Sangokuden no Gaim

by Vanishing Raptor

After stopping a thief in the museum with his two friends, Yamato Kusanagi found himself in a new world, where the major figures of the Three Kingdoms era are all beautiful girls. With his companions on his side and as the new Gaim, he seeks to unite the land bringing peace to ancient China and stopping Helheim Forest to Devour this world. Just Live More! Rated M just in case.

2. Knight, Dragon, and Strategists

I don't own anything related to Koihime Musou and Kamen Rider Gaim. I only own my OCs and the plot.

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Chapter 2: The Knight, the Dragon, and the Strategists

The sun was shining brightly in the sky as the farmers were working on their rice field. One of the farmers paused briefly to wipe away the sweat on his brow before he continued his work. It was then when he heard a voice called to him.

"Yo! Ming-san!"

He looked up and smiled as the familiar figure of Shun Murayama carried bags of crop seeds with him. Currently he was missing his jacket and shoes while his sleeves were rolled all the way to the shoulder, revealing his toned arms and his jeans were rolled to his knee. He carefully dropped the seeds on the ground before he dusted his hands and huffed.

"Whew! There you go! The bags of seeds you asked me to get. Anything else you need help with?" Shun asked.

"Thank you for your help, Shun-sama. And no, please leave the rest to us," answered Ming with a smile.

"Eh? Come on! There must be something I can help you with! How about you switch with me? Your wife will kill me if your waist aching again!" pressed Shun.

Ming laughed at him. "You're exaggerating again, Shun-sama! Thanks to your massage, my waist feels fine!"

"You sure?" asked the brunette as the farmer nodded. "Fine, but don't push yourself too hard, you hear me?"

"Crystal clear, Shun-sama," answered the Farmer with a smile. "Although, A Messenger of Heaven such as you doesn't have to do menial works like this."

Shun groaned. "I told you before and God knows how many times before, don't call me Messenger of Heaven! It's either Shun or Baron! Besides, menial work is something I'm good at since I'm not a natural born leader like Yamato or a genius like Yuki. A good person knows how to place himself on the right place…or something along that line like what Yamato told me before."

"Ah, you mean Yamato Kusanagi of Zhuo, the other Messenger of Heaven like you? I heard he is a wise person beyond his years. You must be blessed to be his friend, Shun-sama."

A faraway look crossed Shun's face before he replied. "Mmm…Yeah, somewhat." He then shook his head to dispel his ongoing train of thought. "Anyway, I'm going to ask around to see if anyone needs my help, especially old man Gin. I swear he should've stayed on his home and played with his grandchildren instead of working here!"

Ming laughed again as he continued to work while Shun asked other farmers if they needed help with something.

It has been two months since Shun arrived in arrived in this parallel world. He was found by Ming and his friends out cold on this very field when they were about to work and he found himself being treated by Ming's wife when he came around. To show his gratitude, Shun helped Ming working on the field. His life in this new world was rewarding and fun, Shun thought to himself, until the Yellow Turbans decided to raid the village one week later.

It was also when he found out that his Gaim merchandises had become real.

One transformation to his favorite Rider, Baron, and rallying the villagers to fight back, much ass kicking was delivered toward the Yellow Turbans after they saw Baron decimated their ranks with utter ease—Shun was never the shy one to spam Baron's finisher here and there. The Turbans decided to cut their loss and ran as far as possible from the knight and banana-themed Rider while he and the villagers cheered for their victory.

Shun then decided to stay in the village as their protector when Sousou and her entourage appeared in front of him.

His reaction when they introduced themselves to him was:

"There's no way the famous Sousou Motoku is a twin tailed blonde loli!"

Cue Kakouton tried to kick his ass for 'insulting her Karin-sama', although she was soundly beaten by the new Armored Rider—something which the general held grudge over even until today.

And if anyone noticed back then, Sousou's eyes twitched when Shun called her loli.

He de-henshin-ed and explained to Sousou about his circumstances why he was here in the first place and Sousou in return explained about the Messengers of Heaven prophecy by Kanrou the Great Seer. She also told him about a Messenger of Heaven had descended in Zhuo who was called Yamato Kusanagi and went by the title of Kamen Rider Gaim.

Shun was surprised to hear that, although some part of him wasn't surprised at all considering who and how Yamato was. Sousou then offered him to join her force, which he accepted after thinking about it for a while with several conditions he placed: 1) He would stay here with the villagers instead of staying in Sousou's palace, so Sousou or her generals had to come to the village if his service was needed; 2) Sousou will have to pay him for each time he deployed with agreeable price; and 3) He could do anything as he pleased when Sousou didn't need his service.

Sousou agreed to his term despite Kakouton and Kakouen's disapproval. The blonde ruler of Sou Gi said it was small sacrifice to have one of the Messengers of Heaven working for them.

Since then, Shun had lost count on how many times Sousou had deployed him in the skirmishes against the Turbans who were too stubborn, too greedy, and too stupid to attack the territory of Gi. Not that Shun was counting anyway. Thanks to the money he got from Sousou, he managed to get his own home here and used the rest to build the village to be better.

Shun was continuing the work of old man Gin after he switched with the elder villager when he heard a horse galloping in the distance. He turned and saw a woman on a horse, but not just any woman. She was Kakouen Myousai, one of Sousou's entrusted general. Her hair was blue and cropped short with her bangs covered the right side of her face while the rest was brushed backward and her eyes were red. She was wearing sleeveless, blue cheongsam with chest plate that only covered her left chest and armored purple corset. She was also wearing blue detached sleeves with skull-like shoulder guard only on her left shoulder and black leggings with black shoes.

She pulled the rein on her horse, making it stop, before she got off from it and walked to Shun.

"Oh, hey Kakouen-san! Is Her Loliness asking me to sortie again?" asked Shun as he rested the hoe he used to work on his shoulder.

"Hello, Shun. And yes, Karin-sama asked for your aid," she greeted back, ignoring how he called her mistress. "The Yellow Turbans are mobilizing again and they were on the way to attack a nearby village."

Unlike her sister, Kakouton, Kakouen was more amiable to Shun after recognizing him as a true warrior and a good person after spending some of her free times to get know him as a person—despite some of his antics and somewhat airheaded personality. It was from him that the younger Kakou twins learned about the other Messengers of Heaven, Yamato Kusanagi of Zhuo and Yuki Satonaka of Go, which she told to her lord, Sousou.

"Haah…Those idiots will never learn, do they? Alright then. Wait here for a moment will you? I'm getting my gears and going to clean up a little before we go," answered Shun as he placed the hoe on the ground.

"Very well, but please hurry. We don't have much time," replied Kakouen.

Shun nodded and went to the small hut on the field where the farmer used to take a break from their work. As she was waiting for him, Kakouen had a small talk with the farmers. It was by Shun's suggestion that Sousou or her generals should talk to their people so they would know how they were doing and what do they need to improve their prosperity every now and then. The advice was certainly working and the people of Gi now really adored Sousou as their leader because she often paid attention to them while she was still on her conquest to unite the land.

Some moments later, Shun emerged from the hut with his complete attire. He took out the Rose Attacker Lockvehicle from his pocket before he unlocked the device and threw it. The Lockvehicle unfolded and became larger, becoming a rose themed motorcycle which Shun rode on while Kakouen get into her horse.

"Alright everyone, I'm going! Wish me luck, will ya?" he said to the farmers.

"You don't need luck, Shun-sama! You are the Unmatched Red Knight after all!" laughed Ming.

Shun laughed back as he revved the engine of his Rose Attacker before he nodded to Kakouen who nodded back at him. The general kicked the flank of her horse as it galloped away in full sprint with Shun on Rose Attacker easily keeping up with her horse.

It took them about fifteen minutes to reach where the Sousou's force stationed. Leading the force was none other than Sousou Motoku, the empress of Gi herself, riding on her war horse. She was a girl with petite body and her hair was blonde done into ringlet-styled twin tail with blue ribbons and skull-like hairpins while her eyes were blue. She was wearing sleeveless dark blue dress with white collar top which gave a view to her modest cleavage with a red ribbon was tied into her collar and dark purple skirt. She was also wearing magenta vest and corset with blue gem which was flared into two large tails on the back as well as dark blue and yellow detached sleeves. Her legs were covered by yellow-trimmed knee-past boots with magenta and silver high-heeled shoes and magenta leggings. To compliment her appearance further, silver bangles were added on the top of her detached sleeves and boots while a metal waist guard adorned her waist.

Next to her also riding on her horse was Sousou's another general and the elder sister to Kakouen, Kakouton Genjou. Her hair was black and long with a single strand of hair poking out and her eyes were purple. She was wearing red cheongsam adorned with purple chest plate that only covered her right chest and purple metal corset. She also wore blue detached sleeves with skull-like shoulder guard on her right shoulder and black legging and black heeled shoes.

Hearing the familiar noise, Sousou turned to see Shun riding on his personal vehicle and Kakouen on her horse.

"You're here," stated Sousou as Shun stopped Rose Attacker next to her horse. "I thought you're going back on our deal."

Shun scoffed at her attempt to rile him. "Me? Going back on our deal? And missed the whole action? Please Your Loliness, I'm a man of my words and action! You should know better than that!"

He felt a great satisfaction when he saw Sousou's eyes twitched dangerously and Kakouton growled angrily at him. The great Sousou Motoku was ten years too early trying to rile him up!

Sousou took a deep breath as she forced herself to calm down. It wouldn't do for the Empress of Gi if she lost her cool here, especially because of this…this aggravating man! She just had to bear with him…After all, it definitely won't do if his service as one of the Messengers of Heaven fell into someone else. Like that pompous idiot Enshou for example—goodness knew if her inflated ego couldn't get any larger. Not wih Go also have one of the Messengers of Heaven with them while another one was leading Zhuo together with Ryuubi Gentoku.

"So, how many of those Turbans we're facing this time, Your Loliness?" asked Shun nonchalantly as he watched the rank of Yellow Turbans marching on the distance.

"Stop disrespecting Karin-sama, you cur!" snapped Kakouton angrily.

"Take a chill pill, Ton-chan! It won't do if you have wrinkles so early! Your Loliness will leave you alone if you looked older than you should be!"

An angry vein popped on Kakouton's head. "Why you…!"

"Shunran! Enough!" ordered Sousou as she felt headache was forming. 'Just bear with him, Karin…Just bear with the idiot…' she mentally chanted to herself.

"But…! Karin-sama, he is…!" Kakouton weakly tried to defend her action.

"You should hold your temper, Shunran. I can't love you if you started to have wrinkles on your face," said Sousou with a sigh, pushing on the big weakness button on her beloved general.

"K-Karin-sama…" the black haired general whimpered pitifully.

"General Kakouton Genjou of Gi, a whipped lover. Whoever thought of that?" Shun snickered under his breath. Kakouen also chuckled softly with her sleeves covered her mouth.

Sousou cleared her throat as she addressed to Shun. "As for your earlier question, there are about 25,000 of them while we have about 18,000 men. As you can see, we're at disadvantage by our number…"

"But we're not outmatched, considering our soldiers are way better trained than those turbans," finished Shun as he scratched his chin before he punched his palm, a confident grin etched on his face. "Besides, you have me! This will be over in a snap!"

"Indeed," for all of his antics, Shun was a competent warrior in that armor of his, if Sousou had to admit. He was a Messenger of Heaven after all, so it was expected of him.

"So our usual strategy then? I and my squad charging on them with Kakouen-san and her archers providing support?" inquired Shun.

Sousou seemed to think about it before an evil idea crossed her mind. It sounded a very good as a payback to the idiot and to teach him some humiliation.

"Actually, I have something to offer to you. I will pay you triple of your usual payment if you can create a suitable diversion for our army…alone," said the blonde ruler of Gi with a smirk on her face.

Shun looked at Sousou in surprise before a fierce grin spread on his face. "Oh? Is that a challenge, Your Loliness? Then you better get that money ready for me, 'cause I'm going all out!"

He whipped out his Sengoku Driver and strapped it into his waist. The Rider Indicator showed red helmet with yellow-trimmed white face guard that has small rectangular blue gem on the forehead, red face plate, and grilled rainbow hued eyepieces. Shun then pulled out a Lockseed from his pocket, one with the image of bananas and letter 'LS-08', and unlocked it.

"BANANA!"

A zipper-like portal opened above Shun's head and a metallic banana descended from it. Shun lightly tossed the Banana Lockseed on his several times before hold it in front of his face and uttered the phrase.

"Henshin!"

He put the Banana Lockseed into his Sengoku Driver and securing it.

"LOCK ON!"

European trumpet music then played from the Sengoku Driver. Shun let it played for some moments before he reached for the Cutting Blade switch and pressed it to cut open the Lockseed, revealing its core which looked like a bunch of peeled banana while the back cover showed the image of a spear that modeled after a peeled banana.

"COME ON!"

The metal banana then landed on Shun's shoulder as a red body suit with silver chainmail-like material on the chest and silver gauntlets as well as silver greaves formed over his body. Inside the banana, an armored red helmet formed over Shun's head with yellow trimmed white face guard that has blue rectangular gem on the forehead, red faceplate that separated visor that has white grills, while the back of the helmet was a silver attachment with yellow horns resembling banana curved upward. The metal banana opened and folded out forming the armor over his body. The ends of the banana lowered and became his shoulder armor while the front folded down to his chest, revealing yellow armor over black plating which resembled a man's pectoral and abdominal muscle. The back and the top folded into his back as it created splashing effect as his visor lit up with yellow light while the jewel on his forehead flashed and a spear with peeled banana-like hand guard appeared on his right hand, completing his transformation.

"BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF SPEAR!"

Shun, now Baron, rolled his neck and shoulders before he turned to Sousou and asked her.

"Triple payment no matter what I do to make a good diversion for the army, right?" Sousou nodded to him as Baron's grin under his helmet nearly split his face in two. He placed his Banaspear on his back and started the engine of Rose Attacker. "Then let's roll!" he laughed before he rode off to meet up with the marching Yellow Turbans.

It was then when Sousou realized what she had agreed to and felt like her plan was going to backfire on her.

"What in the name of my ancestors have I done?" she muttered to herself as she massaged her temples, already feeling the headache.

Kakouton and Kakouen looked at her in confusion before looking at each other before the younger Kakou twins realized something and her mouth formed into small 'o'.

Baron stopped several meters from the armies of Yellow Turbans who stopped and looked at him fear and trepidation since they knew from his reputation as a warrior of Sou Gi. Though some was cocky enough to believe their number will defeat this so called Messenger of Heaven.

"Eh, so is this all of you? Hmm…Looks like I'm getting my paycheck easier than I thought!" said Baron as he took the Banaspear from his back and got off from his Rose Attacker.

"Hah! There's only one of you! What can you do against us?" asked one of the turbans cockily.

Baron's response was a wide grin behind his helmet as he reached for his Cutting Blade switch and pushed it once.

"This of course!"

"COME ON! BANANA SQUASH!"

Energy gathered at Baron's Banaspear as he held it in attacking stance and bended his knee slightly. The Yellow Turbans charged at him, hoping to prevent him from attacking but eventually useless as Baron thrust his spear at them as it unleashed yellow energy discharge, killing many of them in a singe attack before they exploded. Undaunted at the lost of their comrades, they tried to trap Baron by encircling and ganging him up, but the Knight-themed Rider was more than ready to take them on.

"And there's more from me!" he laughed as he pressed the Cutting Blade twice.

"COME ON! BANANA AU LAIT!"

A giant banana-shaped energy projection erupted from the Banaspear as Baron raised it above his head. He then brought his weapon down before slashing it in a perfect circular motion, killing more of the Turbans in that single attack as their body exploded.

Baron held his stance for a moment before he slowly stood up and rested his spear on his shoulder as he declared to the Yellow Turbans who regarded him warily and fearfully.

"The name's Baron! Kamen Rider Baron, the Unmatched Red Knight of the Skirt Chasing Her Loliness Sousou Motoku of Sou Gi! So let's party and get wild!"

An angry vein popped in Sousou's head and she gnashed her teeth angrily as she heard what Baron called her loud and clear. Kakouton and Kakouen inched back from their Empress fearfully as well as their soldiers when an aura of maliciousness and absolute loathing radiated from Sousou's petite body.

"K-Karin-sama…?" Kakouton squeaked.

'Just bear with the idiot, Karin…just bear with him…You can torture him later, slowly and painfully, when you united the land and don't need of his service…' she mentally chanted as she tried to calm herself, and failing spectacularly. 'Why did I have to end up with him of all people? Why I can't get the other Messengers of Heaven? I heard the one worked for Go is a beautiful girl. Mm, I can certainly have someone like her in my room after a long and stressful day...'

---

Elsewhere, Yuki Satonaka shuddered, as if someone was talking about her and not in flattering way. It certainly wasn't Yamato or Shun because if it was the former then she would sneeze and if it was the latter then she would get annoyed for no reason. Next to her Rikuson Hakugen noticed her shudder looked at her worriedly.

Rikuson was a woman in the early of her adulthood with green hair and blue eyes which was decorated with small rounded glasses sitting in on the bridge of her nose. Her skin was healthy shade of white and her figure was quite flattering. She was white wearing red cheongsam with flowing long sleeves that went past her hands and black trimmed white top and collar that connected by yellow metal strap just above her cleavage. Her cheongsam was actually revealing quite a lot of her cleavage and navel while her large breasts were covered by pink bra-like fabric. Her legs were covered by white leggings and brown shoes.

"Ara? Ryugen-san, are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Rkuson-san. It's just…I had this weird shiver ran on my spine," answered Yuki uncertainly. What was that anyway?

"Maybe you should get some rest, Ryugen-san. It won't do if a Messenger of Heaven is ill because you pushed yourself too hard," said Rikuson.

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine really," replied Yuki with a smile as she looked far in the distance. "I have to catch up quickly with those two, after all."

"Those two…do you mean the other Messengers of Heaven from Zhuo and Gi?" inquired the busty strategist.

"Yeah, especially Yamato. It's funny because our friends always joked Yamato looked like someone who was born in the wrong era, but look at him now. He is the leader of Zhuo along with Ryuubi-dono," said the Third Messenger of Heaven as a sad smile crossed her face. "I guess that's why he always looked as if he is on a whole another level to us. Even to me and Shun, his own childhood friends."

Rikuson noticed her saddened expression and tried to change the subject. "U-Um, what about your other friend? Shun, wasn't it?"

Yuki sighed before she looked annoyed. "You mean Shun Murayama? He is in Gi serving under Sousou-dono, right?"

"Yes, he is. He goes by the title of Kamen Rider Baron, the Unmatched Red Knight," replied Rikuson.

"I see…knowing him, that idiot must be coined that title by his own. I just hope he didn't do something stupid," said Yuki as she massaged her temples.

"You really are a nice person, Ryugen-san, worrying for your friend like that," smiled Rikuson.

"I have to when it comes to Shun, Rkuson-san. You know what they said abut there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, right?" asked Yuki with deadpan face. "Unfortunately for that idiot Shun Murayama, that line is so blurred because he is an adrenaline junkie, someone who loves to seek danger for his own excitement. Even if that means he had to spit on God's face to do it."

The green haired girl laughed uneasily as her fellow strategist described her friend.

Yuki and Rikuson then heard the war horn sounded from the main army led by Sonken Chuubou herself. They nodded to each other as the bespectacled, violet-eyed girl took out her Sengoku Driver and strapped it to her waist. The Rider Indicator on her Driver showed the image of a green armored head with golden trims along the brow with large, round eyepieces that colored like a rainbow. She then pulled out her Lockseed, one with the image of a bunch of grapes with the letter 'LS-09' imprinted in black, and unlocked it.

"BUDOU!"

Yuki clenched her Lockseed tightly and closed her eyes as the metallic grape bunch complete with circular purple gems that resembled grape beads on the front and green stem on the top descended from the zipper portal that connected to Helheim Forest.

"Henshin!" Yuki snapped her eyes open as she locked her Lockseed on the Sengoku Driver. It played Chinese Erhu Music after cymbals clashing three times before she pressed down the Cutting Blade switch, opening the core of the Lockseed which shaped like halves of a grape beads and the back lid showed the image of a firearm modeled after grapes.

"HAI!"

The metallic grapes fell and covered her head as a body suit formed over her body, but it was quite different to Gaim's or Baron's. Her suit was more elaborate, consisting of Chinese-styled green tunic with yellow trims over a black suit which has green shoulder pieces, arm braces, and greaves which were trimmed with yellow like her tunic. A green helmet with golden brows which was connected to her mouth plate and round, compound eye pieces formed around her head inside the metal grapes. A purple studded helmet attachment with golden metal tassel-like decoration on the top and yellow-trimmed green decoration on each side was attached to the back of her head. The front part of metal grapes then folded in half and became her breastplate while the sides folded outward and became layered shoulder armor and the top as well as the back folded and became the back of her armor. As the splash effect happened, her eyepieces lit up in purple and a gun which had its body decorated with purple gems arranged together like a bunch of grapes and the barrels looked like that of Gatling gun that also arranged like a bunch of grapes appeared on her hand.

"BUDOU ARMS! RYU, HOU, HA-HA-HA!"

Yuki, now Ryugen, turned to her soldiers under her command.

"Alright people, let's go! We need to match our timing with the main army so we can perfectly spring the trap as we planned!"

The Ryugen detachment marched quickly to their assigned point near the entrance of the valley where the main forces of Go army were taking on the Yellow Turbans who decided to attack a nearby outpost. As planned before, when the war horn resound the main force would lead the turbans to the valley where their little trap will be sprung and they will finish the Turbans there. As the troops reached their assigned point, Ryugen ordered them to crouch down so the bandits wouldn't spot them. Using the enhanced sight her armor provided, she saw the archers on the other side of the valley led by Kougai was also in their position. She signaled to the officer to stand by which was returned with an affirmative. Ryugen patiently waited for the main force leading the Turbans to enter the valley and once the last of the bandits entered, she made her move.

Ryugen reached for her Sengoku Driver and sliced the Budou Lockseed twice, activating the Driver's second finisher function.

"HAI! BUDOU AU LAIT!"

Ryugen pulled the hammer of her Budou Ryuhou and took aim as the gems on its body released grape energy projections and two golden dragons coiled on its barrel. The grapes and the dragons projections pooled into a large purple sphere on the size of a basket ball at the end of the gun's barrel. Ryugen pulled the trigger and the energy sphere separated into two purple energy dragons. The bandits watched the dragons fearfully as they soared over their head and exploded as they hit the walls on the valley entrance, sealing the Yellow Turbans' only exit. The horrific realization hit them in full force as it was raining arrows from each side of the valley. The hidden reinforcement on the valley moved out from their hiding place and it was only a matter of time before the Turbans were wiped out

Ryugen smiled in grim satisfaction behind her helmet as the plan she hatched went perfectly. The main army led by Sonken will engage the Turbans and led them to the valley after fighting for a time where she would trap them by using her finisher to blow up the entrance to the valley, leaving the Turbans trapped between rock and hard place. The reason she used Au Lait was because Squash didn't have enough firepower to get the job done in one shot while Sparking is too flashy and will catch the Turbans' attention and will ruin the whole trap. The timing also has to be very precise too. When her Driver announced the Finisher, Rikuson will signal their archer's as well as Kogai's to load their bows. When she fired her Au Lait Dragon Shot, the archers must be ready to fire and when the entrance was sealed off, the archers will be hailing arrows to the bandits below. The hidden reinforcement was a nice additional touch from Ryoumo to make sure the bandits were wiped out faster and reducing their own loss in return.

With her and her archers' as well as Kogai's giving support fire to the main force coupled with the panicking bandits, it only took them about fifteen minutes to mop out the rest of the Yellow Turbans. Looking at the cheering main force, Ryugen allowed herself to breathe out loudly before she turned to Rikuson.

"Rikuson-san, I'll leave the debriefing to you. I'm going to report to Sonken-sama now."

"Yes, please leave it to me!" replied Rikuson with a smile.

"My thanks."

Ryugen then slid over the wall of the valley to meet up with her leader, Sonken Chuubou. It was easy to spot the current Empress of Go with her short pink hair that cropped just above her shoulders with long forelocks that reached to her waist and her bangs framed her face nicely. Her eyes were blue and her skin was brown with small red diamond shaped marks on her forehead. She was wearing red cheongsam with yellow trims and white collared top that has golden strap above her breasts and extended a little past her shoulder. Her cheongsam was also revealing the underside of her breasts and her navel while it ended in two large tails on the back. The sleeves apparently detached from the rest of her apparels and cuffed above her elbows and her legs were covered by white legging that went into her mid thighs with black shoes. She was also wearing large red headdress with dark blue tassels hung on each side by a small golden hoop while another dark blue tassel was looped on the back of her head. A sword was hung on her left hip.

Next to her was her strategist, Ryoumo Shimei. She was a girl with brown hair that tied into twin buns on the lower back of her head and dark amber eyes that looked almost brown with a monocle on her right eye. She was wearing sleeveless purple cheongsam which revealed a portion of her cleavage with off-shoulder half jacket with long sleeves that went past her hands and blue corset with red tassel sash. She also wore a hat with red paper tags hung on the side of it and pink slipper shoes with red ribbons tied on her left ankle.

Sonken saw Ryugen approaching and smiled at the armored warrior.

"Sonken-sama. The Yellow Turbans' army has been wiped out," reported Ryugen to the young Empress.

"Good work, Ryugen. Your plan really helped us in this battle," replied Sonken approvingly.

"It's a pleasure to be a help, Sonken-sama," bowed the dragon-themed Rider.

Ryoumo looked at the cliff wall which was destroyed by Ryugen's finisher attack—really appropriate in her opinion.

"I still find it hard to believe how much power your armor has, Ryugen-san," commented the monocle wearing girl.

"Trust me Ryoumo-san. You haven't seen anything yet," replied Ryugen as she closed her Lockseed and reverting to Yuuki.

Ryoumo arched a curious eyebrow at her words, but there were things that better left unsaid.

"Yuki, Ryoumo, please accompany me while I debrief the army," requested Sonken.

"Yes, Sonken-sama," answered Yuki and Ryoumo

Sonken was the one who found Yuki after one of the splitting shooting star's fragment landed on her castle garden. In the morning after Yuki awoke, Sonken explained things to her after trading some pleasantries and at the end of their conversation; it was understandable that the bespectacled girl was skeptical and wary of her current situation. Not that the Empress of Go could blame her. She might be did not understand what she meant by time travel or alternate universe, but waking up in a foreign place and separated from your friends must be unsettling for anyone. Sonken left after handing Yuki her belongings and said to Yuki she was free to stay here in Son Go which she accepted since she had nowhere else to go.

She eventually learned about Yamato and Shun who were both hailed as Messengers of Heaven Gaim of Zhuo and Baron of Gi respectively and asked Sonken to let her to join her army. She even transformed in front of her court to make her point crossed and Sonken accepted her. Yuki was proven to be an important aspect to Son Go as her sharply analytical mind provided many strategies that even left Shuuyu Koukin, their senior strategist, deeply impressed and she was quite a marksman with bow or her Budou Ryuuhou.

"Listen, brave soldiers of Son Go! Today we have defeated those greedy bandits who tried to get their dirty hands on our land! By the will of heaven itself, we…." As Sonken addressed to her soldiers, one thought crossed Yuki's mind.

'Yamato, Shun…I hope you're doing alright. I'm going to catch up with you two, just you wait.'

---

Yamato stood on the rampart of his castle and watching the bustling capital of Zhuo, Xizhang, as his mind was left wandering. It has been two months since his arrival in this alternate universe and many things had happened in that time span. The news of his victory over the Yellow Turbans by leading a group of villagers and him being the Messenger of Heaven had spread like a wildfire. And thanks to that, many nearby villages made alliance with his and as result, the number of their army has been increased as well as the number of the merchants visiting Xizhang, increasing the prosperity of the village and making it a bustling city in return. He also managed to repel many Yellow Turbans attacks on the neighboring village, gaining their favor and bolstering the number of his army even more and netting in more allies.

Of course, when more alliance was made meant more paperwork for him. As if it the daily workload from his work as Chief Magistrate wasn't enough. Thankfully, his workload was split between him and Touka with Aisha helping them as much as she could with her duty as the General of the Zhuo army along with Rinrin—not that the younger girl was doing anything more than 'patrolling'. He was still learning the ropes of his job, but he could say he was doing a good job if the once village now a progressing city was any sign of it. Yamato also managed to set a schedule for him and his officers so they won't be overwhelmed by their work, something that even Aisha who was sometimes a workaholic agreed and much to Touka's relieve.

Yamato also became closer to the girls as well, not in that way, more like between comrades in arms and superior with his subordinates way. He was also having his skill sharps by training with his units or sparring with Aisha and Rinrin in their spare time. He was proud to say he could go toe to toe with someone in the caliber of Kan'u Unchou and Chouhi Yokutoku, as Gaim anyway. He was still hard pressed to fight them equally without his armor, but he accepted that fact and pushed himself further in his training. Yamato was surprised when Touka had approached him and asked for a swordplay lesson one day after they were settled in with their new responsibilities. He accepted her request and this version of Ryuubi Gentoku learned how much of a slave driver and taskmaster Yamato Kusanagi was. Touka was progressing quite nicely in his opinion, even Aisha and Rinrin was surprised with how much she had improved. That meant those bruises and welts she got at the end of their training sessions weren't for nothing.

He also had heard about Shun and Yuki who were now working for Gi and Go respectively. They too have become Kamen Rider Baron and Ryugen complete with their own epithet, the Unmatched Red Knight Baron and the Unrivaled Green Marksman Ryugen, each was known with their own specialty. A single thrust from Baron's spear can kill armies and a single shot from Ryugen's firearm can change the whole battle. As if they weren't going to let Yamato was without his own epithet, the girls also coined one for him: The Peerless Blue Swordsman Gaim, whose swords are more than a match for one thousand men. They even got him a new long coat for him to wear over his jacket. It was sleeveless and predominantly blue with yellow trims on the edges and it has Gaim's symbol, a short katana superimposed on a circle, stitched on the left chest in orange and the characters for 'Gaim' in Japanese Kanji stylized like the one in Kamen Rider Gaim's title card on the back.

Yamato might be didn't like presumptuous things like his titles, but long coats like one he wore right now was one of his guilty pleasures.

"There you are, Gaim-sama."

Yamato turned to see Aisha approached him with an exasperated look on her face.

"What's wrong, Aisha? You seem troubled."

"Have you seen Touka-sama anywhere, Gaim-sama? She wasn't in her room when I delivered today's paperwork. I wonder where she had gone this time…" said Aisha with a worried yet annoyed look.

"She ditched her work again, right?" inquired Yamato knowingly.

"She is. I wish Touka-sama is more responsible with her work as the Vice Magistrate so she won't burden you with her unfinished works," Aisha sighed before turning to her lord. "What are you doing here, Gaim-sama? Have you done your work yet?"

"I'm almost finished with mine, so I'm going out to get some fresh air," he answered before he looked back to the capital. "I can't believe it has been two months already and so much had happened since then."

Aisha stood next to him and smiled. "That it has. These people really prospered under your leadership."

"I'm just doing the right thing, that's all," replied Yamato with a chuckle.

"And that's why your people adored you, Gaim-sama. You always choose to do the right thing by helping those who needed help instead of choosing the easy way," Aisha smiled at her lord.

Yamato gazed at the capital before he said to his trusted general. "You know Aisha, back in my home world I always something was missing from my life. It was weird, I have a family and friends that loved and supported me, so what was missing from my life? But after I came here and led the villagers to our first battle against the Yellow Turbans, I felt like that gap left by that missing thing has been fulfilled."

"Perhaps you are born to be a leader, Gaim-sama, and so far you have done a splendid job in my opinion," replied Aisha truthfully.

"Is that so?" Yamato wondered more to himself before he shrugged. "Anyway, I'm thinking to visit the city. Are you coming with me?"

"E-Eh? Me?" Aisha asked in surprise. "But I still have some work to do…"

"Then you can do it later after we return. Remember Aisha, a bowstring can only be pulled so far before it snaps. You have done nothing but working too hard lately, either doing the paperwork or training yourself and your unit. As your comrade, it's my responsibility to watch for your wellbeing," insisted Yamato.

"B-But, Gaim-sama…" Aisha was trying to refute his argument weakly.

"Besides, seeing how our people are faring with our own eyes is also an important job. Don't you agree with that, Aisha?"

The black haired general sighed to herself, knowing she has to concede with her lord. "Very well. I will accompany you to the city. Please wait here while I have some soldiers to accompany us."

"Actually, it will be only both of us going to the city without soldiers as our guards," said Yamato to Aisha's surprise. "We don't want to intimidate the citizens by having soldiers to guard us since it will put up a barrier that will separate us from our people. If anything, I wanted to be as close as possible to them."

"But what if someone tried to attack, or worse, assassinate you?!" argued Aisha stubbornly.

"I appreciate your concern Aisha, but you know I'm not that hopeless," rebuked the Chief Magistrate of Zhuo as he showed her his Sengoku Driver and Orange Lockseed before returning them to his pocket. He smiled at her as he added, "Besides, I'm not worried about anything because I have Kan'u Unchou, the Black Haired War Goddess, watching my back."

Aisha blushed profusely at Yamato's words. True she might be the General of Zhuo army and trusted officer of Yamato Kusanagi, but she was still a girl at heart. He was the one who had coined her title, along with Rinrin's. He didn't have one for Touka though, much to the pink haired girl's protest.

"U-Understood, Gaim-sama. Then let us be on our way," she said as Aisha tried to repress the blush on her face.

"Let's go. And who knows, maybe we can find Touka in the city," replied Yamato as he made his way down followed by Aisha.

---

The hustle and bustle of activities on the city made Yamato and Aisha smile as they walked along the main road. The citizens were happily chatting with each other or buying stuffs from various merchants on the streets and children played with their friends. The Chief Magistrate and his General waved and smiled back at the villagers who greeted them. Some even offered foods from their stall, which Yamato accepted gratefully while Aisha shyly accepted the accessories from a merchant at her lord's persuasion.

"Well, looks like everything was going really well here," commented Yamato as he watched the prospering city with a paper bag full of foods on his hands.

"Your policy regarding the progressive tax payment is popular amongst merchants and businessmen alike because it is fair enough for them," replied Aisha. Once more, the black haired general was surprised by how intelligent her lord was. The gist of this new tax policy was the tax paid by merchants and businessmen was divided into several categories according to their revenue. So the more the revenue they got, the more tax they have to pay. Some of the more greedy merchants were moaning the policy, but they can only do nothing about it unless they wanted to be booted from Xizhang and banned from Yozhou for swindling their taxes. It was harsh, but very effective.

"That tax policy is also used in my home world and it is very successful as far as I know. I made some adjustment so it can be applied in this era," said Yamato.

"I see…the other world must be a prosperous place," hummed Aisha thoughtfully.

"Most of the countries in my home world are indeed prosperous, but they still have some problems like this one," commented the Chief Magistrate as he took seat on an unoccupied bench with his General following suit. "Problems like poverty and unemployment are some of the examples of the major problems government has to solve every year. The problem is, there is only so much land and job vacation available, but the number of the population is always increasing day by day. And to be honest, both of the government and the people are at fault here."

"What do you mean by that, Gaim-sama?" asked Aisha as she gratefully accepted the meat bun offered by Yamato.

Yamato took a bite from his barbeque skewer and chewed it for a moment before swallowing it. "No matter what the world is, there will always be corrupt and self-serving officials who are complacent of their own position—more in my world actually with how many conveniences it has compared to this one. And there are some of people who just waited for the government to solve their problem and have no initiative of their own. The reason is because they are too lazy to move from their comfort zone and don't have the courage to take the necessary risk."

Aisha frowned deep in thought as she chewed her meat bun. It seemed that the other world also have problems of its own and from Yamato's words, it sounded worse than this world with how complacent the government and how lazy the civilian were. But she thanked whatever powers-that-be out there that had sent Yamato to this world because he was the right person to solve this land's problem under his leadership as she believed.

"I guess we should learn from the other world, the best it has to offer so we can apply it here and try to avoid its worse so we won't repeat the same mistakes," said Aisha.

Yamato nodded at her as he took another bite from his barbeque skewer. "A progress is like a two-sided coin. For every good things it comes with, there will be always the opposite following. The best we can do is to minimize its bad effects." He swallowed before continuing, "I already have some ideas about new policies in mind, but I'll need an expert to discuss it with."

"Perhaps I can offer my help, Gaim-sama. It might be not much, but I'll do my best to be your discussion partner," offered Aisha.

Yamato turned at her and smiled. "Thank you, Aisha."

The black haired girl shook her head. "There is no need to thank me, Gaim-sama. It is my responsibility as your vassal to help you."

"And I told you before, we are all equals here. No one is the lord and no one is the vassal," retorted Yamato before he sighed. "Then again, it's only a matter of perspective how we see our position."

"That is correct, Gaim-sama," smiled Aisha as she bit into her meat bun.

Both of them watched contently watched how lively the city was while enjoying their food. Some of the passerby who recognized them greeted the pair which they returned warmly. Yamato handed Aisha a barbeque skewer while he took a meat bun when they heard a familiar voice.

"Come on, Ryuubi-neechan! Let's get some meat buns!"

"No! Ryuubi-neechan will buy me barbeque skewers!"

"I want dim sums!"

"Alright, alright, I'll buy some for everyone, but not too much. Is that okay for you?"

"Hooray! Thank you, Ryuubi-neechan!"

"You're the best, Ryuubi-neechan!"

"Ehehehe! Thank you everyone!"

Sure enough, they saw Touka was pulled along by some children. They were all laughing and Touka had a smile on her face as the children pulled her along until she saw Yamato and Aisha were looking at her. Well, Yamato was looking at her with amused smile as he bit into his meat bun while Aisha glared at her as she crossed her arms under her breasts, her index finger tapping her arm while one hand was holding a barbeque skewer. Suddenly, the pink haired girl had the urge to hide somewhere.

"Ah! Gaim-sama! Aisha-chan!" greeted Touka nervously.

"Hello, Touka. Fancy meeting you here," replied Yamato, still with that amused smile on his face.

"Touka-sama," Aisha greeted curtly as she bit into her barbequed meat.

"Ah, um…W-What are you doing here?" she asked with shaky tone.

"Aisha and I are visiting the city to see how everything is going," answered Yamato casually as he munched on his meat bun. "I can say that everything is going very well, don't you agree Touka?"

"Y-Yes! You're right, Gaim-sama! Everything is going really well!" replied the pink haired girl. The nervousness on her voice was unmistakable.

"Then what are you doing here, Touka-sama?" asked Aisha suspiciously after she swallowed her food. "I believe you still have some paperwork to do."

"A-Ano, that's…" whatever Touka was trying to say was cut off when one of the children spoke.

"Ryuubi-neechan played with us earlier, General Kan'u!"

"Yeah! We played a lot of games with her!"

"It was really fun!"

"Urk…!" Touka looked as if she visibly struck when the children revealed what she had done with them to the straight laced Aisha.

"Is that so…?" asked Aisha sweetly. Yamato slightly inched from her when he recognized that tone—it was the same tone when Yuki found out Shun had done something terribly stupid and usually it would end with an inevitable explosion. She approached the children and gave them some money. "Here, you can use them to buy some foods from the merchants."

"Wow! Thank you, General Kan'u!"

"Yes, run along now. I am going to have a talk with Vice Magistrate Ryuubi now, so I'm afraid she can not join you."

"Oh, that's okay. Thanks again, General!"

The children then ran for the merchants, but one of them gave her a final parting shot.

"Good luck with your date with the Chief Magistrate, General Kan!"

Yamato blinked in surprise while Aisha and Touka blushed for different reasons. The black haired teen looked at the foods on his hand, the bench he was sitting at, and then at Aisha. Huh, it really looked like a date in one way you see it.

"A-Aisha-chan! I-I knew it! You're taking our lord to a date by faking it as an inspection!" accused Touka as she pointed an accusing finger to her sworn sister.

"W-What nonsense are you talking about, Touka-sama!? It was Gaim-sama who asked me to go with him!" retorted Aisha hotly, her blush was now reaching to her ears.

"Eeeehhh~!? Is that true Gaim-sama?"

"It's true. Actually, I was going to ask you for this visit but Aisha said you ditched your work again so I asked her instead."

"Auuu…I really missed my chance…" whined Touka with a pout.

"Then you should've stayed to do your work instead, Touka-sama," said Aisha with a cool stare as she took a bite from her barbeque skewer. No sense on wasting a good food.

"But the paperwork is too much Aisha-chan! I even have nightmares where I got buried alive by them!"

"Then you should've done them so you won't be having nightmares about them!"

"Paperwork is so boring, Aisha-chan!"

"But it is your job as the Vice Magistrate! Didn't you promise to help Gaim-sama in his position as the Chief Magistrate?"

"W-Well…That's…" Touka looked at Yamato guiltily.

"Alright you two, that's enough," chided Yamato sternly. "It's very unbecoming for both of you, the officers of Zhuo, to bicker in a place like this lie a pair of children. The citizens were watching since the beginning of your quarrel."

Aisha and Touka looked abashed at Yamato's scolding. True enough, some of the citizens were watching the girls since they started arguing.

"I-I apologize for my unsightly behavior, Gaim-sama," Aisha bowed, ashamed of her action.

"I'm sorry, Gaim-sama," murmured Touka, also ashamed of her behavior.

"Don't think any of it," Yamato waved off before turning to Aisha. "Aisha, I know you have strong sense of duty and strict work ethic but there is place and time to lecture someone. You could have waited until we returned to the palace and gave Touka her lecture there." The black haired girl nodded mutely at his advice. "Touka, I understand how you feel and you know that you are also wholly unprepared for this job, but please try to bear with it. You are doing this for your dream to bring peace to the land, right?" the pink haired girl nodded at his words. "Although, I somewhat agree with you about how much paperwork we have to do each day."

Both Aisha and Touka blinked at his words before the former asked to him. "What do you mean by that, Gaim-sama?"

"There are only three of us that can do paperwork with Rinrin is pretty much illiterate and I'm still learning the characters because how different it was to Japanese writing system. Yet, with how fast our territory expanded the resulting paperwork will overwhelm us sooner or later, even with the schedule I set. And because we spend the most of our time doing paperwork, our skill in battle will suffer because we don't have much time to train ourselves," Yamato explained his reasoning to the girls who mulled it over in their head.

"That…makes sense," replied Aisha with one hand on her chin.

"So…we should recruit other people to fill officers' position, Gaim-sama?" asked Touka after a moment of pondering.

"That's right," answered Yamato as mentally recalled the names of prominent figures from Shoku Faction seeing that now Zhuo, his faction, was pretty much replaced Shoku. "I already have some potential recruits in my mind. I don't know if their situation is the same with the one I know of seeing this is an alternate universe and my own existence definitely changed many things."

Aisha frowned in confusion when she heard his words. "What do you mean, Gaim-sama?"

Yamato looked around and motioned the girls to sit next to him and started to speak in low tone, so anyone wouldn't hear this conversation.

"You do remember I came from a distant future, about 1.800 years from this era, right?" The girls nodded in confirmation. "The historical record about the Three Kingdoms Era said that Ryuubi Gentoku formed the Shoku Faction after he sworn brotherhood with Kan'u Unchou and Chouhi Yokutoku with the help of Kousonsan Hakukei. He then recruited several people into his cause and these people were those who helped Shoku Faction into greatness and capable of matching Gi and Go Factions. Now with me and my friends' existence here, the whole scenario has changed completely. I don't know if the three of you have sworn sisterhood to each other on a Peach Blossom Orchard yet, but by swearing your fealty to me and followed me into that first battle two months ago, the Shoku Faction was replaced by our current faction, Zhuo. Not to mention, this is already an alternate universe as I already said earlier, everything will be different than the one I know of. That includes the situations of our potential recruits so we shouldn't rely on my 'future' knowledge."

"I see…" replied Touka. She looked down for a moment before she asked him, "Gaim-sama, do you regret ever meeting us back then?"

Yamato then looked at Touka with pure incredulity on his eyes. "What makes you think like that, Touka? If anything, I'm happy to meet you all that day. I'm proud to call myself the comrade and friend of the legendary Ryuubi Gentoku, Kan'u Unchou, and Chouhi Yokutoku. It is once in a lifetime honor that even I thought I don't deserve it."

The girls blushed at that. They knew they were going to be an important figure in the future thanks to Yamato's explanation, but to think it was mattered greatly to him…Truly, nothing could describe the elation they felt right now.

"Besides," a smirk graced Yamato's face. "I refuse to play a part in a predictable board. I always prefer unpredictability and uncertainties because they provided more challenge to me."

Aisha and Touka gulped and shuddered involuntarily upon seeing that smirk on their lord's face. Something about it was predatory and somewhat cold, almost unlike the person they had known for two months.

Yamato noticed their shudder and asked to them. "What's wrong you two? Why are you shuddering?"

"E-Eh? I-It's nothing, Gaim-sama. Please don't pay much attention to it," answered Aisha with a small stutter, causing Yamato to quirk a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Are you sure?"

"We're fine Gaim-sama! But…I think I've heard about the name Kousonsan before, but where…" said Touka before she hit her open palm with her free hand. "Oh yeah! It's Pairen-chan!"

"You know of Kousonsan, Touka?" asked Yamato in surprise. Aisha too looked surprised by her exclamation.

"Yup! We went into the same primary school together when we were young," answered Touka brightly before she added sheepishly. "And well…she is kinda easily forgettable by everyone, even by our own teacher."

"Huh, that's new," said Yamato as he shook his head in amusement. "And this is why we shouldn't rely too much on my 'future' knowledge because the smallest difference may become a large divergence."

Just then, they heard a familiar voice called out to them loudly.

"Onii-chan! Aisha-neechan! Touka-neechan!"

They turned and saw Rinirin was running at them in full sprint before she stopped in front of the trio.

"Rinrin? What's wrong?" asked Aisha.

"It's the Yellow Turbans! They attacked one of our outposts on the border!"

Yamato's expression turned serious and razor sharp upon hearing the news. "Which outpost they attacked, Rinrin?"

Rinrin opened the map she carried with her and pointed at one point which was marked. "Here! They attacked this outpost! A messenger from Kousonsan's army said now they are moving deeper to our territory, but Kousonsan-oneechan was just heading back to Ryousei district from and now started up a camp to block them. The messenger also said she requested reinforcement from us because if she took too many lost, then the Turbans will enter our territory."

"Not something that we could let to happen," replied Yamato before he turned to Aisha and Touka. "Aisha, Touka, head back to the palace and get our soldiers ready. Take as much as you can and make sure you left enough to guard the city in our leave. Be sure to be ready to depart in half an hour."

"Understood, Gaim-sama," answered both girls.

"Oh, and here," he then gave the paper bag to Touka. "Give this to the maids to be stored or to be shared among them. They are gifts from merchants and we can't afford to waste them. Make sure you appointed someone to look things over when we are gone"

"Ah, yes. Certainly, Gaim-sama."

He then turned to Rinrin. "Rinrin, take me to this messenger. I'll hear the rest of the situation from him."

"Sure thing, Onii-chan! Just follow Rinrin, okay?" the girl grinned before quickly taking off with amused Yamato followed her.

Aisha and Touka went back to the palace to do what Yamato had asked them to do.

---

As appointed by Yamato, Aisha managed to organize their army and mobilizing in thirty minutes. Now Yamato and his officers were on the move to meet up with Kousonsan after he learned the situation from the messenger. Kousonsan had managed to push the bandits to the border of Yozhou, a little past from the attacked outpost before their number started to give her some trouble. She then built a camp to deny them any further entrance and was holding them back there, about one and half hour from the capital on horse. The camp was also strategically placed to protect the major roads that also led to deeper parts of Yozhou, something that Yamato was grateful for.

The mobilized army was around 5,500 soldiers with Yamato, Aisha, Touka, and Rinrin each was leading 100 men squad. The Messenger reported there was about 10,000 Yellow Turbans ahead, but they were most likely to be a detached force. The fact there was even bigger force behind the Turbans made everyone edgy, but they tried to not let it bother them too much. Instead, they will focus on the current task on and. The plan was to wipe out the detached force without losing much of their number and met up with Kousonsan's army so they can join forces and defeat the Turbans' main force. Zhuo army was used to fight against enemies that outnumbered them because they were more skilled than their counterpart.

Besides, they have three people who were equal to one thousand men alone: Yamato Kusanagi AKA Kamen Rider Gaim, the Peerless Blue Swordsman; Kan'u Unchou, the Black Haired War Goddess; and Chouhi Yokutoku, the Fierce Little Tiger General. And there was Ryuubi Gentoku. While she has no prominent combat skill to speak of, she was a natural born and charismatic leader on her own right with refreshingly bright and positive outlook on any situation. She was definitely living up the expectation as Yamato's second in command,

"I hope Pairen-chan is alright…" said Ryuubi worriedly as the army was about fifteen minutes away from Kousonsan's camp.

"Don't worry about her, Touka. It will take more than Yellow Turbans to defeat a renowned general like Kousonsan," assured Yamato.

"Gaim-sama is right. Kousonsan-dono is known as the White Horse General because of her skills in cavalry combat and good leader to her men. She is your childhood friend, is she not? Then please have some faith on her," Aisha added her two cents.

Touka smiled at Yamato and Aisha's encouragement. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Pairen-chan definitely won't lose against the Yellow Turbans!"

"Ne, Touka-neechan, what kind of person Kousonsan-Oneechan is?" asked Rinrin curiously.

"Huh? Pairen-chan?" Touka then put one hand on her cheek as she thought about her youngest sworn sister's question, "Hmm…I think the best I could describe her is… average."

Yamato, Aisha, and Rinrin blinked at her. "Average?"

"Yup, Pairen-chan is so average and plain so she didn't stand out so much in the crowd," recounted the pink haired girl with thoughtful look. "I guess that's why even our teacher was having hard time to remember her when we were on school."

"That is…kind of harsh, isn't it?" asked Aisha with an anime-style sweat drop.

"But it's true! You'll understand what I mean when you saw her, Aisha-chan!" insisted Touka.

Yamato just shook his head. It looked like everyone has their own quirk here. He was going to add something to the conversation when the scout he sent earlier running back in full sprint.

"Yamato-sama! I have an urgent report!" he said as he knelt. "Yellow Turbans are spotted ahead along with several civilians!"

"Elaborate," he ordered in nonsensical tone.

"Sir, it appears those civilians are farmers from the last village we passed. There are thirty of them and the Yellow Turbans are the same detached force that the messenger from Kousonsan-dono's army reported. They somehow managed to sneak around the blockade and are going to catch up with the civilians."

"Not in our watch," growled Yamato as he turned to Aisha. "Aisha, take your unit and escort the civilians to safety and rejoin us fast. It will be hard to fight them all at once unless we are together, so you better make it quick."

"Understood, Gaim-sama!" Aisha replied crisply as she barked the new order to her unit.

"Rinrin, you're with me as vanguard until Aisha returned with Touka leading the archers to support us."

"You got it, Onii-chan!" replied Chouhi with enthusiastic grin.

"Yes, Gaim-sama!" affirmed Touka, nodding firmly.

"Alright everyone, let's move it! Double time! We can't let those Turbans advancing any further!"

The army doubled the pace of their march to follow the four generals as Yamato relayed the new order. In ten minutes, they managed to catch up with the civilians who were grateful for their help and saw the marching Yellow Turbans on the distance. Aisha and her unit then left to escort the civilians away from harm as Yamato calmly gazed at the incoming Yellow Turbans while Touka looked on nervously as Rinrin was bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet with her Viper rested on her shoulder.

"So what's the plan, Onii-chan?" asked Rinrin.

"Have the archers hailing arrows on them once they are in our range and then we will meet them head on, though some unit should stay behind and join up with Aisha's unit to act as our reinforcement. Touka will stay behind to lead the archers and providing support fire for us every now and then," answered Yamato before he noticed something odd, which Rinrin and Touka also noticed.

There was something else moving ahead of the Yellow Turbans. Whatever it was, it has a good lead from the Turbans but they will eventually catching up with it. Touka's eyes widened in realization after watching the situation for a minute.

"Gaim-sama! Those are…!"

"Stragglers…!" cursed Yamato under his breath, as the realization also hit him.

True enough, there were three stragglers running away from Yellow Turbans. Two of them were young girls at Rinrin's age if he wasn't mistaken and an elderly lady.

His immediate response was running at their direction as he whipped out his Sengoku Driver and strapped it into his waist. "Come on! We have to help them!"

"Yes!" Touka snapped a salute at him before turning at the soldiers. "You heard what Gaim-sama said! Let's move out!"

---

To Shokatsuryou Koumei and Houtou Shigen, running away from the Yellow Turbans wasn't exactly how they wanted their day would go once they entered Zhuo district earlier today.

After hearing the news that one of the Messengers of Heaven and a princess of lost Imperial Bloodline had taken over as the Magistrates of the district and leading a campaign to purge Yellow Turbans from Yozhou province, both of them felt that their service was needed by them thus their reasoning to come down from their master's retreat on the mountain. It was also a chance to put their training under their master, Shibaki Suikyou, into practice; such as politics, economics, geography, agriculture and war strategies. They also hoped that their soon-to-be masters to be will overlook their youthful appearance once they had proven what they were capable of to them.

Unfortunately, their smooth trip ended when the Yellow Turbans attacked the village where they were resting earlier. Shokatsuryou and Houtou managed to stay together in the following chaos as the small population forced to flee to safety, but they had to stop to help an old woman. This resulting them to fell behind the group of farmers that Aisha had rescued earlier and they were forced to continue to ran away from the Yellow Turbans that followed them.

Shokatsuryou was a girl with short, bob cut blonde hair and violet eyes. She was wearing brown short jacket top with puffy shoulders and two yellow bells on the front and brown beret hat with large green ribbon tied on the right side. Underneath her jacket was pale dress shirt with blue skirt and large green ribbon tied on the back of her waist acting like a sash while her legs were covered by white stockings and brown loafer shoes. Next to the old woman she was escorting was her friend, Houtou, which dressed similarly to her, only the color of her short jacket top was blue with pale blue dress shirt and brown skirts. Her hat was pointed like witch's hat with large cyan ribbon tied on the left side which was also blue. The cyan ribbon on her waist was tied on the left side of her waist instead and she wore no stocking instead. Her hair was light shade of blue done into twin tails and her eyes were green. Like Shokatsuryou, she was carrying a large school backpack filled to the brim with so many items.

The two young scholars were running along the old woman, huffing and panting in exhaustion. The Yellow Turbans behind them were steadily gaining on them and it was only a matter of time before they finally caught up with the small group of stragglers.

"*pant* *pant*…huff…Come on, elder. Just a little bit more!" urged Shokatsuryou.

"Leave me, children. An old woman like me will just slow you down," replied the elder.

"That will not do! We will escape this together!" retorted Shokatsuryou as she pulled the old woman,

"Shuri is right, elder. We will definitely take you to safety, so please bear with us," encouraged Houtou.

"Both of you…" the elder was touched by their concern and smiled at them gratefully. "Thank you."

"Ehehehe…You're welcome!" smiled Shokatsuryou as she and her blue haired companion pulled the elder along, until Houtou saw another army coming right at them.

They were led by a young man in blue long coat with a strange belt on his waist and two girls, one with pink hair older than them and one with red hair of their age hefting a spear twice of her size, following him.

"Awawa…Shuri, I think we are in trouble," said Houtou nervously.

"Hawawa! W-Who are they? Are they enemies too?" asked Shokatsuryou in panic. The situation went from bad into the worst!

Houtou then looked at the flags on the army ahead of them. "Those flags…they bear the characters of 'Chou' and 'Ryuu' with them. There are flags without characters, but instead they have an emblem with them. A sword over a circle…" her green eyes widened in realization upon seeing the emblem.

"A sword over a circle…That's the personal emblem of Gaim, the Messenger of Heaven from Zhuo!" exclaimed Shokatsuryou with a surprised gasp.

"And the man who leads them must be Yamato Kusanagi, Kamen Rider Gaim himself!" Houtou really couldn't believe their luck. First they were chased by the Yellow Turbans and now they were going to meet with the person they were looking in a place like this? Gods in Heaven up there sure have a weird sense of humor.

"The Messenger of Heaven? I have heard of him that he is purging Yellow Turbans around Yozhou, but to think he is leading the army himself…!" said the old woman in awe as she nearly stumbled on her own feet.

It was moments later when Yamato and his army finally caught up with Shokatsuryou, Houtou and the old lady.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Yamato as he approached the stragglers.

"A-Ah, yes! W-We're awright…Hawawa! I-I mean, w-we're alright! T-Thank you for rescuing us!" stuttered Shokatsuryou as she bowed.

"Awawa…T…Thank…y…you…" said Houtou lowly as she tipped her hat down to cover her blushing face.

Yamato noted their stutter and verbal tic and a part of him couldn't help but to think how cute they were. He shook to dismiss that thought as he kneeled in front of them and placed a hand on their shoulder.

"You two must have been left behind to help the old lady, right?" he asked as both of them nodded shyly with blushes adorning their faces. Yamato smiled and gripped their shoulders firmly but gentle enough to not hurt them. "Thank you for your hard work. Both of you have done very well. Why don't you join her while my soldiers will take you all to safety?"

"A-Ano, Y-Yamato-sama? W-We would like to help you," said Shokatsuryou, much to Yamato, Touka, and Rinrin's surprise.

"Um, don't take this personally, but how can you help us?" asked Touka.

"Yeah, how can you help us when both of you are only kids," chimed Rinrin somewhat incredulously.

Despite the situation they were in, Shokatsuryou couldn't help but felt indignant at Rinrin's accusation. She put her hands on her hips and stuck out her petite chest a bit as she puffed her cheek. "I'm not a kid, you know! I'm mature and responsible!"

Yamato and Touka blinked at her while Houtou looked like she was going to pass out any moment with how hard her body shook. Rinrin was about to retort when Aisha arrived with her unit.

"Gaim-sama, I have returned!" she said and was surprised to see the elder with Shokatsuryou and Houtou. "If I may ask Gaim-sama, who are they? Why are they here when the Yellow Turbans are almost upon us?"

"They are stragglers who are left behind the farmers you rescued earlier, though these two…" he motioned to Shokatsuryou who apparently snapped out of her moment of indignation on Aisha's arrival and Houtou who had stopped trembling but still looked quite shy. "…wanted to help us. Both of you haven't introduced yourselves yet, so I can't decided to accept your help or not."

"Hawawa…! I'm sorry for our rudeness! W-We're just excited and wanted to help!" said Shokatsuryou as she and Houtou bowed before the blonde started their introduction. "My family name is Shokatsu and my first name is Ryou. My common name is Koumei and my true name is Shuri. I-I am p-pleased to meet you, Yamato-sama!"

"Awawa…My family name is Hou, followed by Tou…and um…my common name is Shigen and my true name is Hinari…Um…please take care of me!"

Yamato couldn't help the amused chuckle from his lips, surprising his Generals as well as the two scholars. "Today must be my lucky day or something…or someone up there has really some twisted sense of humor." He shook his head before he stood up and walked past the two scholars then turning to face his generals. "Aisha, Touka, you remember the potential recruits I talked to you earlier?"

"Yes, I remember. What is it to do with these…" answered Aisha before she trailed off when she realized something which she shared with Touka.

"No way…Gaim-sama, are you saying…?"

"Mou, Aisha-neechan, Touka-neechan. What is it? Is it supposed to be a secret? Tell Rinrin!" Rinrin demanded with a cute pout

"That's right," Yamato then placed his hand on their respective hats with cool smirk while the two girls looked on the exchange with a confused expression. "My generals, I want you to meet with our new strategists and advisors, Shokatsuryou Koumei, the Sleeping Dragon, and Houtou Shigen, the Fledgling Phoenix."

"Hawawa…S-Sleeping D-Dragon…!?" exclaimed the petite blonde with wide-eyed surprised look and fierce blush.

"Awawa…F-Fledgling P-Phoenix…!?" her blue haired companion was pretty much in the same boat as her.

"That's right. These two are some of the brightest and the most brilliant mind of all Three Kingdoms and we are very lucky to be able to meet them here," he said as he looked at the two young-looking girls who looked back at him in undisguised awe and admiration along with very interesting shade of blush. He then turned to the captain of his personal squadron and relayed his order. "Have some of our men to escort the lady here to safety as fast as possible since we're going into battle soon."

"Understood, Yamato-sama," replied the captain as he pointed to several of his fastest men to do as his lord asked him to do before turning to the old lady. "Ma'am, please follow these men to safety."

"Ah, yes. Thank you very much," she replied before bowing to Yamato. "Thank you again for rescuing these old bones and may fortune smile upon you, Yamato-sama."

"You're welcome," replied Yamato and looked all business as the lady was escorted away. "Right, let's get to work. Our situation is 5,500 against 10,000 in the Turbans' favor. Our army consisted for 2,500 light infantries, 2,000 heavy infantries, and 1,000 archers. Our initial strategy to minimize our loss as much as possible is to use bait and pincer tactic. My unit will act as the vanguard bait to meet them head on after Touka's archers opening hail. After making a suitable distraction and causing chaos to their rank, Aisha and Rinrin's unit will flank them. After that, the archers will provide support fire from time to time before we wipe them off. What do you think of our plan?"

Shoukatsuryou and Houtou went into work as their mind thought over the plan Yamato had explained to them. One hand was covering their mouth while the other supported the elbow as their foot tapped the ground. They seemed to simulate the situation on their mind using the information Yamato provided and how the Yellow Turbans usually acted in battle along with the terrain of the battlefield. After a full minute, they looked at each other before nodding.

"The initial strategy you proposed will work, Yamato-sama. It is well thought and exploited the biggest weakness of the Yellow Turbans: they are unorganized with mob-like mind set and poor resources. Considering the layout of the landscape, it would be best to use twin column formation to trap the turbans between your forces to finish them," Shoukatsuryou said first, still holding her thinking pose.

"However, seeing you lacked the manpower to do so your initial plan will work just fine and get the similar result. It would be best if your archers provided support fire a little more often after the initial hail to help the vanguard and reducing the loss further. Also, by having some archers in the ambush units will help as they can create more chaos and panic to the Yellow Turbans because they were fired from three separate directions," added Houtou as she held into her witch hat and finishing their analysis.

Yamato smirked in satisfaction as Aisha, Touka, and Rinrin were looking at the two strategists with several degrees of surprise.

"Amazing, to think they can deduce Gaim-sama's plan so quickly while thinking of the possible alternative on the same time…" said Aisha with no small amount of respect in her voice.

"Wow! Both of you're so smart! Super smart" praised the petite red head.

"No wonder Gaim-sama wants both of you to join our army…Both of you are so incredible and so cute!" Touka gushed as she tried to resist the urge to pull both of them into the tightest hug she could muster.

"I told you they are some of the brightest and the most brilliant mind in whole China right now," replied Yamato as Shokatsuryou and Houtou blushed under the shower of praises and cutely mumbled 'Hawawa…' and 'Awawa…' respectively. "Before we begin the battle, a short introduction is in order here. As you know, my name is Yamato Kusanagi, you may call me Gaim if you wish. The girl with pink hair is Ryuubi Gentoku, my Vice Magistrate and co-second in command along with my trustworthy general, the Black Haired War Goddess Kan'u Unchou. The last but not the least is my Fierce Little Tiger General Chouhi Yokutoku."

"I-I'm pleased to meet you all! U-Um, please call me by my true name, Shuri!" replied Shokatsuryou as she bowed again.

"P-Please…call me Hinari…Awawa…" said Houtou as she pulled down the brim of her hat to cover her blushing face.

"Is that really alright with you two?" asked Aisha and they nodded to her. "Then please call me Aisha."

"You can call me Touka! I'm looking forward to work with the both of you!" said Touka cheerfully.

"You can call Rinrin Rinrin!" exclaimed Rinrin with a grin.

"Now that everyone has known each other, we can get into the main business today," said Yamato as he pulled out his Orange Lockseed and held it in front of his face. "Henshin!"

"ORANGE!"

Shuri and Hinari gasped in amazement as Orange Arms descended from the portal to Helheim Forest over Yamato's head. They couldn't hide their excitement as they were going to see the transformation by their own eyes.

Yamato secured the Lockseed to the Driver and cut it open to initiate the transformation.

"LOCK ON!"

"SOIYA! ORANGE ARMS! HANAMICHI ON STAGE!"

The Orange Arms landed on Yamato's shoulder and created the Pre-Arms suit with a splash effect before opened and unfolding into his armor and attached into his suit. With another splashing effect, his transformation completed as Daidaimaru appeared on his right hand.

"Alright people, let's get this show on the road! If you haven't heard the plan yet then let me say it once more! We will use our usual maneuver bait and pincer maneuver! My squad and some of the bulk of our army will act as the vanguard to bait the Yellow Turban while Kan'u squad and Chouhi squad with another bulk of our army will act as our surprise ambush for our guests. Archers will stay on the rear line under the command of Ryuubi and our two new officers, Shokatsuryou Koumei and Houtou Shigen, while some of you will follow the ambush army so we can trap them in three-way fire. Treat them with respect since they are the ones who confirmed this plan will work!"

Gaim then calmly gazed at the determined expression his soldiers have. "Are you all with me in this battle!? Are you ready to put your life on stake to protect what is important to you!?" his answer was a loud, collective cheer from his army. "Then it's time to move! Let's give these stubborn idiots our brand of generosity and hospitality! Every man to your positions! We're going into battle!"

The army cheered again before Gaim looked at the approaching Yellow Turbans and nodded to himself as he rallied his first order. "Sound the war horn! We're faking a retreat to buy our army some time for our special service! On my signal, ambush units will split from the main force and wait for the second horn to blow to move out. On my second signal, stop the march and wait for our guests to arrive while archers keep marching until the optimal range and stop! Open fire when you hear the horn and provide support fire to us! Do you hear me?"

The soldiers roared their affirmation as the war horns resounded. They moved as they were ordered to and make themselves as if they were retreating from battle to give time for their ambush units to move to their position, much to Shuri and Hinari's approval.

"I see…So Gaim-sama also played with the mob mentality of the Yellow Turbans to our advantage," commented Hinari.

Shuri nodded to her friend's observation. "By appearing to retreat from them, the Yellow Turbans will become overconfident and reckless so they will be easier to take our bait. It's a little risky since our perceived action will raise their morale."

"Don't worry, I already have something in mind to rectify that problem," replied Gaim as he looked at his new strategists. "But if both of you have any suggestion, I'm willing to hear it."

Shuri and Hinari seemed to think about that for a moment before they shook their head.

"We don't have any for the moment, Gaim-sama," said Shuri as she smiled at him, her admiration of him was reflected on her violet eyes. "You're so amazing, Gaim-sama! The rumors really understated what you are capable of!"

"That's right…You are amazing…" added Hinari shyly as she played with the brim of her hat.

Gaim just chuckled at them. "It's actually an exaggeration, but enough chatting. We're going into battle now."

"Yes, Gaim-sama!" they both replied as they took their position next to Touka.

When they arrived on the right spot to place their ambush, Gaim signaled Aisha and Rinrin's unit to split up. He then led his army to their designated position to wait for the Yellow Turbans while the archers that will provide support fire took their position further in back. Gaim ordered his army to take a deep breath as they waited for the Turbans to approach. It took them a little while when the Turbans finally caught up with their army. Seeing his guests have arrived, Gaim smirked in predatory manner behind his mask.

"Sound the horn now!" he ordered loudly as the horn bearers on the rear line blew the war horns.

The Yellow Turbans looked surprised and confused when the war horns resounded before arrows hailed from the rear line and struck many of them in one volley.

Gaim unsheathed his Musou Saber after shifting Daidaimaru to his left hand and barked out. "Vanguard unit, charge!"

He and the soldiers behind him charged at the Turbans with bellowing roar. Gaim quickly slashed his Musou Saber at the several members of the Turbans he first encountered, killing them before he parried the sword slash from a Turban and killed him with a slash from Daidaimaru. Several spearmen attempted to stab him and he dodged by back flipping twice before retaliated quickly by slashing their chest open with a single swing of his Musou Saber. He flicked his weapons to clean off the blood before decapitating a Turban who tried to sneak on him before he pulled the Pallet Slide on his Musou Saber and fired at the incoming bandits, killing them as his shots pierced their vital spots.

Gaim saw several Turbans tried to surround him in a circle, but he reacted faster before they could do anything to him and sliced his Lockseed once.

"SOIYA! ORANGE SQUASH!"

He held Daidaimaru ready as it flared up in orange aura and slashed it in perfect circular motion, creating energy wave that looked like orange slice that struck all Turbans that encircled him. He slowly stood up from his stance, Daidaimaru rested on his shoulder as he looked around the Turbans who regarded him warily.

"C'mon, what's wrong with all of you!? He's only an armor wearing freak and he's alone! There's no way he could defeat us!" yelled one of the Turbans.

"Oh? Is that a challenge I hear?" Gaim pointed his Musou Saber at the loud mouthed Yellow Turban. "If you want to dance with me in my stage, then come!"

The enraged Yellow Turban charged at him with a loud battle cry, swinging his long sword wildly. Gaim dodged and weaved between his sloppy attacks at ease before ducking under a slash that intended to behead him before kicking his leg to trip the poor bandit. He stood up while glaring at Gaim and once more charging at him boldly with another battle cry. Deciding that he had enough fooling around, Gaim crossed his blades and trapped the bandit's long sword between Daidaimaru and Musou Saber before wrenched it away and slashed the bandit across his chest with his weapons. As his adversary's body hit the ground with blood seeping from his wound, Gaim turned at the rest of the Yellow Turbans around him and calmly gazed at them.

"Well? I hope you are ready for the consequences to lay your hand on my territory," the way Gaim said his line made the Turbans shivered in fear. The last thing they would know before everything went dark was an orange visor staring right into their soul.

---

Back in the rear line, Touka, Shuri, and Hinari were watching the how the battle in the front line went from a small hill overlooking the battlefield. For Shuri and Hinari, this would be their first time seeing Gaim in battle and they were amazed by his battle prowess. With how easy he was dispatching any Yellow Turbans he encountered, his title as the Peerless Blue Swordsman was certainly earned by his own merit.

"Hawawa…Gaim-sama is so strong!" said Shuri with sparkles on her eyes.

"Yes, he is. Gaim-sama is one of the best swordsmen on the land after all!" replied Touka as puffed her chest proudly. "I'm proud to call myself his first disciple!"

"You are Gaim-sama's first disciple, Touka-san?" inquired Hinari curiously.

"Yep! I ask him to teach me his swordplay style after we settled in Xizhang," answered Touka before she winced slightly, remembering how her training went. "Gaim-sama is a strict teacher and a mean slave driver, but he is very capable on what he is doing."

"I certainly can see that," said Shuri as she watched how the vanguard was doing. Once in a while there were orange energy slashes striking many Yellow Turbans, by the courtesy of Gaim's finisher. "I think we should give our support now."

"I agree with Shuri. We should let the archers to fire now so we could reduce the loss of our army," added Hinari with a slight nod.

"Alright then!" Touka then drew her sword and raised it above her head. "Everyone, load your arrows and aim carefully for the Turbans! Fire!"

The archers let loose their arrows and they were hailing from the sky, striking many of the Yellow Turbans in a single volley.

"Our plan really works!" commented Touka cheerfully, although there was a hint of worry in her tone. "Do you think we should sound the war horn now so Aisha-chan and Rinrin-chan can move?"

Shuri and Hinari seemed to analyze the situation before the witch hat wearing strategist gave her statement. "I think we should wait a little more, probably after our second support fire or after Gaim-sama engaged the enemy commander."

"Eh? They have a commander?" asked Touka in slight surprise before she squinted her eye to see a flag in the middle of the unorganized Yellow Turbans army and it quickly advanced to where Gaim was. "You're right, Hinari-chan! They do have a commander! But I thought the Yellow Turbans are unorganized"

"That person is probably one of the stronger Turbans and he placed himself as the leader of this raid," commented Shuri as she bit her lower lip nervously. "He's probably here to deal with Gaim-sama personally."

"Don't worry! It will need a lot more than a brute to take down Gaim-sama! I'm sure of it!" replied Touka optimistically.

---

"SOIYA! ORANGE AU LAIT!"

Gaim held his Musou Saber with both of his hands as the blade seemed to set ablaze with orange fire before he brought it down with a powerful overhead slash which created orange flaming arc that easily went through the rank of Yellow Turbans. He looked intimidating with how many dead bodies of Yellow Turbans surrounding him from his previous skirmishes and how bloodstained his armor and sword.

He heard rapid footsteps and saw some Yellow Turbans approached him, one of them looked more prominent than the others. His armor was noticeably more intricate than his men, which was blue and covered his torso, arms and his legs while still sporting the yellow turban on his head and yellow scarf around his neck. His build was bulky and muscular with scars on his arms and a big scar over his heavily bearded face. His weapon of choice was a chained flail with big iron ball and menacing spikes.

"So this is the Messenger of Heaven from Zhuo? To think that my men lost to someone like you…" growled the commander.

"You must be the leader of this detachment," said Yamato as he settled into his two-handed style stance.

"My name is Gouryou! And I'm going to crush you like an ant!" roared Gouryou as he twirled his chain flail with ease before tossing it at Gaim.

The Rider dodged aside and sprinted forward, intending to cut down the enemy commander. But Gouryou already pulled his flail and smashed it to Gaim's side, but he already blocked the attack with his Musou Saber. Gaim was knocked aside from the attack and rolled on the ground to recover quickly. His enemy already coming at him with the intent to smash his head with his massive weapon and he already rolled to the side to avoid the spiky iron ball of death before slashing his Musou Saber wide to kill the Turbans who intended to surround him. Gouryou pulled his weapon back and twirled it over his head again before throwing it at Gaim who parried the attack with his sword and was knocked backward, but managed to land on his feet instead on the ground like the massive commander wanted him to.

"What's wrong!? Is this all you got!?" laughed Gouryou as he twirled his weapon again and his men tried to gang up on Gaim.

'Try' being the keyword here as Gaim reacted quickly and quickly dispatched them with well aimed slashes on their vital spots. Gouryou tried to catch Gaim off guard, but his sharp instinct made the attempt futile as he dodged aside and slashed another group of Turbans who tried to sneak on him. The massive bandit growled irately and was surprised when he heard the war horn from Gaim's army resounded again.

As Gaim struck down several Yellow Turbans with a single slash, a smirk made way to his face behind his helmet. "Nice timing you three."

Not a second later after the war horn sounded, the pincer armies led by Aisha and Rinrin made their way to the battlefield and joined the battle. The Turbans were caught off guard by the unexpected maneuver and were trapped into a three-front battle.

"Come and face me, you filthy bandits! I am Kan'u Unchou, the wielder of Green Dragon Blade, the first vassal of Yamato Kusanagi, Kamen Rider Gaim of Zhuo! My blade shall smite the evil that is you!" declared Aisha after she cut down several Turbans she encountered.

Several Turbans were sent flying thanks to Rinrin's ridiculous strength before the Little Tiger General struck a pose with her Viper Spear resting on her shoulder with one palm facing forward with her legs spread apart at shoulder wide. "Chouhi Yokutoku of the Viper Spear is here! Come and have it!" the red haired girl was mentally thanking Yamato for his lessons on 'cool and dramatic poses in battle'. It definitely made her looked so cool!

Touka's archers had once more opened fire upon the Yellow Turbans with the archers from ambush units following. The result was the numbers of the Yellow Turbans were severely diminished as the three-pronged fire stricken their number further and with Aisha and Rinrin along with their regiment joined the fray.

"B-Boss! W-We're getting surrounded!"reported one of the bandits to Gouryou.

"There's no way we're going to lose here! Surround that armored freak! We're going to win this if we killed him!" snarled Gouryou furiously.

They did as they were ordered to but Gaim once more activated the finisher function once to wipe them out.

"SOIYA! ORANGE AU LAIT!"

Gaim swung his Musou Saber which was surrounded by orange flames again and the energy slash struck down the bandits who tried to surround him. He calmly gazed at Gouryou who managed to dodge his Musou Slash by ducking his head as he sheathed his Musou Saber.

"It's over. This battle is ours," declared Gaim.

"It's not over yet! We will show those greedy bastards at Luoyang what have they done to us! We will make them suffer like we did!" roared Gouryou as he swung around his flail which Yamato dodged and weaved around.

"Aren't you a hypocrite? Like pot calling kettle black," retorted Gaim before he jumped backward and landed on his feet before reaching for the Lockseed holder on his side and unclipped one of his spares, the Pine Lockseed. "Allow me to destroy that false illusion of yours!" he then proceeded to unlock the Lockseed.

"PINE!"

The portal to Helheim Forest opened and the Pine Arms, which looked like a giant metallic pineapple complete with its leaves on the top, descended from it. Gaim then unlocked the Orange Lockseed and replaced it with the Pine Lockseed before securing the new Lockseed into his Sengoku Driver.

"LOCK ON!"

The Orange Arms disappeared in orange sparkles before Gaim sliced the Pine Lockseed open, revealing its core that looked like a pineapple slice while the back lid showed the image of a flail shaped like a pineapple.

"SOIYA!"

The Pine Arms landed on Gaim's shoulder. Its top and side part split and lowered to become large shoulder armors with square pointed studs that went down to his arms. The front part and the back part of the Pine Arms folded in half to be similarly square pointed yellow studs over black chest plate and grayed out back armor. The helmet attachment was also textured with square pointed studs like the rest of his armor with pineapple leaves decorations on the top and the sides of the helmet. His visor lit up in yellow light resembling pineapple slice as his armor made splashing effect and his Arms Weapon, a chained flail with its head that looked like a whole pineapple—the Pine Iron, appeared on his hands.

"PINE ARMS! FUNSAI DESTROY!"

Gaim twirled the pine iron slowly as Gouryou gaped at his armor change. The large bandit snapped out from his stupor before growling angrily at the Kamen Rider as he twirled his massive chain flail above his head fast.

"What if you changed your armor!? I'm going to smash you to bits!" the bandit boss roared angrily as he tossed his chain flail at Gaim.

Gaim dodged by jumping backward and twirled his Pine Iron faster as he landed while Gouryou roared again and tossed his flail at him again. Gaim parried the blow by throwing his Pine Iron at the spiked iron ball of dead and the two of them collided head on with loud clang before they repelled back to their owner's hand. Gouryou fumbled with his weapon while Gaim caught his with ease and saw the massive flail cracked and some its spikes broken. He smirked behind his helmet as the massive bandits looked at his damaged weapon in shock.

"What's wrong? Had enough yet?" taunted Gaim as he twirled his Pine Iron, angering Gouryou once more.

"DAMN YOU!"

Gouryou smashed his weapon at Gaim and the Rider blocked the attack by hitting the weapon using his Pine Iron. Even as more cracks appeared on his weapon and its condition got worse, Gouryou still futilely attempting to hit him while Gaim dodged and weaved between his enraged attacks, blocking the attack once in a while using his own weapon. The armored Rider jumped backward as the massive flail smashed against the ground. He watched the furious bandit recovered his weapon and twirled it above his head, intending to hit him one more time. He returned the gesture by also twirling his Pine Iron on his side and prepared for one more attack.

At unseen signal, Gouryou threw his flail with a powerful overhead throw as he roared loudly while Gaim spun on his place as he tossed the Pine Iron. The two weapons met each other in mid-air once more, but this time the Pine Iron smashed through Gouryou's flail and hit the massive man on the chest. The bandit was sent flying backward and blood flew from his mouth before he crashed to the ground and rolled several times before stopping. Gaim caught his weapon with ease while watching Gouryou tried to stand up slowly and painfully and decided to put him out of his misery.

Reaching down for his Sengoku Driver, Gaim sliced his Pine Lockseed once to activate its finisher function.

"SOIYA! PINE SQUASH!"

The Pine Iron flared up with yellow energy before Gaim jumped to the air and kicked the weapon toward Gouryou. It grew in size and latched to the bandit's head who tried to futilely removing it, entrapping him in a giant pineapple construct. Gaim came down at him with a flying side kick, his extended right leg was also glowing with yellow energy.

"SEEIIIHAAA!" he shouted as he kicked the bandit which exploded on contact and sending multiple pineapple slices to all direction.

Gaim slowly stood up while reaching for his Pine Iron and unsheathed his Musou Saber before connecting the two weapons at the hilt. The surrounding Yellow Turbans regarded him fearfully after seeing how easily he took down their leader.

"Now then, who's next?" asked Gaim as he stretched his Musou Saber Kusarigama Mode apart.

The Yellow Turbans then turned tail and ran away as far as possible from the Kamen Rider while some of the braver—and stupid ones—decided to keep on fighting, which Gaim happily obliged.

---

In the end, the Zhuo Army led by their Generals managed to overwhelm the Yellow Turbans with all of their advantages. The Yellow Turbans who had survived and fled from this battle will join their main army without a doubt, but Gaim had ordered to not pursue them as it will be too dangerous to get too close with their main army without knowing their position. Besides, their numbers were hardly significant to bolster their main army. With no immediate threat in hand, Gaim de-transformed back to his human persona with a sigh.

"Gaim-sama, the Yellow Turbans on this area has been eliminated," reported Aisha to Yamato.

"Yeah, thank you for your hard work," replied Yamato with an acknowledging nod.

"Ano, are you sure we let those surviving Turbans got away?" asked Touka unsurely.

"It's alright, Touka-san. Like Gaim-sama had said, it would be dangerous to pursue them because we don't know where their main army is," answered Shuri.

"We also need to meet up with Kousonsan-dono's army first to get the more updated intelligence about the Yellow Turbans," added Hinari.

Aisha smiled at the two strategists' reasoning while Touka seemed to contemplate about it for a moment. "Hmm…both of you are right. We can't get reckless here and we need to get our priority straight."

"So…we're going to see Kousonsan-oneechan now?" asked Rinrin.

"That's right," said Yamato before turning to his army. "Alright people, listen up! We're not too far from Kousonsan's army camp now so we will continue to march. Carry the causalities with you so we can tally them later and leave the Yellow Turbans' bodies for now. We still have more important things to do, so once we arrive there I want all of you to rest and prepare yourself for the next fight. Understood?" The army nodded their confirmation. "Good, then let's move out!"

Under the command of their leader, the Zhuo Army began to march toward the Kousonsan's camp. Unknown to them, Yamato was contemplating the situation with Kousonsan and the possibilities he would face when meeting her.

'It's a good thing that Touka is friends with Kousonsan so she will be more inclined to ally with us, but the problem is Chou'un,' he thought to himself. 'I wonder what kind of person is Chou'un Shinryuu of this world? Is this person is anything like the Chou'un Shinryuu from my world or someone entirely different?' a smirk then crossed Yamato's face. 'Well, I guess I'm going to find about that soon.'

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a/n: That's it for Chapter 2 of my story. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed to write this. I'm going to upload another preview for my new fic next time and I call it: "The Magic of Hope", a Kamen Rider Wizard and Puella Magi Madoka Magica crossover. Credits to Kamen Rider Chrome's crossover stories for the inspiration for the idea. Stay tuned for the next story! I'll see you all later!