[Author's Note: This is going to be a bit of a long note, but I feel like I need to give some context as to why you're seeing a crossover like this. I got into the Kamen Rider crossover game rather recently, about five years ago. Part of that was due to Fennikusumaru's Awakening of Kiva story. Reading it opened my mind up to the possibilities of how to do Kamen Rider crossovers.
However, in recent months, Fennikusumaru had disowned all of his works due to certain events. In an effort to show support, I decided to brush off an old idea of mine that was directly inspired from the story I read. Kiva and Awakening had a lot of core themes that tied together really well and similar games have allowed for Kamen Rider crossover potential, like Gaim's feudal warrior motifs being right at home with Fates or Build's 'three nations in conflict' plot and experimentation with ancient alien tech being similar to Three Houses' setting and plot points.
However, there's a lot of love towards the newer games, especially Awakening. Rather than look to the future, I decided to instead go back to the past. A simple idea: the first Rider and the first Lord teaming up. Originally, I had an idea to instead create an original Rider based off the Manakete for the first Fire Emblem game, but in retrospect, the Rider I had in mind would fit better with the Binding/Blazing Blade games (Coincidentally, Blazing Blade being the first game that we'd get in the west), especially with plot elements like the Durandal and the War Dragons.
As such, I decided to take a swing at the old idea I had… But I realized how I could put a spin on it… You'll see what I mean soon enough. For now, enjoy the story.]
Marth broke through the barricades that kept Talys Castle shut. He jerked back and retched as all he could see was what seemed to be clothes and a green sludge covering the hall of the castle. He didn't need to take long to figure out what had happened, especially with what Caeda said about the pirates.
"…" He shut his eyes and silently prayed for the salvation of the lives that were taken. Even now, there was needless suffering and loss of life.
"Jibuuuuur… Liked what I've done with the place?" Marth heard a disturbing voice as a… thing emerged from one of the corridors. It looked like a Venus flytrap had completely engulfed a person's body, though it was barely a person, as the other side of his body was an oversized bee.
"W-what in the name of… What are you?" Marth hesitated to take out his rapier.
"I am Flytrabee! Grashocker's deadliest monster! And you must be Marth of Altea." As the monster pronounced his kingdom with venom, Marth pulled out his rapier.
"Gra… You're with them, aren't you!?" Marth's memories of his kingdom being sacked, his father and mother killed, and his sister kidnapped flushing back to his head.
"They submitted their will to Shocker and sold their soul to the devil himself! Submit to Shocker, and you will be spared your fate." Marth glanced at the monster's belt. The belt had a large plaque that had the image of the two animals featured on Gra's flag, a ram and a goat, impaled by a large eagle's claws. He gritted his teeth… That image with that offer…
"Don't bother." Marth suddenly jerked his head as he saw someone appear from behind Flytrabee. He was more akin to a knight in green armor with yellow boots, gloves, and even a yellow scarf. His helmet wasn't that of a knight's, though. Large, bulbous red eyes and a silver mouth piece where the upper half looked like a serrated blade were the notable features of his helmet, almost being more of a mask than an actual helm. "He's already made up his mind."
"Y… You're…" Marth stepped back as he remembered the night when he had to flee his kingdom.
"Marth, I shall go. Take the others and leave. I'll hold them off… I won't fail you." He remembered the words of a fellow knight who looked just like the one who stood before him now.
"The only thing you need to know is my objective and designation. I'm the future hope of Grashocker. Shocker Rider No 1!" The knight posed for a second before he looked to Flytrabee. "Go. The king awaits you… I'll deal with the prince." Flytrabee ran off while the knight stood in front of Marth.
"So… This is what happened to you? You betrayed Altea just like Gra? To think, all those worries I had of you dying by their hands would be better than what I'm seeing right now." Marth growled.
"I haven't betrayed anyone." No 1 stood still as he saw Marth tremble and shake. He gave a loud battle cry as he ran to slash at the Rider, only for him to do a backflip. A blade came out of his left foot and clashed with the rapier. As his feet were in mid-air, the blade came out and by the time the Rider landed and stood straight, he grabbed the blade in his hand. "Now… I wish to see if living in peaceful bliss has dulled your prowess."
With a grunt from Marth, the two swords bashed against each other. Marth's rapier, while longer than No 1's blade, didn't have the arrow-headed tip that No 1's blade had. With a swift motion, No 1 yanked Marth's rapier off his hand using the tip. With a subtle turn of his head, he tossed his own blade and punched Marth in the gut. Marth coughed up blood as sixty tons of pressure hit his stomach. As he went to his knees, No 1 walked over to Marth's back, then struck him down onto the ground with both hands in a double-axe handle. No 1 pressed his foot up against Marth's head.
"Figures. You've grown soft since Altea fell. You've even become worthless without your weapon." No 1 chuckled as his foot pushed further onto Marth's head. "I have to admit, I am disappointed at what you've become."
"I…" Marth could barely speak, to which No 1 lifted his foot.
"Hmmm?" No 1 asked.
"I could say the same to you!" Marth then reached for the rapier, grabbed it, then turned over before he struck at No 1's head. Sparks flew as he staggered. Marth took this to his advantage and picked up the short, spear-like weapon that No 1 had. He then leaped forward and impaled the center of his bulky belt. "I'm sorry, old friend… But…" Marth then saw No 1's helmet break from the upper corner of his eye. "What?"
Marth didn't see a tanned face with a full set of black hair styled into a mullet, but rather a pale face with black hair that barely reached the lobe of his ear. Marth let go of his grip of the blade as No 1 continued to stagger back. He then fell onto the ground as his armor began to fade into his human body, clothed in a black Grashocker uniform. As Marth saw the person, he gave a frown.
"… You're not him." Marth noticed that there was no blood coming from the abdomen. It wasn't a deep enough stab to wound him and the belt took the brunt of the attack. Though… Marth could stop him… He held his rapier over No 1's head. And yet… his hand trembled. The moment No 1 groaned and held his head, Marth couldn't bring himself to kill him. Especially after what No 1 said.
"Where… am I?" He… didn't know where he was? "W-who are you?" He asked Marth.
"You… fought me not too long ago… How… How do you not…" Slowly, Marth came to a startling realization. "They… They bewitched you…" He muttered.
"B-bewitched… what?" No 1 looked down at his belt and noticed it. "What the hell!?" As No 1 looked at the belt, he slowly began to remember…
"Maaaan, this tuition is a bitch to pay off… Even with the college fund my parents set up, it's still not enough to get me through my second course." Nagato Nagasaki groaned as he rested his head on the pillow in his college dorm room.
"Well, there's tons of programs set up to give us the funding we need." His friend, Hachiko Akita, was at his desk, reading a book for his science course.
"Yeah, but most of those are made for people who excel in a certain subject. It's almost predetermined who gets the funding." Nagato checked his phone and looked at the few remaining dollars he had in his bank account.
"Not every program." Hachiko got up and took out a piece of paper, for which he showed Nagato. "Check it." Nagato read the paper as it said:
DOLHR PHARMACEUTICALS REQUESTS VOLUNTEER TESTING FOR NEW DRUG
¥1,000,000 COMPENSATION FOR THE TOP 10 RESULTS
While there was more text to it underneath the large letters, such as the drug being able to increase one's IQ and a desire to go back to the old days where everyone had a promising career and a steady income, Nagato just glanced at the text before he shook his head.
"I dunno, this sounds kinda fishy. Who would shell out ten million yen to random schmucks?" Nagato asked.
"But that's a million yen for both me and you! Once we pay off that tuition, we might have some money left to set us up for life!" Hachiko said.
"You're really into this, are you?" Nagato's expression remained deadpan.
"Dude, I don't know about you, but I'm going. The testing begins tomorrow at noon and it's once-in-a-lifetime. You're gonna be missing out on a mil if you let this slip past you!" Hachiko, by contrast, kept a grin.
"Fine. But only so that I can show you that it's too good to be true." Nagato sighed.
Saturday, 11:55 AM. A crowd of people gathered in front of a stage near the Shibuya station. Nagato and Hachiko were among the middle portion of the crowd.
"Man! This is gonna be great! Not only are we gonna get money, but also get smart!" Hachiko said.
"Assuming this isn't some placebo." Nagato said. Soon, a trio of women moved through the crowd. They wore a uniform black leotard with fishnet stockings and a matching red ascot and sash on their neck and waist respectively. They moved almost in unison, only breaking apart from their cloistered line to attend to each of the people. The black bangs obscured their faces like masks. Nagato soon met one as she gave him a cup with a red pill inside.
"I guess this is the pill?" He asked the woman, only for her to giggle and move over to Hachiko, who handed him a similar cup. As she proceeded to leave, Nagato looked at the pill. "You're seeing this, right? This feels more like some sort of cult than an experiment." Nagato spoke to Hachiko and pointed to the two other women as they gave them cups.
"Don't worry. This is the drug Dolhr had painstakingly made since 1992." Hachiko said.
"That long ago?" Nagato muttered. Just then, Nagato heard microphone feedback.
"Greetings, one and all. My name is Dr. Ivan Tawanovitch. Throughout the years, the economy has become a harsh environment, to the point where normal conventions of life, such as getting married or having a job, seem rather impossible." As the image of a man with a combed over hair with graying sideburns in a white suit came up on large telescreens above the stage, Nagato looked around and noticed that the crowd surrounding him were entirely comprised of millennials, himself and Hachiko included.
"Speaking from my own generation, I cannot help but feel guilty over the state. However, during my generation, we had people whose IQ pushed to well over 150 and they led society to brighter, more prosperous futures. Such a feat in today's age would be considered unreachable… Until today. By taking these pills, you will feel a huge spike in your IQ. With that increase, you'll be able to process knowledge better than you could ever imagine. And with your newfound knowledge, you will have a brighter future, a richer income, and be able to revolutionize Japan!" Dr. Tawanovitch proclaimed as many people, Hachiko included, all cheered and took the pill. There were a few people that hesitated, such as Nagato… but those moments of hesitation only showed them true horror…
Those who took the pill ended up clutching their heads in pain. Some of them began to jerk about as thin, dark grey lines pulsated over their forehead and face. Most of them weren't able to notice the weird veins before blood began to drip from their nose, followed shortly by them losing consciousness and eventually their own life.
Those who didn't take the pill weren't spared. Once they saw the horror and heard the screams, the leotard women came and shoved the pill into their mouths. Those who were smart enough to discard or even destroy the pill earned themselves a bullet to the head. Nagato's hesitation to take the pill led to a woman coming to him, taking the pill from the cup, and reaching for his mouth with the pill in her fingers.
"H-hey! Let go of me!" Nagato struggled at one of the women before another woman held him down, with the first woman forcing his mouth open and dropping the pill inside.
"Of course, such a drastic increase requires a drastic measure. Your body will now be a host for colonies upon colonies of nanomachinery, assuming you survive the incubation." Dr. Tawanovitch chortled as Nagato could feel something growing in his esophagus, before it crawled up his throat, through the nasal cavity, and into his brain. He felt a heavy pressure on his scalp and grabbed his head in pain. Unlike the others, Nagato's nanomachines weren't able to kill him, though the pressure caused him to lose consciousness. The last thing he heard was Dr. Tawanovitch issuing an order: "Bring the survivors to our lab in Gra. King Jiol will have his Riders…"
As Nagato's eyes opened and closed, he could see multiple images… The first being a group of people wearing pink and green tribal paint on their faces looking over him, some having scalpels.
As he closed his eyes and opened them again, he found himself trapped in a capsule. In front of him were about six other capsules. Each of them had a person inside wearing the same green chitin armor and black spandex. The only difference was the color of their scarf, gloves, and boots. He could see Hachiko in this get-up, with his accessories being colored orange, in front of him in a capsule labeled NO 8. He could hear some muffled noises from in the capsule, only able to make out some words.
"Each … cyborgs … ranked … close … Kamen Rider's strength…" The voice became clearer as he saw both Dr. Tawanovitch, now having a Dracula-style cape draped over his suit, and a Japanese man in what seemed like a muted green German military uniform. "And this is Shocker Rider No 1!" Dr. Tawanovitch said. Nagato closed his eyes again and moments later, he forced them open when he heard shouting.
"I don't care about strength in numbers! One is all we need! Discard the rest." This time, he saw the Japanese-German military officer give commands to a bunch of masked luchadores in skeletal motif outfits. They went over to the six capsules that Nagato could see and began to adjust some controls on them. Suddenly, each of the people in the capsules began to writhe painfully. Nagato could see Hachiko begin to gag and cough up blood as the color of his throat began to turn into a dark gray color. A mixture of a grayish goo and blood exited his mouth as he choked. Though, to Nagato's horror, he did not cry out for Hachiko.
It was as though he forgot who Hachiko was… Then, the capsule next to Hachiko's, No 7, exploded as he heard someone scream: "TOOOH!" The door that kept No 7 in flew to Nagato's capsule… And as it slammed…
It snapped Nagato from his reminiscence. Nagato began to blink and look at Marth.
"… They… Where would they be right now?" Nagato growled.
"He's after the king." Marth said. Nagato got up. Marth could see in the grasped fists and clenched teeth a feeling he was all to familiar with… The two rushed to where Flytrabee went.
As the two busted down the doors, they could see some of the remaining soldiers that the king had sent try to attack Flytrabee, only for him to spray out a green sludge that splattered over one of the soldiers' armors. He screamed in agony as the goo began to melt through the armor and reduce him to a green sludge.
"Monster!" Marth cried out as Flytrabee turned to face Marth.
"Hmph… You're still alive? I would have suspected No 1 to have killed you by now…" Flytrabee then noticed Nagato standing next to Marth. "You! Don't just stand there, kill him!"
"No…" Nagato stepped forward. "You… And anyone associated with those monsters that killed my friend… I'll kill every last one of you!" Nagato then ran towards Flytrabee, who had no time to prepare a strike. He grappled Flytrabee and pushed him against the window, their strength breaking the glass and sent them flying out of the castle towards a rocky shoreline.
As the two landed on the rocky cliffs, Nagato noticed his body had changed. He wore the very same green chitin armor that he saw the others wear, with a yellow scarf, boots, and gloves. On his waist was a belt that had a small puncture in it. Despite it, the fans inside the belt buckle rotated just fine.
"Have you gone out of your mind!?" Flytrabee shouted.
"No… In fact, for the first time in a long while, I actually thought with my mind about this…" Nagato struck a fighting pose as Flytrabee screamed out the battle cry of "Jibuuuur!" The two ran at each other as Nagato dodged Flytrabee's stinger appendage on his left hand. While he found an opening to make his attack, Flytrabee was quicker and kicked sand into Nagato's red compound eyes. While it didn't sting his eyes, the cloud of sand obscured his vision enough for Flytrabee to successfully stab him with the stinger arm.
"Direct hit! Ahahaha!" Flytrabee said.
"Heh… RIDER CHOP!" Almost instinctively, Nagato thrusted his hand down and severed Flytrabee's forearm. Nagato followed up with a blade erupting from his left foot. He kicked forward and impaled Flytrabee with the spike, then pulled it out and grabbed the spike. With both Flytrabee's arm and the spear, he began to cut at the monster, never even giving him time to kick. He soon impaled Flytrabee's arm into the monster before he kicked it into his body. Flytrabee fell down onto a more smooth, sandy area.
"JIKAAAAH!" Flytrabee staggered. Nagato leaped into the air and landed about sixty feet ahead. He went on one knee and clutched onto his now bleeding shoulder. He winced in pain as Flytrabee laughed. "You feel that? That is pain… Your brain is able to feel it once more because the alterations to your mind have been reversed… Stop this charade and return to us to get that fixed… Only then will you be numb to pain once more!"
"No… This pain… it pales in comparison to the pain I felt watching Hachiko and others like him die. I will never forget the horror and tragedy that befell them… I want you to feel that exact pain." With that, Nagato rushed at Flytrabee.
"EAT THIS! JIBUUUUR!" Flytrabee sprayed out his acidic goo at Nagato, only for him to block it with his hand. The acid ate at his glove as Nagato continued his charge. He then knocked Flytrabee down onto the ground as he continued to shoot out the goo. Once Nagato noticed where the green acid was going to land, he rolled out of the way as the slime rained all over Flytrabee. The acid began to melt his body down as Flytrabee screamed out. "YOU'LL PAY! YOU'LL PAY, YOU DOG! JIBUUUUUUUUUUUUR! JIBUUuuuurrr….." His cries began to bubble up as he turned into a green, liquidy puddle.
"Good riddance." Nagato muttered. He walked on the beach before he noticed something on the ground. A small scroll sealed in a glass, cylinder case. Nagato picked it up and, as he glanced at the sand, then to the puddle that was once Flytrabee, Nagato noticed it was something the monster dropped. He tried to remember what exactly it was, but to no avail. He drew a blank on not just the scroll, but also the name of the monster he just killed and anything else that had happened since he saw Hachiko die. "Hmph… Would be worth it not to let it fall in the wrong hands…" Nagato used his good arm to toss the scroll into the ocean…
"QUUUUUUUUE!" Only for what looked to be a large manta ray humanoid to leap out from the water, grab it, and land before tossing it to Nagato. "Don't be so swift to throw it away, Shocker Rider." Nagato glared at the humanoid. At first, he thought he was just a guy with an unkempt beard, but his face was that of a moth's. Like Flytrabee, this monster too had a stinger for an arm, though he also kept a briefcase clenched in-between his arm. The moth-stingray monster looked around. "What became of Flytrabee?" He asked.
"He was killed in battle." Nagato stood his ground, but made no move to fight.
"Then it seems like you'll take over his operation… There's been a change of plans, so this gives me the opportunity to give you the new orders." The bearded moth man handed Nagato the briefcase. "You are to deliver this to the Anti-Shocker Alliance instead. I'll take the real scroll and report back to Grashocker." The mothman gave his hand as Nagato clutched the scroll.
"What's in the briefcase?" Nagato asked.
"A fake, of course. When the scroll is opened and exposed to oxygen, the ink on the scroll will erupt into an explosive flame. This will wipe out the Anti-Shocker Alliance for sure!" As the stingray-mothman said that, Nagato heard a whinny and looked up. What looked to be a flying horse with wings swooped down, its rider striking at the mothman. Nagato rolled out of the way with both the briefcase and the scroll. He looked at the rider. A female who looked similar to Marth with the blue eyes and hair, though with longer hair and red cloth instead of Marth's blue.
While she kept the mothman busy, Nagato looked at the two things he had. He then opened the briefcase and swapped the scrolls, making sure not to be within the mothman's point of view.
"Hey! Take this and go!" Nagato tossed the scroll over the Pegasus Knight as the mothman leaped backwards into the water, taking the scroll and shouting out: "QUUUUUEEE!". With the mothman gone, the knight turned her focus to Nagato. She pointed a custom-made spear, with wings folded out just before the tip, at Nagato.
"You… You're with them, aren't you?" As she asked that, Nagato and her heard someone shout:
"Caeda!" Nagato turned to see Marth and a few others rush to accompany the two. Briefcase in hand, Nagato looked at Caeda.
Nagato Nagasaki, having regained his memories of his past life at the cost of the memories of serving Grashocker, betrayed the evil organization in the act of revenge, but now has to answer to Caeda, the Princess of Talys, a kingdom which he helped in its invasion…
Could he convince her and Marth that he is on the side of good?
To be continued…
[Author's Note: And that's the first chapter of Shocker's Emblem. You may have noticed I spelled Haetoribachi as Flytrabee. That's because I'm using the Shout Factory subs, which invent English versions of the names and thus the closest thing we're getting to official, English spellings. Here's to a crazy ride.]