Chapter 1
It was another sunny day at Zawame City, families and friends walk together in the streets, and people enjoy the antics of a young group of dancers known as the Beat Riders, teenagers who dance in their own personal stages to bring about happiness to the city. Recently, however, dancing has been overshadowed by the growing popularity of the Inves Games, a matchup where two teams bet their points through summoning monsters from another dimension through their Lockseeds, the losing monster results in the corresponding team to lose points to the opposing team.
Lately, there was all but two teams who have neglected the need for dancing. Team Gaim and Team Baron, the former is led by a tough, but kindhearted girl named Mai, in place of the missing leader Yuya, and the latter is lead by power hungry, cynical Kaito Kumon, who holds belief that the world is led primarily by the strong to discriminate the weak. At some point, Inves came from the same world the Beat Riders used to play the Inves Games, known as Helheim, to which warriors of the teens known as Armored Riders take the mantle to deal with these threats.
At Team Gaim's stage.
Kouta was just on a stroll around the usual dance area for his team ever since he rejoined, he sometimes also walked around the area while no one's around so he could practice his Rider powers in peace. He walked into front of the stage set, where he has the most room to practice.
"Yosh, now then…" he pulls out his Sengoku Driver and slaps it against his belt, a golden belt wraps around his waist, tying the Driver to his being. He had problems in his fights against Inves and sometimes other Armored Riders, especially Bravo and Baron, due to his lack of knowledge and experience with the device, despite being the first one to have worn it. From his pocket, he pulls an Orange Lockseed, he yells "Henshin!" and unlocks it.
"Orange!" announced the Lockseed, a zip-like crack opens above Kouta, descending from it is a metallic Orange. Kouta then does his signature Henshin pose, he swings his arms along with his waist before raising it in the air, he slaps the Lockseed onto his Sengoku Driver, then pushes the Lock down.
"Lock On!" was heard from the Sengoku Driver, it plays a japanese instrumental music until Kouta turns the cutting blade on his Driver.
"Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!" the Orange above Kouta descends further and covers his head completely, a helmet forms around Kouta's head, and a blue full body suit covers his body. The result is a orange samurai-themed torso armor along with a orange sword in his right hand that looks like sliced Orange, the sidearm is a samurai saber attached to his left. There stands Armored Rider Gaim, "Alright, now then, how should we start?" he stands there, tabbing his own shoulder with his sword, before turning the cutting blade three times. "Soiya! Orange Sparking!" the orange armor unfolds back into its original fruit-like form, Gaim grabs the fruit on his head, "First, can I take this off?" he says to himself, and surprisingly enough, he did.
He effortlessly lifts the sphere that surrounds his head, he takes a second to look at it before realizing. He freaks upon sight of the object, "Eehhhhh!" he steps back and drops it. The fruit impacts the ground, then floats right back up; curious, Gaim playfully thrusts his palm forward, and the fruit moves accordingly, impacting the wall in front of him and bouncing back at him, Gaim reacts quickly and kicks it, launching it against the wall again. The fruit lands a mark on the wall, chipping away a large amount of rock and leaving a sizable crater on it. Gaim grabs the fruit, "Hehehe, alright, this is fun." he twirls the sphere before looking at the damage done by him. He scratches his head, "Heh, sure hope we don't get to pay for that."
Elsewhere at Team Baron's base, leader Kaito was lounging at his table, playing with the cards in his hands and performing neat tricks with them, his right hand Zack was bored out of his mind and stares into space, and Peko was looking at the TV for the news of the Team rankings. DJ Sagara's show goes up, a blog is seen as the man sits at the center screen. "Helloooo, Beat Riders and civilians of Zawame City! Today, due to numerous fan requests, Yggdrasil is hosting a tournament at the Superbowl field, for each of the Armored Riders of the Beat Riders, with a bonus guest appearance of fan favorite, Armored Rider Bravo! This hosting will last up to December 2, so let us prepare for the epic battle ahead while we still can! You hearing this, Beat Riders!? Get your game up to ace!" he reaches down and pulls out a toy gun with a DJ disc attached just below the barrel, he scratches it while looking at the camera with his mouth puckering in an "O" shape position.
The video blacks out due to it being at maximum duration, then the showing of the Beat Rider rankings appears on screen, with Team Baron at 3rd place, below Team Pop Up and Team Gaim, the latter of which is 1st place. Peko gets upset and slams his hands on the table. "Dang it! Team Gaim probably thinks they're so cool, having the highest rank! The only reason they made it this far was because that adult-wannabe, Kouta, joined them. Without him, they would be nothing!" he storms around the room during his ranting, almost to the point of blowing a fuse and using his slingshot to shoot at the closest window. Zack finally stops zoning out and speaks to Kaito, who is still just lounging.
"Kaito, we're lucky so far, but it's only time before we're sunk down the ranks again, maybe forever." Kaito stops playing with his cards and slams them on the table, he turns to Zack and answers, "Hmp, only the teams with Armored Riders have a chance to surpass us in rank, that would be Team Raid Wild, Invitto, and Gaim. Everyone else are just going to be the weaklings they are and wobble behind in the rankings, for the strong make entrance and soar through the rankings." Peko throws a hissy fit again at the mention of Gaim's efficiency, "Errhh! I hate that team so much, I wish I could kill them!", Zack turns to him frowning commenting "Ironic, cause you were invited to their team", Peko stamps his foot like a spoiled child, to which Kaito glares at him to stop. "Do not worry, we'll get stronger somehow, and force the weak to where they really belong, within the gutter."
He pulls out a grape card and tosses it against a pillar near Peko, slashing through it down to halfway of the card.
At Team Gaim Base, Micchy was putting magnetized plates on the chalkboard to where the rankings of the Teams lie, with Gaim obviously the highest. He turns to his team, trying to explain his latest plan to the group, due to his talent of being the smartest of the bunch. "Alright, we're at the very highest of the ranks, but no doubt they're going to prepare for the Armored Rider Tournament, so I develop a plan to prepare for this event." He walks about and reveals the Suika Lockseed, the most powerful Lockseed belonging to the team, originally belonged to his older brother, Takatora, before stealing it.
Everyone stared in confusion, Mai speaks up "What are you planning to do with that?" Micchy just smiles, "Bravo and Baron are going to be part of this, so we would need to adjust ourselves to new levels of challenge, by adapting and conquering our own armory. Kouta-san used this lockseed to defeat Bravo and that giant Inves, the other teams would be wary of this."
Another member of Gaim, Rat, puts two and two together, "So basically, we're having either of you guys use that lockseed on the other, to train?" Micchy nods, "Suika Lockseeds are the rarest lockseeds around, but they are not impossible to obtain, two weeks are enough for the other teams to obtain it through enough cash or resource. That's why, we need to increase our chances and resources to prepare for the worse."
Chucky shakes her head, "But brute strength isn't going to be everything, all Lockseeds as far as we see have different powers and weapons, strategy seems to the real key factor in this."
Micchy answers back, "Indeed, but me and Kouta-san both have lockseeds that adapt to different situations. I have the grape Lockseed that enables me ranged combat and aggressive shots, and Kiwi that gives me melee capabilities and multi-range attacks. Kouta-san has his Orange, that is a near-purely melee fighter, Pine the heavy hitter, and Strawberry the long range hit-and-run attacker. This lockseed I got for him however is a master of nearly everyone of these stats, it is the perfect sparring partner for the latter competition."
Rica speaks up, "But I also heard that the tournament will also have some things like, swimming, running, all those kinds of stuff." Micchy seems confident "Just let me handle that."
In Yggdrasil Tower, Takatora and his three co workers, Minato, Sid, and Ryoma, are in Ryoma's study chamber, standing around one table, all four Energy Lockseeds and Genesis Drivers waiting in front of each of them. Takatora was the first to speak up, "Sid, Minato, Ryoma, it is time, let us combine our strengths."
They take the Genesis Drivers and attached them to their waists, a silver belt is used in place of a golden one to bind the Drivers to the host. All four of the inner circle hold up their respective Energy Lockseeds.
"Melon/Cherry/Lemon/Peach Energy!" are announced from the Lockseeds, in a more deeper voice, they them on their Drivers, causing the Driver to announce "Lock On!" in a deep, masculine voice. They all push the lever attached to the side of the core, opening up their Lockseeds.
"Soda!" suddenly the Drivers malfunctioned and launches off of the four, blasting the four with a blast of electricity. Takatora breaks his fall with a roll and gets up in a kneeling position, Minato lands a three-point stance, and Sid and Ryoma fall flat to the floor, the latter almost giving no reaction whatsoever. They all get up to their feet, except for Ryoma, who looks to be in a coma. Takatora approaches him, "Ryoma?", the scientist spreads his fingers suddenly, signaling he's alive and well, but still not moving. "Just what are you doing?" asked Sid, who is adjusting his hat. "Oh, you know, just meditating" answered Ryoma, moving his hands and head a bit. Finally, Minato asks "For what?"
Professor Ryoma opens his eyes slightly, saying "Just wondering, just why it didn't…WORK!" he opens his eyes completely and his head lashed out toward the three in front of him, startling them. Ryoma gets up and fixes himself up, Takatora picks up one of the Energy Lockseeds and examines it. "I guess the tournament is necessary after all. Ryoma, how much data do we need?" Ryoma looks at Takatora, "Well, let me just check."
He goes to his computer, types on the keypad and pops the reading signs of an Armored Rider, a number written as "50%" is listed below it. "With the data we collect being divided into four Drivers at once, I'd say that maybe a month at most." Takatora squeezes his nose bridge in annoyance. After he's done cooling, he picks out his phone and calls the directors of the Tournament, "Hello? How's everything going along?"
"We're almost finished, sir, now we just need those kids to participate."
"Excellent" Takatora turns off the phone, Ryoma suddenly asked him something, "Takatora, I'm afraid I need you to participate in the Tournament as well, along with the Beat Riders." This surprises everyone in the room, especially Takatora who specifically said he wouldn't join. "What's the meaning of this?" asked Minato, Ryoma just grins "Well, with the progress we're at, we may not have the Drivers in time before a big Inves swarm were to come by, and we won't deal with the world 10 years from now." Takatora relents, "Very well, let this be known throughout the building." Sid grins and walks out of the room. After he leaves, Minato also smirks and looks to the other direction.
Ryoma thinks to himself, What Takatora doesn't realize, the real reason I need the Drivers was simply because I needed them for a very important mission in mind. To become strong enough to deal with Helheim, and pluck the fruit of knowledge, the fruit that grants immortality and godlike power.
At Oren's apartment, the former soldier was doing push ups in his room in preparation of the tournament. It is rude for a professional to give a dull performance after all. "100…101 ngh…102 ehh…103 ah!…104 d'oh…105 nrgh…106 rrggg…107 mercy…108 warmer…109 hand on fire…110!" he gets and stands on his knees, arms stretched outward dramatically, "Fini, tout set fait, et prêt." He gets up and rests on his chair, "Well, I suppose I am getting rusty, comes with being old. Shoulder up, face straight, eyes narrow, a professional like myself should teach those amateurs a thing or two of what true battling really is. Those brats with their powers will be too spoiled to understand what an adult or the world is like." He stops to see a purple glow outside of his window.
"Pardon?" he gets up to see what was going on, to his shock, he sees a purple circle forming at the street at night. Oren examines the thing from distance, a black appears from the circle, or portal for that matter, soon the arm appears, and soon afterwards the entire body. A sengoku driver appears to be attached to the waist, but the armor attached appears far more different than the rest of the Riders, it had a skeletal, almost demon-like appearance, the helmet having nothing a pitch black visor. It reaches to its torso area, it tightens its grip, and out comes a sword being formed out of the thing's armor. It talks a walk down the street, a car comes by rams straight at it. The driver notices the being in front of him, he hits the breaks and takes a turn, the tires screeching as it drags along the road, the being holds up its sword and with one swift strike, it cuts the car in two clean, the driver's seat still being dragged safely across the street.
The being rushes to the driver's door, it punches its hand through the door and rips it out, the driver screams as he was being forced out of the car and being dragged into the portal with the unknown being. "Somebody, help, help!" he begged, but no one listened, nor is anyone there to help. Oren last sees the man and the being disappear into the portal and out comes another being of the same exact suit.
"This does not look good, dieu les sauver." Oren grabs his driver and instantly runs out, hoping to stop the strange beings.
What will become of our famous French patissier?
The end.
Just for you to know, the french phrases used by Oren are "Finished, all done, and ready" and "God save them" respectively. Let me know what you think in the reviews.