A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while since I've posted a story at this website. Essentially what happened is my creative juices got dried up, I encountered a huge writer's block, and those things combined with my college life leads me to abandon almost all of my story ideas. I'm sorry ne._.
But huge shout out for NecroGod and his Kamen Rider War work, thanks to him and his story I got the inspiration to get back into the game. I'm helping him in developing that story and another new story of his, so you can say I had a hand in their development. Check out his account, he has a lot of great stuff there :D
Speaking of which, my new story is a tie-in to NecroGod's Kamen Rider War work. Since I contributed a lot to the story by giving out several OCs there, I thought that while we all wait for the new chapter of Kamen Rider War to come out (Necro's a busy man), I'm going to write side stories for my OCs in the story, a back story for each character if you can say. And we kick-off with the Chaos Insurgency, a group of mercenaries who seek to stop the war in secret as they fight for the Riders who paid for their services. And also I'm going to reveal the connection between the CI members and my other OCs.
P.S. I strongly recommend you to read NecroGod's Kamen Rider War before you read this. Otherwise you wouldn't get the story :p
Alright, without further ado, here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider or any other series that I crossover.
xxx
Two armored warriors are busy battling it out in front of small shopping complex, with a purple haired girl watching the battle from the sidelines, her knees trembling in fear as her turquoise eyes followed the movement of one of the warriors, biting her lower lip every time that warrior got hit. The warrior in question was themed after a European knight; his bodysuit (called the Ride Wear) is colored red with silver chainmail on the torso and silver armoring on the arms and legs. The warrior's armor was yellow and themed after a banana, the shoulders were pointed like the tips of a banana, and the chest and back armor were folded. The warrior's helmet had a grill-like covering over the visor, which was yellow, while two curved horns stuck out from the sides of the helmet, also colored yellow.
The warrior's opponent has a black bodysuit and purple armor themed after a cobra, and is armed with a sword with a drill-shaped blade, the blade itself colored gold, just like the cobra-themed highlighting on the warrior's armor. The cobra warrior slashed his sword on the banana warrior's chest, forcing the latter to his back, his peeled banana-shaped spear falling out of his grip. Seeing that he is disarmed, the banana warrior struggled to pick up his spear, only for the cobra warrior to kick the spear away from his reach, before the cobra warrior places his left foot over the banana warrior's back, effectively pinning him.
"Oy oy, what's the matter, mate?" asked the cobra warrior with an Australian accent, his black visor making contact with the banana warrior's own, "Is that what you've got?!"
As the girl watched on in horror, the cobra warrior kicked the banana warrior repeatedly, earning groans of pain from the latter. Pain raging wildly throughout his body, the banana warrior slowly tried to reach his right hand out towards the girl, as if signaling her to get out of the area as quick as possible…
My name is Krishna Sadhana. 19 years old. I'm from Indonesia, but I'm lucky enough to attend college in Japan. Well as you can say, apart from studying abroad I had a pretty average life. Until that fateful day, that is…
xxx
KAMEN RIDER WAR – THE SIDE STORIES
xxx
(Cue Opening: Virtue and Vice – Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas)
(Instrumentals) The screen opens to reveal a close-up of Kamen Rider Baron. As the guitar begins to riff, the screen alternates between shots of Baron's gauntlets, chest armor, shoulders, back, and Sengoku Driver, before the drum begins to play with the story title appearing in front of a silhouetted Baron, with silhouettes of Duke and Marika standing on Baron's right side, and silhouettes of Zangetsu and Sigurd standing on Baron's left side. A scream was heard as Baron's silhouette raises his Banaspear and slashes the title, rushing into battle with the other four Riders flanking him.
(Don't know what's being misunderstood, missiles flying children getting shot) Krishna kicked and punched several Elementary Inves at an empty stage, with white strobe lights flashing as he does so, before it ends with Krishna brandishing his Banana Lockseed at the screen.
(Swindles everywhere, people who should be the most loved ones, killing each other) Chan and Meika standing back to back with each other in front of an orange screen before they walked in opposite directions as a red line began to split the screen, focusing on the girls' stoic faces before focusing on the Melon Lockseed in Chan's hand and Cherry Energy Lockseed in Meika's, before the line slides itself in a diagonal position and splits the screen open to show Wind relaxing underneath a tree, playing the Peach Energy Lockseed in her hand.
(Once you keep an eye off, things get stolen) The scene shifts to Minh lying in a rather "suggestive" position in a pool of blood, the camera scrolling up from her legs towards her body before reaching her head, the scene then switches to a close-up of Minh's face, her expressionless eyes staring at the Lemon Energy Lockseed in her right hand, a few patches of blood tainting the object.
(The world is like this, the world that we don't know, the unknown world) The scene switches to an abandoned storage room, with an office table lying in the middle of the room. Two is seen tinkering with her laptop on the table, before she slowly looked up towards the camera, before the scene fades to Kamen Rider Idunn standing against a black background, with the camera filming Idunn's right side, before it switches towards Idunn's front side, with a shroud of grey covering her entire left side. The camera slowly zooms towards Idunn's head which was looking down, before she suddenly lifts up her head, her visor glowing.
(Out of our hands, it doesn't matter, covering up, acting like you don't see a thing) The scene then changes to Nozomi walking down an alleyway alone on the way to school, before it switches to Nozomi sitting idly as her friends chatted around her, looking out the window as she stared at the clear blue sky outside.
(If you think it's a different thing, you won't notice that the world you live in is) The scene then switched to the Chaos Insurgency's hideout, where Krishna is staring the clear blue sky from the window of the hideout, while his teammates are busy playing darts on the background. Suddenly an alert message flashed onto Krishna's Y-Gear, prompting everyone to run out of the hideout.
(Instrumentals) Shots of the Chaos Insurgency members running are shown frame by frame, each lit by a different color (red for Krishna, blue for Minh, pink for Wind, white for Chan, green for Meika, and yellow for Two).
(Look at it, oh yeah!) The scene switches to Kamen Rider Mars stepping out towards a large plaza, several Dark Riders are seen behind him.
(The world is all linked together) Krishna and the other Chaos Insurgency members ran up towards the incoming Dark Riders, with their Lockseeds in their hands and their Drivers on their waists. Krishna exchanged looks with his teammates, before he unlocks his Banana Lockseed as the screen fades into yellow.
(Save our loved ones and the world (hey hey because breaking)) Kamen Riders Sigurd and Gaoh clashed together as Kamen Rider Idunn takes on Kamen Rider Tyrant, both Riders using their Sonic Arrow and Sword Bringer respectively to counter their opponents' respective weapons.
((down the piled wood castle is easy) These peaceful days lasting is a wish) Kamen Rider Zangetsu defends herself with her Melon Defender from an incoming slash courtesy of Kamen Rider Yuuki, before slashing the skeleton Rider with her Musou Saber.
(hey hey these peaceful days, continuing is just like a wish) Kamen Rider Marika is engaged in a shootout with Kamen Rider Psyga, while Kamen Rider Duke takes on Kamen Rider Dark Kabuto in a melee brawl.
(Because I have no idea, how many tickets "to live today" are left) Kamen Riders Baron and Mars rushed towards each other, performing identical Rider Punches towards one another that sends them stumbling backwards.
(Even at the time when you were playing cards, somewhere in this world) As the Dark Riders falter back, the Chaos Insurgency Riders gather around, with the Genesis Riders huddling behind Baron, who uses his Banana Sparking to energize his Banaspear. He then stabs the Banaspear onto the ground, creating a series of energy bananas that skewers the Dark Riders as the screen fades into white.
(Somebody is crying) The scene flashes from white to show Kamen Rider Gaim Yami leading a group of Riders towards the Chaos Insurgency Riders. Baron slowly made his way towards Gaim Yami, the two Riders reaching their hands towards each other, before they finally touch as the scene fades into white and the song ends.
xxx
Arc I: The Chaos Insurgency
Chapter I: Krishna
As told from Krishna's point of view
xxx
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Ah damn. I was playing in the big stage with my beloved Chelsea Football Club at Stamford Bridge when that godforsaken beeping noise makes me realize that it's all just a dream. Oh well. Today's the first day of classes anyway so I really need to wake up early for my first classes of the new university year.
Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I? Name's Krishna. Krishna Sadhana. I'm just your average 19 year old guy who is going to embark on his first day as a university student. Having come to Japan from my native Indonesia a few months ago after being accepted to a university there, it took me around three weeks to get myself used to my new surroundings before classes start, and I have to say I quite enjoyed my orientation, made some new friends, learning new things and so on. Today's the first day of classes, and to be honest I can't wait to see the new people who are going to be my classmates.
Slowly I rolled out of bed, took a shower, before getting myself dressed in front of my dorm room's mirror. I wore a blue Chelsea FC jersey, blue denim jeans, before putting on a navy blue jacket over my shirt, since it was quite cold out there, with a pair of black sneakers as a final touch. I applied some hair gel on my short black hair, and styled it into spikes. After I was done with that, I grabbed an egg sandwich that I had bought yesterday night from the fridge, and set off, munching my sandwich on the way to class. I'm a skinny person yet my appetite is quite voracious. Must be the reason why I'm quite tall, a good 184 cm, taller than your average Indonesian.
xxx
I arrived at my classroom quite early. I've checked my schedule; my first class for the day is Japanese. Heck, my entire classes for the day will be Japanese, it's part of our mandatory language course for our first semester. Class won't start until 8.45am. I took a moment to check the clock on my iPhone. It's 8.25am.
Twenty minutes to go till class starts, I thought, nice.
The classroom was almost empty when I entered it, since like I said, class won't start until twenty minutes later. Choosing a desk located at the far right corner of the class, just next to the windows, I arranged my books there, before pausing for a moment. Sitting down, I placed my right index finger against my right temple, as suddenly a sharp pain appeared in my head, as if my head was being drilled from the inside. Not again, I thought. For the past few days I had episodes where my head would experience random bouts of pain, along with a loud ringing noise that accompanied it. I haven't checked it to the university's infirmary due to my busy orientation schedule, but I kept on promising to myself that I would visit it when I had the time.
"You okay?"
I slowly turned around to see a young woman standing over me, a worried look on her face. The woman has an athletic build with light brown skin and black, shoulder length hair with a bang over her forehead. She is now wearing an orange T-shirt underneath a black and white striped sweater, with blue denim jeans and black sneakers. A white wristwatch is present on her left wrist. The moment I made eye contact with her, my headache vanished completely. What a relief.
"Yeah, I'm good," I said, a warm smile on my face, "Just didn't get enough sleep from preparing for today."
"Next time, make sure to take some rest, ne?" the young woman smiled, before she offered her right hand towards me, "Anyway, what's your name?"
"I'm Krishna," I replied, giving her a handshake, "I'm from Indonesia. And you?"
"Le Thao Minh," said the young woman.
"Le what?" I lifted my eyebrows. Her name sounded Vietnamese, and as far as I know Vietnamese names have some…unique pronunciations that would twist the tongues of those who are inexperienced.
The young woman giggled, "Just call me Minh. I'm from Vietnam. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Minh-san," I replied with a huge smile on my face, "So you're my classmate, huh?"
"Yup," Minh nodded, "I'm really hoping that we will have a great time together in this class, Krishna."
"Hope so," I winked at her, and she winked back before she returned to her seat.
Yeah, this is going to be one hell of a semester.
xxx
Class has gone underway for 10 minutes now, and for now our sensei has asked us to introduce ourselves in Japanese. I had done mine, whilst Minh had just finished hers a few seconds ago. Right now another young woman is introducing herself in front of class. She has a medium yet athletic build with white skin and short, chin-length dark brown hair with black eyes, and wears a black "Ghost in a Shell" T-shirt with torn-up blue denim jeans, a pair of glasses as well as a pair of black sneakers.
"Hello everyone. My name is Nguyen Phuoc Khanh Linh, but you can call me Two. I'm from Hanoi, Vietnam…"
As Two introduced herself, I gazed outside my classroom through the window next to me. The weather today's so nice, the sky's clear blue with a few clouds placed into the mix. People are moving back and forth from classrooms outside. It was overall quite a nice day, might as well grab some ice cream when class finishes.
Forget ice cream, the headaches are coming again.
As more students introduced themselves, I silently clutched my head in pain, before placing my head over my arms on the table and bent myself into a sleeping position. I would have screamed there, with the pain and ringing even more intense than usual, but I decided to stay silent because I don't want to attract any attention to myself. Suddenly a few seconds later, the headaches went away, so do the ringing noise. Slowly I lifted my head and glanced back, to see Minh with a concerned expression on her face watching me from a distance. I then glanced towards the window, before seeing something shocking flickering at the corner of my eye.
Was that a black Chinese dragon with red eyes flying across the window?
I leaned myself against my chair and let out a quiet sigh. Right now a bespectacled young woman with a medium built with white skin and shoulder length red hair wearing a beige sweater, a black skirt with dark brown leggings, and pink sneakers is introducing herself. And God damn, her Japanese is really good compared to mine.
"My name is Tran Ngo Thuy Trang, I'm from Vietnam. You can call me Chan…"
Great. Let's get this introduction thing over with. I need to go to the infirmary ASAP before those headaches come again.
xxx
It's lunch time and class has finished. I immediately packed my books into my backpack and headed out. Class won't continue until around 2pm, which gives me around two hours to eat, rest, and probably go to the infirmary to sort this headache out. It's getting worse by the minute.
"Krishna!"
I turned around to see Minh waiting at the staircase near my classroom with a group of Vietnamese students chatting in their native language around her.
"Wanna join lunch with us?" Minh asked.
Such a nice girl, offering me to have lunch with her and her friends on the first day we met. Unfortunately I have more urgent businesses to attend to.
"Thanks but no thanks," I said, trying to smile as my headache began to act again, "I need to go to the infirmary first…my head's been killing me since this morning."
"Oh, okay then," Minh said, "Catch up with us when you're done, okay? We'll be at the cafeteria."
I quickly nodded before making a dash down the staircase, as the ringing noise and the pain within my head became more and more intense. Amidst the ringing, I could faintly hear Minh yelling "get well soon" at me. How thoughtful.
xxx
The infirmary was a short 2 minute walk from my classroom, located inside the student office building. Clutching my head in pain, I entered the university's student office building, where the infirmary is just a short walk away through a glass corridor. Immediately I limped through the corridor, the pain in my head making it difficult for me to walk. Suddenly, as I reached the midway point of the corridor, my phone started to ring.
Ugh, who could have texted me at a time like this, I thought. Is it Minh? Impossible, we just met; I haven't given her my phone number yet.
Grabbing my iPhone, I immediately saw that I had received a text message from an unknown number. Unknown number? What the Hell? Geez, as if this day hasn't gone weirder and weirder…
Sliding open the notification to open the message, I was immediately greeted with 4 words that made me cringe.
You, have been chosen.
What the fuck? Chosen? Chosen for what?! My thoughts went wild as I read the message thoroughly, thinking back on what I had done on the previous days that made me "chosen." Is it those university clubs that I checked out during orientation? Yeah, it could be. But as far as I remembered, university clubs usually communicate with their members via e-mail, never via text, and I didn't remember giving my number to any of the university club presidents that I met the other day. What could it be then?
I was so busy drowning in my thoughts; I didn't realize that a jet black humanoid is standing behind me.
"Krishna Sadhana."
I turned around and gawked in shock upon the sight of the humanoid. The humanoid looked awfully familiar to me. That jet black armor, the dragon-theme to it, those glowing menacing red eyes…could it be…Kamen Rider Ryuga?!
I forgot to tell you how I usually spend my free time watching tokusatsu and anime on my laptop, so I pretty much know a thing or two about Japanese pop culture. So to see a real life Kamen Rider Ryuga standing in front of me calling my name like that, that must pretty shocking.
"How…how did you know my name?" I asked.
Ryuga didn't answer. Instead he made a slow, menacing walk towards me. If I can be honest with you, I'm in a state of both shock, awe, and utterly scared. Awed because one of my favorite Riders is in front of me in a flesh. Shocked because I did not expect that to happen. Scared because Ryuga's an evil Rider. Who knows what he's going to do to me?
Ryuga is now only an inch away from me. I could feel a menacing aura coming out of his cold black self. If I can be honest with all of you…I probably peed in my pants during that moment.
"You're coming with me."
And with that, Ryuga performed a swift jab onto my stomach. I immediately went limp, falling to my back as my vision became blurry, and then black.
That was my last ever day as a normal university student. Because when I wake up, I became something else, something that no one else could ever think of becoming.
I became a part of that war. A war between Kamen Riders.
xxx
Slowly and groggily, I opened my eyes. My vision is still blurry from when Ryuga knocked me out, but within seconds I managed to discern my location. I'm lying on my back inside an abandoned warehouse, but not just any warehouse. A Kamen Rider savvy fan like me would know that this warehouse is the very warehouse where Yuji Kiba as Kamen Rider Faiz and Masato Kusaka as Kamen Rider Kaixa fought off the Rose Orphnoch and rescue Takumi Inui in episode 39 of Kamen Rider 555. It is also the very same warehouse where Trial B held Mutsuki Kamijo captive in episode 39 of Kamen Rider Blade.
Just where the fuck am I?
Rubbing my head as I slowly got up, I checked myself to see of Ryuga had done any alterations to my body. There were none, and I'm still wearing the clothes that I wore this morning. My headache has vanished completely as well, much to my relief. I slowly opened my shirt to see any bruising that Ryuga had inflicted on my when he knocked me out. To my relief, there were none.
Looking at my surroundings, I was shocked to see my bags near me, all neatly packed. That's strange, last time I saw them, I left them in my dorm room and I only brought my backpack with me. Immediately I went over to the bags and opened them one by one. Much to my shock, my clothes has been neatly packed inside the bags, as well as my laptop, as if I had moved out from my dorm room and passed out suddenly at the warehouse with my bags around me.
Just what the fuck is going on here?
I took out my iPhone from my pocket and give it a good check. It is still functional, even though I received zero reception here. Great. Just great. I'm lost in the middle of nowhere, and I can't contact anyone for help.
I decided to give my backpack a look, just in case something happened when I was knocked out. Much to my relief, my important documents, bank books, passport, wallet, phone charger, and Japanese books are neatly arranged inside it. Although, I did found several new items among them.
The first item was a device that resembled a thinned out pane of glass, although upon closer inspection, it's metal. I run my index finger over the device's surface, and much to my surprise, it activates by itself, displaying a variety of apps that rivaled my iPhone. Heck, there's even Facebook, Kamen Rider Storm Heroes, Temple Run, and Love Live! School Idol Festival. The exact same apps that I used frequently on my old iPhone. It even has an in-built browser! Clearly someone had copied my iPhone's internal data and copied it into the device, including all the photos that I took with it. It even has a camera. Talk about convenience.
The second object shocked me even further. It was a black rounded rectangle with silver accents, a yellow cutting knife on its right side, an octagonal indent on the middle, and a blank plate of black metal on the left side. I've seen this object before, and I know very much what this object is capable of doing.
It's a blank Sengoku Driver, the transformation device used by the Riders of Kamen Rider Gaim. Normally the blank plate of metal, called the Rider Indicator, would display the helmet of the Rider that the user of the Driver will transform into. But in my case, it's blank. Must be because it's in its inactivated state.
It's a no brainer on what the next new items on my backpack are. Two Banana Lockseeds, coded L.S-08 each. As far as I know, these Lockseeds are used by Kaito Kumon, the anti-hero/final villain of Kamen Rider Gaim to transform into Kamen Rider Baron. It is also used to summon and control Inves, the denizens of an otherworldly forest called Helheim Forest.
Great. I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere with all of my clothes, my laptop, my backpack, a weird futuristic iPhone-like thing, and the transformation devices of Kamen Rider Baron. What is going on here?!
"Ah, you're awake."
I gawked in surprise as I saw a small fairy-like girl in a purple dress with blonde hair and floating on an open tome hovering towards me. Holy fuck. As if everything that happened to me today can't get even weirder…
"Who the heck are you?" That what I asked the floating girl instinctively. I know it's kinda rude and stuff, but hey, I got thrown into the unknown here! Someone needs to give me an explanation.
"No need to be mad, young man," the girl replied gently, "My name is Histoire, Oracle of Planeptune."
So that's why that girl looked vaguely familiar. I'm not too familiar with the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise and all, but my HDN crazy friend used to tell me about Histoire. Apparently she's one of Gods of the series, possessing all of the world's knowledge and having the ability to reshape reality. In other words, I'm in a presence of a physical goddess. And I bet she has the answers for whatever's happening here.
"Can you explain what's happening here?" I asked Histoire, "Why did I just woke up here, in this warehouse, with all my belongings around me with the transformation devices of Kamen Rider Baron, and then talking to a character that I've known from a video game series?"
"It's a long story," Histoire answered, "But long story short, you've been brought here by the orders of the Game Master."
"Game Master? Who the heck is he?" I asked again, "And why did he brought me here?"
"The Game Master is a name that the players have called him and what he called himself since he never revealed his name to anyone," Histoire replied.
"Players?"
"Yes, the people who had been taken from their own worlds and brought to this one."
"Taken?"
"Yes. I've known all about you, Krishna Sadhana. Born in Malang, May 7th, 1996. Spent 3 years in Melbourne, Australia from 1997 to 2000. Spent 9 years in Malang, Indonesia, before continuing high school in Jakarta, Indonesia for 3 years. Recently enrolled in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita, Japan. Am I right?"
Holy shit. A girl who I never met before had just told me my entire life story in a breath. And I didn't even told anyone about that. As expected from someone with God-like powers.
"How…how do you know all of that?" I asked, this time my tone trembling in shock.
"The Game Master knows everything about his players," Histoire smiled.
"Wait, you said players twice already. What do you mean by that? Are they playing a game or something?"
Suddenly Histoire's expression turned to that of a somber one. Realized that I had said something wrong, I quickly closed my mouth with my hand.
"Did I say something wrong? Sorry about that…"
"It's okay. I should have explained this to you anyway," Histoire said slowly, "While some think that this is a game, other say that this is a war. A Kamen Rider War to be exact."
Holy shit again. Did she just say a Kamen Rider War? Just like the ones in Ryuki, Decade, and Gaim?! What have you gotten yourself into, Krishna?
Histoire continues her explanation, "People from your world were chosen to participate in this war. Each person brought would receive a transformation device from a Kamen Rider of the Heisei or Neo-Heisei Era, and fight against their fellow players until one Rider remains, and that one Rider will battle the Game Master and defeat him to win. You're quite lucky, Krishna Sadhana, since you didn't missed much. None of the Riders has been eliminated yet, but you need to be careful if you don't want to be the first one to get eliminated. Kaijins from different series are brought here as well, to make things…you know, interesting."
Holy mother of fuck. It took me a good five minutes for me to let everything sink in. Even though I tried to be calm, I was even more freaked out than before. I mean, this morning I'm just a normal university student embarking on a normal university life whilst meeting this really cute Vietnamese girl as well as having dreams of playing football with my favorite club of all time. But now, I've been taken from my home, with the possibility of never seeing that girl Minh again, to participate in this battle to the death. What. The fucking. Hell.
"I know what's going through you, Krishna," Histoire said, snapping me out of my daydream, "But I have some…slightly good news for you. Some of the players who the Game Master has chosen…they're also Ritsumeikan APU students. Some of them are also students from your old high school and junior high."
Now this is getting even more messed up. Now I have to fight my own friends?! But then again…maybe…just maybe…I could find my friends and persuade them to fight with me. Yes, maybe with some allies around me, I could survive this messed up battle royale thing.
"Okay, that's one thing covered," I said, taking a few breaths to calm myself down, "Now explain to me about this place."
"You're in Tokusat City, Krishna," Histoire replied, "It's pretty much the amalgamation of the cities where the Riders used to fight. Futo, Zawame, you name it. In his words, this is the city for everything tokusatsu. The denizens here are various characters from tokusatsu, anime, video games."
I nodded, trying to let the information sink in. Even though, I probably need some time off alone to digest everything.
"Histoire, can I go?" I asked, "I need to take a walk. Y'know, so I could understand everything that's happening here."
"Sure, "Histoire nodded, "Just be careful out there, okay? Plus you need to keep alert on the new info that your Y-Gear gives to you."
"Y-Gear? What the heck's that?" I asked.
"It's one of the items that the Game Master has provided you with," Histoire replied, "I believe it's the pane of metal that you found in your bag."
Ah, so that's the name of that futuristic iPhone thing. Noted.
"And one more thing," Histoire said again, "A few hours ago when you were out I've brought one of your friends here, and I believe she accepted this in a much more…calmer manner than you do. If you can find her, that'll make you get used to everything here even faster."
Great, now my new university friends have already joined the party. If they're willing to be my allies, great. But the thought of fighting them…it's just a bit…wrong. But nevertheless, I'll try my best to seek as much allies and answers as possible. I need to get to the bottom of this, ASAP.
"Noted," I nodded as I placed my Y-Gear in my pocket, and my iPhone, Sengoku Driver, and Lockseeds into my backpack before I set off, "Watch over my stuff, will ya?"
"Will do," Histoire nodded, "But before you go, I have something for you."
Histoire went towards me and placed something in my right hand. I opened my right palm to see a rose-themed Lockseed on it, the code L.V-02 written on the said Lockseed
"A Kamen Rider can't be a Kamen Rider without his ride, right?" Histoire said, winking at me.
Knowing what I must do, I unlocked the Lockseed and threw it in front of me, allowing it to unfold itself into a rose-themed Honda XR250. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Rose Attacker, the second Lock Vehicle developed by Yggdrasill Corporation for the Riders of Gaim. I immediately placed my backpack on my back and started the engine on the Rose Attacker, before mounting said vehicle.
"I'll be going. Watch over my stuff, okay?" I said, revving the Rose Attacker's engine before I took off.
Histoire waved goodbye as I left the warehouse, a faint, sad smile appearing on her face.
"Be careful out there, Krishna Sadhana. There are a lot of Riders out there who are out for your head."
xxx
Around 20 minutes since I left the warehouse, I found myself walking at Tokusat City's Central Shopping Complex (CSC). It's basically like your run-off-the-mill arcade-type shopping street, with a lot of colonial-style buildings here and there where people set up shops. Kinda reminds me of Amsterdam's P.C. Hoofstraat. Or Seoul's Insa-dong. Or Yogyakarta's Malioboro Street. Or Melbourne's Collins Street.
During my stroll at the CSC, I found out that my Y-Gear boasts a number of insane features that I never imagined before. Remember Gaim's Beat Riders Network? The same thing also exists here, in app form placed nicely inside my Y-Gear, called the "Rider War Network". But instead of videos of people fighting Inves, there are videos of Riders fighting each other. I saw a lot of people watching footages of various battles of Riders from their own Y-Gears or from the television sets sold at the CSC. There's also an app that displayed the details statistics of my Rider form, but it's inactive due to me not transforming yet. It's also serves as my universal wallet, since everything's so digital and advanced here. I've found out that all of my money that I had with me has been transferred to my Y-Gear.
As I tinkered with my Y-Gear, I briefly noticed a symbol resembling a rising Garuda located at the back of my Y-Gear, the words "Astinapura Corporation" emblazoned on it. Must be the company that made these things, I thought. To this so-called Astinapura Corporation, my thanks are for them.
Also during my stroll at the CSC, I ran into several characters that I thought I could only saw in the likes of animes or video games. I saw Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser as well as Hayate The Combat Butler's Hayate Ayasaki and Nagi Sanzenin enjoying fruit parfaits at an exact copy of Gaim's Drupers fruit parlor. I also ran into The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's SOS Brigade doing some shopping at the CSC (even though I suspect it's Haruhi dragging everyone there, as usual), as well as Bleach's Orihime Inoue checking out clothes at an upscale-looking boutique. I also saw Solid Snake from the Metal Gear franchise enjoying a quick cigarette with Gundam 00's Lyle Dylandy and Neon Genesis Evangelion's Gendo Ikari at the CSC's smoking area. Finally I saw the entire gang from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders walking out from a pub, all of them laughing heartily. 'This really is a world where everything fictional comes to life', I thought. As I continued my stroll, I came across a building that looked familiar to me.
"No, fucking, way…" I gasped.
It was an exact copy of the Wagnaria family restaurant from the Working! manga and anime series! It's official. This world is cool.
But before I could get in and grab a bite there, I heard someone screaming in the distance. Immediately I ran towards the source of the scream to investigate what is happening, navigating myself through the crowded CSC to reach a small alleyway located between two stores. There, I saw something horrifying.
A 22 year old man has cornered a frightened-looking 17 year old girl against a wall, with malicious intent brimming from the man's eyes. The man is slim yet athletically built with light brown skin, grey eyes and spiky blonde hair. He wears a chocolate leather jacket made out of snake skin, torn up black leather pants, and black sneakers. To add more to the man's menacing look, he has chains coming out from the pockets of his pants, with spikes coming out from his sneakers' heels and tip. The girl has a medium build with a rather curvaceous figure, with white skin, long purple hair tied in two low twintails, and has turquoise eyes. She is now wearing a blue blazer over a white T-shirt, along with a blue skirt and black shoes complete with knee-length black socks, and a green striped bowtie on her chest.
I instantly knew the girl the moment I saw her – she's Nozomi Tojo, a member of the school idol group µ's from the anime Love Live! School Idol Project, the eldest member of the group as well as my favorite. As for the man, I've never seen him before so I suspect he has something to do with this "Kamen Rider war" thing.
Immediately I rushed into the alleyway, my instincts working like overdrive as I clenched my right fist tightly. The target? The goddamn pervert's right cheekbone, of course.
"Hey!" I called as I swung the punch towards the man, "Get your hands off her!"
The punch hit the man quite hard, forcing him to stumble backwards, rubbing his right cheek in pain. I immediately took a defensive stance in front of Nozomi, in case the man had any more ideas.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Y-yes…" Nozomi replied, slightly stammered due to what she's been through earlier, "T-thank you…"
"Oy, what's the matter, mate?" the man asked, from his accent I immediately knew that this man's Australian, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?!"
"Were you trying to rape this girl?!" I asked back angrily, "Answer me!"
"Hey, don't blame me for being unable to satisfy my needs after coming here," replied the man, cracking his neck as he faced me, anger billowing out from his eyes, "Damn Histoire didn't tell me where's the nearest whorehouse is."
"You bastard, how did you know about Histoire?!" I asked, rushing forward as I grabbed the man by the collar of his jacket, "Answer me, goddamnit!"
The man replied…with a punch that struck my nose quite hard. I stumbled to the ground, blood trickling from my nose as Nozomi watched on in horror.
"You bloody shithead," the man cracked his neck as he adjusts his collar, "You're a player in this too, aren't you mate?"
The man took out something from his jacket pocket, and I immediately recognized it once my eyes made contact with it. It is a purple rectangle, with a golden cobra engraved to it. Snickering evilly, the man made his way to a nearby mirror, pointing the object at it. A silver belt suddenly flew out of the window and attached itself onto the man's waist.
"Don't tell me…you're.." I gasped as I struggled to stand up, wiping away the blood from my nose as I do so. Man, that man sure packed a punch!
"Oh, so you've seen an Advent Deck before, you bloody prick," the man said, brandishing the Deck towards me, "My name is Nick Killian, and today I feel bloodthirsty, thanks to you interrupting my business. Now, it's time for you to die. Henshin!"
Nick slid in the Deck onto his belt buckle, causing three mirror images of armor to appear, slamming onto him as it formed his cobra-themed armor.
Nick has transformed into a Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider Ouja to be exact.
Shit, my mind instantly cursed. In Kamen Rider Ryuki, the Ouja Deck was used by Takeshi Asakura, a renowned psychopath. A brutal Rider, he took the lives of Kamen Riders Raia, Gai, Imperer, and Zolda, the latter after his nemesis Shuichi Kitaoka succumbed to his cancer and gave his Deck to his assistant Goro Yura. He's also quite merciless in battle, and will resort to anything to win, even combining the Decks of Raia and Gai to create the ultimate Deck! And I have no doubt; this Nick fellow is also a psychopath, rivaling Asakura in terms of it!
"Nozomi, run!" I yelled at Nozomi, "It's dangerous!"
"Wait, how do you know my name?" Nozomi asked.
"I'll explain later!" I yelled, "Just run!"
"Die you little shit!" Ouja yelled, swinging his cobra-themed scepter, called the Veno Visor, at me.
Nozomi ran out of the alleyway just in time to see me parrying the incoming swipe with my arms, before receiving a good kick to the chest from the cobra-themed Rider. People began to flock around us as Ouja picked me up and punched me repeatedly on the gut, causing me to cough up blood. He then proceeds to give a solid kick onto my head, sending me to the ground.
God damn it…apparently I've picked up a fight with the wrong person. His punches and kicks…they felt really strong, they felt that they could break every bones in my body! And he hasn't even used his infamous Veno Saber yet! Worst case scenario, he might call on his Contract Monster Venosnaker to eat me alive!
"Die!" Ouja yelled as he forced me up to my feet and punched me in the face, before more punches to the face follow suit, "Die! Die! Die! Die!"
Nozomi watched on in horror as I collapsed to the ground, my face bruised up and bloody, with some of the blood staining my proud blue Chelsea jersey. Ouja stood right next to me, cracking his neck as he gave out a sadistic laugh.
"That's what you've got for messing with me, ya prick," Ouja said as he slowly walked away, clearly contempt on what he has done.
'Ah, what the Hell are you doing, Krishna?! You have a fucking Sengoku Driver! Why don't you use it?!' My mind cursed at myself. 'What are you, weak?! If you don't fight, you won't survive!'
I groggily stood up, blood still trickling from my nose and my lower lip, with significant bruising on my jawline and my eyes. I took a quick glance at Nozomi, who slowly broke out a smile as she saw me stood up.
'I must fight', my mind said that to encourage myself, 'I must fight! If I want to survive, I must fight! I got into this mess because I wanted to protect Nozomi…and damn right that's what I'm going to do right now!'
"Hey, you," I called out slowly towards the leaving Ouja, "Come back here."
Ouja stopped in his tracks, clearly he was surprised by my determination, "What did you just say, you bloody shithead? You want some more?"
"Yeah," I laughed sarcastically, "I'm ready for round two."
Immediately I opened my backpack and took out my Sengoku Driver, placing it against my waist. A pair of yellow straps came out from the Driver, hugging my waist comfortably, as an image of red knight's helmet appears on the Rider Indicator. I then proceed to take out my Banana Lockseed, brandishing it for Ouja, Nozomi, and the world to see, before hitting the switch on the Lockseed.
BANANA!
A Crack appeared above me, with a metallic yellow banana descending from it. Imitating Kaito Kumon, I twirled my Lockseed on my index finger, before snapping it on my Sengoku Driver, locking it on place.
LOCK ON!
The familiar triumphant European fanfare music blared out of my Sengoku Driver, igniting my already blazing motivation to fight even more. I took a glance at Nozomi, who gave me a smile to encourage me. I then proceed to close my eyes, images of my mother, my father, my friends, and lastly Minh flashing in my mind.
'Let's do this,' I thought in determination.
"Henshin!" I yelled, slamming the Sengoku Driver's Cutting Blade with determination, causing it to slice the Banana Lockseed open.
COME ON! BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF SPEAR~!
The banana dropped on my shoulders, creating the familiar red and silver Ride Wear, with the familiar knight-themed helmet materializing inside the banana. The banana then folds open, forming the chest, back, and shoulder armors, the armors snapping themselves onto place as a splash of yellow energy appeared, my banana-themed spear, the Banaspear, forming in my right hand.
I did it. I transformed. I transformed into the Knight of Spear himself, Kamen Rider Baron!
"Now that's more like it," Ouja cracked his neck, taking out a card with a yellow spiral sword etched on it from his Advent Deck, before inserting it into his Veno Visor.
SWORD VENT!
The Veno Saber materialized in Ouja's right hand, the cobra Rider gripping the weapon tightly as I gripped my own Banapsear as well.
"You're still going down anyway, mate," Ouja taunted me, "Show me what you've got!"
"Bring it on!" I replied the challenge enthusiastically.
Both Ouja and I marched onto the battlefield, our weapons in hand, our war cries echoing throughout the CSC. As Nozomi and the audience watched on, our weapons clashed with a loud CLANG noise, signaling the beginning of our battle.
xxx
And that's how I got myself into this shit. Granted the Baron armor gave me an edge in the battlefield, but in the end Ouja had more experience. Most of the audience watching the battle had dispersed in fear after our battle escalated, with us clashing throughout the CSC causing a variety of damage. Ouja had stuck to his Veno Saber and I had to admit his swordsmanship is quite good as he managed to parry each incoming attack from my Banaspear…or I'm the one who's still too green for the battlefield. Despite that we were evenly matched, until fatigue and my injuries began to kick in. With Nozomi watching on in horror, I got myself slashed quite badly on the chest by the Veno Saber, Ouja finally finding the opening that he had sought for.
Groaning in pain, I collapsed onto the ground, my Banaspear separated from my hand as I fell. Struggling to recover myself, I tried to pick up my Banaspear only for Ouja to kick it away from me, before he proceeds to pin me down with his left foot.
"Oy oy, what's the matter, mate?" Ouja taunted, his visor making contact with mine, "Is that what you've got?"
Ouja then proceeds to kick me repeatedly on the right side of my torso, causing me to groan out in pain as my ribs were taking the full impact of the cobra Rider's kicks. As pain raged through my body, I slowly reached my right hand out towards Nozomi, who has been watching the whole fight from the sidelines. Knowing that what happens next would horrify her for life, I tried to signal her to get away from the CSC as soon as possible, but before I could do anything, my strength has failed me and my right arm went limp. With a mighty kick, Ouja rolled me over, exposing my vulnerable abdomen for the world to see.
"Now, to end this…" Ouja said in a dark tone, lifting up his Veno Saber towards the sky, the blade of the weapon aimed straight at my abdomen, laughing manically as he knelt beside me, ready to stab the life out of me.
Realizing that this might be the end of me, I closed my eyes from underneath my helmet, ready to accept my fate. Various images of the people who I care about appear in my mind as I counted down the final seconds of my life. My mother, my father, my friends from Malang, my high school friends from Jakarta, my new university friends, Minh, and lastly, Nozomi.
'I'm sorry everyone. Looks like my time has arrived now. Sorry that I can't be a good son to you. Sorry that I can't become a good friend for you guys. I'm sorry that I can't know you even better, Minh-san. I'm sorry that I've failed to protect you, Nozomi…'
But before Ouja can apply the coup de grace, he suddenly lets out a loud groan of pain, his Veno Saber falling out from his hands as he collapsed next to me. Slowly I opened my eyes to see my assailant lying on the ground next to me, smoke can be seen coming out from his back. Realizing that I have been saved, I slowly stood up, my vision making contact with the one who had saved me.
Standing in front of me was another Rider, with a yellow-belted Sengoku Driver similar to myself, but with a sliced open apple-themed Lockseed on it. From its posture, I can say that the Rider was female, with the same medieval knight motif as me, only this time she's a swordsman instead of a lancer. Her armor was themed after an apple, colored red and white with black accents, while her Ride Wear was colored in a predominant white with a few red armoring on the knees, ankles, and wrists. Her helmet was styled after a knight, with her visor resembles that of a sliced apple, colored white. On her left hand was a large red, white, and black shield with some ornate golden accenting, while on her right hand is a golden sword with red markings on it, themed after an apple core.
"Stand up, Krishna Sadhana," the Rider spoke, pointing her sword towards me, "Stand up and let's fight together!"
That voice…it sounded really familiar to me. It sounded just like a certain Vietnamese girl who had just introduced herself in my Japanese class. Can't it be…
"Two?! What are you doing here?"
xxx
TO BE CONTINUED…
xxx
A/N: And that's it! The first chapter of the first arc of the Kamen Rider War Side Stories. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Next chapter, we will have Kamen Riders Baron and Idunn taking on Kamen Rider Ouja and we'll have a perspective story from Two on how she got herself into this war! Don't forget to leave your reviews^^
This is maxpower02 signing off!