Hey everyone!
Been a while since we updated this hasn't it?
Well, we finally did, and I hope you'll enjoy this brand new chapter of Andrew's journey.
"Alright, so we're agreed on the plan, and the equipment is working correctly, right?" Andrew double checked.
"Yep. Thanks for having us," Peter said with a light chuckle, as he put down a travelling bag, something Steve did as well. While Tony had been busy building the communication and camera system, the group as a whole had gone on a serious discussion with SHIELD. As it was, there were a LOT of X-factors, and as such, it was decided some of them should come along just in case. As it was, there was some adjustments to the design. Now the camera could be carried along when they leave the house, while allowing them to maintain communications. Furthermore, with this they were hoping they'd be able to identify any and all criminals they came across, and with it, how to neutralize them. Even with Andrew and Alicia's knowledge, the fact there were so many different renditions of everyone, it made their knowledge extensive...but ultimately useless unless they got all the correct facts together.
As it was, it had been decided Peter and Steve would be joining them on the first world they'd travel too...whichever it was. So far things were going well and it was time to go. "Everyone got everything?" Alicia checked.
"Everything's covered," Peter nodded, while Andrew locked the doors, and closed up the windows just in case.
"Alright then, get ready, cause we're about to jump," Andrew said as he held the dial, and began to turn. The image on the TV turned to static as outside the surroundings became a silvery void, before he continued turning, and a new image came into view. A certain golden emblem, making Andrew smirk a bit "I guess it only makes sense we start with Kuuga."
"He's the first of the Heisei, right?" Peter asked, remembering that a bit.
"Yeah, the first of 20… hopefully it doesn't end up being Onodera, because god was he horrible." Andrew sighed.
"There are multiple Kuugas?" Steve asked, still being new to this.
"In a way, yeah, the Kamen Rider Multiverse is vast and all that, the main Kuuga is a man known as Yusuke Godai, and he's honestly the best one, a real brave hero. Then there's Yusuke Onodera, and he just… god he sucks." Andrew sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"...I don't get it," Peter blinked.
"Let's just say you could be excused if you forgot he had powers considering how he rarely if ever used them, and when he did, he was useless," Alicia said flatly. "Ironic considering that at his full potential, Kuuga is one of the strongest Riders. I'd say...planet buster level."
"Onodera is so bad, most people started calling him Yuseless, not that I can blame them. He's also easily susceptible to mind control, unlike most other riders." Andrew added.
"Well… I don't really know what to say to that." Steve admitted.
Right after he said, everyone heard a crash come from the attic, all of them silently looking at each other before they went up to the second floor, opening up the entrance to the attic, with Peter zipping himself up quickly… and groaning loudly "God dammit."
"What is it?" Andrew asked.
Instead of a direct answer, Peter walked down from the stairs, a serious look on his face… and following behind him was Michael, looking sheepish.
Despite the situation, Andrew and Alicia took one look at this...and snorted in amusement. "You sure he's not biologically yours? Cause this sure looks like something you'd do," Andrew said with an amused chuckle.
"Sometimes I wonder, not gonna lie." Peter sighed, before looking at his son "Alright, I'm just gonna ask you why, since the how is obvious."
"I… I kind of felt responsible a bit. If I'd been faster, I probably could have stopped some of the villains from escaping. So I thought maybe I could come along and help out." Michael said with a sigh of his own.
"It's admirable that you want to own up to what you feel is a mistake son, but this is still a dangerous mission we're going on." Steve said to the young man.
"Well...yes and no," Alicia admitted. "It really depends on what world we end up in, and for the most part, if you're willing to overlook the murderous ancient race who think hunting us humans is all fun and games, this world is basically like your world...only there are VERY few people with super powers."
"That...kinda came out wrong," Andrew sweat dropped.
"At least we didn't end up in Amazons," Alicia deadpanned.
"...yeah, thank god we didn't end up in that world or I'd turn the dial with so much NOPE," Andrew shuddered.
"I'm afraid to ask but…" Michael gulped.
"Cannibals. Super powered cannibals with horror hunger," Andrew and Alicia said at the same time.
Peter shivered at that "Sounds as bad as the time Dr. Strange showed us that Zombie Universe."
"Oh, good, you know about the Marvel Zombies universe, glad we won't ever have that discussion then." Andrew said, a bit relieved at that.
"ANYway, we should probably start by getting our bearings," Alicia said as she unlocked the door.
"Hm… I wonder…" Andrew mused, before stepping out, and when he did… "Huh...so this works for me too," he mused when he noticed his outfit had changed, now being dressed in a typical japanese police uniform, turning back to the others "Alright, who here speaks Japanese, raise your hand." he said, raising his along with Alicia, followed by thankfully Peter, Steve, and Michael "Alright, that's one hurdle we won't have to worry about then."
"Ok, so when you go into a world, it changes your outfit?" Peter asked as they all stepped out and Andrew locked the door.
"More like my role. It gives me something to match into the world, clearly for the World of Kuuga, it thinks I should be a police officer, which means, we have to find Kaoru Ichijo, a high ranking police officer who works with Kuuga… if we're in the main world, which I hope we are." Andrew said.
Right after he said that, the radio on his uniform flared to life "All units be advised, Unidentified Life Form #22 has been spotted in Tsukuba City."
Andrew reached for an earpiece given to him before he left "Can you track where I am in another world Tony?"
"It's a bit difficult, but I have Bruce and Hank to give me a hand, so yeah, we can see where you are." Tony's voice came from the earpiece.
"I need directions to Tsukuba City, I don't actually know my way around Tokyo." Andrew admitted.
"Right… looks like it isn't too far from your location, just a few minutes west." Tony told him.
"Right, I'll ride on ahead then." Andrew said, before snapping his fingers, and the silver veil appeared, dropping the Machine Decader right next to him. "All aboard the dimension express or do you guys want to get their your own way?" he asked, turning towards the heroes who'd joined them while Alicia got on the Machine Decader.
"Hold on." Alicia said, pulling a pair of keys out of her pocket and tossing them to Steve "Here, use my car, it's in the garage."
"We'll do that," Steve nodded as they went into the garage. Before Andrew and Alicia left, they could hear Michael shouting something that sounded like 'No way! She's got a muscle car?!' and a minute later a red 1970 Ford Mustang rolled out of the garage.
"Let's get going." Andrew said as he started driving down the road, heading for the instructions Tony gave him… only to suddenly notice someone going down a street he was about to just pass… and he recognized the bike, turning to follow it, with Steve following after them.
"That's… him, yeah?" Alicia asked, a bit of awe in her tone.
"Yeah… Yusuke Godai… no doubt about it." Andrew nodded, continuing to follow the first Heisei Rider. They weren't sure if he noticed them or not, but so far he wasn't paying any attention to them, no doubt more focused on reaching the location where the Grongi was attacking. It helped too they were keeping their distance, and eventually they reached the location, a factory site, of which several workers were running away...and it seemed Yusuke arrived just in time to stop an unfortunate worker from getting gored...at the cost of getting the attention of the Grongi, Zu-Zain-Da.
Currently the five of them had positioned themselves on top of a nearby warehouse that conveniently gave them a good vantage point. "Shouldn't we be helping him?" Michael, or rather Night Spider, asked. Currently the supers had already suited up, while Andrew was the only one who hadn't transformed yet.
"Not yet, only if it gets dangerous for him. It isn't my place to step into the fights of other riders unless they truly need help." Andrew said, his finger tapping against the Decadriver.
"I think he might need help right now," Captain America frowned, as Yusuke was having some issues getting a chance to transform...but then Zain tossed him aside, allowing him to roll to his feet, and with a cry of 'Henshin!' the armor of Kuuga formed around him. The undersuit was black, with the chest armor and gauntlets being red, a few golden highlights, including the horns in the middle of his helmet, large red lens acting as the eyes with a silver mouthplate.
"The picture sure doesn't do the real thing justice," Spider-Man noted, remembering seeing him among the pictures. "But this guy looks pretty tough. I should know, fighting Rhino enough times and you know not to take something like that lightly."
True enough, while Kuuga was decently fast...he didn't seem able to cause any real damage to the Gurongi. It came to a head when he tried to perform the Mighty Kick, but the monster just shrugged it off.
"Alright, I think this qualifies him needing help." Spider-Man said, before aiming a web at the building the two were fighting next to, and yanking himself forward, aiming a drop kick at the Gurongi's back, sending him down into the ground as he flipped up from the kick and landed against one of the large containers, sticking to it "Hey there horn-face, you're a bit different from what I'm used to, but I think I'm still gonna have lots of fun."
"Huh, you… you're not one of them." Kuuga said, confusion clear in his voice.
"Most definitely not," Andrew said dryly as he walked into the scene, Zain having ripped himself off of the container with a roar.
"Stupid Linto, if Kuuga can't defeat me, then you don't stand a chance!" Zain growled in his native language.
Andrew sighed "You may think that, but I'm stronger than Kuuga's most basic power, the one who doesn't stand a chance here is you, you sorry excuse for a warrior."
"Since when did you speak their language?" Night Spider blinked.
"If I were to guess, another 'perk' of his powers," Captain America said, shield at the ready.
"You...who are you? You are not of our tribe, yet you speak our language," Zain said.
Andrew smirked at that, pulling out the Decadriver, and strapping it on, pulling out the Decade Card. "Just a passing through Kamen Rider...Remember that! Henshin!"
"KAMEN RIDE: DECADE!"
"Eeeh?!" Kuuga gasped in surprise at the transformation. While there were obvious differences, the basic image he was getting from Decade was similar to his own power somehow.
Decade however didn't worry about that just yet. Instead, he quickly drew the Ride Booker and put it into sword mode, before charging forward.
"I don't know who you are, but if you think that-GRAH!" Zain started, but was cut off when Decade slashed him with his sword, and sent him tumbling back, a wound visible on his skin.
"There's more where that came from," Decade said, pulling out the Blast Card and slotting it in. "ATTACK RIDE: BLAST!"
Zain roared in pain as the shots pushed him back considerably, before in rage, he charged forward, aiming to gore Decade...but was stopped cold when Captain America got in the way, his shield blocking the horn. "He's definitely a strong one," Cap grunted, but managed to divert the force, causing Zain to stumble forward.
"And he's basically a monster version of Rhino too," Night Spider mused, throwing several web bombs, which caused Zain to be covered in webbing, making it hard for him to move.
"Let's end this before he can get away," Decade said to Kuuga. "If one kick isn't enough to finish him, then let's see how he handles two."
"R-right." Kuuga said with a nod, getting over his confusion for now, as he got in a ready stance, the anklet above his feet glowing, and the soles of his boots burning with flames, while Decade slotted in a card "FINAL ATTACK RIDE: D-D-D-DECADE!"
The two crouched a bit, before starting to run, each leaving a burning imprint on the ground as they ran, though Decade's was magenta colored, before they both jumped and hit Zain in the chest, sending him skidding back a few feet as a burning red symbol was left where Kuuga's kick had hit, while where Decade's kick had hit, Decade's symbol in magenta was present. Cracks started to appear on his torso from the two symbols, before spreading down to his belt… and making him blow up...with a bit more force than expected, pushing them back a bit.
"...think we overdid it a little?" Decade couldn't help but chuckle.
"...maybe a little," Alicia said with a chuckle as she stepped out from where she'd been taking cover. While she was all for joining in on the scene, she knew when to get to cover when the fight started.
"Well that was… different." Kuuga said after a moment, before looking at Decade "And why do I feel like you and I are similar?"
"Because, the both of us are Kamen Riders." Decade said, before reverting to Andrew, holding out his hand "Andrew Verdant, nice to meet you."
Kuuga looked at his hand for a moment, before undoing his own transformation, revealing his hair that reached his shoulders as he shook Andrew's hand "Yusuke Godai, likewise," he smiled, before a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Kamen Rider?" he asked.
Any further conversation was cut short when the police arrived, and leading the group was one Kaoru Ichijo. "Godai!" he said as he reached the group...and stopped short when he saw the additional members...especially the supers.
"Yeah...we probably have a LOT to explain," Andrew chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Though good news is, the Gurongi's dead."
"You...which unit are you from? I don't recall there being anyone from abroad in our division," Kaoru asked, looking at Andrew. "And who are these people?" he added, looking at the three Super Heroes.
"Does the word 'Marvel Comics' mean anything to either of you?" Alicia spoke up.
Yusuke and Kaoru looked at each other in confusion, and turned to her. "Is it supposed to?" they said at the same time.
"Well, guess we need to explain everything from the top." Night Spider sighed.
"Deja Vu," Andrew mused as currently they were in...an interrogation room. Unsurprisingly, they'd been brought here, as while they did help with dealing with the Gurongi, they were unknowns in this situation and thus something they'd want to get to the bottom of. Needless to say they hadn't resisted, especially since he himself had no intention of playing the aloof game that Tsukasa had been playing in the show. "So, what do you want to know?" he said pleasantly, as sitting on the other end of the table was Kaoru.
"Well, let's start with the easy one: Who are you?" Kaoru asked with his usual stern visage.
"Andrew Verdant, though I don't think you'll find me even if you look me up. Parallel worlds and all that." Andrew answered easily.
"Parallel worlds? As in from a whole other universe?" Kaoru asked, his face showing just how little he believed that.
"I know what you're thinking, but no, I'm not just pulling your leg it's the truth." Andrew said, knowing what the inspector was thinking.
"How is that even possible?" he frowned, though not before asking someone to check to see if the could find an 'Andrew Verdant' in any database.
"About as crazy as an ancient artifact turning a guy into a warrior who can actually kill the Gurongi," Andrew said with a chuckle.
"Yeah...trust us when we say that parallel worlds tend to be all kinds of crazy," Peter said with a sigh. Currently all of them had their masks drawn, seeing as there was little point in keeping a secret identity in a world they wouldn't even be staying at.
"We came here to try and track down some escaped criminals who were taken by a dangerous organization," Steve added.
"Not just normal criminals either, criminals with super powers, and the terrorist organization that took them wants to conquer ALL the worlds" Michael added.
"That about sums up Dai-Shocker's usual schemes yeah." Andrew chuckled lightly.
Kaoru had a look between disbelief, 'you can't be serious', and 'done with this shit'. "I don't know whether to call a mental hospital or to take you seriously," he groaned. "But considering according to Godai you did help him defeat #22, and considering the device you had...I can't help but be inclined to believe you," he sighed. "So...assuming you're not completely insane, what happens now?"
"Honestly? We're not sure," Alicia admitted. "We don't even know if Dai Shocker IS here or not. All we can do is stick around and see how things go. But knowing the nature of Decade's armor, trouble's probably not far away," she sighed.
"The worlds always seem to pull me in whenever they need me most, from what I understand as to the nature of my powers." Andrew answered.
"So you're saying that you being here is basically because the world itself wants you here." Kaoru sighed.
"Assuming what we know is accurate...pretty much," Andrew shrugged.
Kaoru sighed again. "We will verify your claims first, and assuming your story more or less checks out, we will decide from there. As it is, our main focus is the Unidentified Lifeforms."
"Fair enough," Steve said with a shrug.
It took a few days, but the information was found...and true enough, none of them existed in this world, even when they tried looking up via data in America. Added in with the information they could share here and there, there was no avoiding accepting that what they said was true.
While the police were still understandably iffy, the little evidence seemed to prove accurate...and thus they were willing to hear them out. Of course, with nothing happening, not even another Unidentified Lifeform, they'd been willing to let the group go...albeit under watch, including the house they were using as a base...which had popped up conveniently a few blocks down from the place Yusuke worked.
"Ah, you guys again." Yusuke blinked as he stopped in front of the house.
"Nice to see you again, that meeting with your teacher the other day go alright?" Andrew asked.
"It went great," Yusuke grinned, giving a thumbs up. "So what happened with Ichijo?"
"Eh...we're under watch for now. Can't really blame him since our story is balls to the wall crazy for most people," Andrew shrugged.
"Huh?" Yusuke blinked.
"If you want to hear it, you might want to sit down," Alicia chuckled lightly.
"A whole other world… that's actually possible?" Yusuke said in shock after they finished explaining to him, now inside their home.
"There's LOTS of worlds, and apparently, a whole subset dedicated exclusively to Kamen Riders." Peter added.
"You mentioned that earlier… Kamen Rider… what is that exactly?" Yusuke asked, looking to Andrew.
"They're heroes of justice who fight to protect the smiles of the world, be it from monsters or people who would cause harm to the world for their own desires," Alicia said. "And in our world, you're the first of the generation known as the Heisei Kamen Riders."
"Heisei Riders?" Yusuke blinked...before a laptop was brought out. "What's this for?"
"For a visual explanation that will involve string theory, the fourth wall, and a bunch of other metaphysical junk that will either have you questioning everything you know, or probably walk out of us and pretend we're crazy for your own sanity," Andrew sighed.
"In short, heavy stuff," Michael sighed.
"Okay, first of all, to explain, me and Alicia come from a world different than these guys. In that world, there was a series called 'Kamen Rider', started in 1971," Andrew started, showing the image of a figure that had the same basic image as Kuuga to a degree, though the suit had less armor, and was more themed after a grasshopper than a beetle. "The series was a big hit, and for a while had great success until for a time it was put in Hiatus, reviving in 2000, with a new hero, starting a new legend of his own. And this Rider's name was Kuuga," he continued, and showed the image of well...the opening song of Kamen Rider Kuuga.
"That's me!" Yusuke said in surprise, seeing a bit of the opening, which actually showed his face, as well as Kuuga in the four forms he had turned into so far.
"Yeahp, and in our world, your season was popular enough to make it keep going." Alicia added. They soon showed several other Riders, starting with Agito, and kept shifting till finally they reached Decade.
"Hey, that's the armor you used," Yusuke said, but he also noticed that Andrew WASN'T the person using the armor in the images they'd shown (they'd included the civilian identities).
"Yeah, but I'm actually Decade the Second, Decade the First is a man known as Tsukasa Kadoya, and his journeys were… strange." Andrew said after a bit of hesitation.
"It's a story that was all over the place honestly," Alicia said.
"Yeah, I went looking through what they got and I have to admit, it wasn't very well written," Peter agreed.
"Okay?" Yusuke said awkwardly. "So...does this mean you're on a journey as well?"
"Yeah, though mine is already different, because my first stop wasn't a Rider World, and when I first arrived here, I wasn't sure what to expect, until we found we ended up in the ORIGINAL World of Kuuga." Andrew explained.
"And yes, there are alternate versions of this world. The one the original Decade visited...wasn't very good, suffice to say," Alicia sighed. "At any rate, our only clue is that we will likely need to travel the worlds, and gather the powers of the various Riders," she explained. "And no, by gather, we don't mean stealing. Decade has the power to copy the powers of other Riders...though how to actually do it we don't actually know."
"So… it's like you'd be making a photo of my powers to use yourself?" Yusuke came up with a comparison.
"That's certainly a way of putting it." Andrew said with a nod.
"Not just that, there's an interdimensional group of villains who kidnapped an entire prison's worth of super villains from our world," Steve added. "According to Andrew and Alicia, it is likely Dai-Shocker will be turning them into cyborgs to use in their attempts at taking over the multiverse. We're here in case there are any such attempts going on."
"In short, we're basically running half blind," Michael sighed.
"I'm just hopping Decade comes with some kind of 'we're done' sense so I actually know when its time to go and when its not," Andrew sighed.
"Wouldn't that be when the cards are restored though?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.
"True, but with Dai-Shocker around, I'm hoping for a bit more than 'I got Kuuga's power' as an indicator," Andrew sighed.
"Hey, maybe if we're lucky they'll be dumb and say something like "You haven't seen the last of us! We've already moved on to the next world!" before blowing up." Michael said jokingly, before noticing Andrew's deadpan face "They wouldn't… would they?"
"They could and they probably would," the couple deadpanned. At the same time.
"At any rate we're gonna be sticking around indefinitely until we're sure it's time to go," Alicia finished. "Any questions?"
"So...what's their world like? You said you're from a different world than them, right?" Yusuke asked, now focused on the hero trio. This was weird...but he honestly found it pretty interesting.
"To give you preface, capsicle here was frozen in the arctic at the end of World War 2, where he stopped some super nazis by punching them in the face." Peter said, pointing at Steve.
"Well… that's not entirely UNtrue." Steve admitted with a rueful smile.
"That's pretty amazing though, that you were frozen but came back." Yusuke said with a smile.
"Trust me, THAT is tame compared to everything else." Michael said with a chuckle.
And ending there for now.
I know it's slightly shorter than you no doubt expected, but we felt this was a nice spot to end it on.
So, the big thing, yes, Andrew goes into the canon rider worlds, on the grounds that there's no rules against it.
As well, he takes Marvel heroes with him yes, to have extra help in taking care of the monsterized villains when they get encountered.
Trust me when I say we have a LOT planned for this story.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed everyone, have a great day!