Well, I'm done with this chapter. But first, though I should have done this clarification stuff sooner, I do not own Kamen Rider Gaim. That belongs to Toei. Now back to my writer's notes. So I'm going to introduce a new character in this story. Chapter 5 will take sometime because I'm having a writer's block, but hopefully I can get over it soon enough. Hope you enjoy this story as you hopefully have enjoyed the others too! That's a lot of hope, I know.
-CHAPTER 4-
-STAGE OF THE FLOWER BLOSSOMS-
Kurusu frowned and glared at Kinji as if looking at a dead mean walking.
"W-what…" Kinji stammered.
"Now both Zangetsu and Baron are out for your blood, no thanks to you. They're the two most dangerous contenders in the game," Kurusu warned.
"But that King guy tossed me into the middle of a hundred Riders! I just fought like you taught me!" Kinji protested.
"I taught you to fight, yes, but showing your hand to the enemy is like painting a target on your face. Well, it's not like there's anything we can do now," Kurusu sighed in resignation.
"Go home for today. I think you've received enough training for now." Kurusu announced, standing up.
"Yes sir," Kinji agreed. Gathering up his Driver and Lock Seeds, he strapped the Driver on and stuffed the Seeds into his pocket.
The next day, Kinji woke up and checked his alarm clock with bleary eyes. The time made his eyes widen.
"Shit! I've got morning shift today!"
Quickly getting dressed, Kinji bolted out of the door, nearly rolled down the stairs, and began sprinting at top speed into town.
"Crap, crap, crap!" he groaned.
As he turned a corner, a familiar zipping sound entered his ears. Turning to the source, he saw a Crack in the wall.
"Really? Now? Sorry, buddy, I'm in a hurry," he bowed to the Crack, then continued running.
He made it a few steps away from the dimensional rip, then felt something cold zip past his cheek.
"What the-" Touching the area, he felt a warm stickiness. Red blood stained his fingers.
As Kinji's brain registered the injury, another bullet came zipping at him, striking the ground where his foot would have been had he not backed away.
"Last warning shot. Get in and fight or else, wimp," a male voice rang out from the Crack. Kinji recognized the voice of the Rider who had gotten him into the mess in the Helheim Palace.
"Baron?" he muttered.
"Get in the Crack! Now!" Baron's voice barked again.
Kinji kept silent for another second, weighing his options. Then, he made his decision.
"…Bye!" And he bolted.
Kinji didn't bother looking back, he just cared about running as far away from the Crack as possible. He felt the wind generated from the bullets graze past him, but all narrowly missed him.
Taking out his phone, he dialed the number he had received from Kurusu just the day before.
"Um, Kurusu-san? Yeah, awfully sorry to bother you, but I'm currently BEING FIRED AT BY A CRAZY BANANA RIDER!" Kinji screamed the last part as he dodged another bullet.
"At this time? Shit. I've got my hands tied right now, so I can't help you…"
"Seriously? I'm about to die here!" Kinji protested.
"As much as it pisses me off, you gotta survive on your own this time. Can you do it?" Kurusu asked.
"Looks like I don't have a choice, do I?" With that, Kinji cut the call.
"Though I said that, this is bad," Kinji grumbled as he managed to turn a corner, away from the Crack.
"Safe!" he sighed. Leaning against a wall to rest, he tried to reconsider his options.
"This guy's out to kill me, so talk is useless with him…" as Kinji mumbled to himself, he failed to notice another Crack opening behind him. When the rip opened fully, Kinji tumbled backwards into the Crack.
Kinji was greeted once again by the familiar sight of the Helheim trees covered by Lock Seed Flowers.
"You really are a stupid prey. Nobody will stop when hunted. Well, whatever," Baron's voice rang out again, making Kinji bolt up in shock.
"Now, let the hunt begin!" Baron's voice betrayed his excitement.
[BANANA]
[LOCK ON]
The sound of European trumpets sounded throughout the forest. Kinji stood up and strapped on his Sengoku Driver, then heard the slicing sound produced by the Sengoku Driver.
[COME ON! BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF S~P~EAR!]
Kinji looked around.
He heard deep laughter and he tried looking around, but he dived aside as he heard the sound of the blade on the Sengoku Driver slicing down again, followed by an announcement.
[BANANA SQUASH!]
Tendrils of shimmering, yellow energy cut through the air. Kinji rolled out of the way, but the energy struck a bit too close, making a jolt of numbness pulse up his leg.
Kinji cursed and looked at where the attack originated. Baron was there, holding a western-style spear, a portion of black separating the tip and the part near the shaft. Three yellow parts stuck out and curved downwards, making it look like a peeled banana.
"Even his weapon looks stupid…" Kinji muttered to himself.
Baron looked down, and seemed mildly disappointed that Kinji hadn't been struck.
He leaped down and jabbed mercilessly, leaving Kinji panicking. He quickly activated his Lock Seed.
[BU-DOU]
[LOCK ON]
[HAIII! BU-DOU AARMS! RYU! HOU! HAHAHA!]
Ryugen brandished the gun and shot at Baron. Baron grunted and fired a surprisingly strong punch at Ryugen's stomach. He fell backwards and groaned at the pain.
"Where's the thrill? I thought you were good, after you killed so many Pseudo Riders. But then again, that's probably the limit to your power." Baron taunted.
Ryugen growled and got up, clenched his fists and took out his Kiwi Lock Seed from a holder that Kurusu gave him, similar to the one on Gaim.
[KIWI]
[LOCK ON]
[HAIII! KIWI ARMS! GEKI! RIN! SEI-YA HA!]
He yelled a battle cry and sped forward, his Geki-Rin slicing down in a deadly arc. Baron parried the parallel discs simultaneously with his spear.
"What kind of idiot strikes like that?" Baron sneered.
Incensed, Ryugen flipped the blade on his Driver twice.
[KIWI… AU LAIT!]
His Geki-Rin glowed green and he sliced, shining green arcs of energy slicing through the air at Baron, who rolled aside. The place where the energy struck glowed green for another moment, then the grass ignited, and began to burn.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Baron enthused, pulling out another Lock Seed and activating it.
[MANGO]
A red mango with yellow grooves materialized as tendrils of energy gathered, though there seemed to be no place to fit his neck through.
[LOCK ON]
[COME ON! MANGO ARMS! FIGHT OF HA~MMER!]
The mango split in mid-air and attached to Baron's head, opening into armor while the split portions folded back to form a mantle. His shoulder pads were red, with a squarish yellow shape which resembled mangoes sliced into cubes at the sides.
His weapon was a large mace with a silver shaft and yellow head segmented into yellow squares. The mace ended in a long, sharp tip, colored similarly yellow. Baron hefted it up and at Ryugen. Ryugen blocked the plummeting mace with his arm, but the shock numbed it. Baron proceeded to attack Ryugen once again. He hefted his mace and gravity pulled it down, knocking the breath out of Ryugen, nearly rendering him unconscious.
"It's useless… I'm just a new player… I can't beat a veteran like him…" Ryugen muttered.
Ryugen tried to crawl up, only able to turn, his back facing up. He felt something at his back and found the mace's sharp tip planted firmly in his backbone, inflicting acres of pain on Ryugen.
Baron laughed and stepped on Kinji's limp body.
"Is this all you got? Thought you'd have more in you. While this was quick, it entertained me a little. Thanks." Baron grinned, leaping backwards and slicing on his blade once again.
Ryugen huffed and closed his eyes.
[MANGO SQUASH]
The head of the mace glowed yellow and Baron swung the mace, a yellow, energy-like version of the mace plummeting towards Ryugen's prone body.
"This is how it ends? Urgh… this sucks." Ryugen muttered to himself.
[ORANGE SQUASH!]
An orange blur materialised in front of Ryugen and the energy crashed into it, causing an explosion. When it settled, Ryugen saw Gaim kneeling on one knee, the other straight, his right hand outstretched to the sky and his left hand's fingers lightly touching the ground.
"Gaim," Baron said, in a voice with subdued outrage, "you dare interfere with my hunting?"
"This hunting's sick. And I'm pretty sure I said I'd help this guy, right?" Gaim simply said.
Baron growled and removed the Mango Lock Seed, changing back to Banana.
[BANANA]
[LOCK ON]
[COME ON! BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF S~P~EAR!]
The armour unfolded, and Baron dashed towards Gaim.
Gaim drew his Musou Saber and parried Baron's jab. Baron changed his fighting style and used his spear like a sword. Gaim dodged and slashed Baron, bringing out his orange-like sword, the Daidaimaru, dual-wielding it with the Musou Saber and attacked with impeccable dexterity, his attack as graceful as a dancer.
"I always hated that damned fighting style… but I have more!" Baron muttered, before pulling out a Strawberry Lock Seed like the one on Gaim's belt, only Gaim didn't have his.
"My Ichigo Lock Seed… BARON!" Gaim hollered as he noticed the absence of his Lock Seed on the holder hanging off his belt.
Baron cackled and activated the Lock Seed.
[ICHIGO]
Tendrils of energy collected and formed a small, red strawberry.
Baron closed the lock.
[LOCK ON]
He sliced on the blade.
[COME ON! ICHIGO ARMS! SHUSHUTTO SPARK!]
The bottom tip flipped open and the berry fixed itself on Baron's neck, the bottom tip forming his right shoulder pad. The top and right parts of the strawberry folded into his left shoulder pad, with a greenish tip. There was another squarish section under the top part and that folded with the front section to form his breastplate. The rest folded back into armour at his back.
"Take that, Gaim! You thought I was gonna play fair, idiot?" Baron mocked.
"Screw you!" Gaim barked.
"Chill, man." Baron chortled,amused by Gaim's outrage.
Gaim clenched his fists and calmed down.
"I'm not out yet!" Gaim proclaimed, brandishing his swords and dashing towards Baron.
"Yeah! That's it!" Baron whooped, leaping out of range and throwing triangular, dual-edged, throwing daggers with strawberry designs embossed in the blade, and a cylindrical hilt and a circular bottom.
Gaim parried the Ichigo Kunais and closed the distance between him and Baron, sending his blades swinging down on his opponent's head. Baron rolled out of the way and tossed more Kunai, this time knocking Gaim's Musou Saber out of his hand and hitting his ankle. Gaim fell to the ground with a scream
Baron continued tossing a barrage of daggers at Gaim, who barely managed to dodge and parry them. Then, a stray Kunai was sent lying straight towards Gaim's Driver, which Gaim failed to dodge. Just before the dagger made contact, Ryugen, who had been watching the battle the entire time, jumped in between and knocked down the Ichigo Kunai.
"STOP IT!" He bellowed.
Suddenly, silence permeated the air as Ryugen slowly got up.
"Why do we have to do this? Why do we need to fight?" Ryugen demanded.
"A-HA! See? Another pansy, determined to drag this battle out for us! I knew it'd come to this!" Baron proclaimed.
"And as I said, not everyone in this battle is here as your prey. And nobody should die in this battle." Gaim retorted.
With a roar, Ryugen leapt at Baron, his Geki-Rin swinging towards the Baron's neck. Baron dodged and flung several Ichigo Kunais, which Ryugen blocked by using his other Geki-Rin as a shield. Ryugen jumped again and stretched out his arms as he descended, turning himself into a top. The strike hit Baron squarely in the chest, opening a smoking, ragged gash at his chestplate.
Ryugen continued spinning and swinging his Geki-Rin, parrying the Kunai out of Baron's hand. Finally, one of Ryugen's blades slipped under Baron's arm, slashing his Driver.
The Ichigo Lock Seed instantly shattered, leaving Baron in his silver-and-red bodysuit.
Baron stared down in shock.
"What… what the hell…" Baron murmured.
Ryugen finally calmed down and realized what he did.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?!" Baron yelled, his words hitting much harder than he ever could.
Luckily, Baron's Driver was left undamaged, Ryugen's blow only having broken the Lock Seed.
"You dipshit… I'll settle this one day… for now…" Baron growled, running out of the Crack after ripping off his Sengoku Driver.
Ryugen glimpsed a pitch-black tailcoat and an equally black hat as the yellow light dissipated.
"Ahh, I can't say I'm happy about you smashing my Lock Seed, but… you chased Baron away! Getting away with your life is a feat in itself. Be proud of yourself, Kinji!" Gaim commended, folding his Lock Seed.
Ryugen nodded, before Gaim's address of him fully registered.
He stared, shocked as the light dissipated, revealing a teenager with high cheekbones and brown eyes, a handsome, grinning face with neatly combed black hair and wearing a black shirt underneath a shining black leather coat and black long pants.
"H-Hideyoshi?!"