Chapter One: The Young Kamen Rider
Designated Observation World No.162
"Dieci. Are you in position?"
Hidden among the sea of trees, a young boy asked his comrade through his communicator.
The young boy had short dark blonde hair and a pair of heterochromatic eyes, with the right eye being red, while the left was green.
He was rather tall for his age and had androgynous features, being capable of passing off as a tall girl after some preparation.
Around his waist, the boy wore a strange belt. The belt's buckle was in the shape of an open-top box with a circular module and a lever crank on its side.
"Yes. We can start at any time, Homura."
Hearing his partner's confirmation, Homura nodded before taking two bottles out of his pocket.
Twisting the caps of the bottles, Homura inserted the bottle with the phoenix pattern on it into the first slot.
PHOENIX!
The belt announced as a small projection of the phoenix pattern appeared.
Without caring about the speaking belt, Homura inserted the second bottle, which had a gear-like pattern on it, into the second slot.
Like before, the belt announced the bottle's name and a projection of its pattern appeared.
RIDER SYSTEM! EVOLUTION!
Once the projections of the two bottles appeared, they fused and turned into planet-like gear with a ring around it.
Grabbing onto the lever, Homura began cranking as the circular module began to shine red and blue. At the same time, a frame began to form around Homura, with pipes forming half-bodies at the front and back of Homura.
Around the entire structure, three golden vertical rings appeared.
ARE YOU READY?
The belt asked.
"Henshin."
Without hesitation, Homura answered, and the two half-bodies slammed into Homura.
The three rings also began to spin around Homura's purple and red aura-engulfed body.
PHOENIX! PHOENIX! EVOL PHOENIX! FUHAHAHAHA!
A burst of evil laughter bellowed from the belt as the aura was blown away by a ring of scorching flames, revealing Homura's body.
In place of Homura, a tall figure dressed in red and blue armour with golden accents appeared. At the middle of the figure's chest was an Armillary sphere, while a red wing-like cape was fluttering behind his back.
"Mission start."
A more mature voice that resembled Homura's voice came from the armoured figure, as a pair of flaming wings appeared behind his back.
Right after saying so, Homura cut off the communication line and flew into the air, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
...
A few kilometres away from Homura's initial location, three young women could be seen flying in the sky.
With long, light brown hair tied into a pair of twin tails and a white dress-type Barrier Jacket with blue accents, was the Ace of Aces, Takamachi Nanoha.
With bright golden hair that was also tied into a pair of twin tails and a black suit-like Barrier Jacket with a white cape, was the Ace of the Sailing Force, Fate Testarossa.
Dressed in a black and white dress with golden accents and accompanied by the Unison Device, Reinforce Zwei, was the Ace of the Ground Forces, Yagami Hayate.
Together, these three young women were the Three Aces of the Time-Space Administration Bureau.
"Nanoha-san! Fate-san! Hayate-san! There is a high energy signature coming from the South-East! The estimated level is rank S! So fast!"
From their communicators, a young woman's anxious voice could be heard.
"Estimated time of arrival is ten seconds! Nine! Eight!"
As the woman counted down, a burning figure started to appear not too far from the three mages.
"Fate-chan! Hayate-chan!"
Stopping in her tracks, Nanoha tightened her grip over her Device and called out to her friends.
"Ah!"
Letting out voices of consent, Fate, and Hayate prepared themselves for the approaching enemy.
"Two! One! Zero!"
Upon reaching the last number, the figure stopped before the Three Aces.
"Identify yourself!"
Pointing their staffs at Homura, the Three Aces demanded.
"Kamen Rider, Kaiser."
Homura replied as he raised his right hand and pointed at the briefcase in Nanoha's hands.
"That Relic. Hand it over."
"Sorry. But I can't do that."
Shifting the briefcase to her back, Nanoha shook her head at Homura's demand.
"...I see."
Nanoha's firm rejection caused Homura's arm to drop and his shoulders to sag in disappointment.
Seeing Homura's disheartened response, the Three Aces couldn't help but let their guard down due to the unexpected reaction.
*Fwoosh!*
Taking that instance, while the Three Aces still had their guards down, Homura propelled himself forward at full speed and snatched away the Relic from Nanoha's hands.
"Ah!"
Realizing that they had been tricked, the three mages quickly turned behind to face Homura.
"Give that back! Please!"
With mana converging at the tip of their staffs, the three women requested 'nicely'.
"Dieci, I'm transporting the Relic to you now."
As if he were unaware of the impending attack, Homura sent a message to his partner and activated a transportation spell on the briefcase.
"Stop!"
Seeing the magic circle form under the briefcase, Nanoha let loose multiple of her magic bullets.
In the face of the incoming attack, Homura calmly extended his hand and seemingly scooped up all the bullets, before tossing it back to Nanoha.
Other than the bullets that Nanoha had shot, Homura also gave the Three Aces an additional dozen of fireballs as a gift.
Although caught off guard by Homura's move, the three mages quickly set up a shield to block the incoming attacks.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
With an explosion of light, the Three Aces were momentarily blinded.
"Have you received the Relic?"
"Yes. We can leave now. Good work."
"...Not yet. I want to see how far my strength would fair against the TSAB's top three. You should return first."
After a second of thought, Homura said.
"Are you sure? I'm confident that you could defeat any one of them in a singles battle, but facing all three of them might prove difficult even for you."
Dieci asked, trying to dissuade Homura from fighting a one-on-three battle against the Three Aces.
"It's fine. Even if I can't defeat them, I can still escape."
Despite Dieci's pleas, Homura remained adamant in his decision.
"...Alright then. Be careful."
"I got it."
Receiving permission from Dieci, Homura returned his gaze toward the Three Aces and took a fighting stance.
Regaining their vision, the Three Aces were faced with the sight of Homura in a fighting stance.
Extending his left arm, Homura opened his fist and made a beckoning gesture at the Three Aces.
"This is Hayate. We are about to engage in combat with the unknown. The Relic has been stolen and transported somewhere else."
Although Homura's taunt slightly annoyed her, Hayate remained calm and reported back to the base.
"Roger that. The Wolkenritter to back you up once they are finished on their side."
"Rein!"
"Okay!"
Calling out to her little partner, Hayate activated the Unison, causing her to fuse with Reinforce Zwei and her hair to become a silvery blue.
"Nanoha-chan! Fate-chan! I'll provide the support, so the two of you do what you do best!"
"Roger!"
On Hayate's signal, Nanoha distanced herself from Homura while Fate darted towards him.
Lifting her bardiche-type Device into the air, Fate swung it down against Homura with force.
Sliding towards the right, Homura dodged Fate's attack and lashed his leg out towards her waist.
However, before Homura's blow could land, multiple pink balls of energy flew towards him.
Discharging a large amount of fire from his kicking leg's calf, Homura forcefully accelerated his kick's momentum towards Fate's waist, sending her flying a few meters away.
The flames that Homura had used as a thrust had also managed to shield him from the energy balls released by Homura.
Having been sent flying by Homura's kick, Fate struggled to stabilize herself as a large hole formed on her Barrier Jacket.
Without stopping, Homura directed his gaze towards Nanoha and shot towards her like a bullet.
With flames covering his entire body like armour, Nanoha's magic was easily destroyed by the flaming Homura.
"Spring forth and seize whom I command..."
Words flowed from Hayate's lips, as a white Belkan magic triangle appeared beneath Homura.
"Frierenfesseln!"
Water spouted out from the Belkan triangle and surrounded Homura's flaming body, weakening his flames.
In a flash, the water froze and trapped Homura in a cage of ice.
"Tch!"
Having had his flames doused and his body trapped in a freezing embrace, Homura couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Burn!"
At his command, scorching flames burst from his body and melted away the ice that trapped him.
"Hot!"
Being the closest to Homura, Nanoha felt the full force of the flames and quickly recoiled away from him, moving to Hayate's side.
Having stabilized herself, Fate also regrouped with the other two.
The sheer heat of Homura's flames was capable of distorting the air and cause slight damage to the Barrier Jackets of the Three Aces.
"Caging Circle!"
An iridescent mana ring appeared around the Three Aces and trapped them.
Taking the chance that the Three Aces were currently trapped, Homura grabbed onto the lever of his Evol-Driver and began cranking.
"The unknown's energy levels are rising! Rank S+! Rank SS! Rank SS+! It's still rising!"
From the Three Aces' communicator, the anxious voice of the female officer could be heard.
As he cranked the belt's lever, Homura flew higher into the sky.
READY!? GO!
At the belt's signal, Homura dived down towards the three women with an energy projection that resembled a phoenix cover his body.
EVOLTIC FINISH!
Discharging multiple cartridges from their Devices, Nanoha and Fate conjured dozens of shields to defend against Homura's attack. At the same time, Hayate also cast multiple defensive spells.
"Excelion Shield!" "Multi-Defenser!" "Panzerschild!"
A mix of pink, gold and white filled the sky as the flaming phoenix dove towards the Three Aces.
*Piang!* *Piang!*
Even when faced against multiple high-powered magic shields, Homura smashed through them like glass, turning them into shards of magical energy.
Without even slowing down, Homura made it to the Three Aces.
Ciao!
With a goodbye, Homura's foot made contact with the three women.
Gaining a direct hit from Homura's finisher, the Three Aces were sent crashing down to the ground with their Barrier Jackets destroyed and their bodies covered in surprisingly light wounds.
"Hah...Hah..."
Panting hard, Homura could feel his body grow heavier under the strain of the battle.
After all, this was his first real battle.
To engage against three of the best mages that the TSAB had to offer for his first battle, was insanely tiring.
"The strain...was higher than expected. I need to leave...now."
Grabbing his helmet that held his throbbing head, Homura spread his flaming wings and began to fly away from the scene of battle, albeit somewhat wobbly.
"Nanoha! Fate! Hayate!"
Suddenly, the anxious voice of a young girl rang out from behind Homura.
"You bastard!"
Turning around, Homura found a young girl dressed in a red gothic dress with a wrathful expression on her face approaching at breakneck speeds.
Summoning multiple iron balls, the girl swung the mallet in her hand and sent the balls flying towards Homura.
"Khh!"
Barely reacting in time due to his massive headache, Homura was thrown back by a few meters under the assault of the heavy iron balls.
"Gigant Hammer!"
Without allowing for Homura to stabilize himself, the girl appeared before him with a much larger hammer and struck Homura.
Unable to react in time, Homura was sent tumbling down towards the ground.
"!"
However, right before the girl could send Homura away, he grabbed onto the girl's leg and dragged her down with her.
*Fwoosh!*
Engulfing his entire body in flames, Homura pulled the girl into his fiery embrace.
"Ahhhh!"
Screaming in pain, the girl's Barrier Jacket barely held on as it started to burn away.
"Jacket Purge!"
With a shout, the girl detonated her Barrier Jacket and caused an energy shockwave that forced Homura to free her.
*Boom!*
Having fainted due to the strain of his first real battle and the girl's assault, Homura was unable to stabilize himself and smashed against the ground.
The amount of force behind Homura's crash caused a mushroom cloud of dust to appear in the sky.
"Vita! Are you alright?"
Not too far away, a pair of mages and a large blue wolf were flying towards the girl.
"Hah...Hah...Yeah. I'm alright, somehow."
Panting heavily, Vita slowly reformed her Barrier Jacket as she reassured her comrades.
"Shamal and Zafira. You two should go and help Master Hayate and the others. Vita and I will arrest the unknown."
With her long pink hair tied into a ponytail and her trusty sword, Laevatein, the leader of the Wolkenritter, Signum issued her orders.
"Roger."
With a nod, the green-clad knight, Shamal, and the guardian beast, Zafira moved toward the crash site of the Three Aces.
"Let's go, Vita."
Calling out to the lolita knight, Signum flew towards the defeated Homura.
Landing by the crash site, Signum and Vita were shocked to see the one that laid unconscious inside the crater.
"A...child?"
The strain from his first real battle and the damage that he took from Vita caused Homura's transformation to be released.
Currently, Homura's original child form was presented to the two Belkan knights.
...
"Doctor! Homura got captured by the TSAB!"
A few kilometres from the battlefield, looking at Homura being carried away through her mechanical eye's scope, Dieci reported to the Doctor with anxiety.
"Hmm...Do you have the Relic with you, Dieci?"
Letting out a thoughtful hum, the Doctor asked without any change in his tone.
"Yes."
"...Then return to the base first. The TSAB won't do anything to Homura for the time being. Besides, even without the Evol-Driver, Homura isn't powerless."
The Doctor said after some thought.
"...Are you sure?"
Despite trusting the Doctor's words, Dieci still couldn't help but worry about Homura.
"Yeah."
"Then...alright."
Although hesitant to leave Homura in the hands of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, Dieci relented and began her return to the base.
...
"Kukuku...To think that Homura would be captured. I suppose the strain of having his first real battle against the TSAB's Three Aces was too high."
Inside a large lab, a lean, purple-haired man wearing a lab coat could be seen chuckling with an intrigued expression.
"What shall we do, Doctor?"
Wearing a secretarial outfit and holding a tablet in her arms, a young woman who bore a slight resemblance to the purple-haired man asked.
"For now, nothing. If Homura doesn't return after a week, there's a high chance he's trapped inside an anti-teleportation barrier or has defected to the TSAB."
"After all, that boy isn't so easily tricked by my words. So, there's a chance that he may be swayed to the TSAB's side."
The Doctor deduced before continuing.
"In the case that the latter scenario has occurred, I should begin creating another one that can use the Evol-Driver."
"Should I open a new project folder?"
The young woman asked as she fiddled with the tablet's screen.
"Yes."
"What shall it be named?"
"Let's see...If Homura is the human Kamen Rider, then I suppose we should make a machine to counteract him. Let's call this next project, 'Project Machina'!"
With a nigh-maniacal smile, the Doctor announced.