サイドクエストEX:RIDER王2019

Side quest EX: Rider King 2019

John looked at the letter he had found in his tent. Snipe, come to the top of the hill north of camp,alone. Bring your belt. - a fellow rider. John did what the letter said reluctantly. If it was from another rider, it could get hairy, but if it was some bandit who thought they could take him, then he would enjoy this.

When he arrived atop the hill, he saw a young man in 21st century clothing. He was sitting on a lawn chair drinking hot chocolate. He turned to John with a smile. "Hello, Snipe." he placed his cocoa in his chair's cup holder and put the chair in his tent. "Alright, we're going to spar," he declared.

John nodded, he was suspicious of course, he wasn't an idiot. He knew he should get one of the other riders or one the Shepherds. But he couldn't bring himself to do so, he knew no one would think less of him, except maybe Lon'qu. He just couldn't do it, it would be admitting to himself that he's the weakest rider. "Alright, I'll play along, but why me? If you want to get stronger, you'd be better off with Ex-Aid." he noted as he put on his Gamer Driver.

"Because I'm not doing this to get stronger." the younger rider revealed as he placed his own belt.

Ziku Driver!

It was white and oval shaped with what appeared to be a screen in the center. "I'm doing this so you can get stronger." If John reacted at all, he didn't show it. The younger rider produced a circular object, turned a plate on the front and pressed the button on top.

Zi-O!

He inserted the object onto a slot on the Ziku Driver's side. He pressed the button on top, causing the belt to slant.

Bang Bang Shooting!

As soon as he activated the gashat, John realized why he was called up to this hill, no one would notice the game area.

The two riders shared a look at each other.

"Henshin!" both declared.

John inserted his gashat and opened the lever. He tapped his icon as he dropped into a combat stance.

Gachan! Level Up! Ba-Ba-Bang! Bang-Ba-Bang! (Yow!) Bang Bang Shooting!

Gashacon Magnum!

Snipe transformed, ignoring the lightning which did far less damage then it used to, while his opponent spun his driver counter-clockwise until it returned to its original, unslanted position.

Rider Time! Kamen Rider Zi-O!

Most of his body was black, but his torso was silver with magenta accents. His face resembled a clock, though that aspect was overshadowed by his visor, which took the form of magenta writing. 'ライダー' it read, 'Rider' as John recalled.

Zikan Girade!

The Rider, Zi-O presumably, produced his own gun. Both riders opened fire, however this proved ineffective even at a range of 10 meters. Snipe was unfamiliar with enemies as agile as rider, while Zi-O seemed less experienced with his firearm in general.

Ken!

Zi-O's gun turned into a sword, which he soon proved much more skilled with. He easily deflected Snipe's shots and closed the difference.

Gashacon Bugvisor!

Snipe blocked a downward slash with his own bladed weapon, before firing several shots from his magnum into Zi-O's stomach. Zi-O stumbled back as his midsection smoked and sparked.

"You're pretty good, I'm gonna have to up my game." he produced another round object, which he activated.

Ryugen!

He slotted it into the other side of the Ziku Driver and spun it just like before.

Rider Time! Kamen Rider Zi-O! Armor Time! Hai~ Ryu~gen!

Above Zi-O a large object resembling the helmet of a rider Snipe recognized all too well, Armored Rider Ryugen. The object was lowered onto Zi-O's head so that Ryugen's face was on Zi-O's chest. He had giant budoh Lockseeds for shoulders. Protruding from his back were mechanical arms ending in Ryugen's grape themed guns in addition to these also produced a gun that was hidden in his armor. Zi-O's form change was finished when his visor changed to read 'リュウゲン' Ryugen.

Zyuu!

Converting the Zikan Girade back to gun mode, Zi-O opened fire with all four guns. "Gah!" Snipe cried as he took several direct hits before taking cover behind Zi-O's tent. He knew it would only stop him for a moment, but a moment was all he needed.

Chu Dōn!

Switching the Bugvisor into gun mode, he charged. Having to bob and weave to avoid the onslaught as he fired Zi-O's mechanical arms, breaking them off rather easily, allowing he to shift his focus.

As he continued to dodge a hail of laser fire, he focused both weapons on one target and fired. By the time Zi-O realized what he was aiming for, it was too late to dodge or block it. The energy blasts hit the Ziku Driver with enough force Zi-O back to his base form.

Both riders knew this was where the fight was going to end, so as Zi-O got to his feet, Snipe readied his final attack. Unfortunately for him, so was Zi-O.

Bang Bang Critical Finish!

W Sure Sure Shooting!

As Snipe launched a single massive blast, Zi-O fired a wave of smaller shots the weaved around Snipe's, allowing both attacks to hit dead on.

So there they were, beaten and bruised and barely standing, both having lost there rider forms. "So uh, thanks for the spar, it was great, but why did you want me to be stronger?" he wondered as he leaned on Zi-O's shoulder.

Zi-O chuckled, "Okay, so get this, there's this prophecy or something, I don't remember, but I'm supposed to be the rider king or something, so I need all the riders to be really strong."

"Is that so?, well than, good night your majesty." John said before lazily making his way back towards camp.

"Hey, before you go, catch." John turned and caught the thing that Zi-O had thrown at him. It was the same type of object the Zi-O was to transform, except it was black and blank. When John looked to question the would be king, he was gone.

"Oh well, at least I'm stronger." he shrugged before going back to his tent.

Happy New Year everyone. So, I decided to do this because I wanted to do something for new years, John is my favorite rider to write, and Zi-O is perfect for this. You may have noticed that Zi-O used an armor based on an unreleased ridewatch that is unlikely to appear in the show. I did this because Zi-O was testing John by matching him at what he's good at, and none of the main riders can really do that, thus Ryugen armor. As for weather or not this is canon (if anyone even cares) I'll leave that up to you to read and find out in the future.

Also with the first 'Side Quest' which are meant to be original, rider-centric chapters I have to ask, how comfortable would you all be if I strayed a bit a away from the Ex-Aid mythos both for the Side Quests and the story as a whole, don't worry this will still be an Ex-Aid story first and foremost, I'm just wondering how you guys would feel about a showa monster here, and reference there, and what have you. Any way, this is Time-Space Lord Eon saying See you next game!