Double Edged Beginnings ~ WeLcOmE tO tHe WoRLd / Entry_01

log on.

The year is 2038. Nearly three decades have passed since the attempted invasion of earth by the notorious mastermind Xaviax. Technology in the world has peaked, to the point where basic necessities are met without much effort on the part of the individual. A world of paradise. However... there still exists an evil force that seeks to finish what Xaviax started, to make the Earth and its inhabitants slaves. Taking refuge in the Blank Dimension, a dimension that was the center of power for all Kamen Riders until the appearence of the Contract Beasts, the demented Jinga and his followers continue to start a new reign of terror...

~* ~

Peaceful. That is what would describe the state of Ventara after its protectors, the Kamen Riders, defeated the dictoral Xaviax. All of the Ventaran people, finally free of their prison, resumed their lives with relative ease. Among a particular city, in the heart of New York (or at least it's mirror opposite), The level of justice was upheld by several individuals. In what looked like the an exact duplicate of the Empire State Building hid a room which had windows as the exterior wall, with a boardroom feel to it, as per the arrangement of the furniture. In this room were two figures, both tall, with a tendency to wear leather. Only the one that was taller had had more of an aged aura compared to that of the man gracing his presence. With a solemn expression, the younger of the two began,

"Master Eubulon... I'm sure you noticed. There's been activity in the Blank Dimension." The olden figure nodded as he gave a knowing look to his apprentice.

"I am well aware Len. But you know as well as I do that we abandoned that dimension long ago since we came into contact with the Contract Beasts. It's out of our hands."

Not counting this as an actual favorable response, Len continued pleading, only this time, more aggressively. "But we need to stop this, whatever this is, at the source before it decides to move to Earth and Ventara! We don't need another threat like Xaviax coming out in the open again."

At this point, Eubulon turned his chair to face the window. The view was beautiful, especially when the sunlight seemed to glisten and dance off the buildings. He shut his eyes for a moment before he said, "...Very well. I give you permission to access Sigma Proxy and retrieve the decks. BUT don't, and I repeat, don't try anything. We cannot make the first move in this sensitive matter." If the citizens of Ventara caught wind of another battle, their would be chaos on all fronts. It was best if that could be avoided. Len bowed, with an arm at his chest.

"I understand. I'll leave as soon as possible." Eubulon closed his hands and was deep in thought as Len left him by himself. The ceiling fan overhead continued to spin steadily as he took a picture off his desk. It was the entire team of Ventara... and one earthling. Kit Taylor was his name actually.

"Let us hope that we don't need to drag earth into this aswell..."

~* ~

However, back in the real world, everything was completely at ease. People went on about their own business, not really caring that a looming threat was close at hand. Among the people laxing about was a university student, who at the moment, wasn't doing much of anything. He was tall, well, tall enough for his age. His hair was a shade darker than the finest amber in anyone's possession, which complimented so well with his crystal blue eyes, which you could get lost in just by looking at him. And he was built, which was another quality that made him seem that much more attractive. The young man sat in the quad of the place, which was decorated in a ridiculously frilly manner, similar to the style of the Roccoco era in art. Of course, that gave the area a homey feel that many liked. At any rate, as he was sitting, he took out his iPod and cranked the music, hoping to lose himself in its blasting beats. With his hearing impaired, there wasn't a chance in heck that he sawor heard the ominous storm approaching. Nor did he realize that a strange electrical current was somehow attracted to him, as if he was some kind of magnet. It drew closer to him slowly, ready to pounce...

~*~

Len was having better luck than our electrically stalked friend. With his Master's leave, he was now standing between the gate of Ventara and the cybernetic world of Sigma Proxy. The Advent Link. It was a special mirror crafted for the express purpose of locking away dangerous objects, at the inhabitant's expense. Len had a special connection to this world that he shared with no one else... and he hoped it would never come to light. But he reassured himself that his journey would be short and swift, to retrieve the decks without anyone being the wiser. Taking a deep breathe, he stepped through the mirror, finding himself having a familiar odd sensation as he transversed the worlds. Coming to the end of the tunnel, he took his first step out into the digital world.

"... Still as breath-taking as I remember it." And he was right. Here, it needn't matter where you were. For you were everywhere at the same time. There was no "then and now". Everything happening in this world happens all in the course of the realm of simultaneous. The only thing definate here was the abstract concept of thought. So, remembering the principle of this world, Len concentrated, and concentrated even more on the locked away Advent Decks. Spacial dimensions seemed to warp around him as he was transported to what looked like a giant gate. It was highly decorated in various animals. At it's base were a snake, bolvine, chameleon, rhino and crab, all semingly staring him in the eye. Near the handles of the door were a swan, stingray, phoneix, tiger, gazelle and above them, a bat. However, most impressive of all were the two twins. Twin dragons that is. They towered over all of them, and stared at him ferociously. Placing his palm at the door, the animals all disbanded, letting the door open. What awaited him inside left him in complete shock.

"No! They're.... gone!" He banged his fist on the wall, hysterical.

"Who could have...?" His mind surged to a specific person, not one of Ventara or of earth... The realization made a chill go up his spine.

"If he is behind this... I am to blame..." He wanted to kick himself hard.

~*~

Still unaware of the danger it presented, the young man was only inches away from the blackish lightning that raced the floor. As if the sky wanted to intervene, it sent a peculiar green tinted lightning down, striking the teen before its darker counterpart could.

"Ahhhh! What the-" A pain surged through his skin like there was a blanketed inferno on him. He shook and thrased, with the lightning trailing his body. He fell to the floor, and oddly alone. Cringed and screaming in pain, he didn't notice that he was disappeaing... little by little. When he disappeared completely from sight, a calmness over took him, as if he was relieved to feel safe again. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in a shining blue room, that was streaming a lot of seemingly random data. From the corner of his eye he caught a slight movement at one of the walls and jerked his head in its direction. The stream parted, and a figure stepped out. It was another young man, roughly his age, if not a tiny bit younger. He had beautiful blonde hair and melancholic eyes, which you couldn't help but wonder why he seemed so morbid. His skin had some color, but was borderline pale compared to his own.

"Before you ask, my name is Archer. Why are you here? I saved you. From what? That's a long story and I don't exactly feel like recounting it at the moment." The young man stared at Archer for some time, processing what he had just said. He then asked,

"Well, why not give me the short version?"

A cocky grin appeared on Archer's face as he responded, "I suppose I could... but I think you should see it for yourself." He took out what looked like a black USB plug-in and threw it at him, which he caught, thanks to his quick reflexes. He prompted,

"I'm Rick by the way." Archer shrugged and pointed at what he just threw. Upon closer inspection, it was not only black, but had purple streaks and a warped "J" on the side. It looked more like someone's shadow more than anything else.

"That's a Drive. You're gonna need it." A question popped into his head as he was about to ask, but Archer answered without even hearing it,

"You'll see..." The smile returned to him as he tilted his head to the side and finally said, "I think we're going to be a whole lot closer than you know." Rick was definitely confused about the events unfolding, but he couldn't do anything about it as the room broke apart. Archer was fading in the distance, so he shouted out,

"WAIT! What do you mean?!" Everything went black as he lost conciousness.

~*~

Elsewhere, the howling shrieks of the Blank Dimension filled the air as a castle arose from its depths. It was sort of old-fashioned, with hardly anykind of technology present. Of course, it didn't matter to the inhabitants of the castle, being who they were. The corridors betrayed the castle though. They were lined with newly placed circuitry as data poured through and on the gradients of information. If one would follow it, they would go through a maze of sorts before they reached the Grand Throneroom. And the Throne Room was the heart of the castle, literally speaking. Not only did it hold the heart of the dimension, but also it was sort of the Central Processing Unit for all the information. Sitting in the throne itself was a a figure of medium height. He was very dark skinned, astonishingly so in fact. He remained expressionless as his subjects filled in. However, once he caught the sight of the frailest of the group, the one obviously battered and abused, he had a sadistic smile.

"Well Vaxiv, you would do your father proud. He was almost as cruel as the devil in his punishments. I am happy to see you inherited it." The young man with glossy dark brown hair nodded and bowed,

"Thank you, Lord Jinga." He hid the contempt in his voice well, as the ruler named Jinga bought it as sincerity. The others, who were plainly servants, brought the sickened young man to him with chains. Lifting himself from his throne, he chuckled as he began,

"The time to conquer both Ventara, home of my enemies, and Earth, future home for my kingdom! I will complete Xaviax's failed attempt to capture the earth and crush anyone who opposes me!" He walked slowly to the pale figure as he took a orange cartridge from his belt.

"This MAX Drive will unleash thousands of raw energy pockets within an individual, causing their warrior potential to sky rocket a millionfold! Even if those silly Advent Decks were converted to Drives... they will be no match for my genius!" He thrusted the drive into the the arm of his prisoner. Screaming as loud as his lungs could in his condition, he shouted,

"IT BURNS! MAKE IT STOP! AHHHHHHHHH! MAKE.... IT... STOPPPPPP!" An intense fire engulfed him as his body morphed, his skin becoming harder in density. His blood was changed to molten liquids and his face resembled a skull. After jerking around for several moments, it lay still. Jinga was gleeful.

"Excellent. Vaxiv, send him to earth. I want to test the MAX Drive's power in a practical run." Nodding, he snapped his fingers and the now-turned monster awakened. Going out of the room, both of them exited.

~*~

Awakening from his encounter, Rick was right were he had been when the lightning struck him. Dusting himself off, Rick looked around and saw it was still cloudy out. Deciding it was a bit dangerous to trust his luck, he moved to go towards one of the campus buildings. What he didn't expect was a stream of magma exploding from the ground. Falling back, his eyes rested on the cause. It was a monster if he ever saw one.

"Holy-" The monster took a swing at him, signaling him to run. Of course, as he ran, a white light enveloped him and somehow he was face to face again with Archer. The blonde looked at him skeptically.

"You don't seem to grasp simple concepts don't you?"

He was beginning to get on his nerves. That much was obvious. Rick, being indignant as he was, walked up to Archer and exploded into a stream of questions. One of which was,

"Oh yeah, then what would you expect me to do?" Archer shurgged and said casually,

"Fight. I think even someone at your caliber can understand that much." Rick was getting angry and angrier by the minute.

"And how the heck am I supposed to fight a fire breathing monster?!" Archer didn't make any notion to answer him. Rather, he pointed to Rick's pocket and took out what looked like a green cartridge. It had a golden symbol on it, something resembling a tornado's swirl. Rick recognized it, seeing how it was so familiar to him, and fumbled through his pockets until he found his black one. Archer smiled.

"Right..." Rick had no idea if what he was doing was right, but he was curious either way. Archer pushed what looked like a small switch on the handheld cartridge. Around his waist was a stream of what looked like green data, with digital coding inside it. The data compressed and turned into a belt of some kind, with the buckle being a darker shade of red. It had two slot, which seemed to fit something. As if to prove the point, Archer slid his cartridge into the belt, where a mechanical voice called out,

"STORM DRIVE!" Understanding escaping him, Rick had to ask the question,

"What are you...?" But the other young man held his hand up and quickly said,

"There's not much time. You need to go fight that monsterish thing before any civilians get hurt." The room's walls broke apart, making light surround them. Rick shouted at him, trying to get an answer,

"Why me?!" Archer smiled and said something, to which he couldn't hear because a static sound entered his ears. The next thing he knew, he blacked out.

~*~

Sprawled on the floor, Rick steadily raised his head, clutching it with a swirl of profanities swirling in his thoughts. He looked around, deciding he was safe from both the monster and that lunatic Archer.

"Good riddance. The guy got on my nerves anyway..." As he picked himself up, he came face to face with the magma monster again. His head told him to run, but his body didn't follow the course of action. As the monster drew nearer, Rick just stood there, terrified. The monster raised its huge arm, preparing to slam him backwards and crush him. At this point, Rick shut his eyes, crying out in his head,

"I'M REALLY GOING TO DIE!" The monster dropped his arm down, with only an inch between it and him. Suddenly, Rick felt a stange sensation as he heard a familiar voice in his head. It seemed like time stood still as the voice continued.

"Tsk. Your starting to worry me and I've only known you for what... a few hours?" He started to sweat as he said aloud,

"Archer?! Where are you?" He chuckled and said,

"Well, you DO hear me in your head don't you?" Rick grinded his teeth and retorted,

"Well get OUT of my head!" He appeared in front of him in a stream of green, loosening the frozen monster's grip on him. Dusting himself off, Rick was still full of questions, but Archer shook his head.

"Questions later. Fight now." Rick saw that time had resumed itself again, and the monster's attack hit the ground, cracking and crumbling the concrete under it. Archer knocked his head alittle and said,

"Use the Drive genius!" Rickk rubbed the back of his head alittle and repeated what he saw Archer do back in that strange room. He took out his black cartridge and pushed what looked like a small switch on the handheld cartridge. Around his waist was a stream of what looked like grayish data, with digital coding inside it. The data compressed and turned into a belt of some kind, with the buckle being a darker shade of red. Archer nodded and disappeared in another stream of green data. As he did, his green cartridge appeared in Rick's belt. His voice filled Rick's head again, but this time he didn't complain. Rick, now being coached by his new voice, slid his cartridge into the belt, where a mechanical voice called out,

"SHADOW DRIVE!" He placed both hands on the cartridges and called out,

"Kamen Rider!" He pushed both handles containing the cartridges out, forming a sort of W on the buckle. He held his arms out to the side as two rings of energy, one gray and one green, revolved around him. Stopping at his middle, they folded onto his figure as a voice called out,

"SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE!" The rings burst, revealing Rick covered in what appeared to be armor. He was symmetrical perfectly, save the colors on both sides. His right half was bright green, with streaks of gold adjacent to his shoulder, trailing across his chest and around his wrist. Similarly, his left half was completed black, save the streaks of purple on his chest, shoulder and around his wrist. There was a silver-line divider between his two halves, whih also cut his visor into two red insectoid eye plates. Blowing in the breeze was a silver signature scarf. As he moved forward, a violent breeze pulled through the area, nearly blowing the monster away. Rick spoke to him, but when he did, his voice sounded like an echo, with someone else's voice complimenting him. It was of course Archer.

"Your time is up. Say goodbye." They, as one body, ran forward, landing a kick on the monster's chest, where they continued with the incoming assault of kicks...

log off.

Archer and Rick have combined into Kamen Rider Sync! Can they defeat Magma and restore his human life? And who is exactly is the mysterious Archer? Stay Tuned!

Double Edged Beginnings ~ WeLcOmE tO tHe WoRLd / .end