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.
Warning: Contains future spoilers for Vanishing Raptor's 'Sangokuden no Gaim'.
Twenty Ninth Show – One Little Crack (Route A)
In the depths of Helheim Forest, an armoured figure made his way through the wilderness. He wore a silver-white armour suit with metallic blue accents. He had his entire head concealed by a pointed helmet like a warlord. A golden sword crest was on the helmet forehead and his visor was metallic blue in colour while his silver mouth guard still retained the same structural format as his first basic form. His torso breastplate was black in colour with his personal symbol centered between a pair of azure dragons.
Both sides of his belt contained holders for his Lockseeds. The right sided holder had his first three normal Lockseeds which were Orange, Pine, and Strawberry. The holder on his left side carried his Energy Lockseeds that he had acquired from his time as a mortal. Finally, the cape he wore on his back was primarily silver in colour with blue linings.
It didn't take the figure long to find what he was looking for as he stopped in front of a particularly large tree. Up above, a snake had coiled its blue spiritual body around a long branch before tilting its head to address the being below.
"Yo, Kusanagi," came the casual greeting from the snake. "By the way you're dressed; I'm guessing this isn't a social visit."
"Let's cut to the chase, Sagara. How did you do it?"
"Me? I didn't do anything because I couldn't do anything. You should know that, Yamato-kun. After all, you were the one who used the power of the Forbidden Fruit to make that seal and isolate the forest from reality," answered the avatar of Helheim before he slithered down from the tree and took on his standard human form, dressed in a white and brown robe with a brown hood concealing his lower face and his forehead. "What likely happened is that someone opened a localized Crack from the outside with a Lockseed. They are probably in possession of a Sengoku Driver or Genesis Driver."
"How can that be possible…? We sealed any openings here so no Drivers or any technology could have slipped between worlds," murmured Yamato to himself. "There are also no more working Drivers in that world and there's no way they could have built their own Drivers."
"Maybe some fellow accidentally came into this world from a parallel world and had their Driver transformed from a toy to the real deal. Sound familiar? In any case, you have something more important to do now. The moment that the Lockseed opened that one little Crack is when everything got put into motion again," chirped Sagara cheerfully.
"Another battle for the Forbidden Fruit?" hissed the immortal in an angry tone.
The other male simply smiled. "Of course! I have a lot of time to make up for so I'll start with this planet again. That little missy who's your descendent… Kuon, was it? She'll make for a fine contender, assuming she's still alive and capable of fighting by the time preparations for the new game are completed. Heh… we'll just have to see what happens."
"You…!" Just as Yamato stepped forward, Sagara began to vanish into nothingness.
"Just keep in mind that you won't be able to step in until the later stages of the game. Gotta give some spotlight time on the native competitors and see what they're made of first!" And with that, he was gone.
'Even after all those years in isolation, Helheim's still determined to force that game of Evolution on other civilizations, regardless of whether they want it or not…' Yamato wished that he knew of some way to destroy Helheim once and for all so that no other species would have to go through the same experience as mankind did. The problem is that anything he did never seemed to really stick so all he could do is continue to seal it away. And now, even that has been broken.
He paused when he felt a tug on his mind, a sign of a telepathic call. "Kusanagi here."
"It's me," said a familiar deep and stoic voice. "What did that snake say?"
"He said that someone on the other side opened a local Crack with a Lockseed and theorized that they had a Sengoku Driver or Genesis Driver on them."
"Hm… I thought so. I'm picking up two Sengoku Driver users entering Yggdrasil Tower." There was a pause. "There are a total of seven in the group, consisting of three Armoured Riders and four human girls. Two of the Armoured Riders are using the Gaim and Bujin Gaim armour while the last one is mostly wearing gold with a black cape. He appears to be using a different Driver; one that has the shape of a hand in the centre of the buckle."
'Gaim… Bujin Gaim…' Why were they together? Wait a moment… black, gold and a Wizardriver?! 'And Kamen Rider Sorcerer as well?!'
"Two of the human girls seem to be magic users. I've observed them using some magic to clear away flora on their way to the tower. As for the last two girls, they look physically identical to Queen Aisha."
'What?!' He didn't get any further time to think on that further as something else caught his attention. It was some sort of spatial distortion forming in front of him and in no time, it took on a purple spherical form which expanded rapidly. Acting quickly, he teleported to the top of a rocky cliff overlooking the area and saw the sphere devour a good chunk of the landscape before vanishing and leaving only a gigantic crater with two people in the centre: a girl who didn't wear much with long hair and cold eyes and a boy who had his own Sengoku Driver. He deactivated his black armour before beginning to puke his guts out.
"Yamato? Are you still there?"
"Yeah… something came up. Can you keep an eye on that group for now until I get back to you?"
There was a brief silence before the deep voice acknowledged the request. "Very well."
"Thanks, Takatora." Shutting off the telepathic connection, Yamato's thoughts turned to the two down below. 'And more importantly… those Lockseeds I saw that kid carry with him are no doubt Black Lockseeds. I better nip that problem in the bud.'
Meanwhile, the boy continued to cough out mucus while his female companion simply stared at him. "You really are a lightweight, Kotaro."
"Well, excuse me! Not everyone's comfortable with your method of dimension hopping, Tohka!" grumbled the boy while cleaning his face with the sleeve of his wrinkly dress shirt. Seriously, hopping to different worlds by using the dimension where Spirits resided as a corridor? How can any normal human stand that? He had been lucky for his Driver protecting him from the worst of it, only leaving him nauseated at the end. "More importantly… this is a familiar scene."
"… You only notice it now? You big dummy." For a second, her tone lightened up compared to her normal gruff tone before she got on alert just as someone teleported in. Upon seeing the armoured figure's overall appearance, her eyes hardened. "This is…"
"So this isn't our world after all," muttered Kotaro, seeing the other Gaim variant in front of him. He slowly got up and prepared to transform but the female raised her left arm to grab his collar before he could move.
"You're going to rest," said the girl firmly while summoning her throne and shoving the boy in.
"Huh?! Wait…!" He didn't get a chance to say anything else before it automatically strapped him to the seat and took off to safety and causing him to scream out her name as he flew off against his will. "TOOOOHhhhkkkkk…!"
Gaim's attention turned back to the girl, not even paying mind to the other boy who just left. "Identify yourself."
Her only response was to summon her single edged black sword. "Those who are about to die have no need to know my name."
His first reaction upon hearing that was for his left hand to reach the left portion of his belt and turn the Mugen Lockseed once. Just as the girl began charging at him, the Sengoku Driver announced an Arms Weapon which quickly materialized in his hands.
WATERMELON GATLING GUN!
Even as his shield blocked her sword, he could feel the immense power coming from that girl's attack. Another tap of the Mugen Lockseed…
DAIDAIMARU!
… Allowed him to summon his own trusty sword and counter with a thrust attack but her reaction time kicked in, causing her to parry the blow before spinning counter clockwise to build momentum for another powerful swing. This time, he hopped high into the air and began raining down cover fire from the Watermelon Gatling Gun but she held up her hand to summon a simple barrier to block the shots.
"Hm… so you aren't just a pure Berserker style fighter. Interesting…" Normally he wouldn't have minded fighting a new opponent after all those years but he was pressed for time. "I wish I could have enjoyed this properly but I really don't have time to deal with you."
Tohka's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What?"
"That's why I'm going to finish this quickly." He dismissed his summoned weapons before he held out his right hand while his left hand once again turned the Mugen Lockseed.
MUGEN TSURUGI!
A simple Eastern Straight Sword then appeared in his right hand. Even though it appeared simple, it performed quite well to the point where Aisha had originally thought that such a weapon had been created by Ou Yezi, a legendary Chinese swordsmith who had lived during the Zhou Dynasty when she first saw it and tested it herself a long time ago. Faint kanji characters were inscribed on the blade, reading 'This sword is used by the King of the New World'. Finally, there was an open slot just above the sword's guard to allow the insertion of a Lockseed, similar to the Musou Saber.
"Your sword can't compare against my Nehemah," remarked Tohka coldly.
"We'll have to see about that. Now… let's dance on my stage!"
"Wait, there are two of them?!" Houki couldn't believe what she was seeing as Armoured Rider Baron did his best to defend against the onslaught from New Generation Rider Baron.
"Well, the difference here is that Shun seems to be using standard level equipment while that other guy appears to be using higher level gear. So far, he's been outperforming his opponent physically," noted Riko while fixing her hair. "I guess in your terms, it's like Shun's stuck in a training IS unit like you while his enemy has a customized personal IS unit."
"Then we have to help Shun!" Houki reached for her grey bracelet when the blonde girl stepped in front of her vision.
"I suggest holding off for now. We need to save your IS for a real emergency, not something like this."
"But…!" As much as it irked her, the French thief had a point. She wasn't sure if the Core would fully recharge itself again like it did when she came to this world. In the event that it didn't, then she would only be able to deploy and fight with her IS a certain number of times before it got drained of power. So that meant leaving their rescuer all by himself against that bully. "… Even though your logic is correct, simply leaving someone who helped us earlier to fend for himself isn't right!"
Speaking of the rescuer, Shun got tossed hard into the back of a wagon full of hay. He had managed to pick up a few things about his enemy. Namely that while he didn't really have a lot of technique, he seemed comfortable in battle. This comfort was likely honed by experience. 'So he's actually been in real battles before? Did he get into a lot of fights when he was younger?'
No time to ponder that. He had his own fight to focus on. His hand went to his Cutting Blade and tapped it twice.
COME ON! BANANA AU LAIT!
He raised his weapon, intending to smash down his enemy with a giant banana-shaped energy projection from the Banaspear. But Souji's immediate reaction was to reach for the lever of his belt…
LEMON ENERGY SQUASH!
… and cut the projection cleanly with the powered edges of his Sonic Arrow before landing another pair of hits, sending Shun flying back again and the Banana Lockseed in another direction.
"Shit!" Scrambling to his feet, he brought out his only other Lockseed and activated it.
MANGO!
LOCK ON!
COME ON! MANGO ARMS! FIGHT OF HAMMER!
The Mango Arms split open, the outside skin folding onto the back and forming a partial cape that only covered the top part. The shoulder pieces folded down, proving to be flat and crimson with yellow cube structures resembling how mangos were normally served. The chest plate also folded, being red and resembling a masculine muscular chest with a yellow cubed abdomen. His helmet was revealed, the new attachment being red with yellow horns that curved downward, cubed like served mango. His visor had turned a deeper shade of yellow, but appeared to be cubed like served mango. As for the Arms Weapon, his hand held a mace with a top styled after cubed mango assembled in the head of the hammer with jagged edges. This weapon is known as the Mango Punisher.
Considering that he was trading speed for power in this form, Shun would have to be careful with his movements. 'I can't approach recklessly…'
Souji moved in first though, with his Sonic Arrow edges still powered up but Shun aimed his Mango Punisher's heavy end to deflect the blow before using the weapon's momentum and spun around to land a decent strike on the New Generation Rider's upper shoulder armour, sending him stumbling back a step. "What?!"
"You better not be thinking that I'm an easy pushover!" Shun readjusted his weapon grip before going in again. He thrust the heavy end upwards at Souji's helmet. On reaction, he used his Sonic Arrow to fend off the attack but Shun followed up by ramming his knee into the exposed grey Ride Wear that wasn't covered by the Lemon Energy Armour, causing a bit of disorientation on Souji's end.
'Here's my chance!' One tap of the Cutting Blade later…
COME ON! MANGO SQUASH!
... Shun ran forward with the charged weapon, hitting his enemy with a giant projection of the Mango Punisher's head, causing him to land on his back after a brief airborne trip. "Hah! How do you like them mangos?!"
After Souji got up, he removed the Lemon Energy Lockseed and placed it into his Sonic Arrow before pulling back to prepare his shot.
LOCK ON!
Shun prepared to move but noticed that his enemy aimed upwards instead before releasing.
LEMON ENERGY!
A large projectile escaped from the Sonic Arrow and took the form of a lemon before exploding, with the 'juice' acting as smaller energy projectiles that covered a wider area, leaving Shun with virtually no chance of making a clean escape. As he shielded himself as best he could, a thought came to his head. 'Wait?! Isn't that like Zangetsu Shin's…?!'
LOCK ON! LEMON ENERGY SPARKING!
Shun looked up just in time to see a row of lemons above his head before Souji's leg slammed hard into his pectoral armour and forcibly deactivating his Rider form, leaving him in his civilian clothes and in a good amount of pain from the fight.
"Che… that was a time waster…" The New Generation Rider quickly moved to first retrieve the dropped Banana Lockseed before heading back to grab the Mango Lockseed from Shun. "Good… now I don't have to worry about those rusted Lockseeds anymore."
"Rusted Lockseeds…? If that… was your problem, then all… you needed was a fresh smile." Sure, Shun was hurting but that wouldn't stop him from running his mouth off. "Then again, that would be… impossible for a jackass like you!"
Souji paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, I probably should trash that Driver of yours. There's no way I'm letting you run around as this timeline's Baron!"
But just as he reached for the belt, a large battle cry came from a girl before she thrust forward with her IS unit's weapon. "HAAAAHH!"
He wasn't able to react in time and was thrown back by the impact of the large katana striking his armour but quickly got up to assess the situation. "What is that thing? A new DEM model?"
As the two began to battle, Shun's eyes went wide upon seeing a genuine Infinite Stratos unit. "No way… for real?! That's a real IS?!"
"Ah, geez… I told Ho-chan to hold off. That stupid sense of righteousness is going to be the end of us one day," muttered a female voice from behind the boy. He looked behind to see the Riko cosplayer except her hair was properly fixed this time.
"Wait… you mean, she's the real Shinonono Houki? That would make you… the one with the Midget Gun? Mine Riko?"
She winked at the boy. "That's right! But rather than fantasizing about Riko-chan here, you should think on what to do next. After all, Ho-chan's probably going to be in trouble soon."
Shun managed to push himself up off the ground. "What do you mean?"
"She's good in kendo but that doesn't translate to good IS piloting skills," chirped Riko calmly. "I clearly remember her stats from the Infinite Stratos dating sim in my world. Based on that, I think that Lemon guy will eventually adapt and defeat her. So what are you going to do about it?"
"I gotta help her. That guy needs to be stopped right here while we have the chance!" Upon saying that, the French girl in front of Shun smiled. And what got under Shun's nerves was that it was the type of smile that would fit perfectly with her darker personality.
"Good to hear! In that case, let me present you with something! I swiped these earlier from DIVA's lab and was hoping to see these tested in action by a Sengoku Driver user like you!" She presented a pair of Lockseeds, one in each hand.
In her right hand, he could see an image of a head that consisted of mainly a complete black metal section for the bottom half, decorated with yellow lightning bolts on the sides. There was a pair of red eyes and then a transparent dome at the top which clearly showed the human brain. Even though he wasn't fully familiar with the Kikaider franchise, he instantly recognized that character. 'Mechanical Violator… Hakaider?!'
The other one in her left hand appeared just as menacing. The head somewhat resembled an engine block with the forehead and the lower mouth guard made out of the same silvery metal material. As for the eyes, a single red optic was on the head's left eye while the right one was covered by a black grill.
Shun's English wasn't the best but somehow, he was able to make out the Lockseed's English writing on the left side. 'Ma…chin Chasaa?'
"So… which one will it be?" asked Riko, with that same dark smile on her face.
He really didn't like this. It felt like whatever Lockseed he used from Riko here would grant him power but at a cost. At the same time though, he needed power right now in order to get back into the fight and stop that guy right now.
'Dammit… what should I do here?!' After a moment, Shun made up his mind and…
ROUTE SPLIT:
A. Took the Hakaider Lockseed. Hakaider packs a real strong punch and if he worked quickly, he can finish this battle before the Destroy Circuit begins to affect his mind.
B. Took the Machin Chaser Lockseed. He wouldn't run the risk of losing his mind with the Destroy Circuit and he looked pretty strong too.
C. Said "Thanks but no thanks. I'll find another way to deal with this."
Well, finally came back to this after a few months. The second part I had in mind for a while but it was the initial part that blocked my muse from proceeding until I asked some questions to Vanishing Raptor so big thanks to him for putting up with my badgering through PM.
