Prologue
The forest at this time of the day was somewhat bright. Trees lined the path two men walked down. Vines and purple fruits hung from these trees, as if they were intent on infestation. Both men seemed to have a hefty amount of armor covering its torso and a helmet over their heads.
“That Overlord is likely anxious for battle. Be careful, Sid.” The first man said, holding a red metal bow with blades on it. “Sid, what’s the matter? Are you listening to me?”
“Oh, I’m listening… I wouldn’t miss a word.” The second man, Sid, replied in an arrogant manner. He turned around swinging his own bladed bow and struck at the white armored man, sparks flying as swung it against the armor.
The white armored man grabbed hold of the bow and moved out of the way, dodging the oncoming attack.
“What’s the meaning of this?” He asked, looking at the other in confusion.
“Meaning? It’s very simple. I’m sick of looking at your face!” Sid, dressed in red armor, ran forward in an attempt to strike, only for his attacks to be blocked by the other.
“Have you gone mad, Sid?” The white armored man said, throwing his opposition’s weapon off his own and striking at him with incredible force, more sparks flying. He struck twice more, causing Sid to fall down a small hill.
Sib backed away and grunted in pain as the white armored man grabbed him by the chest armor and swung his blade once more, causing him to fly back and hit a pillar.
“You don’t mess around, do you?” Sid said, lying on the ground.
“Surrender.” He pointed his bow at Sid. “Save your explanations for later.” Behind the white armored man, another had appeared. This one female and in pink armor, holding the same weapon as the two others. He turned around to see her, surprised. “Oh, Minato. Sid mounted a surprise attack on me. Help me subdue him.”
She began to walk down from the hill and toward the two others. She raised her bow as she walked toward Sid, and placed the blade on his shoulder. She quickly turned around and struck the white armored man with her bow, causing him to fall back in pain. She swung again, sparks flying off the armor, with the man grunting in pain. A third strike was powerful enough to send him falling off the ledge of the stone temple area. He landed on his back and turned over.
“You too, Minato?” He attempted to get back, up failing to do so.
“Whew! I was in a jam there.” Sid said, getting up and putting his hand on Minato’s shoulder. She quickly threw it off her shoulder as she looked at him in anger.
“Don’t toy with him. Don’t forget he’s Takatora Kureshima.” Minato said, turning around and looking back toward Takatora. She aimed her bow at him.
“Heh. Slave driver.” Sid said, putting his hand up to his helmet. “Fine, then we’ll clean him up right away!” The two jumped down to join Takatora.
The two engaged in combat with Takatora. Sid ran at him and attempted to strike, but was blocked by Takatora’s bow. Minato attempted to attack as well, but was the former managed to dodge out of the way. The two managed to sandwich Takatora between their attacks.
“You’ve been conspiring all along!” Takatora said, breaking free and moving back. Minato pulled back on her bow, causing a pink arrow made of energy to shoot out. It bounced off of Takatora’s armor, as Sid ran in and struck. Takatora attempted to fight the two off, using his own arrows and strikes, but failed to fend them off as he rolled back onto the ground. Sid ran forward and his blade met with Takatora’s.
“What’s the matter? You’re slipping, Takatora!” Sid taunted, as Takatora managed to get him off. Takatora kicked Sid behind the leg, causing him to fall back.
Takatora rolled away a bit more, smoke coming off of his chest plate. He struggled to get back up, and attempted to run away. He ran only to look up and see another person had joined them. He was horrified at what he saw. A young man wearing black dress pants, a white coat, and a large red belt around his waist.
“My my, what’s wrong Takatora? You’re lacking your usual composure.” The new man said, standing above them all.
“Ryouma… What are you doing here?” Takatora said, looking up at the man.
Ryouma did not respond and instead raised a small little trinket, a clear colored padlock with a lemon on it.
“No… not you too…” Takatora said, looking up at Ryouma.
Ryouma put his hand across each other, like an x.
“Transform.” He hit a small button on the side of the lock, causing it to unlock.
Lemon Energy
Lock On!
Soda! Lemon Energy Arms! Fight, Power! Fight, Power! Fi-Fi-Fi-Fi-Fight!
A lemon fell from the sky, turning into armor and a cape. The energy from the lemon caused excess armor to appear on Ryouma’s body, serving at extra protection for the man. He jumped down as well and struck Takatora, causing him to fall back.
“No…” Takatora said, in pain from the attack by the conspiracy around him. “Why?!”
“It’s a shame. It really is such a shame, Takatora. I thought you and I would reach untold heights together.” Ryouma said, holding his bow in opposition to Takatora’s. The others joined in on the attack, taking their own jabs at their former boss.
“Isn’t this what we made the Sengoku Drivers for?! Weren’t you and I doing this together to save humanity?!” Takatora yelled out, kneeling down and reeling from the pain of betrayal. There was silence for a moment. “RYOUMA!”
Lock On
“You never understood what I was working for.” Ryouma said, holding the bow back as energy charged at the tip. He pulled all the way back and let go firing a missile-like arrow at Takatora.
Lemon Energy
The attack was powerful enough to send Takatora flying, his transformation decimated. He fell to the ground, his red colored belt, the Genesis Driver, falling as well. He breathed heavily as the traitors surrounded him.
“I’m sorry, old friend. But this is goodbye” Ryouma said, looking down.
Sid ran forward and attacked, lunging at Takatora with his weapon. Takatora caught the blade, but was ran back toward the cliff they were on. The wind was blowing heavily, as Takatora looked down.
“Am I going to die here…?” Takatora said, looking down. He looked back up and saw something else, his young brother. “Mitsuzane! Run, Mitsuzane! Go back to HQ! Tell them what happened to me!” Mitsuzane breathed heavily as well, reeling at the sight of his brother. “Listen to me! You have to join with Kouta Kazuraba and save humanity! It’s all up to you, Mitsuzane!”
Takatora finally lost his footing, allowing Sid to swing his blade forward, striking Takatora’s face, and the former falling off the cliff. He screamed as he fell, his hand reaching forward for the safety it would never reach. He could only think of his brother now, as he and Kouta Kazuraba were the last hopes for humanity. There was no way he could survive the fall. If he could, he still had his Sengoku Driver, unbeknownst to the others. Still, the fall would kill him no matter what.
He closed his eyes as the wind seemed to slow down, his body hit the ground with a sickening crash.
It seemed like forever, but Takatora awoke from his fall. Every inch of his body was screaming not to move, but he slowly got up and surveyed his surrounding. On his head was a bloody cut, most likely formed by Sid’s attack on him. His eyes darted about, surveying the area. Large trees surrounded him, forming the area around him.
“This… isn’t Helheim.” Takatora choked out, placing his hand on the closest tree. He attempted to move about, pain flowing through his body. Limping to the closest pathway, he sat down. His breathing had slowed, as the blood had seemingly stopped flowing on his face. “Where am I?” His eyes darted to the closest place where light was, and he began to move again.
The place was similar to Helheim, but lacked the qualities that made the damned forest so evil. This lacked the fruits of hell and the ruins that made up Helheim. He looked in awe at the source of the light, a large crystal tree.
“What is this?” He limped forward and looked at it. Other gems decorated it, each with a different appearance: a blue balloon, a pink butterfly, a red bolt of lightning, a purple diamond, an orange apple, and a purple star in the center. It gave him a sense of hope, the same kind that Kazuraba had given him. These thoughts were stopped by sounds of growling. He looked behind him to see a large brown wolf.
“A wolf?” Takatora said aloud, looking at it. It wasn’t any other wolf he had ever seen, but one that seemingly had a body made of wood. “Wood? What is this place?” The wolf roared and began to come closer to Takatora. “Sorry, but not today. This tree and Kota Kazuraba gave me hope. My closest friend has betrayed me, and I survived their conspiracy to kill me. I won’t lose here because I have to save humanity!”
The wolf lunged forward at the weakened Takatora, who rolled out of the way. From the inside of his coat he removed a small black belt, with a yellow knife attached to it.
“Ryouma never understood that I kept a backup on me at all times.” He put it around his waist, a yellow belt erupting around his waist. He removed a small green and silver lock as well. “It’s been a while since I used this.”
Melon
“Transform.” Takatora said, placing the lock onto his belt. Japanese horagai music erupted from the belt, causing the wolf to stop for a moment. He then hit the knife once, slicing open the lock.
Lock On! Soiya! Melon Arms! Tenka Gomen [By Heaven’s Decree]
A melon appeared above his head and fell down, forming armor around his body. It was very similar to his other armor, but this one lacked the bow, instead having a large shield and a sword-gun hybrid. This armored warrior was known as Zangetsu.
“Now where was I?” Zangetsu said, walking forward toward the wolf. The wolf took this as challenge and lunged forward at him. Zangetsu simply held his shield out causing the monster’s claws to bounce off. The wolf fell back a bit as Zangetsu pulled a small yellow lever on his sword, causing it to beep. He hit the trigger on his sword, causing bullets to fly out at the wolf.
The bullets entered the wood, but did not come out, causing the wolf to roar out in pain. Zangetsu grunted, throwing his shield at the wolf. It flew like a boomerang and hit the wolf before flying back to its owner. Once again it roared in pain, running away from Zangetsu.
“Hmph. It seems like it may go get help. Best to get out of here.” Zangetsu said, his pain somewhat nulled by the belt. His attention was broken by another voice.
“My, my, my… I haven’t seen one of you in a long, long time.”
Zangetsu turned around to see the owner of the voice. Not to his surprise, it was another monster. It looked nothing like anything he had ever seen before, a mish-mash of real and mythical creatures.
“What? Don’t give me that look. At least I don’t look like a melon.”
To Be Continued…