Disclaimer: I own nothing about Sailor Moon or Kamen Rider. I only own my original character.
Fifth Step – Don't Fear The Reaper
The stables were quiet at this time of the day. All of the horses were outside grazing in the large empty field with plenty of space to move around except for one black horse. He was called Tornado and served as the personal mount of Prince Endymion. Right now, he was being groomed by a young stable boy in the palace's stable, focusing on combing the tail hair of the animal. "And there we go! Heh, your tail hair reminds me of one of those Senshi! I think it was that fire one that visited one time. Seriously, she was a hottie!"
The horse simply snorted once and continued drinking the water from his bucket.
"Maa… I guess you wouldn't care about those-" The stable boy trailed off as he spotted someone near the entrance on the other side. It was a man in his mid-twenties who had long white hair. He wore a standard grey Earth Kingdom military uniform but with the tunic partially opened at the top, revealing a small bit of his pectorals. In addition, he had a white cape attached to the back of his uniform. His short sword was sheathed and strapped to his hip. "Lord Kunzite!"
"At ease, young man," said Kunzite calmly while briefly gazing around the area. It was rare for one of the Four Kings of Heaven, especially the highest in rank and by far the strongest, to visit the stables. Even when soldiers were mounting their horses and getting deployed, they would be doing it outside and after the stable staff have finished placing saddles and bridles on the animals. "Have you seen Prince Endymion around here recently?"
"No, my Lord," answered the stable boy honestly.
"I see. Carry on then." Just as the general was about to depart the area, a screech in the air was heard which caused him to stop. "What was that?"
The next thing both he and the stable boy knew was that something had been dropped from the sky into the large pile of hay close to the stable entrance. Kunzite had his hand on his sword ready to handle the situation but something within the hay moved before a head with messy black hair popped out.
"My Prince?!"
"Kunzite…?" Endymion looked a little dazed but was otherwise fine. He quickly accepted Kunzite's offered hand and got out of the hay pile.
"What happened?" A thought came to Kunzite's mind, fueled by his suspicions about the Kingdom on the Moon. "Was this the doing of the Moon Princess?!"
"She would never…!" His blue eyes widened in horror. "Oh no… Princess Serenity and that boy are alone with that evil warrior! I must get back to them quickly! Prepare my horse!"
"Yes, your Highness!" While the stable boy moved quickly to equip the animal with the saddle and bridle, Endymion removed his dirty cape and tossed it aside before he looked at his loyal retainer.
"Kunzite, get the others on standby in case the situation escalates," ordered the young man as he sheathed his sword and headed towards Tornado.
"Yes, My Prince." Regardless of his misgivings about the other Kingdom, Kunzite would put them aside for the sake of his Prince.
Within a minute, Prince Endymion and his trusty steed took off to head back to the lake where the Princess must certainly be in danger.
When this battle was over and the adrenaline wore off from his system, the first thing that Katsuo planned to do is have a colossal fanboy freak-out. This must be how real life fans who eventually got to be actors on a Kamen Rider show must have felt but this feeling was far more intense. After all, he actually got to transform into a Rider instead of merely pretending to be one for a TV show. And this was a Rider form that he had used constantly in his eighth grader delusions.
Usage of the Tesla Bands came naturally thanks to his study of the operation manual during the last few days. His bursts of speed combined with his precise strikes developed from years of martial arts training allowed him to put pressure on Knight and force him on the defensive. But even with how hard Katsuo hit, Knight's armour was highly resilient and keeping him down wasn't easy. It wasn't long until the enemy began to adjust to Katsuo's speed bursts and began countering appropriately with his own rapier strikes, causing the youth to tumble a bit after taking a hit on his chest plate.
"Katsuo!" The Princess looked concerned but he immediately responded to her.
"I'm okay!" First he had to regroup and resettle his mind. He laid down some cover fire while repositioning himself to stand close to Serenity. 'Okay… I might need a little help for this one.'
Katsuo's left hand instinctively moved towards his card case and flipped it open. 'First, I need one other Rider to help fight Tall, Dark and Batty over there. Finally, I need one Rider to protect the Princess. If possible, he needs to give off the same vibe as Prince Endymion so that she can put some trust into her protector.'
The Diend system responded to his thoughts and caused two cards to stick out from the case. He grasped them quickly and looked at who he picked up. 'A bat for a bat and a Rider with the same live actor as PGSM Endy? They'll do.'
KAMEN RIDE: KIVA!
KAMEN RIDE: IBUKI!
After loading those two cards into the Diendriver, he pressed the trigger to fire out two balls of light which then formed into the respective Riders. Kiva had his default ruby red form with red and silver upper torso armour over a black bodysuit. The colour of his Omnilens was yellow and he had the Catena Chains wrapped around his lower right leg. As for Ibuki, he was in his default Oni form, predominantly black but with blue 'gloves', a golden looking vest and a belt which contained his tools. His face mask was completely grey, encased in a blue frame which sported small pointed ends pointing inward to the face. Finally, the top of his head sported a golden crown with the forehead section showing an Oni face. He carried his weapon in his right hand, a firearm that resembled the rotary valve of a trumpet.
"Ibuki, guard the Princess! Kiva, you're with me!" Upon giving the orders, Diend and Kiva went on the attack against Kamen Rider Knight while Ibuki stayed near Princess Serenity. Now that he had to square off against two Riders, it made it harder for Knight to concentrate and keep track of Katsuo's movements like he did before.
"You cheap brat!" shouted Knight just as he was knocked back by Kiva elbowing him in his chest armour.
"Deal with it!" Just as the boy said that last sentence, he leapt into the air and dived down for a quick Rider Kick but Kamen Rider Knight rolled to the side and in the process of rolling, grabbed another Advent Card.
"In that case, I can play the number game too!" Opening up the guard of his rapier, he slotted the new card in.
TRICK VENT
At once, four additional copies of Kamen Rider Knight split apart from the original. Two copies charged Diend and Kiva while the other two copies and the genuine Kamen Rider Knight himself tried to go after the Princess. While Ibuki was there to skillfully keep them away from the Princess with his shots and his combat skills, Katsuo knew that all Knight needed was one opening. 'I can't take any chances!'
After blocking an overhead strike from the Knight copy with his outer right forearm, Diend shifted his position and landed a roundhouse kick clockwise with his left leg which landed on the rear of the enemy to briefly knock him away, enough for the boy to use the brief time to do what he needed to do. Then his left hand went to the card case and drew the card he wanted which was loaded into the Diendriver.
ATTACK RIDE: ILLUSION
He pressed the trigger and it shot out a speck of light which then split into four copies of Diend, ready to lend a hand. One copy moved to block off the Knight copy that Katsuo kicked away earlier while the other three copies moved to drive the other Knight copies away from Ibuki and Princess Serenity. Slowly, they maneuvered themselves so that all of the Knight copies and the genuine Knight were forced closely together in a group.
The multiple copies of Diend and the lone Ibuki moved up front and all raised their firearms for a combined barrage of shots against the Knight clones which destroyed them. Before Katsuo could join in for his own attack, his systems alerted him of a fast incoming object. Already having a feeling on who it would be, he used his Tesla Bands and just barely reached Princess Serenity, keeping her away from Darkwing's grasp as it swooped in and tried to snatch her.
"Wah!" She let out a startled gasp while Diend pulled her back to where Kiva was standing. Since he couldn't change forms as a summon and wouldn't be able to bring out his own firearm, he simply stayed back.
"Sorry about the rough handling back there." He looked back at the enemy who had his Contract Monster floating just above of him and drew out another card from his buckle before loading it into his weapon.
NASTY VENT
"…!" Katsuo immediately drew a card from his own case and loaded it into the Diendriver.
ATTACK RIDE: BARRIER
He pressed the trigger on his weapon to shoot out the protective dome just as Darkwing began emitting a super powerful sonic screech that shattered the Diend copies and heavily damaged the Ibuki summon. It only lasted a bit longer before it got shattered as well. The sonic screech continued to travel towards Katsuo, Kiva and Serenity but the barrier held itself together. After all, if it could withstand Kamen Rider Black's Rider Punch, then the attack from Darkwing shouldn't be an issue.
"Give it up! You can't win here!" called out Katsuo from behind the barrier.
"Won't know for sure until I play my last card," replied Knight darkly as he drew the last card from his Advent Deck and slipped it into his rapier. Based on the golden bat logo against the blue background on one side and the fact that Darkwing was in position, Katsuo could tell that this would be a card used to activate a Rider Finishing Move.
FINAL VENT
"Gonna fight all the way to the end, huh?" asked Diend in a rhetorical tone before flipping his card case open just as Kamen Rider Knight began running forward, his previously damaged lance-type sword from Endymion reforming in his hand while his Contract Monster swooped in behind him to form a cape. Without hesitation, he loaded the card into the Diendriver.
FINAL FORM RIDE: K-K-K-KIVA!
"This will only hurt for a sec." Katsuo fired the shot directly behind Kiva who began to transform into a large bow shaped somewhat like Kivat Bat the Third, with an arrow resembling Kiva's sealed Hell's Gate leg and Kivat's main body along with stretched wings making up the bow. Knowing that time was of the essence, he drew the card he would need to activate his own finisher just as Knight leapt into the air, nearly colliding into a hawk during the jump, and flipped into position for the cloak to wrap around his body. Upon plucking it out of the case, Katsuo slipped it into the Diendriver with Knight beginning his descent and changing into the form of a giant drill to impale the enemy.
FINAL ATTACK RIDE: K-K-K-KIVA!
"Hold this for one second!" After passing his Diendriver to the Princess, Katsuo grabbed hold of the Kiva Arrow in the same crossbow position as Kaito did when he used the same weapon. He then began pulling back to charge his shot and stayed focused on the descending enemy Rider, ignoring the additional effect of day turning into night and the only light in the sky being that of a crescent moon. He didn't even notice the the four Inner Senshi teleporting right to their Princess.
"KIVAT IKUZE!" Just as Kivat's voice echoed from the weapon, the tip of the arrow split open with the Catena Chains releasing the Hell's Gate. Katsuo also knew that was his cue to take the shot and did so with the powered up arrow colliding with Kamen Right Knight's drill form, causing an explosion of gigantic proportions in the sky.
'It's over…' The Kiva Bow disappeared from his hands and he let out a large exhausted breath of air while the sky returned to normal. As soon as he turned around to retrieve his weapon, he finally noticed the other Senshi right beside the Princess. "When did you all get here? And more importantly, why didn't you get here earlier?"
"You could say we were occupied with another friend of yours," remarked Jupiter as she took out a card and pressed it into Katsuo's hand. He gave a startled gasp when he saw that it was the Kamen Rider Amazon card from his Ganbaride card collection. "He left this behind when we finally took him out."
"That's…!" A strong gust of wind blew in the area, causing him to notice another falling card heading his way which turned out to be the Kamen Rider Knight card. It was definitely his with the way the edges were a little worn due to repeated use in the machine. "This one too…?"
"It seems that you have a connection with how this attack unfolded," said Mars which worried the young boy. Her tone seemed to suggest that she was accusing him of everything. Thankfully, she did see how his body language indicated that he was a bit intimidated so she softened up her approach. "We know that this isn't your fault but at the least, we're going to need your help to get to the bottom of this."
"O-of course! I'll co-operate fully with the investigation!" He tried to shake off the shock and cocked back the end of the Diendriver so it could release his transformation.
"Princess Serenity!" The group all turned around to see Endymion's horse gallop into the area with a very worried Prince of Earth riding the beast.
"Endymion-sama! I'm glad you're okay!"
He quickly brought the horse to a stop and dismounted before approaching and hugging the Moon Princess tightly. "You're uninjured… oh, thank goodness!"
"On the bright side," began Venus, trying to look on the positive developments. "I would say that was a good field test of that armour and gear of yours, Katsuo-kun."
"Did you feel anything off when you used it?" asked Mercury, looking to get some feedback.
"No. It really responded to the way I wanted to move." A thought came to him thanks to the battle. "I do have some ideas for improvement. Maybe we can discuss them later?"
"I'm fine with that." The blue haired young lady then turned her attention to her Princess. "We must leave now, Princess Serenity."
"I understand." She reluctantly left her Prince's embrce and took her place beside Katsuo as the four Senshi formed a perimeter around them and joined hands to combine their powers for a teleport back to the Moon Kingdom. Just as the teleport began to take effect, the boy remembered something important and tried to shout it out before he would vanish.
"Prince Endymion, beware of that sorceress Beryl!"
That was as much as the Prince heard before they all disappeared from his sight. While he made his way back to his horse, his thoughts were on what the boy said. 'Is she somehow involved in this? What does Katsuo know about her?'
In any case, he would have to do some investigation on his own. Perhaps his four loyal retainers would be able to look more into the woman that the boy had named.
"So much for your warriors," muttered Beryl angrily. Once she had seen the end of the battle and the end of Kamen Rider Knight through her hawk familiar, she shut off the link to have a chat with her visitor.
"Give me a little slack here," complained the Ganbarider. "We both thought that was a normal village boy with the Princess when in reality, it was that tagalong kid that got dumped at the Moon Palace. And to think that he would actually be able to transform… seriously, how could I have anticipated that?"
"Whatever the case is, they both failed!"
"And you suppose you can do better?" challenged Acuto, his tone hardly changing. "All you can do right now is use animal familiars to be your eyes and ears on this planet. Perhaps in a few decades, you might be able to create powerful warriors of your own much like the Riders I summoned but by that time, I'm certain that your Prince would be a happy husband to the Moon Princess and the father of her children."
The red haired sorceress growled. "Damn it all!"
"If you don't want the Moon Princess to be victorious, then swear yourself in Metallia's service. She will provide you with the tools you need to rally the people of Earth behind you and support your ascension as Queen. In addition, I will be at your disposal and you will be able to make use of the other Kamen Riders to achieve your goals."
"Are they as incompetent as this Amazon and Knight that you summoned earlier?"
"To be fair, the enemy displayed a fair amount of resourcefulness in both battles. As for the competency of Knight and Amazon…" He trailed off before he produced a shiny looking silver card. "Touch this and judge for yourself."
As soon as she took the card, she could see replays of the battles that Amazon and Knight were involved in. With Knight, she saw how he was able to handle the Prince of Earth while with Amazon; she saw how that wild warrior hardly got affected by certain magical attacks of the Senshi. It was only when they started coordinating themselves properly to target the accessory on his left arm that the battle turned around. "This is their power…?"
"Indeed." He took back the silver card from her hand and put it away.
In almost a split second, her bad mood dissipated as her sight came back to reality. "You have more of these Riders?"
"Yes, I do!" The optics on Acuto's mask lit up briefly before he reached for his card case and produced two small piles of cards. One pile got placed next to Beryl's crystal ball. "Here are the Rider cards that came from that kid and can be summoned at any time."
"What about that other pile in your hand?"
"Right now, there are some compatibility issues with these cards. I have to convert them to a suitable format for my summoning device to accept. It shouldn't take me too long though and soon enough, you'll have additional Riders at your service… assuming you choose to serve Metallia."
"I will serve her," answered Beryl with the vision of Amazon fighting the Senshi still dancing around in her head. "As long as those Riders will answer my call."
The features of Acuto's face mask changed so that it looked like he was smiling as he retrieved his cards. "Splendid! We'll do a more formal ceremony later to acknowledge your service. You have something more important to do right now."
The sorceress had a puzzled look on her face. "What do you mean?"
Acuto held up a small crystal shard and pressed it into the young woman's hand, causing her to nearly stumble as another psychic image flashed in her mind. It was an image of the Moon Kingdom's mysterious armoured warrior bathed in the light of the crescent moon and about to fire the charged up arrow with the tip coated in blood red energy. "You have to warn the people of Earth about the Moon Kingdom's new Kamen Reaper."
"Kamen Reaper? I'll be spreading this fearful image to the common people?"
"While you're spreading fear, you'll be spreading hope as well," explained the Ganbarider. "As you know, hope is the antidote for fear. If you're seen as the Earth's hope, then the hearts of the people will rally around you. Especially when they see you bringing forth Riders who will fight the White Queen to their last breath."
It didn't take long for that thought to put a smile on Beryl's face.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Well, this took a bit longer to get out because of other things that swung in the way of my life and the muse. I do appreciate all the support and reviews from the previous chapter and I hope the trend continues.
Similar to Movie War 2010, defeated Riders that were originally Katsuo's cards do return to their card form and are brought back within his deck. Still toying with how many stolen Rider cards will be at Acuto's disposal.