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Pain: Reward4,290 words
Fate: Friend2,982 words

Fate: Friend

Mack sighed. He looked at the busted Driver as he sat back in the lab on a couch. The more he looked around the lab, the more he felt reminded of the Drive Pit, the location where the Kamen Riders would hang out in Drive. Though whereas that was bright and shiny, this was darker and admittedly creepier.

“You are a complete idiot, you know that?” Twilight Sparkle said to Mack. As she turned around, she tossed something over the shoulder. Mack went to grab it, then noticed what it was in his hands. “Luckily for you, I’m here to bail you out.”

“Holy shi… You made a new one? Already!?” Mack gripped the copy of his Mach Driver in his hands.

“You were out for a while. Gave me lots of time to fiddle with the Driver. It would have taken longer had I not gotten crib notes from Professor Silverbolt. You’ll find it’s functionally the same… But…” She sighed. Mack could hardly understand a word she said. However, her trailing off caused him some curiosity.

“But?”

“I’m unable to replicate one of the mechanisms inside the device. Not sure what exactly it is, but the name of Core Driviar seems to suggest that it’s an important piece…” Twilight then moaned as she sat down on the chair. “If only I could figure out the formula!” Mack had recalled the term used before. If he recalled correct, the Core Driviar was a device inside his Driver that can cause particles to grow heavier and thus cause what was considered a Slowdown. It would also allow one to cancel or drive through the heavy particles.

Wouldn’t be much of a problem unless there were Roidmudes running about. Mack sighed.

“So, you have no idea who that birdbrain was?” Mack asked.

“I was gonna ask you. I heard some of the other students talking about it, but I never bothered to look at it myself.” Twilight replied.

“She just came onto me suddenly!” Mack began to shake the Driver. “All I know is that she’s after this!”

“Well, it’s possible that she’s after the device to use it for her own ends. Especially considering that we now have an idea of what it can do: create an armor for the person to wear.” Twilight leaned back in her chair.

“Oh! Like that Golden Drive hero, right?” Penny exclaimed as she popped up from beside the couch, causing Mack to jump. He soon relaxed and realized what Penny just said. Golden Drive? Mack recalled there being a gold version of Kamen Rider Drive, though he was far from a hero. It just made Mack gulp.

“Yeah! Come to think of it… Maybe Silverbolt has some notes on the Driviar.” With that, Twilight walked away. “Penny! You’re on guard duty. Make sure Spike doesn’t eat my homework again!” Penny stood up from the chair she was sitting at and saluted her.

“You got it, Twilight!” Penny cheerily said. Twilight began to drag Mack by the arm.

“You’re gonna help me find anything we can on these Driviars.” Twilight said.

“Waaaah!” Mack screamed out as they exited the room.

Twilight dragged Mack over to the garage. This looked more like the Drive Pit for Mack than the lab. Shiny chrome metal walls, several vehicles in tow with some students working on a couple of them, and a select number of drawers that were built into the wall.

“Neon Lights!” Twilight called to one of the people. A man with spiky black hair, baby blue skin, and a purple open blazer looked up to Twilight as he had his wrench in a motorcycle’s engine. “You got our vehicle ready?” Twilight asked. That’s when Mack saw what Neon was working on. It was a white motorcycle with red stripes and blue headlights… Just like Mach’s armor.

In fact, it was meant to be like Mach’s armor. This was the Ride Macher, Kamen Rider Mach’s ride. Mack’s jaw dropped as Neon Lights just nodded and gave the thumbs up. Twilight then patted Mack on the back.

“Perfect! We’ll take it for a test drive.” With that, Twilight dragged Mack over to the bike.

“W-what are you doing?” Mack asked as Twilight placed Mack onto the seat of the bike, with her behind him.

“You’re going to drive me to Professor Silverbolt’s lab.” She said. Mack blinked before looking at the bike.

“What makes you think I can ride a motorcycle!?” Mack asked.

“Because I can’t and I don’t trust Penny to ride one. You on the other hand, seem to know how to ride one.” This just caused Mack to blink more.

“Let me reiterate. What have I done or said that ever implied I can ride a bike?” Mack asked.

“Penny told me all about your fight with the monster, including how you called yourself a Kamen Rider. The Kamen part doesn’t concern me, but the Rider part? That’s what interests me.” With that, Twilight shoved Mack onto the bike. As Mack touched it, memories of him riding the motorcycle came to his head…

But how can that be? He’s never rode a motorcycle in his life, let alone the Ride Macher. And yet, as he got onto the bike, his fingers instinctively touched the handlebars.

“Ah, so you do know…” Twilight hopped onto the bike and held Mack. Mack just blushed. He’s never been held before…

He then remembered a woman. She held him while he was on a bike, albeit differently. The weird thing was, he had never known this woman. If that’s the case, why does he feel such a mixture of rage, pity, and even love for this woman? He continued to think as Twilight’s hands squeezed onto his stomach.

“Well? Aren’t we going to drive?” She asked.

“O-oh! Right!” Mack then rode off on his bike.

Mack and Twilight arrived at 108 Somerset Street. Instead of a small shack, they saw singed remnants. The entire shack had been flattened. There were no signs of anything remotely salvageable from what they saw.

“What!?” Twilight ran to the wreckage and tried to look through the rubble. “No! Who would do such a thing!?” She asked.

“Maybe those guys who want my Driver?” Mack asked Twilight.

“But they would benefit from his knowledge! They couldn’t just destroy it!” Twilight then rifled through the debris. “Help me look!” Twilight said.

“… Fine…” Mack went in and dug through the debris too. Tried as they might, they weren’t able to rummage through and find anything of use. Just ashes. Mack suddenly stopped when he heard the sound of a motorcycle hum. Mack turned to see a man on a Ducati before he got off. Mack knew this bike before, especially with that cherry red coloring and he stood firm.

The man took off his helmet, revealing a red-colored face with bluish gray hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a red leather jacket with a black shirt underneath and matching red leather pants.

“Oi… That was some fancy moves you got there…” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cop’s licence. “Name’s Terrain Rip. I’m part of the Canterlot Police Department.”

“And… what do you want specifically from me?” Mack asked.

“Don’t ask me questions!” He snapped. Mack gave a lighthearted chuckle. He couldn’t help but compare Terrain to Terui Ryu, AKA Kamen Rider Accel. “The police are looking for someone of your talent. Why don’t you come and work with us? We’re having some problems with criminals that we could use some help with.” As Terrain said that, Twilight stood up.

“Hey, he’s mine. Go get someone else to help.” As Twilight said that, Terrain chuckled and shook his head.

“… I wasn’t asking.” Terrain then pulled out a gun and held it at Twilight. “Now, let me reiterate. Come with us, or we’ll take you by force.” Two more people appeared, the first had green skin, white hair, and gray eyes while the second had gray skin, blue hair, and redish blue eyes. The green skinned cop held a shotgun, to which he cocked eagerly.

“… Twilight, we gotta go.” Mack said to Twilight as he hopped onto the motorcycle.

“But what abou-”

BLAM!

Shotgun bullets pelted the ground beneath Twilight’s feet, causing her to shriek and run to the bike. The two drove off as Terrain looked to his shotgun toating buddy.

“Chival, as much as you want to, don’t shoot to kill.” Terrain went on his Ducati and drove off.

“Ach, not even wanting us to back him up? Shame.” Chival shook his head.

“So now the cops are on our ass! Great!” Mack was now on the highway, speeding at ten kilometers past the limit.

“I don’t get it. The cops were meant to protect us!” As Twilight said that, Mack shook his head.

“That’s a myth. Welcome to a shattered illusion.” Mack could see the Ducati behind him. At the same time, he saw a truck just ahead of him. He revved up and gained a few more meters of speed, just enough to get some space before driving past front of the truck. Mack winced at the loud honk from the truck as Twilight screamed. The truck passed by and disorientated the Ducati by slowing to a halt.

“YOU ARE THE WORST EXPERIMENT I HAVE EVER LAID EYES ON!” Twilight shouted.

“Well that’s because I didn’t ask to be one!” Mack shouted back as he found an exit. He went onto the exit ramp and drove through some of the downtown streets, now at a lower speed. However, Mack swerved out of the way as he saw the destruction laid on the road. “Woah! What the hell!?” Mack muttered. He swerved out of the way and stopped his bike. As he got off, he got some time to breathe before he looked to Twilight.

“You should go. They’re after me, not you.” Mack said to her.

“No way! I shouldn’t abandon my experiment!” Twilight said.

“Well, if they get you, you won’t be able to do any more experiments, now would you?” This silenced Twilight. A silence that was only broken with the sounds of motorcycles. “You need to go. Now.” Mack said as he got out his Signal Bike.

“… Okay. Be safe.” Twilight nodded before she ran off. As she did, Mack inserted the Signal Bike into his Mach Driver.

SIGNAL BIKE!

Mack eyed two of the cops, then did his pose.

“Let’s… Henshin!” He then activated the Driver.

RIDER! MACH!

Like before, Mack transformed into Kamen Rider Mach. The first cop to arrive was the blue-haired man. He cracked his knuckles.

“Searching… Extermin-”

“WAH-TAH!” The cop immediately punched Mack square in the chest as he was knocked into the rubble. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt as badly as he did, but he was rather sore.

“H-hey! Not cool!” Mack got up as the other one, Chival, arrived, cocking his shotgun. “And now two on one?” Mack muttered. Mack instantly pulled out the Zenrin Shooter and fired at the wild buckshot from Chival. He didn’t hit all the bullets in time, but thankfully the alloy that Mach wore was bulletproof and, though it hit the sore spot that his friend made, didn’t hurt him as much.

ZENRIN!

Mack revved up the wheel of his gun and used it to strike at the martial artist. He countered with a well-placed strike, matching the energy and speed of the Zenrin’s slash. With Mack staggered, the martial artist moved in to punch the rider twice, one in the chest and the other aimed closely to his heart. With a cock of Chival’s gun, the martial artist moved away before he unloaded more buckshot. This time, Mack couldn’t handle the entire hit.

Lastly, Terrain Rip arrived in his Ducati. He got off his bike and took off his helmet.

“I have to admit. That truck strategy really threw me off. But… That’s as far as you go.” He then pulled a large sword from the side of the Ducati; one so large, he could barely lift over his head. “Final warning. Come with us the easy way or the hard way.”

“I’m gonna go with… hard!” Mack swung his Zenrin Shooter against the sword as the two blades clashed. Running the wheel against the sword, Mack spun around…

SHOOTER!

And fired point blank at Terrain. By contrast, the bullets ripped into his flesh and drew blood, though they weren’t fatal blows.

“You okay, Terrain?” The martial artist asked.

“Yeah, Starshoot. Just a flesh wound.” Terrain said. As he tried to strike Mack again, Mack placed a Signal Bike into the Driver.

SIGNAL BIKE! SIGNAL EXCHANGE! STOP!

The white wheel on Mack’s Armor changed to show a triangle with the word stop on it. Mack fired point blank at Terrain, freezing him completely as a large triangular sign saying STOP displayed over his body. Mack chuckled, then struck him before switching bikes.

SIGNAL BIKE! SIGNAL EXCHANGE! DANGER!

The wheel again displayed a different image, this time of a yellow diamond sign with an exclamation point over a shark. He fired once more. Terrain could see a tiny bullet that looked more like it should belong in a video game before it grew to a large, shark-like monstrosity. Mack pressed on the Driver a few more times.

VERY DANGEROUS!

The shark bullet opened its maw and was about to devour Terrain whole were it not for a large cat-like creature that leaped over and clawed at the bullet. The bullet flew off as Mack noticed the monster. It looked more like a sentient jade statue than an actual cat. As it held up its large claw, Mack muttered three words:

“What the hell?” If he recalled correctly, this was the first monster that Kamen Rider Gaim fought… But… What? So… Now Gaim’s also in this world?

“Kosher! You’re late as always!” Chival said. Kosher, the jade tiger monster, growled in response, focusing only on Mack.

“The hell are you guys!?” Mack quickly swapped out Signal Bikes.

SIGNAL BIKE! SIGNAL EXCHANGE! TURN!

The symbol on his wheel changed once more to a curved arrow. He aimed at Kosher before placing the fourth Signal Bike into the Zenrin Shooter.

THE FINISHER!

He then fired.

FULL THROTTLE! SPLIT!

Mack fired a bullet at the jade monster, who tried to swipe it away. It then curved out of its way and towards the trio before splitting into many bullets, forcing them to duck away to avoid getting hit. Some of the bullets managed to directly hit them, but compared to the earlier hits on Terrain, these were negligible.

With them out of the way, Mack could now focus on the Jade Monster. It snarled before its armor glowed green. It then shot out green lines filled with runes that sprayed out towards Mack. Mack dodged out of the way, thanks in part to the small boosts of speed within his suit. Though, had the belt have Core Driviars inside, he would have been able to have an edge against him.

As it stood, though, Mack was now playing defensive and only had a short while to be offensive before the monster’s back up comes helping. Mack spun the wheel a few times…

ZENRIN!

And as he spun around, the wheel began to cut into the jade. Not enough to scratch it, but enough to cause pain onto the monster as it winced back. Once Mack had the group reeling, he got on his bike and tried to run off…

BLAM!

Only for Chival to fire right at the back wheel of the bike, destroying it completely and causing Mack to fly off the bike and fall on the ground, with enough damage to trigger the belt’s shutdown mechanic.

NICE WORK!

“Ow…” Mack muttered as the group closed in.

“Chival, Star, haul his ass and let Burr know we have the asset. I’ll inform our leader of this as well.” Mack could barely know what Terrain was talking about, but he knew it wasn’t good. He tried to stand up, but Starshoot smacked his head down. Just as he was about to step on him…

WHOOSH!

Time began to slow to a crawl…

No…

Mack felt this… He felt his particles grow heavier and heavier. A density shift… Slowdown! But… His belt can’t…

Oh no… A Roidmude, at this time!?

“Oh, come on!” Mack muttered.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a glowing white feather flew out and struck the jade monster in the chest. Once it made a direct impact, the feather, now revealed to be metal carved into the shape of a feather, began to spark and fuse with the chest as the jade monster groaned in pain.

“W-what the hell was that!?” Chival said.

“Damn it… We can’t move fast enough!” Star added.

“Retreat! Even if you’re slow, run!” Terrain said. He slowly turned around and ran off, as did the others. Once it was made clear that they were disengaging, the density shift was cancelled and they ran back normally. Mack groaned as he noticed a woman with short brown hair wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses. In her hand was another metallic feather.

“… Did… You save me or… did you just have them leave so that you could take me on?” Mack struggled to get up, his fingers already fumbling to get the Mach Signal Bike out, knowing that, aside from the Kamen Riders who have them built in, Roidmudes also have the heavy particle emitting Slowdown powers…

“Rest assured, I came to help… For I am an angel…” She took off her glasses as Mack could see feathers fluttering around her. “I am an angel…” Her body then glowed golden as her form morphed into a golden-armed feminine Roidmude with a halo that melded into a mask, right where the eyes would be. “I am Angel…” She said to Mack.

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