> My Little Imperer: Friendship isn't Bought > by KamenRider > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: The Rider War > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prologue: The Rider War “Advent.” a electronic voice said aloud as a large tiger monster appeared. The tiger readied its claws and proceeded to grab on to a brown armored man, Kamen Rider Imperer. Imperer had previously been offensively attacking Kamen Rider Ryuki. The creature began to drag Imperer, head-first, into the concrete curbs. After dragging him several times, the monster let go and jumped away. He began staggering to get up from the sudden attack. “Hey.” said another Rider, dressed in blue and white armor. Imperer looked down to see the other Rider had stabbed him in the abdomen with large tiger claws, equipped to his hands. “You!” Imperer said shakily, pain flooding into his system from the combined attacks of the monster and its master. “Sorry. Since you are important to me. If I defeat you… I might become even stronger.” the blue Rider, Tiger, said to Imperer. “No way…” Imperer said in reply, shaking from the claws still resting in his body. He was weak and unable to remove the claws from his body. “Hey stop it!” a third voice chimed in. The red Rider, Ryuki, jumped in and grabbed onto Tiger. He began to pull him away from Imperer. “Run! Run!” he yelled out. Imperer nodded and began to stagger away from the two Riders. He eventually made it toward a small hill. Finally out of breath, he collapsed and fell down the hill. Face down, he got to his knees and weakly stood back up. “What’s with that guy?! What’s he thinking?!” He collapsed to the ground, once again. From the opposite side of him, another Rider appeared and slowly walked toward him. Imperer did not notice, however, because he was still looking to make sure Tiger was not after him. He got back up once again and sprinted forward, but once again collapsed. The purple Rider in front of him drew a card from his Card Deck. The purple Rider, Ouja, laughed evilly. Imperer continued forward, crawling on the ground, whimpering in pain. He finally got up, only to look in front of him to see a giant purple cobra shooting Ouja at him. He turned around to run away only for Ouja to ram into his back with a devastating bicycle kick. Imperer flew into the wall of a building and his Card Deck fell to the ground and shattered. His armor disappeared. Rain began to appear in the Mirror World and Imperer’s true form, Sano Mitsuru, began to stagger about. Crawling to a mirror, he looked through it to see his date from earlier in the day. “Yuri-san! Yuri-san! Help me! Help me! Yuri-san! Yuri-san!” he yelled out, but she did not hear the pleads of the man. He leapt to his feet and smashed the mirror with his foot. He grabbed a single shard of the mirror and began to crawl up the hill, toward the bridge. He attempted to locate his date in the other world, but found it hard as he writhed in pain. “Help me! Yuri-san! Help me!” he continuously called out. “I’ve got to return to my world!” He looked at the glass only to see his hand disintegrating into the Mirror World. Death was inevitable since he no longer had his Rider Armor. “No! Help me! Help!” he called out once again. Now his entire body was beginning to lose itself to the world of mirrors. “Why is this happening? I… I… just wanted to be happy…” his final words faded as his body disappeared. The piece of mirror fell to the ground and shattered. Sano Mitsuru was dead. It was a silent end to the man, with his date and bird alone. … Two eyes shot open in the darkness of the Everfree Forest. A hand grabbed onto the closest tree to the owner. Sano Mitsuru was still in immense pain from the onslaught that had occurred earlier and now found himself long gone from the bridge where he had died. “Where am I? Is this real?” he spoke aloud. His legs gave out, once again feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen. “Damn it, I took care of him and he does this. My happiness… gone.” he slammed his fist into the ground and screamed out. His hand slid to his coat pocket. It felt different. Through the sound of silence he could hear the sound of running water. He groaned and began to crawl toward it. The moon was full and the water was clear. Easy enough to see the damage of what Tojo had done to him. Weirdly enough, he was no longer wearing the clothing he had when he fought earlier. The clothes he donned were the ones he wore before he came rich, via his father’s will. He wore a brown shirt, with a red plaid button up shirt over it. His legs covered by his old blue jeans. He felt something in his pocket, too. Assuming it to be his wallet, he pulled it out. “Why? What is this joke? Why is this happening!” he yelled out to the darkness, as he dropped the Imperer Card Deck to the ground. It was supposed to be gone, but there it was, right in front of him. He picked it up and examined it closer. It looked just as it did earlier, with no cracks. “How is this happening? I need to get out of this place and head toward civilization.” He said aloud. He once again clutched his stomach and lifted up his shirt to reveal a large non-bleeding cut. “I need help-” his thought was cut off. He looked to wear he had heard the sound. Several pairs of large yellow eyes were there. Using his brain he concluded that the creatures staring at him in the darkness were wolves. He was in no condition to fight, however he had to escape these things. He looked over to the pool of water and pulled out his Card Deck. He crossed his hands and showed them to the water. Suddenly, a silver belt appeared from within the water and attached to his waist. His free hand was changed to the sign of horns and he yelled out. “HENSHIN!” he placed the Card Deck into his belt and three mirror versions of Imperer’s armor converged onto his body. The armor consisted of brown metal plates located on his body, a knee plate visor, and a helmet that had two large horns protruding out of it. He yelled out and ran forward toward the approaching wolves. From the trees, four wolves leapt out from the darkness. Imperer leapt forward to punch the closest one, only for him to feel something other than flesh. It was solid like wood. “The hell is this thing made of. It feels like I just punched wood.” he said aloud as he hopped higher into the air. He bounced on the heads of the ‘Wood Wolves’ as he named them. They seemed more annoyed than hurt. “Okay, so head bouncing is out of the question. What else can I do… Oh yeah!” Using one of the wolves as a jumping board he bounced to the branch of the closest tree. He proceeded to draw a single card from his deck and slid it into his knee Visor. “Advent.” Suddenly the water began to ripple. Using the water as a reflective surface, several monsters jumped out of the river. The monsters were collectively known as the Gigazelles, and they quickly began to swarm the Wood Wolves. After the attack of the five monsters, only one Wood Wolf remained. Sano assumed it to be the alpha male. “You get a special treatment; after all, you did try to attack me.” Imperer said with a disappointed tone and drew a last card from his deck. He pulled his knee up to his torso and inserted the card into it. “FINAL VENT” The Wood Wolf jumped at Imperer only to be stopped by a Gigazelle. There were a lot of them, more so than the original five that had come. It was a complete stampede as the collective gazelle monsters swarmed the alpha male, with Imperer coming in close. Mitsuru jumped onto one of the heads of his gazelles and leapt forward at an amazing speed. Putting his hands out he grabbed onto the male’s head and rammed his knee into it, causing it to completely break. “That was worth more trouble than it was.” Imperer said to himself as the gazelles flooded back into the river. He began to walk, his armor shattering off his body, and eventually found what could be considered a path. He noticed a single sign on the path and he bent down and attempted to read it. “Ponyville: 1 mile that way.” He looked down the path to see more darkness. “Despite that name, I don’t think I want to stay here any longer than I have to.” Sucking in his fear of the unknown he trekked on to the mysterious town of Ponyville. > Someone Who Cares? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: Someone Who Cares? Despite losing his good looking suit from when he was rich, Mitsuru did admit to himself that it wasn’t probably good for walking long distances in a forest. The long boring walk was mostly filled by noises erupting from the darkness that surrounded him. He could only be thankful the moon was bright and gave him the ability to properly navigate the path, or this would have ended up a lot uglier, with a lot more of himself not connected to his body. He looked down at his stomach again, which still hurt a great deal, albeit it being not as bad as when he was initially stabbed. “Tojo… I thought we were friends. What exactly was that guy thinking? I thought I had finally made of friend in my life, but apparently I still have nothing but bad luck.” he sighed and sat down near a tree to rest his pained body. He once again removed the Card Deck from his pocket and looked at. “I wonder how this ended up here…” he wondered to himself. The damn thing was destroyed by Ouja’s Veno Crash and caused him to die. His thoughts were broken once again. “I’m supposed to be dead. No one survives dying in the Mirror World.” he said aloud to himself. He groaned in annoyance and placed his hands on his head. “Who knows what Kanzaki-san was thinking when a Rider actually got absorbed into the Mirror World. This has to be some sort of after life or something. There are other sentient people here so maybe I can rebuild myself and get the happy ending I want. I may have almost had it, but now I might be able to re-attain it!” With a new goal in mind, he slowly arose from his spot under the tree and continued his mile long trek out of these mysterious woods. One thing also on his mind was those wolves that decided to try and snack on him earlier. They weren’t Mirror Monster because they weren’t really twisted versions of animals, but instead they were modified versions of how a normal animal would look and feel. He wondered how they were actually alive, since they were made of wood and all. “How did they even move? The hungry big bad wolves were made of wood, why eat something like me?” he groaned once again from the pain in his stomach. “In hindsight, it was stupid to transform into Imperer without thinking. It just ended up making my wound hurt a lot more.” his self-made rant was cut off by the sound of his stomach. “Great, now I got double pain down there. And I don’t have a wallet to buy food with!” he cried aloud, but got his shit back together and continued his trek. A little while later he finally saw, what he thought was an exit from the scary monster forest. He happily moved a little faster toward what appeared to be not trees. To his excitement he came out toward an open field. Then he saw it. It was a small cottage not far from where he stood, only about fifty yards away. His mouth agape in happiness to see something that wasn’t a tree made him as giddy as he was when he became president of his father’s company. Making haste is pretty fun, but unfortunately, Mitsuru had to slow down his pace as the wound on his stomach decided to open up from his initial running. He was happy he was wearing a brown shirt, because the owner of the upcoming cottage couldn’t freak out if about the small amounts of blood leaking from his stomach. “I really wish I hadn’t done that, but don’t worry we’re almost to civilization.” he said to himself aloud. After a little limping he finally made it to the cottage. It was a little more than what he had expected from it. It was wood, as per usual of cottages, but the roof was covered in grass, bushes, and other stuff not expected to be on a cottage. He started to cross a tiny natural bridge over what appeared to be the same river from the forest. He saw there was some light on inside the building, finally assuring him that someone was there. Suddenly the world was upside down for Mitsuru. He had tripped over a small indentation in the ground and fell off the bridge into the water. It wasn’t that bad of a fall, but Mitsuru had fallen chest first into the water. He didn’t have proper time to react, so his body lazily fell into the river. It wasn’t deep at all, which only caused more problems for him. A sharp pain ran through Mitsuru’s lower body as he realized the rocks at the bottom of the river had decided to rip open more of the gash on his stomach. Closing his eyes, and managing not to scream in pain, he quickly crawled in the shallow water toward the grass. “Why? Is this really going to happen? I’ll bleed out in the after-life and who knows where that leads to.” he said to himself, putting his arms around his stomach in order to apply pressure to his wound. “Maybe the person living there can help me, it’s my only chance.” He staggered back to his feet and attempted to move as fast as possible toward the front door of the wooden house. His mouth came to a weak smile as he removed one of his arms to knock on the front door. Another shot of pain, much worse than anything he had experienced in a while, came through the nerves of his body. His arm drooped and his entire body slammed against the front door. “Looks like that’s one way to do it.” he smiled weakly. He still attempted to keep himself safe by continuing to put pressure. The door started to open before his eyes. He smiled weakly once again, as it completed opening. He started to black out, but for a second he saw wings and the most inviting eyes he had ever seen. It truly was the afterlife. … Mitsuru never was good at sports. I guess that’s why he never really built up any muscle mass, and usually relied on numbers rather than brute strength. He didn’t have brute strength, he had more of a strength that only came out when he was about to die. Opening his eyes he realized he was no longer situated outside the cottage, but now concluded he was inside it. He looked down to see his shirts were gone and he had bandaging now across his wound. He also noticed some of the smaller cuts he had received were gone as well. Whoever’s house he had found really fixed him up. He then proceeded to realize that he would have to pay the piper. Nobody did things for free or from the bottom of their hearts. He remembered when he took Tojo into his home after he was severely beaten. For some reason he was drawn to the psychotic boy and truly thought the two could have a partnership or friendship. He sighed and attempted to rise. He looked around and noticed that the living room here had a lot of animals. There were rabbits, birds, and other random wild animals just hanging out like it was no big deal. Mitsuru was used to animals and realized that his bird was probably going to die. “Oh no, he deserves better than me.” he placed his hands on his head and sighed. Suddenly, his thoughts of self-loathing were cut off track by something approaching. It wasn't footsteps, but something that reminded him of the time he saw a horse Mirror Monster running on concrete. He wasn't far off. The person, or rather said winged-horse, had appeared before him. He noticed that the eyes and wings matched up with what he had seen the night he collapsed. He pretty much didn’t freak out like a normal person would mostly because he owns a heard of gazelle people who run around with spears. “Oh dear, you’re finally awake. Don’t strain yourself too much, that wound on your stomach could open up if you’re not careful.” she said in a concerned tone, approaching the mentally uncomfortable man. “Okay. I’ll be sure to do just that.” he said in reply sinking back down to a laying position. “Oh my, you can talk too? I saw you wearing clothes, but when you showed up at my doorstep last night I just assumed you were another wounded animal.” “Yeah I’m a pretty wounded animal. I should have been more careful when I was walking here. I came out of the big forest and got into a skirmish with some of the local residents. They didn’t take too kindly. Then I fell off the bridge near the front of your house.” he shrugged. “You poor thing, when I saw you I just had to help you. I’ve never seen anything like you, but I knew you needed help.” “I sure did need it. Thank you so much for treating me, you did a wonderful job. In fact, it's probably one of the best treatments I've ever received in my life.” he said to the girl, beginning his routine of sucking up to people. "Oh my, you flatter me too much. This was just a simple treatment." she said sheeply, coming closer to the hurt creature. "No really it was. My name is Sano Mitsuru. What would your name be, my gracious savior?" he said in return, sticking his free hand out to the girl. “That’s such a weird name.” she went silent for a moment. “Oh I’m so sorry for saying that, it must hurt your feelings to have someone say your name is weird.” “It’s no problem at all. It does sound a bit foreign though. Everyone has their own names, and that one just happens to be mine.” “I… I… see, my name is Fluttershy.” the shy yellow pegasus told him. “That's a beautiful name, a surprising fit for the angel that saved me from death. ” he laughed softly and prepared to bring up the worst part that this conversation could go past. “So, I’m pretty sorry. You went to all the work of bringing me in and patching me up, but I don’t have any money on me to pay you back with.” he said to the kind pony. “No, no, no, I could never take money from somepony who was hurt.” “Then why did you help me? Don’t people, or ponies, usually request monetary services in exchange for help?” “Well I don’t know a lot of ponies who would. I did this because you were hurt and anypony who’s hurt deserves a chance whether or not they have money.” Mitsuru was stunned by the kindness of this small pony. No one in his life had ever shown him this much true kindness. It reminded him of himself when he helped Tojo. Despite the kindness, he knew he would have to up the act in order to gain her trust easier. He began to forcefully cause himself to tear up, for his fake appearance. Fluttershy began to panic when she saw him beginning to cry. “Oh I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” “These aren’t tears of sadness Miss Fluttershy, these are joyful ones. No one had ever shown me kindness like this. In all twenty-one years of my life, I’ve worked hard and toiled, but absolutely nobody has shown me kindness. If I got hurt, people would only do it if I paid them in advance. You truly are a spectacular angel from above! I will repay you, trust me I will.” Mitsuru said, recounting to himself the many times one of his jobs went awry, and he would end up having to pay ridiculous sums to get patched up. “Oh dear, you poor thing… Everypony deserves kindness in their live.” she said, coming closer to Mitsuru. “Right, I guess everyone does. Thank you so much.” he said again. His tears stopped and that’s when it happened. The ringing that’s plagued his ears for a while now. Looking over to the mirror in the corner of the room, he saw a trio of Gelnewts before him. “Miss Fluttershy, I’m going to pay you back right now. For saving my life, I’ll save yours.” “Oh, I couldn’t possibly-.” she was cut off my Mitsuru getting up and physically turning her around. She saw the three horrifying creatures standing in her mirror. “I’ll be right back.” Mitsuru said with an assuring tone in his voice. He grabbed his plaid shirt and placed it over his body, and proceeded to pull out his Card Deck. The Gelnewts saw the deck and quickly began to cower away. Instead of retreating into the Mirror World, he saw them leap out the window in the Mirror World. He quickly ran to the window only to see the trio of Gelnewts coming into the real world. “This isn’t good. Miss Fluttershy you stay here and keep your beauty safe, we wouldn't want anything bad happening to you.” he winked at her. Fluttershy didn’t say anything in turn and simply nodded, as she was scared as hell of the three monsters. Mitsuru turned back to the window and crossed his arms. The silver V-Buckle appeared and attached itself to his waist. Raising his arms up, he uncrossed them and placed his free hand with the sign of horns. “HENSHIN!” he yelled out and placed the deck into the slot on the front. Fluttershy, scared out of her wits, watched three mirror images of armor appear from the mirror and converge onto Mitsuru’s body. “Don’t worry, I’ll have this all cleaned up in a jiffy.” he gave her a thumbs up and proceeded to open the window, and then jumped through it. Landing on his feet he saw the three Gelnewts prepare themselves to fight the oncoming Rider. “Hey guys, how’s it going? I realize you really want to eat that pony in there, but she’s the only person, pony, who’s ever going to help me in this world, plus she's the only one who's given to shits about me.” Imperer cracked his knuckles and leapt forward at the first of the Gelnewts. It grabbed its oversized shuriken and prepared to throw it. Smirking under his helmet, Imperer hopped off the newt holding the shuriken, and immediately leapt in front of the other one. Using his plated knee, he jumped into the air and rammed his knee into the monster’s jaw. It fell back, unconscious. “I really wonder why these things even exist if they only serve to be constantly beaten the hell out of.” He was tackled by one of the Gelnewts who began to beat on the fallen Rider. Fortunately, Imperer was able to draw a card from his belt. He kneed the Gelnewt on top of him and quickly placed the card into the visor on his knee. The visor is what allows Riders to access the full power of their arsenal called Advent cards, which allow them to summon various weapons and such. “Advent.” The two Gelnewts were taken by surprise as three gazelle monsters leapt out of the water. There was the main Gigazelle and two Omegazelles. Gigazelle pointed at the Gelnewt with its shuriken out and ran toward it, with his own spear drawn. The other Gelnewt was immediately tackled by the two Omegazelles. “Alright guys! Teamwork is always good; now let’s get this over with soon so we can feed you all.” Imperer said putting his hands together. “Actually I want in on this too.” he drew another card and hopped his knee up to insert the card. “Spin Vent.” He put out his right arm and a giant machine appeared on his arm. It was similar to the top of the spear that Gigazelle had. Yelling loudly he joined the brawl alongside his main partner. Unlike the spear that Gigazelle had, his could spin like a drill. The two spears began to spin and he laughed aloud before ramming it into the Gelnewt. The combined forces destroyed the Gelnewt and replaced it with a golden orb, which his monster graciously absorbed. The other two Omegazelles finished off the other two monsters and absorbed them as well. “You guys are really strong and that’s why I like you.” Imperer said as the three gazelles jumped back into the water. “Looks like a job well done. Killed two bird with one stone.” he was about to allow his armor to shatter when he heard a loud, obnoxious voice from above. “Hey! What did you just do to those animals!? And what did you do to Fluttershy!?” > A Friend I Once Had > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: A Friend I Once Had '“Hey! What did you just do to those animals!? And what did you do to Fluttershy!?” a loud voice rang from above Imperer’s head. “Those things?” Imperer said, still decked out in his armor. “Those weren’t animals, they were monsters. I just got rid of them for Fluttershy.” he smiled under his armor and pulled out his Card Deck, causing the armor to shatter off like glass. He looked up to see where the voice was coming from, only to find no one was there. Scratching his head, he shrugged and turned to return to the cottage. The moment he turned, however, he was tackled from behind by someone who was moving at an alarming speed. “Damn it! What are you trying to do?” Mitsuru yelled, as he attempted to get up from the ground. “Let go!” he looked to his back to see a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Never! You’re just like those monsters. You’re going to go eat Fluttershy, aren’t you?” the blue furred Pegasus said. “Like hell I am, I just saved her from those Gelnewts. I’m trustworthy, I promise.” Mitsuru said still wrestling with the psycho pony. “You sure don’t look trustworthy; you look like something right out of Daring Do!” “I don’t know what that is, so I’m going to assume the worst possible outcome about it. Now can I get a little help here?” Mitsuru yelled out toward the water. A ripple came, along with Gigazelle jumping out. “Please remove her from my back, buddy.” “Hey, I knew you were no good! You have your little monster buddies backing you up!” she yelled out as Gigazelle walked up and removed the pony from its master’s back. It gently placed the pony down before leaping back into the pond. “I just wanted you off of me. I don’t do well when I get jumped by people I don’t know.” Mitsuru said, dusting off his plaid shirt. “Now I must go check on Fluttershy.” “Fine, you do that but I’m going with you!” “Do whatever you want, see if I care.” he walked back to the cottage, with the blue pony in tow. “What’s your name? I’m Sano Mitsuru.” “That’s a stupid name. I’m only the greatest flier in Equetria, Rainbow Dash!” the blue pony said proudly. “Fantastic name, I definitely know where it comes from.” he said, recounting her stunning speed and rainbow colored mane. The two walked into the house, only to find Fluttershy hiding. “Come out Miss, I got rid of the Gelnewts who tried to hurt you.” “Are… they gone?” a timid voice said aloud. “Yeah they are gone. I took care of them, sent them back to where they came from.” Mitsuru said gently. Fluttershy slowly came out from her hiding place, only to see Mitsuru with Rainbow. “Ah ha! I knew you were scaring Fluttershy, now I’ll really make you pay!” Rainbow said, pointing an accusing hoof at Mitsuru. “Yeah because I would really be here to attack her without my armor on.” Mitsuru said sarcastically, placing his hand on her pointed hoof and putting it down for her. “Excuse me, but would you please, if it’s not too much, explain to me exactly everything that happened, if you don’t mind?” Fluttershy asked timidly, wondering about what had happened with Mitsuru and the three monsters. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind hearing this either since I’ve never seen anything like you before.” Rainbow said, floating above Fluttershy’s couch. “Fine I’ll tell you guys, but no one else must know. Okay?” the two ponies nodded, with Rainbow keeping her eyes sharp on Mitsuru. “Here’s the story. I’m a human being from the planet, Earth. I was a poor guy, you see? I worked for rich snobs, polishing their cars and stuff, it sucked. One day though, I met a man in the mirror. His name was Kanzaki Shiro, and he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” “What kind of thing did he want to give you? Something stupid probably.” Rainbow said, with Mitsuru glaring at her. “The offer he gave me was this.” he pulled out the Card Deck, with the Gigazelle insignia on it. “He told me to use this to make my greatest wish come true. By using this deck I become something called a Kamen Rider. In my world there was the Mirror World. Tons of creatures called Mirror Monsters lived there and preyed upon the humans of my world.” “My, my, that’s terrible. So you protected the people there?” Fluttershy asked, a little bit more comfortable. “Kind of. I fought in order to keep people safe, but also to feed my contract monsters.” “Contract monsters? Was that the giant gazelle thing that was in the water?” Rainbow asked, more curious to hear about the story. “Exactly. Its name is Gigazelle, but I also can control many other gazelles as well. The contract monsters are regular Mirror Monsters that the Riders made contracts with in order to give them more power, especially to fight.” “Riders? So you mean there’s more creepy animal things like you?” Rainbow threw in. “Yes, there were a total of thirteen Riders on Earth. The riders, however, we weren’t exactly on good terms with each other.” “What do you mean? Didn’t you all help each other fight the mean monsters?” Fluttershy chimed in. “It was a lot more complicated than it seemed. The monsters were just a backdrop for the real fight.” Mitsuru continued, getting up from his seat on the couch. He started to pace back and forth. “Why was it complicated? If you fought monsters, then I guess I should take what I said.” Rainbow began, only to be cut off by Mitsuru. “It was complicated because the Riders were supposed to fight.” Mitsuru announced, stopping his pacing. “What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked, flying up from her seat. “The Riders were supposed to kill each other in battle. The winner would receive the grand prize after all the Riders were defeated, leaving only one.” There was silence between the three. The girls couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Equestria was only accustomed to peace, making one sentient being killing another complete and unexpected revelation. Fluttershy was the first to speak up. “You… didn’t kill anypony, right?” Fluttershy asked very nervously. “No. I didn’t.” Mitsuru replied, returning to his seat on the couch. “By the time I had arrived in the Rider War, there were already factions between the Riders. I tried to sell my services to them, since I needed the cash, but I was rejected by everyone.” he sat down and sighed, deciding whether or not to continue his story. “What happened next, did you finally find someone to join with?” Rainbow asked, wanting to hear the rest of the story. “I was finally able to appeal to Kagawa-sensei; he was Alternative Zero, a mimicry of the Riders. One day he went missing too, guess he got killed. He had a student named Tojo, he was Kamen Rider Tiger. I found him all beaten down on the street. He was alone just like me, so I took him to my apartment and nursed him back to health.” “So you were a good guy. If you weren’t you wouldn’t have helped someone who was supposed to be your enemy.” Rainbow stated, somewhat happy to see that this mysterious creature wasn’t a monster. “I guess so. I eventually inherited my father’s company after his death, making my drive to fight pointless. But Kanzaki wouldn’t have any of it. He told me to keep fighting, because I if I didn’t…” Mitsuru fell quiet and realized something. The Mirror Monsters may be here, only limited, plus the fact he has so many Contracts. “What would happen if you didn’t fight?” “My contract monsters wouldn’t be able to feed anymore. So if I broke my contract with them, they would come and eat me instead. That’s going to happen if I don’t stop fighting.” “That seems a bit unfair. No pony should have to do things against their will, I guess that was his way of making sure you all kept fighting.” Rainbow said, enthralled with the story. “Eventually, I got myself into a fight with Kamen Rider Ryuki. He was the Rider trying to stop everyone from fighting. Tojo showed up and I thought we were going to fight together…” Mitsuru went quiet once again. His only friend had betrayed him. “I only knew him for a short time, but he was my only friend.” “So what happened with him? Did he help you?” Mitsuru didn’t want to say what really happened, so he twisted the facts around. “Yeah, he was about to join in but he was stopped by Kamen Rider Ouja. He was a snakey kind of guy and none of the Riders really liked him. I heard that he killed the most Riders in the war. Anyways, we all jumped in to fight him but I got overpowered by him. He used his Final Vent to stop us.” “Then what? Did you guys beat him?” “I died. His bicycle kick destroyed me and I was left for dead there. I don’t know what happened after that, though.” Mitsuru got up from the couch and looked out the window. “I wonder why I’m here though. I died in Mirror World, but somehow remained alive. It’s one big mystery to me.” “That’s it? You just died and ended up here? Wow that’s a lame ending.” Rainbow complained, hoping that Mitsuru and his friends had somehow won that battle. “So that Ouja guy, who else did do in?” “I’m not really sure. All I know is that he contracted their monsters, so he ended up having three of them.” Through the whole story, Fluttershy had remained quiet in her seat. She couldn’t process all that Mitsuru had told them. How could completely thoughtful and sentient creatures do things like that? How could they be so brutal, as to go out and kill each other in some stupid thing like that? “You didn’t do anything? You made sure that Tiger was alright, and you never killed anyone?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I guess so. I never really found it in me to completely kill anyone. I just wanted to have a happy life in the end, with friends and family. Now I’ll never see him again.” Mitsuru said. Despite all that happened, it was in the past now. He could forgive Tojo in the end and only hope that the one person he cared for could become that hero he wanted to be. “I wish him the best though, it’s only fair.” “You seem to really care for this Tojo guy. You must have been really close.” Rainbow said. “Only for a short time, but yeah, I was the only one to really get him in the end.” “I guess I was wrong about you being a bad guy. In fact you sound pretty awesome, but not as awesome as me of course.” Rainbow said, matter of factly. “Thanks, I guess that means something good.” Mitsuru responded, assuming that he was now on good terms with the blue pony. “So now what are you going to do Mr. Mitsuru? You don’t have anywhere else to go, isn’t that right?” Fluttershy asked, caring for the well-being of the man who had saved her. “Not right now, but I’ll make it somehow. Probably make some sort of tent in those funky woods back there.” Mitsuru said, getting up from his seat. “Wait, you’re going to go live in the Everfree Forest? Are you nuts the things out there will get you.” Rainbow Dash said, shooting directly in front of Mitsuru. “Rainbow Dash, you over exaggerate. Not all the creatures are mean and hostile.” Fluttershy said, also coming toward the two. “Well I got nowhere else to go, and since Dash here thought I was a monster at first sight I got nowhere else to g-” Mitsuru was cut off by ringing in his head. “Not this again. I already fought today, why is there more?” he said nervously, sensing a large amount of monsters. “Is there another monster? I want to come kick monster butt too!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “So how do you know they’re here?” “I can sense when they arrive. There’s like a chiming in my head. No time to waste though.” Mitsuru said, running to the window. “It seems like they’re closer to that town I was making my way to.” “That’s Ponyville, will everypony be alright?” Fluttershy asked. “They will once we’re done with them, right Mitsuru?” Rainbow said, excited to get some action for the first time in a while. Mitsuru nodded and crossed his arms up to the window, with his deck in one hand. With the sign of the horns in one hand, he yelled out. “HENSHIN!”he yelled, as he inserted the deck into his belt. The three mirror images of Imperer’s armor converged onto his body, forming Kamen Rider Imperer. “Meet me in that Ponyville place, I’ll go through the Mirror World.” Suddenly Imperer seemingly passed through the window like it wasn’t even there. “You heard him Fluttershy, we gotta get to Ponyville quick.” “He did sound nervous. I hope it’s not as bad as it was here.” Imperer looked on the road to Ponyville’s mirror world, and could only stand with an agape mouth underneath his helmet. “That is a lot of shark monsters.” > Welcome to the Abyss: Part 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: Welcome to the Abyss: Part 1 The stunning number of Abyss that had swarmed the Mirror World was quite amazing in all honesty. Imperer saw all of them heading out toward the closest source of food, Ponyville. Despite all that had happened, this opportunity to start over is just what Mitsuru needed plus the fact that he needed to feed more of his Gigazelles. The Abyss types of Mirror Monsters were quite dangerous, and came as two different versions: the Abysshammer and the Abysslasher. The impressive amount of monster rivaled his own contracts to Gigazelle and its brothers. Not wanting to waste his Advent card immediately he decided to wait and head closer to the village. Using a back road, he slowly made his way toward mirror Ponyville. There was no way he could single handedly defeat that many monsters on his own. Those ponies had to be tough enough, especially if Fluttershy lived right on the edge of the forest of the damned. He sighed and continued the trek to the abandoned village. Upon his arrival, he had finally come to realize the mass amounts of Abyss. There had been even more in the small town. “Let’s do this.” Imperer said to himself as he leapt out into the open, from his hiding spot. Several of the Abysses immediately reacted to the Kamen Rider. Roaring out, a group of Abysslashers came running at him. Hopping into the air, he came down on one of the creatures with his knee out. Smashing down on the face he quickly recovered from his fall and kneed another of the Abysslashers in the abdomen. Its brothers did not take kindly to the gazelle Rider, so they began to take the offensive with their own saw-like swords. He attempted to block, but the three slashers proceeded to strike quickly at the Rider. Imperer was forced back by the five sharks coming at him. He drew a card from his deck and quickly inserted it into his knee. “Strike Vent” A large drill like device, similar to the top of a Gigazelle’s spear, suddenly equipped to Imperer’s leg. The drill began to spin and he began to kick at the oncoming sharks. He managed to strike at several of them, causing them to fall back from the attack. However, more began to surface from other areas of the town. Quickly, he leapt forward and struck the closest creature in the head with his drill. It began to spin and the monster began to roar out in pain, and also fell back from the immediate line. Suddenly a large burst of bullets hailed down on Imperer. He looked above to see several Abysshammers launching a full scale assault on him. Using his ability to jump higher than most Riders, he quickly leapt up and struck them with spin hook kick, with the Strike Vent making it much worse for the monstrous sharks. Unfortunately, he was hit by an approaching Abysslasher and forced off the top of the building, throwing him back into the swarm. “Damn it, there’s too many of them. I can’t beat them like this. I need to rethink my strategy and regroup.” Mitsuru panicked and quickly jumped high, over the heads of many of the sharks. He had already taken enough damage from the Abyss. Finding the closest reflective surface, a window to a large gingerbread looking building, he dove into it and slid to the real world. … Imperer slid out the other side, directly into the real world. Falling to the ground, Mitsuru could already tell he was weak from the wound on his abdomen, but also from the most recent beating he had received. He drew yet another card and inserted it into his knee Visor. “Strange Vent” He reinserted the card into his Visor. “Clear Vent” He had initially hoped his Strange Vent would turn out to be something a little better than Clear Vent, but it would allow him to not be spotted immediately. He looked into the window he had just jumped through, only to see the congregation of the Abyss. They were readying for an invasion, to completely eat every living creature for their life essence. “These things are tough. I’m going to need a lot of help.” Under his invisible guise he began to navigate the busy streets without bumping into anyone. His own stop to think was broken by a loud scream. He looked to where he had heard only to see the invasion already beginning. “No not right now.” The sharks began to pour out from the windows of the gingerbread house, in chase of Imperer. His own Clear Vent broke off and the Abyss spotted him. Sucking up the pain, he ran forward into battle with the trio of Abyss that broken in. The three were all slashers and their six combined swords were more than enough to strike at Imperer freely, with no blocks. When he turned and attempted to attack one of them, the two others struck from behind. “Spin Vent” he quickly equipped his most used weapon against the Abyss and started to fight against the monsters in retaliation. “Come on Twilight, this way!” Rainbow Dash called out, approaching to battle zone of the four combatants. “I’m running as fast as I can, Rainbow.” Twilight said in reply, galloping toward her friend. “We’re too late.” Rainbow said. “Too late for what? What did you even need me for….” Twilight said as she approached. What she saw was unexpected. There were three tall shark monsters fighting a single tall gazelle monster. One of the sharks quickly stabbed at the gazelle with its sword causing it to fly back at Dash and Twilight. It struggled to get back up, as Rainbow quickly flew by it. “Mitsuru, get up! What are those things?” “Those are the Abyss, shark type monsters from Mirror World.” Imperer quickly explained, finally getting to his own two feet. “Why are they beating you? I thought you were really tough.” “It’s a matter of numbers now. There’s a lot more in Mirror World right now, and they’re itching to feed.” Imperer explained, seeing Twilight. “Is that your friend?” “Yeah that’s Twilight. Fluttershy’s getting our other friends.” “Wait, Rainbow you know this thing?” Twilight asked, completely confused to what was going on. “No time to explain. I need to finish these three first.” Imperer said quickly. He drew a card from the deck on his belt and quickly threw it into his knee visor. “Final Vent” Much to the surprise of Twilight, many gazelle creatures flooded out of the windows of the abandoned town. There was one in the lead of the pack as they stampeded Sugar Cube Corner and the three Abyss. Rainbow picked Twilight up as Imperer stood in the middle of the stampede. The three Abyss were overpowered by the sheer amount of Gigazelles. Leaping forward in the air, Imperer delivered three consecutive knee strikes to the three sharks, destroying them. “Now all of you lead the Abyss further away from this town! Do this and feed!” Imperer yelled out to his gazelles, they roared in agreement and returned to the Mirror World. Looking into the window, Imperer saw the Gigazelles leading the Abyss away from the town. This would only be temporary until the creatures came back looking for food. Many of the ponies who had hidden in their homes had watched the stampede that Imperer led. He turned around to Twilight and Rainbow. Imperer saw that Fluttershy and the others had also arrived to see him perform his finale. “That was so AWESOME!” Rainbow said to Imperer, who was still standing there. “What was that?” “Now wait Rainbow, how do you know this thing?” Twilight asked. “I can explain later.” Imperer said, quickly. His armor shattered off his body to reveal a brutally beaten body. His vision began to fade. “I can tell you lot everything, just…” his vision blackened completely and he collapsed to the ground. “Girls, come on we have to help him!” was the last thing Mitsuru heard before he completely lost consciousness. … “Final Vent” Ouja came running at Imperer. Back flipping into Venosnaker’s mouth, which then launched Ouja at Imperer. Ouja proceeded to bicycle kick Imperer into a wall, where his deck fell to the ground and shattered. In his deep sleep this is what continuously played. He kept seeing that damned Rider killing him. No matter how much he tried to change it in his mind, it always turned out with him dying. The cruel fates had done this to Mitsuru, and he couldn’t forgive. The darkness faded and Mitsuru opened his eyes. … He woke up in what appeared to be a hospital. He once again wondered where he was. Nobody seemed to be in the room with him. His wounds from the battle with the Abyss seemed to have been treated. Looking around, he saw a reflection in the window. It was different from a monster and seemed to be a Rider. The Rider was dressed in light blue and seemed to be egging him on. It was something like he wanted him to enter Mirror World and join him, Mitsuru ignored this however, because he was not in the mood to do anything. Suddenly, the door opened to the room and a doctor walked into the room. “I see you’re doing well. I was wondering when you would wake up.” the doctor said, magically floating a pen and clipboard closer to him. Mitsuru didn’t question it. “Yeah I guess I am. How long was I out?” “A couple of days. When Twilight and her friends brought you in here, you were pretty beaten. I’ve never seen anything like you however, so we had to make you a custom made hospital gown.” “Thanks, I guess. So where is the lot that brought me here?” Mitsuru asked, hoping to see his two new acquaintances. “Only Twilight is here and that’s because she’s been hardwired into meeting you ever since you came. Would you like me to fetch her?” “Sure, I could use some company.” Mitsuru said in reply to the doctor. He nodded and walked out of the room. Mitsuru returned to looking at the window. The black Rider was gone, but there was seemingly something on the floor. Getting up from his bed, he looked down to see it was an Advent Card. He quickly picked it up and observed it. “What is this?” The card had a picture of a pink Kamen Rider on it, and he was seemingly imprisoned. The care was titled as Seal. Someone had sealed a Kamen Rider in this card. At the same time he was looking at the card, someone had entered the room. Mitsuru saw that it was the purple pony from when he fought the Abyss. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, right?” Mitsuru asked. “Oh my gosh! You remembered my name.” Twilight said excitedly. “Yes I am, and I have so many questions to ask you!” “Fantastic.” Mitsuru deadpanned. “What do you want to ask?” “Well first I want to know what you are. I’ve never seen anything like you in any of my books.” she said approaching Mitsuru and studying him. “I’m a human. That’s what I technically am.” “A human. Okay, got it.” she said quickly, scribbling down notes on a notepad. “Second question, what’s that card in your hand?” Mitsuru froze up. “I don’t really know. All I know is that it has something to do with him.” “Who’s him? Is it related to those sharks and gazelles from a couple days ago?” “I’m not quite sure myself. Who was that, and why did he leave this?” Mitsuru questioned himself. “You want a look?” Mitsuru asked to Twilight, who quickly shook her head up and down. He threw the card to her and she caught it with her magic. She studied the card for a short while before piping up. “He kind of looks like you did when you had that weird armor on. What exactly did happen back there?” “Gather your friends and I’ll explain then. I don’t really feel like repeating this a second time.” > Welcome to the Abyss: Part 2 [EDIT] > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Abyss: Part 2 Intro The day on his awakening following his beating at the hands of the Abyss, Mitsuru called together all of Twilight’s friends in order to briefly tell them about the monsters. He refuses to explain the conditions of his powers and about Earth and the Rider War, along with the true circumstances regarding his own death. The reactions of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were proof enough that these ponies shouldn't know that humans kill each other on a daily basis. Later they all left , leaving Mitsuru alone. With the moon shining in the sky, he once again looked into the window. The blue Rider still stood there. His image wasn’t clear, but was still egging Mitsuru into the Mirror World. “Fine, I’ll come.” Mitsuru deadpanned, arising from his bed and clothing himself. “Prepare yourself for Imperer.” He threw his arms through his brown plaid shirt and took out his Card Deck. He showed the window his deck, allowing a V-Buckle to appear and attach itself to his waist. “HENSHIN!” he yelled aloud, his eyes darting to see if the door was open. He placed his deck into the slot on his belt and three images converged onto his body, creating Imperer. A stream of light entered the room, revealing a nurse that worked in the hospital. “Mr. Sano it’s time to take your medications…” she said, levitating a clipboard and a bottle of pills. She stopped as she saw Imperer disappear into the window. Not even breaking it, he just jumped into and it rippled like water. “What?” Imperer appeared on the other side of the Mirror World, at night. The room was his and just as expected there was someone with him in there. A light blue Rider with a shark motif was the one who had summoned him. “Who are you? I’ve never seen a Rider like you.” Mitsuru questioned, approaching the new Rider with his fists held high. “What you want with me?” “Nice to meet you too, I’m Kamen Rider Abyss.” the new Rider answered back, also approaching but with hands held down by his sides. “Abyss? Don’t tell me you were the one who summoned all of the sharks a few days ago?” Mitsuru asked, lowering his hands to his own waist. “I’m afraid I did. My own creatures needed to feed, however I only am contracted two of them, and the rest followed mine to get their own food.” he replied in a cool voice. “So you found me because of their rampage?” “It was weird to find another Rider in this world…” Abyss replied, sitting down onto the hospital bed. “So why do you want me?” Imperer asked again, placing his hand on his head. “I want you because I know a way back to our own home. You see, when one is absorbed by Mirror World, it ejects them to this parallel world with the appearance you had when you first contracted.” Abyss explained, rising from the bed and walking in front of Imperer. “This world is governed by two goddess-like princesses, Luna and Celestia. They have a mirror that leads back to Earth, yet they have never used it.” “Wait, so we can use this mirror to travel back to Earth? Then how does a Mirror World exist in this dimension too?” Imperer exclaimed, placing his finger in the helmet of Abyss. “It was created when the first Rider was sent here, Kamen Rider Gai. Unfortunately, he has been sealed by Luna and Celestia, just like Raia.” Abyss removed a card from his deck and just like his own it had a Rider trapped within it. This one was grey in color and matched that of a rhino. “So Raia and Gai were two Riders killed by Ouja? I can tell because their color schemes and motifs match Evildiver and Metalgelas.” Imperer replied, surprised that two more Riders were here in Equestria. “Why would these two princesses seal them?” “It’s quite obvious, Imperer, she thinks of humans as threats. I stay in the Mirror World because Celestia cannot enter here no matter how much magic she uses. Once her student, Twilight Sparkle, tells her of your existence they’ll certainly seal you as well. So will you join me in fighting against her tyranny?” Abyss explained, putting his hand out. Imperer shook his hand. “Whatever it takes to return to my home, so what do we have to do first?” He was already happy to be on board to getting back to his home. Sure it was nice enough there, but he was still a little freaked out about talking horses. “So you know a lot about this place, right?” “Yeah, I know enough about the inside of their world since I stay in the Mirror World most of the time. I skulk around the mirrors of the libraries and read about their world. Since I can travel through Mirror World, I also can get old documents that no one else in this world has seen. I've been doing this since the day I realized what was going to happen to me.Let's take a walk and I'll answer your question about this world.” Abyss explained, cracking his knuckles and walking out the door to the room, with Imperer in tow. “So one thing I noticed is that none of these ponies seem to have a bad bone in them. I mean they didn’t even really understand the concept of completely killing another being. Do you know what’s up with that?” Imperer asked, bumping into a cart which he pushed away. “They used to know what that stuff was. A thousand years ago Luna betrayed Celestia in order to become the sole goddess. She felt sore because ponies slept during the night instead of the day. Celestia sent her to the moon, essentially trapping her for a millennium. She didn’t want ponies to do things like rebel, so she used a spell to erase the emotions that cause thoughts like that. Only ponies with extreme issues can still have those thoughts, but they’re rarer than an extinct species.” “She really does things like that? Seems like a real tyrant, so what are we going to do?” “Quite obvious, we’re going to unseal Raia and Gai and then strike while the pot is hot. No doubt that Twilight has already written to Celestia about you. We stay put here until they show in your room tomorrow. First, now that we have both of us: this.” Abyss said, pulling out the Gai card. Using the large shark visor on his arm he inserted the card. “Gai Vent” A grey light shot out of the visor and began to form a body. The light dimmed down to reveal the grey Rider. The grey Rider got a hold of his surroundings before finally noticing the two Riders before him. His real name was Jun Shibaura, a third-year college student who was an expert in computers. His own rich upbringing contrasted to Mitsuru, who despite being born to a rich father, had to work to get his own money. His upbringing also formed a superiority complex, in which he constantly messes with people just because he can. He also seemed to have a love for games, as he thought the Rider War was one as well, and fought simply because it was a game to win. “Kamen Rider Gai, do not be alarmed.” Abyss said to the revived Rider, with Gai still in shock and looking around the environment. “Where the hell am I!? And more importantly is Asakura? That bastard… Who are you two?” Gai said angrily, ready to charge at the two Riders, still enraged at Asakura's attack on him. “I’m Kamen Rider Imperer and that’s Abyss. We were also sent here by Ouja. He killed you in the Mirror World, right?” Imperer began, walking forward to the rhino Rider and attempting to calm him down. “Yeah, I got a whole bunch of the Riders together to make the battle more fun. Kitaoka’s Final Vent weakened me when Asakura used me as a shield, then he killed me with his own.” Gai explained, his own mind still fresh with his own death. He quickly punched a wall in the hallway. “So I guess it’s time to release the other guy.” Imperer said, hiking his knee up and placing his own Rider card into the visor. “Raia Vent” A pink light shined from Imperer’s knee and formed the other Rider. Kamen Rider Raia had finally formed before them. Raia's name was Miyuki Tezuka, a fortune teller who was quite spot on with his predictions. He fought for the end of the Rider War, as he saw it as pointless. He was closest to Shinji Kido, Kamen Rider Ryuki, as the two had much in common with each other. Despite fighting as Raia, the original Raia was named Yuichi Saito, who also refused to fight in the Rider war, and was killed for it. Saito was a close friend of Miyuki, and is the reason why he fights. “This was something I did not foretell. Where am I, if I might ask?” Raia questioned, walking closer to the other Riders. He quickly noticed Gai was also with them. “Shibaura-san, might I ask how you are here?” “It’s nice to see you too, Tezuka-san. Looks like you never stopped the fighting.” Gai snickered, placing his hand on Raia’s shoulder. “These two right here have all the answers. Apparently it’s something to do with us all getting killed by Asakura.” “Now that we are all together we can focus on the bigger picture: getting back to Earth. Raia and Gai, Imperer and I have planned out a way for us to return to our proper homes back on Earth. It will require your determination to fight if we have to. What do you two say?” Abyss said, putting his arms out. “I’ll fight to go back there. I still had games to finish up. Count me in.” Gai said, happy to hear that he could return home after thinking that he was dead permanently, shaking the hand of Abyss. “I do not believe in fighting. But I will fight if I am required to, since I would also like to return to my own home as well. I would like to once again see Kido and apologize to him for what had happened.” Raia also agreeing to the plan, put his own hand out to shake with Abyss. The four Riders were together in this. They were going to return home, each with their own goal in mind. Mitsuru wished to reclaim his company, Tezuka wished to reunite with Shinji Kido, Jun wanted to exact his personal revenge on Asakura, and Abyss had something else in mind. Abyss and the others walked alongside each other to where Abyss resided in the Equestria. Using the glass mirror, all four of them returned to the real world. Each of the men shattered out of their armors to reveal what they really looked like. Miyuki Tezuka was a young man with longish-black hair, and he wore a checkered suit jacket over a striped shirt along with a pair of dress pants. Jun Shibaura was also young and had spiked up hair, he wore a complete suit tie and all. Abyss was a middle aged man, wearing a white button up shirt with a red tie along with a pair of black dress pants. Mitsuru admitted to himself that he was probably the poorest looking one right now. “Now that we’re all together, my real name is Kamata, I was originally a freelance journalist.” Abyss explained, leading the four to a table with a map of Canterlot Castle on it. He motioned the three to sit down, which they did. “So how are we going to invade this castle? It’s probably going to be filled with guards.” Mitsuru asked, picking up the map and looking at it from different angles. “It’s obvious that we’re going to just bust in, right? We’re Kamen Riders, more powerful than any normal person.” Jun said, ripping the map out of Mitsuru’s hands and pointing at the castle entrance. “I foresee that plan failing almost instantly. We were sealed inside cards and I presume the owner of said castle did so. Am I correct?” Tezuka continued, pointing out the things wrong with blindly charging in. “Now men, we all have different goals, but my idea is sure to work. Those bitches in the castle sealed you two and would have done the same to us if we weren’t careful. Now what we must do if attack them without Contracts before attacking ourselves. The Abyss sharks blindly follow my own contracts, along with the sheer amount of Mitsuru-san’s Gigazelles. They will allow us to steal the mirror and return home. All we have to do is let them loose on the city of Canterlot and use the chaos to break into the castle.” Kamata explained, revealing a chalkboard with everything planned out and also writing out the inclusion of the other Riders. “Originally this was a single man project, but it should go much more smoothly now that you’re here.” "Wait, we're going to have our own contracts attack the innocents? I'm not much for this Celestia woman myself, but these others are completely innocent of anything. You even told me they lack the ability to be immoral. I want my money, but isn't there a better way to do this?" Mitsuru chimed in, concerned about the innocent life at risk. "I agree alongside Mitsuru-san. I will fight the one who sealed me away, but saving innocent people and stopping the Rider War are the exact reasons why I became a Rider. We do that and there's no way I could face Kido." Tezuka agreed, pulling out his Card Deck and examining it once more. "Well, we could always take a different route. What do you all have in mind?" Kamata asked, rising from his seat and erasing the chalkboard. "I thought we could sneak into the castle, instead of the attack. All we have to do is find this mirror, right? It's like a fetch quest in a RPG, all we have to do is stealth our way in through the Mirror World. I don't know why you thought we would have to go full out." Jun explained, quickly taking back his original idea of busting in, head-on. "I will admit, using the Mirror World is the most logical, but I have one other objective in mind for us." Kamata pulled something out of his pocket. "I managed to steal back the Gai and Raia cards, but there is yet another." From his pocket he reveals a picture of a phoenix. "She has the Card Deck of Kamen Rider Odin, the most powerful Kamen Rider. If she figures out how to harness that power, she could break into our world." "Wait, if she wanted to break into our world, wouldn't she just use the mirror? Plus how would she even get Odin's deck?" Mitsuru asked, rising from his own seat to point out the contradiction. "Yeah, it would make more sense to simply go through this mirror instead of harnessing the full power of this Odin's deck." Jun pointed out as well. "That mirror forcefully converts the one's who go through it into humans. If she went through it, then she would lose her ability to use magic. However, if she wanted more land for herself then she would need her magic. This is all for the betterment of mankind. Only ancient texts that I found in the castle dungeon refer to this mirror and even then it only vaguley describes the humans of the Middle Ages. Plus, it would be impossible to enter via the Mirror World because of a protective charm she cast on the door. Trust me, I've already tried it once before and it didn't work." Kamata explained in full detail to the three Riders. "So I assume that this mirror can bring us home, however if this Celestia is in possession of Odin's deck, how do we retrieve it and get into where the Mirror is located?" Tezuka asked, pointing out the flaw on the chalkboard. "We'll take it by force. Since we don't agree on a distraction we'll have to take this castle by force. If we can do that, then we can get into the mirror room, get this Card Deck, and finally go home. I personally want to shove a certain foot up a certain person's ass." Jun said, drawing up his own ideas on the board. They all finally agreed on this last idea. They would have to stealthily take down guards and the Princesses that had sealed Tezuka and Jun, but they agreed that this would be the only way to get back without hurting any innocents. Mitsuru just hoped that those six ponies didn't show up, or it could turn ugly.