Rider Time Zi-O: Roze from Remnant
Chapter 114.5 – The Limitless Possibilities of Zi-O
Woz was currently on a safety railing, sitting on it as he was facing a cliff-side road while reading his book. He let out a hum as a Ride Striker sped by, Sougo and Weiss on it. Letting out a small smile, he turned his attention back to the pages of his book.
"Rejoice for Tokiwa Sougo has collected the Ridewatches of all the Primary Heisei Riders!" Woz narrated with a celebratory tone, "By following the words of Oma Zi-O he has obtained Grand Zi-O and through a mess of events occurring after one another, has dealt with our constant foes the Time Jackers. Our enemies are completely shattered… but there are other threats that loom for him and Miss Rose…"
He closed his book as he shifted his body, soon staring out at the ocean beyond him.
"…however before we get to the next important step in my Overlords journey," Woz continued, "It would be best for him to understand his new abilities and just how far they reach."
Earth – Early July 2019
"Was that Woz sitting on that railing…?" Weiss asked as she held onto Sougo.
"Wait, was it?" Sougo asked, having been paying attention to the road, "I mean… Woz is Woz, he's weird like that."
"Sometimes I hate the fact that we're so accepting of that," Weiss sighed before deciding to get back on track, "So how much farther?"
"Just a bit longer…" Sougo said as he continued to speed down the road, heading through a tunnel for a while before making his way out and into a more forested area, "Here we go…"
"Yeah, this place will be perfect," Weiss said as she loosened her grip once Sougo began to slow down.
"Alright," Sougo said as he began to slow down further before starting to coast, soon braking, "Here we go."
"Perfectly secluded, good cover," Weiss said as she dismounted the motorcycle, "And a few good free patches of field for anything bigger than usual."
"Thank you Penny," Sougo said as he took off his helmet before dismissing the Ride Striker, grabbing the Ridewatch and pocketing it, "She really came in handy for finding some good spots for training."
"Well given she can fly around at high speeds, she is useful in that regard," Weiss agreed as she began to move further into the forest, finding a good small patch of land that had few trees, "We should be good here."
"Sweet," Sougo said as he hurried over before bringing out his Ziku Driver, "Let's get started…"
"I'm admittedly surprised you're up for this," Weiss spoke up as she began to back away, already knowing what was about to happen, "You usually groan at training to better yourself."
"Well in this case the training is fun," Sougo explained with a wry smile as he loaded his Base and GrandZi-O Ridewatches into his Ziku Driver before striking his transformation stance, "Henshin!"
[GRAND TIME! IWAE! KAMEN RIDER~! GRAND ZI-O~!]
All 20 Heisei Riders from Kuuga to Zi-O erupted from the ground on both sides of Sougo alongside the gold tower. The Heisei Riders were secured in their gold gateways before the gateways latched onto Sougo, a flash of gold occurring as he transformed into Kamen Rider Grand Zi-O.
"I've seen it a few times by now, and yet it still impresses," Weiss remarked, "Especially the shortened jingle."
"Oh yeah, that's very useful," Zi-O nodded as he looked himself over, "Alright… so who should I pick first?"
"Just make sure you aim properly," Weiss spoke up as she kept herself a considerable distance.
"I don't think that'll be an issue," Zi-O chuckled before pressing the Gaim Statuette.
[GAIM!]
A gateway opened up for Gaim and slid back to reveal Gaim in Orange Arms… and also that he was currently lying in a bed.
Weiss stared and blinked a few times, "…what?"
"What?" Zi-O asked his girlfriend as he tilted his head.
"I thought you summoned them doing an attack?" Weiss asked before gesturing at Gaim, "What kind of attack is this?"
"Oh right, that's a common misconception," Zi-O admitted as he gestured to Gaim who was currently mulling on the bed, "I basically pull a Rider out of history to use, and this is part of Gaim's history so…"
"Sougo was this training an excuse for you to mess around with Grand Zi-O…?" Weiss asked as her eyes began to twitch, soon morphing into a glare.
"Eep," Zi-O held up his hands, "I just want to see how far I can go with my powers is all! And doing silly stuff like this helps with testing!"
"I swear to…" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose as she began to pace around. She took a few deep breaths before gesturing towards her boyfriend, "Please… continue!"
"Yes ma'am," Zi-O nodded as Gaim and the bed faded away. Once the fruit Rider was gone, Zi-O began to look over his body for his next summon, "Now for…"
[BLADE!]
A gateway opened up, the two viewing what looked to be Kamen Rider Garren slowly collapsing on a beach with Blade rushing over to the Rider's aid.
Blade went to help Garren brace, "Tachibana-"
BANG!
Garren had immediately shot Blade in the chest, sending the Rider flying backwards and through the gate Grand Zi-O had made.
"Huh, so I can do something like this too," Zi-O said as he put a hand to his chin.
"What was even the context?" Weiss questioned.
"Blade's battles were… odd at points to say the least when it came to how people chose to act," Zi-O admitted as he watched Blade fade away, at least from what history he was able to see of Blade and pull from, "Alright…"
[W!]
A gateway opened up and slid back to reveal Kamen Rider W in Heat Joker… except his right hand was a stuffed cow doll. W was currently screaming as he stared at his hand in shock with Philip trying to calm him down.
"Calm down, Shotaro!" Philip called out.
"But my hand, it's a cow!" W protested.
"We just need to change Memories," Philip insisted as he had the stuffed cow hand draw the Luna Memory, swapping Heat for it in the W Driver.
"My hand… cow… hand…" W stammered out while this was going on.
[LUNA! JOKER!]
Transforming into Luna Joker, the stuffed cow dissolved to reveal two plastic leaves that fell to the ground.
"Okay, now that's my hand," W said before stretching his Luna arm outwards and wrapping it around a tree.
"I feel like if you really wanted to you could've gone for a Luna Joker that had the attack already prepared," Weiss sighed but she was curious, "How did that even happen?"
"They were fighting this Dopant that could change like the biology of something," Zi-O said, "I think his name was Jeans?"
"As in denim…?" Weiss asked with a raised brow, "I think you mean Gene as in Genetics."
"Ah right, that," Zi-O nodded, "But yeah, the Heisei Riders aren't always so cool and collected… we have our embarrassing moments too."
"…you wouldn't happen to have anything for Build would you?" Weiss asked curiously.
"Oh?" Zi-O held a mischievous tone as he heard this, "And why would you be so curious?"
"Let's just say I may want some ammo to take Sento down a few pegs," Weiss smirked.
"I think I can give you two at least," Zi-O said as he tapped the Build statuette.
[BUILD!]
Build was currently in RabbitRabbit, having pulled away from something as he was summoned. He was also holding… a plain silver can that had the word 'Genius' on it.
"Huh? Wow…" Build was stunned and in shock, "How did you do that…?"
"What?" Weiss asked confused.
"Evolt learned how to do a magic trick and replaced Genius with that," Zi-O gestured at the confused and in awe Build, "And that basically lost Sento the fight."
"Oh I'm never letting him live this down," Weiss smirked, as while she was glad that Sento and the Build Riders had helped their group out a great deal, she needed something to knock Sento off his high horse every now and again.
"Oh there's another one," Zi-O smiled as the Build in front of them disappeared before he tapped the Build Statuette again, "This time he was on the run because the entire country was mind controlled into hating him, and he had finally hidden but…"
[BUILD!]
Build was in RabbitTank and in a sitting position, giving a light squeal of joy as two adorable dogs had also been summoned via Grand Zi-O's power.
"Oh, little angels…!" Build cooed as he held his Build Phone up, taking pictures, "Come here. Come on. I won't bite."
The two watched as Build was trying to get more pictures of the dogs and also have them get closer towards him so he could give them a pet. The two dogs moved away from him bit by bit, Build scooting further after them.
"Okay, fine, I'll go to you," Build said as he scooted further from where he was sitting, "There we go! Say cheese!"
The two dogs let out a low whine before running off in the direction of Weiss and Zi-O before vanishing. The two looked down before looking over at Build who stared at them with a clear look of realization despite a helmet obscuring his facial expressions.
"…damn, I'm dumb."
"And then he got chased again because he scooted out of hiding," Zi-O said, looking over at his girlfriend as Build vanished.
"Yep," Weiss smiled, "Never letting him live this down."
"If we're still talking funny, I think this might be amusing," Zi-O admitted as he tapped the statuette for Ex-Aid.
[EX-AID!]
The gateway appeared and slid back to reveal Ex-Aid in Double Action Gamer Level XX form, both the orange right half Ex-Aid and the greenish-blue left half Ex-Aid were present. It looked as though the transformation had just completed itself as well for them.
The two Ex-Aid's stepped out of their pose before noticing something out of the corner of their eyes, doing a double take as they soon stared at each other. Their postures indicated a clear surprise that they weren't expecting any of this.
Both could only utter one word.
"What?"
"Sougo…" Weiss trailed off, "When did this happen?"
"It was the forms debut," Zi-O answered, "There's more."
Ex-Aid (R) quickly assumed a defensive stance, "Who're you?!"
Ex-Aid (L) meekly recoiled, "My name is Emu Hojo."
"No, I'm M!" Ex-Aid (R) called out.
"No, I am Emu," Ex-Aid (L) insisted meekly.
"I'm M!" Ex-Aid (R) insisted further.
"No, I am Emu," Ex-Aid (L) insisted again.
"No, it's me!"
"It's me."
"No, it's me!"
"It's me."
"No, it's me!"
"It's me."
The two got into each other's faces, pressing their helmets against each other.
"No, me," Ex-Aid (R) pointed at himself.
"No, it's me," Ex-Aid (L) grabbed his orange self's hand and pointed it his way.
"Okay I think we've seen enough," Weiss said.
"Yeah… Mighty Brothers is a weird form," Zi-O admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, watching both Ex-Aids fade away, "Kind of glad that it didn't happen to me with Decade Armor."
"Oh right," Weiss realized, "Why don't you use that form more often anyway?"
"Well it just gives me two of me," Zi-O admitted, "Mighty Brothers is really only a duo form with no real special features aside from it being a duo form. Compare that to the others I've used and there's a lot more benefits to them than there is there being just two of me."
"Fair enough," Weiss said, "So what's next?"
[OOO!]
OOO soon appeared out of a gateway riding a Ride Vendor… except the Ride Vendor was still in its vending mode and on its side, OOO sitting on it. He was currently smacking it before suddenly holding his hands up as if it had changed, "…'Kay it changed," he soon put his hands down and lowered his head before frustratingly banging the unresponsive vending machine, "Come on, change! Damn it!"
"Please tell me that wasn't Eiji acting dumb…" Weiss trailed, "Please tell me he knew how to use his bike."
"He did," Zi-O replied, "Kougami is a fickle man though… and well, a contract between him and Ankh needed to be worked out at the time and was still being worked on as Eiji was trying to get a Ride Vendor to work."
"Sometimes I'm glad that our deal went through smoothly," Weiss sighed in relief.
"Okay, so now for some fun ones," Zi-O said, "I think I've done enough funny so… how about I show you some forms you'll never probably see and I'll never use?"
"Wait, what?" Weiss asked.
[KUUGA!]
[RYUKI!]
[OOO!]
OOO had vanished only for a new OOO to be summoned, this one having the usual hawk and tiger parts but his legs were the elephant themed Zou legs. Next to him was Kuuga in white armor, the armor looking frailer when compared to Mighty Form while the Rider's horns were also smaller. Ryuki meanwhile had a faded blue bodysuit, plain silver armor and no clear Drageder motif.
"Okay, mind explaining?" Weiss asked.
"Right, so this is Kuuga Growing Form," Zi-O said as he walked over to Kuuga and gestured at him, "It's the form Godai used when starting out or was his only option if he was too weak to use the other forms. At one point it took three kicks for him to actually kill a Gurongi."
"Oh jeez," Weiss said with a light wince, "Seems like it's an emergency form them."
"Very much so," Zi-O said as Kuuga vanished before walking over to Ryuki, "Ryuki Blank meanwhile is something that doesn't exist anymore now that Ryuki is tied to Drageder. It was basically the form Shinji started out in and it's pretty weak too, its weapons being extremely fragile without a Contract Monster enhancing them."
"Okay, so what about Eiji's new form here?" Weiss asked as Ryuki faded away.
"It's just a bad combination of medals," Zi-O admitted, "The elephant legs make OOO too slow to properly do anything in them when not backed up by the proper medals."
"Speaking of OOO and medal swapping though…" Weiss trailed off, "Does that mean you can bring out any OOO Combo you wanted to?"
"Pretty much," Zi-O nodded, "OOO is insane with the amount of forms he has, and while Full Combos are good, if I find a use for a mix and match one then I'll bring it out. Build also has a ton of combinations too given the 60 Fullbottles and such."
"Actually wait," Weiss suddenly realized something as OOO faded away, "You've been summoning them stationary."
"Oh right, I can do that or I can give them a bit of life to let them act as fighters on my behalf," Zi-O explained further, "I just usually prefer the instant attacks/finishers since it flows better with my fighting style."
"Fair enough," Weiss said before thinking on it, "And you're able to bring out their weapons right?"
[AGITO!]
"Yep, but it's not just their weapons," Zi-O said as he brought out the Shining Calibur before tossing it away and slapping Kabuto's statuette, "Clock Up."
[KABUTO!]
Weiss watched as Zi-O became a gold blur before vanishing entirely.
"Boo."
Weiss yelped as she quickly turned and backed away, Zi-O now directly behind her.
"Okay, so abilities too," Weiss nodded as she held a hand to her chest.
"I mostly use the movement abilities since those are good for dodging," Zi-O admitted, "But Grand Zi-O has a lot of fun stuff to it."
"Right," Weiss said though her mind went back to Riders, "Any unique forms you want to show off?"
"Ooh, there's a few actually," Zi-O admitted, ready to tap Decades Statuette when he stopped, "Actually…"
"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.
"So you know how we met J, right?" Zi-O asked.
"What does J have to do with Decade?" Weiss asked.
"Well there was a point in time where all the Riders gathered, even Showa," Zi-O explained, "J showed up to help fight a giant that Shocker had but wasn't doing enough. So Diend initiated a Final Form Ride on Decade and turned him into… a giant Decadriver."
"Oh…" Weiss trailed as she realized where this was going, "So J became…"
"Jumbo Decade, yes," Zi-O nodded, "And I'm not doing that because well… I'd rather not attract any unwanted attention."
"Look at you being smart," Weiss teased.
"Hey," Zi-O huffed as he put his hands on his hips, "I can be smart when I want to!"
"So that means you're not smart all the time?" Weiss asked with a giggle as she turned away.
"I uh… dang…" Zi-O realized what Weiss had done and hung his head, "Yeah I walked into that one, huh?"
"That being said, are there any non gigantic Riders you can bring out?" Weiss asked.
"There are a few one-offs," Zi-O admitted as he tapped several statues rapidly.
[FAIZ!]
[KIVA!]
[OOO!]
[FOURZE!]
[DRIVE!]
The five Riders were summoned in different forms than one would expect for the most part. Especially since none of them seemed to be a part of their current arsenals.
Drive's was a simple silver and fancy repaint of Type Speed.
Fourze's was odd in that his head, forearms, hands, shins, and feet stayed the same, but he had an orange bodysuit with blue stripes with a rocket and drill module combination over his right forearm as a gauntlet.
OOO had the hawk and grasshopper parts, but the middle portion was a Kangaroo, it being brown in coloration with red boxing gloves.
Kiva was the most interesting, being in Emperor Form but also having the armor attachments of all three of his Arms Monsters as extra armoring.
Faiz… had no actual changes and was just holding an old fashioned boombox.
"Alright so, Type High Speed, Rocket Drill States, Takagaruba, DoGaBaKi Emperor, and the Faiz Sounder," Zi-O listed off in reverse order.
"I need to ask," Weiss said, not willing to wait as she gestured towards Faiz, "A radio?"
"Oh, just wait," Zi-O said as Faiz turned while inserting his Mission Memory into the Faiz Sounder.
[READY!]
Faiz then pulled on the sides of the Faiz Sounder before twisting them out to reveal cannons that were hidden inside. He then initiated the finisher.
[EXCEED CHARGE!]
The Faiz Sounder soon released sound waves from its cannons, the attack managing to cause some damage to the area the Rider was facing.
"Okay," Weiss relented, "That could be useful."
"Moving onto Kiva," Zi-O said as he walked over and gestured at Kiva who struck a pose, "This is seemingly his strongest form, though it looks like he prefers Emperor alone more often than not."
"Makes you wonder what would need to happen to force him to use it," Weiss remarked.
"This is a one-off form for OOO but he was able to use it as both an arm and leg medal. I chose arms cause of the boxing gloves," Zi-O said as he gestured towards OOO who did a few short jabs, "It's based on a Kangaroo but he was only able to use it once as the medal for it vanished afterwards."
"How odd," Weiss tilted her head at this.
"Fourze Rocket Drill States is an interesting one," Zi-O said as he walked over to Fourze, "It was accessed by the Clear Drill Switch, it syncing with Fourze's normal rocket to make this form."
"Clear Drill Switch…?" Weiss asked.
"Supposedly it was a switch formed from pure cosmic energy being released after Fourze's many battles in space," Zi-O said, "I think…"
"So long as it isn't something like Ginga," Weiss replied.
"And Drive… Type High Speed," Zi-O said as he began gesturing at the silver Drive but cleared his throat, "In contrast to Type Speed's youthfully exuberant red, type High Speed is a mature and subdued silvered gray. It is a transformation into a more mature style, perfect for formal occasions. The eyepieces beneath the headlights have been replaced with crystal glass. It stays true to the cool aesthetic of the original, with an added air of sophistication. And for the piece de resistance…"
Zi-O gestured for Weiss to come closer before he pointed at the door handle part of the chest, revealing a single diamond.
"A single diamond glistens on the chest," Zi-O continued, "This precious stone, certified as a genuine specimen, symbolizes authenticity, the very embodiment of legitimacy."
"Uh, Sougo…" Weiss trailed as she looked at her boyfriend.
"Oh right, there's also the finely painted wood paneled tire and the hood ornament of a luxury car," ZI-O pointed out as he had dropped the elegant explanation for the most part.
"Sougo, what does this form even do?" Weiss asked.
"The exact same thing as Type Speed," Zi-O admitted.
Weiss could only stare at him in disbelief, "What?"
"It is literally a repaint of Type Speed," Zi-O clarified, "It only did better than Type Speed at the time because Shinnosuke's mental state was better. But virtually all the stats are the same."
"What a useless form…" Weiss trailed off.
"But it did motivate Shinnosuke so, it worked in the end," Zi-O said before the five Riders he had summoned soon vanished, "So what should we do next?"
"Hmm…" Weiss held a thoughtful look.
Watching from afar behind a tree was Woz who had a smile on his face.
"Grand Zi-O's powers continue to be fascinating to watch," Woz admitted as he turned before walking away without being noticed, "Being able to summon any incarnation of a Primary Heisei Rider alongside utilizing their arsenals and abilities… it's quite the remarkable feat. Hopefully my Overlord will continue to hone Grand Zi-O's abilities as we continue our battles."
To Be Continued…
Next Time: Chapter 115 – 2019: Call of the Future
Author's Note: This chapter is a bit weird in terms of placement. While I don't consider it part of Saga 6 yet, it comes after the official ending announcement of Saga 5. Though it's definitely more a Saga 5 related chapter if I'm being honest.
I just really wanted a small and short relaxing/fun interlude to cap off everything after the last set of hectic chapters. The idea of Sougo messing around with Grand's powers to summon Riders was something that wouldn't leave my mind. So having Weiss tag along with him and having them go through the more hilarious parts of Rider history felt like it fit.
Now I will remind everyone that there is a community interaction going on until the end of the year. I've got a Behind the Scenes special coming up and I want to see if anyone has any questions about what goes on during the production of these stories. I should also repeat that I will not be answering any questions that ask about future events or questions where people ask if I could do something. I'm not giving out spoilers and I've very thoroughly planned out the remainder of Roze as well.
With that said, this is the last chapter for a bit so thanks for all of your support, it really means a lot to me, and I'll see you all once my vacation finishes.