Arc 1 - Worlds Apart
Chapter 06: A God Descends
Foundation X Temple
"Another temple," muttered Yamato as he and Hase appeared out of the portal, pushing the door open to reveal a grand hall identical to the one they'd just left, "That's three worlds in a rows."
"These Foundation X guys have got some serious issues," replied Hase as he walked into the hall, looking around, "At least the two things are close together, just hop from one to another."
Yamato's stomach suddenly growled, startling both him and Hase.
"Maybe we should get some food while we're in this world," suggested Yamato.
Hase nodded, "Yeah, I'm starving, I can't remember the last time I ate proper food, probably not since before I became an Inves."
"How long's that?" asked Yamato as he and Hase crossed the hall, pushing the doors to the outside world.
"Few years," replied Hase, frowning, "At least, I think, my memories of being a-"
"Hase, we've got a problem!" interrupted Yamato, pointing up a black smudge in the sky, getting larger and larger as it got closer.
Hase paled, "Is that a?"
"Yep," breathed Yamato, "RUN!"
Racing forwards, Hase quickly passed Yamato, his Inves side allowing him to outpace even Yamato's cybernetically enhanced speed.
Drawing his Crystal FullBottle, Yamato shook it desperately, his Rabbit super-speed kicking, instantly catching up to Hase and tackling him, sending them both rocketing away from the temple.
The missile smashed into the temple, the explosion engulfing the building.
Shaking his FullBottle, Yamato summoned the diamond hardness just as he hit the ground, rolling over and over until he came to a halt.
Attempting to shield himself with his arms, Hase watched in surprise as vines grew around him like a cocoon, cushioning him as he smashed into the ground, leaves flying everywhere.
Slowly pushing himself watched as debris rained down on the them, a chunk of rubble striking him in the temple, knocking Hase unconscious.
Grabbing a large section of wall Yamato clambered to his feet, hobbling over to where Hase's unconscious form laid, turning to watch as a portal opened in the ruins of the temple, Onyx with three soldiers behind him exiting from it.
Glancing at the broken remains of the two temple portals, Yamato grabbed Hase and slung him over his shoulder, making his escape before Onyx could realise they'd survived the explosion.
Cyber Rescue
Sighing, Kuroto Dan span around in his chair, a gold Gashat sticking out of an adaptor connected to his laptop.
"Two years," murmured Kuroto, "Two years trapped in this world, trying to make a Gashat to rival Kamen Rider Chronicle."
A sudden beeping from his laptop surprised Kuroto, who quickly sat forward and span to face the screen.
Kuroto grinned manically, "Foundation X have returned, now I can escape from this pathetic world."
Standing, Kuroto grabbed his Gamer Driver and both his Gashats, heading for the exit.
Foundation X Temple
"They escaped again," growled Onyx, seething as he stood among the rubble, staring at the remains of the two portals, "At least we've trapped them here."
A portal flared into life, man stepping out, the same one Yamato had injured in his rage before he escaped, arm in a sling. He was flanked by a woman with dark hair, a bored look on her face.
"Dr. Tachibana," spoke Onyx, calming his temper as he turned to face the man, "For what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Your mission to eradicate Takahashi has got an increase in resources," replied Dr. Tachibana, a cold smile on his face.
"Who authorised it?" questioned Onyx, walking closer to Dr. Tachibana.
"I did," spoke Dr. Tachibana, "In return, you make sure to capture the Inves hybrid, don't worry, you can still kill Takahashi."
"That can be done," nodded Onyx.
"Excellent," grinned Tachibana, his eyes glinting, "Elena, give them the case."
Stepping forward, Tachibana's guard held out a case, allowing Onyx to take it. Resting the case on a larger piece of rubble, Onyx opened it to reveal an array of items.
"That is an upgrade to your Onyx Breaker, the Transteam Breaker, lighter, fast and more deadly," explained Tachibana as Onyx picked an axe identical to his own, the main difference was red, yellow and green piping going from the plastic barrel to the FullBottle slots.
Rotating the axe, Onyx frowned at the writing on the handle, "Kamen Rider Noir?"
"Well you could keep calling yourself Onyx now could you?" queried Tachibana, "It was embarrassing, for all of us."
Onyx frowned, "I like it."
"Euax! It also allows you to use any FullBottle now, instead of only the Onyx FullBottle," continued Tachibana, "I've also included two more FullBottles for you to use, as well a few Chronicle Gashats for your heavies."
Reaching into the case, Onyx drew two FullBottles, one brown and the other pink.
"Vale, Ito," spoke Tachibana, turning around and re-entering the portal, Elena following him.
Onyx started slightly, no one had called him his true name since before he'd joined Foundation X, he'd been so naive back then.
"Pretentious bastard," muttered Onyx, "Always spouting Latin to sound smarter."
Shinjuku City, Tokyo
Hansei, in CrystalPython Form, slowly lowered Hase's unconscious body to the ground, propping him up against the wall, allowing himself to get his breath back.
From the moment he'd got away from the temple, they'd been plague by what he could only call zombies. They had normal human bodies with strange orange chicken heads, shambling around.
"Get away from him, X-Rider!" called a manic voice, Hansei turning to see another rider, a green and pink belt on his waist, his suit black and white, themed after a zombie as well.
"I'm not an X-Rider," retorted Hansei, "I'm sick of people think I am."
"You can't trick me, Onyx," hissed Genm, stalking towards Hansei, "A new suit won't fool me!"
Hansei sighed, "This is getting real old."
Before Hansei could react, Genm charged at him, swinging his fist, the Bugvisor Zwei strapped to it.
Stumbling back, Hansei clutched his shoulder, summoning his Sonic Arrow as he straightened up. Pulling back the handle, Hansei built up the charge and released it at Genm, hitting him square in the chest.
"Not like this!" cried Genm as his body dissolved into pixels and vanished.
Hansei backed away, the Sonic Arrow dropping from his hand, he'd just killed someone.
"I tricked you!" yelled Genm as he appeared out of a purple warp pipe, tackling Hansei.
Hitting the ground, Hansei kicked Genm off him, looking down in shock as his suit vanished, leaving him defenceless.
"Looking for these?" asked Genm, holding up his hand to show Yamato's Crystal and Python FullBottles.
"How?" grunted Yamato as he used the wall to push himself up.
"Simple, I am the Game Master," replied Genm, shutting his Driver and pulling out his Gashats, "Now you're not Onyx."
"Really, what tipped you off?" snarked Yamato, "Was it the part where I said I wasn't an X-Rider?"
"Hmm, you aren't an X-Rider are you?" mused Kuroto, resting his chin on his hand as Yamato sighed, "Then how did you end up here?"
"We came through the portal system, from one world to the next," replied Yamato, "Foundation X wants to kill us."
"Let me guess, that explosion this morning was you two?"
"Foundation X trying to blow us up," answered Yamato, "They blew up both the portals out of here."
Kuroto sighed, "That is unfortunate, but I have a plan that will benefit us both."
Cyber Rescue
Kuroto sat in his desk chair, slowly spinning in his seat as he computer beeped.
"You! What you want?" barked Onyx as he appeared on the screen.
Smiling and turning to face the screen, Kuroto spoke, "I believe I have something you want."
Onyx frowned, "We've had this conversion before, last time the Foundation had business here, we are not in need of a scientist with a god complex as dangerous as yours."
"I am the Game Master," sneered Kuroto, before smiling again, "And actually I had some thing different.
Wheeling to one side, Onyx's eyes widened at the sight of Yamato and Hase, gagged and tied up back-to-back, the latter still unconscious.
"Now you have my interest," spoke Onyx, "Name your price."
"The Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat that Foundation X took from my father when they killed him last year," answered Kuroto, "The Tsukuba Center, one hour."
Spinning around in his chair, Kuroto shut off the computer, "Exactly as planned."
"Good, I starting to get sore," murmured Yamato as he spat his gag out and allowed the ropes around him and Hase go loose.
"My neck," moaned Hase, rubbing it as he stood up, "Are you sure this going to work?"
Kuroto sighed, "Why does everyone keep forgetting that I'm the Game Ma-"
"Master," finished Hase, "We know, you keep mentioning it every other sentence."
Kuroto frowned, "Anyway, I finished the copies of your Drivers, but I did find some interesting files on the Alpha Driver."
"I'm going to get some food," spoke Hase, turning and leaving.
Kuroto raised an eyebrow before speaking, "These files are extraordinary, whoever created these blueprints is an utter genius, the merging of physics and biology is incred-"
"Why are you so different?" questioned Yamato, interrupting Kuroto, "I had ARI, my AI, search her database, she had a file on you, it described you as an utter raving madman, but that's not who I see in front of me, why?"
"Two years, two years since my father father caused the end of the world, turned everyone into Bugster," explained Kuroto, "And then when I had my father dead to rights, Foundation X showed up, killed him, took his Gashat and left."
Kuroto sighed and glanced over at a red leather jacket hung over chair, a layer of dust covering it.
"That's why I'm different."
"Well I'm not going to complain, but I know terrible being alone can be," smiled Yamato, turning to leave, "What to get some food before we head out?"
"I'm a bugster, I don't need to eat," replied Kuroto, Yamato nodding and walking out the door.
Standing, Kuroto shrugged off his battered suit jacket, allowing it to drop to the floor and approached Kiriya's jacket, untouched since the day he'd been turned into a mindless Bugster.
Shaking the jacket out, Kuroto pulled it on over his white t-shirt, "I will be a hero in your stead."
Turning, Kuroto grabbed the gold Dual Gashat from his computer and hurried after Yamato, "Wait up!"
Tsukuba Center, One hour later…
Onyx strode down the stairs of the square, flanked by his soldiers, a small case in one hand.
"You came," smiled Kuroto, dressed in his suit jacket, holding a case himself, Yamato and Hase gagged and bound on the ground behind him, both staying perfectly still.
"I'm a man of my word," replied Onyx, holding out the small case to Kuroto, "I have what you asked for."
Dropping his large case down in front of Onyx, Kuroto grabbed the smaller case, tearing it open and pulling out the Master Gashat, tossing the case aside.
Laughing, Kuroto strapped the Bugvisor Zwei to his waist, inserting the Master Gashat. Suddenly, Kuroto began to convulse, black pixels glitching all over his body as he collapsed to his knees.
"I gave you the Master Gashat, we never agreed I wouldn't have a virus inserted into it," spoke Onyx, leaning down and opening the second case, revealing the Alpha and Sengoku Drivers, FullBottles and Lockseeds next to them.
[CRYSTALPYTHON!]
[MATSUBOKKURI ARMS!]
Looking up, Onyx raised his eyebrows at sight of Hansei and Kurokage stood at either side of Kuroto, each holding their respective weapons, the PythonWhip and the Kagematsu.
"I should have known you be working together," sighed Onyx, drawing his Transteam Breaker, inserting his Onyx FullBottle as well as another brown bottle.
[ONYX!] [WEB!]
Raising his axe, Onyx brought it crashing down, cracking the pavement. A frame appeared in front of Onyx, creating both halves of his suit.
[BOTTLE FUSION!] [ONYXWEB!]
Holding his Transteam Breaker up, the suit encased Onyx, transforming him into Kamen Rider Noir. His suit was nearly identical to his Onyx Form, but the arms and collar were brown, the eyes of the suit a lighter brown and patterned like a spider's web.
"You protect Kuroto, I'll take Onyx," spoke Hansei, cracking his whip, spying a pink FullBottle in Noir's holster.
"Got it," replied Kurokage, pulling the Master Gashat out of Kuroto's Bugvisor Zwei.
Kuroto collapsed to the ground unconscious, like a puppet with its strings cut.
The three soldiers surrounded Kurokage, all intent on claiming the Master Gashat. All three each drew a Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat of their own, pressing the button.
"HENSHIN!"
A flash of light surrounded the three soldiers, transforming them into Ride-Players, however, a large white X was stenciled on the top of their helmets.
"Looks like I'm going to need a bit more power in my punches," spoke Kurokage, drawing a Lockseed and triggering it.
[KURUMI!]
Slamming the Lockseed in his Sengoku Driver and slicing the knife down in one fluid motion, Kurokage flung his arm out behind him.
[SOIYA! - KURUMI ARMS! MR. KNUCKLEMAN!]
The Kurumi Arms unfolded around Kurokage as he charged at the X-Players, swinging at them with his Kurumi Bombers.
"Neat trick," sneered Noir as he crushed the fake FullBottles in his fist, "Shame it didn't work out."
"Do you ever shut up?" retorted Hansei, lashing out with his whip, only for Noir to catch it with his hand, yanking it out of Hansei's grip.
"You truly are weak, Yamato," grunted Noir, wrapping the whip around Hansei's ankle and pulling, sending him rocketing towards Noir.
Calmly stepping to one side, Noir watched as Hansei face planted into the ground, sparks flying from the points his armour met the stone.
Rolling onto his back, Hansei sighed, "Just need to stall a little longer."
Pushing himself back to his feet, suit smoking, Hansei summoned his Sonic Arrow, inserting a strange looking Lockseed and aiming it at Noir, "A gift from the Game Master."
"Not gonna happen," barked Noir, using the stolen whip to wrench the Sonic Arrow from Hansei's grip.
Grabbing the Sonic Arrow out if the air, Noir aimed at Hansei, pulling back the handle.
Hansei grinned, "Checkmate."
A sudden whine came from the Lockseed inserted in the Sonic Arrow.
"What?" grunted Noir as he tried to drop the weapon, only to find his hands were stuck.
"Like he said," spoke a voice, "A gift from the Game Master, me!"
The Sonic Arrow suddenly exploded, engulfing Noir in flames, sending him backwards, landing on the ground as his transformation failed, the Web and the pink FullBottles skittering across the ground, stopping at Hansei's feet.
Kuroto strode into the plaza, Game Driver strapped to his waist, wearing Kiriya's red leather jacket.
"How?" spluttered Noir, looking over to where the unconscious Kuroto lay, watching as it suddenly glitched and revealed a generic Bugster.
"Neat trick with the Gashat," replied Kuroto, drawing the Gashat Gear Gold from his jacket, "Shame it didn't work out."
"Grade Final!"
[GAME MASTER] [ALL HAIL THE GOD!]
Slotting the Gashat into his Gamer Driver, Kuroto flicked the handle open as a translucent golden rectangle appearing in front of him, before sweeping over him.
[GACHAN!] [ALL RISE!] [MY WORD IS LAW! - GAME MASTER!]
A wave of pixels radiated out from Kuroto, the light fading to reveal a new rider form, similar to one of Para-DX's Lv. 50 forms. The undersuit was identical to Kuroto's Lv. 0 form, the stripes coloured gold.
The cauldrons were shaped like golden dice, dots coloured white. His helmet was near identical to his Lv. 0 form, the black sections coloured gold and the purple changed to black.
"I am Kamen Rider Dice!" announced Kuroto.
Noir growled, charging at Dice, who watching calmly, slowly reaching down and twisting the gear of his Gashat right.
[PAUSE!]
Everything froze, leaving just Dice able to move. Walking over to Noir, he lashed out with his DiSaber, sending the black Rider soaring backwards momentarily before freezing again.
"What do you think of the new Gashat?" questioned Dice, glancing towards Noir, "It took me a year, but I manage to replicate the Master Gashat you took from my father, with a few upgrades of course."
"Those affected by the pause are now aware during it, just unable to move," explained Dice, placing a hand on Hansei's shoulder, "I can also unfreeze anyone I want."
Hansei's shoulder slumped slightly as he found he could move again, "That was even worse than you said it would be."
"What a shame," quipped Dice, shrugging as he walked over an unfroze Kurokage.
"Hghnnnn," groaned Kurokage reflexively, "I rather die than have to go through that again."
"Haven't you died before?" questioned Hansei.
"Yeah, like five times by now," answered Kurokage, before bashing his Kurumi Bombers together, "Let's pound these guys."
Hansei glanced over at Kurokage, looking for some kind of reaction, before shrugging his shoulders after not finding one.
Hansei scooped up the fallen FullBottles from the ground and began to shake the Web FullBottle, before inserting it into his Alpha Driver.
[BALLOON!] [WEB!]
"Nice," cheered Hansei, grabbing the handle of his Driver and turning.
A brown armour half appeared to Hansei's left, sliding sideways, overlaying the Python Armour, a metallic brown spider appearing around his left forearm.
[ARE YOU READY?!]
Admiring his new form, Hansei examined the spider on his arm, noticing a trigger built into his palm.
"Woah."
"Indeed," spoke ARI, "This is the WebShot, a device that fires different kinds of webbing, from projectile to ensnaring."
"Neat, like Spiderman," cheered Hansei, "Give me a rope web."
The WebShot beeped, the lights of the eyes flashing. Aiming at one of the X-Players, Hansei shot, a white web hitting him in the chest.
Swinging him around, Hansei wrapped him up in the two other X-Players before webbing the three of them to Noir.
"Let's end this!" called Hansei as Kurokage and Dice took their places either side of him, the former of his left.
"SHOOTING BURST!" yelled Hansei, a barrage of small circular webs flying from the WebShot, detonating on impact with Noir and the X-Players.
[KURUMI AU LAIT!]
"Knuckle Crash!" announced Kurokage as he leapt into the air, walnut projection appearing around his fist as he came crashing down, strike Noir in the chest.
Sliding his Gashat out of his Driver, Dice inserted it into the DiSaber.
[GASHAT! KIMEWAZA!] [GAME MASTER, CRITICAL FINISH!]
Slashing his DiSaber, Noir and the X-Players were engulfed in golden fireball.
[RESTART!]
Hase rejoined Yamato and Kuroto as they all cancelled their transformations.
"The Master Gashat," spoke Hase as he handed it over to Kuroto, who slipped it into his jacket.
"Thank you," replied Kuroto, surprised to hear such genuine words come out of this mouth.
Turning to watch as a flames fades away, the saw the unconscious forms of the X-Players on the ground, their suits having failed.
"Onyx got away," growled Hase, "He's just going to keep attacking us."
"And we'll stop him," responded Yamato, rubbing his cybernetic arm with his organic hand, frowning.
"What's wrong?" questioned Hase.
"Nothing, still haven't got used to it," answered Yamato.
Foundation X Temple Ruins
"So you're Gashat we fit all this, restore the portals?" asked Yamato, a backpack filled with clothes and food he'd scrounged.
Hase had a tent hanging diagonally over his shoulder, Kagematsu slotted into its holster on his back.
"It'll do more than just that," explained Kuroto, holding the Gashat Gear Gold, "The Master Gashat only reversed the state of the Bugster virus and the Gashats, this will reverse time to the last save point."
Hase nodded, "Like a video game."
Kuroto rolled his eyes, "Everything I make is like a video game.
"Fair point."
"Thanks, Kuroto," spoke Yamato, "For all your help."
"Don't thank me yet, I've still got a couple of things to give you," replied Kuroto, resting a case down on a large piece of rubble and opening it.
Reaching in, Kuroto pulled out a sword, it had a black handle with a silver hilt, a button the side, a gauge on the top and slot for a FullBottle on the other side. A yellow strut came out of the hilt, two curved silver blades either side of it.
"Woah," grinned Yamato as he took it from Kuroto, giving it a few experimental swings, "This is awesome."
"It gets better," added Kuroto, pressing the button on side of hilt, the blades detaching from the hilt, spinning around and attaching to the two side of the end of the strut, forming a bow.
Yamato laughed, "Now this is a weapon I could get used to."
"I found the designs stored in your Driver," explained Kuroto, before taking two silver rectangles with circular gaps out of the case, "Hase, can I have your spear."
"Sure," replied Hase, drawing it and handing it over, watching as Kuroto attached one of the silver boxes at the end and one just below the blade.
Passing it back, Kuroto spoke, "Give it a throw."
Shrugging, Hase did as he was told, launching it like a javelin, watching in surprise as small jets fired out the silver boxes, the weapon turning around and returning to Hase, slowly to allow him to grab it out of the air.
"This is awesome," breathed Hase, swinging the Kagematsu around, finding it still perfectly balanced.
"You two had better be on your way," spoke Kuroto, holding up his Gashat, spinning the entire dial around twice.
[RESET!]
The three watched as the rubble around them leapt into the sky, reassembling the temple before them. Looking around him, Kuroto smiled as the street was suddenly filled by people going about their day, entirely unaware of the apocalypse that had just been undone.
"Thank you," spoke Yamato, holding out his hand.
"No, thank you," replied Kuroto, taking Yamato's hand, shaking, "Without you, the world would still be a living hell."
"Stop messing it about," sighed Hase, "The sooner we set off the the soon we get home."
"The mean the sooner you get to see Jonouchi again," retorted Yamato, turning to throw open the temple doors.
"Same difference," muttered Hase as he and Yamato entered the main hall.
"Goodbye," stated Yamato, waving at Kuroto, who watched as they crossed the main hall, entering one of the side rooms containing a portal.
Losing sight of Yamato and Hase, Kuroto reached up to touch his face. He was smiling, a genuine one, like the ones he faked before he'd revealed his true colours to CR, but he wasn't faking it now.
"I am still the Game Master!" announced Kuroto, his smile turning to a manic grin, assuring himself he was still a god, even if he was a benevolent one.