Kamen Rider Voyager

by maxpower02

The Demon King People, the Maojins. For 657 years they have lived among us, leaving behind a path of carnage and destruction at their wake. One man has dedicated his life to stop them with the power of Voyager, traveling around the world and fighting the Maojins wherever he go. Join him in his journey as he seeks to stop the Maojins from unsealing and reviving their leader!

6. Showdown! Voyager vs Mariner

A/N: What's up guys, maxpower02 here. Sorry for the long wait for the new chapter. Two things: first of all, real life has been quite harsh on me. I had a lot of assignments at my university, ranging from group meetings, group work, and essays. That, and combined with my shifts at my part-time job, made me almost unable to save up ample time to continue on my story. Secondly, this chapter is quite long. And by long, I mean REALLY long. It is jampacked with action left, right, and center, and as a result, it's literally TWICE the length of my usual chapters. My friend suggested me to split it into two parts, but I felt that'll force me to retcon a few things on the previous chapter, plus the action in this chapter's quite continuous. I've already have the next few chapters planned up, and I felt that if I split this chapter into two, it'll slightly mess up my plans.

However, with the amount of fighting that this chapter has as well as the ongoing mystery that was left off from the previous chapter, I'm pretty sure that this chapter will be worth the wait! And as a quick warning, at the end of this chapter there will be a slightly graphic description of a scene, so readers' discretion is advised.

Right, let's roll on chapter 6! Also shout out for dfox300 aka RdfAng, a huge thank you for him for allowing me to use his OC Rider, Kamen Rider Kagura, for this chapter of the story! In case you did not get how Kagura ended up in this chapter, please read Kamen Rider Kagura chapter 11 beforehand, since that and this chapter as well as the upcoming chapter of Kagura are part of a mini-crossover event that we're having.

Disclaimers time!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, TOEI does.

xxx

Previously, on Kamen Rider Voyager

A series of attacks on several Lotus Industries-owned facilities has attracted the attention of both the SIG and the MCU, however Krishna was strangely reluctant to get to the bottom of it, due to him still trying to get over the fact that the company's founder and a dear friend of his, Le Ngoc Duy aka Eric, had died while he was in his travels. A chance meeting with Minh, Eric's daughter and another dear old friend of Krishna's, changed his mind however, and he decided to investigate the attacks alongside the SIG. Meanwhile, desperate to seek answers behind her father's death, Minh had decided to follow Star's advice and team up with the Swallowtail Maojin, the very Maojin who had attacked her company's facilities, in hopes that she could use the Maojin to lure out Voyager.

However, the plan quickly went awry as the Swallowtail Maojin inexplicably attacked the AIRC, the Lotus Industries' Artificial Intelligence Research Center, on the same day that Ngan's class is having a field trip there. Taking Ngan and her classmates hostage, the Swallowtail Maojin did his part in luring out Voyager, thus allowing Mariner to interfere and have the very confrontation that she wanted. However, Voyager was taken aback by the fact that Minh and Mariner were one and the same, thus preventing him from fighting to his full potential. Realizing that there's no honor in fighting an opponent who's not committed to their battle, Minh gave Krishna three days to recover and prepare himself for a one-on-one duel between them, a duel that will decide everything.

Unknown to Minh, Ngan had been watching the entire fight from the sidelines, and she was horrified by the fact that her older sister had apparently set up the entire chain of events that happened to Ngan just to have her fight with Krishna…

xxx

"What the fuck were you thinking?!"

Minh slammed Axel against the walls of her office, her hands tightly gripping the Indonesian's collar. Despite this rough treatment, Axel looked surprisingly calm, his face letting out a mocking smirk even.

"What was I thinking? What do you mean by that, Ms. Minh?"

"Don't play dumb on me. Attacking the AIRC and taking my sister and her class hostage?! That's not part of the fucking plan."

Axel chuckled, "Ms. Minh, wasn't our plan to lure out Voyager is to have me attack a Lotus Industries-owned facility and hope that Voyager would come to the scene as usual to save the day and have him fight you instead of me?"

"And your point is?"

"I've done everything according to our plan, Ms. Minh, following each and every one of its letter and down to its last full stop. I've also been quite frank in this plan of ours…the only thing that I did not tell you is which Lotus Industries facility that I'm going to attack. Your sister and her friends happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Why you…"

"What are you guys doing?"

Minh was about to punch the daylights out of Axel when she was interrupted by Thao and Tran standing on her office's doorstep.

"Minh, are you doing what I think you're doing?" Thao asked again.

"Oh, it's not like that, Thao," Minh said sheepishly, releasing her grip on Axel who also had an awkward look on his face, "We're having…a discussion! Just having a friendly, work-related discussion between the two of us. Isn't that right?"

"Yeeaaaah," Axel nodded uneasily, "It's not what you girls think."

Thao sighed. After the whole mess at the AIRC, Minh had told Thao about the plan of luring Voyager into fighting her by using a Maojin as bait on their way back to the LIT, something that shocked Thao quite considerably. However, Thao had no idea that the Maojin in question was right in front of her eyes at this very moment.

"Right. Sorry for interrupting your discussion, but I have something urgent to tell Minh."

"What is it?" Minh asked as Axel tided up his messed-up collar and shirt.

Thao showed Minh a small brown envelope, "I've written the letter that you've requested, regarding your rematch with Voyager."

"Excellent," Minh smiled, "Fire up our car, we're going to deliver that letter to him right away. I'm feeling like taking the Lexus today, what do you think?"

"Nice choice. We haven't used the Lexus in quite a while and I think that it's been collecting enough dust already. I'll warm up the engine for you."

"Much appreciated. Thanks."

As Thao left the office for the LIT's underground parking lot, Minh turned her attention back to Axel.

"I'm going out for a while," Minh told the Indonesian, "You're free to leave whenever you want. I'll ask Tran here to escort you out."

Minh then exited the office, but not before shooting out one last threatening and distrusting glare at Axel. Axel replied the glare with a glare of his own as well, a glare of betrayal and disgust. After Minh had left, immediately Axel closed the office's door shut, before bowing respectfully in front of Tran much to the young woman's bewilderment.

"Eh?" Tran blinked at the sight of Axel bowing in front of her, "What are you doing?"

"Let me handle this."

Immediately Tran's eyes glowed orange, a sign that Star had taken over her body and mind.

"Excellent work, Three of Shields," Tran complimented the bowing Axel, "You have managed to execute your part of our plan perfectly. Voyager took the bait well and he was handed a beating of a lifetime by Mariner. Such a shame that her pride and honor prevented her from finishing him off, but at least we have a rematch to look forward to."

"But that ungrateful wench treated me like utter crap," Axel snorted, "After all the hard work that I've done, she repaid me by tossing me aside like yesterday's garbage and shooing me out of the fight when I could have assisted her?!"

"Granted you did a huge mistake by putting her sister in danger and knowing that her sister is the only family that she has, Mariner would do anything for the sake of her safety. However, because you've successfully made Voyager and Mariner fight each other, I'm going to overlook that error of yours."

"Thank you, Star of the Darkness Tribe. Your kindness as an Arcana has touched me."

Tran smirked at Axel's grateful words, "Don't mention it. Our plan might have been delayed for at least a few days…but I have confidence in Mariner. Her vengeance over her father's undeserving death has made her a force to be reckoned with and even though her pride and honor as a warrior had restricted her, I believe that in their rematch, Mariner will surely tear Voyager apart. It is up to us to respect her wishes and let them fight each other interrupted…until one of them goes down, that is."

"So, what are we going to do next?" Axel asked.

Still displaying that evil smirk of hers after hearing Axel's question, Tran immediately transformed into Star, conjuring the Destruction Blade in his hands. The Arcana Maojin then swiftly created a portal of darkness with his weapon, before gesturing Axel to come with him into the portal.

"Let's continue somewhere else," Star said, before pointing his Destruction Blade at the corner of the office room, "If we stay here for too long, Minh and Thao would get suspicious. Besides, you need to continue your rest and recuperation process in my dimension after all that you've been through yesterday."

Axel glanced towards where Star had pointed his weapon, and saw a security camera recording every activity that's happening inside the room.

"What should we do about that?" Axel asked.

"You're the security camera specialist here, go figure it out for yourself," Star replied, before bursting out into chuckles the moment Axel shot a rather reluctant look at him, "Just kidding. It's okay, I'll handle that camera for you. No need to worry…"

Feeling assured, Axel followed Star into the portal, the portal closing up moments afterwards. And true to Star's words, shortly after the portal had closed up, the office's security camera began to emit some sparks, its recorded footage being turned into static. Seconds afterwards the footage displaying Axel and Star inside the office was deleted, and was replaced by a footage displaying the empty office room…

xxx

Underneath the Xich Quy Joint Stock Company Headquarters, Phu My Hung Urban Area, District 7

Star's darkness portal opened up on the walls of a spacious, dimly-lit cavern located underneath the Xich Quy Joint Stock Company Headquarters building. Stepping out of the portal, Star and Axel were greeted by the sight of the Thunder Tribe Arcanas hanging out in the cavern, which has been transformed into a makeshift living quarters. Death was seen playing billiard by herself on a pool table set up in the cavern, while Tower was seen lazing around on a small, worn-looking foldable bed. Justice, on the other hand, was sitting at a small dining table in the heart of the cavern, with a young woman dressed in a bartender's uniform on another chair next to the Arcana Maojin. The young woman was bound and gagged, her hands tied together tightly by ropes while her mouth was covered by a white cloth. The woman's body was tied to the chair by even more ropes, with the young woman struggling to free herself from her restraints. The young woman was average in build, with a relatively short height, fair complexion, and shoulder-length auburn hair with a bang over her forehead. Freckles can be clearly seen on the woman's face.

"Greetings everyone," Star greeted as he entered the cavern with Axel in tow, before he noticed the young woman next to Justice, "Who's that?"

"Some random girl that we picked up from a bar that we visited," Tower answered, lazily standing up from his bed, "We've managed to fry almost everyone there apart from that girl. Apparently when Death picked us up, Justice noticed her hiding inside the coatroom, waiting for her shift that never came. We were in a hurry, so I had the initiative to kill her right there on the spot. But for some reason Justice said that this girl could provide us with some use…if it weren't for Death's knotting skills we would have wasted our time trying to knock that girl out!"

"I did what I had to do," Death chimed in as she shot a ball with her cue stick, "Apparently Tower's little stunt earlier today had attracted some unwanted attention to us."

"What stunt?" Star asked.

"It's a long story," Justice replied, before he proceeded to rummage the struggling girl's pockets, taking out a wallet from her uniform pocket after a few seconds of searching. Justice then tossed the wallet to Star, who examined it out of curiosity.

"Vu Thi Phuc Hau, 20-years old," Star read out the woman's ID aloud, before closing the wallet and tossing it back to Justice, "And why does this girl interest you so much to the point of almost compromising your fellow Arcanas, Justice?"

Justice smirked, taking out a Maojin Card from his tuxedo's pocket as he does so. The card was a Thunder Tribe card, based on the purple line on its left hand side, however unlike most Maojin Cards; it lacked the lettering usually emblazoned on the line as well as the unique number superimposed on a Maojin Tribe's symbol that was usually engraved on the gunmetal gray backside of the card. The card depicted an Asian long-horned beetle perched on a tree bark.

"Our Kamikiri had caused a significant amount of destruction today," Justice said, "That is, until someone put an end to it."

"Was it Voyager?" Star asked, "Did he engage your Maojin in order to prepare himself for his upcoming rematch with Mariner?"

"Ah, so those two are going to fight again? Interesting," Justice stroked his chin, apparently intrigued by this turn of events.

"However, Voyager was not the one who had defeated our comrade," Tower added, "It was…another warrior."

"Another warrior?" Star asked, clearly surprised by Tower's words.

Tower nodded, "Yes, another warrior. Some Japanese fox monster calling herself Kagura. We have no idea on how powerful she is, but what we do know, that she has the ability to separate a Maojin from its host with that attack of hers, meaning that she's no laughing matter."

"I see. She could become a significant threat to us one day…it is best that she's silenced once and for all before she could become too much of a threat for us," Star said, "However, we should not forget about the upcoming rematch between Voyager and Mariner. The two biggest threats to our existence…going up against one another in a battle to the death. Mariner told me that we should not interfere in the rematch as it would tarnish the sanctity of the battle and I believe we should respect that…until one of them falls, that is."

"What do you have in mind?" Tower asked.

"Justice, if I'm not mistaken…you're going to use that girl as the Kamikiri's new host, aren't you?"

"Took the words out of my mouth," Justice chuckled, "As witty as ever, Star."

"Excellent. What we're going to do here is wait until either Voyager or Mariner got too injured to continue fighting, before we send in both the Swallowtail and the Kamikiri together in order to take out the other one. That way, the two biggest threats to us Maojins will be out of the picture in a single swoop, one from rematch, and the other one from our ambush. Alternatively, those two would become too weakened to fight back from our surprise attack and the Swallowtail and the Kamikiri double-teaming them should done the job quite nicely."

"But Star, didn't you say that we must respect Mariner's wishes to not interfere with the rematch?" Justice asked.

Star bursts out into laughter, "As much as Mariner valued her pride and honor as a warrior highly, she's merely a tool in my plans. And once a tool had outlived its usefulness, that tool shall be thrown away into the garbage."

"I like the sound of that," Tower smirked, before suddenly he realized something, "But what about that Kagura fox monster?"

"Once we've taken out both Voyager and Mariner, we'll take out this Kagura as well. I believe two of our kind should be enough to overwhelm Kagura."

"Oh yes," Axel smacked his lips in excitement, "I can't wait to exact my revenge on that ungrateful wench for the way she treated me after everything that I've done for her!"

"Now, now, let's not get too over ourselves, we must be patient," Star told Axel, "So the plan is settled. The Swallowtail and the Kamikiri shall oversee the rematch between Voyager and Mariner, and they will ambush them when the time's right. Afterwards, we'll deal with Kagura."

"Sounds good enough for me," Tower nodded, before turning his attention towards Justice, "So, shall we start?"

Justice nodded, standing up from his seat with the Kamikiri Maojin's card in his hand. Glancing at the card and the struggling Hau, an evil smirk appeared on Justice's face, before the Arcana Maojin quickly slammed the card against Hau's chest. The young woman immediately lets out a muffled cry of pain as purple energies began to surge into her body, her eyes flashing a purplish glow. Glowing purple veins began to appear on Hau's skin as the young woman's thrashing became more and more violent. Within seconds a blinding purple glow had overtaken the poor bartender's body, before the glow died out quickly to reveal the Kamikiri Maojin, refreshed and rejuvenated. Roaring aloud in delight, the Kamikiri Maojin easily broke free from his restraints, snapping the ropes restraining him and shattering the chair where his human host had sat.

Smirking in delight, Axel's eyes glowed purple, his entire body following suit. Within seconds Axel transformed into the Swallowtail Maojin in a burst of purple energy, letting out an excited laugh as he joined the Kamikiri Maojin. Both Tower and Justice let out jubilant smiles at their two underlings' eagerness, while Star lets out a pleased chuckle.

"It's good to be back," the Kamikiri Maojin said, cracking his neck twice, "So, we're going to be partners, huh?"

"That's right," replied the Swallowtail Maojin, "Together, we will ensure the end of those who dare to oppose us! Especially that ungrateful wench Mariner!"

"I just can't wait to tear that fucking Kagura apart," the Kamikiri Maojin punched his palm several times, "That bitch had humiliated me…and I can't wait to see her head rolling on the ground."

"Easy there," Star interrupted, patting the Kamikiri Maojin on the shoulder, "You will have your chance. But first, let's wait until the day of the rematch…and wait for our moment to shine."

And with that Star, the Swallowtail Maojin, and the Kamikiri Maojin all laughed evilly, their laughter echoing throughout the cavern. Both Tower and Justice joined in as well, while Death looked somewhat uneasy, gripping her cue stick tightly from the sidelines…

xxx

KAMEN RIDER VOYAGER

Episode 6: Showdown! Voyager vs. Mariner

OP: Eiyuu no Uta – THE ALFEE

xxx

The next day

Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway

Thao carefully drove her old burgundy Proton Saga LMST through the crowded Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Expressway, which was still recovering from the Kamikiri Maojin's attack the previous day. Crane trucks were seen picking up the wreckages of the vehicles that fell victim to the Maojin's wrath, with traffic officers asking drivers on the expressway to drive carefully so that the crane trucks would perform their work smoothly without interruption. The combination of the wreckages still lying on the expressway, the crane trucks clearing them away, traffic officers directing vehicles around the crane trucks and wreckages, as well as the morning's heavy traffic has caused a significant traffic jam to occur on the Ho Chi Minh City – Truong Luong Expressway, with all 6-lanes of it packed with vehicles going to and from the city.

For Minh, this was the first time that she had travelled with Thao's own car as opposed to one of the many cars that she had in her collection and the differences were quite stark. Thao had taken her time to take care of Minh's collection so much, she sometimes forgot to take care of her own car, as indicated by the thin layer of dust gathering on both the car's exterior and interior. The air conditioner's slightly broken, forcing Minh to open her window a bit to let some fresh air in, while the engine has been creating a series of creaking noises much to Minh's concern. However, Thao did assure her before they go that after their trip, Thao's going to bring her car to a service center to have it fixed up, which was something that slightly relieved Minh's worries.

Thao's dilapidated car was not the biggest concern in Minh's mind right now, though.

The past 24 hours has been quite intense for Minh, starting off with Ngan refusing to answer her calls, Axel being surprisingly nonchalant and playing innocent about his stunt in taking Ngan and her class hostage, before being capped off by Minh being dragged out of her car by some Japanese fox-girl who accused her of deliberately using Ngan as bait in her fight against Voyager.

Minh sighed as she remembered that encounter in front of Steffi's apartment. She was just accompanying Thao in delivering the letter regarding her rematch with Voyager when all of a sudden, this Japanese girl came out of nowhere, broke her car window, dragged her out of her car, and slammed her against a nearby wall. Her brute strength indicated that she wasn't human, along with the fact that she had foxlike features on her body and blue flames all around her. Then that fox-girl went ahead and accused her of using Ngan for the sake of her fight against Voyager.

Ngan was the only family that Minh had after the death of her parents and hurting her was the last thing on her mind. Knowing that Axel as the Swallowtail Maojin had used Ngan and her classmates as bait for her plan was bad enough and the fact that the Japanese fox-girl had flat out accused her of deliberately using Ngan as bait added more to the pain.

"So that's why Ngan did not want me to either call or visit her yesterday…" Minh thought up sadly as she stared out of the car window, clearly feeling bad on what had happened, "I knew that I shouldn't have trusted that Maojin straight away…but Star did guarantee that the plan he had would work…"

"Minh, you okay?" Thao called out, noticing her friend's somber expression from her rear-view mirror, "Should I put some music to cheer you up?"

"Sure," Minh nodded, "I mean, this traffic jam's the worst, right? It's good to have some music to pass the time. What do you have in mind?"

"I only have Kasabian albums in this car," Thao replied, "Which one should I play? Kasabian? West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum? 48:13? For Crying Out Loud?"

"Any album would do," Minh said, "I'm not a big fan of Kasabian anyway…so I won't be bothered by whichever album that you're playing."

"Right, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum it is."

Reaching for her glovebox, Thao picked up the album in question before opening it, inserting the disc into the Proton's CD player. Seconds afterwards the familiar instrumentals from the first song of the album, Underdog, was heard from the car's stereo system.

"Heal me if you dare, hold my head up everywhere, keep myself right on this train…"

As Tom Meighan's vocals echoed inside the car, Thao slowly hummed a tune to herself as she clearly enjoyed the music from her favorite band, while Minh stared out of her window, once again drowning herself in her thoughts, recalling the events that occurred yesterday…

"You really don't know anything, do you? Drop the title of Kamen Rider, Mariner. You may be telling the truth, but you don't deserve to bear the title anyway…"

To be honest Minh was quite surprised when that fox-girl said that, even though she had already told the fox-girl that she did not know anything about the Swallowtail Maojin taking Ngan and her class hostage. Most would have scoffed that off and say that Minh was just looking for some excuses, but for some reason that fox-girl believed her straight away, without Minh having to present more evidence or explain in more depth.

And regarding the title of Kamen Rider…Minh had to admit that she did not adopt that title for a long time, having taken the title during her encounter with Krishna and the others in the sewer the other day. But for some reason…she felt that if her father had adopted the title during his tenure as Mariner, he would have used it with pride and treated it as a personal honor of his. It was a name that signified the armor itself, a warrior of justice, savior of mankind, just like her father had been when he was alive. And to have that fox-girl telling her to drop the title altogether because of what she did…Minh felt that her actions had betrayed the title that she had just taken. If he was still alive, her father would have been disappointed at her.

"My father has always taught me about pride, honor, and respect as well as how to uphold them. He taught me not to strike down a weakened opponent, not to use someone weaker than you or someone defenseless to your personal advantage, not to attack someone defenseless, not to strike someone from the back, and to always respect your opponent. And by putting Ngan in danger…knowingly or not, it means that I've broken one of the most important rules of honorable combat that my father has taught me…" Minh lamented as she looked at the clouds above, remembering the words that the fox-girl had told her yesterday, "Gosh…dad would be so disappointed in me if he found out about this…"

And as Minh went deeper and deeper into her thoughts, the words of the Yatagarasu, who had intervened to prevent the fox-girl from laying waste on her, began to echo in her mind…

"As of now, you walk a dark path made of unfounded hatred. But you still have the chance to turn around. I recommend that you think carefully about the decisions that you will make in the future, as well as who you ought to trust. If I'm not wrong…you've made your judgement on only half the story, didn't you?"

Those words took Minh aback. It was true that her vendetta towards Voyager started because of a single testimony…from Tran. Tran Phuong Trang, the sole survivor of the ambush that took the life of Minh and Ngan's father, Le Ngoc Duy aka Eric. This made Minh wonder – should she keep on trusting Star's judgement? He, after all, was the one who had saved Tran from the ambush and had protected her all this time, to the point of holding off the young woman's brain cancer to allow Eric and his Lotus Industries medical team to figure out a way to cure her from it. But at the same time, should she allow Krishna to give her his side of the story? Perhaps it'll give her a clearer insight on who actually murdered Eric.

"After all, no matter how guilty a criminal is, he or she should be allowed to defend themselves in court…" Minh thought to herself, recalling all of those episodes of Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent that she used to watch together with her father when she was younger, "Maybe that Yatagarasu guy was right. If I really wanted to avenge my father's death, I should at least allow Krishna to give out his side of the story…"

"Come on! Move, dammit!" Thao cursed, pressing on the car's horn repeatedly to urge the bus in front of her to move as Kasabian's Fast Fuse was played on the stereo.

"So come get me! All you fuckers can't touch me! I'm a hooligan choir, sire, sit don't scatter, it don't matter, get me one! Two! Three!"

Normally a song that fast-paced would rile someone up, but not for Minh. Instead, she slowly closed her eyes, as her mind slowly remembered the last time she saw her father…

xxx

Two years ago

LIT Penthouse

It was a dark, stormy night, with Ho Chi Minh City experiencing one of its worst torrential downpours in recent history. At the warm safe comfort of the LIT Penthouse, Minh was busy doing her school homework in her room, while Thao was watching TV on the living room. Ngan, on the other hand, was fast asleep on Minh's room, the two girls having shared the room together. Both Tran and Eric were not at the penthouse, as they were visiting a Lotus Industries-affiliated hospital in order to check on the progression of the former's cancer.

A ding was heard from the penthouse elevator, prompting Thao to quickly stood up to greet whoever's coming through it. But to her horror, what came inside was a bloodied athletic man in his 40s, his short black hair all roughed up while blood stains were scattered all over his blue T-shirt. On his shoulder was an unconscious Tran, who looked slightly bruised but otherwise unharmed.

"Minh!" Thao called out as she rushed towards the two, "Come and help me!"

Minh quickly ran out of her room and immediately gasped in horror as she saw Thao helping the man lay Tran on the ground, before the man himself collapsed on his back next to her. Instantly recognizing the man as Eric, her father, Minh immediately rushed towards her father's side.

"Dad!" Minh called out, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the multitude of stab wounds littering Eric's body, with a large and horrific-looking gaping wound present on the right side of the man's abdomen, "What happened?!"

"We…we got ambushed," Eric coughed out blood, trying to muster the strength to talk to his daughter, "W-e…w-ere…on..o-ur…w-ay…to..the…h-o-s-p-ital…when…some-one…attack..ed…us…out..of..no-where…"

"Dad, hang in there!" Minh cried out, tears starting to form in her eyes as Thao looked on sadly, "Please! I'll call you an ambulance…just…"

"Minh, it's…too..la-te…" Eric stammered, knowing that his time was coming soon, "I…I've used…the…l-ast…of…my strength…to…bring Tran…here…safe-ly…I've…lost…too..mu-ch…blood…"

"Dad…"

"Mr. Duy, please hang on!" Thao urged, like Minh she was close to bursting into tears, "We'll get you some medical help as soon as possible! Just…don't talk about dying here! You're a strong man! We all know it!"

"T-hao…Vo Hieu Thao…thank you," Eric lets out a weak, sad smile, "Don't…worry…about…me…Please…take….good care…of Minh…and Ngan for me…"

"Dad…don't say things like that…" Minh wept, with Thao crying silently next to her.

"Le…Thao…Minh," Eric called out, slowly caressing his crying daughter's face with his bloodied hand, "You've…grown up…to be…quite…the…amazing…daughter…I…I'm proud…to be…your…father…"

"Dad…please don't die on us!"

"Please…take care…of…Ngan…Thao…Tran…and the company…for…me…" Eric continued, his breathing becoming more and more shallower as he slowly reached for his pocket, taking out his ScanDriver and handing it over to Minh, "Use…this…to…protect…this…city…I…I…I think…you're…ready…now…"

"You're giving me your ScanDriver? Dad…does it mean…"

Eric nodded weakly, "Yes…you're…now…the new…Mariner…I…I have…passed down…the…title to…you…Please…use…everything…that…I've…taught…you…well…and…protect everyone…in…this…city…"

"But I'm not ready yet, Dad! I'm still 17-years old! I still have school! I can't bear all the responsibilities that you've had!"

"It's okay…" Eric assured, coughing up more blood before continuing, "I…I've…already…taught…you…everything…that…you need…to know…I…I believe in you…Minh…you…you can become…a better person in life…than myself…"

"Dad…"

"You have…a bright future…ahead of you," Eric smiled weakly, "I…believe in you, Minh…my daughter…now go out there…and make your old man proud…and…you…must know…that…I…will…always…love you…"

And with that Eric drew his last breath, his hands falling limply by his side. Minh, unable to contain her sadness within her, broke into tears of sorrow, her father's ScanDriver clutched tightly in her hands. Thao, despite being deeply saddened by Eric's passing, tried her best to be strong, silently closing Eric's eyes before embracing the sobbing Minh in a hug…

xxx

The next day

Cho Ray Hospital

Tran slept peacefully on her bed, an oxygen mask strapped to her face with a variety of medical equipment hooked onto her body. Sitting next to her bed was Minh, the 17-year old looking at her friend with a sad expression on her face. Thao was outside the hospital building, busy dealing with journalists asking for information regarding Eric's sudden and tragic passing. Minh, Thao, and the Lotus Industries lawyers had agreed to cover up Eric's death as a traffic accident, with Minh being appointed as Eric's replacement as the chairperson of Lotus Industries. Until she graduated from high school, she will be assisted by her father's trusted aides in running day-to-day business in Lotus Industries. That should ease the pressure mounting on Minh that resulted from her getting the position in such short notice, while at the same time it enabled Minh to get used to her new role.

Ngan was informed about Eric's death earlier in the morning by Minh and Thao and since Ngan had no idea about Eric's identity as Mariner as well as the fact that Minh had succeeded him, the two have decided to break the news to Ngan by using the cover story that they and the lawyers had agreed on. Naturally Ngan was devastated upon hearing the news of Eric's death and the teen was literally inconsolable, not even the combined efforts of Minh and Thao could calm her down. It's a good thing that Wind stepped in and volunteered herself to take care of Ngan during these tough times, thus allowing Minh and Thao to concentrate their efforts in sorting out themselves, Lotus Industries, and Tran.

Speaking about Tran, she had not awakened since the dying Eric had brought her back to the LIT using the last of his strength and she was immediately rushed to Cho Ray Hospital for further treatment. The doctors found significant internal bleeding on Tran's abdomen and thighs, as well as a few broken ribs, a fractured right arm, and a fractured left leg. However, much to the relief of Minh and Thao, they were not too serious, and Tran would only need a couple day's rest in the hospital to recover herself.

The psychological trauma from being the only survivor of the ambush that had mortally wounded Eric was another story, though.

Minh lets out a sad sigh as she looked at Tran's motionless body in front of her, the latter breathing steadily with the aid of the oxygen mask on her face. The fact that her father had been cruelly taken away from her and a good friend of hers has been hurt quite badly were too much for Minh to handle, and the 17-year old wept slowly at Tran's bedside.

"Who could have done such a thing to the two of you?" Minh wondered sadly, caressing Tran's forehead as she wiped away her tears, "Why my father? Why him? Why does he have to die?"

"I believe I have the answer for that, young Le Thao Minh."

Wiping away her tears, Minh looked around the hospital room in sheer bewilderment, clearly surprised at the eerie-sounding disembodied male voice that had just spoken to her.

"Who said that?" Minh asked warily, her senses were all on high alert for anything unusual inside the room, "Show yourself!"

As if on cue, suddenly an orange glow began to overtake Tran's body, surprising Minh to the point of her slowly backing her chair away from Tran's bed out of fear. The air above Tran became distorted and darkened, as a ghostly apparition of Star's bust appeared above the unconscious woman.

"Wh-who are you?" Minh stammered, clearly frightened by the apparition in front of her.

"Do not be afraid, Le Thao Minh," Star replied, his voice sounds soothing despite the eeriness of his tone, "I am a friend, not your enemy."

"You…you're a Maojin, aren't you?" Minh asked, "You're one of those creatures that my father used to fought!"

"It is true that I am a Maojin, but fear not, as I am a benevolent one."

"Benevolent?"

"You see, not all Maojins are evil," Star explained, "Most of them are indeed evil and they paid for their crimes by being defeated by people like your father. But some, like me, choose to live among humanity to protect them from my own kind."

"My father? How did you know my father?"

"You might not realize this, Le Thao Minh, but I've been living in your household for quite some time."

"What are you talking about?" Minh asked, slowly overcoming her fear of the being in front of her even though she's still wary about him.

"My name is Star. I am an Arcana Maojin, one of the strongest ones of my kind, and I am Tran Phuong Trang's guardian angel, so to speak," Star replied, "Your friend Tran here…she has stage 4 glioblastoma. A condition that spells certain death to its sufferer…I think you know that already."

Minh nodded. Star's words were indeed true – Tran had been quite the medical anomaly within the medical community in Vietnam. The daughter of a friend of Eric's, Tran has been suffering from stage 4 glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, ever since she was 9-years old. Sufferers of stage 4 glioblastoma were usually given only a few years, months, or even weeks to live, however Tran managed to live for a whopping 11 years despite the severe cancer growing inside her head. Doctors all over Vietnam and Southeast Asia has been baffled by Tran's condition, with Tran's father, a scientist at Lotus Industries, enlisting Eric's help to investigate her daughter's condition, as well as to develop the technology necessary to cure Tran's cancer. When Tran's father passed away mysteriously, Eric took Tran underneath his care, vowing to continue his departed friend's quest to find out the truth about Tran's condition and to cure her from her cancer.

"Your friend's father alongside your father had worked hard in finding the answers behind the question on why your friend could survive as long as she did," Star said, "What they don't know…the reason behind Tran's resilience towards her cancer…was me."

"You?" Minh's eyes went wide in shock, "What are you talking about?"

"I have merged with this woman ever since she was a child," Star answered, "I helped her body ward off her cancer cells, while also at the same time protecting her from the dangers all around her. Like I said…I'm Tran's guardian angel."

"If you're really Tran's guardian angel, that means…"

"Correct. It was because of me that Tran was able to survive the ambush that took your father's life."

"Wait, what did you meant by survive the ambush?" a clearly surprised Minh asked, "You were there, weren't you?"

Star nodded, "Exactly. I saw everything that happened yesterday night."

Realizing what Star had said, suddenly Minh knelt to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Please…I beg you…" Minh pleaded tearfully in front of Star, "Tell me…what happened. Tell me…what kind of monster had taken my father away from me. Tell me…why my father and Tran got brutally attacked like that. Tell me…why my father had to die such a horrible death! Please…I beg you…tell me everything!"

Star lets out a chuckle, "Very well. I will tell you everything that happened last night."

Wiping away her tears, Minh returned to her seat as Star began his story.

"Your father was a powerful warrior, a hero like no other, a savior of mankind. However, this made him a prime target for the treacherous members of my kind. A lot of my fellow Maojins have tried and failed to take him out…but the one who had ambushed your father and your friend here…he was not a Maojin at all."

"Not…a Maojin?" Minh gasped in disbelief.

"That is correct. The one who had attacked your father and Tran…was in fact an armored warrior. A beetle-themed armored warrior…who can control electricity.Your father fought valiantly to protect Tran, but sadly, that warrior was too strong for him and he was defeated. I had to step in and managed to prevent that warrior from harming Tran. Your father would have died on the spot if it wasn't for my intervention…and despite the loss of such a great warrior, I'm relieved to know that he had managed to use the last of his strength well to deliver Tran back to safety."

"Who…who was that warrior?"

"That I don't know. But together…we can find out who that warrior is…and make them pay. That warrior had taken away a dear comrade of mine and they had also taken away your dear father."

Minh slowly clenched her fists, her sadness and sorrow had turned into anger upon listening to Star's words, "What are you suggesting?"

"We should combine our forces, Le Thao Minh," Star replied, "You are now the new bearer of the Mariner title and armor, the successor to your father. With your new power and training that you've received from your father, I believe that you've become a warrior who is just as formidable as him. Do you want that warrior to pay for what they did to you? To your family?"

"Yes…yes!" Minh exclaimed, her fists tightly clenched in determination, "That warrior has taken away my father…someone who I loved very dearly…whoever that warrior is, he or she shall pay for the grave crime that they have done to my family!"

"Excellent," Star smirked evilly, "I will help you track down the warrior that had killed your father, as well as protecting your dear friend here from her cancer until you've found a cure for it. I'll let Tran live as long as she and you wanted…under one condition."

"What is it?"

"You must trust me in everything, every word that I say, and every action that I do. I have fought alongside your father and respected him as an ally and I expect you, as the new Mariner, would do the same thing as well. I have more experience in handling things like these…and they say experience is the best teacher, no?"

"True," Minh nodded, "And what happens if I somehow disobey?"

Star glanced at the unconscious Tran, "Then I could no longer guarantee Tran's survival."

Minh gulped slightly. Something inside her mind told her that Star, despite his claims of being Tran's guardian angel and being a close acquaintance of her father, was someone that she should not trust at all. However, something else inside her mind urged her to seek out the answers regarding her father's death, and she felt that Star's the best…no, the only option that she had for answers. Minh also felt the need to avenge her father's undeserving death, that the warrior who had killed her father should pay for the crimes that they had committed, and Star was the perfect person to help with her vendetta. Last but not least, Tran was one of Minh's closest friends and she could not just stand still, do nothing, and watch Tran succumb to her cancer. Minh must continue her father's efforts in finding a cure for Tran\s cancer and once again, she felt that Star could help her in that process.

"You've got yourself a deal," Minh told Star, "However…if you know my father well, you should know that he's the type of person who upholds pride, honor, and justice very dearly. I expect you to do the same with me. I want to settle things with my father's murderer in a fair and honorable combat, so whatever happens, you should not interfere at all. It should be between me and my father's murderer, that's it. No outside interference at all. Understand?"

"I respect your wishes, Le Thao Minh. Do not worry, I will only assist you in seeking out the warrior who had murdered your father as well as giving you advices on what you should do to draw that warrior out for your fair and honorable combat."

"Good," Minh nodded, "And one last thing. Since you're a Maojin, I could not trust you entirely just yet. Prove to me that you're someone that I could trust my judgement with."

Star chuckled, "I knew that you would have said that. Watch this."

Star slowly floated above Tran's body, his hands hanging over her. With Tran's entire body still glowing orange underneath him, Star began to wave his hands, causing a sprinkle of orange glitter to fall out from the Arcana Maojin's hands and into Tran's body. The glitter made contact Tran's skin, erasing the bruises all over her body as well as mending the young woman's broken ribs and fractured limbs. As Minh watched on in sheer awe and disbelief, Tran slowly came to, her consciousness being restored by Star's healing glitter.

"What did you do to her?" Minh asked, still awestruck by what Star had done.

"It is simple, really…I merely used my power to heal her of her injuries. I would have used this on her cancer, but they were too severe…which is why my presence was needed to hold the cancer cells at bay."

"Incredible…"

"Indeed. She should wake up in a few moments…that means I should retreat back into her body for now. It has been nice talking to you, Le Thao Minh…and I hope that our partnership could become a fruitful one."

"Same here. I hope that you could help me as much as you did to my late father."

And with that, Star's ghostly apparition disappeared into thin air, while at the same time the orange glow on Tran's body disappeared. Seconds afterwards Tran opened her eyes, clearly looking groggy after what she's been through.

"Where…where am I?" Tran asked, her slightly blurry eyesight slowly adjusting itself to her unfamiliar environment.

"Tran," Minh called, prompting Tran to slowly look at her, "You're in the Cho Ray Hospital."

"Wh…what happened?" Tran asked again.

"You and Dad got attacked on your way to Dad's friend's hospital," Minh replied, "You've managed to survive the attack…but Dad…"

Knowing what Minh meant, Tran quietly sobbed. Eric's death was devastating to her too, as the man had taken care of her for quite a while since the death of her own father, to the point of Tran considering Eric as a father of her own as well. Tran also owed Eric a lot for his efforts in trying to figure out a cure for her cancer and with his death, the research for her cure has gone into a standstill.

"So Dad did not make it…that thunder beetle warrior was indeed too powerful for him…"

"Star was right…"

"You've met Star?" Tran asked, clearly surprised by what Minh had said.

Minh nodded, "Yeah, he showed himself to me before you came to. And he told me everything that had happened and everything about your condition. But it's okay. Thao and I will take good care of you…and I'll make sure that what happened in this room, stays in this room…

xxx

"Finally, we're out of that goddamn expressway,"

Thao's somewhat relieved voice brought Minh back to reality. Blinking her eyes a couple of times as she looked around at her surroundings, Minh saw that the hustle and bustle of the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Expressway has been replaced with the peaceful sceneries of the rural countryside. Gone were the congested traffic of the expressway and even though a couple of large trucks and intercity buses were still out and about, the general traffic around Thao's car was quite sparse.

"Are we in Tien Giang Province already?" Minh asked, surprised at the change of scenery around her.

"Yeah," Thao nodded as she stopped at a traffic light, "I think in about twenty-five minutes or so we'll be arriving at the city of My Tho."

"That was quick."

"Quick? It took me almost three goddamn hours to get out of that expressway! Man, that was one of the worst traffic jams that I've ever experienced. I'm quite surprised that you didn't feel it at all, Minh!"

"Yeah," Minh nodded rather sheepishly, clearly feeling bad for her remark that had caused Thao to burst out like that, "Guessed I spaced out for too long."

"You okay?" Thao asked, her tone reverting to her usual caring one, "You've been spacing out quite a lot since the start of our trip. You sure you don't want to tell me anything about it?"

"I'm good," Minh replied, "It's just…I had a lot of things in my mind."

"What kind of things?"

"You know…things."

"It was about yesterday, wasn't it? About what happened when we delivered that rematch letter to Krishna?"

Minh sighed. She knew Thao would say that despite her best efforts of keeping it secret from her, as having grown up with her and worked alongside her for such a long time, Thao literally knew everything that Minh's thinking right now.

"There's no hiding anything from you, huh?"

Thao chuckled as the traffic light became green, prompting her to continue her driving, "I've been alongside you throughout your entire life, Minh. Of course I know what you're thinking right now. So, do you want to tell me more about it? I can give you some useful advice, you know."

Minh shook her head, "Maybe later. We've got our new equipment to pick up, remember?"

Thao grinned upon hearing that, "Right. It's been a while since I saw that thing…can't wait to see it again. I hope Professor Steven and his team has made some improvements on it."

"Boy he did. When he called me, he's been bragging about how he had turned it into his very own personal masterpiece," Minh said, recalling the phone call that she had earlier this morning which started off the entire trip, "But the next phase on the project lies completely on us though. We need to test it and use it to gather more data before Professor Steven's team could move on with the mass-production process."

"We'll see about that," Thao said as she navigated her car around a roundabout located in front of the My Tho city gate before entering it afterwards, "Let's hope we could do our part successfully."

xxx

Ten minutes later

My Tho Harbor

Thao parked her car in front of the My Tho Harbor building, before getting off the vehicle along with Minh. Awaiting the two young woman in the harbor building was an unassuming-looking young man, clad in a black and white hooped shirt and blue denim jeans, a non la (Vietnamese straw hat) completing his look. After exchanging greetings with the young man, Minh and Thao were led to a small pier located within the harbor, where a small wooden motorboat awaited them. The young man helped Minh and Thao into the boat, before he quickly navigated the boat away from the pier.

The waters of the Mekong River that day were calm and steady, the perfect condition for one to set sail. Passing by several similar wooden motorboats carrying a variety of tourists who were out sightseeing on the Mekong, the young man steered his boat towards the middle of the river, before stopping at what seems to be a pile of wooden branches being tied together in the murky waters of the Mekong.

After he had stopped his boat, the young man quickly took out his cellphone, taking a second or two to make sure that there were no boats passing by around them, before dialing a number into his cellphone.

"Password?" asked a gruff male voice from the other side of the line.

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," the man replied.

"Correct. You have been granted access," came the reply from the phone.

"Man, why is our secret facility's password so generic?" Thao whispered, making sure that she was out of the young man's earshot.

"Beats me," Minh shrugged, "I wasn't the one who came up with it..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Professor Steven's in charge of our Mekong Delta Research and Development Facility…he's the one who had probably came up with that password."

"Well tell him to come up with something more creative than that!"

"If we have the time."

Seconds after the young man had hung up his call, the waters around the pile of branches began to ripple steadily, with the intensity of the ripples increasing by the second. No longer than a minute later, the ripples had become violent to the point of almost shaking Minh and Thao off the boat, yet the young man was strangely unmoved by his boat being rocked by the increasingly choppy waters.

Suddenly, without warning, a large metallic capsule emerged from the Mekong, the pile of branches resting nicely on top of it. The capsule resembled a futuristic-looking elevator carriage of some sort, colored dark silver with patches of muddy brown from the Mekong's murky waters and green from moss growing on the capsule's service, while the Lotus Industries' logo was emblazoned above the capsule's metallic doors. The capsule's doors opened the moment it had completely risen from the depths of the Mekong, prompting the young man to quickly help Minh and Thao into the capsule before anyone else could notice them. Once the two young women had boarded the capsule, the capsule's doors slammed themselves shut, before it quickly retreated into the Mekong.

xxx

Soon afterwards, Minh and Thao found themselves inside a hi-tech, futuristic-looking laboratory that belittled the rustic-looking capsule that they were in just moments ago. The laboratory was a huge one, about the size of a small airplane hangar, with a multitude of scientists in lab-coats going back and forth inside the lab, each of them busy their respective projects that has been assigned to them. The scientists were working on a variety of weapons and devices that looked lightyears ahead of what Lotus Industries has been making so far, making the anti-Maojin weapons that the company had commissioned for the MCU look completely obsolete and outdated. Overseeing the scientists was a man in his late thirties, wearing a long lab-coat over his black polo shirt that goes well with his black trousers and shoes. The man has short and spiky black hair styled into a slight mohawk, fair white skin, and a pair of white thin-framed glasses on his face, a red tie on his polo shirt completing his look.

Professor Dang Huy, or Professor Steven as he was better known, was the 38-year old head of the Lotus Industries Mekong Delta Research and Development Facility, a top-secret facility located hidden underneath the murky waters of the Mekong River, just off the coast of the city of My Tho in the province of Tien Giang. Built using the salvaged parts of submarines serving the both the Vietnamese Navy and the American Navy during both World War 2 and the Vietnam War, the existence of the Mekong Delta Research and Development Facility was only known to a select amount of people within the Lotus Industries hierarchy, namely Professor Steven himself, Minh, Thao, and the scientists working in the facility. It was in this very facility that Lotus Industries conducted the development of an array of new, never-before-seen weapons, devices, inventions, equipment, and armaments, ready to undergo a very tough and thorough selection process once they're completed before they're given the green-light to be mass produced in Lotus Industries' other, more public facilities.

Kamen Rider Mariner's TransGauntlet, the trilobite-like device attached to her right gauntlet that enabled the Rider to perform her ArmTrans abilities, was developed in this very facility, as it was a feature that was not available when Minh first inherited the Mariner armor from her late father. And it was in this very facility as well that Minh commissioned regular maintenance to her ScanDriver that kept the device in its optimal shape. The maintenance process also saw Mariner's battle data from the Driver being uploaded into the facility's computers to be analyzed and researched, thus enabling Lotus Industries to develop weapons and equipment capable of going toe-to-toe with the Maojins in the battlefield.

And it was one such equipment that had brought Minh and Thao all the way from Ho Chi Minh City to this secret facility.

Professor Steven noticed the two young women coming towards him, and a smile broke out on his face.

"Good morning ladies. You must be here for the prototype."

"Of course, why else would we come all the way here?" Minh replied, "You've told me over the phone that you've made some improvements on it. Care to tell us?"

"Absolutely," Professor Steven nodded, before he motioned a young woman in a lab-coat to come closer towards him, "Chika, could you fetch the prototype from our storage room?"

Chika, the young woman in question, quickly obliged, running off to the facility's storage room.

"I have made some tweaks on the prototype based on the new battle data from both your ScanDriver and your TransGauntlet," Professor Steven told Minh, before he glanced briefly at Thao, "I can assure you, with the new and improved prototype, your friend here could finally assist you in battle without the time limit restricting her, as well as having the same level of power as your Mariner form."

A few moments later Chika emerged from the storage room, carrying with her a silver metallic briefcase. She then handed the briefcase over to Professor Steven, who then proceeded to place the briefcase on a nearby table, with Minh and Thao watching on in interest. Typing in a secret code that unlocked the briefcase, Professor Steven slowly opened it up in front of Minh and Thao's watching eyes, a thin veil of smoke coming out of the briefcase as its locking mechanisms were disabled. After the smoke had cleared away, the contents of the briefcase were revealed – it was a black, elliptical device that resembled a ScanDriver, but lacking the translucent screen on the device's surface. It has a silver tab on the right hand side of the device, while a groove splits the device in half, suggesting that it could split open when the device was activated. On the top side of the device were four silver buttons, each with the numbers 1 to 4 being engraved on the buttons.

"Meet the Proto ScanDriver, version 2.0," Professor Steven introduced the device to both Minh and Thao, "This was our second attempt in reverse-engineering your ScanDriver and so far, the most successful one. Compared to the Proto ScanDriver version 1.0, it lacked the 3-minute time limit that restricted the user from utilizing its power to its full potential, however when the user of the Driver received too much damage in battle, they will be forced to revert back into their human form. Thankfully we've installed a feature that displays how much damage that the Driver's user could receive in their transformed state, no thanks to the data on Rider Gauges that we've got from Genm Corporation. This enables the Driver's user to see how much damage that they've taken, which in turn would enable them to perform tactical retreats should things go bad. However, it's not the final product yet, and it's up to you ladies to gather as much battle data as possible so that we could finally properly reverse-engineer the ScanDriver and mass-produce it for our company's purposes."

"Excellent work as usual, Professor Steven," Minh smiled after she had heard the Professor's explanation, "No wonder you've called it your own personal masterpiece…you've managed to perfect the kinks from the previous version and improve it."

Professor Steven chuckled, clearly pleased by Minh's appraisal, "Thanks, it's part of my job you know. Hopefully the completed Mass Production ScanDriver would please you as much as this Proto ScanDriver."

"Will look forward to that," Minh said as Professor Steven closed up the briefcase and enabled its locking mechanism once again.

After he had finished locking the briefcase, Professor Steven handed the briefcase over to Thao, who happily accepted it. Both Minh and Thao then say their goodbyes to Professor Steven, before heading back towards the capsule that will take them back to the surface.

"It's good to have this baby back," Thao smiled, looking at the briefcase in her hands while the capsule where she and Minh were at was slowly making its way back to the surface world, "It's been a while since I've last tried it...I hope that it'll be another great ride like the last time!"

"You're really excited on trying the new Proto ScanDriver out, huh?" Minh chuckled at her friend's words, "But yeah…it's been a while since you've fought alongside me. I'm just happy to have you back as my support."

"Hey, I've been your support throughout your life, you know," Thao said, "But honestly, I can't wait to join you in your battles again!"

"True, true. Which is why I want you to test the new Proto ScanDriver during my rematch with Krishna."

Thao blinked her eyes in surprise, "Eh? I thought you said that you wanted to have your rematch with him as a one-on-one affair?"

"I know, and I would like to keep it that way. You will not interfere in my battle; however, I have something equally important that I want you to do on that day…"

xxx

Back in Ho Chi Minh City…

The last 24 hours has been quite the day for a certain Pham Vu To Quyen.

It all started off with an innocent pizza party that Steffi and her friends had planned to throw early yesterday morning to cheer up Krishna, who was still down and out from his fight against Mariner. And then suddenly Krishna had to go to the airport to pick up a friend of his following a letter delivered to the apartment from a clearly annoyed-looking crow with three legs. And without warning Krishna returned and brought with him not one, but two young Japanese women with him to the apartment!

The first Japanese woman was a Ryōko Mitsurugi, an old friend of Krishna's from his adventures around the world. Apparently, they had met each other in Japan when Ryōko was still young during one of Krishna's many travels and the two had been contacting each other occasionally ever since. The second Japanese woman was Naomi Konishi, the daughter of Isamu Konishi of Japan's National Public Safety Commission. Isamu's exploits and achievements in the paranormal and supernatural world was widely recognized around the world and Steffi often refer to him whenever she's doing her SIG-related researches, so to be able to meet his daughter in-person was quite the honor for Steffi and the SIG as a whole.

But the fun part hasn't even started yet.

As Krishna and Karin were preoccupied in fetching some parchments that Ryōko had requested them to find, Steffi and Leo took Ryōko and Naomi out around town, with Kim and Vy holding down the fort at the apartment as well. During their trip, the four encountered a Maojin, the Kamikiri Maojin to be exact. The Kamikiri Maojin had caused a series of massive vehicular accidents and pile-ups all over Ho Chi Minh City, clearly taking advantage of Voyager's absence to wreak havoc to his heart's content.

Luckily, Ryōko revealed herself to be a Kamen Rider just like Krishna, the current Kamen Rider operating in Japan in fact, Kamen Rider Kagura. Kagura proved herself to be no slouch against a Maojin and exhibited the same form-changing ability as Voyager, using it to defeat the Kamikiri Maojin after a slight struggle. The group was unable to recover the Kamikiri Maojin's Maojin Card however, meaning that the kaijin could attack again one day.

Both Minh and Thao showed up at Steffi's apartment after that, the two somehow managing to track down the location where Krishna's staying. Suddenly Ryōko went ballistic and attacked Minh, as former was infuriated by how the latter had allegedly used her own sister, Ngan, as bait for her battle against Voyager, an accusation that clearly shocked everyone. Thankfully the strange crow from before, the Yatagarasu, intervened before Ryōko could do something that she'll regret one day.

At the end of the day, Karin managed to found the parchments that Ryōko was looking for, however, Ryōko decided that she will help out with Krishna's upcoming rematch with Minh, meaning that she and Naomi will stick around for a while….

…and at the same time giving Steffi, Kim, and Vy a massive logistical headache. Steffi's apartment was quite small in size and already there's four people staying there. Five if you count Karin but then again, she could easily switch back to her Maojin Card form and slip herself to any available pocket without any difficulty, or just lay herself on the desk in Krishna's room.

Luckily Leo had the idea of taking everyone out to the famous Nha Hang Ngon, literally meaning Delicious Restaurant, at the city center for dinner. The SIG girls were clearly confused on how to arrange accommodation for both Ryōko and Naomi, while Krishna was clearly still in his funk over his defeat at the hands of someone who he had considered as his own sister. So, Leo felt that it was for the best that everyone could talk about it over some fancy Vietnamese spring rolls and a few glasses of tea. But while the dinner was unable to shake Krishna out of his blues (he was too busy reading that short story that he got from his friend while eating to even pay attention), it did manage to allow Steffi, Kim, Vy, Ryōko, and Naomi to come up with a solution for who will sleep where – Ryōko will sleep in Steffi's room, Naomi will sleep with Kim in her room, while Steffi will sleep on the couch.

"And man, do I forgot how uncomfortable the couch was," Steffi winced in slight pain as she adjusted her back, which was clearly aching from sleeping on the apartment's couch, "Reminder to self, buy more comfortable cushions at that new IKEA store that opened a few blocks away."

It was early in the morning, around 7am, and Steffi was the first one to wake up. As usual she did her morning ritual – washing her face in the bathroom, adjust her shoulder-length hair, slap on her glasses, and prepare herself a nice warm cup of milk coffee to kickstart the day. Krishna has not come out of his room at all after they had returned from dinner, while Naomi and Kim were presumably still in their dreams. Vy was still dozing off in her rooms, but Steffi could swear that she heard her friend muttering something in her sleep, while Ryōko was probably still sleeping as well in Steffi's room.

And then, as she was sipping her coffee and recalling the events that happened yesterday, something hits Steffi's mind.

xxx

"Good morning. My name is Professor Pham Van Truoc, I'm working for the Maojin Counter Unit as their main researcher. And I was wondering whether you girls could do me a favor."

"What favor?" Steffi asked.

"I would like you girls to borrow one of Kamen Rider Voyager's Maojin Cards for me."

Immediately Steffi, Kim, and Vy gasped out in surprise, "What?"

"That's right," Professor Truoc nodded, "I've spent some time reviewing clips of Voyager's battles against the Unrecorded Lifeforms from your website and comparing them with footages of our MCU officers during their outings…you know, so that we could improve ourselves in dealing with these creatures. But sadly, so far that I saw…our performance on the field…were quite…dismal so to speak."

"I'm afraid that I have to agree with the Professor," Leo added, "The weapons that Lotus Industries that gave us performed better on the field than our standard weapons, however they were not strong enough to even leave a scratch on an Unrecorded Lifeform. Granted we manage to annoy and pester them, but we still need Voyager to bail us out time and time again."

"And your point is?" Kim asked.

"Professor Truoc here have come up with a solution for the MCU so that our organization could catch up with Voyager in handling Unrecorded Lifeforms effectively," Leo replied, "And with this mysterious Kamen Rider showing up…"

"…Mariner," Steffi interrupted, "It's Kamen Rider Mariner. We saw her during the incident with the mole cryptid the other day and she introduced herself as Mariner."

"Mariner…an interesting name indeed. And a female Kamen Rider to boot…those kinds of Riders are quite rare these days," Leo commented, before quickly switching back to the topic at hand, "But anyway. We know that Voyager's firmly on our side, however it's a huge gray area for Mariner. Reports that came to us suggested that Mariner had fought against a few Unrecorded Lifeforms, however as we saw yesterday, she had no hesitation at all in fighting Voyager. Which is why, for now, we've decided that asking Mariner to help us out might not be the wisest of moves."

"And knowing that, I've decided to come up with an ambitious plan," Professor Truoc continued, "How about we make our own Kamen Rider?"

"What?!" Vy gawked, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Leo nodded, "Yeah, you know as they say, better safe than sorry. Voyager might be handling the Unrecorded Lifeforms with ease right now but only time will tell that he would run into some trouble someday. And that's where our proposed Kamen Rider will step in."

"With trusting Mariner as good as trusting toilet paper to fix your leaky roof, I'm planning to create a device that utilizes the power of the Maojin Cards to its full potential. I'm going to ask Lotus Industries to fund this project of mine, but in the meantime, I need a Maojin Card to be analyzed. I need to know how these cards work, how it could grant both Voyager and Mariner with new forms, abilities, and weapons, and how to integrate them with the human body and our own weapons. Not only that my analysis would hopefully bring this project of mine into fruition, it would also improve our existing arsenal so that with or without Voyager, we won't lag too far behind," Professor Truoc explained.

"That does sound quite ambitious," Steffi nodded in understanding, "So what do you need us to do, Prof?"

"Since you girls are the closest people to Voyager, I need you girls to get me a Maojin Card, any Maojin Card would do, but make sure that Voyager's okay with you girls and us borrowing it for a few days or so. The sooner I could get the card, the sooner I could start improving the MCU's weaponry as well as developing the MCU's very own Rider system. I'm counting on you girls and I wish you good luck!"

xxx

"And to believe we actually missed an opportunity of getting a Maojin Card for Professor Truoc," Steffi sighed, recalling the time where Kagura was distracted by a sudden bolt of lightning out of nowhere, thus enabling the Kamikiri Maojin's Maojin Card form to get away, "But then again that was quite unavoidable…"

Suddenly another idea struck Steffi's head.

"I got it!" Steffi exclaimed all of a sudden to herself, "Why don't I use one of those new Maojin Cards that Ryōko gave to Krishna last night?"

"I don't think Krishna would allow you to do that."

A startled Steffi almost fell off her chair, before the young woman quickly regained her composure. Scanning around the room for any signs of anything unusual, Steffi's eyes went wide in surprise as she saw Karin, in her card form, lying in front of her all this time.

"Geez Karin, stop scaring me like that," Steffi scratched the back of her head uneasily, "You almost made me fell off my chair!"

"Sorry," an equally uneasy Karin responded, "But come on. How come you did not notice me here?"

"When I went to sleep you weren't here…I thought you're supposed to be in Krishna's room!"

"Krishna kicked me out. Right in the dead of midnight no less!"

"You're kidding me."

"I kid you not. The guy's completely obsessed with that short story of his! I tried to ask him to go to sleep but instead he threw me out!"

"Morning girls," suddenly Ryōko emerged out of Steffi's room, joining both Steffi and Karin at the dining table, "How's your sleep?"

"Terrible," Steffi replied.

"Worst sleep I've ever had in millennia," Karin added.

"I had the best sleep in ages," Ryōko said nonchalantly, earning her glares of daggers from both Steffi and Karin, "Right, I suppose I should not say that."

"Anyway, we were talking about Krishna and his obsession for Maximilian Titan," Steffi told Ryōko.

"Oh right, I remember," Ryōko said, recalling the events of last night, "When I gave him the Maojin Cards that I had, he just accepted them, going all nostalgic and stuff and talking about how he defeated the Habu and Salamander Maojins with the aid of my parents, before suddenly saying that he did not see how these cards would help him in his rematch against Mariner and went back to his room. He only came out for dinner and he brought that short story with him, and when we return he went straight to his room with that story of his. What's so interesting about it anyway? I'm not that well versed in human literature."

"Krishna said that a friend of his had wrote it, some guy who went to a number of publishers across the city and got rejected by them all," Steffi said, sipping her coffee, "I don't see why he's all obsessed over it…I mean the author got rejected by almost all publishers in this city! Surely that story of his can't be that good!"

"I guess the only way to find out is to read it ourselves…" Ryōko mused, before she suddenly realized something, "Oh, speaking of which, one question."

"Fire away."

"Right. I've watched the video footage of Voyager's battle against Mariner on your website yesterday after dinner…it was brutal. Mariner literally did a number on him…but why did he managed to brave his way through all of those beatings? I mean when I saw him yesterday he has those bruises and that busted rib of his…but after seeing the video, I think he should be in hospital right now!"

"I think I can answer that question," Karin said, "You see, fighting as Voyager for 657 years had conditioned Krishna's body so much that he could withstand any kind of punishment…but not to the point of invincibility, of course. He just has a higher endurance and higher tolerance of pain compared to a normal human thanks to his conditioning. That, and the fact that he had trained underneath a famous martial arts teacher renowned for his unbreakable body. Their styles might be completely different, but that teacher happily taught Krishna on how to make himself more durable in battle."

"And who's that teacher, if I may ask?" Ryōko asked.

"The Tiger Kid himself, the one with infinite power flowing through his body, Jan Kandou of the Fierce Beast Tiger-Fist."

Immediately Steffi spat out her coffee in surprise, "You're kidding me. Jan Kandou? The Jan Kandou?"

"I've heard of him before," Ryōko added, "He is a world-renowned martial artist, traveling from country to country to teach the way of the Juken, the Beast-Fist Technique."

"I still remember the first time Krishna and Jan met quite well," Karin reminisced, "We were trekking at the Altai Mountains in China in 2009 when we met Jan and his master, Xia Fu. They were both fighting a kaijin and Krishna stepped in to help…I think it was a Fangire."

"You mean one of those stained-glass vampire creatures that terrorized Asia more than a decade ago?" Ryōko asked.

"Correct. Krishna managed to defeat that Fangire and out of gratitude, Jan and Xia Fu took Krishna under their wing. Even though Krishna did not practice the way of the Juken, Jan had taught Krishna how to increase his body's endurance, which enabled him to resist damage much longer than an average human."

"Incredible…" Steffi mused, cleaning up the coffee that she had spat out with a tissue paper, "I can't believe that Krishna had met and befriended so many amazing people throughout his journey..."

"Well that explains how Krishna managed to survive such a beatdown…to be honest I don't know whether I could even stand up after such a beating!" Ryōko said as she stood up from her seat, "I'm going to check on him to see how he's doing right now."

xxx

"You have got to be kidding me."

Ryōko shook her head in dismay as she stood in front of the door, in front of her was Krishna sitting on his bed, Rei's short story in hand, and empty plastic bottles scattered around him.

"How long have you read that thing?" Ryōko asked.

"All night," Krishna replied nonchalantly, "I did not sleep at all."

"Really? So, the moment we came back from dinner, you went straight back into your room, and throughout the night, you were sitting on your bed, and reading that story of yours?"

"Guilty," Krishna smiled sheepishly.

"And what are those bottles around you?"

"Milk tea," Krishna answered, lifting up a plastic bottle half-filled with the drink, "Whenever I feel upset, I drink milk tea."

Immediately Ryōko dropped her stern demeanor upon hearing that, realizing that by the amount of milk tea that Krishna had drank, he must have been really upset yesterday. The Kitsune sat next to Krishna on the young man's bed, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You're still upset about your fight with Mariner the other day, aren't you?" Ryōko asked.

"What? That's nonsense. I'm okay, nothing's wrong with me, really!"

"Then explain to me about all these bottles of milk tea that you've drank?"

Krishna sighed. Gulping down the remaining half of his bottle of milk tea, Krishna tossed the bottle away, before clearing his throat twice.

"Le Thao Minh was a very close friend of mine," Krishna started, "We were quite inseparable back then. She saw me as an older brother that she never had, I saw her as a little sister that I need to take care of. Even though I was a mere family friend, she often confides me with things that she rarely tells anyone, not even her own father. I was her most trusted friend, the one that she could count on the most."

"Does she know about you and her father being…"

Krishna nodded, "Yes. We usually tell her tales from our battles as her bedtime stories, and her father even trained her as his successor after I left. I think that's how she became someone who's just as capable in battle as her own father. If only she's not out to kill me…"

"So what happened? Who killed Minh's father?"

Krishna shook his head, "I have no idea, to be honest. Before I came here, I thought that he was too busy taking care of his company and family, but knowing that he has passed away for two years and with the blame of his death being put entirely on me…it's just too much."

"So where were you two years ago?"

"In America," Krishna replied, "I was at a city called Prometheus Falls, investigating the outbreak of creatures called Beastmen there. I fought alongside the local armored hero there. I think I spent the entirety of 2021 in the States…"

"I see," Ryōko nodded, "Man, you've must have been through a lot, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Krishna chuckled slightly, "Having someone who you consider as your own sibling out for your head…probably wasn't the way I expected to see Minh after all these years. I was quite surprised that you went ballistic on her yesterday, to be honest. Even with all the accusations that she made against me, I don't believe that she's the kind of person who'd willing to throw her own sister to the sharks for her own sake."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Like what the Yatagarasu said, I'm quite sensitive regarding emotions. Since you're quite close to her, mind telling me what kind of person Minh actually is? Perhaps I could help you with a thing or two."

"She's the most amazing girl that I've known," Krishna mused, "She's kind-hearted, a bit shy at times, really diligent at everything that she does, loves her family and friends dearly, and does not hesitate with her words. She could be quite sharp-tongued and mean at times, but she's really honest when she's mean."

"You're talking about her just like she's your girlfriend or something," Ryōko teased.

"Please. I'm old enough to be her freaking ancestor," Krishna laughed, "But yeah, most importantly, Minh has her father's sense of honor. She doesn't want innocent lives to be put in danger in her battles and she shuns underhanded tactics. Which is why…"

"Minh did not save that Maojin that took her sister hostage, she was actually kicking him out of the battlefield," Ryōko concluded.

"Bingo. She said something about dealing with that Maojin later, after she's done with me," Krishna said, "If I wasn't there, she would probably have torn that Maojin to shreds for what he's done to her sister…unfortunately, I'm the bigger priority for her."

"I hope Ngan would find out about this sooner or later…that her sister did not actually save the Maojin that had taken her hostage…"

"Hopefully. Poor girl's quite traumatized from her ordeal…I couldn't blame her if she thought that Minh had saved the Maojin that had taken her hostage."

"Krishna…believe it or not…I'm facing the same situation as you right now."

Krishna raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Wait, really?!"

Ryōko nodded, "Really. Back home, there's another Kamen Rider who's out for my head, Kamen Rider Seiken, aka Tatsuya Momosaki. His parents were killed by Kegare, but unfortunately due to Kegare's resemblance to me, he put the blame for his parents' death on me instead…just like how Minh blamed you for her father's death. Both Tatsuya and Minh are now Riders driven by vengeance and they both lost their important parental figure in life…however there's one stark difference between them."

"And that is?"

"There's a light at the end of the tunnel for Minh," Ryōko said, "Remember when I grabbed her collar and suddenly released her yesterday?"

"Yeah, I remember that…I'm still quite confused on why did you do that."

"We Kitsunes are able to read through a person's heart," Ryōko explained, "Which means that no matter what anyone say to us, we would instantly know whether that person told us the truth or not. And as far as I'm concerned, the two of you were telling the truth. You and your whereabouts two years ago and Minh and the fact that she had no idea whatsoever about the Maojin taking her sister hostage."

"So when you grabbed Minh's collar yesterday…you were reading into her heart?"

"That's right," Ryōko nodded, "I've already read Tatsuya's heart before I came here…his was dark, twisted, consumed by the overwhelming vengeance that is slowly corrupting him. When I read Minh's heart…I saw almost the same thing, however…I saw some specks of light there."

"What do you mean?"

"She did not let her vengeance completely consume her, Krishna. Which is why she made the rematch in the first place. Yes, she might bear a grudge against you, but she's careful enough to not let it corrode her heart completely like Tatsuya. Her sense of honor was strong enough to control her vengeful thoughts…you should have seen Tatsuya, Krishna. He's a complete wreck, his quest for revenge has driven him to do unthinkable things…like placing a curse on my entire neighborhood that turned everyone that I knew against me."

"Ouch," Krishna winced, "If she knew about this, Minh would probably beat the shit out of Tatsuya for using such tactics!"

"I know, right?" Ryōko chuckled, "My point is, there's still hope in saving Minh. It's up to you to set things right with her. Fight to clear your name, Krishna. Fight to prove your innocence. And most importantly…fight so that you can get your old Minh back. Do not hesitate like the last time, because this time, you're not fighting against her…you're fighting for her."

"Damn right I will," Krishna smiled, before suddenly finding himself being dragged by his ear by Ryōko, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Taking you to training, duh."

xxx

By the time Ryōko had dragged Krishna out of his room, Steffi, Kim, Vy, and Naomi were at the apartment's living room, watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory. The four of them were clearly surprised to see Ryōko pulling Krishna by his ear, the former heading straight towards the apartment's door while the latter was struggling in the Kitsune's surprisingly strong grip.

"What the heck are you two doing?" Steffi asked.

"We'll be away for a while," Ryōko replied as she opened the door, "The two of us are going out sparring."

"Sparring?" Kim blinked, before she realized what Ryōko meant, "You mean the two of you are going to fight?!"

"I need to gauge Krishna's ability to see whether he's ready to take on Mariner or not," Ryōko told Kim, before turning her attention towards Krishna, "Now come along!"

"Wait!" Krishna cried in pain as Ryōko dragged him out of the apartment, "Can you at least let me fetch Karin?"

"Coming!" Karin exclaimed, launching herself from the dining table and into Krishna's pocket.

"Well, now that Karin's with you, let's go!" Ryōko exclaimed in a sing-song voice, heading out of the apartment with the still-struggling Krishna in tow.

After the two had left and shut the apartment's door, Steffi, Kim, and Vy looked at Naomi, who shrugged at them.

"She could be like that at times…" Naomi said, clearly embarrassed by Ryōko's antics.

xxx

Four hours later

Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai Province

After a long ride on Krishna's motorcycle, both Krishna and Ryōko arrived at their destination, Cat Tien National Park in Dong Nai Province, around 150 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. Ryōko had did her research last night and found out that Cat Tien National Park was spacious and secluded enough for the two of them to spar, so she had chosen the lowland tropical forest area as their training ground.

Once they had parked Krishna's motorcycle at the park ranger's office, both Krishna and Ryōko ventured deep into the national park, before the latter asked the former to stop once they had arrived at a small creek in the heart of the forest.

"Stop here," Ryōko said, taking a sip of water from the nearby creek with Krishna doing the same as well, "This is where we're going to train."

After she had said that, Ryōko's Kitsune features suddenly appeared on her as a metallic belt with a large buckle that bore a circle with a Seimei Star within it appeared on her waist. Surprised by the belt's sudden appearance on Ryōko's waist, Krishna immediately assumed his fighting stance, taking out his ScanDriver and placing it on his own waist.

"Taking out your Gensou Driver already, huh?" Krishna asked as he took out his Thunder Kabuto card, "Looks like we're going straight for the fun!"

"You're damn right we are," Ryōko said, placing her hands together in a 'Rin' hand seal as she summoned a circle of fiery red flames around her, the Seimei Star on her Gensou Driver glowing red, "Henshin!"

READY!

"Hmph, if that's what you wanted…guess I'll join in as well. Henshin!"

POWER RELEASE AUTHORIZED. INITIATING BLAZE FORM.

ACE HENSHIN! THUNDER KABUTO!

Ryōko was engulfed in fire while a purple ring of energy erupted from the ScanDriver and enveloped Krishna, the two transforming into their respective Kamen Rider forms. As Voyager's eyes flashed three times to signal the completion of his transformation, the flames enveloping Ryōko died out, revealing her Rider form.

Covered in head to toe in a black bodysuit, Ryōko's Rider form has white and orange armor on her, while the front of her helmet has a large torii emblem decorating it. Her helmet's visor was bright red in color, along with the short hakama wrapped around her waist and parts of her armor. Last but not least, on her back was a uniquely-designed sword, its blade safely wrapped in its sheath.

This was Kamen Rider Kagura, in her default Blaze Form.

"Sate, odorimasen ka?" Kagura asked, roughly translated as "Now then, shall we dance?"

"My name is Voyager!" Voyager replied, pointing at himself before pointing at Kagura, "I shine light in the darkness and I vanquish evil!"

"Evil? Please, I'm far from that," Kagura rolled her eyes as unsheathed her sword, called the Yon-kata Haraubuki (Four-form Exorcising Weapon).

"Geez," Voyager shook his head as he took out his Thunder Centaurus card, "That's how my catchphrase goes!"

TWO EQUIP! THUNDER CENTAURUS!

(Cue BGM: Specium Zepellion no Theme – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman Orb OST)

With the Kaminari Blade in his hands, Voyager charged into battle, quickly parrying a slash from Kagura's Yon-kata Haraubuki. The two Riders then clashed their weapons afterwards, their blades dancing with each other. Kagura's fighting style was elegant, wielding her Yon-kata Haraubuki with such grace and agility. Voyager, who was already an experienced swordsman honed through the numerous battles that he had participated in, was barely keeping up with her with his Kaminari Blade.

"Whew, you're pretty good," Voyager complimented once his Kaminari Blade was locked together with the Yon-kata Haraubuki.

"Same could be said for you," Kagura complimented back, "You're exactly the skillful warrior that my parents told me about."

Both Voyager and Kagura threw themselves off each other, with the former charging purple electricity into his Kaminari Blade and the latter charging fire into her Yon-kata Haraubuki. Crying out their respective war-cries, both Voyager and Kagura swung their weapon at each other, releasing slashes of their respective elements. The slashes clashed in mid-air, resulting in a small explosion that rocked the entire forest.

(BGM ends)

"Seems like nothing can separate us in our default forms," Kagura said, "How about we try our speed forms?"

And with that, the Gensou Driver gives off a greenish glow as Voyager tossed his Kaminari Blade aside, taking out his Hurricane Eagle card from his card holder afterwards.

ELEMENT SHIFT INITIATED.

A small tornado surrounded Kagura, a green energy circle appearing above her. Seconds later the circle moved down onto her, dissipating the tornado at the same time.

ELEMENT SHIFT COMPLETED. INITIATING TEMPEST FORM.

As the tornado enveloping Kagura disappeared completely, her new form was revealed for the world to see. She had become slimmer, more athletic, with the red parts of her armor turning green. Kagura was now in her speed-oriented Tempest Form.

ACE HENSHIN! HURRICANE EAGLE!

Voyager, in his Hurricane Form, assumed his fighting pose as Kagura held onto her Yon-kata Haraubuki once again, running two fingers down the blade of the sword. Suddenly the Yon-kata Haraubuki shifted from a sword into a crossbow, much to Voyager's surprise.

"Shit, I don't even have a weapon in this form…"

"Improvise. Adapt. Overcome," Kagura said, aiming her Yon-kata Haraubuki at Voyager.

"Did you just fucking quote Bear Grylls?!"

"Yeap," Kagura simply said, firing off her Yon-kata Haraubuki.

"Shit!" Voyager cursed as the green projectiles came towards him.

Immediately tapping into his super speed, Voyager's body began to glow green as he quickly avoided the incoming projectiles. Seeing this, Kagura fired off more shots, which Voyager danced around with his enhanced acceleration, before the exorcist Rider found herself being punched several times on the face by Voyager. A couple of chops to the shoulder and a kick to the chest later, and Kagura was sent flying to a nearby tree, her Yon-kata Haraubuki falling out of her hands.

"Not bad," Kagura commented, cracking her neck twice as she regained her composure, "Not bad at all."

"You haven't seen nothing yet."

(Cue BGM: Hurricane Slash no Theme – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman Orb OST)

Voyager jumped into the air, somersaulting on his way down before descending with a dropkick that smacked Kagura on the chest. As Kagura stumbled back, Voyager landed back on the ground, waving his hands in a Tai Chi-like fashion as green energy swirled into his palms. Activating his super speed once again, Voyager attempted to perform an energized palm strike onto Kagura's chest, but his attack was surprisingly countered by Kagura, who caught his incoming attack easily with her right fist.

"What?!" Voyager gasped.

"You have exceptional speed, Voyager," Kagura said, "But I haven't shown mine yet!"

And with that the two Rider exchanged blows with their fists and palms, both fighting gracefully to a standstill. Kagura in her Tempest Form managed to match Voyager Hurricane Form's speed from blow to blow, like the previous clash between their default, balanced forms, there was nothing separating the two Riders once again.

Until when Kagura got her hands on her Yon-kata Haraubuki again, that is. Twirling the crossbow a few times, the weapon shifted form once again, transforming into a tessen (a Japanese war fan with metal edges). Undeterred by this, Voyager took out his Hover Hummingbird card.

FIVE ABILITY! HOVER HUMMINGBIRD!

With the pair of energy wings granted to him by the Hover Hummingbird card on his back, Voyager took off to the skies, avoiding each swipe of the Yon-kata Haraubuki and countering some with kicks of his own. While some of the kicks were parried easily by the Yon-kata Haraubuki, Voyager managed to land a few lucky shots onto Kagura's head and chest. The blows did nothing but to rile up Kagura even more, however, as her swings of the Yon-kata Haraubuki became more and more intense. Voyager had to acrobatically dodge each swipe with the help of his wings, however he let his guard down for a split-second that enabled Kagura to smack him out of the sky.

(BGM ends)

Voyager was sent crashing to the ground, his energy wings disintegrating upon impact. As Kagura converted her Yon-kata Haraubuki back into a sword, a clearly annoyed Voyager quickly stood up, the Inferno Komodo card in his hand.

"Right, speed and agility contest over. It's time to test our brute strength!" Voyager exclaimed, opening his ScanDriver before exchanging the Hurricane Eagle card with the Inferno Komodo card.

ACE HENSHIN! INFERNO KOMODO!

As Voyager switched into his Inferno Form, Kagura took a deep breath, her Gensou Driver glowing gray as a small gray circle of rocks, dust, and sand materialized in front of her.

ELEMENT SHIFT INITIATED.

Yelling out in determination, Kagura charged into the circle, coming out of it with her green parts now turning to gray, and her overall muscle mass increased, matching the bulkiness of Voyager's Inferno Form.

ELEMENT SHIFT COMPLETE. INITIATING STONE FORM.

Kagura did not waste her time in landing a jab onto Voyager's left cheek, which the Rider replied with a jab of his own that landed on Kagura's right cheek. Both Voyager and Kagura stumbled back from their respective punches, with the latter cracking her neck in determination and the former igniting his fists with crimson red flames.

(Cue BGM: Burnmite no Theme – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman Orb OST)

Within seconds the two were at it again, crouching their legs before charging at each other. The two Riders grappled, their brute strength clearly matching with one another with neither of them giving in. The intense heat radiating from Voyager's hands did not affect Kagura at all, enabling her to retain her tight grip on her opponent's hands. After a few minutes of endless pushing and shoving, the two eventually broke up their grapple, with neither of them managing to topple the other off their feet.

With his fists still on fire, Voyager punched Kagura twice on the chest, neither of them budging the exorcist Rider. Trying to approach things differently, Voyager proceeded to hoist Kagura over his head and threw her to the ground, but his opponent instead used the opportunity to perform a quick somersault in mid-air, landing gracefully on both feet.

"Is that what you've got?" Kagura taunted, only to be replied with a sudden shoulder barge from Voyager, "Ouch, shouldn't have asked that."

As Kagura recovered herself, Voyager fired off two fireballs from his fists, before a burst of hot steam from Voyager's right fist followed suit. Kagura crossed her arms to protect herself, the fireballs being dispersed safely by Stone Form's tough armor, however the ensuing burst of steam was more than enough to broke her defenses, the steam slightly scalding her armor.

Seeing this opportunity, Voyager ignited his right fist, before landing a fiery jab onto Kagura's helmet. The jab was more than enough to disorient the gray Rider, with Kagura stumbling back groggily from the attack. However, Kagura quickly regained her composure, and as Voyager came in with another flaming punch attack, Kagura quickly headbutted the fiery black-and-red Rider on his chest, the sudden attack enough to send Voyager on his back.

"Shit, that actually hurts," Voyager commented as he stood up, dusting off his chest armor.

But before he knew it, Voyager saw Kagura rapidly performing all nine hand gestures of the Kuji-in. This could only mean one thing.

FINAL CLEANSE INITIATED: STONE METEOR!

"What the fuck!" Voyager cursed as he saw Kagura jumping into the air, her legs charged with gray energy with rocks, mud, and sand swirling around them, "A finishing move?!"

Kagura quickly assumed a dropkick position in mid-air, her feet aimed straight for Voyager's chest. Knowing that within seconds he would receive the full brunt of Kagura's finisher, Voyager quickly took out the Scatter Salamander card that Ryōko had given to him last night.

"Here goes nothing…" Voyager muttered, inserting the card into his right hip slot.

EIGHT ABILITY! SCATTER SALAMANDER!

A milky white sheen overtook Voyager's eyes, seconds before Kagura's Stone Meteor Rider Kick struck him right on his chest. A huge explosion rocked the entire Cat Tien National Park, with birds fleeing in panic from their perches and other animals quickly taking cover.

(BGM ends)

After the smoke and dust from the explosion had settled, Kagura was seen crouching on the ground, panting heavily as her Rider Kick had taken a lot from her. In front of her was Voyager's Inferno Form armor, still standing proudly on both of his feet despite taking the full impact of Kagura's finisher, however his eyes were strangely hollowed out, leaving behind black cavities in their place.

"Holy shit…" Kagura gasped as she barely willed herself to stand up, her eyes wide in disbelief underneath her helmet, "How did he manage to withstand my Final Cleanse?"

Slowly and cautiously, Kagura went closer towards the still-standing Voyager, inspecting the black-and-red Rider's body from head to toe for anything out of the ordinary. As she saw Voyager's hollow eye sockets, Kagura suddenly realized something.

"Oh shit."

INFERNO OVERCHARGE!

"Inferno Impact!" Voyager exclaimed, his burning right fist punching through his hollowed-out armor's chest and striking Kagura right on her head, sending the exorcist Rider flying through several trees before crashing onto the ground with a loud, deafening thud.

Voyager's hollowed-out armor crumbled away into ashes, revealing Voyager, still in his Inferno Form, panting heavily behind it. His armor looked brand new and shiny, a stark contrast to his old armor that looked slightly battered and worn. As he caught his breath, Voyager took a glance at his old armor's helmet, lying idly near his right foot with its eye sockets looking directly at Voyager.

"Thank God the card Ryōko gave me worked as a charm," Voyager said, smirking underneath his helmet, "Thank you, old friend."

Voyager quickly made his way towards where Kagura had landed and much to his surprise; it was quite far from where they had sparred.

"Oh shit," Voyager cursed in his thoughts, realizing that he might have overdone it with his finisher, "Don't tell me…"

After three minutes of walking, Voyager had found Kagura. She was lying on the ground, motionless, with her head stuck to the ground and her body arched upwards in a rather…suggestive position.

If it wasn't for the fact that Kagura had received the full brunt of his finisher, Voyager would have laughed his ass off right there right now.

"Yo, Ryōko, you okay?" Voyager asked as he approached Kagura's motionless body, slowly pulling her head off the ground and laying her on her back, "You there, homie?"

Voyager gently slapped Kagura's cheeks twice, only to receive no response. Realizing that something was off, Voyager started to shake Kagura's body frantically, as worry slowly but surely set itself into Voyager's mind.

"Hey, wake up! Ryōko, wake up! Please don't tell me that that punch actually blew your brains out…please, don't you dare die on me!"

However no matter how hard Voyager shook and slap Kagura's face and body, she did not responded at all. Fearing that the worst might had happened, Voyager slowly crossed Kagura's arms over her chest, leaned the body against a nearby tree, before Voyager slowly and respectfully backed away from Kagura's still-motionless body.

"You were a brave warrior, my friend," Voyager said solemnly as he slowly turned his back on Kagura's motionless body, "I hope you rest in peace."

As Voyager solemnly walked away from her, slowly Kagura's fingers began to twitch; a slight giggle can be heard from the exorcist Rider's helmet. Suddenly Kagura jumped back onto her feet, laughing her guts off as she does so.

"Gotcha!"

Hearing hysterical laughter behind him, Voyager quickly turned around to see an obviously alive and well Kagura roaring with laughter, the white-and-gray Rider pointing at him as she does so.

"My God, you should have seen yourself back there, Krishna! I can't believe that you're so easy to be tricked!"

Voyager sighed, before he quickly assumed his fighting stance, "Goddamnit Ryōko! You scared the fuck out of me!"

Realizing that Voyager was ready to beat the crap out of her again, Kagura quickly formed a T with both her hands.

"Time out!" Kagura exclaimed as she transformed back to a slightly bruised Ryōko, "Sparring's over."

Voyager lets out another sigh, his armor disintegrating into red motes of light as he reverted into a very fatigued-looking Krishna, "Damn, you got me right there Ryōko…but that was fun, wasn't it?"

"Fun?" Ryōko rolled her eyes, "I think you might have gone a little bit too excited there…"

"Says the one who almost decimated a large patch of forest with her Rider Kick," Krishna replied, leaning himself against a tree as he lets out a sigh, "Phew! That was one intense sparring session we had back there."

"Tell me about it," Ryōko said, sitting next to Krishna as she also lets out a tired sigh, "My parents had spoken highly about your fighting skills when I was younger…I'm glad that they were right. That was some fight that you gave me back there Krishna…I'm looking forward to spar with you again."

"Feeling's mutual," Krishna smiled, "But truth be told, you fought really well…you almost had me in a pinch had not I used that card that you gave to me last night. If your parents are watching us right now, they would be really proud of you."

"Thanks," Ryōko smiled gratefully, her eyes looking up at the clear blue sky above them as she imagined her mother and father looking proudly at her from the clouds, "I'm pretty sure they will be really proud of me as well…"

xxx

Twenty minutes later

With both Krishna and Ryōko all patched up at the park ranger's office, it was time for them to prepare themselves for the long trip back to Ho Chi Minh City. As Krishna was busy washing himself off at the office's toilet, Ryōko was sitting on the office's porch, enjoying a glass of ice tea that one of the park rangers had made for her.

"Man, I still can't believe that the rangers actually overlook the fact that we almost blew up an area of the forest!" Ryōko thought to herself as she sipped her tea.

Being the experienced talker that he was, Krishna managed to cook up an excellent excuse for the rangers for the explosion that happened in the forest during his spar with Ryōko. And his excuse? Some campers had accidentally popped up a few balloons in the forest. Unbelievably, the rangers took the excuse literally and dismissed any concerns regarding the explosion, even to the point of taking Krishna and Ryōko in to have their injuries checked. Once again Krishna cooked up an excuse for their injuries – the two of them slipped while hiking. Classic.

"Ready to go?"

Ryōko turned around to see Krishna standing behind him, all cleaned up and refreshed.

"Not yet," Ryōko shook her head, showing Krishna her glass of ice tea, "Still need to finish this up."

"Be my guest," Krishna said, sitting next to Ryōko as the latter sipped her ice tea once again, "Anyway, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Am I ready…for tomorrow's rematch?"

Ryōko thought for a moment. She had looked and reviewed through numerous videos of Voyager's battles in the SIG website, including the one where Mariner absolutely curb-stomped him. She had also observed Voyager throughout their spar. From what she saw, Voyager's fighting style, despite his skills, were quite predictable. Since he doesn't have that much Maojin Cards in his arsenal, Krishna was left relying solely in his hand-to-hand fighting skills, or his swordsmanship skills with the Kaminari Blade while in Thunder Form. Both Inferno and Hurricane Forms lacked weapons whatsoever, but Voyager managed to offset it by maximizing the former's brute strength and pyrokinesis, and the latter's speed, agility, and aerokinesis. The fact that the SIG uploaded footages of Voyager's battles on their website made it possible for anyone to easily study them and judging by how Mariner managed to use her ArmTrans ability to its fullest to counter Voyager's forms and skills, it was likely that Minh had watched Voyager's previous battles beforehand to prepare herself.

However, Voyager's usage of his newly acquired Scatter Salamander card might give Ryōko the answer that she's looking for. Sure, Voyager had only used it out of desperation, but it had caught Ryōko off-guard when he used it. From what she had saw and observed from Voyager's hollowed-out armor during their spar, Ryōko managed to deduce that the Scatter Salamander card enabled Voyager to literally eject himself from his armor as new armor formed itself around his bodysuit, effectively using his old husk of an armor as a decoy to fool enemies as Voyager struck them down with a quick sneak attack.

Ryōko knew that Krishna was an intelligent man, someone who's willing to use his wits if he needed to. However, there were two things that prevented Krishna from using his wits properly in battle – firstly his Maojin opponents were too focused on the heat of the battle to properly outwit Krishna, and secondly during his battle with Mariner, Krishna's unwillingness to hurt Minh had prevented him from thinking straight, thus making him unable to use his wits to properly outmaneuver his opponent.

Finally knowing what she must say, Ryōko told Krishna, "It's up to you to determine whether you're ready or not. But as long as you believe in yourself and believe in what you're fighting for, I think that you're ready. Remember what we talked about earlier, Krishna. You're not fighting against Minh. You're fighting for her sake. You're fighting to get her back from all the senseless hatred that had consumed her. I think you can figure things out from there."

"Thanks," Krishna smiled, patting Ryōko on her shoulder, "You're right. I let my doubts got the better of me last time. I was too focused on accepting the fact that I'm fighting someone who I've considered as a very close friend. I've let my insecurities distract me from the battle and paid the price for it. Man…I can't believe some fictional character had more guts than me regarding this…"

"Fictional character?" Ryōko blinked, "You mean…Maximilian Titan?"

Krishna nodded.

"What's so good about that story anyway?" Ryōko asked, out of curiosity, "How did that story managed to keep your eyes glued to it to the point of you staying up all night reading it?"

"Reading Maximilian Titan…I feel that I could relate to that character," Krishna replied, "He was an innocent man, framed for a crime that he did not commit. He went from an honorable policeman to a fugitive wanted by his own country. Not even the ones closest to him could believe his innocence…"

"And then what happened?"

"Max decided to fight for his innocence. Even though the people closest to him started to lose faith on him, he was determined to get them back to his side. And he did, eventually. By the end of the story, he's a policeman again, his rank promoted even. He regained his friends who were lost during the whole fiasco and even managed to fall in love with the very daughter of the politician whose murder he was framed on."

"That's sounds like a really happy ending," Ryōko commented.

Krishna nodded, "It was. However…I felt ashamed with myself. Max's situation mirrors mine and somehow he managed to find the courage to set things right. As for me…I've decided to wallow in my sadness and guilt over the pain of losing someone very dear to me. The reason I've read that story repeatedly…is because I need to find that spark. The spark that drove Max into clearing his own name. And I wouldn't have found that spark…if it wasn't for you, Ryōko. Thank you. Thank you very much for snapping me out of my blues."

"Don't thank me," Ryōko laughed, "Thank Maximilian Titan and the guy who created him. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't have gone soul-searching throughout the entire night, relating your situation to that of Max's. I only pushed you into finding that missing element that drove Max's actions."

xxx

The next day

Binh Tan District

The day of the rematch between Voyager and Mariner has arrived. It was still early in the morning, with the Sun barely making its grand appearance in the sky, but already Krishna was on the move, riding his motorcycle into Binh Tan District. Following him was Kim's Suzuki Swift, with Kim behind the wheel, Steffi next to her, and Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko stuffed to the passenger seats. Leo was noticeably absent, as he was patrolling the city with the MCU at the moment, however he had told the SIG girls that he would come to them as soon as possible if one of them sent him an SOS message should things go horribly wrong.

While Minh had proposed everyone to meet up at the famous Quach Thi Trang roundabout in District 1, Krishna had told everyone that he's making a trip to Binh Tan District first before meeting up with Minh, as he's going to return Maximilian Titan to its author.

According to his name card, Rei lives in Binh Tan District, in an apartment building situated at the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's migrant workers district. Krishna felt indebted to the man who partially inspired him out of his slump and he has decided to return Maximilian Titan to him, feeling that Rei should take another shot at sending his story to the publishers.

Following the instructions on how to get to the apartment's address from Steffi, Krishna soon found himself riding his motorcycle through the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, a rather shady and rundown part of the metropolis that not too many people had taken notice. Low-cost apartment buildings were scattered all over the place, while the whole area reeks of the distinct smell of sewage. Stray dogs were seen sleeping on the sidewalk, while several children, not caring to the somewhat damp and dirty environment around them, were seen playing football on the street. Krishna had to honk his motorcycle's horn twice to get them to move out of the way.

"So this is the side of Ho Chi Minh City that they never told you…" Naomi muttered as she saw her surroundings, clearly surprised at how poorly developed the area was, "We never had one of these back home in Japan…"

"Binh Tan has always been one of the poorest part of the city," Steffi explained, "For some reason the rapid development that has been going on all over the city had either never reached this place…or it hasn't started here yet…"

Suddenly Krishna stopped his motorcycle, prompting Kim to pull her car to a stop behind him. The two vehicles had stopped next to a huge, ten-story apartment building, with an Ottoman feel to its architecture. It literally stood out like a sore thumb amongst the many rundown apartments in the district, with an air of intimidation emanating from it.

And strangely enough, on the first floor of the apartment, was a 7-Eleven convenience store.

Krishna took out Rei's name card from his jacket pocket, giving it a good look before taking a glance at the Ottoman-styled apartment next to him.

"We're here…" Krishna said as he realized that they had reached their destination.

Krishna, Karin (who was inside Krishna's jacket pocket) and Ryōko had elected themselves to go to the apartment, while Steffi, Kim, Vy, and Naomi were left behind inside Kim's car. As Krishna and Ryōko made their way to the apartment's 7-Eleven, suddenly Ryōko stopped in her tracks, her head turning left and right as she began to sniff the air around her profusely.

"Is everything okay, Ryōko?" Krishna asked, "Is the smell of the sewers bothering you?"

"It's not that, I could tolerate that to be honest," Ryōko replied, "It's just…something about this building…feels…forbidding. It's like…we shouldn't enter it at all costs."

Listening to Ryōko's words, Krishna took a quick look at the apartment in front of him. The apartment's architecture did make it look quite threatening and imposing from the outside, but as far as he's concerned, there's nothing wrong with it.

"If you're uneasy about this, just stay here. We'll be quick," Krishna told Ryōko, before he disappeared into the apartment's 7-Eleven. However, Krishna's words did little to ease Ryōko's worries, as the Kitsune felt that something…or someone, was watching her from one of the apartment's many windows…

xxx

The apartment's 7-Eleven was surprisingly clean and welcoming for visitors, despite the overall unwelcoming feel of the entire apartment building.

As the 7-Eleven's doorbell chimed the moment Krishna stepped into it, he was greeted by the sight of clean floors, neatly-stacked shelves, fully-packed fridges, and the Slurpee machine humming quietly at the corner. Behind the store's counter was a man in his 50s, who looked quite young and athletic despite his age. Wearing the standard 7-Eleven uniform, the man has lightly tanned skin, a tall build, and thinning dark brown hair with a slight upward-facing crest above his forehead.

If it wasn't for his age and the man's uniform, Krishna would have been forgiven to think that he was standing face-to-face with Tintin himself.

Clearing his throat a few times in order to get rid of any Herge's Adventures of Tintin-related references in his mind, Krishna made his way towards the counter. However, just as he approached the counter, he felt something vibrating in his jacket pocket. Taking a quick glance into it, Krishna was surprised to see Karin coughing violently inside his pocket.

"Karin, are you okay?" Krishna whispered, trying his best not to be heard by the man behind the counter, "You're acting quite…weird. Don't tell me whatever's affecting Ryōko's affecting you too!"

"Unfortunately yes," Karin whispered back, coughing twice before continuing, "We should not waste our time here, Krishna. Just drop Rei's short story here and go. There's something about this place…that screams…unspeakable evil."

"Unspeakable evil?!" Krishna gasped, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know how to say this…but this place…seems to be strongly connected…to the Maojins."

Krishna's eyes went wide in shock, "You're kidding me."

"I kid you not. We should investigate this place…but since we have our rematch today, we can't stick around here for too long. If we have the time, I'll remind you to revisit this place to gather more information about it."

"Gotcha."

Approaching the counter, Krishna placed Rei's short story on it, as the man behind the counter greeted Krishna with a smile.

"Welcome to 7-Eleven!" the man greeted, "How can I help you?"

"Do you know a Nguyen Van Duc Manh?" Krishna asked back, pointing at the short story on the counter, "I need to return these to him."

"Rei, huh? I know him."

"You know him?"

"Yeah! My name's Tran Hong Phuc by the way, I'm the manager for this branch of 7-Eleven as well as this apartment's landlord. I'm also Rei's neighbor."

"Okay, Mr. Phuc, is Rei home?" Krishna asked.

Mr. Phuc shook his head, "Unfortunately no. He's at campus right now…but if you want to, I can hold onto these for a while. Rei's working part-time here and his shift is tonight, so I could give it to him at that time."

"Great. That would be appreciated. Thank you! And don't forget to say my thanks to him as well."

Mr. Phuc picked up the short story from the counter, still displaying that warm smile of his, "Don't worry. I'll make sure that Rei gets these safe and sound."

With the job done, Krishna bid farewell to Mr. Phuc, before he left the 7-Eleven. However, little did Krishna knew, as he closed the 7-Eleven door behind him, Mr. Phuc's warm smile began to distort into a sinister, psychopathic-looking smile.

"Oh yes," Mr. Phuc smirked to himself as he inspected Rei's short story in his hands, "I'll make sure that Rei gets these alright…"

xxx

After Krishna had exited the 7-Eleven, he met up with Ryōko and the two of them returned to their respective vehicles. Little did they know, a pair of sinister, maroon eyes were watching them from a window on the apartment's second floor. The window gave the eyes' owner a clear view of the street in front of the apartment, however at the same time the window also obscured the eyes' owner from the sight of anyone below the apartment building, making it the perfect spying spot.

The owner of the eyes was a monstrous Andean condor-themed male humanoid, tall and muscular in build with black feathers covering most of his body. Silver, razor-sharp talons adorned the humanoid's dark brown hands and feet, while a white feathery collar was seen wrapped around the humanoid's neck, the same set of white feathers also present on the wrists and knees of the humanoid. The humanoid's head was leathery in design, colored dark brown with slight wrinkles here and there, complete with the aforementioned maroon eyes and a sharp silver beak that curved downwards. Folded nicely on the humanoid's back were a pair of black feathery wings, while the familiar golden belt was seen around the humanoid's waist, with a green loincloth hanging out of it, indicating that the humanoid was a Maojin from the Wind Tribe. However, unlike most Wind Tribe Maojins, the humanoid's loincloth had gold highlighting on it, with the roman numerals "XIV" emblazoned on the loincloth in gold.

This monstrous humanoid was none other than Temperance, in his true Condor Maojin form.

"So that's the one they call Kagura," Temperance hissed, his eyes fixated on Ryōko who was inside Kim's car, "Star was right…that fox monster could spell bad news for us…she has the potential to be as powerful as that Voyager, and we need to have her eliminated before she could eliminate us!"

xxx

Quach Thi Trang Roundabout, District 1

It was a relatively quiet morning at the city's famous Quach Thi Trang roundabout. Situated between the equally famous Ben Thanh Market and the always bustling Ben Thanh Bus Terminal, it was named after Quach Thi Trang, a 15-year old student who was shot dead by the police during a student demonstration in 1963. A bust of Quach Thi Trang was erected in the middle of the small park occupying the roundabout, being accompanied by the imposing-looking statue of General Tran Nguyen Han, who helped established the Le dynasty in the 15th century. Both statues were removed from the roundabout during the construction of the Ho Chi Minh City metro system, but were subsequently placed back there after the metro system had been completed.

Until this day, the Quach Thi Trang roundabout remained as one of the most famous landmarks of Ho Chi Minh City, being the silent witness of millions upon millions of traffic that went around it throughout the years as well as being visited by countless tourists from all around the world in its long history.

Standing adjacent to the roundabout was a brand-new Starbucks outlet, having been opened just around a few weeks ago. Sitting on the Starbucks' patio seats that overlooked the roundabout and its lively traffic were Minh and Thao, the two of them sipping their respective caramel lattes. The two had been at the Starbucks since around 8am in the morning, waiting patiently for Krishna to show up for his rematch with Minh over their morning coffee.

"Minh, do you have the time?" Thao asked.

Minh glanced at a giant Casio billboard located nearby that has a huge LED clock installed on it, "9:45am. Fifteen minutes to go…"

"Are you excited for this, Minh?" Thao asked again, "About your rematch with Krishna?"

Minh nodded, "Of course. I really hope that he could genuinely put up a better fight than the last time…Dad always said that he's a very powerful and skillful fighter, so to be able to face off against him one-on-one…is really a privilege. I'm also hoping that we could be able to finally settle our score once and for all…Krishna must pay for what he's done to my family and by defeating him once and for all in battle…I would finally be able to avenge Dad's undeserved death at his hands. Today is the day Krishna will finally receive his judgement for what he has done and I will make sure that justice for my family…and also for you…will be served."

A few minutes later, after both Minh and Thao had finished their respective drinks, Krishna's motorcycle rolled into view before stopping right in front of the two young women's table. Kim's car was behind him and pulled itself into a stop the moment Krishna parked his motorcycle. Immediately Minh and Thao stood up from their seats and got out of the Starbucks, meeting up with Krishna and his friends in front of the Starbucks outlet.

"Yo," Krishna greeted as Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko joined him, "Am I late?"

"You came just in time," Minh replied with a smile on her face, "Now, just follow me, and we'll take you to the location of your rematch."

"Ah yes, you need to fetch your car first, right?" Steffi asked.

Minh shook her head, "Not exactly. We came here by bus."

"So how are you two supposed to take us to the rematch location, then?" Kim asked.

Hearing that, a smirk appeared on Minh's face, "Allow Thao to give you the answer."

Nodding, Thao immediately took out the Proto ScanDriver, much to the surprise of Krishna, Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko.

"Is that…" Krishna gasped in disbelief upon seeing the Proto ScanDriver in Thao's hands.

"I've managed to create a prototype Driver by reverse-engineering my own Driver," Minh explained, "There's still some work to be sorted out with it, but this is the closest thing that we have to an actual man-made version of the ScanDriver. Now, Thao, let's show our friends here your new power."

Thao complied, placing the Proto ScanDriver on her waist. Immediately a pair of silver straps extended themselves out of the Driver, securing the device on Thao's body. Taking out the Pelagic Barracuda card, Thao then proceeded to pull out the Proto ScanDriver's tab, revealing a small slot large enough for the Maojin Card to fit into. However, instead of the computerized male voice that spoke out whenever a Driver's tab was opened, a looping heavy metal standby tune was played instead.

"Henshin," Thao said calmly, inserting the Pelagic Barracuda card into the Driver's slot and slamming the Proto ScanDriver's tab shut, prompting a slightly distorted and stuttered computerized male voice to announce,

TEN HE-HEN-HENSHIN! PE-LA-G-I-C BAR-RA-CU-DA RE-A-D-Y!

Thao then proceeded to press the first silver button on her Driver, causing the device to announce,

BA-T-TLE M-O-DE, EN-GA-GED!

The Proto ScanDriver splits open, revealing a translucent blue screen with a white image of a barracuda engraved on it. A blue rectangular projection with the same white barracuda image was then projected from the Proto ScanDriver, prompting Krishna and his friends to step back in surprise as it almost smacked them away. The projection them moved itself towards Thao before phasing through the young woman's body, disappearing behind her as Thao's body was enveloped in a bright blue glow. Thao's body began to shift and change rapidly as the glow died out, revealing a completely different being in Thao's place.

Thao had transformed into a tall and bulky mechanical monstrosity, humanoid in build but with the physical features of a barracuda, colored blue with a little black thrown into the mix. Her feet were flipper-like in design, resembling to those worn by scuba divers, colored blue with black highlights. Her head resembled that of a barracuda's, blue in color, streamlined in design with a set of razor-sharp metallic teeth in her elongated jaws. Her eyes were strangely human-like, with sapphire blue irises and black pupils, while a pair of black handlebars were strangely present on the back of her head. Adding more to the peculiarity of Thao's transformed state were a pair of motorcycle wheels resting on her shoulders. The fingers of Thao's transformed self were tube-like in shape, resembling miniaturized versions of a battleship's cannon barrels, while a leathery loincloth was seen hanging out from underneath her Proto ScanDriver, colored blue with black highlights just like the rest of her body.

Last but not least, a feature that stood out from Thao's transformed state was a large, semicircle-shaped LCD screen on her chest. The screen was black in color, but suddenly a blue digital image of Thao's face appeared on the screen, startling Krishna and his friends.

"Hey guys," Thao greeted, her voice sounded like it has been autotuned, "How do you like my new form?"

"Meet the Barracuda Maojin," Minh introduced Thao's transformed self, "I think you would recognize this beast from somewhere, Krishna. This is a mechanical recreation of one of the Maojins that you and my father had defeated all those years ago."

"I knew that thing looked familiar from somewhere…" Krishna commented.

"This here Maojin will be my partner in battle," Minh continued, "And she will also be involved in our rematch today."

"Hey, I thought this rematch thing is a one-on-one affair?!" Ryōko called out.

"I know," Minh nodded, sounding a little bit uneasy considering the treatment that she had received from Ryōko the other day, "Thao won't be involved in the rematch directly; however, she will supervise the rematch and will intervene in case any Maojin decided to interfere in our rematch. This battle is between me and Krishna, and I won't let anyone disturb it."

"Well," Ryōko pouted, "I really hope that you really hold onto your words on your battle being just between you and Krishna. Otherwise…"

Ryōko quickly made a throat-slitting gesture at Minh. The latter remained calm despite receiving such a threat, however in her mind, Minh was clearly unsettled. However, Minh tried her best in retaining her composure, which she had to admit she had pulled off quite successfully.

"Don't worry," Minh told Ryōko, trying her best to sound reassuring to her however at the same time wary of being jumped upon by her like the last time, "I promise that this rematch is exclusively between you and Krishna. Thao won't be involved and you guys won't be involved as well. And no damn Maojin's going to ruin my duel with Krishna like the last time."

"That's cool and all, but how does turning your PA into a walking-robotic-fish-thing could help us in getting to the rematch location?" Vy asked.

"Thao, show them."

TRA-VE-L M-O-DE, EN-GA-GED!

The barracuda image on the Proto ScanDriver suddenly changed into an image of a motorcycle, as another blue rectangular projection, this time with the motorcycle image emblazoned on it, was released from the device. The projection phased through Thao's body, and once again her body was overtaken by a bright blue glow. Suddenly the motorcycle wheels on her shoulders were ejected off as Thao's body began to transform once again, before the motorcycle wheels attached themselves onto the front and the back of Thao's body. As the glow died out, the jaws of Krishna, Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko dropped in unison upon the sight of what Thao had transformed into this time.

Thao had transformed from the Barracuda Maojin to a black and blue Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R, with the head of the Barracuda Maojin resting on the front part of the motorcycle. The LCD screen on the Maojin's chest had now moved to where the speedometer is supposed to be, displaying Thao's face, the current speed of the motorcycle, as well as the amount of fuel that the motorcycle has. The Barracuda Maojin's flipper-like feet now formed the motorcycle's rear end, which has a barracuda's caudal tail mounted on it. The Proto ScanDriver now rests between the speedometer screen and the motorcycle's seat, while the Barracuda Maojin's fingers now formed the side vents on the motorcycle's body.

"Holy shit…" Krishna muttered, completely speechless by the transformation that he had just witnessed.

"Did she just transform…into a freaking motorcycle?!" Steffi gawked out in surprise.

"Meet the Jet Maobarracuda," Minh introduced Thao's motorcycle form, "She's my answer to that cool bike of yours, Krishna."

"Right, I have to concede defeat there. Her motorcycle's definitely cooler than mine," Krishna said, before turning his attention towards Ryōko, "Is her motorcycle cooler than yours?"

"I hate to say it…but yes…that thing's miles ahead of my own motorcycle back home…" Ryōko muttered in disbelief.

"Right, let's not waste our time," Minh said, riding on top of her Jet Maobarracuda as she slapped on her helmet, "Let's go to our rematch location."

"I'll make sure that I'll keep up with you," Krishna replied, putting on his own helmet as he hopped onto his own motorcycle, while at the same time Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko went into Kim's car.

And with Minh on her Jet Maobarracuda leading the way, the trio of vehicles set off, leaving behind both the Starbucks outlet and the Quach Thi Trang roundabout as they mingled themselves with the bustling Ho Chi Minh City traffic…

xxx

Thu Thiem New Urban Area, District 2

Located at a point bar of the Saigon River in the city's District 2, was the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. Also known as the Thu Thiem Development Project, it was an ambitious project by the Ho Chi Minh City government to establish a state-of-the-art urban district that would replace District 1 as the city's city center. Once one of Ho Chi Minh City's most populated areas, the people of Thu Thiem were relocated elsewhere since the late 90s as plans went underway to redevelop the entire area into the sophisticated "metropolis within a metropolis" that the city has dreamt for. A Japanese-American architectural firm won the rights to design the entire area and it was projected that in 15 years the new urban area would be completed.

However with the fluctuation in economy and the city's flawed bureaucratic system, the development of the Thu Thiem New Urban area was stuttered and delayed multiple times. As of 2023, only 25% of the proposed Thu Thiem New Urban area has been completed, with a few hotels, apartments, an international high school and even a mosque being the only buildings that had been erected in the area since the start of the project some 23 years ago. The rest of the area were patches of barren wetlands, with the rubble of the area's former buildings being slowly overtaken by nature, still waiting for the hands of developers to convert them into the majestic skyscrapers that were envisioned by the minds behind the Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

And at one of those desolate patches of wetlands, the rematch between Kamen Riders Voyager and Mariner will take place.

Krishna and Minh stood face-to-face at a spacious field located in the heart of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, with the area's skyscrapers, both completed and under construction, littering the background. A tense ambience enveloped the entire field, with the squawks of crows flying overhead and the brief machine chatter from the nearby construction sites the only noises echoing throughout the area. Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, and Ryōko stood behind Krishna, with Kim and Naomi leaning themselves against Kim's car. Standing behind Minh was the Jet Maobarracuda, now back in her Barracuda Maojin form.

"Are you ready, Krishna?" Minh asked, taking out her ScanDriver and placing it on her waist.

Krishna slowly took out his ScanDriver, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly and steadily, Krishna placed his Driver on his waist, his eyes still closed. A few seconds after the ScanDriver had been secured on his waist, Krishna slowly opened his eyes, determination flaring from them.

"Let's settle this once and for all, Le Thao Minh," Krishna said, taking out his Thunder Kabuto card as he opened up his ScanDriver, "I will do whatever it takes…to fight for my innocence…and to save you…from you own vengeance!"

"I have trained myself for this day, Krishna!" Minh exclaimed, opening up her own ScanDriver and taking out her Marine Manta card, "Today is the day…that you will pay for your crimes against my father…against my family…and against me. Let our trial by combat begin…now!"

"Henshin!" both Krishna and Minh yelled in unison.

ACE HENSHIN! THUNDER KABUTO!

ACE HENSHIN! MARINE MANTA!

(Cue BGM: Gaia vs. Agul ~ Fateful Duel – Toshihiko Sahashi from the Ultraman Gaia OST)

Flashes of purple and blue washed over the battlefield as both Krishna and Minh transformed into their respective Kamen Rider forms, the two of them charging straight at each other as their respective armors formed themselves on their bodies. Once their transformation had completed, both Voyager and Mariner swung identical punches at each other, both striking their respective cheeks.

Everyone in the sidelines watched on in awe as both Voyager and Mariner exchanged physical blows at one another, neither of them gaining the upper-hand. Voyager was backed by his extensive combat experience, while Mariner had her Rider form's enhanced stats and her fiery vengeful determination that enabled her to keep up with her opponent. The two Riders swung identical roundhouse kicks at one another, the kicks clashing in mid-air for a moment. As both Voyager and Mariner backed away, the former quickly leapt into the air, performing a quick flying side kick that struck Mariner on the chest. Quickly recovering from the attack, Mariner quickly retaliates by landing two perfect roundhouse kicks on Voyager's head, before following suit with a couple of punches to the stomach. With Voyager stumbling back in pain, Mariner quickly grabbed onto Voyager, and performed a knee-slam onto Voyager's ribs. Her opponent disoriented and coughing, Mariner quickly chopped the back of Voyager's head, sending the black-and-purple Rider reeling to the ground.

However, Voyager was not down and out. No, not this early. Shaking his head rather groggily, Voyager quickly performed a leg sweep, smacking Mariner's ankles and effectively sending her off balance. A recovered Voyager quickly stood up, with Mariner following a few seconds later, and the two were at it again, with Mariner on the offensive this time. Executing yet another roundhouse kick, Mariner aimed straight for Voyager's chest, only much to her surprise, Voyager managed to catch her incoming leg with his right hand. And adding more to her shock and surprise, Voyager somehow mustered enough strength to lift her off the ground by her single leg, performing a quick judo throw afterwards. Quickly recovering by performing a somersault in mid-air, Mariner quickly rolled on the ground once she had landed and within seconds, she's back on her two feet.

That was when Voyager went in for the attack, punching Mariner twice on the chest, before a solid kick to the chin ensued. Rubbing her chin in slight pain, Mariner spat out some blood inside her helmet before proceeding to land a powerful jab onto Voyager's left eye. Clutching his bruised eye, Voyager chopped Mariner on the torso, before Mariner replied with an uppercut to Voyager's chin.

"Damn, there's no separating these two…" Steffi muttered as Voyager and Mariner continued to trade blow after blow after blow, before she turned her attention towards Vy, "Vy, are you recording this?"

Holding her trusted phone to record the entire battle, Vy gave Steffi the thumbs up.

"It's true that it has been a fairly equal battle," Ryōko commented, "But they haven't pulled out their big guns yet."

TWO EQUIP! THUNDER CENTAURUS!

NINE EQUIP! HYDRO ALPHEID!

With the Hydro Gunner in her hands, Mariner took aim and fired off a few shots, all of them being easily parried away by Voyager with his Kaminari Blade. Mariner kept on firing but much to her surprise, her opponent was fast enough to slice away and deflect all the projectiles heading towards him. So, she decided to try something else.

Reaching for the dial at the back of the Hydro Gunner, Mariner slowly turned the dial from its default setting in the middle, indicated by a black wavy icon above the dial, towards the left, indicated by a black icon of rain droplets above it.

MACHINEGUN MODE!

Aiming her Hydro Gunner at Voyager once again, Mariner opened fire, but this time, instead of the shotgun-like bursts of blue energy that came out from the muzzle, the Hydro Gunner fired off a furious flurry of blue energy bullets that caught Voyager off-guard. The bullets tore through his armor and even disarmed him of his Kaminari Blade and once the onslaught had stopped, Voyager dropped to one knee, smoke billowing out from where the bullets had struck his armor. Even though the Hydro Gunner was set into a machinegun-like setting, Voyager felt that he had just been blasted at pointblank range by a Gatling gun out of all weapons.

"Given up yet?" Mariner taunted.

Voyager slowly shook his head, clenching his fists tightly as he slowly stood up and assumed a defiant fighting stance, "No…not just yet!"

"Well then, I guess I need to punish you even further," Mariner said, turning the dial on her Hydro Gunner all the way to the right, indicated by a black icon of a tsunami above the dial.

BEAMGUN MODE!

Mariner wasted no time in firing the Hydro Gunner again, this time letting loose with an intense beam of blue energy that went straight out of the weapon's muzzle. Voyager had no time to react as the beam crashed against his chest, the black-and-purple Rider staggering against the beam for a few seconds before an explosion erupted from where the beam had hit his chest.

(BGM ends)

"Krishna!" Steffi, Kim, Vy, and Naomi called out in unison, however Ryōko looked strangely unfazed by the events happening in front of them.

"You can do it, Krishna!" Ryōko thought, "A man like you shouldn't go down from such an attack! I believe in you…you haven't shown us the full extent of your true power!"

And Ryōko was right.

ACE HENSHIN! INFERNO KOMODO!

As the smoke from the explosion died out, Voyager had shifted to his Inferno Form, still standing proudly on both feet with his armor looking better than ever. Mariner's jaw dropped in disbelief briefly by the sight of Voyager emerging unscathed from her attack; however she quickly regained her composure, cracking her neck confidently before assuming her fighting stance.

"So you've changed forms. Big deal. I've defeated your other alternate form before, and I will surely crush this one as well!"

Mariner quickly took out an Overcharge Card and inserted it into her left hip slot, prompting Voyager to take out his own Overcharge Card, quickly tossing the card into the slot on his right hip.

MARINE OVERCHARGE!

INFERNO OVERCHARGE!

Mariner took aim as blue energy began to converge on the muzzle of the Hydro Gunner, several rings of blue energy materializing between her and Voyager. At the same time, Voyager's right fist erupted into flames, as the Rider slowly pulled his right fist back and extended his relaxed left palm forward.

"Marine Blitz!" Mariner exclaimed as she fired a powerful and continuous blue stream of energy from her Hydro Gunner, the energy stream being amplified as it passes through the energy rings between the two Riders.

"Inferno Boost Impact!" Voyager yelled, thrusting his fiery right fist forward. A powerful stream of flames was released from Voyager's fist, heading straight towards Mariner's incoming finisher.

The two attacks quickly clashed in mid-air, going back and forth slightly for a few seconds. Everyone in the sidelines watched on anxiously as the beam tug-o-war raged on for a good three minutes, with neither Mariner's Marine Blitz nor Voyager's Inferno Boost Impact gaining the advantage over one another. Eventually the accumulated energy became too much and a huge explosion erupted from the beam clash, knocking away both Mariner and Voyager while at the same time causing everyone to duck for cover. A huge cloud of dust enveloped the entire battlefield, with the cloud being large enough to be seen from the highest of the skyscrapers in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

xxx

Somewhere near the battlefield

Witnessing the entire battle and the subsequent explosion from a safe distance were Death, Axel, and Hau, the three of them dressed in black from head to toe with Death bringing a pair of binoculars on her person as well. Death was initially reluctant to Justice's orders to observe the clash between the two Riders, saying that both he and Tower should act as observers instead since she's still performing her scouting duties, however due to the two Arcana Maojin's commitments with Rin, they had to attend a company meeting with her on the same day as the battle, thus leaving Death with the responsibilities of overseeing the rematch between Voyager and Mariner. That and the fact that she had to babysit both Axel and Hau for the entire day had irritated her to no ends. Taking care of her Tribe's Maojins was never Death's cup of tea, as she prefers to do things all by herself, but since the circumstances had literally put her into a tight corner, she had to do it whether she liked it or not.

Besides, it's been a while since Death last saw Voyager. There's something about Krishna and Karin that fascinates Death so much, especially since their last encounter in 20th century Nazi Germany. Highly considered as one of the most skilled fighters of the Maojins, Death had participated and emerged victorious in almost all of the battles that she had participated in, however Voyager was the first warrior who was able to match her fighting skills and even came close into defeating her, even after he had eschewed his powerful original form in favor of his weaker yet reliable Thunder Form. It was that encounter that made Death grew respectful of Voyager and whilst her comrades had viewed him in disgust, as a bane of their existence, Death viewed him as a worthy adversary, an opponent worth fighting against, and she would do anything to create a situation where she and Voyager would have their one-on-one duel to the death, similar to the one that Voyager and Mariner are having right now.

And by anything, that also includes betraying her fellow Maojins.

"Death," Hau called out, sending Death's thoughts back into reality, "That explosion should be enough to weaken the two of them. Should we move in?"

Death took a moment to collect her thoughts, using her binoculars to observe the slowly disappearing cloud of dust that enveloped the battlefield.

"Death, should we go in now?" Hau asked again.

"Not yet," Death shook her head, "Something tells me that this battle is far from over. We should not move in just yet."

"AAAARRRGGGGH!" suddenly Axel lets out an exasperated yell, "Not yet this, not yet that! You also said not yet after those two had battered themselves silly with their hands and feet! And now you're saying not yet after they had clearly been weakened by that explosion?!"

"Calm down, Three of Shields. You don't know anything about those two, especially Voyager. That explosion alone wouldn't be sufficient to weaken them."

"You know what? Fuck you, Death. You act all high and mighty to us while in reality it was Tower and Justice who pulled all the strings in our Tribe. You don't even do jack shit for our Tribe and now you're telling us what to do?! That's it. I'm going in. I have a score to settle with that ungrateful wench Le Thao Minh anyway for what she did to me."

And with that Axel transformed into the Swallowtail Maojin in a flash of purple light, before quickly taking off to the skies and flying away towards the battlefield.

"Wait!" Hau called out as a purple glow began to overtake her body; however Death quickly restrained her, "Let me go! I need to help the Three of Shields!"

"And you would be dead as well!" Death told Hau sternly, "Both Voyager and Mariner are not yet weakened. If you go after the Three of Shields now, you would end up being defeated as well!"

Hau's eyes went wide in both shock and horror, the glow overtaking her body disappearing instantly afterwards. Slowly Death let go of Hau, a look of pure solemnness can be seen on the Arcana Maojin's face.

"As far as we're concerned, the Three of Shields is already dead, done in by his own petty vengeance and recklessness," Death said regretfully, patting a clearly shocked Hau on the shoulder, "Now, let us retreat. The Three of Shields' actions had placed our entire plans in jeopardy. There's no point in continuing it."

xxx

Back in the battlefield

(Cue BGM: Orb no Pinch – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman Orb OST)

SHOTGUN MODE!

Apart from a brief ringing in her ears, Mariner was mostly unfazed by the explosion, and within seconds she's back at it, firing off a number of blue energy blasts from her Hydro Gunner. The blasts landed a number of direct hits on Voyager; however the black-and-red Rider was protected by his reinforced armor, thus allowing him to wade through the projectiles easily. Using his left gauntlet to protect his face, Voyager charged forward, with Mariner's attacks being harmfully dispersed and deflected by Voyager's gauntlet. As small explosions erupted around him, Voyager lets out a determined yell as his right fist went up in flames once again. And before Mariner knew it, she received a powerful fiery punch right in her face.

Stumbling back from the force of that punch, Mariner clutched her lower jaw, groaning in slight pain before suddenly letting out an amuse chuckle.

"That's more like it!" Mariner exclaimed as Voyager went for the offensive once again, punching her chest armor twice with his fiery fists, "This…this is the battle that I wanted the other day, Krishna!"

Voyager pounded on Mariner's torso with his burning fists repeatedly, before finishing up the combo with a jab to her visor and a swift uppercut to her chin that sent Mariner reeling to the ground. Letting out a delighted laugh, Mariner slowly stood up, only for Voyager to grab her by her solar plexus with his right hand. Within seconds Mariner was hoisted over Voyager's head with just one hand, much to the amazement of everyone watching the battle. Yelling out in determination, Voyager used his enhanced strength to its full potential, throwing Mariner to the ground with little to no effort.

Moments afterwards Voyager had hoisted Mariner over his head again, this time with both hands. And like before, Voyager took no effort in chucking Mariner to the ground, the black-and-blue Rider landing on the ground with a loud thud. Assuming his fighting stance once again, Voyager waited patiently as Mariner slowly stood up, clearly disoriented yet still more than capable of continuing the fight.

(BGM ends)

"Finally, you've proven yourself to be a great and formidable fighter, just like what my father had always told me," Mariner said, "Even though you have committed something unforgiveable to me and my family, it would be disrespectful for me to not acknowledge your potential and skills in battle. Voyager, you've really used those three days that I've given to you well."

"Thank you. You've also grown up to be quite the warrior. I see that your father had taught you well," Voyager replied, panting heavily from the intensity of the battle, "Even with me focusing myself 100% into the battle, you still had me in the ropes."

"But still," Mariner said, taking out an Overcharge Card, "You still must pay for the crimes that you've done to me and my family!"

Voyager braced himself as Mariner inserted the Overcharge Card into her left hip slot.

MARINE OVERCHARGE!

Blue energy once again began to gather on the Hydro Gunner's muzzle, as three large blue energy rings began to materialize in front of the weapon. Mariner went down to one knee, aiming her Hydro Gunner right at Voyager's chest with the ring closest to the weapon acting as her crosshairs. As this was happening, more blue energy swirled and converged themselves on the Hydro Gunner's muzzle, forming a sizeable orb of blue, water-like energy.

Seeing that Mariner's going to fire off another one of her finishing attacks, Voyager quickly reached for his card holder and took out a Maojin Card from it. It was a Fire Tribe card, but not one of the two cards that Ryōko had given to him a few days earlier. Instead the card had an image of an Australian frilled lizard looking up at the setting Outback sun depicted on it, with the words "BURNING CHLAMYDOSAURUS" emblazoned in white on the red line present on the card's left hand side. The backside of the card, as usual, was gunmetal gray in color, with a stylized 7 superimposed on a sword engraved on it.

"Let's see what this bad boy can do," Voyager muttered as he inserted the card into his right hip slot.

SEVEN ABILITY! BURNING CHLAMYDOSAURUS!

"Marine Screw!" Mariner yelled out as she pulled the Hydro Gunner's trigger, firing the orb on the weapon's muzzle. The orb travelled through the rings between Mariner and Voyager, going faster and faster as it went through them.

However just as the orb was about to hit its target, a huge flaming projection of a frilled lizard's head suddenly appeared in front of Voyager, protecting the Rider from the incoming Marine Screw finisher. A huge wall of vapor was created the moment the orb detonated against the projection, disappearing as quickly as it appeared within seconds.

As the wall of vapor dissipates away, Mariner's eyes went wide underneath her visor as she saw Voyager still standing firmly in front of her, the latter still in disbelief from the ability of the Maojin Card that he had used earlier.

"Holy shit, a defensive-type Maojin Card…" Voyager gasped, "Just like the one Ryōko gave to me, but I don't need to get hit for it to take effect. Not bad."

"That's two times that you've managed to cancel out my Overcharges," Mariner said, "You're sure a tough one to break, huh?"

"You're the one who asked me to fight you at my fullest potential," Voyager teased, cracking his fists twice before assuming his fighting stance once again, "And you've got exactly what you've wanted…a duel with me at my fullest potential."

"That's true," Mariner chuckled, placing a hand over her left hip slot. Seconds afterwards, the Hydro Alpheid card was ejected from the slot, causing the Hydro Gunner to disintegrate into blue motes of light, "Let's see how much longer you can withstand this no holds barred battle, shall we?"

Suddenly purple bolts of electricity appeared out of nowhere, covering both Voyager and Mariner in a series of small explosions that were enough to knock them down to the ground. Steffi, Kim, and Vy lets out gasps of horror on what had just happened, clearly surprised that someone had decided to crash the rematch. Suddenly Naomi noticed something flying overhead, swooping straight towards the two Riders.

"Look!" Naomi exclaimed, pointing at a figure flying towards the battlefield.

(Cue BGM: Treachery – Shiro Sagisu from the Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion OST)

Letting out cackles of madness and mania, the Swallowtail Maojin lets loose with more bolts of electricity from his fingers, striking both Voyager and Mariner who were struggling to regain their footing. Mariner even dropped her Hydro Alpheid card, which was thrown away a few meters away from her by the force of the explosions surrounding her. Seeing that Mariner is at her most vulnerable, the Swallowtail Maojin brandishes his daggers, going straight for the kill.

"Watch out!" Voyager called out as he tried to reach for Mariner, but alas, the Swallowtail Maojin was much quicker than him.

"Now, prepare yourself for a trip of your lifetime, Le Thao Minh!" the Swallowtail Maojin exclaimed maniacally, his daggers ready to slice through Mariner's throat, "Next stop, your grave!"

However before he could land the killing blow on Mariner, the Swallowtail Maojin was suddenly rugby-tackled to the ground by something heavy. Steffi, Kim, Vy, Naomi, Ryōko, and even Voyager were left speechless as they saw who had saved Mariner from certain death.

It was the Jet Maobarracuda, and the mechanical Maojin looked very, very pissed off, judging by the enraged-looking projection of Thao's face on the Jet Maobarracuda's chest.

"How dare you," the Jet Maobarracuda growled, "Minh had specifically chosen this location so that no one, and I mean no one would interrupt this duel or get hurt in the crossfire, and you had the gall to defile the sanctity of this trial by combat?! Your actions…are unforgiveable!"

As the Swallowtail Maojin groggily stood up, he was met by a solid punch to the face by the Jet Maobarracuda, who proceeded to mercilessly beat him senseless with her fists. The scene of the Jet Maobarracuda giving the Swallowtail Maojin a brutal beat-down was quite jarring for everyone, even though the latter completely deserved it for his actions. Ryōko in particular was deeply shocked by this, as the last time they met each other, Thao had presented herself as a gentle, friendly, and an overall nice young woman. But considering how Thao was always around for Minh even to the point of transforming into the Jet Maobarracuda for her as well as the Swallowtail Maojin's actions earlier, Ryōko could deduce that Thao's anger came from her sheer loyalty to her master and close friend as well as her desire to protect Minh from danger.

(BGM ends)

"That girl," Ryōko sighed; shaking her head slightly as she slowly went towards the battle between the Jet Maobarracuda and the Swallowtail Maojin with the Gensou Driver materializing on her waist and her Kitsune features appearing on her body, "She kinda reminded me of myself, to be honest."

"What are you going to do, Ryōko?" Naomi asked.

"I'm going to give her a helping hand," Ryōko replied, "After all; we need both Voyager and Mariner to concentrate with their own battle. Can't have this butterfly guy ruin things for everyone, can we? Henshin!"

POWER RELEASE AUTHORIZED. INITIATING BLAZE FORM.

Transforming into Kagura in her default Blaze Form, the Rider was about to leap into battle when Steffi suddenly touched her on her shoulder, prompting her to pause for a moment.

"Steffi? What's wrong?" Kagura asked.

"Long story," Steffi replied, before she proceeded to whisper something into Kagura's ear. Shortly afterwards the exorcist Rider nodded, understanding what Steffi had told her.

"Gotcha. Don't worry; I'll try my best to help you girls out as much as I can."

And with that Kagura jumped into battle, right when the Swallowtail Maojin had pinned the Jet Maobarracuda on the ground, having regaining his composure from that tackle earlier. Kagura performed an impromptu flying side kick during her entrance, knocking the Swallowtail Maojin away from the Jet Maobarracuda with her right leg.

Steffi lets out a brief smile as she saw Kagura helping the Jet Maobarracuda up, before seeing Kim, Vy, and Naomi coming towards her.

"So what did you told Kagura?" Kim asked.

"Remember the favor that Professor Truoc had asked us to do a couple of days ago?" Steffi asked back.

"Yeah…the one where we're asked to retrieve a Maojin Card for him, right?"

"Bingo," Steffi smirked, "Let's just say…Kagura's doing that task for us right now, since Voyager's…y'know…preoccupied."

"Pham Vu To Quyen, you fucking genius," Vy commented, causing Steffi to blush slightly.

Back to the battle between Voyager and Mariner, the latter was still on the ground, searching rather frantically for her Hydro Alpheid card, when she saw Voyager slowly walking towards her, the Maojin Card that she's been looking for in his right hand.

"Looking for this?" Voyager said, handing the card over to Mariner.

Mariner was clearly surprised by this act of kindness, a slight warmness and a feeling of nostalgia slowly creeping into her heart. For the past two years, Mariner had saw Voyager as the killer of her father, the one who had orphaned her, and the one who had thrown her life into complete disarray. Mariner had spent the last two years preparing herself to take down her father's murderer with her own two hands and all of those trainings and preparations had come down to today, the day she faced off against Voyager in a battle to the death. However, would a cold-hearted killer take his time during their battle to help her out? Normally he would have just taken the advantage of that momentary pause to gain the upper-hand and finish her off just like what he had done to her father. But no, Voyager instead opted to help her search for her Hydro Alpheid card and even gave it to her once he had gotten it. Would such a kind-hearted man be able to pull off the action that she had accused him of doing?

For a brief moment, Mariner saw Voyager as the same young man who had become an older brother figure for her, the same man that she cared and loved deeply as a part of her family all these years.

Slowly Mariner accepted the card from Voyager, before she let the latter help her back to her feet. Once Voyager had dusted Mariner off, the black-and-red Rider slowly backed away from her, resuming his fighting stance.

"Shall we continue?" Voyager asked.

Mariner hesitated for a moment. A part of her wanted to continue the duel, to seek answers for her father's death, and to avenge him. However another part of her wanted to surrender, to throw away the duel completely. That part of her wanted to hug Voyager as a thank you for his actions, for his brief act of kindness that had thrown her into nostalgia. However, she doesn't want to look weak in front of Voyager as well as her late father and she wanted to discover the answers behind her father's death from Voyager, with this duel being the best chance that she had.

So slowly, and rather reluctantly, Mariner inserted her Hydro Alpheid card into her TransGauntlet on her right forearm.

NINE ARMTRANS! HYDRO ALPHEID!

A bluish glow overtook Mariner's right forearm, with the forearm transforming into a large, metallic pincher, colored royal blue just like the Hydro Gunner. As Voyager clenched his fists tightly in preparation for what's coming next, Mariner took out a Maojin Card from her card holder with her left hand, a Water Tribe card judging by the blue line on the card's left hand side. The card depicted a sperm whale diving into the depths of the oceans, with the words "DIVE WHALE" emblazoned in white on the card's blue line. The underside of the card was gunmetal gray in color, with a stylized 4 superimposed on a cup engraved on it. With the same hesitation and reluctance as before, Mariner slowly inserted the card into the slot on her right hip.

FOUR ABILITY! DIVE WHALE!

Mariner's body began to glow blue, as her muscle mass expanded slightly before the glow died out seconds afterwards. Snapping her Alpheid Crusher, the pincher in place of her right hand, a few times, Mariner assumed her fighting stance, ready to resume the battle where they had left off.

"Prepare yourself, Krishna," Mariner taunted, "This battle is not over until one of us bites the dust!"

"Now you're talking," Voyager smirked underneath his helmet, "Let's settle this once and for all, Minh!"

(Cue BGM: Touch the Fire – Project DMM)

Both Voyager and Mariner charged at each other, the two locking into a grapple almost instantly. Mariner's Dive Whale card enabled her to match up to Voyager's brute strength in his Inferno Form, enabling her to go toe-to-toe with her opponent.

"Where were you on the 21st of March, 2021?" Mariner asked as she tried her best to put Voyager off balance.

"I was in America," Voyager replied, trying his hardest to push his opponent off him, "I was helping out a friend of mine there."

"Oh yeah? Which city?"

"Prometheus Falls," Voyager answered, "I believe a friend of your father was there."

"Really? Can you give me a name? Perhaps I might know that person."

"Adam Anders. Ask him. He'll confirm my alibi."

"Wait, you know Adam Anders?!"

Voyager nodded, before proceeding to finally shove Mariner off him, landing a good and solid flaming punch to his opponent's face, "Of course. I fought alongside his brother during my time in America. He's a close colleague of your dad as well and he told me how Lotus Industries has thrived after I left Vietnam."

Mariner stumbled back, clutching her face in slight pain before regaining her composure, "Adam was a good friend of my father's. Do you think that asking him would shed light regarding my father's death?"

"Perhaps," Voyager shrugged slightly, "Maybe it'll finally make you realize that I wasn't the one who killed your father."

Mariner lets out a roar as she swung her Alpheid Crusher several times at Voyager, with the black-and-red Rider easily avoiding each of the swipes, before catching the final swipe with his right hand.

"Listen, Minh. I wasn't the one who killed your father. I wasn't even in Vietnam two years ago. Please, listen to me. Calm down and I'm sure that we can sort things out together."

Shaking her head, Mariner proceeded to shove Voyager away from her, slashing the Rider twice with her Alpheid Crusher.

"My father…my father wasn't the only victim in the attack that took his life," Mariner said as she slashed Voyager continuously, "My friend…she also got hurt in that attack…and she said…she said…that she saw it with her own eyes. She saw…that you're the one who did that attack! You were the one who killed my father and hurt my friend!"

As Mariner delivered another slash, Voyager quickly crossed his forearms above his head, protecting his head from the incoming slash while at the same time parrying it much to Mariner's surprise.

"Just because your friend told you that I did it doesn't mean that I literally did it," Voyager said, "That's why you need to ask Adam. He knows that I wasn't in Vietnam two years ago, because I was with him and his brother at the time. Believe me, Minh, I'm innocent!"

"Are you sure about that?" Mariner asked, lifting her Alpheid Crusher and performing a powerful slash that broke through Voyager's defenses, "You might be lying to me with your words, you know."

Recovering quickly from that slash, Voyager lets out a loud battle-cry as his fists went up in flames yet again. The Rider then proceeded to punch Mariner twice on the chest with his ignited fists, causing the black-and-blue Rider to stumble a bit with smoke billowing out from where Voyager had punched her.

"You know that there's a possibility that there's some jackass who used my appearance to frame me for your father's murder, right?"

"That's true," Mariner nodded as a blue energy whale fluke materializes itself on her left hand, "But what are the chances of that happening?"

Using her energized left hand, Mariner performed a chopping attack that Voyager easily avoided, before the latter retaliated by kicking Mariner once in the stomach.

"Just trust me on this, Minh. As an old friend. As your brother. After this duel, call Adam, ask him if he knows me, and ask him about my whereabouts in March of 2021. He would most definitely say that I'm with him in Prometheus Falls in America, which mean that I wasn't in Vietnam at that time. How could I possibly kill your father and attack your friend if I'm halfway around the world?"

xxx

Kagura and the Jet Maobarracuda vs. the Swallowtail Maojin

Meanwhile, at the 2-against-1 battle between Kagura and the Jet Maobarracuda against the Swallowtail Maojin, the exorcist Rider and the mechanical Maojin surprisingly worked well together as a team, with Kagura providing most of the close-range attacks and the Jet Maobarracuda supporting her with the occasional shower of energy bullets from her finger cannons. The Swallowtail Maojin, however, proved to be no slouch in defending himself. His daggers managed to go toe-to-toe with Kagura's Yon-kata Haraubuki in its sword form, while his lightning bolts provided some trouble for the Jet Maobarracuda.

Letting out a maniacal cackle, the Swallowtail Maojin attempted to slash Kagura with his daggers, only for her to parry the incoming attack with her Yon-kata Haraubuki. Twirling the weapon several times, Kagura converted the weapon into its bowgun mode, before firing several flaming arrows from the weapon. The Swallowtail Maojin managed to use his daggers to deflect a few of the arrows, however a few of them had managed to embed themselves in his body, causing him to groan out in pain.

With the Swallowtail Maojin weakened from Kagura's arrows, the Jet Maobarracuda rushed in, detaching the wheel on her right shoulder and wielding it like a chakram. As the Swallowtail Maojin pulled out the last of the energy arrows embedded in his body, he was soon greeted with a slash from the Jet Maobarracuda's wheel, causing him to stumble back in pain. Not letting the Maojin recover, the Jet Maobarracuda slashed the Swallowtail twice on his face, before, alongside Kagura, she performed a double side kick combination attack on the kaijin's chest that sends him tumbling to the ground.

"Not bad," Kagura complimented, "I'm quite surprised that you're letting me fight alongside you even though you didn't know me that well."

"You know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend," the Jet Maobarracuda replied, "Glad to be able to fight alongside you, Kagura."

"Save the talk for later," Kagura said, noticing that the Swallowtail Maojin was back on his feet, "We're not out of the woods yet."

"You two are starting to irritate me," the Swallowtail Maojin growled, his fingers cackling with purple electricity, "I will have my revenge on that ungrateful wench no matter what! And I'm not letting some bitch and some cheap knockoff of my kind stand in my way of getting my revenge!"

"I'm not a bitch!" Kagura yelled out in irritation, "I'm a bloody vixen!"

"Whatever," the Swallowtail Maojin rolled his eyes, "Who cares whether you're a bitch, a vixen, a dog or a pup, when you're toast!"

Letting out yet another maniacal cackle, the Swallowtail Maojin let loose with several powerful bolts of electricity from his fingers, the attack heading straight towards Kagura and the Jet Maobarracuda. Thinking quickly, the Jet Maobarracuda detached both wheels from her shoulders and use them as an impromptu shield, allowing Kagura to summon a blue circle made of water and ice in front of her.

ELEMENT SHIFT INITIATED.

Allowing the circle to surge through her body, the red parts on Kagura's armor turned navy blue, the same shade as the one on Mariner's armor.

ELEMENT SHIFT COMPLETE. INITIATING RAIN FORM.

Twirling her Yon-kata Haraubuki and converting it into a spear, Kagura used the Jet Maobarracuda's shoulder as an impromptu takeoff board, launching off it and delivering a powerful diagonal slash onto the Swallowtail Maojin's chest.

"Fucking Hell!" the Swallowtail Maojin cursed as he flailed backwards, before realizing that the slash that Kagura had performed on him had left him with a freezing wound on his chest, "Damn you! I can't feel a thing!"

"Assuming a form that uses the same element as I do," the Jet Maobarracuda commented as she stood next to Kagura, "I have to say, what an interesting strategy."

"You know what water does to electricity," Kagura smirked underneath her helmet, "It makes them go haywire. Sate, odorimasen ka?"

"Of course I would love to dance with you," the Jet Maobarracuda chuckled much to Kagura's surprise.

"You knew Japanese?!"

"I spoke 5 languages, English, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, and Thai. Currently learning Indonesian. Being the personal assistant of a highly respected chairwoman of a successful company helps."

"Girl, something tells me that we're going to be really, really good friends."

As the Swallowtail Maojin had managed to shake off the icicles growing out from his chest wound, the kaijin was suddenly taken aback by crystals of ice slowly forming around his feet, effectively immobilizing him to the ground.

"Hey!" the Swallowtail Maojin grunted as he struggled to move his feet, "What's going on?!"

With the ground around the Swallowtail Maojin turned to ice, Kagura and the Jet Maobarracuda were free to skate around the immobilized kaijin, the former launching slashes with her Yon-kata Haraubuki and the latter using her finger cannons to blast away at the Swallowtail Maojin. This goes on for a good couple of minutes, to the point that the Swallowtail Maojin had become a battered shell of his former self; his wings torn apart by the Jet Maobarracuda's bullets and his body scarred from Kagura's slashes.

"Now for the grand finale," Kagura said as she lined up behind the Jet Maobarracuda, "Eat my Barracuda Sashimi Missile Attack!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" the Jet Maobarracuda blinked, clearly surprised by what Kagura had just said.

Giggling mischievously, Kagura kicked the Jet Maobarracuda right on her butt, effectively launching her head-first towards the prone Swallowtail Maojin.

"Yoouuuu craaaazy vixeeeeeeen!" the Jet Maobarracuda cursed as she collided head-first with the immobilized Swallowtail Maojin, with the latter being literally uprooted from the frozen ground from the force of the impact.

"Sorry about that!" Kagura chuckled as she helped the Jet Maobarracuda stand up, "Should've warned you earlier."

"In the name of Buddha and my ancestors, never do that to me ever again," the Jet Maobarracuda sighed, before turning her attention towards the weakened Swallowtail Maojin, "Shall we wrap up this battle?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Kagura replied as she prepared her finishing move.

FINAL CLEANSE INITIATED: RAIN RENDING!

Charging blue energy, ice, and water into the blade of her Yon-kata Haraubuki, Kagura prepared herself to execute a powerful energy slash to finish off the Swallowtail Maojin, who had just managed to get back to his feet in a disoriented manner. However suddenly Kagura paused, remembering something that Karin had told her the other day.

"Don't worry about the Maojin Card. Only Krishna's Overcharge finisher can seal the Maojin Card properly."

"Hey, do you happen to have an Overcharge-type attack?" Kagura asked the Jet Maobarracuda, "A friend told me that it's the only effective way to truly defeat a Maojin."

"As a matter of fact, I do," the Jet Maobarracuda replied, pressing the fourth button on her Proto ScanDriver.

P-P-P-PE-LA-LA-LA-G-I-I-C OVE-R-R-CH-CH-A-A-R-G-E!

Blue energy surged from the Proto ScanDriver towards the wheels on the Jet Maobarracuda's shoulders, the wheels spinning violently once they were fully charged with energy. Slowly detaching the spinning wheels from her shoulders, the Jet Maobarracuda crouched down as Kagura leapt into the air.

"Rage of the Imperial Tsunami!" the Jet Maobarracuda exclaimed as she threw the energized spinning wheels at the Swallowtail Maojin, the wheels slashing and battering the kaijin's body at frightening speeds.

Descending rapidly from the skies, Kagura added more to the Swallowtail Maojin's misery by executing a couple of supercharged slashes on the Maojin's body, before leaping away just in time for the Jet Maobarracuda's wheels to crush the Swallowtail Maojin in a pincer attack, destroying the Maojin in a spectacular explosion. Catching the wheels in her hands and placing them back on her shoulders, the Jet Maobarracuda joined Kagura in posing triumphantly in front of the raging fireball.

(BGM ends)

After the explosion from the Swallowtail Maojin's destruction had died out, all that were left from the fiend were Axel's unconscious body, and a Thunder Tribe Maojin Card that depicted the image of a swallowtail butterfly navigating its way through a garden of flowers, the words "BLITZ SWALLOWTAIL" were emblazoned in white on the purple line present on the card's left hand side. A stylized 3 superimposed on a shield was present on the gunmetal gray underside of the card.

Slowly the Jet Maobarracuda approached both Axel and the Maojin Card, checking the pulse on the former. Kagura slowly went closer to the scene as the Jet Maobarracuda turned her head around, giving Kagura a nod. Knowing that it meant Axel was still alive, Kagura lets out a relieved sigh.

"I will contact an ambulance shortly afterwards to pick him up," the Jet Maobarracuda said as she picked up both Axel and the Blitz Swallowtail card, before handing the latter to Kagura, "I want you to have this."

Kagura was clearly surprised by this, knowing that she was the only one who knew about Steffi's request of retrieving the Swallowtail Maojin's card for her, "Really?"

"Keep it as a token of our friendship," the Jet Maobarracuda smiled, "Thank you, for being such an amazing partner in battle."

Reverting back into Ryōko, the Kitsune accepted the Maojin Card from the Jet Maobarracuda, before giving the mechanical Maojin a salute of respect, "I look forward to the next time we get to fight alongside each other again."

The Jet Maobarracuda saluted back as she left the scene, carrying Axel's unconscious body over her right shoulder.

xxx

Back to the battle between Voyager and Mariner

(Cue BGM: Yuke! Ultraman Orb – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman Orb OST)

Both Voyager and Mariner had been exchanging physical blows for a good ten minutes now, with neither of them having the advantage over the other. Mariner's decision to combine her Dive Whale and Hydro Alpheid cards proved to be a smart one, as thanks to the two cards, she had managed to keep up with Voyager Inferno Form's herculean strength. Voyager, however, had managed to keep himself in the battle thanks to his pyrokinesis and Inferno Form's superb defenses. The two Riders inflicted punch after punch, kick after kick, and even headbutts after headbutts on each other, but there were still nothing that could separate both Voyager and Mariner, literally nothing. The two Riders were evenly matched with each other, in terms of skills, power, technique, and determination. Even when fatigue began to set in, neither Voyager nor Mariner showed any signs of giving in. Their battle right now was truly the duel of the century.

Seizing an opening, Mariner clamped her Alpheid Crusher around Voyager's neck, letting a loud heave as she lifted her opponent off the ground, before Mariner quickly tossed Voyager aside. Backing away from the downed Rider with her Alpheid Crusher disappearing into blue motes of light, Mariner took out an Overcharge Card and inserted it into her right hip slot.

MARINE OVERCHARGE!

"Marine Crusher!" Mariner exclaimed, going straight towards the recovering Voyager with her devastating dropkick, a bright blue glow emanating from both of her boots.

However, the moment Voyager saw Mariner coming at him, a brief smirk appeared underneath his helmet. Mariner's Rider Kick style was completely identical to Kagura's from yesterday, albeit empowered by water instead of stones, rocks, and dirt. She might not realize it, but the distance that Mariner had set up between herself and Voyager was identical to the distance that Kagura took when executing her Stone Meteor finisher during her spar with Voyager yesterday.

Which means Voyager knew exactly how to counter the incoming attack.

Taking out the Scatter Salamander card, Voyager took his time as Mariner came rushing down towards him, quickly inserting the card into his right hip slot the moment Mariner's energized boots were about to connect with his chest armor.

EIGHT ABILITY! SCATTER SALAMANDER!

Mariner's Rider Kick landed a direct hit on Voyager the moment the latter's eyes were overtaken by a milky white sheen, causing a huge explosion to erupt from where Voyager had stood. Using the chaos and commotion to his advantage, Voyager ejected himself from his damaged armor, leaving him in his black bodysuit. Seconds afterwards red grid lines appeared on Voyager's bodysuit, forming a brand-new set of Inferno Form armor on his body. Quickly Voyager took out the Inferno Habu card and wasted no time in inserting it into his right hip slot.

THREE ABILITY! INFERNO HABU!

As the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipates away, Mariner was left crouching in front of Voyager's now hollowed-out armor, the former panting heavily as the battle had clearly taken a toll out of her. But as she saw Voyager's armor standing proudly in front of her despite the severe damage to its chest, a sigh of dismay escaped Mariner's mouth.

"Really?! He managed to survive my Rider Kick?!" Mariner cried out in frustration, "How am I supposed to beat this guy if he kept on withstanding my finishers!"

Mariner slowly went towards Voyager's armor, approaching it warily as she anticipated it to somehow attack her when she least expected. However, as she saw the hollowed-out eye sockets of Voyager's armor, Mariner realized too late that she had fallen into Voyager's trap.

"That son of a…"

Suddenly a huge fireball slammed itself through Voyager's armor, shattering it into ashes and smacking Mariner right on her chest. As Mariner tumbled on the ground from that attack, the fireball hovered above her, making a sharp U-turn and heading straight towards the recovering Mariner, hitting her chest once again and sending her flying to the ground. Rising above Mariner, the fireball finished its attack by dropping itself on Mariner's head, effectively disorienting her.

With Mariner groaning and reeling from that attack, the fireball slowly hovered itself in front of her, before uncurling itself back into Voyager. In pain and in complete desperation, Mariner took out her Hydro Alpheid card once again and inserted it into her left hip slot.

NINE EQUIP! HYDRO ALPHEID!

Seeing that Mariner had armed herself with her Hydro Gunner once again, Voyager quickly took out the Water Seahorse card from his card holder, apparently planning a surprise up his sleeve.

"Never tried using a Maojin Card from a Tribe different from the Tribe who's my form was based on, but can't hurt to try. Let's see how you can cope with this," Voyager said, inserting the card into his right hip slot.

SIX FUSION ABILITY! WATER SEAHORSE!

Deftly avoiding the incoming shots from the Hydro Gunner, Voyager swiftly retaliated by firing a jet of boiling hot water from his right palm that struck Mariner right on her face, scalding her helmet and forcing Mariner to drop her Hydro Gunner as she was effectively weakened even further. As Mariner clutched her smoldering helmet, squirming and yelling in pain at the same time, Voyager took out his Overcharge Card, feeling that an opportunity had presented itself for him to finish the duel once and for all.

INFERNO OVERCHARGE!

Letting out a powerful and determined battle-cry, steam began to burst out of Voyager's joints, before seconds afterwards the jets of steam were replaced by streams of intense fire. Voyager's armor began to burst into flames as the red lines on his bodysuit glowed intensely. Steffi, Kim, Vy, and Naomi watched on in worry as Ryōko and Thao, the latter carrying an unconscious Axel, joined them in the sidelines. Ryōko was clearly surprised to see Voyager bursting into flames like that, and she had a bad feeling about it.

"Krishna…what are you trying to do?"

"Inferno Dynamite!" yelled the burning Voyager, marching his way towards the weakened Mariner.

Immediately the burning Voyager grabbed onto Mariner, holding her into a tight bear-hug. Mariner cried in pain as the intense heat slowly penetrated her armor and burned her flesh, with Voyager tightening his grip on her with each passing second.

"Krishna, what are you doing?!" Karin, who had been silent throughout the duel, suddenly spoke out of concern, "This attack…are you trying to kill yourself?!"

Voyager did not say anything in reply, instead he lets out yet another yell as the flames enveloping him and Mariner became more and more intense. Mariner struggled inside Voyager's ever-tightening grip, in a vain attempt to break free from his clutches. A reddish yellow glow emanated itself from the flames surrounding Mariner, a clear indication that within seconds Voyager would literally detonate himself in a suicide attack. Realizing that her resistance is futile, Mariner slowly closed her eyes, ready to accept her impending fate…

(BGM ends)

"Dad, I'm sorry. Sorry that I couldn't be a good Kamen Rider like you. Sorry that I couldn't take care of everyone that I love. And sorry…for being unable to avenge your senseless death. Just wait for me, Dad…I'll join you in a better place."

However suddenly Mariner felt that Voyager's grip on her had loosened itself, before a force pushed her away from the burning Rider. Rolling on the ground as the flames that burned her body died out, the last thing that Mariner saw was Voyager discharging the intense energy enveloping his body, causing his body to detonate spectacularly. Everyone shielded their eyes and took cover from the fallout of the explosion, which was so huge; it was visible several kilometers away from the battlefield.

Mariner was sent flying halfway across the battlefield by the force of the explosion, smashing back-first into a nearby perimeter fence. Her armor disintegrated into blue motes of lights once Mariner fell back on the ground, revealing a badly bruised and battered Minh, clearly weary from all the beating that she had received. Blinking her eyes a couple of times groggily, Minh slowly brought her hands up to her face, making sure that she's still alive and breathing, before pinching her cheeks a couple of times to verify that.

"I…I'm still alive…" Minh gasped, wincing in pain from her broken ribs and fractured limbs as she slowly stood up from where she had fallen, "But why…"

Minh's question was quickly answered once the smoke and dust from the explosion had died out, revealing a severely injured Krishna struggling to maintain his balance at the explosion's epicenter. Like Minh, he had been badly bruised and beaten in various places, but his wounds are much severe with the additional second-degree burns all over his body. His clothes were tattered and ripped at various places, and to Minh's horror, she could clearly see blood trickling out from Krishna's mouth.

"If I had killed your father…" Krishna said weakly, his legs quivering like jelly and his breathing heavy, "…I would have let you get killed by the full effect of my Inferno Dynamite and not push you away like that…"

Suddenly Krishna coughed a copious amount of blood, before his legs gave way entirely, the young man collapsing to his back, drifting away into unconsciousness in the process. Minh could only watch on in horror as Steffi, Kim, and Vy all went towards Krishna, the three young women frantically trying to wake him up.

"Krishna! Hang in there!" Steffi cried, trying to fight back the tears leaking out from her eyes, "We'll get you help as soon as possible!"

"Don't die on us!" Kim added, tears streaming down from her face.

"Krishna…please…" Vy pleaded, trying her best to wipe away the tears welling up in her eyes.

As the three SIG members tried their best to restore Krishna's consciousness, Thao, Naomi, and Ryōko all stood around Minh, with an unconscious Axel still slung around Thao's shoulders. Minh looked at Thao, who gave a slight nod, before turning her attention towards both Naomi and Ryōko. The two Japanese women nodded as well, but Ryōko's was added with a slightly stern look as well. Knowing what she must do, Minh slowly limped towards where Krishna was lying.

"Girls."

The grieving Steffi, Kim, and Vy turned around to see Minh standing behind them, a sorrowful and regretful look on her face.

"Don't worry about Krishna. I'll try my best to make sure that he's going to be alright. This duel was my idea, which means that I have to be responsible for any injury suffered by Krishna, no matter how severe it is. Besides, he had impressed me with his skills and determination that he displayed throughout our fight…and as an honorable person, I must nurse him back to health in order for him to resume his duties to protect this city from the Maojins. With those creatures running around without him…I won't forgive myself for causing this if they have their way with the city in Krishna's absence. Last but not least…during our fight…I felt…I felt that he might hold the key regarding the truth about my father's death. So I must let him live…in order to find out the truth about it."

Hearing that, Ryōko couldn't help but let out a slight smile on her face.

"That idiot," Ryōko chuckled mentally, "Looks like she finally realized that she must set aside her grudge for the greater good, huh?"

"Thao, if you may…can you fetch a cab for us?"

"On it!" Thao nodded, taking out her cellphone and dialing a taxi for her and Minh.

Using the last ounce of strength that she had, Minh carried the badly wounded Krishna over her shoulder. With Steffi, Kim, Vy, and Naomi watching on, Minh limped towards Krishna, wincing in pain with each step from her own injuries. Suddenly Minh lets out a groan of pain as she lost her balance, her fractured legs unable to withstand both her and Krishna's combined weights. But as Minh was about to collapse to the ground, suddenly she felt the heavy burden on her shoulder being lightened slightly, allowing her to painfully regain her footing.

It was Ryōko. The Kitsune, touched and moved by Minh's words and plight, decided to give the young woman a hand by carrying Krishna on her back.

"I'll go with you," Ryōko told Minh, "I personally don't know your father, but I felt that I should lend a hand in finding out what really happened to him. I've already promised Ngan that."

"Thanks," Minh smiled weakly, "Maybe I should tell my sister the truth about all of this…"

"You'll have all the time in the world to tell her that. Besides, I need to talk to you about a few things…in a much more gentler, girl-to-girl kind of way, not the full-frontal assault way that you'd receive from me the other day," Ryōko said, before she noticed a green Toyota Innova taxi approaching them from a distance, "Looks like our ride's here."

Once the taxi that Thao ordered had arrived, Ryōko and Thao wasted no time in loading the unconscious Krishna into the taxi's back seat, before the former and Minh sat between him and Thao sitting on the front seat of the taxi. The unconscious Axel was entrusted to Steffi and her friends and he was immediately placed in the backseat of Kim's car. Kim once again assumed the wheel with Steffi sitting next to her, the latter pocketing the newly acquired Blitz Swallowtail card that Ryōko had handed to her before the Kitsune joined Minh, Thao, and the unconscious Krishna in the taxi. Karin was also present in Steffi's pocket, having also being handed over to her by Ryōko. The Arcana Maojin was deeply worried about Krishna's condition, however Ryōko had managed to calm her down and assured to Karin that she's going to make sure that Krishna's going to be alright. Last but not least, Naomi and Vy sat themselves in the backseat of Kim's car, with Axel's motionless body between them. As the taxi carrying Minh's group left the area, Steffi quickly took out her phone as Kim navigated her car towards the nearest hospital.

"Hey, bro, it's Steffi. I need you to come to the Buu Dien Hospital, ASAP. And bring Professor Truoc with you as well, as we've got something really special for him…"

xxx

The traffic on Hanoi Highway that afternoon was bustling as usual, with the taxi carrying Minh's group being stuck within the gridlock. The taxi driver tapped his fingers rather impatiently on his driving wheel, with Ryōko keeping an eye on Krishna's unconscious body next to her. Green foxfire was present on Ryōko's fingers, as she was working hard to keep Krishna stabilized on the road. His centuries of conditioning had enabled him to survive wounds that would kill a normal human, however there's a limit to how Krishna could withstand injuries and judging by the state that he's in right now, he's about to hit that limit. While Ryōko was busy keeping Krishna from dying , Minh was gazing out of the taxi's window, drowning herself in her thoughts.

Thao, on the other hand, had a flurry of thoughts going through her mind. A familiar chord within her was struck the moment she saw Axel's unconscious body in place of the Swallowtail Maojin, before she quickly realized that the Swallowtail Maojin's host was indeed the same man that she saw in Minh's office the other day. Minh had previously told Thao a week ago that Axel was a security camera expert that Minh had hired to help with replacing the outdated security cameras in a number of Lotus Industries-owned facilities in South Vietnam. Coincidentally, it was around that time as well when a number of Lotus Industries-owned facilities in the Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area were subjected to a number of mysterious sabotages and attacks, seemingly picking up from where the previous saboteur, the Firefly Maojin that Minh had defeated a while ago, had left off.

The encounter at Dong Tam Industrial Park a few days ago was the first time that Thao saw Axel's Swallowtail Maojin form with her own eyes and on that day as well, Minh and Axel had a lengthy discussion in the former's office, a discussion where Thao, who was normally allowed inside the office in such situations, was barred completely from it. This raised a slight suspicion within Thao, a suspicion that was raised significantly even more when Minh confided to her about the botched plan to use the Swallowtail Maojin as a bait to lure out Voyager. That suspicion was pretty much confirmed the moment she realized that the Swallowtail Maojin and Axel were one and the same all this time.

"Minh…are you doing what I think you're doing?" Thao muttered in her thoughts, clearly uneasy by the outcome of her deductions, "Are you actually…working together with the Maojins? The very creatures that you're fighting against? Minh…has your desire to avenge your father's death taken you to the deep end?"

"Where are we going, by the way?" Ryōko's voice suddenly derailed Thao's train of thoughts, sending her back into reality, "Shouldn't we be going to a hospital?"

"It's too risky," Minh shook her head, "The city doesn't know that I'm Mariner. If we go to a hospital, they might ask us questions on how did Krishna got injured like that and to be honest…by the extent of his injuries, I have no idea on how to fabricate the perfect cover story for it. As far as I'm concerned…the city's viewing Mariner in a bad light, no thanks to the actions of that Maojin at the AIRC a few days ago. I know, it was foolish of me to use the Maojins to further my intentions."

"Makes sense," Ryōko nodded, "So, where exactly are we going?"

"A friend of mine's. Krishna's going to stay there to recuperate from his injuries while I fetch the necessary medication for him at my place."

xxx

Wind's house, Go Vap District

Wind was tending to her flower garden when she saw a taxi stopping in front of her house. Curious on who would come to her house unannounced, Wind warily opened her house's stainless-steel gates, only for Thao to barge in suddenly much to her surprise, with Ryōko and Minh frantically carrying Krishna's body into her house.

"Minh? What's going on?" Wind asked.

"Long story, I'll explain later," Minh replied as she and Ryōko stopped in front of the house's door, "Would you mind helping us a bit?"

Wind nodded, quickly opening her house's door and allowing Ryōko and Minh to carry the unconscious Krishna inside.

"Is your guest bedroom empty?" Minh asked.

"Yes it is. My boyfriend's still at Vinh right now, so he won't be here until the day after tomorrow," Wind answered.

"Excellent. Ryōko, could you help me carry Krishna into the guest bedroom?"

Quickly Ryōko and Minh took Krishna to the house's guest bedroom, the two laying Krishna's battered body on the bed there. Thao and Wind went into the room as well, the latter bringing a glass of warm water.

"Minh, what's going on?" Wind asked again as she placed the glass of water on a nearby nightstand before she proceeded to point at Krishna, "And who's that guy?"

Immediately Minh went towards Wind, whispering to her best friend's ear, "Remember Krishna? The guy that I told you a lot about during high school?"

"Krishna?" Wind blinked, before she realized something, "Ah, you mean your family friend who you looked up as an older brother?"

Minh nodded, "Exactly. That's him."

Immediately Wind lets out a shocked gasp, "That's Krishna?! What happened to him?"

"That's the long story part. Right now, I need to go back to the LIT to fetch some medicines for him. Thao, Ryōko, let's go!"

And with that Minh, Thao, and Ryōko rushed out of the room, leaving behind a speechless Wind alone with Krishna, who was starting to let out a series of weak groans. Realizing that the young man is coming to, Wind quickly grabbed the glass of water, ready to give it to Krishna in case he needs it.

Slowly Krishna opened his eyes, a surge of pain raging throughout his body as his senses returned to him. Once his eyes had opened completely, Krishna blinked them slowly, his mind still trying to process his surroundings.

"Where…where am I?" Krishna asked, his voice strained and weak.

"Don't worry," Wind answered quickly, smiling warmly at the man lying in front of him, "You're in a safe place now."

"Wh…who…who are…you?" Krishna asked again.

"My name's Tran Bao Quyen. Just call me Wind. I'm a close friend of Minh's and to be honest…I've heard a lot about you."

"About me?" Krishna lets out a slight groan, "Where's…where's Minh?"

"She'll be here in a moment, she's going back to her place to get you your medicines," Wind smiled, "Don't worry. We'll make sure that you'll recover from whatever happened to you as soon as possible…"

xxx

LIT Penthouse, Binh Thanh District

Having raced all the way to the LIT with the Jet Maobarracuda, Minh, Thao, and Ryōko quickly went to the tower's penthouse. The moment the elevator carrying the trio arrived at the penthouse, Minh immediately limped out of it, leading Ryōko to the penthouse's living room, before instructing Thao to go to the penthouse's pantry to fetch the necessary medicines. As Ryōko sat on the living room's couch, Minh fetched two bottles of mineral water, before proceeding to sit next to the Kitsune.

"Sorry, my injuries meant that I'm unable to prepare some tea for you," Minh said, handing Ryōko the bottled water, "Have this instead."

"Thanks," Ryōko smiled, accepting the bottle from Minh and drinking out of it, "Anyway…I think I owe you an apology."

"For what?"

"Attacking you out of nowhere the other day. You see…I'm the type of person that is very sensitive when it comes with emotion. When Ngan told me about what happened the other day…I practically snapped. I have a lot of problems back home and I came all the way here to seek help from Krishna…and I can't help to notice that the problems that I'm facing is eerily similar to the problems that you two are facing right now."

"Really?" Minh raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Ryōko nodded, "I have an older sister back home, and our relationship is just like yours with Ngan. She's also a Kamen Rider like you, me, and Krishna…but she's being manipulated by the very monsters that I'm fighting back home. On top of that, there's also this other Rider back home who's constantly accusing me for killing his parents, even though in reality it was my sister who did it underneath the influence of the people who had manipulated her. You know Minh…the Rider who's harassing me back home…he's kinda like you."

"Like me?" Minh blinked.

"His name is Tatsuya Momosaki. Like you, he is a Kamen Rider who seeks to avenge his parents' deaths. Like you as well, he also blamed the death of his parents on someone else…me for him, and Krishna for you. And also, like you, he was consumed by his own vengeance to the point of doing things that he might regret later. You won't believe me when I say this, but he once put a curse on my friends to literally turn them against me, as he knew that my powers stem from my emotional stability."

"Shit, that's disgusting," Minh commented, opening her own bottled water and drinking it.

"I know," Ryōko said, drinking out of her bottle again before continuing, "And you know…I used to see you in the same light as Tatsuya. That is, until our confrontation the other day."

"Hold on, what do you mean by that?"

"I know that you didn't mean to put Ngan in danger," Ryōko said, "We Kitsunes have the ability to read through a person's heart and thus we're able to know whether a person's telling the truth or not. So immediately I knew that you were telling the truth when you said that Ngan being taken hostage was never part of your plan."

"She's the only family that I have left," Minh said sadly, lamenting her recklessness that had almost costed her sister's life the other day, "I would never forgive myself if she was harmed in any way."

"So, tell me, what actually happened on that day. And don't bother with lying…I can tell straight away whether you're telling the truth or not."

"And why should I tell you that?" Minh asked.

"I might be able to help you in finding out who actually killed your father. I can see right now that you're starting to have doubts about whether Krishna had really killed your father or not, so perhaps I can help you in shedding some light regarding the true identity of your father's murderer."

Minh sighed, "Here goes nothing then. You see those two doors in front of us?"

Ryōko looked at the direction where Minh had told her, and true to her words, there were two doors standing in front of them. Suddenly Ryōko's Kitsune senses jolted into overdrive the moment she glanced at the door on the right, as if Ryōko had sensed that something unspeakably evil was lurking behind it. Glancing for a few seconds at Minh, Ryōko was surprised that the young woman next to her seemed oblivious of the evil presence living with her and Thao all this time.

"The left one was Thao's room, and the right one is the room of a good friend of mine. It is also the room where my mysterious benefactor in my quest to avenge my father's death lives."

"Mysterious benefactor?"

Minh nodded, "The friend of mine in that room has been suffering from a rare form of brain cancer for quite a while and before his death my father had been working hard in finding out a cure for her condition. My father and my friend were on their way to a hospital to check on the latter's cancer when they were suddenly ambushed out of nowhere. That ambush costed my father his life and injured my friend quite badly. And the morning after my father's death…when I checked on my friend's condition at the hospital…that's when my mysterious benefactor showed up. He had acted as my friend's guardian angel, preventing her cancer from killing her as well as protecting her from the ambush that killed my father."

Clearing her throat before taking a sip of her bottled water, Minh then continued her story, "My mysterious benefactor helped me with my training and provided me with clues regarding my father's killer. Essentially, he filled in my father's shoes in becoming my mentor. It was my benefactor as well who told me that Krishna was the one who had killed my father. I refused to believe it at first, but somehow…my benefactor managed to use my grief over the loss of my father to make me believe him…"

As Minh slowly broke down into tears, Ryōko slowly clenched her fists. She knew that Minh's mysterious benefactor was the one who had manipulated her into fighting Krishna and somehow, this benefactor figure must be connected to the evil presence that she had sensed lurking behind one of the doors in front of her.

Trying her best to control her anger, Ryōko used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe away Minh's tears, "Continue."

"The whole plan of using a Maojin to lure out Voyager…that was my benefactor's idea. The Maojin in question had been attacking a few of my factories lately and my benefactor used that to his advantage. He arranged for the Maojin to attack one of my company's research facilities, knowing that Voyager would probably show up to fight and defeat that Maojin. That's where I step in, seizing that opportunity to avenge my father once and for all. However, both my benefactor and the Maojin that I used as bait must have known about Ngan's school trip and chose the facility that she and her class were visiting as the very facility to attack in order to lure out Voyager. Ngan was totally out of my initial plan's equation and the fact that she was forcefully involved in my plan…it completely threw everything into the garbage can. I was a complete fool…I was a complete fool for trusting a Maojin to play along with my plans!"

"Then why did you trust that Maojin and your benefactor in the first place?"

"Because…my benefactor had fought alongside my father and knew him very well as a dear comrade of his. There's also the fact that my benefactor holds the answers behind not only my father's death but also behind the cure for my friend's cancer. It was thanks to my benefactor that my friend had managed to live her life until today…and if I don't follow what he says, I will never know the truth behind my father's death and my friend would die from her cancer…"

Hearing that made Ryōko's blood boil even more. This mysterious benefactor had not only played Minh like a fiddle, he had also used Minh's ill friend as a bargaining chip to his advantage. A truly disgusting and sickening individual indeed.

As Minh broke down into tears, Ryōko consoled the sobbing young woman, wiping her tears away with her sleeve and allowing her to finish up her bottled water.

"Thank you for your honesty, Minh. Now I know the truth behind what had happened between you and your sister…I hope that you and Ngan could sort this out as soon as possible. It hurts me to know that a pair of siblings like you who are supposed to take care and love each other was torn apart by the actions of a few crooked individuals."

Minh lets out a sad nod, "No, thank you for being such a good listener. I really wish that an opportunity would present itself to allow me to redeem myself in Ngan's eyes…"

Ryōko gave Minh a gentle pat on her shoulder, "That opportunity will come soon. I'm pretty sure that you will get the chance to make it up to your sister and the two of you would bury the hatchet in no time. I wish the same could be said for what I'm going through right now, though…"

"Thanks," Minh lets out a slight smile, "Good luck for your problems too. I pretty much know the burdens of being an older sister, so I kinda know what you're going through."

Suddenly Thao poked her head from the pantry door, "Hey Minh, could you help me with carrying these medicines? I don't think my pockets would be enough to hold them all."

"Right. I'll be with you in a sec."

As Minh left the living room for the pantry, Ryōko looked around her, making sure that no one's there, before slowly making her way towards the door that she felt was emanating an evil presence. Slowly opening the door, Ryōko stepped into the room behind it, only to be quickly surrounded by an array of advanced medical equipment, all of them hooked to a young woman sleeping peacefully on the only bed present in the room.

Tran.

Slowly closing the door behind her, Ryōko tip-toed her way into the room, making sure to avoid the numerous cables and wires strewn across the floor. However, she suddenly tripped on a cable, prompting her to curse out in surprise.

"Shit!"

Quickly Ryōko regained her footing, but her sudden cursing was more than enough to wake Tran up.

"Who are you?" Tran asked the moment she saw Ryōko standing in her room, "What are you doing here?"

Ryōko took a quick look at Tran and her eyes immediately went wide. Even though from the outside Tran looked like a friendly, somewhat defenseless young woman who had been debilitated by years of fighting her cancer, Ryōko could easily sense the immeasurable amount of evil energy emanating from the young woman's body. However, despite this Ryōko maintained a friendly smile, trying her best to not let her pent-up rage erupt like the last time.

"Hello! My name is Ryōko Mitsurugi. I'm a friend of Minh's," Ryōko introduced herself, "And you are?"

"Tran Phuong Trang, you can call me Tran. I'm one of Minh's closest friends," Tran replied, a friendly smile appearing on her face, "Nice to meet you. You must be someone that Minh had met on one of her business trips."

"You can say that," Ryōko said, rubbing the back of her head rather sheepishly, before resuming her serious demeanor, "Actually, I came here looking for someone."

"Someone? Who is it? There's only you and me here," Tran said.

"I'm looking for Minh's mysterious benefactor," Ryōko told Tran, "Do you know where he is?"

"Benefactor? I don't know what you're talking about," Tran replied, before suddenly she clutched her head in pain. Tran's entire body began to go into seizure shortly afterwards as an orange glow overtook her eyes.

"Tran! Are you okay?" a concerned Ryōko asked, before she realized that the advanced medical equipment hooked onto Tran's body did not detect anything out of the ordinary with the young woman despite her current state of distress. Immediately Ryōko's Kitsune senses knew what's going on.

Tran's body convulsed and contorted for a few seconds, before suddenly she stopped moving. Ryōko assumed a fighting stance, bracing herself to come face-to-face with the evil presence that she had detected inside Tran. Tran's eyes suddenly shot open, her eyes glowing a haunting orange.

"Are you looking for me?" Star's voice echoed out from Tran's mouth, confirming Ryōko's hunch that it is now the evil presence inside Tran that's doing the talking, "You must be Ryōko Mitsurugi, the one better known as…Kagura."

"You're damn right I'm looking for you," Ryōko said, her fists clenched tightly in anger, "You must be Minh's mysterious benefactor."

Tran chuckled, "Indeed I am. My name is Star. I am the proud vanguard of the Maojin race, the very warrior of darkness who instill terror in the hearts of those who oppose us Maojins. And you…you've proven yourself to be a decent fighter, Kagura. You've managed to give the Eight of Shields a run for his money."

"Yeah, quit chit-chatting, will you?! I know what you've done, Star. You've framed my friend for a crime that he did not commit, you've manipulated poor Minh and had her fight someone whom she had considered as a brother that she never had, you've forced Minh's sister into a hostage situation and made her think that Minh had gone evil, and on top of that, you've been using the body of this poor woman as a leverage for your very own advantage. You disgust me, Star…you're beyond scum…you're below it. You've taken advantage of Tran's friendship with Minh to have her as your very own personal pawn. That is beyond repulsive…"

Foxfire began to form around Ryōko's body as her Kitsune features appeared. Glaring daggers at the possessed Tran, Ryōko slowly raised her right fist, the blue flames surrounding her body starting to converge towards it. However, Tran looked surprisingly calm, smug even. A smirk formed on the possessed woman's face, as if she's anticipating that Ryōko's going to punch the daylights out of her…

However suddenly Ryōko lowered her fist, taking a deep breath as both her foxfire and her Kitsune features disappeared. The possessed Tran was clearly taken aback by this.

"I know what you're thinking when I did that. You wanted me to attack this young woman, right? You're thinking that if I punch her, you can just abandon her body, leave her to die, and use someone else as your new host. In other words, you're going to make it look like that I've murdered this poor young woman. Well, that ain't happening."

Before Tran could say anything, however, Ryōko suddenly grabbed her by her collar, "But heed my warning. You better not mess around with Krishna, or Minh, or Ngan, or Thao, or this very young woman whose body that you're using, Star. I won't be here for a long time, I have my own problems back home. But if I hear just one word about you messing around with the inhabitants of this place or with Krishna, I swear to all of my ancestors that I, Ryōko Mitsurugi, will come all the way back to Vietnam just to give you a beating that you…will…never…forget. Remember that."

And with that Ryōko shoved Tran back to her bed and left her room without saying another word. As Ryōko slammed the room's door shut in front of her, Tran was left speechless on her bed, with Star equally speechless as well. It was the first time in over 6 centuries that someone had the gall to intimidate Star like that. Not even Voyager had the ability to strike such a feeling of fear and dread that Star's experiencing right now and he had always been the most intimidating opponent that the Arcana Maojin faced.

Breathing heavily, Star knew that with Ryōko around, his grip over Minh would become more and more loose overtime and eventually Minh would discover the whole truth about her father's death. And that means Star would lose the ultimate trump card that he had in the Maojins' centuries-long conflict with Voyager while at the same time gaining a powerful new adversary that would surely slowly tip the conflict into Voyager's favor.

A terrifying grin suddenly formed itself on Tran's face as the possessed young woman began to chuckle in Star's distorted voice. The Arcana Maojin inside Tran now knew exactly what he must do. He must eliminate this Kagura as soon as possible…or risk losing the advantage that he had over Voyager for the past couple of years.

xxx

Later that evening

Binh Tan District 7-Eleven

"Owner, I'm going to start my shift," Rei said, adjusting his 7-Eleven uniform, "Take some rest, will you? You had been working hard all-day long."

"Sure thing," Mr. Phuc smiled, before he quickly remembered something, "Oh, Rei, this morning a friend of yours came here. He said that he wanted to return your short story to you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. He told me that he wanted to thank you for the story. I think he likes it."

"Ah, it's always nice to know that someone likes the fruits of your hard work. Is the story with you right now?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, it's with me. Let me fetch it for you. Just concentrate on serving those customers, okay?"

Rei saluted at Mr. Phuc, to which the elderly man replied with a salute of his own. Immediately Mr. Phuc headed towards the convenience store's backroom, entering it as Rei busied himself with the customers of the evening.

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Once inside the backroom, Mr. Phuc quickly looked around him to make sure that no one else is with him inside the room, before he slowly made his way towards a nearby wall. Observing the wall in front of him, Mr. Phuc was quick to see a large poster of Pamela Anderson from her role on the movie Baywatch, prompting a wide grin to appear on the old man's face.

Mr. Phuc lifted the poster, revealing a small metallic lever. Pulling down on the lever caused the floor a few steps away from Mr. Phuc to unravel into a set of spiraled stairs that went underground. Mr. Phuc quickly made his way down the stairs, before the stairs reassembled itself back into the floor a few seconds afterwards, ensuring the secret of the secret underground passage that Mr. Phuc had just entered.

The underground passage underneath the 7-Eleven was an eerie one, with walls of blood red bricks surrounding the passage from the left and right, with the same set of blood red bricks making up the ceilings of the passage as well. The passage was dimly lit by a set of medieval-looking fire torches. Despite the limited visibility, Mr. Phuc was able to navigate his way through the passage into the secret underground room located at the end of it.

Entering the secret room through a metallic door that was similar to the doors present in bank vaults all over the world, Mr. Phuc was soon greeted by a macabre assortment of items inside the room. Rows upon rows of shelves were present in the room, all of them having jars of formaldehyde with a different human body part in each jar, ranging from ears, to internal organs, and even an unborn fetus. Newspaper clippings were scattered throughout the room's walls, all of them depicting the same general topic – the exploits of the mysterious serial killer known as Kira that had terrorized Ho Chi Minh City a good 10 years ago. Ranging from discoveries of Kira's victims to the HCMCPD's failed efforts in finding him, the room had a complete collection of Kira-related articles.

Adding more to the room's disturbing nature were an assortment of items made from human body parts. Lampshades made from human skin, torches made from human bones, chandeliers made from skulls, and the chairs inside the room were all covered in human skin in lieu of leather. Truly a room that would make the notorious killer Ed Gein green with envy.

But the room's centerpiece was an altar that was set up in the heart of the room. It was a simple, rectangular-shaped table, covered in a black velvet cloth. A pair of candles on human skulls were present on the altar, along with numerous ancient artifacts that seemed inhuman in nature. A Lovecraftian-looking statue was placed in the middle of the table, the statue resembling a nautilus-themed monstrosity with numerous tentacles coming out from its body, the head of the statue resembling a grotesque-looking inverted goat's skull. But that was not the most surprising feature of the altar.

Resting on the base of the statue, was a ScanDriver, identical to that owned by Krishna and Minh's. Unlike Krishna's who had a red tab and Minh's who had a blue tab, this Driver had a green tab.

Hanging around the altar were Temperance, Hanged Man, and Hermit, with Rei's short story present in Hanged Man's hands. Immediately as Mr. Phuc approached them, the three Wind Tribe Arcana Maojins bowed respectfully in his presence, with Hanged Man immediately handing Rei's short story to Mr. Phuc.

"I have to say, human literature's quite interesting," Hanged Man said as Mr. Phuc accepted the short story from him, "Your friend's quite the writer."

"I'll make sure he gets the message," Mr. Phuc said, pocketing the short story into his trouser pocket, before turning his attention towards the Arcana Maojins, "Friends, as we all know, the seal representing our Tribe that kept the Supreme Arcana Maojin known as The World has been weakened. However, the seals from the other Tribes are still in place, which means The World won't awaken as soon as we expected. But first I must thank you and your Tribe. If you haven't performed those murders in my steed, we wouldn't have gone this far."

"The feeling's mutual, Kira," Hanged Man said, representing his fellow Arcana Maojins, "You're kind enough to provide us with a place to hide from the humans while at the same time giving us the opportunity to gather as much chaos and destruction as possible in order to awaken our beloved Creator and Leader from his seal."

"However, as we all know, the warrior known as Voyager is here in Ho Chi Minh City," Temperance added, "And he has been eliminating warriors from our race's Tribes. To make things worse, the new Mariner has started to operate in this city as well. They could provide a huge hindrance to our plans…especially Voyager, with that fox monster around to aid him."

"Ah yes, I've heard of her. The fox monster who defeated one of the Thunder Tribe's warriors. Kagura, isn't it?"

"That's right," Temperance nodded, "We must eliminate Kagura before she could become a threat as great as Voyager."

"Luckily, our newest warrior will serve that purpose for us," Hermit added, snapping her fingers twice after she had said that.

Swooping down from a nearby shelf of unborn fetuses was a humanoid being themed after an Australian magpie, colored jet black from head to toe with patches of white feathers on the wings on its back as well as on the feathered collar on its neck. The slight bulge on the humanoid's chest indicated that it's a female, while a pair of metallic black swords were present in leather brown sheaths located on her hips. The familiar golden belt was present around her waist, with a green loincloth hanging out of it. The humanoid's midriff was white in color, while the feathery bra that she's wearing over her breasts was black. Sharp black talons adorn the humanoid's fingers, while her feet were adorned by a pair of black stilettoes. Last but not least, an Australian magpie-themed helmet was present on the humanoid's head, colored black with piercing red eyes. Even the beak on the helmet was pitch black in color, as black as the darkness of night. Underneath the helmet's beak was a pale white patch of skin, where the humanoid's human-like mouth was present. Her lips resembled that of an emo girl's, colored black with a hue of blood red.

"The Four of Wands at your service," the Magpie Maojin greeted, bowing gracefully in front of her Tribe's Arcanas and Mr. Phuc, her voice graceful and elegant yet at the same time cold and menacing.

"Excellent," Mr. Phuc smirked, "She could be of use for us."

"Actually Star had assigned her to perform a few missions and she had done them all quite admirably," Hanged Man said, "With Voyager and the new Mariner going at each other's throats, the actions of Four of Wands practically went unnoticed."

Upon hearing the word "Star," Mr. Phuc lets out an exasperated sigh, "For how much longer would you guys listen to that bastard? As the Tribe who had the honor of unlocking the first seal that kept The World at bay, you guys should be calling the shots! Not him!"

"Patience, Kira," Hermit lets out a sly smirk, "We're merely laying low. Sure, we're letting Star and the other Tribes have their own way, but that's until they've weakened their own seals on The World's tomb. But once they've done their deed, we'll show them why the Wind Tribe is the only Tribe that deserves The World's grace. And when that happens…your dream of becoming God among mortals…shall come into reality."

"Excellent," Mr. Phuc chuckled, "Once the time has come…I, Kira, will make his triumphant return to this pathetic world…and deliver judgement…to every single insignificant soul in the land…"

And with that, the entire room echoed with an eerie and disturbing laughter, with the people on the 7-Eleven and the apartment above ground unaware of the events unfolding underneath their feet…

xxx

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Next time, on Kamen Rider Voyager, episode 7 – Minh's Resolve

The incident at the AIRC had casted a bad light on Kamen Rider Mariner. The people of Ho Chi Minh City had viewed her as an enemy, a bitter rival of Voyager who's more than willing to sacrifice innocents for her goals. However, after hearing out Krishna's alibi during their battle, Minh decided to investigate her father's death by herself, with the hopes that she could gather more additional information to shed light on the true identity of her father's killer. At the same time, Minh must rebuild her relationship with Ngan, which had been torn into shreds thanks to the incident at the AIRC. Meanwhile, the Earth Tribe Maojins has launched an attack on Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, Ngan's high school! Ngan and a friend of hers were trapped inside the school as it was being laid siege by the Gazelle Maojin, a Maojin with the uncanny ability of illusions! With Krishna/Voyager being occupied by a series of Maojin attacks that targeted his friend Ryōko Mitsurugi, Japan's very own Kamen Rider Kagura, it's up to Minh to redeem herself in the eyes of the city as well as in the eyes of Ngan. Kamen Rider Mariner, it's time for you to step up to the plate and save the day!

Part of a mini crossover event with dfox300's Kamen Rider Kagura

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Maojin Card of the Day

Hurricane Eagle

Class: Ace of Wands

Tribe: Wind

Properties: Transforms Voyager into his Hurricane Form, which trades strength and defenses for speed and agility. Themed after an eagle, Voyager has little to no protection from enemy attacks in this form, however that was offset by the enhanced speed and agility that this form has. He is also very nimble in this form, capable of avoiding enemy attacks easily before counterattacking them in frightening speeds. In this form, Voyager is also capable of aerokinesis, executing wind-based attacks with his hands and feet. His mental strengths are also increased in this form, being able to perform minor telekinesis, while his senses are increased exponentially to the point of being able to detect the slightest of movements from around 5km away. However, the lack of protection that this form gives makes it the weakest out of Voyager's three default forms.

Maojin of the Day

Jet Maobarracuda

Class: Ten of Cups

Tribe: Water

Motif: Barracuda (Battle Mode), Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R (Travel Mode), Kawasaki Ultra 310LX (Cruise Mode)

Host: Vo Hieu Thao

Abilities: as an artificial Maojin brought about by the Proto ScanDriver, the Jet Maobarracuda's greatest feature lies in her ability to switch between three forms to support Kamen Rider Mariner in battle. Her default form is a mechanized version of the Barracuda Maojin, called Battle Mode. In this form, she can fire energy bullets from her finger cannons as well as using the wheels on her shoulders as a pair of deadly chakrams. Her Overcharge attacks in this form includes the Rage of the Imperial Tsunami, a slashing attack with her shoulder wheels, and the Rage of the Battleship Yamato, a continuous barrage of energy bullets from her finger cannons. Her secondary form is a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R, which is Mariner's Rider Machine, called Travel Mode. In this form, the Jet Maobarracuda is able to travel in speeds up to 300km/h and fire off energy bullets from her front vents. Her tertiary form is a Kawasaki Ultra 310LX jet ski, called Cruise Mode. In this form, the Jet Maobarracuda is able to provide aquatic support for Mariner in battle, traveling to speeds up to 150 knots on water, and like Travel Mode, she's able to fire off energy bullets from her front vents. No Maojin, on land nor water, is safe when the Jet Maobarracuda's around!

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A/N: And that's a wrap! Once again I apologize for both the lengthy wait for the newest chapter as well as the chapter's huge length that might put off some of you, but I hope that with all the action and the happenings in this chapter, both the wait and the length would be worth it for all of you!

And keep your eyes peeled for dfox300's newest chapter of Kamen Rider Kagura that will pick up the story from where I have left off~! And be sure to leave your reviews for this chapter! Remember, no flames~

This is maxpower02, signing out~