Kamen Rider: Dawn
Episode 1:
Meeting in Moonlight! A New Rider is Born!
My name's Nick, Nick Tomoyuki. I'm 18, and about to go to college. I'm pale with hair that is a natural color that is somewhere between crimson red and golden blonde. I have a rare birth defect where my pupils are only half the size of an average person's and are orange, the rest of it was replaced by a second iris which was yellow and my regular irises were red,
I stay pretty active but even so, I'm no muscle-bound maniac. The most I can say is that you can see that I'm in very good shape. I'm about 5'10" and even though most people expect me to be dumb, I'm actually one of the smartest in my class.
But that's just what people know about me. What they don't know would shock them and scare them to the point of exiling me. I'm writing about this because if I don't tell someone about it, then I feel like I might just go insane. However, whether or not you believe me is up to you.
It's always best to start at the beginning they say, and I couldn't agree more. All of this started on the first day I walked into the campus of my new school, Gale Wind Academy.
I had just gotten off the bus and stepped onto the sidewalk wearing my blue jeans, white t-shirt with a picture of a red moon on it and my black denim jacket with a blue sun on the back. Out of nowhere I started to feel like I was being watched, I looked around but in the crowds I couldn't see anyone. So I shrugged it off and tried to remember where I was supposed to go. I pulled out the letter accepting me and saw that my first stop should be the administrations building; unfortunately I didn't have a clue where that was so I tapped a passing girl on the shoulder.
"What do you want $#hole?" She said grumpily.
"Geez what's your problem?! I'm a new student and I'm supposed to go to Administration but I don't know where it is!" I said.
"Oh is that all!" She exclaimed, her face going from anger to embarrassment, "Sorry about that, I've been getting 'hit on' all day and I thought you were going to try as well."
"Really? Wow, I hate people like that. I was always getting hit on by the girls back in high school and I know how annoying it is."
She giggled a little before sticking out her hand and saying, "I'm Alice Yakuza, and you?"
"Nicholas Tomoyuki, but you can call me Nick." I replied as we shook hands. She smiled and I saw that she was wearing a pair of tan cargo pants, a blue tee with a cherry blossom tree on it in full bloom, her eyes were brown and she had long black hair that was tied up in two pigtails that went down to her waist. She was slightly darker than me and had a slender form. She was just a few inches shorter than me and seemed to be about my age. Just as I finished noting all this, she slapped me!
"OW! What the heck was that for?!" I asked
"You were checking me out!" She replied.
"What?! NO! Whenever I meet someone I look them over to memorize what they look like!"
"Oh...Whoops. Sorry, like I said earlier I'm kinda sick of guys looking at me and all..."
"Geez, maybe you should just point the way to Administration."
"Yeah, probably. It's about 5 minutes over that way." She said as she pointed down the sidewalk.
"Thanks, and sorry if I kinda snapped at you a little. I came all the way from Chicago so I'm kinda tired." I replied.
"I understand, I'd recommend finding out your dorm number and getting some rest."
I walked away and as I did I felt like I was being watched again. I looked around once more, and this time I thought I saw something in some bushes. But then I blinked and it was gone; so I shrugged it off, thinking that I was just having "new school jitters" (as Dad used to call them) and they were making me imagine things.
I arrived at Administration soon after that. When I walked into the front lobby, the first thing I noticed was that there was a large crowd of students all shouting something that sounded like "Go Jack go! Go Jack go!" over and over. I managed to make my way into the middle of the circle and saw that there was a big muscular kid kicking a skinny guy with glasses curled up into a ball!
"HEY! What kind of guy kicks a person when they're down?!" I shouted as I ran in and used a flying kick on the big guy. He stumbled back and I heard several of the students gasp in shock.
"Alright kid, listen up. You got in a lucky hit, but if you walk away now then you won't get hurt." He said with a smirk.
"Seriously? If I walk away from this and let you beat up this kid, I'm no better than you, you big bully." I heard several students gasp and a couple of them exclaim "Oooh! Burned!" before the muttering started. That's when the guy got really mad and ran at me shouting, his fist raised to strike. I figured that something like this might happen and so when he was close enough I stepped aside and stuck out my foot. He tripped and rolled towards the crowd, which parted in order to not get hit. The guy stood up and stumbled a little with his hand on his head.
"Why you...You're gonna pay for that you son of a-" He started to say something before the doors opened and a woman walked in. She looked to be around 40 and had averagely pale skin. Her eyes were gray and her hair was brown, she wore a suit and a name tag that read: "Amy Walker, Dean of Gale Wind University".
"Jack! Come with me! You too young man!" She said as she pointed at the guy and me.
She led us down the hall and into an elevator. She put her key card into the reader and pressed the button for the top floor.
When the doors opened, we seemed to be in her office. There was another woman at the front desk that looked up as we approached. She seemed to be around 33. Had red hair, blue eyes, and was also wearing a suit.
"Welcome back Miss Walker. I take it Jack here was fighting again?" She asked as we came in.
"Looks that way Maria. Young man, you sit down out here, I want to get both sides of the story. Jack, into the office." Miss Walker said as she went through a set of doors.
After Nick had gone through as well, I sat down and said quietly, "Geez, I come to Administrations to get my schedule and things and get involved in a fight instead."
"Were you talking to me dear?" The woman asked as she looked at me.
"No, just talking to myself. I do that a lot thanks to my dad not being around and mom, gone."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's been ten years."
"Oh."
"Oh man where are my manners today?! I'm Nicholas Tomoyuki, but everyone just calls me Nick."
"It's nice to meet you Nick. I'm Miss Redding. I'm Miss Walker's secretary."
"Yeah I figured as much. I take it from your reaction as we came in that this 'Jack' guy is a regular?"
"Yes unfortunately. He bosses everyone around and tries to fight anyone who doesn't do as he says."
"Great, my first day and I've already made an enemy."
"Your first day?"
"I only got off the bus this morning."
"Ah, I see."
We talked for another 15 minutes and then Jack stormed out and into the elevator; practically slamming his fist into the button which I thought was for the ground floor. The doors had only just closed when Miss Walker called me inside.
"Alright young man, who are you?" She asked after I sat down in a chair in front of her desk.
"I'm Nick Tomoyuki, a new student."
"Well that explains why you were in Administrations. Now from your perspective, what happened?"
"Well, I had just walked into the building and saw a large crowd of kids that I assumed were students. I got to the middle and saw 'Jack' kicking a kid who was curled up in a ball on the floor. I kicked him off and the kid ran, then 'Jack' charged at me and I tripped him. He fell, and about then is when you came in."
"Well now, this is a serious charge. However, it would not surprise me. Jack is well known for this kind of thing, but I must ask you to do something."
"What?"
"Try not to judge him too harshly. He lost his mother at a young age and his father is in the military, so he is never at home. Because of this, Jack fell in with the wrong crowd and never bounced back."
"Wow...Just like me, except my dad is a businessman and I distanced myself from the crowd."
"Well there you go then. I think that if you could talk to Jack and become his friend, then you might be able to help him turn around his life."
"I'll certainly do my best ma'am." As I said this, I stood up to leave and Miss Walker escorted me out. Miss Redding gave me my schedule and a map, and then I took the elevator back down.
Once I arrived, I looked at my schedule and saw that I would need to go to the 6000 building for my first class of the day, Art 5, later. But before I did that, I was supposed to report to the Tygro Dorm and unpack. My map showed that it was another 5 minute walk, this time to the south. I started down the walkway and was almost there before, yet again, getting the feeling I was being watched.
'Okay, this is not just my nerves acting up anymore.' I thought as I stood up straight. I looked around nervously before feeling something hit me in the back of the head, hard. I stumbled for a little and then turned in time to see a small winged form fly off into the clouds.
"Stupid birds." I grumbled as I rubbed the back of my head. Then I grabbed my bag that I'd dropped and went inside. I asked the receptionist about which room I should go to and she gave me a key that had "A-13" engraved on it. I went down the hall and opened the door, the room was pretty much plain and sitting on the red couch was the kid that I'd saved from Jack! Now that I got a good look at him, I saw that he was skinny. He had green eyes behind a pair of black wire frame glasses. His blond hair was cut in a bowl shape and he was wearing a black t-shirt with the logo for Pokémon on it, along with a pair of white jeans.
"Hey! You're the guy from before!" He said as he shot up and ran over to shake my hand. "Thanks for helping me out earlier. If you hadn't stepped in, I dunno what would have happened! My name's Rico Ferales." He pronounced his last name 'fur-al-ez', and he spoke quite quickly.
"It's no big deal, I was just doing what I thought was right. You can call me Nick, and it looks like we're going to be roommates."
"Cool! Say, I kinda owe you for before. What's your first class?"
"Art 5, why?"
"Same here! Why don't you go unpack? Then we can walk over there together, and I can try to show you around on the way."
"Sounds good to me! I barely made it over here with just my map!"
We both laughed and I went into my bedroom. I finished unpacking within 10 minutes and then we walked out together. As we walked, I pulled out my phone and pulled up one of my favorite songs, Knight of the Wind by Crush 40.
"Oh no way!" Rico exclaimed after I pressed play.
"What, did I do something wrong?"
"No, but there's no way that you're a Crush 40 fan as well!"
"Really? Talk about coincidence!"
We kept on walking and jamming out to the song as we went. We got to the 6000 building just as it ended. He led me to room 6133 and we went inside. Just as we entered, I heard someone shout, "Hold it!"
It was the teacher. He had gray anime-style hair and blue eyes. He was in good shape and looked to be about 40. He was wearing a suit as well.
"Young man, who are you?" He asked.
"I'm a new student here. My schedule put me in this class first."
"Ah, I see. Sorry if I came across as rude, but a lot of kids think that they can just come in here and hang out to skip class."
"I understand."
"Until the class arrives, I would like for you to sit in that chair against the wall behind my desk. Once they do, I want you to introduce yourself."
"Of course. Thank you sir."
"For what?"
"Letting me introduce myself rather than doing it for me. Most of the time teachers just don't bother and send me straight to a seat."
"Ah, in that case you are quite welcome. My name is Mr. Shade"
It took about 15 more minutes of waiting before everyone arrived, then Mr. Shade announced that there was a new student and called me up.
"Hello. I am Nicholas Tomoyuki, but please just call me Nick." I announced to the class.
"Well Nick, I hope you enjoy your time here at Gale Wind. Please take the seat next to Miss Yakuza, the girl with the pigtails by the window." Mr. Shade replied. I looked over and to my surprise, I saw Alice sitting there! I quickly thanked him and walked over to my seat.
"Fancy meeting you here." I said quietly to Alice.
"Yeah, crazy huh? By the way, I heard about what happened with Jack. Is it true that you kicked his #$ into next week?"
"No, I didn't really hurt him physically. Though I might have given him a pretty big bump in the pride."
She giggled quietly and then we turned toward the front of the room as Mr. Shade began to speak.
"Alright everyone, settle down. Today will be a kind of test for your skills. You will draw three wild animals and present them to me at the end of class. You have the whole period, now let's get to work!" He instructed.
I immediately pulled out my sketch book and took out three sheets of paper. Then I pulled out a pencil and began to draw.
It took me about half an hour, but by the time I was done I was really proud of my work. I had drawn a wolf, a bat, and a scorpion. These were my favorite wild animals and I drew them so much that I felt I had almost perfected it, although I knew that I could never do so since nothing is perfect. I gathered my drawings and brought them to the front of the room.
"Is there a problem Nick?" Mr. Shade asked, causing the whole room to look up.
"No, no problem Mr. Shade. I just finished and wanted you to take a look to see if there was anything I should work on with them." I replied as the class murmured quietly.
He accepted the drawings and took a single glance before his eyes widened.
"Nick, how long have you been drawing?" He asked as he looked up.
"As long as I can remember, why do you ask?"
"Well, it certainly shows! The detail and texture are almost perfect on each one, and the backgrounds you put them against really bring the animals into focus! Not only that, but they don't make the animals seem out of place in the slightest! If I didn't know any better, I would think that they were photographs!" He had a gleam in his eyes as he said all this and his hands were shaking.
"Mr. Shade, are you alright?"
"Young man, I believe that your skills were touched by God! I have not seen this level of skill in all twenty years of my teaching!"
I was kind of embarrassed as the other students were mumbling like crazy behind me. I took back the drawings and returned to my seat, noticing that everyone I passed was staring at me.
"Wow, were your drawings really that good? I've known Mr. Shade for two years and I've never seen him act like that!" Alice said as I sat down.
I shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I just try my best and try to get my teachers' opinions on how I can improve. Over the years, I've gotten better. But I don't know if I'm 'all that'."
"May I see?" I nodded and showed them to her. She gasped and just stared for a moment before handing them back along with a note. It read "Holy crap! Why are you taking the class and not teaching it?!"
"For one thing, I'm only 18. And for another, I don't want that kind of pressure on me." I replied. She giggled quietly and nodded. Then we waited until the bell rang and put our drawing on Mr. Shade's desk. I was on the way out when he called me back.
"Nick, you definitely have skill."
"Only with those animals. They are my favorites so I draw them a lot."
"At least you're modest. But it's okay to bask in the glory every so often. Remember that."
I walked out and went to my algebra class. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, when I got back to the dorm and finished my homework; I went into the bedroom and found a note on my bed.
"Nick, I have been watching you for some time. Not only are you strong, but your heart is quite pure. Meet me tonight at midnight under the tree on top of the hill behind Administration, tell NO ONE!" It read. I wasn't sure who would write it to me, but I was curious about who was watching me so I decided to play along.
For the rest of the afternoon, Rico and I sat down and discussed our backgrounds. He told me he was from a small town in New Mexico, where he proved that he had the smarts for a scholarship to Gale Wind. His mother was one of the top people in the city council, and his dad was a simple farmer. Most of the time it was just him, his dad, and his 4 younger siblings. They all lived a pretty normal life, and when Rico got the scholarship his dad threw a huge party.
"What about you Nick?" he asked, "What's it like back home for you?"
"Well...My dad left my mom when she was still pregnant. We never had much money, so we lived in an apartment in the 'shadow of the city'. It was rough going at first, I got beat up on a day to day basis and one day Mom almost got...Well, I'll let you fill in the blank. Then one day, I met this kid at school. His name was Dan, and he was actually a good friend to me. He protected me from the bullies and even saved my life once. We were friends for two years before 'the incident'. Dan and I were walking home one day and a guy ran out of an alley and charged at us with a knife. He pinned Dan to a wall and was about to stab him before my instincts kicked in. I just ran in and punched the guy and to my surprise, he got knocked out! After that, Dan taught me some martial arts and things got a lot better. It's been ten years and recently I won a scholarship for this place from a martial arts tournament." I replied. For a while, Rico just stared at me open mouthed. Then he laughed and looked at the clock.
"Whoah! Is that the time?! Dude we need to get some rest so we can be wide awake for tomorrow's classes."
I looked over and saw that it was almost 9:30, then left and got ready for bed and within a few minutes the sound of Rico shutting his door echoed through the hall. I slept for about 3 hours and then woke myself up and got dressed. I sneaked out and got a glass from the cabinet and as I predicted, Rico stuck his head out of his door.
"What are you doing dude?" He asked.
"Can't sleep, so I'm getting some water. Go back to bed man."
"Oh, alright." He yawned and shut his door again, then I put water in the cup and gulped it down. Then put it in the dishwasher, and sneaked out the front door.
I quickly made the journey to the tree mentioned in the note. It was a gigantic oak tree that still had some green leaves mixed in with the fall colors. The way the moon was positioned behind it made it seem like it was the tree giving off that faint, yet beautiful light. I walked over and leaned against the trunk.
"Nick Tomoyuki..." I heard a low feminine voice call out quietly. I looked around and saw a wolf standing next to a cluster of bushes! I jumped a little at it being there, but then started to walk over to it. When I was halfway there though, it started changing and became a human!
She looked to be about 19, with a slender figure and pale skin. Her blond hair had crimson highlights and fell freely down to her waist, and her sky blue eyes were really brought out by the forest green shirt she was wearing that had a picture of the full moon on it. Her skinny black jeans also seemed slightly torn in places, but it just made her seem even more attractive. However, this all registered as an afterthought that I quickly pushed aside once I realized it was there.
"Whoah! What the-?! Who are you?!" I managed to stutter out as I stumbled to the ground in shock.
"Do not fear, I do not wish to harm you." The girl said. I was doubtful at first, but I figured that she was telling the truth since I was extremely vulnerable at that moment when I fell and she hadn't attacked me yet. So I stood up and as I did I saw a bat with a scorpion on its back land next to her. The scorpion got off and crawled over to the other side of the first girl while the bat changed. She seemed to be around 17. She was tan, and had a very slender form with black hair in a style similar to a "kung-fu braid" but with full hair on top and bangs that fell in front of her left eye with the right showing that both were a neon green. She wore something that looked like a black leather gi with red lines that went down to about halfway down her lower legs and was open, showing her navy t-shirt with the waning crescent moon and her dark brown cargo pants.
The scorpion changed into a girl who looked around 20. She was pale like the first girl, but had red hair which was put up in pigtails. Her eyes were a very dark gray, so much so that they almost made it seem like she had no iris, just very large pupils. She was also very skinny and wore a dark red t-shirt with a waxing crescent moon on it, as well as a white denim pair of shorts that stopped around halfway down her upper leg.
"We are the Trio of Dusk..." the wolf girl began, "My name is Star, and these are my sisters, Angel..." the bat girl nodded, "...And Sylvia." the scorpion girl waved at me.
"We came here to warn you of a great danger that is approaching your world." Angel stated.
"An ancient alien race, known as The Leech, are coming to conquer Earth and drain it of its life energy." Sylvia continued.
"This place is built directly over the focal point of that energy, so they will undoubtedly attack here first. No human can stop the monsters that they will send, but we can give you the power to do so." Star finished with a gesture towards her sisters.
Now, at this point I wondered if they were crazy. Then I remembered seeing them change and thought I might be crazy! But at that moment there was a huge explosion and I turned to see that the 5000 building was on fire!
"What's happening?!" I asked in shock.
"They're here, and are already attacking. You must decide Nick; will you accept our offer and fight? Or will you stand by and watch, as your planet is destroyed?" Star said.
"You know...you didn't have to put it that way. I was planning to accept as soon as I knew what was going down. Let's go ladies!"
They all nodded and then started glowing, becoming three spheres of light. Star was yellow, Angel was blue, and Sylvia was red. They flew above my arm and then started circling it, they glowed brighter and brighter, until the light was blinding me and flashing!
The light started to slow down and dim, so I was able to look at my arm again. The device attached to it was navy blue with yellow and red lightning at various points along it. The main part of it was rectangular with a rounded back, about the length of my lower arm from my wrist to my elbow. A 2 foot long section that looked kind of like an old medieval sword with the middle cut out and replaced by a rectangular block was attached to it with a kind of hinge. One side of the blade was grey with a yellow lightning bolt running all the way along it, while the other had a similar design but was orange with a red bolt and a thinner yellow bolt inside the red. The whole thing looked like it was made of a heavy metallic substance, but felt as light as a feather. The top of the section nearest my wrist was see through and there was a gap towards the front.
"Whoah..." That was all I was able to say as the girls flew in front of me and changed again. They merged together and became a floating silver octagonal plate that was about 2 inches long, it had what looked like a DNA strand on both sides with one red side, one blue side, and yellow lightning running through it.
At this point, I somehow just knew what to do. I took the plate, held the device up, and pressed a black button next to the clear section. Then the section opened up and I set the plate inside.
"HENSHIN!" I cried as I shut the device and pressed a green button on the other side of the clear section. A set of 4 inch long spikes that ran along the length of the device opposite the blade popped out. The blade unfolded and I felt a surge of energy go through my body. A golden light engulfed me and then was covered up by some silver light over my chest, lower arms, lower legs, and head. My shoulders, upper legs, and eyes got surrounded by a red light, and then it all solidified into armor!
My legs were covered in red and silver armor like a samurai's, but my arms were more like a silver and gold medieval knight. I had a big set of red shoulder pads that were hexagonal in shape and my chestplate was kind of like a set of dragon wings pointing away from each other and linked by two crossed chains. I had on a silver helmet with red compound eye lenses that had lightning across them and flames around the edges, as well as a bat head on my forehead and bat wings sweeping back from the sides. The rest of my body was covered by a golden fabric, and I had a cape that was colored so that it looked like a flickering flame when it flapped attached to my shoulders.
I ran to the site of the blast as fast as I could; and as that was at speeds of over 30 mph, it was nothing to sneeze at. I got there in seconds and saw a monster that looked to be about 6'7" holding up a girl that I recognized as Alice! He hand was pulled back and his red claws were splayed out, indicating that he was about to kill her!
"HEY UGLY!" I shouted. He turned as I dashed over and punched him in the face, sending him reeling as Alice fell and I caught her.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I set her down.
"Yes, but who are you?" She responded.
"You'll find out soon enough, for now you need to get out of here."
She nodded and ran away, as the monster stood up to face me. His legs were blue and had clawed feet like a lizard. He had a very muscular torso and arms, though one hand was actually a king cobra head. His real head was like a horse's but with a tiger mouth and elephant ears. His eyes were red and had reptilian pupils.
"You $#hole! How dare you attack me! I am GrindStorm, warrior of The Leech intergalactic empire!" He yelled out.
"Honestly, you plan to destroy this planet and expect someone not to fight back? You must be a special kind of stupid." Was my reply.
"Grrrrrrr...Now you've done it! Now I will destroy you! But before I do, tell me your name so that I'll know what to put on your tombstone!"
"Fine, if you must know...I am the light which gives the world hope and ushers forth the new day; I am...Kamen Rider Dawn!" I cried out.
"Well then...I guess this world will never see the light of day! HYAH!" He rushed me and tried to rip me to shreds with his claws, but I dodged all his blows and then countered with my own!
I slashed, punched, stabbed, and kicked him until he was sent flying and stumbled back. He recovered quickly and we fought for at least an hour, before he fell back and I knew that it was time to finish things. I pressed the blue button on my weapon and it started to glow. I took a step back and then took aim as a sphere of energy like a red, blue, and yellow aurora formed at the end of the blade. It fired and hit him, encasing him in the energy and rendering him immobile. Then I jumped up and felt the energy begin to focus into my arms. I dived at him with my sword ready to strike.
"FLYING DAWN AURORA SLASH!" I yelled as I came down. I was encased in energy like the stuff surrounding the monster and then became a kind of beam as I slashed him clean in two and reformed behind him, crouching. I stood up and snapped my fingers just as he exploded!
At this point, I changed back and the device shrank into a kind of wrist band with a set of buttons. The girls came out, leaving the plate behind, and stood in front of me.
"Good work Nick." Star said, "That was a fine battle. However, it will not be your last. The Leech have an army of creatures at their disposal, and so you must be ready to fight for a long time."
"You're kidding, right? Those mother#$ #ers almost killed one of my friends! Even if it takes me the rest of my life, I will make them pay for that." I told her.
"Well then, this looks like the start of something great." Angel replied.
"I agree, but we'll need to stay close to you Nick. That way, if anything happens, we can respond quickly." Sylvia said.
"How can you do that?" I asked.
"You'll see tomorrow." Star replied with a smirk.
I was about to say more before I heard sirens and realized that we would not be alone much longer, so we ran into the woods and then back to my dorm. The girls said goodnight and went back as I entered the building.
I snuck back inside without much trouble, but when I reached my room Rico was waiting.
"Dude where were you?!" He asked.
"I heard the explosion and ran outside to see what happened. They said it was some kind of accident with the heater or something, but I'm not too sure." I replied.
"Oh, is that all! I was just about to go out and search for you as well as find out for myself. Well, I guess it's back to bed huh?"
"Yup, see you in the morning. Night."
"Night."
We went to our rooms and I couldn't help but wonder just how much being Kamen Rider Dawn was going to change my life as I fell asleep.