in front of the class, Taku decided to break the icy tension between himself and PunPun, seeing that the girl next to him had been silent ever since lunch break ended.

"Hey," Taku called, making sure his voice was inaudible enough to be heard by the teacher but loud enough for PunPun to take notice, "You okay?"

PunPun, who was writing her notes, paused for a moment to shot an icy glare at Taku, before she proceeded to continue writing.

Undeterred, Taku tried again, "Listen…PunPun...I just wanted to be your friend. I've already introduced myself to you, so why won't you?"

"You won't understand," PunPun replied slowly, her voice almost whispering, "If you know more about me, you'll end up seeing me as another outcast just like everyone else."

"PunPun…please…" Taku sighed, he was about to say something else but PunPun had resumed her note-taking.

"This girl…I don't know why…but I feel that I could relate to her…" Taku thought.

xxx

Apart from getting the full-blown cold shoulder from PunPun, Taku's first day in Nadao Bangkok College went on without a hitch. His infectious personality made her a quick favorite among the eyes of the students of Class M.5/5, while the ladies were awestruck by his stories of his track and field championship winnings back in Chiang Mai. Safe to say Taku has made some fast friends with his classmates and got along quite well with Pop, who had promised him to show him around the school complex after classes were dismissed.

However the thought that he had unable to befriend PunPun properly still bothered Taku. The lad was determined to make her open up to him, at least to make her trust him. After he had heard from Pop about PunPun's "condition" that he assumed had made her ostracized by her classmates, he could somehow felt that he could relate to what had happened to PunPun, but he just couldn't put his finger on what. If only PunPun could help him with that…

"This is our proud sports ground," Pop said proudly as he shows Taku a huge football field located just behind the school buildings, the field being surrounded by a large running track, "Our football team, that plays in the lower regions of the Thai football league system, usually plays here every weekend. And this is also where our prestigious track and field team held their usual practice. I heard that you're a star athlete back home, right?"

"Right," Taku nodded, "I was the best runner in the track and field teams of both my middle school and my old high school."

"Well the tryouts for the track and field team is next week," Pop told Taku, "You interested?"

Taku grinned, "That's why I got transferred to this school in the first place, no?"

xxx

Meanwhile, back in the M.5/5 classroom, PunPun has decided to stay behind after class was dismissed, as she was reviewing the notes that she had taken from Biology class. Writing down a few important points that she had listened from the teacher earlier, PunPun then proceeded to underline important terms on her textbook, memorizing them along the way.

Unknown to PunPun, the construction worker in black from earlier was outside the classroom, having made his way there unnoticed among the students exiting their respective classes. Retaining his emotionless complexion, the man glared at PunPun from outside the classroom window, watching her every move as she placed her books into her briefcase-shaped bag.

After she had finished tidying up her desk, PunPun picked up her bag and crutch, before slowly making her way out of the classroom. But just as she was about to exit the classroom, a rather ominous feeling were picked up by PunPun's instincts, causing her to stop. Her senses on high alert, PunPun immediately looked around for anything suspicious.

She found none.

"That's strange…" PunPun muttered, picking up her crutch again as she continued walking, "I could have sworn that someone's watching me…"

Exiting the classroom, PunPun once again looked around for anything suspicious and just like before, she didn't found any. Unknown to her, hanging from the ceiling above her by his muscular arms and legs was the construction worker, his massive frame surprisingly undetected by anyone. The man in black lets out an evil smirk as he saw PunPun, biding his time silently in order to seize the perfect moment to ambush his target.

And that moment was now.

Immediately as PunPun walked underneath him, the construction worker made his move, jumping off the ceiling as he attempted to crush his vulnerable target with his muscular body. Unfortunately for the man, PunPun glanced above her at the last minute, allowing her to see the incoming attack. Letting out a shriek, PunPun immediately rolled out of the way, dropping her crutch and bag in the process as the man dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

Her senses kicking into overdrive, white electrical sparks began to surge throughout PunPun's arms. Ever since her childhood, PunPun had this mysterious ability to manipulate electrical currents through her body, being able to use them both offensively and defensively, and even for mundane uses as well. However, this ability was also the reason why PunPun was so ostracized in every school that she has attended so far, as PunPun had often either shock people with her electrical abilities by accident, or break her friends' electrical appliances unintentionally. This has lead everyone to avoid her out of fear, which in turn caused PunPun to act antisocial around people.

As she slowly slid her way towards her crutch, PunPun clenched her right fist, ready to deliver a shocking punch to her assailant.

"Who are you?!" PunPun asked angrily as she grabbed her crutch, enabling her to regain her footing.

The man didn't give any answers. Instead he slowly stood up, a twisted look on his face as he cracked his neck.

"I'm asking you!" PunPun asked again, her tone even fiercer as she brandishes her now electrified crutch at the man, "Who the fuck are you?!"

The man's response to PunPun's questions was to slowly approach the young girl, a wicked grin on his face as white steam began to come out from the pores on the man's skin. The combination of the steam and the subsequent scalding heat generated by the man's entire body forced PunPun to stumble back, shielding her eyes from both the steam and heat. Once the steam cleared away, PunPun's eyes went wide upon realizing who she is facing off against.

It's the black Spider Evolve, the same one from six months ago, his fangs clicking in delight upon finishing his transformation.

"It's you!" PunPun gasped, knowing all too well about the spider-themed monstrosity in front of her.

Immediately PunPun made a dash away from the Spider Evolve, trying her best to outpace the creature despite her condition. Pain began to spread from her injured right leg towards her entire body, but PunPun's adrenaline-charged body forbid her from stopping. The sound of a crutch being slammed onto the floor echoed throughout the hallway as PunPun desperately searched for any stairs or elevator that would take her away from her current location.

Unfortunately for PunPun, the Spider Evolve was much faster than her, easily using streams of web released from his hands to swing his way ahead of PunPun. And as the young girl had finally found her elevator, the Spider Evolve immediately landed in front of her, effectively blocking PunPun from her ticket out of there.

"S-stay away from me!" PunPun cried as the Spider Evolve slowly approaches her, venom dripping from his fangs. In desperation PunPun once again pointed her crutch at the creature in front of her, electricity surging from her right hand and into the metallic crutch, "I'm warning you! Stay back!"

However PunPun's words fell into deaf ears as the Spider Evolve continued to approach her, his six eyes oozing with killing intent. Knowing that it's futile to use words against the creature, PunPun decided to whack the Spider Evolve twice on his head with her crutch, the electricity contained within her metallic crutch was more than enough to stun the creature long enough for her to escape.

As PunPun desperately searched for another staircase or elevator, she quickly took out her iPhone from her uniform pocket, stopping somewhere safe before she frantically dialed a number.

"Hello? PunPun here…I'm requesting for immediate backup! I'm at the second floor of the school's main building! Please…I need backup urgently! We've got an Evolve attacking our school!"

PunPun was forced to hang up when she saw the Spider Evolve advancing on her, forcing her to quickly pocket her phone, grab her crutch, and continue her mad dash. Unfortunately for the young girl, her run was quickly halted by the sight of a white wall standing imposingly in front of her.

"Shit!" PunPun cursed as she realized that she had ran out of hallway. Her eyes then went wide upon seeing the Spider Evolve advancing towards her, and with no other way to escape, PunPun's practically a cornered prey to the Evolve's eyes.

Seeing that she had no other choice, PunPun lets out a desperate cry for help, hoping that someone would intervene and save her.

xxx

"What was that?" Taku gasped, dropping his chopsticks in the process.

"What's wrong?" Pop asked, still slurping on his tom yum.

After Pop had showed Taku around the Nadao Bangkok College complex, the bespectacled teen took his new friend to the school cafeteria for some tom yum, with Pop paying for the two of them. Of course Taku couldn't turn down such an offer – what kind of person would turn down the opportunity for some free food? But as the two young men dug into their spicy treats, Taku heard faint noises of a young girl screaming from a distance.

"Keep my food warm for me," Taku told Pop before he immediately bolted out of the cafeteria, to the surprise of both Pop and the other students there.

As if being driven by instinct, Taku paced his way towards the direction of the screams, everything around him slowly turning into blurs. To the eyes of everyone around Taku, however, they saw the young man as a white and black streak that sped around them seamlessly, his speed increasing by each passing second. Shrieks of surprises were heard throughout the school complex as Taku sped around both students and teachers alike, all of them are taken aback by the man's extraordinary speed.

Similar to how PunPun has the ability to manipulate electricity, Taku himself also has a mysterious ability – super speed. His unrivaled speed is what had helped him to won all of his track and field titles back home, even though he had to hold himself back so that people won't think that he was cheating in all of those competitions. But when he releases his full capability, Taku's speed was fast enough to rival that of a MotoGP standard motorcycle.

xxx

The Spider Evolve clicked its fangs in delight as he approached the cornered PunPun, his clawed hands ready to wreak havoc on the frightened girl in front of him. Her entire body drenched in cold sweat, PunPun's knees began to tremble as she closed her eyes, ready to brace herself for the inevitable…

"Hey!"

Suddenly a quick punch knocked the Spider Evolve aside, the creature letting out a screech of pain in the process. Slowly PunPun opened her eyes to see the person who had saved her…

It was Taku.

"You okay?" Taku asked, his voice genuinely concerned, "Get yourself somewhere safe, I'll handle this."

PunPun nodded slowly, grabbing both her bag and her crutch that she had dropped earlier after she had cried for help. As PunPun limped her way towards a nearby trash bin, Taku cracked his fists, facing the recovering Spider Evolve.

"I don't know who…or what you are, but you're not getting away in trying to harm someone!" Taku gritted his teeth in anger, "Let's go!"

Immediately as the Spider Evolve regained his footing, Taku landed another punch on the creature's torso, before kicking the creature on its chest twice. The Spider Evolve stumbled back, clearly surprised by Taku's sudden attacks, before his six eyes analyzed Taku thoroughly.

And then it hit him. Regaining his composure, the Spider Evolve lets out a distorted chuckle, as if pleased by the turn of events.

"What's wrong?" Taku asked mockingly, "You want to get beat up again, huh?"

The Spider Evolve replied by firing jets of web from his hands which headed straight towards Taku!

"Watch out!" PunPun warned.

Taku heeded the warning and used his super speed to avoid the incoming web jets, causing them to envelop the wall behind Taku instead. Delighted that Taku has finally decided to show his mysterious ability, the Spider Evolve continued to fire his webs, which Taku danced gracefully through.

A smirk appeared on PunPun's face as she saw Taku using his speed to good use in avoiding the Spider Evolve's attacks.

"So, this guy is a Potential like me, huh?" PunPun thought to herself, "And a strong one as well…"

The Spider Evolve had ditched his web tactics and resorted to his clawed hands, trying his best in landing a swipe at Taku, but the man's speed was too much for him. And before the Spider Evolve knew it, Taku once again gained the advantage of the fight, using his speed to disorient the Spider Evolve before landing punches and kicks onto the Spider Evolve's body when he was least expecting it.

Slamming his fists onto the floor in anger, the Spider Evolve wildly flailed his hands at the air, hoping that he would somehow stop Taku mid-run. The creature's wish was granted seconds afterwards, after a swipe had smacked Taku right on his chest, sending him reeling to the ground. Clicking his fangs in delight, the Spider Evolve grabbed Taku and forced him to his feet, before pummeling the young man on the face a couple of times with his fists. Finishing the combo by grabbing Taku by his neck, the Spider Evolve threw Taku towards the nearby trash bin.

"Ouch…" Taku groaned as he landed on his bum, his face all bruised up and a bleeding cut is visibly seen on his right cheek, "That hurts…"

Seeing that Taku had landed near her hiding place, PunPun immediately limped towards the young man, crouching near him as she took something out from her bag.

"What are you doing?" Taku asked.

"Stay still," PunPun told Taku, her hands still rummaging frantically in her bag before she had found what she's looking for, "Bingo."

PunPun took out a silver device, ellipse in shape and silver in color, with a yellow circular gemstone embedded on its center. Seeing that the Spider Evolve is approaching them, PunPun quickly placed the device onto Taku's waist, causing two silver straps to extend out of the device and secure itself onto Taku's body, which surprised the young man.

"Hey!" Taku gawked as he saw the silver belt around his waist, "What's this?"

"I'll explain later," PunPun said as she helped Taku to his feet, "But right now, just follow my instructions."

"What instructions?" Taku asked.

The Spider Evolve clicked his fangs once again, ready to land yet another offensive. Realizing that there's no time left for her to explain, PunPun decided to push Taku towards the Spider Evolve's direction, surprising the young man even more.

"You see that black button on your right hip? Press it and yell 'henshin!'" PunPun instructed frantically, and upon seeing Taku still hesitating and the Spider Evolve advancing toward them, she decided to yell out in desperation, "Do it or the two of us would die!"

Taku nodded slowly, still unsure about the device on his waist and how to use it, but he knew that if PunPun was so desperate for him to use it and considering the situation that he's in, the device must be important for both his and PunPun's survival.

Rather hesitantly, Taku placed his right hand above his right hip, while crossing his left arm in front of his face. Taking a deep breath, Taku braces himself for whatever's going to happen to him.

"Henshin!" Taku yelled out, before he slammed his hand onto his right hip as hard as he can. This in turn caused the device around Taku's waist to announce in a monotonous yet deep-pitched robotic male voice:

START UP: Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-ZARD!

Immediately Taku's body exploded into yellow energy, forcing both PunPun and the Spider Evolve to shield their eyes. As both the intense light and smoke died out seconds afterwards, in Taku's place stood the same armored warrior from six months ago, with its familiar yellow-black-silver color scheme and hornet-theme. Watching on from the sidelines, PunPun's inner self jumped up and down excitedly at the sight of Taku's transformed self, even though externally she retained the familiar stoic look that she usually had.

"He's done it!" PunPun thought to herself, "He has become the new user of the Zard System!"

The Spider Evolve let out an angry screech, grabbing his own face in dismay before proceeding to angrily charge at the newly transformed Taku. Seeing that Taku was still looking at his newly armored self rather awkwardly and the fact that his opponent was heading straight at him, PunPun decided to intervene.

"Now, Taku!" PunPun yelled, finally calling Taku by his name, "Just fight that creature like you've fought him before!"

(Cue BGM: Armour Zone – Taro Kobayashi)

The armored Taku immediately nodded, before proceeding to throw a jab straight at the incoming Spider Evolve's face, sending it flying backwards quite considerably.

"Awesome…" gasped the armored Taku, awestruck by his own power.

"The Zard System amplifies its user's natural strengths and gave them adequate protection from both opponents and the elements alike," PunPun told the armored Taku, "Just do what you've done before and you'll be good."

"I have no idea what's going on here…but I guess I don't have a choice, huh?" the armored Taku replied, before cracking his fists, "Let's do this."

As the Spider Evolve recovered itself from that punch, the armored Taku had come up to his face once again, before a couple of powerful punches were executed onto the creature's chest. Groaning in pain while clutching his chest, the Spider Evolve once again launched his web attack, which the armored Taku easily sidesteps with his super speed, now enhanced thanks to the device on his waist and the armor that it gives. The Spider Evolve kept on firing his webs, only for the yellow blur that is Taku's armored form to slam onto the creature's body several times, disorienting the Spider Evolve before finally the armored Taku finishes up the attack with a powerful uppercut to the Spider Evolve's chin.

As the armored Taku and the Spider Evolve continued their fight, PunPun's iPhone suddenly rang, prompting the young girl to pick it up.

"We're heading up the second floor of the school's main building," said a male voice from PunPun's iPhone, "I hope that you're still hanging in there."

"You know what? Retreat back to base for now," PunPun replied.

"What?" gawked the male voice, clearly surprised by PunPun's reply considering how desperate she was on the phone earlier.

"Everything's under control now," PunPun said, her eyes glancing at the fight between the armored Taku and the Spider Evolve, "We've found our new Kamen Rider Zard."

Back to the fight between the armored Taku, now christened as Kamen Rider Zard, and the Spider Evolve, the former had the complete upper-hand of the fight, dominating his opponent blow after blow. Now badly battered, bruised, and with black blood dripping from cuts inflicted by the spikes on Zard's gauntlets, the Spider Evolve slowly backed away from his opponent, clearly unable to continue the fight.

"Now, Taku!" PunPun yelled, "Press the button on your left hip once to finish this fight!"

Zard nodded, his hand went towards the button on his left hip before pressing it immediately.

VIOLENCE

Yellow energy surged from Zard's belt buckle and into his right foot, causing it to give off both a yellowish glow and cackling yellow electricity. Wasting no time Zard charged forward, lifting his energized right foot before using it to kick the weakened Spider Evolve right on the creature's chin. The kick was so powerful; it literally tore the Spider Evolve's head off his body, causing the monstrosity to twitch uncontrollably for a few seconds before collapsing to its knees.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zard turned around and stepped away from the Spider Evolve's corpse, who collapsed to the floor seconds after his decapitated head had landed a few meters from his body. Both head and body dissolved into black goo seconds afterwards, signaling the end of the Spider Evolve.

(BGM ends)

Zard slowly approached the clearly pleased PunPun, who uncharacteristically lets off a smile as she saw him.

"Well done!" PunPun praised, "You did well out there."

Unfortunately Zard didn't look and sound pleased at all, "Alright, you owe me a few explanations here. One, how am I supposed to take this off, two, what was that thing and why was it going after you, and third…what the heck is going on around here?"

Before Zard could blow another temper at her, PunPun quickly placed her hand on the Rider's shoulder, quickly quelling his temper, "Chill, Taku, chill. I'll tell you everything, but one at a time, okay?"

Zard sighed, "Okay. But promise me that you'll tell me everything."

PunPun nodded, "You can have my word. Now first of all, just pull off the ZarDriver from your waist. That should undo your transformation."

Zard complied, taking off the ZarDriver from his waist that causes his armor to disintegrate into yellow light. Taku then handed the ZarDriver over to PunPun, who immediately placed it into her bag.

"And now what?" Taku asked rather impatiently.

"Come with me," PunPun said as she gestured for Taku to follow her, "I'll tell you everything that I know about what's going on."

Letting out an irritated sigh, Taku followed PunPun, his thoughts still curious on what's happening to both himself and PunPun, as well on the true nature of the creature that he had just defeated.

xxx

Unknown to the two, a pair of binoculars had been watching both Taku and PunPun for quite a while from the rooftop of a building adjacent to the school's main building. The owner of the binoculars was an 18-year old young man, with a tall, athletic, and rather slim figure, fair white skin, and short, yet messy brown hair. Like Taku and PunPun, he wore the same white and black uniform that all Nadao Bangkok College students wore, however the rather unkempt look of the man's uniform sets him apart from the other students of the school. Present on the back of the man's right hand was an "X"-shaped scar, while another scar, fainter than the first one, was present underneath the man's left eye.

"Interesting, interesting…" the man said to no one in particular as he saw Taku and PunPun leaving the school's main building, "That girl's already found her successor, huh? Looks like the hunt's getting more and more exciting by the passing day…"

"Peach, are you on the rooftop again?"

Sighing in dismay, the man looked down to see a young girl looking at him rather angrily. Aged around 17, the young girl has a tall, slim and athletic figure that easily towers over her peers, lightly tanned skin, and long, straight black hair that extends to the small of her back, however the young girl opted to tie her hair into a ponytail instead. The young girl's face looked both sweet and lovely but at the same time stern and commanding, fitting traits for Khongkwan Sirapatsakmetha, the school's student body president.

"For God's sake, Kwan," the man sighed, pocketing his binoculars before jumping down the roof much to Kwan's surprise, "Everyone in this school calls me Win. Why the fuck did you insist on calling me Peach?!"

For resident Nadao Bangkok College bad boy Chaichana Chirathivat, his childhood name "Peach" has always been his berserk button. Ever since he enrolled into middle school he had changed his nickname to a more masculine-sounding "Win," but his family and closest friends still refer him as "Peach." This includes Kwan, who had known Win ever since kindergarten.

For the sake of this story, let's just refer Chaichana as "Win," shall we?

"Yare-yare," Kwan sighed, "Should I tell this to Khru (teacher) Jirawat? That Peach here has started climbing up roofs again? Worst case scenario you'll get a one week suspension…"

"Kamen Rider Zard has returned," Win interrupted, causing Kwan to lift up her eyebrows in interest, "The previous user of Zard has handed down her gear to that new transfer student."

"Ah, Thiti Chunhawat, right? I've heard of that guy earlier this morning…he's part of Class M.5/5, if I'm not mistaken?" Kwan asked.

Win nodded, "Yeah, the social studies class."

Unlike Taku, PunPun, and Pop, Win and Kwan are members of Class M.5/1, the science class which was known throughout the school as "the class of the elites."

Kwan lets out a slight sigh, "Looks like Rebellion's got their heavy hitter back."

"I know," Win said in agreement, "Even though that transfer student's still quite green in the battlefield, if PunPun trained him properly, he would become a formidable rival to me in no time."

Slowly Win took out a silver elliptical device from his uniform's pocket, looking pretty much identical to the ZarDriver apart from the red circular gemstone embedded on it instead of yellow.

"Welcome back to the hunt, Kamen Rider Zard," Win said to no one in particular as he held the device in his hands, his eyes gazing upon it, "I hope you'll provide me with some good competition!"

xxx

TO BE CONTINUED…

xxx

Next time, on Kamen Rider Zard Episode 2 – Enter Neos:

After his battle against the Spider Evolve, Taku was taken by PunPun to a mysterious base underneath the Nadao Bangkok College, where he was brought up to speed regarding the conflict between humanity and the Evolves. Much to his surprise, Taku meets a familiar face who's leading the underground resistance organization Rebellion in secret. Meanwhile another Evolve had made itself known in school and it's up to Taku to take it down…or will he? Enter the ferocious Rider of the wild, Kamen Rider Neos! And also, a dark truth regarding the Evolves will leave Taku questioning himself, is becoming a Kamen Rider the right thing to do?

xxx

Evolve of the Day

Spider Evolves (Red and Black)

Motif: Spider

Abilities: shooting webs from hands and mouth, enhanced dexterity and strength, paralyzing venom (unused)

Weapons: None

Destroyed by: Kamen Rider Zard (PunPun)'s Violence Punch (Red), Kamen Rider Zard (Taku)'s Violence Kick (Black)

xxx

And that's it for the first chapter of Kamen Rider Zard! I'll work on the third chapter of Voyager ASAP and I hope it'll be done by the end of this week! Feel free to leave your reviews, but make sure to be constructive! Don't send me flames please lmao xD and don't forget to add Kamen Rider Zard to your favorite/following list!

This is maxpower02, signing out!