A Golden Drive Through Equestria

by Psyga315

Dazzling Adagio Arc 1: Who Stole the Tridoron?

My name is Kelly Randall. It has been three months since I was Displaced. It’s apparently the term used to describe people who have been transported to other worlds. As it turns out, I’m not the only person to have gone through this. There have been many people that had been Displaced. Some of them became my allies while others became my enemy.

One of them tried to ally with the school bully and have her become a psychotic demon to try and take over Equestria, a world filled with those My Little Pony characters. However, that failed when Banno took over her body and turned her into some sort of demonic Rider. It took a lot of effort to finally stop him.

Once I had him beaten, I sealed him up inside a small anti-virus program that I created using Ryoma’s smarts on my off time: Lapis Lazuli Program. It’s meant to act as a cage for Banno until I activate the Banno Driver, summoning him into the belt and allowing us to transform into Gold Drive.

I noticed something off when I was putting the program into the Driver. I tried to see if I can use the Banno Driver without Banno operating it, only to find that it wasn’t able to. It wouldn’t even start up. My theory is that I took out the ‘engine’ of the ‘car’, in this case, Banno. If that’s the case, then I could consider that it wasn’t coded on Banno’s part, but rather it was hardcoded by the original inventor: Krim Steinbelt.

With that being the case, I had to keep Banno around, so, when he was able to regain consciousness, I would have it so that his AI was trapped in the program. I took him out on a test drive last night and for the most part, it worked well. No sudden takeovers, no moments where I needed Banno to stop being Banno… For the second time, I felt like I was truly in control of the situation.

The first time came when I exposed Sunset Shimmer for the bitch that she was. It forced her to get desperate and steal the price of the Fall Formal, a crown that was revered in Equestria as a magical artifact. Turns out it caused Sunset to get fire powers that persisted well after she was freed from the crown’s influence.

To my dismay, though, despite everything she did, she cried crocodile tears, and everyone bought it. However, I’m keeping a close eye on her in case she’s up to her old tricks.

I won’t hesitate to stop her at mach speed.

---

I went over to my whiteboard. Just before hitting the hay, a portal appeared right beneath my feet and I fell through. I ended up getting summoned to what appears to be Equestria. Or rather, another version of it. There, I met someone who called himself a Frost Demon, though I better knew him as Asala. I was in his realm for about a few weeks, even learning how to utilize my ki… Still waiting to show that off to Ross.

It caused me to try and compile what I could find on the portals. I took the tokens of the Sebaste Brothers as well as the two sisters who came last night and I analyzed them. There was little residue of void matter in the Shift Car that I got from the sisters while there was a slightly bigger amount in the chainsword and rifle. I then looked at Asala’s Token, an eight-starred purple Dragonball. His token was full of void residue. I swirled the token about, judging the potency of the void.

I then wrote a theory: the Tokens take time to build their power and once they’re fully built up, I could use them to summon the Displaced it belonged to. After that, it would need time to build up again. The same was true for when they’re summoned.

My lengthy and, in my opinion, well-deserved, stay at Asala’s world in contrast to the brief time Sebastian, Sebaste, Natsumi, and Haruka was suspect at first, but then I used my powers to thwart the invasion of an alien race known as the Cabal and then fixed up the damages. After that, the portal appeared days after.

Much like the Tokens, a Displaced has a limited amount of time when they’re summoned. The idea, presumably, is to do one task that they’re summoned for, then leave for their world. But I wasn’t given a straight up task from the word go. In fact, I was lumped in with Asala and thrown in jail for my troubles, then went on trial in his defense before proposing to the judges that they should do a Suicide Squad.

God, I hope they do the movie justice when I get back to my world… If I get back.

After fighting the Cabal with my powers as Gold Drive, I guess I ‘ran out of energy’ and had to go back to recharge. Of course, this is just a theory. I’ve been Displaced for about three months now. Ross was Displaced longer, and I had just discovered that there’s another person who was displaced for even longer.

So, I decide to pay him a visit.

---

I got out of the library and to the parking lot where…

… Wait, where’s the Tridoron?

I looked all over the parking lot in search of the Tridoron… But it was gone! Ross approached me with Banno in hand.

“Crap! Where is it!” I shouted.

“Woah, Kelly, what’s up?” Ross asked me.

“The Tridoron… It’s gone!”

“Relax, Kel, I’m sure it didn’t just get up and drive away,” Ross chuckled. I just gave him a glare. It took Ross a while before he stopped laughing. “… Wait, it can do that?”

“Yeah. Strange, not sure how it can do that without… Eh, no matter. Watch this!” With that, I leaped into the air and took flight, one of the many techniques I learned from Asala. I could hear Ross shout a huge ‘what’ at me as I took off.

---

I was downtown, soaring through the clouds to give me cover so no one would see me… That’s when I began to feel tired.

Weird… I thought I wouldn’t get tired from flying. I began to lower down onto the ground, making sure to hide in a nearby alleyway to prevent suspicion. I breathed in and out as my heart began to beat rapidly. Soon, I saw rose petals fluttering about as I saw Ross approach me.

“Holy shit… How did you do that?” Ross asked.

“Guess… you’re not… the only one with a special power now…” I panted.

“You must have learned it from that world… Well, I might as well warn you now: your aura-”

“Ki,” I corrected.

“Ki, is finite. Especially in this world considering it’s your native world.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means that whatever powers you got from that world are significantly weaker here. Remember that scorpion that made me a Kamen Rider?” Ross asked.

“Yeah?”

“It wasn’t from this world either. It came from Natsumi’s world. I utilized it in combination with my Semblance and, while I was able to fight my opponent, I ran out of juice much faster. You have your theories, I have mine,” Ross said.

“So… You’re saying that if I use my ki, I’ll run out of it faster than if I were to use it back in Asala’s world?” I asked.

“Bingo!”

“So, gotta conserve it, got it,” I then took out a padlock. “Thank God I repaired this,” I opened it up and tossed it onto the ground, unfolding it into the SunDriver. Ross chuckled and took out his Lockseed too.

“Wanna go for a drive?” Ross asked.

“Yeah.”

---

We then spent our time driving on the street in search for Joey Chandler, AKA Rose. Apparently, he’s a leader of a group of superheroes called the Wonderbolts, who are the reason why the Grimm haven’t been wrecking the city up whenever someone feels slightly upset. Ross wants to be a member of them… Great.

On our way to the supposed Academy that teaches the Wonderbolts, I noticed something on my rear-view mirror. There was Ross on the Rose Attacker, but there was a third person behind Ross, wearing a black long coat and a black motorcycle helmet. I decided to turn left. Ross followed… so did the biker. Another left. They followed.

I slowed down to let Ross catch up and I glanced at him, nodding my head to the biker behind us. He nodded and drove off to the right while I took the left. The biker followed Ross… Guess he wasn’t stalking me after all.

---

Ross drove the Rose Attacker, making constant turns. Yet the biker was still following him.

“Banno, you’re gonna get airsick,” Ross said to Banno as he still held him.

“Trust me, after what I’ve been through, I won’t get sick,” Ross smirked and rode his bike to an alleyway where the biker eventually caught up… Only to see that Ross had seemingly disappeared and in his place were rose petals. The biker looked around before he heard a gun cock.

“Who are you?” Ross asked, holding Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle mode. The biker just held up his arms. That’s when Ross noticed something on his back… Scabbards. He wasn’t raising his arms up to surrender.

In an instant, the biker took out a sword made seemingly of obsidian glass. It clashed against the shaft of Ross’ scythe as sparks flew. Ross swung his scythe, only for it to clash against the blade again. He tried again, using his Semblance to get the advantage, only for the biker to react in a split second, taking out a second sword, this one made of what seemed to be aquamarine crystals. The second blade smashed against the head of Ross’ scythe, barely making a scratch on the crystalline edge.

“You’re pretty fast…” Ross glared at the helmeted man, who gave no response. “Too bad I’m faster!” With that, he tried to slash at the man three times… and in all three instances…

CLANG!

CLINK!

BANG!

The blades managed to parry the scythe… With one last stroke from the black blade, Ross’ scythe was knocked out of his hands, spinning until it landed in the trash. Ross tried to go grab it, but the tip of the crystal blade soon touched Ross’ neck.

“Now… Hand over Banno and you won’t die painfully…” While the man tried to be intimidating, his voice, a rather high-pitched and raspy one, made Ross grin and chuckle. Banno did the same as well. “Hey! Stop laughing!” This just caused the two to laugh harder.

“S-sorry! We’re trying to take you seriously, just… That voice!” Ross tried to talk, but after he finished his sentence, he just howled and continued his laughter.

“I managed to beat you fair and square! That’s gotta account for something, right?” He asked.

“Hmmm… Nope!” Ross spoke with the same high-pitched voice, albeit more girly and less raspy and then cracked up again.

“Honestly, Roidmude, considering how your voice came from whoever you chose to synchronize with, it’s really not your fault!” As Banno and Ross laughed, that’s when the man began to crack up as well. Ross stopped laughing once he heard just how utterly creepy the laugh is, with only Banno continuing to laugh, which only added to the creepiness. The man sheathed his swords and took off his helmet. As it clattered to the ground, Ross could see the man’s face. He was a teenager with short black hair. Ross felt as though he knew this person…

What freaked Ross out though were the man’s eyes… Tiny, beady little dots… The top half of his face seemed to be darkened.

“Well, because of that, two kids gonna die tonight!” With that, the biker transformed into a Roidmude. He was a cyclopean robot whose head resembled a bladed S. His body was the usual make of a Roidmude, though his body reminded Ross of Tachibana’s Roidmude form. On the ends of his feet were blades, as were the ends of his arms. They were two large swords, mirroring the swords he held in his human form, one black, the other aqua-colored. His entire Roidmude form was black save for the aqua blade on his right arm.

“Sword? Why are you black?” Banno asked.

“Oh my God, Banno, you can’t just ask a Roidmude why it’s black…” Ross tried to snigger, only for the Sword Roidmude to point his black blade at Ross’ neck.

“Well, well, well, look what time it is, traitor. It’s time to die!” The Roidmude then swung his sword at Ross, only for him to run off and grab his scythe. He swung his scythe in tune to Sword’s slash, slamming blades together. Ross pointed the sniper rifle at the Roidmude’s face and fired, only for him to move his head at the last possible second.

“Shit!” Ross then noticed Banno was floating. “You can fly too!?”

“I can do many things…” Tentacles soon sprouted from Banno and began to attack the Roidmude, only for him to deflect each one of them. The Roidmude then struck at Banno, causing sparks to fly. “GAAAH!” Banno flew over to the wall and smacked against it. As the belt landed, Ross could see that the screen where Banno’s face usually is shown is now completely black. Ross was stunned for a bit as he saw Banno’s lifeless belt. His mind flashed an image of a girl with lifeless green eyes who was torn apart.

Ross’ eyes began to burn. He shook the image out of his head. This was another memory of Ruby’s. He had to focus. He took advantage of the brief distraction Banno gave to swing his scythe and hold its blade by the Roidmude’s neck.

“Game over…” Ross muttered. He then pulled the trigger… Only for Sword to turn around just as the scythe fired and stabbed Ross. Thankfully, his aura blocked it, but the Roidmude soon kicked Ross down. He walked towards Ross, kicking the scythe out of his reach and held both blades at Ross’ neck in a scissors formation.

“You’re right… It is game over!” Before he could finish Ross off, a car slowly passed by the alleyway. Inside were kids singing a cheery song.

“Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say… Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” The Roidmude hesitated and even trembled. Ross could almost swear he’s crying. Ross took this to his advantage and ran to grab both his scythe and the Banno Driver. He ran out of there as soon as he can, using his Semblance to get out.

Eventually, the Sword Roidmude stopped crying.

“… Stupid human emotions,” he gripped his fist. That’s when he heard fire crackling. He dodged a fist just in time. The fist hit the wall, causing a crater.

“YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!” The Grim Reaper glared at Sword with her red eyes.

“Trust me, I’m angry about this too. Can’t believe my synchronization is such a cry baby over Christmas carols. I’m starting to regret not using a Neo Viral Core now.” He reverted to his human form, his eyes now large discs of gunmetal gray. The Grim Reaper sighed and blinked, her red eyes changing into lilac-colored eyes.

“You head back and rest up,” she said.

“And you?”

“Cook’s found a host and is already hatching a plan to attack the city. With subtlety out the window, my purpose to silence noisy Roidmudes is over. Now comes the next purpose…” She then walked out of the alleyway where a yellow motorcycle with black stripes and a sleek model resided. She hopped onto it, donning a helmet. “Silencing the Kamen Rider,” she drove off.

---

I continued to drive to Wonderbolt Academy, using the directions on my phone’s GPS. As I did, I passed by a restaurant and-

SKREEEEEEECH!

I immediately slammed the breaks as I ran over someone… Shit! I hopped off and looked behind my vehicle to see who I ran over…

Only for me to see a familiar gray blobby body with some of its body being green-colored and holes on its face to resemble angry looking eyes. It got up and moved less like a human and more of a wild animal, burbling out a cry before it attacked me.

I managed to dodge out of the way of its claw and kicked it in the face, followed by a punch in the gut. The monster stumbled before I got back onto the SunDriver and drove over the monster, rolling my wheels back and forth onto him several times before it was nothing but paste.

I got off again and began to wonder… What the hell is an Inves doing here?

The Inves were the enemies of Kamen Rider Gaim, the rider that came before Drive. From all I could see, the only Kamen Rider enemies I would have to concern myself with were the Roidmudes and, to an extent, Foundation X.

But now I’m seeing the Inves here. What does this mean? Did some of the Inves survive that fight that happened overnight? Was it just Foundation X dabbling with Inves? Or maybe they’ve begun to come to this world via the cracks leading to Helheim, the world they reside in.

I then began to think about the Inves. Where they came from and how they come to be. Helheim Forest is a place where a bizarre alien plant life would slowly and surely take over the world, its rate depending on numerous factors, like if the rulers want to take over ASAP. Considering who’s most likely ruling Helheim, I doubt it, but this may be a case where it could be an alternate ending where someone else became the ruler.

The plants contained a fruit that, if used in combination with a Sengoku Driver, would convert it into a Lockseed and be used either for nutrition or transformation. However, to those without a Driver or those who are weak minded, the plant’s fruit would attract people into eating it raw. The result would be…

I then saw the building I was near: Zesty Gourmand’s, a restaurant that, to my recollection of reading the news, was under scrutiny for having bland tasting foods that were disgustingly expensive, and that the owner is violently defensive about it.

I… I don’t wish to entertain it, but I must.

I run into the restaurant…

And I saw it.

Inves swarming around the restaurant like ants. They mindlessly ate the reddish-blue-skinned fruit that hinged off vines. Meanwhile, the few people that were there were served salad that had a suspicious looking gelatin garnishing them. While scared that their food was served by monsters, once they looked at the food, they just mindlessly shoveled the salad. Moments later, they tried to regurgitate the food, one even clawing at their throat to try and get the food out.

But it was too late.

Their bodies glowed green as vines began to spring out and engulfed them. The vines then burst apart, revealing new animalistic looking monsters adorned in jade armor. They lost what little humanity they had and began to scrounge around for food like the others. One of the Inves grumbled and came up to me. It held out a menu upside down. I merely punched the Inves so hard, I caved its face in.

I then ran into the heart of the restaurant and looked around.

“Care to take a seat?” I heard someone, and I turned to face them. It was an old woman with slicked back white hair and pale purple skin. She sounded just as old as the wrinkles on her face suggest. She wore a chef’s outfit that looked pretty neat.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

“Oh, this? I’m giving it a fresh style,” she said.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“I’m merely giving the people what they need. A subtle taste, the barest hint of sensation… I give them art,” I so wanna punch her in the face.

“Art? You call this art?! You’re turning people into mindless beasts at best and risking global annihilation at worst!” I said.

“Necessary sacrifices for my art to be understood. Look at them, they’re now cultured enough to appreciate it,” as she said that, an Inves pounced on a fruit that was on the ground, “and all I have to thank for is this wonderful robot,” wait, robot? “She and her kind will inherit this world and they will also enjoy my art!” That’s when I realized she wasn’t buying into the fruit’s temptation like the others.

Normally the only way to resist the charm of the Helheim Fruit without the Sengoku Driver is to either get interrupted or have enough rigorous training to not eat it.

Though, there was one other exception it seemed. And that was likely the case as I saw a Cobra-type Roidmude walk out of the kitchen and standing beside the chef. I looked on the number on its plate: 090.

The number of the Cook Roidmude… Of course. The Roidmude was a partner in crime to a chef who wanted to make the ultimate dish… I guess this bastard of a cook is no different.

“You’ll pay for this!” I took out the Sengoku Driver, slapped it on my waist, and activated the Lemon Lockseed.

LEMON! LOCK ON!

“HENSHIN!”

COME ON! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA!

The Lemon armor came down and unfolded onto me. I transformed into Duke and held my rapier.

“Zesty, this is the Rider I warned you about…” 090 said.

“Is it? Very well. Let’s show her the finest cuisine in the world!” Zesty took out a Neo Viral Core as the Roidmude merged with her, creating the Cook Roidmude. She immediately activated Slowdown, bringing me to a crawl.

I knew that not using Banno would result in scenarios like this, but thanks to my training with Asala, I was able to utilize my Ki to move… At least, that’s what I thought would happen. As I tried to use my Ki to move, my legs felt like they were being pulled. I screamed in pain as I put all my effort into moving just an inch.

Suddenly I felt the wind push me. A rose-scented wind. Ross picked me up and placed me further away from the Cook Roidmude’s laser fork.

“Kelly! You okay?!” Ross asked.

“I… can’t move!” I replied.

“Your body isn’t acclimated to the Ki yet. It hasn’t been able to adjust to Slowdown…” Ross said.

“Fine! Give me Banno!” I said.

“No can do,” he held up the damaged Banno Driver, “he’s out of commission.”

“Alright… in that case…” I pushed my left foot forward and managed to move slightly before the heavy density pressured me down. I can definitely use the Ki to substitute a Core Driviar, but it can’t exactly counter the Density Shift. Especially with how finite it is… Luckily, I found a substitute. Using the remainder of my Ki, I moved over and grabbed one of the fruit hanging off a vine. It transformed into a Lockseed that had a sunflower seed on it. I placed it onto my belt, replacing Lemon, and felt the nutrients fuel me. “Bring it…”

Several Inves ran to me as I kicked a few of them to the side. With each move I did, I was able to overcome the Slowdown bit by bit. Seemed the Inves were mutated or modified, allowing them to maneuver while in Slowdown. Ross, meanwhile, ran straight for Cook and attacked her with his scythe. Cook blocked it with her knife fingers and stabbed Ross with her tongue. His aura managed to tank it.

Eventually, I was able to throw a punch at one of the Inves, followed by a stab. More Inves came for me as I managed to dodge out of the way. I was able to move in Slowdown, albeit sluggishly. A few Roidmudes managed to strike my armor and knock me towards a grove of Helheim fruit, which I managed to grab. Some became Himawari Lockseeds while a few turned into sturdier Lockseeds, such as Strawberry, Pine, and Melon. Given how the Inves were modified and that they were made from Helheim Fruit, I decided to experiment. I instantly put on the Melon Lockseed and activated it.

LOCK ON! COME ON! MELON ARMS! BY HEAVEN’S… DECREE!

My Lemon armor was replaced with a green Melon armor, same with my rapier being replaced with a shield. My body felt lighter than before. I confirmed my hypothesis. My body was now able to move in Slowdown, though I’m not sure for how long. I blocked some of the Inves attacks with the shield and pushed up, knocking them back. I swung my shield at them. Sparks flew out of their body as a few fell and exploded.

The Cook Roidmude grabbed Ross by the tongue and tossed him over a table, though Ross managed to knock it over and use it as a barricade for him to fire from. Cook swung her tongue to block the rifle shots, but given how high calibre they were, her tongue was blown off.

“OW! Tham it!” Cook said.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? … No, that’d work better if I was Blake.” Ross leaped over the table and slashed at the Roidmude. Slowdown was canceled.

Realizing the need to fill myself up on nutrients was done, I swapped out Lockseeds and returned to Lemon. I stabbed at the Roidmudes with my rapier, some exploding the moment I stabbed them. Soon, the bulkier Inves came. In this case, large, jade-armored dragons. As they spewed fire at me, I rolled out of the way and cut them with the rapier. Of course, the rapier wasn’t enough to knock them down, though that was the key of using a rapier. It doesn’t just take one stab…

It takes multiple. I cut into the Lockseed.

COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT!

With each thrust I made, I shot out a lemon from my rapier at the Inves. As soon as they were distracted, I stabbed one of them and caused it to explode in zesty lemon juice. I turned my blade to the other Seiryu Inves…

Then I looked at Ross, whose scythe was close to Cook’s neck.

“Wait!” I shouted.

“Huh?” Ross asked.

“That Roidmude’s different! She’s fused with a human! If you destroy the Roidmude, you might risk killing her host!” I said. Though Zesty was an utter bitch for turning humans into essentially zombies, I’d rather have the police on us again. Besides, Zesty needed to face justice.

“Then how do we defeat the Roidmude?” Ross asked.

“I… don’t know.” Shit! I knew there was an oversight. The Banno Driver was copied from the Drive Driver after it had been modified to separate the Fusion from the host. But the Sengoku Driver wasn’t built to handle Roidmudes. And I doubt Ross’ weapon can do it either. Cook managed to take the distraction to her advantage and stab Ross with the knives. Again, his aura took the hit. Ross was knocked over to where I was. Suddenly, the power went out.

“Huh!? Who turned out the lights?” Ross muttered. I looked towards a pair of curtains which suddenly had a spotlight shown on it. I saw a silhouette of a woman from behind the curtains of the restaurant’s entrance. I couldn’t help but stare. It was the same silhouette I saw in the fire. I could look at Ross and see him easily tense up as the woman walked through the curtains.

Instantly, I could see her luscious long blond hair tapering off to her elbows. The woman wore large aviator sunglasses that, while making me remember the glasses Chase wore when he went for his driver’s licence, didn’t make me crack a smirk.

She wore what appeared to be an olive-green biker’s jacket, partially zipped down to show an orange blouse underneath. She wore black fingerless gloves while having leather sleeves that reached from her wrist to partially before her elbow, also having a half-zipped zipper. I noticed from her exposed elbow and fingers that her left arm was covered in metallic gold. Her right arm had a golden bracelet.

There seemed to be an undercoat she wore, and I only knew this because the coattails seemed to extend to her ankles. She wore black pants with what appeared to be a purple scarf tied to her right knee. Her brown, knee-high boots clacked across the wooden table. The remaining Seiryu Inves screeched and ran to her, only for her bracelet to unfold into a gauntlet. She punched her whole right fist through the monster and caused it to explode. She then casually walked towards me like nothing happened and sat next to me. That’s when I noticed a symbol on her left jacket sleeve.

It was a two-headed bird with the initials DCD on its red body. Already, I had chills and tensed up. The woman turned to the Cook Roidmude.

“Strawberry Sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas.” She had somewhat of a bubbly voice to her. Cook trembled and rushed off to get her exactly that. She smirked and looked to me. “So, you must be the professor that’s giving my boss trouble, huh?” She said.

“… And you must be the Dragon I was warned about.” I said back. She smirked and took off her glasses, revealing a pair of lilac eyes. Odd… Weren’t they red?

“You got it. So, I guess you’re aware of what’s gonna happen then?” She said.

“Yeah. See that kid over there?” I motioned my head to Ross. “I took care of the previous Reaper. I can easily take you on too.” I said.

“Says the girl who had a tough time fighting the King.” She said.

“Hey, I had him on the ropes until you showed up!” I barked.

“I’ll admit, you managed to destroy one of his lives.” Lives? I thought Roidmudes only had one… That’s when I remembered that instead of a Core, the Drive symbol blew up. Could that be what she meant? “But you won’t destroy them all. Our King will destroy this world and rebuild it in his image, subjugating the humans under his rule. Something Heart refused to do.” She said.

“You’re a human yourself! Do you realize what you’re saying? You’re betraying your humanity.” Ross said to the Dragon.

“And you betrayed us by siding with the humans.” Cook gave her the drink she requested as she sipped it. “As for you, professor, you’re also a traitor to humanity. Banno tried to enslave both the Roidmudes and the humans, and you wore him regardless.”

“I only did it because your King’s lackeys were gonna kill me and some other people. I was the only thing to stop them.”

“I guess we’re not so different after all.” The Dragon downed her drink before setting it down. “I too chose this path to live.” I could only glare at her, as if I was trying to piece together her story.

“Then join us! With you on our side, we can stop the Roidmudes.” Ross looked to her…

Only for her to throw a punch to his face. I ducked just before the gauntlet went off. My body tensed. I was thankful for Ross’ aura. Had he not had that, or had he been a second late to dodging it, his head would have blown to bits. I could hear a loud ringing as the Dragon kicked me off my seat onto the ground.

“There’s no beating the Roidmudes. If I fight them, I’ll die… And I refuse to be forgotten.” With that, she got into a fighting pose. I got up as I saw Ross reeling on the ground.

“… Oh, trust me, the only thing I’ll be remembering is the wounds that I’ll inflict!” I held my rapier as I saw that the Dragon was in a boxer’s pose. I merely cocked my head and pointed the rapier towards her.

“A lot of arrogance for a professor.” The Dragon cracked her knuckles.

“It comes with the belt.” I smirked as I wiped my fingers against the blade, a trait I managed to remember from the King.

“I’ll be sure to break it.” She said.

“Not before I break you!” With that, I thrust my rapier right at her. It managed to connect her once, then twice as she began to bob and weave through the next few slashes. She threw several punches my way, but I managed to block them with my free hand. Another swipe at her stomach and I could feel it cleaving through. Fresh from the cut, I swiped again and slice through. With a stab, I managed to connect right into her skin.

She managed to get a few hits in as I swung my rapier, but they either didn’t connect or I brushed it away with the rapier. After several parries, I managed to inflict one blow to her chest. Normally, this would pierce human skin…

Though I soon noticed that she wasn’t the case. Before I could figure out what she had protecting her, she threw a punch to my head, blasting it right into my face. I flew a few meters before landing on my stomach. As I struggled to get up, my body trembled. That amount of force was comparable to a sledgehammer. And that punch wasn’t even from her shotgun gauntlet! I looked up and saw her hair glowing with what was a flame-like light.

“Kelly! You’re making this harder on yourself!” Ross said to me.

“The hell do you mean?” I asked.

“It’s her Semblance!” Ross said. Semblance? Wait… That means…

I looked up and saw through my HUD that she had the exact same buildup of aura as Ross, albeit larger and yellow colored.

“Now… Let me show you why they call me the Dragon of the Sun.” With that, the Dragon slammed her fists together, creating a huge explosion of flames as her hair stood up slightly. Before I could react, she used the momentum of her gauntlet’s shotgun fire to propel herself towards me, backflip kick me in the air, then punch me square in the jaw before kicking me in the chest, knocking me right into a pillar that I got embedded into.

The alarms on my HUD blared out as I fell. Any more hits and the Armor Parts would dissolve, leaving me as a squishy human. Fortunately, I could hear Ross’ sniper rifle go off as he got into battle with her. I managed to take the fighting to my advantage and take out the Lemon Energy Lockseed.

LEMON ENERGY!

The Energy Parts came to me as I took off the Duke faceplate, placed the Genesis Core on it, and plugged the Energy Lockseed on it.

LOCK ON!

Then I cut the two seeds.

MIX! LEMON ARMS! INCREDIBLE RYO~MA! JINBA LEMON! HA HA!

Along with the rapier was the Sonic Arrow. I held onto the both weapons as I rushed into fight the Dragon along with Ross. She dodged each of our attacks, sidestepping and bobbing her way around. This was soon followed by a jab on my stomach, a hook at Ross’ face, and then a shotgun propelled haymaker at my face, shattering my helmet. I fell over as Ross continued to fight.

The Dragon blocked his rapier strike with her gauntlet as she pointed her metallic arm at Ross. She unloaded machine gun fire point blank at his stomach. He was knocked back before she turned her attention to me. I struggled to get up, though I soon saw Ross get up and shout at her. He leaped into the air and did a flying side kick, in what might just be classic Kamen Rider spirit… Before the Dragon merely punched him right in the leg with her shotgun gauntlet. He got knocked hard and screamed as his aura rippled over his body.

“Ross!” I shouted. The Dragon turned to face me, her eyes now blood red.

“Why am I feeling pain for him? He’s a traitor… Like you!” She ran to me. Before I had time to react, she began to continually punch my belt with one hook, then another, and another, and another, swapping between hands and proceeding to Dempsey roll me. With one final punch, she knocked me back. What was left of my helmet now crumbled into pieces. I grunted and gripped my weapons. I cut into the Lockseed twice.

COME ON! LEMON AU LAIT! JINBA LEMON AU LAIT!

With both rapier and bow in hand, I held them in a way where the bow represented the top of the lemon and the rapier represented the bottom. The Dragon leaped into the air as I shouted. Just before she laid the last punch, I slashed…

SWASH!

I gritted my teeth as I saw her fist at my belt. This was a classic Toku moment… I had to wait to see if my attack or hers had landed… Since I’m the good guy, that clearly means-

Crick…

Oh shit.

Crick crick crickle…

I look down as I saw the gauntlet about to fire its payload all over the belt, particularly at where the Lemon Energy Lockseed was. Meanwhile, I saw her aura ripple. I had only managed to break her defenses. And yet she was still kicking!

BLAM!

I was flung back hard into the wall and as I landed, my armor liquified and the pieces of my Sengoku Driver and both Lockseeds rolled onto the ground like dice. I felt unable to get up. The Dragon unloaded her shotgun gauntlet, the spent bullets popped off and fell next to the shattered Driver. She took out a belt of red cartridges and loaded them into the gauntlet.

“Now, prepare to be reaped…” She said.

VRRRRRRRRMMMMM

Wait, what was-

SMASH!

I saw a car ram right into the wall and knocked the Dragon away from me. The debris of the wall fell around as I got up. Holy crap! It can’t be…

It was the Tridoron! But… how was it able to get all the way over here? Banno had no means to access it if he’s been disabled so that could only mean…

“You nearly got us killed!” I heard a rough yet suave voice from the car. It was a voice I found familiar. I gulped… Oh crap…

“You distracted me with all those fancy lights and music!” The door of the Tridoron opened as the driver dusted himself off. I trembled. While this was my second time seeing the suit in person, it was my first time seeing the real deal.

The familiar red-armored, white-eyed Kamen Rider that Banno copied, Drive, was right in front of me… And on the belt was Krim Steinbelt, Banno’s former partner.

“Another Kamen Rider? Who are you?” The Dragon asked.

“I’m… No way… It’s you!” This Drive didn’t sound like Shinnosuke… Then again, Shinnosuke never spoke English.

“What are you blathering about?” The Dragon gripped her fists.

“Let’s cut this short! We’re Kamen Rider Drive, and we’re gonna take you for a ride!” There was a moment of silence. “… I miss Shinnosuke…” That was the confirmation needed. This was a different person, perhaps another Displaced.

“Regardless, you’ll die by my hand.” The Dragon ran towards Drive as he dove out of the way.

“She isn’t our primary target! Focus on the Roidmude.” Krim said.

“You mean the creepy knife cook thing?” He asked.

“Exactly! We may need a Tire Exchange to draw this woman away though…” Krim said.

“Tire Exchange… That’s using one of these, right?” He held up a monster truck.

“Yes. Activate it in the Shift Brace!” Drive twisted the Shift Car’s hindquarters and plugged it onto the Shift Brace before flicking it to activate. “TIRE EXCHANGE! MASSIVE MONSTER!”

“Wait, Massive what!?” Drive saw a large monster-like tire flying towards him. “HOLY SHIT! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” He ran away from the tire.

“H-Hold on! You need to stand still!” Krim shouted as Drive ducked. The tire hit the Roidmude and knocked it down. The wheel soon went to Drive and knocked the Speed Tire off him. Two halves of the tire came apart and became large mouth-like weapons for Drive. “There, now you have the power of Massive Monster.”

“A little warning next time!” Drive said. The Dragon threw a punch as Drive used the two jaws to clamp onto her arm. He grasped tightly as blood began to drip from the wound. “Ah!” He tossed the Dragon away and knocked her against the wall. She was unconscious… for now. This was my chance. I got up and ran to the kitchen as Drive engaged the Roidmude.

Every Roidmude I had faced had the nasty habit of repeating their past. The most memorable was Thief placing Soarin’ and I in a near perfect recreation of the murder of Shinnosuke’s father, right down to the culprit being an envious police officer. This, coupled with the fact that the Roidmudes remember their pasts and that Cook was working with a chef, means that there’s a secret weapon I can use against the Roidmude.

A couple of Inves approached me, though I was able to kick them away as I continued my search. A part of me thought that it wouldn’t be here given Zesty’s insistence of ‘subtle taste’, but another part of me believed that there’d be no way the Cook Roidmude wouldn’t at least try to make the ultimate taste enhancer…

Bingo!

In the back of the kitchen, over to where the spices were, I found it. Yellow liquid kept in a fancy glass bottle, like a potion: Honfleur Sunset. It was a sauce that the Cook Roidmude had struggled to create when it was her turn to fight the Kamen Riders. I smirked and grabbed it. There would be two outcomes for using this on the Roidmude based on if the Cook Roidmude was able to make a perfect recreation of it. If she did, the sauce would just put the Roidmude into a bliss-like state, effectively drugging her long enough for Ross and me to get away.

But the optimal solution would be if Cook got sloppy and made an imperfect recreation of the Honfleur Sunset. That would cause some damage to the Roidmude. I ran over to the Roidmude as she was still fighting Drive.

“Hey, Chef Ramsey! Catch!” I shouted before I tossed the vial at Cook. She turned around too late as the bottle smashed against her and the liquid seeped right into her body.

“Oh no…” Krim’s mutter helped confirm what outcome would happen as the Cook Roidmude suddenly burst into flames and screamed. Fireballs erupted from her body as the entire restaurant caught fire, burning the Helheim plants. “Quick! Finish her off before she burns down the resturant!” Krim said. Drive twisted the ignition and pressed the button on the Shift Brace. “THE FINISHER!” He then flicked the Shift Car.“FULL THROTTLE! MONSTER!”

A tongue came out of the tire and licked up the flames before it grabbed the Roidmude and shook it about. Zesty fell as the Roidmude turned back into its Low-Class form. As the tongue reeled in the Roidmude, the two jaws glowed green and Drive slammed them together, creating large holograms of the jaws that crushed the Roidmude. It blew up as its Core fell and burned in the fire. Drive looked around as the entire restaurant became literally Hell.

“We have to get out of here!” Drive said as I ran over to pick up Ross.

“ROLL OUT TRIDORON! TYPE: TECHNIC!” As Krim said that, large metallic claws scooped up Ross, Zesty, and me. Drive went into the Tridoron, now transformed into a short cab with the claws and drove us out of the burning restaurant. I looked back at the restaurant. If there was any way to recover the Sengoku Driver and its Lockseeds, it’s now gone forever. I looked to Ross, who was wincing at his leg.

---

The Dragon got up and looked around the burning flames. She gripped her fists. Another Roidmude was dead, and her killer was another Kamen Rider.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” As she screamed, flames exploded behind her. She walked out of the burning restaurant unscathed just before it crumbled down. The remaining Inves that were there futility walked into the flames to try and salvage the destroyed fruit.

“A shame to see Zesty’s restaurant go up in smoke.” The Dragon turned to see an albino man with curly hair, Roidmude 050, three girls with different colored skin tones, and a pale skinned man with bleached, slicked back white hair wearing a leather suit.

“050… Who are these people?” The Dragon gripped her fists.

“You wish to destroy the Kamen Riders, right?” The Dark Swan asked.

“We want power.” The golden-skinned woman, presumably the leader of the trio of girls, spoke up.

“With our combined power, we can easily do all that and more…” 050 said.

“I don’t care what plans you have. I’m going to kill the Kamen Riders with my own two hands. So long as it pleases the King, do whatever you please.” Before the Dragon could walk away, 050 spoke up.

“Then, perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving one of our comrades a… promotion?” As he said that, a Core slithered on 050’s shoulder like a snake. The Dragon looked at the Core: 091.

---

Eventually the Tridoron stopped and let us go. Drive went for Zesty and looked at her.

“You alright?” Drive asked. I went to her as well. She didn’t seem to suffer a lot of burns, so that was good…

“Road Winter is on its way to take care of the fire. As for you…” Krim spoke up… Then a pause. “Erm, turn around to face the other woman.” Drive did so. “Why did you throw that at the Roidmude? … More importantly, how did you knowthat the Roidmude catching fire would be the result?” Krim asked. I had a good time to look at his face, or rather, what passes as his face. Like Banno’s belt, Krim had LCD lights, in his case, red, on the belt, but unlike Banno, Krim’s face changes depending on how he’s feeling. In this case, he had a very angry face, eyebrows furled and a frowning face. Time to bullshit.

“I went into the kitchen to look for something to help in the fight and found this strange yellow liquid. I briefly examined the properties and discovered how volatile it was.” I said. A pause later, I spoke up. “I’m a scientist at Canterlot High. Name’s Professor Silverbolt.” I said.

“Silverbolt? That name rings a bell…” I recalled what happened with Silverbolt and the Kamen Riders.

“I’m not him, though. I’m just pretending to be him. My actual name’s Kelly Randall.” I said.

“Hmm…” Krim closed his eyes.

“Um, can I take you this off now?” Drive asked.

“Oh, right, yes.” Krim said. Drive took off the belt as his armor disappeared via a holographic circle. This just confirmed he wasn’t Shinnosuke, as I saw instead a man with short blonde hair and blue eyes in a police officer’s uniform. Ross got up to look at him, only to wince at his leg. I helped him up as Ross continued to stare at him.

“My name’s Officer Ivan Dorian. I was brought here to close a missing persons case.” A missing persons case? Wait… I remembered what Niko said about the missing posters in Portland. “And I believe I’ve found that missing person.” He eyes shifted to me. I stared back at him.

Author's Note:

This chapter brings nods to a crossover with The Demon In The North and The Angel In The South, though be warned. It's pretty NSFW.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Very well done!

[Cavaliere]

While I liked the chapter overall, there are certain parts that made me scratch my head in confusion:
This is already the second time you do a crossover with another author and you sum it up at the beginning of the arc, but that makes you alienate from the story you are reading l, almost forcing you to read something else.
I get that this is a shared universe but, as opposed to the MCU, the stories are from different authors with different skills from this source material.
The stories are not connected, but it feels like "yeah that happened".
Also, I feel like there is a problem with the pacing after all the plot about the Tridoron being stolen was dropped rapidly right after a narration and then we have that scene with Sword that could have been a whole different chapter in itself.
I suggest taking example from the roidmude and slow down because I still love the story, but there are problems in layers points if it