Kamen Rider Dragon Knight: Climax Heroes
"Through the Looking Glass"
Chapter 1: "First Impressions"
Disclaimer: Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and related materials belong to Steve and Michael Wang, Ishinomori Productions, Toei, and Adness Entertainment, while Kamen Rider Ryuki belongs to Ishinomori Productions and Toei. Rosario + Vampire belongs to Akihisa Ikeda and VIZ Media, and, as usual, I make no money off of using either property for this writing; I do it simply for the satisfaction of the writing itself. Any other characters not belonging to myself are the property of their respective rights and license holders (though as to WHO those characters are, those are a secret until they debut).
Author's Note: I know I should be doing something else besides this, but I was in the mood for a five way crossover, featuring Dragon Knight, Rosario + Vampire, Kamen Rider Ryuki, and two other properties that I enjoy, but only intend on using a few characters from, in later chapters. Not too later, but later. And as such, telling you who those characters are now would simply spoil the surprise, though, as with every other property being used here, I'm not making any money off their use either; it's again still for fun and the joy of writing.
Additional Author's Note: And I also felt I should mention that instead of being my usual style of crossover, this story is instead meant to run parallel with Rider Paladin's, featuring a mostly-different cast in a different location, with some shared antagonists and moments, rather than being an insertion into his already-fine work.
It was a bad night to be an Orphan.
A group of them had thought they'd found easy prey, only to run afoul of what could arguably called a Kamen Rider. The 'Rider' in question was wearing a suit of black armor, with a bronze framed visor and small antennae not unlike a cricket, with a bulky silver attachment over the right arm and black piping over the shoulders, and a regular arm guard over the left, matching the shoulder and leg guards. The belt containing a familiar Advent Deck was large and grey, and the cards came out of the left side. There was black striping on the various armor plates, and a conspicuously blank spot over the peak of the visor (where on a certain other armor of similiar design there was a marking), and in the being's hand was a barbed sword...a rather large one at that, currently coated with ash at the edges.
When the fight was over, the Orphans were left lying in heaps, dead, their bodies savaged by the wicked looking sword, soon dissolving into ash and blowing away on the night wind. As the Rider in question began to leave, there was a tsking sound, and another person, this one male, wearing black and white armor over a black bodysuit, with a black and white helmet with black semi-circular 'eyes' for a visor, and a very noticeable belt around his waist featuring the mechanism for his original transformations, began to speak in passable English, though with a fairly noticeable Japanese accent.
"Was that really necessary?"
"They asked for it," came the nonchalant reply. No, nonchalant wasn't quite the word...the right word would be emotionless. This female Rider showed no emotion for the deaths she'd caused, even if they were 'just monsters', even though they'd once been human. Why? This Rider's motives were only truly known to herself, and only vaguely known to her companion, also a Rider, but a different kind of Rider than she.
"I think you set them up for this," responded her companion as he sat on the edge of a transport truck that had been partially unloaded - when the Orphans attacked, the first Rider had taken action in front of witnesses, while her friend hung back to watch, knowing better than to get in the way of her blades; if nothing else could be said of this female, she knew how to wound, to kill, to maim, to destroy...even the most battle hardened of foes would find her methods unnerving, though she did have something of a code to it. Usually she only went after those who asked for it, unlike her previous methods.
"Does it matter now?"
"No, I guess not...but I don't think this world is used to Kamen Riders just yet...the way they ran from you...not that I'm saying its your personality...though that could use work."
"You don't have to be here."
"I told you, I'm not leaving you until you learn to relax some around people...and you look far from relaxed right now."
"You can't even see my face..."
"Ah, I can tell by your voice you're still scowling."
The female Rider took up a familiar pose, and with a rush of light and sound, her armor vanished, revealing a shadowy female figure wearing a brown leather jacket, a dark sleeveless t-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of semi-stylish work boots, and a pair of black fighting gloves. The male sighed, slid from his perch, and de-armored as well, pulling off the belt of his suit, which dematerialized his armor, revealing a young man with dark hair and matching eyes, and a rather plain outfit on, of obvious Japanese descent, who was quite the pretty boy. He stretched, yawned, and looked back at the mess his partner had made (of the environment, not the creatures themselves, as there were only small traces of ash left from their disintegration), before looking at her with a grin.
"Told you you were scowling."
"Shut up, Ryo. Last warning."
"Shutting up."
This was a sad day for Drew Lansing. The former Earth Kamen Rider Torque (Having been mind-wiped to forget his days as a Kamen Rider) had been arrested at the site of his latest hustle, selling defective phones while boasting of their multi-functionality, and charged with multiple counts of fraud from that charge alone, not to mention all his other outstanding felonies. To be honest, he was expecting to spend the next 40 years of his life in a federal prison cell. Much to his surprise, however, cheap and non-caring public defender was replaced by a man named Shuichi Kitaoka who was as smooth as Lansing had formerly thought himself to be, the man actually getting him released on grounds of incorrect evidence filing, and getting him bail.
To top it off, when the lawyer lead him to a fully-stocked Limo, Lansing was feeling pretty big on himself again, though he was just smart enough to expect there to be a catch. He found out what that catch was a half hour later when he was put in a room with two other young men, of Asian descent...Danny and Albert Cho, formerly the Earth Kamen Riders Axe and Spear. The two had, like Lansing, been Vented in battle, and sent to the Advent Void, until after the war with Xaviax had seemingly been won, the three, and the other earth and Ventaran Riders, freed from their confinement, the Earth Riders save for Kit Taylor being mind-wiped and sent back to the points in their lives where they'd left off...which meant Drew and the Chos each went to jail, and the others went back to their usual lives.
The lawyer had excused himself for a moment, and then came in again, holding in his hands three metal cases, one in blue with the golden image of a tiger head on it, one brown with a gazelle head, and one green with a bullhead, handing them to each of the young men. "Welcome, gentlemen. The people I represent have a business proposition for you...I've been instructed to tell you that you shall all be paid handsomely for your efforts on our behalf, provided you operate according to our guidelines and with discretion."
"Hey, I'm all about discretion," Drew smirked, before backing down in the face of the man's cool stare.
"I'm sure. Now, before we can go into the details of your...employment...you must put on these glasses. They will make things...clearer to you...unless the three of you would like to return to where we found you..."
The three eyed the suspicious shades, but picked them...and experienced a sensation of severe disorientation as their memories as Kamen Riders were restored, and everything came back to them. The disbelieving look on Danny Cho's face especially turned to one of rage as he recalled his vendetta with Kit Taylor, the Earth Dragon Knight, and when he realized his brother was next to him, one of relief, also shared by Albert. Drew remembered his humiliating lost to James Trademore Cash, alias JTC, the former Earth Kamen Rider Strike, currently Kamen Rider Strife...though Drew didn't know that yet.
After enough time had passed, Kitaoka spoke to them again. "Now that you're all 'up to speed', so to speak, here are our terms - we'll pay you handsomely to get your individual revenges on those who wronged you in the past, and provide you the means to do so, as long as you do not implicate us or reveal the source of your regained powers...which, by the way, AREN'T the Ventaran decks you're used to. THESE are different...and not DNA-locked to anyone, meaning you can easily be replaced if you fail us."
The men couldn't speak for the moment, still caught up in their regained memories, before nodding quietly.
"You got it, pal...as long as I get to finish off Strike, I'll do whatever you say," Drew finally said, a cold fury in his eyes, as he intended to get his revenge on both JTC AND Xaviax.
"We also expect the three of you to work as a team, for the time being, while we recruit more potential Riders to our cause. As is to be expected, should you perform admirably, you will receive perks to your employment, and a higher 'salary'...failure will be rewarded with a reduction of your pay, and possible loss of your new powers...we only seek to hire you because no one would expect that, giving your...poor performances in the past."
The Chos looked angered at that, but the man's look made them back off, as it had for Lansing. "Fortunately, this time around you're going to be trained to use your abilities as good as the Ventaran Kamen Riders."
"Sounds good to me," Albert said after a moment.
"But Taylor is MINE," Danny added, cracking his knuckles.
"Of course he is." The Japanese lawyer looked satisfied with that, a concealed glance up to the secret security camera in the small impromptu 'conference room'.
The Next Day:
3:00 PM
Two strangers to Los Angeles were walking down the streets, stopping in front of an impressive bookstore named Grace's Books, and stepping inside. The female, a girl with a seemingly tanned complexion and long, though slightly messy, brown hair, and matching brown eyes, wearing the same outfit she had the night before, looked around the store as she stepped inside, and spoke in a harsh, impatient tone.
"And just what was so important you had to drag me here, Ryo?"
The person accompanying her was the young Japanese man from the earlier slaughter, who motioned for his companion, clearly the one doing the slaughtering, to follow him. "I saw this in an ad and thought you might like to check it out..." He took her to a book display, picking up a fair-sized hardcover novel, and handed it to the young woman. She took one look at the cover, a bored look on her face...until she started to read the title – Mirror World: The Adventures of the Kamen Riders. Then she saw something very family - a green-and-grey armored Kamen Rider she knew fairly well...from where she was from. "H-hey now, calm down..." Her companion said, catching a glint of light coming from between her knuckles as the material of her gloves began to strain. The girl took several deep breaths, and nodded. "It's not about you guys...some other Kamen Riders...the thing is, these armors all look like the ones you mentioned to me, so I'm starting to wonder..."
As the two were talking (rather, Ryo was talking, the girl was listening), a young woman with long dark hair wearing a t-shirt and jeans walked over, smiling. "Like the book?"
Ryo's head darted up, though the girl showed no sign of being startled, as though she had expected...or rather, detected...that the woman was approaching. "Uh, yeah...it looks interesting...do you happen to know who wrote this novel? I'm...assuming you work here." The young man had an abashed look on his face, rubbing the back of his head as the woman laughed some and spoke again.
"I do work here...and I happen to be the author of that book. It was a best-seller, and they've even been working on a movie treatment. It's really exciting."
"I'll bet..." the girl said quietly, eyeing Maya with a semi-interested look on her face. "What was your inspiration for the characters?"
Maya didn't miss the hidden question behind the seemingly innocent one, as she also noticed the tanned girl was stroking something inside her left jacket pocket. "Oh, just something that came to me."
"I see..."
"L...seriously...back it down a bit." Ryo said, in a hushed tone, before addressing Maya again. "Sorry about that, Miss Young. I'm Ryotaro, and this is my associate, Laura H. We're kind of experts on this sort of thing, through personal experience. We're just wondering if you've had your own personal experience." Before Maya could do anything, Ryotaro had nudged Laura, who, growling some, produced a rather familiar-looking object from her jacket pocket, before putting it away again.
"That...that...where did you get that?"
"So you DO have experience in the field of Kamen Riders. Real ones, I mean. Then perhaps we should introduce ourselves by our work names...I'm Kamen Rider Den-O, and this is Kamen Rider Alter. We're not from around here, much like the Riders in this book. However, we'd like to meet any of your Rider friends, if we can. You can set the time and location, and I'm sure we can accommodate you."
This was quite a bit for Maya to take in all at once, considering the two didn't give off an evil air –
the girl was just hostile, if anything – and that if they WERE Kamen Riders, how could they NOT know about the Ventaran and Earth Riders currently in action? Unless they were from another world with its own Kamen Riders. As the former reporter considered this, Laura's head jerked, and she began to sniff the air slightly.
"Nnnn...perfume..." she remarked, and the other two could soon smell it, a smell that was familiar to Maya - the particular scent her best female friend Lacey liked to wear. Oddly, while it was a somewhat strong smell, the reactions the brunette teenager was showing were rather...odd - she actually looked like she was becoming physically ill from it.
"Laura? Are you alright?" Ryotaro looked to his friend, concerned for the moment, before nodding a bit. "Right, sensitive nose..." The young man shrugged, and shook his head some. "The downfalls of...well, you know." Maya was still at a loss for words, and that was when Lacey began to speak.
"Maya, what's going on? Meet some new friends? I like the guy...and what's wrong with the girl?"
"I don't think she likes your perfume." The still confused former journalist said.
"That's...sniff...an understatement..." the dark skinned girl said, narrowing her eyes some as she held her nose closed, attempting to move downwind of the valley girl.
"Well, whatever. I, and a lot of people, happen to think it's a nice scent."
"Well, I don't," Laura replied, a bit standoffish at the moment. Seeing that the moment for conversation had passed, Ryotaro took out a piece of paper, and scribbled some information down on it.
"This is the number you can reach us at. When you're able to, give us a call and we'll set something up. We're in the middle of a 'situation' that could use your friends' specialized help," he said, pleasantly, before placing an arm around Laura and dragging her off to the counter to pay for their find, while the dark-skinned girl growled softly at him, in a rather convincing fashion.
"Well, that was weird," Lacey commented off-handedly, while Maya regarded the paper she'd been given.
"Yeah, but...I think it's something important..."
"Not much for socializing, are you, L?" Ryotaro asked five minutes later after they'd gotten their book, reading through it as the pair of mismatched Riders walked down the street, before finding a bench to sit on.
"I don't have any need for that sort of thing...plus that girl reeked...ugh...I still have the smell in my nose..."
"And you wonder why I'm your only friend."
"No, I don't...and you're not my only friend."
"I was joking." With that, the male Rider fell silent, reading through the book some more. "If this is really a factual account, albeit with obvious creative licenses taken, this world was in some pretty big danger before...and I'm pretty sure it is again, with all those free-floating Advent Decks we've heard about."
"You mean from your 'friends'?"
"They'd be your friends too if you gave them a chance, L."
"Maybe I don't want any more friends..."
"They'll grow on you...right, Momotaros?"
"I'm not sure I'd want her for a friend, considering how rude she is." THAT voice startled the dark brown haired girl, who looked up to see that indeed, one of Ryotaro's Imagin friends (who resembled a man in a grey leather outfit with red armor plating on the legs, arms, and chest, with black highlights on the red, and a red oni mask/helmet), and the source of his power as Kamen Rider Den-O Sword Form, had tagged along somehow.
"How did he get there?"
"Oh, he's been following us since we left the DenLiner this morning. He was worried about us...not that he'll admit it to your face."
"Hmph..."
"That's...impressive."
"I'm sure your friends were like that too, L."
"They were, yeah...I miss them..."
"I know you do...and as soon as we fix whatever's gone wrong here involving them, we can get back to them. You did say that you had a hunch the problem was here, right?" Ryotaro was back at reading his book, raising an eyebrow every so often. "That Maya girl's a good writer...this is pretty interesting...I can see why people think this is fiction…it's that well-written...and of course no one wants to think that monsters are real...especially ones that come out of mirrors."
"They should be thankful." The tanned-looking girl slouched a bit, picking lightly at her gloves for a few moments.
"Why's that, L?"
"At least here the monsters don't eat you."
"You DO have a point there, I'll admit." While he wouldn't say it, Ryotaro noticed the forlorn tone in the girl's voice, from someone who had experience with that sort of thing - Laura never said much about her time back home, except that, in her words, she'd 'lost everything'. Maybe that had something to do with it, but he wouldn't pry. Better to let her tell him on her own, than risk damaging their already-fragile friend-and-partner-ship. Fifteen minutes later, he put the receipt for his purchase into his spot, and stretched. "Nnnnng...good read...but this bench is making me stiff."
"I would like to know how you can read English," Laura remarked at that moment.
"Well, as stupid as it may sound," the young man sighed for a moment, going a bit red in the face, before continuing, "Ever since we met, I wanted to know more about you, and get along with you better...so I learned how to speak and read English. It's still a struggle, but it's worth it. It at least gives me more stuff to read and the like..."
"Like video games?" the girl remarked with an amused smile.
"If we had the right outlets, sure."
"Heh...You're a goof, Ryo."
"Made you smile though, didn't I?"
"Yeah...I guess you did...for once." The girl had a slightly (only slightly) amused smile on her face as she spoke.
As the night began to fall, the two Riders began their walk back to where they were staying, while a shadowy, scantily clad female figure clad in magenta followed them from atop the roofs of the cityscape, sticking down as long as she could, but seemingly teleporting to a better vantage point when required. As the two stopped at a busy intersection, an inhuman grin grew ever wider beneath a concealing mask as the figure continued to watch the two.
"Ahhh, my pretty, pretty...soon we'll be together again...and won't that be fun?" The figure titled in a breathy, seductive voice that was tinged with barely constrained insanity, medium length dark hair flowing, lightly tanned skin moving over supple and honed muscles as the person, if that's who this was, continued her death-defying leaps and teleports. "Oh yes...so much fun..."
End Notes: And this is where this chapter ends. While for some the crossovers may seem obvious, I'm hoping that there's still an element of mystery here to them. Again, I claim no ownership either any of these characters, especially the ones I've been using here, as they belong to various other companies, though your hints are Time Warner and the Disney Corporation. They, along with Adness and the Wang brothers, and Toei and Ishinomori productions, own their respective present characters in this fanfiction. Review if you like, and let me know what you thought. And again, I must give credit to Rider Paladin for his wonderful fanfiction, "Onyx and Vampire", which I suggest you all read, if you haven't already. With that said, see you next time!