//------------------------------// // The Robbed Thiefe // Story: Ride Saga: Kamen Rider Charge x Kamen Rider Diend: Hunt for Ω // by Layton13 //------------------------------// < Cyclone! > < Joker! > It echoed over the windy roof of a large tower, a wind turbine glowing in a bright green above it. A man in all white armor with blue highlights and yellow eyes was fighting a man clad in half purple and half green armor with red eyes. He had been knocked oh is back, his opponent standing strong. ”We’ll fight using Extreme!“ The half and half Rider said, his right eye glowing as he did so. While this was happening, a strange bird shaped device flew up the building, screeched a mechanical cry, and shot a green beam at another man lying a bit below them, completely knocked out. As the white Rider stood back up, the device flew over to the other Rider before attaching itself to his Driver. All on its own, the strange device flipped open, revealing a circle with an X inside it. The double Rider’s midsection started to glow, both halves of him grabbing the edges of the shining light and pulling them further away until he apparently pulled through, and the stream of light and symbols overtake him, changing his armor. It still was colored the same way besides a wide crystal-like line in the middle of the suit. He now sported larger shoulder pads and an X over his face. The next thing that happened was that a sword stashed into a shield burst out from the crystal-like line right into his hand. That was the sound that could be heard as he pushed a button on a strange USB-like device, a Gaia Memorie, and inserted it into a slot of the weapon, pulling the sword out from the shield. “Come on!” ”That ain’t happening!” The white Rider growled, pressing a button on a grey Gaia Memorie with a Z on it. Just as he was about to put the memory into a slot on the side of his belt, a shot rang through the air as the memories landed on the ground beside him, the white Rider holding his smoking hand and glaring to where the shot had come from. A man wearing a white jacket with light brown hair casually stood there, a strange blue, yellow and black gun in his hand that was pointed at the Rider. “Ah, I can’t let you do that. Would be a waste of a treasure,” he smugly returned. “Why is this place so popular?” The purple half of the Rider asked, apparently not sure what to make of this new arrival. “Ah, W. I knew I was just in time. Just leave this to me,” the man returned, spinning his gun around and pulling out a strange card. “Oh, another one to join our party here. The more, the merrier!” The white Rider chuckled. “You also will enjoy your hell!” “Pass,” the man returned before pushing the card into a slot of the weapon and pulled out a small compartment that made the gun longer. |Kamen Ride| He then held the weapon above him, pulled the trigger, and shouted: “Henshin!” |DIEND| Three transparent shapes appeared in front of him, one red, one blue, and one green before starting to zoom around him until all converging on him and forming into a grey armor just before several blue cards like rectangles flew down and attached themselves to his helmet. Before the two Riders now stood another one, clad in black, silver, and blue armor with a bizarre helmet, the cards forming a sort of vizor. “Now, Eternal, how about you hand over that Driver?” He asked before quickly slotting in another card. |Attack Ride| |BLAST| Out of the end of the gun, several blasts of strange energy erupted, but against all logic, they flew up and down seemingly randomly before homing in on their target, letting sparks burst from his chest as he was hit. “Shotaro, I think we have met him before. He is one of Decade’s comrades,” the green half of W said. “Well, that is one way of putting it,” Came it back from Diend, who had dashed forward with surprising speed, before kicking Eternal right in the stomach. “Whoever he is, he is helping us,” the purple half of W returned, starting to run towards the white Rider, weapon drawn. Before the two in one Rider could, however, reach Eternal, he pulled out a small knife and swung at Diend. The blue Rider didn’t even flinch as the blade came down on him, quite the opposite, just swinging his gun like a knife himself, blocking the attack. Eternal, however, was not one to give up that easily and, after staggering back, dashed forward once again, only for Diend to dodge the attack and plant the end of his gun right against Eternals' stomach. With an explosion of sparks, Eternal was thrown back. Diend casually dropped two more cards into the Driver and shoot, all while Eternal was pulling himself back up again. |Kamen Ride| |CHALICE| |Kamen Ride| |GLAIVE| When he pulled the trigger, two more Kamen Riders appeared before him, one in a black and silver suit in the image of a mantis as well as red and gold accents and another Rider with a black and silver suit with a massive golden A on the front. Both of them wasted no time and immediately dashed towards Eternal. However, before any of the two Rider could reach him, W had already bridged the distance, slashing across Eternal’s chest. While the Rider did try to counterattack with his dagger, the attack was quickly blocked by W shield and rewarded with another strike of his sword. That was also the time Glaive reached the Dark Rider, using his Glaive Rouzer, a sword-like weapon to follow up W attack, stabbing right through Eternals armor. But instead of him curling over in pain, he just stood there and looked at Glaive with his yellow eyes. “You see, a Shinigami doesn’t die from a simple stab wound!” He chuckled back and, with a loud scream, slashed his dagger across Glaive’s chest, knocking the Rider back. That moment of triumph was, however, relatively short-lived; just as he was about to continue his assault on Glaive, Chalice dashed between the Rider and Eternal, blocking his swing with his own weapon. Chalice wielded a strange bladed weapon that was shaped like a bow and that he brought down on Eternal, letting the Rider stager backward. Both Chalice and Glaive attempted to follow up with another strike at the Rider, but their summoner had other plans. While they had kept the Dark Rider busy, Diend had pulled out a new card once again and was in the midst of slotting it into the gun. |Final Attack Ride| |DIEND| After the weapon had rung its announcements, several light blue rings made out of holographic cards appeared in front of Diend. Both Chalice and Glaive suddenly stoped, their movement starting to get erratic before both were sucked back into their card from and joined the other cards in the rings. W had just enough time to duck out of the way before Diend unleashed a bright blue energy beam with a cone-shaped end that hit Eternal square in the chest. The loud screams of the Rider finally ended when a massive explosion consumed the roof of the tower, knocking W back several meters and almost of the edge. “Can’t you watch out where you aim?” Shotaro shouted, glaring at Diend, who had already deactivated his Driver and was walking over to where Eternal lay, or more precise, a man in a black leather jacket with brown hair, Katsumi Daido. His Driver lay next to him while his body was starting to break down. “Seems I’m… Going back to death,” he chuckled as Diend picked up the Lost Driver, a strange L shaped device together with the Eternal Memory, right before Katsumi faded into nothingness. He simply ignored him and put the Driver on his waist and activated the Memorie. “Henshin!” Diend flipped the part where he had inserted the Memorie into the Driver, and he was consumed by pieces of the armor that formed around him, a long black cape flowing over his shoulder. “Hey, what do you think you are doing there?” Shotaro shouted over to him, pushing himself off the ground and dashed forward, his sword ready to strike down the new Eternal. “I’m just obtaining the treasure of this world,” he nonchalantly returned before activating the Memorie he had shot out of Eternal’s hand before. Seemingly from out of nowhere, an entire swarm of Gaia Memories rocketed towards Diend, hovering around him before each slotting themselves into one of the pockets all over his harness. W speed up his charge, ready to strike down the strange Rider. Just as W had caught up to him and brought down his sword, a weird silvery curtain appeared, swallowing Diend whole and leaving him swinging at air. “Where did he go?” Shotaro asked. “Very peculiar,” Philip muttered. >--------------< The Dimension Curtain appeared in a large room, seemingly one of the side rooms of an old, abandoned mansion. But for all it was worth, everything was at least dust-free, and several display cases lined the room, each with its own treasure. A pink gemstone encased in a silver ring, a miniature red plane, as well as a small car, with a black and white gun next to it, a vile of peeper, a golden gun decorated with gemstones, and a purple game cartridge. While walking past his previous spoils, he was already thinking about where he would display all twenty-six Gaia Memories. They would definitely occupy a special place in his collection. The only thing he needed was a briefcase to display them in. Maybe he should have stolen one as well, letting out a semi loud chuckle as he walked through the room, looking down at the Memories all over his body. That was the moment a loud rattling echoed through the halls of the abandoned mansion like someone had walked into one of his display cases. Diend’s calm and satisfied demeanor changed in an instant. His casual walk immediately changed to a mad dash. No one would lay a hand on his treasures, not after painstakingly collecting all of them for a damn decade. Bursting through the door to the next room, a surprised yelp could be heard as a person Diend had never seen before took a step back, bumping into a display case that held a strange red, crystalline lock with a fruit in front of it. The man was of Asian descent, wearing a business suit and had brown hair. In his hand, he held one of Diend’s oldest possessions, a black and golden belt. “The Orga Driver! Now!” Was all he said, his voice ice cold. No one messed with his treasure. Without even waiting for an answer, Diend stepped forward, holding his hand out in expectation of the belt. Things, however, did not go as planned; the thief instead decided to slap the belt on his wrist, open the Orga Phone, dilled in the code, and held the Phone high. [Standing by!] With a loud: “Henshine!” The man slammed the Phone into the Driver before Diend had any chance to ever could get to him. [Complete!] Golden lines flowed over his entire body, forming a grid before the actual armor materialized around it. The new Kamen Rider Orga was clad in a primary black armor with golden lines, a knee-long cape hung from his waist. His chest was decorated with a red orb, and his helmet resembled an omega. The new Rider wasted no time and immediately pulled his Phone from the Driver, flipped it open, and dilled in a new code. [Burst Mode!] The device gave off, and as expected, the Rider raised the weapon, but what Diend had however not expected was the fact he didn’t aim at him, no, he aimed directly at one of the display cases. Without even thinking about it, Diend jumped between the blasts and his treasure, sparks flew off his armor, and he sunk to his knees. Orga smirked underneath his helmet, and with a swift wave of his hand, a new dimension curtain appeared and taking him with it, leaving Diend behind. The beaten Rider just growled. No one steals from a thief! He would get back his treasure, no matter the cost. >--------------< 9 months later A woman with light blue skin, long flowing dark blue hair with neon blue stripes in it, clad in a black jacket, and a large red belt-buckle was currently sitting in front of a sturdy wooden door, several other chairs lining the wall. She was alone, but that didn’t really bother her, instead taking a look at the city below. Cars drove past the small view of the city, and people were crowding the sidewalks, all so little from up here. And still, all of this peace could be snuffed out in an instant. She had seen it all before, entire cities cast in chaos and fear. And she was right in the midst of it, trying to keep at least the tiniest spark of order alive. A fight that hadn’t particularly gotten easier in the past few months. With the destruction of Alkahest’s artifact that had nearly ripped a hole in reality, Canterlot City had become far saver, at least on the Corrupted front, Changelings notwithstanding. But in exchange, the entire country had become a powder cake. The magic that had been concentrated around Canterlot City had been disbursed across the continent and was rapidly reacting with what was undoubtedly the dormant magic of this world. If predictions were to be believed, this process would repeat itself until the whole world was coated in it, and that just in a few years. That also meant that Corrupted were popping up all across the country and presumably sooner rather than later all across the world. In other words, both she and Phoenix were busy as one could be and with no end in sight. She let out a silent sigh. “And I thought it would get easier after the primary threat was gone; Haruto was wrong, it seems,” she added with a chuckle before stretching herself. “This is! Unbelievable! Why am I being pulled off the New World Project? I have nothing but successes to show! So, why am I removed from the project? I lobbied for the idea! I got us the funding! That was all me! So tell me, why am I removed from my lifework?” A voice shouted from beyond the door, followed by a loud slam on what she could only assume was a table. “This… This is ludicrous! I have been nothing but not loyal to the MRG! There is no evidence I’m in any way connected to her past family wise! This is profiling!” It continued only for the door to be slammed open, and a man in his fifty's stormed out. He had a similar light blue skin tone to her and short grey hair. He wore a costly looking business suit and appeared to be exceptionally livered. The moment he saw her, his eyes narrowed even more, and with a huff, he stormed off. A loud sigh diverted her attention back to the door. In the sizeable double doorway stood an extremely muscular man crammed into a grey business suit. His skin was of dark grey color, and his short military-like hair was grey. He looked exhausted, one hand leaning on the top of the doorframe. “You know, I kinda envy you. You get to go out there every day and do all the fun stuff while I’m cooped up in here and have to deal with these snotnosed brats that never learned to grow up. Not to forget, pamper up to these politicians.” “Well, that is the burden of being the director, director,” she returned with a smirk. “What did I tell you?” He returned with a played frown. “I know, I know. And trust me, Onyx, I would love to have a far more quiet job right now. A bit of peace and silence would be very welcome right about now,” she sighed in return, both of them stepping into the office, the double door falling close behind them. The office had anything one could ask for, a side room for meetings, a small archive of the most essential records in the rooms to either side, an army of bookshelves, and most notably, a large and massive black marble table right in front of a large window overlooking Manehatten. “Take a seat,” he said, pointing at one of the dark wooden chairs. “So, what is so important that you pulled me off a mission in Fillydelphia for this and replaced me with Gaia? And if it’s so important, why isn’t Phoenix hear as well?” She asked, a hint of worry in her eyes. “Phoenix is currently investigating claims of a pirate Corrupted in the vicinity of Freetown. He is currently exploring an ancient temple in the jungle of the main island and not in our range. Trust me, if I could pull him off right now, I would, but this is important right now, and second, that pirate Corrupted seems to be out to cause a tsunami in the region. I can’t risk pulling him out now,” he returned with a grim expression on his face. “But don’t worry, you and the kid got this, I’m sure of it,” he added with a chuckle, one lacking the usual energy he put into it. “And after you are done I’m sure you tow can spend a bit of priv-“ “Let’s stay on subject, can we,” Ocean interrupted Onyx, her head glowing red. That got a loud laugh out of the man, one far more in line with how he acted usually. “Glad you didn’t lose your sense of humor Onyx.” He let out one last chuckle before his serious expression returned. “One of the most important things you can have in this job. But yes, let’s get back to why you are here.” He pushed a button on his computer as a large flatscreen came down from the ceiling right behind him, covering the entire window. Another push of a button let it light up with a map of the country. On it, one could see something that looked like a weather map right on top of Canterlot City. “What’s that?” She asked. “This is the crossover event regarding Kamen Rider Justice,” he returned before pushing another button, shifting the map to another similar one. “This is the crossover event regarding Wizard and Decade.” Ocean just looked at it in confusion before the image changed once again. The map shifted to a large dark red mass over Canterlot. “The Battle for Canterlot.” And one last time, the picture changed, this time not only did the form of the area change, its location did as well, roughly atop a mountain range in the southwest of the country. “And this is from a day ago. We might have another visitor,” he finished with a grim undertone. “Any information on what happened there? Any reports of Riders or something like that?” Ocean asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice. “Nothing, that’s just it. The area has been remarkably quiet. The only town in the area, Quartzquary, is a relatively secluded place by the best of times, but when we checked, nothing has come out of there for eight months. No one would notice if the crossover event didn’t happen there. Something’s fishy about this town, I have that in my bones, I tell you.” “Understood, I’ll be careful. Is that all?” She asked with the faintest glimmers of hopefulness in her eyes. “A few things, first, the signature we picked up is remarkably similar to the one Kamen Rider Decade gave off, but there are still some differences in it. Either he came from a similar world as Decade, or he is somehow connected to him,” Onyx nodded, letting the screen-roll back into the ceiling and took a look down at the city beneath him. “Second, I don’t want you to go in alone there. Agent Scorched Earth will accompany you; he will catch up to him on the outskirts of Quartzquarry. He is still a rather young agent, but his devotion to the job is almost unmatched if not a bid hotblooded, but I’m sure a bit of time with you will fix that in no time. And lastly, Light Bulb send you a present she has been working on for a while now. I’m sure you are gonna enjoy it,” he finished with a knowing smirk on his lips. “Oh, I’ll enjoy it? Now you spark my interest Onyx. Anyway, good luck here, I’ll be on my way then,” she said with a smile on her lips. “Good luck yourself,” Onyx encountered before letting out a loud sigh after the door fell close once again. “Why do I have such a bad feeling about this…” >--------------< Onyx wasn’t lying when he said she would enjoy it; she hadn’t had so much fun in weeks. The forests and mountains just passed her by as she climbed up the road more and more on Light Bulbs little present. If she was honest with herself, she had been somewhat jealous of Phoenix's own bike for a while now, state of the art technology, and everything while hers was already a modified two-year-old model designed for a human, not a Rider. Her new bike, the 6U4RD Charger, was far sleeker than her previous one, more in line with Phoenix’s A2018R in the way that it was designed to assess more mountainous terrain. It also had several other features like a communicator, weaponry based on her Charge Magnum, and a few more little nicknacks she was dying to try out. The new frame was light blue in color, with silver lines all over it and the MRG logo on the sides. But most peculiar was the fact that the bike seemed to have two clean cuts through It, just where she was sitting right now. Still, it was weird to ride around on this new bike, as good as it was. After all, her old one was something made by Ivory; she couldn’t just throw it away. She had to beg Onyx to let her keep it, and he actually agreed, saying it was her reward for saving Canterlot. As good as it felt to have the thing still by her side, if she so chooses, it still wasn’t the same. She had to admit it, she still missed him and his eccentric ways. Letting out a silent sigh, she looked up at the road ahead when out from the forest, the first roofs of the little town appeared. It wasn’t a big place, just around fifteen thousand citizens living here and all more or less centered around a mine not too far off. The town had sprung up around eighty years ago, and ever since, the biggest news that had reached the outside world was the yearly Quartzfestival, and even that was only mentioned in a tabloid of all places. The next town was fifty kilometers away as well. All in all, one of the quietest towns imaginable, not like she hadn’t dealt with this before. Still, something struck her as off as she came closer to the town as it loomed over her, the buildings looking quite old, but at the same time, pipes and wires were scattered across the exteriors, like someone had tried to upgrade the town into the new millennium. Her engine started to slow down as she approached the welcoming shield. She could barely make out ‘Welcome to Quartzquarry’ written on a decade-old billboard that had already fallen victim to moss and other plants long ago. But what she didn’t see was her partner, Scorched Earth. He was initially supposed to already be here the day before and should wait for her at the shield, but no sign of anything living could be seen. The only thing she noticed was the bike someone had hidden beneath some twigs and moss. Anyone who would just drive by would easily miss it, but those who would stop would undoubtedly stumble upon it. Putting her bike next to the shield, she took a short stroll across the nearby area without any anything to show for her trouble. “Ok, that’s strange,” she muttered before activating her communicator build into the earpiece she was wearing. “Hello? Hello! Agent Skies calling Agent Scorched Earth! Hello!” To her surprise, the device didn’t even send the message, instead only giving of static. “Ok, now it’s official, somethings going on here. The communicator is satellite-based; there is no way I have no connection here. Something is blocking any sort of communication going in the town,” she muttered, leaning against the shield, taking a look up at the town. “Should I report this?” She continued, looking down at the endless forest beneath her and the road winding itself through it like a snake. “Probably not, I don’t even know where the jamming signal stops. And I still haven’t made contact with Scorched Earth…” With a resigned sigh, she pushed herself off the sign and proceeded to cover her bike the same way he had done. “Ok then, let’s take a look up there. Maybe I find him somewhere there. Let’s hope he just disrespected orders instead of getting himself in any sort of situation,” she muttered as she started to track up the remaining way to the town on foot. As she ultimately crossed the last bit of road, she could finally take a look at the town. Like what she had seen before, the entire town was covered in wires and pipes that stretched across the roves and even over streets, all above what any human could typically reach. It was almost like a giant spider had covered the city in its web. What, however, was far more unnerving was the fact that not a single person could be seen on the streets. Sure, it was a small mining town on the edge of civilization, but still, at least someone was always doing something. The cars lined the streets as if parked for only a few minutes, but no light shined in any of the buildings. “No signs of anyone, at least on the streets…” she muttered as she carefully took another step forward, the wind blowing early through the now-empty town. This whole thing let a shiver run down her spine the further she went. She dared to take a look into some of the cars on the side of the road, a few of their windows smashed inward. Besides the considerable amount of dust that had formed inside them, there was nothing too strange about them besides that. No people inside them, only a few purses were all that was left behind. The buildings were no different as well, cold and empty like the inhabitants had just abandoned them on a whim and left for the woods. The only thing she found were bits of ash inside some of them as well as more broken windows. Whatever had happened here, it wasn’t peaceful in the slightest, and judging by the dust in the cars and everywhere else, it had happened a long time ago… “What happened here? It went silent eight months ago, so could it be Corrupted? Doubtful, there was no reading of magical energy in the area, and they couldn’t have masked that, right? They are capable enough to intercept our communication, so maybe?” She continued, her expression growing more and more worried. “By Tartarus, I wish Phoenix would be here, being alone in this empty town gives me the creeps.” That was when the sound of something metallic caught her ears. In an instant, she spun around, putting her and on the holster of her Charge Magnum. At first glance, the street behind her appeared empty, no sign of anyone around, just like before, but she could hear the sound of something made out of metal rolling across the concrete. It took her a few seconds, but eventually, she spotted an old soda can moving away from an alleyway. “There you are,” she muttered to herself before slowly advancing towards the alley. Her heartbeat started to pick up a bit as she advanced, not entirely sure what kind of creature would await her that could cause something like this, or if it was something else entirely… With a dash forward, she pulled her gun out of the holster and aimed it straight at where she assumed to noise had come from. She was greeted with something she hadn’t expected in the slightest, an identical barrel pointing her way. “Weapon down!” She said in a commanding tone, her muscles ready to pull the trigger at any moment. The person on the other end of that gun was about to pull the trigger himself when he looked at her a bit closer, his eyes widening in shock as he quickly lowered the gun. With both hands held high, he let the red Charge Magnum fall to the ground and stood back up. Now, she got a better look at the man in front of her. His skin had a red-brown tone to it, and his hair was a short grey. He wore a black shirt with similar colored pants. “I’m so sorry, you’re Agent Skies, right?” The man blurted out before bowing his head. “Uhm, yes,” Ocean returned, somewhat taken aback by the reaction. “So, I assume you are Agent Scorched Earth, right?” “Yes, mam, Agent Scorched Earth to your service!” He returned, saluting the confused Rider, adding only to her bafflement as she lowered her gun. “Yeah…” she muttered to herself before just shaking her head. “So, we’ll be working together then, right?” “Yes, mam, I will try my hardest to be useful to you,” he returned with a vigorous nod. “Good… If you don’t mind, I would prefer it if you would just call me Ocean, this mam is making me a bit uncomfortable to be quite honest…” she returned with a bit of unease in her voice. “Doesn’t help that we are in this ghost town here.” “Yeah, unsettling, isn’t it? Has been this way the whole time I have been here,” he added, but not without taking a look around them. “If you don’t mind. I scouted out an open house just around the corner here. Nothing in there. And if we want to discuss some things, doing it out here in the open just doesn’t bode well with me.” “Yeah, probably a good idea. I have a few questions to ask you anyway,” she said in return before both of them walked down the alley and entering the abandoned house Scorched had spoken of. Like the rest, it was utterly empty, minus a single pile of ash that lay next to the door. As they opened the door, a gust of wind scattered it across the hallway a bit. “So this is it?” She asked, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs, still not entirely convinced that this was any less creepy than outside. “Yeah, pretty much. I was here since yesterday. This morning I decided to scout ahead a bit; maybe I would find something. I just get restless quite easily, to be honest,” he returned, tapping on the table as he did so. “I see, but weren’t you supposed to stay back until I arrived? What if this town wasn’t all that empty after all? If you had disappeared on me, that could have jeopardized the whole mission,” Ocean encountered with a stern look in her eyes. “While I don’t mind creatively interpreting orders at times if it means one is more adaptable to unforeseen incidents, it’s pretty much how I work with Phoenix, but this is stretching it a bit. Next time listen to what a superior says. One shouldn’t carelessly disregard an order, only in the direst of circumstances.” She emphasized the last one with a solemn undertone and a hint of regret in her eyes. “Uhm, yes, mam,” he said, only to stop himself and continue with: “Yes, Ocean, I will keep it in mind and fully understand your concerns. Still, what is done, is done, right?” Ocean just looked at him with an uncertain look in her eyes. “I guess so; still, I would appreciate it if you learned from this little encounter.” “I will. If you are interested, I could tell you about what little I managed to find out,” he continued. “Go ahead, would be a waste if we couldn’t salvage anything from it, I guess,” Ocean said, still somewhat unsure of what to make of his answer. “Understandable. From what I could gather, there is no one in this town right now, but that doesn’t mean that no one has been here in the last few months. All of the cables and pipes have been placed far more recently, and they are all slowly leading towards a single spot, an old pool. All the pipes and everything leads there, or to be more precise, they lead away from there. It seems there is a continuous flow of air away from there, at least at the ones that are completed. I also found several ones that are still in the process of being build, and most intriguingly, there seems to be a wall that is currently being constructed all around the town. Whatever is happening here, it isn’t done just yet,” he finished with a grim expression on his face. “That doesn’t sound good in the slightest…” “Permission to speak freely?” He added with a nervous undertone. “What is it?” “In my opinion, this place is far too dangerous to leave be. If someone has the power to wipe out an entire town without anyone noticing and build this in its place that someone has to be stopped by any means necessary or at least delayed. We don’t know what they are planning here, and we can’t just leave it be, or waste any time. My best suggestion would be to blow this place to kingdom come and cover up our involvement. It’s by far the most secure method because if we tried to dig deeper, we might just let them escape somewhere else, and goodness knows if we ever find them again,” he returned, an unnerving conviction in his voice. Ocean just looked at him with a mortified expression. “I… I understand what you want to tell me, but… This far too early to make such a serious decision. We still have no idea about what any of this is, who is behind it, and, most importantly, what happened to the inhabitance of this town. It’s our job to protect the world from supernatural dangers, and that includes the people of this town. I’m not going to sacrifice them if we haven’t exhausted all our options, you understand that?” Ocean glared at him, Scorched first rising from his seat and returning: “Bu…” Only to quiet down soon after and finish with a resigned: “Understood.” Before Ocean could encounter anything, something caught both their attention, steps. They were fast and were getting closer and closer before raced past them. Ocean and Scorched shared one look before they were about to dash out the door and follow behind them when more steps came closer, this time far more than before, following right after the first pair. “We have company! You’ll guard my back, I'll go ahead,” Ocean stated, leaving no room for any objections before dashing out the door and into the alley. As she turned her head around, she saw a group of grey bodys mixed in with something black rushing along the street. Pulling the gun once again out of its holster, she sprinted after them, trying her best to keep a distance to them. The group of strange figures came to a stop just on the outside of the alley and where it went over into a bigger road. She spotted a fire ladder on one of the buildings, dashed up it as quietly as possible, and dared to sneak a look at what was going on bellow her, as good as the web of cables and pipes would allow it at least. The first thing she spotted was the man in the white jacket, the light brown hair and pale blue skin standing in the middle of the street, three groups of figures blocking his way, two at each side of him on the road and the last one was the group she had been following. What was most striking about them on a closer look was the fact that they weren’t actual people; instead, the white ones were a group of identical monsters. Their skin was covered in a thick white shell with several small feet on their upper body. Two tails extended from their back from under a thick shell, almost like a shrimp. Their heads were compressed of two eyes that just barely poked out from the shell and two antennas. They kind of reminded her of a picture of a species of plankton she had once seen in a book, just turned into a humanoid monster. The other notable thing was the three men clad in black armor, one in each of the groups. Their body was covered in bronze armor plates and a single round visor on their heads. Were they Riders? “Surrender now, and you might live,” one of them barked out, taking a step towards the blue man. The man in question just chuckled and pulled forth a black and blue pistole with a stylish twirl to boot. “I might live? Honestly, I like my chances fighting far more,” he smirked back before pushing a card into the now open slot on the front of the weapon. |Kamen Ride| “Henshin!” |DIEND| At once, the process atop Futo Tower repeated itself, the Rider now once again clad in his sky blue armor. The group of monsters and the three Riders stared at him for a moment before they charged forward at the Rider, who didn’t appear worried in the slightest. Instead, he casually pulled out another card and slotted it into the gun like it was a nice and sunny evening with nothing spectacular going on at all. |Attack Ride| |BLAST| Once again, the shoots of the weapon zoomed around the battlefield like they had not a single care in the world before hitting a few of the Plankton monsters, letting them explode in blue flames and leaving nothing behind than grey ash. That was also roughly the time at which Scorched Earth managed to stumble into this fight, and as luck would have it, one of the monsters that hadn’t been dusted, but instead only thrown back, landed right in front of him, letting out a loud growl. That attracted the attention of the group that had closed off the alley. “Oh, another snooping rat. Where might you come from,” the man clad in armor chuckled before pointing his finger at Scorched, and the group under his command stormed towards him. \ SCANNING CHARGE! / “Henshin!” \ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! / Right before the monsters could reach Scorched, a lightning blue ball of energy landed before them, knocking the few that had managed to get close enough back as well. As the light faded, Charge stared at the group of monsters with her two red eyes in all her glory. “I’m sorry, but he is with me,” she returned coldly while pulling up her Charge magnum and her Stun Baton. “What, another Rider? It seems you pests just keep showing up,” he growled before pulling out a sword with a copper blade and large handguard. While Ocean was busy fending off her own group, Diend had already dispatched several more of the footsoldiers, leaving the overall number of the two groups halved. He just backhanded one of the storming Planktons, and in doing so had pushed open the card-slot, after he had inserted two more cards in the device. |Kamen Ride| |FAIZ| |Kamen Ride| |KAIXA| Two other Riders appeared, one in a silver and black suit with red lines running through it as well as two large yellow eyes, the other one clad in silver and black armor with yellow stripes and purple eyes. With a single wave of Diends hand, the two dashed forward, the red one flicking his wrist before moving, and tackled the Plankton’s away from him. “Well, now that this will be taken care of, I can greet you two. I must say, you are a useful bunch, I tell you, though I wonder how useful you are against this,” he chuckled before pushing forward, his weapon in hand, the two Riotroopers doing the same with their respective swords in hand. The first one that reached him tried immediately to slam down his blade on him only for it to clash against the upper part of the gun, and before the Riotrooper could react was the gun already aimed straight at him, several shots hitting him square in the chest as he tumbled backward. Diend was, however, not satisfied yet, threw a card in there, and flipping the slot open once again, all while bridging the gap between them. |Attack Ride| |BLAST| The moment he put the barrel of the gun at the chest of his opponent, all the shoots went straight through his body, leaving gaping holes behind, at least before the entire trooper exploded and left nothing but dust in his place. “And it seems that this world’s Riders aren’t so shabby as well.” He had looked over to Ocean, who was just slamming the Stun Baton at one of the Planktons, letting him fall to the ground and start to violently convulse before she absentmindedly put one of her rounds in his head, the Orphenoch falling apart like the rest. This, however, did not deter the four other ones that immediately rushed forward to where their comrade had fallen. Charge took a single look at them before the lines on her feet started to glow, and in the blink of an eye, a blue blur was shooting forward, four shoots rang through the street, and the Orphenochs feel the moment she passed. “Now, that only leaves you,” she said to the Riotrooper in front of her. “How about you surrender, and we can solve this peacefully.” She received her answer by a bolt of light to the face, or at least where her face used to be; instead, the attack only hit the wall behind her as Charge had already dashed forward and slammed her open palm into the stomach of the Trooper. He landed with a low grunt on his back, slowly pushing himself back up before glaring at the Rider. With a loud scream, he pulled up his gun that had turned back into the sword and swung it down at her. Metal meat metal, and within a heartbeat, the trooper started convulsing, the Stun Baton doing precisely as advertised. With a swift roundhouse kick, she knocked the weapon out of the trooper's hand and spun the cylinder of her Driver once again. Meanwhile, Diend pushed in another card. \ Maximum Charge! / |Final Attack Ride| |DIEND| While Charge jumped at the trooper and grabbed ahold of his shoulders, the two Riders who had just dealt with the last Plankton were pulled into the card circle of Diend. The Rider pulled the trigger, a blue beam of light eviscerating the Riotrooper quickly. At the same time, Charge started to slam her feet into the chest of her opponent with ever greater speed before pushing herself off of him and landing next to Scorched Earth. The Trooper was knocked out of his transformation, leaving behind a man in a black suit with a black hat. “So, now we can tal-“ She was about to say when electricity sparked through his body, the man convulsing on the ground and bursting into blue flames. Ocean took a step back, the horror on her face only masked by her helmet as she stared at the man collapse into ash. Before she could even stammer anything, the other Rider spoke up in a very smug voice: “Thank you very much for the help, but this is where I have to leave. I prefer to work alone.” As he spoke, he pushed up his Driver once again, a card already in his hand. “Oh, and I would like it for you to stay out of my way.” |Attack Ride| |INVISABLE| The moment he had pushed the card into the Driver, his image flickered, and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared. “Wait!” She burst out far too late and could only stretch out her hand towards the nothing that now filled the street. With a defeated sigh, she deactivated her Driver and said: “Seems we are on the right track,” all while the wind slowly started to blow away the ash.