The First Rider
Kamen Rider Wing Knight was pursuing a strange-looking creature.
He already stopped the other three other dark red monsters and the one that left took one hostage from the parking lot they were in. Using his motorcycle, not only the man with the dark armor rescued the woman from the grasps of the creature, but he also used it to attack the same monster. He didn't have any intentions to prolong their encounter or even make others know about their presence, so to speed things up, Wing Knight pulled out one card from his belt and placed it on his sword.
As the armored warrior got a new weapon, a sword that was called Winglancer, he used it against the last dark red creature and it didn't take long for him to finally destroy the monster and once he was done, Wing Knight deactivated his armor before moving closer to the woman. "Are you okay?" He asked in a serious yet calm tone. Confused, the woman asked him what happened as she remembered being close to her car and now, she was on another floor, but instead of telling her the truth, Wing Knight lied to her, saying that she hit her head and that she needed to be safe before leaving on his motorcycle, transforming back into Wing Knight once he was far enough from that place.
A few days later, Matthew Castillo finally arrived in the city after a year. Life wasn't easy for the brown-haired guy, what started as him staying with some friends of his family for just a few weeks soon turned south as he got the news that his parents disappeared. Because at that time he was under-age, Matthew couldn't go back to the city and search for his parents, so he had to wait. It was a long year for him, struggling with finishing his studies and not letting the idea of never seeing his parents again, he could have left earlier, but as his parents never got the kind of education he got, they made Matthew promise to first finish High School before anything.
After he was finally done, and he turned 18, the brown-haired guy picked up his stuff and went back to Lansing City. Their apartment, a place where Matthew grew and had some nice memories, looked grim, no one had been there in a while and even though the brown-haired guy was glad to be back in his place, he had other things in mind, mainly where his parents could be. As he walked around his home, going through memory lane and thinking about those good times with his parents, the brown-haired guy noticed a small object close to one picture of him and his family.
"What is this?" Matthew asked while picking up the deck of cards. He was aware that both of his parents liked to play poker or other games with cards, but the item in question didn't have the same kind of cards. The first one he pulled out from the deck was one that only had the word contact on it, giving the brown-haired guy more questions than answers. "Contact? Advent Card? What's this supposed to mean?" While he looked down at the card in his hand again, Matthew heard something close to the balcony.
While it was a crazy thought, the young guy thought that he could find certain information about the whereabouts of his parents, so he ran to the balcony with the deck of cards in his hand and looked around. Matthew knew that he was overthinking and that he needed to be calm if he wanted to find his parents, but just before he could go back in, the brown-haired guy noticed something strange moving between the windows. At the same time, the deck of cards started to glow. Matthew quickly linked both together, aware that one was making the other react, but as he looked back at the building, he froze in fear as a red dragon came from the mirrors and quickly flew towards him.
With no other options, the young guy moved his arms up to protect himself and closed his eyes, but instead of an impact, the dragon stopped as the deck of cards protected him from one moment. Even after the creature attacked him, making the brown-haired guy fall, he wasn't hurt and the dragon left no long after that. While he wasn't hurt, upon getting up, Matthew heard an ear-piercing sound for a few seconds before it stopped. The young guy thought that he was so overwhelmed by coming back to his home and the idea of seeing his parents again made him see things and as he needed to be calm if he wanted to get some answers, he put the deck of cards on the pocket of his jacket and walked towards the door. "I just need to go out…that's all. Just some fresh air to calm myself and then I'll come back," Matthew said to himself before leaving his apartment, seeing it both as an opportunity to get some answers about what had been happening since the last time he was there and also to get some information related to the whereabouts of his parents.
Even before he left, there were rumors about some people vanishing from one day to another without an explanation. As the young guy continued to walk about the city, he noticed a lot of signs about people that disappeared. It was obvious that he wasn't the only one affected by those disappearances and while Matthew wanted to help, he still needed to be more tranquil to continue with his search, this being one of the pieces of advice his mother gave him when he had to complete certain tasks.
He wasn't the only one looking at those signs as close to him, walking on the other side of the street, was Belinda Redd. She was a young reporter and investigator that was hired by an independent news company and even though the red-haired gal went out to buy some drinks and refreshments for her and the other workers of the place she worked in, the young woman couldn't help but to look again at all the signs of people that disappeared. She saw it as a chance of getting important information and as she was writing the names and other details on her notepad, Matthew noticed another creature moving between the windows of a building.
"Hey…uhm…can anyone else see this?" The brown-haired guy asked while looking around. He was still trying to make sense about his encounter with the red dragon and seeing that there were more creatures made Matthew feel uneasy. Looking around, the young guy saw four dark red creatures moving around the windows of a nearby building, but unlike the other one, those came out from it and followed the reporter. Matthew still couldn't understand why neither she or the other passersby couldn't see the strange-looking creatures, but as someone could be in danger, the young guy didn't think twice before running towards them.
While Belinda went through an alley, still looking at her notes at the same time he tried to remember the things he had to buy, she bumped into something. The reporter was confused as there was nothing or no one in front of her. "Maybe this means I've been overworking," Belinda said to herself while looking around, soon discovering that there was something else there that she couldn't see as one dark red creature held her arm tightly. Seeing that the young woman was in trouble, Matthew ran towards the creature that was holding the reporter and threw it to the ground.
"Are you okay? Did that thing hurt you?" Belinda was confused as while the young guy could see the dark red monsters, she couldn't see them. It was strange and the red-haired gal was unsure about how to react, being shocked again the moment the guy that helped her got held by the creature she couldn't see. Belinda could either help him, taking a risk as she didn't know in which places those creatures were, or search for someone that might help her, but the young woman didn't have time to make a decision as another dark red creature held her from behind and used a mirror that someone threw on the alley to escape.
Looking around, not only Belinda found herself in an odd place where everything looked clear and bright, but she also saw how that creature looked. After Matthew heard her scream, the brown-haired guy looked at the mirror, he got up from the floor and moved close to it, only to see that the dark red monster that took Belinda was thrown out of it. Not only that, but a guy with a dark jacket came from the mirror holding the young reporter and after moving closer to the other creatures, he didn't have much issues fighting against them, easily beating them while barely being attacked. Matthew was impressed and, in a way, Belinda and him were happy to know that someone helped them. "Thank you. I didn't know what would had happened if you di-"
"The Advent Deck. Give it to me," the man with the dark jacket said in a serious tone while trying to look for the object in question. The young guy still had multiple questions, from who this guy was to why those creatures were attacking them, but the man with the jacket didn't reply and instead continued to ask for the Advent Deck, mentioning that he needed it. As the mysterious man looked back at Belinda, who was writing on her notepad, the young guy saw a chance of running away before the man with the dark jacket would pursue him. The reporter also wanted to follow them, but she got a call on her phone.
"Yes? Oh, sorry Mr. Kennedy, I stopped for a moment to get some information. I'm coming back with what you told me. I'll be there in 20 minutes, I promise," Belinda wanted to stay and see if any of them would tell her about what happened, but because she had limited time, the red-haired gal looked back at her notes before deciding to investigate once she went back to her workplace. While she left the alley, Matthew tried to avoid being caught by the mysterious guy and after arriving at a parking lot, he thought he was safe until he heard the same sound of earlier.
Looking at one of the windows of a nearby building, he jumped in surprise as he saw another creature, an arachnid-like monster who tried to attack him. The young guy took a few steps back out of instinct, but as he touched the car's window, he fell inside the reflection. The man with the dark jacket arrived in time to see what happened and as he looked at the window of the building, seeing that the arachnid monster was still there, he knew that he had to jump inside too. Pulling out his own advent deck from the inside pocket of his jacket, he walked on the same spot where Matthew fell and activated it. "Kamen Rider," as he said those words, and put the advent deck on his buckle, he activated his armor and then jumped inside the mirror.
As the young guy got thrown out of the same place where Belinda was sent, he found himself in front of the arachnid creature. He also noticed that he had an armor that he couldn't take and while glad that he had some protection, Matthew still was in trouble as the giant arachnid kept following him regardless of where he went. The young guy thought that this was his end, until he saw someone wearing an armor that had a bat motif coming from one of the windows.
"I'll take care of it, for now, stay back," while Wing Knight moved in front of Matthew, the young guy discovered that it was the same man with the dark jacket that helped him and the reporter on the alley. He still was worried that he was going to attack him, but as the mysterious man told him he was going to help him, Matthew followed his command and stayed behind him while he went on to attack the creature. Just like he did a few nights ago, Wing Knight activated one of his cards to get another weapon before attacking the monster.
Although he was told to stay back, seeing what the mysterious man did with the card gave Matthew an idea. Pulling one of his own cards from his buckle, he looked for his own card reader and after noticing that on his arm he had one, the young guy placed his card there, making a sword fall from the sky. While puzzled, Matthew was glad to find a weapon to defend himself and he quickly picked it up to help Wing Knight fight against the giant arachnid, but his attempt failed as his weapon broke while he tried to cut one of the creature's legs. As he was still processing what happened, the giant arachnid threw him away.
"What are you doing? I told you not to interfere," the mysterious man said in a serious tone before taking another card from his belt. First, one big bat came flying and tried attacking the arachnid, but as the attack failed, Wing Knight pulled out his most powerful card: Final Vent. He ran toward the giant creature before jumping in the air, letting him and the bat do the final blow, destroying the arachnid in the process. As he finally had a chance to talk with the mysterious man, Matthew wanted to know who he was and why all those creatures were following him, but then Wing Knight looked up and pushed the young guy away. "Careful!"
As Matthew got up, he noticed that the one that attacked them was none other than the same red dragon of before. "No way. Is that dragon again," the young guy said, astonished to see the red creature again. As Wing Knight told him to escape and not to fight, Matthew nodded his head before the two started to run. It didn't matter how fast they moved, the dragon continued to throw fireballs at them and they were pretty close to being hurt by its attack. "I don't get it. Why is that thing attacking us?"
"Run faster!" The knight with the bat armor commanded, but in the end, they couldn't escape and were hit with the dragon's final attack. As the two flew away from the impact, Matthew thought about what happened during the last couple of hours. He was back in the city he grew up in, arrived at the place where he lived with his parents, found a deck of cards, started to see strange-looking creatures and met someone who knew about those mirror monsters and the deck of cards. It was a lot for the young guy and sadly.
This was just the beginning.