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What If?
by
Kamen Rider Sigurd
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Chapter III
What if Mai picked up the Driver?
(Helheim Forest)
Kouta and Mai leant against a tree, paying away. The two were exhausted by the effort of running away from Inves, barely able to do anything but gasp for the air they so desperately needed.
Mai slid down the tree and picked up the two fruits Kouta had dropped when they stopped at the tree. Looking up, Mai caught sight of a familiar device lying on the ground a couple of meters in front of her.
"Kouta!" spoke Mai, pointing at the Driver, "Look!"
"That's what Yuuya wanted to show us!" panted Kouta, still unable to get his breath back, "That means he could be in here somewhere."
Mai got back to her feet and walked over to the Sengoku Driver, bending down and picking it up. Kouta finally manage to regain his breath and walked over to Mai's side.
"Looks like some kind of belt buckle," mused Mai, "And the indented bit at the front looks like a Lockseed could fit in there!"
Mai decided to follow her instincts and placed the Driver at her waist, gasping in shock as a yellow belt formed around it and the Rider Indicator lit up.
"Whoa," breathed Mai as the two fruits in her hands changed into an Orange Lockseed and a Ichigo Lockseed.
"Those are Lockseeds!" exclaimed Kouta, "Does that mean that these fruits are all Lockseeds?"
Suddenly the tiger Inves reappeared from the trees and charged at Mai and Kouta, the former using the dance training to dodge the Inves whilst Kouta dove to one side, banging his head and knocking himself out.
Mai quickly leapt up and ran to Kouta, tossing the short and scrawny teen over her shoulder. Mai ran for the crack back home and leapt through seconds before it closed, the tiger Inves just making it behind them.
As Kouta shifted on Mai's shoulder, she dropped him down on pile of sand bags, away from the Inves. Mai stood back up, facing the Inves, Yuuya had said that the Driver would help them in the Inves Games, surely it could help against this Inves.
Mai pulled out the Orange Lockseed and studied, the back it was the exact same shape as the Drive Bay of her belt. This was important to transforming, she didn't know how, but she'd just have to learn on the fly.
ORANGE!
Mai activated the Lockseed and looked up as a crack open, a Orange Armour Part gliding down through it. Mai fit the Lockseed into the Drive Bay, closed the Lock Arm and activated the Cutting Knife.
SOIYA!
ORANGE ARMS! HANAMICHI ON STAGE!
The Armour Part dropped down onto her shoulders, blue energy flowing around her body, materialising into a blue suit. The Armour unfolded into Orange Arms, the Daidaimaru appearing in her hand.
"I won't let you hurt Kouta!" yelled Mai, charging at the Inves, "Or anybody else!"
Mai slashed the Inves across the chest, forcing it to stumble backwards. The Inves rolled back onto its feet and launched itself at Mai, knocking her Daidaimaru out of her hand.
The Inves slashed at Mai with its claws, which she blocked by drawing her Musou Saber. The two pressed against each other, desperately trying to force the other back. Mai found a trigger on her Saber Hilt and pulled it, unleashing five energy bullets at the Inves, knocking it away.
Mai quickly retrieved her Daidaimaru and launched an attack on the Inves, slashing it with both her weapons. The Inves stumbled back and began to run away.
"Get back here!" yelled Mai, "I haven't finished with you yet."
Mai took off after the Inves, who came to a halt in an empty courtyard. Mai leapt at the Inves, only to be knocked away. Climbing to her feet, Mai noticed the ends off her two weapons looked as if they may fit together.
"It's worth a try," mused Mai, fitting the two together, "Alright! It worked!"
Mai used her new double-ended weapon to slice the Inves over and ove, forcing it back. Suddenly, the Inves released beams of green energy, striking Mai and knocking her back.
Hearing a strange sound, Mai looked up to see Kouta walking towards, except he looked very different. He had blonde hair, his left eye glowed a violent red and he wore odd clothes, seemingly made of white silk.
"Kouta," gasped Mai, "Get out of here!"
"Be warned," spoke Kouta, fading in and out of existence, "Your choice now will turn the course of fate."
What do mean?" asked Mai, confused at what Kouta meant.
"Continue down this path," warned Kouta, "And there will be no turning back, you will have to fight until the bitter end. Till the world is dyed in your image."
"If that's what it takes to protect you!" spoke Mai definitely, clambering to her feet and placing herself in front if Kouta as the Inves approached.
Kouta's face dropped, upset at Mai's decision, but reached to her belt and pulled the open Orange Lockseed out.
LOCK OFF!
Kouta placed the Lockseed into a slot on the hilt of Mai's Musou Saber, causing the weapon to light up, gathering energy.
"Thank yo-"
Mai stopped when she turned around to see that Kouta had disappeared. Shrugging it off, Mai turned back to the matter at hand, destroying the Inves.
Mai span her combined weapon around, blocking the energy beams the Inves fired at her. Mai prepared herself as she finished charging up, holding her weapon ready to attack.
1! 10! 100! 1000!
Mai sliced down with the Daidaimaru end of her weapon, creating energy rings shaped like orange segments to trap the Inves in place. Switching to the ogre end of her weapon, Mai charged forwards and slashed at the Inves repeatedly with her Musou Saber.
The Armoured Rider skidded to a halt as the Inves exploded violently, orange juice flying everywhere, soaking Mai from head to toe.
"Looks like you just got juiced!" announced Mai, pulling a pose and forming a thumbs down with her free hand.
Mai relaxed and fit her Orange Lockseed back into her Driver, flipping it closed to cancel her transformation. Mai held up her Lockseed, marvelling at the power it held.
"Mai! You're okay!" yelled Kouta, running up to his friend, his hair back to black and his eyes both brown.
"Kouta? Weren't you just here?" asked Mai, looking around.
"No, I only just woke up," replied Kouta, looking confused.
"I just thought I sa..." Mai paused, before continuing, "Never mind."
From afar, two figures shimmered into existence, watching the events in the courtyard, one was Sagara and the other was the blonde Kouta. The latter glowed again, his hair and eyes returning to their natural colouring.
"She fares a better chance than you did," spoke Sagara, "Kaito would never hurt her."
"I can't believe I let Yuuya die," muttered Kouta, "I'm a monster!"
"No, you're not," replied Sagara, "But we both know this necessary, Narutaki tasked us with this mission."
"Yeah, you're right," admitted Kouta, pulling out a Sengoku Driver and a Golden Lockseed, "I can't let Mai die again."
-What If-
I know it's been a long time since I updated, but I've decided to restart this on my new account JellyBean Productions, with a similar start before focusing on a single universe where Kouta decides to break the observe only rule and join in. This is going to be called Kamen Rider Gridon (guess who's the main character?) and will run alongside my other story, Gaim: United We Stand. At some point I'll do a special where they cross over, but now for a while. Thanks to all those who reviewed this story, it may well continue on, but not with a overarching storyline, more like a place to test out ideas. Also thanks to The-AU-enthusiast who inspired me to get this story going again with their ideas, I guess what I'm going to do is kinda a mix of all three I guess?