Fen: Aw man! Not again!
SD: *wakes up in shock again* Dude! What is it THIS time!?
Fen: I didn't update another story in two months! And its Kabuto this time!
SD: Aw, no! Good thing we completed this chapter then!
Souji: Obaachan ga iteita: There are two things a man must never do. One is to not make girls cry… The other is to not handle food so crudely!
SD: *narrows eyes at Tendou* …And that has to do with what we're talking about because…?
Souji: The first part involves the readers out there. Do not make the female fans cry because of your tardiness. And other pertains to Kurogasa. You must handle your love interest's food crudely when cooking it.
Kurogasa: Hey I cook well enough thank you very much!
SD: SHHHHHH! Guys! They haven't read it yet! They don't know about the food and love thing! And Souji, what about the MALE fans!? Aren't you concerned about how they feel!?
Souji: Hmph…
Fen: Geez, you really are an arrogant badass.
SD: Badass isn't the word I would use, but arrogant I agree with… *Regaining composure* A~~NYHOW… Welcome everyone to the latest chapter of "Kamen Rider Kabuto: Days of Ruin." We have quite an interesting chapter in store for you all.
Fen: That's right and it's gonna leave you at the edge of your seat! Well… maybe, maybe not, but who cares! It's gonna be awesome!
SD: Indeed it is, so let's waste no more, especially from… *Looks around for Tendou* …"Uninvited guests," shall we say?
Fen: Yeah, let's go right now!
Both: Henshin!
HENSHIN!
Both: Cast Off!
CAST OFF!
CHANGE: BEETLE/STAG BEETLE
Disclaimer: Same thing.
It's been about a week since we left Freehaven. We got all our people along with our vehicles out of there leaving the Mayor and the citizens of Freehaven behind. Not only that, we got a new doctor named Dr. Morris and and a few other citizens disguised as Native Worms. At first, our people were shocked that we had Worms with us, but the Natives were actually really harmless and want to be friends. It's all good, but it'll take some time to get used to. Also, we got ourselves a new ZECTer and Rider in the form of Drake and David "Deadeye" Stevens. The only bad thing is Deadeye teasing me about Lin. He just really gets on my nerves when it comes to her.
Speaking of, after we set up camp, I went over to Koji's tent to talk to him about my… problem. I poked my head in the tent and said, "Uh… you got a minute Koji?"
Koji had been cleaning his M–16, pieces of it scattered about as he sat on the floor, wiping down the barrel, his guitar sitting on the cot. Not looking up as he continued to work, he said, "Sure, buddy. What's up?"
"Uh…" I said coming in, looking really uncomfortable. "I uh… got a problem…"
"If it's the kind of problem I think it is from the sound of your voice," he replied as he moved on to another part, "I think Rika's the one you need. What happened? Are you sick or something?"
"No… It's not that…" I shook my head. "It's something I need your help with…"
Koji put the piece of his rifle down as he looked me, "My help? What exactly do you–?" He then paused as a knowing grin crossed his face. "Ahhhh… I see… Need help with, uh… your 'lady friend,' shall we say?"
"Dang it Koji, I'm serious here!" I gritted. "You know what? Never mind, I'm not even gonna bother!" I then turned to start walking away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy!" Koji said as he got up after me. "Relax, Kurogasa, I know you are! Geez, I was trying to calm you down! Don't take everything so seriously, sheesh!" He then led me back into the tent. "Okay… so you want to talk about Lieutenant Lin, yes?"
"Yeah…" I sighed, as we sat down.
"So what's up?" Koji asked.
"Well…" I began, being hesitant before adding, "…it's like this."
I then started explaining everything that happened during our escape from ZECT and the conversation that Lin and I had. I never missed any detail and Koji listened intently to every word I said. When I finished…
"Wow man…" Koji said.
"Yeah… I don't know what the heck I'm doing…" I sighed.
Koji sighed as he leaned his head back against the cot. "I have to admit, aibou, this one's a little different for me than other times you've come to me for girl advice in the past since Lin's one of my two commanding officers. But, I'll see what I can do…" He was silent for a moment, closing his eyes in thought. "Alright, first thing's first: never, and I mean never, treat LT like a damsel in distress. She fought very hard to get to where she is right now. I mean, she is only a first lieutenant in the army and she is already the executive officer of a battalion."
"Yeah, I already got a scolding from Lin at that…" I muttered.
Koji smiled with a sympathetic chuckle as he said, "Yeah, she can be a real hardass. Adding to that and what I said before, your best bet if you really want to try and get anywhere with her or date her: show her you respect her as a soldier and a fellow warrior. You show her that you see her as an equal and not as someone you need to be constantly looking after because she's a woman or something, she'll be more open with you."
"Ok…" I nodded, "Anything else?"
"Hmmm..." Koji said, thoughtfully, stroking his chin. He then snapped his fingers. "Oh! Here's something... If you want to think of ways to bond with her, and this might sound strange, try something like asking if she wants to do some practice shooting at the gun range."
"Shooting at the gun range…" I deadpanned with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, like I said, it's strange," Koji said. "Oh! Here's something else. Since cooking is your thing, she has a thing for burgers and fries, so go for that."
"Burgers and… fries…?" I blinked, really surprised. Is he serious? Lin, who looks lean and curvy in the right places, has a thing for burgers and fries? I find that really hard to believe!
Koji just nodded his head. "Mhmm… Trust me on this. And one last thing," He then grabbed my collar and pulled me close to his face, giving me a hard stare straight in the eyes, "Do, not, tell, her, I, told, you, any, of, this. Clear? If she heard one of her subordinates were doing something like this… I don't even want to know what she might do to me…"
"U–Uh… right…" I gulped nervously. Man, this better work Koji.
(Cue Theme D–Technolife by UVERworld)
(Ienai itami kanashimi de kizutsuita kimi yo) The scenery is a barren wasteland, with a sky that blotted out the sun. The camera pans slowly to the right as Kurogasa, with his back facing the camera, looks at the barren wasteland on top of a cliff.
(Kesenai kako mo seoiatteikou ikiru koto o nagedasanai de) The camera then suddenly changes to a close up of Kurogasa's face before it went around his head, the camera's view being blocked momentarily when it reached the back of his head and when the camera finally circles to the side of his face, it showed Kurogasa as Kamen Rider Kabuto, before panning out showing him in his full armor. Looking up at the sky, a ray of light suddenly burst through the clouds shining on Kabuto before the screen goes white.
([WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH] tsunaida kimi no te o) The title Kamen Rider Kabuto: Days of Ruin appears on the screen and just before the song enters the next phrase, the ZECTers flew, crawled, and hopped around the title from behind and jumped towards the screen before changing to the next scene.
(Itsuka ushinatte shimau no kana) Koji sits on the edge of his bed, sadly looking at his guitar on one side, his rifle on the other, as Gatack flew up and lands on his shoulder.
(Usurete yuku egao to kimi wo mamoritai kara) Rika was in the medical wing of the base, sighing and wiping sweat off her brow as she tries to organize her medical supplies, Sasword crawling around on a table while Brenner, Lin, Isabella, and Will were discussing plans for their next move.
(Hibiku~ boku wo yobu koe sae kare) Kurogasa was cooking and Kabuto watched on his shoulder before Kurogasa noticed something from afar on the horizon.
(Toki ni sou kaze ni kakikesaretatte) Drake and TheBee fly past him as we see what Kurogasa was looking out: a swarm of Salis Worms flanking Dr. Caulder with Admiral Greyfield, Waylon, showing up one end of the battlefield along with Tasha and Gage on another end and they sending out their troops alerting the 12th Platoon.
(Kimi wo mitsu–ke–da–su) Kurogasa grabs Kabuto and transforms into Kamen Rider Kabuto, before casting off his armor and charging towards Dr. Caulder.
(Ienai itami kanashimi de kizutsuita kimi mou) Dr. Caulder snaps his fingers and Kamen Rider Punch and Kick Hopper appeared out of nowhere and jumped towards Kabuto for an attack only for the latter to dodge before going to attack them.
(Waraenai nante, hito kirai nante kotoba sou iwanaide) Koji transforms into Kamen Rider Gatack and leads the Tech Platoon with their heavy weapons attacking some of the Salis Worms as Brenner transforms into Kamen Rider TheBee and he, Lin, and Will attack the rest of the forces.
(Mienai mirai ni okoru koto subete ni imi ga aru kara) Rika and David "Deadeye" Stevens transforms into Kamen Rider Sasword and Kamen Rider Drake respectively and attack some of the Salis Worms.
(Ima wa sono mama de ii, kitto kizukeru toki ga kuru darou [WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH]) As Kurogasa battles Punch Hopper and Kick Hopper, Caulder surprisingly joins in and transforms into Kamen Rider Caucasus, going to punch Kurogasa, only for the latter to dodge and he and Caluder stared each other down.
(You and Me, two have spoken.) The Hyper ZECTer appears from the distortion of time and Kurogasa grabs it to become Hyper Kabuto.
([WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH] Itsuka wakariaeru kara) Kurogasa then grabs the Perfect ZECTer and he and Caucasus leap at each other, their attack causing a huge flash of light. When the light fades, we see Kurogasa, Koji, Rika, Brenner, Will, Lin, Isabella, Tasha, Gage, and Stauffenburg looking out into the sunset, the ZECTers with them as well before the song ends.
Chapter 6: Fear Experiment
After Koji explained everything to me about how best to deal with my situation with Lin, we left the tent and found Dr. Morris, Capt. Brenner, Lt. Lin, Will, Deadeye, Rika, and Dr. Stauffenburg all sitting about in the conference room talking.
"Before all this, I worked as a medical researcher. My days were spent running small rats through large mazes." Dr. Morris began. "When the world was destroyed, I dug out of my ruined lab and made my way here. There were so many sick and injured people… I just did what I could. And I didn't even run them through a maze! Oh ho! Oh ho ho ho ho ho,"
And yet his jokes are still terrible as evident in the silence from everyone…
"Laughter is good for you, you know. You should try it sometime." Dr. Morris said.
"Um… Heh…?" Will tried, but failed.
Stevens rolled his eyes as he sat back in his chair, putting his feet up on the conference table. "I'm sure it is good for us, but that doesn't do us much good if we can't laugh."
"You know Dr. Morris, you remind me a bit of Captain Brenner." Will said. "I was near death when he found me. He saved my life. It's good that there are still people like you and him in this world."
"…Yes, but my sense of humor still works…" Brenner sighed.
"Well you shouldn't make me out to be some kind of hero, Will. I was a selfish man." Dr. Morris said. "I entered medicine to satisfy my curiosity, not help people. I'd never even seen a patient before the meteors struck. I guess such situations teach you what really matters, eh, Captain?"
"I know what you mean."
At that moment, I then said, "I agree with you guys. After all this with the meteor shower and becoming Kabuto, it's really put things in perspective for me as well."
Dr. Stauffenburg nodded in agreement. "Same here with me. Prior to this, I thought I was doing the right thing with ZECT, but you guys have shown me the better way of helping the world."
"But I fear we have other, more pressing issues to discuss." Dr. Morris said. "With your people and my people combined, we have several hundred mouths to feed. However, our supplies are running lower than a snake in a wheel rut!"
"A shortage of food is hardly a joking matter, Doctor." Brenner said.
"Huh? Did I make a joke?" Dr. Morris asked confused, before shaking his head. "Anyway, I think I know how to solve our little problem. But I will need your help…"
"How can we help?" Will questioned.
"Tell me, my boy, do you know why it is dinosaurs became extinct?"
Rika looked to Dr. Morris in confusion. "Why dinosaurs went extinct? …Are you talking about the meteor theory?"
"Oh ho, right you are!" Dr. Morris smiled. "The theory states a meteor struck the planet millions of years ago. The impact caused mega tsunamis upward of 300 feet in height to sweep the globe. The shock waves spawn earthquakes reaching 12.0 and 13.0 on the Richter scale. Pieces of the meteor ignited global wildfires, causing enormous devastation… Dinosaurs, without the benefit of fireproof surfboards, were ill equipped to survive."
"Fireproof surfboards? Whatever." Lin scoffed. "The point is, most dinosaurs perished. One day they ruled the world, and the next, they were a few pages in our history books."
"But we survived our meteors." Will pointed out.
"So we did, so we did." Dr. Morris nodded. "Cockroaches aren't nature's only durable creature, are they? Three cheers for mankind and for much smaller meteors too, Ho ho!"
"Can we move this along, Doc? What is it you want to tell us?" Brenner sighed.
"Yes, of course. Meteors… dinosaurs… cockroaches… Oh yes! The clouds of ash! That's it." Dr. Morris remembered. "The ash blocks out the sun, which of course means that plant life withers and dies. Some may say the fate of the dinosaurs was sealed by similar sunlight–blocking clouds."
"So you're saying we're going to share their fate? Is that it?" Stevens asked.
"No need to panic." Dr. Morris assured. "Unlike the luckless dinosaurs, we possess knowledge and science. If we can get the automated crop factory running, we'll have as much grain as we want."
"Automated… what?" Koji asked.
"In other words, we get this crop factory working we can make food all we want and I'd have a field day cooking up a feast." I translated.
"And he couldn't have just said that?" Koji asked with a groan, rubbing his temples.
"He's a scientist. Whaddya expect…?" I deadpanned with a sweat drop."
"In any case," Dr. Morris interrupted. "We won't be able to sustain a population of millions, but we'll be able to feed all of us here. I trust that was clear enough. Oh, but there is one thing I worry about…"
"What's that, Dr. Morris?" Will asked.
"Hmm, I wonder…" Dr. Morris pondered. "Yes. Let me ask you a question, young man. Do you believe in evil… the kind that revels in the destruction of the world and of mankind with it… the kind of evil that thrives on the pain, suffering, and sorrow of innocents?"
Will looked at Morris like he had a million heads. "Uh… What are you talking about?"
"Sounds to me like he is talking about some kind of sadist," Koji said, eyeing the doctor with suspicious curiosity.
"Oh, I'm just thinking out loud. Pay me no mind at all." Dr. Morris laughed. "I've actually forgotten what it is I asked you, ho ho!"
We all looked at Dr. Morris in huge confusion.
Once we finished learning about the automated crop factory from the doctor, we all went to go and gather our gear for the mission to the place. As we did, I noticed Lin and nervously wondered if I should go talk to her.
"Penny for your thoughts, pal?" Koji asked as he approached.
"Huh?" I said a bit startled.
Chuckling, Koji wrapped his arm around my shoulder and asked, "You wondering about talking to her? Trying to patch things up from yesterday?"
"Am I really that obvious?" I sighed.
Koji nodded, "Even more than you think."
"Dang it…" I sighed again. "I don't know what to do man… I want to patch things up, but I don't know what to say."
Patting my back, Koji said, "Just say whatever is the first thing that comes to your head. You know how you feel now you just need to find the words for them."
"Easier said than done…"
*BAM!*
I grunted, "OOMF!" as Koji pushed me towards Lin.
"Good luck," he said with a smirk.
Dang it Koji… one of these days, I'm gonna… ooooooooooooooooooh… I looked to Lin and gulped, steeling myself before I approached her, "U–Uh, hey Lin, you got a minute?"
Lin gave me a confused look as she slung her gear pack on her back. "Um… Suuuuure…?"
I looked really uncomfortable as I rubbed the back of my head, "Um… about that conversation we had the other day about what happened at ZECT, I… uh… is there any way I can make it up to you?"
Her head tilted to the side as she looked even more confused, "Wha–What?"
I sighed and took a few deep breaths. Okay, let's try this again… "I… I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't respect you or was being overprotective when we escaped the ZECT base the other day. I honestly respect you a great deal, and if you'd let me, I would like the chance to make it up to you at some point…" Hmm… that didn't sound too bad.
"I… see…" Lin said as she thought about it for a while. "Hmm… well I suppose there's one thing you could do."
"What's that?" I asked.
Lin looked to left and right before motioning me to come in closer so she could whisper in my ear. I did so and she whispered, "Don't tell anyone this, but… I have a thing for burger and fries. Cook up a really good burger and a batch of fries and we'll call it even."
I smiled. Koji, you are a romantic genius. "You got it."
When I walked back towards him, Koji gave me a smug smirk. "So… how did it go?"
"Dude, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but you are a genius," I chuckled.
My friend grinned as he overdramatically took a few bows. "Thank you, thank you. You're too kind, thank you." He then wrapped an arm around me saying, "So what did she say?"
I blushed slightly as I scratched my cheek and said, "She said if I cooked up a burger and fries for her, she'd call it even."
"See? I told you she has a thing for that!" Koji grinned widely.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were right…" I waved off as I pushed away from him. "Now come on, don't we have a mission to prepare for?"
"Yeah, let's go." Koji nodded.
So with that the civilians and Brenner's Wolves marched towards the automated crop factory with Dr. Morris leading the way. It was an hour drive from our current position and by the time we arrived, we saw the automated crop factory ahead of us. After we all got out of our vehicles, Brenner had some soldiers set up a perimeter, while Dr. Morris, Captain Brenner, and I along with a few escort soldiers went into the factory to check out the condition. I had to come along, because since I'm chef, I have to make sure that food this factory is gonna make is edible and cookable.
The main unit of soldiers that came along was unsurprisingly, Koji's Tech Platoon. Being combat engineers, they were the best choice to work on the equipment. As Koji jokingly put it, "To know how to blow things up, we gotta know how to put them together, first!" Stevens then brought along a few of his men from Sniper Platoon to serve as the escorts inside the facility.
"Alright, we're here. Now where are the main controls?" I wondered, looking around.
Dr. Morris pointed down the hallway to his right. "If I remember correctly, it's down this way. Second door on the right is an emergency elevator. We take it up four floors and there it is."
"Works with me," Brenner said, going to the said door. He then looked to Koji and said, "Staff Sergeant, have the doctor show you to the generator for this place, make sure it's still up and running. If there's any damage to it, see what you can do about fixing it up."
"You got it boss." Koji said with a two-finger salute. "Doctor, if you please,"
The doctor nodded as he replied. "Of course, follow me."
As the two went off to another part of the factory, Brenner, Stevens, and I took the emergency elevator, going up four floors. We exited the elevator and entered the hallway leading to the control center. The place was pretty dark, only having a few red lights lighting the place. "…Anyone else feel like we're walking in a horror movie?" Stevens asked with a skeptical look.
"Stay on guard." Brenner said, pulling out his 9MM pistol with me pulling out my Kunai Gun.
Stevens had his BR55 battle rifle at the ready as well, him taking point with the other Sniper Platoon soldiers flanking us. "If you see anything moving in this place that isn't part of our unit, I recommend assuming it's hostile."
"Yes sir." The Sniper Platoon responded.
"Man, night vision goggles would be helpful right about now." I said.
Stevens smirked as he said, "That's the advantage of having 20/10 vision: natural night vision."
"Okay, what are you seeing right now?" I asked.
"Nothing right now," Stevens replied as we reached the door.
"Alright, everyone," Brenner said, looking to the whole group, "We don't know what's on the other side of this door. The moment we bust in the room, clear the room immediately to make sure we're safe."
"Yes sir." We all nodded.
The group then got into position as Brenner held the door handle, "Okay… 1… 2… 3!"
Brenner quickly opened the door and everyone moved in quickly inside.
"CLEAR!"
"CLEAR!"
"CLEAR!"
"And clear…"
The place was empty. No one was in the room except for us, and the only noises in the room, aside from our breathing at that point was the beeping of the consoles.
"Phew…" I sighed in relief. "That had me going for a minute."
"Keep your eyes open still," Brenner said as he lowered his gun. "We might be safe now, but that might change. Alright, you guys check the system of these consoles." Then, he grabbed his radio and said, "Tech Lead, what's your status in the generator room?"
["We're good to go sir! We're ready to fire this baby up!"] Koji said from his end.
"Got it, good work, Sergeant Shinamori," Brenner complimented before looking over his shoulder. "Kurogasa, Sergeant Stevens, are we ready to fire this place up?"
"Ready," Stevens and I nodded.
Brenner nodded as he put his radio back on his belt. Approaching us, he said, "Guess now is when we see if this is what we hope it is." Taking a deep breath, he then pressed a button that seemed to be the primary control switch. Immediately, lights began to flicker on as the sounds of gears, cogs, and machinery all starting up began to be heard throughout the factory.
"Alright, it's up and running," Stevens nodded.
"Yeah…" I said as the control room lights on the ceiling flickered on, and when it did, I looked to the corner and saw… two dead bodies?! I yelled in surprise, "AHHHHH!"
Everyone jumped, most of the Sniper Platoon soldiers raising their rifles immediately, "What, What!?" Deadeye shouted as he looked in my direction.
"Two corpses…?" Brenner asked in a stunned whisper as he approached. "What the heck happened here?"
Frankly, I was too busy panting and trying to calm my nerves down.
"Look," one of the soldiers said, pointing to one of the corpses, holding a sort of tape recorder.
Stevens grabbed the tape and showed it to Brenner. "Shall we see if dead men truly tell no tales, Captain?"
"Play it," Brenner said. Stevens nodded and pressed the play button.
[*BZZZZT, BZZZZT, BZZZZT* It's been *BZZZZT* days since the meteors hit. I'm surprised this automated crop factory is still working."] The voice in the recording said.
"So the factory was still working after the meteor shower," I mused as we watched the tape. "If the meteors didn't take it down, though, what caused it to shut down?"
[*BZZZZT* "Hopefully, we can keep this factory up and running for a while longer at least until help arrives, but I don't how long that's going to– *BANG! BANG!* "What was that?!" *BANG!* "W–What the– What are you?! NO! NO! Get away from me! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH– *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*]
Everyone moved a little closer to the screen, all their eyes locked on the screen. "Can anyone see what killed him?" Brenner asked frantically.
"No, the feed's too damaged." Stevens shook his head.
"Great…" Brenner sighed. Looking to me, he then asked, "What do you think? Do you think it might have been a Worm?"
"Possibly," I said. "The Worms did come to Earth via meteors after all."
Stevens scratched the side of his head in thought. "Any chance it could have been marauders like the Beast?"
"That's possible too." Brenner pondered. "But given that recording, I don't think it was."
"There's the chance that whatever did this might still be here," I then said in sudden and fearful realization.
Brenner's eyes widened as he realized I could be right. "We need to contact Tech Platoon and let them know to be on the lookout."
"I'm on it." Stevens said before putting his radio close to his mouth, "Tech Platoon, this is Sniper Platoon Leader, be on alert. We have a possible hostile in the area. It's most likely a Worm. I repeat, be on alert. We have a possible hostile in the area. It's most likely a Worm."
["Sniper Leader, this is Tech Leader,"] Koji replied, ["Acknowledged previous message. We will– "*BZZZZT!*]
"Tech Leader, repeat. Come in Tech Leader!" Stevens said, but it was no use. "Great… we're cut off."
That got me worried. "If there's a Worm out there, we should regroup with Koji's men and then go look for it."
"Then let's get going." Brenner nodded before he, the entire group and I left the control room.
Unbeknownst to the group, after leaving, one of the corpses… suddenly moved and stood up, and… it changed into a Salis Worm! Looking around, the Worm grumbled before hoping through a hole in the window to the lower level of the factory.
Koji and Tech Platoon were busy repairing some of the extra equipment in the generator room when we arrived. "Hey, guys," Koji said with a wave as his men worked. "What are you guys doing down here?"
"Well…" I began. "We got the controls up and running, but…"
"But what…?" Koji asked, glancing at me, Brenner, and Stevens. "Is something going on here?"
"We found two dead bodies in the control room." Brenner said.
"What?" Koji gasped.
"And here's proof of that." Stevens said handing Koji the recorder.
Confused, Koji said after watching, "What happened? What killed them?"
"It's possible that Worm is around here." Brenner said. "That's why Stevens radioed you the warning, before we got cut off."
"Speaking of which," I said in deep thought, "Do we know WHAT cut off the transmission?"
"I'm not sure." Stevens shook his head.
"Oh no," The three ZECTers then suddenly shouted.
"What? What is it?!" I asked frantically.
Kabuto looked to me as he said worriedly, "We're detecting a Worm in the facility!"
"Are you serious?!" Koji asked shocked.
Just then, Brenner's radio suddenly turned on. ["Captain Brenner, this is Lin, do you read?"] Lin's voice said.
Grabbing his radio, Brenner raised it to his mouth as he said, "Brenner here. What's your sitrep, Lieutenant?"
["We have unidentified units in the field, sir. They're ignoring all communications and are advancing towards our position."]
That wasn't good. Brenner, clearly becoming apprehensive, asked, "You think it's our old friend, the Beast?"
["No, it's not the Beast. We're looking at a possible new faction."]
All of us were certainly surprised by that. "Any chance it could be ZECT?"
["No, not even ZECT."]
"Then who the heck is it?!" I asked incredulously.
["That's just it,"] Lin replied in frustration, ["We don't know. We're still trying to figure that out."]
Well that's just great, we got an entirely new faction we don't about, plus we got the Worm in the facility.
"What do we do Captain?" Stevens asked.
Brenner was silent for a few moments before saying, "Sergeant Shinamori, we have this place up and running, yes?"
"Yes, sir," Koji said with a nod.
"Alright, we'll leave a few men here to protect the generator. I'll take the rest of the men to go support Lin. Kurogasa, Sergeant Stevens, you two go find that Worm."
"Yes sir." I nodded.
"You got it boss." Stevens said. "Drake, let's go."
With a flip in the air, Drake landed on Stevens' shoulder as he said, "Right-o! Let's do it!"
"You heard Drake, let's do it Kabuto!" I said.
Kabuto wagged his horn before landing in my free hand, "Right with you, aibou!"
"Alright then, let's go. Koji, TheBee you're with me." Brenner said before leaving the area.
"Wait up!" TheBee called out, before following him.
"Right behind you, Captain," Koji confirmed. He then shot me a nod as he ran after Brenner.
"Okay, time to find us a Worm to squash." I said to myself.
Meanwhile Will and Lin were at the field, looking at the unknown enemy from afar with Lin looking on with her binoculars. "No sign of them making any moves yet." Lin said.
"How many enemies are we talking here?" Will asked.
"A fair amount," Lin said as she pulled her binoculars down. "I still don't get why they're just waiting there."
"Report, Lieutenant." Brenner stated as he arrived with Koji and the majority of Tech and Sniper Platoons.
Lin frowned thoughtfully as she said, "Hard to say, sir. There'43 about three to four platoons of soldiers out there, but the weird thing is that they're just… standing there."
"They're just standing there?" Brenner asked confused.
Lin and Will both nodded, "Basically. It seems like they're observing us, though. Why, I don't know."
"Hmmmmm…" Brenner pondered.
"What do we do Captain?" Koji asked.
Brenner was silent as he thought about it. Looking back to the other force, he said, "For now, nothing. I don't want to risk starting a fight with someone unnecessarily."
"Are you sure?" Lin asked.
"I'm positive. Do not fire at them unless told otherwise." Brenner said.
The lieutenant looked concerned for a moment before nodding, "Alright, sir, and if they fire on us first?"
"Then we'll consider them as hostile and we fire back." Brenner said.
"I think that sounds fair," Will replied as he looked out.
Meanwhile… on the unknown enemy's side…
Leading the soldiers were four people. One of them, a young girl, giggled excitedly as she said, "Tee hee hee! Is it okay, Daddy?"
"Of course, little one," A man said. This was the same man that observed Kabuto's fight with the Worm. "Play to your heart's desire. Do remember to record the battle, though. I must know how each soldier fights… and how each one dies."
The next one, this one a young man, sighed as he said, frustratingly, "Father, I cannot condone this. I can see no reason for us to attack these people. It is meaningless–"
The man looked at the teenaged boy with a raised eyebrow, "Meaningless? Whatever are you babbling about? Is there a more meaningless expenditure of energy than life itself? I think not!"
Happily, the young girl bounced up and down, holding her teddy bear as she shouted, "Get'em! Get'em! Boom! Tee hee!"
"Ugh… no sign of that Worm anywhere." I groaned.
Stevens just grunted as he said, "Relax, kid. One thing I learned from my time as a sniper is that sometimes, you have to be patient to find your target."
"I guess…" I sighed as we kept looking around. It was silent for a while before…
"So kid… about Lieutenant Lin…" Stevens snickered.
"Ugh… we're gonna go through this again?" I said in dismay.
Stevens chuckled as he looked to me with a grin and asked, "How'd you come to 'target' her?"
"You're really not gonna let this go are ya…" I deadpanned.
The sniper said, "You're just gonna keep avoiding this, aren't you?"
Dang it, you're not playing fair! With a grunt I relented saying, "Fine, if I tell you, you need to keep your mouth shut, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Stevens waved off.
I looked away, my cheeks red as I said, "Okay… I… might be… kinda… sorta… interested in Lieutenant Lin… a bit…"
"What's that? I can't hear you." Stevens teased.
"Ergh…" I grumbled at him. "Don't push it, Stevens…"
"Come on, I wanna hear it." Stevens said, ignoring me.
Growling, I clenched my fists tightly as I said, "Okay, yes… I like Lin. Happy now?"
"What's that? Your voice is too soft."
"DANG IT, I LIKE LIEUTENANT LIN!" I yelled.
*GRRRRR!*
Stevens and I stopped immediately as we heard that.
"Did you hear that?" Stevens asked seriously.
"I sure did…" I frowned, "Kabuto!"
Kabuto chirped, "Rightey–o!" as he flew into my hand. I then looked to Stevens as I said, "By the way, if we make it out of here alive, I'm going to kill you. This is your fault, jerk."
"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad."
"Just transform," I said irritably.
"Sheesh, fine," Stevens said with a roll of his eyes, grabbing the Drake Grip. "Let's do it, Drake!"
"You got it Partner!" Drake said before Stevens raised the grip making the pulsing sound.
Once Drake attached himself to the grip and I slid Kabuto onto my belt, we shouted, "Henshin!"
HENSHIN!
The energy hexagons began forming over our bodies, becoming our Masked Form armors. When we were fully formed, we readied our blasters as we slowly moved down the hall, preparing ourselves for a surprise attack by the Worm we were expecting.
"Hey Stevens, is your natural night vision seeing anything?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No… Nothing yet… but it is here. That I'm sure of."
I scoffed at him, "Some great tracker you are."
"Pfft, whatever Lieutenant Lin lover…"
"HEY!" I snapped.
*BAM!*
We looked ahead as a bunch of crates were suddenly knocked aside, revealing a Salis Worm. "See, you need to stop reacting to my jabs. You yell so loud and tip off the Worm," Stevens said with a snort.
"Oh shut up," I groaned before charging at the Salis Worm. Switching my weapon into Axe Mode, I slashed at it as Stevens shot at it from afar with his blaster. Sparks flew as the Salis Worm writhed in pain. I then switched to Dagger Mode, taking out the kunai out of the barrel and slashed the Salis Worm relentlessly.
Stevens' shots also continued to rain down on the immature Worm, causing more sparks to fly off of it. However, as we pushed our attack, I noticed a crack appearing in its skin, "Uh–oh! Stevens! It's starting to molt! We need to destroy it!"
"You don't need to tell me twice." Stevens said before pulling the switch on Drake. Parts of his armor spread out a bit as steam and electricity crackled before he said, "Cast Off!"
CAST OFF!
The excess armor shot out from his body to reveal his Rider Form.
CHANGE: DRAGONFLY!
"Aibou, let's do it, too!" Kabuto shouted to me.
"You got it!" I replied as I pulled up Kabuto's horn slightly, causing my armor to spread as steam and electricity poured out. "Cast Off!"
CAST OFF!
The armor pieces then ejected from my body as my horn flipped up between my lenses to complete my transformation into Rider Form.
CHANGE: BEETLE!
"Here comes the Worm!" Stevens shouted seeing the Worm has completely molted.
There was a bright flash of light before the matured Worm appeared. This one based on a lightning bug. It had an orange, yellow, and black exoskeleton with see–through wings, bulbous black eyes, a fit build, almost like that of a boxer's, two antennae on its head, and its hands appeared to be like the usual light bulb like behind lightning bugs had. Constantly around its hands and between its antennae, there was electricity flowing over and between them.
"A Lightning Bug Worm huh?" Stevens said.
It made weird noises before it went at the speed of light.
"Oh no, you don't!" I shouted, before hitting the Clock Up pad, "Clock Up!"
CLOCK UP!
"Wait for me!" Stevens shouted as he did the same. "Clock Up!"
CLOCK UP!
Both of us went to light speed and the Lightning Bug Worm growled at us, before rushing past me and towards Stevens. It delivered a flurry of electrical powered punches to him. Stevens dodged where he can and shoot back with energy bullets coming from Drake's eyes. The Worm, however, managed to knock aside the blasts, sending them into the walls before landing a fist to his face, sending a powerful wave of electricity through his body.
Stevens yelled in pain, "GRAHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Stevens," I shouted before running towards the Lightning Bug Worm.
1!
2!
3!
I flipped Kabuto's horn to the original position before shouting, "Rider Kick!" and flipped the horn back completely.
RIDER KICK!
I leaped in the air and had my right foot out, crackling with electricity with my left foot tucked in, as I dived down for the kick. However, the Worm turned to me and absorbed the electricity from my attack with his antennae, channeling it into his hands before blasting it back at me!
I was sent flying while yelling in pain, "GAHHHHHHH!" before being knocked over into a bunch of empty crates.
CLOCK OVER!
"Kurogasa," Stevens shouted before just managing to dodge an electrical blast from the Worm.
"Ow…" I groaned. "That hurt…"
The two of them both came out of light speed, Stevens getting slammed into the wall next, sliding to the ground as the Worm gave a triumphant roar, slamming his chest like a gorilla.
"A Plan B would sound good right about now." I gritted, trying to stand back up.
"Ugh… No kidding…" Stevens grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. "Man, only my second Worm and I already feel like a freaking ragdoll."
"Get used to it," I said. "We're gonna be in for a long battle."
Koji looked through the binoculars before handing them back to Lin. "I don't know LT. Something doesn't feel right about this. Why the hell are they just standing there?"
"I'm just as clueless as you are." Lin answered.
"Well whatever the case, we don't open fire unless they fire first." Brenner said.
Koji's eyes widened. "You mean like right now?"
"Huh?" Brenner asked confused before–
*RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!*
"RETURN FIRE!" Lin shouted as she grabbed her M-16.
"Take 'em out!" Koji shouted as he lobbed a grenade at them.
Brenner then attached his Rider Brace to his wrist, "TheBee!"
"You got it Cappy!" TheBee chirped happily before flying around him and attaching to the Rider Brace.
Brenner than shouted, "Henshin!"
HENSHIN!
The energy hexagons formed around him, solidifying into his honeycomb style Masked Form. He grabbed his Baretta and began firing as well. "Let's go!" Brenner said before charging in towards the unknown soldiers.
Koji followed along after with Tech Platoon. As he fired, he loaded a grenade into the grenade launcher attachment of his rifle and fired it, launching it through the air towards the unknown enemy, sending several of them flying. "Captain," he shouted over the fire, "You recognize these guys at all!?"
"No! I don't recognize any of them!" Brenner shouted back.
"Whatever the case, they're now our enemies!" Lin shouted, after firing another shot from her M-16.
"You're right!" Brenner said. "Looks I'm gonna have to make this quick!" He flipped TheBee's wing over the latter itself before green electricity crackled and steam out of the armor as it separated from Brenner a little bit. Turning TheBee over so that his stinger was facing outward, he shouted, "Cast Off!"
CAST OFF!
The bulky armor then separated, revealing his Rider Form.
CHANGE: WASP!
Quickly, he then tapped the Clock Up pad on his side, "Clock Up!"
CLOCK UP!
Accelerating to faster–than–light, he rushed over and began to attack the unknown soldiers.
Meanwhile, Will was armed with a 9MM pistol making sure to keep Isabella safe. "Just stay down, Isabella," Will said as he took shots to any soldiers who got too close, "I'll keep them away from you."
"Okay…" Isabella nodded.
"Aw man, where are these guys coming from?" Will gritted as he shot another unknown soldier.
Koji, hearing this in his headset, grunted as he took cover from several rounds fired at him before popping back up to shoot again. "I don't know… more to the point, why are they even attacking us at all?" He then had to leap behind a rock to avoid a grenade that had been thrown his way. Grunting, he pushed himself up as he said, "Dang… my injuries from the ZECT fight are still recovering."
"Can you handle it Shinamori?" Brenner asked. "If you can't handle it then fall back."
"Urgh… I'm good, Boss," Koji said as he got to his feet. "What doesn't kill me makes me deadlier to bad guys!" He then leveled his M–16 and fired off several more rounds before two of his soldiers came over and helped him set up a machine gun position.
"Okay, if you say so." Brenner said. "Now let's finish cleaning house!"
Dang it, this Lightning Bug Worm is getting on my nerves!
Stevens and I were gasping for breath as we struggled to stay on our feet, electricity from its last attack still crackling over our bodies. "Man, if we don't find a chink in this thing's defense soon, we're gonna either be pulverized or electrocuted to death… or both."
"If only we had something to insulate that electricity…" Stevens grunted.
Wait… Insulation…? …That's it! "Stevens, I think we do!"
"We do?" Stevens asked confused.
"Think about it! This is a factory for harvesting food and, presumably, storing it! There might be rubber we can use!"
"That's good and all but where's the rubber?"
That was a problem. "I don't know… we're gonna have to find it."
"Yeah, start looking for rubber while this thing tries to kill us. Great idea, Sun Tzu, great battle plan," Stevens replied sarcastically before we dodged another lightning blast.
"You got a better idea?!" I snapped.
Stevens grunted as he got off a few shots which were quickly deflected. "No…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," I said.
"Well there's obviously no rubber around here!" Stevens said.
Crap… what do we do? Wait! Dr. Morris! He knows this factory like the back of his hand! He should know where we can find rubber! "You keep the Worm busy! I'll try to contact Dr. Morris!"
"Here!" Stevens said throwing his radio to me and I caught it. "Make it quick!"
"I got it!" I said before holding the radio close to my mouth. "Dr. Morris, can you hear me?! Come in Dr. Morris!"
["Um… Hello?"] Dr. Morris's confused voice replied, ["Kurogasa? Are you alright? You sound kind of… on edge."]
"Look, we got a Worm that can shoot lightning! Do you know where there could be rubber in the factory?"
["Hmm, lightning powered Worm… rubber to stop the attacks. Good plan, good plan,"] Morris replied with an approving tone in his voice.
"Oh c'mon Dr. Morris, where's the rubber?!" I snapped.
["Huh? Oh, oh, yes!"] He went silent for a few moments, save a bit of thoughtful murmuring before I heard him snap on the other end and shout, "Ah ha!" Coming back on the line, he said, ["It's very simple, my boy! Go to the maintenance room! There should be plenty of rubber in there that would be used for insulating the electrical systems in case of power surges!"]
"Got it, where's the maintenance room?" I asked.
["It's on the second level, three sections down from where the control room would be,"] he quickly replied.
"Thanks!" I said, before hanging up. "Hey Stevens, we're going to the maintenance room! Follow me!" I then hit the Clock Up pad.
CLOCK UP!
"Ugh…!" Stevens said as he was slammed into the wall again, "R–Right!" He then got a sneaky shot point blank on the Worm, forcing it to let go as he, Clocked Up.
CLOCK UP!
At light speed, he followed me and that caused the Lightning Bug Worm to follow us.
While we ran, the Worm constantly shot lightning at us with Stevens and me, constantly shooting behind us to try and keep it off us. "Geez, Kururugi, are all the Worms you fight this annoying!?"
"You don't know the half of it," I answered.
Stevens groaned. "That's exactly what I didn't want to hear…"
"Just shut up, suck it up, and keep moving!" I shouted back at him.
We continued running and shooting while the Lightning Bug Worm chased after until we arrived at the maintenance room, "This is it!" I said before I kicked the door down and both of us went in with the Worm following us.
CLOCK OVER!
The world went back to normal and the Lightning Bug Worm returned to normal speed too and it shot lightning at us, but we dodged to the side and the lightning hit the rubber–like wall of the maintenance room.
"Ha! Not so easy now with all this rubber, is it!?" I tauntingly shouted before shooting at it with Kunai Gun. Stevens shot at it too making the Worm stumble even more as sparks flew off its body. Then it tried to shoot lightning at us again, but we dodged again and it hit the rubber wall.
"Let's finish this!" Stevens said before he folded up Drake's wings and pulled it back before pulling Drake's switch again, "Rider Shooting!"
RIDER SHOOTING!
"Hey don't leave me out!" I said before pressing the buttons on Kabuto's feet.
1!
2!
3!
I then raised his horn slightly, letting the energy build in my leg, "Rider Kick!"
RIDER KICK!
A large blue orb of energy formed near Drake's eyes before Stevens aimed and shot his shot, and the blue orb went towards the Lightning Bug Worm before it hits its target, stunning it. It stumbled towards me and I did a 360 roundhouse kick to its head before it exploded into orange flames.
"Phew!" I shouted when the Worm was finally gone, sliding down the wall to rest. "That was arguably the strongest Worm I've fought yet."
"No kidding…" Stevens said before Kabuto slid off my belt and Drake got out of the grip and both of us went back to civilian form. "That thing didn't know when to quit, did it?" He asked as he sat on a crate. "…But I gotta admit… That was a good call with the rubber."
"I told ya." I chuckled.
"Yeah, we kicked that Worm's butt big time!" Kabuto chirped.
"Aww yeah, buddy!" Drake replied, flying over to Kabuto to tap his tail against the beetle's horn like a high five.
"Anyways, we better check on Koji and the others." I suggested.
Nodding, Stevens got to his feet and said, "Right. Let's roll."
Meanwhile, on the enemies' side, the strange man chuckled, eerily in delight and interest, as his small robots were watching Kabuto, TheBee, and Drake fighting, "How very interesting…" He said.
The young man with him watched the footage as well as he said, "Father… these… Kamen Riders… do you see a potential opportunity in them?"
The man chuckled as he said, "Indeed, my son. The power they possess is… fascinating. I see much usefulness in the ZECTers they possess."
"Do you… plan to take them for yourself?" The young teenaged man asked.
"No… no, no, no… I intend to make my own." The man chuckled. "I must gather more data of these ZECTers."
"Oh no, those meanies smashed my toys!" The girl with the teddy bear pouted, seeing the last of the soldiers down and out.
The man playfully pouted back as he said, "What's wrong, pumpkin? Did those bad people blow up all your toys? I suppose you'll be, wanting more. Well, what's the magic word?"
"PLEEEEEEEEEEASE?!" The girl asked. Leaping excitedly, she clapped her hands repeatedly and said, "I wanna big BOOOOOM!"
The man laughed as he patted her head and said, "How could I deny such a well–mannered little girl? I look forward to seeing how they respond to the world's mightiest tank. This should prove to be most enlightening."
After a while of running, Stevens and I along with our ZECTers met up with Koji and the others.
"Koji, what's the situation?" I said as I came over to him, sitting on a rock with several of his men.
"We were attacked by an unknown enemy," he explained, "But thanks to Captain Brenner as Kamen Rider TheBee and our forces out here, we managed to push them back for now."
"What about you?" Koji asked.
"Stevens and I found the Worm lurking around the factory." I explained. "It was a Lightning Bug Worm that shot out lightning, but we managed to take it out."
Stevens shuddered as he said, "Yeah, but not before getting electrocuted a few times."
"Who were those soldiers anyway?" I asked. "Were you able to ID them Captain?"
Brenner shook his head as he detransformed. "Negative. We got nothing. These guys just came out of nowhere and attacked us without provocation."
Just then the radio and we heard Rika's voice through it as she screamed out, ["GUYS! WE GOT TROUBLE! THERE'S A HUGE TANK COMING TOWARDS US!"]
We all shouted back, "A huge tank?!"
Brenner looked to Lin as he said, excitedly and frantically, "Bring us to speed, Lin! What do you have on that monster?"
"WHOA! LOOK AT THAT!" Will shouted, pointing at a direction. We looked and– HOLY SMOKES, THAT'S A HUGE TANK!
The tank was least three times the size of any of our main battle tanks, painted in desert camouflage. Aside from its extremely long main cannon, it had two machine guns on each side of it, three smaller cannons, and two small missile launchers on the top.
"What in the–" Koji said shocked.
"We're screwed…" Stevens muttered.
"Lovin' the confidence there, buddy," Koji sarcastically replied.
Just then, to our surprise, Isabella came out from where she was hiding with Will and was looking intently at the tank. "That is a… War Tank…"
"Huh?" Everyone asked surprised and confused.
"You know what that thing is?" Will asked surprised.
Isabella nodded grimly as she answered, "Compared with standard tanks, it has vastly superior armor and firepower. It is currently the most powerful ground unit in the world today."
"And how are we supposed to stand against it? It's too darn big!" Dr. Morris stated fearfully, pacing slightly.
Scared and disappointed, Isabella simply said, "…I don't know."
Brenner closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "…Well, we have one of the best units in the Rubinelle Army and three Kamen Riders. We'll think of something."
"Seriously, where's an Anti–Tank when you need one?" Lin muttered.
"Huh?" I asked confused, "An Anti–Tank?"
Lin first looked surprised that I heard her. However, she quickly recovered her composure before explaining. "An Anti–Tank is a tank or other weapon specifically designed for destroying enemy armored units like main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers."
"And you think an Anti–Tank unit can take down this War Tank?" Brenner asked.
Lin sighed as she said, "I don't know of any that were designed to take down a tank like that one, but perhaps, if overwhelmed with enough firepower from one or several of them, it could be destroyed like any other main battle tank."
"But where can we find one though?" Will asked looking around. "I don't see anything housing one anyw–
*BOOOOM!*
"INCOMING!" I yelled, seeing a huge tank bullet coming towards us fast.
Brenner shouted "TAKE COVER!" as everyone dropped to the ground.
The huge round fired from the cannon impacted several feet behind us, sending several of our soldiers into the air, killing several of them.
"Dang, that some firepower," Stevens gritted.
"No kidding," Koji replied. Peaking up briefly as the cannon reloaded, he said, "Captain, Tech Platoon could probably take that thing out if we had the right equipment, like some of that anti-tank weaponry Lt. Lin mentioned."
"Ah! I remember!" Dr. Morris exclaimed. "Not far from here is a military factory that contains Anti-Tank units!"
"You just remembered this now!?" I shouted in exasperation. However, I quickly had to hit the deck again as the cannon fired again causing another explosion that was followed by the screams of more of our soldiers.
"Shinamori, you and Tech Platoon get those Anti–Tank units here ASAP!" Brenner ordered. "Dr. Morris, show them the factory!"
"Yes sir!" Koji replied with a quick salute before activating his radio. "Tech Platoon, this is Tech Leader! We got anti–tank units to build!" Then, looking to Dr. Morris, he said, "Doctor, show us the way!"
"Right away," Dr. Morris said before taking the lead with Koji following.
"In the meantime, us Kamen Riders will hold off the War Tank until they get back." Brenner said.
"We're doing it all by ourselves?!" I asked incredulously.
"We can Clock Up remember?" Stevens reminded. "We can use the light speed to our advantage and at least possibly disable it before Koji comes back and blasts it to kingdom come."
"Yeah, true…" I said, scratching the back of my head sheepishly, "But still… this won't be easy. After all, our Clock Ups don't last forever."
"Then we'll have to make every minute count. TheBee, let's do it!" Brenner replied as he held up his wrist with the Rider Brace on it.
"You got it Cappy!" TheBee chirped before attaching to the brace.
"Drake, let's go!" Stevens said holding the grip.
"Say no more," Drake said before attaching to the grip.
"Let's take out that tank Kabuto!" I said.
"Right aibou," Kabuto chirped, before he flew into my hand and I slid onto the belt.
The three of us then shouted, "Henshin!"
HENSHIN!
The energy hexagons then molded over our bodies before turning into the armor of our Masked Forms. However, we did not stay in these forms for long as we quickly went to change forms, our armors opening and steaming, "Cast Off!"
CAST OFF!
The armors dispersed in all directions to reveal our Rider Forms.
CHANGE: BEETLE/WASP/DRAGONFLY!
"Now let's see what we can do," Brenner said.
Just as another blast went off, we all tapped our Clock Up pads, "Clock Up!"
CLOCK UP!
The world slowed down as we saw the huge tank bullet in slow motion as well. "Alright, I better destroy that tank bullet."
1!
2!
3!
I flipped Kabuto's horn to his original position to charge up before shouting, "Rider Kick!" and flipping the horn back.
RIDER KICK!
I did my usual roundhouse kick, only this time I leapt into the air and did a flying roundhouse kick to destroy the bullet. But man, that was a hard one! Landing on the ground, I stumbled as I wrapped my hands around my right leg. Wincing, I said, "Dang… even with my armor on, that was painful."
Meanwhile, facing the tank itself, Brenner looked to Stevens as he said, "Let's see what kind of a dent we can put in this thing," Stevens said as he pressed the button on TheBee.
"You got it, Boss," Stevens replied as he pulled the tab at the end of the Drake Grip.
RIDER STING/SHOOTING!
Green and blue electricity crackled as a blue orb of energy formed near Drake's and TheBee's stinger was powering up.
First, the blast from Drake hit the side of the tank, exploding against it as a cloud of black smoke appeared. Before it passed, Brenner immediately followed up with his punch, slamming his fist into the same spot. However, when he did, he leapt back and shook his hand, pain shooting through it, "Geez! What's this thing made of: diamonds!?"
When the smoke passed, however, much to Brenner and Stevens' shock, the only damage were, some scorch markings and a barely noticeable dent.
"NO WAY!" They shouted.
"There's not even a scratch!" I exclaimed.
CLOCK OVER!
When we returned to normal time, the explosion from the destroyed bullet occurred in midair, knocking me forward a bit. However, things quickly got worse for us. Noticing the three of us, the tank turned to us and aimed its smaller weapons, namely the two machine guns and three smaller cannons, at us. "Yabai…"
"Run for it!" Brenner yelled, and we did just that before.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
They shot at us, but we managed to somehow get away from the shots. C'mon Koji, get us out of this mess!
"C'mon people, let's move it!" Koji yelled. "Get these Anti–Tanks up and running!"
The soldiers in Koji's platoon had been hard at work assembling the anti–tank weapons the factory had. Of course, that was only doable after Isabella somehow knew exactly how to program the software required to, start assembly on the gear.
"It stills amazes me how you knew to get the factory working." Dr. Morris said impressed by Isabella. "How did you do it?"
"I… don't know…" Isabella shook her head.
Koji smiled at her as he put his hand on her shoulder approvingly and said, "Well, all I can say, sweetheart, is that we're glad you did. This may save our soldiers dealing with that War Tank."
Just then, Koji's deputy, Sergeant Rusk ran up to him. "Staff Sergeant, we've completed assembly of the anti–tank weapons. It's not a lot of them, but I think it's enough to take that thing down, sir."
"Good work, Sergeant," Koji said, patting Rusk on the arm. "Alright men, let's move out! We gotta get back to Captain Brenner and the others!"
Dang it Koji, what's taking so long?!
We three Riders were starting to run out of energy, constantly running about to avoid machine gun, mini–cannon, and missile fire, while the main cannon continued to fire upon our main forces. Quite frankly, we were on our last legs, completely pinned down by this tank–on–steroids.
"We can't last much longer…" Stevens panted. "At this rate we'll…"
"Shinamori will come back… I know he will…" Brenner panted too.
*BOOM!*
"GAH!" I cried out, as I was sent flying, thankfully the tank bullet missed me, but I tumbled down to the ground so hard that Kabuto slid off and I went back to civilian form.
"Kurogasa," Brenner shouted as he saw me get knocked out of Rider Form. Looking to Stevens, he shouted, "Sergeant, cover me! I'm going to bring him back to our side!"
"I got it!" Stevens said as he distracted the tank. Meanwhile, Brenner ran over to me.
"Hey, you alright kid?!" Brenner asked frantically.
"Ow…" I groaned.
Picking me up and grabbing Kabuto, the captain said, "Just hang on, son, I'm gonna get you out of here."
CLOCK UP!
With that, he went at the speed of light and he was fast to bring me over to Rika. Returning to normal speed, he placed me in front of her. "Doctor, he's hurt pretty badly."
"Oh no Kurogasa," Rika panicked, going over to us. "Nurses, get an operating table ready!"
"Yes ma'am!" One of the nurses said before running off.
"Take care of him." Brenner said handing me over to Rika before–
CLOCK UP!
–he sped away. And that was when I passed out.
"Hehehehehehehehe… how interesting… very fascinating…" The man chuckled, seeing the video footage. "These ZECTers are quite impressive."
The young man stood beside his father as he said, "Father… How do you intend to create your own ZECTers?"
"It's quite simple, my boy." The man said. "We must find ZECT and steal their blueprints, and once I study that, along with using the data we gathered today, I can create the ultimate ZECTer."
The little girl then bounced up to her father and said excitedly, swinging her teddy bear about as she said, "And then we make them go boom–boom!?"
The man chuckled at that, "Yes dear, we make them go boom–boom."
The little girl cheered at that, "YAAAAAAAAY!"
Ugh… what happened?"
Groaning, I blinked several times as I regained consciousness, finding myself on a hospital bed back at the main base area, "W–What?"
"Hey there Sleeping Beauty," A voice joked. I turned my head to see Lin sitting next to my bedside.
"L–Lin…?"
She nodded as she said, "After Captain Brenner brought you to Dr. Ryusaki, I led a small group of soldiers to escort you back to base so she could fix you up."
"Oh… what happened to that War Tank?" I asked.
"Blown to smithereens thanks to your buddy Shinamori and this Tech Platoon,"
"Heh… that's Koji for ya," I scoffed with a smirk.
"Also… there's something you gotta know about the factory…" Lin said grimly. "…It's been destroyed."
I gasped, "What?!" as I sat up fully, but then cringed in pain, "Ergh!"
Lin had a grim look as she said, "Yeah. In order to get the kill shot on the War Tank, unfortunately, Staff Sergeant Shinamori's only option was to get it to target the factory so he could get a clear shot."
"Oh…"
"But that's not the worst part…"
"It isn't?"
"No…" Lin said, looking away. "You see… one of the War Tank operators managed to survive and we took him hostage for interrogation. He wouldn't say anything, but after a while, he said that… their goal was…" She stopped at that.
"What? What is it?" I asked.
"He said… that their goal was to destroy the automated crop factory all along."
"Oh no…" I said in depression, sliding back onto the bed.
"Mhmm… Koji felt pretty bad about it, like he messed up. The captain and I told him it wasn't his fault," Lin explained, looking sad, "But he still beat himself up pretty nicely. Maybe you and Rika could try talking to him."
"I guess I could try… after I recover." I said. I got hit pretty hard from that War Tank." I then chuckled a bit, "It looks like you're gonna have to wait for your burger and fries."
Lin chuckled as she said, patting my hand, "Trust me… after what you did out there, I think you've earned a bit of a break. You may not be an official Rubinelle soldier, Kururugi, but you sure got the heart of one."
"Heh… thanks." I smiled a bit. "That means a lot coming from you."
She chuckled as she said, "Well, I'm glad you have such a high perception of my opinion." Then, she got up from her chair and playfully pinched my cheek. "Heal up quick, soldier. We need you back out there…" And with that, she turned to leave, leaving me a bit speechless.
Fen: And there you have it guys, another chapter of "Kamen Rider Kabuto: Days of Ruin" down!
SD: Mhmm. We now see that, not only do Brenner's Wolves have to deal with the Beast's mercenary army and ZECT, but now this mysterious organization with an interest in the ZECTers and their only clear goal seems to be cause destruction and chaos.
Fen: That's right! So what will our heroes face next? Stay tuned to find out!
SD: And next time, we reveal another Kamen Rider to join the Rubinelle ranks!
Fen: Here's a hint for ya:
CHANGE: SCORPION!
SD: So until next time, gang, ja nee!