A new year and a new chapter. And a whole new Rider. As I looked through who would become Kamen Riders, I realized that this was a good chance to create some new Rider, like Gold and Battalion (Mirror doesn't count since he's basically all the Riders from Ryuji combined into one, though Core might count since it's a new concept with an old name). Anyway, the point is when I got to Yasuhiro, I knew instantly what sort of Rider I wanted him to be. Hope you enjoy it. Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, Danganronpa, the Persona series, or Super Sentai.
Chapter 35: Battle Mechs, Clairvoyance, and the Major Arcana
Yasuhiro grumbled as he peered into his crystal ball. Most would argue it was useless glass, and they were half right, the ball was made of glass rather than actual crystal. But it still held a mysterious power that a psychic like himself could take advantage of. 'These visions I keep seeing. The world torn asunder right when it's at a high point. Giant robots battling tokusatsu superheroes. And this new Rider dressed like an effigy of the Fool Arcana.'
"I know my track record of seeing the future is a thirty percent accuracy rating," he muttered aloud, "But this is still some weird vision." What made Yasuhiro the Ultimate Clairvoyant wasn't a perfect view of the future, but his skill at helping people to understand these visions, and either avoid them or enable them as appropriate. He stood up and turned to his cards, observing the way they were laid out. "The future is shifting. It's taking all my power just to be able to keep up. And it's only going to keep happening until the present catches up to my vision."
Later that day, Yasuhiro walked through the hallway, his mind wandering. "Hey Hiro!" Yasuhiro was caught off-guard as something female slammed into him. He could tell it was a female from the fact that his face was now ears-deep in cleavage. "Hey, Hina," he said in a muffled voice. Sure enough, it was Aoi. For whatever reason, Aoi had decided to make Yasuhiro her boyfriend. While he was not unappreciative, and with him only being two years older than the rest of class the age gap was a non-issue, it still baffled him.
After extricating himself from Aoi's generous bosom, he looked at her. "What's the deal? Has there been another attack?" "Not so far," Aoi said, "Makoto, Hajime, and Byakuya are still working to predict Junko's next move. Meanwhile Kazuichi's been working the technical side of things. He's perfected some new Driver that works on a magitek system, and he thinks he has the perfect test subject." She grabbed Yasuhiro's hand.
The psychic looked dumbfounded. "Wait, me!? But I'm not athletic!" "Neither is Ryota," Aoi said simply, "Doesn't stop him." Yasuhiro thought about this. On the one hand, he wasn't sure this new system would work. But on the other, if it did, it meant he could have a hand in preventing the world from falling apart. "I guess I could give it a try." "Great!," Aoi said, "Maybe you can predict whether or not it will work!" "I'm not that accurate!," he called out.
"This will be our test," Fumiko said. Junko and Mukuro were overseeing the data as Monaca was standing in the middle of some sort of platform. "Kamen Riders are powerful," Fumiko explained, "But are still more or less human. A machine can be made to be more powerful. At the same time, however, machine logic can easily be outmaneuvered by human ingenuity. The solution? Create a Kamen Rider-based mech, piloted by a human."
She turned to Monaca. "Go ahead and use the Driver as instructed." "Okay," Monaca said sweetly. Junko squealed. "Doesn't she just melt your heart with that cuteness?" Monaca pressed the button on the Driver, opening a rift that slowly expelled a mechanical cube. Pulling down on the twin levers on the Driver, Monaca called out, "Henge!" The cube started to shift a tractor beam pulled Monaca into it.
The cube turned into a black and white robot around the size of the average high-schooler. From inside the robot, Monaca announced, "Armored Rider Mage is complete!" "Mage?," Fumiko asked, confused. "Monaca is a mage," Monaca explained, "Because I can make almost anyone do what I want. So this is Armored Rider Mage." "I can't believe you modeled the power armor after a robot Monaca modeled," Mukuro said to Fumiko.
"I thought it best to use a model she was comfortable with," Fumiko explained, "How are the controls working?" The mech worked by placing Monaca into the mental realm known as the Metaverse, from which the Driver let her manipulate the mech in a one-to-one control. "It'll take some getting used to. Maybe a little fine-tuning to perfect it. But I can at least move like a normal human, so there is that." "Well, we'll get a chance to see how it operates in combat conditions," Fumiko said, "Because I guarantee the Riders were alerted to our demonstration."
Sure enough, Hajime, Sonia, Kazuichi, and Yasuhiro arrived at the test site. "Can you remind me how my system works?," Yasuhiro asked. "It's simple," Kazuichi replied, "You start in Fool State. From there you can use the cards on the belt to shift in other states. Each time you use a card it will permanently go up a rank. Hit rank ten and you unlock that state's finisher. To rank up Fool State you need to swap it out for another state, then swap back again."
Yasuhiro nodded. It seemed simple enough. And now he was starting to understand his earlier vision. They then saw Junko and Mukuro go for their Drivers. "Henge!" "Sasori! Kani! Ebi! Sasa-Ni-Bi!" "Let's respond in kind," Hajime said. The four of them got their own Drivers out. "Henshin!" "All Magic!" "Liger Mode!" "Arcana Set!" "Taka! Tora! Batta! Ta-To-Ba! Tatoba, Ta-To-Ba!"
The four Rider leapt down to meet their Armored adversaries. "You're a new one," Dark noted to Yasuhiro, "So who are are you supposed to be?" Yasuhiro pointed to himself with his thumb. "I'm Kamen Rider... Tarot. The final Rider of this team. I'm here to seal your fates!" The Armored Riders looked at each other. "That's a good opening," Fenrir admitted.
Dark nodded. "Well, allow us to introduce our newest team member, Armored Rider Mage!" Mage lifted her spear and fired off an energy bolt, causing the Riders to scatter. "Tarot! Battalion!," Gold called out, "We need extra speed!" Tarot looked through his cards, spotting one that looked promising. "Hope I'm right about this." He slipped the card into the Driver in the reverse position, causing the Fool card to pop out the other end. He then flipped the Driver's card holder over. "Chariot Set! Rank 1!"
Meanwhile, Battalion and Gold swapped their state as well. "Jager Mode!" "Amethyst Magic!" Like Tarot figured, the Chariot State allowed him to move at much faster speeds, as well as increasing his leg strength to deal devastating kick strikes. To Mage's surprised, he zoomed past her and targeted Dark directly. Surprised, Dark got up. "I didn't expect that..." "You're a part of this fight too," Tarot noted, "Plus, your analyses versus my clairvoyance. I'd say it's pretty even as to which is more effective."
OOO then came in, swapping out his Medals to join Tarot. "Taka! Gorilla! Batta!" OOO sent Dark sailing with a fierce uppercut as Tarot switched his state. "Fool Set! Rank 1!" Tarot used the advanced fighting skills of the Fool State to do a spin kick as Dark came down, knocking her aside. Fenrir came in to retaliate, but Tarot swapped cards again. "Lovers Set! Rank 1!" Fenrir got a surprise when the attack she threw at Tarot got redirected back to her.
Eager to follow up, Tarot readied another card. "OOO, I think I can handle Dark and Fenrir. Go deal with Mage." OOO nodded. "Good luck." He ran to deal join Gold and Battalion, who were keeping Mage on her toes with how fast they were. As he approached, OOO swapped out his Medals. "Sai! Kujaku! Zou!" Mage was caught off-guard when OOO headbutted her from behind. She tried to retaliate with another bolt, only for it to blocked by OOO Kujaku shield.
Meanwhile, Tarot placed the new card into his Driver. "Magician Set! Rank 1!" Tarot snapped his fingers and conjured a lightning attack that struck both Armored Riders. Fenrir managed to get on her feet and charged her sidearm. Sensing trouble, Tarot quickly swapped to another state. "Death Set! Rank 1!" The blast hit Tarot dead-on, but Fenrir was surprised to see him still alive. "These cards each have a special skill," Tarot explained, "With the Death card, I'm effectively immortal."
He got out the Chariot card. "The Chariot, as you've seen, grants me extra speed." "Chariot Set! Rank 2!" "And apparently each new rank makes the cards stronger," Tarot mused as he easily closed the gap between him and the Armored Riders. Dark got up to attack, but Tarot had already swapped out his state. "Fool Set! Rank 2!" He quickly countered Dark's attack, then swapped out again. "Magician Set! Rank 2!"
Tarot blasted Dark away before sensing Fenrir coming up behind him, prompting him to swap again. "Chariot Set! Rank 3!" He ducked under the attack and swapped out his states again. "Hierophant Set! Rank 1!" The Hierophant State came with a weapon, a long staff, which Tarot used to counterattack Fenrir. He then spotted Dark aiming a blow at his head and quickly swapped again. "Death Set! Rank 2!" The blow from Dark's Kani claws still knocked Tarot for a loop, but didn't take his head off like she was trying.
Tarot picked himself up and swapped his state again. "Hierophant Set! Rank 2!" Dark found herself knocked to the ground by Tarot's sudden counterattack. Dark shook her head and attacked again, Tarot taking a different approach. "Chariot Set! Rank 4!" Tarot's speed in the Chariot State let him dodge attack after attack, but he then gasped when he sensed Fenrir coming up behind him and he quickly changed states. "Death Set! Rank 3!"
He cried out at the barrage of attacks from both sides, only surviving thanks to his Death State. "Damn it, just stay dead!," Dark cried in frustration. Tarot picked himself up. "I guess you haven't realized it. What I said earlier, about our prediction abilities being equal? It was to get you to underestimate me. The only reason my clairvoyance is said to be thirty percent accurate... Is because once I tell people what I see, the future has a tendency to change."
Beneath her helmet, Dark's eyes widened. "Oh no... His predictions are actually one-hundred percent accurate. They only become wrong when people act on them." "This whole fight I've seen how certain actions play out," Tarot explained, "It's easy to change the future when it's going to happen in the next few seconds." He got out the Hierophant card. "I can't use finishers yet, but I can render you unable to fight." "Hierophant Set! Rank 3!"
Back at the fight with Mage, Battalion was charging energy while OOO swapped to a combo. "Sai! Gorilla! Zou! Sagozo... Sa-Go-Zo!" Gold returned to her base form and charged as OOO swiped his O Scanner a second time. "Scanning Charge!" Mage found herself dragged into the ground and close to OOO and Battalion. "Sagozo Impact!" "High Octane!" "Rainbow Shining!" The triple attack, a Rider Punch, Rider Slash, and Rider Kick respectively, sent Mage flying, where she collided with Fenrir and Dark in midair.
Fumiko ran up to the trio when she saw this. "I don't think we can win this one," she said. Dark scoffed. "Fine... But we'll settle this soon enough." She quickly conjured her escape mist. By the time the four Riders ran over to the group, they were already gone. "We keep fighting her back," OOO noted, "Yet we only know a few details regarding her plan. We can't keep playing keep up like this."
"By the way," Battalion said to Tarot, "You were using those cards in quick succession." Tarot shrugged. "I wanted to rank them up as fast as I could. Thanks to my clairvoyance, I could see the flow of the fight, which helped me escape danger a number of times." He looked up. "Junko's gonna start her plan by trapping the Hope's Peak student council, then manipulating them into killing each other. She'll broadcast the killing to the Reserve Course and let the mayhem take over from there." OOO was surprised. "Tell me that was a vision you had." Tarot nodded.
As a survivor during the time of The Tragedy, Yasuhiro's fate didn't need much changing. However, his journey with Leon's cousin Kanon went much differently, even convincing her not to take revenge on the Future Foundation when it was the Ultimate Despair that was the cause of her suffering. He was also able to infiltrate the Final Killing Game which helped drastically change how it played out. After The Tragedy, he settled down in the city, though he and others still didn't understand how it was Aoi he settled down with.
To be continued...
We now have a total of sixteen Riders. There won't be anymore, I decided on this number as a tribute to the Danganronpa series. Hope you like how Tarot works. Oh, and I'd like a favor. Can any of you readers help me decide on the finishers for Tarot? The names should be thematically appropriate but don't have to be. But they MUST be either a Rider Kick, Rider Punch, Rider Chop, Rider Slash, Rider Shooting, or Rider Thrust. Let me know in a PM what you think they should be. Read and review.