Ryujin: And we're back from that wild chase! Hello, everyone. My name is Kaiyomichi Ryujin, and I transform into Kamen Rider Hydro this episode. Now, because someone didn't summarize what happened in the first two episodes, I have taken the liberty to do just that!

Kaizen: You really don't have to, you know. Just get to the juicy parts already!

Ryujin: Now, now. It's your turn to be quiet, side character.

Kaizen: I actually kind of deserved that. How many times did I call you that last episode?

Ryujin: Two times, if I remember. Although you could have done that when I was asleep as well.

Kaizen: Whatever, just get on with the story. You're already wasting time.

Ryujin: Did you forget already? I still have to tell our audience what happened the first two episodes because you didn't.

Kaizen: What?! You were serious? Fine, but don't make this a reoccurring gimmick.

Ryujin: No promises, now, where were we?

Long ago, there were two brothers who had been separated at a very young age. One grew up to become a store worker while the other became the son of a famous politician. Each went their own separate ways, but by fate their paths will intertwine, and conflict will brew! Behold, the story of Kagutsuchi Kaizen, or Kamen Rider Pyro and Kaiyomichi Ryujin, or Kamen Rider Hydro!

Kaizen: That was waaaaaaaaay too over the top, even for you. Oh well, at least it was brief.

Ryujin: Quiet! It's my time to shine.

I woke up with the biggest headache I've ever had. I could not see for a good five minutes when I opened my eyes. After the pain subsided a little bit and I could actually see, I turned on my phone and looked at my notifications. I got a couple of texts from Rina, checking up on how I was doing after yesterday's disaster.

Yesterday? What did happen yesterday? I then see on my dresser the belt and card that was given to me by Kaiyojuni and look away suddenly. All the events of yesterday start rushing back into my head and gave me another massive migraine. I sat down in a nearby chair and start to collect my thoughts. I needed the energy to stand and see, because this was the last day in America for me. After a few minutes of sitting in a chair, I grab my phone and see what Rina texted me.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I heard what happened yesterday, and I am so sorry about his behavior."

"That idiot, I can't stand him! That's it, I'm breaking up with him after this trip, no matter what it means to the family!"

"When we get home, do you want to grab lunch tomorrow? I could really use a friend to talk to, to clear my head after this is all over."

I nearly fell out of the chair I was sitting in. She's going to break up with that obnoxious idiot? It's about time! I immediately start getting dressed and putting up all my clothes in my carry-on. I open up my phone and was about to call her, but then I thought that would make me seem to eager. But I really wanted to call her to see if she was okay as well. Ugh, thinking about relationships are hard, even when you're not even in one.

I might as well go home; I was done here in America. I left the hotel and was escorted to my father's private jet, which I will be using to go back home to good old Japan. About twelve hours later, I arrived back home and into the arms of my waiting parents.

"Welcome home, Ryujin! You must be so tired after that long flight. Get some rest and we'll talk after you wake up, okay?" My mother was always so protective and concerned about me, even though I was in top shape and always healthy. "Mother, I slept on the plane. I'm fine. I can talk now! And besides, it's still early in the day here, is it not?" I then greeted my father, who was smiling at me. "Welcome home, Ryujin. If you're not tired, then could we go for a walk?"

A walk? That was strange. The last time Father and I went for a walk, I was still in grade school and needed a parent to come with me for a club meeting. But it's my father, so I couldn't say no to him. "Sure, Father. Let's go for a walk."

We headed to the park that was about twenty minutes away from the airport. We got out of the car and started walking on the path. "So, Father, is there a reason that we went to the park to walk? Do you need me to do something? I'll do it for you, just give me the word." We continued walking for a little while longer after I asked him those questions. The silence was getting to the point where it was unbearably awkward when Father said, "I just wanted to walk with my son, can that be the reason we came here?"

Something was definitely up. Father never did anything that didn't have a specific purpose. "Father, is that really the reason? What's on your mind?" He sighed and then looked at me. "Ryujin, I'm thinking of retiring from the political world. Lately, there hasn't been any fulfillment from being a politician. Which is why I wanted to ask you: would you take my place when I retire?"

Retirement?! This was the first time I've heard him ever say that word! I was so flustered and confused that I was at a loss for words, which was not something that happened to me often. Unfortunately, a certain being spoke for me to respond to my father:

"Dear Father, of course I would accept your place when you humbly retire from your seat of office. You deserve your awaited retirement, after all that you have done for this… country."

I quickly turned away from Father and thought fiercely, "What are you doing, Kaiyojuni?! Didn't you say you weren't going to summon me unless I asked for it?" "You were at a loss for words, were you not? I decided in those mere seconds that I would answer for you to… avoid long pauses in conversations that you humans have. Also, I was curious of how much the world has changed when I went to sleep in the ocean so long ago." I turned to Father after that, who had a calm but puzzled expression on his face. I quickly explained, "Wow! Guess I really did need sleep! I don't know why I said something like that, not like I would not take your seat! In fact, I would be very honored if I did inherit your position! Father, I am so…"

I was cut off by a chorus of screams coming from the east of me. I turned to see what was causing all the commotion. The figure that was causing those screams almost made me scream myself. I didn't know how to describe him except with one word: Death. There were shadows coming out of the figure, spilling out onto the ground that it stood. The figure itself seemed… hollow for some reason, like it didn't have in it at all. Although it was mostly black, there were some gold accents and a tattered cape that adorned the figure. The figure held a wicked looking claw in their left hand; the claw had the most menacing feel around it more than any other object I've ever seen. The helmet is what really got my attention. It's bug-like eyes were the color of obsidian, and it looked as if it was made of that material as well. There were three gold lines running vertically across the eyes to form a visor. On each side of the figure's head were three lines on both sides running vertically down the side of the helmet. Overall, this thing was very bad news.

"Father, you need to get out of here right this instant! I don't want you to get hurt!" Father looked at me in shock, "What about you? Are you really going to fight this monster?"

Am I? I looked at it and my knees turned to jelly, although somehow, I was still standing. But if I didn't do it, then who was? This person was clearly bad news. And besides, I don't think anyone else could fight this thing unless they had the equipment I had. "I'm going to stop it, to prevent it from hurting anyone, especially you, Father." Father nodded at me with a stern look, "Then good luck, my son. Come back to me when you're finished, alright?" With that said, he then escaped with the rest of the crowd.

Now, it was just me and the black figure. Before I could say anything, I was cut off by the figure. "Now that everyone has evacuated, we can finally talk in solitude. My name, or rather, my Rider title is Kamen Rider Nero. Normally, I would have collected those screams for my own benefit, but I wanted to talk with you, the water rider." The voice that spoke was masculine and pleasant, as if it was a casual conversation with a friend, but never mind that. How does he know my identity already? "Careful, Ryujin. He harbors the element of darkness inside of him, Ghadra. Although, I don't see Lucia anywhere, the element of light. Ghadra probably sensed that you were in the area because of me." "So, this Ghadra is like you, I presume?" I thought in my mind. "Yes, Ghadra is one of the two beings I fought so long ago to obtain its power. Now you must fight him and his host to obtain that power that I was so close to getting myself." Great, now I have to fight a Kamen Rider that wants to kill me the first day I get back from Japan.

"Hi, uh, Mr. Nero. Listen, I don't want any trouble with you so could you please go away? I don't know how to use my powers yet and I would like this to be a fair fight if we are going to fight." I really hoped that worked, because I am beyond scared. "I'm surprised you're even able to talk, considering you're affected by my majestic presence. I see you don't have your rider power yet, so this will be a lot easier for me and you. You see, I need to kill you in order for you to never get your hands on the power that I wield. No hard feelings, but I'm sorry." He then spins the silver dial on his driver, which I now notice has a black light and a card with a picture of the mythical beast Cerberus, with the word "JOKER" written in the top left hand and the bottom right hand corners.

When he spins the dial, the shadows that were gathering around him suddenly shifted part of itself to the right of him. From those shadows rose a figure that shared the theme of death with Kamen Rider Nero. It's skin was the color of obsidian and had a matching toga to go with it. On the figure's head was an old Greek helmet that gave off a similar energy to Kamen Rider Nero's own crown. "Great," I thought. "Now I have two enemies to worry about."

"You may have heard of my friend here. His name is Hades, and he will kill you for me. I don't want to get blood on my suit, after all!" I stumble back in shock. "How are you able to just summon a god? Is this the unparalleled power that you have?!" "Remember when I said that I am all of the major water deities that you humans have worshipped over the course of history? One of the powers that you will gain is the power to summon my past selves to fight for you. Unfortunately, it seems as if Ghadra already has that power to do that." I needed to run for the time being and think of a way to get out of this mess. I didn't spend much time at my school's karate club, so my fighting knowledge was limited. I ran to the nearest source of cover, which was a line of trash bins about thirty yards away from where I was standing.

Kaizen: What is it with you and all these clubs? And why are they all so specific?

Ryujin: I don't know. They were all available at my school, so I just did them all to try them out. You'll be seeing a lot of times where I use my knowledge from my clubs for my endeavors.

Kaizen: Weird, but I'll roll with it.

Ryujin: Unfortunately, I started to panic when I reached the trash bins. I could feel Hades's footsteps coming closer and closer, and me being closer and closer to death. "I'm really going to die here, aren't I? I never even gotten a chance to say goodbye to Father! I'll never get the chance to meet with Rina tomorrow!"

"Remember why you are fighting in the first place. What is your reason for gaining this power?"

Rina. I really did love her. If I wasn't going to meet her tomorrow to help her, then I might as well throw our relationship out the window. I needed to show her that I can be her man. And in order to do that, I needed to be alive. I needed to crash through her expectations of me and just be there for her. It wasn't just her expectation, either. My parents needed me to take their place in the world. I'll crash through their expectations as well!

Kaizen: Aw… Ryujin's in love! That's so cute! Should I hire a band just to announce your love for her to the world?

Ryujin: Even though I made fun of you, doesn't mean you have to…

Kaizen: Actually, yes, it does. This is revenge for those last few episodes of torment from you.

Ryujin: That's fair, I guess…

Kaizen: You guess?! Why, you…

Ryujin: Anyways…

"I've found my resolve," I told Kamen Rider Nero. "I'm not going down without a fight" I pull out the driver and card I had been storing in my bag and face the black rider. "Ah, so you had those with you the whole time. If I had known, I would have given you a couple of seconds to transform, or struggle to. I am a merciful person, after all." I was starting to really despise this person. His taunts were so irritating and made me want to throw all my anger into punches towards him. "We'll see who's begging for mercy after this." I put on the belt, which I feel wrap around my waist automatically when I place the driver over my lower abdomen area. When the belt finished wrapping around me, it yells the word [ELEMENDRIVER] and the screen in front automatically opens. I insert the card into the screen and close it shut, causing it to yell [WATER] and play a standby of a piano tune. I raise my left arm above my head and then suddenly bring it back down to in front of me, so it's extended out. I then yell, "Henshin!" and then spin the gold dial on the right side of my driver, from where I am.

A ring of water suddenly ejected from the screen and then surrounded me, leaving about four feet of space from all sides. The ring then expanded and closed around me until there was a sphere of water surrounding me. The sphere stayed there for a few seconds and then quickly shrunk to contact every part of my body. The water left me glowing with a blue light for a few more seconds, and then faded to reveal a Kamen Rider suit. The belt then yelled [CRASHING DOWN] and the lights that were off before were now glowing a bright blue. The ground around me was soaked with water, about the area of a beach umbrella's canopy.

The armor left on me looked amazing from my perspective. It was a blue under suit with blue and gold armor covering my shins, forearms, and the backs of my hands. My chest armor resembled waves from an angry sea. And my helmet was the coolest part of all, having deep sapphire eyes and three gold line running horizontally across those eyes and three gold bars running vertically on each side of my helmet. I looked like a blue, more heroic version of the villain in front of me. Although, I'm not sure how I knew what my armor looked like.

"Well, look at that! You can transform now! Which means you can die fighting." I faced the black Kamen Rider and stood my ground. "I'm not running anymore. And I'm sure as hell that I'm not dying here, either! I am Kamen Rider Hydro!" I then charged at the proclaimed Hades and approached him to throw the first punch.

When my fist made contact, it knocked the god of the underworld back about five feet. I then used what I did learn at my karate club and applied it to Hades. I first kicked the back of his knee so he would fall down, and then I pinned him down, got on top of him, and started punching his torso and face. Hades started to get back up, and unfortunately, he pushed me off in the process. I hopped back and saw that Hades didn't have much strength left in him, so I decided to spin the silver dial on the left, hoping that it would let me do a special attack like Kamen Rider Nero.

Immediately, water surrounded me below my waist and started to push me up towards the sky. I put my body into a flying kick position and heard the driver go [DROWNING END!]. I was then propelled at high speeds towards the god and somehow went through his body and landed behind him. Hades then went down, but he didn't hit the ground below him. Instead, he dissipated into shadows before his face hit the dirt beneath him.

I then turned to Kamen Rider Nero and said, "Now that he's out of the way, it's just us two left." I charged at him but then Kaiyojuni spoke in my mind, "Do not attempt to go after him yet! You need your full strength if you must go up against one of the Jokers! Please, back down for now and retreat back to your family." What? But the person whose power I was to obtain was right in front of me! Suddenly, Nero's eyes somehow turned even more dark. "You have already foiled my plans, which has put me in a very bad mood. I suggest you listen to your patron and scram, before you make me kill you in the worst way possible." "How did you know what I was thinking? Wait a minute, what's going on?" I felt all the life in the park slowly being sapped by him, including my own. Nero himself was gaining all the shadows in that area and quickly becoming more and more monstrous. I hastily made a retreat out of the park and ran to an alleyway where I quickly untransformed.

I looked at the driver I was holding and started shivering. This is what I have to go through for now on? Fighting and having close brushes with death was not on my bucket list. I then saw a trash can in the alleyway I was standing in and started to walk towards it.

"Wait. Before you do that, think about this. If you don't do this, the world will be thrown into chaos. The elements will target me because I don't have a host, and then all the water on this planet will no longer provide life to any of the organisms. I am the one being that is making sure that the water is plentiful and beneficial to life. If I am gone, no one will be able to do that."

You've got to be kidding me. Not only am I fighting to obtain the love of my life, but I'm also fighting to secure the balance of the world?! "I am sorry for not telling you sooner, it's just that I did not want you to fight knowing that you have this heavy burden to carry."

"Then why me?! Why was I chosen for this? If I had known this, I would have never accepted your offer! Choose someone else!"

"I chose you because you had the heart of someone who does good even in the face of death. Your heart is pure, and I can only choose someone with a pure heart to aid me. Otherwise, a person with an impure heart would only fight for their own benefit, not for the benefit of others as well." "But wasn't I fighting for my own benefit in the first place?" "No, you were not. You are fighting to gain the trust and compassion of someone you truly care about. It may fill your desires, but overall, you want to make sure that that person doesn't suffer, is that right?"

I… hadn't thought about that. I realize now that Kaiyojuni was right. I didn't just want for Rina to love me back, I wanted to make sure she never got into a relationship as bad as her last one ever again. I guess I wasn't fighting for me after all. I was fighting for Rina as well. Oh yeah, and the rest of the world as well.

"Fine, I'll keep the driver for now. You've convinced me not to throw it away. But just know I will not hesitate to throw it away if it hurts innocent people or people that are close to me." I then started to walk towards the nearest bench and called my personal driver to pick me up.

When I got home, I went to go see Father to explain what happened. If anyone deserved to know, it was him. "Father, let me explain exactly what you saw. That man was…"

"I know what is happening, Ryujin. You have to fight now, don't you? Kaiyojuni explained everything to me."

What? How does Father know about Kaiyojuni? As far as I'm concerned, the closest contact Father has ever had with my water being was looking at pictures of Poseidon. "Let me explain," Father said. "The day that Kaiyojuni saved you from the yacht, it came to me while I was reading in my study. It told me that you had been chosen to fight for the fate of the world, and I was filled with dread. You see, this was not the first time Kaiyojuni had come to me."

"Back when you were in the swimming club at your school, you were at a swim meet and I was there to support you. Halfway throughout your race, you got a cramp in your leg and sunk to the bottom. Of course, there were lifeguards there, but I jumped in before any of them could and got you out of the water. I performed CPR on you, and you started coughing up water, which means you were safe. Then a voice spoke in my mind; You have done well to save your son. I know for a fact that your son will do great things in the future, but he needs to have some support in order to do those things. I have given you a tool to aid your son in the future. You will know when to give it to him. I checked in my pocket to see what was given to me, and there was a card, one that resembled the two of hearts. I guess now is that time."

He gave me the card, which was indeed the two of hearts. Instead of the usual pattern of a playing card, this card had a picture of a motorcycle with a dragon motif and a huge heart on the side of the body. "Thank you, Father. I'll make you proud and fight for what's right." "You can stay here on your quest for the cards. I'll support you on your journey, alright? Now head up to your room and sleep, you must be tired after all that."

Father was right, I was mentally and physically exhausted. So, I went up to my room and wondered what was going to happen from now on. Oh right! The meetup with Rina was tomorrow as well, I should get some rest for that.

Kaizen: Looks like I'm still awake after all that, guess your story wasn't as boring as I thought it would be.

Ryujin: Ha! Looks like I am the better storyteller after all! I knew I would bring action to our audience with great descriptions.

Kaizen: Still having girl problems? Poor Ryujin's in love!

Ryujin: Now it's my turn to chase after you. Start running, Kaizen!

Kaizen: Come back next episode to see how we face the aftermath of finding our cards!

Kamen Rider Nero: That day, I was so angry. Absolutely no one should be able to foil my plans like that. I will have my revenge against Kamen Rider Hydro.

Kamen Rider Halo: Calm yourself, you'll have your revenge in due time. For now, we need to discuss how to destroy their hopes even further, so they'll never have the drive to claim our power.

Kamen Rider Nero: Agreed, although I would have liked to kill him that day...