Re: Zi-O/Shattering Time In Another World
Chapter 3: Another Chance - Hope of Wizard
WARNING: I own none of these characters sides from my OC(s). All rights go to their respective owners and properties.
This is nothing more than, well a fanfic, a story made up by a fan for entertainment and knowledge.
Everything in this fic is not canon and is only meant to give the audience a new idea of the works of each of the franchises in this story.
So please support me, my work and have some fun. Now enjoy the story. ^w^
As Subaru lays on the ground, bleeding out, he pants heavily as he sees that magic wielding monster hold up Emilia, only for a loud snap to occur before it dropped the princess. Nearby, Rem and Ram were dealing with Zi-O and Geiz, the two onis under the monster's control as they swiftly struck the rider's belts, depowering them before crushing their skulls with their weapons.
The monster cackled happily at the end of this potential threat to the kingdom as it began to walk away, Subaru only looking onward as his vision started to go black. Only for moments him gasping in air, once again in his bed as he held himself gently.
"D-Damn it… again? Why can't I figure out who is going to kill Emilia-sama?" Subaru groaned with annoyance, as this wasn't the first time since this happened as he was still stuck with figuring out this mystery. If he didn't figure it out, this loop of death on Emilia would continue.
"Yo! Subaru, you okay there?" Rex called out from the other side of the door.
"Y-Yeah… just another nightmare is all." He responded, covering himself over his secret as one time he did reveal it, it killed him and reset him once more. Thus he had to keep it secret until he can figure out the reason for this odd power.
As he fixed his jacket, he began to remember what the creature looked like. "This is bad, if we can't find the Wizard Ridewatch before Another Wizard strikes again, then we're screwed…" he muttered under his breath, "But where is it?"
He soon left the room, unaware there was a Ridewatch left behind on his bedside, the same orange and black Ridewatch that had been following him ever since he arrived to this world...
(Insert Opening - Oath Sign - AmaLee ver.)
/PRELUDE/
As the choir begins to sing, we see a shot of the castle where Oma Zi-O was killed. The camera pans slowly going through the ruins before reaching a clock that is forever pointed at 2 and 10. The title soon fades in afterwards.
/Once again,
I reach my hand into a world, repeating on end/
Jumping ahead, it soon shows Emila skipping around a field as Cody watches on. He soon looks at the Zi-O Ridewatch in his hand as he begins to remember his past life.
/Though it's dark,
could my tears carve a path/
As the young teen looks to his side, the camera pans to a bustling town, where Rex is leaning on a wall in a nearby alleyway. He soon gets up as he walks out, passing by a wandering Reinhard.
/And lead me straight to your heart?/
The screen immediately jumps to Subaru, looking around before several black hands begin to reach out
/Like a rose that blooms and grows inside my chest, your name's all it knows
your name's all it knows/
Jumping to a shot of a blank Ridewatch, Rem and Ram are teaching Cody something before jumping to Woz watching Subaru get kicked out of the library by Beatrice.
/Is this fate, 'cause every day I pray
That right here by your side, I can stay/
Next it jumps to Rex and Reinhard sparring with one another while the others watch on. As the two clashed weapons, we see a brief flash forward to an old knight and a young Rex
/I'll gather these fallen flowers
The hope, discarded and broken/
The next scene has Cody standing in the middle of a black void as he equips the Ziku-Driver and activates the Zi-O Ridewatch.
/And I'll join them where they can meet/
The scene switches to Rex seeing Cody from afar with the Zi-O Ridewatch, only to glare at him as he straps his on as well and activates the Geiz Ridewatch.
/A wish, together I'll set them free/
As Cody prepares to transform into Zi-O, projections of the various Heisei Riders appear around the boy as he prepares to battle.
/Holding up the light within
And with no hesitation
To give you a future is all I've wanted/
Once he spun his driver, a bright light quickly shined as we skipped to Zi-O and Geiz surrounded by several monsters and a few Another Riders. They soon gave a nod to each other as they took down anyone who got near them
/Hold me tight through these dark endless nights
Screaming 'till the morning light/
As the Riders fought, Subaru, Emilia, Rem and Ram were dealing with the issues of the Cults that plague the world, along with the faint shadow of Satella puppeting the timeline with her dark magic, causing several flashes of images of failed timelines, but thanks to Subaru, he slowly helps them to the right one.
/All my broken-down ideals
I know one day they will heal/
As Zi-O and Geiz continue to charge forth through the castle, they are met by Tid and Finis, who are holding the Another Kuuga and Another Zi-O Ridewatches as the shadowy images of the Another Riders stood with them.
/With every step they will form the future
I'll hold tightly to this special bond that we share
I'll follow you anywhere/
The rest soon arrive as the spirits of the various Heisei Riders stand by their side. With a jump, both Zi-O and Geiz fly forward and perform a Double Rider Kick as the world fades to white before fading to show what appears to be Cody standing alone on a hill.
/Carrying onward, bearing this miracle/
As Cody turns to where the sun rises, it's soon shown that the others were by his side with their shadows now resembling the Heisei Riders.
Cody marked off his calendar in the room he was given to by Emilia and Rosswall, as he sighed softly but with a small smile on his face. It has now been an entire month since his arrival to this world, and while he was still confused on this matter, he also hasn't felt more alive in years, committing that he would remain here. An idea that he had no reason to think of but recently he has been enjoying this new life and with not much to return to in his world, it would be better for him to remain.
The young blonde looked to his bedside to find a desk and several books and papers, as thanks to Emilia he was slowly learning this world's language to help him be better acquainted than simply leaving it to her to translate whatever he finds. The maids help out here and there, but they don't seem much interested in him yet or trustworthy, even Beatrice keeps shocking him out of her library.
However, that paled in comparison to the glares that he had been getting from Rex during that time. Ever since learning about the battle between Oma Zi-O and Geiz Revive, he wanted to try and show the young knight that he was nothing like his predecessor. In some ways, he was right, but there was still the lingering fear that one day, he would become just like Oma Zi-O, if not an even more powerful version of him.
That fear was always building in his thoughts, but he did what he could to push those back and prove himself, even if that only led to a scowl or smack to the face from Rex. He had to keep trying, cause by giving up, he would admit to becoming the new Oma Zi-O and make it rougher for not only Rex and the People of this world, but Emilia too.
"Enough, Aldrich, enough." Cody said to himself, smacking his cheeks and leaving red marks from it. He snapped out of that stupor as he headed out of his room to continue on with the day, once finding Emilia as usual, he knew breakfast and tasks come next with it as he looked forward to the new day.
Meanwhile, Rex was practicing with his axe, striking at a training dummy that had a crude looking goblin face drawn onto it.
"Your swings are too wide…" Woz told him, "You're giving your opponent several chances to break your attack and strike you down…"
The young knight nodded as he lessened the swings of his strikes, satisfying the advisor as he watched him improve in his combat skills, something he had been constantly doing whenever he had free time. After he had obtained the power of Geiz, Rex had begun training none-stop to improve himself. He also began to grow a bit colder towards Cody, likely due to the reminder that he was Oma Zi-O.
However despite a few scuffles here and there, the two merely acted like rivals rather than bitter enemies. Something Rex wanted to change, as he had lost all trust in the young man. Only visions of Oma Zi-O appearing in front of Cody were on his mind, he knew that the Day of Oma, the day the tyrant rose to power, was coming and he would have to be the one to prevent it from happening.
"GRRAAAHHH!" Rex howled, cutting through the dummy like an axe to a piece of wood.
Panting heavily from the routine, he growled with annoyance as he knew that the first thing to obtain would have to be a Ridewatch of a Heisei Rider, one of the many powers Oma Zi-O held that came from the various heroes from Subaru's world. He already had the Drive Ridewatch so he was already on his way to keeping the watches out of Cody's hands…
"Excellent…" Woz praised him as the young knight calmed down, "I can see that your form has improved greatly, but if you could even think you can withstand the power of Waga Maou, you need to learn more than just basic axe swings and axe throws…"
"Che, are you really accepting him as that? You plan on betraying us too?" Rex glared at Woz, angered by him even stating that word.
"Such anger, Rex. I only state that of my interest in seeing him grow. I don't believe I could betray what hasn't even happened yet." Woz noted to him. "Although, you have certainly changed from the very lazy knight you were a month ago… He always seemed happier than the so-called 'next heavenly hero'..."
Rex soon began to calm himself down, he let his anger cloud his judgement again. "Yeah, your right…" he admitted as he put his axe back into its holster, "Guess I just have a lot on my mind recently…"
"Might I suggest taking a break from training?" the scholar suggested, "It would help to give your muscles a rest and not overwork them to the point of exhaustion…"
The rookie knight chuckled, "Hey, since when were you my advisor?" He soon gave a smile not unlike the one he had before becoming Geiz.
"Since I started to train you, young knight." Woz chuckled.
"Yeah yeah…" Rex noted as he began to stretch. "Welp, looks like it's almost breakfast time…" he noted as he looked at the internal clock on his FaizPhone X, a watch-phone hybrid, "We better get back to the mansion before Ram complains that I forgot to have breakfast again…"
"Hehe, indeed. Let us go." Woz nodded as the two ventured back to the mansion.
Meanwhile in the mansion, Subaru was snooping around the area, looking for any sign of the Wizard Ridewatch. From the previous deaths that he had experienced, he was definitely sure that the monster that was about to attack the estate was Another Wizard. So naturally he needed to find the monster's one weakness as soon as possible.
As he began looking through the hallway, the displaced young man accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh, Master Subaru. You best know not to be lost in thoughts when roaming the halls." Standing there was Butler Forbee, a servant to the Rosswall Estate for a few years. The butler, while in that attire, had glasses on and a comb over hairstyle as he fixed his tie before checking on his pocket watch, "Miss Emilia has been expect you and the others at the dining hall for the past 20 minutes."
"Alright then, I'll be right over!" he said as he quickly ran to the dining hall, but not before catching the butler staring at him while he was making his way through the halls.
And within the dining hall, Emilia, Cody, Rex and the others were already starting their breakfast together, as Emilia smiled and gestured him over to eat.
As they ate, Subaru began to look towards Cody and Rex, the latter of which was wolfing down his food. 'I can't believe that these two are actually Kamen Riders. Let alone them being Zi-O and Geiz…' he thought, 'I kind of wonder if I can become a Rider too?' He held onto that thought before mentally laughing it off, 'Yeah right. I've been lucky so far, but I'm not holding my breath on finding some kind of random Driver or Ridewatch to give me an awesome power…'
"Got something on your mind, Subaru?" Emilia asked him, snapping the young man back to reality as he turned towards her.
"H-Huh? Oh! Hehe, nothing really on my mind, Emilia-sama. Just been thinking that me having a free pass here… is kind of a disservice to the kindness you all gave me." He said to them.
"Well that makes two of us" Cody agreed after putting down his meal.
"Don't say such things you two. You both have done a lot for me lately." Emilia reassured.
"Hey, can we not have any flirting at the dinner table Zi-O?" Rex complained as he briefly stopped eating, "I'd rather not lose my appetite…"
"I-I'm not flirting!" Cody cried comically.
"Yeah yeah, keep telling yourself that…" the young knight sighed, shaking his head as he did so.
*SMACK*
"Stop teasing." Ram interjected as she smacked Rex's head, right into his meal. The young knight soon raised his head with food in his face, causing some of the people at the table to laugh while he wipes his face and continues eating.
After the laughter died down, Subaru looked down before he stood up, "Um… Emilia-sama? Roswell-sama? I… I want to do more than simply stay here as some free guest. Can… Can I do something more to show my appreciation?" He requested.
"You mean you wanna work here?" the young knight correctly guessed after finishing his meal.
"Yeah, like maybe like you, Rex-san as a knight?" He said.
"While, there is an opening to be Emilia's personal knight. But I'm afraid you will need more requirements than simply have saved her." Roswell informed, making the teen slump, "But… maybe if you work as a member of our staff here, you could work up to it?"
"Really?!" Subara asked excitedly. "I'll do it!"
"Then after lunch, Ram and Rem can show you to your new attire." Roswell agreed.
Rex merely gave him a nod of approval while Cody looked like he was about to join in and request, only for Roswell to raise his hand and shake his head in denial.
"While you would like that too Sir Cody. Lady Emilia has requested not to give such treatment to you. Not only did you save her life from that monster attack, but also an assaination too. She rather have you as a friend and comrade than simple help." He informed the young man as he looked to her a bit surprised by how much she sees in him.
"Basically, she li-" Rex was about to say, only to notice the death glare the princess was giving him, "-ikes to keep you in check, you are in danger of being Oma Zi-O after all!" he quickly corrected himself before giving a nervous smile that made Emilia give a satisfied smile towards.
"That's what I thought you said…" she said in a 'I thought so' kind of tone.
"O-Oh… well… if she wishes that, I don't think I can deny it from her." Cody responded as he nodded, "Thank you. I'll do what I can to still show my appreciation here and there, Emilia-hime."
Subaru couldn't help but smile at the trio's interaction. "Wow, you three really are close friends…" he chuckled.
"I'm not his friend." Rex frowned, looking away in an indifferent huff.
"Rex, don't be like that… You were doing well with Cody before this… whole thing started." Emilia reminded the knight.
Cody could only smirk softly as he coughed out "Tsundere" in response with a chuckle, only to receive a smack to the head from the young knight.
"I heard that…" Rex growled.
"Eh? You know what that means?" Cody gawked.
"Blame Subaru for constantly calling me that…" the young knight grumbled before giving a glare to the aforementioned young man.
"Seriously dude? That's like… our new secret language here! You can't spoil things like that!" Cody pouted comically, as he was eager to talk in Japanese like that in front of others should he need to be. Subaru merely shrugged.
"He just wanted to know what tsundere meant…" he answered plainly, causing Cody to comedically fall to the floor.
"You could've lied!" He cried out, knowing that he can't trust Subaru with any intel again.
"Hey, when you have an angry knight breathing down your neck, I'd rather avoid losing my head over something like a secret!" Subaru said in his defense, "Don't worry though, I'll try and keep mum about anything else you tell me. okay?"
Cody accepted this as he sighed and got back to his feet.
"Oh that reminds me." Emilia said as she looked to the boys, "The town nearby our Estate is holding a festival. They do this every year and invite us since we do help protect their town from any troubles."
"Sweet, when's the festival starting?" Rex asked as he put his arms over his head in a lazy manner.
"In about a week. I was hoping our two new guests would like to join in the festival?" Emilia asked with a sweet smile.
"Miss Emilia, you should know about the upcoming meeting we have next month at the capitol. You don't have time for such things." Forbee said, trying to deny her the festival.
"Come on, Forbee. It's not like it's gonna harm anything if we go." Cody reminded the butler.
"Maybe you're saying that because you'd want some alone time" Rex grumbled, "I'm not letting that by for two reasons. One, it's dangerous for it to just be you two given what happened last time, and two, I'm not letting you swoon the princess to become your queen, Zi-O"
"R-Rex!" Emilia gawked as she blushed heavily along with the young man.
The twin maids sighed as they walked over, before smacking his head as they picked him up and began to take him away.
"Grounded." They said in unison.
Cody could only shake his head as he muttered, "The usual Gallus motto stands true. When in doubt: open mouth, insert foot…"
"Uhh you sure that's necessary?" Subaru asked the two. 'Dangit, we can't go to the festival with one Rider down! We need both Zi-O and Geiz to fight this guy!' he frantically thought.
"Do you wish to take his place, then?" Rem asked, glaring at him.
Subaru quickly yelped, straightening himself as he tried to think up a solution, "W-Well, maybe you two could come with us…" he hesitantly suggested, "Y-You know, to make sure he doesn't mess up during the festival…"
"That does sound reasonable…." Ram noted.
"Yeah, plus you two haven't been out of the house in weeks so…" Subaru muttered as he looked away in a faux embarrassed manner.
"Why do you care?" Rem questioned, confused as to why he would want them to go as well.
"Maybe he just wants all of us to enjoy the festival together?" Cody guessed, giving Subaru the excuse he needed.
"Y-Yeah! Sides, everyone deserves some kind of entertainment in their lives!" Subaru nodded in response.
The twins looked at each other at first before turning around and dropping the dazed knight. "Fine, we'll come along…" Rem answered, allowing the young man to breathe a sigh of relief.
Ram on the other hand has her hand on his collar, "I'll make sure you don't cause more trouble."
"Y-Y-Yes ma'am…" he quickly agreed as she dropped him.
"Good boy."
"Ugh… do we really need to have this? It's important Miss Emilia gets the meeting." Forbee sighed in detest.
"Come on Forbee, we've all been working pretty hard the past month…" Emilia sighed, "We can focus on the meeting afterwards."
The butler merely frowned as he scoffed and marched off, seemingly annoyed by this as he left the room. This made some of the others feel a bit upset by his departure.
"My, Forbee truly seems to be upset by this." Woz noted as he walked towards the group.
"Yeah…" Subaru noted as he stared at the butler. 'Something's off about him…' he thought, 'I thought for sure he'd want to go as well… It happened before, so why not now?'
As the next day came through, Cody was on his way to see Emilia. He had an idea that she could try should she ever need some relief from any stress or problems that may have built up. He started to notice this last week when her usual duties left her to eat in her room. He knew very well how much it can be harmful to keep things bottled up, so he figured this idea he got would help with her mood.
"Okay, you got this…" he told himself as he walked up to the door to her room. He gulped as he felt his heart beating a bit faster, unsure why he was nervous about this as his body followed up and knocked on the door, "Um… Emilia? You there?"
With a bit of hesitation, he gently opened the door, finding the room empty as he was a bit confused and walked in further.
"Emilia? Are you here?" He called out, his voice a bit louder now as he started to be concerned over her absence.
He soon began to look around for the room for her. After a while, he couldn't find her anywhere in the room. Sighing, Cody was about to give up, only to notice something on her desk.
It was a Ridewatch, one with a black base and a gray dial and button. When Cody picked it up, he noticed that it was dated 2012 and had the image of a red gem-like helmet, most likely complete upon turning it. He didn't know why, but it seemed to draw to him as his hand slowly reached out to the watch.
"Cody?" Emilia called out to him, snapping the young man out of the trance as he turned to find her… in a towel…
"Uhh… I can explain?" he hesitantly said as both he and the princess began to blush heavily.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
That was the noise that woke up a sleeping Rex, who was bored out of his mind while standing guard to the point he fell asleep at the door he was watching over.
"Wait, who what now?" the young knight blubbered as he quickly got to his feet and looked around. 'Wait, that sounded like the princess…' he realized as the young knight calmed down for a moment to think.
Soon, the sound of tossed books and more were heard as one seemed to have crashed through the window and landed on Rex's head hard, making him shiver in pain from the blow.
"Ow!" he shouted as he covered his head before picking up one of the fallen books. "The hell?" he said as he quickly went inside to check on the princess.
Meanwhile, Subaru was equally confused by the sound but had a sliver of fear in his heart. 'Crap, Another Wizard's striking already?!' he feared, 'Why is he attacking now of all days?!'
The two teens met up as they looked concerned at each other as they ran down the hallway.
"Why are you running?" Rex asked Subaru.
"Why? The Another Rider is here to take Emilia!" Subaru responded, earning a confused look from the knight.
"How the hell do you know that?!" the rookie knight demanded from him.
Subaru looked like he was about to explain, only to groan as he held his chest, "Um… I… have started to gain… Future Vision!" He informed Rex as he tried to think of a good lie.
"Guess that explains what happened a week ago…" the young knight noted, buying Subaru's excuse.
With no time to lose, they both scrambled towards Emilia's room.
"Zi-O, I SWEAR IF THIS IS ALL YOUR DOING!" the young knight roared in annoyance as they arrived, ready to fight Another Wizard, but instead….
"I-It was an accident, I swear!" Cody pleaded, as Rem and Ram were there, having the young man in chains. Immediately both teens dropped their guard as they looked at the red-faced boy with a look of absolute bewilderment.
"What happened here?" they asked in unison.
"Pervert tried to sneak a look on Emilia." Rem frowned.
"I said it was an accident and I didn't mean to!" He pleaded out once more.
Rex and Subaru soon looked at each other before turning towards the comically crying Cody. Realizing it was more of a misunderstanding, the young knight slapped his face to his palm before breathing a large sigh of annoyance.
"You gotta be kidding me…" he groaned before raising his hands in the air and walked away, "I'm done, I'm fucking done…"
"H-Hey! You're not gonna leave me here like this, right?!" Cody questioned the young knight.
"Call me when the princess is actually in danger, not when someone wants to go all touchy-feely…" he stated firmly as he walked away.
"Hey! Please you gotta believe me!" Cody cried out, but it fell on deaf ears. Desperate, he turned to Subaru for sympathy, but he was too busy staring at the Wizard Ridewatch in the boy's hands.
"Hey, where did you find that?" he asked, bringing the twins' attention to the object in Cody's hand.
"That item... belongs to Emilia." Rem responded before yanking it away from him.
"So he's a thief to boot" Ram noted as she glared at the still terrified Cody.
Before they could do anything else, they soon spotted an equally embarrassed Emilia walk out of her room, her face still beet red from the previous encounter.
"Emilia-sama. Do you know anything about that watch?" Subaru asked, pointing to it in Rem's hand.
"It was a gift to me from my father" she explained to the two, "He told me to hold on to it and it will protect me from danger…"
"I… didn't know it was that important to you, Emilia." Cody said with a soft tone, realizing it was more than just a watch.
"Do you want him in the dungeon or buried, Emilia?" Ram asked, skipping anything and straight to the punishment, much to his dismay.
"W-Wait! There's no need for that kind of violence!" the princess worriedly asked the maids.
"But he's a pervert and thief." Rem added.
"Yeah, but he's done a heck of a lot of good for the princess!" Subaru said in his defense.
"It was an accident…" Cody wept softly at the insults.
"Come on guys, can't we just let him off the hook for this?" the young man pleaded before thinking to himself 'Man, I've had to play devil's advocate twice this week… Then again Cody is kind of on route to become a Demon King…'
"I-It was indeed an accident." Emilia responded finally, "I just panicked because I didn't expect him to be here…" She soon turned towards the young man, whose eyes were now beginning to shine with hope "I-I'm sorry for putting you through this…" the princess apologized.
"Finally! Justice!" Cody weeped with glee as the truth was revealed.
Rem and Ram looked at one another before turning back to Emilia as they nodded and finally let Cody free from his shackles, the young man finally free from the restraints and problems that were caused.
"Freedom…" Cody said with a heavy relieved sigh.
"I'm very sorry for overreacting, Cody." Emilia apologized once more, only for Cody to shake his head.
"I was at fault for not knocking in the first place, Emilia. You were right to react like that." He reassured, as the two smiled softly at one another, both having cheeks show a soft red tint.
"Whew, glad it was a false alarm…" Subaru breathed a sigh of relief for a moment before he realized two things.
One, Cody somehow found the Wizard Ridewatch, and two, they might not have that much time left before the festival and the confrontation of Another Wizard. Even more so, how should Subaru even explain to them about the oncoming attack or anything else.
'Wait…' Subaru noted, 'Maybe I can use the Watch to stop it? I mean… I know that upon using it, it either gives the user the armor or the rider powers. Maybe I can gain the latter?' He pondered in his thoughts.
However, he soon shook off those thoughts. 'I'd rather not get into the crosshairs of Ram and Rem… or Rex for that matter…' He shivered at the thought of all three coming at him with the intention to kill. But then, an idea came to his mind.
"Say, Emilia-sama?" He called to her, earning her attention, "Is there any possible way I could learn magic?" He offered.
"Why do you ask?" the princess pondered.
"W-Well, I just figured it would be smart for me to learn it! Just in case I come across some troubles on my own when doing some tasks?" He stated, trying to use this to learn so he could defend the others upon Another Wizard's attack.
"Fair enough, he is the only one around here without a way to defend himself…" Cody realized.
Emilia pondered before she smiled and nodded, "Alright, I think I can do that. What do you say, Puck?" She asked her familiar.
"Sure! Sides, I could use someone to mess with." Puck chuckled out.
"Gee, glad to be of service…" Subaru said in a tone not too dissimilar to the young knight.
Emilia soon led Subaru to the training field in the backyards of the estate, with Cody in tow as he was curious to watch.
"Alright, let Teacher Puck start this off." The cat familiar smirked softly.
They soon heard a loud snoring as the group found an exhausted Rex asleep under a tree, with various broken training dummies before him.
"Seems someone is tired." Subaru noted as he heard him snore loudly.
"He does train very often." Emilia smiled.
"Okay! To start off, Subaru. There are four elements anyone can learn. Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth." Puck informed, "As you saw with Emilia several weeks ago, she has an affinity for Water, and thanks to her heritage, she's able to turn that into ice."
"Huh, well what about Woz and Rex?" Cody pondered, "I mean, the latter of the two probably has some special power he inherited from his bloodline or something right?"
"Their both affinities are mostly towards Wind." Puck responded.
"Guess that explains how he's able to throw around his axe all willy-nilly…" the boy noted as he remembered his various axe throws.
"Mhm! You're correct! Now… let's see…" Puck glanced at Subaru, glaring softly into his affinity, "Ho~? This is a bit of a surprise."
"Hm? What is it? Am I Fire? Earth?" the young boy asked excitedly.
"Shadow, actually." Puck responded.
"Shadow? I thought there were only four, like you said." Cody chimed in.
"True, but there are two more elements that are very rare to have, only 1% have it, and those are Shadow and Light." Puck answered.
"So what… I can like make shadowy weapons or something?" Subaru questioned.
"More like… you can blind enemies, make them stumble and more." This caused Subaru to gasp comedically
"Oh so, Subaru has Debuffs?" Cody chimed, not helping the boy's self-esteem that much.
'That's so lame!' Subaru cried out in his thoughts.
"Makes sense. After all, he did come from Japan. Meaning he could have techniques similar to a ninja." Cody added on.
"Huh, well when you put it that way…" Subaru noted
"Since we now know your affinity, let's try simple tasks, such as using your magic through your own gate." Puck said to the teen.
"Wait me, a Gate?" Subaru asked, pointing at himself.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Emilia asked.
"I mean, I don't even know if I am a Gate or not…" he admitted.
"I don't know what you're getting at. Gate's are just ways to access magic." Puck informed, confused by the teens, worry.
"O-OH! I see. Sorry about that, hearing about 'Gates' just reminded me of some old sayings in my homeland." Subaru chuckled out, changing the subject as he started to realize that those terms weren't the same. "So.. like I just try to focus on my gate to use my magic?"
"Correct! Try to imagine… like water coming out of a pipe or river. And as you keep practicing, you can control how much magic is flowing out of your gate so you don't overexert yourself." Puck informed the teen, as Subaru nodded.
"Right, like a river…" Subaru nodded as he closed his eyes and envisioned a closed river, only to slowly see a peak of light as he envisioned he was running closer to it, as the light began to grow wider and wider until...
"Hm? Wait… with this gate size it might-"
Soon, the entire area they were in was covered in black smoke, blinding their sight and hearing in a dark fog.
'What's going on? Is something like this supposed to happen?' Cody gasped as he tried to find a way to lift the fog. The young teen tried to swipe to make a draft, but the dark fog didn't even move, he couldn't even hear his own voice as everything was silent in the fog.
'This really sucks! I can't even call for help!" Cody groaned out, as he looked at his hand, or whatever he could feel, as he was holding the Zi-O Ridewatch, pondering that maybe his power could lift this fog away?
Back with Subaru...
'Gah! I can't see!' Subaru cried in his thoughts as he tried to call out his friends only for no sound to be send out. 'I can't call for help! Damn it Puck, you didn't tell me how to close my gate!'
"KYAAH!"
Emilia's voice cried out once more from deep within the fog, earning the attention of the group this time.
"Grah, what the hell is this?" Rex growled, as he tried to look for the source of that cry, "Was that you princess?" Yet there was no response, earning a worried feeling from the knight and others.
"Let's break this fog, Rex!" Cody cried out on his end, clicking his watch as the two others see Zi-O's watch light up in the dark fog.
"Alright, I'll try!" he said before seeing that Geiz's watch was lighting up as well before the two swiftly gained their armors.
KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!/GEIZ!
As the ring of the Rider occurred and gave them their armor, upon breaking to reveal it, it had enough power to take out the dark fog in the area, revealing the light and sound once more.
"Ah, I can see…" Subaru cried with relief.
But as the other senses come back, they see near the border, Another Wizard holding up a struggling Emilia as she seemed to be encased in magic.
"Emila!" Zi-O gasped, reaching out to the princess.
"Let her down monster!" Geiz growled as he took out his axe.
"Che, the fog had to be gone. I don't have time for this." Another Wizard growled, tossing several rocks to them, only for them to grow and soon gain forms that were grey with orange veins and horns.
"Ghouls!" Subaru realized.
"Hey, give me that real quick!" Zi-O stated, gripping on the Drive Ridewatch that was on Geiz's forearm, trying to pry it off of him to use.
"H-Hey, knock it off!" he growled, "You're gonna break the watch!" He soon pushed him off before unhooking the Drive watch from it's holder properly.
DRIVE!
"You guys deal with these things! I'm after that jerk!" Zi-O said, placing the watch on the slot, as he unhooked his driver and spun it.
ARMOR TIME! DRIVE! DR~IVE!
"You better not break that…" Geiz growled before Woz walked past him.
"Iwae! As another time passes, My Maou has gained another power! For this is Kamen Rider Zi-O: DriveArmor! He shall break the speed and go full throttle!" Woz cheered with glee.
"Do you really have time for that?!" Geiz growled with annoyance.
"Hey, there's always room for a little speech or two" Cody stated, "Let's just hope this works though…" After taking a runner's position, Zi-O dashed as hard as he could in Another Wizard's direction.
Within the forest, Another Wizard was using wind magic to gain ground, as Emilia continued to try and break out as shards of ice were building up in the magical cage.
"Why are you doing this?" She questioned the monstrous mage.
"To simply erase you." It responded, "And with this? Another rival to the throne will be gone."
She was confused as to why this random monster wanted the throne that badly as to kidnap her and distract Zi-O and Geiz.
"EMILIA!" Cody's voice rang out, as the two heard him as it seemed he was getting closer to the two.
"WHAT?! How is he getting this close already?!" Another Wizard gritted before noticing a red blur coming closer and closer towards him, "Lousy brat…. Let's see how you deal with stronger gravity?" The monstrous mage said, placing his ringed hand on the boned belt.
GraVIty
Soon, Zi-O felt a surge of weight on him as he slowly started to get slower, knowing that it was the monsters doing.
"Not… gonna… happen…" He groaned, raising his arms before sending out several Shift Cars from his forearm. The little toy cars were speedy as they rushed towards Another Wizard, surrounding and striking him to cause some damage.
This caused him to drop the barrier that held Emila, causing her to plummet to her doom had it not been for Zi-O breaking free from the spell and catching the princess.
"You okay, Emilia?" He asked, hoping she wasn't hurt from his actions.
"I'm fine, Cody. Thank you." She said with some relief as he sat her down.
"Grah! Damn you brat!" Another Wizard roared as he flew right towards him in rage.
"This time, I won't let you escape!" Zi-O said, using Drive's speed to race around and strike the Another Rider. Zi-O then began to deliver several rapid fire punches and kicks onto the magical Another Rider, each one knocking him around until he was sent flying into several trees.
Another Wizard, groaned before growling, only to use the gravity spell once again, but this time a lot more intense as it caused the young man to kneel from the weight. He then scanned the ring once more to create a new spell.
HuRRIcAnE
This caused a huge tornado to appear and send Zi-O crashing through most of the forest before he was sent rocketing towards Another Wizard, who used this time to activate another another spell.
BiND
Suddenly, several large tree roots grabbed each of his limbs and stretched them out, allowing Another Wizard to calmly take both the Zi-O and Drive Ridewatches away from Cody. The reverted young man, groaned more as without the armor, he was nothing but a man as the weight of the gravity and roots began to take a toll on his body.
"G-Give… those… back…" Cody gritted, trying to reach out to them.
"I don't think so…" he muttered before preparing an ice shard to stab through the youth's heart.
"I won't let you do that!" Emilia stated, as she shot some shards at the mage, to stop him.
This however annoyed Another Wizard as he melted the ice with his flames, though some did reach the roots that held Cody's arms, allowing him to take back the Zi-O Ridewatch at the least.
"Gah! This was meant to be easy for me! But you both are trouble. My client only said to bring you to them, never specified being alive…." The corrupted mage growled, as it spawned a sword made of bone.
"No matter what you try to do, I'll keep Emilia safe. She has become my hope and I've become her's to help reach her to that throne. Your magic may be powerful and corrupt, but I won't give up on Emilia's. I will become her hope and future!" Cody announced, even though he felt cheesy by saying that.
All of a sudden, the Wizard Ridewatch soon glowed before flying towards him, freeing the boy from the rest of his bindings.
"And what is that going to do for you?" Another Wizard scoffed as he looked at the watch.
"Simple, to take you down!" Cody declared before activating both watches.
ZI-O!
WIZARD!
He slotted in the watches before unhooking it. While the clock of Zi-O appeared behind him once more, the Wizard Magic Seal appeared before him as he did his pose, as the roots tried to attack but to no avail.
"Henshin!" He called out, spinning the driver.
RIDER TIME!
KAMEN RIDER~! ZI-O!
As the armor of Zi-O came onto him, the seal descended upon top of him. As his helmet gained the Wizard black cowl, the seal turned physical as it broke apart, creating mage caped wings as the chest piece formed not only the ruby armor of Wizard, but also a mix of the Flame Dragon Style, chest before finally the katakana for Wizard collapsed on top of the rider's helmet.
ARMOR TIME!
PLEASE!
WI~ZARD~!
"Saa, showtime daa." Zi-O announced as he lifted up his left hand, like Wizard does.
"Once more, Iwae! The Rider who will stand over the past and future as the King of Time has arrived! And his name is Kamen Rider Zi-O: WizardArmor!" Woz declared, appearing by Zi-O's side, scaring the poor boy.
"How in the-? How did you get here, Woz?" Zi-O questioned, looking around with confusion.
"Waga Maou, whenever a new chapter is added, I shall be here." He smirked softly before bowing, "Now, if I recall… This mage has a princess to defend?" He questioned the young man.
"Oh right!" Zi-O realized before regaining his composure.
Another Wizard was angered by this joking around as he casted another spell to send shards of ice and stone at the armored Rider. Thinking fast, Zi-O used a wind spell to redirect the projectiles right back at Another Wizard.
'He casted magic with a simple wave of his hand?! No! I won't allow this!' Another Wizard hissed in anger, spewing fire and lava instead.
However Zi-O instead created his own wave of ice and snow to hit the wave of heat, causing a huge cloud of mist to envelop the forest.
"Where are you, you commoner?" Another Wizard glared, looking through the fog.
He then felt something strike him, but when the Another Rider turned around, there was nothing there. He kept his guard up as this repeated several times before he felt a hand touch him.
"I'll be taking this back!" Zi-O declared as he retrieved the Drive watch before tossing it… to an arriving Geiz aboard a motorcycle.
"What the?!" Another Wizard gasped before he was run down by the red clock Rider until he disappeared into the fog, leaving the Another Rider on his own again. "I'm getting real tired of this!" The corrupted mage howled.
After getting no answer, Another Wizard spawning a gust of wind to remove the fog, only to soon find several 'clones' of Zi-O around him.
"Another parlor trick?" he growled as he tried his best to find the real Zi-O, yet the clones soon began to fire rounds of the Zikan Grade at the mage.
"Trick? Sorry pal, but unlike you, these clones are just as real as me!" The Zi-O's all said at the same time.
Enraged, Another Wizard began throwing fireballs randomly at all the Zi-Os, making each one disappear after the other. Yet with each one gone, what remained seemed to be nothing more than a piece of element. The corrupted mage was unable to understand as the last viewing clone was gone.
"Come out and face me, you brats!" Another Wizard demanded.
As soon as he said that, he was hit several times by a speeding red blur. However when he turned towards the blur, it was not Zi-O, but Geiz DriveArmor delivering a speeding Superman punch to the face.
"That was for kidnapping the princess, asshole!" the red knight roared.
"I already know how to deal with that!" Another Wizard hissed, reading himself to use a gravity spell.
However, Zi-O summoned a tree root of his own to pin the Another Rider's arm to the tree the root came from.
"Sorry, but this was the plan all, along." Zi-O said, appearing in view. "Figured if you wasted your magic, it would lead you to slip up to try and focus on one person." He said, revealing his plan, "And now that your main way to use it is halted? Time to finish this." He said, pressing the buttons on the Ridewatches.
FINISH TIME!
WIZARD!
He unhooked the belt and spun it as the ridewatch gave him the power to end this Another Rider.
STRIKE! TIME BREAK!
Soon the elemental parts that were spawned from the clones soon glowed as beams of light connected and attached together to reveal a large spell circle, with Another Wizard in the center. Seems he planned a powerful spell to take out the red Another Rider due to his high magic tolerance.
"Come forth! White Nova!" Zi-O declared from the spell.
A dot of light soon came from the center of the seal, only for it to erupt in a powerful, magical light that bathed Another Wizard in it, sending torrents of magical might at the Another Wizard, only for it to erupt into an explosion. Upon dying down, laying there injured was Forbee and a broken watch, the reveal butler groaning in pain from the attack.
"Eh? Forbee was Another Wizard?" Subaru questioned as he and Emilia came into view, showing they hid during that fight.
"Hmm… I'm starting to remember now…" Emilia noted, holding her head, "Yeah… he was an ex-scholar at the Kingdom's Grand Council. I remember how much he hated me and wanted to find some way to be rid of me."
"Ouch, I was there when they threw him out" Rex realized, "And I was still a rookie back then"
"Then… how did he get into the estate?" Subaru questioned.
"That lies within the Ridewatch he had. With the power of Wizard, he must've altered all of our memories to make sure we wouldn't be suspicious of him." Woz noted, "Well, all but Maou here."
Cody nodded, "I… had a odd feeling about him when I saw him. You all remembered him so vividly, yet I couldn't even tell who he was, thus made it hard for him to act since his presence could pose a problem."
"Hence why he took her either during the night that first time, or in that fog, you caused." Rex said, looking towards Subaru.
"Yeah, I'm glad that 'future vision' came in handy…" Subaru hastily said, scratching the back of his head.
"Y-You… damn half-elf…" Forbee hissed in pain, "You shouldn't even be alive…"
Emilia could only frown as she kneeled down, "I don't know why you hate me so… but I pity that you have so much of this hate. You could've been an amazing councilman… but you lowered to assassination…. I hope you can figure out your life later on." She said, before standing up.
"Rex? Go ahead and take him into the city and with the proper reports." Woz ordered the knight, knowing this was over.
"Yes sir!" he answered before picking the prone Forbee up and zipping away towards the city.
Cody though, looked to Emilia as he could tell that those words the lost man said did hit her. He walked over to her before presenting the Wizard Watch.
"Here… it was yours to start with." Cody said to her. "And… while whatever he said, may have been hurtful… He's wrong. Thanks to you, I was able to survive here and find a nice place."
"Cody…"
"What I said about helping you achieve your future goal? I meant it. You deserve to be here, Emilia. So don't ever think that, even if you try to put on a smile for others." Cody said to her, a smile on his face as he tried to cheer her up.
She soon hugged the boy tight, causing him to blush for a moment before returning the hug.
"Thank you, Cody… I'm glad to have you here too…" She responded softly.
The two stayed like that for a moment while Subaru and Woz watched them.
"Ahh.. young love…" the herald sighed.
"Yeah…" Subaru agreed, though a bit less enthusiastic than Woz's response.
Meanwhile, in an unknown location, it seemed like Cody and the others were being watched from within a crystal ball.
"Seems Zi-O has obtained his first Ridewatch…" A distorted voice rang out. "Much faster than I expected."
"Should we do something about this?" a second voice questioned, "Perhaps he has caught onto us much sooner than we thought…"
"No. He doesn't know who hired Forbee in the first place. We still have time" the first voice reassured their companion.
"Still… this seems worrisome. They couldn't have figured it out that fast, even with Zi-O's immunity to alterations." the second voice noted
"Perhaps the key comes from that other outsider…"
"Then for now, we watch and wait. If either outsider shows better potential? We know who to choose first."
Soon, a hand came over the crystal ball and dipped into it, pulling out a new blank Ridewatch in the process.
XXX
A/N:
Striberx: Heya minna! Sorry for the wait once again.
HackerEX: There was a lot on our plates and I do mean A LOT. But that's neither here nor there.
Striberx: Yup. Chap is done, already thinking on the next one and such. No point here other than to continue onward and explain anything for this story.
HackerEX: So let's start with the big one. The lie about Return from Death. Now anyone who's watched or read Re: Zero knows why It's a bad idea for Subaru to outright tell someone about Return from Death. However, that never stopped him from possibly lying about it.
Striberx: Right. We all know that if he tells the truth, either he or someone dies. Something we will touch on later, but for now, he's using this "Future Vison" lie to help out.
HackerEX: Pretty much, now the other thing. Isn't Geiz supposed to get WizardArmor? Well yeah, but that also doesn't stop him from using BuildArmor or Ex-AidArmor despite it being from Zi-O. Plus theoretically either Rider could use each other's Ridewatch if they wanted to, we just only seen the versions that the show displayed
Striberx: Yeah. Most of the cast will have some Ridewatches and will depend on their character and setting. Emilia being the first we know to use magic, made sense with Wizard. Plus along with her drive to better others through her ascension fitted well with Wizard's theme of hope.
HackerEX: Same with giving Ghost for Subaru given that both of them have died and came back to life, or Drive representing Rex's desire to become a hero just like his namesake. It's all mostly thematic choices.
Striberx: Yup, but there could be some we have no idea how to add in, so we may also have one off characters that we think of to give the Ridewatch to.
HackerEX: Yeah, they might even be references to past works that either of us has done. Hey, it's Zi-O, a celebration of everything that came before. We might as well throw in nods to our past works.
Striberx: Also, while these updates may seem slow. The other reason is to get things prepared for the next season of Re: Zero coming out very soon.
HackerEX: Not to mention Kamen Rider hitting the big 50 next year. I can't wait to see what Kamen Rider Saber looks like.
Striberx: Until then, later minna.