It's How You Play the Game
So, it's here that I'll really start to deviate from canon material and bring in my own twists using ideas both original and originating from various Kamen Rider sources. Let's see how it goes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider or Rwby.
After the battle against the White Fang and Roman's mech the group of students had managed to make their way back to the school and into their dorms without too much trouble, somehow avoiding the ire Professor Goodwitch would have directed at them if she caught them out on their adventure, and things began to return to normal, with classes beginning to focus more on the upcoming Vytal Festival and the tournament it involved, but Kazi couldn't help but worry about what Noire had planned with his Rider technology that he had stolen from his family's company, and he could tell that Blake was having similar thoughts about Torchwick and the White Fang.
It was these thoughts that filled his head as he watched Pyrrha fighting Team CRDL in a spar in Professor Goodwitch's Combat Instruction class, though, 'spar' wasn't quite the most accurate descriptor as Pyrrha was living up to her title of 'Invincible Girl' by dominating the fight as she delivered a one sided beatdown to her four opponents, with them barely able to land any good hits on the redhead as she dodged or deflected all their attacks while knocking them around with her own, leaving them dizzy and disoriented and lying prone on the ground, groaning in pain.
"Well done, Miss Nikos," said Professor Goodwitch as she congratulated Pyrrha on her victory, "If you keep this up, then you should easily qualify for the upcoming tournament."
"Thank you, Professor," replied Pyrrha humbly as she stepped off to the side.
"Now," said Ms. Goodwitch, "we should have time for one more match, so let's see…"
"I'll go," said a voice suddenly, revealing Mercury Black, one of the visitors from Haven Academy raising his hand.
"Very well," said Ms. Goodwitch, "now as for your opponent, Mr. Carter, you seem to have your mind elsewhere, so I believe you should come up and take a turn, unless you have more important things to be doing?"
Seeing as her tone indicated trouble if he protested, Kazi nodded and headed to the arena floor, grabbing his weapon as he went, along with some spare ammo magazines. Nobody noticed the slight frown that crossed his opponent's face when the Professor had called up to the front, as Mercury had had orders to challenge Pyrrha in order to get a feel for her abilities.
Cinder would be…displeased.
Shrugging that unpleasant thought aside, Mercury squared off against his opponent, whom, according to their intel on him, wasn't much of a threat outside of his Rider form other than his moderate skills with his Semblance and the natural defense his Faunus traits granted him, so he shouldn't be a problem.
Still though, he didn't want to show too much of his skills before the main event so…
Mercury smirked at Kazi as the counter ticked down, "Shall we dance?"
"If you want," nodded the Faunus as he flicked his weapon into gun mode.
"BEGIN!" called out Professor Goodwitch and the two of them sprang into action.
Mercury quickly rushed forward, prompting Kazi to fire off several rounds from Crimson Draco that forced Mercury to skid to a stop and quickly bring up his leg to block the shots with his metal greaves before lashing said leg out and launching a blast from his weapon, that slammed into the Faunus's chest, knocking him off his feet as his Aura tanked the blow.
Climbing to his feet, Kazi switched his weapon into blade mode and threw it at Mercury, but the silver-haired teen kicked it out of the air with ease and sent several more blasts from his boots that sent Kazi skidding across the ground as his Aura dipped even lower.
Gritting his teeth, Kazi climbed to his feet and reached out with his Semblance and pulled his weapon back towards his hand, but Mercury, seeing this, rushed forward and delivered a powerful kick to his chest that knocked him flat as his Aura dipped into the red, ending the match right there.
"And that's the match," said Ms. Goodwitch, "as Mr. Carter's Aura is now in the red, by tournament rules, he has lost. I commend you on an excellent performance Mr. Black. You'll do well representing Haven in the tournament."
"Thank you, ma'am," replied Mercury as he nodded to the Professor.
Glynda then turned a stern gaze towards Kazi, who was pulling himself to his feet with a grimace, "Mr. Carter. I would like to see you after class."
"Yes ma'am," said Kazi as he hung his head in shame.
"Well then," said Ms. Goodwitch, "you are all dismissed. Hurry along on your business."
As the other students filed out of the room, the other members of Team RWKBY hung back, concerned about their teammate.
"Don't worry," said Kazi, "I'll be fine. I'll meet up with you in the cafeteria."
"You sure?" asked Ruby with a frown.
Kazi gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure."
Smiling back, Ruby nodded and headed out with her teammates, pausing once to glance back his way before exiting the room, leaving Kazi alone with the Professor.
"Mister Carter," said Professor Goodwitch in an even tone, "please come with me."
A little surprised at the request, as he had expected her to chew him out then and there, Kazi simply nodded and followed the Professor as she led him through the halls until they arrived at the elevator that led to the headmaster's office.
"Um, Professor Goodwitch," said Kazi hesitantly, "what's going on? Is this about me spacing out in your class?"
"While I am displeased that you did not give my lessons your upmost attention, this is in regards to a different matter," Glynda replied with a slight sigh of frustration, "Professor Ozpin wishes to speak with you."
"Professor Ozpin?" repeated Kazi in surprise, "What for? Am I in trouble?"
"Perhaps," said Glynda dryly, with the slightest hint of humor, "you should speak to him and find out?"
"Right," Kazi said with a shaky nod as the elevator doors opened, allowing him to step inside. Neither of them spoke as the elevator ascended Beacon Tower and when the doors finally opened, Kazi was surprised to see that it wasn't just the headmaster waiting for him in Ozpin's office.
"General Ironwood?" said Kazi in surprise upon seeing the leader of Atlas's military standing to the side of the room while Ozpin sat at his desk with his fingers steepled and an unreadable expression on his face.
"Mister Carter," said Ozpin, "do come in."
"What is this about?" asked Kazi as he looked at the headmasters of Atlas and Beacon, "Am I in trouble?"
"Not at the moment," said Ironwood evenly, "though I am curious about your reasons for going on an unsanctioned reconnaissance mission that ended with your group engaging a stolen Atlesian Paladin."
"Oh," said Kazi with a nervous chuckle, "you heard about that, huh?"
"Indeed," said Ozpin with a slight smile, "but we can put that aside."
"Ozpin," protested the General, "I must insist. The fact that his Team encountered criminal elements wielding stolen Atlas tech is something that needs to be addressed!"
"In our defense," said Kazi meekly, "we weren't looking to start a fight with a giant robot."
"In any case," stressed Ozpin, "there are more pressing matters to discuss."
Ironwood looked like he wanted to protest, but relented and nodded, allowing the Beacon Headmaster to continue, prompting Ozpin to press a button on his desk, causing shutters to lower across the windows to ensure their privacy.
"The reason you were called here is in regards to a grave threat to the entirety of Remnant. A threat that we believe you are uniquely able to help us with," said Ozpin before regarding the Faunus curiously, "tell me, have you heard the fairy tale, The Story of the Seasons'?"
"Of course," said Kazi, "the story of the four sisters that helped the lonely wizard and are rewarded in turn was one of my favorites as a child."
"What if I were to tell you, that that particular story has more than a few grains of truth to it?" asked Ozpin as he watched Kazi's reaction.
"Well," said Kazi with a chuckle, "don't all fairy tales have at least a hint of truth to them? I mean, everybody knows that magic doesn't exist, but I'm sure that there were indeed four sisters that helped out an old man and had a hand in naming the four seasons."
"Indeed," said Ozpin with a mysterious smile, "but what if I were to tell you that magic, is not simply an author's addition to a fictional world?"
"Sir?" said Kazi in confusion, "I'm afraid I don't follow."
In response, Ozpin rose to his feet and calmly crossed the room, his signature cane tapping across the floor as he made his way to the elevator with Ironwood and Glynda following suit, "Mister Carter, if you would follow me, I believe you shall receive the answers to your questions."
Confused, but definitely curious, Kazi rose from his seat and followed the three Professors into the elevator. Once inside, Ozpin placed his palm on a scanner and pressed the buttons on the floor selector in a precise sequence, causing the capsule they were in to begin descending. As Kazi watched the readout indicating them approaching the ground floor, he was confused as the capsule continued past ground level, continuing to descend deeper into the ground below the school.
When the elevator eventually came to a stop, the doors opened to reveal a long corridor lit dimly with lamps on the walls, and Ozpin calmly stepped out, leading group through the corridor until they reached a large machine holding a young unconscious woman in a sealed capsule.
"Welcome to the Beacon Vault," said Ozpin as he stopped at the machine, "current sanctuary of the Fall Maiden."
"The Fall Maiden?" asked Kazi in disbelief, "As in one of the four sisters from the fairy tale?"
"Indeed," said Ozpin.
"Professors," said Kazi, "what is all this? What's going on here?"
"Allow me to tell you a tale," said Ozpin calmly, "one not fantasy, but truth hidden from history. Many years ago, a powerful wizard went to battle against a terrible witch. Their battle dragged on and an eternal stalemate was formed. Disheartened by this the wizard entered seclusion until four brilliant young women encountered him and rekindled his spark for living. In gratitude, the wizard granted the four of them a portion of his powers, so that they may continue to help people like they did him."
"Sir," said Kazi hesitantly, "with respect, I know the story."
"You don't know what comes next though," said Ozpin with a mysterious smile, "to ensure that the four would always be able to spread good works, the wizard made it so their powers would transfer to a successor upon their passing, ensuring that the Four Maidens would always continue to exist."
His tale now finished, Ozpin turned towards the girl sleeping in the pod with a somber expression, "And now after many years, the powers of the Fall Maiden that I imparted many years ago have now passed down onto Amber here. However, dark forces ambushed Amber in her travels and attempted to steal the powers for themselves. Our allies were able to rescue her, but the only thing keeping her from passing and allowing the powers to pass to her assailants is this life support machine."
"Wait," said Kazi in a shaky voice, "you're telling me that the Story of the Seasons is true?"
"That's correct," said Ozpin with a nod.
"And that you're the wizard from the story?" continued the Faunus.
"Again correct," said Ozpin.
"Wouldn't that make you several millennia old or something?" asked Kazi.
"Perhaps," said Ozpin with an amused chuckle, "though I stopped counting ages ago."
"This is a lot to take in," said Kazi, "but why do you need my help? If you have all this set up to protect…Amber, was it?" Getting a nod from Ozpin, Kazi continued, "If you have all this set up to protect Amber, then what do you need me for?"
"Amber is far from safe," said Ironwood as he stepped forward, "this machine keeps her alive via a medically induced coma, but she could slip away at any moment, causing our enemies to gain her powers. To counter this, this machine was designed to allow us to extract and transfer Amber's powers to a willing host via infusing her Aura into that of another person."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" exclaimed Kazi, "I've done studies into the effects of forcibly infusing a foreign overwriting element into a person's Aura and it never ended well. In my simulations, it always ended with a forceful and painful rewriting of a person's sense of self, resulting in irregular brain activity similar to that seen in patients suffering from severe mental illness."
"Which is why we need your expertise," said Ozpin.
"I've looked over the specifications for your Kamen Rider system," continued Ironwood, "and I believe we could use it to adapt the technology you used to create your Gashats with what we have Amber hooked up to and use that to extract the Maiden powers and store them within one similar to how you store the Game Data for your Rider forms. With luck, we can use that as a safer way to hide and transfer the Maiden powers."
"I'd need to see the specifications on this Aura Transfer machine," noted Kazi as he started to think.
"That can be arranged," said Ironwood.
"Then I think I'll be able to figure something out," replied Kazi with a nod, "when do you need an answer by?"
"Before the first round of the Vytal Festival would be preferable," said Ironwood, "but remember, all of this information is highly classified. You can't tell anyone without our approval. Not even your Team."
"If you insist," nodded Kazi, beginning to understand the severity of the task presented to him.
"Good," said Ironwood, "this is a great secret that we are entrusting you with. Do not make us regret our decision."
"You won't sir," gulped Kazi, "I promise."
