Power Rider: Wizard
Episode 1: The Ringed Magician
DISCLAIMER: the terms Power Rider, Masked Rider, and Power Rangers are all the property of Saban Entertainment. Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider Wizard, and all characters, places, actions, etc. are property of Toei and Bandai of Japan.
A long time ago, magic was studied as science. But as civilisations advanced, magic was forgotten. Time passed until we reached the modern day. There is one man who will use magic to clear away a terror that science cannot solve. People call that magician 'Wizard.'
A man was eating a sugar doughnut on a street lamp overlooking a road on a bridge. The bridge had a walking path next to it. The man was wearing a leather jacket and a white shirt. The man's name was William. A small red figurine in the shape of a bird flew to William.
"Did you find it, Bird?" asked William as he put the doughnut back in the bag. "Well, shoot. I guess that these doughnuts will have to wait."
Putting a yellow ring on his hand, William swiped it across his belt, which had a buckle shaped like a hand.
"Summon, please!" he said as he swiped the ring. This caused a red magic circle to appear. A motorcycle flew out of the circle, and William jumped on the bike.
"Show me the way, please" he requested of Bird as he took off on the bike.
In another part of town, a police car with its lights and siren on was approaching a building. Two people get out of the vehicle, a man and a woman. Both wore well-tailored suits. They went over to a couple of policemen wearing patrol blues standing by the entrance to the building.
"What's the situation, Lieutenant?" asked the man, clearly the elder of the two. His name was Amino.
"There are still workers inside the building, sir," said the Lieutenant.
Amino turned to the woman, who was checking her gun. "Do you think that you can handle this, Lily?"
"I'll be fine" responded the woman. "Protecting the people is a cop's duty."
"Are you lot ready?" asked the Lieutenant. "OK, we're going in."
The police entered the building with their guns drawn. Lily followed the uniformed police. As they entered the building, they saw a monster attacking the employees. Lily took another look around. She wished she hadn't, as she spotted even more hideous monsters assisting in the attack.
What are those, Lily asked herself. I must protect the civilians.
"Protect the civilians" she called. "Open Fire!"
The police started to fire at the monsters, but it was quickly obvious that the bullets were having no effect. In fact, the monsters were starting to ignore the workers and come after the police.
Officer after officer went down, injured. Lily got knocked down by one of the goons, but got back up and started firing at the main monster. The monster came after her, and grabbed the wrist of the hand that held her gun.
"Anything that you try is useless, human," said the monster. "I am Minotaur, and I will cause your destruction."
The monster picked her up by the throat, causing her to lose her gun. Just then, the side of the building broke open, and a motorcycle came through. The driver used the bike to knock down some of the goons.
"Rider Summon!" he called. A magic circle appeared, and the man put his hand through to pull out a very large gun. He started to fire at the monsters, who seemed shocked. Lily noticed that the man was obviously a good shot, as some of the blasts missed the policemen by millimetres, never hurting them.
"You are the Magician!" exclaimed the monster.
A Magician? thought Lily.
The monster hurled a fireball at William, which he dodged. However, in the explosion of the fireball, a magic circle appeared. When the flames died down, out stepped Power Rider Wizard.
"Who are you?" asked the monster.
"I am Power Rider Wizard," answered the man. "Who might you be?"
"I am Minotaur, and I am the Orchestrator of your Doom!" replied the Monster. "Ghouls, attack!"
"It's show-time!" exclaimed Wizard as he started to attack the monsters. Eventually a large group of the goons gathered in a circle around him, and he touched his ring to his gun, which had a hand, similar to his belt.
"Ring Power, please!" he said as he swiped the ring. The gun responded with, "Summon Power! Flame Shooting Strike!"
Fire emerged from the end of the gun, and Wizard fired at the goons, causing them to explode. William looked around. In the confusion, the monster had disappeared.
As he was walking away, William needed to make a status report, so he dialled his iPhone. "Yo, Sarah," he said when the phone picked up. "I took care of the Ghouls, but the Phantom got away."
He turned to face Bird. "Do you know where he went, boy?" The bird flew away to track the monster. He turned back to the phone and listened for a minute.
"Use more familiars?" he asked Sarah. "Do you know how much magic that takes?"
He ended the call.
"That's easy for her to say," he complained. "'I don't think we have any other options' and 'Bird can't do this alone'!"
He took a ring, and touched to his belt.
"Rider Summon, Unicorn!"
He took another ring and touched it to his belt. "Rider Summon, Kraken!"
A blue magic circle and a green magic circle appeared and transformed into a square. From the blue circle emerged a blue Unicorn, and from the green circle emerged Kraken. He put his rings to the faces of his familiars.
"It should be nearby," he told them. "Find it, please."
William powered down and started to walk away.
\\/
In another part of town was an antique shop. The owner was an older gentleman by the name of Douglas. When Wizard called, he was polishing a stone for a ring. The other occupant of the house answered the phone. This was Sarah. She had a crystal ball in front of her, and she was watching Wizard.
"I think that you should use more familiars," she suggested. "Bird can't do this alone."
She listened for a minute.
"I know that," she replied. "But I'm not sure that we have any other options."
She heard a click as William ended the call, and she continued to observe him in the crystal ball.
\\/
In a third part of town, in an abandoned building, Minotaur was meeting another Phantom.
"My Lord Phoenix!" said Minotaur, bowing. The other Phantom, the Lord Phoenix, jumped off a stairwell.
"How can you fail even using those Ghouls, Minotaur?" asked Phoenix as he transformed into a human form.
"A magician appeared and got in my way," replied Minotaur. Just as he was saying that, a third Phantom arrived.
"You mean...Wizard?" the Phantom asked in a feminine voice. She turned into a very attractive human female as Minotaur shouted, "Milady Medusa!" and bowed.
"Our job as Phantoms is to drive the Gates to the depths of despair," explained Medusa. "This gives birth to new Phantoms, which will help Wiseman perform the Sabot Ritual again."
"I understand." replied Minotaur.
"Then you must forget the magician and drive the Gate to despair already!" ordered Phoenix.
"Yes, my Lord"
\\/
"Are you really a magician?" asked Lily as she caught up to William after he got off the phone.
"You could say that," he replied.
"I'm with the Police Department. I'm Detective Lily Paulson" she stated as she showed her badge. "It sounds like you know something about these monsters."
"Are you talking about the Phantoms?"
"Phantoms?" asked Lily, almost as if she were trying out a new word.
"Humans with high levels of magic are known as Gates," commented William. "If a Gate is killed, then a mass of magic is born, and that is what those Phantoms are."
"If the Phantoms attack Gates, does that mean that there was a Gate among the workers?" asked Lily.
"Most likely, that's correct." responded William as he continued to walk.
"Hey, wait!" called Lily after a second. "How are you able to do magic in the first place?"
"I'm keeping a Phantom in my body," he responded.
"You're under arrest" said Lily, grabbing his hand.
\\/
Douglas walked to the main part of the building where Sarah was. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Will was arrested." she stated.
"By the police?" he asked, spitting out his tea in shock.
"Yes," replied Sarah. "I'm going out."
"Are you strong enough for that?" asked Douglas.
"I'll be fine" she said as she left, with Unicorn following her.
\\/
At the Police Station, William was in a holding cell, with Lily right outside.
"Isn't it a bit extreme to be suddenly detaining me, Lily?" asked William.
"You have the stench of danger around you," she replied. "I bet that, as a man, you don't think that sounds bad, but I think differently. I'd like to ask you a couple of questions."
"It really doesn't," said William. "Sound bad, I mean. What do you want to ask me about?"
"The Phantoms."
"Lily..."
"Don't address me as though we are friends," reprimanded Lily. "My name is Detective Lily Paulson. You may call me Detective Paulson."
"It sounds as though you are going to insist on dealing with the Phantoms," said William. "There is nothing you can do. Only magicians can fight them."
"Protecting people is a cop's job," she responded.
"You cannot protect the people from this," he replied.
Banging on the cell bars, Lily asked angrily, "Are you saying that I should just give up? I have to go through the despair of doing nothing while people are in danger?"
"You don't need to despair." he replied.
"I envy magicians" continued Lily. "You can do anything with your magic. I'm sure you never feel any despair."
"I don't give in to despair because of my magic," said William. "They almost had me, but I didn't give in. It's because of that fact that I obtained my magic."
"That doesn't make any sense" Lily said as she walked away. "Never mind. I'll handle this case even without magic. I can't give into despair that easily!"
"That's good" commented William. "But, if you really do give into despair, then I will be your Hope."
As he said this, he held out a ring.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked as she saw Amino coming around the corner. He had a cloth bandage on his head.
"Detective, if I could have a word with you please," said the senior detective.
Before she left with her superior, Lily said, "Stop saying weird stuff, and stay there!"
After Lily turned the corner, William asked himself, "What should I do now?"
\\/
Lily was furious. "What do you mean, 'We're dropping the investigation?'" she asked. "Are we just going to ignore the case?"
The chief of police stood up from behind his desk and walked in front of it. "That's right, Detective." he told one of his newest detectives. "This case isn't something that the police can handle. You have to stay away from the case."
"But why? It's true that they are monsters beyond our wildest imaginations" she asked. "Are you really okay with letting these things do whatever they want? Isn't it our jobs as cops to protect people?"
"I'm sorry, Detective," replied the Chief, not sounding sorry at all. "These orders come from way beyond my pay-grade. Some Agency is shutting this down. And you, you are very close to being out of line."
\\/
Outside, Sarah was walking around the town holding Unicorn. As she walked past the Police Department, she saw Lily storming out the front doors, Amino close behind. Immediately, recognition dawned on Sarah's face.
"She's the one that arrested Will," she told Unicorn.
"Wait, Lily!" shouted Amino. As he walked by, Unicorn and Sarah could feel something off about him, so Sarah sent Unicorn to find William, and she set off for Lily.
Inside the jail cell, William had just summoned his doughnuts and was about to eat one when Unicorn came through the floor.
"Unicorn!" he exclaimed. "Good timing. Do you want one, buddy?"
It was then that William noticed Unicorn was carrying a message.
"Hey, I know how you feel," said Amino a little while later, when they were both in the nearby park. "You know that we can't do anything about these monsters. Just give up."
"Why are you saying that?" asked Lily. "I joined the Force because I wanted to protect people. 'To Serve and Protect,' they said. If I can't do that job, how am I a cop?"
"I've never asked you why you are so interested in being a detective," stated Amino.
"My father was a cop," Lily replied, pulling a locket from under her shirt. "My father was a Member in one of the small towns outside of the city. He did everything he could to protect our town. He touched everybody's lives there."
FLASHBACK:
A man in Police Blues is standing on the front porch of a house. An older lady is talking to him, when he sees a little girl, no more than five or six, walk up the pavement to the house. As soon as the girl sees the man she runs to him yelling, "Daddy!"
END FLASHBACK
"I want to be like my father," finished Lily. "I want to protect people."
"I see," said Amino. "Is that what's supporting your heart?"
With a nasty grin, and an evil little laugh, he reached over and pulled the locket from around Lily's neck.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she tried to get the necklace back. As she got up to fight with Amino, he backhanded her, causing her to fall to the ground. It was then that Lily wished she hadn't looked up, as Amino's face was slowly changing.
\\/
Inside the jail cell, William was reading the note that he found with Unicorn. "The detective with the wounded head is the Phantom," he read. He turned to Unicorn as he put the doughnuts away once again. "That means that Lily must be the Gate, and my lunch will have to wait, again."
William took a ring out and slipped it on, touching it to the hand on his belt. "Ring Power, please!" he commanded.
"Ring Power: Small" shouted the belt, as a magic circle appeared over William and shrunk him to the same size as Unicorn. He jumped on Unicorn, and they fled through the food slot of the cell.
At the park, Lily is witnessing Amino turning into a monstrous form.
"Amino is a Phantom? But how?" she asked.
"The one you know as 'Amino' gave in to despair and died," replied Minotaur. "At that point, I was born."
"I don't believe it," shouted Lily as Minotaur dropped the locket and stomped it, destroying it.
"You have no power against the Phantoms," said Minotaur with an evil laugh.
In Lily's memory, purple cracks started to invade the memory of her and her father, and she collapsed to the ground, clutching at her chest.
"Give in to your despair, and let a new Phantom be born!" urged the Phantom. "You are powerless against me!"
Right after Minotaur said this, a red bullet hit him. He looked around and saw Sarah and William walking towards him. William was readying his gun for another couple of shots.
With feeling in his voice, William boasted, "She may be powerless, but I ain't."
"The magician with the rings!"
"You really are after Lily, the Detective, aren't you?" asked William before turning to Sarah, telling her to get Lily to safety.
"I don't have time for this!" said Minotaur.
"For once, I'd agree. That's why I'm going to finish you quickly," said William, putting on a ring. He swiped the ring. "Belt, activate please. Change Form, Please!"
The belt quickly responded with, "Flame, Please!" and a red magic circle with flames on the edges appeared around William, and quickly transformed him into Power Rider Wizard: Flame Style. "Power Rider, engaged!"
"I am Power Rider: Wizard," said William. "It's...show-time!"
Wizard and the monster ran at each other. As Wizard got close, Minotaur attempted to hit him with his axe, but Wizard kicked him in what would be the stomach.
William put on another ring. "Rider Summon, Please!" he called, and a magic circle appeared, allowing him to retrieve his gun. He quickly aimed and shot a number of blasts at the monster, which caused sparks to fly. Then, he converted the gun to a sword and ran at Minotaur again. They exchanged blows, axe against sword. Eventually, Wizard was able to get a good enough shot that he was able to destroy the sword. The blast knocked Minotaur back at least 10 metres.
William took another ring from his pocket, and put it to his belt. "Belt, activate please. Change Form, please!"
"Land, please" the belt responded as a yellow magic circle with rocks at the edges appeared at Wizard's feet. The circle moved up his body, quickly transforming him into Power Rider Wizard: Land Style. "Power Rider, Engaged."
"What is this!?" asked Minotaur. "You can change elements as well?! Curse you!"
Minotaur charged toward Wizard, who withdrew a ring from his pocket and swiped it saying, "Defence, Please!" A large wall appeared between Minotaur and Wizard. Minotaur charged through it, but the wall was too strong for him to completely break through. Wizard kicked the wall, making Minotaur go flying.
"That's not my only trick," said Wizard, withdrawing another ring, putting it on and swiping it. "Belt, activate please. Change Form, please!"
"Hurricane, please!" the belt responded as a green magic circle with winds at the edges appeared above Wizard's head. The circle moved down his body, quickly transforming him into Power Rider Wizard: Hurricane Style. "Power Rider, Engaged."
Using the wind power of the Hurricane Style, Wizard flew up, and hit Minotaur with his sword, causing Minotaur to fall to the ground. Wizard gently lands on the ground.
Wizard took his Flame Ring from his pocket, and put it to his belt. "Belt, activate please. Change Form, Please!"
The belt quickly responded with, "Flame, Please!" and a red magic circle with flames on the edges appeared around William, and quickly transformed him back into Power Rider Wizard: Flame Style. "Power Rider, engaged!"
"The Finale!" shouted Wizard as he swiped another ring. "Wizard Nice Kick Strike!" called the Belt.
Wizard's boots spewed fire as he did somersaults to the monster. When he got close to the monster, he jumped into the air, and a magic circle appeared above Minotaur. Wizard kicked right through the circle, which caused explosions on Minotaur, and finally, Minotaur exploded as Wizard turned his back.
WILLIAM: The Finale! [he swipes another ring]
BELT: Wizard Nice Kick Strike!
Wizard's boots spew fire as he does somersaults to the monster. He ascends into the air, and a magic circle appears above Minotaur. Wizard kicks through the circle, which causes explosions on Minotaur. The circle attacks Minotaur, and causes him to explode in a big ball of flame.
"William, come quickly!" shouted Sarah, hovering over Lily. "We need your help."
Lily was on the ground. On her face were purple cracks, which were sprouting all over her body.
"You must hurry," Sarah urged. "If you don't help soon, a new Phantom will be born!"
"I won't let that happen again," responded William in a tone that allowed no arguments. "Lily!" he called as he ran over to her.
"Magician?" she asked weakly as more cracks appeared on her body. "It looks like it is helpless."
"Don't give in to despair. Leave it to me" William said, offering her a ring. "I will be your hope."
"You really are a strange one, aren't you?" asked Lily.
"I promise you that I will be your Final Hope," he said as she raised her hand for the ring. He slipped it on her finger and touched it to his belt. "Ring Power, Please!"
"Engage, Please," shouted the Belt as a magic circle appeared above Lily. Wizard jumped in. As he fell into wherever the ring was taking him, he noted that it was like moving through hyperspace, except that there were red rings on the sides. After a couple moments, Wizard found himself in the memory of Lily and her Father.
A young girl was running toward a man wearing a police uniform. "This is the world of her mind. The Underworld." proclaimed Wizard.
A split second before Lily was able to hug her father, a large web of cracks spread from the ground and eventually created a hole, from which a winged monster, the Inner-Phantom Jabberwock. The Jabberwock rampaged around the area, causing more cracks to appear.
\\/
In the real world, the cracks were almost covering Lily's face, and were significant on other parts of her body.
"Hurry up, Will," said Sarah.
\\/
"I made a promise," said Wizard. "I have to do this." Wizard touched another ring to his belt. "Summon Battle Dragon, Please!"
A huge magic circle appeared, and a large dragon flew out. It immediately goes on a rampage.
"Dragon, you will obey me!" called Wizard. Dragon was causing more harm by creating more cracks. Wizard took out another ring and put it on. "Rider Summon, please!"
A magic circle appeared, and William's motorcycle came flying out. Wizard jumped on, driving after Dragon. He angled the bike, managing to jump onto Dragon. They flew at the Jabberwock, who was firing purple blasts of fire that created more cracks. Wizard and the Dragon managed to avoid them all. Wizard opened his gun as they got near, and turned it into a sword. He shouted, "Ring Power, please!" he said as he swiped the ring on the gun's hand. The gun responded with, "Summon Power! Flame Slash Strike!"
The blade ignited with fire, and Wizard slashed through the Jabberwock, causing it to explode.
\\/
In the real world, Sarah was praying for William to hurry up. Lily was almost Converted. Just then, the cracks disappeared. She also noticed a magic circle opening up at Lily's side. From the circle drove Wizard, who quickly transformed back into William. He got off the bike and walked over to the girls.
"Is it over?" asked Sarah.
"She is no longer a Gate," replied William. "She will not be attacked as a Gate again. However, the War is never over."
Sarah and William got onto his bike and sped off, looking for more people to defend.
A couple of hours later, Lily woke up on a park bench, wondering how she got there. The last thing she could remember was Wizard using a magic ring on her. As she looked herself over, she noticed that she was still wearing the Wizard Ring, which made her smile.
"Hope, eh?" she said to no one in particular.
