It's How You Play the Game

Disclaimer: Monty Oum created RWBY and Toei owns Kamen Rider.

Kazi narrowed his eyes as he faced his opponent, feeling the weight of the weapon in his hand as he tensed his nerves for battle. Moving quickly, he dove into a roll to the side, dodging an explosive burst that flew past his ear and fired off three shots from Crimson Draco, before rolling to hid feet and throwing a kick out that caught his opponent in the midsection. Kazi then had to dodge several explosive shots launched his way and used before flipping over another and firing two more shots from his weapon, emptying the revolver barrel.

Ducking under a swing from his opponent's weapon, Kazi switched Crimson Draco to Glaive mode and slashed at his enemy, but his attack was blocked by a swing from his opponent's weapon that sent him sprawling back. Rolling to the side, he dodged several explosive shots that were sent this way and managed to reload the chambers of his Dust Revolver, firing off several shots at his opponent's face that blinded his enemy long enough for the pangolin Faunus to get in close and slash at his opponent with the blade form of his weapon, causing said opponent to stagger backwards, before the Faunus increased the distance between them by firing the rest of his bullets into his enemy's chest.

Kazi then pulled out a new set of bullets, but his opponent sent a blast at him that knocked them out of his hands. Kazi flipped over the next shot sent his way and landed into a roll that took him under his opponent's swing, allowing him to extend his hand toward the bullets as a purple glow surrounded his hand pulling the clip into his waiting palm. With a quick movement, Kazi loaded the shots into his weapon and spun around emptying the chambers at point blank, causing a buzzer to sound, ending the match.

"Very good," said Glynda Goodwitch as Kazi and his opponent, Cardin Winchester, stepped away from each other, both sparing a moment to shoot a glare at the other, "as Mister Winchester's Aura has dropped into the red zone, this would indicate a victory for his opponent according to the rules of the Vytal Festival. Remember that these matches are designed to help you practice and prepare for the tournament itself, so train hard and be prepared to represent Beacon Academy."

As the students filed out of the arena, the rest of Team RWKBY hung back to talk to their teammate about the match.

"That was a pretty good fight," said Yang, "you really kicked his ass."

"Thanks," said Kazi as he sheathed his weapon, "and special thanks to you Ruby. The weapon worked like a charm."

"By the way," said Blake, "what was that back there? Back when you suddenly called the ammo clip back into your hand. Was that your Semblance?"

"Yeah," said Kazi as he scratched the back of his head, "my semblance allows me to pull small objects into my hands, but I'm limited to what I can physically lift with that arm."

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Ruby, "So you could just reach out and pull things into your hand?"

"I believe that's what he just said," said Weiss dryly.

"Aw yeah," said Yang as the group headed out, not having any other classes that day, "we are going to DOMINATE the Vytal Tournament!"

"Yeah, about that," sighed Kazi, "there's something I need to tell you guys. I'm not going to be participating in the tournament."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, with Blake asking the same question, but in a more subdued tone.

"What do you mean you're not going to participate?" asked Weiss, "Don't you realize how far our Team could get in the tournament?"

"I know," said Kazi, "but Ozpin and I came to an agreement. Since Team RWKBY is the only Team that has more than four members, we were initially going to be excluded from the competition due to the unfair advantage we would have over the other students, but Ozpin came to me after class one day and asked to have a word. He said that he didn't want to exclude our Team from the Vytal Festival, but because of the odd number in our group, we held an unfair advantage, and because my main method of fighting is in my Kamen Rider form, I decided to step aside so you all could participate."

"Well, that is very noble of you," said Weiss.

"It's still too bad," said Yang, "we would have been awesome!"

"How would they deal with him not having Aura in his Rider form though?" asked Blake.

"And," added Kazi, "while I won't be competing, I have been working on something special for you four."

"Ooh, what is it?" exclaimed Ruby.

"It's a secret," Kazi, "but I swear on my Rider Gashat that you'll love it."

"I was thinking actually," said Blake, "you're called a Kamen Rider, but what do you ride exactly?"

This caused Kazi to blush slightly, "Well, nothing normally, but I do have a Gashat that I perfected a while back. While it doesn't give me a power up, it does allow me access to a nice bike in Rider mode."

"Sweet," said Yang, "can I see it? I have a bike myself. I call her Bumblebee."

"Maybe later," chuckled Kazi, "now, there was a new food truck that opened up in Vale that served some dishes from Mistral, and I've been dying to try some. Anyone game?"

"Sure," said Yang, "you Gashat yourself a deal."

Once everyone had finished groaning at the terrible pun, the group headed out to Vale to get a bite to eat.

xXsceneXx

"It's so boring out here," muttered Kaito as he walked through the streets of Vale with the hood of his hoodie pulled over his head to block the sun. The Faunus teen had had to head into the city due to him beating the final level of the game he had been playing, forcing him to have to look for a shop that sold the sequel, "the real world is so dull without something to spice it up."

The teen continued to walk in a dull mood. His mood was improved when he found the shop he had been searching for and saw that they had not only the sequel, but the DLC expansion edition as well. However, his mood was made worse when he found out that Neo had drained the batteries on his gamepad last time she had 'borrowed' it, leaving him with a new game and nothing to play it on.

He was so slipping hot sauce into her next ice cream snack.

"If only there was something to keep me entertained," the Faunus sighed as he looked around.

Suddenly he saw team RWKBY sitting down outside a certain food truck and a sinister smirk appeared on his face. Walking into a dark alley, he activated his Semblance, allowing Kaito open up a distortion in the air, causing a medium sized Nevermore Grimm to drop onto the ground. Before anyone could notice, he activated his gamepad-like device that served as a weapon for him and stabbed the blaster end into the beast's side.

[Infection! Let's Game! Bad Game! Dead Game! What's your name?! The Bugster!]

xXsceneXx

"Excellent," said Kazi happily as team RWKBY sat down at tables set up around the food truck with bowls of Mistral Curry in front of them, "I've been looking forward to this."

"You did give it quite the buildup," said Blake as she looked down at her food.

"I prefer less spicy foods myself," said Weiss, "but it does have a nice aroma."

"Well I love spicy food," said Yang, "I can't wait."

"Well let's dig in," said Ruby as the group got ready to enjoy their meal, but before they could try their first bites, a blast of wind blew through, knocking aside the tables and their food and capsizing the truck, leaving the Huntsmen in training frozen with their spoons ready to sample the food.

Looking up, team RWKBY saw what had caused the destruction, another Bugster Grimm, this one looking like a harpy-esque creature with six black wings in addition to the cracked white armor resembling that of Ex-Aid.

"One of those game monster things," said Ruby as she jumped up, pointing at the creature.

"A Bugster," frowned Kazi as he pulled out his Gashat and placed the Gamer Driver on his waist, "that means Kaito is behind this."

[Mighty Action X!]

"Henshin," said Kazi as he inserted the Gashat and pulled the lever across his Driver, "Second Shift!"

[Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action X!]

The Kamen Rider charged forward, summoning his Gashacon Breaker in sword mode to bat aside the razor feathers that the beast launched at him before using his jumping power to leap into the air at the Bugster with his weapon ready to cut it down, however the Nevermore Bugster flapped its wings, sending a blast of air that knocked Ex-Aid back to the ground and several feathers that struck him and lowered his life gauge by several points.

"Damnit," said Ex-Aid as he bounced off the ground, "I need more armor."

The Kamen Rider pulled out his Gekitotsu Robots Gashat, but before he could activate it, several more feathers were launched at him, knocking it from his hands while also slamming into his armor, depleting several life points from his gauge.

"Crap!" exclaimed Ex-Aid as he skidded across the ground, "I can't change levels like this."

Ex-Aid looked up as he heard the Bugster screech and saw it preparing to fire another volley. Cringing behind his mask, he knew that he wouldn't be able to evade another barrage without losing a critical amount of life points. Suddenly though, several High-Caliber dust rounds slammed into the Bugster, stunning it and forcing it to land on a street light.

"Bullseye!" exclaimed Ruby, causing the Kamen Rider to turn around and see that his team leader had called her rocket locker and retrieved Crescent Rose from it, with the rest of Team RWKBY doing the same with their weapons.

"What are you doing?" asked Ex-Aid in surprise.

"We're going to help," said Weiss firmly as she retrieved Myrtenaster and checked the Dust compartments.

"We're a team," said Blake simply, "that means something."

"And don't try to talk us out of it," said Ruby, leaving no room for argument.

The Kamen Rider shook his head fondly and chuckled before turning back to the enraged Bugster, "Right, we need to immobilize it somehow. I need my Level 3 armor to hold out against its attacks, but that means I don't have the mobility or range to do any real damage against it."

"Leave it to us," said Ruby as the Bugster took flight again and prepared to launch more of its destructive feathers, "Yang go!"

As the Bugster fired off several more of its razor-sharp feathers, the blond brawler of team RWKBY jumped forward and punched forward several times with her weapon Ember Celica, firing several explosive Dust shells that detonated the feathers upon impact, giving Ex-Aid the opening he needed to pull the Level 3 Gashat into his hand with his Semblance. Ruby and Blake then switched their weapons to gun mode and opened fire on the Bugster, forcing it into a defensive position that gave Ex-Aid enough time to slot in his new Gashat.

[Gekitotsu Robots!]

"Henshin: Third Shift!"

[A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!]

"Right," said Ex-Aid, feeling his power increase thanks to his new Level, "I can take it down, but I don't have the speed or agility to get in close in this form."

"We've got your back," said Yang, "we'll slow it down, and you bring the pain."

"Team RWKBY GO!" said Ruby, "Blake, Weiss, Checkmate!"

Weiss brandished her rapier, creating several glyphs in the air that Blake used as platforms to leap off of, allowing her to get in closer to the Bugster, using her Semblance to dodge attacks from the beast by substituting with her clones. Switching Gambol Shroud to kusarigama mode, Blake used the recoil from the weapon's gun to launch the blade at Bugster's wings, wrapping the ribbon around one of them on the left side, immobilizing them.

"Ice Flower!" yelled Ruby as she raised her rifle with Weiss creating glyphs in front of the barrel that charged the shots with frigid energy which froze one of the three wings on the right side. Continuing with a powerful tug, Blake severed the wing she had bound while a shot from Yang's Gauntlets shattered the one that had been frozen.

Seeing that it had been seriously wounded by the Huntsmen in training, the transformed Grimm extended its remaining wings and began to take off, trying to escape the onslaught that they were inflicting upon it, but Ex-Aid was ready and slotted his Gekitotsu Robots Gashat into his Finisher slot, pressing the button as well.

[Kimewaza! Gekitotsu Critical Strike!]

"Yang, boost!" yelled Ex-Aid as he punched forward, launching his mechanical fist at the Bugster, the impact knocking it higher into the air.

"Got it!" said Yang as she tossed him into the air, using the blast force from her gauntlets to propel him further.

Flying through the air at high speed, Ex-Aid thrust his fist forwards, sheathing his arm back in the robotic gauntlet at an angle that sent the Bugster flying into the ground, leaving a large crater around the area of impact.

[PERFECT!]

Ex-Aid landed on the ground in a crouch that had his robot fist punching the pavement (think iron man from the movies) while the Bugster Grimm began to dissolve into smoke like the rest of its kind did, but suddenly the smoke was sucked away and, following the direction of the trail, they saw Kaito sitting on a ledge holding out his purple device as it absorbed the remains of the Bugster.

"Thanks for the interesting diversion," smiled Kaito as he waved his weapon tauntingly, "really made the trip into town worthwhile."

"What is wrong with you?" demanded Weiss, "You put people in danger and treat it like a game!"

"Because," smirked Kaito as he rose to his feet and pulled the hood of his cat-hoodie off his head, "life is one big game and we are all but players. Ciao."

With that, he nimbly flipped off the ledge and quickly vanished into the alleyways and streets. As Kazi dispelled his transformation, he mused about how his teammates had been instrumental in defeating the flying Bugster. He would need to push production of his next Gashat up in priority, but maybe he could work on something for them as well. Something to keep them safe in his fight against the ones who killed his father.