"Do the pose! Do the pose!" Mackenzie King readied his white jacket as he saw the enthusiast with his phone ready to record. He didn't expect anyone to be this excited to see him cosplaying as Shijima Gou from Kamen Rider Drive, especially at his high school Halloween party, where Kamen Rider was seldom seen, but seems that wasn't the case.
"Alright, here goes…" Mack chuckled. "Searching!" He pointed to the person. "Destroying!" He spun around before pressing his fist against the palm of his other hand. "Both done at…" He made a gesture with his left hand pointed upwards. "MACH SPEED!" The two said as Mack extended his hands outwards. "Kamen Rider…" He spun his arm around before lifting his knee up. "MACH!" He bend his legs down to the ground while giving the person a salute.
"AWESOME!" The recorder said. "Man, I really loved Gou." He said.
"I do too. He's very fun." Mack said.
"Man, I loved the bit in the end. You know, when he fights his dad for the last time and utterly destroys him?" The guy said.
"Ah, yeah. That was… good." Mack said. He frowned slightly.
"Oh, hey, have you seen Ghost? The second Rider in that just made his debut and he's awesome!" The guy said. Mack was well aware of Kamen Rider Specter and the brief seconds he's seen of him caused him to shake his head.
"I've only seen bits and pieces. Sorry." He said.
"Ah… Well, I'm gonna start up a Kamen Rider club soon. It'd be really cool to see you attend. You should see the posters come up by Thanksgiving." The man then left as Mack sighed. He sat down, his legs accidentally kicking a luggage bag next to him.
"Oh! Sorry about that!" Mack said to the person holding the bag. The man tipped his fedora that covered his scruffy light brown hair. Mack sighed as he saw the brown jacket with the unicorn icon emblazoned on a shield on his shoulder.
"Ah, I'm surprised the show's still getting steam." Mack said.
"Well, I'm more of a manga reader. Gives you more details going into the show when it gets adapted." The cosplayer said.
"Ah, how's the manga so far?" Mack asked.
"Well, it's been a while, but I'd say it's pretty out there." He said. He then turned to Mack, eying the outfit. "Hmmm…"
"What?" Mack asked.
"Oh, nothing, just, I think I know that costume somewhere before." The man eyed the white jacket overlapping Mack's black shirt.
"Oh, this? It's Gou. From Kamen Rider Drive?" Mack realized that the guy might not even get who he is.
"Ah! Yes! Now it's coming back to me! As it turns out…" The man unzipped his luggage, dug into it, and pulled out something that caused Mack to flip in disbelief.
"No way!" Mack saw a blue container with a silver cylinder that, when combined with the black gap behind it, resembled the exhaust of a motorcycle. To anyone else, this would be something weird. To a Kamen Rider fan like Mack, though? It was the Mach Driver Honoh, the signature device used by Gou to become Kamen Rider Mach.
"Yes way. Got a bunch of these babies a while back and now I'm giving them away like crazy." He said as he handed it to Mack.
"… What's the price?" Mack asked. The man took a moment before chuckling.
"You're a smart one. I like you, kid. Yes, there's a price. No, you're not gonna pay me any money for this. What I will ask you though is that you do something for me." He said.
"… What?" Mack asked.
"Nothing much. Just…" He then sighed. "Okay, I'll be blunt. I'm only doing this because someone pushed me into a corner. She's having me give these to practically anyone with a resemblance to the Rider the belts belonged to. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but I have this… ability, so to speak. I can make this real." He shook the Driver. "You can be a Kamen Rider." Mack just looked to the dealer and just shook his head.
"Thanks, but I'm alright without the Driver." Mack then got up.
"I couldn't help but overhear you. You sound… A little less confident when Gou's battle with Banno was brought up." He said.
"… Huh, so you watch Kamen Rider as well?" Mack turned around.
"You could say that, yes. Any reason why you sounded so unsure of yourself? Heck, when that brute Specter was mentioned, I'm pretty sure you avoided the topic all together." He said.
"What are you trying to get out of me?" Mack asked.
"I don't know you entirely, but I can tell you're not exactly… fond of certain aspects of your idol." He said.
"Gou's not an idol. He's just someone I liked." Mack said.
"Liked." The man wagged his finger. "Past tense. Now the plot thickens."
"… You want the truth?" Mack asked.
"Oh, yes, definitely." He said.
"I liked Gou, yes… He was fun. But… then he got… rougher… angstier… and for a time… a villain." Mack said.
"Well, villains can become heroes. I've seen it happen multiple times. Heck, just recently I've seen such a case. Though my current employer seems to think otherwise… Hence why I'm here." The man then got up.
"You don't get it, do you? Kamen Riders are meant to be heroes. People who protect those who can't protect themselves. If anyone's an idol, it would be those Riders. I look up to them, and anyone who uses their power for their selfish goals and desires don't deserve to bear the name." Mack said. That's when the man gave a bigger grin than before.
"I really like you, kid. Perhaps you can succeed where Gou failed. Perhaps you can be the Rider you never saw him become. You can be that idol you always look up to." He said, offering the Mach Driver to Mack. Mack looked down at the Driver and closed his eyes. He remembered the rain. He remembered the tears. He remembered his futile attempts to keep up with the bus, trying to reach out to someone he could never save. He then opened his eyes and took the Driver. "Perfect! The deal will be struck once you put that Driver on."
"Then let's get right to it." Mack slapped on the Driver. Suddenly, time slowed to a crawl as his vision became black. As Mack fell down, the last thing he saw was the man smiling.
Mack's vision blurred as he awoke to see a ceiling.
"Uuuugh…" He heard footsteps coming towards him. When his vision became clear, he could see a girl with short, carrot colored hair, freckles, and almost electronic green eyes. Her face was pressed right against his own. She gave an almost uncanny smile towards Mack that unnerved him as she spoke up in a very perky voice:
"Salutations!" Mack immediately jumped from the bed in a gasp.
"W-who are you!? Where am I!? Where the hell's that dealer?" Mack looked around and could see that he was in a dark lab of sorts. Tables laid about, filled to the brim with beakers and glasses. Charts regarding a high school and graphs showing a huge spike could be seen on a cork board, thumbtacks strewn about. Instantly, he remembered the situation of the original Kamen Riders, strapped to a table while scientists operated on them. He got up, only for the girl to pat him down.
"E-easy! I don't mean to scare you!" She said.
"N-no! Don't make me some cyborg!" Mack cried out.
"Penny! Stop harassing the subject!" Mack looked to see a girl his age with purple skin. She had dark purple hair with magenta and purple highlights tied up in a bun. However, it was her lab coat over a purple turtleneck sweater that really convinced him what she was.
"YOU! You must be the scientist that's gonna make me-" Only for the girl to slap him.
"No. Don't be silly. Even if I have the technology needed to make you one, your body's just gonna reject it anyways." The girl said. The carrot-top girl, Penny, bowed her head to her.
"I'm really sorry, Miss Sparkle." Penny said.
"It's okay… Just don't do that. You know, the whole 'face' thing." Miss Sparkle then waved in front of her face. She then turned to Mack. "So… You're probably wondering how you got here." She asked.
"Y-yeah!" Mack asked.
"Well, that's what I'm trying to find out. It's hard to explain, but you sort of just asserted yourself. Just, suddenly you appeared from some portal outside of this academy. It's sort of amazing when you think about it. No one has seen a portal like that since an incident that took place seventeen years ago." Miss Sparkle said.
"I… I came through a portal?" Mack asked.
"Yes! Many people at the school wondered what it was and Principal Cinch as even requested an investigation to be done!" Penny said.
"I… what?" Mack asked.
"Right, I should probably inform you. You're at Crystal Prep Academy, one of the four schools in the Academia School Board and one of the two schools made to help blossoming students decide their place in the world." Miss Sparkle said.
"Erm… Okay?" Mack just cocked his head a bit before Miss Sparkle continued.
"I took it upon myself to take you in for experimentation. See, while everyone has seen a portal emerge seventeen years ago, I discovered trace elements of it detected just a month ago, and they've been repeating ever since. If I can discover the cause of it, then I could get noticed by Everton and head over there." Miss Sparkle said.
"Everton being one of the more advanced of the schools." Penny said.
"Oh, right, this is Penny, my assistant." Miss Sparkle pointed to Penny who waved to Mack. "And my name is Twilight Sparkle." She said.
"… Like the pony?" Mack asked.
"… The what?" Twilight asked back. Mack just rolled his eyes and stormed off the bed. "Hey! Where are you going!?"
"Gonna get some answers. I know I'm not gonna get any here…" Mack then came across a familiar item on Twilight's desk. The Mach Driver. "Where did you find this?" Mack asked.
"It was on your waist when we found you." Penny said.
"Well, back on my waist it goes." Mack then took the Driver and slapped it on his waist. He frowned when he realized that putting it back on didn't bring him back to his place, but disregarded it and left the room.
As Mack walked out, he looked around the hallway where he saw several students walking about. As the name implied, the floors seemed to be made out of solid crystal, as were the walls and ceiling. It seemed like a contrast compared to the lab he was just in previously. He kept pondering about where he was. That's when he heard someone behind him.
"Miss Sparkle told me to keep an eye on you." Penny smiled. Mack screeched a bit before he saw Penny, looking to him with some concern. Mack just sighed as he walked by.
"Sorry, just..."
"I know. I'm sorry to surprise you like that. I promise, it will never happen again." Penny said. As the two walk down the hall, Mack spoke up.
"So what can you tell me about the place?" He asked.
"Crystal Prep Academy? Well, it's a boarding school dedicated to making the best and brightest students. Miss Sparkle being the most talented of them all, I might add." Penny said.
"So a nerd lab, got it." Mack scoffed.
"Well, not really. So long as it's a science, it can be studied here. Look here!" Penny then pointed to a lab. Mack went over to look at it as one girl with cyan hair worked on an outfit while another woman with purple curly hair watched her. "Fashion can be a science if you're really good at it. The goal of most of these students is to be spotted by a higher educational institute, such as Everton, and then be recruited for it." She said.
"So… A college where it's a competitive nerd lab?" Mack asked.
"… Well, when you put it that way." Penny said. That's when Mack noticed some people murmuring amongst themselves.
"What's with them?" Mack asked as the similarly clothed students continued to talk.
"Oh, they're just wondering about you and all. Let's just say when you portalled up here, you got some attention." Penny said with a smile.
"… Good or bad?" He asked.
"Depends how you view getting possibly dissected." Penny said as Mack's eyes widened. Penny then closed her eyes and smiled. "Don't worry, Mack, I'm rescue ready!" She proceeded to pick up Mack over her shoulders and carry him out of the hallway.
"Waaaarg!" Mack cried out as Penny carried him.
As the two exited the school, Penny placed Mack down onto the grass.
"There! You're safe now!" Penny said.
"… Thanks." Mack took time to relax on the grass. He then looked to Penny's freckled face as she looked back to him. "So… Assistant?" Mack asked. Penny simply nodded. "How is she? Twilight, I mean." Mack said. Penny laid down on the grass next to him. The two simply laid there while they soaked up the smell of freshly cut grass. Mack struggled to move to avoid getting pricked by the grass while Penny merely just laid down, closed her eyes, and smiled as the sun basked over the two.
"Miss Sparkle's a nice girl. She's married to her studies, though." Penny said.
"Yeah, I can tell." Mack rolled his eyes.
"But don't take her the wrong way!" Penny rolled over to look to Mack. "She might not be a very social person, but her heart is in the right place." Penny placed her hand onto Mack's hand. Mack could feel something noticeable: the lack of any warmth from her hand. "I know you're thinking of leaving, but stay for a bit. She only wants to help you. Who knows? Maybe she'll help you home…" As she smiled, the two began to hear someone singing what appeared to be a lullaby. Mack got up as he noticed the song and remembered going…
"… And if that mocking bird won't sing, papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring, and if that diamond ring won't shine…" Mack saw a woman walking towards them. The woman had blue skin, streaked up white hair and icy blue eyes. She wore a black leather jacket with thin red lines streaking down her sleeves and gray pants. On the jacket was the symbol of the letter X, though the X looked more to be like a single dot shooting out four rays of energy. She smirked. "Target found." She looked at Mack. Mack noticed from her eyes that she was looking at something more specific:
His Driver.
Her hand moved to what appeared to be a red armbrace, molded into the shape of a bird's head with a glowing blue eye. She clicked the beak, causing the eye to go red. Mack could then see a shadow appear on her face. The shadow appeared to be a face that had a snarling mouth, a long beak that came down the middle of the mouth, and eyes covered with what appeared to be overlapping wings.
"Commencing hunt." The woman's body soon melted away as a new figure appeared. The figure was completely darkish gray, outfitted in what appeared to be bullet proof armor and padded pants. Covering the body were outlines of wings. The monster ran to Mack, getting a series of claws ready. As Mack rolled out of the way, he could hear her cawing as the claw sliced at Mack's cheek, causing him to bleed slightly.
"Shit!" Mack said as he felt the blood trickle down his face. The crow turned to Mack and began another rushing attack. This time, Mack was more than ready to dodge out of the way without a scratch. This was exactly like the fights in Kamen Rider. He has the belt and everything. All he needs to do is transform…
Wait…
He has no Signal Bikes. Mack trembled a bit as the crow simply stalked towards him, her sharp fingernail claws readied to strike.
"Oh no, you don't!" Penny shouted as she ran to strike the monster with her feet. The monster staggered back somewhat before grunting and jerking its body towards her. Its shadow soon changed to a ghostly white shade of the woman, at least for everything above her neck, everything below being just the shadow.
"Stay out of this." The woman said. Mack jumped back. The hell kinda monster is this!? Penny stood her ground. She began to ready something from a silvery backpack she had carried, but before she could pull it out, the monster just clawed Penny, knocking her to the ground. She then slowly cocked her head and raised her arms. "Commencing execution…" She then leaped towards Mack. Mack's life began to flash before his eyes.
He could remember a beautiful girl with raven black hair and bulky red-framed glasses. He could feel the coldness of the rain falling down on the two as he could see her tear-soaked face. He could see the blinding lights of the bus, heading off to an unknown destination. He could feel the weakened muscles as he tried to rush to the bus, hoping to stop it. As he stood there, ready to accept his fate, he remembered his hero.
He could remember a man with a pompadour pounding his fist and pointing to the camera, his energetic personality and magnetic stance on friendship pushing him to what he wished he could be on that day. As he remembered, he could see the monster go towards him.
VROOOOOM!
And as he threw the punch, five toy motorbikes flew over him and hit the monster. As she fell, the bikes landed and began to honk at Mack. It took a while for him to realize that these were the Signal Bikes, Gou's trinkets needed to transform into Kamen Rider Mach.
That's when he realized… Yes… He can do it!
"Penny, she's right. I'm able to handle her on my own." Mack then picked up the white bike and held it in his hands. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS! IT'S TIME FOR SUPERSTAR ACTION!" Mack opened up his Mach Driver as it began to honk and create a drum song.
"What are you blathering about!?" The woman spoke, still through her shadow. Mack just smirked and put the bike into the Driver.
SIGNAL BIKE!
"Let's… Henshin!" Mack said as a symphony of trumpets began to play from the Driver. He performed a pose where he gestured his hands to the left side of him, one pointing to the top and another splayed to the side, almost akin to a showman's performance. As he did the pose, he then slapped the bike into the meat of the Driver.
RIDER! MACH!
The trumpets played a loud finale as his body was surrounded by a ring. Two holographic wheels swirled around Mack before they began to compress into him, granting him a white suit of armor with red stripes and a scarf, not unlike that of a motorcycle stuntman. On his left side of the armor was a large wheel with a white hub in the center and on the right was a yellow button with a stylized R on it.
"You're…" The woman growled as Mack did the pose he was so ecstatic to do before.
"Searching… Exterminating… Both done at… MACH SPEED! Kamen Rider… MACH!" Mack shouted.
"… This hunt's has become interesting." The woman then ran to Mack as he began to press the top button of the Driver rapidly.
ZOOM! MACH!
As the woman flipped towards him, Mack pulled out a gun that had the front wheel of a motorcycle sticking out of it. She came down to slash at Mack, though he ran the wheel over her fingernails, sparks of blue light scratch the finger nails as they burned away into blue flames.
ZENRIN!
He swiped the gun across the crow monster before twirling around and giving a chuckle before pulling the trigger, barrel digging into her gut.
SHOOTER!
Mack fired a flurry of blue bullets at the monster, causing her to soar through the air before rolling onto the ground with several sparks over her body.
"Had enough?" Mack asked as he blew the smoke off the Zenrin Shooter. The monster merely got up, several blue flames appearing briefly before flickering out.
"Not even close!" She cawed and ran to Mack. Mack just sidestepped and kicked her in the gut, followed by a punch using the Zenrin Shooter as a gauntlet, the wheel beginning to grind against her while kicking up sparks before he elbowed her then leaped to knee her in the head. Even more sparks flew as the woman fell onto the ground. Mack flicked his wrist as the woman got up. She growled as two golden wings emerged from her back. Mack cracked his knuckles.
"Tiro Finale!" Mack popped the Driver and then pressed the button before slamming the shaft down.
THE FINISHER! VROOM VROOM VROOM! FULL THROTTLE! MACH!
Mack leaped into the air and did several flips, creating a series of colorful lights as the wind began to envelop onto him. He stopped flipping soon and did a flying side kick, hurdling towards the woman…
However, before he could kick her, the wings crossed each other, akin to a pair of scissors and slashed Mack as he fell onto the ground. His armor began to crackle and flicker as the Mach Driver began to stutter.
N-N-NICE WO-WO-
Mack's armor faded as the Mach Driver exploded, falling onto the ground in a charred mess.
"WHAT!?" Mack cried out.
"… Only human." The monsterish girl muttered. As she walked towards him, something plunged into her.
A curved sword with green neon lights. As it impaled her, tiny blue flames began to appear on the wound. Mack looked as Penny held the blade right into the monster's gut. Mack just looked at the cutesy girl as she held a weapon that was embedded into the flesh of the monster, causing perhaps more damage than he could ever inflict onto her.
"Don't worry, Mack. I'm combat ready!" Penny said as she twisted the blade before kicking her down. The monster stumbled a bit as the flames continued. She looked at the downed Mack as she readied her claws, only to notice that her nails were filed off.
"Tch… I won't forgive this wound!" She cried out as her arms turned into wings and flew off. Mack blinked for a moment before he looked at his Driver.
"Ah jeez! I just got this!" Mack cried out as Penny went to him.
"Miss Sparkle will fix this. She probably has already finished working on the copy right now." Penny said.
"Wait… a copy?" Mack asked. However, before he could get any answers, he turned around to see the crowd of students in front of the academy. Standing in front of them were two women.
One was, admittedly for Mack, very beautiful, though the pink skin and candy colored hair were a bit too much for him. Despite this, though, she was quite a looker compared to the person standing next to her, a woman with wrinkly blue skin, a skinny build, and hair that was mostly in a purple color and styled to be almost like a wig than anything else.
"Erm… Hi?" Mack asked. Penny suddenly hid behind Mack.
"Hmm… So you're the guy we've heard about, hmm?" The older woman said. Mack cringed at how stereotypically old woman she sounded. "We'll make some fine discoveries out of you yet. Return to Twilight Sparkle's dorm this instant. I'll have her begin the examination while you're still conscious." She smirked.
"Principal Cinch, maybe we're taking this a bit too far. Maybe we can just make him a student. Let him learn from us and in turn, we learn from him…" The beautiful woman said to Cinch, though she just shot a glare at her.
"Everton's top research has been dealing with dimensional phenomena. Twilight would benefit quite nicely from a study into one who may have been from another universe. She does want to go to Everton, does she not?" Cinch asked.
"… Well…" The woman frowned as Cinch looked to Mack.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Back you go!" She barked. Mack sighed and went to the school. Not because he was forced to, but rather because of what Penny said regarding Twilight making a copy of the Driver and being able to fix it. In a way, he was reminded of a scientist in the show who did exactly that: Rinna Sawagami.
Admittedly, Rinna was kinda his type, a quirky yet cute scientist, though the only minus points would be the age gap and the fact that she seemed to be quite romantically starved. Not to mention she probably had a thing for this one guy.
It took him a bit of tension on his back to notice that Penny is still clinging on, some students murmuring about who she is. This just drove Mack's curiosity even further as he is driven into the deep mystery of Crystal Prep
Unbeknownst to him though, a man in a red leather jacket, a biker helmet, and jeans sat on his red Ducati, observing the situation at hand before giving a grin.