The dark shape in the distance got bigger as it flew closer until it became the bright purple fighter jet with a winking eye painted on one side of her nosecone.
"Got a present for you, honey!" it, or rather she, squealed in an excited voice as the cannons on her wings blazed to life and chewed a pair of long ditches in the runway behind Kamen Rider Utsura.
Two metal arms snaked out of his backpack, tipped only with steel grabbing claws this time. They grabbed the edge of a hangar building and yanked him up and out of the way as the jet zoomed by, then reached out for the corner of another building and swung Utsura around in a wide arc.
The other arm reached out and grabbed the side of the control tower, swinging Utsura even higher and bringing the tail of the fighter jet into sight. The Rider focused the crosshairs in his eyepiece on it as the other arm slid out, a cannon-like barrel on the end, and fired a blast of paint as big as Utsura's head.
Even though he was a good few hundred feet away, Utsura could hear the BOOM as his shot made a bullseye on the jet's afterburner. It shook and then started losing altitude. Ustura sighed in relief as he finally managed to get the upper hand.
As the jet fell lower and lower the wings and tail snapped off, leaving a feminine robotic form clad in purple armor with rippling pink stripes. The wide barrel of a fighter jet's machine gun was mounted on her left shoulder and missiles on her sides below her arms. For a mouth she had a smooth metal plate but her electric eyes had long wires for eyelashes.
Utsura landed behind her from one last swing, his heavy artist's armor clattering as he stumbled and sank to one knee from his awkward stop. He'd have to see if he could look up that Takuya Yamashiro guy Kiiko had told him about. She said he swung around like that all the time…
"It's over, Gateline!" he yelled. "Give it to me!"
The plane-robot actually giggled and winked at him as she held up and teasingly shook an orange Rider Gashat, the label showing a grinning fighter jet and the title JET COMBAT. "If you want it you're going to have to come get it, sweetie!"
"…I don't even want to know what you think is happening."
Gateline giggled again and the gun on her shoulder roared, aimed straight at the Rider's head. He pulled his hand back out from the storage pod on his thigh, with the weapon on his wrist swapped for the head of a spray can. He twisted the knob to turn it up to full pressure and blasted a stream of compressed paint, meeting the flirtatious robot's bullets in midair and deflecting them away from him.
"I also don't know why I tried to reason with you," Utsura muttered under his breath as he stuck his other hand into its pod on his leg. He pulled it back out again with a wide brush on the end.
She giggled again as two of the missile on her sides flared up and went screaming across the lot at Utsura. He dodged to the side with the flames of its thrust scorching his armor as it went past. "Feel the heat of my passion, sweetie!" Gateline called, blowing a kiss that actually hung in the air for a second. She fired a blast from the jet on her back, carrying her into the air as she fired off the rest of her missiles at Utsura.
The Rider gasped in surprise then swiped his brush through the air and a crude drawing of a field of yellow flowers sprang up in front of him. They exploded into a puddle of paint as the missiles hit them, but Utsura wasn't standing behind them anymore…
"You gonna make me hunt you down and give you my LOVE?!" Gateline called out, the gun on her shoulder starting to whirr to life again.
Suddenly Utsura swung down from the shadows of a nearby building, slashing her across the back with a big eraser replacing the spray can on his arm. She yelled in pain as she went spinning away from the force of his surprise attack.
"Sorry, I like girls who are less…homicidal," Utsura said, then charged his finisher.
"Sketch Critical Strike!" shouted his driver. The paint cannon in his backpack fired a stream that pushed him into the air and as he came down he went into a jump kick aimed at Gateline. His foot connected and knocked her flying through the doors of a hangar so hard they caved in as she disappeared into the darkness inside.
The Gashat she'd been holding spun through the air and Utsura reached out and caught it. The familiar GAME CLEAR! message appeared overhead and the airfield around him started to disappear as they always did. He almost didn't notice the stream of purple pixels marking Gateline's demise flying off into the sky.
He let the Jet Combat Gashat go, hoping it was finding its way back to the old Kamen Riders as it flew away like the others. But as it did, he saw the shape of another Rider Gashat flying through the air. Looked like there'd been another one after all.
But then for a second he saw the two Gashats and the ribbon of pixels that had been Gateline all flowing toward the same place: a bright spot of light in the middle of a cloud, with ten black shapes orbiting it.
The shapes looked just like…
…Rider Gashats.
Utsura pulled his own out of his driver and let his armor fade away, leaving ordinary Kensei Hidenaga. What had he just seen, he wondered, but let it rest as his phone was roaring his pocket.
It was a video link, showing Kamen Rider Rune wearing that new dice coat of his, holding up an unfamiliar Rider Gashat. Looked like the competition had been busy.
On a screen at the top of the dark, empty room showed Kamen Rider Rune riding a gleaming white motorcycle with roulette wheels for tires. He rode up a halfpipe, shot into the air for a second, then turned and came riding down again. He was chasing after a blue-grey monster with a shark-like head, shock absorbers on his shoulders and a big yellow disc on his chest, riding a BMX bike.
"See if you can pull this one off, Rider!" the monster said as he launched himself into the air off the end of the halfpipe, lifted himself out of his seat and let the main body of his bike spin around on the front three times in midair. He cheered at his own stunt then it turned into a yelp of pain as a glowing bullet hit him. He hit the ground, and sitting on his steampunk motorcycle with a smoking gun in his hand was Kamen Rider Sling.
"Nice trick. Too bad it doesn't help you much when the other person doesn't care about bike tricks," he said. He slapped in a code on the buttons on his Gamer Pamaka and a storm of gatling bullets shot into the monster and blew him into a cloud of pixels. They started to rise into the air…then suddenly curved back around and reformed into the same monster riding down the halfpipe on his bike again.
Just then Rune completed a third flip from one jump and landed on his bike on the rim. Glowing numerals showing 10000 appeared above his head along with an encouraging GNARLY! A golden trophy formed in his hand, then changed into a yellow-green Rider Gashat, SHAKARIKI SPORTS on its label. Rune looked hard at Sling as he let the Gashat fly away.
"You don't win this game by killing the opponents, genius," he said. "You win by doing the best tricks…or by having the most luck." Rune turned toward the view of the video. "I can see you over there. You shouldn't be getting so close to the Game Area, even one like this. But since you're here, I want to say, again, that to everyone who ever felt like they didn't belong or had nothing to contribute…you do. The world—"
There was a click and the video shut off. "You get the idea. These new Kamen Riders are powerful but they're disorganized. Each of them has their own little agenda they're pursuing," said a smooth, slightly nasal male voice. "If pushed apart they will be easy prey. But they are not the only annoyance we are gathered here to oppose. There are those among our own kind, who are trying to set themselves up as our leaders, but at the same time trying to deny us what we are, what we do. The chance to spread and make a world for ourselves. You have my gratitude for answering my call, but I promise you that more will follow."
"Why don't we start with them, then?" asked a low female voice. "Kamen Riders are one thing, but the rest of the Corrupture know they're the enemy. If we defeat the Corrupture who are trying to deny the rest of us, our power will be obvious…undeniable. Then we can really start building that army you want."
He sighed at the question. "Not a bad suggestion, but the Kamen Riders are much easier to find. Raise a little havoc and they'll come running. Besides, the more of those cartridges they find and release, the sooner they become twice the annoyance. These other Corrupture will only show themselves when they feel like it, and will require their own special handling. Now, let's begin…"
"Are you sure about this?" Kiiko Mishiranu said, chewing her lip nervously.
Kensei was twirling the Gashat for En En Chambara on his fingers over and over again, to get himself ready for the job he'd set himself. "Yeah, things are getting worse and not doing it before now just didn't make any sense."
"But you're starting with Doku? Isn't he technically more dangerous?"
"Technically, yes. But technically no, if those things he's been saying after his battles lately about wanting to represent geeks are true. And aren't heroes supposed to believe in the best in people?" Kensei replied.
"Yeah, but…"
Kensei smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "If you want to help, I wouldn't say no. You can warn me if he looks like he's gonna try anything, okay?" he offered. She bit her lip even harder, looking unsure at his plan. But Kensei was walking off, his mind made up. She picked up her bag and ran after her friend.
She'd pushed him deeper and deeper into this, how could she back off when he went deeper by himself?
A few minutes later Doku Dasao was heading off campus, avoiding looking at anyone or anything, but holding onto his bag so tight his knuckles were white. The look on his face was so focused he probably didn't even notice. A group of three girls stopped their conversation as Doku came closer, giving him nervous looks he didn't notice but he stepped to his side to avoid them.
Then someone rode by on an old bike and skidded to a stop, blocking the sidewalk. This person Doku bothered to notice: it was Kensei Hidenaga, someone he'd made a point to watch out for.
"…what do you want, Hidenaga?"
"How about a truce?" Kensei asked.
Doku fingered the catch on his bag. He was sure he could get out his Gamer Cepta and activate it before anybody could stop him. But Kensei wasn't wearing his Driver, and the bag he must've been keeping it in was in a metal basket on the back of his bike, out of easy reach.
What if he actually meant what he said?
"Where are we meeting to talk about this truce?" Doku asked simply.
"Big Bang Burger?" Kensei suggested. "I'll buy?"
Doku raised a suspicious eyebrow. "You'll buy? Did you just get your allowance or something?"
Kensei smiled slightly and shook his head. "No, I got my first paycheck from Genm. I couldn't go to Tokyo U on this or anything, but—"
"Kensei, watch out!" Kiiko yelled suddenly. "He's going to—"
Doku scowled at her and she stopped. "No, I'm not, whatever she thinks I was about to do. And keep your voice down, ah mou. All right, let's pretend I'm interested in this offer of yours before you go and embarrass yourselves even more!"
The three of them found a booth at the very back of the Big Bang Burger down the street from the school. Doku surprised them by ordering nothing but a carton of fries and sitting in the corner, then not even touching his food as he waited for them to explain what they wanted.
But like it had been when they came up with the idea for this, it was Kensei who spoke first. "Remember last time, how there was a whole group of Corrupture? It looks like they're kind of starting to get organized," he explained. "I thought maybe it was time we stopped dancing around all this, and thought about getting organized too."
Doku picked at his fries, but didn't pick anything up. "Did you ask Kasuga about this idea?" Kensei leaned back in his chair and shook his head. "No? And what made you ask me first?"
"Your speech."
"My speech? The one about geeks being represented? You believed that?"
Kensei shrugged and smiled a little. "Should I not believe it?"
Doku gave him a neutral look for a minute, then just shrugged back. "Kind of surprised you even considered it."
"You're not the only one," Kiiko muttered and looked away. Kensei and Doku both looked over at her, then looked back at each other.
"So you want to talk about teaming up, because you think from my speech that I'm a good guy underneath, or something?" Doku asked.
Kensei picked up his burger to try and look like he belonged and took a bite out of it, grimacing at how many onions this restaurant put on its hamburgers before he swallowed it. For a second Doku smiled at the look of disgust on Kensei's fac. No malice, no cold analysis of the situation.
"I'm thinking it," Kensei replied. "You used to be angry all the time, and talking about how you were going to go so much farther than everyone else you knew. That hasn't really happened since all this stuff about fighting the Corrupture started picking up. I'm hoping you'll be willing to consider it."
As he said that Kensei looked over at Kiiko, hoping she'd jump in with something to back him up. But she only met his eyes for a second and then looked away nervously. Of course. She hadn't thought this would work in the first place.
As he looked back, Doku wasn't smiling anymore but his face was neutral and he'd finally eaten some of his food. "You've given me something to think about," he said. "But I don't know if I want my message getting lost working with working with other guys, who'd have their own."
"Is that really more important than beating dangerous villains?" Kensei asked him.
"Aren't you turning out to be a perfect little hero?" Doku said, then sighed. "Look, I've played most of these games, I know what I'm doing. But I will think about what you asked."
Then he picked up his bag and walked out. Kensei didn't stop him. He knew it wouldn't have helped.
The next morning was a quiet one. Doku avoided looking at Kensei or Kiiko, but he had his fingers folded in front of his face for most of it like he was thinking hard about something, and Kensei doubted it was class.
But then Kensei wasn't thinking much about class either. He kept imagining Yoshoku, and what he could possibly say to convince the other Kamen Rider that they should think about an alliance. He kept imagining Yoshoku laughing off the request and challenging him to a showdown.
On the one hand, he'd helped Yoshoku before when he gave him Scorching Kitchen. But, it'd seemed like Yoshoku considered them even after that. Then again they'd had a truce once already, hadn't they? Couldn't they have another one, possibly, if there was a good enough reason?
They just needed to find a good enough reason.
After ages of this, the class finally broke for lunch. As Kensei picked up his bag and started to head out, a lady he recognized as the school doctor came running up to him. "Hidenaga-san! We just got a call from your doctor! He wanted us to make sure you remember your appointment You have to leave for your appointment right away, don't you?"
"Doctor…?" Kensei said, then realized his phone was throbbing in its pocket in his bag. He pulled it out a few inches and saw an incoming call, a familiar number and a familiar "Unknown" caller ID. "Right. My appointment. Thanks for reminding me." Then he walked to the stairs as fast as he could.
Gunshots ripped through the air, fired from a pair of rust-spotted revolvers held in a pair of withered green hands. They were almost as piercing as their owner's cry.
"Yeeeeeeee-HAW!"
He grabbed his battered cowboy hat and threw it high into the air at his joy. His joy at the chaos he was creating. Around him people screamed and ran away in every direction, but still he fired off his guns over and over anyway. In another minute the street was empty, but he strained his withered ears and could just barely hear the sound of a motorcycle's engine getting louder.
To his surprise, it was Kamen Rider Rune, wearing a long white coat and top hat, riding down the empty street on a shiny white bike with roulette wheels for tires. As soon as he jumped down from his bike the Kamen Rider whipped a long cane out of his coat and pointed it straight at the Corrupture.
"You are in a lot of trouble, friend," Rune said warningly.
"Ha! Well I ain't just scared out of my little ol' zombie mind! You must hear my spurs shakin' all the way down there!"
He was a hairless zombie, his skin green and withered, wearing a long brown overcoat covered in holes over a plaid shirt, jeans and peeling cowboy boots. Rune recognized him: it was Rotting Gus, an enemy from a graveyard mission in Bang Bang Sunset. But Gus was hardly one of the game's more challenging enemies. He'd be no problem for a Level 3 Rider.
Gus aimed his pistols at Rune, who only spun his cane in his fingers. The dice in the gem on the end clattered around for a second and the number 6 appeared above it.
The zombie cowboy fired both guns but Rune swung his cane and batted both bullets out of the air. 1, 2. Then he suddenly dashed across the distance between them and smacked Gus on both wrists, 3, 4, and knocked the zombie's hands off with a small explosion. He jabbed Gus in the chest with his cane and another small blast pushed the zombie back a good ten feet, then covered the distance in one jump and hit Gus in the neck with his cane. 6.
For a second Gus's head spun through the air until it hit the ground. He looked up at Rune and moaned, "Now that ain't fair!"
"It's not about being fair, it's about beating the game," Rune replied with a smirking tone to his voice. He glanced around, trying to see if someone was watching the fight. After all, he couldn't get his message out if nobody reported on his victory. As a result he didn't see Gus's hands creeping up behind him on their fingers. One grabbed his leg and pulled him off-balance while the other blasted him in the back with its revolver.
Kamen Rider Rune yelled and crashed into the ground. While he was down Gus's hands crawled back over to his body and jumped back onto his wrists. He bent down and picked up his head then put it back on too. "Yeah, and looks like this game's gonna beat you!" he drawled and took aim at Rune's head with both guns. He pulled the triggers and his weapons roared.
But nothing happened. There was no telltale explosion, no burst of intense pain from the shots. "Wut in taaaarnation?" Gus asked, rubbing the side of his head with the side of one pistol in confusion.
The answer came in a glowing bullet that blew him off his booted feet. Standing there was Kamen Rider Sling in his Level 2 gunslinger form. "Not bad, if I say so myself," he said, sounding smug.
"Wait…you shot his bullets?" Rune asked in disbelief.
"Like I said, not bad, if I say so myself," Sling replied and tweaked the brim of his hat, sounding even more smug.
Then he blasted at Rotting Gus, the zombie dancing away as the bullets chewed up the ground around his boots. Sling changed targets and fired at Gus's shoulder, knocking off his arm.
"En EN ChamBARA!" They were interrupted again as the sound of a Gashat activating called out. Then Kamen Rider Utsura came charging into sight, wielding his bright green katana.
"Seriously?! You brought a whole posse?" Rotting Gus complained.
"I didn't bring anyone," Sling replied and blasted Gus's foot off. It started hopping back to the zombie right away, who slumped against the side of a streetlight. "And I sure don't need any help with a pathetic monster like you," Sling added.
He was lining up another shot when there was a loud CLICK. Rotting Gus's severed arm had pointed its pistol at Rune's head. Suddenly there was another click, even louder. The slot machine bar on Rune's chest had started spinning. Eggplant. Eggplant. Eggplant. "Seriously?" Rune complained as a short burst of silver coins shot out and knocked Rotting Gus's severed arm away.
The zombie's foot reattached itself and he started running for his missing arm. Utsura jumped in the way, swinging his sword back and froth to drive Rotting Gus back away from it.
"Bang Bang Critical Finish!" A massive spiraling bullet ripped from Sling's Gamer Pamaka and shot a hole right through Rotting Gus's torso.
"Well, shucks…" Gus said popped into a cloud of pixels, even his severed arm disintegrating and flying off into the sky with the rest of him.
"Pathetic," Sling said as he holstered his gun and turned to Rune. "You should be glad nobody was around to see how easy that idiot zombie went down."
Rune said nothing for a minute. He picked up his cane and shook his head. "Kensei has something important to tell you, I think."
"Hmmm?" Sling asked, turning to face Utsura and sounding honestly surprised.
"I…," Utsura stammered, caught by surprised, then took a breath. But since when did Doku use his first name? "I…was talking to Doku about how maybe we should work together. The Corrupture are starting to come in groups, you know?"
Sling looked away and shook his head. "You picked the worst time in the world to try and make that point, Hidenaga. Maybe they are grouping up now. That just shows how dangerous we are."
"And think about how even more dangerous we'd be if helped each other."
"There's a saying, Hidenaga. 'Never waste a crisis.' This is the chance to show who's the better one after all." Then he walked away from the others, summoned up his steampunk motorcycle and rode off down the street without another word.
Suddenly Rune was on his bike too. "He'll think a little harder about it when a monster kicks his ass."
"…and what about you?"
"I'm still thinking," Rune said. "Games are competitive."
"This isn't a game," Utsura said, clenching a fish.
Rune looked him right in the giant eyes of his mask. "Isn't it?" he asked. Then he rode away too.
"Will you at least tell us why?" Kiiko asked in exasperation. She slumped onto the couch in the waiting room outside Kazumono's lab. The Genm tech shrugged helplessly at her question.
"Because the Corrupture are starting to get organized, right?" he replied. "That's what Hidenaga told us about the last battle. If we could trust this to more experience hands, we would. But instead if we have a Kamen Rider wanting more power to fight them, what choice do we have?"
Kiiko shook her head, unconvinced by the tech's argument. "Why can't you just make one really strong Gashat for the one Kamen Rider you know you can trust?"
He closed his eyes and rubbed his brow in exasperation. "Mishiranu-san, we're basically starting from scratch with our research on Rider Gashats, I've explained that to you. We're working as fast as we possibly can, and we can't afford to put all our faith in one person. THAT's why we agreed to give Doku Dasao the Level 3 Gashat we made for him."
"That's what I've been trying to tell everyone else," said someone with a sigh as he came into the lab and dropped his bag on the floor near Kiiko's head. He patted on her shoulder and she made a vaguely-pleased sounding noise. "Thanks for coming and trying to round up some support for me, Kiiko, but we really need to come up with something to convince the other guys to stop trying to handle this themselves."
"And that wouldn't be as hard if some people weren't giving away power-ups to anyone who asked," Kiiko said pointedly.
Kensei put his hand on her shoulder. "I don't know if only giving them things if they do what we say is the best to get them to trust us."
She gave him a pointed look. "Isn't that how jobs work? You're talking crazy, Kensei-kun."
"I don't know, Kiiko," he replied and looked over at Kazumono, "Not that I'm not grateful for being paid for this, but we're trying to save the world, right? Isn't that the important thing? My paycheck isn't going to do me a lot of good if the Corrupture turn the world into some kind of video game nightmare."
"It might not be," Kiiko lightly retorted. "Lots of video games have money systems."
Kensei looked back at her, his brow knitted in disbelief, but he couldn't help chuckling a little at her absurd suggestion anyway. "Let's try not to find out, okay? I bet video games wouldn't be as fun if monsters really were running around everywhere."
"Exactly my point!" Kazumono said, sounding a little exasperated. "Would you honestly want to live in a video game? I don't! That's why we gave Dasao his next Gashat when he came and asked for it: to make sure the world isn't turned in a horrible, glitch video game!"
Kiiko arched an eyebrow, like she probably didn't quite believe it. Well, maybe she didn't. After all, Doku and Yoshoku were really getting into the possibilities of a video game in real life…
"We'll figure it out somehow, but keep up the research on stronger games, okay?" Kensei asked the technician.
That question finally made Kazumono's expression brighten a little. "We're getting close to a major breakthrough. The Mighty Hand's almost ready," he said, and called up a picture on his tablet. It showed a white gauntlet made of some kind of hard plastic, with a picture of the game character Mightly near the back giving a thumbs up. Two rows of small grey buttons ran up the back of it to stop in front of a pair of two larger, a pink one stamped A and a green one stamped B.
"What's it do?"
The tech smirked. "I'll tell you all about it as soon as the testing's finished…sorry to keep you in the dark, but we're really proud of this one."
Kensei nodded. He was sure Genm had every right to be proud of their new gadget. But at the same time he wished their research was going faster. The Kamen Riders seemed so vulnerable having to depend on trinkets for all their powers. How much trouble would they be in waiting on Kazumono's people to rediscover all that had already been learned?
He had a feeling it wouldn't be long until he got his answer.
After they left the Genm building, Kiiko went off on her own, somewhat to Kensei's surprise.
"I need to get home," she said quickly.
"Where is that? Maybe you can show me off to your folks," he tried to suggest with a smile.
"They're out of town," she said even more quickly than before and hurried away.
He watched her go until she turned a corner and disappeared down another street. Well, maybe his night would go a little easier. He still had another night with his mother and the celebrations of his heroics were getting a little tiring. It'd be easier to survive with just his mother around reminding him.
But as he stared back home, it was obvious he had worse things to worry about than his mother fawning over him. There was a fireball at the top of a building and the corner of it had disappeared.
It was time to go.
Another beam lanced out from the mouth of the snake-like staff, held in a fleshless hand. It spewed out in rapid fire and blew up a row of cars in a string of billowing fireballs.
"Still got my touch," grinned the staff's owner, a demon with a strangely tall skull for a head, tiny blue gems in his eye sockets. He had on a long blue trenchcoat and a battered top hat, the top torn and almost flopping free of the rest.
A yawn reached his ears. He turned to face a woman with blue skin, wearing a clinging purple catsuit and a golden helmet with the head of a spider carve into the front with its eyes over hers and the legs over the sides of her head. She was draped over the hood of a car that hadn't exploded, and she looked totally bored with his display. "They're taking a lot longer to show up than when they fought Gus," she said. "Maybe you're not as dangerous as he was."
Somehow the skull-headed man narrowed his eyebrows angrily at her. "Don't test me, Mirage. Are you a part of this cause or aren't you?" he demanded.
She gazed at him without saying anything for a minute then jumped down and said in a half-mocking voice, "Of course, great Master Terror! Your vision is the one that will unite the new world into a place of freedom and ultimate chaos!"
Master Terror ground his teeth angrily, but looked up at the roar of a motorcycle. It was Kamen Rider Sling, his steampunk motorcycle belching flames from its numerous exhaust pipes. Only a second later Kamen Rider Rune came riding from the other direction, wearing the coat and top hat of his Level 3 form. He jumped off his bike and whipped out his cane, then landed in a crouch and came up with his free hand on the brim of his hat.
Mirage looked back at Master Terror. "I think this is what's acalled a 'mirror match'," she smirked.
"Don't give away the plan," the skeletal villain growled under his breath.
She smirked. "Never."
"Two this time?" Rune said. "Maybe he was right."
Sling jumped down and gripped his gun but didn't draw it. "Why are you working together now? Are you that scared of us?" he called over to the two Corrupture.
Master Terror laughed. "Working together now? We've always been united in our goal: to spread over the world and make a home for our kind! It only so happens that we're spawning faster now and seeking each other out!" He swung his staff and a burst of venomous green beams that the Kamen Riders moved quickly to dodge.
Rune jumped over them, hid the ground with a somersault and Sling dashed, hit the ground and slid under. As he came up into a crouch he smoothly drew his Gamer Pamaka and fired a strafing burst of his own that Master Terror batted away with his staff.
"Is that the best the mighty Kamen Riders can do?" he sneered with no lips.
"Buddy, I haven't even gotten started!" Sling said. Rune swung his Gamer Septa and the dice on the end started rattling around almost sounding like a warning.
"Neither have we," Master Terror grinned, and even Mirage did despite mocking him before. A crystal ball formed in her hand and she threw it high into the air where it exploded into a dazzle of yellow and blue fireworks.
Immediately there was a deep yell, sounding like an angry animal, from behind them. In just a second there was another, but higher and followed by a snort. Three monsters charged up behind the Kamen Riders: the first one a hulking figure with shoulders nearly as wide as he was tall and the head of a rhinoceros with a long sword-like horn on his nose. In place of his right hand was a huge block of metal.
A spiked ball came bouncing up to beside the rhinoceros-monster then unfolded into a hunched figure with a mask and jester's hat over his gaunt, grey face. There were teeth on the underside of each of his long spindly fingers.
The other one was shorter, coming up to about one of the Riders' waist. He had a face like a pig, crossed with visible blue veins, long fangs on his lower jaw and strong but flabby arms along with hooves instead of feet.
"Kamen Riders, may I introduce Crush, Crumble, and Chomp. Your entertainment for the evening!" Master Terror laughed, and his three minions closed in.
See you Next Game