The Vented and Fallen
Shinji was searching through his wallet for cash. His new friend Kit would go up next to order, and then he would be. He hardly had enough to match the cheapest meal on the menu and was starving.
From what he could recall, if the times hadn't changed, his payday was still two days away.
He recounted what he had in his entire wallet, "one… two." and the coins. Now he was stressing over what item he should get by itself while unconsciously mumbling to himself.
Then he heard a stomach grumble behind him and saw that Kit was watching him. Shinji sheepishly smiled as he turned to face Kit. What would this kid think of him if he couldn't afford his own lunch?
Kit clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave him a friendly smirk.
"Don't worry about it, lunch is on me." He told him.
Shinji was taken aback at Kit's generosity, a little relieved even, but felt it would be rude to let him pay for his lunch too.
"No," Shinji shook his head in refusal, "I can't let you do that! It wouldn't be right."
"Hey, I don't mind. I do owe you one. It's not much but a stomach for a life." Kit pointed out at Shinji saving him from the effects of the Mirror World.
"Well…" Shinji still didn't feel right about having a kid pay for his meal and came up with a compromise. "At least let me pay for part of it."
"Are you sure?" Kit asked to be certain while the offer was still there.
It was a tempting offer, but as his senior Shinji couldn't allow it.
"Yes. I'm very sure!" Shinji saw an empty cash register and put his hands on Kit's shoulders turned him around and guided him ahead.
"Well… okay." Kit resisted for a moment, "by the way…" He now wore the sheepish smile and thumbed at the menu. "What does the menu say?"
"Uh!" Shinji was shocked. He thought Kit was ready to order.
Shinji and Kit brought their trays over to an empty booth and sat down. Shinji was starving. Since coming to this world he hadn't eaten a single morsel. Happy to have a full meal in front of him he tore off the wrapper on his burger and arranged his food the way he wanted.
He deposited a few fries in his mouth and hungrily took a bite out of his burger. He secretly wished the combination were the beef bowl he was craving. This wasn't nearly as savory, but it did the trick to numb the hunger pangs.
"I heard there were only twelve Riders." Kit said, "So how is this even possible?" He asked and took just as hungry a bite out of his burger.
"Twelve?" Shinji muffled with a mouth full, shocked.
He wanted to correct Kit and held up his index finger so he could finish chewing his food. He held it up for a while as Kit just watched him patiently with those innocent baby blue eyes. Turns out he had bit off more than he could chew. Kit now watched him in amazement as a good three minutes passed. Shinji finally swallowed hard to the point where it hurt. Some of his food went down the wrong tube.
"I don't remember that many." He coughed and picked up his soft drink to wash the rest down. "There's Knighto," Shinji began and placed a fry down for every Rider he listed as a visual aid, "Scissors, Zolda, Raia, Gai, Ohja, Tiger, Imperer, Odin, and me—Ryuki."
Shinji took another sip of his soft drink and rubbed his neck to soothe down the rest of what got stuck.
Kit lightly scowled at the fries. "That's not right," He said and used his onion rings for visual aid. "There's Wing Knight, Incisor, Torque, Camo, Thrust, Sting, Strike, Axe, Spear, Siren, Wrath, and me…"
Kit shook the cup for more rings to come out, when none did he used his ketchup cup instead, "me—Dragon Knight."
"Twelve Riders…" Shinji scanned the onion rings like opposing pawns to his fries. He couldn't believe there were more, and then he quickly thought about the two Alternative Riders placing two more fries down. "There were two false Riders, trying to stop the war."
Shinji looked back up to Kit, he wasn't comfortable with how youthful he was and being involved with something as dangerous as the Kamen Riders. He swore he'd find out how old Kit was.
Kit adorably tilted his head in mid shrug. "Well, at least it's even now." He sounded half satisfied.
Shinji motioned Kit close so he could whisper, "Are you sure it's safe to talk about this in public?" He tried to recover, trying not to sound over protective. "The newspaper I work for got ridiculed for leaking out information about the mirror world, Kamen Riders and monsters." Shinji sat back and started playing with his fries flicking at them to the goal of Ketchup at one end of his tray. A small distraction, "Also, there may be other Kamen Riders around."
Kit's gaze fell to his tray as if to be lost in thought, "I don't think we have to worry about that. All of the Kamen Riders were Vented-"
"What's Vented?" Shinji interrupted and widened his eyes at its possible term. "They were killed?"
"Um… no…" Kit was searching for the right words, "you see if a Rider is defeated they-" Kit began to explain when some rude guy just interrupted him.
"Hey, Taylor! Who's your date?"
Shinji turned offended to a guy with cropped dark hair, think eye brows, and strong jaw.
"Drew?" Kit jumped from his seat shocked but looked mixed about this reunion.
"Hey, I'm not a woman!" Shinji said offended and took the rest out on his burger for interrupting Kit's explanation, "Honestly, some people!" he muffled with another mouth full and nearly choked biting off more than he could chew again.
Drew partially laughed at him, "So, what are you doing with this guy?" He asked being nosy.
"Having lunch, what else?" Kit said as Shinji watched him change his composer. "Wait, how do you know me anyway?"
Even Shinji could see through that bad acting, he did just refer to Drew informally.
Shinji noisily drank his soft drink and swore he saw Kit jump from the tension.
"Oh please," Drew said, "after all we've been through Taylor? First we were enemies, then we were pals, and then someone betrayed someone else. You know I forget the details."
Shinji wondered what Drew meant by 'someone betrayed someone else?'
"Also, since you called my name, there's already proof of history."
Shinji's point was made and scooted away nervously when Drew pointed at him. "He's a Kamen Rider too, isn't he?"
Shinji grimaced, "It's really rude to address people present as if they weren't in the room."
Shinji scoffed in disbelief as Drew seemed to have just ignored him and continued, "The moment I returned to being a Rider, I ran into another guy wearing the same armor I was. The creep even stole my Advent Deck while I was wearing it!"
Shinji smirked, as he looked away. Half of it was because this guy probably got what he dissevered and the other half, he wasn't the only Rider from his world.
"What?" Kit said, he sounded like he didn't believe Drew's story.
Shinji's looked around at the restaurant and looked passed them to the entrance. He gasped at one of the guys that had just entered.
He jumped up and pulled both Kit and Drew under the table for cover, "Get down!"
"What is it?" Kit grunted in the small space.
"Look over by the entrance!" Shinji instructed.
Kit and Drew did as told and saw the two guys walk in. The first one politely kept the door open for the second one, but the second guy was the one Shinji was referring to. He didn't even say so much as a thank you.
"Okay so we're looking at Trent." Kit stated at possibly the first guy who must have been a harmless acquaintance.
"I'm talking about the other guy that walked in!" Shinji said trying to warn them, "That's Jun Shibaura, he's Kamen Rider Gai! An arrogant guy, way into video games, he thinks the Rider War is just one big game. His father is the president of a major company!" he took deep breaths as his heart pounded against his rib cage hoping Jun wouldn't spot them.
Shinji never liked being in the presence of Jun's as his lack of a conscious never sat well with him.
"So he's a dangerous guy." Kit stated taking it to mental note.
"That guy is one of your Riders?" Drew just scoffed. "The guy looks like a friggen wimp!"
"You talk big for someone who lost their Deck." Shinji nudged Drew for not taking him seriously.
"What was that?" Drew growled as he nudged with more force.
"Guys stop!" Kit begged, he was closest to the aisle and fell out.
"You heard me!" Shinji argued now hitting Drew's ribs with his elbow.
"You do THAT-" Drew hit Shinji hard in the ribs, "again and see what happens!"
Shinji socked Drew across the face. Drew lunged at him in the cramped space getting Shinji under him and trying to punch him with what little leverage he had. Shinji managed to climb over Drew and got him in a head lock. Drew pulled on Shinji's hair trying to get him off. Shinji grunted as he felt the pull on his scalp and tried to pinch Drews' nose shut getting him to let go. Drew elbowed Shinji twice and climbed up to the seat. Shinji did the same sitting across from with an angry glare.
"Not really." Kit was casually talking to the acquaintance that walked in.
Shinji didn't let his death glare slip from Drew, and the other man did the same. He was so fixed on keeping his guard up he didn't even hear most of Kit's conversation.
"…KR-13's doing anyway?" Trent asked.
"… Trent…. Classified."
"Ha, ha very funny… Later"
"Later." Kit planted himself next to Drew and glared at his 'comrade'. He seemed accustomed to Drew's troublemaking.
Jun, like everyone else in the restaurant saw the commotion Shinji and Drew made. He strolled over and pulled out his deck. "Isn't it interesting?"
Shinji turned to Jun, the very person Shinji was hoping to avoid.
Shinji watched and swallowed as Jun tapped the deck into the palm of his free hand like a deadly weapon.
"Kamen Rider Thrust!" Kit said like a fan boy at a convention.
Shinji heard Drew give a fake cough, "Loser!"
"I wasn't expecting to see you alive, Kido." Jun said keeping this conversation strictly to just himself and Shinji. "It would seem we all got a chance to play the game over again."
"You still think this is a game!" Shinji got up offended, "There is no reward if you win the Rider War!" He said, knowing full and well what Kanzaki had planned for the victor.
"All I know is there are more players to beat and new stages to play on. The reward itself is beating out the competition." He said like an obsessed gamer.
"You-" Shinji was about to give Jun a piece of his mind when the mirror monster alarm sounded.
All four of them bolted for the door. Jun took longer strides as he had to be the first. He yanked the door so hard on his way out it smacked Shinji. Shinji recoiled and forgot about Kit and Drew behind him. They tried going out all at once and all three got jammed into the doorway.
Shinji struggled to push through as were the other guys.
"Hey wait!" Kit called after Jun.
"Henshin!" The Gai armor flipped onto Jun. "Later!" Gai gave a lazy salute and jumped into the vans reflective surface.
Shinji tried to reach over and pull Drew back. Meanwhile Kit squeezed through and stumbled out letting them go.
Shinji almost ran passed Kit seeing him on the floor and he ran back for him. "Come on! Quit playing around!" and half dragged half helped Kit to his feet.
Shinji and Kit thrust their respective decks at the van. His Rider Belt flipped out of the reflection while Kit's deck electrified and sent the surges of red electricity crawling under his arm, down his torso and drawing it on his waist.
Shinji's free hand cut across his body and hovered at the air over his left side, and Kit held his deck to the side.
"Henshin!", "Kamen Rider!"
They slotted their decks. Shinji's had two illusionary armors flipped onto him from both sides, while Kit was engulfed in a red orb with two rotating kinetic rings.
"Whoa." Shinji heard Drew say.
Ryuki and Dragon Knight stepped into the Vans reflective surface. It was surprising that they were already at their destination, from the parking lot to an abandoned warehouse as simple as walking through a door.
"Eh? No Rider Shooter?" Ryuki looked around confused.
"Hey, it's chance!" Dragon Knight said and Ryuki wasn't sure what he meant.
Ryuki did see Zolda and he was already fighting. He fired his sidearm at the closest Gigazelle and at Gai in distance. Gai staggered forward and shoved the Gigazelle he was fighting with.
Dragon Knight took a step forward and already tripped. "What the!"
Ryuki glanced down at his counterpart and shook his head. Dragon Knight sure was clumsy.
Ryuki turned back to the fight wondering where to start. He heard Dragon Knight talking but there was something about Zolda that stole Ryuki's attention, his fighting style seemed… different. Zolda clipped his sidearm to the Rider Belt and fought at close range instead of at a distance.
"Kitaoka-san's here too?" Ryuki questioned, before he knew it he was hit from behind with a boomerang and fell forward. "Damn that hurt!"
"Find a safe place to hide, quick!" Dragon Knight puzzlingly ordered as he drew a card and slotted it. "Sword Vent!"
Ryuki scrambled to his feet and saw the boomerang make its return trip.
"Here it comes." Ryuki said and instead of complying with Dragon Knight he quickly got in front of him. He drew a card and slotted it "Guardo Vento!" and deflected the boomerang… or so he thought.
Dragon Knight had fallen out next to him.
Ryuki turned to Dragon Knight puzzled, "and they say I'm clumsy."
"I'm not clumsy!" Dragon Knight pushed off the ground and rubbed his sore side. He climbed to his feet. "You missed one on our blind side!" He pointed at Ryuki as if to place the blame on him.
"How was I supposed to know there were more than two?" Ryuki argued and was hit on his right side taking Dragon Knight down with him.
They scrambled to their feet then the younger Kamen Rider scolded, "Will you pay attention!"
"You keep your guard up!" Ryuki scolded back at his junior.
They were face to face with each other and Shinji glared at Dragon Knight under his helmet for taking that tone with him.
Neither one saw the boomerangs coming at them and both were hit in the stomach getting knocked off their feet. The same boomerangs circled the room and hit Zolda and Gai.
Zolda had dropped the green rectangular object he'd been holding onto. He climbed to all fours and scanned the floor but it couldn't be seen anywhere.
"And they say two heads are better than one?" Ryuki criticized holding his shield up so he could safely sit up. He was about to say his next idea when Dragon Knight spoke up.
"Fine, how about this," Dragon Knight was still lying on his back and talked with his hands. "We just run for it?"
"I was about to say that." Ryuki said, like Dragon Knight stole the idea right from his head.
Then Ryuki counted down, surprised that Dragon Knight was in unison. "Three… Two… One!"
They sprang to their feet and sprinted in opposite directions.
Ryuki found Zolda was still going hand to hand with the Gigazelle.
Zolda held the Gigazelle wrists as it held onto its boomerang. He hit it in the head twice before it let go of its weapon. The Gigazelle backed away as Zolda did a type of cartwheel without using his hands. Once on his feet he punched the Gigazelle square in the chest. It flew back from the inertia and Zolda grabbed his sidearm shooting it so slammed into the wall of the warehouse.
The Gigazelle slid down the wall and landed on its hooves. It wiped one hoof before puffing up and spat a fireball at them.
Ryuki through the air somersaulted over the fireball as Zolda drew a card and slotted it into his sidearm. "Gaurdo Vento!" The shield protected him from the same fireball and Zolda dropped the shield.
"Ryuki?" Zolda said but with the wrong voice.
"Garo-san?" Ryuki questioned over his shoulder.
Zolda held his sidearm in front of him and fired over Ryuki's shoulder nailing the Gigazelle as it tried to rush the red Kamen Rider.
Zolda ran in and shoved past Ryuki. The Gigazelle tried to punch Zolda but he blocked every attack with only his left forearm and kicked it in the stomach then spun around with a flying kick.
Ryuki ran in to help and wound up bumping into the Gigazelle. He still managed to put his arms around it and they spun around as it tried to escape. Ryuki held on as Zolda tried shooting it again. The Gigazelle managed to grab its boomerang from the floor and threw it at Zolda. Zolda ducked missing it completely but it hit Ryuki on its return trip getting him to let go.
Ryuki rolled over to Zolda and staggered to his feet.
"Can you still fight?" Garo asked from behind Zolda's helmet.
"Yeah," Ryuki climbed to his feet. "Don't worry about me."
Ryuki drew a card and slotted it. "Strike Vento!" Ryuki raised his left arm receiving his upgraded arm attachment from Dregadder. The dragon snaked around him as he spread his feet apart and wound up his left arm.
Ryuki thrust his arm forward and sent a fireball at the Gigazelle. But missed as it stretched itself separating into sections, the fireball sifted through and turned the pile of pallets behind it into splinters.
Zolda grabbed his sidearm again and fired. The monster staggered back and then charged at Zolda.
Zolda ran in to meet the challenge and Ryuki was about to run in and help out. Then somebody grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Hey!"
Ryuki turned to face Drew, "How the hell did you get here?" He asked not even noticing this rude guy had managed to follow them.
Drew raised an eyebrow insulted that he went unnoticed, "Listen, I need a small favor." He pointed at the sheet metal behind him, "I need your help to get back Earth. My Advent Deck is over there, I can't do it myself! Once I get it back, I can help you guys out."
Ryuki hesitated for moment, they still had three monsters to contend with and they needed all the help they could get, "Okay." Ryuki agreed.
Drew turned to the sheet to the metal rubbing his hands together.
Ryuki saw the light to their right get brighter. He glanced over at last second as a stray fire ball was headed their way. He glanced at Drew and the fireball again.
"Look out!" Ryuki kicked Drew out of the way.
The fire ball passed and Drew was gone.
"Where'd you go?" Ryuki looked around, hoping Drew didn't fall victim to the flame.
Lawyer and Con-man
Kitaoka sighed once more as he leaned against his car board. The two women who were accompanying him were looking at themselves in a piece of sheet metal just outside an abandoned warehouse.
Supposedly only Maya could actually see into the mirror world. She looked into it like an excited spectator at a sporting event, while her cute friend, Lacey, only fixed her lipstick and wiped off a smug.
Kitaoka looked up at the rusted ceiling warily, hoping that none of the rust falls on him.
"Girl, I don't see how you see anything in this." Lacey said and screamed grabbing his attention, "What was that!" she shrieked.
Kitaoka heard an object slide across the floor. He looked down in time to see the Zolda deck come to a stop at his feet.
"Someone's coming!" Maya warned.
Kitaoka was too occupied with the deck as he picked it up. It felt… different but it was unclear as to how.
Some guy was just thrown from the sheet metal and landed on the hard pavement. He climbed to his feet wheezing and disoriented from the fall. He cleared his throat to set his breathing right. He scanned the two women before he finally turned to Kitaoka.
Kitaoka held up the deck as he just looked at the guy. It seemed wrong for this newcomer to have the same deck. His features clashed too much with his own.
"So, you are the other Kamen Rider Zolda." Kitaoka stated.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you know what's good for you, then you better give it back." This guy threatened.
"And what if I don't?" Kitaoka smirked at the challenge. He turned to his car and thought he'd at least try the deck out. He thrust it at the window to his car but nothing happened. It felt like such a loss to have to return it.
"Oh well," he tossed it back to the guy. "What a waste, I guess that one really is yours'."
The guy caught it, "Told you." He said like rubbing it in Kitaoka's face before pocketing it.
Then Maya curiously stood in his way as though she knew this guy personally.
"Chance, what are you doing?" Maya asked, "You told Kit you would help him out if he helped you get you're Advent Decked back."
'Chance' gave Maya a smug smirk, "Yeah, I say a lot of things. And that new guy is even more gullible."
Kitaoka didn't have to do too much pondering, they only had two gullible riders and one of them had to be Shinji. He smiled to himself wondering if that Shinji will ever learn.
'Chance' half laughed to Maya's face, "By the way the names Drew," he corrected her, "So if you don't mind… See ya!" He began to walk off.
Kitaoka bit his lower lip stifling a smile as he learned early on, never piss off a woman. Maya got in his way again and scowled at Drew.
"What?" Drew said looking at Maya and glanced back at a serious Lacey with a smug look on his face. He was only digging himself into a deeper whole. Kitaoka could tell Drew was greatly underestimating them.
Drew finally turned to Kitaoka who finally smirked and looked away. It was too funny to watch when someone else was the victim.
"Grab an arm Lacey!" Maya ordered.
They linked their arms through Drew's and dragged him a short distance. They shoved him into the sheet metal where he safely sank through it like water.
"Are the two of you usually this rough?" Kitaoka asked as he now examined his nails, bored again.
Ryuki vs. New Zolda
Ryuki fought the Gigazelle clashing his sword with the monsters boomerang along with avoiding fireballs.
"Shoot Vento!" Zolda caught the large rocket launcher and aimed for the same Gigazelle.
Ryuki slashed at the monster from shoulder to stomach sending it spinning with a spray of sparks. Zolda fired the rocket launcher and made his mark as the Gigazelle erupted into a ball of fire. Ryuki was caught off guard by explosion as it sent him flying back and landed on his rear end. He covered his ears a little late as he was slightly deafened by the rocket launcher.
"Are you all right?" Zolda asked as he made his way over to Ryuki.
"Did you have to do that so close?" Ryuki complained getting to his feet and saw the monster was disintegrated.
Ryuki didn't see Zolda aim the rocket launcher at him and fire. Zolda slid back from the weapons kick.
Ryuki turned to Zolda in time and dove out of the missiles way. This time he covered his ears as it detonated on a forklift charring it, sending the piece of machinery crashing into the third Gigazelle and through the warehouse wall.
"You could've warned me!" Ryuki scolded getting to his feet.
Zolda said nothing. Garo was usually silent compared to his boss Kitaoka. He abandoned the rocket launcher, much to Ryuki's relief. But then he took his sidearm.
"What are you doing?" Ryuki asked taking a cautious step back.
Zolda ran up and brought his sidearm down on Ryuki. Ryuki raised his sword to block. Zolda had tried to hit him again and Ryuki deflected the sidearm.
He couldn't understand why Zolda was attacking him but knew he had to defend himself.
Zolda kicked Ryuki's left knee and he hopped around, whining as he was trying to nurse the area of impact.
Ryuki spun around to try and question Zolda again but was slapped across the helmet with the gun. Garo was a lot stronger than Kitaoka and grabbed Ryuki then threw him into a pile of boxes.
Ryuki was disoriented, but did see Zolda as if he was jumping down from the rafters and land on his leg.
Ryuki cried out in pain. He slashed after Zolda but he had already rolled off.
Ryuki lay there breathing heavily, everything below his left knee felt like it was twisted out of place. Ryuki tried to get off the boxes when a green hand pulled him out. That same hand shoved him into stack of pallets knocking them over.
Ryuki attempted to get up once more and fell as his injured leg gave out on him. He tried using his sword as a cane and tried to get around, but before he could stand up a heel grinded into the back of his shin. Ryuki gave a deafening cry in pain as he felt the bones moving out of place once more.
Zolda then dragged Ryuki by the elbow and threw him into the corner.
Ryuki rolled and stopped on his back. He scooted away, panting while holding his injured leg. He looked around panicking trying to find a way out of this corner.
"Final Vento!" Megnagiga rose from a mirror opening in the ground.
"WAIT!" Dragon Knight's plea could be heard from across the room, "You can't bring that in here!"
Ryuki glanced back and forth at Dragon Knight running over to him, and Magnagiga preparing to seal his fate. Megnagiga raised its arms like a very welcoming Death as Zolda was loading the gun.
He took what he thought to be one last glance at Dragon Knight. He saw Dragon Knight skid to a stop as green laser fire darted across his path. Gai ran by with Zolda's twin giving chase. "Confine Vento!"
To Ryuki's greatest surprise Magnagiga vanished. Zolda had reappeared and looked around very confused for the contract beast. Ryuki wasn't safe yet as Zolda then held his already ready sidearm and took aim at him. That's when Dragon Knight ran in and drop kicked Zolda.
Ryuki couldn't have been happier to see his junior as he ran to his aid.
"Can you walk?" Dragon knight asked genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Ryuki squeaked at the unbearable pain.
Ryuki was being helped up but his leg buckled under his own weight. It was too messed up to walk on.
Dragon Knight pulled Ryuki's arm over his shoulder and helped him around. Ryuki was grateful to have Dragon Knight's help as they made it to the nearest reflective surface.
All Ryuki wanted was to get out there and hope the remaining Kamen Riders wouldn't kill each other.
"Launch Vent!" They heard from one of the Zolda's.
"Oh crap!" Dragon Knight cursed.
Ryuki glanced at Dragon Knight, it was the first time he heard him cuss.
They jumped through the glass before it shattered into infinite pieces.
Ailment
Kitaoka yawned, bored out his mind and a little disappointed. A Rider fight was going on and he couldn't take part without the right deck. He turned to see what the women were up to.
Maya shoulders slumped. The fight must have ended with disappointing results.
"Maya?" Lacey spoke up, "is Kit coming?"
"No, he went the other way. Darn it!"
Kitaoka pushed off the car and began to suggest, "Shall we get going…" he trailed off before blacking out. Before he knew it he was on the ground going in and out of consciousness with a killer headache.
"Mr. Kitaoka!" Maya and Lacey called. He saw their feet rushing over to him.
"That fall was not pretty!" He heard Lacey say as someone had put their rather large purse under his head.
"We have to get him to a Doctor!" Kitaoka saw Maya say as she glanced at his car, "Come on help me get him in."
"Why couldn't Kit have come out through this side?" Lacey complained.
Together they lifted him with some difficulty and he completely blacked out.