Ashley was sitting down and watching her game show. It was so enthralling to her. The contestants constantly test their wits against the greatest inquiries mankind has to offer, all while the host loses it at the blatantly incorrect answers. All of these lead to the ever so climatic final question where the winner takes all. Which is unfortunately loudly Interrupted by the door to the building slamming open, causing her to jut up and shriek in surprise.
She goes over to a nearby drawer and pulls out a bat, opening the door into the entryway ready to strike. Only to see her two friends and employees, Tonio and Flynn, walking through the door, looking exhausted. While Tonio looked normal, only lightly sweaty and still having some whipped cream on his face from the bakery, Flynn looked miserable even for his standards. Most of his clothes were covered in small tears and rips.
"Oh… Did dealing with customers get physical?" She asked, raising a brow at the two of them.
"Oh…Yeah it was worse than that." Flynn replies, going over everything that happened. The store getting blown up, that weirdo with the axe, and the absolutely bizarre happening with the baker. All of the explanation for Ashley to just cross her arms in disbelief and sigh.
"You know… There's nothing wrong with admitting you got beat up. There was that whole incident at the supermarket, so you getting into fights would not–"
"But it's true!" Tonio interrupts. "I saw everything! It was nuts, he was moving and slashing, it was like… something."
Ashley sighed again. To her, it seemed like Flynn roped Tonio into another lie of his. She's about to scold him when the door opens again, revealing Commander Proton looking over at Flynn "You! I need to talk to you more!" he said with gusto.
"Robot, OHMYGOD!" Ashley says instinctively raising her bat again, ready to turn him into a tin can only for both Tonio and Flynn to stop her causing a ruckus, trying to lead her and Proton into the employee living space to continue to explain the situation.
"Okay. So… to sum it up. You got attacked by monsters? And now you have a weird artifact that has been looking for." Ashley said, collecting her thoughts.
Flynn responds, grabbing the artifact out of his coat And placing it on the table. "Yeah. And now I have no idea what the hell to do. Especially considering what that guy said about others…You got any idea Electron?"
"Well." Proton replies, a little annoyed at Flynn continuing to get his name wrong. "Judging by the way the event happened, it seems we're dealing with a typical alternative world invasion. I've seen a few of those, even fought some off." He adds bravely, striking a heroic pose.
"Ya know," Flynn interrupts as well, sitting up and slamming his hands on the table. "You can't just say stuff like that and expect us to be relaxed about it! All we got to fight them is this… Thing."
"Well… I thought about that and as I researched on the way here. It seems your earth has a lot of people with powers like that." He presses some buttons and on his wrist a video pops up, causing everyone in the room to lean in to look.
It was a bunch of humanoid figures, fighting assorted weird monsters of sorts. Tonio even thought a few of the figures looked like what Flynn transformed into. Flynn cuts through the silence like a knife.
"Wooooow, what are those?" He adds pointing at the hologram showing the video.
Tonio answers. "I think it's called a hologram." Causing Flynn to scowl at him.
Proton explains. "Well, not everywhere, but in parts of the world there are similar superhero-like figures. It appears here they're called Masked Riders. And they seem to do their job really well."
Flynn then slumps back down in the chair, mentally exhausted at the idea. "Oh boy. So I'm like a superhero now or something?"
"Looks like it." Tonio adds in slouching in his chair. All the while Flynn squeezes the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe it, just one act and he's the only line of defense against some weird alien force.
"Ash. Do I get more time off for this?" Flynn tries to add jokingly to ease his mind, forcing a chuckle. He didn't want to be in this position, however, he thought deeply about it for a bit as the others talked. It's the right thing to do, it may not be easy or even as rewarding as his job but Flynn saw what those things did when they got here. The baker's lack of face still invaded his mind a bit as this talk happened. What if he wasn't there? Would the baker have stayed like that? Or changed into something worse. He didn't want to think about it. Moreso he wanted to try to make sure it didn't happen as long as he could stop it. He stands from his chair about to proclaim he's willing to fight no matter how hard it is. Only for his return to reality to be interrupted by Ashley screaming and pointing behind him.
"Who the hell is that!?" She yells. Pointing at someone behind Flynn's shoulder. Turning around he sees a man in a green robe, holding a wooden cane. Flynn jumps back in surprise right back into the table, hurting his back on the artifact that he just played on there.
"Woah there, fellas. I mean no harm. I'm just here due to recent events." the man says, holding his hand up, trying to signal he's as harmless as he says. "I see you found my little friend there. And from what I heard, ya used it too."
Ashley arms herself with the bat again. "Who are you and how'd you get here? You have 5 seconds to answer before I turn you into pulp!"
He drops his cane and now holds up both of his hands in fear. "Thunderesa, woman! I ain't anyone dangerous!" He begins to explain himself. "My name is Rasputamus Hubba. Most Just call me Old Hubba. I made that little thing there and was just here to check on it." He points at the artifact and steps back further.
Proton responds. "The driver there? How exactly did you make that?"
"Well," He begins. "You know those cards you used there?" He points at the box next to the artifact. "They're my own personal collection. Managed to finally get a case for them after so many times of losing them and getting them stolen. Only for a terrible thing to happen."
Flynn looks confused. "How's it get worse than them getting stolen?"
Hubba continues. "These cards used to be alive so to speak. Inside them are many brave souls, souls that fought evil for years. But some time ago. They lost their luster and could no longer be called from their homes. So I tried to build some way around it." He goes over to the device and picks it up, presenting it like a class project.
"Behold the Emblem Driver. A gift from my wonderful mind made to turn anyone into a majestic hero." He shouts proudly. "With the help of the power that remains in the cards, even you could be a hero."
The group looks bewildered at the man. Flynn then looks at it and the box and thinks more about it. "So then why are those guys after it?"
"Simple really!" Hubba replies. "They want it for its power. The idea of something like that probably dusts their dragonstones really nice, same way others got my cards. But I'm too tricky for them. Only reason I lost it was because I dropped it when falling."
"Well how would it go from you falling to being here near Flynn?" Tonio asks curiously.
"Well, things get weird in the Outrealms. Something falls out of there and can end up anywhere else. From how it sounded to me it must've ended up lodged in a wall. Glad they blew it out for ya otherwise you'd be toast." Hubba laughs.
"So who are they?" Flynn asks. "They can't just be some randos if they can do that whole black sky thing."
"The metal boy had it right. Invaders from the Outrealms. Made by that one trickster who's name always escapes me. While my willes and woos didn't work on her she fell head over heels for the Emblem Driver and those cards."
"I see." Flynn then sits back down and thinks again. "So if I beat this trickster and her henchmen. Can I keep it safe here?"
"Yep." Hubba confirms. "But it won't be easy, boy. They made a lot of tools to just try to break into this world. Made things all unstable like a shaky table, that's how I'm able to be here. They'll come here as that's where the driver is. But the reverse is also true. You can go there… with a little help of course."
"Well quit yapping." Flynn stops him and slaps his hands on the table again. "How will I know when they strike again?"
"I can help with that." Proton chimes in. "When that first weird area change happened, there was a tremor of sorts. But it was unnatural, so more than likely, if we track an unnatural tremor…"
"We find them." Ashley finishes. And almost on time with that a small shake happens throughout the building, causing her to get up and look out a window. Off in the distance a black bubble had appeared in the city. "Oh please don't tell me that's it…"
Flynn sees her reaction and snatches the driver from Hubba's hand, dashing out the door with the old man following.
"Stop! Stop you fool! You aren't gonna get there in time on foot. Let alone break the wall. You gotta call the Paladin!" He says trying to open the box on the driver.
"The what?" Flynn responds.
"The Paladin! It's a little happy accident that happened when I made that tool. You'll need a specific card for it. Look for a man in purple armor." He says, instructing Flynn to put on the driver and begin looking for the card.
Flynn pulls out the card in question. What looked like an old man in spiked violet armor. He puts it in the card slot and before he can even pull the sword the driver speaks again.
"Deploy! Paladin!"
The card shoots out of the Driver and changes. Turning into a purple motorcycle, covered in many decorations and even front spikes. Its engine roars to life as it sits there.
"Oh damn." Flynn says in awe as he looks over the bike. Sitting on its seat and revving the engine. "Good thing I actually learned how to ride these things! I'll be back, old man! You better not do anything until I get back!" He adds as he roars the engine again and zooms forward towards the black bubble.
Flynn barrels down the empty streets, passing by many buildings as he approaches the sphere. Despite so quickly dashing off so quickly, he had no idea how he was gonna get in there. He leans a bit forward, looking down at the spikes at the front of his newfound bike. "I have an idea but I'm afraid it's gonna get me killed… So just to be safe." Flynn slaps the Emblem Driver on his waist and inserts the Marth card again, all while trying not to crash the bike. He grabs the sword and draws It from the driver and yells aloud "Transform!" And slashes in front of him to transform. After sheathing the sword on another part of the belt, he then slams the bike right into the barrier like a brick through a window, crashing into a few of those weird axe wielding things from earlier.
Flynn surveys the situation, it seems that one Gazzak guy wasn't here, no one was actually here… just a bunch of those axe wielding things and what looked to be another changed human. This time on what looked to be a broken up armor set like some sort of knight of sorts. He dismounts from his bike and readies his sword, once again charging brazenly into battle. He once again manages to breeze through most of the lesser monsters, slashing through them and causing them to once again mysteriously vanish into thin air, all while the armored one flung things at him. He couldn't see them clearly at first but once he cleared out the small fries he realized it was tossing javelins at him. He took a few stray hits, it still hurt but it'd probably hurt a hell of a lot more if he hadn't transformed. He had to close the gap between him and the armor, and he started to while slashing away the javelins that came his way. When he got close he slammed his fist into the monster's face, knocking him back a little and leaving him open to some slashes with the sword.
Hitting them wasn't the hard part at this point, but the sword couldn't really pierce through the armor. Flynn stepped back a bit and thought quickly. Reaching into the box on the side of the belt and pulling a random card, what looked to be some sort of man with an axe of his own. He put it in the belt and expected to transform, only for his weapon to transform instead.
"Barst! SMASHING!"
The sword transforms, with a little help from Flynn, into an axe; the blade guards now form a handle of sorts for Flynn to hold the axe with. The axe glows as Flynn swings it at the monster, actually managing to cut the armor with this.
"Okay! I get it! Bigger blade, bigger damage!" Flynn assumes as he continues to fight. The monster seemed to stand no chance at this point where Flynn cuts through the monster and causes it to explode like last time. Afterwards, the axe morphs back into a sword. Flynn had managed to win with the help of dumb luck once again.
Flynn bikes home once he's certain the sphere around the area fully disappeared. He tries to think about all the stuff happening just today. This belt, these spheres… those weird monsters. It all makes his head spin. What will lie at the end of this mysterious road, if there's an end to it at all. He ponders all this as he drives home.
Back at the agency, Ashley, Tonio and Proton were still slightly suspicious of this jovial old man. From their viewpoint, he just barged in and said he made the belt and now is just sitting here.
"Okay, old man!" Ashley starts. "You can't just stay here. Magical belt or not. We already have a lot of people staying here and can't just magically make a room for ya!"
Hubba waves her assertion with his hand. "Oh don't you worry. I don't plan on staying for long. I don't think I could if I tried. Just let me wait for the man of the hour to return and I'll leave ya be."
The group still looks at him with confusion until Flynn opens the door, looking completely exhausted. He simply ignores the rest of the room and heads straight for his room, flumping onto his bed.
"Ooooh yeah. Probably should have told him transforming twice in a day would probably not feel that good. But he'll be fine. With that I should probably be leaving. I'll see you around!" Hubba then gets up and heads into the storage closet, shutting the door behind him.
Ashley huffs angrily and heads towards slamming the door back open. "Hey! No! Get back here old ma-" as she opened it back up, he wasn't even there. It wasn't like he had a place to go to, he somehow just up and vanished… She sighs and closes the door, looking back over at the other non-employee here with an unenthused look.
"So. What about you then?"
Proton thinks about it and then replies. "Well I'll probably need to stay to do research on that belt of his. So I suppose I could help on the workplace front."
She thinks about it and ends the day thinking about how an alien robot would go through the job application process.