Chapter 2
"Shouldn't we take a break?" Ranji asked as they drove down the road; they were still heading toward the hideout.
"It was just a small battle," Ryo said from beside the jeep. "Besides, we won! I've got the energy for plenty more."
"We're getting close," Hitomi said.
The group pulled over and exited their vehicles close to the edge of town.
"Why would they be here?" Ranji wondered aloud.
"They could be getting ready to spread outside the city," Hitomi hypothesized, then tensed up as she heard footsteps in the distance. "Hide."
Taking cover in an alley, the trio peeked around the corner and saw a group of captive humans being led along by a group of Void.
Ranji was about to step up and play hero when Ryo grabbed him by the shoulder.
"What are doing?" Ranji shout-whispered, shaking him off. "We have to save them!"
Ryo shook his head. "Not yet. If we follow them, they may lead us to more captives."
"Psst!"
The two looked over to see Hitomi gesturing for them to follow. As they slipped quietly through the shadows, the Void made their way to an office building.
"I'll check the other floors for prisoners," Hitomi whispered. "You two rescue the people on this floor."
Ranji and Ryo nodded as she left. Suddenly, they heard a scream. Turning back to the Void, they saw a humanoid Void with tentacles for arms grab a man from the group and began draining the color out of him.
"Maybe we should intervene after all," Ryo said, conceding to Ranji's idea. The two charged the Void, shanking several of them. "Everyone, run now!"
Ranji and Ryo positioned themselves between the fleeing civilians and the pursuing Void. While they put up a good fight, any joy they felt was cut short by another scream.
Sparing a glance behind them, the duo saw numerous Hellhound Void popping out of infected spots on the ceiling.
"Henshin!" Ryo called out as he activated his belt.
"YELLOW!" the belt called out.
Primary, in his new yellow mode, dashed in and knocked away several of the Void. Unfortunately, in the time it took for him to free several civilians, several others were completely drained of color, turning them into more of the Void.
Ranji hurried over. "Everyone! Follow me!" he said as he guided the survivors out of the building.
Meanwhile, Primary had to deal with Void attacking him both from the front and from the ceiling, which was proving difficult to handle alone. With the number of enemies increasing by the second, and as he was fighting, more Void chased, attacked, and assimilated more hostages, despite Ranji's efforts to defend them. He tossed a ball of yellow energy into a corner of the room before fleeing.
Once he made it out of the building, he spun the wheel on his belt to blue and used his ice powers to freeze the door shut.
"Good, looks like we got everyone we could out," Ranji said confidently. Suddenly, he paused. "Wait! Hitomi's still inside!"
At the sound of a shattering window, the two of them looked up to see that this was no longer true.
"I got her! I got her! I got her!" Ranji said as he scrambled to catch his teammate, only to get flattened when she landed on top of him.
As Void flooded out of the building, Ryo helped his acquaintances up. "Let's go! Quickly!" As everyone else ran, Ryo switched to Blue mode and use his ice breath to turn the ground in front of him to ice. This caused the charging Void to slip up. This made them easy targets for Ryo, who switched over to Red mode and roasted most of them, with only a few managing to scurry away. With the enemy repelled, he made his way in the directions the others had gone.
Once the team made it far enough away from their pursuers, the hostages departed to safety.
"Well, that went somewhat poorly," Hitomi commented as they saw the last of them off.
"What are you talking about?" Ranji asked. "We just saved a bunch of people."
"That's good and all, but it wasn't our main goal," Hitomi fired back. "Our goal was to wipe out the Void and we didn't. Not to mention that, at most, we only saved half the hostages."
Ranji frowned. "Well, yeah, but…Back me up, Ryo."
Undoing his transformation, Ryo made his position clear. "I have to agree with Hitomi. Plus, the way the Void dropped in from the ceiling means they had contingencies for a rescue."
Hitomi nodded. "Let's get back to the hideout and plan things out."
Once the crew got back to the bomb shelter, Hitomi wrote out what they knew on a whiteboard.
"Okay, at least the first two floors are occupied by the Void. And they can move between floors instantaneously through the black spots."
Ryo raised a hand. "I have a plan."
"Then share it," Ranji said.
"This time, we'll get the drop on them." Before anyone could ask for details, Ryo continued, "Using my Yellow form, I left a portal back there. If I travel through it, we can hit them from the inside and the outside at once."
Hitomi nodded. "That's not a bad plan. Let's move out." She handed Ryo an earpiece. "Use this to tell us when you're about to put the plan into motion.
Ryo fixed the device to his ear and transformed into his Yellow mode before creating another portal on the ground of the shelter. Standing directly on the portal, he raised a hand in the air, causing the portal to rise up and 'consume' him. When it was finished, he found himself back at the building they'd fled from before.
Meanwhile, Ranji and Hitomi returned to the building as well. Hitomi put her hand to her earpiece, "Ryo, we're waiting outside. Are you ready?"
"Ready," he replied.
Hitomi fired several shots from her gun, drawing several of the Void out from the shadows.
"RED!" Transitioning into a new form, he began breathing fire at the ceiling, burning away any black spots he saw and forcing the Void to escape from their hiding spots before they were burnt.
The Void attempted to gang up on him, but most of them couldn't get very close before succumbing to his flames. As for the Void that managed to dodge his fiery attacks, Ryo simply knocked them out with well-aimed punches and kicks.
Outside the building, the Void were closing in on Ranji and Hitomi. Staring down her shadowy enemies, Hitomi turned the barrel of her gun so that it was parallel to the handle and unfolded a small blade, transforming her firearm into a short sword.
"You can do that?!" Ranji asked in amazement.
Hitomi didn't answer. Wielding her knife and sword in conjunction, she gracefully cut down several more Void as Ranji flailed frantically against his opponents. Fortunately, he was having his share of success as well, and in a matter of minutes, they had eliminated every Void present.
Ryo exited the building, having taken care of things inside.
"Mission accomplished, everybody," Hitomi congratulated her teammates. "Now, let's head back to the shelter."
"Alright!" Ranji cheered. "That's one bunch of Void down and—" He paused. "How many more does that leave?"
Ryo frowned. "We have no idea."
Ranji gaped at him. "So there could be a hundred more? A thousand?! And we don't even know where to look for the rest of their hideouts!"
"We can worry about that tomorrow," Hitomi said. "We fought hard today, so we should take a rest for now."
The two men agreed and took the opportunity to relax. Ryo borrowed a book from Hitomi to read, while Ranji simply napped.
The next day, Hitomi informed the team of their game plan. "Alright, Ryo, you go out and scout for more Void. I'm going to give Ranji some more training."
"Even more training?" Ranji whined. "But I've already worked so hard!"
"One day of training isn't very much," Hitomi replied. "You still have a long way to go."
As Hitomi began putting Ranji through the wringer again, Ryo exited the shelter and hopped on his motorcycle. As he drove, he didn't find that many Void, but when he did spot a cluster of them, he transformed and took them out swiftly with his flames. He continued onward, but after another two kilometers, he sensed something was off and quickly swerved to the side of the road.
A blast of energy hit the spot where he'd just been, creating a black spot on the asphalt. Primary dismounted his bike and looked around for his attacker. And there he was, a humanoid Void with grey armor on his shins and forearms. He had no mouth, just the sharp, blank white eyes all Void possessed.
"Something tells me you're more than just another Void," Ryo guessed.
"Correct," his opponent replied. "I thought I'd take the liberty of destroying the pest who's been cutting down our forces."
Ryo formed his usual hand sign and let out a blast of fire. In response, the Void raised his hand and countered the attack with a blast of black energy. The two attacks met in the middle, black flames blossoming between them as they canceled each other out.
Changing tactics, the Kamen Rider went in and threw a snap kick. The Void sidestepped him and jabbed him in the ribs. While the blow hurt, Primary wasn't deterred and struck out with a haymaker. His opponent blocked the strike with his forearm and slammed his palm into Ryo's face, unleashing a blast of pure darkness.
This flattened Ryo instantly. He quickly rolled over, dodging another blast. The Kamen Rider unleashed more fire to distract his enemy. Once he was back on his feet, he spun his belt.
"YELLOW!" After changing forms, he put his hands together—just in time, too, as his opponent lunged at him with a punch. Suddenly, Ryo became invisible.
"That's nothing!" the Void said, creating a burst of darkness in all directions. He paused, hearing no scream of pain, implying that his attack had somehow missed. He then felt something hit him in the back. More strikes followed that one and the Void was quickly driven back by his unseen attacker.
Ranji was tired, so very tired. As he went through the motions of the Eskrima maneuver he was learning for the thousandth time, he thought he'd distract himself by making conversation. "So, you said a scientist friend of yours made the color knives. Did he also make that gun thing?"
Hitomi looked at the gun in question. "No, that gun thing was his reward for helping some people. It's what the color knives are based on."
"What kind of people did he help…if they had a gun like that?" Ranji panted before he collapsed.
Grinning, Hitomi knelt over him. "Why don't we take a ten-minute break? Get some water."
Ranji grabbed a water bottle and took a sip before something occurred to him. "Hey, how long has Ryo been gone?"
He had a point. Hitomi used her earpiece. "Ryo, are you there? Hey, Ryo?"
There was no response.
The Void launched a darkness blast in the direction the voice had come from, only to hit nothing.
'It looked like he turned invisible, but even my area-of-effect attack missed,' the Void observed.
His enemy hit him several more times before he had a chance to continue his thoughts. 'That would imply that he's also intangible.'
Another strike to his stomach, then his side.
'Those strikes felt like kicks. I think I have an idea.' To put his theory to the test, he slammed his hands on the ground and absorbed all the color out of it.
"Ahh!" Suddenly, Ryo became visible, falling on his ass and clutching the soles of his feet.
"So, I was right," the Void observed. "Only the bottoms of your feet stayed tangible. That's why you could only kick me."
"It's also the reason I didn't fall straight through the ground," Ryo said as he staggered to his feet. Switching back to his Red form, he let out another stream of fire.
The Void charged, countering Ryo's flames with darkness and charging up his fist with black energy.
Seeing that his fire wasn't working, Ryo stopped making his hand sign and tapped his belt twice, making it call out, "SEMI-MAX!" His own fist catching fire, Primary threw a straight punch, hitting the Void squarely in the face just as the Void brought a hammer fist down on Primary's head. The blows brought both to their knees, Ryo's transformation cancelling out.
"What's your name?" the Void asked, getting to his feet.
Ryo groaned as he rubbed his head. "Why do you care?"
"I'd like to know the name of the human who has caused me so much trouble," the Void explained, offering Ryo a hand. "My name is Null."
While hesitant, Ryo took his hand and got up. "Ryo."
Once Ryo was on his feet again, Null kneed him in the gut. "Since you've impressed me, I'll leave you with that."
The humanoid Void then walked away, leaving Ryo to pick himself up all over again.
Hitomi and Ranji were shocked when their friend dragged himself through the door of their shelter. They immediately moved to help him up.
"What happened?" Hitomi asked.
"A Void. The strongest one yet," Ryo answered. He explained how the encounter had gone down.
"That sounds bad," Ranji commented when he was finished. There wasn't much more any of them could say.
Over the next several days, Ryo recovered while Hitomi continued training Ranji. The young man was proving to be a fast learner. One of his main issues, though, was that he couldn't hit hard and fast at the same time. This meant that Hitomi was able to dodge or parry his heavier strikes while powering through his quicker attacks. Suffice to say, he still had a long way to go.
Meanwhile, Ryo felt bitter all the while he was getting better. That had been his first major loss against a Void, even if it had been a close fight. It made him a bit nervous too. What if there were other Void that strong? Once Ryo was fully healed, the trio set out in search of another Void congregation.
"I still don't think I'm ready for this," Ranji complained.
"I know you're undertrained, but we need to try to stop the Void from spreading," Hitomi pointed out. "We can't afford to wait months for you to develop your skills."
Ranji sighed before noticing something right in front of them. "Ahh! Globster, dead ahead!"
Ryo sped ahead of the duo's jeep to slash the Hellhound Void, only for his target to flee.
As Hitomi pursued the Void, she asked, "Globster?"
"I realized we didn't have a name for those Voids that can turn into dogs, so I gave them one," Ranji explained.
The trio followed the Globster until it entered a dead-end alley. Exiting their vehicles, the gang got in close, only to hear bubbling sounds coming from behind them. They turned around to see numerous black spots appearing on the ground, with dozens of Globsters emerging from them.
"Idiots!" came a voice from the crowd of Void, and out came a scaly-looking Void with a draconic head. "You were so eager to kill that Void, you didn't even realize it was luring you into a trap." It thrust an arm out. "Get them!"
"Wait! Can we have some last words?" Hitomi asked in a panic.
The Dragon Void crossed its arms. "Alright, I suppose you're entitled to them. You've got twenty seconds."
Hitomi pulled the boys into a huddle and hastily made up a plan.
As the trio turned around, Ryo revealed he had summoned his belt, "Henshin!" Morphing into his Blue form, Primary brought his hands together and unleashed his frost breath, creating a wall of ice between them and their adversaries. Turning around, Primary used his ice breath to form several blocks of ice.
Ranji looked behind them to see that the Void were already breaking through the ice wall. "Hurry up!"
Primary sped up as much as he could, reinforcing the wall and forming a stack of ice blocks. "Start climbing! Now!"
Once the trio got up to the roof, Primary switched over to his Red form and used his fire to melt the ice so the Void couldn't follow.
Unfortunately, the Void were more resourceful than they'd bargained for. They began throwing each other up to the rooftop.
At first, Hitomi quickly shot them down with her gun, and one that got close she took out with her color knife. But things went downhill when the Dragon Void flew up to the rooftop, having sprouted wings to do so after seeing his Globsters defeated. Knowing Primary was the biggest threat of the three, it swooped down and scooped him up in its claws. Before Primary could try and attack, the Void simply dropped him.
Primary hit the ground hard but got up quickly. It was a good thing he did, because his enemy breathed black fire at the spot where he'd landed. He responded with some fire of own. After exchanging several blasts, he got an idea. Primary briefly switched to his Blue form and used his ice breath to make some icicles on the ground. Switching back to his Red form, he threw an icicle at the Void's right side and fired when it dodged left, frying one of its wings. The Void howled in pain, plummeting from the sky.
"So I can't fly anymore. Don't think this will be any easier," it growled. To show it meant business, its hands transformed into a pair of large claws.
Ryo tensed up, his eyes widening a bit under his helmet. The Dragon Void charged in too fast for any flames to be thrown and swung its claws wildly. Primary couldn't dodge all the strikes and was forced to block with his forearms, gritting his teeth as he sustained scratch after scratch. Going for broke, he decided to stop being defensive and start throwing strikes of his own.
Getting reckless proved to be a smart idea since, while he was obviously taking more slashes, he was also able to land a good number of punches. Primary pushed the monster away with a kick. The two stared each other down for a few seconds. Then, Ryo turned his belt to Blue and re-engaged with the enemy.
This time, Primary fared slightly better, taking less damage when he received hits. He grabbed the Dragon Void by the shoulder and punched it in the gut several times.
The Dragon Void slashed away at him wildly, putting some distance between them again.
"What's going on with you? You suddenly seem more resilient."
Ryo bumped his chest with his fist. "In this form, I am."
Figuring the Rider would counter with ice if it tried using its flames, the Void made an unexpected move: it grew a tail and spun in place. The tail swung out and struck Primary in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
Ryo quickly recovered and darted about to dodge his enemy's tail attacks. Thinking fast, he made another block of ice with his powers. Waiting for the right moment, he picked it up and slammed it down on the Void's tail.
"Ahhh!" the Void retracted his tail. "Alright, then I'll beat you with a trick I learned from Professor Morimoto." It breathed fire on its right leg, setting it ablaze, and leapt forward.
Ryo was so shocked by the name that he barely remembered to dodge. The attack grazed his left side, but he barely felt it. "What do you mean you learned that from the Professor?!"
The Dragon Void didn't answer and instead charged in for another kick.
The colorful Rider tapped his belt twice for a 'Semi-Max.' Both his hands and forearms glowed icy blue. The Void lashed out with a roundhouse kick. Primary blocked the kick with his forearm. The force of the blow made him grunt in pain and nearly knocked him over, but he stayed upright and punched the Void in the face with his icy fist.
The Void disintegrated as it collapsed. In spite of his relief, Ryo cursed himself for finishing the monster too quickly. He'd only gotten to ask it one question.
"Ryo!"
Primary looked over to see his friends approaching. "What happened with you two?"
"First we defeated the Void that came after us," Ranji started.
"Then we made our way down to come help you," Hitomi finished. "Though it looks like we didn't need to."
Ryo de-morphed, looking at the ground.
Ranji waved a hand in front of his face. "What's wrong? We just took out a bunch of Void. You should be happy!"
"Normally, I would be," Ryo replied. "But after what that Void told me, I'm not in the mood to celebrate."
"What exactly did he say?" Hitomi asked.
"At the end of our fight, he claimed he learned one of his moves from Professor Morimoto, the one who made me my driver," Ryo explained, gesturing to his belt.
"That's what you call that? Why not just call it a belt?" Ranji asked.
Hitomi elbowed him. "That's not what's important." She then asked the big question. "So, does this mean that—"
"Yes, I think it does," said Ryo. "It sounds like the Professor is still alive."