Rider Time Zi-O: Roze from Remnant
Chapter 43.5 – Chasing the Dimensional Thief
Woz sat in his dark void as he carefully began turning pages back in his book, as if trying to go earlier in his book, "As it is 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."
He gave a smile as he returned to his usual narration.
"While the battles grow fiercer and my Overlord grows in power, a look back is needed… a look back at the reason for why Team RWBY has come to earth."
Earth – December 22nd 2018
In an old warehouse an aurora curtain formed, Kamen Rider Diend stepping backwards through it with the Relic of Knowledge in his hands.
"Now then, I believe this is where we part ways," He spoke as he was ready to close the gateway when something startled him.
"NO!"
Oscar suddenly rushed through the aurora curtain, crossing dimensions. He jumped up and went to tackle Diend to the ground.
Diend gave a gasp as he quickly swiped his hand, the aurora curtain vanishing just as Ruby's words could be heard.
"Oscar, wait n-!"
Oscar quickly grabbed the lamp by the handle and ripped it out of Diend's hand. He managed to get off of the Rider and get to his feet, running for the doors.
"Hey, come back with my treasure!" Diend quickly aimed and began firing to Oscar's sides.
Sparks began flying all around Oscar as he held the lamp closely to his chest while continuing to run. Managing to find the door he quickly rammed against it, activating his Aura to boost his strength. Busting through he quickly ran forward before noticing he was in completely unfamiliar territory.
All around were various warehouses, Diend having opened a dimensional gateway to an abandoned warehouse district.
[ATTACK RIDE: ILLUSION!]
Blue shots of energy shot out from the door and impacted against the ground all around Oscar. Except upon impact the blasts flashed to reveal four copies of Diend.
Oscar quickly attached the relic to his belt before drawing out Long Memory, readying himself as he looked around, "Clones?"
The Diend squadron quickly sped forward, blurring as they all dashed in front and past each other while closing in on Oscar. Despite having their own Diendriver's they didn't use them to attack. They merely went for pushing, punching or grabbing.
Oscar gave a wince as he was assaulted, swinging and jabbing, barely managing to hit a few of them only to get sucker punched and thrown to the ground as he felt his coat tugged on. He shot up to try and counter when he noticed that all the Diend clones vanished.
"You're making this quite hard for me," Diend admitted as he walked into view from the side. He soon raised his free hand to show that he held the Relic of Knowledge once more.
Oscar's eyes widened as he glanced down at where he had hooked it only to see that it had been taking. He soon realized that's the tug he felt as he was punched. He gave a glare as he readied himself, "Give it back."
"I was honestly planning on stashing this somewhere…" Diend admitted. "But given your reaction to this, I can't help but feel this has a lot more importance than I once thought." He then dangled it slightly. "So what can I do? Do I rub it to get three wishes?"
Oscar couldn't help but stare in a bored fashion at this statement, "Like I'm going to tell you how to use it."
"So you do know then," Diend remarked before hooking the relic to his belt and drawing out a Rider Card. "Then I can't just let you leave."
"I could say the same," Oscar replied.
"Surrender peacefully and I won't have to beat you down," Diend offered as he loaded in his card.
"Sorry but I really can't let you have that lamp," Oscar shook his head as he steeled himself.
"Then I take no responsibility for what my friend is about to do," Diend added as he aimed forward, pulling the trigger.
[KAMEN RIDE: OUJA!]
Several holograms were spat out of the Diendriver, all sliding about before combining together. This one formed the purple armored and cobra themed mirror rider, Ouja.
Oscar took a few steps back at the summoned Rider, "What the…? I thought your group turned into Riders?"
"Oh that's Tsukasa's specialty," Diend admitted. "We all work differently."
Ouja gave a low chuckle as he rolled his head, cracking his neck a bit before charging towards Oscar. He raised his arms and went to grab at Oscar only for the former farmhand to duck and strike past him with Long Memory. Despite the cane only being a blunt object Ouja felt the pain and gave a growl as he turned.
"Take this," Oscar had turned as well, immediately jabbing the point of his weapon into Ouja's gut. He began jabbing as hard and fast as he could against Ouja's stomach.
The mirror rider gasped as he was sent staggering back, his arms dangling as he seemed to be stunned.
"Now," Oscar quickly rushed forward, planning in going for a heavy forward swing, he felt a brief confidence welling inside of him. That was until he noticed a twitch from the Rider.
Ouja suddenly brought out his own cane, it having a cobra molded to the top of it as he slammed the pointed tip of it into teens gut. Not wasting time he opened up the top of the cobra to reveal a card slot, slotting a card into it.
[SWORD VENT!]
Oscar could only cough out as he was jabbed in the gut. He was trying to recover until he saw a gold blur coming towards him and raised his cane to block it. He winced as the cane was smacked out of his hand, before yelping as he threw himself back, barely avoiding another slash.
Ouja had brought out his gold spiraled saber, the tail-like weapon being what he was currently using to assault Oscar. Ouja rushed in relentlessly, slashing wildly and not giving Oscar a chance to run or use an opening. Despite this the teen had managed to mostly dodge the slashes, until he couldn't, one swing managing to tear through most of the teens Aura.
Oscar gasped out as he was sent tumbling from the slash, his eyes slightly widening in fear when he felt how much damage that had done. He quickly scrambled to try and reach Long Memory for a weapon only for his coat to be grabbed from its collar. He was quickly spun around before giving a yell, Ouja performing yet another slash against him.
Ouja could only chuckle as he saw that his attack had landed, seeming to gain amusement from seeing Oscar's Aura flash from the heavy hits. He then lifted the teen up before slamming him in the head with the butt of his weapon.
Oscar could only yell out as his Aura broke, giving a groan as he soon lost consciousness, falling limp as he was let go by Ouja and dropped to the ground.
With the battle over Ouja could only give a sigh as he disappeared, his presence no longer required by Diend.
"I warned you," Diend remarked before walking over and picking up Long Memory, retracting it before glancing up at the sky. He noticed a bright blue hole suddenly appear as two objects shot out of it. "And that's where we take our leave…" He trailed before bringing out another Aurora Curtain, this time sliding it towards him and Oscar, the two being whisked away to parts unknown.
Unknown World – Unknown Timeframe
'Oscar? I know you'd rather not hear from me but don't panic… we're in a semi-decent situation. In fact it smells quite pleasant.'
'So is this going to be a recurring thing? You deciding not to come back but giving me advice sporadically?'
'…'
'Thought so…'
Oscar slowly regained consciousness and couldn't help but inwardly sigh. While Ozpin wasn't gone, gone, he was more coming in and out whenever he felt like it. At the very least it showed that he cared, but Oscar was wishing that the older man would just fully come back already or stay gone. He couldn't feel Ozpin's presence, but every now and again he could hear his voice. Attempting to land the airship, going after Diend, and now…
At the very least Ozpin seemed to be telling the truth when it came to the situation. Oscar was currently in a barren room, the walls stripped down to the most basic stone there was. There wasn't much else aside from a comfortable bed which he was on and an old television on top of a stool that was plugged in and currently on a random channel. What he did notice was there was no door of any kind, just a doorway.
"Do I still have…?" Oscar checked on him and saw that the only thing that had been taken was Long Memory. Realizing he was at a disadvantage he realized he'd need to play his next move carefully.
Slowly getting up he looked around carefully before exiting the room, noticing that it lead into a hallway and down the hall was another room with an open doorway. The light was on from what he could see and he could smell something.
"Hello?" Oscar asked as he began to make his way towards the room to see a fairly bare kitchen, only having the essentials alongside a dining table right inside. To his surprise he found food already set out for him, steamed rice, miso soup, some grilled salmon and an assortment of other side dishes.
"Go on, eat."
Oscar recognized the voice as he looked to the side to see a man with swept to the side, dirty blonde hair. He was wearing an outfit of black components, shoes, pants and a turtleneck with a long white coat over it. He was currently rolling up a pink apron that he had been using recently.
"You…" Oscar narrowed his eyes before his stomach growled much to his embarrassment.
"I'm Daiki Kaito, Kamen Rider Diend," The man answered with a smile as he put the apron away. "You should worry about eating first. Your glowing lamp isn't even here at the moment."
"Where is it?" Oscar asked as he sat down to start eating.
"Not here in this building, or even world, really," Daiki admitted as he went to go sit down at the table. "Treasures are irreplaceable, thus I have an extra special place to keep them safeguarded. But given that lamp seems to have more to it than on its surface, I was hoping you'd tell me."
"Again, not happening," Oscar answered before taking a bite of the salmon. He was surprised by its flavor for how simple it was. "You know instead of being a thief you should open a restaurant."
"I suppose my cooking really is that good," Daiki chuckled.
"You're also being awfully kind," Oscar noted as he kept glancing at Daiki while he ate, he knew that the food couldn't be poisonous because the thieving Rider needed information. "I'm surprised you didn't tie me up and torture me for the answers."
"We're not doing anything that drastic…" Daiki gave a more serious but thoughtful look. "Regardless I figured if I was nicer to you we could maybe work up a partnership. Remnant seems like an awfully interesting place full of treasures. I was hoping maybe you could point me in the right direction."
"How do you all even know about the existence of Remnant in the first place?" Oscar questioned. "It feels odd that you Riders are the ones making first contact. How did you even find us?"
Daiki chuckled and couldn't help but give a bit of a fond look as he stared off to the side, "That question takes me back…"
CRASH
Both Oscar and Daiki turned and looked downwards as they felt the floor underneath them shake.
"What is…?" Oscar stopped when he heard loud noise from below.
"Hmm… I have guests I suppose," Daiki remarked in a carefree fashion as he stood up. "Give me a minute, but I do hope you consider my offer…" He walked out of the kitchen before heading further down the hall and making his way down a set of stairs.
Oscar had stared at where Daiki had gone before working on finishing the food as fast as he could.
Daiki had made his way downstairs, revealing a fairly empty first floor with a hallway leading to a set of back rooms and a double door at the front. The double door itself was starting to creak and splinter before shattering as two Kurokage Troopers were thrown backwards through it, the assault kicking up a lot of dust and smoke.
Both Kurokage Troopers soon went limp before dissolving, revealing they were holographic copies born from the Diendriver.
"And I was hoping those would do the trick," Daiki sighed.
Walking through the smoke was a familiar set of green eyes as Tsukasa walked through in his Decade Form. He dusted his hands off as he gave a hum, "Daiki… you hardly visit anymore. So I figured I'd pay you a visit since it's been a while."
"Tsukasa…" Daiki gave a smile as he drew out his Diendriver. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Meddling is what I do," Tsukasa admitted as he put a hand on his hip. "And you've gone too far this time with your little stunts."
"Whatever do you mean?" Daiki asked with a chuckle.
"The lamp that came from Remnant," Tsukasa held out his hand and flicked his fingers back, "You're giving that to me right now."
"It doesn't belong to you," Daiki remarked, spinning the Diendriver as he drew out his Rider Card. Slotting it in he pointed his weapon upwards before pulling the trigger, "Henshin!"
[KAMEN RIDE: DIEND!]
Holograms formed before converging on Daiki's body, it being in grayscale coloration before cards launched down and attached to the helmet, fully coloring him and completing his transformation into Diend.
"You say that like it belongs to you," Tsukasa rushed forward.
"All treasures belong to me," Daiki immediately went for another card and readied his Diendriver before firing.
[ATTACK RIDE: INVISIBLE!]
Tsukasa grabbed at Daiki just as his body faded out of view entirely, the destroyer stumbling as he grasped at thin air.
"Just what's going on?" Oscar quickly hurried down with his arms raised before seeing Tsukasa. "You're Decade… right?"
"You know who I am kid?" Tsukasa asked, though noting Oscar's clothes and presence, it was obvious he was from Remnant.
"Yeah," Oscar kept his hands raised, "Ruby and the others told me about you, you were fighting them before they ended up back on Remnant."
"I see," Tsukasa gave a chuckle before dismissing his transformation. "How about you give me the details on what's going on. I've only got the gist of the situation."
"You're not going to fight?" Oscar asked.
"No, we both have the same goal," Tsukasa admitted as he put his hands in his pockets, "We both want to stop that jerk Daiki and get that lamp back."
Daiki gave a chuckle, appearing in one of the back rooms of the building he had occupied before carefully opening the door and sliding out. He kept his armor on and he was lucky he did, as he began to start running a blade suddenly came next to his neck.
A silver blade with red edges, towards the base of it was a duller grey portion added with various rose symbols adorning it. It was attached to an almost long red shield-like shaped guard with pointed edges towards the hilt. The guard was thick and seemed to have compartments folded within it, the center of it having a silver rimmed circle that gave a view of a blank inside. The hilt itself was black with silver lining, having a red point at the end.
"My, my… that is a blade I haven't seen in a while," Daiki remarked as he held his hands up. "Summer, how have you been?"
The one holding the blade against him was none other than Summer Rose, though she was definitely not amused at the moment. "Daiki…"
"Such hostility," Daiki said as he became a blur as soon as the blade moved towards him, having just barely avoided a slash as he backed away at high speeds. "Weren't we friends?"
"I had assumed we were," Summer admitted as she kept her weapon at the ready. "But then you decide to meddle around in Remnant."
"Is this cause I took the lamp?" Daiki asked.
"I'll ask you nicely, give it back or else," Summer gave a glare as she gripped her weapon with both hands.
"You always were so feisty when you were serious," Daiki admitted as he readied his Diendriver. "However that threat doesn't scare me. It's been how long since you've fought? I assume you're still recovering since you'd yet to go back."
"You know very well I couldn't go back, even if I have recovered," Summer answered.
"Speaking of that fight, like I said your threat doesn't scare me," Daiki admitted as he loaded in a card before aiming forward, "After all I know you can't transform anymore."
"Like that'll stop me," Summer gave a confident smirk.
"So true," Daiki remarked as he pulled the trigger.
[KAMEN RIDE: LUPIN!]
The maroon suited, black armored and jewel encrusted Rider, Lupin, formed after a series of holograms shot around before merging together.
"I need to get going since I still have someone I need to search for," Daiki soon drew out the Long Memory before placing it in Lupin's hand, "But I can allow you to play with another thief."
"Why you… get back-!" Summer was ready to charge forward before blocking a swing from Lupin, the summoned Rider extending Long Memory to attack with. "Oz is here?" She muttered as she quickly hopped away. By the time she had gone to see where Daiki had gone he had completely vanished.
Lupin could only give a chuckle, brandishing the Long Memory before rushing forward with a jab.
Summer countered by batting the cane to the side. She then pressed a button on the side of the enlarged guard of her weapon, which caused two card slots, one on top of the other, on the other side to slide into view from within. She then drew out one of Tsukasa's old Kamen Rider Cards before slotting it into the lower slot.
[ATTACK RIDE: SLASH!]
Summer then pushed both slots in to activate the cards effect, the blade of her weapon glowing red as she rushed forward. Lunging she began stabbing rapidly at Lupin, her blade separating and leaving red afterimages as it was like she was striking multiple spots at once.
Lupin had attempted to block by bracing and shifting the Long Memory but was slowly being bested by Summer's method of attack. Spinning away he then leapt forward once he was facing Summer, returning the favor with his own jabbing spree.
[ATTACK RIDE: ONGEKIBOU REKKA!]
Slotting in another one of Tsukasa's old cards her sword was lit ablaze with orange flames. Leaping back she continued with another flip backwards before slashing forward as she landed, a wave of fire hurtling towards Lupin.
Lupin had chosen to brace for the meantime, raising the Long Memory vertically as he stepped back from the flames. Despite a few sparks flying and some flames remaining on him he was relatively fine. He moved forward to counter when he noticed Summer was no longer in front of him.
[ATTACK RIDE: METAL!]
A glint from above caught his eye, so he threw his arm back ready to try a counter jab with the weapon he received. That was until he let out a gasp at being completely overwhelmed. Summer had been quicker to the draw, having launched down and slashed against Lupins chest. Her weapon was fully coated in a metallic silver coloration as sparks spewed out from Lupin.
Lupin dropped the weapon before staggering back and falling over, exploding and leaving no trace of him behind.
Summer gave a sigh as she hunched over, and let her arms drop. Her weapon returned to normal as she began to pant, lifting her head and wiping off some sweat.
"Still getting back into the swing of things huh?" Tsukasa asked as he walked out of the back exit.
"Yeah," Summer admitted before glancing down at the Long Memory, "I take it…"
"I told him to wait at the front," Tsukasa finished as he went over to Long Memory and picked it up, retracting the cane into its hilt. "He doesn't know you're involved."
"I'm glad he doesn't," Summer admitted as she straightened up, "Thanks for the cards."
"I had to give you something," Tsukasa admitted. "After all I can go beyond those cards now. Plus you need them more than I do."
"Right," Summer gave a nod as she slid the blade through a metal loop that was on her belt, letting the weapon hang. "If you need me I'll be with your sister. That way you can use the studio without having to worry if I'll be seen."
"That's fine," Tsukasa gave a nod. "She enjoys your company after all. But you know…"
"I know the day is coming when I'll have to reveal the truth, our worlds are becoming more intertwined," Summer turned and held a hand out, an aurora curtain appearing. "But for now until I choose to do so, I can't let anyone see me. And like you said, I'm our Trump Card, can't have me being seen until the time is right."
"Of course," Tsukasa replied as he watched his friend walk through the curtain before it vanished. He then looked at the Long Memory in his hand, "I suppose things are about to get more interesting."
Later…
"Of all the… you would be the one who does this."
Tsukasa was currently at a familiar photo studio getting his head chewed off. Having gone back to grab Oscar he whisked both of them away to a safer and friendlier place, the Hikari Photo Studio. Or at least friendlier for Oscar as Tsukasa was currently being scolded and chided by his close friend Natsumi Hikari.
Oscar was currently having a cup of hot chocolate with the eldest resident of the studio, Eijiro Hikari, Natsumi's grandfather.
"Thank you," Oscar gave an appreciative smile as he took a sip.
"It's my pleasure," Eijiro smiled as the two sat at a dining table in a room just outside the studio space.
"Listen, things are getting rather hectic and this is the only place I could bring the kid," Tsukasa admitted as he had his hands raised.
"Don't you dare say this is also you trying to be responsible because you're just going to dump him here while you parade around like you have been," Natsumi huffed.
"Well of course, my job's dangerous and I literally heard from the kid how he was caught off guard in a one on one against a Kamen Rider," Tsukasa argued as he paced around. "Thus it was in my best judgment to bring him here, at least for the moment."
"What do you mean the moment?" Natsumi asked.
"No doubt his friends are going to look for him and head back to the Main Earth to do so," Tsukasa replied. "But as much as I'd love to drop him off… I sort of need some assistance for this next part of my job."
Natsumi raised an eyebrow, "Why not ask Sum-"
"Absolutely not," Tsukasa immediately clamped his hand over Natsumi's mouth and glanced to the side, noticing that Oscar wasn't in view he put a finger to his mouth, "Completely impossible."
Natsumi huffed as she pried Tsukasa's hand off before sighing and crossing her arms, "It has been getting a bit dull lately… especially since Yusuke wanted to head back to Agito's World for a bit."
"See," Tsukasa held his hands out, "Think of it this way, you can impart your great wisdom upon this young lad while I figure this whole situation out."
Natsumi crossed her arms and thought about it for a bit, she gave a sigh, "Fine…" she relented. "But only because it'll be nice to have someone new around."
"Um…" Oscar soon walked out from the dining area with his hot chocolate, "So I was wondering, and I didn't mean to pry, but why can't you drop me off with my friends?"
"Oh," Tsukasa cleared his throat, glad that he stopped Natsumi from blurting out sensitive information, "It's because I need to figure out the current state of the world. Or rather how it got to this point. And I may need some assistance once I track down a lead. Especially since this concerns Remnant too."
"That's another thing I wanted to ask about," Oscar admitted. "How do you all know about Remnant? What exactly happened that made you all so interested?"
"It's… a very long story," Tsukasa admitted as he paced around, trying to think of a satisfying answer to give the teen. Especially since he was very, very curious, and rightfully so, but regardless, Tsukasa had to be vague. "Let's just say I was made aware of your world through some meddling pests on my end and since then our worlds have been… connected somewhat. Someone took advantage of that connection when they took someone from your world not that long ago. And now I need to try and fit everything together like a puzzle."
"Huh," Oscar took a sip of the hot chocolate and gave a nod, "Alright then, what do I do then?"
"Nothing for the moment," Tsukasa replied. "Just relax for now. I'm sure you've earned it after everything you've been through. Once I'm done with my end we'll make sure we get you back to your friends and figure out a way to get that Relic of yours back from Daiki."
"Sounds good to me," Oscar decided to relent for now, he just hoped the others weren't worrying too much about him.
Natsumi however let out an audible groan, "He's really doing it again?"
"Unfortunately," Tsukasa replied before making his way to the exit of the studio, "Either way I need to get to work, a storms about to start soon and we need as much of a head start as we possibly can."
To Be Continued…
Next Time: Chapter 44 – Hijacking Rider 2019
Author's Note: So first to address a guest Review, I'm not sure if my wording was confusing, but Roze from Remnant updates every Saturday from now on. Its weekly meaning there's no point at putting update dates so just keep a watch out every Saturday for it. Following/Subscribing also helps in that regard though of course I do have a twitter "Zero's Workshop, (At Sign)ZeroEnchiladas" that does post the updates as they go live.
Second, I'm glad to see many people going "oh no Yang and Blake" because that's definitely what I'm going for. With how the story's been evolving it wouldn't make sense for specifically Tsukuyomi to really act like how she did in canon at this point.
But onto this chapter, I did say this Interlude would be different than the prior ones. Instead of following our main cast, I figured a status update on how Oscar is would be good before we get deeper into the story. And of course I expanded Diend's arsenal a bit. He was able to summon tertiary/extra/movie Riders in Decade, so limiting him to Secondary Riders in Zi-O felt wrong. Speaking of cards though…
We get a lot more Summer teasing in that we've got quite a few implications with that sword she had that could read Tsukasa's old Attack Ride Cards. I also suck at meaningful weapon descriptions so if you're wondering what I based it on, it's basically a modified Darkvisorzwei in its sword mode. Just instead of splitting on the front to slot in cards, there are card slots on the side. A sword always felt fitting when it came to the next Decade styled transformation device, given we had buckle and gun beforehand.