Disclaimer: A bow of respect to the original creator Shotaro Ishinomori and Adness Entertainment's Jimmy Sprauge and Steve and Micheal Wang, for their unified creative brilliance.

I apologize for the wait. Before getting down to my studies, I've decided to attend to my fanfiction. Hopefully, once school is over I'll be able to finish this up.

Let's get on with it.

Posted: April 28th, 2012 (A Saturday because I haven't been updating regularly)

"Regular Speech" Private Thoughts/Emphasis/AN - "Radio/Cellphone" - :Speaking through the Mirror/Advent Beasts: - ~Spirit-Chris~ - "Vent Announcement/Remembered Words."

"Vent Announcement."

Word Count: 2521

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight

Cry of the Ocean - Clepsydra: Chapter 11: Truths & Combat

4:15 pm

Maya decided to leave Kit's place – she was pretty confident that Xaviax had no interest in her whatsoever – and took a taxi to the shop, while texting Lacey to meet her there.

She sighed and leaned her head against the window, watching the streets sail pass and for just a moment she wished that there were no paranormal wars going on behind every glass, mirror or pool of water. To go back to a normal daily life and a sense of security would nice because for her one adventure was enough for a lifetime. Now she couldn't even look in a mirror without checking for a monster on the other side.

Grace's Books

Lacey sat in the armchair by the window, paging through a magazine but she wasn't really paying attention to it. An uncomfortable silence hung over the bookstore as Trent pushed the bookcart around, replacing displaced books.

Every few minutes, Lacey would look out of the window, looking for Maya.

"Why did you do it?"

"Huh?" Lacey turned her attention to Trent who was leaning against the bookcart.

"Why did you try to steal Maya's data? You know -"

"Don't you accuse me!" Lacey flared, shooting to her feet and pointing at him. "I thought Maya was in danger! I was worried! She's my best friend!"

"And stealing her data explains what? How does stealing her data keep Maya safe?" Trent demanded.

Lacey folded her arms and went back to staring out the window. "You'll find out when Maya gets here. And not before."

The wait wasn't a long one. Only a few minutes later, a taxi stopped outside of the shop and Maya got out, paying the taxi driver before walking into the store, her arrival announced by the jiggling of bells and the fact Lacey immediately engulfed her in a tight hug.

"Maya, I'm so sorry! I was worried about you, I didn't know what to do. I thought you were in trouble!"

Maya laughed at her friend's antics and hugged her back. "It's okay, Lacey - I'll explain everything."

"How did you find out in the first place?" Trent asked from the counter as Maya turned the store sign to 'Closed' and locking the door so it wouldn't open from the outside. "You didn't even believe in the Kamen Riders."

"I saw them, okay?" Lacey snapped and Maya waved an arm to stop an impending argument.

"Let's go to the back. Trent, you mind turning down the lights?"

Trent closed the backroom door behind him, leaning against it. Lacey was on the couch and Maya had elected to sit on one of the swivel chairs.

"A few days ago, I want to talk you about the whole Kamen Rider thing." Lacey began, staring at her fingers. "But I didn't want to say it over the phone. So I came to the shop. But those guys - Kit, Len, the other guy, Chris. They were already there. And, you don't really pay attention to me when they're around. So, I was going to wait until they left. But then those Asian brothers walked into the store."

"Axe and Spear," Trent muttered darkly.

"What?"

"Never mind, Lacey, we'll explain that in a minute. Go on,"

"I saw all of them go through the front door's glass and the taller Asian transforming into some sort of ... robotic knight type thing! I freaked out, Maya. I didn't know what to think. So...I left."

Trent and Maya exchanged looks; Trent looked slightly convinced while Maya just look saddened - most likely for paying so little attention to her friend. "Is there more to this story?" Trent asked.

"I ran into Michelle Walsh,"

"Really? !" Trent burst out.

"Trent!" Maya snapped.

"Michelle said she knew about the...Kamen Riders. Or a little about it. But not the details. That she was worried about your safety and she could see that Kit and Len and Chris - that they're dangerous! And maybe it's not their fault but they've got evil monsters and maniacs after them. And it didn't matter if she was lying!" she snapped at Trent. "Iwas worried. She said she had friends who could help and she need your journal so all I had to do was plug in the jumpdrive into your laptop and it would do the rest. But then I saw the picture of Sting and I chickened out and I dropped the flashdrive when I left."

"Ran away." Trent muttered. "Have you called Michelle?" he asked.

"No."

"Keep it that way." Maya said, rising from her chair and sitting next to Lacey. "I'm sorry you were so confused and scared, Lacey. I'll explain it all - starting from the beginning,"

"The beginning?"

"Yes. I'm not going to deny that the Kamen Riders aren't dangerous. They are. They're soliders, knights and they're trying to save the world and they have to fight armies of minions to do it. But you have no idea what they've lost to make them fight this war. And not just Len, Kit and Chris. All of them."

Lacey nodded slowly.

"I promise though- they're not going to let anything hurt me. That's how I met Kit and Len. Kit saw the monsters who were going to attack me."

"And Len did the saving," Trent added.

Maya laughed lightly at Lacey's alarmed look. "Kit was just figuring it out. Though, I have to warn you - Kit gave a much better first impression than Len did."

Ventarra - 4: 30 pm

Fighting back-to-back, Dragon Knight and Neva managed to cut a swath through the mob of mirror monsters, making their way to a more open area. The remaining mirror monsters gave chase as Dragon Knight slotted a card into his Vent Summoner.

"Strike Vent."

A Dragon's head appeared on Dragon Knight's right hand as Dragredder appear once more, shooting long jets of flame at the monsters.

Neva's senses pricked and she spun around, Sting's advent deck glowing in her pocket as she raised her hand. A projection of energy knocked Destwilder out of the air and sent the mechanical tiger tumbling to the ground several feet away.

"Neva!" Dragon Knight left the monsters to his dragon, darting in front of her. "Where's Axe?"

Neva pointed as Axe and Spear stepped out of a nearby pool of water. Dragon Knight sighed. "We do not have time for this."

Neva ran her fingers over the etchings in her brother's advent deck and growled in frustration. If she could use an advent deck, she would be of a lot more help but all she had was mostly-untested pyschic powers and her combat knife.

"Well, well, well. If isn't the princess and her dragon knight." Axe mocked. Almost immediately, in a haze of magenta light, the tiles of the plaza erupted beneath his feet, sending him hurtling backwards.

"Danny! Are you okay?" Spear asked as Axe groaned. Spear helped Axe to his feet.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You're gonna pay for that, princess!"

Dragon Knight looked at Neva over his shoulder; she looked enraged. "Does being called a princess make you that angry?"

"When it's applied to mean 'damsel in distress' yes. It does." She stepped from behind Dragon Knight, sheathing her combat knife. "Why don't we make this interesting? No armor, no powers, no weapons, no minions, no advent decks or other supernatural things. Just you. Unarmed combat. 2 versus 2."

Spear helped Axe to his feet and the two brothers exchanged looks. "Sounds like fun,"

The two brothers powered down and Dragon Knight did the same. Dragredder and Destwilder both disappeared. Neva discarded her bag as the four of them took up their different fighting stances.

"When you're ready."

"No!" Xaviax's angry bellow echoed through the Mechanical Fortress's control room. "Don't fight them, capture the girl!"

She's smarter than they are. She'll turn this to her advantage. He had been confident that the Brothers Cho could handle Kit - Neva was the unstable factor. Now, he could see that her powers were controlled by her emotions at the moment - they were practically unpredictable.

Growling, he activated the comlink to Strike.

"Strike, change in plans."

Wing Knight jumped onto Blackwing's back, avoiding Venosnaker's spew of acid just in time. Wing Knight jumped again, landing Venosnaker's head and sliding down his long body. The cobra thrashed forcing Wing Knight to somersault off but he landed in front of Strike, their swords clashing. Sparks flew up and the two knight leapt backwards, circling each other as their two advent beasts stood at their backs.

"Strike, change in plans." Xaviax's voice suddenly came through the omnicom in his helmet. "Forget the fight with Wing Knight - Axe and Spear have done something stupid. It would be far simpler to let them relax and then put your plan into action."

Strike dodged Wing Knight's sword attack, rolling out of the way as Venosnaker unleashed another torrent of acid breath; Blackwing swooped in pulling Wing Knight out of the way but got some acid on his wings in the process.

"On my way, General,"

Wing Knight came up, glancing around, sword up.

:They're gone: Blackwing said dumbly, wincing about his damaged wings. :Why did he leave?:

"Neva." Wing Knight breathed in horror. The sudden interference from the advent plains was so great, he couldn't sense Kit or Neva's auras anymore. "We have to go see if her and Kit are alright."

Danny attacked first, charging towards Kit. The young Rider ducked his punch, coming from underneath with an uppercut and block a knee jab with his forearm before whipped his fist into his eye, sending Danny reeling backwards.

Kit moved in with a series of kicks and jabs but Danny sidestepped, his injured eye closed and blocked with forearms and shield blocks before attacking with aerial kicks.

Albert's every strike was blocked by Neva's fluid movements - a twist of the hand, a skip back, a bob to the left or the right. Albert feinted punching for the head but his left hand aimed for her stomach. Her other arm swooped down to block it as the right arm swung into an upper block, deflecting the first arm. She pushed both of his arms out of the way, grabbed him by the collar and brought him in close, slamming her knee into his gut.

The air rushed right out of him and she swung her leg behind his sending him off balance and hooking her arm around his neck in a guillotine chokehold, applying pressure. He wheezed, flailing.

"Kit move!" Neva pivoted, throwing Albert towards Danny and both brothers went crashing to the ground.

They gasped for breath, scrambling to their feet as Kit and Neva took up their fighting stances again.

"Cheater!" Albert accused and Neva shrugged.

"No holds barred."

Suddenly, something sharp poked Albert in the back and the new Rider looked behind him in confusion. "Come on, bro," Danny scolded. "Focus,"

"Something poked me!"

The water rippled and Wing Knight stepped out, still in full armor and pointing the Wing Lancer threateningly at the pair. Blackwing flew overhead, circling. The brothers slowly put their hands up. Wing Knight turned pointing the brothers towards the pool and kicked them both into it, making them fall into the mirror portal beneath its surface.

"Great timing!" Kit approved as Neva dropped her stance and picked up her bag.

"Xaviax was trying to split us all up," Wing Knight noted. "He sent Strike to distract me but he bailed." He looked around. There wasn't a mirror monster in sight. A portion of the plaza looked as if it had been blown up because there was a large hole in the ground and tiles scatterd everywhere. There were scorch marks and the sent of burnt stone, glass and soot everywhere but other than looking tired and bruised, Neva and Kit looked fine.

Wing Knight breathed a sigh of relief and powered down before approaching them.

"Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Kit said as Neva hummed in agreement. Len looked at the pair of them and sighed. "Come on, let's get our motorcycles and get out of this place. I feel like I've been fighting nonstop."

"I hear that," Kit stretched his arms over his head as Neva fell into step beside him. "I'm sore all over,"

The ride back to Kit's place was a silent. Kit and Neva rode on Chris's bike behind Len in silence not even talking to each other.

If anything had happened to her, I would have never forgive myself. Len glanced in the mirror, making sure Kit and Neva were still behind him.

If she wasn't Chris's sister she wouldn't be in this mess. Neither of them would feel so guilt-driven for her. As much as Len hated to admit it - Strike had been right. Would he care this much about what she thought and what happened to her if she wasn't Chris's sister? With Maya it had been different. She was a civilian - and then a friend of Kit's. A friend would help Kit on the right path. But Neva - she was a comrade's sister. Which made her their sister, in a way.

They walked into Kit's apartment in silence and Len took off his jacket, looking around. He frowned. "I told Maya to wait here!"

"I'll call her," Kit volunteered, going to the phone. Neva sat down at the kitchen counter and Len followed her, leaning on the opposite side of the counter. She looked up at him and Len took a breath.

"I think...I owe you an apology, Neva,"

Neva stared at him a moment and shook her head. "No. I was the one out of line. You have every right to react the way you did. I just needed someone to hate in that moment. I should be hating Xaviax - and Strike. He was the one who really took my brother from me. But you were just the closest person to blame and that was unfair."

"We're both at fault then - we both should have been more patient."

Neva nodded in agreement. "Friends?" she offered, extending a hand and Len took it with a faint smile.

"Friends,"

I gave up on the snow/ocean related metaphorical titles. :P Yay, Neva and Len reconciled! :D It seems like Strike vs. Wing Knight battles are always cut short in this fiction - but then again they've only battled twice (in this fiction).

Notes: I decided that advent beasts can only be heard by their fellow advent beasts and their contract Rider. That way I don't have to deal with so many characters. Also, I didn't like the idea of Destwilder (Axe's advent beast) beig a humanoid tiger - i thought a normal-looking mechanical tiger would be cooler.

Please review. Sorry for the long wait. Next posting date is uncertain.