Disclaimer: I own nothing about Super Heroine Chronicle, any of the represented series or Kamen Rider. The only original character I own is Sasaki Motoharu. All other original characters belong to their respective creators.
Twenty Fifth Show – Stepping Forward
'Who knew that one of those corny speeches from my Chuuni days would actually come in handy?'
That was the first thing that ran through Motoharu's mind just shortly after he delivered that line to the monster in front of him. He didn't have time to think of anything else though as he had to move his Apple Reflector to the side in order to block the creature's attempt at a horizontal cut with its sword. On reflex, he tried to go for the opening with the Sword Bringer but the demon moved quite swiftly for his size, managing to angle his body so that the small shoulder pad armour on the left side would block the weapon.
'Okay… right now, I'm in a fairly tight space and have to worry about two ladies possibly getting hurt due to being caught in the middle of the fight. Gotta move this outside!' With a game plan in his mind, Mars saw the demon charge forward again. Instead of simply blocking, he waited until the last moment before stepping aside and kicking him from behind, sending the creature crashing through a wall and out into the open garden.
"You two get to safety!" After sending that warning to the two maidens, he rushed outside and firmly planted himself in front of the recovering demon to block his path of returning to the castle. He was glad that he had that sparring session with Nagata back at the Antique Shop's training area. Otherwise, he wouldn't be as familiar with his current sword and shield combination.
Once the monster got back on his feet, he roared once and tried hacking at Mars with his blade. Seeing that he now had the enemy's attention, the Golden Knight began drawing it out to a more advantageous location which was the nearby village. Many people had evacuated to a safer place when they spotted the fighting close by so that meant plenty of obstacles he could use to trip the monster up and land a stronger blow.
His plan paid off when the demon got tangled in some laundry lines hanging up which gave Mars an opportunity to slash at the monster's torso. But rather than drawing sparks, his sword instead drew blood which caused him to stop and stare at the red liquid coating the tip of the blade. 'I… cut someone?'
It was a bit understandable that Sasaki Motoharu would be quite surprised and in a fair state of shock. His debut monster battle was against Orphenochs back in the IS Academy and during that time, he saw that the attacks landed by Eternal and Accel's bladed weapons drew sparks just like in a standard tokusatsu show. So he had somewhat expected the same thing here but it turned out not to be the case.
There was also the fact that since he had been born and raised in a peaceful society, the thought of wanting to cause lethal harm would be the furthest thing from his mind. He had trained in the art of kendo but the weapons he trained and practiced with were shinai made out of ordinary bamboo and bokuto made out of wood. He never used an actual steel sword.
With all of those factors in play, the Toei employee needed time to reboot his emotional state. Time which the monster didn't let him have as he ripped away the sheets that tangled him up earlier and struck the Golden Knight's back armour, causing sparks to fly and the Rider to stumble forward. This was followed up a strong body check that sent Mars tumbling to the ground, his right hand dropping the Sword Bringer.
After letting out a triumphant roar, the demon pounced into the air to beat down his fallen foe…
CONNECT NOW!
… But instead got intercepted by Claude's Dis Halberd. "Haaaa!"
As Sasaki's vision came back to him, he turned his head around and spotted Kamen Rider Sorcerer trading blows with the enemy, even landing a few attacks himself with his weapon and drawing blood. Unlike him, Sorcerer didn't even register the fact that he had drawn blood as he used the blunt end of his weapon and shoved it straight in the demon's solar plexus to get some room and swap in a new ring.
ROCK-CHAN NOW!
"Hold that thing off for a bit!"
"UMU!" While the summon began forcing the demon back, Claude moved over to where Mars pushed himself up off the ground and noticed the other Rider.
"What are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining but…"
"Um, Noel and Yuri are dealing with the two demons on the other end of the village. There are two more demons being fought by five ladies just outside the castle's perimeter and they're doing well to hold it off for now. I was about to go help them actually when I spotted you freezing up," answered Sorcerer. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah… sorry, just lost focus back there for a second when I cut the enemy and noticed that I drew blood." The Golden Knight moved to retrieve his dropped sword. "How did you keep focus and not get distracted by the enemy bleeding?"
Claude seemed taken aback a bit by that question. "I didn't really think about it. Have too many other things to worry about. And I'm just trying to keep in mind what Noel told me earlier about how I should keep doing what I'm doing to move forward and look ahead. If I have to worry about anything, I would rather worry for the people that I care for instead of worrying about someone trying to kill me."
Sasaki chuckled once before moving past Sorcerer to focus on the monster. "You're a lot stronger than you look. I ought to take a page from your book."
"Hehe…"
"Let's see if we can group all of the demons together and finish them off at once. What do you say?"
"Sounds like a plan," answered the other Gold Rider before the two of them began running to locate the demon engaging Rock-chan.
"So do you have everything for your trip?" asked Kurumi, clad in her Astral Dress.
"Yeah." Since Souji wanted to be fully prepared for any level of escalation, he brought both Drivers. For lower escalation levels, he can use his Sengoku Driver and his standard Banana and Mango Lockseeds. He did bring along a third power-type Lockseed just in case. And if shit really hit the fan, he could always swap in the Genesis Driver.
The rest of his Lockseed collection would be used by Kurumi to power up the Twelfth Bullet and send him back in time ten years. They were all gathered in a table in front of the both of them. Since he wanted to keep this a secret from his siblings, he and Kurumi relocated this operation to the empty garage.
The Spirit then gave her partner one last warning. "Since you're going back that far, there won't be a past me there to send you back to the future. But then again, if you successfully change that event, the current you will no longer exist and a new you will come into existence. You're absolutely fine with that?"
"Yes, I am. Also, until I finish my work on my end, look after my siblings for me, will ya?"
"Understood. Zaphkiel!" Invoking the name of her Angel, the giant image of a clock appeared behind the Spirit. Kurumi pointed both of her arms at the twelve at the top of the clock and it plunged the entire space into a giant shadow before multiple hands of light sprang out and greedily grabbed all the assembled Lockseeds on the table in front to drain their energy, even changing their natural colours to a rusted brown colour.
'Unreal…' Souji then noticed an odd sensation on his left side and was startled to see one hand sticking into his pocket and draining the energy of his Banana and Mango Lockseeds, turning them rusted as well. "HEY!"
"Ara… someone's quite hungry~!"
"Goddammit!" The young man moved to protect his remaining regular Lockseed and his Energy Lockseed from being drained as well. No way was he going to let them get touched by those things!
Once everything had settled down, Kurumi pointed her flintlock pistol right at her partner and called out the bullet's name before firing.
"Yud Bet!"
It was the last thing Souji heard before his vision of the world shattered.
"Are you two alright?" asked a tired Gaim, having finally put down the demon with the Iron Breaker, courtesy of Pine Arms. Thankfully, the finisher had completely obliterated the demon's body and left it no chance of regenerating.
"We're okay, dad. And at least now we have weapons," chirped Sachiko, twirling one of the demon's dropped weapons in her hands.
"Ugh… the weight feels all off," complained Kan'u as she inspected her newly acquired spear. "I miss my Green Dragon Crescent Blade."
"We'll keep an eye out for a better replacement but just use this for now." With that settled, Nagata gave a mental call to Yuri and within forty five seconds, the former Unbreakable Darkness landed in front of the family. "How's everything going on the other side?"
"Me and Noel finished the two demons that were causing trouble at the village. There are still three more demonic life signs I can detect near the castle area. Noel went up there to help Sasaki and Claude."
"Will they be alright by themselves?" Nagata knew that Motoharu was pretty competent combat wise but it was Claude that concerned him more since that boy relied more on the physical enhancements of his Rider armour instead of his own skills. There was also the fact that the demons were being battled in a populated area so that would make things even harder for those two Riders and Noel.
"I suppose having one more fighter wouldn't hurt. But if you're going to help out, we need to get you there quickly. It took me a while to get here by myself though and to be honest; I think I have the slowest flight speed out of my family. I'm even slower than the King," admitted Yuri.
"I really need to find a replacement for my Sakura Hurricane," grumbled Gaim before whipping out the Strawberry Lockseed. "Anyways, if I used a different Lockseed to make myself a little lighter, would that be more helpful?"
ICHIGO!
LOCK ON!
SOIYA! ICHIGO ARMS! SHUSHUTTO SPARK!
While the Strawberry Arms formed and replaced the Pine Arms, Yuri thought this over before inspiration struck. "I have an idea."
At that moment, she positioned herself in front of Gaim and brought out her Soul Wings which formed into giant clawed hands before one reached out and grabbed the Strawberry Samurai much to the alarm of the two Chinese girls. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm going to throw Gaim over there, Kan'u-san. It'll save time!" As the small girl began spinning around to gather momentum, one thought ran through the Rider's mind.
'Note to self: Stay far away from the next person who says "I have an idea."' After five more seconds of spinning, Yuri threw the Head of Shoku straight towards the castle. From his viewpoint in the air, he could see Noel, Claude and Sasaki working hard together with five female samurai to keep the three demons boxed in a certain area. 'Alright… let me direct myself to that guy over there!'
He targeted the largest demon in the trio and shifted his body so that his landing descent would put him in the ideal position for a powerful kick from the air but as soon as he got close, the large demon batted him aside, causing him to crash hard on the ground. "Oomph!"
"Nice of you to drop in," remarked Motoharu in a flat tone.
"Ugh, you can blame Yuri for that!" While Nagata got his bearings, he felt someone glomp him from behind.
"WAAAI! It's a big juicy strawberry! Wanko-chan's digging in!"
It was rather eerie hearing a fully grown girl sound extremely similar to Chouhi. She had the same short hairstyle although the colour was light blonde and her eye colour was green. Her chest was far more developed but her clothing style wasn't as revealing as Rinrin's, showing only her shoulders and her lower legs. And if anything, it seemed that she had her own animal motif like Rinrin but while the little girl he remembered sported a tiger head accessory, this girl had a furry dog tail attached to her rear end and a paw print stitched in the fabric just above her large cleavage.
'Whoa, what the hell?!'
"Wanko, stop it!" Thank goodness that other red haired woman dragged that Wanko off of him. Her attire consisted of a red overcoat with the logo of a white oni mask surrounded by what looked like Taoist yin-yang symbols in yellow and green colours. Her attire consisted of a white top and some lower black torso armour over a purple hakama which had the sides exposed, allowing a view of her white fundoshi and thighs.
"Uweeehhh, don't pull me so hard, Mitsuki-sama!" complained the one called Wanko.
Underneath the mask, Nagata just blinked in stunned surprise. '… Mitsuki?! Seriously?!'
"Nagata, stop spacing out! We have a job to finish!" shouted Sasaki as he tapped the Cutting Blade once.
COME ON! GOLDEN SQUASH!
A barrage of apple shaped energy projectiles appeared in front of Kamen Rider Mars and he directed them towards the demonic trio, keeping them at bay while Rock-chan provided some support fire with her own version of the Rock Cannon.
"Roger that!" Gaim removed his Strawberry Lockseed and then secured it into the Musou Saber.
LOCK ON! 1, 10, 100!
With the count finished, Nagata slashed upwards, creating a giant energy duplicate of the Ichigo Kunai. The kunai changed into a giant strawberry before exploding into countless regular-sized kunai, which rained down on the demons, detonating as they hit.
ICHIGO CHARGE!
"Haaaaaa!" Claude put as much strength as he could into his next strike with his weapon while charging the enemy, leaving further injuries to the three demons that were now on their last legs. The largest of the trio refused to go down easily though and tried making one last charge at Kamen Rider Mars.
"Now for the finish!" Motoharu saw the desperate move coming as his right hand went straight for the Cutting Blade and tapped it thrice.
COME ON! GOLDEN SPARKING!
After tossing away his Apple Reflector so he could have both hands on his sword, he focused on making a high enough jump so he would have enough momentum for a full frontal aerial somersault and be able to swing his powered up Sword Bringer for his form's Rider Slash finisher. "Ogon no Ichigeki!"
The energy unleashed from the sword swallowed the three demons, incinerating their flesh and leaving no corpses behind. Noel breathed a sigh of relief while Claude's summon got recalled to his ring. "Ah, that was tiring!"
"Claude, you were great out there," complimented Motoharu as he got out of his landing pose and prepared to retrieve his shield. "Thanks for all your help."
"Heh…" Sorcerer gave a small nervous laugh but there was a good feeling in his chest that he actually contributed significantly to today's victory.
While Mars went to go pick up his shield, he noticed the strange posture that Gaim was in and that the gaze behind that red visor was locked on to him. "What?"
"The way you pulled off that finisher and calling it 'Golden Strike'?" asked Nagata in an amused tone. "I see someone here's a big Bull Black fan."
"Hey, that guy was a legit badass! Seeing him pull that move off got me watching Super Sentai in the first place when I was six!" And just like that, Sasaki dipped into otaku mode, causing the other youth to laugh.
"Everyone has their own way of getting into the franchise so I won't judge!"
"Hardy har har…" Motoharu's sarcastic laugh was cut off when he noticed the two girls he had saved earlier approaching.
"Who are they?" asked Noel to herself while Gaim looked a bit startled at how the black haired girl strongly reminded him of Kan'u and Sachiko.
"I see the both of you are alright. Thank goodness," said Sasaki while sheathing the Sword Bringer back into the Apple Reflector.
"Were you the one who commanded those other warriors, Golden Knight?"
"Sorta… I mean, I just gave out a logical course of action and the others followed through. I'm no leader," clarified the Toei Employee as he spoke to the black haired young lady.
"Dearu ka. Even still, the way you organized your allies is commendable." The black haired girl briefly glanced at her brown haired female companion who only nodded once before turning back to Mars and pointing a dramatic finger at him. "It's decided! Golden Knight of the Heavens, I, Oda Saburou Kuon Nobunaga, beseech you to become my husband and walk the same path with me to unify Japan!"
There was a huge thud as Sasaki dropped his Arms weapon in complete shock. Gaim wasn't far behind with his Musou Saber clanging on the ground.
"Ara? Sasaki-san's getting married? That's news to me!" exclaimed Noel.
Both Riders didn't even notice her commentary as they both shouted out a single name in disbelief.
"NOBUNAGA?!"
Now that the battle is out of the way, time for some fun stuff to go down in the Sengoku Koihime arc. No route split yet but I'll eventually get one out. And yes, Kuon does use 'Dearu ka' in the Sengoku Koihime VN like Nobuna does. Back in that period, it was more or less common slang.