Chapter Three: Rider of Riot Force Six
April 0075.
TSAB Command Center, Special Management, Lost Property Riot Force 6
On the roof of Riot Force 6's building, a tall young man could be seen lying sideways on the ground with a bored expression.
The young man was Homura, who had reached ten years of age not too long ago. His height had increased substantially compared to four years ago, and his features were more mature than those his age.
Compared to the military uniforms that most of the people in this base wore, Homura was dressed rather casually, wearing a simple outfit that consisted of red and black.
"Haaaaaahh..."
Letting out a loud yawn, Homura couldn't help but scratch the back of his waist as he saw the equipment being moved into the building.
"Ah! That's where you were."
The voice of a young girl called out to Homura, making him turn around to address the speaker.
"What is it, Rein?"
Turning around, Homura found a tiny, floating girl with silvery-blue hair wearing a brown military uniform.
"Everyone in the unit has arrived. Hayate-chan's about to greet the whole unit. So you need to be there as well!"
Rein said while pulling on Homura's collar with all her strength.
"I'm just a contract mage. It's fine if I don't participate in the whole unit greeting."
Gently pulling Rein away from his collar, Homura sat up and said.
"You have to come! You are part of Riot Force 6 too!"
Rein said as she flailed around, trying to free herself from Homura's pinch.
"Haaah...Fine."
Sighing, Homura agreed with a rather reluctant expression on his face as he got up from the ground.
"Hey, can you let me go yet?"
While he made his way to the base's main lobby, Homura still had Rein between his fingers.
"No. Since you made me participate in such a boring event, I'll have you suffer between my fingers for a while."
Lifting Rein to his face level, Homura said with an evil smile.
"...I feel like you grow meaner as the years go by."
Pouting, Rein could only let Homura do as he wished.
...
The ceremony was relatively simple, with Hayate giving a motivational speech to the entirety of Riot Force 6.
After the ceremony, Nanoha called for Homura and the other four forwards of Riot Force 6 to follow her.
Part of the Forward Stars that is under Nanoha's leadership is Private First Class Nakajima Subaru and Private First Class Teana Lanster.
While under the Foward Lightning that is led by Fate is Private Erio Mondial and Caro Ru Lushe.
Other than the two Lightning members who are the same age as Homura, all the members of the division are older than the young Kamen Rider.
Despite being one of the youngest members of Riot Force 6, Homura's height had already increased beyond Signum's, and his mature features allowed him to pass off as a young adult.
"By the way, have all of you introduced yourselves to each other yet?"
Nanoha asked, stopping and turning to face the five forwards.
"Not yet. Subaru and I have already introduced ourselves to the Erio and Caro, but not yet to him."
Stepping forward, Teana replied as she used her chin to point at Homura.
"We haven't greeted him either."
Erio added.
"Then why don't I have Homura introduce himself to you all."
With a smile, Nanoha turned to Homura and signalled him to start his greeting with her eyes.
"...My name is Isurugi Homura. I am 10-years-old this year, and I have been working with Captain Nanoha and Captain Fate for nearly four years. As I am a Contract Mage, I have no official rank in the TSAB."
Though reluctant, Homura began his introduction, surprising the four forwards when mentioning his age.
"I am a practitioner of the Ancient Belkan system, but I am also capable of using the Midchildan system. Due to this, I am suited for both close, middle and long-range battles. My mage rank is S, but under the limiter, I am rank AA. Though I am skilled in magic, my main mode of combat is different."
"I do not operate under any of the Forward squads and my call-sign is Kaiser."
Finishing his introduction, Homura turned to Nanoha with deadpan eyes.
"Thank you very much, Homura. Do any of you have any questions for Homura?"
Ignoring Homura's painful gaze, Nanoha remained smiling and asked.
"Just one."
Raising her hand, Subaru said.
"What is it?"
"Are you absolutely sure he is only ten?"
Pointing at Homura with an expression of disbelief, the blue-haired girl asked.
"I hit an extra early growth spurt. Here are my medical records if you don't believe me."
Taking his phone from out of his pocket, Homura summoned a holographic screen holding his medical records and allowed the four forwards to confirm his words.
With shocked eyes, the four forwards read Homura's medical records, specifically the age portion.
"Isurugi Homura...Age: 10. That can't be..."
Before they could fully digest the information, Homura retrieved the holographic screen and kept his phone.
"Now that introductions are done. I would like to begin the training, is that alright?"
As if used to this scene, Nanoha calmly proceeded.
"Y-Yes..."
Still somewhat dazed, the four forwards nodded.
...
"Haaaaah..."
Looking at the wide honeycomb-patterned float in the middle of the sea, Homura let out a huge yawn.
"You've been yawning a lot today. Did you sleep alright yesterday?"
Noticing Homura's frequent yawning, Nanoha couldn't help but feel slightly worried.
"I'm fine. I just stayed up a little late reading. So? What do you want me to do today? I'm not good at teaching, and their training is too low-levelled for me to participate with them."
Homura asked, confused as to why Nanoha would want him to participate in the forwards' training session.
"You'll see later."
With a mysterious smile, Nanoha said, causing an annoyed expression to appear on Homura's face.
"By the way, how's your body been lately?"
Nanoha asked, changing the subject.
"From the latest checkups, there haven't been any abnormalities."
Homura answered before continuing after realising he left something out.
"Oh, I can release the second limiter on my Evol-Driver now."
When Homura had joined the TSAB as a Contract Mage, he had the engineers place limiters on his Evol-Driver.
By limiting the Evol-Driver's output, the strain on Homura's growing body would be lessened, and he would be able to function for a longer time in battle.
"That's great. It shouldn't be long until you can release all three of the limiters and regain your former strength."
Hearing the news, Nanoha couldn't help but feel happy for Homura.
"Yeah. The strength that allowed me to thrash you, Fate and Hayate. Regaining that strength does sound great."
With a teasing smile, Homura taunted.
"I wonder what happened to you? You used to be so much cuter four years ago."
Nanoha couldn't help but sigh at Homura's words.
Her words and expression reminded others of a helpless mother talking to her delinquent son.
"Too bad."
Homura stuck his tongue out and said.
"...Hehehe..."
Staring at Homura's tongue and then back at his smiling eyes, Nanoha couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hmph."
With a smirk, Homura kept his tongue and returned his gaze towards the sea.
...
Subaru and the others arrived after a few minutes in their training wear along with Shario Finieno, the mechanical designer and head of communication for Riot Force 6.
After Shario handed the forwards their Devices and completed her introduction, Nanoha commenced the training session after summoning the 'abandoned city' stage of the battle and area simulator.
The first lesson was a battle against eight Gadget Drones.
"What do you think about their capabilities?"
Nanoha asked as she observed the battle between the four forwards and the eight Gadget Drones.
"Subaru is too impulsive. She doesn't know how to read ahead or prepare for unexpected situations. However, her physical capabilities are high, and she doesn't rely solely on her magic."
"Teana is a pure shooter-type, and her marksmanship is first-class. She is also an excellent leader and good at adapting. However, being too specialised can be harmful and make her move set quite limited."
"Erio is a speed-type fighter, and his fighting style is quite direct like Subaru's. This overly direct way of fighting makes it easy for skilled opponents to read his moves. However, his speed is fast enough to minimise this shortcoming, and he knows how to make use of the surrounding terrain."
"Caro is quite proficient in support magic and summoning magic. With her dragon partner, Caro has also negated her weakness in direct combat. However, she is slightly indecisive and doesn't always take the initiative. This lack of decisiveness can prove fatal in real-life battles."
"Overall, as both individuals and as a team, they are relatively skilled. However, they still have a lot of room to grow and require more training."
Homura explained as he calmly analysed the battle of the forwards.
Satisfied with Homura's explanation, Nanoha nodded and spoke.
"You should get ready to transform. You're their next opponent."
"Huh?"
Surprised by the sudden announcement, Homura quickly turned to Nanoha with wide eyes.
"Me?"
Pointing at himself, Homura asked in astonishment.
"Yeah."
Without losing her smile, Nanoha nodded in confirmation.
"With the Evol-Driver?"
"Yeah."
"They're going to get crushed!"
Homura nearly shouted loud enough for the forwards to make out his words.
It wasn't Homura's arrogance speaking, but hard facts.
Even under a limiter and without his Evol-Driver, Homura could still match against Rank AAA mages with ease.
Against four younglings who struggled against a mere eight Gadget Drones, using the Evol-Driver would be overkill.
"That's why you are going to be giving them a handicap."
Nanoha stated cheerfully.
"..."
Unable to react to Nanoha's request, Homura allowed himself to be dragged down to the cleared battlefield by the White Devil.
...
"Haaah..."
Standing around ten meters away from the four forwards, Homura couldn't help but sigh as he strapped on the Evol-Driver.
EVOL-DRIVER!
The belt's loud declaration slightly startled Subaru and the others.
The rules of the exercise were simple. There is a time limit of five minutes, and the four forwards have to either survive the entire battle without a single loss, or they have to deal a single clean hit onto Homura.
Losing consciousness would result in the forced retirement of the victim.
If any of the forwards were retired, the entire mock battle would be restarted.
While there are no restrictions placed on the four forwards, Homura had multiple restraints placed on him.
First, Homura wasn't allowed to use magic.
Second, Homura can only unlock the Evol-Driver's first seal.
Lastly, Homura cannot utilise any forms that are capable of flight.
This exercise's purpose is mainly to demonstrate Homura's prowess to the four forwards, as well as test how they would fare against a user of the Evol-Driver.
Considering that Jail Scaglietti had the blueprint of the Evol-Driver, there would be a high chance that the doctor would create another Evol-Driver and a new Kamen Rider, it would be wise to at least prepare the four forwards for such a situation.
"Might as well."
Resigning himself to his fate, Homura took out two Evolbottles from his pocket.
The Rider Evolbottle and the Tora Evolbottle.
Twisting the bottles' caps to the front, Homura inserted both of them into the Evol-Driver's slots.
TORA! RIDER SYSTEM! EVOLUTION!
At Homura's cranking, the structure required for transformation began to form.
ARE YOU READY!?
Upon the structure's completion, the Evol-Driver asked its signature question.
With a wicked smile, Homura answered with his arms crossed.
"Henshin!"
At his command, the half-bodies slammed into Homura's body and became whole.
TORA! TORA! EVOL TIGER! FUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Evil laughter echoed in the ears of the four forwards, causing a series of goosebumps to surface on their bodies.
With a burst of energy, Homura's armour-clad form was revealed to the observers.
Instead of the Evol Phoenix's crimson, the Evol Tiger was coloured bronze. And the previous flame-like eyepieces were replaced with bronze tigers.
Unlike the Evol Phoenix's blazing aura, the Evol Tiger exuded an intense predatorial aura that caused sweat to form at the back of the forwards' necks.
"Phase 1."
Cracking the back of his neck, Homura announced as he felt the first seal on the Evol-Driver unlock.
"Are you guys ready!?"
Homura shouted to Subaru and the others while waving his arm at them.
"...Y-Yeah!"
Breaking out of her stupor, Subaru gave a thumbs up to Homura.
"Nanoha! Start the countdown!"
[Five!]
Placing themselves in a 2:1:1 arrangement, Subaru, Teana, Erio and Caro prepared themselves.
[Four!]
Crouching, Homura placed the tip of his gloved fingers onto the ground, adopting a posture similar to that of a tiger ready to pounce.
[Three!]
[Two!]
[One!]
[GO!]