Kita a Live!

by KamisetaRX

Cosmic Energy, the energy of the universe! Reiryoku, a power that fuels beings known as Spirits! These two forces will be combined through the efforts of two. With their comrades, these two young men will go on an incredible journey to save the world! (Updates every two weeks)

1. Fourze Genesis - The System's Big Bang

Preface:

Hello! This is my first serious attempt at writing fanfiction. As I am very new to writing, I would appreciate it if you would leave constructive feedback about how I write (such as if it comes off too stiff or unnatural, things aren't well explained, characters don't feel consistent, the writing being needlessly long, etc).

While I am a giant Kamen Rider fan, Date a Live has quickly swept up my life. After watching all four anime seasons, movies, and Date a Bullet films, I started binging through the LNs and VNs. I've always liked imagining "What if this Rider was in this franchise" scenarios in my mind, so that's kinda why I created this fanfic! This is all meant to be for fun. Of course, I will try to include plot and drama, but this is just more to tell fun stories and good times.

This fic is mainly catered towards fans of both series, but I will try to write this fic in a way that those who don't know the other franchise can still enjoy and understand everything. Still, this fic would probably be best enjoyed if you have seen atleast both shows.

Well, enough preface, there will be more stuff to talk about in the author's notes. With that out of the way, please enjoy and relax for the first chapter of this fanfic: Kita a Live!

---

Chapter 1: Fourze Genesis - The System's Big Bang

? POV

Have you ever heard the saying that "Dreams are just visions of parallel worlds?" Probably not. I think I just made that up somewhere.

"...why are you doing this?!…"

"...don't you dare touch him!…" Muffled voices echo through this hazy landscape. I feel my body drift along in this ethereal realm.

Soon, my eyes and mind gain their bearings. I'm inside a house, sitting next to a dining table. Platters of food neatly garnished upon it. To my left and right stand two older people, a man and a woman. Their frantic shouts and demands were directed toward something behind me.

My head then turns around. A crowd dressed in white lab coats stands outside the now broken-down front door. Many of them were holding a gray briefcase, all with the same insignia upon it.

A giant, black X.

Without warning, two men entered the house and dragged me by the shoulders. My body thrashed around, yet my mind didn't order my body to do so. If I had to describe it, my body moved as if in a preprogrammed sequence of events. I was merely a spectator, only able to watch how this tale would unfold.

Sooner than I realized, I found myself outside on the front porch. The group of white lab-coated men paid little attention to me. One of the men began to walk forward, his wardrobe a little more intricate than the others. The entire group parted to make way for the man to enter the house.

"It is unfortunate, but plans change unexpectedly." The presumed leader of the men spoke with no emotions. My eyes narrowed onto the back of the leader's coat. Plastered upon it was the same familiar X insignia.

The leader's words seemingly snapped the older man and woman out of their stupor, as they began to rush towards me. The only thing the leader did in response was reach into his pocket.

The man and woman suddenly stopped, their faces twitching in despair and terror.

"Do not worry. We will take care of him. Very well." The man emotionlessly stated. He had pulled a pistol out of his pocket, now pointed in the direction of the two.

""ASHER!"" The two pleaded with desperation.

BANG! BANG!

"MOTHER! FATHER!" I can hear my mouth cry out before I feel something heavy bash my head in.

Slowly, everything fades to black….

---

"GASP!" I suddenly shot up from my bed, breathing heavily to calm myself after waking from that nightmare.

"Huff… huff… that nightmare again? How many times does that make it…?" I curse to myself. This nightmare wasn't the first time I've experienced it, and I've already resigned myself to the fact that it probably won't be the last time either.

I prop myself up and sit on the edge of my bed, briefly glancing at the clock. The display read 6:48 AM, quite early in the morning. The temptation to go back to sleep was strong, though I managed to resist the urge. After all, today was a very important day.

April 10th, Monday. AKA the start of my second year at Raizen High School.

I get up and wash myself up before changing into my school uniform. Since it was quite early, I decided to make myself a more elaborate breakfast to distract and calm myself down. Despite the attempted effort, my thoughts drifted back to that nightmare anyway.

For the longest time I could remember, I've always had that exact same nightmare. It would occur every couple of months or so, just when I'd begun to forget about it. I still remember the time I first had that nightmare, back when I was just a young child. I remember going to my grandfather and bawling my small little eyes out, blubbering about the scary dream I just saw. He chuckled a little, wiped my tears away, and assured me it wasn't real.

I mean, of course. How could it be real?

After finishing preparing my breakfast, which I admit was shoddy at best, I sat down at my small dining table to eat. Since I could take my time eating my food, I decided to double-check if I had everything I needed for school… which admittedly wasn't much, just my student ID.

Taking it out from my wallet, I looked at my photo, cringing inside a little upon seeing how my medium-length dark brown hair was styled on that day. Picture day is the day you always look your worst.

The other information on the card was at least more presentable though. Name: Asher Seung. Date of Birth: December 23rd. Class: 2 - 4.

My eyes gaze over the section with my name again, evoking the moment in my nightmare where those two older people called out my name. If what my dream self said was true, then those two were my "mother" and "father".

I sigh deeply, sliding my student ID back into my wallet before continuing to eat the rest of my breakfast.

That oddity alone proves that my nightmare is anything more than just a creation of my imagination. I know what my parents looked like well enough to know that their appearances were nothing like that of those in the dream. Besides, they weren't gunned down.

It was just an unfortunate traffic accident…

Still, there was one more damning eccentricity about the nightmare that made it completely nonsensical. Everyone was speaking English. English! I mean, I was born and raised in Japan. Why would my dreams be in an entirely foreign language? The only reasonable explanation I could think of is that I'm losing it completely.

Thankfully, nightmares are just nightmares, but back when I was still a young dumb lad, this nightmare made me wet the bed more times than I'd like to admit. It's why I'm forever grateful for the love and care my grandfather showed me whenever I went to him for comfort. He was really the only close relative I had left after the accident.

It was when I was around four years old when he first took me in. Once I started high school last year, I decided to live on my own in a small apartment. I couldn't keep mooching off of him forever.

Of course, I still visit my grandfather every so often, but I do miss him at times. He's quite the eccentric old man. Never a dull day with him around.

I stab my fork onto my plate, expecting to grab another piece of my breakfast, but my trance is broken when I hear a distinct clink sound instead. I look down, only to see tiny scrapes of food left on the plate.

With breakfast finished, I cleaned up the table and dishes before checking my phone for the current time.

"Oh damn!" I shouted out, realizing that it was around 7:56 AM. I quickly put my shoes on before heading out. I wasn't going to be late on the very first day of the new school year!

---

After running for what seemed to be an eternity, I eventually reached the familiar school gates. I stop myself, quickly checking the time. 8:16 AM. Good, I still have some time left.

Catching my breath in front of the school gates, I marvel at the grand school building.

Raizen High School, truly, a fascinating place. Technologically speaking, this school is one of the most advanced in the world. Its novelty and innovations are really only possible due to how Tengu City came to be.

30 years ago, a giant explosion in the sky appeared above the area of Eurasia. This was the first recorded Spacequake in history, killing approximately 150 million people. What followed for the next six months were numerous other large Spacequakes appearing across the globe, killing millions and destroying large regions of land.

And then suddenly, the Spacequakes stopped. No one was sure what caused them to stop, but it was a miracle that they did. Tengu City was founded in the ruins of a massive Spacequake that occurred 30 years ago in Japan. It became a testing ground for new technology. Everything about this city was designed to withstand another Spacequake, including the schools.

Thank god for everything being so sturdy. Spacequake frequencies have been on the rise for the past 5 years ago, panic and chaos are slowly taking hold over the city now, and… and… how long have I been out here for?

I checked my phone only to see that I had spent about 6 minutes just standing there. It probably isn't the best look to be just standing outside a school without saying a thing.

"What in the world am I doing? This isn't the time for reminiscing." I snapped myself out of the convenient internal history refresher as I briskly walked towards the school's front doors.

---

I spot the sign labeled "Classroom 2 - 4" and open the corresponding door. I notice that a good majority of the students have already arrived and are chatting. I check my phone and see that it's 8:25 AM. I still got time. I'm good.

I search for my assigned desk and make my way over to it. I'm in the second row from the back, the second seat from the window. I quietly sit down, scanning to see what kind of people my seatmates will be.

To the desks on my left are two boys chatting with each other in a seemingly friendly manner. One of them has straight blue hair and the other has spiky black hair. They seem to be chatting about whatever the guy with the spiky black hair is showing on his phone right now.

"So, Mr. Shido Itsuka, say hello to my new girlfriend! We've been happily dating for nearly 3 weeks!" The black-haired man smugly flaunted his phone in front of the blue-haired boy. "I admit there is an urge to apologize for leaving you in the dust, but I'm sure that you'll find a cute girlfriend to call your own one day! She won't be as cute as mine though! Hahaha!"

"Tonomachi… you know that's a character in a dating sim? She isn't real." The blue-haired boy named Shido flatly responded. From his attitude, this clearly wasn't the first time he had dealt with his friend's antics.

"Minor details, minor details! What matters is that she's real in my heart, and I'm real in her heart! It doesn't matter if she's 2D or not. She's taught me everything there is to know about love. It's only fair I show her the fruits of my training! As they say, the student will eventually surpass the master!" Shido's friend, Tonomachi, exclaimed excitedly as both Shido and I sweatdropped nervously at his proclamation.

As Tonomachi continued to ramble on, a girl with short silver hair and a face like a doll suddenly walked up to the duo.

"Shido Itsuka." The girl stoically stated with not a hint of emotion behind it.

Both Shido and Tonomachi awkwardly stared at the girl, sweating bullets.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Shido gained the courage to speak up.

"Ehh… umm… do I know you from somewhere?"

"You don't remember me?" The girl responded emotionlessly.

Shido shook his head nervously in response. I presumed that the girl would've started sulking or something similar, but her face remained stone cold. She then sat down at the desk behind me and pulled out a book before devoting all of her attention to reading it.

"Hey, who is that?" I heard Shido not-so-subtly whispering to his friend.

"What?! Shido?! You're telling me you don't know who Origami Tobiichi is?!"

"No, I don't…"

"The Super Genius? The Subzero Stunner? Miss Cold War?"

"What's up with that last nickname?"

"Don't worry about that, the real question is how did you get her to pay attention to you? Are you hiding some secret to make the ladies fall for you from us boys, you deviant?" Tonomachi teased as he wrapped his arm around Shido's neck.

"Wha-?! What are you implying?!" Shido's face suddenly blushed.

"Oh Shido, you're so uncultured." Tonomachi let go of his grasp and shook his head disappointedly. "Origami's one of the cutest girls here at Raizen. Every man here has sought to woo her over, but no one has been able to do so. She was also number three on last year's Raizen's Top 13 Best Girls list. Didn't you see that ranking?"

"Who even makes a list like that? And why's it only go up to thirteen?"

"Ah. Because the girl who put that list together was thirteenth."

"For such a petty reason?!"

"By the way Shido, you got 52nd on Raizen's Top 358 Top Best Guys list if you were curious." Tonomachi flatly stated. Huh, I wonder what ranking I got.

"When did I say I was?!" Shido proclaimed in embarrassment as his face flustered. "Besides, why is that list so long?!"

"Same reason as before. The guy that made that list was 358th."

"Okay… and what place did you get on that list anyways?" Shido smiled weakly.

"Hahaha! 358th!" Tonomachi proudly proclaimed, as if not ashamed at all by the implication of that statement.

"You made that list?!" Shido shouted in disbelief and shock.

"Now, now, Shido, if it appeases you, let it be known that you and I placed second on Raizen's Top 31 Couples!" Tonomachi jovially responded.

"Why would you think that information would appease me?!" Shido cried out.

I put my chin on my desk while massaging my temples, trying in vain to ignore the whole conversation. The conversation passed the line into degeneracy long ago.

"You know… f I can hear you, then she can definitely hear you two as well…" I nervously thought to myself as Shido and Tonomachi's banter continued.

I decided to take a peek at what Origami was doing. She was still reading her book, completely unfazed by the deranged conversation happening right next to her. Either that or she somehow managed to ignore the entire thing.

Then, the sound of footsteps approaching us caught my attention. I looked up, only to see a man with light brown hair. Clutched in his hand was what looked like a black school bag at first glance. However, on closer inspection, it was more apt to call it a briefcase of some kind. Peculiar.

"You're in this class, Tobiichi?" The man stopped and asked bluntly. Origami looked up from her book and at the man.

"Kengo Utahoshi." Origami replied as if confirming she acknowledged his existence. After a couple of seconds of silence, Origami went back to reading her book while the man sat down at the desk to my right.

"Hey… who was that?" I could hear Shido ask his friend. Tonomachi, like some sort of information broker, quickly answered Shido's question.

"You don't know him either?! Are you sure you've been here a year, Itsuka?! That's Kengo Utahoshi! He and Tobiichi are Raizen's pride and joy! The two are fierce academic rivals! Both Utahoshi and Tobiichi always get the highest marks in our grade. In fact, they both tied for first place in the whole country on the mock exams."

"Really? Must be a fierce competition between those two."

"Well, the thing about that, it's no denying that those two are nearly identical when it comes to their brains, but objectively, Tobiichi is the superior student."

"Eh? Why's that?"

"Tobiichi has the highest grade in every course, including PE. Utahoshi barely passes that course."

"Really?" Shido stated, more curious than anything.

"Yea. Utahoshi has a pretty frail body. He goes to the infirmary practically every day. It's no wonder why people have crowned him the 'Infirmary Genius.'"

"Oh…"

As I finished listening to their conversation, which totally wasn't eavesdropping given how loud they were, the bell suddenly chimed. The noise of feet shuffling around filled the room as everyone returned to their desks.

The classroom door then opened and a woman with brown hair and glasses entered. Immediately, excited whispers from every student filled the room. Her reputation must be quite high if students are this excited.

"Good morning, everyone!" The teacher spoke with infectious joy. "I will be your homeroom teacher for the upcoming year. My name is Tamae Okamine."

A round of applause started as she finished introducing herself. Getting swept up with the flow, I also began clapping for the heck of it. I looked to my right, only to see Kengo's face buried in a gigantic book, which made it impossible to see most of his face or desk.

The strangest part was that it looked more like he was looking at something on his desk and not at the book itself. Plus, even with the somewhat loud applause going on in the classroom, I swear I could hear Kengo talking to himself.

"... these readings… is it The Hole…?" I thought I heard Kengo say to himself, but I decided to ignore these oddities. I faced the front of the classroom. It would be my goal to have a relatively normal school year. Try not to make too much trouble. Make some friends. Learn some things.

Surely this year won't be that crazy… right?

---

I let out a small yawn as my chin rested on my palm.

Glancing at the clock at the front of the classroom, I could see it was only 11:10 AM. I let out an inaudible groan as I closed my eyes, completely defeated. Boredom was my worst enemy at this point.

The only benefit was that since today was the first day of classes, the school would be ending early today. Should be noon if I'm not mistaken?

Suddenly, to my right, Kengo raises his hand.

"Sensei. I'm not feeling too well, is it ok if I head to the infirmary?" Kengo politely requested.

"You may Utahoshi. I know your body is quite weak, so please take care of it! Do you need someone to assist you?" Tamae asked with genuine concern.

"Thank you, but I think I can manage to make it there on my own." Kengo got up and left, taking his odd black briefcase with him.

Well, I guess it wasn't that much of an exaggeration for people to say he goes to the infirmary every day.

Suddenly, Shido raises his hand as well.

"Okamine-sensei, may I use the restroom?" Shido asks.

"You may, Itsuka." With Okamine's permission, Shido stands up and walks out of the room.

"Man, this is a really awkward time for me to also need to use the restroom." I internally groaned to myself. I elected to wait a couple of minutes before asking to use the restroom. I'd rather not place myself in such an awkward limelight.

---

The current time is now around 11:20 AM. I presumed it had been enough time for it not to be awkward so I asked to use the restroom. Okamine allowed me to leave without much hassle, though there was some hesitation in her voice. Probably because Shido still hadn't returned from the bathroom.

After using the restroom, I found myself enjoying a casual stroll through the now-empty hallways. Sure, getting back to homeroom was important, but a little stalling never really hurt anyone. Besides, this was probably the only activity I'd get before going back to sitting down and doing nothing.

The quiet atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of a door sliding. I looked up, seeing Kengo leave the infirmary in the distance. I was tempted to go up and greet him, but the idea went out the window as Kengo started heading in the direction completely opposite of our homeroom.

"Where is he going?" My confusion turned to intrigue as Kengo briskly hurried through the halls and turned a corner.

I kept my distance as I tailed him for several minutes. I must have been really focused or something because it wasn't until I stepped on a twig that I realized I had followed him outside to the rear of the school, near the school's gym.

"Aghh, where in the world is he going? It's the first day of school and he's already cutting?" I silently mumbled to myself. I mean, I get that he's a genius student, but no one is excused from just leaving the class to go out…side… oh damn it.

After a very brief mental debate with myself, trying to justify why what I was doing was totally different, I suddenly realized Kengo was nowhere to be seen. I turned one last corner to see if I could still find him. He wasn't there.

"How am I going to explain this to the teacher…?" I nervously muttered to myself. I decided to make my way back to the classroom. It's only the first day and I'm already probably going to get in trouble. Sigh.

I turned around and started the long walk back to the classroom, racking my brain to come up with a good excuse before I made it back.

Then suddenly, an unusual noise cut through the usual ambiance.

It sounded like heavy stomping, akin to an elephant's march. I stopped and tried to pinpoint the source of the sounds. I realized that not only were they coming from behind me, but they were also getting louder.

I quickly turned around, only to see a giant bulky red humanoid monster in the distance. Even without it saying a single word, I could feel the hostile aura coming from it.

I immediately froze up, but when the monster realized that I noticed it, it began a mad dash straight towards me.

"What in the world?!" I screamed internally as I immediately turned 180 degrees to run for my life.

I ran for what seemed like eternity, adrenaline and fear fueled my body. I never knew I could run for this long this fast! However, I eventually ran myself into a dead end with nowhere else to go.

Completely out of breath, I turned around, only to hear footsteps closing in on me. Fear filled my mind, which was only amplified once the hulking red monster came into sight.

It was fight or flight at this point, and given that I already exhausted one of the options, I resolved to take up the other option. I looked around for anything I could use as a possible weapon to defend myself.

I spotted an old shovel near the ground, but the sound of something akin to a laser being charged up distracted me. Looking at the beast, several parts of his body were now glowing. My eyes darted between the glowing monster and the shovel on the ground.

At the last second, I dived for the shovel as the monster let out an energy blast toward where I was previously standing. Moments later, I felt a huge gust of wind pass by me and heard the sound of the explosion.

Shovel in hand, I stood back up, only to see a crater where I had previously stood seconds earlier. If I hadn't dodged, then I would've died…

Forcing myself to snap out of my daze, I took the opportunity to rush the monster with my trusty shovel in hand.

I brought it up high before swinging it down with all my might. However, the monster didn't seem to even flinch an inch. I decided to try once again, winding up another attack, but before the shovel could hit the monster, he grabbed it from my hands and threw it away.

My one and only bastion of defense was gone, just like that.

The monster then kicked me square in the stomach, sending me flying. I impacted the nearby wall with a thud. I put my hands to where I was just kicked to alleviate the pain, but I saw the monster once again charging up another blast.

I closed my eyes; exhaustion and pain had robbed me of nearly all of my physical and mental energy. Well, if this is the end, It was a nice life I suppose.

However, after a few seconds, nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes. What I saw was a giant yellow mech standing right in front of me, having shielded me.

The mech proceeded to dish out a series of rapid punches and kicks, leaving no opportunity for the monster to counterattack. After one final punch, the mech sent the monster flying. The monster got up again, though it decided to flee instead of fighting back.

The mech moved forward as if to chase after it, but it suddenly stopped and kneeled. I could hear the whirring of machinery as the cockpit of the mech opened up.

As the pain and adrenaline began to subside, I managed to get to my feet and stagger over to see the front of the mech.

"Utahoshi…?" I shakily asked. Inside the mech was Kengo Utahoshi, the Infirmary Genius. Even though I had run and fought with everything I had, he was somehow looking more exhausted than I was.

---

Kengo staggered out from the mech only to immediately fall to his knees.

"Are you alright?!" I nervously asked, but his eyes didn't even glance in my direction. He weakly opened up his black briefcase, which turned out to be anything but ordinary. One side seemed to be some sort of computer display while the other compartment was a storage container for some objects from the looks of it. After typing in some letters on the display, the giant mech whirred to life before suddenly transforming into something akin to a giant ATV.

After inputting a couple of more commands into the display, the mecha suddenly drove off by itself as Kengo shut the briefcase. With that, the two of us were alone. The mundane atmosphere of school life returned as if the fact that a hulking humanoid monster was trying to kill me moments earlier never happened.

"Utahoshi? Are you alright? What in the world was that mech thing? What was that monster?!" I frantically asked him, but Kengo just continued to wheeze heavily.

"What are you even doing here, Seung?" Kengo questioned, completely ignoring my concerns.

"Well, that's… kinda…" I stammered nervously. What was I supposed to tell him? "Yeah, I kinda noticed you sneaking off so I decided to stalk you and skimp on class because I know nothing about the term 'privacy.'"

"I-in any case…! What do you think you're doing out here? Class is still going on!" I tried to play it off and change the topic.

"You're one to talk… You chose to follow me even while fully knowing class is still in session…" I froze up. Well, so much for masking my true intentions huh?

"… In any case, pretend this never happened… It'd be best if you did…" Kengo suddenly spat out as rose to his feet. He attempted to walk again, but after a few steps, Kengo once again collapsed to his knees. I quickly rushed to help him get back to his feet, though he tried pushing me away.

"Leave me alone! This is something… only I can do…" Kengo wearily got out.

"What are you talking about? You can barely walk, let alone stand! We need to take you back to the infirmary!" I quickly rebutted. Sure, there was a part of me that wanted to know more about everything that just happened. However, right in front of me was someone who needed help.

"I can't rest! Not while the Zodiarts is still out there…" Zodiarts, is that the name of the monster? Kengo was still struggling to free myself of my grasp, but he quickly exhausted himself.

"What are you saying? You're going to hurt yourself more if you keep pushing yourself like this!"

"I have to do this myself! I can't let anyone else get involved!" Kengo angrily shouted. Silence fell between us after that.

Unconsciously, I clenched my fist in anger. Why was Kengo being so exceedingly rash? Was he even aware of the condition of his own body right now?

"Why?! Why just yourself?! Let me help you, Utahoshi!" I seriously demanded.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! You have no idea what's going on!"

"So what?! Does that mean I'm suddenly unqualified to assist you?!"

"You have no idea of the depths of the situation! This isn't some small game, this is a matter of life and death! Do you even know how much pain you'll endure?! The sacrifices you'll have to make?! The burdens you'll carry?! I'm not letting some outsider with no connection to the situation be dragged into everything!" Kengo desperately argued back.

"So?! Even if I don't understand, what does that matter?! There was a monster that nearly killed me and is still on the loose, doing god knows what! You fought against it, but you can't defeat it alone! Even if it'll be painful, even if it'll be terrifying, I want to help you deal with this situation, so let me help for god's sake!" I was screaming at him, partly out of annoyance.

A long silence fell between us after that. It wasn't until I calmed down shortly after that I realized how unsightly and crude that entire exchange must've been.

"I'm sorry about that. Didn't mean to scream at you." I hesitantly apologized to Kengo, but he looked at me straight in the eyes, a completely serious look on his face.

"This is your last warning. If you decide to help me, you may never be able to return to a normal life. Even knowing this, do you still want to help?" Kengo cautiously warned.

"I…" I nervously mumbled out. My life could change permanently. Yet Kengo was fighting that Zodiarts monster, but there was no way he could do it alone. Especially factoring in his poor health. If I don't help him, how much destruction would that monster cause? How broken will Kengo become if I don't help? How many people would suffer…?

"I do! I want to help no matter what!" I looked at him and resolutely proclaimed. In response, Kengo let out an exasperated sigh before finally managing to get to his feet. Even though he was still a bit shaky, it seemed he recovered enough energy to walk normally.

"Then follow me." Kengo started walking and I followed him. We walked for a couple of seconds until he suddenly stopped.

"Before I forget…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a metallic hamburger. He then pulled out some sort of switch and inserted it into the hamburger. Suddenly, the hamburger transformed into something akin to a miniature rover. It then suddenly jumped from Kengo's hands and scampered away.

"What… in the world was that?" I asked curiously. It wasn't every day you see a shapeshifting hamburger robot.

"I'll explain everything later. Just follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"A place where I can reveal everything."

---

I followed Kengo to Raizen's underground bunker. These bunkers were mainly put in place to protect civilians from Spacequakes. Even though the main shelter area was frequently filled to the brim with people during Spacequakes, there were usually other areas of the bunker that were rarely ever occupied. Storage areas, electrical rooms, communications rooms, etc.

Kengo had led me to one of these more forgotten areas of the bunker. Through the old and dusty corridors, we eventually reached a locked door with some old signage, warning people not to enter. From the looks of it, it seems this place hadn't been visited in years.

Kengo opened the door using a key from his pocket. Inside the room was a lot of old storage equipment. Cardboard boxes filled with junk, backup machinery, shelves with mechanical parts, etc…

"Is this really the place to discuss everything…?" I nervously thought to myself, though Kengo walked straight towards the lone locker in the room. He grasped the handle, but stopped and turned to face me.

"Try not to make too much noise." Kengo oddly requested. I slowly nodded my head, as if saying "ok…?"

Kengo opened the door. Immediately, a bright light filled the dark room. Instinctively, I used my hands to block the light as I heavily squinted. Once my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I could see the inside of the locker. It wasn't empty, rather, there seemed to be a tunnel filled with light somehow shoved into the inside of the locker.

I froze up in a complete stupor, meanwhile Kengo simply walked through the locker and into the tunnel of light.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" Kengo's voice brought me back to reality. A mixture of fear, suspense, and excitement slowly washed over me as I tip-toed my way into the locker and through the tunnel.

The tunnel looked like it was heaven. Bright, colorful, and a sense that this place was beyond human comprehension. I looked down. I could feel my feet standing on something, yet all I saw was an endless field of brightly colored streaks of light. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing else in this void except the light.

I felt I was on the cusp of seeing what something truly "infinite" would be.

In the distance, I could see Kengo at what seemed to be the end of this corridor of light. Beside him was a white door. The moment I finally reached him, he gave me another cryptic warning.

"Watch your step." He stated before opening the door. Inside, was a giant room that was painted all in white, with lots of equipment, machinery, and labels plastered on the walls. If I didn't know anything better, I would've assumed it was a laboratory or facility.

The moment I entered the room, I immediately felt something was off. My body felt like it weighed a fraction of what it should be. I stepped off the ground, only to feel myself freely floating through the air.

I found myself spinning around in mid-air. The immediate disorientation was enough to cause me to flail my arms around helplessly. Every time I would try to land on the ground, I would always launch myself back into the air when trying to plant my feet down.

"What in the world is this place?!" I confusedly shouted while floating through the air. I looked back at Kengo, who was navigating seamlessly through the room. He looked like he was gracefully swimming through the air.

He arrived at a nearby lever on the wall and pulled it. I could hear the words "Gravity Control" being said and I suddenly felt a large downward force being applied to me.

Unfortunately, floating in the air when this occurred meant that I faceplanted straight onto the floor.

"Ow!" I exclaimed in pain as I slowly sat up while rubbing my nose.

"I apologize for that, but at that rate, you'd never come down naturally." Kengo replied to me. Though his tone remained neutral, there was definitely a faint hint of amusement hidden underneath.

"So… where exactly are we? Why was the gravity in this room off?"

"This is the Rabbit Hutch. And for why the gravity is different…" Kengo stated before walking towards a terminal with lots of buttons and switches. After flipping a switch, I could hear the sound of a shutter opening. I turned my head to see, only to be completely shocked by what I saw.

From the glass panel, I could now see the emptiness of space. It was like the night sky, only without any stars. Just pure pitch-black darkness. However, there was one thing that cut through the darkness, and quite noticeably at that.

A giant blue sphere, floating in the center of it all. Parts of white and brown covered the mostly blue sphere, but it was immediately obvious as to what that sphere was. It was the Earth.

"W-why can I see the Earth? Where are we…?" I nervously questioned, though Kengo revealed another bombshell of information.

"First, calm down. Second, it's because we're on the moon. This is the Moonbase Rabbit Hutch." Kengo calmly spoke, completely unaware of how the second part made it impossible to follow the demands of his first part.

I blankly stared at him before looking back at Earth through the glass panel. Even though it was a bit small, I could start to make out some of the finer details of the sphere. The continents on the planet, the oceans, the white ice, how beautiful everything looked. For some reason, I couldn't help but tear up a little at the sheer beauty of it.

"So, that explains it… I'm in space… I'm on the moon…" I muttered to myself in a daze.

"I'm on the moon… I was on Earth… but now I'm on the moon…" I repeated to myself, but hang on, what? If I was on the Earth just moments ago, but now I'm on the moon…

"HOW ARE WE ON THE MOON?!" I yelled out, Kengo leaning back slightly due to how loud I was. The look on his face when I shouted practically said "I was waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Well, to put simply, the power of the Astroswitches connects that locker to the surface of the moon." Kengo replied.

"That barely explains anything! 'Power of Astroswtiches,' what nonsense is that?!" Kengo motioned for me to follow him as he walked towards a door in the room and opened it. Inside was a giant computer workstation and a giant board on one of the desks. There were 40 holes in it, with some kind of object inserted into each one. Numbers labeled from 1 to 40 were above their corresponding object.

Kengo pulled out the object under label 1, which looked like an orange switch with a round button on top.

"These are Astroswitches. They utilize Cosmic Energy, an all-encompassing type of energy found in our universe. For these Astroswitches specifically, they can materialize armaments that can be utilized known as Modules. These Modules are separated into four categories. These categories are…" Blah blah blah. Kengo started to dump a bunch of explanations, but my head couldn't keep track of anything past the first sentence.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I nervously cut him off. Kengo sighed before rephrasing everything.

"In layman's terms, these Astroswitches contain great power which can be used to defeat our enemies."

"And our enemies are those monster things that you fought earlier?"

"Yes. They are called Zodiarts. They use objects known as Zodiart Switches to transform their human host into those monsters. Similar to Astroswitches, they utilize Cosmic Energy as the basis for their power. However, while Astroswitches take their power from a host's positive energy and emotions, these Zodiart Switches are fueled by their host's negative energy." Kengo explained, though as I digested the information, one part of it stuck out to me.

"Host you said? Does that mean that monster was…"

"Orginally a human? Yes."

"Is there any way to return them to normal?"

"The only way to free the person from the influence of the Zodiart Switch is to take it from them and switch it off."

"Then how do we combat them? With that giant mech of yours?"

"The Powerdizer? Perhaps we could have used that before, but now that The Hole has expanded, the Powerdizer might not be enough…"

"The Hole? What's that?" I asked, but Kengo completely ignored my question, instead looking at a strange large object that was placed on the table.

"In any case, right now, our only solution is to use the Fourze System to fight the Zodiarts…" Kengo solemnly stated as he clutched the object in his hands. From what I saw, it looked like a blue driver, with four slots for where Astroswitches could go in as well as four red switches. On the right side of the driver was a giant white lever.

The moment I saw it, I felt a familiar aura radiating from it. Unconsciously, my hand began to reach out towards it.

"Don't touch it!" Kengo shouted as he pulled the driver back, snapping me back to reality. I quickly withdrew my hand and apologized.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it… It's just… it felt oddly familiar to me." I hesitantly admitted, but this didn't sit right with me. After all, I had never seen the thing in my life before so how could it feel familiar?

After that awkward exchange, silence fell between both of us once again. The only noises were the various beeps and boops coming from the nearby electronics.

"So… how exactly can I help you?" I hesitantly asked, trying to restart the conversation on less inflammatory grounds. Kengo perked up a little before reassuming his calm and serious demeanor.

"Right now, there's a lot of information about the Zodiarts that we don't know about. What its powers are, its defensive capabilities, and any weak spots for example. I'm going to assign you to record it using Burgermeal so we can analyze the footage and understand more about the Zodiarts and its capabilities. Doing this should make the Zodiarts a lot easier to take down." Kengo explained. From the sound of it, it sounded like I was on support duty. Not that it was a bad thing or , one portion of his explanation stood out like a sore thumb.

"Burgermeal…? What is that?" I asked while trying my hardest not to giggle at that name.

"You saw it earlier. The Foodroid that I sent out to look for the Zodiarts earlier." Kengo stated seriously. I was tempted to ask what the heck a 'Foodroid' is, but I think had enough of silly nonsensical names for the day.

"In any case, I'll be counting on your help from now on, Asher." Kengo said.

"Same here, Utahoshi."

"You can refer to me as Kengo. I don't mind."

"Alright then. Kengo." With that, I extended my hand out. Kengo took it and we shook hands.

"So, I guess we head back to class?" I asked since there didn't seem to be anything else to do.

"What do you mean? Classes are already over, you know."

"What?!" I shouted in shock. I quickly pulled out my phone, only to see that the time was now 12:08 PM. Already on my first day of school, I was playing hooky.

"Ohhh… how am I going to explain this?" I wallowed in despair as I fell to my knees. I could feel Kengo patting my back as if to say "It'll be fine."

Suddenly, the sound of a ringing alarm alerted us both. Kengo opened up the briefcase, which was the source of the loud noise.

"The Zodiarts has been spotted by Burgermeal! Come on, we have to move!" Kengo shouted as he grabbed the Driver and inserted four of the Astroswitches into it.

"R-right!" I shouted nervously, unsure of what to expect for my first proper Zodiarts encounter on the job. With that, I followed Kengo out of the Rabbit Hutch and back to Earth.

---

We returned to the abandoned storage room of Raizen's bunker, though something was noticeably different. Instead of the calm silence greeting us, distant murmurings of a large crowd and the alarm of a Spacequake warning echoed from afar.

"This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill. A Spacesquake has been detected. All residents, please…" The warning distantly blared out. Despite the obvious danger, Kengo quickly opened the door and rushed out.

"Hey! You can't be serious! Not with a…" I shouted out to warn him, but it was already too late. Kengo had bolted straight towards the exit of the bunker. A bit annoyed, but more concerned about his well-being, I ran after Kengo. As I reached the main area of the bunker, I saw a sea of people wearing the familiar Raizen High uniforms.

"Ahh, Seung! Where have you been?!" I could hear a familiar bright voice coming from behind me. I turned around and saw Tamae running up to me, a mixture of anger and worry on her face.

"I'm really sorry about earlier!" I clapped my hands and bowed, but before she could speak up, I quickly continued.

"I have something important to do, I'll be back!" I said to her before turning around and running towards the bunker exit. I could hear Tamae protesting in the distance, but it didn't matter to me at the moment. Right now, I need to find Kengo.

I mean, who else would be stupid enough to run out of the bunker when a Spacequake was coming?

---

Third Person POV

"Achoo!" Shido sneezed. He felt like someone was slandering him right now, but he didn't have time to dwell on that feeling.

Shido quickly resumed his frantic search. After all, his dear little sister, Kotori, was still outside the family restaurant they had promised to meet at earlier in the day, no matter what happened.

"Kotori, you idiot! What are you doing?!" Shido shouted to himself, a blend of emotions swirling inside of him. Fear, confusion, anger, anxiety. Right now, he needed to find his sister before the Spacequake struck.

---

Asher's POV

Exiting the bunker, I found myself near the entrance of the school. The alarms were noticeably louder up on the surface, desperately warning any stragglers of the potential danger they were still in.

I quickly scanned the area, thankfully finding Kengo nearby. He was kneeling on the ground looking at the monitor within his briefcase. I ran over to him, nearly tempted to scream at him with the force of a thousand suns, though I managed to hold myself back a bit.

"What are you doing? We have to go back inside! The Spacequake could appear any minute!" I yelled at Kengo. The moment I finished, the distant sound of the air splitting apart followed by the sound of a rumbling explosion caught our attention.

We looked up, only to see a couple of miles away what seemed to be a growing ball of purple and white light. The next thing we felt was a shockwave of air slamming into us. I feebly attempted to shield myself with my arms as I closed my eyes. The light emitting from the Spacequake was brighter than the sun.

Thankfully, since the Spacequake was quite a distance away, it only felt like a strong gust of wind was blowing past us. If it had spawned any closer, who knows how bad the shockwave would've been.

After what felt like an eternity, the shockwave had finally died down. My eyes slowly fluttered open. The massive giant ball of purple light was now just completely gone. In its wake lay a massive crater that seemed to have swallowed up everything inside the Spacequake's radius. The buildings, ground, and trees that were in that area? Completely erased from existence, like the fate of the Spacequake that took it.

"So… that was a Spacequake…?" I unconsciously muttered in shock. Of course, I had heard about them all my life and even seen videos of them as part of our Spacequake evacuation drills, but this was different. Actually feeling and seeing the rushing winds and blinding light in real life was indescribable.

With the shockwave gone, the only thing I could hear now was just an eerie silence that filled the entire town. That was until I heard typing sounds coming from Kengo's direction. Despite the catastrophic event that just happened, it didn't seem to affect him that much.

Reminded of why I was even outside of the bunker in the first place, my anger and annoyance reached their boiling point quite quickly. I began to open my mouth to lambast Kengo for being stupid and nearly getting himself killed for no reason. Yet before I could do so, Kengo suddenly closed his briefcase and spoke up.

"It's here… The Zodiarts is here…" Kengo ominously said. I looked up, only to see in the distance, across the school's main courtyard, the red-hulking monster that previously tried to kill me. The anger and rage in my heart quickly was washed away with dread.

"You know what to do, now get to safety!" He shouted at me as he handed me his briefcase. I looked at him a bit confusedly, since I wasn't exactly sure where that 'Burgermeal' thing was. I then felt something tugging the sleeves of my pants.

I looked down, with the culprit being the familiar small burger-themed rover. I quickly kneeled to pick it up, holding it in the palm of one of my hands before running back to safety with Burgermeal and briefcase in tow.

I took cover behind one of the nearby trees and poked my head out to see what was going on. The red Zodiarts slowly approached Kengo, but Kengo stood defiantly without flinching. In his right hand was the driver that he had taken earlier from Rabbit Hutch.

"That constellation on your body… that must mean you're the Orion Zodiarts?" Kengo spoke aloud. The only response the Zodiarts gave was a large growl. Kengo held the Driver up to his chest and looked down at it longingly.

"Father… please, give me strength!" Kengo said to himself before he placed the Driver on his waist. However, the moment he did so, he suddenly collapsed to the ground and held his head in pain.

"AAGHH!" Kengo let out a scream of pain.

"Kengo!" I quickly screamed out. Immediately, I dropped the briefcase and Burgermeal before running to his side.

"Kengo! Are you alright?!" I desperately cried out, though Kengo was still clutching his head in agony.

"Why…? Why is this happening again?" He muttered to himself. "My body should've been able to handle it, so why…?"

"Kengo! We need to get out of here!" I quickly helped him stand up, putting his arm around my neck while grabbing the Driver on the ground with my other free hand. I turned around to run away, though I could hear the familiar high-pitched sound of the Orion Zodiarts prepping an energy blast.

"Oh shit!" I screamed in my mind as I quickened my pace. The Orion Zodiarts fired its energy blast at us. Thankfully, we had barely managed to avoid it, but the resulting shockwave had knocked us both down to the ground.

"Oww…" I groaned to myself. I looked over at Kengo, the sound of the Orion Zodiarts's looming footsteps didn't exactly fill me with hope.

"Hey, Kengo, what do we do now? Can you summon that giant mecha thing? You know, to save us? Cause now would be a great time!" I nervously pleaded with Kengo, though despite being heavily exhausted, it seemed like he was mulling an important decision in his mind.

"Tch, it can't be helped…" He quietly muttered to himself, before looking straight at me.

"Asher, I'm entrusting you with the Fourze Driver! This is our only hope to get out of here alive!" He yelled at me. I stared at him in confusion. He managed to stand up and help me up as well. Kengo grabbed the Fourze Driver that was still in my right hand and put it on my waist.

"W-wait a minute! I'm not ready-!" I quickly screamed out and closed my eyes, expecting to feel some pain or a similar migraine to one Kengo experienced, but after a few seconds, I felt… nothing. I slowly opened my eyes, only to see the Driver attached to my waist completely. Around it was some sort of belt that seemed to have automatically formed around my body.

"Listen to me well! The Fourze Driver will give you superhuman strength and help you fight the Zodiarts! To activate the system, press the four red switches and then pull the lever after the signal?! Do you understand?!" Kengo yelled at me, the most serious I've heard of him.

"I-I understand!" I shouted out. Of course, this was still all new to me, but I got the gist of what the instructions were.

"Good, then I'll leave the rest to you…" Kengo exhaustedly said. He then staggered towards where I had dropped the briefcase and Burgermeal earlier. I looked straight at the Orion Zodiarts, who was now only a couple of meters in front of me.

"So… I press these four switches…" I spoke to myself as I proceeded to flick each of the four switches. With each switch flipped, I could hear a noise that increased in pitch as I continued. After flipping the fourth switch, the Driver suddenly began an announcement.

【THREE】【TWO】【ONE】

"Uhh… uhh… pull the lever after the signal!" I repeated the instructions explained to me as I grasped the lever with my right hand.

"Henshin!" I shouted out as I then pulled the lever. Suddenly, a surge of energy passed through me as a bright light and fierce winds surrounded me. After a couple of seconds, the light and wind died down, but when I inspected my body, I could see that I was now covered in some sort of white-suited armor with orange patterns. Power filled my body and I felt completely re-energized. Yet, this power felt oddly familiar to me. It was similar to the sensation I had when I first saw the driver but amplified.

Before my mind could even comprehend what happened, I felt myself suddenly squat down and pull my arms close to my chest.

"UCHU KITA!" I instinctively shouted out as loud as I could while standing straight back up and extending both of my arms to the skies. Seconds passed awkwardly, as the area became dead silent. The Zodiarts froze up in complete bewilderment at what I had just done. I felt the embarrassment creeping up my face.

"Why… why did I do that?" I nervously asked nobody in particular while my arms were still extended high into the air. For some inexplicable reason, I felt the need to scream that phrase out with as much air as my lungs could provide.

"That's Fourze! Use its power to defeat the Zodiarts!" Kengo shouted from behind me. I couldn't tell if was just as bewildered as the Zodiarts since he had already opened up his briefcase while holding Burgermeal in his free hand.

I looked back at the Orion Zodiarts, who had also snapped back to reality. The Zodiarts began to run towards me, prompting me to take a stance to prepare myself. Despite the fear I previously had for the Zodiarts, the power I felt from the Fourze Driver made me feel invincible.

"Alright then! I'm sure this strength will bring forth a miracle!" I yelled out, pumping myself up for the upcoming battle.

---

The two of us charged at each other and exchanged punches. Surprisingly, my punch caused the Zodiarts to stagger back. Even more surprisingly, the Zodiarts' punch didn't really hurt at all. Seeing how much stronger and tougher I was invigorated me to continue my assault on the Zodiarts. While he was still recoiling, I followed up with a barrage of rapid punches to keep up the pressure.

Unfortunately for me, I had gotten a bit too cocky with my new power, as the Zodiarts suddenly grabbed me by the waist and tackled me quite a distance.

"Hey! Stop that!" I shouted while elbowing the head of the Zodiarts. Eventually, after enough elbows to the head and one kick later, I managed to knock the Zodiarts away from me and put some distance between the two of us once again.

I prepared to rush at the Zodiarts once again, but a ringing sound began to emit from one of the Astroswitches on the Driver. Looking down at the driver, I saw that the source of the sound was coming from the black Astroswitch on the far left. I quickly activated the Astroswitch to see what would happen.

【RADAR ON】

The Driver suddenly announced as an armament suddenly materialized around my left arm. It looked like a glove with a screen on my wrist and a somewhat small satellite dish at the end of my left hand. On the screen, I saw a video feed of Kengo.

"[While the Fourze System enhances your physical strength, it won't be enough to defeat the Zodiarts. Try activating the Rocket Astroswitch.]" Kengo's voice emitted from the display.

"The Rocket Astroswitch?" I looked down at my Driver. Aside from Radar, there were three other Astroswitches, colored orange, blue, and yellow.

"Which one is it? The orange, blue, or yellow one?" I confusedly asked.

"[The orange one! The one on the far right! Press the switch at the top to activate it!]" Kengo swiftly explained. I prepared to do so, but before I could press it, I noticed the Zodiarts running at me to attack once again.

"Ah-ah-ah! Not this time!" I quickly dodged out of the way before back-kicking the Zodiarts as he passed me, causing him to stumble forward a bit. With no distractions to bother me, I pressed the top of the Rocket Astroswitch to activate it.

【ROCKET ON】

Immediately, an orange rocket formed around my right fist. The second it fully materialized, I could feel the rocket firing up. The immense g-forces exerted by the rocket spun me around as I tried to wrangle control of the attachment.

"Hey, hey! Slow down!" I shouted out in vain. While spinning around in circles, I could see the Orion Zodiarts start glowing again. Realizing the danger I was in, I instinctively pointed the rocket on my arm upwards.

As the Orion Zodiarts shot out several blasts of energy, I suddenly flew several meters into the air. This caused all the energy blasts to miss me, leaving several small craters in the school's courtyard.

"Hey… this is pretty cool!" I said excitedly while I took in the feeling of floating in the air. I could see the Orion Zodiarts refocusing his gaze toward me as his body prepared to send out another volley of energy blasts.

I rotated the rocket to maneuver myself in the air, allowing me to dodge the numerous blasts of energy. Once the wave of blasts had concluded, Kengo started to speak up via Radar once again.

"[Asher! It'd be bad if the Zodiarts damaged the school any further! Use Rocket to get him as far away from the school as possible!]" Kengo instructed. Giving an affirmative hum, I looked back at the Zodiarts and pointed Rocket straight at him to get closer.

Flying through the air, the rocket's propulsion began increasing in force, causing me to accelerate faster and faster. The Zodiarts flinched and attempted to dodge, but it was too late.

"I got you!" I shouted out as I tackled the Zodiart's waist before lifting both of us into the air and away from the school.

---

Third Person POV

The fierce winds and sounds of debris flying past his face had finally died down. Shido hesitantly opened his eyes, unsure if the threat was truly over.

What greeted his sight wasn't the usual bustling buildings and streets of the city. Rather, a massive empty crater in the center of it all. It seemed to have swallowed everything in its wake as if everything that came into contact with it evaporated from existence.

However, the strangest thing was that despite the complete annihilation of everything in range, there was something at the center of the crater. It looked like a giant metal throne. Shido looked closer at the throne, only to see that shockingly, there was a girl right next to it. The girl had long black hair, equipped with purple armor that looked straight out of a fantasy novel.

Shido stared at this mysterious girl when, without warning, the girl grabbed hold of a hilt that emerged from the throne and pulled on it. From the throne emerged a giant broadsword, glowing a mystical light.

The girl then swung straight in the direction of Shido, creating an arc of light. The arc drew closer and closer, and Shido quickly ducked to avoid it. He quickly turned around after it passed overhead, only to see that the arc had bisected the buildings and street signs that were behind him.

He suddenly felt an aura coming from right behind him. Every fiber in his body told him not to turn around, as if triggering some primordial fear. Even so, Shido gathered the courage and turned around to look at what was behind him.

The girl, who stood distantly in the center of the crater only moments ago, was now only a couple of meters in front of him, pointing her sword directly at him. He could see more clearly the details of the dress and armor that the girl was wearing. The long skirt, the strange mixture of metal and fabric, the ethereal glow it was emitting.

But to Shido, the most striking part of the girl was her beauty. Even though the threat of dying still lingered in his mind, Shido found himself too awestruck by the divine beauty of the girl. If anything, he felt like he had come face to face with an angel.

The girl began to raise her sword and the fear of dying took hold of Shido once again.

"Ahh! Wait, wait!" Shido cried out in desperation. Surprisingly, the girl heeded his request and stopped her sword from going any higher.

"...what?" The girl spoke. Even though it was the only word she said, Shido could feel the emptiness behind those words.

"W-why are you doing this…?!" Shido nervously got out.

"Why? To kill you of course…" The girl solemnly looked at Shido. Even though Shido's heart sank at that answer, what pained his heart more were the girl's eyes.

Her face shone with resolve and bloodlust, yet her eyes painted a different picture. Exhaustion, loneliness, sorrow.

"After all… aren't you here to kill me as well?" The girl questioned.

"W-what? No! Of course not!" Shido answered. This caused the girl's sword to twitch for the briefest of moments as she stared at him. A mixture of confusion, bewilderment, and suspicion now washed over her face. It seems that she didn't believe his earnest words.

After a couple of seconds in contemplation, she looked away from Shido only to begin looking at the sky. Shido looked up as well. In addition to the blue sky and clouds dotted around, he could see silhouettes of some strange figures floating in the air.

As the silhouettes drew closer and closer, Shido could see that these were humans that were flying! Suddenly, he saw what seemed to be missiles being launched towards him and the girl.

"Aaaaaaah!… ah?" Shido cried out, bracing himself for the inevitable impact, but for some reason, it never came.

He opened his eyes, only to see the girl holding her hand up. All the missiles stopped dead in the air as if frozen in time.

"Why… why don't you fools realize how futile it all is…?" The girl defeatedly sighed before clenching her hand. All the missiles then immediately crumbled before exploding. What kind of power did this girl wield?

Shido looked up at the people in the sky, who were all clearly taken aback by what just happened. However, the people once again launched another volley of missiles at the pair.

Shido looked over at the girl, who brandished her sword in response.

"When will you all just go away…? Leave me alone… and disappear once and for all!" She screamed out as she slashed her sword toward the missiles. A shockwave rippled through the air, impacting all the missiles and destroying them. The shockwave continued to travel in the direction of the people in the sky, forcing them to break their formation to dodge the attack.

Despite how bizarre and unrealistic everything that had just occurred was, Shido couldn't get one thing out of his mind. When the girl had swung her sword, Shido saw another glimpse of the girl's face. Once again, the girl's eyes were the same as before. Tired. Hopeless. Sad. Lonely.

"Why… why is she making such a sad face…?" Shido thought to himself. It was the only question that was lingering in his mind. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when someone from the sky landed right next to him.

He looked over his shoulder, only to see a woman dressed in what seemed to be a battle exosuit. Slick and pristine, if a little minimalistic. It had thrusters on the back and it seemed the woman was equipped with several weapons and firearms.

However, the most shocking thing about this was that Shido recognized this woman.

"Origami… Tobiichi?!" He cried out in shock. It seems that the woman also wasn't expecting this either as she suddenly turned to face Shido.

"Shido Itsuka…?!" Origami shouted back. Even though her face remained expressionless, Shido could sense that she was shocked by his appearance.

"W-what are you doing here? And what's with that suit?!" Shido desperately questioned. He wanted to get something, anything that would make sense of the situation. Origami didn't answer his questions and instead proceeded to jump toward the mysterious girl while wielding her laser sword.

The girl simply jumped high into the air to dodge Origami's attack. In response, Origami followed up by launching herself into the air in the direction of the girl to continue her flurry of attacks.

"What in the world is going on…?!" Shido thought to himself. He watched as the girl and Origami clashed their swords while in the sky.

Suddenly, Shido's attention turned towards what sounded like the rumbling of a rocket's engine. Shido turned his head in the direction of the sound, only to see another strange sight in the sky.

It seemed to be a person in a white suit with orange stripes with a rocket on his right arm carrying what seemed to be a red monster. Shido watched the two of them fly through the air in a mix of awe and confusion. As they flew, Shido could see that at this rate, the two people would crash into the battle between Origami and the girl.

As if realizing this at the same time Shido did, the rocket man sharply diverted toward the ground. This caused the two people to separate as they fell. Shido could hear two distinct thuds of the creatures hitting the ground.

---

Asher's POV

I flew aimlessly while carrying the Zodiarts. With no place in mind where to drop him off, I decided that the area where the Spacequake struck would be a good enough location.

The Zodiarts continued to struggle in my grasp, forcing me to focus on attempting to keep the Zodiarts tightly in my grasp. However, as we drew closer to the area of the Spacequake, I could see that it wasn't as empty as I initially thought. A large group of people were flying in the sky with what seemed to be weird exosuits.

While distracted by the strange sight, I heard the sounds of swords clashing grow closer and closer. I looked straight ahead of me, only to see a battle between one of these people in suits and a girl with purple armor and a long broadsword in the air.

"Oh shit!" I quickly realized that if I didn't do anything, I would collide with either one of them. Reflexively, I moved down towards the ground, but the sudden change in direction caused me to let go of the Zodiarts. With that, the two of us tumbled through the air as we fell to the ground.

With a resounding thud, I landed on the asphalt on my back. I could still feel Rocket firing on my arm. Feeling quite annoyed by the constant force, I deactivated Rocket before sitting up.

"Owww…." I groggily moaned out. Even though the armor prevented such a fall from killing me, it didn't mean that it reduced all of the pain.

"[Asher! Are you ok?!]" I could hear Kengo worriedly cry out from Radar.

"Yea… I'm good…" I responded with as much strength as I could. I managed to get to my feet and looked around. The Spacequake had done more damage than I thought, its destruction extending well beyond the area it spawned. Debris was scattered everywhere and buildings were heavily damaged. That wasn't even mentioning the giant crater that appeared where the Spacequake occurred.

"Who were those people?" I asked into Radar's display, hoping to get a solid answer. Sure, the people flying in weird exosuits were strange, but what was even more strange was the girl in purple armor. She just seemed so unnatural and had a weird aura surrounding her.

"[I don't know what you're talking about. More importantly, the Zodiarts?]" Kengo shifted the topic. I looked around, only to see the Orion Zodiarts struggling to get up to his feet several meters away from where I was standing.

"[Alright, it's a bit more weakened now! Use the Launcher Astroswitch before it can fully recover!]" Kengo advised. I looked down at the remaining two Astroswitches that were still unknown to me on the Driver. Seconds passed as I tried to guess which one Kengo was talking about.

"[It's the blue one, Asher.]" Kengo flatly told me.

"Ahh, thanks." I quickly activated the blue switch.

【LAUNCHER ON】

The driver announced once again. On my right leg, a blue compartment materialized. It looked like a miniature missile launcher that was strapped to my leg. I lifted my right leg to inspect it closer before putting it down.

The moment I did so, all the missiles in the launcher suddenly blasted off. The sudden force caused me to step back a bit, which resulted in all the missiles going wildly off course. Not a single one of them even got close to the Zodiarts.

"[What are you doing, Asher?!]" Kengo yelled at me as if he were a disappointed parent who caught their kid goofing off.

"Sorry! I don't know how this works!" I defensively yelled back.

"[Use Radar and point it at the Zodiarts to lock the missiles onto it!]" Kengo explained.

"You could've told me that earlier, you know!" I complained back. Listening to his words, I aimed the satellite dish of the Radar module at the Zodiarts. After a second or two, I heard a confirmation noise coming from the module.

"Alright!" I shouted before bringing my right leg up before slamming it into the ground. This time, the missiles perfectly locked onto the Zodiarts, causing the Zodiarts to be sent flying backwards.

"[Good!]" Kengo exclaimed over Radar's intercom. I deactivated the quite heavy Launcher before running to catch up to where the Zodiarts had landed. I could still hear the sounds of swords clashing and artillery being fired high in the sky as I ran.

With the smoke clearing, I could see the Zodiarts struggling to even get back to its feet. The fight was practically over at this point.

"[It's time for a Limit Break! Activate the Rocket and Drill Astroswitches and then pull the handle! It'll give you a large boost of strength to execute a finishing move. Use it to defeat the Zodiarts!]" Kengo ordered.

"On it!" I swiftly replied.

【ROCKET ON】【DRILL ON】

I activated the Rocket Astroswitch and the yellow one, which I correctly deduced was the Drill Astroswitches. I felt the familiar orange rocket materialize on my right hand. On my left leg, a yellow drill materialized, completely encasing my leg and foot.

As I lifted myself upwards with Rocket, I pulled the handle on the driver.

【ROCKET DRILL RADAR】【LIMIT BREAK】

The driver announced as a surge of power flowed through my body. I could feel the rocket increasing in force and the drill on my left leg starting to spin. Every reserve of energy I had was channeled for this one attack.

"Take this! Rocket Drill Kick!" I pointed the rocket at the Zodiarts. He looked up at me in shock, only having enough time to brace himself for the attack.

I launched myself toward the Zodiarts and eventually kicked him with the spinning drill on my left leg. The moment I collided with the Zodiart's body, I felt the drill rotating faster and faster and the rocket growing in power.

At this point, victory was guaranteed. The Zodiarts' last defenses were about to crack any second now. There was no way anything could intervene this late… right?

---

Third Person POV

Every. Single. Time.

Every single time she was pulled into this world, people were always there to attack her with their weird weapons and gadgets. No matter where she found herself, those people would always be there to relentlessly attack her.

When was the last time she even had a moment of peace?

Her mind flashed back to the young boy she had met earlier. He was the first person that claimed to not want to kill her. Preposterous. Everywhere she went, an army of people would always confront and attack her. It must have been some trick to get her guard down.

But, what if? What if his words could be trusted? What if he truly meant those words? Was a meeting without fighting possible?

The sudden sound of a sword slashing through the air snapped her out of her delusions. Right now, she couldn't afford to be distracted. In front of her, floating in the sky with her, was one of these foolish people who continued to strike at her.

Her silver hair paired well with her emotionless face, but she could sense the bloodlust coming from her.

"You evil Spirit! I'll kill you! This time for sure!" The girl yelled out.

How many times has she heard those words? Words filled with hate, malice, evil. Why were these people always attacking her? What crimes has she committed to earn such an existence?

"Why…" The girl slowly let out. Anger filled her voice, but deep down, the sorrow inside of her continued to fester.

"Why can't you just disappear and leave me alone?!" The girl desperately cried out before slashing her sword at the silver-haired girl. Her emotions were starting to go rampant. Fear. Anguish. Resignation.

Despair.

She felt her power grow in response to these heightened emotions. A purple wave of energy radiated from her body. Unbeknownst to her, these emotions would also resonate with another being close by…

---

Asher POV

I continued to exert all my energy to whittle down the Zodiarts with my Limit Break when a purple wave suddenly passed through the two of us. Seconds after that occurrence, the Zodiarts, who had been only seconds away from a total defeat, started to push back against my attack. It was like he got his second wind.

"What?!" I yelled out. I tried to exert more force to knock the Zodiarts back into submission, but the Zodiarts continued to power through.

The reinvigorated Zodiarts pumped his chest out before uppercutting the drill piercing into his body.

The uppercut had enough force to completely negate the attack, sending me flying up into the air. Disorientated, I felt myself rising through the air before the sensation of gravity took hold, sending me falling back down toward Earth. I could only watch as the Zodiarts prepared to punch me the moment I got close enough.

With one solid punch to the stomach, I was sent flying away. I bounced several times off the ground before coming to a stop.

"AAAGH!" I yelled out in anguish. It was the most pain I felt throughout the entire battle. I tried to get to my feet, but all the energy in my body was completely spent. The moment I stood up, I immediately fell back to the ground. I couldn't even feel the modules on my arms or left leg anymore. Had they been deactivated from an overuse of energy?

In just a couple of seconds, I had gone from nearly securing a victory to now on the verge of total defeat.

I struggled to look up, only to see the Zodiarts, stumbling toward my direction. It seems that whatever energy boost he got only gave him enough to execute that one attack at full power. Even though the two of us were both heavily exhausted, I could tell that the Zodiarts was in better shape than I was. He was determined to finish the fight right here and now.

As the Zodiarts walked closer and closer, I prayed. If a miracle could occur that turned the tides in the favor of the Zodiarts, then surely, another miracle could occur that would let me get out of this situation alive?

---

Third Person POV

High in the sky, the clash between Origami and the girl reached its climax. The two of them swung their weapons at each other with such force that it created a giant shockwave. The shockwave caused some nearby buildings to fall apart and launch any loose debris away like bullets.

Of course, Shido being so close to the battlefield meant that he would not go unscathed. He felt the shockwave knock him hard against a nearby wall, causing him to black out.

Similarly, a nearby battle going on would have their fight come to an abrupt halt as a result.

---

Asher's POV

As I lay on the ground, waiting for the inevitable, the sound of a massive explosion caught both of our attention. I glanced upwards, only to see a shockwave of air rippling through the sky straight towards us.

The Zodiarts attempted to stand his ground. However, eventually, he decided enough was enough and fled from the battlefield to spare himself.

I, on the other hand, who was in a much more weakened state, could do nothing but watch. I felt the shockwave send my body flying through the air backward. Seconds later, I violently crashed through the wall of a nearby damaged building.

My last conscious thought was cursing whatever God existed for granting me this Monkey's Paw's wish.

---

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a large open park of some sort. I could see people all around. Some were just talking, some were playing, and others were relaxing on the open grass. Was this heaven?

"Asher, sweetie! The food is ready!" I heard a womanly voice call out from behind me.

"I'm coming!" I heard my voice respond, but I immediately noticed something was off. My voice wasn't the voice I was used to hearing. If anything, it sounded younger and more high-pitched. Like if I was around eight or nine years old.

My head turned to see a traditional picnic set up. A large cloth was splayed out on the grass, with baskets of food and drinks laid out neatly in the center. On the other side of the cloth, I saw two people. I felt my mind go dizzy once I saw the faces of those two people. I could never forget those faces. I had seen them so many times.

The two people were the "mother" and "father" from my constant nightmare. Their faces were a bit more youthful compared to what I was used to seeing. Even despite the slight change, there was no mistaking it. These were the exact same people from my nightmare.

My body excitedly ran to join my "mother" and "father" for some food.

"Are you having fun, my son?" My "father" asked in a playful tone.

"Yep! I sure am!" My own body gleefully responded in turn.

Once again, these "parents" of mine showed up in my dreams. I thought the last dream was just a one-off nightmare so why am I seeing these people again? Are these nightmares of mine really just dreams…?

After all, these people, including myself, were speaking English. Despite only knowing Japanese, I could fully understand everything they were saying. If what was happening was just a dream, why would I speak in a foreign language instead of my native tongue?

While I thought to myself, the dream became more and more unstable. Just as quickly as it arrived, the dream left me just as quickly. The only thing on my mind were many unanswered questions.

---

"...-her… Asher!" I could feel someone shaking my body urgently.

"...yea…?" I weakly responded. I slowly opened my eyes, only to be greeted by an aching sensation across my entire body.

"You're alive! Thank god." The voice responded with relief. I tilted my head to see who exactly it was who was speaking to me.

"...Kengo…?" In front of me was Kengo, who was kneeling over my body.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?" Kengo anxiously asked me. I tried to move my body, and much to my relief, my body responded. I also no longer felt the Fourze armor surrounding my body. It seems it must have dematerialized automatically when I lost consciousness.

I took my time to slowly get up. It seems that outside of some bruises and aching, which was more intense in some places, I was mostly ok.

"Yea… I think I'll be alright." I responded, which was not exactly a lie. I mean, I would be alright once I crashed and slept for 12 hours.

"And, the Zodiarts…?" I asked Kengo. Kengo shook his head.

"It got away, but don't worry. We'll get it next time." Kengo assured me.

"What happened…? Who were those people…? Why did the Zodiarts get stronger…?" I rambled to Kengo. My mind was a mess. Heavily deluded and confused, I wanted answers to everything. What was the reason everything had gone so wrong so quickly?

"I don't know all the answers, but for now, we need to get out of here. I'll take you back to Rabbit Hutch where we can recoup." Kengo firmly stated.

Kengo helped me walk out of the decrepit building and back into the sunlight. From what I could see and hear, nobody was around. The Zodiarts, the people in the sky, the girl in purple armor. It was like they all vanished into thin air.

The region was still a destroyed mess, but I could hear the sound of helicopters approaching. It seems that the government was on its way to clean up the mess.

We eventually walked over to a nicely parked white motorcycle. Kengo handed me a helmet before putting one on himself.

"Get on." Kengo instructed me.

"You can drive a motorcycle?" I asked curiously as I put on my helmet.

"Yes, I can. Just hold on." Kengo warned.

I sat behind Kengo and put my hands on his shoulders to keep me steady. Before I knew it, Kengo had started riding the motorcycle away from the destroyed area and back towards Raizen.

With only the sound of the engine and wind passing by, my mind flashed back to everything that had just occurred. Of course, I had many questions. Who were those flying people? Who was that girl in purple armor? Why did the Zodiarts suddenly get stronger? What had caused that purple wave of energy?

Of course, I felt confident that Kengo would help me find those answers. But my mind was focusing everything on one specific question. A question that I don't think anyone other than me will be able to find an answer to.

"Are those dreams of mine… really just dreams?"

---

Third Person POV

Kengo focused on making sure that he and Asher got back to Raizen High safely. After all, though he was relieved Asher was alright, he still felt worried for his wellbeing. Especially after all the damage he took from the fight with the Zodiarts.

Kengo's mind wandered back to Asher's fight with the Zodiarts. Thanks to Asher keeping Radar on throughout the entire fight, Kengo was able to "watch" the entire fight via his Astroswitch Case. Granted, he could barely see anything clearly given how the camera constantly bobbed and moved and half of the time Radar was pointed at the ground or something similar, but it was still decent enough for Kengo to get a general overview of everything. While he was surprised at the Zodiarts sudden boost in strength, Kengo already had a few theories as to what exactly caused it in the first place. No, he was more focused on finding an answer to a more pressing oddity.

An oddity that lasted from the moment Asher transformed.

From his Astroswitch Case, Kengo was able to monitor Fourze's stats and readings. For some reason, all of Fourze's readings were higher than expected. Not so high that it was inhumanly possible, but high enough that it raised some suspicions within Kengo.

According to his data, Asher was able to draw out more strength of the Fourze System than what should be expected of a regular human. It was as if Asher's body was somehow more in sync with the Cosmic Energy emitted by the Fourze Driver.

Kengo racked his brain to come up with any possible explanation to explain this anomaly. It could be that Kengo was just lucky. That the one person he met and entrusted the driver with had a natural affinity for Cosmic Energy. However, Kengo didn't believe in things such as luck or miracles. The numbers and readings he saw couldn't just be explained away by something so unreliable.

"Asher… who in the world are you exactly…?" Kengo thought to himself, as he continued to drive back to Raizen High.

---

Third Person POV

In the shadows of a dimly lit room, an old man laid back on his luxurious chair. In his hand was a switch, similar to an Astroswitch. However, it was darker and had a more intricate pattern. At the top was a small red button.

The old man leaned forward, clutching the switch tightly. He could feel his business suit constricting him. Though it was far and faint, he felt a familiar aura of energy some time ago. He could never mistake that energy signature. After all, Cosmic Energy has such a distinct feeling to it.

"I see… Fourze is at my academy…" The old man said as he furrowed his brow. He knew what that energy would entail.

"Even after all these years… you're still getting in my way… Utahoshi?" The old man snarled. Sure, Fourze's appearance would disrupt his plans a bit, but that's all it would be. He could still deal with the sudden appearance of this new nuisance.

After all, the plan that started decades ago would not be stopped by some relic created by a ghost from the past.

---

Author's Note:

Well, this was probably way too long for the first chapter. Let's get some things cleared up while you're here.

As was clearly shown, this fanfic does have a focus on an OC. I do apologize for this first chapter being so OC-centric. Later chapters will try to keep a nice healthy balance between Asher's and Shido's (and the others) POVs. This chapter was mainly to introduce the concept of Fourze into the world of Date a Live, not trying to set up both beginnings at the same time. Also, if you don't like OCs... I'm sorry? This fic might not be for you then.

Regarding romance with the OC, I do not plan on shipping any of the main spirits with him. I mean, Date a Live is Shido's love story. Think of the OC as a wingman in a sense, there to help but not to take over. I'm doing this because I think Shido's relationship with all of the spirits is cute and I don't like to intrude on that. If anything, I want to expand those relationships into something more deeper. Why bother ruining it with some random OC?

Also, on the topic of genre, I would like to keep this series more light-hearted and slice of life. I think Date a Live's best aspects are the characters and their dynamics with each other, so being able to showcase that side more is one of the goals this fanfic will aim for. This doesn't mean this fanfic won't get dark or serious, but this is primarily a work where it's just people getting along and having fun while beating up monsters and saving the day. I'll try to make this goofy, so hopefully that comes through.

Some Kamen Rider fans might have noticed the pretty big clue as to who exactly the mysterious group of people involved in Asher's dreams. This info should help you speculate on which characters will play a major role in revealing his past.

I'll try to keep it as vague as possible, but if you are wondering if this will become an "X person reincarnates into the franchise they've watched and tries to change the future" then no. If you were jumping into this fic hoping for something like that, then I apologize. Though, Asher's mysterious dreams will play a role eventually.

The last topic I want to touch upon is regarding the upload schedule. Let's say… it'll be very tenuous and inconsistent. By the time you are reading this, I've already fully written out the entire first arc (Fourze Genesis). However, Arc 2 is still in the stage of rough drafting. I'll upload a new chapter bi-weekly until we reach the end of this arc. Afterward, it may take anywhere from a couple of weeks or months until the next arc drops. (Depending on how much work I'm swamped with in real life).

I'll put this upfront, I'm not the fastest writer. I started planning this fic and Arc 1 out in November 2023 and only just got around to finally getting it to a point I'm happy with, so that should tell you how fast I work.

In any case, thanks for reading Chapter 1. Leave any comments, reviews, or criticisms and I hope to see you for Chapter 2, which should be coming out in around two weeks.