Chapter 3

The echo of Null's footsteps in the empty room made one Void sound like an army. When he reached the center of the space, he dropped to one knee. A large black spot welled up from the ground in front of him, its edges bleeding across the floor until it threatened to engulf him.

Out of it emerged a large, tentacled blob monster.

"I sent you to destroy the Rider," the monster said sternly. "So why did I later hear that he took out another batch of our kind?"

"I was amused by his strength, so I let him live just this once, my Overlord," Null replied. One of the Overlord's tentacles whipped out and struck him, knocking him across the room.

"I'll be sending two elites to do the job you could not," the Overlord spat before disappearing again, the black spot shrinking into nothingness.

Another one opened up in a minute, and a smaller, humanoid Void stepped out.

"You got in trouble," it teased.

"Shut up, Sam," Null muttered.

"Disgraceful," a new voice said. Null and Sam looked over to see another Void in the corner of the otherwise blank room. It was mostly featureless, but unlike other Void, it possessed red eyes instead of white. "You let a dangerous enemy live just because he was amusing? It's amazing you ever rose to this rank."

Another Void entered the room through a black spot. This one's distinguishing feature was a set of teeth with a pair of tusks protruding from its bottom jaw. "I agree with Jiroga. You should have killed him when you had the chance."

Sam cackled. "See? Jiroga and Ragema agree. You messed up!"

He laughed some more until Null grabbed him by the throat.

"If you want me to kill so badly, I could always start now," Null growled.

"That won't be necessary!" the smaller Void spat out hastily.

"Is everyone ready?" Hitomi asked over her walkie. The gang had tracked down another Void hideout, and it was vital that everyone was in position before they put their plan into action.

Once her teammates gave the okay, she fired several shots into the side of the building. This got the attention of the Void inside, who began filing out the door to see what was going on.

Ryo's post was right next to the exit. He was supposed to use his Red form's fire to burn them as they came out, but to Hitomi and Ranji's dismay, he transformed into his Blue form and used his icy breath to freeze the Voids' feet to the ground.

"Where's the professor?" he growled at them.

He didn't get an answer. The Void whose feet weren't frozen charged in at once, some in hellhound form and some in humanoid form.

The Kamen Rider charged in turn and let loose, putting everything he had into every strike. Each Void he hit was knocked back a good distance, which helped him handle their numbers. However, as the battle raged on, Ranji and Hitomi noticed that Ryo was fighting more sloppily than usual. He only focused on enemies directly in front of him, allowing other Void to get behind and attack him.

Realizing it was well past time to help, Hitomi began sniping the Void attacking Ryo from behind, though she had to pick her targets carefully for fear of hitting him by mistake. To help with this, she shoved Ranji toward Ryo. "Get in there!"

Drawing his color knife, Ranji reluctantly charged in and shanked a few Void. This took some of the pressure off Primary and soon, all the non-frozen Void were defeated.

Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, Primary pinned a Void to the ground.

"Where's! The! Professor?!" he yelled between punches.

Ranji ran over and pulled him off the Void. "You won't get anything if you beat its face in!"

Ryo struggled for a few seconds before regaining his cool, prompting Ranji to ask, "What's wrong with you? I've never seen you act like that."

"I need to find the professor. Who knows what the Void could be doing to him? Why did they take him alive? Wh—" Hitomi cut him off with a slap to the face. "Thank you."

"I know you're worried, but there's no way to speed this up," she said firmly. "We're doing all that we can right now."

"Why don't we head back to the shelter? We can all cool off there," Ranji suggested.

Without a word, Ryo switched to Red mode and burned the remaining Void until it was nothing more than a stain on the ground. He then mounted his motorcycle and drove away.

"Wait!" Ranji called out, but Hitomi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's just wait for him to calm down."

As Ryo drove aimlessly, he let his mind wander, which helped to relax him. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Just a few minutes in, his motorcycle jerked to a stop without warning, launching him off his bike and sending him tumbling along the road. Thankfully, he'd stayed morphed during his ride, so the damage was minimal.

Picking himself up from the asphalt, he scanned the area for his attacker but saw nothing. Knowing he was vulnerable out in the open, he ran through the entrance of a nearby office building for cover. He peeked through the window, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever had attacked him.

BANG!

Primary ducked. Looking up at the window, he saw a bullet hole in the spot he'd just been looking through. On the other side of the room, in the wall where the bullet had landed, darkness was starting to creep out from the hole.

'A Void that can snipe? Just what I need,' the Rider complained internally.

He put his hand on his chin and weighed his options. Getting an idea, he shifted into Blue mode and headed back outside. Once there, he used his ice powers to create a dome around himself. Just as he'd finished, another bullet pierced the ice, fortunately slowing before it could travel all the way through his shield. Examining the angle the bullet had come in, he broke down the dome and moved in that direction.

However, before he could get too far, a black fishing line lashed out from a nearby alley and wrapped around his leg.

Ryo shifted to his Yellow mode and turned intangible to free his leg. But before he could get his bearings again, his target finally revealed itself.

This new Void resembled a normal Globster, except that it was wearing black hunting gear and was carrying a matching rifle.

"Funny," it said. "You hide your face right when I show mine."

"Where's the professor?" Ryo asked.

"Ha!" the Void laughed at the bluntness of his question. "How about a deal? You show yourself, and I'll tell you." Knowing Ryo would instantly refuse the deal as it was, he sweetened the pot a bit. Laying his rifle on the ground, he said, "Look, a gesture of goodwill."

After a moment of hesitation, Ryo deactivated his intangibility. The second he did, he felt something wrap around his left arm and yank him off his feet. He tried to put his hands together, but every time he did, the fishing line gave a sharp tug, pulling his left hand away.

The Hunter Void picked its rifle back up and took aim, firing a few shots at close range while his target was incapacitated.

The darkness bullets hurt like a son of a bitch. Knowing he couldn't take much more, Ryo grabbed the line around his arm and pulled, giving himself some slack to form a hand sign. Turning intangible once more, he got up and scanned the area in safety. Unfortunately, not only could he not find where the line had come from, but in the time he'd spent looking, the Hunter Void had made itself scarce. The Kamen Rider stayed intangible as he decided to leave the area.

He froze as the Hunter Void emerged from around the corner of a bathhouse.

"Would you like to know where the professor is?" it asked.

This time, Ryo didn't bother turning tangible as he responded, "Where is he?"

The Void chuckled and aimed its rifle in the direction of his voice, firing some bullets into the ground. The bullets spread darkness along the ground, close enough to Ryo that they swiftly crept up his feet.

The shock of pain made Ryo release his hands, turning him tangible again. In an instant, he was ensnared by the black line again. The Hunter Void charged up a shot with his rifle. Ryo was starting to think this might be the end when something unexpected happened.

"YAAAAHHH!"

Ranji came up from behind the Hunter Void and wrapped an arm around his neck, stabbing it in the chest several times. Color orbs spilled out of it wildly. Letting go of the Void, Ranji ran over to Ryo and grabbed the black line, reeling it in. The young man couldn't help but scream in pain as the line's darkness infected his hands.

Soon enough, the line ran out of slack, allowing him to pull in the source—the source being another Void who was tugged off the top of the nearby building where he'd been hiding. This Void was clad in fishing gear, and still clutched a fishing rod equipped with that line of darkness.

"Run!" Ranji shouted, helping Ryo up. The Kamen Rider took a second to gather a few color orbs before fleeing the scene with his friend. However, Ranji peeked behind them and saw that it wasn't over yet.

"Fishing line on our six!"

Knowing how serious that statement was despite how ridiculous it sounded, Ryo shifted to his Red Mode before spinning around and breathing fire at the black fishing line snaking after them. Unfortunately, the fire didn't damage the line and they were forced to keep running.

"Let's head in there!" Ranji pointed. The pair ran into an assembly building, hoping to lose the hunters in the chaos of the factory.

Weaving through the heavy machinery, they leapt over a conveyor belt and, not having time to think, went through a door leading to a lower level. Slamming the door behind them, they found, to their relief, that the cracks in the door were just narrow enough that the line couldn't get through.

Sighing in relief, they took a moment to catch their breath. Once they did, Ranji lightly shoved Ryo. "You need to get ahold of yourself! Who the hell is the professor anyway?"

Before saying anything, Ryo grabbed Ranji's hands and used his color power to get rid of the darkness that had infected him.

Ranji gaped at the sight. "Wow, I was so distracted by the chase, I forgot how painful that was. Thank you"

De-morphing, Ryo looked a bit bashful. In the short time since the professor had been brought up, he had gotten a little more hot-headed, and it had almost cost him his life.

"I'll tell you who the professor is, if you want."

Ranji crossed his arms. "Let's get back to the shelter. Then you can tell me and Hitomi together."

With that, he reached for the door. However, just before he could grab the handle, he heard the sound of something scratching on the other side. He flinched and backed away quickly. "They caught up to us already?"

"No, something's not right," Ryo said. "If it was the two Void from earlier, they'd just bust through the door." He reached for his Driver and morphed into his Blue mode.

"How come you're blue and not red?" Ranji asked.

"If I start a fire in here, you'll be at risk," Ryo explained as he brought his hands together.

After a few tense seconds, the door busted open, revealing a small wind-up robot.

Ranji scratched his head. "That's it?"

"Don't let your guard down," Ryo warned.

His fear proved correct when a fuzzy, lanky Void crouched through the door and lunged at the two with a mouth full of sharp teeth. As Ranji screamed in horror, Ryo unleashed his frost breath, only for the Void to shield itself with its right arm.

Undeterred by its newly frozen appendage, the Void grabbed Ryo in a bear hug with its other arm and sank its teeth into his shoulder.

Screaming in pain, Ryo grabbed the giant toy's head in an effort to pry it loose. This only made its teeth sink in deeper.

Ranji came to the rescue, shanking the Void in the side and forcing it to let Ryo go.

Ryo sank his color knife into the huggy Void's foot, causing it to roar in pain. He then took the opportunity to freeze the Void solid with his frost breath. Reeling back his arm, he shattered it with a punch.

More toys were approaching the door, more than he could freeze. The two were forced to make a run for it yet again. As they ran, Ranji pulled out his walkie-talkie.

After Ranji had insisted on going after Ryo, Hitomi had decided to pass the time by painting her nails. Just as she'd finished her left hand, her walkie-talkie buzzed.

Picking it up with her free hand, she held it to her ear. "Copy?"

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—"

The girl flinched as Ranji shouted her ear off. The scream continued for another ten seconds before she cut him off, "Are you done?"

"Almost. –EEEEELLLLP!"

"What's the situation?" Hitomi asked.

"I saved Ryo from a couple of Void and then we ran into a factory full of toy Voids!" the youngest member of the team spat out frantically.

That made Hitomi raise an eyebrow. "Where are you?"

"An old factory. It's about two to three miles west of our base! It was the biggest building on the block, so you should know it when you see it," Ranji explained.

Hitomi nodded. "I'll head over now."

She took a few seconds to blow on her nails before exiting the base and getting in the jeep.

"I can't see a thing. Can you?" Ryo asked. It was pitch dark in the factory basement, and neither of them could see two feet in front of their noses.

"Let's see if we can find a light switch." Ranji began feeling around blindly. "What building needs a basement this big anyway?" He stopped after a moment. "Wait, you can use your Red Mode to light the way."

"Good idea." Switching his Driver to Red, Ryo exhaled a small but steady stream of flame, lighting up the room a little bit. However, what he saw made him blanch, the fire almost petering out again in his surprise. A blackened clown doll was hanging off of Ranji's shoulder.

Ranji followed Ryo's gaze and saw the little monstrosity. "AAAHH! Get it off! Get it off!"

The clown's arms extended and wrapped around Ranji's body. Ryo was forced to undo his hand sign to grab his color knife, leaving the room dark again. Fortunately, Ranji hadn't moved from the spot he was in, allowing Ryo to stab the clown in the face. He heard it tumble to the floor and knew it had released its grip.

"Keep running!" Ryo yelled.

They left the basement hastily, climbing up the stairwell until they were confident they'd put enough distance between them and the clown. This time, the two ended up on a well-lit walkway high above the ground, surrounded by many more walkways overlooking the factory floor.

This wouldn't have been an issue, except that numerous Void toys, from puppets to action figures to little RC cars, lined each walkway. They all immediately began advancing on the human duo.

"Uh, what do we do now?" Ranji whispered nervously.

"I'll burn as many of them as I can," Ryo said. "You try to escape." Bringing his hands together, Ryo let out a stream of fire on a lower walkway, burning some toys and prompting others to retreat.

Ranji took that as a cue to leap to said walkway once the toys had been burnt up.

"Keep moving! Otherwise, they'll surround us!" the Kamen Rider called down to him.

The younger man took his advice and made the first move, taking out any Void toys that got close before they could attack him. Though with so many opponents coming from both sides, some of the toys managed to latch onto him. A wind-up robot Void clamped onto his leg, a little dinosaur toy Void got his arm in its jaws.

Ryo wanted to help his friend, but he was busy dealing with enemies of his own. He burned a small group of Zuni doll Void in front of him, only for a red-headed, knife-wielding doll to latch onto his back. Switching his belt to Yellow, he turned intangible, which made the doll fall right through him. He then switched over to Blue and used his ice breath to make a small wall of ice. This prevented the Void toys on one side of the walkway from getting to him, but it also meant he'd backed himself into a corner with the Void on the other side.

He tapped his belt twice, initiating a Semi-Max. When the Void toys rushed at him, he destroyed them with a rapid flurry of punches and absorbed the color orbs they dropped upon dying.

Meanwhile, Ranji had managed to shake off the toys clinging to him. Deciding to take a risk, he charged through the Void toys standing between him and the door at the end of the walkway. A couple of them scratched him, but he cut his way through them and made it through the door.

"Okay, which way to Ryo?" he asked himself. He made his way up another flight of stairs and began opening doors to the various walkways.

Unfortunately, some of the doors had more Void behind them. One resembled a mannequin that laughed maniacally when it saw him. Another was a puppet Void with red spirals on its cheeks which rode a tricycle. Ranji slammed the door on each of them before they could attack him.

A couple more tries, and he found the walkway Ryo was on.

"Get back!" Ryo yelled as he switched over to his Red Mode. He charged through all the Void on the walkway and made it to the door, using his fire breath to immolate the remaining Void.

"Is there a way out of here?" Ranji asked in a panic. Suddenly, his walkie-talkie buzzed to life.

"Ranji, are you there?" Hitomi asked.

As Ryo held off the Void with his flames, Ranji responded, "Hitomi? Where are you?"

"I'm in the security room," she replied. "I can see you now."

Taking a second to cease his attacks, Ryo asked a question of his own, "Well, how do we get out of here?"

"The only way out of the building is the way you came in," Hitomi answered. "There's a hallway on the other side of the wall to your left. It's got a staircase at the end of it. Ryo, if you break through the wall, you guys can get up there. After that, the exit will be forty feet down the hall to your right. But you'd better hurry!"

Ryo nodded and tapped his belt, activating a Semi-Max. He reared his fist back and punched through the wall.

"Let's go!" he told Ranji.

The two men dashed through and made their way upstairs, the Void hot on their heels. They ran and ran, with Ryo switching to Blue Mode. Once they made it out the door, Ryo froze it behind them.

"Wait, Hitomi is still in there!" Ranji realized.

"Actually, I'm over here," she said, appearing right next to them.

"Wha—?" both men said.

Hitomi grinned at their reaction. "I made my way out the moment I told you two my plan. Now, let's keep running." She took off then, with her companions following suit.

"Why are we running?" Ranji asked. He glanced back to see Void starting to pour out of the building. "Oh, right."

"That, and this," Hitomi said as she pressed a button on a detonator. And just like that, the building they'd left exploded, collapsing into fiery rubble behind them.

"I left a bunch of C4 in there before I left."

"Wow, you're cool," Ranji said. He then took a deep breath. "Let's get back to base. Ryo has something he needs to tell us."