So here's my second chapter. I want to send thanks to New Universe Returns for the review. So I think the next chapter will take more time because I'll be busy. But that's basically it. Enjoy!

-CHAPTER 2-

-REASON FOR FIGHTING-

Kinji stumbled through the rip, nearly falling but managing to regain his footing. He turned around and saw nothing in the rip, which was zipping up from the bottom just like a zipper.

He got up.

He was aware that most people would be rather shaken to find themselves in a forest with fruits that transformed into expensive Lock Seeds and hostile Inves that attacked on sight. But on the contrary, he felt rather energetic and excited. Maybe it was because he got a new A-Class Lock Seed and a Sengoku Driver, which people believed to only be owned by Bravo. He was a Rider!

But his ecstasy was short-lived as he remembered what he was doing before being dragged into the forest.

He was going to work.

Which meant, much to Kinji's absolute horror, that he was extremely late for work.

He rushed to his workplace, a desserts and pastries café where he worked as a waiter. He stowed his Sengoku Driver in his jacket and entered, and his boss adjusted his glasses, and observed him with slight amusement.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry Mr Yamashiro. I will do overtime to make up for lost time and anything else! I'm so sorry!" Kinji rambled.

His boss let out an amused chuckle.

"Ah… oh that… I was planning to let you off with overtime, but since you said you'd do anything… I'll add counter duty on." Kinji's boss, Yamashiro, said, before bursting in a fit of laughter. Kinji looked stumped as his boss handed him his uniform and tray. He changed in the staff room. Stupefied, he waited on tables with an expression showing shock, bewilderment and slight amazement all at the same time.

After work, he returned home. His sister had sent mail to him. Opening it, he read the letter.

'Hi Bro! It's Sakura here. I'm doing well in America, but English is still hard to master. I've done well in my recent test and I hope you've been well too! By the way, just in case you miss me too much, I've included a picture!

-Love, Sakura'

Kinji grinned and kept the letter, looking at the picture of his sister: wide eyes, a cheery grin, and hair as black as ebony.

Kinji took off his jacket and placed his Sengoku Driver on his table.

Since he had nothing to do for the rest of the day, he slumped down on the couch and relaxed. Then, he felt hungry. He went to the fridge to look for food, only to see two empty, cold, white compartments, except for a box of ice cubes in the freezer. Sighing, he took his wallet and went downstairs to buy groceries. Just as he left, he stopped, and took his Sengoku Driver with him, in case something happened again like previously.

"Hm… maybe I should make udon today…" Kinji mused as he began making a mental list of things he should buy while walking to the supermarket. He went into the supermarket and idly walked around, selecting fruits, drinks, eggs and snacks. After that, he went to the cashier to pay.

Once he left the supermarket, he heard a familiar tune- the sound of an electric guitar, followed by a slicing sound and a roll call.

[DURIAN ARMS! MISTEEER… DAANGEROUS!]

He also heard a tune like Japanese trumpets and drums, followed by a slice and a different roll call.

[MELON ARMS! TENKA GOMEN!]

He snuck to the source of the sound, an alley. Real cliché. He saw Bravo, along with another Rider, in the zip that dragged him into that forest before.

The other Rider was mainly white. His armour landed on his head, clear energy splashing on his body and forming a white bodysuit with black designs. The front armour folded into a segmented breastplate, two on each side. V-shaped armour formed around his shoulders as shoulder guards, and as the armour unfolded, Kinji saw the Rider's face. He had a crescent-shaped crest with the tips of the crescent pointing upwards with a small spike extending from the lower midpoint of the crescent forming his face armour, a small, oval shaped, blood-red gem embedded in the area of the gold where the spike went downwards. His visor was plainly golden, and a part of a melon covered the back of his head. On his waist was a formidable katana sword, the inner section yellow and the outer section, the cutting edge, was silver. The guard was slanted, with a small trigger at the handle and a muzzle at the end of the guard. White shin guards were adorned with the gold structure of the Rider's helmet.

He also wielded a large shield. It had the gold structure as a frame, complete with the gemstone. The tip protruded out of the bottom of the shield threateningly, and in between the curves was a circular melon structure. Green parts filled most of the shield, the two sides adorned with structures like slices of melon.

Despite his domineering appearance, Bravo seemed unfazed by him, instead admiring his swords. The white Rider wielded his shield on his left hand and brandished the katana on his right. He then feigned a sign of hesitation. But it was enough to fool Bravo.

"Hyyaaaaaaa!" Bravo screamed, dashing to the white Rider and swinging his swords downwards in a deadly arc. The white Rider sidestepped and slashed Bravo, causing him to crash into the ground.

"Would you ever think that such a careless mistake could be made by one such as I, the great Zangetsu?" The white Rider, apparently known as Zangetsu, mocked his opponent.

"Tsk!" Bravo muttered and cursed under his breath.

He got up, and now began to take reckless slices at Zangetsu, who seemed to be nonchalant about the imminent danger headed his way, blocked the strike with his shield and stabbed from behind the shield. Bravo let out a guttural groan, then with a furious howl, sliced on the blade on his belt again.

[DURIAN SQUASH!]

His blades glew pale yellow and he slashed, yellow waves of energy speeding at Zangetsu. Kinji was about to shout a warning when Zangetsu opened his Lock Seed and fitted it into a hexagonal gouge between the handle and blade of the sword, then closed the lock.

[LOCK ON]

A count began.

[1 - 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10000]

[MELON CHARGE!]

The sword announced, then glowed bright green. Zangetsu swung with might and green, twirling discs of green energy plummeted towards Bravo, but he didn't dodge, and the energy crashed into Bravo, a loud explosion muffling his almighty scream.

Then he decided to try and follow Zangetsu, as he walked away towards the rip and Kinji followed. As Zangetsu was about to exit the rip, he turned and placed his blade on Kinji's neck.

"Why are you following me?" Zangetsu demanded. Kinji stared in shock at the blade as it pressed on his neck and drew a thin line of blood.

"I-I saw the fight. Why did you kill him?" Kinji stammered.

Zangetsu snorted.

"Hmph. Kill? I did no such thing. I merely disqualified him from the battle." Zangetsu stated, pulling the blade away and then sheathing it, much to Kinji's relief.

"Do you know why you were given this Driver?" Zangetsu asked.

"Given? I thought I just happened to acquire it in the forest." Kinji replied, genuinely curious.

Zangetsu laughed at Kinji's cluelessness.

"These Drivers are bestowed upon chosen people once every one thousand years, to choose the new ruler of the Forest of Helheim. The participants battle in a large battle royale. To eliminate other competitors, one must break the Driver of the foe. The loser would lose his powers and disappear." Zangetsu explained in a patronising tone.

"But…why would you tell me this?" Kinji queried.

Zangetsu laughed, then spoke.

"The goal of this battle is to eliminate other Riders. So I figured I'd let you have something to take to your grave!" Zangetsu exclaimed, lunging for Kinji with his sword.

Kinji jumped and rolled aside, activating his Lock Seed and fitting it in the Driver.

[BU-DOU]

[LOCK ON]

The familiar Chinese tune played, and Kinji sliced with the blade.

[HAIII! BU-DOU AARMS! RYU! HOU! HAHAHA!]

The armour unfolded, which gave Kinji some precious few seconds to process what was going on, and once the transformation was complete, he brandished his gun and shot desperately, only to fail as Zangetsu lifted his shield, offering him the ultimate protection. With an almighty shout, Zangetsu attempted to impale Kinji with his sword. Kinji, not being burdened with heavy equipment, was more agile and managed to dodge once more.

"I need a physical attacker… wait… I have a Lock Seed for that!" Kinji realised.

He pulled out the Kiwi Lock Seed that he found and activated it.

[KIWI]

He opened the Bu-Dou Lock Seed and pulled it out, then replaced it with the Kiwi Lock Seed.

[LOCK ON]

The Chinese standby tune played, a brown kiwi floated down and he sliced.

[HAIII! KIWI ARMS! GEKI! RIN! SEI-YA HA!]

Without fixing itself on Kinji's shoulders, part of the kiwi's top and right portions split to form the right shoulder guard, and the other side folded into to the left shoulder guard. The remainder of the armour folded into a breastplate which showed the green insides of a kiwi fruit. He wielded large, fearsome crescent-shaped blades. The centre of the blade was a kiwi with a hole in the center. The blades were intricately detailed with wispy, gold cloud designs like one would see in a Chinese painting. He held the weapons using a black handle along the blades where it curved upwards and separated. Zangetsu sliced yet again, only to be blocked by Kinji's weapon. Kinji used the one on his other hand to jab at Zangetsu's chest, and he stumbled back and gasped. Kinji charged forward and ran his weapon blade over Zangetsu's belt. Zangetsu was thrown back, and when he got up he examined his belt in panic, but relaxed when he saw his belt intact. Zangetsu fitted his Lock Seed into the katana and closed the lock.

[LOCK ON]

[1 - 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10000]

[MELON CHARGE]

Zangetsu sliced and huge discs of green energy sped towards Kinji, who stood rooted to the ground with fear, though his brain was screaming at him to move.

So this is the end for me, Kinji thought, and closed his eyes.

Expecting to be cleaved apart into several pieces at any moment, Kinji resigned to his fate. But the flaring pain of being split apart never came. Instead, he saw Bravo in front of him, his swords crossed in front of him, stopping the blades of energy, which dissipated swiftly.

"You-! I killed you just now! How?" Zangetsu roared in disbelief.

Bravo cocked his head.

"Did you think it was that easy to kill me off? I'm insulted," he taunted.

Zangetsu growled and charged forward. Bravo rested the bottom part of his blade diagonally on Zangetsu's left shoulder and sliced down. The attack sent sparks flying and Zangetsu stumbled backwards. Bravo took another slice, which was easily parried by Zangetsu, who had enough time to recover. Zangetsu used his shield to smash Bravo's head.

"Woah! You're making good use of your shield now, aren't you?" Bravo commented.

"Shut it." Zangetsu replied, taking a jab at Bravo's belt with his katana.

"I'm not falling for that trick again. I see your Musou Saber is still in good condition…' Bravo mused, referring to Zangetsu's sword.

As they fought and parried each other's moves, Bravo's perpetual commentary irritated Zangetsu to the point that he roared and sliced twice on his Driver.

[MELON… AU LAIT!]

He leaped up high into the air, and green, energy-like slices of fruit materialised like a path for Zangetsu, narrowing as the neared Bravo. Zangetsu shouted, and plummeted down. Bravo, being more calm, ducked and stood up after Zangetsu crashed into the soil, without a target to hit. Bravo sliced once on his Driver.

[DURIAN SQUASH!]

Bravo slashed at Zangetsu, who collapsed feebly to the ground.

"Hey, Ryugen," Bravo called to Kinji. "Come over here!"

Kinji went over, trusting Bravo for reasons unknown to himself, and Bravo towered over Kinji.

"What kind of fighting was that!? Your footwork was weak! You don't use the Kiwi Geki-Rin like a spear!" Bravo scolded, and began to criticise almost everything in the fight.

"Ok… now, you're in luck. Because I'm gonna teach you." Bravo suddenly said.

Kinji stared at him, baffled, suspecting a trap.

Bravo laughed.

"Don't worry, I have no interest in killing you or smashing your Driver. I'm just gonna teach." Bravo promised. Kinji took another tentative step towards Bravo. Bravo then took Kinji's hand which was still holding the Geki-Rin and guided him through the proper ways to use the Geki-Rin, and completely ignoring the comatose Zangetsu on the ground, who occasionally quietly moaned in pain.

"Now, we'll work on real fighting." Bravo said. He looked around for a target and spotted Zangetsu.

"Ah, there's one. Hey! Get up!" Bravo said, finally taking notice of Zangetsu. Zangetsu jerked and woke up, then grabbed his Musou Saber to slash Bravo. Bravo ducked aside and Kinji used his Geki-Rin to attack, this time using the moves Bravo taught him. Zangetsu was swiftly subdued again and collapsed again.

"Good, you learn fast. Let's get out of here now." Bravo said casually, before exiting the forest through the rip.

Kinji was about to do the same when he realised that he dropped his groceries while chasing Zangetsu. He ran back to the place, with Bravo following and shouting at him, asking what was wrong, and Kinji found his groceries.

"We're in a forest where insect-like monsters live, food which super-powers their bodies grow freely and wildly, and they can attack us any second, and you worry about your groceries!?" Bravo said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Kinji examined the bags and to his dismay, found smashed eggs, their contents spilled all over in the bag. He decided to move on and buy a new carton of eggs when time allowed.

He exited the crack with Bravo, but Kinji stopped again.

"What now?" Bravo asked.

"I don't know you." Kinji stated plainly.

"Oh, so we're in kindergarten, going by the 'don't go with strangers' thing again? I just saved your life, for God's sake!" Bravo said in exasperation.

Kinji stood where he was and Bravo eventually sighed and relented.

"Ok… but you change out of your Rider form too, got that?" Bravo asked. Kinji nodded, and Bravo closed the folded out part of the Lock Seed, and was bathed in yellow energy, and Kinji closed his Budou Lock Seed, and was bathed in purple light.

Once the energy dissipated, Kinji saw a middle-aged man with brown hair, sharp eyes and a black overcoat. His cheekbones were well defined, and his lips curled slightly in a smile, observing Kinji.

"I always like that light. Anyway, I'm Armoured Rider Bravo, also known as Kurusu Jin." Bravo said, bowing slightly.