RIDER TIME

by WozWuzHere

Prologue: Start The Clock, part 2

"Tom...is that you?" Twilight asked. The transformed human nodded.
"I am Kamen Rider Zi-O!" Tom declared, striking a pose. "I promise you, in the name of the Kamen Riders...I'll save your friend!"

Twilight was having trouble processing what had just happened. One of her best friends had turned into a monster, and now the human who came from a completely different world transformed into an armored warrior right in front of her.
Even among the strange things Ponyville was often exposed to- the Everfree, the villains that she and the girls had to face on a semi-regular basis, and even some of the town's own denizens, this was still surreal to her. It was almost like one of Spike's comic books had come to life before her eyes...again.
But she snapped out of her trance when she saw the bizarre monster that had once been Rainbow Dash lunge at her!

"Oh no you don't!" Tom, or rather, Zi-O, moved in front of Twilight and grabbed the horrible beast by its arms. Twilight tried to gather some magic to hopefully aid Zi-O in his attempt to restrain the monster, but all she was able to muster was a splitting headache.
"Ugh!" She grunted. She stumbled back a bit, but found herself being supported by Applejack.
"Easy there, sugarcube." Applejack suggested.

"Tom...is he...?" Twilight asked weakly.
"Yeah, he's still fightin'. If ah give him credit for anything, it's jumpin' in the way to keep that varmint from maulin' ya." She replied. "But that's it so far!" She blurted, in an attempt to correct herself.
Meanwhile, Zi-O shoved the strange monster back into a bunch of barrels.
"You two need to stand back!" Zi-O commanded to the pair watching his fight.
"What? No buckin' way am ah just gonna abandon mah friend!" Applejack complained.

Zi-O just groaned. "Lady, I know you don't trust me and all, but right now, you two are sitting ducks! And I will tell you this right now- Kamen Riders are lots of things, but oathbreakers we aren't! I told you I'll save your friend, and I WILL! Now get going!" He replied with frustration and concern.
Applejack could feel the sincerity in his voice. She still wasn't sure about him, but right now, she had no choice.
"Y'all better bring Rainbow back! Ya hear me!?" Applejack yelled as she retreated, carrying a dizzy Twilight over her shoulders.
----------

Zi-O's sights were locked onto his opponent. It seemed to be thrashing about wildly, almost as if in a drunken fury. It ran at Zi-O, flailing its arms wildly, but he easily sidestepped the attack, sending the monster careening into a nearby container, full of cabbages that temporarily buried the beast.

The monster managed to reemerge after its produce-covered pratfall, and charged again at Zi-O! Once again, Zi-O moved to dodge until the beast leapt over him and tackled him from behind!

"Ooof!" Zi-O grunted, as it was now his turn to be thrown into a storage container. He stumbled a bit as he got to his feet, a pair of pears stuck to his helmet's antennae. The monster continued to hop around like a hyperactive child on a trampoline, smashing into many of the houses nearby.

Zi-O removed the fruit from his helmet and chased after the monster, which was currently approaching the tall central building. It leapt onto the awnings, and started surveying the area, noticing some of the ponies in hiding. It held its hands out, and a pair of small bottle-like objects appeared. The monster pointed the bottles at the cowering creatues, as they were transformed into particles and absorbed by the monster's bottles!
"Swimming...Archery...BEST MATCH!" It proclaimed in its distorted voice, eating the bottles. It then leapt into the fountain!
As Zi-O ran over to the fountain himself, there seemed to be no trace of the beast...until he heard someone call out.

"Mr. Human! Behind you!"

Zi-O turned to see that the monster had somehow moved itself from the fountain to the nearby creek, and was about to fire a volley of energy arrows! The arrows began flying at high speed towards the Rider! Zi-O managed to barely dodge them, rolling out of the way as the arrows hit the fountain, demolishing it in the process.
"Urgh...I can't keep this up, otherwise the entire town will be leveled...come on, Tom, think!" Zi-O thought to himself. Then he got an idea. "Hope this works...I haven't tried this in the field yet." He took a deep breath, and held his hand out in front of him. A small clock-shaped portal appeared around his hand, and a sword fell out of the portal, Zi-O gripping its hilt.

"EDGE OF TIME!" The sword announced. Unplussed, the monster fired another volley of energy arrows, Zi-O slashing at some of the arrows to deflect them. To his bewilderment, an energy wave came off the sword when he slashed it, cancelling out the arrows and colliding with the monster, flinging it from the creek onto one of the small bridges that spanned it. The monster roared with anger, and jumped to the very top of the tall building.

Zi-O ran up to the same building and jumped up on the awning, attempting to scale the building himself. But the monster started firing more arrows, leaving no chance of reprisal!
"Right...what else..." Zi-O remembered that his weapon had another mode, and folded the blade backwards. The sword he was carrying now resembled a makeshift gun.
"GUN!" The weapon announced, as Zi-O took aim and began firing his own projectiles.
Many of the fired rounds on both ends met each other in mid-air, exploding upon impact, a few of Zi-O's bullets managed to strike the monster in its legs, causing it to tumble off the building. The monster landed on the pavement, and it lay there, vulnerable.

"It's now or never!" Zi-O dismissed his sword back into the clock portal, and clicked the button on his RideWatch.
"FINISH TIME!" The belt announced, as Tom crouched down, readying himself for a big leap.
The monster got to its feet, and upon noticing what Tom was doing, tried to retreat, but it found itself blocked by neon pink projections, all saying the same thing...KICK.
"ZI-O!" The belt announced as the Rider leapt into the air, and extended his leg as he fell towards the beast.

"TIME BREAK!" The belt continued as the KICK projections all gathered to him, and nestled themselves on the sole of his shoe. The kick impacted the monster with incredible force, resulting in a large explosion! The monster was incredibly damaged, red and blue bolts of energy arcing across it...it stumbled a bit, but the monster seemed to return to the blackened energy, which compacted itself into a watch shape. As for Rainbow Dash herself, she was back to normal, having fallen over from the trauma. The watch that contained all the evil power landed in front of her, still covered in a black miasma.

"I did it..." Zi-O muttered to himself. "I did it! I beat my first monster!" He cheered. But his priorities immediately reset to the fallen pegasus. He lifted her arm slightly and felt her pulse. "...she's still alive, and still breathing." At that time, Zi-O's RideWatch began to glow brightly.

"Huh?" He said, removing the RideWatch from his belt, and discarding his armored form. A beam of white energy shot from Zi-O's RideWatch, blasting the other watch and removing the evil from it, until all that remained was a similar red/blue watch.
"Another RideWatch..." Tom wandered over and picked it up. "Something's familiar about it...and of course, I can't remember any of the stuff from history class." Tom just shrugged and pocketed the new watch. He lifted Rainbow Dash in his arms, and carried her back to where the castle was.

---------

Unbeknownst to anyone else there, the fight was being observed by another armored figure...this being's body was more serpentine in appearance compared to Tom's, but it was also wearing indigo-colored armor, very clearly patterned after a cobra. In one of its hands, it held a cane shaped like a cobra, which was pointed at the fight scene.

"Well, that's the first one. Didn't have much hope for her, I'll be honest." The mystery figure said to himself. "But, the boss wants what the boss wants. I better go tell him...really don't want to piss HIM off." The figure noted, as it opened a strange black portal and retreated into it.

----------
Applejack paced back and forth in the castle's meeting room, Twilight sitting on a nearby chair, holding a large ice pack to her head. Spike had been making them some tea, which he served.

"Don't worry, Applejack- I think Tom can do this." Spike said, attempting to reassure the frantic farmpony. Applejack just grunted in reply.
"I'm sure...oof...Tom will be back soon." Twilight groaned out. And, as if on cue, the human walked in, carrying an unconscious Rainbow Dash.
"One rescued friend, hold the monster." Tom announced with a slight humor to his words. And, just like that, Applejack knocked Tom over to get to her friend.

"Rainbow! Rainbow Dash! Speak ta me!" Applejack shook her friend violently. Rainbow Dash grunted and opened her eyes.
"Ugh...I feel like I just crashed five times over..." She whined as she realized her surroundings. "What...happened?" She asked, but felt the bone-crushing embrace of Applejack.
"See, Applejack? He did it." Twilight reminded her. Applejack was still hugging Rainbow tightly, and Rainbow was still confused.

"Can someone please explain to me what the hay is going on here!?" The annoyed pegasus shouted out. Applejack released her grip somewhat.
"Well, somethin' happened, but Tom there got you out of it." Applejack explained, missing more than a few details.
"Tom?" Rainbow questioned, as Applejack pointed at the human, splayed out on the floor in a daze.
"I'll clear this game with...a giant melon!" Tom groaned out, in a complete daze.

"Alright, hero boy, up and at 'em." Applejack got Tom to his feet. Tom just shook his head. But he also turned to Applejack and grinned. "Well, I kept my promise."
Applejack just nodded. "That ya did...and I guess yer not bad after all. But ya are pretty darn weird." Tom just shrugged.
"I'll take it."

---------

A short while later, a crowd of ponies was gathered around the entrance to Twilight's castle. Many of them were gossiping among themselves about the monster, as well as the mysterious armored hero that had defeated it.
"I heard that he blew up the monster with a kick!"
"What makes you think it's a he?"
"Because not a lot of stallions can pull off pink like that."
"Actually, it was more a magenta color."

Twilight marched outside, and addressed the growing audience.

"May I have everyone's attention? As you are all aware, Ponyville was attacked by a mysterious monster today!" She started.
"We knew that part! It ruined most of the square! And my cabbages!" One of the gathered ponies shouted. Twilight just rolled her eyes and continued.
"But, it was defeated by a hero, and a new friend. May I present to you, Tom Decade, otherwise known as Kamen Rider Zi-O!" At that, Tom walked out sheepishly, and nervously waved to the audience.

"U-uh, hi...everyone." He stammered out. The ponies had many reactions, from surprise, to disbelief, and one of them, the same mint-colored unicorn from earlier, was beaming with excitement. Said excited pony ran through the crowd and got into Tom's face.
"...can I help you?" Tom asked. The pony just stared at him.

"Huuuuman..." She droned. Tom took that as his cue to turn around and run from the crazy mare.
"Come back, Mr. Human! I have to touch you!" The mint unicorn gave chase. Another pony, this one cream colored with a two-toned dark blue and pink mane, chased after her.
"Ugggggh! LYRRRRRAAAAA!" The other pony yelled in frustration.

Twilight, and the rest of the crowd, just stared in confusion.
"I have a feeling things are gonna get even weirder from here."

----------
A short while later, as the town was getting back to normal, and repairs were being made, an alabaster unicorn mare with an indigo mane and simple, yet elegant clothing made her way back to her home- a building shaped like a carousel. She was carrying more than a few shopping bags.

"Ah, home sweet home. Canterlot may be lovely, but Ponyville is my home." She said, unlocking her door. As she walked in, she set her bags down. She then began levitating the contents of her shopping out of the bags, neatly arranging them on racks and in drawers, but then she felt something that her magic seemed unable to grasp.

"Hm?" She walked over to the offending bag, and noticed that there was a strange green and yellow watch sitting at the bottom...

Author's Note:

And thus, the first monster has been bested, and a new watch has found its way into Tom's possession! But this is only the beginning.

I hope you're enjoying the rewrite so far! Please comment!

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

Okay, yeah, I have to admit the fight scenes are better. With a bit of practice, you can probably do 2,000 word ones.

Though I would still recommend reorganizing the chapters, put the rewritten ones first. Ahead of the old story.

[nightshroud96]

The fight scenes looks improved honestly.

Still curious on whats in store for characters like Spike and Princess Luna there for sure.

Where's the old versions of the chapters btw?
I think Spike gotten to see the Another Build fight in the original version, did he?

[WozWuzHere]

10652716
All the old version are still here, they're marked as (old)

[Dragoknight92]

I know where this is going.

[KRMebius]

Unbeknownst to anyone else there, the fight was being observed by another armored figure...this being's body was more serpentine in appearance compared to Tom's, but it was also wearing indigo-colored armor, very clearly patterned after a cobra. In one of its hands, it held a cane shaped like a cobra, which was pointed at the fight scene.

kamen rider ouja

[Wuten]

A narration of the prologue parts has been posted for your listening pleasure:

[Lord_01010000]

The sword he was carrying now resembled a makeshift gun.
"GUN!" The weapon announced, as Zi-O took aim and began firing his own projectiles.

Nooooo! The sword's pun