Agito Chapter: Part 1
This story will within an arc or two feature pretty much all of the past Riders, but I wanted to build on the Kuuga-Agito link that's already kinda sorta there in the show, and make this arc a direct continuation of Kuuga, hence the returning characters for this one will mostly be those featured in the first three chapters…well…with one significant addition, as you'll see.
2001
"Hey! Cut it out!" Aching from head to toe, Ashihara Ryou staggered through the rain, desperately dragging himself through the wetter-by-the-second mud to escape his remorseless pursuer.
"I'm sorry," said the psychic, Katsuhiko. He did not sound sorry. "I can't let you live. Kino said so."
"The hell…is your problem…" His voice hoarse, Ryou tripped and fell, head submerging for a moment as the mud met a rain-formed lake in the field. "I saved you assholes…" Yet now he'd spent the better part of an hour fleeing for his life as every damn thing around him had been tossed at him with deadly psychokinetic force.
Katsuhiko pointed to a pile of steel rods, causing them to levitate and begin to spin. His finger tracked over towards his fallen victim. "The Akatsuki survivors have to look out for each other," he said, still completely deadpan. "If Mr. Kino says you're dangerous, you're dangerous." The mentally-controlled weapons angled themselves towards Ryou, vibrating, his power gradually filling them, like a rubber band being stretched further and further back, promising greater and greater speed when finally released.
"…don't…c'mon…" Ryou croaked, weakly raising a hand in front of his face.
Two days ago…
"Mr. Hongo? Is…it too much to hope you just phoned to check on me?"
"Godai…"
"I understand. What's happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure. It's definitely some kind of inhuman monster, but the police aren't being as open about it as they were with the Grongi. I do know they have an armoured suit to combat them—patterned after you, actually."
"If it's not public…it hasn't got as bad as back then, I guess?"
"Not yet. And if we can stop them soon, it won't have to at all."
"Gotcha. Just send me the location and I'll be there."
"Also…he won't be able to join us for a while, but given how desperate things got last time, I'm calling in another comrade from overseas."
"Great! Who?"
"My closest friend…a man I have fought side by side with for many years."
Five minutes ago…
Shouichi laid into the pair of Unknown with contemptuous ease, guided by Agito's natural graceful fighting instincts. He'd only just recovered his memory, and there was still so much to do—he had to finish this quickly. Luckily, he was stronger than ever. With his memory restored, his Agito powers seemed whole too, and he was able to sync up all three of his forms and combine them into one—his red right arm held his sword, his blue right arm held his bladed staff, and the black and gold of the rest of his body carried the hand-to-hand prowess of his standard form. Like this, even both of the Unknown at once were no match.
They had been tough opponents without it, though. Birdlike muscular humanoids, like most Unknown made of something halfway between flesh and stone, wearing some vaguely medieval half-outfit, one wielding a great wicked scythe like a reaper out of a tapestry, the other a halberd. The rain poured down a few metres away, but under the heavy concrete bridge they were untouched by it, every clash of metal ringing off the hard stone overhead.
How could he have forgotten so long? Tetsuya. He wasn't done talking to Tetsuya. Except…that man was the real Shouichi, and his ownbirth name was Tetsuya. But during his amnesia the switch had happened, and he'd lost his memories for so long…at least for the foreseeable future, he had to accept that he'd be known as Tsugami Shouichi.
And Yukina. She was the reason he had to talk to—to the man who was now Tetsuya. There was no way…no way she'd killed herself. She just wasn't that kind of person.
That's what he had to tell himself. Because she was such a strong, eternally-happy person. If she could hold it together, living with these powers, maybe he could too. But if it had been too much even for her, what hope did he have?
He ducked back from the Unknown's next attack, blocking one with each weapon before pushing them both back, raising the blades high and preparing to deliver the finisher.
And…
And…
…what am I doing here?
Where is this place?
What…day is it?
Now…
The makeshift weapons shot down through the air towards Ryou at deadly velocity, finally loosed from Katsuhiko's telekinetic grip.
Ryou shoved his head down, screwing his eyes shut—and—nothing? No impacts, no additional pain.
When he opened his eyes and looked up, the steel rods were strewn across the ground around him. Standing between him and the murderous psychic was an unmoving, well-built man—he was facing away, but over the top of his leather jacket an impressive head of hair was visible.
"What the hell?" Katsuhiko groaned. "Out of my way, man. You'll get hurt."
Ryou's saviour bent down and picked up one of the fallen metal bars. With a grunt, he crushed a section of the metal between the fingers of one gloved hand, sending two cleanly-broken pieces clattering to the ground, one on either side of him. "One of us will," he growled.
Turning pale, Katsuhiko turned and fled, mouth opening and closing silently.
"Who…are you…?" Ryou gasped, clawing his way up out of the mud.
Hongo Takeshi turned around and crouched down to his level, extending a hand and smiling warmly, all the menace of a second ago gone in an instant. "A friend."
Ten minutes ago…
Godai and Hongo sat at a café's outdoors table—sadly, not Godai's beloved Pore Pore, wrong part of town. "So I propose we use the police channels hardwired into your BeatChaser," Hongo was saying. "I can tune into them with my antenna, but only when transformed, and it's not exactly inconspicuous to look like that too much of the time."
"Right, and when one of the monsters is attacking, we get there and—bam!" Godai mimed an exaggerated haymaker. "They'll recognise Kuuga, uh, 'Unidentified Life-Form No. 4', I think."
"If we're lucky, one of them might even recognise Kamen Rider," Hongo chuckled. "Sounds like a plan." He raised his coffee-cup, a thin ray of sunlight breaking through the oppressive almost-rainclouds overheard to reflect off of it. "How's your better half?"
Godai beamed. "Great! Actually, he's trying to get a transfer back up here, so he can be on the investigation team for these monsters. Apparently the squad fighting them is called, uh, the 'G3 Unit', they said."
"Are you worried?" Hongo asked. "If he gets his transfer, he'll be on the front lines again…"
"I can't worry," Godai said simply. "Kaoru is…too cool for anyone to worry about him. If he ever comes home hurt and I make a fuss, he just—" He flashed a thumbs-up. "—does my thing back at me, tells me he'll be fine. I trust him."
"I'm—" Hongo paused. "Those…are not human footsteps."
Within ten seconds, leaving hasty handfuls of money for the meal, they'd vaulted the fence and were sprinting off into the fields behind the café, past the edge of town.
"How did you hear—"
"Cyborg, Godai. Cyborg."
"Ah, yes, yes, right, right. Is that it?"
Hongo followed Godai's point with his eyes. On the horizon were Ryou and his pursuer. "No, but I can't ignore it. Leave those two to me. The creatures I heard were under the bridge to our right, just past the next row of supports."
"I'm on it."
Now…
Not that he was aware of it, but Shouichi's enhanced three-in-one form had vanished along with his temporarily-restored memory. Left in Agito's default golden form, he was unable to keep up with the renewed onslaught of the Unknown. They hacked and slashed at him, blades, claws and beaks digging into his armour, needles of pain stabbing into him.
He rolled away, rising to one knee, panting. What am I doing here? I don't…remember…I was at the house with Mana and everyone, and…
And…?
He gave a start as the Unknown advanced again—but then they jerked to a halt. And backed away a step. Were they…trembling?
There was only one word he'd ever heard an Unknown say. "AGITO." Around when he first started to become this—it was how he'd known what it was called.
Now they craned their heads around to look behind them, back at the bridge they'd been fighting under earlier. In unison, in hushed, fearful tones, they hissed:
"KUUGA."
Then the vestigial wings hanging from their arms burst into full length and they took to the air, fleeing in an instant.
Why…? Shouichi stood up, taking a moment to catch his breath, scanning the horizon. They had me beaten. What made them run?
What could scare the Unknown like that?
What's about to come round that corner? He could feel his heart pounding against his chest.
What, exactly…is 'Kuuga'?
When Godai came tearing around the corner, he only saw one figure—some kind of horned, armoured creature in gold.
Shouichi, meanwhile, found himself suddenly being rushed by some kind of horned, armoured creature in red.
That must be the thing Hongo heard attacking someone, Godai thought. Can't let it get away!
Another Unknown? Shouichi thought. Whatever it is, it's coming straight for me—
Kuuga took a running jump and tackled Agito, the pair rolling into the shallows of the river, standing and exchanging opening punches, raindrops flying off of them.
Agito was only slid back slightly, while his own initial blow drove the wind out of Kuuga completely; Shouichi pressed this lead, hammering on his assailant's defences with both fists, trying not to give him a moment to counter. Godai swung a kick up, but Shouichi's leg intercepted it, hooking around his own and flipping him onto his back. He rolled away, getting up and keeping to a defensive stance, moving steadily back towards the bridge.
Whatever this thing is, it's strong…fast, too… Godai glanced up at the cars passing by overhead. Too close to people to risk using my Rising forms, or anything above that. He'd spent a lot of time during his and Ichijou's shared vacation thinking of names for all Kuuga's forms. He thought they were really cool. Ichijou thought they were all stupid. But if I can get us over there…
As they continued to fight, and he continued to take hits while barely landing any in return, he deliberately gave up ground, until they were right next to the bridge support. It didn't help that Agito's combat instincts were as flawless as ever, while Godai only had his own rather direct skills to rely on.
He'd made it, though. This was the spot he'd dumped his bag before transforming. He jumped back out of Agito's reach, kicking off the wall and landing by the bag, rummaging in it and producing a long wooden pole.
As he'd always done, he called out "Super-Transform!" to switch to one of his specialised weapon forms. He didn't need to do this, it just felt right. This was another thing Ichijou thought was stupid. He thought a lot of things about Godai were stupid, but if someone as cool as that had fallen for his stupidity, then Godai was proud of it.
Shouichi gave a start. Did it just speak Japanese? Maybe it's a different kinda thing to the Unknown. He was even more surprised when Kuuga's colour changed from red to blue, his armour slimming down, the length of wood in his hands transforming into an ornate two-handed staff.
He looks lighter…he's probably faster now…okay! Shouichi smacked the button on the left side of his belt, his whole body seeming to ripple, before settling back to physical shape, blue-armoured to match Kuuga. With a burst of light, something shot out of his belt-buckle: A staff of his own, shorter than Kuuga's until with a shake he extended the blades on each end.
Godai circled Agito nervously, his weapon held high. Some of the Grongi had had form-changing powers like Kuuga. Don't tell me we missed one…
They clashed again, weapons crossing and sliding off each other. Agito spun and brought his staff down in an overhead arc, only to slice into nothing but the ground, the end of Kuuga's thudding into his stomach. He spun, trying to cover his open flank, but barely caught sight of where his opponent was before another blow smacked against the back of his head, sending him stumbling away.
No matter what he did, he couldn't catch Kuuga like this. None of the hits were too forceful, but they were beginning to add up.
Godai finally came to a halt, holding his staff close, waiting for the other to make a move. We both went for speed…guess I'm faster.
Shouichi took a deep breath, holding his weapon out to the side. Then he began to spin it, flicking it from one hand to the other, to the left, to the right, all around his body, whipping up a localised windstorm and blowing it directly at Kuuga.
Godai tried to move in again, but the headwind Agito was generating was monstrous, and he couldn't make it a step; he could barely stay where he was. Dragon Form can take him close-up, but if he won't let me get close…all right…
He suddenly ceased his resistance, letting the man-made gale hurl him back to where his bag lay, tossing the pole aside and taking out a revolver. This he had a special one-off license for from the police, for exactly this situation. He changed again, this time into the green, angular-patterned Pegasus Form, the pistol growing into its elaborate bowgun in his hand. Still lying against the bridge support, being buffeted by Agito's attack, he raised his arm, focused his now hugely magnified senses, and loosed a shot into Shouichi's shoulder, knocking him to the ground with a hiss of pain.
Couldn't see that projectile at all… Shouichi backed away, more of the needle-sharp darts digging into him as Kuuga continued firing. Way faster than a bullet! He slapped the right side of his belt now, staff vanishing and blue armour becoming red, now materialising a gleaming longsword from his belt.
This form magnifies my senses… He settled into a low stance, waiting for the next shot. There! He just managed to spot the incoming needle, slicing right through the tiny object with an upward swing. Now he was getting the hang of it, deflecting the next volley became easy.
Well…never mind I guess. Godai dropped the revolver and rummaged in the bag, producing the final object within: A short metal bar, with a steel ring welded around it about a third of the way up. Hope he's outta forms, 'cause this is the last 'sideways' one I got before I gotta start going up. And that won't be pretty.
"Super-Transform!" The object he held now wasn't anything in particular; he'd made it specifically to use for this, as it was about the right shape to be morphed into the silver-and-purple, heavily-armoured Titan Form's sword. Holding the blade out to the side, he charged at Agito.
Shouichi didn't move from his position, his eyes locked on the incoming Kuuga. He drew his sword further back, flames beginning to dance around the blade, steam billowing from it as the rain splashed down over the unquenchable fire. It's true this form makes me a little slower…
Godai covered the last three steps in great bounds, his feet throwing up enormous sprays of muddy water, sword-arm slicing down at Agito—who was suddenly behind him, sword held out in front of him, a great burning pain erupting on Godai's side from where he'd been slashed.
…but nowhere near as slow as that one makes you. Shouichi straightened up as Kuuga toppled to the ground behind him with a strangled cry.
And then rose again, almost instantly, unarmed and back in his original red Mighty Form.
Shouichi turned with a sigh, returning to his own default golden state. "You gonna try this again, man? It won't go any better than last time…" No choice, I guess. He took a step in, swinging a spinning kick—
—which Kuuga deflected with a kick of his own, Shouichi bouncing painfully away, yelping and grabbing his aching leg. What th—this strength is…completely different from before! In fact, now he looked, this wasn't quite the same red Kuuga as earlier. Gold highlights outlined his armour, and little spurts of electricity ran up and down his limbs every couple seconds.
"Hey, you," Kuuga unexpectedly said. "You're human, aren't you? I was wondering for a while, then you spoke just now…"
Shouichi looked up. "Uh…yeah. Wait…are you?"
"Of course!" Godai said indignantly. "I mean uh…wait…no, I'm…I'm Unidentified Life Form No. 4," he said in a portentous voice, making 'spooky' gestures with his fingers. "Definitely not…ah, okay." He let Kuuga's form fade, revealing his human body and giving a thumbs up. "Hi!"
Shouichi similarly reverted to his real self, grinning nervously. "This is kinda awkward…" He practically fell on his face as a realisation hit him. "The Unknown!"
"Huh?"
"I was fighting two monsters called Unknown, but, uh, they beat me and got away! They'll still be on the hunt for humans!"
"Oh!" Godai smacked his forehead. "That's what Hongo heard…then I got here and all I saw was you…"
"Hongo?—ahh, later!" Shouichi grabbed Godai by the arm and dragged him back the way he'd originally come. "They're this way!"
Godai stumbled along to keep up at first, finally pushing Shouichi's hand off him and keeping pace. "How do you know? Can you sense them or—"
"Yeah!" Shouichi sensed the incoming barrage of follow-up questions. "Later, later! The first one's right by the riverbank up there!"
That's where Hongo is, Godai realised. I hope he's okay…these things were giving this kinda-Kuuga-like guy trouble, and he's strong…if I really had to fight him in Rising Mighty, I honestly don't know who'd win…
Driven to ever-greater sprinting speed by the sounds of battle they could hear from just beyond the hill obscuring this section of the bank, they crested it together, presented with the following scene:
Ashihara Ryou, looking like he'd been dragged through half the river, half-sitting by the bank and panting.
One of the bird Unknown, rolling uncontrollably into the river as if flung there by some great force.
Kamen Rider #1, taking a couple steps back for a longer run-up before launching himself at the downed monster.
"Hongo!" Godai called.
"Ashihara!" Shouichi called.
"Rider Kick!" Hongo yelled, drowning them both out as he shot down out of the air, landing a direct hit on the Unknown, the angle of attack just right to skim it all the way across the flooded river, where it exploded, far enough away to leave them all unharmed.
"And what's tha—" Shouichi began.
"Later!" Godai echoed, giving a teasing wink and pat on the shoulder. "Let's get after the other one." The pair quickly delivered info-dumps to their respective friends as they ran past.
"Hi Mr. Hongo, there's a second monster, this guy can sense them, he transforms and stuff too, follow us!"
"Hey Ashihara! Gotta go after the other Unknown, I'll be back for you, hang in there!"
This left Ryou considerably more in the dark than anyone else, as the other three ran off back towards town, leaving him alone in the rain. "What…? And who the hell were…Tsugami!"
Hongo had reverted to normal as they'd got back to civilisation, and now Cyclone and BeatChaser streaked along the quiet evening streets towards where Shouichi could still detect the second Unknown.
"Hey, is this okay?" Shouichi protested, perched on the back of Hongo's bike and holding on for dear life. "I've got a bike too!"
"And where is it?" Hongo asked evenly.
"Uh…well…" Shouichi looked away, mumbling, "I forgot."
"I see."
"Hey, look, I really do—there!" He pointed to an underground car park.
"Your bike?"
"The Unknown!"
They cruised in, slowing down as they squinted to catch sight of any movement in the darkness between the rows upon rows of silent cars.
Then one car was shredded completely in half, the Unknown they'd been chasing tearing right through the middle, landing in a crumpled heap right in their path. From behind a pillar came rhythmic, regular footsteps.
"Another friend of yours?" Shouichi 'whispered'—though he was so bad at lowering his voice it barely qualified as such.
Godai shook his head, as did Hongo. Ichimonji isn't even back in the country yet…so who…
The figure that emerged into the glare of their headlights, stalking towards the Unknown was…Agito.
Gold armour, two-horned crest atop its head, transformation belt—exactly identical to the form Shouichi took when he changed. His jaw dropped. Who…?!
Apparently this Agito had already dealt a great deal of damage to the Unknown: Just then, the monster gave a piercing screech, a ghostly halo swirling into view above its head. With a final spasm as its life give out, it slumped to the floor, the resulting explosion stopping just barely short of the two bikes. Hongo flung both arms around his younger companions to shield them from the shockwave with his mechanically-enhanced body.
As soon as he could, Shouichi tore himself away, running up to the victorious Agito, who was already turning to depart.
"Hey!" He called. "Hey!" He made it up to them, shaking them by the shoulder. "Who are you? Look," he started gushing, "I'm like you, so don't you think it'd be great if we could sit down and talk, maybe over tea—"
The Agito's belt blinked, and their transformed body began to fade, slowly but surely revealing the human underneath.
"…what…?" His hand fell as he recognised her face. "…but…you're…" Who? I still don't remember my past, but I feel like…I…know her…?
She stared at him with blank, unfeeling eyes for a second, then turned on her heel and kept walking.
Godai and Hongo caught up to him, joining him in gazing after the departing woman. "You know her?" Godai asked.
"My…sister…" Shouichi whispered. Suddenly he lunged a step forwards, hand reaching out as if to grasp her across the already-great distance between them, yelling, "Yukina!"
I'm actually not sure how long this arc will be, other than 'probably a bit longer than the Kuuga arc'.
