Danny was ecstatic. School had gotten out for the summer a few weeks ago. He had turned 16 a week ago and was cruising around town on the motorcycle his parents had gotten him for his birthday. It wasn't very extravagant, but Danny greatly enjoyed it for the mobility he now had.
He was passing by a parking garage when he saw something unbelievable. A man came shooting out of a window (without breaking it) and landed violently on the ground. Danny pulled over and went to see if he could help him.
The mysterious man was on his back and looked to be in a great deal of pain. He was wearing a strange costume of some kind. It was black and padded on the chest like it was supposed to be some kind of armor. On the right arm was a white, oval object with two eyes and a mouth on the front.
Weird, Danny thought then looked over the rest of the armor. There was a gauntlet on the right arm and shin guards on the legs, all with white trims. There was a silver belt around his waist with a black, rectangular object in the center. There was a gold symbol on the object that looked like a cartoon ghost. Danny looked at the face and saw two, large green eyes that almost seemed to glow. Around the eyes, forehead and above was a white metal object with a round curve.
The man groaned in pain, reached for the object on his belt and took it out. A black ring of energy appeared around his waist, split into two rings that traveled across his body, removing the armor. When the armor was gone, Danny saw someone he knew.
"Jon," Danny said. Jon was a motorcycle mechanic Danny's dad had been paying to teach him how to do basic maintenance on his own bike.
"Danny," Jon said as he handed Danny the rectangular object. "You must….. stop… the war," Jon said through pained gasps and then his body went limp.
"Jon," Danny said in panic, getting no response. "Jon," Danny said louder while shaking him, still getting no response. Danny didn't know how to take a pulse and even if he did, he doubted he'd find one if he could.
Danny took the rectangular object Jon was so interested in. There was an open slit on the right side and what looked like cards inside. That's odd, he thought. The symbol he had seen earlier was no longer there. He looked at the window Jon had come from and saw another person in similar armor.
This person's armor was black with gold gauntlets, shin guards, chest plate and helmet. The chest plate was V-shaped, the shoulders and helmet had what looked like gold feathers on them.
There was a weird distortion around the window. Danny wasn't sure how, but he knew that this person wasn't on the other side of the window but somehow inside it. There was gold flash around him and he disappeared, leaving some golden energy feathers behind which soon faded.
"What the f#^k," Danny said out loud, his tolerance for weirdness having reached it's limit a while ago.
While he was wondering this, someone walked towards him. Danny recognized him as Tucker Foley, a nerdy teen Danny shared a few classes with.
"Jon," Tucker said as he knelt down and shook Jon's body. "You okay?"
"He's dead," Danny said.
"Shit," Tucker said as he placed his hand on his forehead and stood up. "This is not how it was supposed to go." Tucker took a quick look around his surroundings and it finally registered with him that Danny was there. "Oh, hey Danny. I didn't see you there. You're probably wondering what I'm doing here….."
"Not really," Danny interrupted and showed Tucker the object he got from Jon. "I'm more interested in what this is. Jon gave it to me before he….. you know," Danny looked sad briefly and then took a deep breath. "What the hell is this? What was with that strange armor Jon was wearing? Why did he come shooting out of a window? What war does he want me to stop?"
"Okay," Tucker said and motioned with his hands for Danny to calm down. "Five days ago, I found a similar object in my sock drawer," Tucker began as he held out an object of the same size and color as the one Jon had given Danny, except this one had a gold symbol of what looked like a gazelle's head.
"There was a note with it as well," Tucker continued. "Apparently, there are twelve of these things and they're called advent decks. People with have them can use them to become armored warriors called Kamen Riders. We're going to fight each other until only one is left. That person gets one wish for winning the Rider war."
"Which Jon wanted to stop," Danny said. "Why?"
"The rider war is basically a death match. Jon wanted to stop the war to keep the Riders from killing each other. It would also stop the monsters as well."
"What monsters?"
"The fighters don't just fight each other: there are monsters we're supposed to fight and if we kill enough of them, we get a power up. But a very big problem with that is that the monsters hunt down random people and eat them. So people who aren't Kamen Riders are dying as well."
"That's f#^ked up."
"That's what Jon thought too. The two of us met and he told me about his wanting to stop the war. I'd already encountered a few of the other Kamen Riders and they were real jerks and psychos. I wasn't interested in having to fight all of them so I agreed to help Jon stop the war. For all the good it did."
Tucker sighed in depression as he looked down on Jon's body. Danny decided to look around to see if anyone else noticed the two teens standing over a dead body. Danny looked at the window Jon had come out of earlier and saw something that made him very worried.
"Uh, Tucker," Danny said nervously as he shook Tucker's shoulder. "One of those monsters you mentioned earlier is looking right us."
"What," Tucker said as he looked at had Danny so spooked. Inside the window was what looked like a cartoon ghost that was slightly bigger than a person. It had a round body, no legs and two tiny nubs that were supposed to be arms. It also had a mouth and two black eyes. For whatever reason, it looked sad.
"Wait, you can see him when he's inside Mirror World?" Tucker asked.
"Of course I can see him," Danny said. "Wait, what's Mirror World?"
"It's where the Rider war takes place and the monsters come from," Tucker began. "It's like an exact replica of the real world, minus the people. Kamen Riders get there by jumping through mirrors and reflective surfaces."
"That's all fascinating, but what the hell are we going to do about him?" Danny asked as he pointed at the ghost monster.
"You don't have to worry about him," Tucker said. "That's Phantomas: he was Jon's partner."
"What do you mean Partner?" Danny asked.
"A Kamen Rider has to form a bond with a monster," Tucker explained. "Since you have his advent deck, Phantomas is probably hanging around you expecting you to bond with him."
"How do I do that?" Danny asked.
"Are you serious?" Tucker asked. "There's one thing I haven't gotten to yet: when your contract monster gets energy from a defeated monster, it works towards getting a power-up but it also serves as food for your contract monster. If you don't provide food for it after a while, it will turn on you for it's next meal. After everything you've learned, are you still thinking of joining the rider war?"
"Jon asked me to stop the war before he died," Danny began. "He wanted to stop the riders from killing each other and he deserved better than to die himself. Besides, if there are also monsters that are killing people at random, I want to do something about it."
Danny had heard about a number of mysterious disappearances that had happened in Amity Park recently. Taking into account what he just learned about the monsters and Mirror World, it looked like their attacks were behind the disappearances. He felt obliged to stop the attacks either by fighting the monsters directly or stopping the war, which might make them go away if they were a part of it.
Tucker could hear the conviction in Danny's voice and gave in. He sighed as he decided to tell Danny what he wanted to know. "Pull the contract card out of the deck," he instructed.
Danny pulled out a random card. There was a swirling white vortex on it. Above and below the vortex were the words 'CONTRACT' and 'CARD', respectively. "Now what?" Danny asked.
"Hold the Contract Card up in front of Phantomas," Tucker said.
"Now what?" Danny asked as he followed Tucker's instructions. Phantomas came out of the mirror and went towards Danny. There was a flash of light from the contract card and Phantomas disappeared. Danny looked at the contract card and saw that it had changed. There was a picture of Phantomas on it now along with a tag on top that identified it as such. Danny put the card back into the deck. He saw that the symbol that had been on the deck earlier had returned.
"Welcome to the Rider War, Kamen Rider Phantom Knight," Tucker said.
"I'm not planning to be a part of it for long," Danny said. "Any specific ideas about how to stop the war?"
"Jon tried to talk the other riders out killing each other but he didn't get anywhere with that," Tucker began. "We were trying something else with what's inside this parking garage but it went horribly wrong, as you've already figured out."
"What's inside this garage?" Danny asked. Before Tucker could answer, Danny heard some kind of chiming sound in his head. "I've got a better question: what was that just now?"
"That sound means there's a monster nearby who's going to turn some poor bastard into his lunch."
"We've got to stop it. How exactly do we do that?"
"Follow my lead," Tucker said as he stepped in front of the window Jon had shot out of earlier. He held his advent deck in front of the window and a silver belt appeared inside it. The belt came out of the window and put itself around Tucker's waist.
"Spear," Tucker cried out as he slid the advent deck into the belt's buckle. A brown ring of energy appeared around his waist, split in two and traveled across his body before disappearing.
Tucker was now wearing his own armor. It was black body suit with brown boots, shoulder pads, chest plate and fur trims. There were curved yellow horns on his shoulders and the sides of his helmet. There was a gold and black object on his right knee.
Danny held his own deck in front of the window. The belt appeared, came out of the window and put itself around Danny's waist. "Phantom Knight," he said and slid his deck into the buckle. A black ring of energy appeared around his waist, split in two and traveled across his body before disappearing. Danny was now wearing the same armor Jon had on earlier.
The two of them jumped into the window and vanished. They were in some kind of strange space that was all white. There were two motorcycles in front of them that were in an odd capsule shape with a glass window in the front. Tucker sat down in the chair of one of the motorcycles.
All right, Danny thought as he sat down in the other one and strapped a belt across his chest. Danny and Tucker traveled through the white space for a while and then reached an exit. They exited the white space and came out in an empty street.
So this is Mirror World, Danny thought as he got out of the motorcycle. He saw a monster in front of him that looked like a humanoid cat with brown fur and long claws on its hands.
Danny rushed towards the monster as he engaged in his first battle of the rider war.