It's not long after Tatsuya left the water fountain at the park. He feels a sense of pride from doing good for those kids, and the woman, despite his shifty dealings. Stepping out of the park, he remembers the cigarette rolling up behind his ear. He puts it in his mouth, but when reaching for the lighter in his pocket, a voice calls out to him.
"Excuse me," A woman's voice can be heard from behind.
He turns around to see the woman that stalked him from the park. She's still carrying the same suitcase as before, yet Tatsuya has yet to process it. His attention is solely on the pretty woman in the maid's dress.
"I really hope it's me you're looking for," he says, looking her up and down, removing his sunglasses.
"Miyamoto Tatsuya?" She asks, before pulling out a smartphone. With a quick picture, of his face. The flash blinds him for a moment as it scans the image of his face. After getting confirmation, she puts it away. "Yes, I am looking for you."
He rubs his eyes, wishing he kept his glasses on, "Good to know. Could have waited for me to say so."
"My apologies. But I needed to be 100% sure you're who I'm looking for," she bows to him, showing her respect. "My name is Lady Luck. And I'm an attendant sent on behalf of the ZOO Corporation."
Tatsuya raises a brow at this moment, "Oh yeah?"
"Yes. In fact. It was by the order of Miyamoto Daigo that I come to find you and give you this personally," Lady pulls the suitcase into focus. "This is intended for," before she can open it, Tatsuya steps in.
"Sorry, but if he's involved, I'm not interested. I don't care how much the pay is, or what amazing benefits it provides. I don't want anything he's a part of," he turns on his heel and tries to walk away.
"Wait, Master Tatsuya," she tries to pull him back, "You must understand, that this is of grave importance, and concerns the safety of everyone in the city, maybe the world."
Tatsuya is not having it, "Then get someone else to do it! I'm done being his puppet. He can get…"
"YOU!" a loud, hostile-sounding voice screams out from the park. Everyone turns to see Ren, the purse thief standing there. Breathing heavily with bloodshot eyes, their body shacks with rage.
Tatsuya recognizes them from earlier, "Oh, it's you again. What, did you evade the cop and come seeking revenge?"
Lady Luck is more observant. She notices the broken handcuffs around the wrists, looking like they were torn apart. Her concern grows more when she sees the earpiece attached to their head.
"Master Tatsuya, you best be careful," despite her monotone voice, she takes a step back toward Tatsuya.
Ren pulls out a ZoPhone from his pocket. He pushes the power button on the side, letting out an audio call of "Mantis!"
"Henshin," Ren plugs the MantisZoPhone into the headset, triggering the transformation. His whole body gets engulfed in a black mist that consumes him. The mist takes a humanoid shape before disappearing, leaving behind a mechanical, mantis-like monster.
People on the street notice the transformation and start screaming. "Monster!" They take off running, with the few police officer in the area that watched engaging the threat. They pull their guns, but their bullets have no effect on them. The ones that get close and grabbed and tossed aside, while the ones further away get taken out by green bolts thrown by the scythes attached to their arms. The bolts hit the ground where they stand, knocking them away without killing them.
Tatsuya stands there and stares at them. "All of this because I stopped him from stealing a purse?" His tone has an air of guilt to it.
Lady interjects, "No. This isn't your doing. This is the work of ACT. You're innocent in this crisis. However, this is why we need you to…"
Tatsuya cuts her off by tackling her out of the way of one of the monster's bolts. They avoid the attack but at the loss of Tatsuya's hat being caught in the crossfire. He manages to pull behind cover, using a parked car close by. Before the mantis could attack them, the same cops get back up and try again, pulling out their batons and tasers in an attempt to slow them down.
Now behind cover, Tatsuya wants answers, "Okay, you seem to know what's going on. Can you please explain it to me?"
Lady Luck dusts herself off before getting into serious mode, "That man seems to be under the influence of the CyberLink, that earpiece he had before. He used it to turn himself into a Cyberbeast, and now seems to be after you."
"Right, but what can we do? Those cops are being slaughtered out there, and I don't want to leave them if I'm the target," Tatsuya looks up from the car to peep through the window to see the mantis knocking out the last officer.
"There is a way you can stop him yourself," she pulls the briefcase forward, and unlocks it, "But will require you to use this." She opens it, revealing another piece of technology with a green ZoPhone. There's a tag with the name of the equipment, the RiderLink, and the HopperZoPhone. It also comes with a mini instruction pad beside it.
Tatsuya pulls both out of the briefcase. As he feels the weight of them in his hands, time starts to slow down. The world goes mute with only the drum of his beating heart playing in his ears.
Snapping back to reality, he springs out from behind his cover. He gets further away from Lady's hiding spot, before whistling to the mantis Cyberbeast. "Hey! Hey, purse thief!" Their attention is completely on him now. "If you want me, then come get me." He slaps the RiderLink against his waist. On contact, a belt strap appears around him, keeping it attached to his body. He pushes the power button on the ZoPhone, "Grasshopper!" After striking a pose, he calls out, "Henshin!"
Tatsuya plugs the HopperZoPhone into the driver from the side. A green light appears in the middle. As a brief jingle plays, a static spark is emitted from the front as a glitch. A black undersuit materializes around his body, covering every part of him. The static disappears, allowing for lime green padding and armor to appear around his body, creating a mask based on the grasshopper. Tatsuya has turned into a Kamen Rider.
"Let's dance!" Tatsuya in this new form rushes the mantis. His movements are enhanced. He moves faster now than he did as a human. So much so that when he tries to leap to tackle the Cyberbeast, he overshoots it and goes over them, landing in the park behind them. The mantis at least follows, moving away from the area.
Lady Luck watches on, using her phone to stream the fight to another source. "He's just transformed, and is now engaging the Cyberbeast, however, something's wrong. The suit transfer got corrupted, and is incomplete."
Back with the fight, Tatsuya easily dodges the mantis's bolt scythes, pulling off some impressive gymnastics as he flips, spins, and does the splits in midair to avoid being hit. Getting close, he throws a punch, hitting the Cyberbeast in the jaw. However, it feels like punching steel, his punch having little to no effect on them.
Counter-attacking, the mantis slashes him across the chest, making sparks fly as he takes the hit. Going in for another, he grabs both scythes and tries to fight back. However, the Cyberbeast appears to have more strength than the Rider. He's being pushed into the ground, and the tips of the scythes are getting too close. Running his feet, he starts kicking the Cyberbeast in the stomach.
This has an effect on the Cyberbeast. It gasps in pain as Tatsuya keeps flailing his legs into the monster until it backs off. He grabs the floor behind him, and flips back, avoiding getting a scythe in the gut as they come down. Tatsuya stands away from the monster, his body sparking again.
"Ren!" A familiar voice calls out to the monster. The police officer that apprehended him steps forward, "Please! You're better than this. Just stop!" The police officer looks to be in bad shape, barely able to remain standing, yet they keep trying to get closer.
The elder cop's words seem to have an effect on the monster, "Ma…saru." Despite showing some humanity, they still fire a bolt toward them.
Tatsuya springs in, using his speed to catch the old cop and pull him to safety, avoiding the attack. When the dust settles, the Cyberbeast is nowhere to be seen.
"Ren…," the old cop says before passing out. Tatsuya slowly helps their descent onto the grass.
With the threat gone, Tatsuya disengages the transformation and pulls out the ZoPhone. It still sparks slightly.
Lady Luck approaches the two, carrying both cases. "As a first outing, you did fairly well." She looks down at him as he makes the old man more comfortable on the floor. "Do not worry. I have already called the authorities, as well as the company. Medics and clean up will be here soon."
"Yeah, yeah, that's great. Listen, I'll be keeping this. I need to find that thief again," Tatsuya is in more of a haste now. He tries to grab his guitar case from Lady, but she pulls back.
"I understand how you feel. But you won't be able to find him just by yourself. Allow us to help you. Besides, I will need to be taking that back for maintenance," Lady tries to grab the ZoPhone, but he pulls it back.
"I know the bait and switch. I'm keeping this until I'm done. And I don't need your help. Especially if he's involved." He tries another attempt at the case, but this time Lady isn't having any grief.
From her sleeve, she pulls a small, but effective taser out of her dress. She jams it into his gut, shocking him enough to stun him. He falls to his knees, and then on his face, passed out.