Chapter 5 – A(n Un)Timely Debut
Monday, February 18, 2019.
Sougo was walking out of Hikarigamori High, rolling his bicycle beside himself, looking as if a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He just finished his make-up exam, and while a miniscule part of his subconscious was worried about how his results, the future king did not let it stop him from smiling with relief. As he walked out of the gate, he saw Geiz leaning against a wall, bored out of his mind.
"Hey Geiz!" Sougo greeted.
"Yo. You just finish?" Geiz asked. Sougo nodded. "About time. You ready to head over to your home? Tsukuyomi messaged me to say that they're waiting for us."
"Let's not keep them waiting then." Sougo hopped onto his bike, while Geiz sat on the back saddle, and the two rode off.
…
At 9 5 DO, Junichiro placed down cups of tea and coffee onto the dining table.
"I'll just leave your drinks here," the middle-aged man said before he went back to work.
By the kitchen countertop, Swartz was slicing up some beef, and seated at the dining table were Woz, Tsukuyomi, and Hora, who were preparing the other ingredients for dinner.
Standing off to the side was Cipher, who watched as the four were preparing to make food. The helmeted man tilted his head to the side, thinking back to how they were roped into this.
…
Earlier in the morning, as Sougo was about to leave for his exam, the future king bumped into Cipher, who was sitting on the bench outside his front door.
"Hey Cipher, you're here early."
"Consider this a courtesy call." Cipher stood up from his seat. "You ready for the exam?"
Sougo chuckled. "I won't lie, I am a bit nervous."
"Good," Cipher then patted the brunette's shoulder. "It means you care. But don't let it get to you. Just do your best, alright?"
"Saying this on Rize's behalf?"
"Well, my partner did what he could to help you on such short notice. Besides, he trusts that you'll do fine…Plus, you were more than kind enough to let me inhabit your body."
Sougo's spirits lifted at the words of encouragement and bade farewell to the ethereal man, who returned the farewell with a wave.
"You're all early," Cipher said as he turned to see Woz, Swartz and Hora walking up to him.
"Considering the circumstance, I'd say it be best if we started planning our next move," Swartz replied.
"Yeah, but, Sougo and Geiz won't be here for another couple of hours."
"Why not?" Hora asked.
"They have make-up exams today."
The Time Jackers' eyes widened, before narrowing into a glare and directing their ire, Hora specifically, at Woz. The prophet snorted before shrugging his shoulders innocently.
"I see…" Cipher began, "I thought you were going to tell them about that, Woz."
"I was going to, but then Junichiro asked me for a favour, and I thought I might get some help."
"Woz, you-"
Hora was cut off as the door opened, and Junichiro poked his head out.
"Ah Woz, you're here. Oh, Principal Swartz! Hora! It's been quite some time since I've last seen you two. Please come in!"
As the three entered the shop, Cipher let out a sigh, before pulling out a rather old flip phone.
"Hmm. May as well let Tsukuyomi know what she's about to roped into."
…
"While I don't mind helping out," Tsukuyomi began, snapping a green bean in half, before placing it into a bowl, "is this really the best time to be doing this?"
"Though I wouldn't mind just telling you guys the plan right now, a little distraction here and there is warranted now and then."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hora asked, grimacing at the stickiness on her hands.
"He's saying that we need to be level-headed if we're going to be able to complete our task," Woz answered, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I suppose there's nothing wrong with that logic," Swartz commented, slicing the meat rhythmically.
Suddenly, the entrance to 9 5 DO opened as Sougo and Geiz entered the building. The two greeted Sougo's uncle, before heading into the dining room, greeted by the sight of everyone there.
"What are you all doing?" Geiz furrowed his brows.
…
Sunday, February 24, 2019.
A couple of minutes before noon, Sougo, Geiz, Tsukuyomi and Woz were waiting at a field when an Aurora Curtain appeared as Null walked out.
"You're all here," Null snorted, "So…you all just going to stand there, or are we going to fight?"
Sougo, Geiz and Tsukuyomi placed their Drivers onto their waist and activated their Ridewatches.
[ZI-O!]
[GEIZ!]
[TSUKUYOMI!]
Woz took out his own transformation device, the Beyondriver, a black and neon-green Driver with a clear display in the centre, and a handle on the left side. He then took out his own Ridewatch, the Woz Miridewatch, a black trinket with a silver bezel and a holographic image of his Rider helmet.
[WOZ!]
Slotting the Miridewatch into the Beyondriver's handle-
[ACTION!]
Woz pressed the button on his trinket once again, causing it to split open and reveal the same image of his Rider helmet underneath.
"HENSHIN!"
Sougo, Geiz and Tsukuyomi spun their Drivers around, while Woz slammed the handle of his Driver in.
[RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!/GEIZ!/TSU~KU~YOMI~!]
[TOUEI! FUTURE TIME! SUGOI! JIDAI! MIRAI! KAMEN RIDER WOZ! WOZ!]
As the Kamen Riders transformed, Woz now wore a black and silver suit with neon-green outlines. Running down the centre of his torso was a black watch strap with green outlines, and on his shoulders were large round button-like shoulder pads. Woz's helmet resembled a digital watch, with a grey bezel around his faceplate, the clock hand antennae pointing at ten and two, and his visor spelled out the word 'Rider' in blue katakana.
Zi-O, Geiz, Tsukuyomi and Woz charged at Null as the latter patiently waited for them to arrive.
Tsukuyomi aimed her Faizphone X and started blasting at Null while the others readied their respective weapons.
Null swerved his body while he ran towards his opponents, the energy bullets narrowly passed by as he then halted to a stop and started engaging with the Riders.
Zi-O and Geiz started swinging their sword and axe at Null, the helmeted man in white parried and countered with every chance he could get.
While Null was defending himself well against the black and red Riders, the latter were subtly circling around the former, before letting out a quick slash at Null from both sides.
The man in white snorted and blocked their attacks by raising his forearms. Zi-O and Geiz felt strong resistance as they tried to push their weapons further but noticed that Null was as still as stone.
Null then pushed Zi-O and Geiz away before pivoting his torso as Woz stabbed at him with his Zikan Despear, a black spear with a green blade and a touch panel in the centre. Woz stabbed at Null a few more times, then finished with a shallow swing. Null dropped onto the floor, avoiding the spear, then swept Woz off his feet with a kick.
Before he could continue attacking the silver and green Kamen Rider, Null rolled back as Tsukuyomi fired her gun again. The white and black Rider continued firing as she closed the distance between herself and Null, then she started performing a combo of palms and kicks, firing a shot from her Faizphone X every now and then.
Tsukuyomi let out a roundhouse kick that Null parried, the latter pushing the former's leg back down and countered with a strike to the chest. The female Rider flew back a couple of metres before landing on the ground, while her allies regrouped with her.
Null stretched his neck, letting out loud cracks, before snorting.
'Alright, I think that's enough of a warm-up,' Null pulled out the Another Decade Ridewatch from his pocket and looked at it. 'Time to move on to the next stage.'
Without warning, an Aurora Curtain passed through Null and the Kamen Riders, transporting them to a quarry. The Riders, though caught off guard, did not let the sudden transportation get to them and charged at Null, impressing the latter.
[DECADE!]
Null activated the Anotherwatch and imbued it with his Channel, coating the Ridewatch in crimson red. He raised the trinket high into the air, causing red lightning to shoot out, transforming into a dark cloud that blasted more electricity onto the ground.
Once the abrupt storm died down, appearing before Null were a mix of twelve Kamen Riders, standing like mannequins. The Riders that Null summoned were:
The red, yellow and green, tri-coloured king of Greeed, OOO.
The manifestation of the golden forbidden fruit, Mars.
The betrayed, dark Orphnoch Emperor, Orga.
The green and purple grape armoured soldier, Ryugen.
The black and blue spirit, Specter.
The burning navy-blue dragon, Cross-Z.
The red swordsman of time, Den-O.
The two in one, black and green detective, Double.
The black and blue galactic martial artist, Meteor.
The white swan fencer, Femme.
The white armoured, monster hunting knight, Ixa.
The white, ring-bearing wizard, Wiseman.
Zi-O, Geiz, Woz and Tsukuyomi stumbled slightly in shock at the sudden appearance of their predecessors, but quickly steeled themselves for the upcoming conflict.
Null raised his hand and snapped his fingers, his summoned copies immediately readied their weapons and charged at the present-day Riders.
…
Zi-O locked blades with OOO, the Riders ran in the same direction before the latter lowered his sword and rolled to the side as Mars jumped in and attack Zi-O.
The future King of Time deflected all the gold and red Rider's attacks. Zi-O then kicked Mars back, shifted his weapon into gun mode and started firing at the apple themed Rider. Unfortunately, Mars blocked all the shots with his Apple Reflector, a shield resembling a peeled red apple.
Rushing towards Zi-O, Orga had his phone in blaster mode and fired shots of Photon energy at Zi-O. Eleven of Orga's shots narrowly missed Zi-O, but the Orphnoch's last shot slammed right into the latter's chest.
Zi-O flew back but recovered and shifted his Zikan Girade back into sword mode to block Orga's Orga Stlanzer, a golden, two-pronged longsword. The overlord and Orphnoch emperor continued to clash blades, before Orga transformed his sword into a dagger, the blade compacting into the hilt, leaving the prongs to be visible.
The sudden transformation caused Zi-O to lose the rhythm of the fight, stumbling forward from his forward slash, before getting caught by Orga's Stlanzer as the latter re-extended the blade and slashed Zi-O's side.
…
Geiz was in a shooting match against Ryugen, both Riders firing at each other with their respective weapons. Geiz using his Zikan Zax in bow mode, while Ryugen used his Budou Ryuhou (Grape Dragon Cannon), a revolver with a gatling gun muzzle, with silver engravings on the handle, gold engravings under the barrel, and on the sides with purple orbs, and a green pull hammer reminiscent of grape leaves.
As energy arrows and bullets continued to fly across the battlefield, Geiz was gradually advancing his way towards Ryugen. The grape-armoured Rider's gun ran out of bullets, allowing the Saviour to close the distance, quickly firing an arrow and then followed the attack with a swing of his bow's bladed edges.
While Ryugen narrowly dodged Geiz's shot, Specter blocked Geiz's swing with his Gan Gun Hand (Eye Gun Hand), a blue tanegashima rifle with a blue hand and an orange sliding handle. The Riders traded and blocked each other's attacks, before Specter blocked and redirected Geiz's swing, and slid the handle forward, causing the rifle's hand to curl into a fist, revealing the muzzle.
Geiz reflexively pushed Specter's rifle upwards, causing the blue ghost to fire into the air, before slashing the latter away. Without allowing Geiz a moment to breathe, Cross-Z slugged the former's face, forcing the crimson red Rider to crash to the ground.
Utilising his judo training, Geiz swiftly ukemi'd back onto his feet and avoided Cross-Z's Beat Closer, a broadsword with an empty, black gauge in the centre of the blade, and grip at the bottom of the hilt. Entering another series of clashes, Geiz felt his arms growing numb from Cross-Z's fierce swings.
The two locked blades, both Riders trying to force the other to break their guard. Unluckily for Geiz, the navy-blue dragon pulled the grip at the bottom of his weapon-
[HIPPARE! SMASH HIT!]
-causing the empty gauge to fill up, turning from green to red as it reached the tip.
The Beat Closer ignited with dark blue flames covering the sword. Geiz braced himself as Cross-Z slashed his sword against the Zikan Zax, blowing the Saviour away with explosive force.
…
Woz backed away while Den-O swung his sword wildly, seemingly unending in his assault. The silver and green Rider kept his spear ready to block and/or counter, as Den-O's thuggish fighting style called for discretion. After the red, train-themed Rider let out a wide slash that caused Woz to lean back and counter with a short thrust of his spear.
Den-O tilted his torso slightly, narrowly avoiding the polearm, grabbed the weapon and pulled Woz towards him. The silver and green Rider took the opportunity to ride the momentum, letting go of his weapon and rolled past Den-O, the latter clumsily falling onto his back.
As Woz recovered onto his feet, he raised his arms to quickly block Double's left black foot. The prophet fell onto the ground and rolled to the side as Double raised their right green foot high into the air, and slammed it down into the ground.
The two in one Rider continued to attack Woz, after the latter had finally gotten off the ground and retaliated. The green and black Rider let out an impressive combo of punches and roundhouse kicks, which Woz managed to block and counter with quick jabs and straights.
Double let out another roundhouse with his right foot, a small gust of green wind gathered over it, causing Woz to jump away. However, while he avoided the attack, Woz was still blown away by the amount of pressure Double had created from his kick.
As he was blown back further from Double's attack, Woz found himself being chased by Meteor. The space themed Rider letting out a bicycle kick as Woz blocked the flurry of kicks. Meteor then let out one last kick, pushing Woz further back and the martial artist back flipped onto his feet.
Once Woz skidded onto the ground, he was faced with another barrage from Meteor. The martial artist continued to let out a stream of attacks, his speed and fluidity forced Woz to remain on the defensive. When Meteor seemed to have slowed down, Woz took the opportunity to strike back, letting out a punch to the chest.
However, while the attack landed, Woz felt something touch his stomach. He looked down and saw the tips of Meteor's fingers placed firmly against his abdomen. The silver and green Rider clicked his tongue, while the black and blue Rider curled his fingers and let out a one-inch punch, blowing the latter away.
…
Tsukuyomi fired her gun at Femme, who swiftly pulled a card out of her Advent Deck, and inserted it into her Blancvisor, a rapier with a white, swan-like hilt.
[GUARD VENT!]
Out of nowhere, a white shield with a top, gold edge flew into Femme's hand and blocked the shots. As the swan-themed Rider was within distance, Femme started slashing and stabbing at Tsukuyomi. Both white-clad Kamen Riders began to seemingly dance around each other's attacks. Femme, wielding her shield and rapier, blocked and stabbed, while Tsukuyomi, holding her Faizphone X, would parry and fire.
As they continued to dodge and attack one another, Tsukuyomi dropped low as Femme's sword missed her. The Time Jacker then swept at Femme's feet, knocking the latter over, and aimed her gun at the downed Rider.
Before she could pull the trigger, Tsukuyomi rolled away as Ixa fired the Ixa Calibur, a black gun with golden wings connected to the red core in the hilt, and a very long clip. Bullets continued to fly as Tsukuyomi evaded and returned fire.
The knight Rider pushed the clip into the Ixa Calibur, causing a red ripped blade to extend out of the gun, and began slashing at Tsukuyomi. While Ixa continued to slash at Tsukuyomi, the latter channelled her energy and created a blade of light. With her own melee weapon in hand, Tsukuyomi and Ixa clashed blades.
While the two continued to trade blows, Tsukuyomi pushed Ixa back and blasted a couple of shots at the latter.
[BARRIER, NOW!]
A light gold magical barrier appeared before Ixa, blocking all of Tsukuyomi's shots. The Time Jacker blanched in surprise at the sudden barrier, before her mind returned to the fight and saw Wiseman charging at her with the Hamel Cane, a short, golden tipped spear combined with a flute.
Avoiding the stabs and slashes from Wiseman's weapon, Tsukuyomi retaliated with her own. Wiseman twirled away from Tsukuyomi's energy blade and quickly placed her right hand over her White Wizard Driver.
[SPECIAL, NOW!]
A magical portal appeared over Wiseman's right palm and pointed it at Tsukuyomi. Suddenly, a blast of fire shot out from the portal and slammed into Tsukuyomi, the latter letting out a surprised yelp.
…
Standing on top of the quarry cliff, Null let out a bemused hum, before walking closer inland.
'The copies I created seem to be holding pretty well against the real deal,' Null thought to himself as he looked at the Another Decade Ridewatch, 'Then let's-'
Null's train of thought stopped as he felt time stop. Creeping up behind him, Swartz had a very determined look on his face as he closed in on Null, while Hora stood back, readying herself for what may come.
"You have something of mine," the purple-clad Time Jacker stated, placing a firm hold on the device in Null's hand. Swartz then attempted to reclaim his Ridewatch, only for it to remain in Null's grip.
"I have something else that is also yours," Null retorted, his speech unaffected by Swartz's time power, "And he's not one for talk."
Swartz's time control was cancelled out as another heavy wave rolled through the area, Null ripped his hand away from the Time Jacker and kicked him away. In return, Hora shot out a red energy blast at Null.
The helmeted man in white did not move an inch.
A navy-blue blast of energy connected with Hora's, cancelling out her attack. The Time Jackers looked towards the direction the attack was fired from, before widening their eyes as they saw their attacker.
"H-Heure," Hora gasped out as she saw the blank look on her friend's face. She let out another gasp as Heure fired more blasts at her, forcing her to fight back.
Swartz tried to make his way over to Hora, but found Null stepping in front of him, his back facing towards him.
"Why don't we let them catch up with one another? Besides," Null raised his foot off the ground and kicked Swartz, who managed to block the attack, "You still want your Anotherwatch back, don't you?"
Swartz growled as he stood up and activated his powers, violet energy pulsated over his arms as the Time Jacker started throwing out blasts in rapid succession.
Null swiftly ran past all of Swartz's blasts and started attacking the man. The man in white threw out combos of punches and kicks, while Swartz blocked the attacks thrown at him with his energy covered arms.
Frustration grew within the Time Jacker, as he roared and let out a fierce punch, causing a purple fire to engulf Null. However, Null's hand burst through the flames wrapped around Swartz's neck, lifted the man into the air, before choke slamming him into the ground, extinguishing the fire and revealing Null unharmed.
…
"Heure, please stop!" Hora cried out as she dodged another energy blast. The woman in silver continued to run as she narrowly avoided the barrage of energy thrown at her by her friend. When it seemed that Heure would not stop, Hora steeled herself and started firing back.
Energy blasts flew and kicked up dust as they crashed into the ground. Hora began moving in on Heure, hoping that she would be able to knock some sense into the boy in blue. However, Heure threw an energy blast right at her feet, stopping Hora in her tracks as dust blinded her.
While she tried to keep the dust out of her eyes, Hora felt something tightly wrapping around her arms and stomach and was pulled out of the dust cloud with a great force.
The silver dressed woman crashed into the ground as she saw Heure standing over her. The young boy firmly placed his knee onto Hora's chest, causing her breathing to grow heavier. Heure held out his arm to the side, causing a navy-blue energy blade to shoot out from the tips of his fingers.
Ora struggled as Heure proceeded to stab at her, the former shifting her head from side to side as the blade stabbed the ground next to her head. As Hora continued to avoid Heure's attempts on her life, she looked in the latter's eyes, noticing how they were dull and cloudy.
"Heure please," Hora pleaded, "Don't you remember who I am? It's me, Hora!"
As Heure attempted to stab Hora's face, he stopped as he continued to look at the pained expression on the woman's face.
"I'm sorry Heure," Hora teared up, "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you before, but I'm here now. Please…remember who you are Heure."
"H-Hora?" Heure muttered with a hoarse voice.
"Heure?!"
The boy in blue dispersed his blade and began to clutch his head as it started to burn and throb. He removed his knee from Hora's chest and stumbled back.
…
Just moments before Heure's bouts of remembrance, Swartz was struggling to keep up with Null, spitting out blood from his mouth as he watched the latter warily. The man in white cracked his knuckles and threw out a punch, forcing Swartz to block once again. However, the Time Jacker was feeling fatigued, and his block broke as he stumbled back a couple of steps. Before Swartz could fall back down, Null grabbed the latter's lapel and headbutted him.
The purple-coat let out a groan as he felt his head throb and writhed on the ground. Null was about to continue laying his beat down on Swartz before he heard Heure's cries of pain. The helmeted man looked back to see Heure stumbling around, clutching his head, and throwing out energy blasts haphazardly.
Null hummed in thought as he took out the Another Decade Ridewatch. Just as he was about to activate the trinket, Null felt a strong grip around his arm, causing him to look back and be greeted by a heavy, gloved fist to the face.
As the man in white dropped to the floor, Cipher picked the Anotherwatch up and passed it to Swartz.
"Did you really have to wait that long to make your appearance?" Swartz asked as he rubbed his forehead.
Cipher shrugged before reverting to his ethereal form and planting himself back into Swartz's body.
Swartz growled before activating his Anotherwatch.
[DECADE!]
The dark, growling voice called out as Swartz placed the device against his chest, pushing it into his body. The Time Jacker then transformed into Another Decade, looked down at his returned form and then snorted. Another Decade then started making his way towards his fellow Time Jackers, shooting out his hand as an Aurora Curtain appeared behind Hora and Heure.
"Hora! Move!"
The woman hopped out of the way as Another Decade tackled Heure into the dimensional door, with Hora following them in.
A short moment passed when Swartz and Hora were shot out of the Aurora Curtain, while Heure stepped out unharmed.
"Back already? Looks like you're using that upgrade well" Null commented.
"Yeah, I guess I have to thank you for that," Heure replied as he shot out a wave of temporal freezing. As Null was stuck frozen in time, an energy blade shot out from Heure's hand. "Now, let me repay you for your kindness."
Just as Heure was about to stab Null, the latter swiftly swivelled his torso as the blade just missed him. Heure's eyes widened in shock as he was then met with a dropkick to the face, and was blown back to Swartz and Hora, who were just as shocked.
"You could move during frozen time?" Heure asked as Hora helped him up.
"Well, what do you expect from a man named 'Null'?" Null retorted. "You guys use it so often, it was only a matter of time for me to adjust to it." The man in white then flicked his arm out as his crimson-red aura enveloped him. "And now that you're all together again, you can suffer with each other as well."
Just as Null was about to pounce at the Time Jackers, a loud bang rang throughout the quarry, causing Null to backflip out of harm's way. Poking out from an Aurora Curtain was the smoking barrel of a sniper rifle and stepping out of the portal were Rize and Cipher, the former holding the rifle one-handed.
"And here we finally have the guests of honour," Null patted the dust off his clothes, "I was wondering when you two would show up. It's not kind to keep the host waiting."
"It's called being fashionably late, fuckface," Rize replied, hoisting his rifle over his shoulder.
"Yes. All part of your little plan, no?"
…
"Wait, so let me see if I'm getting this right," Rize said as he held Heure's shoulders down, "Your plan is to get Sougo and the others to fight Null's copy Riders; then get Swartz and Hora to fight Null and Heure, hoping that the latter would break out of his mind control if he recognised Hora; then while Null is beating the shit out of Swartz, you take the Another Decade watch away from Null, give it to Swartz, he opens a portal to our world and you bring Heure here to remove the brainwashing."
"That's about it," Cipher grunted as he held his hands over Heure's head, his Channel washing over the latter's clouded mind.
"…DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING DUMB THAT SOUNDS!?" Rize cried out. "I WOULD KNOW, BECAUSE THAT'S THE KIND OF FUCKING PLAN I WOULD COME UP WITH!" The outraged man then looked at Swartz, who had reverted out of his Another Rider form, and Hora. "AND YOU ALL JUST ROLLED WITH IT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
The Time Jackers merely looked away.
"You do realise, that Null already caught on with this dumb fucking plan, right?!"
"That's kind of the point," Cipher replied. "Besides, he's one to just roll along with shit, until he has to break away from it."
Rize opened his mouth to scream even more, before stopping as he heard Heure awaking from his slumber.
"Where am I?" the boy in blue asked as he sat up. "Hora? Principal Swartz?! What's going on?!"
"Heure!" Hora shouted joyously as she hugged the boy. "You're back!"
"What are you talking about?! And who are these two?"
"I'm Cipher, this is Rize. You were dead, but not really. You've been under mind control by a guy we need your help in beating."
Heure gaped at the sudden influx of information, looking to Swartz and Hora for confirmation. Their blank faces said everything.
"O-okay…what do we do now?" Heure asked.
"Keep up the ruse, Rize and I will follow you three soon."
The Time Jackers then started making their way back to the Aurora Curtain, Heure pushing Swartz and Hora out, before following them.
"Null already knows about this, doesn't he?" Rize asked.
"Oh yeah. But that's still part of the plan."
"Okay, is there any part of the plan that Null won't know?"
Cipher patted Rize on the shoulder.
"Depends. You think you can take him on now?"
Rize huffed as he then summoned a sniper rifle and poked it out of another dimensional doorway.
…
"I know it's been a while since we've met…but I didn't expect you to get so sloppy Cipher," Null retorted. "What? Did all that time training your protégé cause you to lose your touch?"
"Maybe. But, then again, I could ask you the same thing."
Cipher placed his hand on Rize's shoulder, returning into the latter's soul. The outworlder then held his free, right hand over his face as his Channel flared wildly, covering him in a vibrant blue aura.
As Rize steadied himself, he felt an intense feeling growing in his body, just waiting to be released. His eyes sharpened and bared his teeth.
"HENSHIN!"
Rize's energy exploded as he was engulfed in a pillar of light. Null, the Time Jackers, and the Kamen Riders all stopped to look at the light.
A few seconds passed until the light died down.
Standing there, Rize was dressed in all-black, covering every inch of his body, consisting of a high-neck, long-sleeved armoured shirt, leather gloves, slacks, and boots. Over the man's body was his leather jacket and equipped on his head was Cipher's helmet.
As Rize continued to observe his new look, Null let out a chuckle.
"Well, I must say, this is a surprise," the man in white said. "So, what should I call you?"
"Kamen Rider…Cipher."
The man in white snorted, lightly shook his head, then sighed. Without warning, Null Channelled a revolver into his hand and started firing, emptying the cylinder.
The bullets landed against the lightly armoured man, causing R(ize)-Cipher to step back a couple of steps. While pain did surge throughout his body, Rize felt his powers going to work, as the pain subsided quite quickly.
R-Cipher raised his rifle and fired back. He then ran to Null, and once he was within distance, the man in black flipped his firearm around, holding the rifle's long barrel and swung it like a bat.
After a couple of swings, Null dispersed his gun and created a longsword. With great proficiency, Null immediately broke the rifle and turned around to slash R-Cipher in the back. However, to both of their surprise, R-Cipher transformed the broken rifle in his hand into his usual wooden sword and blocked Null's strike.
The two outworlders struggled, trying to break each other's defence. While Null was seemingly about to win, Cipher appeared behind R-Cipher's shoulder, planted a firm hand onto his partner and kicked Null in the head.
As Null reeled back from the attack, he quickly recovered and evaded the quick flurry of strikes from the Rider's sword.
"You got this?" Cipher asked. He was greeted by a short moment of silence, before Rize glanced at him and nodded. "Alright then. If you don't mind, I'm gonna go ahead and give our friends some assistance." As he was about to make his way to the lower levels of the quarry, the ethereal man said to the Time Jackers, "Good work you three, get to safety, we'll meet up later."
The former villains nodded as Swartz created another Aurora Curtain that he and his allies entered, leaving the quarry.
…
Tsukuyomi raised her arm to block a strike from Femme, before being blown away by Ixa's kick.
As the white-clad Time Jacker was about to crash into the ground, her momentum was immediately halted. Tsukuyomi looked back to see Cipher helping her get back onto her feet.
"Cipher? Why are you here?"
"Just doing my rounds, you alright?"
"I'll be honest, these Riders Null created are pretty strong."
"Would you like some assistance?" Cipher asked. Tsukuyomi nodded. "Alright then," the man in black then stepped behind Tsukuyomi and placed his hand on her back, "this, will only tickle a little bit.'
Before Tsukuyomi could say anything, Cipher phased into the woman's body, embedding himself into her soul.
Wiseman ran up to the possessed Rider, preparing to ambush the latter with a back slash.
However, C(ipher)-Tsukuyomi countered with a back kick, blowing the mage Kamen Rider away. Then, as Ixa and Femme were about to blindside the possessed Rider, C-Tsukuyomi channelled their energy into their feet and let out a triple roundhouse combo. With each kick, long blades of light shot out from the bottom of the moon-themed Rider's feet, and with the final kick, the blade of light transformed into a chainsaw and sawed at the enemy.
While Tsukuyomi herself was shocked by the sudden boost in strength, and unorthodox usage of her powers, Cipher took the opportunity to perform a pose. With the left arm bent, the thumb, index and pinkie extended, C-Tsukuyomi had their right arm crossed over the left, with the thumb and index pointing out.
"In the name of the moon! You will be punished!"
"Oh, come on! Really!?" Tsukuyomi cried out, breaking out of the Sailor Guardian's pose.
'Don't act like it wasn't on your mind in the first place.'
The woman growled with annoyance.
'Alright, alright, I had my fun. Now, allow me to repay you for my sudden intrusion.'
C-Tsukuyomi placed a hand over the Ridewatch holder on their wrist, and with a brief flash of light, took out an unfamiliar silver Ridewatch with a white bezel.
[NADESHIKO!]
The rider then inserted the Nadeshiko Ridewatch into the left slot of the Ziku-Driver, and spun it.
[ARMOUR TIME! NADESHIKO~!]
Slamming onto C-Tsukuyomi's body were four aquamarine blue rocket propellants connected to their lower arms and legs, on their torso was chest armour with two rockets strapped to their back, and on the top of their helmet were blue fins with a solar panel design.
Digging their feet into the ground, the engines on C-Tsukuyomi's arms and legs let out orange flames, as the space-armoured Rider then blasted forward, slamming into the enemy Riders. The airborne Rider continued to fly around at incredible speeds, becoming a blur in the air.
After rounding up the other female Kamen Riders, C-Tsukuyomi hovered high in the air and activated their finisher, pressing the button on both Ridewatches and spun the driver once again.
[FINISH TIME! NADESHIKO!]
[LIMIT! TIME JACK!]
With the engines on her firing up once again, the flames then became a burning blue as C-Tsukuyomi gained altitude and started corkscrewing. The speeding Rider turned around and started crashing towards the copy Riders.
Without giving them a chance to run, C-Tsukuyomi drilled right through her opponents. The engines died down as the armoured Rider skidded to a stop, kicking up dirt behind while the copies Null created fell to the ground and exploded.
Cipher immediately left Tsukuyomi's body, gave her a brief apology, before running off to help Woz.
…
Woz was knocked back after a kick from Double, which was then followed up by Meteor's punch. As the prophet crashed onto the ground, Den-O was about to strike Woz down with his sword. But, just as the blade was about to descend, Cipher appeared behind the red Rider and had a strong grip around the sword.
Cipher kicked Den-O's back, the latter tumbling away, before picking Woz up.
"Mind if I step in?" Cipher asked once Woz was back on his feet.
The prophet let out a sigh, and turned around, a chill ran down his spine as Cipher possessed him.
C-Woz then opened the driver's lever and pulled out a large, silver Miridewatch shaped like a pocketwatch, with a display on the right side. On the left side, C-Woz swiped down a wheel inside the watch, changing the display icon to an image of Woz's faceplate, before pressing down the button on the device, placing it into the Driver's slot, and slammed the lever shut.
[GINGA! ACTION! TOUEI! FINALY TIME!]
[GIN-GIN-GIN-GALAXY! UCHUU NO KANATA NO FANTASY! WOZ GINGA FINALY! FINALY!]
Bombastic music began to play as a projection of planets shot out from the Beyondriver. The planets then started to revolve around C-Woz, while the galaxy with a sun swirled in front of them.
The planets the aligned themselves like a cross, and the projection slammed onto the Rider's body.
On the Kamen Rider's torso was bluish-black chest armour, with two planets on both shoulder pieces and the watch strap, an image of the sun in the centre of the armour, two UFOs on top of the shoulder armour, and flowing down the back was a cape. On C-Woz's helmet, the visor and clock hand antennae were now gold, and connecting the antennae was an image of Earth.
With cosmic energy surging throughout the Rider, C-Woz just stood there while Den-O, Double and Meteor charged at them. Just as the trio were about to attack, C-Woz's cape spread out and wrapped itself around the Kamen Riders.
…
Floating around in pitch blackness, the trio of Riders Null created quickly covered their eyes as a massive Sun bloomed, with C-Woz in front of it.
The galaxy armoured Rider held up his hand as all the planets of the Solar System were moved by sudden gravitational pull. C-Woz then lowered his hand towards the enemy and commanded the planets to attack.
Saturn's rings flew towards the Riders, sawing through them, while Mercury started flying around and rounded the Riders up. Earth then enveloped C-Woz's enemy into its water, when the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, crashed into Earth and the submerged Riders, freezing them stiff. Continuing the onslaught, Venus and Mars collided with one another, creating a massive explosion, before Jupiter slammed the copy Kamen Riders and knocked them hurtling towards the Sun.
C-Woz gradually flew away from the overkill he had caused, before holding his hand over the Sun. Forcefully, the possessed prophet closed his hand over the Sun, and once he clenched his fist, the massive star exploded.
…
Back in the quarry, C-Woz's cape flapped open as the Kamen Rider landed back onto the floor.
Letting out a sigh, Cipher stepped out of Woz's body, quickly holding the latter up before he could collapse.
"My…such power…" Woz gasped out, before looking into Cipher's visor. "A bit overkill, don't you think?"
"Trust me, I could've done a lot worse." Cipher then proceeded to make his way over to Geiz but stopped. The man in black then sighed before turning back to Woz. "Say, mind helping me with something?"
…
In his Shippu form, Geiz Revive was bouncing around with his enhanced speed, avoiding the shots fired by Ryugen and Specter, as well as Cross-Z's sword. Though Geiz had been powered up, whenever he went to swipe at the enemy with his Zikan Jaclaw, they either avoided at the last second, or regarding Cross-Z, had enough strength to block the slashes and remain unmoving.
'That's not good,' Geiz thought to himself, 'But, I can't say I'm surprised, considering how strong Null is-"
Though preoccupied with his thoughts, Geiz quickly avoided another round of bullets from Ryugen's gun. However, as he swerved around, Specter's Gan Gun Hand caught Geiz's leg, and without warning, the latter was tossed towards Cross-Z, who had his Beat Closer ready to attack.
But before the blade could even be swung, Cipher flew in and dropkicked the blue dragon Kamen Rider away and landed on the ground.
Time slowed down for Geiz as he continued to fly towards Cipher, who did not move out of the way. Instead, the ethereal man cocked back an open hand and thrust it at Geiz's face. The flying Saviour could not retort or shout as Cipher's palm connected with his face.
Dust exploded around Cipher and Geiz, cloaking them from the enemy. Regardless, Ryugen and Specter fired into the dust cloud, hoping to hit the two, while Cross-Z charged in with a charged Beat Closer.
[POWERED TIME!]
[RE-VI-I-VE! GORETSU! (GORETSU!)]
The dust cloaking C-Geiz was blown away as they shifted into Geiz Revive Goretsu. In this form, the body armour closed in, becoming bulky and orange, with the hourglass on the helmet and armour also becoming shades of orange.
C-Geiz's claw transformed into a powered saw that was grinding against Cross-Z's sword. With the two weapons continuing to clash, Cross-Z was beginning to feel his body being pushed back, before being blown away as C-Geiz broke the copy Riders guard.
Noticing the substantial increase in power, Specter charged at the possessed Kamen Rider, while Ryugen laid covering fire.
C-Geiz was not provoked in the slightest, as they removed the GeizRevive Ridewatch and then took out another Ridewatch from behind. In the Rider's hand was a large, bulky red Ridewatch with gears surrounding the gold bezel.
[GEIZ MAJESTY!]
When C-Geiz activated the Ridewatch, extending out from the sides were front profile images of past secondary Heisei Kamen Riders. The Ridewatch's activation caused a massive blast of air to not only blow away Ryugen's blasts, but also Specter himself.
Inserting the Ridewatch into their driver, C-Geiz spun the belt around.
[MAJESTY TIME!]
[G3, KNIGHT, KAIXA, GARREN, IBUKI, GATTACK~! ZERONOS, IXA, DIEND, ACCEL~! BIRTH, METEOR, BEAST, BARON! MACH, SPECTER, BRA~VE! CRO~SS-Z! KAMEN RIDER~! GEIZ! MAJE~STY!]
As the jingle played, revolving around C-Geiz were large golden rings and various Ridewatches. The rings then lined up horizontally and compacted before floating upwards, covering the Rider in a bright, golden light.
While the ring scanned C-Geiz, golden pieces of armour formed over the Rider's legs, arms, torso and shoulders, with a gold cape flowing down their back. C-Geiz's helmet also turned gold, with his visor becoming a darker shade of yellow and having red outlines.
The Ridewatches then slammed themselves onto C-Geiz's body armour, and a copy of their own Ridewatch placed itself onto the forehead of the helmet.
Once C-Geiz Majesty's transformation was completed, the Rider did not hesitate to begin activating the Ridewatches on his body.
[G3-X!]
[KAIXA!]
[BRAVE!]
The projections of the respective Ridewatches appeared beside C-Geiz, as the three past Kamen Riders ran out.
G3-X, a dark blue, police-themed Kamen Rider wearing bulky armour, held in his hand the GX-05 Cerberus, an attache case with buttons labelled '1', '2', and '3'. On the side of the case, the police Rider pressed the buttons, 1, 3, and 2, in that order.
[Releasing Safety.]
G3-X unfolded the attache case, transforming it into a large portable gatling gun. The dark blue Rider opened fire, spreading massive bullets at the enemy. While Specter and Cross-Z managed to evade, Ryugen was caught in the firing line, sparks flying off the armoured Rider as he was then blown away.
Specter rolled onto his feet and aimed his rifle at G3-X. But before the blue ghost could fire his shot, a burst of gunfire forced the Rider to move once again.
Kaixa, a black suited Rider with yellow lines, crossing from his shoulder armour, over his chest and down his legs, aimeds his Kaixa Blaygun, a gun shaped like a gold 'X', and fired another burst at Specter.
Specter charged at Kaixa once the latter had seemingly run out of ammunition, firing a couple of shots from his Gan Gun Hand.
[Ready!]
From the bottom of Kaixa's Blaygun, a yellow blade shot out and slashed the shots away. Kaixa then slashed his blade and clashed with Specter's rifle. After a couple more clashes, Kaixa fired off one more round from his weapon, catching Specter off guard as Kaixa followed the shot with a quick downward slash.
Brave, a light cyan-blue, knight themed Kamen Rider, parried Cross-Z's sword with his own. The Gashacon Sword had still orange flames covering the blade, with a rectangular silver and blue cross guard with a large orange 'A' button and a large light blue 'B' button.
After clashing their blades a couple of times, Cross-Z pushed Brave back and pulled the lever of his Beat Closer twice.
[HIPPARE! MILLION HIT!]
Cross-Z let out a swing, sending out a slash that looked like equalizer bars.
Brave quickly slapped the 'A' button on his Gashacon Sword-
[KO-CHIN!]
-the blade turned around, changing the orange flames into clear blue ice. The knight Rider pressed the 'B' button a couple of times, charging the ice on his sword and let out a freezing wave, stopping Cross-Z's attack and blowing the dragon Rider away.
Ryugen, Specter and Cross-Z were rounded up by C-Geiz's summoned Riders. The possessed Saviour and their helpers nodded to each other as the latter disappeared back to their own time.
'Alright,' Cipher thought to Geiz, 'You're up Geiz.'
C-Geiz reached to the Ridewatch on his forehead and activated the device.
[GEIZ!]
A projection of Geiz's Ridewatch appeared beside the possessed Rider as Geiz's base form stepped out. Cipher then leapt out of Kamen Rider Geiz Majesty and into the second Kamen Rider Geiz.
Both Riders then activated the Ridewatches on their Drivers, then spun them around.
[FINISH TIME!]
[TIME BURST!]
[MAJESTY! IL SALVATORE TIME BURST!]
Geiz Majesty leapt high into the air, while C-Geiz followed him afterwards. With energy pooling around his left foot, Geiz Majesty then let out a Rider Kick and started flying towards the enemy trio. As he was about to make contact, C-Geiz turned ethereal and combined himself with Geiz, causing the energy around the latter's foot to flow wildly and zoom past the enemy.
As Geiz skidded to a halt, Ryugen, Specter and Cross-Z exploded in defeat. Cipher then hopped out of Geiz's body and started making haste.
"H-Hey!" Geiz cried out, "Don't just run off! We need to talk about what just happened!"
"Sorry! Can't hear you! Running out of time!"
…
Zi-O II was quickly backing away while blocking Mars and Orga's blades with his own. While he continued to parry the copy Rider's blades, OOO extended his Tiger claws and leapt at the Overlord. Mars and Orga pushed Zi-O back and stepped out of the way as the tri-coloured Rider slashed his claws down.
Just as OOO's was about to land his attack, Cipher hopped into Zi-O's body and quickly recovered the stumbling Rider back onto his feet. C-Zi-O then used the Zikan Girade to block OOO's claws, then used the Zikan Saikyo to slash the king of Greeed away.
'Cipher?' Sougo asked, before letting out a sigh. 'Thanks for the help.'
'No problem now let's quickly finish this one up,' Cipher replied before replacing the Zi-O II Ridewatch with the original Zi-O Ridewatch, and then taking out the Grand Zi-O Ridewatch, a similar looking device to Geiz Majesty's, but in gold.
[GRAND ZI-O!]
C-Zi-O inserted the Grand Zi-O Ridewatch into the driver and let its standby announcement play.
[*Arcle transformation sound*, *Altering transformation sound*, ADVENT! COMPLETE! TURN UP! *Onkaku ringing* CHANGE BEETLE! SWORD FORM! WAKE UP! KAMEN RIDE! CYCLONE! JOKER! TAKA! TORA! BATTA! 3, 2, 1! SHABADOOBI TOUCH TO HENSHIN! SOIYA! DRIVE! KAIGAN! LEVEL UP! BEST MATCH! RIDER TIME!]
Appearing behind C-Zi-O, a golden palace emerged from the ground as well as past Heisei Kamen Riders. The possessed Rider then spun the Driver around.
[GRAND TIME!]
[KUUGA, AGITO, RYUKI, FAIZ, BLA~DE! HIBIKI, KABUTO, DEN-O, KIVA, DECA~DE! DOUBLE, OOO, FOURZE~! WIZARD, GAIM, DRIVE~! GHOST! EX-AID! BUILD~! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRAND ZI-O~!]
While the announcement played, the past Kamen Riders were enclosed behind golden gates before shrinking down in size and slammed themselves onto C-Zi-O's body. The Rider's armour turned gold as the gates on their armour opened to reveal golden statues of the past Riders. Finally, on C-Zi-O's helmet, a gold statue of the Rider's base form appeared.
The golden Rider pressed the statue on his right thigh-
[KABUTO!]
[CLOCK UP!]
-and a wave of heaviness slammed over the area, causing C-Grand-Zi-O's enemies to stop moving. C-Zi-O then pressed the statue on his upper left leg.
[DRIVE!]
Driving past the possessed King was Kamen Rider Drive's Tridoron, a red custom 1992 Honda NSX with a black top, two white racing stripes, and a pair of extra tyres hanging above the back. The red machine was speeding around, kicking up dirt while drifting around and slamming the enemy Riders with its body. As the Tridoron returned to its original time, the Clock Up effect had ran out and the copy Riders fell to the ground in regular time.
As the enemy slowly tried to get back onto their feet, the gold Rider activated the statues on his right shoulder and arm.
[KUUGA!]
[RYUKI!]
Flying over the Riders was the Dragreder, a large, metal Chinese red dragon with a sword for a tail. The Contact Monster continued to circle around in the air, before hovering over C-Zi-O. The gold Rider held his right hand out, silently commanding the dragon to shoot a large fireball. As the fireball rocketed towards the enemy, C-Zi-O continued to focus, before shallowly thrusting his already extended hand.
Dragreder's fireball grew exponentially as it crashed into the copy Riders, creating a great explosion. OOO, Mars and Orga were blown back once again as C-Zi-O activated the Ridewatches on their Driver.
"Sougo! Let's finish this!"
"Right!"
[FINISH TIME! GRAND ZI-O! ALL TWENTY TIME BREAK!]
All of the statues on C-Zi-O's body glowed bright, activating and summoning all past nineteen Heisei Kamen Riders. The Riders then leapt into the air and let out Rider Kicks, falling towards the copy Riders as a barrage of kicks slammed through them.
The gold Rider continued to stand there until the last Rider landed their attack. Then, with a quick charge to their right leg, C-Grand-Zi-O let out a swift roundhouse kick, sending out a golden wave that sliced through OOO, Mars and Orga as they exploded once last time.
Letting out a sigh, Cipher hopped out of Sougo's body, as the future overlord undid his transformation. Sougo's forehead was beaded with sweat and panted for air as he dropped to his knees.
"Sorry 'bout that, you alright?" Cipher breathed out as he held out a hand.
"I'm alright, I'm alright," Sougo laid down on the floor. "That was pretty tiring though."
"Yeah, I think by the time I started fighting with Geiz, was when I started to get a bit winded myself." Cipher then collapsed onto the ground as well. 'Man…it's been a long time since I tired myself out like this…' Cipher's thoughts paused as he turned his head towards the upper levels of the quarry, where the sounds of gunfire and clashing steel rang out. The man then chuckled. 'Sorry I can't help you out yet Rize…but I have faith that you'll be able to kick Null's ass…'
…
R-Cipher flew back and slammed into a wall, he raised his wooden sword to lock blades with Null once again. The Rider kicked Null in the stomach, forcing the latter away, then he activated his Channel and shot out a fire blast from his left hand.
While R-Cipher continued to shoot out flames from his hand as he marched towards Null, a strong gust of wind cancelled out the flames. A spear darted towards the Rider in black as he quickly hopped back from the pointed tip.
Back on the offensive, Null let out a few swift swings, before pouring his energy into the spear and let out a fierce thrust.
R-Cipher blocked the spear with his sword, but from that thrust, a dozen more slammed into the Rider's weapon. The man in black continued to hold his guard but felt his arms grow numb as more invisible yet powerful thrusts stabbed at him. Once his guard broke, R-Cipher felt a heavy slam to the face as he fell onto the floor.
'Alright…I'm a lot better than I used to be, but Null is still kicking my ass,' Rize thought to himself, groaning groggily as he got back up. 'Man, this is a really bad debut as a -wait a minute…I'm a Kamen Rider.' Looking down at his waist, R-Cipher dispelled his weapon and then held his hands over his abdomen.
Null, deciding to observe his opponent, noticed a slight change in the air. It was when he was a glow around R-Cipher's waist, that Null made a move.
Before Null could reach the Rider, a heavy wind blew the former away, as a Ziku-Driver formed around R-Cipher's waist. R-Cipher then saw Zi-O's Ridewatch in his hand and let out a hum.
"Alright," the Rider muttered to himself, "there are a few ways that this can play out…ah, fuck it, let's just do this."
[ZI-O!]
R-Cipher inserted the device into his Driver and then spun it around.
[RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!]
Zi-O's transformation sequence occurred as Rize's outfit was then replaced with the Kamen Rider's bodysuit and helmet. Just as Rize had transformed into Zi-O, Cipher and the other Kamen Riders, who had all undone their transformations, had reached the upper levels of the quarry, catching a glimpse of the tail end of the outworlder's transformation.
"What…?" Tsukuyomi muttered as she looked over to Sougo, who was just as confused as she was.
"Rize transformed in Zi-O?" Geiz let out a breath of disbelief.
"It looks like it," was all Sougo said as he looked down at his own Zi-O Ridewatch, still in his hand.
Woz quickly went to his Advent Calendar, proficiently opening to the page that was vandalised by Rize, Cipher and Null's arrival. Underneath the sole line on the page, a new one formed out of nowhere.
From the disarray of history, overcoming all overwhelming odds, a new Rider shall be born.
"REJOICE!"
Cipher's cry caught Sougo and his friends offguard, while Rize and Null calmly turned their head to the helmeted man, who was standing on a higher cliff, with his arms spread out and his head faced towards the sun.
"FOR TODAY! IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW AGE! AN UNOFFICIAL AGE! ONE THAT SHALL REMAIN UNKNOWN TO HISTORY! AND ONLY KNOWN TO THOSE BLESSED TO BE HERE!"
Cipher then motioned his hand over to R-Zi-O.
"HIS NAME IS KAMEN RIDER (Rize-)CIPHER ZI-O!"
Conflicting atmospheres clashed throughout the quarry. Ranging from awkward and confused (Geiz and Tsukuyomi), to impressed (Sougo), to annoyance (Woz), to amused (Rize, and to an extent Null) and finally pride from the crier himself.
Cipher reverted to his spirit form and flew back to Rize's body.
'Good to see you're enjoying yourself,' Rize mentally communicated to Cipher.
'Hey man, I'm just proud to see my boy!' Cipher replied. 'Besides, don't tell me you're not excited about this, are you?"
Rize merely snorted, and underneath his helmet, had a very rare toothy grin.
[BGM – OVER 'QUARTZER' – SHUTA SUEYOSHI FT. ISSA]
Sougo and the others jumped a little as they suddenly heard the high notes of a piano that led into upbeat electronic drums.
"Where's that music coming from?" Geiz asked as he scanned the area.
Meanwhile, as the unmasked Kamen Riders continued to search for the source of the music, R-Zi-O let out a chuckle, his spirits rising as he took out the Zikan Girade. The Kamen Rider then charged at Null; the latter slightly surprised by the change in attitude before he readied his spear began defending himself.
The Rider's attacks almost seemed to blur with how fast and aggressive he slashed his blade. R-Zi-O let out a side kick as he pushed Null back. The latter skidded on his feet before stopping, then Null poured his Channel into his spear and let out a thrust, holding the back end of the pole with one hand.
R-Zi-O blocked the spear with his sword, pivoting his body as if he was about to parry. Instead, the blade of the Zikan Girade began to fold in, causing Null to stiffen slightly as R-Zi-O's sword transformed into a gun. After changing form, the Rider pulled the trigger and landed a head shot.
Null, shocked that he had fallen for the sudden attack, inadvertently dropped his weapon as he fell onto his back. The man in white immediately ukemi'd, backflipped, and pulled out an assault rifle and fired.
As the bullets flew, R-Zi-O's visor glowed, and time slowed down. R-Zi-O looked around, moving at normal speed as he saw the bullet crawling towards him, while the others were still like mannequins. Rize's instincts hit him as he quickly dropped to the floor and fired his gun. Time resumed as Null was blown away once again.
'Holy shit, did…I just slow down time?' Rize thought to himself as he reverted his weapon back to sword mode.
'…I see,' Cipher began, 'I think I know what's happening. Because of your Channel, you've awakened special properties within different Kamen Riders.'
'So, with Zi-O, I gained the ability to control time?' R-Zi-O raised his sword to block the pair of dual blades Null created.
'To an extent I would suppose.'
Pushing Null's blades to the side, R-Zi-O focused on his new Rider form power and quickly sped up time. Unable to immediately match up with the change in speed, Null turned around too far and spun past the Rider. R-Zi-O let out a horizontal slash, causing Null to fly away once more, then reverted time's speed back to normal.
'Sweet. Can't wait to see what the other Riders can do. But let's finish this for the time being.'
[FINISH TIME! TIME BREAK!]
Magenta energy pooled at the bottom of R-Zi-O's foot as he leapt high into the air. As Null was recovering from the sudden changes in time, he looked up to see the Rider preparing to use his finishing move.
Rize's spirit was at an all-time high as his grin threatened to split his face. He took in a deep breath as he started to dive at Null.
"RIDER! KICK!"
Kicking his foot out, R-Zi-O rocketed towards Null who quickly held his swords up to guard the attack. Once the Rider Kick met with the swords, there was a brief struggle as Null felt his arms beginning numb, while his swords rattled against each other. Not wanting to let this opportunity to go to waste, R-Zi-O thrust his arms out and applied more pressure behind his kick.
"CHANNEL! OVERDRIVE!"
R-Zi-O's was cloaked in his Channel, then zoomed straight through Null, the latter was engulfed in a contained explosion as the Rider's transformation automatically undid itself.
[BGM END]
Rize was completely drenched in sweat, and as he was about to collapse onto his front, Cipher quickly appeared and propped his friend up.
Sougo and the others hurried over to Rize and Cipher to check up on the two.
As this was happening, a loud groan came out from a crater as Null got up out of the shallow hole.
"He's still alive?" Sougo asked. The Riders then readied themselves for another fight before Null held a placating hand towards them.
"You're sorely underestimating me if you think that, that, was enough to kill me. But, for now, I shall concede defeat."
The Kamen Riders looked with wide eyes at the sudden concession from Null.
"There'd be nothing else to gain by continuing this fight. Besides, I'd say that I too am guilty of underestimating you all as well." Null looked to Rize, who was straining to keep himself awake. "Impressive attempt for your first fight back, but don't let it get to your head, the next time we meet, it'll be a lot more difficult for you and Cipher." Snapping his fingers, an Aurora Curtain appeared behind Null as he turned on his heels and walked towards the dimensional doorway. As Null passed through the Aurora Curtain, he gave Rize, Cipher and the Kamen Riders a quick wave before disappearing from the world.
There was a long silence. The six just stood there, staring at where their opponent once was. While the Riders were processing Null's words, they were interrupted by the sound of a soft chuckle. The four turned to look at Rize, who had a tired grin on his face, chuckling as his eyes closed.
'I did…I finally won my first fight!' Rize thought to himself. The very sweaty man then leaned back and fell onto the ground, basking in the sun's afternoon rays.
Even though Rize had a long way to go, and his journey would become even more difficult, for the first time, in a very long time, Rize felt pride and accomplishment.
Author's Note
Tsukuyomi's Nadeshiko RideArmour not so subtly inspired/taken from ibara (K_E_N_C_H_I on Twitter)