Kamen Rider Ixa R: Symphony of Hearts

by BlazeCore

Noise and Noise Kaijin have run amok, causing several tragedies for mankind. Kamen Riders and Symphogear users are fending off these foes but their power may not be enough. Through research and development, a new system shall be born to help these two powers. Sing and play the chained symphony through the hearts of the brave! Arise, Kamen Rider IXA R! R&R for story progress

11. Chapter 7-1: Future & Friend's Return I

Chapter 7: The Future Rider and a Friend's Return! Act I

Disclaimer: The Kamen Rider Franchise and Symphogear belong to their respective owners. OCs belong to their creators.

---

24 hours before Eiji and Tsubasa's hospital discharge

At a seaport near Yumemi Town, everyone was going about their business until a purple vortex appeared in the port. Shortly after its appearance, several researchers and scientists along with guards were researching the singularity.

"A distortion in space… What could have caused this?" wondered one of the researchers. Then the monitors and scanners were beeping erratically due to the vortex sparking with energy in reaction to something coming out of it.

Out from the portal, a form covered in water-like liquid landed in front of the group of researchers and guards with a quake-like crash.

"Looks like my trip through that time gate worked out." The figure stated as the debris cloud cleared revealed an armored individual with fish-like characteristics and a fin-like crimson spear in his right hand.

"Who are you?! Stop, or we'll shoot!" shouted the leader of the guards as he and his men took position to shoot at the unknown warrior in armor.

"Hmph. Whatever. Just don't beg for mercy…" stated the warrior with an uncaring tone despite being held at gunpoint. He walked forward causing the guards to twitch in nervousness and he pointed his spear to make a point. "It'd be a waste of time."

"Fire!" ordered the leader of the guards then they shot at the warrior while causing the scientists to flinch in fear, some even diving underneath the table they had set up.

But the bullets fired from the guns didn't even make the warrior flinch as he walked forward with an even pace. Then the warrior swung his spear, firing a blue energy wave that struck the ground in front of the guards and scientists. The wave exploded with incredible force that caused the group to scream in pain and be flung off their feet and into unconsciousness.

"Hmph. These bottom feeders didn't even last long enough to amuse me." The warrior said as his belt flashed and his armor disintegrated into light with coin-like components retreating into the buckle. The individual was revealed to be a young man with brown hair and a blue highlight wearing a blue sports jacket, short exercise pants, a pair of black sneaker, and a pair of goggles hung from his neck.

"Happy Birthday! Dear… Now, what exactly should I call you?" asked a man on one of the surviving monitors. He was a man in his 40s and wore a red suit with a yellow tie.

"Kamen Rider." stated the male as he leaned on his crimson spear with his pupils glowing an ominous purple for a moment.

"Well… Now, that is interesting." The man stated with an interested but troubled tone. Then the sound of a train whistle was heard before a pair of feet landed near the unknown Rider.

"Found you!" shouted a voice and a young man with light brown hair wearing a leather jacket landed in front of the other young man with a blue Oni-like humanoid following his pace. "Teddy! Get ready!"

"Understood Kotaro!" shouted the Oni-like being known as Teddy.

Then the young man known as Kotaro equipped a pale gold belt with a T-symbol in the center along with four colored buttons. "Henshin!" He shouted as he held a black container with a pass that had the same symbol and positioned it over the belt buckle, causing a reaction from the belt.

=STRIKE FORM!=

Then several parts formed and attached to his body, creating an armor which was a black and navy-blue undersuit along with a mask that had a train track in the middle of the mask. A light trail formed and constructed four pieces of armor that attached to his body and the orb of light collided with his mask to summon a train-like construct that trailed down the tracks and transformed into an eyepiece mask part. The armor on the Kamen Rider was a turntable-like chestplate along with four sets of train tracks on the shoulder plates and collarbone area. The Oni-like humanoid glowed and jumped into the air, transforming into a sword for the Kamen Rider to wield.

"Hmph, so you actually chased me down, Kamen Rider Shin Den-O. Fine, I'll let you keep me entertained until my actual prey arrives!" shouted the young man in a distorted voice as he wielded his lance at the ready. "Henshin."

=Same, Kujira, Ookamiuo!=

Three symbols formed in front of the young man as he made a bloodthirsty smile. Then he transformed back into the marine animal armor and charged at the time traveling Rider.

---

(Synchrogazer – Nana mizuki)

Instrumental

At the start of the techno music, each beat creates music bars revealing the face of Tsubasa and Eiji who look up. Then the bars went down as another beat creates a second set of bars revealing the faces of Kanade and Fen. Next another beat creates a third set of bars revealing the faces of Yoku and Shinnosuke. Two more beats create a succession of bars that reveal the faces of Ryoko and Chris. The final beat reveals several bars revealing the faces Hibiki who had her eyes closed, Miku who looks up, and Akakishi who is upside down as if he is sleeping.

The scene transitions to a hand manipulating a console control panel in succession to a techno wave sound. Then the scene changes to a rocky tower with Hibiki standing on top of it. She stares towards the starry sky before singing:

Listen to my song…

Falling from the sky, Akakishi opens his eyes as Hibiki jumps off the rocky towers with wings extending from her back. Then she extends her hands to the falling redhead as a light consumes them. Then the silhouette of Hibiki with wings and the silhouette of Kamen Rider Ixa R forms the title card:

Kamen Rider Ixa R: Symphony of Hearts

Like a meteoroid… Falling, burning, and disappearing…

Hibiki appears on the left side of the screen and opens her left eyes which the screen zooms in on as energy flows and sparks through her eye.

Boku no koe wa kikoeteimasuka? please tell me...

Alone in a middle of a field of grass, Miku stood watching the starry sky with her hand reaching out. The camera changes to her troubled face before she gives a smile and her expression changes to a serene one.

Kotae no nai kyokou no sora mezashi fly far away

Then Tsubasa is seen preparing for a concert and she looks at the photo of her and Kanade before she turns around heads off.

Kotoba ja tarinai kara boku no subete uketomete

In the Second Division Headquarters, Aoi and Sakuya report the situation while Genjuro, Tendou, Ryoko, Shinji, Kanade, Fen, and Eiji observe the main screen. Then the scene changes to Chris who is falling in a void with a ring of piano keys in the background. She reaches out desperately for someone to save her.

Seigyo dekinai...shitakunai yo

The scene changes to Hibiki and Akakishi running forward as Miku walks in the middle of them in the opposite direction. The scene during all this is a gray background with a red soundwave line. Miku turns around with a worried expression as the background turned into a pinkish hue with black streams stretching out.

Hajimete shiru kankaku

Suddenly the scene changes to Akakishi, Miku, and Hibiki in a restaurant eating. The redhead and the greenish-black haired girl turned to their friend who made a goofy smile in response to the delicious food. Then the two laughed a bit at their friend's reaction.

Then the scene transitions to Hibiki in her armored form showing off her outfit.

Then there are glimpses of a golden sword, a young Chris with a stunned expression after witnessing an explosion, a woman with blond hair in armor who smiled sinisterly, a jewel staff, the Space Kamen Rider Club, Hibiki and Miku's friends, Yoku in her armored form, the forms of Kamen Riders Drive, Eternal, Kabuto, and Fourze, and finally a smiling mouth of the lower half of a person's face and a small stream of red falls from the corner of his mouth.

Kimi ni utau yo eien no hajimari wo

Then Tsubasa is seen in her armor cleaving through several Noise using the blades on her greaves. The scene transitions to her singing on stage before reaching out to someone. In response, Eiji is seen reaching out to her hand with a smile on his face. Then the scene returns to the sight of Kamen Rider OOO falling through the air before stabbing a Noise with his sword.

"Dakara waratte..."

Ixa R and Hibiki enter the scene as Tsubasa and OOO leapt off a nearby building. Following the group is Drive along with Yoku who wielded her hammer.

Dare yori mo atsuku dare yori mo tsuyoku dakishimeru yo

Noise charge forward and the amber-haired girl confronts the charge by attacking several Noise with concentrated and practiced attacks. Then Ixa R follows her by kicking a Noise before elbowing another in quick movements. Hibiki pulls out the weight of her gauntlet's piledriver while Ixa R inserts the Knuckle Fuestle into his belt's buckle. The armored girl punches forward, firing an energy blast the smashed through several Noise which were pink or orange in color. Meanwhile, the Kamen Rider smashes his knuckle into the ground and blasts apart the enemy in front of him with a flaming wave.

Furueru kokoro yusabureba ii nanika ga ugokidasu

OOO and Tsubasa slash through several Noise before the armored idol jumps into the air to slash several spear-like noise. Then the Kamen Rider scans his medals and leaps through the air as rings formed in front of him. He goes through the rings and crushes an entire group of Noise into dust.

In another section, Drive rushes through Noise at an incredible speed and Yoku follows him by swinging her hammer in precise, strong swings. They manage to defeat the Noise in their area before a very large Noise with horns destroys a nearby building. Hibiki and Tsubasa arrive along with their Rider partners and sing to prepare a powerful attack.

Bokura kitto umareta hi kara deaeru hi wo zutto sagashitetanda

The group hears other voices and turn to the sight of Kamen Rider Eternal and Fourze who stood alongside their partners who also sang a hymn. Tsubasa, Hibiki, and Yoku visibly smile and turn forward to attack alongside their partners.

Kaze no naku yoru wa omoidashite

Tsubasa transforms her sword into a heavy form and jumps forward along with OOO who scan-charged his sword. Hibiki follows her lead with a kick ready with Ixa R as an energy forms on his left leg. Eternal and his partner swung their weapons forward with Fourze drill kicking.

Tomo ni kanadeta kiseki ten ni mau yo

The group attacks the large Noise simultaneously and land behind it as it exploded into a ball of fire and ash.

Then three hands are seen stacked on top of each other. The camera retracts back to reveal Akakishi, Hibiki, and Miku with smiles on their faces as they turn to the starry sky.

---

Today

At the Second Division base, Genjuro, Eiji, Tsubasa, Fen, Kanade, and Tendou were having a conference meeting with the president of the Kougami Corporation, Kousei Kougami himself. The same man who had an earlier conversation with the unknown Kamen Rider. The seemingly business savvy man was happily making a cake to celebrate the occasion after learning about synchronization that Eiji managed to obtain with Tsubasa.

"So what is the reason you have called us, President Kougami? Is it the Noise?" asked Genjuro.

"The Noise? No, not those desire destructive monsters! It appears some plans I made for the future have gone awry. And they have brought a Kamen Rider from that future!"

"The future? What Kamen Rider would come from the future?" asked Eiji since Den-O and other time-patrolling Riders had jurisdiction over such matters.

"Well, the plans I had made were the schematics for new Core medals." The president confessed.

"New Core Medals?! But wouldn't that create more Greed?" asked Eiji with worry.

"That is not what these new Core medals will become! No, they will run on purely desire rather than produce desire! But, just like my ancestor, it appears I have failed. Now this Rider will cause havoc in our city. That is why we need OOO back!"

"But what about Kamen Rider Den-O, can't he handle this?" asked Tendou who had met the time traveling Rider once.

"Well, he has tried to deal with the situation, but this future Rider was a bit too much for him. But don't worry, he isn't dead. Look." Then the president sent over a video feed of the battle between Kamen Rider New Den-O and the mysterious marine Rider.

"I won't let you damage the timeline any further!" shouted New Den-O as he charged at the unknown Rider with his sword. Then what came after was the members of the Second Division Group wincing at the beatdown that the time traveler received.

"Hmph, pathetic." The unknown Kamen Rider said before walking away from an unconscious New Den-O.

"That's got to hurt." Fen commented with a cringe before making a frown. "But I'm glad he's going to be fine. Though I'm going to have to inform Ryotaro about his grandson getting injured on the job again."

"…" Tendou gave a disappointed look. "I knew it, that boy's going to need more training. Kougami, when he recovers, send him over here at the Second Division's HQ. A Rider who can't even fulfill his place as a protector needs further training." Then the man walked away with the thought of stricter training for the future Rider.

---

At a certain Hospital

Teddy felt a shiver all of a sudden as he sat on a chair near the brunette who was in a hospital garb with bandages covering his body. "Oh dear, it appears instructor Kabuto noticed your sloppy moves, Kotaro." No one in the hospital appeared to be bothered by the blue oni-like humanoid who was peeling apples.

"Seriously?! We need to get out of here!" shouted the bedridden young man as he tried to get out of the bed, but he was pushed back on by his partner.

"Stop Kotaro! You need to rest after fighting that future Kamen Rider!"

"Tch. Damn it, why did he had to pull such a stupid move? He was already wielding his own unique power, so there was no need to use that Driver."

"I agree… but we must hope that OOO may be able to help quell his self-doubt."

"Yeah… I can't think of anyone better at helping the idiot than Eiji-san." Kotaro said before closing his eyes to sleep.

---

Back at headquarters

"Hm… This is quite the situation. But I'll leave this decision up to Eiji." Genjuro stated as he turned to the young man with making his decision.

The brunette nodded with a firm determined face. "It's all right, I'll go. My friends need me after all." The group took notice at his unwavering decision.

"You're not going in without backup." Then Date walked forward with a confident smirk.

"Date-san!"

"Yo, it's been awhile Eiji! So this is the girl who caught your fancy." The doctor said upon noticing the bluenette.

The two in question shared a clueless look before Eiji decided to clear up any misunderstandings. "Um, Date-san. My relationship with Tsubasa-san is strictly professional."

"Oh really…" Date said while looking at the bluenette who still looked as clueless as her Rider partner. "Huh, yet you two match…"

"I don't believe we have met properly… My name is Tsubasa Kazanari, who are you?" asked the girl.

"The Fighting Doctor, Date Akira!" boasted Date with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Tsubaki-chan!"

"H-Huh?! But my name is Tsubasa…" Tsubasa was taken aback by the odd doctor's attitude and incorrect naming.

"It's fine, Date-san has a habit of mispronouncing names." Eiji said with an assuring tone. "Just go along with it. So Date-san, what brings you here?"

"Got called in for a favor by the Boss here with Aka's condition and acting as first-aid medic for the others. I think it's a good thing I came, a couple of the guys got pretty beaten up. I'm surprised Tendou could still stand after his scuffle with Kenzi-chan."

"Those two fought again?" asked Eiji incredulously. "No wonder there was that earthquake last week…"

"Vice Commander fought someone to cause that quake?" asked Tsubasa.

"That's right, you don't know about Tendou-sempai and Kenzaki-sempai's infamous 'spars' Tsubasa. Tendou-sempai is rivals with another Kamen Rider by the name of Kazuma Kenzaki who is also known as Kamen Rider Blade. He and Kenzaki-sempai get into a spar every time they meet and it usually ends with a large change in the terrain. One time… they fought in a desert and turned most of it into a sea of glass. Commander had a rough time covering that up…"

"Really? That doesn't sound very possible."

"Kogami-san." Genjuro said.

"Here, Tsubasa. Behold, the creation of two incredible powers clashing!" shouted Kougami as he brought up a satellite view of a desert and what appeared to be a shining surface and some sand surrounded by mountains.

"…They actually created that result?"

"Yep, I was just as surprised as you when I first saw it, Tsubasa." Kanade affirmed to the incredible sight.

"But let's get back on topic. Date-san, are you really coming along with me back to where I began?" asked the former traveling Kamen Rider.

"Yep! Besides, Kogami here contacted me about a new Rider system after the last one was stolen. After seeing Goto-chan, at least we know what happened to it."

"Indeed, I shall prepare a cake for her to celebrate her new form as Sympho-Rider Birth Astra!"

"*Ahem* Kogami-san, let's not get off track again." Eiji said. "Date-san, I know you want to come. But if another attack occurs again, I think you need to stay here. After I'm done with business back in Yumemi Town, I'll bring the New Rider system for you."

Stunned by his words, Date couldn't help but smirk. "Heh, you got some backbone to tell me what to do, Eiji. What happened to the meek but kind-hearted guy I knew?"

"So is that a yes?" asked Eiji with a hopeful tone.

"Of course not!" responded the fighting doctor with a smile, causing Eiji to sigh. "I have to make sure you don't get too injured yourself after taking down this rogue future Kamen Rider!"

"Of course you wouldn't listen, Date-san…" Eiji sighed but smiled.

Tsubasa made a contemplating face before looking up and deciding her next action. "I wish to come with you as well, Hino!"

The group turned to the girl with surprised faces. "Tsubasa-san…"

"Are you sure, Tsubasa?" asked Genjuuro.

"It's only fair. Hino has been my backup even when I rebuffed him, so let me help him in this mission." The girl recalled while gripping her Relic crystal.

"Hm… Very well, but only if Eiji agrees." Genjuro stated while turning to the Kamen Rider in question.

"Tsubasa-san… This could be dangerous, and the others might need support from a Veteran." Eiji reasoned since he hoped she would stay behind, the recent attacks were more proof that the group needed a veteran on the field.

"I think Fen-dono and the Vice Commander have that covered. I'm only returning the favor, Hino. Because of my stubbornness, I never truly saw you as an ally! So please, let me be your sword and ally!"

"She's got a point, Eiji. Besides, if trouble brews. I got it covered." Fen boasted, but he wasn't wrong in his words.

"Besides, she's willing to help you, Eiji. Any friend worth his salt shouldn't turn down such a request." Kanade reasoned.

Seeing her reasoning make sense, Eiji realized he couldn't say no. "…Thank you, Tsubasa-san. Don't worry, you were not the first stubborn bird that I had to work with." Eiji said with a smile.

"*Laughs* He's got that right!"

Tsubasa gave a smile before she twisted her expression in a confused form. "Wait. Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Well… Um… yes!" Eiji stammered while internally reasoning to himself that the girl at times reminded him of his friend. "Now then, let me prepare my tomorrow underwear!"

"Ojii-san, I'll also take my leave to prepare for the trip!" stated Tsubasa as she gave a salute.

"Very well, remember to pack lightly, Tsubasa." Genjuro said with a smiled and nod.

As the two took off to prepare for the trip, the remaining members looked a bit amused. "Well I'll be… Seems like that kid can fall in love."

"Or their denseness nullifies each other…" Fen said with a sweat drop.

"Tsubasa did become a bit more meat-headed over the years." Kanade playfully commented with a smirk along with Fen who shared a knowing look.

---

The next day

Aka and the Kamen Rider Club arrived to the Second Division base entrance with Hibiki who was waiting for them. The group entered the hidden express elevator and descended into the underground base. Then they entered the main lobby room where they expected the older members of the Division to greet them. "Another day, another good time for a meeting then training!"

"Yeah!" responded Hibiki with a raised fist.

"Training, huh? Seems like we also need to join in, right Gentarou?" asked Ryusei as he turned to his friend.

Gentarou on the other end did not seem as keen to the subject of training. "Training? Hm… I'm not really interested…"

"Sounds like Gen-chan is getting a bit lazy~." Yuki teased her childhood friend who took offense.

"I am not lazy! I already have a teacher for training!"

"Good." Tendou responded as he entered the room with a woman. "Because I am expecting you to train until you can prove your worth, Kisaragi."

"Oh, good afternoon, Tendou-sempai!" Gentarou said with a friendly wave before noticing the woman. "EH?! Utsugi-sensei?! Wh-Wh-Why are you here?!"

"Tendou-san asked me to come here, Gentarou-kun. He briefed me that you and Ryusei-kun are helping with the Noise threat and you need a teacher so that you will be able to hold your own against these Sympho-Riders. That, and you have been skipping out on your lessons." The teacher stated with a disappointed glare.

"Eh… So I can't escape it after all…" said the teen as he hunched forward in defeat.

"So you really were being lazy." Ryusei deadpanned, remembering how sluggish his friend had become when it came to fighting lately.

"Excuse me Vice Commander, what do you mean by Sympho-Rider?" asked Hibiki.

"We'll explain more since everyone is here." Genjuro said with a smile.

---

Then the group sat on the couches as the older members prepared the meeting presentation.

"After a discussion with the Commander and Dr. Sakurai. We have decided to identify the changed Kamen Riders as Sympho-Riders due to their capabilities in using Relics to become something akin to Symphogears." Tendou stated as several photos of the currently identified former Kamen Riders were shown on screen.

"So that's what we're calling them! But… can't we talk it out? They're still your allies even if they have changed." Hibiki said with a hopeful tone.

"If only if it were that simple, Hibiki…" Akakishi muttered with a shake of his head with a doubtful tone.

"…Convincing Kamen Riders with just words isn't easy, Tachibana. We're people who only listen to people whose strength is something we can acknowledge." Tendou stated with crossed arms. "So a fight is inevitable until you have the power to convince your enemy that you are on the side of right."

"I-I see…" Hibiki gave a down look.

"Don't despair just yet, Hibiki-chan. If we managed to convince them we can help, then there may be hope of ending this peacefully." Miu reasoned with an assuring smile.

"Yeah," Hibiki nodded with a smile. "We can't give up now! They're still humans we can reason with!"

"*Laughs* Good to see that you're in high spirits, Hibiki!" Genjuro said with a smile.

"Hai, Shishou! So when is Tsubasa-san and Eiji-san getting out of the hospital?" asked the girl with an eager tone.

"Speaking of that… Hibiki, where is that welcome back gift that you bought yesterday?" asked Akakishi. During their time off, the two went around looking for gifts to celebrate the pair's hospital discharge,

"Gift? Oh you mean… AAAAHHHH! I forgot to bring it back at Miku and my dorm room! Oh… And I was so hyped to welcome Tsubasa-san and Eiji-san back!" shouted the girl with a downed tone.

"Um… Can someone explain to us who are Eiji-san and Tsubasa-san?" asked Ran with a hand raised.

"Oh right, all of you have yet to meet them. Before Akakishi and Hibiki joined us, there were two other members fending off the Noise. They are Eiji Hino, also known as Kamen Rider OOO and Tsubasa Kazanari, the first Relic User." Kanade answered for them.

"Tsubasa Kazanari, as in the famous singer and idol?!" shouted JK who was music savvy enough to remember the name.

"A singer? That's… surprisingly fitting since the Symphogear does require an Attuned. But wait a minute… is Kazanari-san a relative of yours, Commander?"

"They're related?" asked Gentaro who looked a bit surprised.

"They do share the same surname, Gentarou." Tomoko pointed out.

"That, and Kanade-san here was a member of Zwei Wing along with Tsubasa, a pair of idols who were on the rage before an incident at one of their concerts that left Kanade in critical condition and Tsubasa pursuing a solo career." JK detailed.

"Were you a fan of them, JK?" asked Yuki who knew that the information gatherer had some good clues from what he heard in the grapevine of their school, though his information seemed more detailed than usual.

"W-Well… I sort of enjoyed dancing to some of their songs…" JK embarrassingly stated while rubbing the back of his head.

"Huh, seems like you did enjoy their songs." Miu teased.

"*Ahem* Before we get off track, yes, Tsubasa is my niece. Kanade and Shinji helps with her career as a singer, but she also serves as our vanguard along with Eiji here at the Second Division."

"Why didn't you mention them earlier?" asked Kengo.

"Sorry, but we didn't wish to worry you all with the mention of the two being in the hospital. That, and we didn't cover everything due to the incident last week." Genjuro admitted.

"Well, we can't blame you for having that excuse, a lot did happen over the week, Commander Kazanari." Miu stated with a smile. "So did the two get injured in a fight recently?"

"Yes, there was an unknown assailant a few weeks ago wearing a complete Relic we excavated year ago." Genjuro gestured Aoi who nodded and she pressed a few buttons on her console to reveal a shot of the unknown girl in the stolen armor.

"What is with that armor design? It doesn't seem to cover everything…" Kengo pointed out with a disapproving tone.

"Yes, it looks a bit scandalous." Miu agreed before glaring at the other males in the club. "And stop staring you three! And you better not be taking pictures, JK!"

Though Gentarou appeared to be a bit entranced by the mysterious girl.

"She wore the Nehustan Armor which was lost during the event of the last Zwei Wing concert."

"The same one where the Noise attacked the stadium?" JK asked.

"Correct. For it to appear in the hands of this girl, we believe that there is someone manipulating the Noise behind the scenes. This mastermind may be the same person who sent the Sympho-Riders and responsible the disappearance of several Kamen Riders."

"What? Some Kamen Riders have went missing?" repeated Ryusei with a worried tone.

"Yes, there are some unconfirmed missing members… but this is the list of members we managed to compile." Then a list of Kamen Riders with unconfirmed statuses was shown. "Though it appears we will have to update it with Riders who were confirmed dead."

"Dead?! We're actually fighting zombies?!" shouted Gentarou with a horrified face.

"We're not sure. In truth, the Aufwachen Waveform has some unknown effects that Sakurai is still trying to discover, but reviving the dead was not something even we could thought of." Tendou stated.

"Given the abnormality of the situation, I've decided to ask some of the other Kamen Riders if there had been some form of unusual activities involving resurrections. And it appears that Fen-kun here has a clue." Ryoko said.

"Actually it was Phillip and Shotaro who found the clue, I just found some very conclusive evidence at an old Foundation X facility." Fen stated as he took out a memory stick and gave it to Aoi who inserted it into her console and typed to open up the data the young man managed to recover.

"Foundation X?"

Fen nodded with a serious face and a scowl. "On the surface, it would be some pharmaceutical firm, but… It's actually an underground research facility specialized in several forms of inhumane research. If there's one organization that would fund the Project MODERN, it would be them. Aoi, open up that one file with the name 'Necro'."

"Got it." The woman said as she moved the cursor over the file and opened it.

The screen showed the name along with a couple of the pictures of the subjects involved. "Foundation X's Necro-Overs project. If this mastermind of the Noise has gotten ahold of that project's data, then there is a possibility that we will be facing a couple of Kamen Riders we thought were dead."

"Though there is the question of what sort of agenda does this mastermind have." Tendou crossed his arms.

"Yeah, why act now? Oh well, we can worry about that later. For now, we must focus on training in preparation for the SymphoRiders." Genjuro said as the slide shifted.

"*Groan* But aren't we strong enough without the training?" groaned Gentarou.

Fen gave a serious face before confronting Gentarou. "I understand that it might be a pain, Gentarou. But this training is necessary for you all. Besides, we expect you younger Kamen Riders to be strong enough to dent solid steel with your fists."

Gentarou realized he may had a way out of this. "Really? Well then-"

"WITHOUT transforming." Fen stated before giving a nod to Genjuro. "Commander, show them."

"All right." Genjuro understood what sort of point the young man was making. Then he walked to a hanging sandbag with a steel block at the average height of a person's chest. The red-haired commander readied his fist and took a breath in. Then he swung his fist and crumpled the steel block and caused the sand to explode out from the back of the bag.

The Space Kamen club members were shocked at the power that the commander possessed, and last they checked he was still human.

"W-Whoa! He annihilated the sand bag!" shouted Yuki.

Kengo mentally calculated the amount of force it took to just to make the steel block crumple in. "No way… that was about 20 tons of force he used for that one punch. And there's no sign of damage on his fist…"

"Commander, what sort of training did you do to gain such strength?" asked Ryusei who was a martial arts practitioner of the Seishin Darinken, but he never had met a fellow martial artist with such strength before.

"Eating, sleeping and watching movies. A TRUE MAN NEEDS NOTHING ELSE! *Laugh*" boasted the commander with a loud laugh.

The Space Kamen Rider gaped at his claim. It was pretty obvious that the older man did not just gained his strength from such a lax lifestyle.

"Yeah… That does sound like something Shishou would say…" Hibiki muttered with a sweat drop forming on her head.

"Don't bother with more details, the boss has always responded with that ridiculous answer…" Kanade stated with a wave of her hand.

"That, and Commander always had that ridiculous amount of strength. Sometimes I think he would be the next Segata Sanshiro." Fen joked.

"*Laugh* I'm not that powerful, Fenrir-kun! I couldn't even perform the feats of Segata!" stated Genjuro.

"But back on topic, this is the sort of strength you guys will need before our next scuffle. The Symphogear users such as Hibiki here are already training hard for the next fight." Tendou stated then he gave glances to Ryusei and Gentarou. "For now, let us split up training exercises. Utsugi, you will join me in training Akakishi and Kisaragi. Commander, you will handle Tachibana's training. Sakuta, you will work with Super-1. Remember the purpose of this training is so we have more members prepared for the next battle."

"What about us? We want to help out as well." Haru asked while raising his hand.

"You all can help me in my lab with analyzing the Relic Crystal that Fen-chan managed to recover." Ryoko said with a teasing smile.

"Relic Crystal?" repeated Shun with a questioning look.

Then the spiky-haired young man in question took out a crystal magenta memory stick with the letter E and the subtitle: Engine. "Found this while I was investigating the lab." Fen turned to look at the memory stick himself and tilted it to look at it from a different angle. "Looks like we now know what happened to Captain Terui's Engine Blade."

"Indeed, but he was quite fortunate that Shotaro and Phillip were there, so it was only his weapon that was taken." Genjuro pointed out how the past incident only caused the man to lose his weapon.

Ryoko smiled in agreement. "Yeah, Ryu-chan does have a child, so it was quite fortunate he was safe. Besides, we managed to make a second Engine Blade, with my own improvements in the design."

"Did you make that comment just to show off how good you are?" asked Fen with a dubious face.

"Yep! And you know as well as I do that I have the skill to back it up~!" Ryoko said with a carefree smile.

"Yeah, as well as you taking a liking to young girls…"

"*Giggle* Says the young man who has a taste for redheads with big-"

Okay, let's stop the conversation right there. I just got back and I rather not make things awkward for everyone here." Fen stated while cutting off the scientist who smirked teasingly as if she won this bout. "And did you hack my internet history?"

"What are you going to do if I had said yes?" teased Ryoko.

"You two know that just makes you both guiltier, right?" Kanade pointed out with a sweat drop.

Tendou decided to change the focus of the meeting back to what they had intended. "*Ahem* As I was saying, that is how we will be handling training with the current pairings for today. Before we start, are there any more questions?

"Ano…where are Tsubasa-san and Eiji-san?" asked Hibiki with a hand raised up high.

"Well… They are currently on a mission due to an incident where Eiji became Kamen Rider OOO." Genjuro responded.

"Eeeeeh? But they just got out of the hospital! So where could they have gone?!" shouted Hibiki with a loud voice.

Akakishi gave the location some thought before realizing where the commander meant. "Hm… I think I know where the Commander is talking about."

---

At Yumemi Town:

"So this is where you first became OOO, Hino?" Tsubasa asked as they walked through the airport with an overhanging view of the city. She wore a red hat to cover her head along with a yellow dress with white opened-toed shoes. "It's quite a nice city."

"Yep, we can go sightseeing later. For now, let's get going before that Kamen Rider continues to wreak havoc." Eiji said as he carried a wooden stick that had a pair of boxers hanging on it.

"Yep, hope we get a big payday for this."

"Agreed." Tsubasa said with a nod before noticing a young man with blond-brownish hair wearing red pants, a black leather jacket with a right red sleeve and fur collar, standing at a distance and staring at the two partners. "Hm? Is he one your friends?"

"Huh? Well, I'll be." Date said with a surprised face.

Eiji turned around to see the young man who smirked at the brunette's attention on him. "Ankh? But…"

"Eiji, you're late. Do you know how long I have been waiting?" asked the man with a cocky attitude. "C'mon you three, I heard the sound of Medals this way." Then the blond before he walked away leading the two.

"Oi! Wait!" shouted Tsubasa. "What did he mean by medals? Unless…"

"Yes, we need to follow him Tsubasa, he knows where this future Rider is now!" Eiji ran after the mysterious blond before Date and Tsubasa followed his pace.

---

Meanwhile at another location, two young women were sitting in a car with the professional-looking one explaining the situation to her passenger.

"For a Kamen Rider to be targeting other Riders like this… That's why you came with me to get Eiji and Date-san, isn't it, Satonaka-san?"

"I'm just doing my job. While Date-san is handling his hospital, Eiji-kun and the Second Division are working with the Kougami Foundation to help their research, after all." The other woman responded as she drove on the street with her eyes focused on the road.

"He's been gathering all kinds of information while traveling and helping people, right? Eiji-kun told me that he managed to repair three broken medals, so he is close to that day when he restores Ankh's." The young woman said with that certain memory of their lost friend.

"Though it appears that it has been delayed with all these Noise popping up everywhere." Satonaka pointed out.

"*Sigh* Yeah. Nii-chan is so busy with all of the Noise attacks. Luckily this Second Division is handling them."

"Indeed." Then the driver gave a surprised face before stepping on the break to stop the car. In front of the two, there was a large number of mummy-like creatures with circular holes of where their faces should be. "Yummies!"

"Yummies?! But aren't they all supposed to be gone?"

The driver lowered the back of her seat and reached to open a metal case and grabbed a gun inside it. "Hina-san, stay in the car!" The woman walked got out of her car and loaded the gun with silver Cell Medals before slotting it under the gun nozzle for extra stability. Satonaka quickly fired the gun in short bursts at the creatures known as Yummies, more specifically, Waste Yummies. The moaning monsters stumbled slowly towards the woman with the gun, some going down and disintegrating from taking too many shots. Some of the groaning monsters managed to knock the gun out of her hand and grab the young woman, but she proved to be strong enough to handle them at close combat by elbowing one in the back and kicking several behind her. She kicked away the one grabbing her, but her passenger, Hina was grabbed out of her seat. The humanoid mummies tried to drag her, but the girl proved to be quite strong by throwing the ones grabbing her arms off. But the larger number of Yummies managed to grab her and push her onto the ground.

The large number of monsters slowly approached the downed girl, but a hand grabbed one from behind and forced the monster to face the hand's own. Then it received a powerful punch to the face, knocking the mummy monster down. The person turned out to Eiji who was quickly clobbering the mook monsters with precise blows and kicks.

Hina got a clear look at the man's face before smiling. But she didn't notice how he didn't smile when he made eye contact with her. "Eiji-kun!" shouted Hina with a cheerful smile.

The young man knocked the yummy away and was about to greet her when a splash of water was heard before the marine Kamen Rider appeared. The young man turned around and faced the enemy Rider with a calm face.

"So, this is Kamen Rider OOO…" Then he attacked Eiji who didn't have time to react and he took the full brunt force from the future Kamen Rider. He flew through the air and crashed onto the pavement with his body going still.

"EIJI-KUN!" screamed Hina who could not believe that her friend was so easily struck down. She quickly ran to his side while Satonaka managed to shake off the Yummies on her.

"Hino-san!" shouted the young woman before she quickly grabbed her gun and fired at the marine Kamen Rider who quickly jumped back as the shots smashed into the pavement, damaging the ground.

"Eiji-kun? Eiji-kun? Eiji-kun?" repeated Hina as she shook the unconscious Eiji who laid still on the ground.

"Taken down by a simple surprise attack… How boring." The mysterious Rider said with a disappointed tone.

Satonaka responded to his words by shooting his shoulder, which only seemed to add to the Kamen Rider's ire.

"If you want a piece of me, remember this… Do not beg for mercy. It's a waste of time." The Kamen Rider stated as he turned to and pointed his spear at the female with the gun.

"Matte, Matte, Matte, Matte, Matte!" shouted a male voice and Date jumped over the car in a single leap. "The Fighting Doctor, Date Akira, has returned from a recent battlefield!"

"Date-san! You made it as well!" Satonaka said with a smile before she went to her car to grab from the case containing silver Cell Medals. She grabbed a belt buckle with a Gashapon Capsule in the center.

"Nice to see you too, Satonaka-san!" Date said with a smile as he didn't break eye contact on the opponent.

"Here. If you could please suit up…" The woman said with a professional tone as she handed him the belt.

"Thank you, Satonaka-san! Now this is going to get rough, so step back." Date admitted as he accepted the buckle and attached to his waist.

Then there was the sound of music on the air, catching everyone's attention. "Does anyone hear that?"

"Is that… singing?"

(Insert Ost: Zetto Ame No Habakiri)

Suddenly thousands of swords flew down onto the area and annihilated the Yummies in seconds. Then a large tower blade crashed into the marine Kamen Rider, burying him into the stone ground. But the attack created a large gust of wind and small debris that forced the group of three to cover their eyes. The three slowly got up and saw on top of the tower sword was a blue-haired young woman with a familiar face.

Hina gaped at the sight of the girl standing on the massive weapon. "Eh? Isn't that Tsubasa Kazanari?"

"Aw mou! And I was just getting ready to show off." The fighting doctor complained with a mock unhappy tone before doing a 180 in his mood and waved his arm. "Seems like you made, Tsubaki-chan!" shouted Date with a smile.

Tsubasa did not answer as she turned to look behind her and saw the state of Eiji on the ground.

"Don't think… this will stop me!" shouted the Kamen Rider in the ground as tower sword slowly cracked apart from the energy that he was emitting. He broke out and smashed the sword to pieces, forcing the bluenette to jump off before she lost her footing. Tsubasa landed near the group as the unscathed Marine Kamen Rider landed in front of them. Then he cracked his neck from stress of getting buried from a massive sword crashing into him.

"Seems like I might get a chance at some action today." Date flipped a Cell Medal into the air with his right hand and catching it with his left. "Henshin!" He then slotted the coin into the slot on the left before spinning the dial on the right, causing the device to activate with the capsule in the middle opening up to reveal a lit up X. Then an energy sphere formed around him, creating eleven capsules that positioned themselves at different parts of his body before forming silver metal armor along with a metal helmet with a U-shaped eye visor that flashed red at the end of the armor up sequence. Noticeably, there is red lines on the armor along with a red circle around the capsule on his chest, forearm plating, and shin guards.

"Birth… And the famous Attuned, Tsubasa… I hope you two will put up a better fight than that man over there." The enemy Kamen Rider said with a distorted voice.

"Well, I'd hate to disappoint you!" shouted Kamen Rider Proto Birth but before he could make the first strike, Tsubasa charged in and swung her sword at the Kamen Rider forcing him to block her with his spear.

"How dare you… speak of Hino like that!" shouted a furious Tsubasa as she clashed blades with the Kamen Rider.

"My… quite angry that I killed someone you care about?" asked the Kamen Rider as he parried her strikes and swung his lance that struck the girl and sent her backwards.

Proto Birth charged past the bluenette and attempted to strike the marine Rider but he received two lance swings on the chest that sent him staggering back.

"Not bad…" commented Proto Birth.

Suddenly Tsubasa jumped in and swung her long sword down and hit the future Kamen Rider on his chestplate.

"*Laughs* Excellent, you fight as well as the stories told about you are. Now, become a sacrifice to sate my thirst!" shouted the marine Kamen Rider as he swung his spear blade, forcing Tsubasa to block the blow empowered by water.

"Ugh… So this is the power of a Kamen Rider from the future…" muttered the blunette as she continued clashing blades with the marine Rider. Then she ducked under a blow and swung her heel blade at his chestplate before positioning herself in a handstand. Then she spun like a top at incredible speed with her heel blades slashing at the Marine Kamen Rider's spear.

WIGHT SLAYER

Her attack put him on the defensive while Proto-Birth readied his own preparations. "Hey, don't leave me out of the fun!" Then he loaded three Cell Medals into the left side slot of the belt before spinning the dial. The capsule in the chest plate opened to summon out several mechanical parts that built into a cannon.

=BREAST CANNON=

He loaded another two coins into the slot and spun the dial. "Get out of the way, Tsubaki-chan!" Catching his signal, Tsubasa stopped spinning and jumped into the air as the Gatchapon Kamen Rider fired his cannon at the Marine Medal Rider, forcing him to block the blow with his spear. The Rider jumped back as his spear took the full force of the beam, but he quickly overpowered the attack with a swift swing. Then he summoned forth another ocean-like energy and swung his spear, firing a disc of deadly energy at the group.

With quick movements, Tsubasa transformed her sword into a greatsword, summoned electricity at its edge, and swung the weapon, firing a wave of blue energy that collided with the enemy's attack.

AZURE FLASH

The two energies reacted and exploded, creating a large cloud of debris.

"Su… Sugoi… (Amazing)" Hina said with a surprised face at how the girl handled fighting the enemy Kamen Rider in front of them.

"Date-san, get them out of here." Tsubasa said as she readied her sword.

"No way, kid. I'm not running from this fight!" stated the veteran Kamen Rider as he readied to continue the fight.

"Even though you're clearly outmatched? I sometimes forget you Kamen Riders are stubborn." Tsubasa said with a smile.

"Heh, well we're the good kind of stubborn, Tsubaki-chan." Proto-Birth joked.

"*Laughs*" The group gave cautious stares as the marine Kamen Rider slowly walked out of the smoke unscathed. "You really do have promise, Attuned! Though I am disappointed with you and New Den-O, Birth. Are all Kamen Riders from this era so pathetic? How boring. Gh?!" While the Marine Kamen Rider held his spear in a relaxed position, he felt a stabbing sensation in his back.

"You finally let your guard down…" A voice said.

The marine Kamen Rider turned his head around and saw the face of Eiji who had a calm face with an arrogant tone. His right arm took on an avian form and it had stabbed into the Rider's back, exposing the mesh of Medals underneath. "What…?! Y-You…"

"Eh? Eiji was Ankh? How…?" Hina wondered out loud with a stunned face at how Ankh was now here.

"It was part of a plan the two of them came up with." Proto Birth said. "Anko surprisingly had a hunch about our future guest here."

"And it seems my hunch was correct. The Core Medals that disappeared after Maki's destruction… ended up inside of you." An image of a humanoid figure taking an energy blast before a vortex tore his body apart along with other colored medals getting sucked in came to mind. "Who would have guessed that they were sent into the future?" said "Eiji" as his voice morphed into a familiar voice of Ankh's.

"Ugh… They all belong to me!" shouted the Marine Kamen Rider as he broke away and swung at Ankh who ducked under the attack before jumping into the sky and onto a nearby construction platform.

"Tough luck. But the real fight can't start unless we have these." Anhk stated as he held three certain colored medals of red, yellow, and green in his right hand. "Eiji!"

Walking out from a nearby forest, Eiji smiled in anticipation as he stood at Tsubasa's side before stabbing the stick which held his underwear. He quickly caught the Core Medals. "Mission accomplished, Ankh!" shouted Eiji before he slotted in the medals into his belt buckle.

"Hmph." Ankh huffed that he had to do most of the work again for the idiot and he had to drag the younger girl into it.

"What?! You tricked me!" shouted the marine Kamen Rider.

"Says the guy who attacked an unarmored Kamen Rider!" shouted Ankh as he sat on the platform.

"Tsubasa, get ready!" shouted Eiji as he tilted the buckle to activate the transformation sequence before readying his scanner.

"Hai!" shouted Tsubasa as she readied her sword.

Eiji scanned his medals causing three energy rings to ding in sequence while Tsubasa prepared to sing. "Henshin!"

=SCANNING SYNC! HABAKIRI!=

=TAKA!=

=TORA!=

=BATTA!=

=TATOBA! TATO-BATTA-TOBA!=

As the scanner made the announcement, an energy formed a ring around OOO along with the medal combination as an image of a music note and a sword formed behind him. The image slammed into OOO's back forming circuitry similar to the Habakiri and connected with the circuit lines of his chestplate. The gold rim of the chestplate gained a second rim of white. His gauntlet blades gained a white edge with a blue energy lining.

At Tsubasa's side, she sung a hymn as three rings of different colored energy surrounded her.

Taka~

Tora~

Batta~

TaToBa~

The rings created small hexagons that served as foundation for new armor plates that attached onto her arms, legs and chest. Her headset gained a visor and the ear phones rebuilt into small red wings. Her forearms gained white gauntlets with a yellow circuitry and her greaves gained new plating with green circuits.

"She changed form?"

"So this is the power of the Bond Score… Heh, why do you always keep getting the cool stuff, Eiji?" commented Proto Birth with a mock jealous tone at the change in Kamen Rider OOOs armor.

Gripping his spear the enemy Kamen Rider growled in anger. "You deceiving punks!" shouted the future Kamen Rider as he charged at OOO and Tsubasa in anger.

OOO met his charge and ran forward. The marine Kamen Rider swung his spear at OOO's head which he quickly ducked and shifted to the rider's before striking the rider's shoulder with his right backhand. Then the enemy rider swung his spear which OOO blocked with his left gauntlet, causing sparks to fly from the contact of armor and bladed metal. Then the traffic-colored rider brought his right hand up and knocked down the spear before punching the Rider in the navy-blue armored chest, knocking him off balance. The enemy rider tried to strike him with the back of his spear, but the attack was blocked by Tsubasa who flipped through the air and struck the handle. Then she twisted her body and smashed her green tinted heels into the marine Kamen Rider's chest, knocking him further off balanced.

"Hino!" shouted Tsubasa as she held her arms out and OOO quickly grabbed them.

Then he quickly swung her horizontally 180 degrees with her heel blades extended. "Haaa… SEIYA!" The enemy Kamen Rider was struck once more in the chest by the two heel blades.

HOPPER CHOP

While in motion, OOO threw Tsubasa into the air and she landed gracefully. Meanwhile, the enemy Rider fell on the ground before tumbling back onto his feet while holding his chest which sparked and smoked from the hit.

"Eiji! New girl! Switch Medals!" shouted Ankh who was still taking Eiji's form and he threw two medals which were green and red.

The enemy Kamen Rider got onto his feet and charged at the two. He roared and wildly swung, but OOO jumped over him while Tsubasa jumped and slid underneath, tripping the Rider while getting to OOO's side. OOO quickly grabbed the medals, tilted the Driver into neutral position, and replaced the red medal on his right side and the green medal on his left side with the two new medals which switched the colors. OOO tilted the buckled and slid the scanner to activate the shift.

=SCANNING SYNC! HABAKIRI!=

=KUWAGATA!=

=TORA!=

=CONDOR!=

New medals formed from the new combination with the head medal being a green stag beetle, the lung medal still the yellow tiger medal, and the leg medal being a red condor. The three medals fused into one and attached to his chest, changing his armor appearance instantly. The helmet changed into a green stag-beetle-like mask, while his armored greaves transformed into red armor with claws on the shin guard and the heel.

Meanwhile, Tsubasa sung a hymn as new energy rings surrounded her.

Kuwagata~

Tora~

Condor~

Her winged visor headset changed into a having her usual headset with two beetle horns holding her hair in a ponytail and a green energy weave and some green armor with her blue. Her white and yellow gauntlets remained unchanged. Then her leg greaves transformed with the front foot gaining two bird-like talon with the heel blade growing in width and becoming sharper showing it was more lethal. The extra armor on the greaves changed into a red color.

"Tsubasa!" shouted OOO.

Tsubasa summoned a second sword which sparked with green lightning while OOO generated green lightning from his beetle horns. He fired the lightning at the raised swords while Tsubasa brought her swords down which fired an x-shaped energy projectile into the enemy rider.

KUWAGATA VERDANT FLASH

"GAAAGGGHHHH!" screamed the enemy Rider as he received the electric attacks, causing an explosion which obliterated the ground under him. He fell to his knees and held onto his spear for support. "Yes, this is what I wanted! Two powerful foes with the odds stacked against me… Such danger makes me feel even more alive!"

"What a battle maniac…" mused OOO with a stunned tone at the Rider's words.

"This is no time for self-thoughts, Hino!" Tsubasa as she intercepted another attack from the enemy with her swords in deadlock with the Rider's spear.

"Right!" OOO said as he allowed his claws to extend jumped forward as Tsubasa pushed back. Then she brought the tips of the sword above her head before OOO placed the tips of his feet on them. Tsubasa threw her arms down to propel the Medal Rider forward, and he flipped with both of his feet kicking into the enemy's chestplate. OOO added onto the attack with a chain of constant kicking with his bladed greaves, and then he flipped backward before swinging both claw blades with large pair of six energy blades slashing into the enemy Kamen Rider.

The enemy staggered from the blow and held his chest in an effort to stave the shock of pain. "Heh, don't think that can stop me, OOO. This is where I get-Ugh?!" Suddenly a small vision of a person underneath seemingly struggling from the enemy Kamen Rider. Then the enemy rider held his head. "Gugh?! NO!"

"Huh?" wondered Tsubasa along with OOO.

"Don't stop me! Stay out of my way!" shouted the Rider as held his arms out with his chest in the air as if something was coming out before the armor disintegrated into energy, revealing the teen with a blue highlight underneath the armor. His eyes flashed purple momentarily while he breathed heavily.

"A human?" Tsubasa wondered along with how his eyes flashed, further puzzling the bluenette.

The enemy rider deciding to take his losses and leaped far away with a splash taking place for where he was.

"Wait!" shouted OOO as he stepped forward but could not keep up. That momentary flash was a familiar sight to the Rider. "Was that…"

Then Ankh walked onto the scene with an annoyed look at the turn of events. "Tch… He got away… I was hoping to get more Medals, but…"

OOO suddenly felt awkward and decided to pat his disguised friend on the shoulder. "Hey Ankh."

"Hah?" Ankh said with a rude and annoyed look which was something Tsubasa never saw Eiji make before.

"That's enough, okay?" OOO pointed out with his finger at his friend's current form which was a perfect impersonation of his physical body. "Seeing myself walking like this is creeping me out."

"Hmph… I'm the one that should be sickened by it!" Ankh rudely stated since he may respect Eiji, but he did not enjoy impersonating the idiot's form. Then he stared at his claw arm with wings.

"Ah!" OOO turned around and said indignantly, "Don't say that!"

Then Ankh raised his arm and his body was engulfed in red energy with several medals restructuring him. Then aura dissipated to reveal his blond-brunette male with a leather jacket and red pants default form. He turned around and made a small smile.

"Ankh!" shouted Hina as she ran to the taller male and stopped before him. "Ankh… is it really you?"

The blond-brunette male gave an aloof expression before breaking eye contact and turning away from the female.

The girl smiled and she quickly hugged the male, much to his displeasure as he felt himself squeezed by her strength. "Ankh! I'm so glad that you're back!"

OOO tilted the belt with Tsubasa walking to his side, then he took the Medals out to deactivate his armor form. With a golden flash, Eiji stood and smiled at the reunion of his two friends.

"Honestly, I can't believe you came up with such a reckless plan, Hino." Tsubasa said with a sigh. "If you're friend hadn't substituted for you, then that Kamen Rider would had taken you out of the fight, permanently."

"Sorry, but I couldn't ignore that my friends were in danger, Tsubasa." Eiji said with a nervous tone under the shorter female's stare.

"Get used to it, he may be an idiot but he is crafty enough to make use me." Ankh said while he somewhat struggle under the ironclad hug he was subjected to.

"Understood."

"Hey! Don't talk as if I'm the bad guy here!" shouted Eiji with an indignant tone.

"*Laugh* Seems like the gang is back together!" shouted Date after he deactivated his own form and walked to the group with Satonaka.

"Date-san, you do realize that we're still missing Goto-san." Satonaka pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll come!"

"You two found Gotou? Where is he?" asked Hina after she let Ankh go and ran to Date and Satonaka. She had learned from her older brother that the detective went missing during a case with Interpol.

The two gave each other some glances since Goto was not the same as "he" originally was. "Well… let's just say she is now a bit… different?"

"Eh?" Hina responded with a puzzled face at the odd change in pronouns.

"We'll talk about what happened to him later at Cous Coussier, Hina-chan." Eiji said.

"All right." Hina said with a smile. "Chiyoko-san will be glad that you're back here, Eiji-kun."

"Yep, come on Tsubasa. Seems like we can visit that restaurant I talked to you about." Eiji said while turning to the bluenette.

"Very well. But after eating, we must track down that Kamen Rider." Tsubasa said with a serious tone before she transformed back to her civilian dress and then she replaced her hat onto her.

"Ano, Eiji-kun. When were you going to tell me you knew a famous idol? And why didn't you contact us for two years?" asked Hina who pouted.

"Well… a lot of things happened after I left." Eiji said with a nervous tone. "It's a long story."

"Well I'm sure you can tell her all about it, Eiji. Come on." Ankh said as he walked in a particular direction.

"Wait up, Ankh!" shouted Eiji as he ran to catch up to the aloof friend of his. Tsubasa and Hina quickly followed behind while Satonaka offered Date a ride in her car.

---

Meanwhile on another building, the young man in blue clothing was stumbling about, trying to hold in the spirit of the person within. Then a burst of energy took place from his body, causing the young man to scream in his distorted voice. When the burst calmed down, he breathed heavily with sweat falling as a voice internally chastised the original owner of the body.

"Do not resist me…"

---

At a restaurant called Cous Coussier, the food-serving establishment was having an Uratarou theme. The owner of the restaurant, Chiyoko, wore a pink, flashy kimono dress with a still ribbon based on what residents of the underwater kingdom wore in the story. She placed a numerous number of ice pops on a bowl plate and lifted them up.

Then she walked to a table where Ankh sat and said, "Here you go Ankhypoo. Eat all you want." After that, she placed the plate full of ice pops in front of the young man who coolly took one to unwrap. "I didn't think I'd see you so soon. It's a real relief." He then ate the pop and lower his head a bit from the taste he somewhat longed.

"Ankh… Eiji worked really hard, you know?" said Hina wearing a pink dress with a short skirt as she placed a clipboard on a table where Eiji sat with Tsubasa. "To fix your medal, so-"

"Uh, no… I've just started, really…" Eiji said as he gripped something in his pocket, which was noticed by Tsubasa. "It's a real shock…"

The blond man looked away with his scowl and stoic stare.

"I asked how he came back, but he won't tell me…" Eiji admitted.

"Does it even matter?" asked Ankh as he took another bite out of his ice Popsicle.

"That's right! Focus on the things that are happening, and less on the reasons why!" said Chiyoko with her unique optimistic tone. "It's great that we're all able to be together again like this, isn't it?" Then the restaurant owner gestured to Tsubasa with a smile. "And he brought home a girl who is quite the looker!"

"Hmph." Ankh scoffed with a half-hearted tone since he had heard the woman's odd logic too many times to care.

"Ah! I forgot something!" shouted Eiji as he suddenly sat up. "My underwear…" he said with a worried tone since the said underwear was still back at where the group fought the enemy Kamen Rider.

"*Sigh* That's why you should have brought a suitcase, Hino." Tsubasa said with a shake of her head. "Instead of just bringing just one pair of underwear and that briefcase."

"Does that really matter, either?" Ankh pointed out with a rude tone.

"It totally does! I need that pair of underwear for tomorrow!" stated Eiji as he approached Ankh with an angry tone.

"Hmph. Who worries about underwear for tomorrow when somebody's trying to kill them today?" Ankh rebutted.

"I do!" Eiji said with a confronting tone.

"You're retarded as ever!" Ankh stated with a rude tone as he insulted the young man.

"And you haven't changed either! Still eating nothing but ice cream, I see!" Eiji said as he took the plate of Ice Pops and the one his friend was eating before taking a bite out of the one that Ankh was still eating.

"Ah!" shouted Ankh in a surprised tone before he grabbed his arms before trying to reach the plate. "You! Give it back!"

"You eat too much of this stuff!" shouted Eiji as he resisted.

Then a hand pinched Eiji's right ear while another pinched Ankh's left ear.

"Itetetetetetete!" shouted Ankh in pain as he and Eiji were dragged by Hina.

"No fighting! Not after all this time!" shouted Hina as she held their ears before pushing them, causing the two to wince in pain.

"Is this normal?" asked Tsubasa with a puzzled face at the interaction between Eiji, Ankh, and Hina. Then again, she never seen Eiji so angered so easily since he had a mild disposition with everyone in the Second Division.

"Yes. It's been quite a while seeing them together." Chiyoko said with a smile before turning to Tsubasa. "And let me introduce myself. My name is Chiyoko Shiraishi, the owner of Cous Cousier."

"Nice to meet you, Shiraishi-san. My name is Tsubasa Kazanari."

"Tsubasa Kazanari? The news talks about you quite a lot. You're a singer, correct?"

"Yes." Tsubasa said with a nod.

"Oh! This calls for a celebration!" Chiyoko said with a happy tone. "I never imagined that a famous singer would visit my little restaurant!"

Hina also had interest in the conversation after she berated the two males. "I am curious as well." Then she decided to introduce herself. "Oh right, before I forget. My name is Hina Izumi. It's quite an honor to meet you, Kazanari-san."

"Same here, Izumi-san." Tsubasa said with a nod. "So you all were with Hino during his early times as Kamen Rider OOO, correct?"

"Yes. He is quite brave, Kazanari-san. So what is your relationship with him?" asked Hina with a curious tone.

"He's… an ally and the only Kamen Rider who is most compatible with my Relic."

"I see… so you and Eiji-kun are a pair. And are you fighting the Noise with him?"

"Yes. My power is what is required to destroy the Noise." Tsubasa said.

"Sokka… Even idols have it hard." Hina said with an understanding tone. "You and Eiji-kun must be close to be able to pull off that teamwork."

"That… was a fluke. Hino and I didn't have a good team ethic for two years until we managed to work out our differences three weeks ago." Tsubasa recalled with a downed tone. "But I still am a bit uneasy. I treated Hino and my other team members so poorly yet he was still willing to work together with me."

"My… she's kind of like Ankh." Chiyoko said to Hina.

"Yeah… I can see a bit of his aloofness in her." Hina whispered.

"Do I really remind you two of Hino's friend?" asked Tsubasa as she overheard the two.

"Well… Yes, what you said is how the two of them started out. Always willing to one up the other in attempt to further their own agendas. But in the end, they managed to work together quite well." Hina said with a smile. "Eiji must have seen a bit of Ankh in you if you acted so uptight for a while. But he's willing to give you a chance if it can help you."

"…He also said that himself. But it doesn't make me feel any less guilty." Tsubasa said with a guilty tone.

"Don't worry. I'm sure your bond with him will grow in time, Tsubasa-chan. As I said before, don't focus on the future, instead focus on the now." Chiyoko said with a smile.

"You're right." Tsubasa responded with a smile. "Thank you, Shiraishi-san."

"Your welcome." Chiyoko said with a smile in response. "Besides, any friend of Eiji-kun's is our friend." Then she walked away to attend to the customers in the restaurant.

"Wait, now that I think about it, she didn't say that earlier." Tsubasa pointed out.

"I know. Chiyoko-san may seem a bit odd, but she means well and looks out for everyone. She's the one who took in Eiji and gave him a job during his stay here in our city." Hina said with a smile.

"I see." The young girl said with crossed arms. "Maybe she can teach a sword such as me what I should do to help Hino."

"Is it all right if I call you, Tsubasa-san?"

"Huh? I don't mind, but why ask?"

"Well, it's a bit strange to address you by your last name. I mean you are an idol, but I guess I want to talk to you like a normal person."

"Hm, you do have a good point. I'm fine with whatever you are comfortable of calling." Tsubasa said with a smile before her stomach growled a bit. "Um… *Cough* Is it all right if I make an order?"

"Sure, Tsubasa-san. Let me get a menu." Hina said as she stood up and walked away to the back kitchen.

---

At the Kougami Corporation, Date and Satonaka were in the office of President Kougami where he had several Core Medal blueprints on a whiteboard with the three main ones being the Core Medals of the enemy Kamen Rider.

"*Whistle* You weren't kidding that they were your creation, boss." Date said with an impressed tone.

"Yes. Originally they were designed to only be fueled by the user's desire. But it seems that avenue was a failure. Oh well, back to the drawing board!"

"Wait, are you sure you want to give up on making those Medals?"

"No actually. With the success of their creation, I intend to make that a reality! But for now, we must discuss about your new Driver." Kougami said as he opened up a screen that revealed an image of a silver Birth driver with a gashapon core that had a bar split with the core with white on top and the cobalt blue on the bottom. The Driver had a silver belt like its predecessor along with a gold dial. "The… REBIRTH DRIVER!"

"Nice! So when do I get to test it?" asked Date with an eager tone.

"Not yet! My eager doctor!" shouted Kougami with a finger pointed up. "First, you must agree to a contract I have readied for you! Satonaka-chan!"

"Here." The woman said with a stoic tone as she provided the man in the aviator jacket with a stack of paper.

"Let me see… Use of Rebirth Driver is up to user's discretion… Signing this will waive the Kougami Corporation of any injury caused by the Rebirth Driver… I can work with that. *Mumble* *Mumble* Finally, use of the rebirth driver requires that the user focus on the capture of Goto Shintaro? Wait Boss, you're expecting me to catch Goto-chan?"

"Yep!"

"Then I'm in!" shouted Date with a smile as he signed the paper. Then he signed the papers to Satonaka who placed them in a briefcase from where she sat. "So, when can I get my new belt?"

"Tonight." Kougami said with a smile.

"What?! You told me to come all this way and you don't have the belt ready?" asked Date with a surprised look.

"No we do have a belt ready, but the president insisted on celebrating this occasion by baking a cake." Satonaka said with a deadpan tone.

"Which I have not done since this incident started!" stated Kougami with a loud but cheerful voice.

"Wait, what happened to that cake you baked for Gotou-chan?"

"I mailed it to her!"

---

At a certain mansion, the group of former Kamen Riders looked at the cake that sat on the table and had the writing: "Happy Birthday, Sympho-Rider Astra Birth!".

"*Sigh* This has Kougami's name all over it." Goto sighed and facepalmed that her old employer managed to find her even here.

"Yes. Is he the type to give away information carelessly?" asked a woman who they reluctantly identified as their leader.

"Not really, that president has numerous secrets. He wouldn't leak our location so easily." Gotou said with a shake of her head.

"I see… Then there is no need to worry." Said the woman with a wave of her hand.

"Um… can we eat the cake, milady?" asked Kageyama.

"Yes… After I sample it first." The platinum blond woman said with a cruel smile.

---

Back at the company office, Date was laughing out loud.

"*Laughs* That's something you would definitely do!" said Date with a smile, knowing his former boss's eccentric were still as crazy as ever.

"Yes, indeed! Now I must bake the cake in celebration of your first transformation as Kamen Rider Rebirth!"

"Thanks but no thanks. I prefer oden."

"Suit yourself. I will mail this cake to the Second Division for them to enjoy." Kougami said as he knew that they will enjoy his cake.

"Didn't you already make a cake after learning that combo henshin between Eiji and Tsubaki-chan?"

"Yes, but the cake was lost during delivery. We still have no idea who intercepted it. But! I do hope they enjoyed it!" shouted the president of the corporation.

---

At a certain dormitory, Hibiki had returned back with a tired body. "Hah… So tired." muttered the girl as she feel face first on the carpeted floor. Even though the training session cut out early because she had a test tomorrow, the amber-haired girl's body was exhausted.

"Welcome back, Hibiki!" Miku said as she approached the door.

"Huh? Why do I smell cake?" asked Hibiki as she smelled the sweet scent of cake before getting up.

"Oh right, we got this weird cake in the mail today."

"Really? What kind is it?" asked the girl as she ran to the mini fridge.

"A blueberry cake that said 'Congratulations on the First Bond Score!' if I read that correctly. Must have been a mis-delivery." Miku said with a shrug.

"Eh?" responded Hibiki with a dumbfounded but nervous look upon seeing the message itself in the fridge. "Y-Yeah, must have been a mis-delivery..."

---

Back at the Cous Cousier, Hina was just finishing up another order until she noticed that Eiji and Tsubasa were in deep thought. "Eiji-kun? Tsubasa-san? Is something wrong?"

Breaking out of their thoughts, Eiji turned to face Hina while Tsubasa looked up. "Un… That Rider… I don't think he actually wants to fight us. He might have lost control because of all of those Core Medals inside of him…" Ankh turned around with interest since Eiji had at times good deductive skills. "That time… it looked like he was in pain."

"I also saw that visage, but... is this a normal case for those Core Medals to possess a human being?"

"Well, yes. It has happened before. But the question is how to help him."

"Simple, all we have to do is-" The Ankh heard the ringing of Medals. "Don't tell me…"

"Ankh?" asked Hina.

Suddenly the door of the restaurant was knocked down and several Yummies tumbled through. The appearance of the monsters caused the patrons to scream before Ankh quickly stood up to engage a Yummy charging at him. Then some Yummies ran at the patrons before Eiji kicked one away from Hina and Chiyoko while Tsubasa kicked another from attacking Eiji.

"Hina-chan, Chiyoko-san, take the customers and get to safety!" shouted Eiji before he charged in along with Tsubasa slipping through the legs of another Yummy and kicking up the one behind it by its chin. Eiji gave a strong hook to the Yummy that Tsubasa slipped under before grappling another off a customer and kicking it into a display sign. "Yabai…" said the young man before he had to defend himself against a Yummy.

"The restaurant…!" Hina said with horror and worry.

Then Chiyoko grabbed the younger female and assuages her fears of the collateral damage. "It's fine, it's fine! Eiji-kun, Ankh-chan, Tsubasa-chan, fight as hard as you need to, okay?" The woman gave full permission for the three to tackle the enemy mooks. "If you lose, you'll get an earful from me!"

"Hai!" said Eiji in confirmation after punching a Yummy.

Then Ankh pushed one on a pole and held its arms straight before turning to glance at owner with a smile. "Heh." Then he punched the mummy-like monster down.

Meanwhile Tsubasa elbowed the head of Yummy before striking another behind her with a jab, causing it to crash into a table. "Hai!" she shouted before engaging another mook.

"This way!" Chiyoko shouted as she led the customers to an exit before kicking a too-close Yummy in its faceless head.

"Let's get out of here!" Hina shouted to the scared customers as she helped Chiyoko fend off the Yummies that got through to protect the customers.

"It's okay! This way, everyone!"

Ankh punched a Yummy before giving it an uppercut that sent it flying into the air before crashing on top of a table. Then he grabbed the arm of another before kneeing it in the chest several times. Then he threw it over a table counter and its back crashed hard into wall.

"Girl!" shouted Ankh as he held two Yummies off before Tsubasa quickly kicked one into the air and onto a table.

One Eiji's end, he ducked under the swipe of one Yummy before blocking the blow of another. Then he moved the arm away before blocking another swing and punching the mook in the face. Though this left him in the open from the back. He quickly turned to block another swing but he received a blow to his exposed chest, sending him backed into a chair. Then a Yummy stumbled forward before grabbing his neck.

"Hino!" shouted Tsubasa as she grabbed one of the frying pans to attack.

"Wait Tsubasa-chan! Not my good pan! Here, use this." Chiyoko said as she replaced the frying pan that Tsubasa was about to use with a katana.

The girl did not question the exchange and quickly swung the sword with ease. She cleaved some of the Yummies apart before chopping the arms off the one choking Eiji.

Then the black haired male kicked the monster off and then tumbled out of the chair to dodge a Yummy that lunged at him. Another tried to attack Eiji, but Tsubasa quickly struck it with her sword. Then Eiji quickly got to his feet by rolling on his back then using to the momentum to raise his leg and finally using his hands to land himself feet-first on the ground. "Arigato, Tsubasa!" shouted the young man before he ducked under a blow and punched the Yummy and sent it flying with a spin kick.

Ankh was dodged Yummy before blocking the strike of another in front of him before punching it. Then he blocked and punched the one mook behind him before swinging his arm into the Yummy in front of him, sending it crashing onto a table.

Eiji make quick work of several Yummies with a couple of spin kicks and grapple maneuvers which threw one into a table. Tsubasa quickly slashed through several of the Yummies before breaking the katana blade on a fifth one. Eiji noticed and quickly ran to a case that rested on the ground and opened it to reveal his sword, Medajabilur.

"Tsubasa! Catch!" shouted Eiji as he threw the sword to the girl.

Tsubasa quickly dodged a swing from a Yummy, caught the Rider's weapon and blocked another swing at her before slashing the monster responsible. "Arigato, Hino!" shouted the girl as she cut down several more Yummies in the restaurant.

Ankh kicked a thin, bamboo wooden stick that held a straw ceiling over a counter to trap a couple of Yummy underneath. Then he grapple a Yummy and smashed its head through a wooden decoration.

"Wait, the customers have already left… Hino! Ankh-san! Get down!" shouted Tsubasa as she sung a hymn.

Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri Tron~

Tsubasa quickly transformed into her Symphogear and then summoned several swords into the air, all aiming at the Yummies. Eiji quickly jumped down while Ankh also took. Then the blades flew and impaled the Yummies in an instant also embedding into the walls or piercing through them.

The Yummies diminished into broken Cell Medals, leaving only the embedded blades as their death markers. Ankh and Eiji stood up from the attack, with the blond male impressed.

"Heh, overkill but effective. You should learn to be as efficient as her, Eiji." Ankh said.

"Aw come on, I'm sure we could have handled it." Eiji said indignantly.

"While also wrecking the shop even more. Putting that aside, I know where that Kamen Rider is. Come on." Ankh said as he ran out of the back of the restaurant with Eiji and Tsubasa quickly following behind.

---

The three ran onto a vacant lot with some grass on the plot. Then the young male who was the enemy Kamen Rider appeared before the group. He gripped the spear and leaned forward with an eager smirk.

"Seeing as we're both Riders, I hope we can appreciate this fight on the same level." Then he readied his spear and announced, "Hen. Shin."

=Same, Kujira, Ookamiuo!=

Three medal plates formed and fused together into a triangular plate before equipping onto the young male's chest, transforming into the enemy Kamen Rider. He raised his spear and slammed the back end on the ground.

"Hmph." But underneath the armor, Eiji and Tsubasa saw the teen but he appeared to be in pain.

"I knew it…" Eiji said with a grim tone.

"Eiji… Don't just stand there." Ankh said as he brought up the Medals in his clawed arm. But Eiji ignored him and walked forward. "Oi! What are you trying to pull?"

"Your Core Medals… They're out of control, aren't they?" asked Eiji as he approached the Kamen Rider.

"Hah?" responded the Kamen Rider with a confused tone.

"You don't really want to fight like this, am I right?" asked Eiji with an urging tone.

Tsubasa appeared confused at Eiji's actions of approaching the Kamen Rider unarmed. "What is he-"

"That moron…" Ankh muttered with a disapproving tone. "Girl! Get ready to save his baka ass!"

"What are you talking about?" asked the enemy Kamen Rider who did not understand his opponent's words.

"You've lost control, that's all. So you can't let the power of the Medals overwhelm you! That's why I'll help you!" proclaimed Eiji with a firm tone.

"This is tedious. Transform already!" shouted the enemy Kamen Rider before he swung his spear to launch an energy wave at the unarmed Eiji.

Ankh and Tsubasa quickly reacted and jumped to help Eiji. Ankh grabbed the black-haired male while Tsubasa increased the size of the sword she was wielding and block the powerful attack, leading to an explosion that sent the three flying a short distance.

"You idiot, he's too far gone!" shouted Ankh as he gave a glance at the Rider.

"I can do it! The same way you and Hina stopped me!" retorted Eiji as he pushed himself up.

"This is different! We don't even know about this guy, not even his name! Forget about him!"

"He won't." Tsubasa said as she stood up with no external injuries. "Hino is the type who would continue to reach out to someone, as long as there is hope of helping them!"

Eiji smirked and stood up with a bit of difficulty and allowed the adrenaline to push him forward. "She's right. I may not know you… But deep in there is a spirit I know all too well. The spirit of a Kamen Rider!"

"…!" The enemy Kamen Rider had a reaction of being stunned before realizing that wasn't him who was stunned.

"And if we're both Riders… I will reach out to him!" proclaimed Eiji as he reached out. Then the male sprinted forward while Tsubasa followed him.

The enemy Rider hesitated before regaining his sensing and launched two more vortexes at Eiji.

Tsubasa intercepted the attacks by firing her own blue waves, causing a reaction similar to how the first collision occurred.

BLUE FLASH

Then explosions occurred, covering Eiji in debris clouds. But the male ran out of the clouds without slowing his pace. Then the Kamen Rider launched another disc at Eiji, this time at a lower angle.

"Eiji!" shouted Ankh as Tsubasa quickly blocked the attack with her sword, but the explosion that occurred after sent the two in the air, causing them to crash on the ground.

"Ugh…" muttered Eiji as he rolled face up and tried to sit up while Tsubasa laid on the ground face first with bruises and dirt on her form.

"Hah!" The enemy Kamen Rider jumped a great distance to stand above Eiji with his weapon ready. He raised the spear with the point aimed at the male's chest while Tsubasa regained consciousness to look up. The Rider stabbed down, much to the horror of the two present.

"Eiji!" shouted Tsubasa as she got up quickly.

Then the spear point hit the ground, but went off mark and grazing Eiji's left arm.

"You…!" said the enemy Kamen Rider at his failed attempt to kill Eiji due to his left arm pushing the right, much to the three's surprise. Then he dragged the spear out of the ground while his left hand still gripped the right arm. "Stop it… do not interfere! AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" screamed the Kamen Rider as the transformation deactivated with the armor once more disintegrating into energy. Then the young male was seen once more, hunched forward while catching his breath.

Then he stood up straight before looking at his hands. "Huh…? I'm… back in control?"

Eiji smiled in relief while Ankh scoffed and Tsubasa also smiled in relief that her partner was not in any danger. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Eiji stated with a smile.

---

One verse ends and the Chained Symphony sings to the next:

A New Ally…

My name is Minato Miharu…

With one problem.

"I'm… afraid of water."

Nonetheless, the danger still continues…

"That Kamen Rider intends to travel to other time periods to fight!"

Next time on Kamen Rider Ixa R: The Future Rider and a Friend's Return! Act II

"This our power as protectors!" shouted OOO who had a red form with wings and flew into the skies along with Tsubasa.

---

Author's Note:

CHAPTER FINISHED THANK GOODNESS! Sorry if I had to cut this chapter in half like last time, but there was a lot to put in. Don't worry, I'll have the next chapter ready soon!