Disclaimer: I don't own the Kamen Rider franchise but I do own Valtere and the whole fic. This story is set in a fictional Japan, meaning all places and characters stated herein don't exist in real life.

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Saturday – Underground Library – 12:59 p.m.

Somewhere in Sonoda City, there was an underground dungeon. It didn't hold any prisoner, but it housed some of the most ancient books in history. No one, not even the eldest of the elderly people in the city, knew about its existence… except these two.

One was a high school teacher who looked significantly older than his true age. His head showed signs of balding and he wore eyeglasses which lenses were about a quarter of an inch thick. The other one was a mysterious person who loved to wear a cowl. One look at her soft, pale hands would reveal that she was a woman in her late 20s.

"The spell has been cast. Sakaguchi-kun should have experienced the illusion now," the woman said.

"But…was it successful?" asked the old man, named Sugita Takanori.

The Grave Maiden stared at the parchment lying on the table in front of her. Two conditions would determine the spell' s outcome: if the parchment burned up until the perimeter of the circumscribing circle only, then Hiro had decided to renew the contract; if it crumbled totally into ashes, then he had done otherwise.

The small flames continued to crawl away from the center until it finally stopped at the outer circle's edges. The Maiden felt a sudden jolt flow inside her body as the smoke produced by the burnt paper entered her temple.

She flashed a hearty smile, "Yes. Valtere's won him back."

Monday – Tennotsukai Academy – 7:50 a.m.

The ambience inside Class 3-A was much livelier today than usual. A very interesting buzz was going around the campus…

"I told you, he's a SUPERHERO!"

"Baka! You've just watched too many Sentai stuff! I'm pretty sure he's just some weird biker with a terrible sense of style…"

"How will you then explain the bike that went 'POOF!' from the ground? From the ground!"

"I saw that! He swung his hand like 'piropiro' and there goes the bike like 'chokochoko'!"

"Do you think he's the same as the school's bike-riding ghost?"

"Ah! So the ghost biker can stroll around the city now! Not a chance."

Sitting on a far corner of the room, beside the windows, were the members of Angel's VOICE newspaper club: Suzuki Yui, the Editor-in-Chief; Kagami Keisuke, the photographer; and Kanzaki Anna and Sakaguchi Hiro, the writers. Behind Hiro stood another companion that only he himself could see – a ghost named Valtere. They were talking about the same rumor.

"The local newspapers call him 'Kamen Rider' now," informed Keisuke, while playing with his DSLR in hand.

"Kamen Rider? What kind of name is that?" said Anna. Hiro threw a sideways glance at his ghost friend, Valtere, who approved, "I think it's a cool name." Of course, it was only him who heard Valtere's answer.

"Kamen Rider, eh?" Yui sighed, as she gazed dreamily onto the windows again. Anna immediately knew that it wasn't a very good sign.

"I think she's attracted with that Rider-san," she shrugged, "The last time I saw her like that was in junior high, with our teacher Sato-sensei."

"Eh? Don't tell me Suzuki-chan's in love with him?" asked Keisuke.

It took a while before Hiro and Valtere grasped the thought. Yui, Hiro's secret crush, is attracted to Kamen Rider – him; no, technically it was Valtere using his body…

"EHHHH!" Hiro and Valtere shouted in surprise.

Episode 6: Lost in the Terror Train! Kamen Rider's Debut!

How did everyone in the city know about the existence of Valtere, the 'Kamen Rider' as they call him? What made Yui so fascinated about him? Let us go back into ZECT Paradise to see how it all happened:

Saturday – ZECT Paradise (Agito Restaurant) – 1:11 p.m.

Hiro, Yui, Anna, and Keisuke were busy munching their 'Insala-something' (as Anna calls it) when Yui suddenly came up with an idea. "Hey, let's take a group picture!"

"Great, I have the camer –" offered Keisuke, but Yui interrupted him.

"No, not your camera. Let's do it in a studio," Yui pointed outside the window, to a place called Hikari Photo Studio, "What do you think, Anna?"

"Not bad, let's go after we e –"

"WAAAAAAH!" Keisuke shrieked.

Hiro and the others backed away in surprise, "What is it?"

"I lost my wallet! Oh, how am I gonna pay for these…"

A tall man wearing a chef's outfit approached them, "Don't worry, Kei-kun. The president already paid for those."

Keisuke turned and looked at the man. He was fair-skinned, with brown-dyed, shoulder-length hair and whose face always seemed to flash a ready smile.

"Tsugami-san!" Keisuke's eyes widened. The chef smiled again. "Long time no see, Kei-kun."

"Yeah, it's been a long time! But, why are you here? I thought you're on the main branch… Oh, by the way, here are my friends, Sakaguchi Hiro, Suzuki Yui, and Kanzaki Anna. Minna, this is Tsugami Shouichi-san, the owner of the restaurant." The three gave a bow of respect to the chef at the mention of their names.

"Nice meeting you guys," Tsugami said before turning to Keisuke, "I have to look over the opening of this branch, that's why I'm here, Kei-kun. Anyway, are you guys enjoying your meal?"

"It's the best!" Yui answered eagerly.

"One girl here hates the foods' complicated names, though," remarked Hiro. Anna, whose face turned red, immediately turned away from Tsugami-san's sight.

Tsugami laughed, "They're tomato-based, Italian-inspired dishes, that's why they have such names. Oh well, I have to go back inside now; nice meeting you again."

"Arigato, Tsugami-san!" the four teenagers said. The chef gave another big smile before he returned into the kitchen area.

"Ah… that feels relieving…" Keisuke sighed.

"It really is convenient to have a rich father, ne?" scoffed Anna.

"WHY YOU?" growled Keisuke. The cat-and-dog fight between him and Anna ensued as they continued to finish their meal, not noticing the shady man who had been staring at them since they entered the restaurant.

ZECT Paradise – Hikari Photo Studio – 1:30 p.m.

After a scrumptious meal at the Agito, the group went to an establishment called the Hikari Photo Studio. The place was rather old-fashioned, complete with a 19th century camera and a pull-down backdrop. To new visitors, it might look more like a coffee shop than an actual studio.

Inside, they were greeted by an old man whose white hair was kept in place by a blue bonnet. He wore oval spectacles, and his cream-colored vest perfectly blended with the studio's antique motif.

"Ah, customers! Come in, please," the old man invited them in, "Would you like a cup of tea or coffee first, while I set the camera up?"

Yui was about to say "No, thanks" when Anna answered, "Yes, please do."

"There goes the girl who can't resist coffee…" Keisuke sneered. The old man laughed, "Very well, I'll make the best coffee for this young lady over here (Keisuke teased Anna: Go, young lady!). I'm sorry that you have to bear with an ojii-san like me; my granddaughter, who used to help me here, went outside to take pictures around the park with her boyfriend."

"Please don't worry about that," Hiro answered.

"Ojii-san, by any chance, are they using a Blackbird twin-lens reflex camera?" Keisuke asked.

"Why yes! Have you seen them around?" the old man asked them.

"I bumped into them at the inauguration program."

"I see… I hope Tsukasa – the guy who's with my granddaughter – didn't bother you much. He could be a bit conceited, but he really is a good boy. Well, I have to go prepare now."

"Please take your time." Yui bowed.

ZECT Paradise – 2:20 p.m.

After almost an hour inside the Hikari Photo Studio, the group finally went out and started to walk around the park again.

"Ah, that was fun!" said Keisuke, "Old cameras really are the best!"

"But we have to wait for an hour before we get the picture…" replied Yui, "Why don't we try other rides? Let's see… how about the Ghost Train?"

"The… Ghost Train?" there was uncertainty in Hiro's voice. Yui jeered, "Don't tell me… you're afraid of ghosts?"

"Of course not…" answered Hiro. A flashback occurred in his mind:

"The… Bike-riding Ghost?"

"Yeah! Wait… don't tell me… you're afraid of ghosts?"

Hiro snapped, "Of course not Yui-chan! I don't believe in ghosts! Tell me the story then."

'You already asked me that before, Yui-chan,' Hiro said to himself. 'You just don't remember because the Grave Maiden... Come to think of it, why did the Grave Maiden erase Yui's memory? She could've just killed her back then. And, why did everything return to normal after Valtere defeated her?'

Hiro held his hands on his waist, blindly trying to reach out to the spirit residing inside the Soul Binder belt, when he heard a voice, "There are a lot of things in this world that cannot be explained, kiddo."

"WOAH! YOU HEARD ME?" Hiro shouted in response.

"I heard you what?" asked Yui, who was startled with Hiro's sudden reaction. Keisuke found Anna taking out her notes on Ten Signs that Sakaguchi Hiro has Gone Nuts again.

"Uh… nothing, don't mind me," replied Hiro. He heard Valtere chuckle from inside his head.

"You don't need to shout out your voice, boy. Just hold the binder firmly and we can talk like this anytime," said Valtere.

'But… it didn't work before,' Hiro recalled the first day of their bind. He placed his hand on the belt-like tattoo around his waist and tried to reach out to the Illusori, but the latter didn't reply.

"I was too exhausted back then. Spirits need to recover their energy, y'know. Furthermore, our bind is stronger now than before, thanks to your trust."

"You might wanna be careful, though," Valtere continued, "Someone's following us."

'W-what?' Hiro mind-said, while their group walked towards the Ghost Train.

"There's someone, I don't know if he's human but he has an aura similar to the Aguimas. He's been following your group since you went into that restaurant."

'Is this someone in league with that Maiden?' asked Hiro. Valtere answered with conviction, "No, he couldn't be."

'Where is he, then?'

"I can't be so sure, kid. I can only sense the aura, but I can't pinpoint where it comes from. Most possibly, he's behind us."

Hiro turned around, finding lots of people behind them, 'I… guess you're right. It's hard to take the odd man out of this lot.' He returned to face Yui and others as he spoke telepathically again. 'What do we do now?'

"Well, we can't do anything but wait for him to do the first move."

A few meters away from Hiro, a man with long hair, unkempt beard and a very intimidating look was talking on his mobile phone. He wore a rugged vest, leather pants and boots. "Yes, I know that – the girl in the picture, right? Don't worry; I'm just finding the right time. One of her friends seemed to notice me…"

There were mumbles from the phone before the man spoke again, "I know, I know! I'll definitely bring the girl, even if I have to kill the spare."

The man ended the call and placed the phone inside his vest, just as he took out a picture of a girl in front of the soba restaurant. It was a candid shot of Suzuki Yui.

ZECT Paradise – Ghost Train – 2:35 p.m.

The Ghost Train was one of ZECT's Paradise's most detailed attractions. Similar to its brother, the "time-travelling" Den-Liner, the Ghost Train offered a slow railcar trip filled with holographic illusions of the scariest things imaginable. The recorded voice on the train platform welcomed them, "Enjoy your trip… to the netherworld!"

"Wow… this looks exciting!" exclaimed Anna, who immediately took a seat in the carriage.

"Oi, wait for us, horror girl!" shouted Keisuke, who just entered. Hiro and Yui followed after him, scratching their heads. Valtere's voice echoed again inside Hiro's head "I feel him. He's inside the train too."

'What?' he turned left and right, looking for someone he didn't even know in the first place, when his head bumped onto the abdomen of a rugged man who was walking across the carriage. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Sumimasen," Hiro bowed down and apologized. He didn't catch the guy's suspicious, almost maniacal glance at Yui, before taking his own seat inside the Ghost Train.

A cool female voice signaled the start of the ride, "Hello, and welcome to the ZECT Railway System. This train is inbound…"

The voice message went on, until it became distorted. The lights inside the train flickered violently, while indiscernible, low-pitched murmurs reverberated throughout the train carriages.

When the train arrived at a dark, foggy tunnel, the lights completely went off. Some high school girls on one side began to freak out, while Yui grabbed Hiro arm. He blushed, "Yui-chan! You're not afraid of ghosts, aren't you?"

"These made-up thrillers are scarier than the real thing…" answered Yui, her hands shaking.

The temperature inside the train dropped down, while the low murmurs turned into heavy panting. Keisuke looked over the windows, "Now, what's ne – WAAAAAAAH!"

He stumbled from his seat and screamed, "Sa…. SADAKO!" There was, right from his very window, an image of a woman with extremely long, chaotic hair in front of her face. From another side of the railcar came another batch of screamfest. A holographic image of a pale, half-naked young boy with black eyeballs suddenly appeared before them. Keisuke shrieked, "THE GRUDGE!"

But the fright show is far from over. The train shook, left and right as if someone was pushing and pulling it from outside. More holographic versions of contemporary Japanese horror icons appeared, thankfully no one died of heart attack.

The rugged man, who was sitting calmly in front of Hiro's group, muttered, "Perfect timing." A weird symbol appeared on the man's forehead, and there was a flash… a blinding flash.

Ghost Train – 2:48 p.m.

Valtere immediately knew what that sudden burst of light meant. His Illusori instincts never failed him, not even once. "It's the Aguima!"

'WHAT?' Hiro shouted, but it doesn't give any more unnecessary attention because of the other screaming people in the Ghost Train.

The light eventually died out. The train became much darker than before, but Hiro could still poorly trace the dark outline of a large creature standing in front of them. It suddenly moved forward, receiving loud screams from the high school girls who thought that this was still part of the thrill, and stomped away, forcing himself outside by banging the railcar's doors. "It… went away?" said Hiro in confusion.

"I'll follow him," said Valtere, coming out of the belt tattoo as a ghostly entity and gliding through the path taken by the Aguima. He observed that out of all the people inside the train, it was only him who could see Valtere's spirit, which is, of course, just normal.

'The Aguima fled just like that? Something doesn't feel right here,' he thought. Hiro lifted his arm, and noticed that the girl that should have been holding it firmly was gone.

"Yui?"He stretched his hands out in the dark, like a blind man trying to make something out of his surroundings, until it landed onto another girl's shoulder. "AHHHH! Pervert!"

"Anna! Sorry, I didn't mean it. But have you seen Yui-chan?" Hiro asked loudly.

"I don't know… wait a minute, so you meant to touch Suzuki –?"

"NO! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" Hiro retorted. He came up with a realization, 'could it be that…. the Aguima took Yui?'

(To be continued)

Next time: The exciting, life-changing events at ZECT Paradise continue! A new enemy and a new ally appear! Valtere's first public transformation also comes up!

Stay tuned for Episode 7: Ghost Biker vs. Horseman! The Kamen Rider's Debut Part 2!

A/N: That's it! Episode 6, done. It was the first of a two-part episode that will serve as the transition between the first arc (Introductions) and the next arc. Thanks to the people who have commented, added this story in their story alerts, or marked it as a favorite so far. You really inspired me to go further with this. Oh, and I've just decided to put the Super Hero Time segment on hiatus, because the main story itself is getting much comedic scenes already (but what's a Kamen Rider story without these random babbles, right?)