Author's Note: So just a quick note, I know I said we'd be getting back to chapters in February but I decided to cut that idea and change the schedule a bit. We'll be getting both chapters of the Wizard Arc done in these last two weeks of January. If you want to get a general idea of what the schedule will be like, just take a peak onto my profile.
Rider Time Zi-O: Roze from Remnant
Chapter 08 – Wizard, Please! 2012
Woz was once again back in the dark void, this time sitting on a stool as he looked through his book. "As it is normally written in this book, average high schooler Tokiwa Sougo embarks on a path which leads him to become the overlord of time, Oma Zi-O. However, there are those who wish to see the canonical course of history altered."
Images of Geiz, Tsukuyomi, Uhr, Ora, and Finis appear with even Ruby appearing among the pages, the previous Another Riders of Build, Cross-Z, Ex-Aid and Faiz flashing through as well.
"Geiz and Tsukuyomi, whom hail from the same point in time as I, should they befriend my overlord, the path of history will diverge. Granted thanks to Miss Rose's presence, I'm afraid that divergence is already here…"
Swartz and Tid both appear briefly in the book before fading away s the images were filled with static, before an almost ring-styled helmet began to peer through with a red glow.
"As the beginning of October begins and brings with it all sorts of new issues, our group will inevitably make contact with a few certain magic wielders…" Woz suddenly closed his book as he gave a smile before walking off. "Oh, but I suppose these events have yet to come to pass for you…"
Earth – November 2013
The location was currently a building that had seen better days, various cloths torn up and handing from various points, dirtied windows, peeling off paint. Ora herself was clearly annoyed that her next assignment was with Tid of all people. Especially when he chose this location has his destination for the two.
"You brought us here, why?" Ora asked.
"The Heisei Riders are a disgusting but powerful bunch," Tid mentioned as he froze time around him and Ora before continuing forward. "Finis had the right idea, but her candidate had a major Achilles heel that Zi-O and the others exploited."
"So how do you suppose we get around that?" Ora questioned as she followed after.
The two soon entered the building, it being dark and dusty with machinery and leaves thrown across the ground, some in suspicious piles that Tid chose to walk over purposefully. It was as if he wanted something to happen, but nothing could as time kept still.
"We need a powerful candidate, but also one that is still powerful even when starting out," Tid said before going deeper and deeper, passing several human sized casings before finding one in the very back. He then held out a hand, sparks suddenly flying as the casing popped forward before falling forward revealing a strange white humanoid with purple jewel-like pieces decorating its body.
"This is your candidate?" Ora asked, not too impressed.
Tid soon held up a blank watch in his right hand, it slightly shaking as he held up the left palm of his hand to cover his eye, having three fingers sticking out as the tattoo on the back of his hand began to glow. Suddenly in the center a drawn eye formed before releasing a golden wave of energy that hit the humanoid.
"Now wake up, Carbuncle," Tid said as the being known as Carbuncle began to suddenly move in the frozen time, before it noticed something else.
"Where…" Carbuncle started as it suddenly realized that it had sentience, something that normally shouldn't have been possible given it was disposable and artificial. "Who…? How…?"
"Show me what my gift of knowledge can do for you." Tid continued as the Ridewatch glowed in his hand, forming the Wizard Anotherwatch.
[WIZARD!]
Ora simply scoffed and turned her head, not liking how Tid seemed to have additional powers aside from the usual set. "Guess it worked…"
Tid gave a grin as he activated the Wizard Anotherwatch and slammed it into the Carbuncle, the Carbuncle gasped out as he began to erupt In flames, being fully engulfed before his new form began to take shape.
Earth – Early October 2018
In an alleyway a man gasped as he was thrown to the ground, cowering as he began to back up, various specks of flame shooting all around him and scorching the brick in the area.
The culprit was a monstrous black armored individual, having a red ragged coattail that went to its ankles, a red skull shaped jewel-like chest with silver rimming alongside a red mantel going over its chest and shoulders. The shoulders being ordained with two skull shoulder pads.
The face looked jewel-like though held a skull underneath, a warped frame wrapping around it and making it look like a ring, an actual metal ring jutting out of the sides and around to the back of its head. It held a black silver rimmed buckle with a skeletal hand alongside a pointed red jeweled ring on its left hand. The back of the mantle read Wizard, the wind blowing to show a silver plate with the date 2012 on it, revealing this as Another Wizard.
The Another Rider gave a chuckle as he held his hand up and slowly reached towards his belt, only for something to suddenly smack his hand. He gasped out as a small white plastic model that resembled a Garuda suddenly smacked into it several more times. He growled out, raising his hands to smack it away.
During the confrontation the man that was being assaulted yelped out before running away with a scream.
"Found you," A voice spoke up as Another Wizard turned, the voice belonging to a young woman with long black hair, wearing a white jacket and skirt with a black shirt and leggings. She held a unique hand-shaped buckle that aimed towards her left with a red rim on her waist. She put on a silver ring with the same symbol and scanned it.
[DRIVER ON, NOW!]
The buckle soon became a larger and silver based Driver, two switches being on the side as she pushed down and pulled on one to flip the hand to where it was pointing towards her right now. The Driver began to chant as he drew out a rough cut amber gem ring with three prongs, slipping it on her finger.
"Henshin," She called out performing a small spin and raising her amber ringed hand up before slowly lowering it towards her buckle. Her hand landed on it as the Driver stopped chanting. She held her hands out, an orange magical circle appearing diagonally on her left side.
[CHANGE N-]
Another Wizard was ready to attack when suddenly he noticed the announcement cut off as the young woman was now frozen mid-transformation. Her body was slightly static and glitch filled as the only one affected seemed to be her. It seemed as though the woman was aware and currently tried struggling to break free but could only just barely shift her eyes around.
The Another Rider was confused before he suddenly realized who had likely done this, "Tid?"
"Good work, giving you sentience really did pay off," Tid soon came out from behind Another Wizard before walking around and towards the young woman. "Kamen Rider Mage, Mayu Inamori, I had a feeling that you would be the one to notice. Out of the five Wizards, two are sporadic with their locations and the other two aren't as free when it comes to their lives as you are…"
"Alright, I drew a wizard out, now what?" Another Wizard asked.
"That my dear Carbuncle, is simple," Tid answered as he looked back at his creation. "Raise hell, enough to get Zi-O to notice. Even finding and attacking him if you must. We need him finished off before he can even think of getting Wizard's Watch."
"As you command," Carbuncle put a hand to his chest before giving a bow and walking off.
"Now then I know what group you're connected to," Tid turned towards Mayu, soon holding up the back of his left hand, the tattoo glowing and forming the eye once more. "You're going to help further my plans against Zi-O by spreading some… misinformation."
A golden shockwave was released from the glowing tattoo, the wave shooting out and completely breaking the magic circle and canceling out Mayu's transformation entirely. Time resumed for her as her head jerked back, a golden glow appearing in her eyes before it slumped forward.
9-5-DO once again had a new customer, this time it was a man who had brought in a VCR with a tangled VHS Tape for Junichiro to fix. Of course it wasn't long before Sougo, Geiz and Tsukuyomi entered, the trio having gotten done with school.
"I'll contact you once it's ready," Junichiro called to the customer who quickly left the store. The uncle then gave a sigh as he looked over the mess he was given.
"Uncle, what is that?" Sougo asked as his eyes widened.
"Oh, I guess you've never really seen a VCR before," Junichiro realized. "A customer asked me to repair it. Even though we're still a clock shop…"
"Do you ever get any customers that actually bring in a clock?" Tsukuyomi asked, a bit put off by how Junichiro seemed to fix everything but clocks.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen one yet." Geiz noted.
"Well, I'd say we get about one every three months or so," Junichiro recounted off the top of his head.
Tsukuyomi was currently in shock, "That few?!"
"Well, neighbors tell people that 9-5-DO can fix anything!" Junichiro went to take the VCR back to his work station. "So we get plenty of business, just not a lot of clocks!"
"TVs, Air Conditioners, Refrigerators…" Sougo listed off. "So there's nothing you can't fix?"
"Oh, hardly..." Junichiro brushed off his nephews compliments. "Just the other day, a customer asked me to fix their broken vase good as new. I had to turn them down! I mean, I know I need the money, especially now, but some things I just can't fix no matter the price."
"What do you mean by need the money?" Geiz asked. "You just said you had good business."
"Um, well…" Junichiro trailed as he looked around. "Well since Ruby's not here it'll be fine to say since I want it to be a surprise."
"I was about to ask, where is Ruby anyway?" Sougo asked. "Your errands don't take this long."
"She actually left several minutes before you got back, after her errands she mentioned going back to a park to visit a friend," Junichiro mentioned. "Said he helped her a bit when she first got to Tokyo but she's only been able to find him now and wanted to hurry before it was too late."
"Just how many friends does she have?" Geiz questioned, wondering if this friend was also a Rider like Faiz was.
"What was this about a surprise?" Tsukuyomi asked. "And how does it relate to Ruby?"
"Oh well, her birthday is actually this month," Junichiro smiled as he remembered a while back when she had mentioned it. "It's at the very end on the 31st too, so I was hoping to do something special for it since it's also apparently around the time she arrived in Tokyo too. So I thought a celebration could lift her spirits."
"That sounds great uncle!" Sougo grinned before a sudden realization dawned on him, his face dropping in shock. "Oh no, I have no idea what I'm going to get her!"
"Well you all do have a month, you should either all pitch in for something or get her small individual things," Junichiro mentioned. "Maybe go around town, see if something catches your eye that she might like."
"Ah that's a good idea!" Sougo realized. "We can all go that way we don't end up getting the same thing."
"Hmm, that definitely does seem like a good idea, but…" Tsukuyomi thought on it, they had only known her for a bit, but Ruby did seem to think of her and Geiz as friends. Her thoughts were interrupted when Geiz pushed through her to get to Sougo.
Geiz stopped beside Sougo to talk to him in a hushed voice, "You listen to me… We are not here for fun and games. You're not our friend, or our teammate. We've also only known her for a month too. There's no point in doing anything for her. You're also a target. Don't forget that."
Tsukuyomi could only roll her eyes at seeing Geiz act like this, clearly his living and hating routine with Sougo was starting to wear on her. She then followed after Geiz who was beginning to make his way upstairs.
"It's fine!" Sougo announced, causing them to stop. "I didn't forget." He said before heading to the dining room and grabbing all their available Ridewatch's, noting that Ruby had taken all the Secondary Rider Watch's with her. "But if I happen to go, you two should keep an eye on me." He pocketed his before grabbing all of Geiz's and tossing them over to the future rider. "So that said, let's go!"
Geiz barely had time to catch him as he yelped out, "Hey, you-! Whoa!"
Ruby was rushing through the streets as fast as she could to the nearby park. She just knew she had seen a familiar backpack and tent parked nearby a tree. Sure enough when she arrived she managed to spot the tent and a familiar figure, he was wearing an orange jacket with tan sleeves and heavily worn out jeans, having wild light brown hair on top of his head while the sides were cut closer like sideburns.
She was ready to call out when she saw someone odd near him. It was a fairly short statured man in strange white clothing and very bright blonde hair. He had a strange jacket that had a long sleeve that covered only his left arm while his other was sleeveless; the jacket even only had a collar for the left side as well.
The weirdest part was that he had a large basket of strange purple/blue fruit that seemed very tempting upon first glance.
"Thanks for this, I really appreciate it," The first man mentioned as he took the basket. "My buddy gives his thanks too."
"No problem, anything to help a friend out," The oddly dressed man gave a smile before turning and waving. "I need to get going, can't be gone for too long."
"Right, right," The first man remarked.
Ruby began to move forward when she heard what sounded like a large zipper, but by the time she got a chance to figure out where it came from, the oddly dressed man was gone. Shrugging she began to make her way over to the first man, "Kosuke!"
The man gave a gasp as he had to keep from dropping the basket, quickly turning before seeing Ruby, "Oh? Ruby!" He called out with a grin. "It's been a-whoa!"
Kosuke had tripped as the basket was tipping slightly, Ruby rushing over and grabbing onto him and the basket. Her quick reaction time and speed had kept anything from tumbling out miraculously, though the fruit was shifted around.
"Safe…" Both sighed out in relief as Kosuke went to set the basket down nearby.
"You saved me Ruby…" Kosuke gave another sigh of relief, "I would have been a goner if those ended up getting squashed!"
"What are these anyway? They look kind of good," Ruby admitted. "And who was that guy?"
"Huh, that guy?" Kosuke asked before giving an awkward chuckle as he had to backpedal and give a lie. "Just a friend is all! He gets me some ingredients I need for some special food. These aren't good by themselves but they're absolutely delicious once made properly!"
"Huh, well maybe if I catch you making that one day I'll help myself," Ruby said, she was a bit doubtful given how odd the fruit was to begin with. That was until she noticed something weird, "Huh? Hold on there's something weird with it."
"Just don't eat it," Kosuke said, worried that Ruby wasn't able to control herself when it came to these particular fruits.
Ruby however ended up moving a few further down in the pile to reveal a strange padlock device with a rose emblazoned on the front. In small letters were the initials LV-02 on it. "Huh?"
"That's weird, usually he doesn't' give me strange things like that," Kosuke said, despite knowing of his suppliers true nature the device before him was drawing a complete blank for him. "Eh, not like I can use it anyway, you keep it."
"Huh? Are you sure?" Ruby asked.
"Think of it like a reunion gift," Kosuke answered. "But anyway come, come, let's sit and talk a bit! It's rare for two travelers to end up meeting again. So let's share a quick bite."
"Sure," Ruby said as she went over to the makeshift grill that Kosuke had set up alongside two small benches. On the grill were some vegetables and meat that were in the process of being cooked. The huntress turned rider sat down along with her friend. "So how have you been?"
"Oh you know, taking life one step at a time, making big risks and getting great rewards!" Kosuke gave a grin as he began to skewer the meat and vegetables, "Just the usual, how about you? Still haven't settled down yet? But you look to be doing better since the last time."
"Actually not long after we met I ended up meeting this kind boy and his uncle, they ended up taking me in surprisingly," Ruby admitted. "I've almost been living with them for a year, though I've made sure to do a lot of hard work around there just so I'm not mooching. I was unsure at first but I think it's worked out well."
Kosuke gave a fake sniffle as he looked with pride towards Ruby, "You've truly taken my advice to heart. You took a big risk and now look at you, managing to make it work almost a year later!"
"Well what can I say?" Ruby gave a chuckle as she fidgeted with the strange padlock she had. "I'm surprised you've never tried to settle down."
"Not my style," Kosuke waved it off before noticing that the meat and vegetables were nearly done cooking. "Ah good, time for the finishing move," He quickly drew out from his pocket a bottle of mayonnaise, a katakana label reading out 'reunion' oddly enough.
"Wait!" Ruby called out as she held out her hands, now suddenly dreading her reunion with Kosuke. The traveler had a habit to put mayonnaise on just about anything. While she wasn't bothered by the taste, the idea of grilled meat being bogged down by the amount of mayonnaise he'd put was almost blasphemous to her.
"Ah right, more for me then!" Kosuke said not minding Ruby's preference as he slathered one of the skewers with mayo before picking it up. "One day I'll get you to admit that mayonnaise is the greatest of all time!"
Ruby playfully rolled her eyes before grabbing her skewer and taking a bit. "Yeah... somehow I doubt it."
Both weren't fully aware but deep in Ruby's pockets a small gold glow began to shine briefly before fading.
To say they were stumped was the least that could be said, Geiz and Tsukuyomi were both trying to figure out what exactly Ruby would even like. If it was something expensive then it would be easy for them to split and share as a consecutive gift. But if it was something cheap they'd all have to get something individually just to not come off as rude.
Sougo was of the mind to get a gift for Ruby himself, but he too was clueless. What also didn't help was the lively chatter of the street they were on, various stores lining it as they tried to figure something out. Though even clueless, Sougo was enjoying a more relaxing walk around town with the duo of future travelers. Not to mention he was excited about finding that perfect gift, seeing Ruby's reaction would definitely be worthwhile.
That was until he suddenly noticed a familiar presence in Woz who passed by him, "Salutations my overlord."
Sougo turned and followed Woz to a less busy corner of the street. "Hey Woz, how's it going?"
"Blessedly so," Woz gave a reserved bow as he put a hand to his chest. "And you appear to be in high spirits, as well."
"Yeah, we're trying to decide what to get Ruby for her Birthday, it's still far away but you know time flies," Sougo explained.
Woz however gave a sigh as he leaned against the wall, "I hardly wish to dictate your private affairs my lord, Miss Rose I can understand but you seem to be growing suspiciously close to Geiz and Tsukuyomi."
"Do I?" Sougo asked, a bit surprised since he was just acting naturally. Granted on the other side of the coin… "But they're still pretty cautious with me. It's fine!" He reassured. "Don't worry; I'll still become a good overlord." He said before turning and heading off to meet with Geiz and Tsukuyomi since they were quite the ways ahead.
"That is what worries me…" Woz trailed as he stared off into the sky with a worried expression.
Tsukuyomi stopped when she suddenly realized that Sougo wasn't speaking up, turning she was surprised to see Sougo just barely keeping up. "Are you alright? I thought you were following us."
"Not plotting anything are you?" Geiz asked as he crossed his arms.
"No, no," Sougo waved off Geiz's comment. "I thought I saw something neat back there for Ruby but it really wasn't."
Geiz sighed as he threw up his arms, "This is a waste of time!" He suddenly winced as he reeled his arms back down.
"What the heck?" Sougo looked up as he felt hotter, spiraling flames were right in the area above them, those having caused Geiz to reel back. The flames spiraled before splitting suddenly, striking various trees and plants in the area and burning them.
The sudden fires caused panic filled yells to echo across the area as civilians began to run away from the fires that turned the foliage to ashes. The ashes however suddenly began to sprout and turn into flowers which began blowing throughout the area.
"Just what is this?" Sougo asked with a bit of a laugh, more amused than anything. "This seems like a magic trick!"
"It doesn't seem like a trick, it is actual magic," Geiz called out as he looked around. "There was a Rider who specialized in magic, Wizard. Meaning… his Another Rider is likely nearby."
Tsukuyomi turned when she felt the wind come from a certain direction, her eyes widening as she spotted Carbuncle in his Another Wizard form.
"Found you," Carbuncle said as he began to approach.
"W-Wait a minute he found us?!" Sougo questioned. "Usually we find them!"
"Doesn't matter now, what matters is we beat him and figure out who he is," Geiz answered as he readied his Ziku Driver and Ridewatch.
"R-Right," Sougo readied his Ziku Driver and Ridewatch, standing beside Geiz.
"Henshin!"
[RIDER TIME!]
[KAMEN RIDER ZI-O!]
[KAMEN RIDER GEIZ!]
The two Riders raised their arms before rushing towards Carbuncle who gave a chuckle, holding up his left hand which held his ring before holding it over his belt.
"GRAVITY"
Sougo was ready to jump forward and perform a leaping punch when suddenly a trashcan flew in from the side and decked him in the face. "Ouch!"
"What?" Geiz had caught a glimpse before raising his arms and bracing, a nearby abandoned bike having hovered over and rammed into him, "Gah!"
It wasn't long before both Sougo and Geiz were assaulted by any moveable object in the area. Stuff ranging from trash bags, boxes, plywood, just about anything and everything was being thrown at them. Carbuncle seemed to have some control of what went where as he was moving his hand around in specific patterns.
Tsukuyomi couldn't help but give a sigh as she drew out her Faizphone X. She aimed and struck Carbuncle in the shoulder, forcing him to drop the gravity spell.
"You want to be a funny guy huh?" Geiz said, more annoyed than anything as he drew out his Zikan Zax in its bow formation. He then pulled back and began firing arrows at the Another Rider.
"DEFEND"
Carbuncle had once again scanned his ringed finger over his belt, accessing more magic and this time summoning a stone wall that blocked against the shots. Of course due to the wall being stone it began to get chipped away before shattering.
Carbuncle however was no longer standing behind the wall, causing Geiz some confusion. Geiz began to walk forward, wondering if Carbuncle had cast an invisibility spell.
"THUNDER"
Sougo suddenly shoved Geiz out of the way before backing up, strikes of green lightning suddenly striking at where the two were.
"What was that for?!" Geiz questioned, having not seen the lightning.
"Hey you almost got hit, look!" Sougo pointed upwards causing the future rider to look in that direction. Above them was Another Wizard floating in mid air, a small vortex of wind swirling around his feet.
"As much fun as it was to play with you two, I suppose I need to get going," Carbuncle mentioned before scanning his ring again.
"LIQUID"
Carbuncle soon dropped to the ground, and instead of a splat, there was a splash as his body had turned into a bright blue shape just before landing. The pile of liquid soon snaked off, flying into the air.
"Like hell you are," Geiz quickly activated his Bike Watch and summoned his Ride Striker, revving the engine before taking off after the trail of liquid.
"We should get going too," Tsukuyomi said.
"Right," Sougo raised his arm and went to draw his Bike Watch only to feel something grip his raised arm. He turned and yelped as a giant orange clawed and black armored hand was gripping onto him. "Eh?"
"Who are you?" Tsukuyomi questioned.
The culprit was a tan suited and skirted Rider with black armoring alongside silver and red accents. The rider held a gem motif similar to the Another Wizard they had just fought though the gems looked more roughly cut, the helmet being only three silver claw-like prongs over the gem.
"Kamen Rider Mage," The Rider answered, revealing they were female. "You're coming with me."
"Eh, but I'm kind of busy," Sougo admitted.
"You don't have a choice in the matter," A woman in black suited attire and holding a small police pistol walked over, aiming it carefully towards Sougo. "You're under suspicion of destruction of public and private property alongside assault."
"…Seriously?" Sougo asked in disbelief.
Tsukuyomi though immediately entered a code into her weapon, aiming and shooting twice. Red beams of energy both hit the police woman and rider, phi symbols appearing over them as they flashed red, stunning them.
"Zi-O we need to go, this way!" Tsukuyomi called as she began to run into an alleyway that was nearby.
"U-Uh, right," Sougo said as he began to follow before bowing. "Sorry about that but I have no idea what you're talking about!" He said before running off into the alleyway.
It wasn't long before the stun wore off, The Rider giving a light gasp as she dismissed her transformation, revealing she was Mayu. She the hurried over to her partner, "Rinko are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, just wasn't expecting something like that," Rinko admitted. "They definitely seemed suspicious given they were the only ones in the area."
"They match what data I could find, property damage and just general attacks being linked to some strange armored being with a katakana face," Mayu explained. "I'm certain this is our culprit, the one who's been targeting people constantly as of late."
"We'll need to try and catch them off guard next time then, I wasn't expecting that girl to have a weapon," Rinko admitted.
"Right," Mayu said before glancing off to the side, noticing Tid in the corner of her eye who was giving a grin at what was going on. Despite this she said nothing and acted as if he wasn't there.
"Ah, I love a home cooked meal but grilling stuff is also just so good," Ruby admitted as she finished the last of her skewer.
"See, there's still perks to living out in the wild," Kosuke gave a grin.
"Right, well I should probably get going, it was good catching up with you," Ruby said as she stood, before perking up and turning. She heard the sound of a motorcycle as nearby a floating trail of water shot through with Geiz following suit. "Oh boy…"
Kosuke had seen this as well and gave a yelp as he fell out of his seat, "What the heck?!"
"Sorry Kosuke but I've got to run, something came up," Ruby said fumbling to put the skewer down and accidentally pressing the button to the rose themed padlock she had. Suddenly it floated out of her hand before expanding and unfolding.
To both Kosuke and Ruby's surprise a rose themed motorcycle, the Rose Attacker fully formed and landed in front of them.
"Wait what?!" Kosuke questioned.
"Oh heck yeah, I own a bike now!" Ruby called out as she suddenly went over to mount it, testing the ignition as she began to look over the various functions. She did notice that one feature seemed unusable but she wasn't sure why. Either way it could move and that was all she needed.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Kosuke quickly hurried over to her. "Do you even have a license?"
"Yep," Ruby smiled as she immediately pulled out her Motorcycle Handlers License. "Plus you said you had no use for this thing anyway, so you know, mine." She gave a more childish grin as she put her license away and began to take off.
"Hey wait!" Kosuke yelled out before crossing his rams with a huff as Ruby fully took off, "I wanted that bike…" He sighed and went to go back to his makeshift camp when he suddenly realized something. The liquid flying through the sky, and the armored guy on a motorcycle chasing after it… "Oh jeez, something's going down…" He then realized that Ruby had to immediately leave after they saw those two things. He then spoke to no one in particular. "Well it's time to get out of retirement, but first some food to fill you up partner."
After a while of chasing Geiz had eventually lost track of Carbuncle once the Another Rider had managed to slip through a sewer grate. Geiz sighed as he dismissed his transformation and deactivated his motorcycle. He decided to check on foot to try and find any hint of the Another Rider. He was a bit worried by the fact that Sougo and Tsukuyomi hadn't caught up to him yet, wondering if something happened.
Ruby herself had a bit of trouble managing to ride a motorcycle since this was her fist time truly riding one but she managed to keep up for the most part. Noticing that Geiz went on foot she deactivated her Lock Vehicle before pocketing it.
"Geiz!" Ruby called out as she managed to catch his attention.
"Huh, Ruby?" Geiz turned. "What are you doing here?"
"I was in the area and saw you speed past, what's going on?" Ruby asked.
"Another Rider, this one uses magic so I think it's Another Wizard," Geiz mentioned as he began to head up the steps outside a building to try and gain a better vantage point.
"Magic, huh?" Ruby mused as she followed after him, her mind drifted back to her world. Specifically Ozpin and the Maidens as they were the most she'd have seen on the subject, "Where are Sougo and Tsuki?"
"Not sure, they should have been right behind me," Geiz admitted.
"Weird, maybe something else caught their attention?" Ruby mentioned as the duo reached the roof of the building.
"I'm not sure what even could, this is a priority," Geiz replied as he hopped onto the edge of the building, the edge thankfully being pretty thick so it would be hard to fall.
Ruby managed to lift herself up to the edge as well, looking around and trying to see anything. "I think you might have lost him."
"That can't be, he came to us, and then just fled, he was definitely trying to lead us somewhere," Geiz argued as he looked around. "Where is he? Where is he hiding?"
A familiar sensation washed over the two as the world became a tinted green, the two Riders being frozen in place.
"It's wonderful to meet you…" Swartz said as he was now on the same rooftop as the two, "Kamen Rider Geiz."
"Time Jacker…?!" Geiz questioned, only just barely seeing him due to his head being tilted in his direction.
"And you must be the infamous Roze," Swartz spoke up as he glared daggers at Ruby, despite this his tone kept a more casual one.
"Wait… are you…?" Ruby thought back to what Finis said and she wondered if this was who they were talking about.
"I am Swartz," Swartz answered as he held up a hand, a purple glow coming from it. "And you people running around could prove troubling for me. Will you stay out of this?"
Geiz began to breathe more heavily as his body was moved off the edge of the building, thanks to the time stop he didn't fall but once time resumed…
Ruby was also subjected to the same push, if she could grit her teeth she could, while she'd be able to use her semblance to survive this kind of drop, she had to prepare herself for Geiz so she could try and catch him.
"I won't take no for an answer." Swartz said before throwing his arm towards him and closing his fist.
Time resumed as both Geiz and Ruby yelled out the two falling from the building. To Ruby's surprise however something grey had caught Geiz' leg and yanked him back towards the stairs. Quickly thinking she used Petal Burst to follow after Geiz, landing near him as he was dropped onto the stairs.
Ruby had managed to see what exactly had caught Geiz and it was… a scarf? Following the scarf she noticed it trail all the way up to a higher point in the stairs, its owner being Woz.
Geiz gave a look of surprise before glaring, "Woz!"
"Oh, so you're working with him now?" Swartz asked as he peaked down at the stairs from the roof. "I did not expect that. I'll be back again, some other time." He gave a small smile before taking off.
"Thanks for the save, I didn't know if I could Petal Burst and get to him in time," Ruby admitted, Woz interfering definitely saved her a lot of trouble.
"What do you think you're doing, Woz?" Geiz asked.
"Consider it a favor from an old acquaintance," Woz answered, giving a wry grin. "Perhaps this is an opportunity to reconcile. It would please my overlord to have the companionship of one such as yourself."
"Reconcile?" Ruby muttered.
"Shut up!" Geiz snapped as he walked up the steps to get near where Woz was. "Any more nonsense out of your mouth… and I'll take you down right here!"
Woz though seemed amused by this threat, "I do not seem to recall ever losing to you, Geiz."
"Maybe in our timeline, but…" Geiz looked off to the side, he knew what Woz said was true but he was different from back then. "Things won't go your way, now!" He rushed forward, trying to strike at Woz who simply deflected his attacks before pushing him away.
Woz then began floating upwards, landing on the railing of the staircase. Woz could only grin in delight as Geiz attempted to punch him, only for the chronicler to float higher up and land on the roof.
Ruby couldn't help but stare in surprise as she had followed Geiz up, the fact that Geiz and Woz seemed to have a personal history. Not to mention that Woz seemed fairly skilled in his own right and that wasn't mentioning the powers he displayed.
"You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to join up with Zi-O," Geiz leaned on the railing as he avoided eye contact. He then turned and began to head down the stairs. "Come on Ruby…"
"Right…" Ruby trailed as she looked back at where Woz was before taking off after Geiz.
"Well, isn't that a pity…" Woz said, though Geiz being hardheaded and refusing friendship did cause him to grin.
Carbuncle eventually managed to return to his hideaway in the city, a small apartment complex that had been abandoned. Using his magic he managed to power up his personal living space every day without having to pay any rent, and since it wasn't hooked up to the power grid, no one knew he was living there.
"I suppose I just wait for my next orders," Carbuncle said as he took human form, he was an older man wearing a brown trench coat with black gloves and slicked back hair. Despite his formal appearance he immediately went to his cupboard and took out some instant ramen, using a bit of fire magic to light up the burner on his stove as he used water magic to dump a batch of water into the pot he was going to heat it up in.
As that was running he began opening up the vegetable and flavor packets to pour them in. It wasn't long before the water reached the boiling point he was looking for; he then poured the water into his instant ramen bowl and covered it, sealing it up with chopsticks.
"For being such an extravagant magician, you sure like to live low key," A voice remarked as it was Ora who was standing nearby the door.
"What can I say, I'd rather keep a low profile so I don't attract attention I'm not meant to," Carbuncle answered, throughout the short time he had gained sentience and his Another Rider powers, Ora would be the one to check up on him the most. By this point he had gotten used to her sudden appearing and disappearing acts.
"So I've seen," Ora said, having seen Carbuncle's previous display. "Well I should let you know that it worked, right after you left those Section Zero folks ended up thinking he did it."
"Then Tid's plan to use the girl is working as intended," Carbuncle said as he opened up his instant ramen after waiting long enough. He stirred it up before taking a few noodles, blowing on them and slurping them down despite them still being hot. Giving a sigh he glanced towards Ora. "If you're here I can only assume I'm needed once more?"
"I know you only just barely escaped Geiz but luckily a friend of ours is keeping him preoccupied for the moment," Ora replied. "But if you're going to become a King then you need to work for it."
"Just allow me a moment to finish my meal and then I will deal with it," Carbuncle said before working on his bowl some more. His eyes turned red for a few seconds before fading. "I'll show you I have what it takes to be a King."
"I do have one word of advice…" Ora spoke up.
"Jeez that was rough," Sougo sighed in relief as they managed to lose both Rinko and Mayu and were currently at a plaza, hoping the amount of people there would cover their presence. "So do we have a lead yet?"
"That's the frustrating part," Tsukuyomi admitted as she searched through her tablet for information. "We haven't had a chance to act on suspicions yet like the previous ones."
"Can't you… I don't know see stuff about magic or something? Maybe when Wizard was active since all we've got to go on is Geiz's mention?" Sougo asked.
"Trust me if I could I would, sometimes I wish Ruby was here cause she might know more than me," Tsukuyomi admitted, remembering how when entering Ruby's room the first time, she was surprised at all the Rider information the non-earth native had amassed. "Wizard and Magic in general seemed to be peaking in the 2012 to 2013 range. But that's about all I've got… there hasn't been much in the way of magical activity like that for a while. And any smaller instances are too small to even research without consuming a lot of time."
"Well Ruby should hopefully be done… we should see if she can meet up with us," Sougo suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea," Tsukuyomi said as she took out her Faizphone X and sent a call to Ruby, to her relief the huntress rider had picked up.
"Oh Tsuki, what's up? I just met up with Geiz and we were wondering where you were," Ruby answered.
"Well, we're currently trying to lay low, some Rider and Officer ended up attacking us after thinking Sougo was the culprit behind the attack."
"Wait, what?!"
"I know I'm confused too, we need to figure out how to find and defeat Another Wizard. I was hoping to pick your brain in regards to this since I'm having trouble searching on my end."
"Sure, just let me know where you guys are and we'll head over right away."
"Just let Geiz know it's at the busy plaza we passed while we were taking a walk today. It was the best place we could go at the moment," Tsukuyomi answered.
"Plaza you guys passed, got it," Ruby said before hanging up and looking at Geiz. "You know what she's talking about?"
"Yeah, we were considering going there first but it was too crowded," Geiz replied before motioning for her to follow him as he began to jog towards the area.
"Why go there?" Ruby asked as she hurried after him.
"Well it's because uh…" Geiz suddenly realized that he couldn't tell Ruby they were planning on getting her a birthday present so he had to play it cool. "Listen it's not important, just something Zi-O wanted to do."
"Sounds like you're warming up to him," Ruby smiled.
"Nothing of the sort," Geiz replied. "I don't know why you and Woz think us being friends is fine. He's my enemy, remember?"
"Speaking of friends, I never really asked but how do you know Woz?" Ruby asked though slowed down when she noticed Geiz did. "Uh…"
"It's not important, not to mention none of your business." Geiz replied. "Just like you keep stuff from your world and don't talk about it often, that's what some aspects of 2068 are for me."
"Huh, I see…" Ruby trailed as she thought back to home, giving a light sigh as she wondered if she was ever going to find a way home. She shook her head, "Fine, let's just meet up with Sougo and Tsuki before things get worse."
"Too late," Geiz stared straight ahead in the direction of the plaza; smoke was rising as crowds of people were running away.
Geiz drew out his Bike Watch and activated it to summon the Ride Striker, getting on he looked towards Ruby. "Get on."
"Sorry but I've got my own ride," Ruby called out as she took out the Rose Attacker Lockseed, unlocking it and summoning her Rider Machine. She gave a smug smirk as she mounted her bike and revved the engine.
"Where did you even get that?" Geiz asked.
"Not important, let's burn some rubber!" Ruby called out as she took off, Geiz giving a scoff before taking off after her.
The plaza where Sougo and Tsukuyomi were was currently under attack. Carbuncle had transformed back into Another Wizard and shown up again. But this time he had strange stones he threw all over the place. They weren't ordinary rocks however as the stones turned into golem-like humanoid creatures called Ghouls.
Sougo was transformed in his base form slashing through the Ghouls while Tsukuyomi shot at a few to help anyone in the area get away. Sougo then gave a yelp as he was struck back by several of the staffs the Ghouls were wielding.
He drew out the Build Watch as he avoided a few follow up strikes. "These stone guys are tough, let's go Build!"
[ARMOR TIME! BEST MATCH! BUILD!]
Sougo used his drill to block against the staffs before forcing them back. He then had his drill spin rapidly before going to deal with the Ghouls, tearing through them easily.
"I must admit it's definitely easy to find you," Carbuncle remarked before scanning his ringed hand.
"FLAME"
Carbuncle aimed and began shooting fireballs out at Sougo who barely dodged, being forced to brace. Sougo yelled out as he was forced back as a result. Just as the Another Rider summoned more fire to his hands he gasped as he heard engines roaring, quickly spinning and launching the fireballs out.
The culprits were Geiz and Ruby who were approaching on their motorcycles, the flames passing between them and hitting the ground behind them. The duo of Riders already had their Drivers and Watches prepped to go.
"Henshin!"
[RIDER TIME!]
[KAMEN RIDER GEIZ!]
[KAMEN RIDER ROZE!]
The duo transformed and sped past Another Wizard, spinning and knocking him down. They then skidded to a stop near Sougo and Tsukuyomi.
"Whoa, Ruby when did you get a bike?!" Sougo called out in surprise.
"Just now," Ruby said as she got off the Rose Attacker and returned it to its Lock Vehicle form. Geiz returning his Ride Striker to its Ride Watch form.
"I suppose this is going to be easy if he keeps coming to us," Geiz remarked.
"No matter, I still hold the advantage," Carbuncle said as his Ghouls began to form up behind him.
"All of you freeze!" A voice called out as Rinko was back on the scene with Mayu who was transformed back into Kamen Rider Mage. Rinko however faltered a bit when she noticed the Another Rider, "… wait, a Monster Wizard?"
"I think that's enough."
A snap echoed through the area as everyone was suddenly frozen in place due to a time stop. Tid began to walk through the area as he gave a chuckle, "So the pieces are in place… time for the finale."
"Time Jacker…?" Sougo asked.
"A… new one…?" Ruby managed to get out.
Of course it was suddenly apparent something was very, very wrong as Carbuncle and his Ghouls were all able to move still alongside Mayu who began to step forward.
"You did well in causing enough misdirection," Tid complimented the Mage who stayed silent as she walked to where she had a good angle against the Riders. "Now kill them."
Mayu said nothing as she drew out a gold ring with a pure white jewel embedded in it. She then slipped it on her only available hand before flipping her belt and scanning it.
[HOLY, NOW!]
Various orange glyphs began to overlap into a glowing ball of light in the palm of her hand. Each second that passed it continued to grow bigger and brighter. Mayu seemed to be aiming exactly at the Zi-O Riders, letting as much energy build up as possible.
"Take this," Mayu said, before suddenly turning and thrusting her palm towards Tid.
The blast of holy magical energy shot towards Tid who quickly held up a hand, dropping his time freeze of everyone to freeze the blast of energy right before it hit him.
"W-Wait what…?" Ruby sputtered out as she hunched over, between Swartz and Tid, things were getting a bit too close for comfort.
"I don't get it…" Sougo trailed.
"So you were pretending to be brainwashed," Tid realized.
"You shouldn't underestimate a Wizard's willpower, especially mine." Mayu called out, a bit annoyed her attack didn't land but she was grateful that the pieces were now more fully in place.
"Oh well, Another Wizard is still the strongest regardless," Tid said, seemingly unfazed by Mayu's double cross. "I'll leave it to you."
"Of course Tid," Carbuncle gave a bow.
Tid gave a grin before speeding away, leaving some afterimages behind as time around the Holy Spell resumed. The blast slammed into a pillar nearby, shattering it into pieces.
"Um, what's going on?" Sougo asked.
"I've been tracking this Another Wizard for a while now," Mayu answered. "When I finally confronted him, that Tid character ended up stopping me. So I pretended to be under his control when I realized whatever he did didn't work. Because I knew it was the only way to get more answers."
"And you couldn't inform me?" Rinko asked.
"Because Tid specifically ordered me to give you misdirection and put the blame on those Riders," Mayu replied. "If I said anything my cover would be blown."
"At least you were thinking smart about this," Rinko sighed.
"A lowly mage and three newcomer Riders won't be enough to stop me," Carbuncle hissed out as he scanned his belt before scanning it again.
"GRAVITY"
"FLAME"
Another Wizard used a gravity spell to raise the shattered pieces of the pillar before launching them down at the Riders, using a flame spell to ignite them mid-flight.
Ruby yelped as she barely dodged out of the way of the raining fire stones with her Petal Burst. Tsukuyomi began backing up while Geiz gasped out, having gotten struck by a few trying to dodge. Sougo though however used his drill and armor to brace and break through them.
[BARRIER, NOW!]
Mayu raised her hand and formed an orange mage circle that acted as a shield against the debris. "Rinko get to safety, I'll deal with this."
"Right," Rinko said as she hurried off to a safer spot.
Sougo rushed forward, planning on getting in the way of the Ghouls so that the others could deal with Another Wizard. Thankfully the Build Armor's drill was enough to give him an edge against the hard stone bodies of the Ghouls.
"Jeez," Ruby huffed as she tried to find the perfect angle to strike from, "This is giving me the worst kind of Déjà vu."
"I don't care who you are, you're going down," Geiz drew out his Faiz Watch and initiated the Armor Time.
[ARMOR TIME!]
"FLAME"
Carbuncle wasted no time in launching fireballs at Geiz who began to dodge out of the way, the Faiz Armor forming and mimicking his movements. Geiz continued to move forward as the transformation completed.
[COMPLETE! FAIZ!]
"DEFEND"
The Faiz Armor split up before latching onto Geiz, forming the Faiz Shot along with it as he punched against a stone wall. "This will never work!" He yelled out as he began rapidly punching and tearing down the wall of stone with his Faiz Shot, shattering it before sending a punch to send Carbuncle staggering back.
"Alright, here we go!" Ruby was taking aim, shooting at and striking Carbuncle in the back a few times.
"Take this!" Geiz reeled back and punched forward with the Faiz Shot.
"Idiot," Carbuncle chuckled as he scanned his ring.
"CONNECT"
Suddenly an orange magic circle appeared in front of Geiz, his fist going through it. Geiz didn't register what happened until Ruby cried out. Geiz turned and saw in shock that another portal was behind Ruby with his fist and weapon sticking through. Ruby winced as she let go of her weapon and used her hands to keep from falling over.
Geiz pulled his arm out in surprise, "Hey, are you okay?!"
"THUNDER"
A stream of green lightning shot out against him, Geiz yelling out as he was slammed onto his back. Sparks flew from his suit as he gasped out, having gotten caught off guard by the Another Rider.
"How do you like that?" Carbuncle asked as he soon slammed his foot onto Geiz's stomach, digging it in. "I'll take you out first, after all you seem to be the most competent."
Ruby winced as she picked herself up before noticing something odd, she had a new watch on her wrist holsters. It was primarily gold with a black rim and button. She took it out and stared at it briefly… when did she…?
"Kosuke?" Ruby muttered as that was the only time she could have figured before shaking her head, turning the dial and pressing the button.
[BEAST!]
"Weapon Time," Ruby called out as she slotted it in before rotating her Driver.
[WEAPON TIME! RING LOADING DICE SABER!]
Ruby held her hand near her Driver as a black and gold ornate saber with a silver blade appeared in her hand, Ruby gripping it and drawing it out. She noticed the center guard was thicker with a visible dice in it along with it having a lion motif.
"She has Kosuke's weapon?" Mayu perked up in surprise at this.
"Okay, let's do this!" Ruby rushed forward, jabbing at the Another Rider, managing to strike his shoulder, getting him to stumble away from Geiz. Ruby rushed in again, this time swiping her weapon and forcing the Another Rider back further.
"Why you…!" Carbuncle hissed out and charged forward only for sparks to fly as he was struck by silver bullets.
"Huh?" Ruby turned to see Mayu hurry over with a silver gun that held a closed red rimmed hand. "Ooh, nice weapon."
"I could say the same," Mayu replied. "Let's teach this copycat a lesson."
"Sounds good to me," Ruby replied as she rushed forward, using Petal Burst and becoming a red holographic blur that shot past Carbuncle.
Carbuncle turned, gathering fire in his palm and firing at Ruby. The rose themed Rider simply stopped before jumping over the fire blast. Carbuncle was ready to aim again only to get struck in his shoulder by Mayu and her gunfire.
"BIG"
Carbuncle slammed his fist through a magic circle that appeared in front of him. A large magic circle appeared next to Mayu with an enlarged fist coming through and sending her stumbling to the side.
[BURST MODE!]
Tsukuyomi had decided to help the two female Riders out, firing blasts at Carbuncle, forcing the Another Rider to bring up another stone wall to defend himself.
[CHAIN, NOW!]
Suddenly chains formed and bound Carbuncle's arms to his body, keeping his movements restricted. Mayu had managed to recover quickly from the punch, "That should keep you still for a bit, now it's time for the end!"
"Let's go!" Ruby called out as she suddenly felt a ring appear on her right middle finger, it was a black rimmed ring with an orange molded falcon on it. On instinct she spun the dial on her Dice Saber, the dice inside spinning around. She then slammed the ring into the slot stopping the dice.
[SIX! FALCO! SABER STRIKE!]
"Well hello high number," Ruby grinned behind her helmet.
"Time for me to keep up," Mayu said as she brought out a new ring to replace her current spell ring before scanning it.
[YES! SPECIAL! UNDERSTAND?]
Ruby held up her saber before drawing a clockwise circle, forming a gold magic circle before spinning and slashing forward. Six smaller circles formed as golden bodied falcons with orange heads shot out of them.
Mayu held her hand out, a red magical circle forming as she launched a torrent of flames out from it. Both attacks struck against Carbuncle, the Another Rider yelling out as the damage and power kept building and building before he exploded.
"I kind of like it when magic is on my side," Ruby remarked before she looked at the Dice Saber. "And I've got a lead now…"
"And take this!" Sougo yelled out as he threw his drill arm, swiping and destroying the last of the Ghouls that were near him. He turned and noticed that Ruby and Mayu had finished up and quickly hurried over. "You guys alright?"
"Yeah, we managed to get him," Ruby said before looking towards Geiz.
Geiz had managed to pick himself back up, clutching his stomach as he walked over though thankful that his armor had managed to stay on. "Just who is this guy anyway?"
Mayu stared straight at the pile of smoke between them all, the smoke slowly wavering and dissipating as her eyes narrowed. She had heard what Tid had said to the Another Rider and she needed confirmation. Standing before them all was Carbuncle in his Phantom form, though this form Mayu knew personally as Wiseman.
"What the hell… this Another Rider was a monster too?" Geiz asked, realizing the pattern between the previous Another Riders and this one.
"This shouldn't be possible, any Carbuncle past Wiseman shouldn't have this level of sentience," Mayu gave a sneer behind her helmet, but then she remembered the last time she encountered a grouping of Carbuncle Phantom's. "Wait… could it…"
"This was fun but I think it's time we end this," Carbuncle said before his jewels began to glow bright, clutching his body before yelling out. Suddenly he began producing multicolored stones that had different elemental effects.
Everyone yelled out as the barrage of stones shot out and created an explosion of elements as some began to collide and cause a massive chain reaction.
Sougo winced as he was thrown to the floor, reverting to his base form while Geiz was just straight knocked out of his transformation. Mayu winced as she hit the floor, the attack along with how much Mana she had burned through had forced her out of her transformation. Ruby on the other hand had managed to keep her base transformation, having braced at the last possible second and only tumbling near Tsukuyomi.
[WIZARD!]
Carbuncle gave a groan as the transformation into his corrupted Wizard form kicked in, cracking his neck before turning towards Ruby.
"I do have one word of advice… try and take out Roze as soon as possible. She'll be a major pain if you don't."
"Now then," Carbuncle chuckled as he began to approach Ruby and Tsukuyomi. "Let's deal with you." He raised his ringed hand, ready to cast another spell.
Ruby raised her arms, thinking that Carbuncle was going to attack Tsukuyomi to try and catch them off guard. Tsukuyomi though noticed that Carbuncle was planning something different.
"Get away!" Tsukuyomi managed to grab and shove Ruby away before taking a few steps forward.
"SLEEP"
Tsukuyomi's body gave a white pulse before her eyes rolled back, her eyelids closing as she suddenly passed out.
Geiz's eyes widened before he winced, trying to pick himself up, "Tsukuyomi!"
"Tsuki!" Ruby called out, realizing that Tsukuyomi had saved her from the spell.
"Tsukuyomi! Hey Tsukuyomi!" Sougo called out as he picked himself up, carefully approaching Another Wizard and hoping for some kind of response. But he got one as the time traveler was out cold.
Woz was watching these events from behind a tree, holding his book out as he stared on. "Such a shame, my dear overlord… it seems that companionship is a poor fit for you. Will my Overlord claim the power of Kamen Rider Wizard?" He asked before glancing towards the side, staring straight at something in the distance.
Carbuncle was ready to perform another spell when something suddenly smacked him in the head. He then turned, thinking that Sougo had done it only to see that the Rider was nowhere near him, "Huh?" He then turned when he heard… bouncing?
A soccer ball was bouncing up and down nearby as if it had been recently kicked. The Another Rider then looked towards the distance and saw a young man with caramel brown hair a black jacket and bright pink pants. Thinking it was just some punk trying to be a hero, Carbuncle scoffed before gathering a fireball and throwing it towards the man.
"Hey look out!" Sougo yelled when he saw the bystander.
The man kept a passive stance as the fireball impacted near him, kicking up a fiery explosion.
[FLAME, PLEASE!]
Suddenly the flames began getting sucked into what appeared to be a red magic circle. A black leather suited figure with red gems lining his chest, ankles and wrists and a waist coat was revealed as the flames were continually sucked in.
[HI-HI, HI-HI-HI!]
The helmet was akin to a ring, it being predominantly red with a framing that made it resemble a mask. It was clear who this man was, the counterpart to the Another Rider standing before everyone. This was Kamen Rider Wizard.
"Haruto…" Mayu couldn't help but give a smirk when she saw the Rider, now the tides had turned.
Carbuncle couldn't help but take a step back, he was sure that his counterpart wasn't in town, or at least wasn't aware of him. Did the fight really drag on for that long that the real deal caught wind of it? Shaking his head he tried to keep his cool, "And just who do you think you are?"
The Rider raised his hand up, showcasing his forms ring as he stared straight ahead.
"I am, the Final Hope."
To Be Continued…
Next Time:
"Every rose has its thorns."
"They give hope to others by fighting against threats only they can."
"My overlord's power grows ever greater."
"I hope you like this little trip down memory lane."
"I'll save Tsukuyomi myself."
Chapter 09: Showtime of Hope 2018
Author's Note: So as many people have noticed, I've gone ahead and skipped Fourze. And I can tell you all now that we're not getting to him in what I like to call "Q1 of ZI-O". This was mostly to move a unique Armor Time back a bit, but also because well, he fits better being later on. Especially if you take into account a certain purple cosmic entity that starts with G, ends with A, and is also the name of an Ultraman.
But anyway, what's a Kamen Rider without a bike? I purposely chose to keep Ruby from getting a Ride Striker because her getting a Rose Attacker just fit her theme so much better. And I had the ample opportunity to do so thanks to good old Beast and a quick cameo from our resident Fruit Jesus. This was basically me following up on the ending to the Sengoku Movie Wars where it's revealed Chimera loves Helheim Fruit just as much as he does Mana.
Also finally, we begin the Subplot of October 2018. We're starting what I like to call the 'Ruby's Birthday' Subplot. This was the reason I specifically had her taken from Remnant and specified her birthday had happened earlier, alongside her showing up on Earth in early November. Now comes the fun part of having the characters trying to figure out what they might get Ruby through the chaos of it all. Even if, just like Sougo, I have no idea what they'd get her. I may end up keeping that part of the Birthday vague. But in a time like this I figured I'd do a little "community interaction" of sorts. If you all have any ideas on what might make a good birthday gift then sound off in the reviews. We've still got plenty of time until the birthday as well, so feel free to think on it for a bit. Either way I'll see you for the next chapter.