A/N: Okay, things are going to be rather ridiculous if I don't preface this by saying that I've got a lot of content I need to rewrite before the chapter's available for the public to enjoy. Hopefully, I can get that done before the end of the year 2024.
Yes, I have a good reason for saying that now. My ability to continue this story will revolve around how much I can keep from going too close to the stations of the canon plot of any of the stories I'm crossing over. Then again, maybe it's for the best that I don't make a mess of this. I'd hate to be responsible for the lack of nice things in the fandoms.
Okay, for those of you who are inevitably wondering about the Time Jackers, they'll play their part against Issei as soon as I'm able to set them against each other. I have plans for that. Seriously, yes, I do. I also have plans for the space ship that appeared there.
Now… shall we begin this Fushigi Yuugi?
Demon King? Or Harem King?
by Xamusel
Life 001: Tsukuyomi
Eventually, the trip through the tunnel ended, allowing us to see that we were in a strange world of sorts… though what was with the year on the console? 66,810,001 BC?
"Watch this first before you ask any questions," the girl piloting the mecha said, bringing up a video for the two of us. She then hit play on the whole thing.
What we saw was beyond words… a man who had a regal bearing and a costumed appearance, at least according to what I knew at the time, was decimating his opposition like they were flies deserving to be swatted out of the air. He didn't even make that many movements… all he had to do was flick his wrists and hands, at least until the missiles and robots showed up. That was when he stopped time on the missiles, though their fuel was still burning in mid-air, and flung the robots into the surrounding ground. As he flung the last few into the area, he stopped the time of the machines, before he spoke to his opposition. "You cannot possibly defeat me. Do you know why?" He then clenched his right hand, before practically everything around him, barring a monument with different statues and the odd person or two who got pushed out of the way, disintegrated.
At that, the pilot paused the video and rewound it to a point to show us the man who fought like he was a King against ants. "This is you at least fifty years in the future," she explained, even as the two of us who rode with her walked over to see the still image. "A horrible, villainous demon king."
"I'm…" I start to say.
"…that demon king?" the other girl in the robot finished for me.
I shook my head to clear it of nasty thoughts. "Can we please go somewhere somewhat resembling modern times? I feel that we need to talk in a place where we won't be harassed by dinosaurs," I requested.
"I can arrange that," the pilot answered, before setting the console to a different year. "I only took us here to give some space between us and the one trying to kill you."
"Wait, who's trying to kill Issei-ku—?" the other girl (I need to get her name at some point) began to ask, but the robot flew into the air and entered another tunnel.
As we flew through the tunnel, we soon found a place to stop, though the date seemed to be that of April 2nd, 1971. I wonder what's going on here?
As soon as the robot landed, we got out of the machine, staying near the unit at all times. "So…" I said. "This is a time machine?"
"Correct," the pilot answered. "Now, I suppose introductions are in order… starting with you, miss."
"M-me?" the other girl asked. "Oh, right, my name… well, my current name is Amano Yuuma. I don't feel comfortable telling you my birth name yet."
Yuuma-chan… such a cute name! But wait… what other name would she have, anyway? Actually, not important now. What's important is figuring out more about the pilot, to see what sort of situation I found myself in.
"What about you?" I turned my attention to the pilot. "Who are you?"
"I'm Tsukuyomi," the pilot said. "I'm from the year 2068. Th—"
"Hold on a second," Yuuma-chan said. "Is that your actual name?"
I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but kept my silence regardless. I'm admittedly curious, too.
"No," Tsukuyomi shook her head. "However, I don't remember my childhood… I know I have a different name, but I can't remember it."
Yuuma-chan placed a hand on Tsukuyomi's shoulder. "I hope you can remember it properly soon enough… I know a different person with that name, and I don't think you'd be able to say that's your name at this rate."
I nodded, placing a hand on Tsukuyomi's other shoulder. "I hope you can get your name back, too," I said.
"Th… thanks," Tsukuyomi said. "Now, where was I? Oh, right, what brought me to the past. By the year 2068, the king of time, Ohma Zi-O came to power. He made the people suffer and created a world without hope. We chose to fight Ohma Zi-O. But…"
An awkward silence hit the area. After what had to be ten seconds of silence, I asked, "Does the next part have to do with your partner from the future?"
"Yes," Tsukuyomi said. "He and I had a difference in opinion about how to handle this, but the gist of it is the same. We both traveled through time to ensure you would never obtain the power of Ohma Zi-O."
"Hey," I said. "Just making sure, but are you positive it's me?" I lift my hand off the shoulder it was resting on.
"I'm concerned, too," Yuuma-chan said. She also lifted her hand off of Tsukuyomi's shoulder.
Tsukuyomi must've seen this coming, as she pulled out a tablet from somewhere in her things. "Hyoudou Issei," she began reading. "Born April 16th, 2000. 18 years old. Currently—"
"Hold up," I interrupt her. "I'm not 18 yet. That's not for another year or so."
This seemed to stop her in her tracks. "You're 17?" she asked. "I was under the impression that you were in your third year of High School over at Hikarigamori High School…" She then looked at my school uniform. "Wait… this isn't right. What school are you currently attending?"
"Kuoh Academy," I said. "Formerly an all-girls school until the school year before I started High School." As she began to say something, I asked, "Could you finish saying what you discovered about me? I think you might have the right guy, but the wrong time of things."
Tsukuyomi nodded before she continued reading her info. "As of 2018, you'd be living with your great-uncle, Tokiwa Junichirou, in his clock shop. You'd also be a senior at Hikarigamori High School. Your strongest subject is all of history. Your weakest subjects would be in physics and chemistry." Looking up from her tablet, she asked me, "Do the last two sentences match up?"
I nodded. Regretfully, I still couldn't believe that my weakest subjects were in the sciences… ugh. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. After all… wait a second.
"Why would I be living with Mom's Uncle?" I asked.
"Do you want the simple answer, or the whole story?" Tsukuyomi asked me.
I paused when I opened my mouth to give an answer. Did I want the simple answer, or the whole story? I wouldn't complain about either, but… something didn't feel right with me so far. What was it that I needed to know?
Still, I had an answer to give, and that answer was—
[] the simple answer
[X] the whole story
—I'd better get the whole story out of this situation. I doubt we'll get a better chance for this one.
"The whole story sounds about right," I said.
"Alright," Tsukuyomi said. Putting a hand into a pose, she asked, "Were you informed of a planned move to Okinawa?" As I nodded, she said, "The truth is, the exact flight your parents were planning to take had a ticket mixup, leading up to a delay on you making it to the prefecture… a day after your parents were murdered by a car bomb meant for the whole family."
A… car bomb?! What did we do to deserve that?
"The story isn't over yet, Hyoudou Issei," Tsukuyomi said. "Your father's boss was out of the loop of this whole series of events. Someone wanted to eliminate your family for one reason or another, even going as far as lying about the promotion to pull that off."
"Wait, so…" I said. "My dad's boss had no idea this was going on, and he most certainly didn't promote dad to the position he's having us head to Okinawa for. Is that anywhere near correct?"
"Completely correct, actually," Tsukuyomi replied. "For some reason, because of the ticket mixup I mentioned earlier, your luggage was put on the later plane, and thus spared the trouble of needing replacements. I don't quite know how that worked out, though, but it's better not to worry about that for now."
"How does great-uncle Junichirou fit into this?" I asked. "I mean, he married my mom's aunt, great-aunt Michiru. If they were looking for a blood relation to put me with, why not one of my other relatives?"
"Because he was already in Okinawa on a trip," Tsukuyomi told me. "The Okinawa police were rather reluctant to let you go until he proved his claim as your great-uncle to them. As for blood relations… they weren't looking for blood relations entirely."
I nodded before I thought of something. "Wait, I know that I'd be living with great-uncle Junichirou if I didn't get my parents to stop the planned trip somehow, but is there any other proof that I'm the guy you're after?"
Tsukuyomi nodded, before pointing at the watch that was still in my hand. "That watch must have come to you early."
I blinked before I heard a shimmering noise from the watch. "Eh?! What the…?!" I cried out.
Tsukuyomi grabbed onto my hand, and the watch, and said, "This watch will grant you unimaginable power. Then you will become the king of time who destroys the world, Ohma Zi-O."
"I can barely believe it, personally," I said, moving my hand and the watch away from Tsukuyomi. "I mean, sure, I want to be a king, but that's not even close to what I meant."
"What sort of king are you trying to be, then?" Tsukuyomi asked.
"A harem king, actually…" I admit, scratching the back of my neck with my left hand. "Unfortunately, modern society doesn't like that idea any longer. I'd be lucky to get a single girlfriend at this rate…"
Tsukuyomi looked at me as if someone had slapped her silly with a large fish… maybe a shark? I dunno.
"So," Yuuma-chan spoke up again. "I hate to be that person, but can we get back to the present? I have a feeling we're being watched."
I was about to open my mouth to ask what that was about, but then I saw that, yes, we were being watched… by goons that were wearing gimp suits with a skeletal pattern on the fronts? On top of that… this isn't good. Someone built a spider into a man? It was while I was observing the people watching us that I realized that they were going to keep us here in this era… uh-oh.
With that horrifying thought in mind, I decided to get us out of there… especially by getting back to our present. However, before I could suggest anything, I felt my body stiffen from some sort of fear entering my body. What the…?
"So… you thought you could interrupt our planned recruiting stage?" a boisterous man's voice emerged from the shadows behind Tsukuyomi, near the trees we landed next to. "If only you came by yesterday, then this wouldn't happen. Spider Man! Capture them! For the glory of SHOCKER!"
Wait… did he just say SHOCKER? As in the Sacred Hegemony Of Cyclic Kindred Evolutionary Realm? This… is the worst possible day for all of us alive. I mean, really, I have family who told me about how bad SHOCKER really is… and tomorrow's the day he gets abducted by SHOCKER!
What do I do to get us out of this mess? I mean, I'm still holding onto the watch from earlier, but what good will that do here? I don't think the power of Ohma Zi-O will be used wisely in the hands of SHOCKER… this is gonna suck.
Well, no use worrying about it now. I need to do something immediately. But what?
"Issei-kun," Yuuma-chan said, getting my attention. "You might want to focus your fighting spirit into your will to survive. Think of this like in a fighting anime and force this to end on your terms." As soon as she said this, she… somehow formed spears of energy from both her hands? "I'll explain my power later, I promise. Just promise me you'll survive this with us."
I blink in shock before I decide on my answer. I tell her, "Okay, I promise… now let's take these guys out!"
At that, the watch I held in my right hand shone a bright light, even as a goon charged me from behind… damn, they must not have any sense of subtlety, do they? I could hear that idiot charging while yelling out a single letter… oh, wait, it's a common trait of SHOCKER Combatmen. Still, the goon was trying to get me from my left side, which I capitalized on by instinctively swinging my left fist at him —
*GONG!*
—eh? Did I hit a bell or something with my left hand? But there's no pain involved…
I looked at my left hand in confusion, only to see a blood red scaled gauntlet with a bright green gem on the back of where my hand is… what gives? This doesn't look normal.
At that point, I heard a groan from behind me, so I turned to face the noise… it was the goon from earlier. Uh… what am I supposed to do?
"My demon king, your actions have changed the flow of time irreversibly," a man's voice called out to me from next to the Time Mazine, getting what had to be all eyes on him. "You were supposed to awaken to your reign in the 30th year of Emperor Heisei's reign, not this early in the time stream…" He then seemed to notice the surroundings, as he looked around himself. "Oh, I see what happened…"
"Woz, what are you doing here?" Tsukuyomi questioned the man. "Are you so insistent on following the timeline as that book proclaimed it that you'll ignore the changes completely?"
"It all depends on how you want me to answer that question, Tsuku-chan," the now identified Woz answered. "I would have only said yes if the timeline was unaltered. However—" At that point, Woz ducked under a SHOCKER Combatman's knife, before slamming… a book… into the goon's stomach with enough force for the goon to double over? "I suppose I should make an exception in this case."
That… was a badass move, man! Even so, we need to get out of this mess… wait. Woz is walking over to me now.
"My demon king," he said, kneeling in front of me with a pillow in hand… and that pillow has a Driver on top of it? "Please accept this." As I took it into my left hand, he added, "You should know how to use it."
I adjusted the Driver in my left hand, before putting it on over my clothes like a belt —
[ZIKUU DRIVER!]
—well… that wasn't strange. Still, I needed to be careful with how this will play out. Do I fight all the goons here?
At that point, I heard a strange voice start talking to me from within my mind… wait, what?
«Partner, we need to talk… now.»
As if that was a cue, I felt my vision black out almost instantaneously… only to suddenly find myself floating in midair inside an inferno?
«Ah, good, you're here.»
I looked around, wondering where the voice came from, until I looked up… and saw a dragon! What the hell?!
«Relax for a moment, partner, so that I can explain something to you.»
"How am I supposed to relax at a time like this?!" I questioned the dragon. "I'm about to be attacked by SHOCKER goons, along with the other people here in the past with me, and you want me to—"
«Partner, just this once, please shut UP!»
—that got me stunned into silence. Note to self… don't piss off a dragon.
«Thank you. Now, time flows rather differently inside your soul compared to outside your body. One second outside is currently at an hour inside.»
…what? How does that work?
«Personally, I blame Ophis for messing with the concept of time in this universe. Before you ask, no, I'm not at liberty to tell you who that is. Anyway… onto the point I'm taking the time to explain to you. This… Zikuu Driver… that you have on your waist is something that has the capability to hinder your growth as a fighter. It will only make you capable of fighting other humans without any trouble, but the rest of the world is not strictly about humanity.»
"Uh… you might want to elaborate on that one for me," I said. "I mean, other than the enemies of the Heisei Kamen Riders, practically all the world has to deal with human enemies."
«What? Heisei Kamen Riders? What in blazes are you talking about?»
I facepalmed when I heard that. "How come you haven't heard of Kamen Riders at all?" I asked, groaning while I did so.
«I hadn't sorted through your memories yet, partner, cut me some slack.»
"You can do that?" I asked, removing my palm from my face.
«Yes, though I didn't do it yet because you woke me up a little bit ago. Let's see… a-ha! I see what you're referring to… oh, my…»
"Now you see what I'm dealing with, here?" I asked.
«Much as I'd rather this was an illusion, it feels too real to be an illusion, even by my standards… okay, partner, I get what you mean. Still, there's definitely more to it than those enemies you're worried so much about. They can't hurt any of the supernatural entities out there that know what they're doing. They can't compare to most threats out there.»
…urgh. Stubborn, much?
«Now, let's see where you can go from here, in terms of understanding the true scope of power you have to deal with. For starters, there are Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. The three greatest factions of the supernatural world out there, and all of them are in a cold war. Of course, my knowledge could be outdated by about a couple decades, but who's keeping track now?»
Before I could do more than open my mouth to ask even a single question —
"Well, kouhai, you seem to have some interesting troubles here. To think you have a dragon within your soul… how amazing!"
—what?!
«Who the devil are you?!»
This guy… looks a lot like Woz, only wearing paper clips in his hair. Who is he?
"My apologies. The name most know me as is Philip, even though I remember my true name these days. I'm also the soul of a Kamen Rider, whereas my partner is the body of the same Kamen Rider. Together, the two of us make one detective of a Kamen Rider."
My eyes bugged out. Kamen Rider W?!
"Yes, I'm half of Kamen Rider W," Philip said. "You asked that out loud, kouhai."
I facepalmed. "Stupid lack of brain to mouth filter…" I said, groaning.
«Er… what business do you have with us?»
"Just a warning from the future, more specifically the year 2017," Philip said. "If you don't hurry and defeat enough of SHOCKER's Combatmen before leaving for the year you left, you'll inadvertently be responsible for SHOCKER conquering the world in full, including the different Supernatural realms."
"What the hell?!" I removed my palm from my face again. "I gotta get out there!"
«I hate it when I can't explain my point at all… partner, before you go, at least promise me that you'll restrict the Zikuu Driver to be used against human enemies.»
"About that, actually…" Philip said. "His power is not tied to the Zikuu Driver entirely. That is a small portion of the power granted to him with that Rider system. His power comes from the RideWatches that he acquires from senior Kamen Riders, like my partner and I."
«And how do you know that, exactly?»
"Because of my connection to the Gaia Library, mister dragon," Philip answered.
I looked at the dragon, and asked, "Do you have a name we can call you by?"
«…Gaia Library? What's this place, and why will I probably be running around like a headless chicken for not knowing about it sooner?»
Philip and I groaned.
«What? What did I say?»
"You just described the reaction you're about to have for not knowing about the Gaia Library, Y Ddraig Goch," Philip said. "In short, those who have access to the Gaia Library are able to access the memories of the whole world."
«WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!»
At that, I saw the dragon begin running around like a headless chicken. Still… "Y Ddraig Goch?" I asked Philip.
"That's what it says on the flag of Wales, kouhai," Philip answered.
"So… he's from Wales?" I asked.
«Correct, partner… though the name's Ddraig, not the whole sentence from the flag.»
I looked at Ddraig, who had finished his running around like a headless chicken routine. That was fast… "I hope that was removed from your system properly," I said.
«Yes, it was. Now… what are we going to do? I don't think you'll be able to fight these guys off for very long as you are, not unless you have something that will allow you to utilize the Driver properly as an amplification force.»
"Remember the RideWatches?" Philip asked. "That is the force you're thinking of. Each one has an amplification rate to them, but are best used against specific types of enemies per RideWatch. The one kouhai has right now is a general purpose RideWatch, but you don't have to worry about him losing to someone like a Phenex clansman."
A what?
«That's impressive! Alright, Partner, let's get to it! I'll instruct you in how to use my power when we're not in such dire straits, and when you're supposed to be in bed, too. I'll also continue the lesson I was going to give you earlier in your dreams.»
I nod to both of them, though I'm still highly confused.
"Alright, let's do this appropriately," Philip said. "Are you ready to save the timeline from being overridden?"
"Hell yeah!" I pumped my right fist into the air. "I'll save the future!"
At that moment, after I had lowered my arm back to my side, I felt my vision switch back to the outside realm of reality. Still, I checked my left hand, seeing it was still covered in that strange gauntlet. My right hand still had the RideWatch in it. I decided to activate the power assigned to me… so I thrust my right hand out to the side, turned the face of the RideWatch clockwise 90 degrees, and pressed the button on top.
[ZI-O!]
I then put the RideWatch in the right side slot on the Zikuu Driver, with my right hand moving the Driver into a diagonal slant, before I moved into a pose where I moved my hands to my right side. I might have inadvertently used the pose that was shown on that memorial, but it served as an inspiration, if I'm being honest with myself. As I flipped my hands into position, I cried out, "Henshin!" At that, I moved my left hand to knock the right side of the Driver around like a clock going backwards. As soon as the action finished, I put both of my arms into somewhat bracing actions, while hanging them down my sides.
[RIDER TIME! KAMEN RIDER ZI-O!]
As soon as the words were uttered, I felt that there was armor all over my body, not just on my left hand. In fact… wait. I'm wearing a mask now, aren't I?
"Iwae!" Woz cried out, opening his book in the process. "The one who will inherit all Riders' powers, the king of time who reigns over the past and future. Truly, this is the moment Kamen Rider Zi-O is born!" With that, he slammed his book closed in a dramatic fashion.
"Woz, if you're only here to rejoice, do everyone a favor next time and wait until we're not in the Showa era," Tsukuyomi said, pulling out… a phone that she morphed into a gun? "We don't have the luxury of time to wax poems about Zi-O any time soon."
Before Woz could say anything else, the SHOCKER Combatmen began their attack on us… well. This is going to suck.
Meanwhile (as of April 2nd, 1971), in inter-dimensional space and in orbit of Earth…
"Admiral, sir, we've picked up a tachyon tunnel closing in the vicinity of Mount Fuji," a young man, sitting at a console aboard an inter-dimensional ship, said.
"Could you possibly repeat that, lieutenant?" the admiral asked. "I could have sworn you said we've picked up a tachyon tunnel closing in the vicinity of Mount Fuji."
"That's what I said, sir," the lieutenant said. "My best guess is that there's someone playing with this world against the edicts of the Supreme Council, and we need to stop it."
The admiral sighed. "That's true, but we need proof that there's someone playing with this world, lieutenant. There's no way the natives have developed magically enough to handle time travel to that extent."
"It could be without magic, sir," the lieutenant said. "That's just what I think could be the case."
"Fair enough, lieutenant. That means we need to find out who's responsible for the development of time machines in this time period, or maybe the deployment of those time machines. We'll look into it the right way, no need to worry," the admiral said, standing up from his seat.
"Are you going to report this to the Supreme Council?" the lieutenant asked.
"Not yet, but that may be what I need to do, lieutenant," the admiral said, walking over to the door. "You're in charge of the bridge while I'm looking for volunteers to go down and apprehend the culprits. Don't ruin this for yourself, Lieutenant Graham."
A/N: Okay, not what I thought would happen when I decided to get this ready for public consumption. I thought this would be ready by the beginning of the first full week of January, but I guess not. Oh well… shows what I know.
So, with that out of the way, I will be opening the floor to everyone here. Would you like to see more of this, by any chance? I mean, I have plans for how the story will progress to the Kamen Rider Build tribute, but I don't know how relevant Geiz will be at present.
Wait, that last line was a non-sequitur, wasn't it? What am I going to do with myself?
Oh well… this Fushigi Yuugi is hereby closing the curtains for today, all while I pass the script around for the next chapter.
By the way, if you are so inclined, you can find the story in the voting stages on Questionable Questing. Please take a look when you get there.
Until We Meet Again… Farewell.
~Xamusel