Hello there, we meet again it seems. In case you have forgotten my name, I will repeat it. My name is Woz. Before I told you about the story of Oscura. Her tale ended with a somewhat sad note, but with great promise for a happy future.

"However, this next tale I tell. Well, it's hard to see a happy ending ever coming out of this world. Indeed, I can't see much from this world strangely after a certain point…

But I digress.

What I am about to recount to you is yet another divergence. I'm sure you're familiar with the girl known as Anne Savisa Boonchuy. Also known as Kamen Rider Amp.

She has fought for the safety of her found family in Amphibia and is currently fighting to protect both her Earth and Amphibia from the likes of The Night.

It's safe to say that Anne's development as a person and as a Rider can be attributed to her time spent amongst the Amphibian people who took her in and treated her as family. If not for them, Anne would never have gotten the strength to stand up for herself against her overly controlling best friend. Without them, Anne would've never developed the wit to think more carefully about her actions as well. And it can also be said, because of the Plantars, Anne would have never understood what it meant to be a hero in another's eyes.

But…what if she never met the Plantars? What if Anne discovered her power far earlier? One would think this would develop into something positive. But alas, that is not the case.

Now set back and allow me to show you how yet another heroic tale can change so drastically all due to one small alteration in the past.

The first thing Anne noticed when she woke up was the humidity, along with the multitude of insect sounds. She was surrounded by forest on all sides, and somehow, she lost her shoe.

"What…What happened to me?" Anne asked.

The Thai teen got up and looked around cautiously.

"Hello!" she cried out. "Anyone out there?! Hello?!"

She got no response.

"Okay, think, Anne. Think. What was the last thing you remember doing?"

Anne thought hard. She remembered hanging out with Sasha after they ditched school. She was needing to go home for her party, but Sasha…convinced Anne to keep hanging out with her. They met up with Marcy at a thrift store, and Sasha told her to steal an ornate music box looking thing. They brought it to the playground where they used to play together when they were little kids, and when Anne opened the box, there was a bright flash of light. It was so brilliant and blinding that Anne couldn't even see what was going on around her. Everything rushed by her, like she was getting thrown down a deep hole with lots of winding corners and spirals. She passed out halfway through it and now, she was in a random forest.

"Am I in Florida or something? Whew, this humidity makes it feel like it," said Anne. "Okay, let's calm down and figure this out. Sasha and Marcy aren't here, but they might be. For now, I need to get my bearings and get an idea of where I am."

Anne looked around and saw that her backpack was nearby. Anne checked the contents of her backpack to see if she had anything useful. Some workout clothes, swimsuit, an extra pair of sports underwear for gym class earlier that day. A couple of snacks, mostly chips, and one water bottle.

"Damn…if I knew I was going to get stranded in the wilderness, I would've packed more or something," said Anne as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.

Anne searched her skirt pockets and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that her cellphone was still there and undamaged. She quickly opened it and was about to call for help, but stopped when she saw that her signal bars were nonexistent. There wasn't even any 5G connection.

"Wait…No internet…No phone signal…I can't even use my GPS!"

Anne was getting more worried. She figured she might have a chance if she could use her GPS and get an idea of where she was, but now that it seems that she was thrown into the middle of nowhere with no ability to connect to the net or get a phone signal, she was truly on her own. Now Anne had a decision to make. She could stay where she was and hope someone will find her, or she could take a chance and start wandering through the forest to find Sasha and Marcy, and hopefully civilization.

"I stay here, and starve? Or walk into the thick unknown forest and possibly get eaten by a bear or wolves…Ugh…what would Sasha do?" Anne pondered aloud. "…She'd pick a direction and go for it."

With that as her guiding star, Anne took her first step forward into the wilderness. She found a sturdy and long stick after walking for a good ten minutes. After picking it up, Anne used a nearby rock to sharpen one end to a point, and now she had a makeshift spear. After making sure that it was nice and pointy, Anne continued her walk through the forest. She could still hear the sounds of nature, animals flitting about the ground in the distance, and birds flapping their wings through the canopy of leaves above her. But the one thing she couldn't get over was why there were so many bug sounds.

Anne would groan whenever her sock clad foot would step into mud and hissed when she stepped on a rock. It was honestly annoying as all get out, but it was something Anne had to deal with for now. As Anne trudged through the forest, she stopped to take a break and broke open her water bottle. She wanted to take a big swig of it, but until she could find a fresh water source, Anne had to make do with small sips in order to make it last. After taking about three small sips of water, Anne wiped her brow of the sweat and was about to start up again but paused.

There was a slight rumbling, it was rhythmic, like many heavy feet hitting the earth at once. Anne thought it was a stampede and decided to hide behind a tree big enough to keep her safe from whatever animals might be charging through the forest. But she was not prepared for what she saw. Several huge hedgehogs started rushing past her in a mad dash to run away. Anne had to press her back hard against the tree, to make herself as small as she could to not be noticed by them.

The hedgehogs were not like the cute little things that you would keep in a terrarium in your room. They were huge, with their heads at the same level as her thighs, with the spines on their backs reaching higher to her stomach. They had gnarled faces, with sharp teeth and claws, and their eyes had a creepy glassy look. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only monstrous thing that was there. A horrible screeching and chittering sound was released into the air, along with a growling noise. Anne dared to peek around the corner of the of the tree and that's when she saw it, a giant, red, praying mantis.

It was at least ten or fifteen feet tall, with long sickle arms, and spikes protruding from its exoskeleton. It seemed as if the giant insect had cornered its prey, a hedgehog with blue spines on its back. The hedgehog was left with little choice but to defend itself. The large mammal arched its back suddenly and launched several of its spines at the mantis, but just as expected, the spines bounced off its armored body. Anne may not know as much as Marcy did about things like this, but what she did remember, she knew that a bug's exoskeleton was hard, so a giant version of that must be even tougher. The hedgehog might as well be throwing toothpicks at the mantis, which made Anne look at her spear and realize that there was no way in hell her little stick spear would cause it any damage.

The mantis seemed to have had enough with indulging the hedgehog's futility and decided to attack. The mantis raised its sickle arm and brought it down right in the middle of the of the hedgehog's back, piercing straight through it. The hedgehog released yelps of pain and anguish as blood ran down the blade of the other end of the sickle arm. Anne had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping or making a sound as the mantis raised its kill and flung it towards a tree where it struck, headfirst, and was accompanied by a sickening cracking sound.

The hedgehog landed on its back, completely dead. The mantis stomped its way over to its corpse, leaned its head down, and began using its mandibles to slice at the hedgehog's exposed stomach as it ate what it was able to cut away. Anne nearly gagged upon seeing this, but knew that this was her chance to get away from the monster before it spotted her. Slowly, carefully, Anne began to tiptoe away. Taking great pains to make sure she didn't rustle any leaves or do the cliché thing of stepping on a tree branch.

*Snap!*

Anne's left eye twitched as her eyes slowly looked downwards and saw that her left foot had stepped on a twig.

You gotta be kidding me…

That lone twig snap was enough to gain the attention of the mantis, who turned its blood-soaked face in Anne's direction. It released another hissing chittering sound as it turned its body, fully, in her direction. With her cover blown, Anne did the only thing she could do, run. The Thai teen ran faster than she ever had in her life, because she was literally running for her life. She jumped over fallen logs, got scraped by branches and a few thorn bushes she had to dive through, but still kept on running. Unfortunately, the mantis was in hot pursuit, smashing its way through the obstacles that Anne had to get around with ease.

Anne made the mistake of looking over her shoulder, and that moment of distraction made her fail to see the rock jutting out of the ground. She struck it with her shoeless right foot, causing her to yell in pain as she fell forward and rolled along the ground. She burst through some bushes and ended up in a clearing, a wide-open space with no cover to hide behind. The mantis was the next to come out, bursting through the tree line as it hiss-roared into the air and began to stalk closer towards the teen. Anne scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the insect, as she kept moving backwards, her hands brushed against her stick spear. She quickly took it into her hands and rose to her feet in an attempt to fight against the mantis.

This is so stupid! I'm going to end up like that hedgehog! C'mon, there's gotta be someplace where I can hurt this thing?! Anne thought.

That's when Anne realized something. No matter how armored up an animal might be, there was always one part of its body that was squishy, and easily damaged. She doubted this action would kill it, but at the very least it might give her a chance to run away. Steeling her nerves, Anne got her stick spear into position. The mantis was arrogant, being an apex predator, there was no reason for it to be cautious or think for a moment this thin creature could do it any real harm. That was its mistake.

Anne released a war cry and tossed the spear with all she had. The spear sailed, straight as an arrow, and found its home right in the mantis' left eye. The shock of getting hurt and the pain of its eye getting pierced made the mantis hiss-roar loudly into the air as it thrashed about, trying to dislodge the stick from its eye. Anne felt proud of herself in that moment, and readied herself to flee, but it she was not fast enough.

The mantis swung its left arm during its flailing, and unintentionally managed to hit Anne in the right side. She was sent flying several feet to her left, and rolled along the ground, yet again. When she stopped, Anne felt immense pain from her left side, as well as something hot and wet running down her shirt. Anne managed to look at the spot where the mantis hit, and gasped in horror when she saw a large gash in her skin. The wound was bleeding profusely, making Anne panic.

The mantis managed to dislodge the spear from its eye, which was now bleeding green blood. The mantis glanced about the area with its one good eye and spotted Anne, who was now bleeding on the ground.

"No…No way…I'm really going to die here…?" Anne whispered as she stared her wound.

The stomping of the mantis got closer, making Anne look up at her soon to be devourer.

"I can't…I can't die here…Mom…Dad…help me…please!" Anne cried.

The mantis chittered as its mandibles began salivating. It may have been Anne's imagination, but she could almost swear that the mantis had a look in its eye that said, "I'm going to enjoy eating you, and I'll make sure you die slowly".

Things like this are walking around the forest…Marcy…Sasha…they'll die out here, too! We'll all die out here…!

Anne's hands began to curl into fists as she grabbed fistfuls of dirt.

No…I can't die here…I have to find them…I have to find Marcy and Sasha…! I have to find them!

Unknown to Anne, her body began sparking with blue electricity, something that the mantis took notice off as it paused where it stood. Anne's eyes began to glow blue as she stared up defiantly at the mantis, resolving to herself that she would not be eaten, she would not die in some godforsaken forest in the middle of nowhere. With great determination and effort, Anne picked herself up, gritting her teeth through the pain as she managed to stand up to the monster, literally.

"I am Anne Savisa Boonchuy! I'm not going down that freakin' easily!" Anne proclaimed.

That's when it happened, energy began surging through Anne, reinvigorating every cell in her body as the fatigue she felt from running, and the pain from her wounds all seemed to vanish immediately. Blue light was emitted from the wound as it mended itself within a few short seconds until it was completely gone, with only a scar left behind. The next odd thing that occurred was a circlet of lightning appearing around her waist. A flash went off, and that circlet materialized into a belt. Anne looked down at the belt, it looked similar to one of those Kamen Rider belts from those Japanese TV shows that Marcy was into, and that Anne was a closet fan of as well.

This…This can't be real right?

The mantis seemed to back away from Anne, apparently more cautious now than it was earlier.

Whatever, if it means I can kill this thing, then let's do it!

Almost as if driven by instinct, Anne pressed down on both of the hip devices at once. A dome of lightning formed around her body, accelerating her age until she was a grown woman. Armor began to form around her body, latching onto it until it was complete. When the dome fell, Anne was now covered head to toe in blue armor, complete with a red scarf that fluttered in the crosswinds of her transformation.

"Whoa…I really transformed…I'm…a Rider? Holy crap!" she exclaimed.

The blue Rider glanced up at the mantis, who was now looking afraid of her. A sight that brought a smirk to Anne's lips.

"Time for some payback you grody bug."

Anne dashed towards the mantis, but when she did, she found herself way on the other side of the clearing. The mantis seemed confused too for a moment as it looked around for her. Anne turned around and found herself now far away from it, and behind the bug.

"Okay, wow, super speed. Focus this time," said Anne.

The blue Rider dashed forth once again, leaving a trail of blue lightning in her wake. Anne had an idea, so she straightened out her left hand, and once she was in range of the mantis' legs, she used her speed and newfound strength to slice through two of its legs in one pass. The mantis hiss-roared again as it found itself off balance and fell to the side where its missing legs were. The mantis, now feeling fear for the first time in its life, began to open its wings so that it could fly away.

Anne saw this was not about to let that happen. If she let that thing go, there was a chance it could find Sasha and Marcy and kill them. "You die here. I won't let you hurt Sasha or Marcy!"

The blue Rider knelt and then jumped straight up into the air on an intercept path with the mantis. She managed to land on the mantis' back, ran up its body, jumped onto its head, and then used its head as a springboard to launch herself higher into the air. The sudden kinetic force from Amp's jump made the mantis lose its balance in the air, granting Anne time to do what she needed to do next.

Running on instinct, the crest of Anne's helmet unfurled into six bladed fins. A strange glowing symbol appeared below her, and that's when Anne thrust out with her right foot, descending through the symbol as her right foot was coated in sparking electrical energy. The mantis had no chance to evade or defend as Anne struck the mantis in its chest, piercing through it and winding up landing on the ground without stumbling once. The mantis' body exploded in a shower of green blood as the only thing that was left was its head that crash landed onto the ground a few feet away from Anne.

The Thai girl panted, for a moment and then stood to her full height. Despite everything she just did, she wasn't at all tired. The lightning dome appeared around her again, and when it faded, Anne was back to her normal self, although part her shirt had been ripped and there was still bloodstains on it, but she was alright, better actually.

"Wow…that…was awesome! I have powers! Kamen Rider powers! I can use this to find the girls!" Anne paused when her stomach began to growl. "Ugh, but now I'm hungry…"

Anne glanced to the head of the mantis, and grimaced.

"…Am I really considering eating a bug to stay alive?"

"Turns out I am."

Anne was currently cooking the meat she dug out of the mantis head. After simmering it over the open flame she found that it tasted pretty good. Almost like hamburger meat. So long as she thought about it like that, it was a lot easier to stomach eating it. Still, Anne couldn't get over what she had did. She transformed into a Kamen Rider, and performed a Rider Kick to destroy that mantis.

But that also solidified something else in Anne's mind. Wherever she was, it was not Earth. Or if it was, maybe a prehistoric version of Earth. A time where there were giant bugs and giant mammals roaming about.

"I think Marcy told me about a time like that. Damn, wish I could remember. In any case, I have to find them. I don't know if I'm the only one with these powers, but if I am, then it's my job to find them and protect them," said Anne.

Anne decided to make camp in a hollowed out dead tree that had grown around some boulders. There were some creatures that were hanging around that had looked as if they were going to try and get her the moment she slept. However, Anne also discovered that she could generate electricity and move superfast. So, a few zaps from her fingers made the various creatures skitter away in fear.

"I will find you guys, I promise."

Once she was done eating, Anne went to sleep, where tomorrow, she would begin her search for her friends.