>>5645252
"We're due for a vacation any day now!" A young man in the desk next to you complained loudly.

"You think so?" You can't help but reply half-heartedly, it's a very melancholic time for you.

"Sure! The usual field trip is around this time, maybe Osaka, or oohh! Tokyo!"

"Haah, Tokyo? I went there recently you know.." You give a sigh with your reply. You were all there the other day, weren't you? Fighting something or another.

"Hmm, when?"

"O-oh, when indeed? Hah.." Was that right?

You're back in your old school, a little after you first became Kamen Rider, but why this again? Wait a minute. Again? Looking around, your mind starts populating the room with familiar faces, all rendered in perfect detail, exactly as you remember. Long hair, short, freckles, earrings, all the stuff you focused on, and by extension, the people those details belonged to. The classroom is just as rowdy as it always is, despite being college students, everyone was talking loudly among each other. But they're all...

Suddenly, the room is dead quiet, their bodies are frozen. Before you can do or say anything, they swiftly turn to you, just as they open their mouths...

You feel a stiffness in your body, a building energy deep within your chest, quickly pulling on it you feel yourself awaken. Upon opening your eyes you see a familiar, sterile-white, ceiling, embedded lamps, and a curtain drawn around your you and your bed. You got knocked out again, you assume you won this time. Peeling your sheets off you discover you're back in another medical robe, there's something new, on top of the table next to you. A small vase with flowers, along with a framed picture. In it are the soldiers from the last mission, all striking a pose with a picture of the defense cannon in the background, on the floor before them are the injured. They seemed to be straining to remain in the picture or to strike their own simple gesture. Those just out of view are knocked out, presumably.

"Nice." You're relieved to see that mostly everyone made it.

Hearing you, a pair of footsteps approaches and pulls back your curtain.

"You've awakened have you? How are you feeling?" The doctor from before asks. He slowly swipes a small pen-like tool over your body -it flashes blue and white periodically- he then holds it over your head.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"My tools say that as well. I'll admit, I was a little worried at first. Your mortal injuries I could handle, laser burns and shrapnel are old hat nowadays. Except, nanites are something of a rarity here. I figured you were suffering from something akin to anemia based on your systems and life-readings. As I understand, you lost quite a few nanomachines during the operation, all I could do was monitor you over the days."

"Days?"

>>5645253
He nods, then begins to fill you in. You were out for three days, certainly an improvement over three centuries you figure. The defense-cannon performed well, although it began to slow down a few minutes after you started it, a survey and scout team reported having to start a few repairs, but your miracle of starting the gun is making the rounds in the rumor mill. A few people came by while you were out, the soldiers at first, then Dr. Cain. Originally the doctor had called her for her previous experience with yourself, but she also brought you along some flowers. Someone had also brought some cyber food for you, but you made an negative reaction upon smelling it so it was removed. Thank goodness for small miracles. They could have just brought fruit.

"Where are we now?"

The castle was in the same place as before, just outside Tokyo. Apparently there had been a few cleanup missions sent out to deter or clean out any Saurians still in the area. Your group were the only ones to have encountered MLFOs, which is being repeated throughout the castle. It was surely a victory. Though Bombshell did run away, a worry for another time perhaps.

"You know, they told me to rig you up with tracking nanobeacons, in case you were a trap. I don't think that would be necessary anymore."

You nod with a smile. "I'm glad." In truth, if they tried such a thing your nanites would have eliminated them as foreign invaders in your body, like white-blood cells and bacteria.

"I hear most of the castle is taking it easy, although, most soldiers are still on-duty. Shore leave is quite rare, you know. Why don't you do the same? Or maybe you have plans?"

Do you?

>Go see the people
Find out what everyone does in their downtime. Maybe join in.

>Meet up with the soldiers from before
The doctor makes it sound like they're still busy, but you'd like to just touch base after the mission.

>Visit someone you know
Did you have some business to finish? Or maybe you just wanted to talk about the last mission.

>Start training again
You're once again aware that there are stronger enemies, and you need to prepare.

>Hit the books
Research into what happened between your time and now. Maybe follow up with Dr. Cain at the same time.

>Write-in

>>5645257
>Hit the books
We quite a gap in our knowledge
It's good to be back

>>5645257
>Hit the books

>>5645257
>Go see the people
Good to see this quest again.

[Command access only]

The words displayed on the computer console from the cannon's command center still weighs heavy on your mind. It could be a simple misunderstanding, but one thing is clear, there's a lot missing in between now and then. They always said 'knowledge is power', so what better place to become stronger, than a library.

Seeing as how your personal computer is long gone you'll need to borrow a public one. On your way out you pass by a few banged up men, nothing beyond some scratches and bruises, light combat at best. You assume they've been going out into old-Tokyo to conduct clean-up operations, picking off the Saurian grunts essentially.

You hardly take a step outside when a certain someone recognizes you.

"Ah!" A young man suddenly jumps as he sees your face, it's Fujioka, your brig guard.

"So you're awake! We all missed you down in the brig!" He joyfully shouts. Despite the cramp and spartan conditions of your current arrangements, it actually wasn't that bad. As you understand it actual criminals were rare nowadays so most troublemakers are just people whose pranks went too far, or they simply forgot their limit while drinking. Some nights the guards would strike up a casual conversation with everyone, along the way you'd quietly struck up Fujioka as a friendly acquaintance. Though, being in the brig is still a punishment, most nights you just had to listen to the other prisoners complain about being bored. If there were any.

"We got some new people so you'll be able to meet them tonight!" Fujioka continues happily. He might be glad for the company as he usually guards the armory when the brig is empty. You try to smile politely as he says all this, you know he has no bad intentions, but it's very strange to hear someone so happy about taking prisoners. Maybe you can push for getting a real bed, preferably one not made from a steel slab. Though you did have one pillow.

"I was actually on my way to see the library, I want to do some more research."

"Oh sure, I can show you the way, though I never liked the archivist so I'll stay outside." Fujioka has a nervous expression but tries to laugh it off. Wonder what that's about?

The library -sometimes called the archive, no meaningful difference from what you can tell- is about ten minutes away. When you make it to the two-story building you're stopped by the guard. A guard for a library?

"Fujioka, are you sure about bringing a prisoner here?" The library guard speaks to your guard.

"Ah, it's okay, it's fine!" Fujioka suddenly gets loud and the guard drives a frown at him. After a short introduction the guard nods and allows you inside. Apparently you need an ID to get in, a simple formality to track who comes and goes, but without address this you won't be able to get in without help. Let's bring that up at the same time we ask for our own room.

The guard gives you some general rules before you're allowed in, basically, the same rules as your normal library; you nod through it all but you kind of zone out listening, he's a very monotone man. Bowing to the guard you head inside, where you're met with the subtle scent of a library, it's sort of welcoming that it hasn't changed much. Just the slight scent of burning ozone, from all the displays, along with technical accessories, and paper too. Looking around, the library looks exactly like you think it would. A small section for physical copies, with the majority of the contents being data-discs or info-jacks. Though there are some faintly glowing objects near the back you don't recognize.

Honestly, you've never been much of a reader, but the times have changed and so will you. After a quick look around you settle into a large table, designed to seat around four people, at the center is a metallic frame that extends to accommodate whomever operates it. As you power it on a soft-blue light extends in front of you and displays a holographic screen, loading up a familiar operating system. Windows 20-X.

Is there anything in particular you wanted to look up? Why not pick two?

>Family (Yours)
Mother, father, your siblings(if you had any?). This is a painful topic, but you have to right?

>Friends (Dr. Hongo)
Your mentor and savior, it's unfortunate that you can't meet him, but you're curious to see what he was up to after your time. (Maybe someone else?)

>How the EDF fared.
Anything in the archives would be official only of course, but it would help give you a better idea of what happened. Maybe explain why the cannon as locked out.

>write-in

>>5645276
>>5645273
>>5645269
Great to see you guys again, the show continues thanks to viewers like you!

>>5645327
>Family (Yours)
>Friends (Dr. Hongo)
We can probably pester Dr. Cain about history, since she is an archaeologist.

>>5645327
>Family (Yours)
>Friends (Dr. Hongo)

>>5645327
>Family (Yours)
>Friends (Dr. Hongo)

You decide to look into your family. A large breathe fills your lungs as you work up the resolve to search for your old family name. You've been going by Kamen Rider for so long it doesn't even parse for you at first, but to begin you need to load a data-disk. Looking around, you try to find a clerk or someone, after a few moments of walking between shelves you're about to shout when a presence suddenly emerges from behind you.

"Huh!" You gaps in surprise and quickly turn around. It's an old man, wearing long and baggy robes that end at the floor, along with a green visor covering his eyes.

"Hmm, you're new are you?" His head tilts as he looks at you quizzically, almost like he's seeing a rare item, rather than a person. You notice his voice has a slight electronic buzz to it.

"Ah, yes, I've only been here for a few days."

"Show me your ID."

"Um..." You let out an awkward mutter as you try to work up an excuse, when a familiar voice suddenly interrupts.

"He's with me, Archivist." Dr. Cain steps up from behind you, presenting a small metallic card in her hand upwards, a holographic display lists off several lines of text you're at the wrong angle to read, and the archivist nods.

"Very well. How can I help you?" The archivist asks, he holds his standing pose rigidly as you give your reply.

"I wanted access to civilian records from 26XX till now."

The archivist nods and begins to lead you to another part of the library.

"You should know, our records are spotty at best in between 30 and 26XX." He says without turning.

"That's fine."

After a few quiet moments the archivist stops suddenly, you nearly bump into him too. He turns to hand you a single solid-blue disk, before turning about, he then shuffles off between some shelves, soon enough you hear a small group of kids talking in his general direction.

"I take it it's personal business today?" Dr. Cain talks softly behind you.

"Afraid so." You nod solemnly, you're prepared to face the past.

"Then I'll find you another time."

She came to find you, it's probably something important so you'd rather not brush her off so easily.

"Join me, it's just a quick query, then I can help you."

"Of course, thank you."

"We're hardly strangers." You say and begin leading the way back to your table, only a few moments later and you're back, where you then pull out a chair for her, just proper manners after all.

"Thank you, kindly." She smiles and sits down. It's here you decide to pop the question to her.

"How did you know I would be here?"

"I was on my way to see you anyways so I was already tracking you down. You're also the only one who asks for directions to the library. The kiddos all learn about it while in the academy." She offers her hand out, placing the data-disk into her palm, she slots it into the machine for you.

A quick search you said, but where to start? Your family aren't celebrities after all, and even your identity was a secret. It's been so long since you've used your real name that it didn't even parse for you, swallowing your spit, you move your fingers.

You don't find any missing person's requests for yourself, which means they likely knew what happened to you after you lost. Your mother's clinic stayed in business as far as you can tell, and your father was a handyman so there isn't much information to track on that front. All in all, your parents fared okay. You put your hands together in a prayer, hopefully, they were able to pass on before things got bad. Next up, your brother. It's here you get worried. He did go missing, around the time the mysterious warrior 'Kamen Rider' disappeared. It seems Ark-Zero wasn't satisfied, even after beating you, there's no other information other than the fact he never surfaced again. You'll just have to beat it out of the next MLFO you find.

Clearing the search and the old windows, you enter new parameters. Doctor Takeshi Hongo. He continued as a cyber-consultant for the EDF. In his few public appearances he appeared to be getting older and gaunter, at times a woman was helping him, leading him by the arm. You only just barely recognize her, Dr. Hongo's daughter. Having last seen her when she was only six, you're a bit surprised.

"I'm sorry, Doctor..."

He stopped making public appearances around 27XX, but from what you can tell he wasn't a casualty of war, perhaps he managed to live out his full years. Without cybernetic replacement humans in your era could live well into their hundred-fifties. With any other advancements he could have pushed it further.

"____! Rider!"

Dr. Cain's voice draws you out of a trance you didn't know you were in, you find your eyes are slightly strained and tired, you were even slouching slightly. Not a problem for your synthetic spine, just improper.

"About Dr. Hongo, I think he spent the rest of his life on you. Repairing and upgrading you as best as he could."

"How do you know?" You blurt out the question, it's not like you don't believe her, just curiosity. Though you are relieved, at the very least the MLFOs never got to him.

"It was how I found you. Between his notes and several net-board rumors about a legendary hero, I learned about you and his work. I am quite the expert, you know!" Dr. Cain placed a hand on her chest as she boasted proudly. Which reminds you, she's responsible for recovering you, wasn't she?


This is a good time for questions, how about it?

>Investigate how and where she found you.

>Continue the research. Was there anything else?

>Write-in

>>5645362
>Investigate how and where she found you.
>Can she fill us in on important happenings and events since 26XX? She knows a lot about history, right?

>>5645362
>Investigate how and where she found you.
>Can she fill us in on important happenings and events since 26XX? She knows a lot about history, right?

>>5645362
>Investigate how and where she found you.
>Can she fill us in on important happenings and events since 26XX? She knows a lot about history, right?

"That reminds me, I woke up in a cryo-pod. Was that yours? How did you find me?"

Dr. Cain clears her throat.

"Actually, it was, Doctor Hongo's. Well beyond its time. And it's from pieces of his personal diary that I was able to track down you, his hope for humanity and its future." She says. It doesn't take long but she starts going into great detail. You were found in what used to be an old laboratory, underneath was another lab, clearly intended to be hidden. The whole area was a wreck when she found you, but some computers were recoverable, but the most important object there was in near pristine condition. Yourself. She shares where the lab actually is, it doesn't line up with any labs you know of, but the doctor could have made it well after your time. From old-Tokyo it would take a few days, but you know where it is now, perhaps you could go and search for anything helpful or important one day?

"Did anything major happen after 26XX, can you fill me in? You know a lot about history, right?"

"You mean, aside from humans being put onto the backfoot?" She jests, but a puts a more serious expression on.

"I'm not a historian. I told you before, I focus on past relics and recovering technology. I originally had my own team, if you remember, because everyone thought you were a weapon. A big gun. If they knew you were a single person, I might never have dug you up. Actually, the lab was in pretty bad condition. You might have died in your sleep."

"Then thank you, for coming for me."

She nods, but then wears a sad, almost awkward smile. "Well, I thought you were a weapon as well." Cain slides back into her chair, resting the palms of her hands on her seat, before sighing.

"What I can tell you, is that the EDF were putting on a decent fight, but for some reason they stopped announcing machine defeats, focusing only on how hard the soldiers fought. That's not to say they didn't protect anything, but they stopped having major wins for some reason. I assumed the machines were simply getting too powerful, recently, I have learned it was you." She gestures your hand to yourself before continuing. "After you disappeared the propaganda got heavier. Cities started getting lost around this time, civilians were being evacuated, but the EDF had a harder time repelling the machines. For a few more years they were in a stalemate, before the machines managed to completely overrun cities. But not from numbers mind you."

Here, she ejects the data-disk you were using, then slots in another from beneath her robe. A few select news lines, science team reports, the kind of things that would only circulate among the higher-ups in the EDF, but a lot of it was missing. Corrupted?

"Ark-Zero said it was going to remove humanity. For awhile it seemed likely, they were annihilating the army. It was like they couldn't fight back."

Ark-Zero was so powerful? It made rare appearances, even for you, but it never seemed so strong. The MLFOs can only be defeated by your Rider specials, but surely the EDF could have managed something? Perhaps not even she knows.

"They managed a major offensive back in 28XX, during the Canadian island incident. The machines managed to field a giant tank they had been building, we only barely stopped it from making it further inland. With great sacrifice." Dr. Cain pauses and puts a hand to her chest. It wouldn't have been that long ago for the people of this time.

"The last I heard of it, the machines still want it, they've been repairing it according to our last drone sightings." She changes the image for you. Amidst a water-logged and ruined city, there is a large tank. It's cannon is shown following the camera for awhile, but it doesn't do anything. There are large armor panels on the ground, along with huge steel-pipes lining the ground, connecting the tank to some unseen object.

"After that, in 29XX, we got word of a secret Machine base, so EDF remnants managed a last offensive. Kyushu. Only, it was a trap. I'm not sure how they made such a blunder, but I can only assume the machines tricked them somehow. We lost most of the remnant, and Kyushu itself was sunk. It's rumored a single machine did it, but that doesn't sound right. Three landing-castles, Rider, we've lost three castles. We can't replace them, not anymore. When the Saurians invaded we were already weak from the machines, hit-and-run, or heavily defended fortresses like the castles are the best we can do. You're pretty much caught up. The Saurians probably think of us as pests, our satellites had already been shot down before they arrived."

It seems you got a general outline from another observer to history. But much is hidden, the machine lifeforms are as enigmatic and violent as ever. That's all you need to know!

Looking through the sky-lights at the top of the library, you can see the sun is setting, it's getting darker out.


What else?

>Spend some more time with Dr. Cain
It's likely she came here to get your help with Hongo's time capsule.

>Retire for the day
It's getting close to night. Maybe you can find someone that can give you a real room?

>Go out
You're aware they're still doing clean up. Maybe go out on patrol?

>Write-in

Hmm, did that satisfy you? Today might have seemed a bit slow but if you want history you've got it. You even have a bit of insight into the future, at least if i did it properly.

Anyways, if you're peckish for some action i tried to give you an option to stretch your legs, you could even be more direct. If you wanna hang out with more civvies you could, i kinda just forgot to put it as an option. We go to break for tonight, but when we return you decide where we go!

>>5645446
>Spend some more time with Dr. Cain
Let's see that capsule then

>>5645446
>Spend some more time with Dr. Cain

>>5645449
My hunger for lore is insatiable, but it has been appeased. For now.
Is the foreshadowing the tank, the single powerful machine and Ark being so strong out of nowhere? The last one might be related with us getting put out of commission.

>>5645446
>Spend some more time with Dr. Cain

>>5645449
Was pretty neat.

>>5645457
The tank is me telling you they do have sentience, they can think for themselves, even create. They didn't stick with a humanoid design for all their soldiers. But it's a one-off unless i do it really good and you guys go "another one!" Basically, a raid dungeon, at least in my mind. As a qm i'm not sure how much to tell you but currently the plan does not involve CQCing a giant tank

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>>5645531

>>5645543
Kek

>>5645446
>Spend some more time with Dr. Cain
Happy to see you're back!

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>>5646125
And i'm glad to see you too, loyal reader!

Devupdate: Today is a singular post. Sorry, better than no post right? Anyways, boy we sure are excited to see cain... I'll paste it up soon, and then I'll see you guys on the same channel tomorrow! Today's episode brought to you by B*ndai!

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The image is still cycling through the drone shots above the Canadian Islands. You can see the half-buried remains of the landing-castle they used to stop the MLFO advance. Brave souls rest there. Humanity has had a rough time of it, but you swear in your heart once again.

"I may not be a gun, but my body as a weapon, I will save you all. I promise this." You can't help but say this outloud. Dr. Cain gives you a sad smile but doesn't say anything more, she simply ejects the data-disk and plants it back where she had it.

"Doctor, you approached me today about the time capsule, I assume." With your other business more or less concluded, you decide to change the subject, she nods.

"Yes, have you had a chance to look at it?"

"Only a cursory examination. It's heavily encrypted." You say. The drive, which is essentially the time capsule, requires actually being plugged into a computer. The brig does not allow computers. The short of it, you probed it once with your nanites in between now and then; all you know is that it's very well protected.

"Well, I just so happen to be humanities biggest expert on Kamen Rider and Dr. Hongo's works. Shall we?" She gives you some genuine excitement now. Together the both of you go at it, without stopping, the both of you even start getting a little loud until the archivist shows up again to tell you both to quiet down. Embarrassing, even back in 26XX you treated libraries better than this. Interestingly, this is the only time you've ever gotten excited over coding and computer talk, even with other experts you usually find yourself at a disconnect; they understand them at a professional level, textbook even, yourself though? You aren't an expert, you didn't even finish college, nevermind actually taking computer classes. It doesn't come up often, but thanks to the machine surgery, you understand programs and the like much differently than the average person, closer to understanding certain machines as if they were your own body.

Since Dr. Hongo clearly meant for you to receive this, it seems tuned to your own thoughts. Together, you and Dr. Cain make good strides into decoding the information. Presently, most of the information are just jumbles of code, lines of text and strange engineering details neither of you can make heads or tails, but the both of you have deduced one thing. Eventually, the two of you encounter another hidden message.

Dr. Hongo appears in a holographic form once again, standing resolutely, facing forwards. Looking only a little older than the last hologram.

"Kamen Rider, if you've found this then I can only assume your need is true. Are you continuing your fight against the Machine Lifeforms? I wish you the best of luck. I lament again that a soul as young as yours is forced to conduct this one-man war. Don't give in! You are humanities only hope."

It seems as though there are more messages set to trigger upon you decoding other pieces of the work. Specifically, they're linked you to accessing what seems to be a series of blueprints, Cain remarks how densely packed the data is and you concur. The both of you notice one thing though. All the information inside is about you, specifically, how to alter your body.

"That's nice of him." Dr. Cain remarks and you nod.

"He spent a lot of time thinking ahead, it's just like him."

The two of you work a silently after that, continuing to decode what you can. There are some options here to upgrade your bike, actually, like embedding guns into the front part, adding more rockets, transforming it. There's also something about weapons a little further in. You can't access any of it now though. It's here that the doctor starts up another conversation.

"What was he like? Back then I mean."

You smile as you lean back into your chair, closing your eyes, you reminisce, "like a reliable uncle, he would also leave some donuts-toppers out whenever he needed me to help at his lab. Like my father he also did his best to help me out, and I in turn, tried to return the favor. I even took care of his daughter for a little while." You put your hand and hover it next to your knees. "She was probably around this tall when I last saw her in person, it was quite shocking to see her as a teenager in those pictures."

"Oh? Is that who the girl was? Here I thought the good doctor just had a naughty side." She giggles.

You give her an amused smile, just a little small-talk, she doesn't mean anything ill of course. "She was always his pride and joy."

Dr. Cain suddenly puts a hand to her chin, "If Dr. Hongo is as nice as you say, how come he didn't leave a way for you to awaken?"

"Hm?"

"The lab I found you in, if I didn't wake you up, who would have? Surely he would have left some way for you to awaken?"

"I thought I pushed open the pod myself?"

Shaking her head, Cain continues, "not quite, I had already started your defrost cycle. Unless you intended on waking up three-hundred years after your last birthday?"

That is somewhat troubling, from what you understand though, it could be the equipment and laboratory were simply damaged due to unforeseen events. The fact that you made it into the future in one-piece is pretty lucky.

"What about yourself doctor?"

"My family?" Her brows raise and she adopts a curious expression. There's a short pause as she chooses her words. "Well, everyone I think is alive is here on the castle.."

"You were born here in Japan then, like me?"

"Ah, I come from America actually, long after the last prime minister, of course."

"Don't worry about it. I never managed to vote for Japan's president."

The both of you share a short laugh, aside from historians, you're probably the only ones who care about past world leaders. A yawn suddenly escapes your mouth, you feel a little weaker as well, just for a few moments.

"My, my.. So the legendary Kamen Rider gets bored and sleepy too." Dr. Cain gives you a teasing smile, though you feel a little confused, until you remember your last fight. You must still be on the mend.

"Sorry, doctor, I guess three days wasn't enough."

"Just don't nap for another three centuries. I'll let you off the hook for tonight. You probably have some thinking you need to do as well." She says as she ejects Hongo's data-drive and hands it too you.

The time capsule seems to be something that will take multiple visits, before you can continue you should decide if there's anything you need in particular. Which a wealth of information there's a lot for the two of you to process, it would certainly take awhile if you just went at it with no goal in mind. Though, it's not as if you're dying, you can put this off. Outside, Fujioka has resolved himself with the samurai spirit and has devoted himself to protecting the realm of dreams. In other words, he fell asleep standing up, certainly impressive by your standards. Should you leave him be?


The sun is long gone, but the night is young. What are you thinking?

>Turn in
It's probably too late to negotiate for a decent room. But that steel-plated bunk of yours has begun to feel softer than usual.

>Explore the castle
You'll find something. It might be interesting exploring at night, they say cities are totally different when the people are asleep.

>Hit the simulator
It's likely empty by now. Night shift will have taken over and soldiers will be asleep or busy.

>Write-in

>>5645543
Totally saving that btw, where did you get that helmet?

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>>5646483
>>Explore the castle
>>5646484
Typed kamen rider helmet into google.

>>5646483
>Turn in

>>5646483
>Hit the simulator

>>5646483
>Explore the castle
Well, now that it's already this late, we may as well go outside.

A night on the town, the landing-castle is a big place, let's see it goes

You've decided to explore the castle a little more, the night is young, you're definitely not an old man; you're brimming with energy, maybe. Sparing not even a second thought, you leave Fujioka behind to rest after a hard day of hardly working. People seem to have no problem tracking you down anyways.

"Rest in peace, brave soldier." You softly clap your hands in a half-hearted prayer to Fujioka while the library guard stares.

During your short time here you've become plenty acquainted with the military district of the landing castle, so you opt to go anywhere outside of it. Only problem is, you don't actually know where anything is, so you wander. It is somewhat strange, unnerving even. If this were the outdoors, outside your family home, or in the streets of Tokyo you know you'd hear the crickets and what not calling out to each other, animals scurrying. There's no wildlife in a landing-castle which makes it seem like a foreign world. Distant chatter in another direction, followed by the soft glow of distant lights, calls you closer.

It takes a little while, after about a half-hour of walking, the purpose-built buildings and cement paths of the military area become start to disappear, giving way to wider roads with patches of grass on the sides, tree begin to dot the sides of the road every now and then. This place is certainly big, it would have to be to house over a thousand men and women, but to actually walk it was another story. If this were the outdoors, outside your family home, or in the streets of Tokyo you know you'd hear the crickets and what not calling out to each other, animals scurrying. There's no wildlife in a landing-castle making it seem like a foreign world. Distant chatter in another direction, followed by the soft glow of distant lights, calls you closer.

Walking around, you end up stumbling into some sort of market area. Dozens of wheel-mounted stalls, attached to different vehicles, with bright neon signs atop them, all line this particular street, their owners are loud as they callout to the bustling night crowd wandering around. Late-night shopping was always popular back in your time as well, people late with gifts, looking to quickly replace essentials, or those on the prowl for something interesting.

"Over here, over here! Young man, yes you!" A slightly large man is calling you over, so you buzz closer with your hands behind your back, looking very much like an interested customer. Though the shopkeeper would definitely turn you back if they knew you weren't paid, at all. Fortunately, you haven't run into any problems, as a denizen of an assault-proof apartment your stay is automatically provided three-square meals a day. Literally. Your face sours as you remember.

"Come now, young man! Don't make such a face, I promise I have only interesting things!" He beckons you closer, then continues his pitch. "A new face, yes? I've got many rare curios from history, come on, give it a look!"

>Get closer

>Don't

>>5647480
>Get closer

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but there actually is something interesting. A surprise to be sure. It's here you recall there was a short, straight to mega-disk, series about you. Specifically, a Kamen Rider show, based on what little rumors there were about you on the net-boards. As you nostalgically recall this, you note that the mega-disk was a failed line, perhaps it was a bad omen at the time.

"Ah, I've caught your eye! That's right, our rumored guest, the new arrival, Kamen Rider!" He matches your gaze and presents the mega-disk box to you. It's slightly worn down at the sides, water warping down the middle, and some of the image has faded. But it's you, compound visor and all! You wear an amused smile as you listen on.

"You get to learn his deepest secrets, how he was secretly a Zennilionaire trying to avenge his parents!"

It's hard holding back a laugh. Whose backstory is that? Zennnilionaire, who? He goes on to summarize the series first arc, something about jungle monsters? He tries to sell it to you at what he says is a 'fair price', but you make it clear you're not interested and turn away.

It's strange, everyone is having fun, living their lives. Like they weren't living in a war. A good omen, no?

On your way out you see some kind of food vendor, you didn't stop to check, but from what you saw it was they were jelly bazaar, you find an empty play park. It's spooky not seeing any kids on the swings and whatnot, but this is nighttime, if there were any here it might have been scarier. It surprises you briefly that a military ship like this castle would have so many civilian amenities, the only thing you haven't seen yet is a pool, and surely such a thing wouldn't be too hard to install.

A little more wandering and you start to come into vaguely familiar territory. Putting a finger on your chin, you tap for a bit until it comes to you. This is close to where you spent your first day, helping out here and there with handy work. It's not that same plaza, you can't see the loading machines or the workshops, but you know you're close. Clearly this area is reserved for the loud daytime work, as it's completely empty, a bit eerie. But that's always fun, and you find you've missed this, just wandering, adventuring. A grin stretches around your face as you walk on. What will you do, when it's all over?

Eventually, you come across a certain building, you've never seen it before, but the lights are still on. Machinery is loud at work on the sides, inside you can hear just as much commotion, as well as a man and woman yelling. Nothing dangerous, apparently they're just stressed about work. Soon enough, a woman, just a few years behind you if you had to guess, comes storming out.

"Argh!" She stomps a little more before noticing you, and suddenly points. "You there! You're not busy so come help me out!"

>Agree
You aren't busy, so why not? Besides, when do you abandon people in need.

>Disagree
Whatever it is, you want no part of it. If it's her job she should do it.

>Write-in

>>5647510
>Agree

>just a few years behind you
Wow, she is 400 years old and still standing?

>>5647518
if only we could all look nice at 300 years :(

>>5647510
You point to yourself, playing coy while she gives you another frustrated look.

"Of course I'm talking to you! Are you daft! Get over here!" She shouts and beckons you closer with an arm. Suddenly another voice erupts from inside, the voice of a much older man.

"Stop shouting, already! You're going to wake the neighbors!"

"What neighbors!"

So much yelling, is that a ringing in your ears? No, it's probably the metal clanking from the pack the woman is wearing. As you saunter over she gives you a strange look as she studies your face. She looks familiar to you too but it's likely the both of you have only seen each other in passing.

"How can I help?"

"Oh, ah!" She's rustling about in her pack, checking over her gear before she steps into a brisk walk, with you following behind. "We've got another of those blops onboard, and I need a soldier to help."

"If you need a soldier then why are you going at all? It's dangerous right?"

She gives you a glare, "did you forget, it's my job! Can't let you lot hold anything important!"

Rude. You have no idea who she is, are you supposed to? Before you can ask her to clarify she's pulled out a small tool -like your old smart-phone, with some sort of tiny cylinder attached to the front- then starts tapping away at it. Looking over her shoulder you see a series of very technical looking graphs and numbers.

"The last soldiers that told me about it got all nicked and scratched. Bunch of babies, you lot, a firefight's no problem but rats and blops and you're screaming for mummy."

"Right." You nod, kind of just letting her vent, then you raise the question. "But what are blops?"

She looks at you as like you were drooling on your shirt, blinks, then throws a hand in the air.

"Alright, fine, maybe you don't know. I call them blops because they're Bacterial Leftover Organisms Planted from Saurians. They're aliens, you see, so they're covered in alien bacteria, if that interacts with a heavy mana source it becomes a blop, and then it becomes a pest. You guys can't be trusted with alchemy, that's for me."

"Thank you."

"Pssh." She leads the both of you around another block of buildings, they look residential, then you stop in front of a dilapidated two-story house. She taps at her tool for a moment, aims it at the house, then brings it back.

"It's this one. The soldiers have been to scared to clean it up because of the blop, so now I'm here."

"After all this time?"

"I'm busy, okay! Anyways, the last residents moved out awhile ago, with no new passengers cleaning out new homes hasn't exactly been a priority. The Commander puts stuff like this on the backburner and whoever's job it is will get to it eventually. Here I am!"

"What happened to the last owners?"

She shrugs, "who knows, maybe they moved in with someone, maybe they died." Her tone is softer as she replies. She may have been a little hard on the ears, but she was hardly as rough as she seemed. A moment later she's jabbing you in the side with a similar tool.

"Here, we're going to track it down with these. I've already set yours up, just follow the pretty lights."

Your brow twitches as she speaks, certainly even without college education, you could do better than 'follow the light'. But you comply and accept it in hand.

"This was one of the original residential buildings, it hasn't been maintained well, take care when we go inside."

"Stay behind me, I'll go in first."

She nods and moves behind you. You're aware the landing-castle is supposed to appear like a real town, so you shouldn't be surprised to see that they use real wood, real wood that has rotted somewhat, allowing you to see the durasteel beams that make up parts of the foundation. The outside was constructed with 21st century standards, brick and mortar, with some decorative wood on the sides, along with the doorway. The grass and trees planted around the front lawn were very real and nicely maintained, someone was watering them, automatic systems?

Well, it still looks in one piece, hardly like the haunted houses from your old vidflix's. Walking up the cement pathway up to the main entrance, you examine the doors and find them cracked and warped. Putting a hand on the knob you twist it but it doesn't budge.

"Can't be helped, bust it down. Here, I'll he-" The woman starts talking but you're already putting your shoulder into it. Even while weakened, a wooden door like this can't stop you, and you've ripped it off the hinge. The girl behind you whistles.

"Wow, someone grabbed the good parts."

"What are we looking for?"

"A blops, I told you. Just help me check around, it should be harmless, just watch your feet." She says and turns to operate the light panel. Several noncompliant beeps and buzzes and she lets out a frustrated grunt. "Stupid, the electricals failed somewhere, we'll need to get an engineer down here." You could probably fix the lights with nanites. Doesn't seem necessary though, not to mention your tools have built in flashlights.

Well?

>Split up
It's a two-story building, if it's harmless it should be fine. Check the upstairs or downstairs first.

>Stay together
You really have no idea what you're dealing with so it's best to stay together.

>Write-in

>>5647579
>Split up

"Let's split up and cover more ground."

"Sure, I was going to say that anyways. Uhm, but who goes where?"

The house is very dark, the lack of lights, your flashlights are able to illuminate a few feet ahead, the streetlamps can also help a little in the rooms facing the street, in other words, the first floor likely has the most illumination.

"I'll go upstairs, you take the first floor. We'll search room by room."

"R-right!" She shouts. As you climb the nearest stairs you look over your shoulder to see her watching you, she's shaking a little. Is she afraid of the dark or something, at her age?

"Nothing to be scared of right?" She jumps a little when you suddenly spoke up.

"Y-yeah! Just a bacterial spot, call me when you see it."

You give her a wave as you search the rooms. The first room you encounter is quite spacious, it's also empty, your mind can't help but measure it in tatami mats at first. It comes to about twenty feet wide, definitely a diplomat's residence. There was also a 'fireplace', probably not a real one, more likely it opened up to some sort of heating device. Your finger wipes the top. Clean. For a moment, you wonder just how cold it gets in castles, supposedly they could alter their weather just a little.

Running the tool that woman gave you over the room you see small spikes, trace amounts it tells you, but not enough to be a problem. Or so the little info window tells you. What the heck is a blop? Should you be listening for small animals? Straining your hearing, you can hear a quick series of pattering, footsteps? That woman? They're downstairs though so you can't see the source.

Moving into the next room you spot a bedroom, several series of bedrooms in fact, aside from two, the others were smaller, measuring at about five feet, pretty average. At least for you. Eventually you find a hallway reaching out into a balcony. You never even saw a house like this on the ground, it's quite a strange thing to see it on a military vessel, maybe you hadn't seen it all. Maybe there was a Ferris wheel or something onboard too.

So far, that scanner you got showed inconclusive results pretty much everywhere. Sometimes the spikes were bigger, but largely irrelevant. The Saurians sure were dirty folks. Suddenly you hear a scream from downstairs!

>Run down

>Punch through the floor

>Use the balcony, then reenter from the outside

>Walk

>>5647631
>Run down

"I'm coming!" You shout as you pocket the tool, then turn into a full-sprint. It's not as fast as usual, but you still manage to cover the length of the second floor swiftly, skipping over some steps on the stairs you feel your heart skip a beat as an explosion rocks the building further off. As quick as you can you're running to where the explosion came from. Just a few steps away and suddenly you hear a quick series of metallic taps, then something quickly blitzes past you, you ignore it, putting priority on the woman.

Though the room was on the far side of the house you need only moments to close in, and you look inside. Large scorch marks by the doorway, the wooden flooring is blasted apart, the carpentry is burnt up, revealing dented metal foundation plates. The doorway itself is in pieces, like a giant spiked-ball rolled through. Wooden splinters stab into the walls and ceiling around you, as well as a bed of steam slowly rolling off. A sigh of relief passes your lips as you make out whimpering underneath the bed.

"I'm here.." You whisper.

"I-is it gone? D-di-did I get it?"

"It's gone." You crouch onto a knee and hold your hand out to pull her. She grabs with both hands, leaving you to pull her out completely. As she emerges you can see soot all over her, the results of her explosive no doubt.

"T-thanks.."

"No problem."

To your side you can make out a rounded piece of metal, it didn't look like it had the proportions to match a door, or anything attached to the floor, it's also red-hot. "I think you got a piece of it."

She gestures you to bring it closer as she pulls up her scanner.

"Trace amounts of mana, but heightened amounts of Saurian bacteria..."

"It's a Saurian?"

"N-no, they can't use mana, I uh, I don't know what this is.. It might be our blop." You raise a brow when she says that.

"I thought you said it wasn't dangerous?"

"It usually isn't! Blimey! Usually some fool tracks it on his boot, or someone's dog licks the wrong thing!"

"Did you get a good look?" You ask.

"Uhm, not really.. I just saw eyes..." She's practically shaking. Can you blame her, as a civilian she probably thought she was safe on the castle. You give her a pat on the back as you examine the piece of metal.

You saw it for a brief second, crawling on all fours like a certain horror movie icon, except, that lady wasn't wearing armor. As you look at the piece of metal in your hands you see some damaged bolt tabs, places where something would attach, like a bicep or breast plating. You're holding a shoulder pad.

"I thought you weren't a soldier."

She shakes her head, "I'm not." Then she looks at you with a confident grin. "I just make their bombs."

Whatever it was, it ran from the both of you after that grenade. You still have it find it, don't you? What are you thinking?

>Examine the house again
Look for it again with the both of you together, if it is attacking then you'll be there to face it. Hunt it down.

>Hold position
If it is attacking you, then it'll just come again later, no sense wearing yourselves out. Prepare for a stakeout.

>Leave
Since when do bacterial contagions need grenades? You've got better things to do.

>Write-in

>>5647654
>Examine the house again

"Let's go over the house together."

"Yeah. Bet you're wishing you had your gun right about now, eh?"

You flash her a grin. "I'm better without a gun."

Obviously, the room you were currently in is clear. Putting a head out the object formerly known as a door, you look side to side down the hallway. Nothing. Up and down, opposite, clear. Straining your enhanced ears there was nothing again, the sound was gone. The woman draws closer to your backside and whispers.

"How is it?"

"Nothing."

We could sit and wait for something to happen, but who knows how long that would take, it was also likely that the previous soldiers thought it was nothing and found themselves all scratched up when they came face to face with 'it'. Wait a minute. Turning to face her you ask what suddenly came to mind

"I thought you said the investigating soldiers only came back with scratches?"

"That's what I was told. Not like any of them came to me afterwards, I'm no nurse." She shrugs.

"Right."

"It's likely, whatever this is, got violent in the time in-between. It's been awhile, you know?"

"How long?"

"... oh, ahm, weeks? Maybe a month?"

"I thought you said this was your job?"

"I've been busy, alright! Shove off! Pops can't even leave the workshop!"

You hadn't searched the first floor for yourself, so it takes a little longer than it could have. Another large room, built for a reception, or a dining hall?

"Wonder what this is.." The girl next to you is scanning the room while you watch the doors, she gets your attention and points at the fireplace. She watches you stifle a laugh while pouting. "Come now, I'm hardly an architect."

"That's a fireplace. People use it to heat rooms. In my history class they said those used to be coal powered, needed a chimney that connected outside."

Her eyes go all buggy, "a what and a what?"

Now you chuckle loudly. Education sure has changed huh? Well you give her the quick bulletpoints and she looks confused. Telling her stuff about smoke, then touching on firewood, then the simple digital representations.

"But what's the point? This is a modern home, definitely made after 25XX, wouldn't you just use the atmo setup? Do you think you could light a real fire in it?"

"Ask 'pops'." You say with air-quotes, she just blows hot air at you.

In the next room you find a kitchen, not a high-capacity one, probably for custom dishes or special requirements; not made for regular use. You find a piece of torn cloth on the floor, from one of the soldiers perhaps? No blood though. You briefly think of your mother's cooking, while she could never match high-style cooking, there was something to be said for consistency, and something like 'made with care'?

"Bet you miss your mates, don't you want to call for backup?"

"Nah, I can handle it. I've got a secret weapon." You put the cloth onto a countertop then gesture to your waistline with a confident grin. Unfortunately, she seems to misinterpret that. Sorry, I didn't mean that. The rest of the search is pretty uneventful, your companion just remarks on a few items every now and then while the both of you search. A few large empty rooms with fireplaces, some smaller ones with furniture, and two toilets.

"You searched the upstairs, didn't you?"

"That I did, now we'll do it again."

The second floor search goes by faster as you know the layout, every room is scanned, your flashlights dance across the walls as you move about, casting odd-shadows, and you've completed the search.

"I-it's not a ghost, right?"

"Your tool says we're tracking bacteria right?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Then we are."

Still, you're stumped. At least the machine lifeforms and Saurians would have made it easy. An ambush here, some taunts there, heck you can handle snipers. Definitely not the MO of any of your current enemies. It's actually refreshing, you don't say that out loud though, would definitely bring a misunderstanding. Bringing your hands to your hips, you sigh loudly.

"Phew. Did it really run?"

"Why even stay in this house?"

You turn to face your partner, and there it was. Low to the ground, just like a certain grudgeful ghost, like it was crawling. Your light only showed you the top half, its head cocked towards you as it looked back at you, as if meeting your gaze. At first you thought you were looking at a person, a human; you could see visible features, eyes, mouth, nose, even something vaguely hair-like. You also, began to feel something, the faint whisper of mana getting closer.

"Look ou-" You started a warning. That's when it suddenly burst into motion, it's body rose, leaping to the ceiling, spiraling around the walls towards you. It was certainly human sized, but it wasn't a person. Dropping your flashlight you move to plant yourself in-between the girl and the intruder. It's speed was nearly unbelievable, even your enhanced kinetic-vision has trouble keeping up. As you rush into position you find your foot snagging on something, no time to look though, you launch your arms up to catch its attack.

"Gnnggh!" You grunt. Something impales your hand, while your other catches an arm, closing your damaged cyber-hand around the weapon you force a vise-like grip, holding it in place. You give yourself a wiggle and find your foot is trapped somehow, but your attention is locked onto the one in front of you.

What are you going to do?

>Tell the girl to run.
Make this a one-on-one. You'll need to break the hold, but if you transform you can easily turn this around.

>Get some help.
She has grenades, what else? If she gives you a hand you can turn this around. But she is a civilian.

>Write-in

Hmm, I chose now to experiment a little, could you tell? Well I'm not sure how far i can take this, i've got an idea, but i'm just going with the flow right?

Anyways, I break here for tonight, boy we sure got a few updates out yeah? Next session/update(?) will be in either 48 hours or 72. See you next episode!

>>5647728
>Tell the girl to run.

>>5647728
>Tell the girl to run.

>>5647728
>Tell the girl to run.

File: __kamen_rider_black_kamen(...).jpg (139 KB, 850x1189)

139 KB JPG

"Get out of here!" You shout as you grapple with the thing in front of you.

"W-what about you?"

"I can handle myself, get going!"

Unable to split your attention any further, you just barely register the girl running off towards the opposite end of the hallway, then down the stairs. That's one less worry. The brief glimpse you had earlier showed you a stoic, emotionless face, with glassy eyes. Without the presence of Aether, you're sure it's not an MLFO, and it's not likely to be Saurian. An old battledroid? Though that's equally unlikely, they really weren't cost effective, and were rare by the time you were born. Not to mention a general ban on robotics once the MLFOs activated, a precaution, but without Aether cores there really was no worry.

The metal groaning in both your joints, along with your foe's tells you it is some sort of machine. Without most of your nanites to transport and supply power throughout your body, you're going to be fighting a disadvantage, so if you plan to lessen that gap with your belt you need to move fast. That said, it's easier said than done. The two of you are trying to outmatch the other, pushing, or pulling. It's so dark, you can't see anything outside the small amount of moonlight reflected off the walls and ceiling adornments; your flashlight has rolled off somewhere so that's no help.

You know your arms are locked down, your only moveable leg is stuck keeping balance, leaving only one available limb to attack or defend. Your head. Gritting your teeth, you push your torso, neck, then head as far up as you can. You reach, crashing into something hard and definitely metal, but it's not enough. The machine moves across the ceiling, passes overhead, then drops to the ground, locking your arms behind your back. Suddenly, two additional limbs lock onto your midsection, wrapping a cold-hard body around your backside.

"Eiyah!" You shout, then bend as far back as you can, throwing your back into the floor as hard as possible with the kind of flexibility and power only a cyborg like yourself has. Wooden splinters explode upwards, cutting you in a few places, the sound of metal slamming against metal and bending follow. For a moment its hold on you is weakened, you're able to shake it off, its body flies off somewhere else, the weapon in your hand slides out just as quickly. Unable to turn around, you gamble leaving your back facing the enemy.

"Rider!" Calling out into the empty hallway, you throw one arm up at an angle, the other bends out to the side. An ark of energy fills your body with a static like feeling as a metallic band shimmers into existence around your waist. Moving your raised arm counter-clockwise, you then switch arms, placing the other high into the air, an instant later you bend both at your sides. The gyro begins to whistle, a shaky, almost faint, gust pushes its way into existence around you.

"Change!" A bright light envelops you. The nanomachines connecting to you and the belt begin changing, transforming into your Rider armor. Squeezing your injured hand a few times you test its reaction, it's numb, that's bad, it can still move, that's good. Yanking your trapped foot up as hard as you can, you discover it was snagged on some warped flooring, likely a result of the explosion from downstairs.

Turning around, your compound visor just barely catches movement, the blur of a shadow. It's shooting towards you like an arrow, with some sort of blade outstretched by its side. You parry it with the back of your hand, causing it to jump back farther. It's a hallway, wider than most, but not even close to a gym or the wide-open spaces you prefer. When it comes around for you, jumping up to the ceiling, then swooping down, you managed to roll away, taking only a glancing slash to your shoulder. It's certainly fast, but that's no problem.

Shrugging it off you jump away yourself, it seems defensive now, perhaps realizing you're tougher now. Trying to trick it with a feint, you throw a fist, then catch it with a kick as it dodges, sending it flying through the wall of a bedroom. A plume of dust and debris burst outwards, blinding you completely. Following it to finish it off, you feel a stirring in the air with your blade-antennae; it comes in fast, you throw your arms up to block. A slash rolls through, then a flurry of similar pokes as it tries to pierce your defense. In the process you catch a scratch on your helmet, along with a few blows to your stomach. Trying to grab it again, your hands lock onto an arm, as you proceed to throw it backwards it suddenly rotates mid-air. Instead of landing on its face, it's standing upright, then delivers a swift blow to your mid-section. With a grunt you stumble backwards slightly, then quickly ready yourself again by switching into another pose.

It's hard to see, the debris fog is thick, the halls are dark. Fortunately, there is some slight illumination from your compound visor. Watching closely, you can see movement in the shadows, armored limbs coming into view for moments as it moves through the air. As soon as the flurry of stabs and slashes pauses, for just a moment, you catch it off guard. In the middle of another attack you dodge by a hair's breadth, spinning on a heel, you twist and deliver a spinning roundhouse kick, throwing whatever it is through another wall, then outside.

Your breathing is quick and heavy as your senses return to normal. The fight feels like it might be over soon, what are you thinking?

>Follow it. [Normal]
With a non-special attack, simply pummel it down. You can pull it apart and look for problems afterwards.

>Follow it. [Special]
Leave nothing to chance, use the Aether from your Rider belt to destroy it in one final decisive blow.

>Follow it and observe.
For reasons unknown to you, a violent robot has made its way into the deepest part of the landing-castle, and for some reason a random civilian thought she could handle this alone?

>>5650391
>Follow it and observe.
Attacking it might be the best option, but I'm curious.
Hopefully we don't go the way of the cat.

"Hoh!" You jump out behind it, flying through the night-sky for a brief moment, with a soft 'thump' you land on a knee beside it onto the grass and dirt. If you remember right this is the rear garden. Outside looks much better, additional light from the moon, the faint glow from the streetlamps, as well as the room lights from curious neighbors. All that extra illumination means you can finally see what you're dealing with now. You were right, it was a robot. The body was metal with a exo-glass finish, certainly expensive work, that along with the human features; two arms and legs, eyes, fake hair? It's some kind of old serv-bot, it's ragged dress and apron gives off the impression of some kind of maid-type as well. However, time was not kind to it, aside from its clothes and material damage, its also missing a few extremities, specifically, its hands and feet. Its wrists were worn down stumps, it must be purely coincidental that they were sharpened to a point; without its feet it must have been forced to use the mag-clamps in its wrists and ankles to move around, which explains why you never heard any footsteps, it simply stuck to the wood and carpet by magnetizing to the metal in the house frame.

It starts shaking violently as you kneel over it, you shove your arms over it, holding it down to ensure it can't escape. A pair of footsteps approaches from around the garden gates, followed by a sharp gasp, they then quickly approach you. It's reacting violently still, slamming its arms and legs into you, so you shift it to where you can hold it better, forcing it into a tightened bear-hug.

"T-this is... what was chasing us?" The woman from before has come back, you nod, then she starts looking over it, in another moment she's brought out her scanner. As the tool flashes over the robot it begins beeping. "Whoa... uhm, ah, Rider? This is it, this is the blop! Our bacterial contagion..."

"Huh?"

"Move your arms a smidge." She says, making a waving motion with her hands. Shifting appropriately, you allow the woman access to the chest of the robot. A panel pops up, she starts messing with the insides, a moment later it goes dead in your arms, allowing you to drop it harmlessly onto the ground again.

Take a look." The woman says, presenting you a small glowing crystal, with some sort of purple-red growth on it. "What is this?" She asks and you look it over.

"It's an old mana-cell. This robot was probably left in stand-by ages ago, so it clung to life for all these years, and then this blop happens by and latches onto it. Inadvertently reactivating the robot, but without its normal power-supply its programming deteriorated." You say, well it's all just a guess, you've come to become something of an expert on machines after all. The woman gives you an unenthused grunt.

"Well, it's not like I'm an engineer. You're such a smarty pants, Kamen Rider." She brings out a small item, small snub-nosed gun with a cylinder attached underneath; in other words, a spray-gun. Pulling the trigger, a hushed hiss escapes from the barrel as a white foam begins to smother the insides.

"Still, that doesn't explain why it reacted so violently..." You say, putting a finger on your chin in thought.

"Yeah, I can't explain that one. Maybe someone just programmed it weirdly?" She shrugs as she continues spraying. Wait a minute. If it reacts to mana like she said, then what happens if someone powered by Aether walks by? Aether, being a purer source of mana, and then you flood yourself with that energy by donning the Rider armor? Well, at least you didn't try to give it a rider kick, it might have turned into a weird giant monster, and that's not your normal gimmick.

"Alright, I've neutralized it, and I'll send some more people to come by later for a clean up because I'm beat." She says, the claps her hands.

"That brings this chapter to a close." You say, taking off your helmet to take a slight breather. The woman goes bug-eyed when you do this, then calms down a moment later. She seemed to think you were a normal soldier of the castle when you first met, no doubt she realizes who you are now.

What next?

>Turn in
You're beat, find Fujioka and hang up your boots. You don't need a doctor, your nanites will patch it up while you sleep.

>You're injured
Spend the night at the hospital, rest and face the new day with a patched up hand.

>Investigate more
You turned the house over more than enough but it eluded you while you were searching. Curious?

>Write-in

>>5650432
>Investigate more
Maybe the robot was the house's maid, and there is some sort of compartment or hidden tunnels it could use to travel around without appearing?

>>5650436
Although I'm only curious about the house because it was an option. Didn't even notice there was something odd

>>5650432
>Investigate more, then turn in to the hospital afterwards

>>5650439
>Didn't even notice there was something odd
Neither did I.


>>5650460
>>5650436
You know what, I could probably transition into that scene immediately, tack it on since i'm still writing if that's what the both of you want. I don't think i have that many more updates in me tonight.

>>5650468
I'm ok with taking a look and going to the hospital, since going there is what I wanted to do afterwards too

>>5650468
That's alright with me too.

A moment passes by the two of you. You can hear people whispering and talking in the houses around you as they look on, no doubt coming up with gossip of their own while you stand around. The silence breaks when you finally come to a decision in your mind.

"Hmm, how come we couldn't find it?"

"Wha?"

"We looked together through the house, we should have seen it again, instead it snuck up on us. So where was it?"

"Who cares! Come on, let's go!" She looks at you pleadingly, but you shake your head.

"You can go if you want, I'll take a look around."

"Blimey.. Just don't go blowing any more holes, alright? That's paperwork for the both of us I imagine." She moans on again. Despite complaining, she seems to agree as she's following you back inside. After searching a few rooms and coming up with nothing, the girl suddenly calls you over, to the fireplace in one of the bedrooms. You thought about telling her to be careful, but your society moved long past the need for any actual fireplaces, of course soot wouldn't exist, but then she says something that you somehow missed.

"Mr. Rider, why isn't there any dust around this?"

Looking around, you notice that while walls were in a dubious shape, along with the ceiling adornments like the chandeliers, the floor was clean. Even the carpet downstairs was dust free, no footprints, even after you entered. Then you remember that rag from before, was it cleaning up behind you? Putting on your helmet, you then knock on the wall, then the fireplace, your brows raise suddenly. Your blade-antennae just told you something very interesting, there's a passageway somewhere behind the wall. Though there was no visible switch.

"Mag-activated, maybe?" You mutter as you poke and prod at the edge of the fireplace.

"You gonna break that too?" The woman says teasingly.

"Maybe.." You whisper as you knock on the wall. Suddenly you have a flash of inspiration, back to your childhood, you remember you had gone to a ninja village where they let you play around with hidden doors, along with the hanging kites and some such. Briefly, you wonder if Dr. Hongo left you some stealth upgrades in the time-capsule.

Remembering the hidden doors, you start pressing at certain edges, then the entire frame suddenly creaks. Pushing it slightly it hardly budges, putting your back into it, the entire wall promptly shifted, switching around, throwing you into darkness again.

"Whoa!" You shout as you fall into a sheer-drop.

"Rider!" The woman yells from behind as you disappear.

At the bottom is a fairly large room, more importantly, it's a basement. A basement in the landing-castle? That's like adding a secret room into a battleship. Well, logically, it could have been a shelter too. Looking around, there were two more serv-bots, another maid-type and a butler-type. Though they were inactive, still inside their pods, just to be sure you go over them with the scanner tool. Nothing, no reaction. Shining your light over the room you see it's pretty much undecorated, it was for storing the robots only it seems. Something catches your eye though. There's an old style map at the center of a table, old style as in paper, and it didn't have any dust or rips in it. You don't know the layout of the castle too well yourself but several points are circled around it. One of them looks like a plaza of some kind, the others appear to be buildings of some sort.

Take it?

>Y/N

If you take it, what will you do with it?

>Give it to Fujioka

>Keep it

>Write-in

Looking around some more, you find out there's a small gyro-lift that goes back up, you emerge outside another fireplace, but not the one you entered through. The servants must have some way of being called throughout the house then. Regardless, it only takes you a few moments.

"Kamen Rider!" The woman is clearly relieved when you show up again. "You can certainly be dramatic. I almost followed you down you know!"

"It's alright." You say with a smile, then you go into a flourish of moves, ending in an especially flashy pose. "Kamen Rider is invincible!"

She giggles, then goes into laughing, "what was that?"

Fujioka arrives soon after looking out of breath, he no doubt woke up recently, weary from his duty of guarding the dream realm.

"Haah, haah... come on, why didn't you wake me up? The Commander chewed me out for losing you.." Fujioka collapses onto his knees as he takes in air.

"You looked busy." You say with a smile. He looks at you with a strange face. The night had gone on long enough you decided, then undid your transformation, revealing you in your cut-up casual clothes.

"Took some cuts, you did..." The girl says as she looks you over. Feeling something cold gathering at your brow you wipe your finger over it. Your pseudo-blood. Dr. Hongo never wanted you to feel estranged from the humans you live among and protect so your body does pump out a reddish hydraulic oil, close to blood in consistency; along with maintaining your body it contained your nanites that transported Aether and other cells among your body. In every way, it was blood, but it wasn't.

"Whoa, look at your hand, can't you feel that?" Fujioka points downward, and you lift your arm up within view. Sparks and oil leak out the two-inch gap in your palm, revealing the remains of a metal skeleton. It's completely numb, you've also lost movement in your middle and ring fingers.

The girl covers her mouth, looking pale in the face, so you quickly hide your hand behind you.

"Good night, miss." You bow before turning to Fujioka, he nods as he begins leading the way to the hospital. You've walked a fair bit away, before the girl calls out to you again.

"Thank you, Kamen Rider!"

You turn to wave her off, then it occurs to you, you never got her name. It was a strange encounter, despite some volunteer construction work, it wasn't too bad, nobody got hurt, aside from yourself. You recount the details to Fujioka when he asks, it's hard to tell but you might have just made him scared of blops. The walk to the hospital takes awhile, it would have been faster no doubt if you used the Ride Hopper, but you were in no hurry, and your poor guard might have gotten jealous too.

"Well then, I see somebody's been busy." The doctor greets with with a curious face as you're escorted to another room. "The most serious injury I've had all day was a kid's skinned knee, and here you come with an impaled hand. I know I said scratches were easy, but I didn't want you to challenge me."

You shrug. He asks what happened and you tell him, his face looks impressed as well as thoughtful as he begins work on your hand.

"Seems like us humans are finding new trouble everyday." You remark, and the doctor nods.

"Yes, but we also find heroes quite suddenly too."

The work on our hand takes awhile, at some point, a little after midnight, the doctor's comm panel lights up; audio only.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Tell Kamen Rider to come to the command tower tomorrow, staff meeting and we want to see him."

"Sure, I'll make sure he knows."

"Understood. Ordovis out."

The doctor gives you a sly look.

"You might be in trouble, breaking down houses is a felony."

Well, he might not blame it on you.


>Kamen Rider (Next day)

>[Intermission] A father of 26XX

>[Intermission] Girl and Hero

>[Intermission] A daughter unto 30XX

Hmm so it was getting a little late, no more updates tonight. I'm also unsure of my situation this coming monday (48 hours) and i was also unsure how i wanted to end this. So i hit you with ye'ole intermission. Hopefully i can get you an actual start into the next true post, if not, maybe i can tide you over with a side story, if you want it that is. Anyways, good night!

>>5650507
>Take it?
>Yes
>If you take it, what will you do with it?
>Give it to Fujioka

>>5650508
>[Intermission] A father of 26XX

>>5650507
>Y
>Give it to Fujioka
>>5650508
>[Intermission] A father of 26XX

>>5650508
Take it?
>Y

If you take it, what will you do with it?
>Give it to Fujioka

>[Intermission] A father of 26XX

Thanks for the updates!

[Intermission] A Father of 26XX


"Good morning!" You said to the terminal in front of you with a wide-grin.

"Good morning." An electronic voice replies. It had only an emoji to represent facial emotions, not quite advanced enough to have its own digital reactive-avatar or some such, but maybe if you imprint on it enough it'll learn and copy you. Well it was just a hope, it could just stay static forever.

"So, how is my favorite program feeling today!"

"Feeling? I suppose I am feeling, alright. Core temperature is running at optimum levels, the Aether gel is an-"

"Stop! That's okay, you're feeling optimal, but that's not the only thing I was asking about."

"What are you asking about, doctor?"

"Just think about it, it will come to you one day."

"Yes. Doctor."

You're just about to open up your notes when a toddler walks in. Bumbling about, nearly falling over a few times, before she reaches you.

"Papa!"

"Yes, it's papa!" You smile as you pick her up, then you spin yourself around in your office chair as you hold her, her giggles fill the office and yourself with joy. Even the lab assistants are wearing smiles.

"Papa! When I grow up I want to be like you!~"

"Me?"

"Mmmhmm, I'll be suuuper smart and suuuper old!"

"Super old!?" You shout playfully and she starts running away, giggling all the while. You wished these days lasted forever.

Many months later, on a day like any other with busy mana-ways, bright sunshine, moderate breeze, an otherwise pleasant day. Until it wasn't. Laid out before you is a poor young man, abducted in a scheme you'd only just recently uncovered. A scheme plotted by something born of your mind, something intended to help man, to inherit his goodness, instead...

"Please... help me..." An voice buzzed at you through distorted speakers, just barely pushing through the pain, desperate to hold his last shred of humanity, because that's all he has left. Out of the periphery of your vision you can see it, its plans for him. Blades attached to arms, large sycthe-like feet, sharp armor lined with spikes, among other horrifying metal constructs.

"I will save you." You look into his eyes, and you feel a connection. A resolve to live. When you had discovered exactly what your creation was doing you were horrified, you thought about ending it all, but you decided to face it for yourself, to confirm the facts. Unfortunately, they were all true. Now you have a choice. You can fight, force this man to fight. Or die a traitor to humanity, die a coward with nothing; so you bite your lips, drawing blood as you force yourself to take the next step.

"I will make you better, stronger, faster. I can make you a god." You said. That young man, that boy, he had no more energy to say anything, only his eyes, the only thing you can bare to look at, and he gives you his resolve to keep living. That was the start of a short and long-lived relationship, a partnership not unlike having a son, a bodyguard, a soldier. In certain ways, you lamented that he seemed like a slave, you came face to face with that feeling a much later.

"Toh!" A voice of a young man shouts, the sound of wind whipping and rippling follows behind it.

"Toryah!" He shouts again, metal snaps, a wall is broken, and a digital voice screams in pain. You did not grant them the ability to feel pain, they did that to themselves. Those idiots, those blind foolish children. Why would they do that?

"Die!" Another electronic voice calls out, followed by the furious sounds of fighting. A gust of wind catches the tail of your coat, nearly dragging you off your feet, it does and you find yourself falling for a brief moment.

"Doctor Hongo!" The man from before calls out to you, grabbing you by your arm, putting you upright once again.

"Thank you." You utter between pants of exhertion, the man known as Kamen Rider is protecting you while you run, you're running to recover your daughter. It's not their secret base, you know that, and they know better than to fool you of all people. Yet, it is defended like such; Kamen Rider has to tear a path for the both of you, fighting through swathes of both machine commanders and the combatants. It takes nearly an hour of constant fighting for him, running and hiding for you, before you make it inside. There, what awaits you is one of your worst nightmares.

"Father... is that... you?" A small, delicate voice is calling out to you.

"No.." You don't know if that was your voice, or his, but you felt it, you thought it regardless. Quick as you can, you're running up to the body, that faint voice.

"Please, no, please, not her!" You're crying, tears fill your vision and you can't see anymore. A small miracle saves you for the next few minutes.

"Father.."

"I'm here, I'm here!"

"I'm so cold..."

"Don't worry, don't worry! You're just tired!"

"Please... save me..." She utters with the barest of breath. Those words, they haunt you again, they'll continue to haunt you, you know this.

"B-but she's only... she's too young..." A shaky voice spoke up behind you.

"Kamen Rider! This is why you must fight, why you can never stop, never! You must kill them all!" You shout fiercly, even as the tears flow, even as the water blinds you, you're pouring fury out of your body. For a weak man such as yourself, there can be only one thing now.

"Doctor... I... will. I will fight, I will never stop."

You can help him as much as you can, but in the end, he will be the one who stands alone, he will be the one who has to face the machine lifeforms. Ark-Zero was supposed to be humanity's backup, the first ark, it's salvation. Instead, you may very well have created its killer. Except, in the end, the Ark may have created its own killer too.

The final hope of all humanity is gone now, and it's all your fault. Again. You should have known this would happen, you should have told him, and now you can only look upon yourself with hindsight. Looking over him now, you regret once again, that he must fight your battle, he must fight when all and everyone he knows has been lost to time. You told him he would be a god, it's here you think, maybe you should have made a devil. Regardless, he needs more power, so you'll give it to him. Over the course of a hundred years his nanites will alter him, he won't know it, but he will one day.

"I can't see. Who is it?" The young man on the table before you asks.

"Rest easy, it's me, Dr. Hongo."

"Doctor?.. You sound.. so tired.."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault you got hurt."

"It's okay, doctor, I will stand again. I will use this power to fight for justice and hope."

"I know. But the time for fighting has passed. Please forgive me, but you are the world's one true hope." You shut him down, this would be the last time you speak to him.

"Please, watch over him." You whisper.

[Intermission: End]

Hmm, I know what you might be thinking. "At what part of the globe is this considered a saturday or a monday?"

Well, to answer your question... uhm...

Anyways idk if i'll be able to post at my next usual junction (48hrs) we'll see, but the end of the week (roughly saturday for me) is looking good. I'm sorry my scheduling is so chaotic lol. I popped over to another quest to see how they did it and he was giving exact time frames. I hope to be so punctual one day.

A heavy rain pelted the windows of the command tower as you ascended. Instead of a radiant yellow and blue sky, the skies above the castle were obscured by black clouds and dense streams of rain. Thunder and lightning woke you up early, giving you a little less than you'd like to sleep. Though your face would hardly show it. A new guard escorted and announced your presence to the group. An older man, balding around the top, with a thick beard stands up; the golden rank pips attached to his collar place him at top of the chain of command as general.

"Enter." He said, admitting you in, gesturing you to your seat as a young woman begins passing out datapads and printed notes. Nodding you follow his lead. Some time passes as you await for everyone to arrive, as well as for the meeting to start so you have some time to think. While you would have liked to have caught up with Fujioka about that map you found, you learned from the new guard that he had actually gotten in some trouble, and was given a choice; brig or armory duty. So there it was, he was transferred somewhere else, having been removed from his duty to you. Probably a better position than the brig, you can't be there forever, then he'll really be alone.

It doesn't take long for everyone else to file in. This time they begin the meeting with you, instead of simply calling you in, so you're properly introduced to everyone. Gauze, a man dressed up in white-armor with a redcross on a shoulder pauldron, the head of some kind of quick response and rescue squad. Mao, their scout specialist, she's actually the leader of a small recon and spec-ops squad. Then there's Thoth, they mention he's the head of their intelligence unit, but that's all they say. A few more high ranking officers introduce themselves as leaders of important divisions, like a proper head of medical and a chief engineer. As soon as that wraps up the meeting begins in earnest.

The general taps at the console in front of his seat triggering the holo-display at the center of the table, images of Tokyo as well as the surrounding areas begin to populate the display. "With the defense cannon operational again, we now have a foothold in Japan again where we can evacuate our civilians before large engagements. But they would still be vulnerable to ground attack, we can build pre-fabricated structures to start up an outpost. Problem is, I know we'll need a large amount of men for the battles to come as well as to operate this outpost. Suggestions?"

You raise a brow and a hand, the general nods at you. "Sir, can I ask what our current crew complement is?"

He takes a breath in, then shakes his head before answering. "That's detailed and top-secret information. However, I can at least tell everyone here, we're understrength."

Commander Ordovis is in this meeting too, and raises his hand next, "actually, one of my men might have a solution to that." He points to someone else, Mao. After giving a standing salute, she returns to her seat and begins speaking. She explains that her team has found the location of a large amount or prisoners, only problem is that they're being held on a Saurian ship. Not their mothership, nowhere near as big or important, it's still heavily guarded though. Not to mention, it's a ship, if they see you coming they'll fly off before you can get in; you'll have to sneak in. The news of rescuing men has a lot of the other men and women here excited, there's some hushed whispering amongst each other before the general calms them down.

"What about the laboratory from our last meeting?" The general asks, and Mao adopts a concerned look, as well as everyone else.

"Gone, sir, whatever it is they found, they have it. Saurian patrols are still too heavy for us to do a background sweep."

The Saurians getting another advantage is always bad news, though it does not spell the end.

"Gentlemen, we have our mission. Ordovis, get the men ready. Is there anything else?"

Is there?

>Suggest something [Write-in]

>Another topic [Write-in]

>Nothing

Alright, I can squeeze in a couple updates today, how about that yeah? Figure I can give you some offtime now, then we can try to do the full mission saturday(probably can't but i can dream). desu, not entirely sure if i've mastered this choice thing, if you guys think you can squeeze in another option somewhere or if i should edge things along in a different way go ahead and send a message to our po box.

>>5654193
>Nothing
I thought of suggesting to bait the Saurians into an attack in the future, trying to overextend them to then wreck havoc in the back lines, but that's a risky maneuver that would need us to have fortified first. Also we probably would have been the bait, so there is need for more manpower.

>>5654193
>Nothing
I can't think of anything.

>>5654208
You keep watching, deciding you have nothing else to mention.

"Ordovis, as always I'll leave deployment details. Specialist Mao, go ahead and take us into a mission briefing."

The holo-display changes again, this time showing off a topographic map of a series of canyoons. Here she described the plan of attack, herself, Gauze and a small group of soldiers would sneak through the canyon and into the ship. If timed right, the ship will actually be stuck in place to receive prisoners, that will be your way in. Gauze and his squad will be there to take care of anybody in critical condition, while Mao and her group will be spearheading the stealth infiltration, clearing the way essentially for the rest of the 'loud' squad.

"I like it. I'll search the barracks for volunteers. Though it'll probably be harder to find anybody who won't want to come along. A lot of our boys and girls have someone missing." Ordovis spoke up, giving a slight dutiful wave to the table.

It might prove fruitful to accompany the infiltration team, how about it?

>Join stealth team

>Join regular combat team

After a few follow up questions from the General and the other officers they all agree on a plan, as well as what to do afterwards, before concluding the meeting.

"Alright, everyone dismissed." The general announces to the room and everyone complies. The other men and women gather their datapads and papers before leaving, some stay behind to have another word with the general, including Ordovis. The actual mission will begin tomorrow when the entire group loads up on a gunship to travel out, the landing-castle will not be moving for this, instead it'll stay behind to keep an eye on the defense cannon. Sound logic, if something happened to the gun while everyone was away it would be the worst outcome.

So you have some free time, exactly a day, what are you going to do with it?

>Get to the simulator for training

>Find someone you know

>See about moving out of the brig

>Rest until the day of
I end the session and we wait 72 hours or so for the next session

>Write-in

>>5654235
>Join stealth team
>See about moving out of the brig
Well, there is one abandoned house in need of repair that we know of

Tracking down the commander isn't hard, he's doing exactly what he said he would. Around him is a crowd of soldiers in various groups, generally everyone is excited to see old faces, or to be getting more help. Plenty of them are trying to speak to Ordovis to get into the mission, shouting over each other, or raising their hand as high as possible to be noticed. The man in question sees you coming and waves you over.

"Don't worry, I've already got you on the mission roster!" He shouts over the crowd with a smile as someone tries to push through the crowd.

"Commander! Comma-" The crowd shifts and the soldier yelling next to you can no longer be seen.

"Actually, I wanted to join the stealth team!" You shout as well.

"The what!"

"Stealth team! I want to help infiltrate!"

"What? I mean, you think you can?!"

"Absolutely!"

"Alright then, I'll tell Mao, but she won't be happy!"

"Thank you!"

Afterwards you leave the barracks to go reunite with your guard, whom you've accidentally left behind in the ruckus. When you finally find him he's sweating, apparently he was running around everywhere to catch up to you.

"Phew, Ordovis really let the last guy have it, If I lose you I'll be put on scrubber duty..." In-between his heavy breathing he wipes his sweat with the back of his hand. Scrubber duty? You can only imagine what that means, poor guy.

"Actually, I'd like to fix that. Who do I have to see about getting an actual place to sleep?"

"That.. would be the commander.."

Awkward, you just saw him a little while ago, still, you'd really rather not sleep on a steel slab again tonight. Especially before a major mission.

"Let's go!" You're accelerating into a quick jog, while your guard lags behind, complaining all the way.

"Come on! You were just there!"

You find yourself missing Fujioka, he certainly wasn't this loud. Some time has passed, enough that the Commander has clearly found enough volunteers as he's no longer in the barracks, and has moved on to the mess hall. Even though it's the military district you find there's plenty of civilians walking the streets, there are some even eating with the soldiers even though there were plenty of other 'cafeterias'.

"You again?" He spots you coming easily, then offers a seat to you. After explaining your business he nods. "Eh, why not, It's been a few days. It's not like you really deserted. I'll clear up a spot in the barracks for you."

"Actually, I've recently come across an abandoned house I'd like to take."

Ordovis raises a brow, "oh, so that was you, huh?"

Swallowing your spit, you suddenly think that wasn't such a good idea.

"There are more than a few torn down walls. That alone is a felony, that'd earn you some real brig time. Not to mention someone used a grenade down there, was that you too? Unauthorized weapon use in the civilian sector is big one." He gives you a stern, stone-cold, glare. You put a hand over your chin as you pick your words carefully.

"Ah, well, sel-"

"Hah! I'm kidding!" Ordovis breaks out a big grin as he starts laughing at your expense, then his expression gets serious, his tone low. "Be careful though, collateral damage is expense in general. Actually, the paperwork is annoying, so keep it down. Okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"To be honest, we've got a fair number of orphans, kids, slightly older kids, with no parents. That house is a little big for just you, so how about sharing? I'll also be leaving the repairs to you if you take this."

What are you thinking?

>Y/N

Despite taking place early morning the earlier meeting took a few hours, tracking down Ordovis and talking over your business didn't take long, but you now find the sun at the edge of the horizon. It's quickly reaching evening, what else are you going to do?

>Focus on fixing the house for now

>Training

>Find someone you know

>Write-in

>>5654259
>Y
>Focus on fixing the house for now
Kamen Rider starts an orphanage

Ah yes, my plan to get you on the burning orphanage ending is all set

Ahem, writing..

>>5654259
Damn I just noticed this "is expanse"

is expensive*

I need to do this in something other than notepad. Still writing btw.

"I don't mind." You've worked as a caretaker for Dr.Hongo's daughter before, though, you're not sure if you're at 'daycare nanny' level. It might be worth activating one of those servbots from earlier if you find the need for help, and since you'll be going out fighting you may just need to do that. Still, that's for much later.

"Excellent, less work for me. I'll send someone over to transfer ownership to you, for now the house won't recognize you as an owner. Though I can't imagine you'd have that much trouble in the neighborhood."

"Thanks Commander!" You're quickly jogging, on your way out you pass by your guard. You tell him you're on your way to fix one of the older abandoned houses, you leave out the part where you broke the walls, as well as the fact that he might get a new job soon. He complains along the way but he's serious about helping out as he's called someone else to talk over the repairs, a friend of his maybe.

"Ah, we certainly have our work cut out for us!" A short, diminutive man approaches you as you wait at the front of the house.

"Yes. Let's do our best." You bow as you all introduce yourselves. Kamen Rider, Tachibana the guard, and Dekku the construction worker.

"Let's have a look first." Dekku said. However, a problem quickly emerged, immediately even, he furrowed his brows as he looked over the damage. "How did this happen, it's like the door was ripped right off."

"It was."

"How impatient are you? There are tools for this!" While Dekku was angry he cooled down quickly enough, getting into business mode you all began discussing what the door would be made of. Since you'd be turning this into a makeshift orphanage you'd like to avoid a military look, so you ended up on agreeing to a wooden finish. The three of you tour the house for the next few hours, they audibly judge you when you recount exactly what happened, and you make the executive decision of not mentioning that girl, lest you get her in trouble too. Whomever she is.

As you walk through the house he gives you some advice. You briefly thought that much of this would be easy if you applied your nanites, but they don't work on wood, nor can they simulate wood in anything but appearance; not to mention you don't have it in you for anything of this scale yet.

"Good news is, a lot of this can be fixed real quick." Dekku says at the end of your tour. It was reassuring to hear that, while you do have some experience in construction, it was all just lifting heavy objects, or moving them around. Those same objects also happen to be pieces of things you've destroyed. Awkward.

"Bad news is, you've got a lot of shopping to do." Dekku said while handing you a list he'd been writing up, mostly just raw materials, orders to put in at the workshops. Money eh? Always comes down to cold hard cash, since your wallet is sitting pretty at a hard zero most of the heavy repairs will have to come later. The electronics for the lights, as well as the in-house computer could be done by yourself, but Dekku agreed to get some neighborhood helpers around another day to help you out. The only work you got down that night was the washroom, Dekku agreed to it easily enough, just some dust cleaning and installing the toiletries from your former cell. Sonic-brushes might be common place but you've got to save where you can. All of a sudden you're thankful to your mother for taking care of your former house. Your two helpers look at you with a confused glance as you suddenly offer a prayer.

As you sleep on your first soft bed in three-hundred years, a single thought occurs to you. If you're going to be starting and looking-after an orphanage by yourself, how are you going to afford food? That night you dreamt of being followed around by dozens of tiny ghosts, all whispering eerie messages to you.

"I'm hungry..."

"Feed me..."

"When's dinner..."

When you wake up it's time for muster, will you bring anything else with you onto the mission?

>Your revolver
The gun Ordovis gave to you. Simple enough, you know it can be charged for a special attack in an emergency.

>Another gun
Some enemies are simply too far away for a good punch and kick. Try out a new weapon.

>A sword
More reach in combat, but it's not clear if any melee weapon would survive long in your hands.

>Special (Roll d10)

>Nothing
Kamen Rider has everything he needs. Trust in your martial lessons and the power of your belt.

>Write-in

Alright, we close for the night. I'll see you all for our next drive in 72 hours. Good night!

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>5654299
>Special (Roll d10)

Also, do soldiers get payed? We should probably ask for a salary. To take care of the children.
If not, a job at a repair job, scrapyard or taking care of prosthetics could do. We used to fix motorcycles before, right? And the nanites should be of help

>>5654304
You're still low on nanites, i have a sort of counter and i hit it with a d10 irl to count up how much you recover every day. I plan on giving you a few events to hurry that along, we've already passed an entry point for that though so just catch the next one :)

Soldiers do get paid, but your life has been pretty hectic so you haven't had time to just sit and ask about it. I may also keep forgetting to bring it up for you. If you guys want you could totally sniff out some side-jobs later. When it comes up again you probably will get some help money wise for the kids, at the very least donations, nothings set in stone yet though. I did not start up this quest thinking you'd open an orphanage, after all.

>>5654305
Kamen Rider is a friend to all the children in the world

>>5654305
Oh you know what, here's a better answer to why you dont' get soldier money.

"Kamen Rider is strictly a volunteer officially. Therefore he is not considered a rank and file soldier, that's also why he currently carries no rank." -EDF databank file/Commander public statement.

>>5654310
That works for me.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>5654299
>Special (Roll d10)

>>5654574
I shouldn't of rolled.

>>5654575
Nonsense, rolling is the best, i'd roll if it didn't make things weird

>>5655038
You can roll for the npcs, since you're the QM and all of that.
Also how are rolls determined? Bo3, averaging, something else?

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>5654299
>Special (Roll d10)

>>5655164
For here right now, this roll determines what your 'special weapon' is, averaging. The idea behind it is sort of like a temporary power-up or add-on, though if all of you had rolled a 1 or 2 it would have been very boring and lame. Nowadays when I ask for a roll it's just me trying to experiment a bit. Most of the qsts i look at have a few people rolling so i can't copy them.


Regarding rolls I've tried a few things. Specifically, not bo3 since we don't usually have 3 or more voters. I think we just live in very different timezones so my sessions don't usually allow for you guys to come in. For things like combat/general rolls the PC and NPCs are done by me. I rigged up an altered table and sheet for you and the enemies using a dnd sheet. I know how that sounds you're allowed to laugh and get angry. did this back in ep01 when i only had 1 guy


>>5655167
two 1's in a row for us lol

>>5655204
Yeah, I unfortunately miss most of the sessions... But I do try to vote when I can! This quest is greatly underrated, so I hope more people hop in. (Also I've already posted before, I'm just phoneposting ATM)

>>5655305
>This quest is greatly underrated
It really is, and it's good too.
>>5655204
I'm glad you stuck to it even when there was just me around.

>>5655531
>>5655305
I'm glad you guys are still enjoying it, and of course, thank you for saying so.

Before taking off you found yourself at the hospital for a quick check-up where the doctor is giving you a quick one-over, at least, that's what he said. You're now laying in a bed in an advanced medical chamber as he gives you a deep scan, a series of lights pulsate in the chamber for a minute, then you slide out as the pulses cease.

"From the story you told us I thought as much. There's some damage to your braincase."

"Enough to explain why my memory is missing certain moments?"

"Yes." The doctor nods and gives you a worried look. It's certainly troubling, just what could you be forgetting? Well, hopefully nothing important, you don't have time to dwell on it any longer, the mission is approaching and you'll be busy fighting soon enough. A few minutes later and the castle's PA system speaks up.

"All hands, Operation Break-out is now in effect, report to duty stations. Repeat: Standby duty stations. Repeat..."

The people around you break into sprints or quick jogs, for civilians the standby alert didn't mean much, just stay out of the way for the most part, but for yourself and the soldiers it meant you had places to be. Right now, that meant you were on your way to the airport.

Instead of the ancient runways most flying craft of the modern age were strictly vertical takeoff or capable of it. Several large platforms lined the area. Since there wasn't a roof you could clearly see it was very early morning, before sunlight, the twilight hours. Soldiers were gathering around three gunships, two groups would remain on standby while your ship was already running its engines hot, merely waiting for its passengers. As you approach you see Scout Commander Mao standing by some equipment crates, she waves you over, and seems professional enough.

"The commander told me yesterday you were joining us." Her eyes look you over, clearly assessing you with her own instincts and knowledge. Instead of wearing era appropriate clothing you've gone back to the black-body suit you arrived in, no doubt better for stealth, you'll transform when you need to. She doesn't say anything else, merely gesturing with her head for you to pass. The rest of her team, however, regard you differently. Half seem as professional as she is, the other half seem offended at your presence.

"Hello everyone, I'm Kamen Rider, I understand we're to be on the same te-"

One of them bumps into your shoulder roughly as he walks by, stopping just behind you, he begins to speak with a hushed tone, his next words were for you only.

"You think you're so special, huh? If you were worth your weight as a man, you would have died back then. Don't get in our way."

Those words draw a scowl from you, your teeth begin to unconsciously grind as his words sink in. Sometimes your face has trouble showing the true depth of your emotion, a side effect of being a cyborg, but this is a strong one.

>[Remain silent]

>[Banter]

>[Be polite]

>[Pick a fight]

>Write-in

>>5656698
>[Banter]

I don't get what mister grumpypants mean. Is he saying that we ran away or something? Because if good men are supposed to die, why is he alive?

>>5656710
It's something like 'if you won, we wouldn't be here'. Rider had a lot of hopes pinned on him in the past as well as the future. You getting into his squad just on a whim is an insult to him, especially since he doesn't see you in as good a light as others do.

Anyways writing

Although I'm not the smartest anon around. I thought that the infiltration mission would be the one with the hardest fighting since it would be inside a saurian ship, so the one that we would save the most lives by joining, and that we would be part of it by default. But the way everyone acted so far, seems that it's the opposite

>>5656717
Well, it's not really on a whim, I put forward what I thought it meant here >>5656718

But in light of that, banter is probably the wrong option, the ones that are professional will probably look down on us and the sour grapes will see us making light of the situation.
But fuck it, I've made only mistakes so far, let's see how deep down I end up digging this hole.

>>5656725
You're the same guy? Nah you haven't made that many mistakes, you're good my guy. Rider himself also has a mind of his own(kinda) so he can try to smooth and translate what we present and what's going on. So no need to stress lol.

I am, however, stressing out. M own fault. This post is certainly taking awhile lol.

>>5656718
Also, you were always going inside, infiltration is just supposed to be sneaky. I should have done a better job defining that. Which I will now do..

>>5656735
Yeah, my ID changed. I do worry too much about things.
Sorry for trouble.
>>5656737
I think I somehow misread the part saying the second group was lead by Mao, thinking that Gauze was both groups and the "loud" squad was another beast entirely. Rereading it it's obvious and explained, so I don't know how I thought that.

>>5656743
Tbh, i'm thinking I shouldn't have done this sneaky squad thing lol. Well i'll soon see how it turns out and so will you :))

Before the soldier walks off you stop him by blocking him off with your arm, no touching, but an obvious obstacle. You can feel the aura in the area tensing up, everyone seems to be expecting something, but you have words for him too.

"I've been doing this for hundreds of years; can you say the same? Stay out of my way or I'll take you for a drive." You say back.

"Tch." He clicks his tongue, you can sense the muscles in his body tense, but before he can do anything another man has run up behind him, restraining him lightly, as well as leading him off somewhere else.

"Whoa! Save it for the mission, yeah? Let's go, Henry!" The other man begins to drag the both of them away.

Presumably, they've gone to finish prepping their gear, so you might as well do the same. Suddenly, you notice a certain someone nearby handing out items to a line of soldiers, it's the woman from the other night, at the abandoned house. She waves you over with an awkward smile when she sees you. There’re still a few minutes before launch so you walk over easily enough, as you approach, she gestures you even closer, clearly meaning for you to bypass the line. Is this nepotism? The soldiers in line seem a bit peeved but nobody says anything.

"Ahh, so it's you again. I didn't realize who you were at first. Oops." She kneels down to grab something from the crate she's standing next to, and hands you a few strange looking items, along with a tactical belt with some pouches on it. They're all small enough, about palm sized, so you start placing them in the pouches. As she hands them to you, then explains what they are, the three small capsules are for anybody with serious internal injuries, three of the pads are for general healing, and two silver spheres or 'variable grenades' for whatever the situation requires. You ask what she means and she just says put mana into them, then think about what you need.

"Oh, by the way, my dad shouted my bloody ear off that night because I forget to tell you. So, that’s it, come by my workshop later okay! That's all, off you go!" She shoed you away with her hands before handing out similar items to the other soldiers. The airport is busy, dozens of officers, soldiers, as well as engineers shuffling about to critical areas, so it's a surprise to see a certain civilian running up to you.

"Dr. Cain?"

She stops right in front of you, you quietly wait for a few moments as she catches her breath, though you couldn't help noticing that she's carrying some sort of staff. She smiles as she brings it around, presenting it to you like a gift.

"Phew, thought I wouldn't make it. My lab is on the other end."

"What is this?" You ask while accepting it. It's about five feet long, with a strange balance to it, it's definitely more than a piece of metal.

"It's a weapon I found a long time ago, I spent all night working on it. I remember Doctor Smith mentioning you being low on nanites, since those are critical to your armor, I figured you might need some extra help. So, I found this, a Magna-Staff, to give you some extra reach in a fight, as well as a few extra features." She explains, then gestures to your waist.

"I'll need you to present your belt please, this is a weapon for your Rider form, after all."

Nodding, you alter your grip on the staff, then shift your arm upwards at an angle, while your other cups around your mid-section. Sliding your hand counter-clockwise you then bring it back and mirror your other arm's pose. A gust of wind dances around you and a swirl of light flashes, in the next moment your belt has formed, but only that. Quickly she begins to manipulate the manual-activators on the sides of your belt, she motions your hand towards the buckle, and a stream of light swallows the staff completely.

Your brows raise, "I didn't know I could do that."

"I saw something like this during our study session. Well, good luck then." She presents a hand for you to shake, which you do, and then she's off again. Just in time too. The voice from earlier speaks through the castle PA again.

"All hands! Operation Break-out will begin soon. Gunships to launch in minus three! Repeat..."

The time has come, so you quickly make your way over to your gunship. Mao's team just finishes settling in as you arrive, some give you a nod, others give you a look somewhere between neutral and cold. Ignoring the latter, you belt into a seat at the end. With a sharp hiss followed by jets of steam, the craft begins to shake, then slowly lifts off, the doors close with a metallic thump. A little bit later Mao addresses everyone and begins passing out a small device, it attaches to a wrist.

"This is called an Opacity Filter. It doesn't make you invisible, but it will make you harder to notice, activate it by feeding it mana." Mao says, clearly looking at you, which is fine. Obviously, you're the newbie here. You nod and start attaching it, then she starts detailing out the plan. As the infiltration squad you have to get inside the ship before everyone else so you can shut down sensors and communications. Can't have the ship seeing it's being invaded, certainly can't have it call for help when everyone gets in. Sounds good to you.

First you have to sneak under a series of cliffsides with heavy rock cover, the cliffs naturally form a bottleneck making ground attack difficult. The actual sneaking goes better than expected with only a few close calls on your part, ducking behind rocks, bushes and trees was easy with the Opacity filter. It's here you note wave after wave of mounted-turrets, all of which are aimed straight at the entrance, but if things go right the 'loud' squads can bypass the turrets and plunge right up the entrance.

Mao and her men press on, towards the lights in the sky, the Saurian prison ship floating high above. Before long, your group reaches your entrance. Standing underneath, a strange pressure smothers your body, you can also feel the nanites in your body crackling with static electricity. An ambient thrumming sound fills the valley as the alien ship hovered hundreds of meters above. In the center of the area, shielded by cliff-tops is a simple platform, with a bright beam of light reaching upwards, grunts are busy loading the platform up with equipment, they don't even notice you.

"That's our way in. Let's go." Mao whispers as she walks into the beam, timing just as a series of alien crates begin to float upwards, the rest of the soldiers hug the crates and such, along with yourself, and you're pulled upward. As you float above you find yourself staring at the horizon, taking in the view, before you're finally allowed into the ship. You and the crates you're hanging onto are held mid-air for a moment before being gently dropped onto the floor. You're clearly in a cargo bay, the walls are lined with stacked crates, as well as a few vehicles on standby.

On one end is a terminal with several Saurian grunts huddled up in front of it, watching some kind of broadcast.

>Take them out

>Watch over their shoulder

>Scare them

>Write-in

>>5656762
>Take them out
We are supposed to clear the way right?

The Saurian grunts are intently watching whatever is on the terminal, you can hear vague growls and such in a pattern, likely a language, but you don't care. This room is going to get busy soon so you've got to clear out the mess. As you're sneaking up behind the group you find the others getting ready to do the same, in an instant you're all making a move. Some move for necks, some aim a sword or knife for a backstab, you gather your hands together and clobber one in the back of the head, knocking it out instantly. Or maybe worse.

Mao deactivates her filter rendering herself visible, everyone else, including you, follows her lead. The circuits were close to burning out, you'll also need to interact with the ship now, touching anything meant overloading the filter anyways.

"Less guards than I thought there would be." Henry whispers, "where could they be?"

As if answering him, one of the cargobay doors opened, behind it revealed a surprised grunt. In an instant you're on him, tackling it down and slamming its head into the glossy deckplating. Hopefully, he was just retu- Before you can finish that thought another door opened up with what looked to be a squad, and something new. It was about the size of a bear maybe, fierce claws and a long snout, no wings, though it did have large armored scales.

"You were wondering where they were?" Mao wore a fierce grin as she mocked her subordinate, "I think we just found out."

"We got drakes!" One of the soldiers shouted.

Chaos followed. Mao's team opens up with their guns -a drake, you assume- dives towards Mao, fully intent on biting and tearing through her, but she spins her body horizontally over it, leaving it to crash into a standing Saurian cycle. While the rest of the soldiers dive for cover, trading fire with the grunts. One of the grunts thinks he can out flank you and comes up behind where you've taken cover, only for you to flip backwards and kick the crate you were using into the grunt, with a heavy thud the box pushes the grunt into the wall, forcing the alien to give a pained shout. You barely roll to the side as a flurry of bolts peppers your shadow. Grabbing a fallen grunt's rifle you level it and mow down a few of them. The grunts are basically handled, but now your attention is on the drakes. You can tell they're heavily armored as you watch a trio of lasers pelt it almost harmlessly, leaving on darkened scorch marks in their place.

>Transform
(Locks out non-rider items)

>Handle normally with them
(Non-rider items are still available)

>Write-in

>>5656770
Don't sweat the details here, maybe, let's just go with the flow together. Anyways sorry for the delay, got interrupted, i really did mean for this to go faster lul

>>5656809
>Handle normally with them
I have a feeling that there is going to be heavier opposition further in, better conserve power for now.

"We need to pin them down!" Mao shouts an order and her men are moving, she handles herself well as the second drake swipes at her, she rolls backwards out of range, while leaving a sphere in her wake. It explodes suddenly and a white foam covers the nearby area as well as the drake. While it's stuck a couple of her men ar pelting its underside, while she jams a knife underneath its head plating, stopping it in its tracks.

The first drake has drawn itself to you as it finally recovers from its crash. Charging towards you, another soldier rolls out the way, while you turn and run up the side of a stack of crates, causing it collide into them. It lets out a powerful roar as it uses its razor-sharp claws to cleave through your makeshift platform. Diving onto its back you shove your confiscated gun where Mao placed her knife, only for the drake to suddenly shift, causing you to miss. But your shots still landed, causing it to give out a bloodcurdling roar. Shouting, you grab it in a headlock and choke it as hard as you can, as it tries to shake you it opens itself to the others, letting them get potshots on its softer underside. Kicking off it, you just barely manage to lead it towards the standing Saurian bikes, where you unload your rifle. With some supporting fire from the others you manage to detonate the vehicles, swallowing the drake in a fiery explosion. The last of the grunts falls as well and you all check yourselves for injuries, some merely got scratched or a glancing shot, otherwise all okay.

"I swear we hit'em before they could make a call.." One of the others says, kicking a grunt body over.

"They could have been just a patrol. We were just unlucky."

Mao is probably listening as her men chat but her face is deep in thought, then she gives the order to form up and begins detailing her thoughts. If a patrol came through then more are likely to follow, to find out what happened, or just for their own business meaning there was no time to hack a terminal.

"Follow me!" She orders and begins to lead everyone out of the cargo bay and into the corridors beyond. For the next few minutes it's corridor after corridor, occasionally you stop and hide behind a bulkhead or pillar as Saurians pass by. With the motion sensors embeded in their suits they can see oncoming traffic. Occasionally it's too close and you have to reveal yourselves, but combat passes quickly, grunts are no match for you nor the soldiers. Though there are a large amount of bodies pilling up, one of the other soldiers voices your worries as well.

"This is taking too long.."

"Can't be helped, we don't exactly have a map.."

A little later Mao stops everyone with a silent motion, then shows off motion radar. There's signals ahead, lots.

"We're getting close to the front of the ship. The command center must be ahead." She whispers, then turns to you. "You're the outlier here, if you turn on that armor we'll have to go loud immediately. If you hold off, we might be able to ambush them. I'm asking, because we need to be on the same page, there's likely a dragon commander up there."

You nod. You're hardly at full strength right now, both in your normal form, as well as with your armor. But Kamen Rider has never shied away from a fight, how about it?

>Transform

>Ambush

>Write-in

I've been trying to put in a choice to transform, but should I stop and just do it how I've been doing it?

>>5656846
>Transform

>>5656895
If you wish. It's fun (at least for me personally) either way.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5656846
I'll let the dice decide
>>5656895
Anyway you want is good

>>5656914
Assuming the (1) is transform. We're doing it, everyone, please prepare your mother's credit card. Seizure warning is now in effect. Writing. Took a break but now you know where i'm at. sorry

Nodding, you tell them your intentions, "I'll use the Rider armor and take him on. Everyone else, please handle the rest." Mao nods and steps back, the others do the same, staring you in the meanwhile.

"Rider!" You throw one arm up at an angle, the other bends out to the side. An ark of energy fills your body with a static like feeling as a metallic band shimmers into existence around your waist. Moving your raised arm counter-clockwise, you then switch arms, placing the other high into the air, an instant later you bend both at your sides. The gyro begins to whistle, a shaky, nearly-faint breeze pushes its way into existence around you.

"Change!" A bright light envelops you. The nanomachines connecting to you and the belt begin changing, transforming into your Rider armor, at that same moment an alarm begins blasting through the ship.

"As I thought. Whatever energy you're putting out, the Saurians are clearly able to detect it." Mao says, nodding to you as she takes a position behind you, with the rest of her men following her lead.

There's a couple more hallways in your way, even with a couple dozen grunts in your way you're practically dancing through them. Lunging forward you twist and spin around them before they can attack, roundhouse kicking more than a few into the walls or their friends, allowing Mao and her men to pick them off, it doesn't take long before you're outside the command center. For whatever reason the spaces in the Saurian ship are wide and spacious, giving you a generous amount of space to dodge and fight in. However, you're stopped before what must have been the final door. A purple light lines the edges, no doubt powering the mechanism.

"It's deadlocked!" Mao orders a soldier up to the door, she presents some sort of tool from her belt.

Gently holding an arm out to bar her way, "I've got the key, right here!" You announce as you bring your fist within view, then you face the door, and draw your arm backward.

"Rider Punch!" Your fist flies forward, with a thunderous bang the door is shattered, blowing dozens of metallic shards forwards into the command room. Upon seeing you the Saurian crew freezes, surprisingly, grunts are operating the computers up here, with one figure standing out among them.

"Take out the crew!" Mao shouts, then she and her men are diving for separate ends of the room, tossing grenades out into the center. Several of them erupt into the foam from earlier, stopping several grunts from moving, as well as causing the dragon commander to dodge away. The grunts that were foamed are quickly picked off, while others are split between jumping for cover, or running around in panic.

This dragon commander doesn't speak Japanese, but you get the gist. It grabs one of the panicking grunts and flings him towards you. Dodging, you leap into a flying kick, aimed square at his chest.

"Yaah!"

"Rrrggh!"

It takes your kick head on, no doubt causing some damage, twisting your foot you kick off him, landing just a few feet away from him. You send another fist his way only for him to catch it square in the palm of one of its hands, it snarls.

"Kuakuahkuah!"

Laughing? No time for that, it tries to follow up by slamming another arm into you but you just barely dodge, greatly restricted by the circumstances. Frustrated, it throws you upward into the ceiling, where it then brandishes a large sword and holds it up, clearly intent on skewering you. Even as laserfire whizzes throughout the room you pay it no mind, you focus on the enemy in front of you. Activating the jets on your back you quickly dash out of the way, brushing past his sword where you give him a good spinning kick to his side for good measure. Growling again, he grabs his sword and splits into four parts, one for each of his hands.

You smooth out your footing and prepare yourself with another stance. How are you going to handle this?


>Handle it with Rider power.

>Get some support

>Use Dr. Cain's staff.

>Write-in

>>5656972
>Get some support

The dragon commander is on you, faster now, almost instantly. "I could use a hand! Or maybe two." You say as you dodge a vertical slash, then a horizontal sweep, but the flurry of slashes he follows up with is too fast, he's controlling your movements with numbers. His sword, while smaller now, is still plenty strong, its edge clashes and clangs on your armor, drawing out a pained grunt from you as it penetrates slightly. White embers shoot out from your armor as damaged nanites are ejected from your body, forcing you stumbling backwards.

"Henry! Sara!" Mao shouts as she rolls into your view, just behind he dragon commander, firing some kind of line at his arm. The two others, Henry with a bald head with prosthetic eyes, then Sara with goggles, roll alongside her.

"Raah!" He shouts as he notices the sudden cable around his wrist, the other two soldiers try to follow Mao, but he's seen through them and moves out of the way.

"Damn!" Mao struggles with her single line, trying desperately to hold her ground as the dragon commander pulls at the line. He laughs, licking his lips as he plants his other arms around the line. As if you would leave her to suffer alone.

"Don't forget about me!" You shout, then leaping high into the air, dipping into a somersault you hold one leg out. The jets on your back blast steam outwards, propelling you forward into a sharp drop.

"Rider Kick!" Again you roar as you descend upon his backside, his mistake was turning away, your charged kick lands square in-between his shoulder blades, snapping off a couple spines off his back.

"Ruaaahh!" He shouts as he tumbles forwards onto the ground, planting his swords into the ground, he desperately tries to get up, leaning hard onto his weapons. No strange reactions from this one, it's clearly pure Saurian, but that won't save him. Your krystal heart is practically pounding. You thought you'd gotten used to it again, however, after recent events though, your body has been thrown out of balance. Still, he's in a good enough position. Nodding your head at Mao, she gets your meaning and sends out an order.

"Finish it off!" Mao shouts, a single grenade lands at the dragon commander's feet, exploding into a fiery explosion. It gives a pained roar as fire engulfs it, melting its armor, then the soldiers begin unloading their weapons. It takes a few more moments, your chest is heaving up and down all the while, as the laserbolts finally find their mark, pushing through its armor, and it finally falls with one final wheeze.

"Quick! Engines and comms!" Mao directs her men appropriately and they sprint towards the consoles.

"I think I got it!" Someone announces and the alarm shuts down. A few more quiet seconds pass, no more grunts, the former dragon commander lays still, and the ship is motionless.

"Phew. I think we did it!" Sara says, wiping sweat off her forehead, a few others do as well. Not only were you all fighting hard, there's also the heat. Saurians were obviously lizards, with lizards being cold-blooded it was natural the ship felt hot. With everyone breathing in their relief, you all spent another few moments confirming the ship's status; it had not moved nor had it gotten a call for help out, the soldiers let out a short cheer before their commander brought them back into line. The next piece of business, Gauze along with his rescue squad and the normal soldiers would be making their entrance. They could skip most of the land defenses, however, this ship still had a crew.

"Kamen Rider." Mao gestures you closer as she gives the next phase of her plan to you. "You'll take the rest of my men, I'll guide you to the prisoners. It's up to you if you want to unite with the other team or if you want to go straight for the prisoners."

You nod. If you find Gauze and his group you'll have a larger fighting force. On the other hand, split up like you are now, it's possible you'll wear the Saurians thin and they won't be able to mount a significant fighting force for either of you. You'll also be in a better position to help the prisoners with Gauze and his rescue squad, as opposed to just you and the handful of elite soldiers with you.

>Unite

>Stay split

>Write-in

Phew. Alright I'm done for tonight. I'll get you guys one update tomorrow and at least one the day after. We break for tonight. good night

>>5657035
>Stay split

>>5657038
Night QM!

>>5657035
>Unite

File: 49837598.gif (7.13 MB, 498x280)

7.13 MB GIF

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5657111
>>5657362

"Why is this place so big.." One of the soldiers’ remarks as he looks upwards in the command room. It's true, it seems to stretch up for at least twenty meters. You realize once again that you're on an alien ship. Strange pulsating lights vertically climbing the walls, the ambient humming of the ship, and the soft glow of the computer panels all give off an ethereal feel. As you look around your attention catches on what must be the front wall, a large screen lined the rounded edge of the walls, currently it was set to overlook the nearby area, giving you a grandiose view of the valley, where you just barely catch the approach of another human gunship. Mao signals two of her men to take positions behind a series of consoles, the three of them would work together to decode what they could as well as keep a handle on Saurian's within the ship.

"You'll take the rest of my men; I'll guide you to the prisoners from here."

"Got it. We'll meet up with everyone at the prison level." You confirm your plans with Mao, despite her orders, someone behind you is clearly discontent.

"Colonel Mao! I'll stay here with you!"

"I don't need you. Back up Kamen Rider. That's an order." Mao dismisses him with a wave of her hand as she turns back to a computer. Henry, the protesting soldier, is still dissatisfied, but he falls in line behind you with a click of his tongue.

A little after you've left the control room Mao comes onto the radio giving you directions. It's easier to move about now with someone guiding you, no more hiding around corners, this time you're running through hallways. Resistance is light, the Saurians seem to be divided between trying to intercept you, your reinforcements, or trying to retake the control room. There's no need to be worried about that latter part though, since you're working your way backwards most of the remaining crew has to go through you first. Most of them just run away, those that do try to stand their ground quickly give way as you force your way through.

As you lead your group through the halls, you're once again thankful that everything is so wide and spacious, until you remember, they'd have to be. Remembering back to the end of the Tokyo encounter, you glimpsed it only for a moment, a true dragon, it was faster than you even at your normal levels, if you fight one now, you'd be destroyed; hopefully, they're all busy.

"Guys, I'm getting something." One of the soldiers’ whispers.

"What is it, Uchida?" The other soldier, Henry, asks while looking at his own radar. They're both unsettled now. For the next moments you all scan the hallways, but none of you see anything, minus the glossy floors and pulsating energy pipes lining the walls.

"I've got movement, but..." Uchida lets his sentence fall off, both he and Henry have become distracted trying to nail down the source of their disturbance. Suddenly a bright beam of light appears out of nowhere, hitting you square in back of the head. Your vision distorts slightly for just a few moments as the energy explodes into fizzling embers. Diving behind the corner of another hallway, you check your damage; fortunately, the helmet is still in one piece. It still hurt though. In that instant another bolt splashes the spot you had just vacated. Glancing around, you see nothing.

"Stealth commanders? Last scrapping thing we need!"

"Contacts!" The soldiers both shout, next they're diving for cover just like you.

Stealthed commanders? The humans have those Opacity filters, but could the Saurians be completely invisible? Narrowing your senses you noticed an ever so slight shimmer in the air, in the middle of the hallway ahead.

How are you going to handle this?

>Focus your senses
The technology isn't perfect, you can fight it

>Find a way to reveal them
Use what you know to search the nearby area, there could be something to help

>Write-in

Alright, no session that's just how it is, but I should be able to do 1 or 2 updates tomorrow.

>>5657864
>Find a way to reveal them
Is there any powder or paint we could use?

>>5657872
Is that a question you want me to actually answer or is that what you want to search for?

>>5657977
Both I guess, I think covering them might help, but their tech could be good enough, or an alien ship not have these things.
Kind of curious what you write for this option. An EMP?

Rolled 5 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>5657995
>>5657864

Well, you might find coolant lines running through the walls, among other things. I might as well roll for it now and then put up the result tomorrow. Don't worry if you fail, you've got 2 guys behind you who can also roll, but they might not..

>>5657864
>Find a way to reveal them
Ask the others to try and turn their own grenades into a paintball, or anything similarly coloured, if they can? I might be misunderstanding how they work, but if we could do that, so could they, right?

Looking around, there's not much in the hallways. Say what you want about the Saurians, but they keep their hallways neat. Suddenly you think back to your limited time on a battlecruiser, the ship is probably long gone by now, more importantly, you remember that things like coolant and power were piped through the ship behind the walls and bulkheads. Surely the Saurian ship is the same. With that thought you jam your fingers into the seams of the purple armored walls, revealing, a lot of pipes and blinking lights. Tearing out a few parts just lets out a few sparks. Your grace period is over; before you can try anything else another beam comes for you; this time it arcs downward, tracing a trail in the air as it leaves a descending scorch mark on your chest, a pained grunt leaves your lips. White embers splash outwards as you're forced to dive back into the hallway junction.

"How about a paint grenade, fellas?" You say as you swiftly turn on your heel, cleanly dodging another shot.

"Useless.."

"Not quite paint, my last one though!" Uchida shouts, giving you a more positive response compared to his friend. A silver orb comes flying your way, one of those V-nades. Catching it one-handed, you notice there are lights dancing around the edges, indicating it's already primed and armed with something, so you smash it down. With a sharp metallic ping the grenade detonates under you, blowing a tiny cloud of glistening particles in the air. As the particles float upwards, they suddenly start darting around, attaching themselves to you, as well as a couple phantom figures.

Uchida cheers behind you, "we got'em!" Both he and Henry open up, a furious wave of lights blaze a path through the air, showering the Saurians in laser fire, causing them to yell out in various growls. The Saurians take more than a few bolts as they now find themselves exploited by the grenade as well as the spaciousness of the hallway. A certain someone's shots get a little close, fortunately, your compound visor keeps you aware and you're able to stay out of the way.

"Not yet!" You shout as you join the battle. Moving like a blur, you throwing out a quick jab, as soon as you make contact you pull your fist back around, backhanding the alien, before spinning into a roundhouse kick. That particular alien is thrown into the wall behind him with a pained shout, strange, it felt softer. Maybe they're wearing less armor to make up for the stealth?

"Why can't you die! You humans are just pests!" One of them shouts at you, they were probably quiet until now for stealth. However, now that they're all twinkling brightly there's hardly a reason to be quiet.

"As long as I'm here, you will never defeat humanity!" You yell as you throw an arm up to defend yourself, putting an opposing wave of energy into your hand you're able to parry it back at the Saurian. Quickly rolling aside, you allow the soldiers a wider-angle of fire, they're quickly able to mow it down. Multiple scorch marks dot the chest of the Saurian as its body is revealed, you watch as it falls forward with a fading moan. The other tries to make a move on the soldiers. In one swift movement it knocks Uchida on his backside, then moves to plunge a blazing-white saber into his back. Henry rushes to his comrades’ side with his own blade, drawing the Saurian into a clash.

"Do something dammit!" Henry shouted through strained teeth, trying to force the Saurian away, you can see the stealth commander moving one of its sub-arms and you've seen enough.

"As long as I'm here, not a single human will die!" Lunging forward with your hand extended, you shunt power from your belt and heart, then gather it into your flattened hand.

"Rider Slash!" You call out. Swiping down cleanly, you spin around, and watch as the Saurian lets out a pained shout. It collapses with a heavy thud onto the ground next to Uchida.

"Phew. Thank you!"

You hold out a hand and pull Uchida back onto his feet.

"It was no problem at all."

Henry is quiet as both he and Uchida check themselves over for wounds. With neither of them sporting more than bruises and scratches you move on. From then on you decided to hurry it up a little, jogging from door to door. Resistance seems to decrease along the path Mao guides you, could it be that they're just that depleted? Two powerful groups of humans are invading, prison guards aren't likely to put up that much of a fight, right? Still, you're grateful for the reprieve, less enemies means less fighting, and for the sake of the humans it's probably for the best.

"Prison complex, just ahead. It's strange. There are no guards."

Following her directions you pass through another set of alien doors, where you find a large room that stretches dozens of meters vertically. Several platforms bridged out from the center, with one of those bright anti-grav beams stretching from somewhere below and upwards. There are also a series of doors lining your level, along with the others from what you can see.

"What a weird room, is this really it?" Uchida is starring downwards.

"Colonel, is this really the right place?" Henry speaks into his earpiece.

"Hey down there!" A familiar voice draws your attention upwards. Just on the floor above is a large group of humans, you recognize Gauze at the front, then the figure waving to your group. It's Blaine, the young, probably hot-headed, soldier.

"I'm gonna fall, catch me!" He calls out and makes a pose like he's about to leap, but someone behind him pulls him back hard and onto his butt.

"Stow it! Listen, Rider, there's a lot more people than we thought up here.” Gauze is speaking to you now over the radio. “Me and Mao thought we would take our gunship out, but we might need an alternative plan, don't take action yet, just be aware." If you might need an extra ride home it might be worth calling the Ride Hopper soon, if only to save yourself from waiting.

>Y/N

Mao was right though, behind every door is a series of cells.

"Hey, help us!"

"Get us out!"

They all call out to you and you waste no time sending your group to free them, it's easy enough. Each cell is walled off from the entrance corridor by a glowing barrier, a force shield even, but there's a panel on the side. Fiddling around with the buttons long enough you all find the release.

Inside, the prisoner's conditions vary from 'okay' to critical, fortunately, your side planned for this. Earlier, a woman was passing out medical supplies, between that and Gauze's rescue squad, the prisoner's will be fine, at least as far as movement is concerned. Gauze and his men waste no time attending to the more unfortunate, but a lot of them have strange injuries ranging from burns, irritated skin, to discolored flesh.

"What were they doing to you?" He asks one of the prisoners. A man shakes his head while a few others shrug or frown as you look upon them.

"Sometimes they test weapons on us, sometimes torture for information, or fun. Except sometimes, one of us gives the right result on their scanner, and they take us. No clue where, they just don't come back."

"Damn!" Henry, who'd mostly been watching you angrily until now, slammed his fist into the wall next to him. There's a terminal at the far end of the room, Saurian tech might be too advanced for you to pick up on a whim, but if you put some nanites into it you could guide the computer to show you what you want. You might be able to find out what they were doing, maybe follow them?

>Investigate

>Just escape

>Write-in

Kept'ya waiting, huh

Honestly meant to put this up earlier. It is what it is. I'll work at getting a post up tomorrow too. For now, see ya later viewers!

>>5658877
>Y
>Investigate

>>5658877
>Y
>Try to investigate a little bit, but if you can't find anything immediately then escape with the prisoners.

The medical supplies the soldiers were given at the beginning were starting to run low so you, Uchida, and Henry are simply moving people closer to Gauze and his group. You still have medical supplies of your own, but getting at them would require undoing the armor, unfortunately you can't risk that right now. Regarding the prisoners, Gauze was right, there are far too many people to fit in the gunships, even if they brought around the one your group used. It might not be much help, but you gamble your vehicle could come in handy, maybe. Hitting the switch on the side of your belt you signal the Ride Hopper to come for you, it'll still be some time though.

With everyone busy tending to the prisoners nobody notices you walking off to the terminal, that or they're simply too busy. The controls are a little above you and you'd rather not start pressing strange buttons, at least not when there's a better way, and there is. Pressing the palm of your hand to what you assume is a keyboard, you guide the path of your nanomachines, giving them just a piece of your will. Suddenly, dozens of digital alien circles appear and close in rapid sequence. Eventually, you get some kind of recording, as you let it play, you see the prisoners weren't lying, the screen shows a strange Saurian; it had a tail, along with some kind of boney crest extending from its forehead and arcing backwards. The new Saurian is holding up what must be a scanner, after it points out a human two grunts move in to grab him, he's kicking and screaming but he can't break free. Good news though, the recording does show you where he's going.

"I'm going to see if I can find out what they were doing. Don't wait for me." You make sure you aren't missed.

"Keep your line open then." Gauze gestures to the side of his helmet, "and make it quick."

Nodding, you head off to a lower level. Stepping into the grav-beam you briefly wonder how you get down, until you just do, then you watch as you pass by the prison complex, and into a deeper darkness. Occasionally you see blinking lights, aside from those it's just you and the beam, until you finally land at what must be the bottom level. Not a cargo bay, possibly the same level though. The recording didn't follow this far into the complex. Calling Mao, you inform her what you're doing, if she was peeved because you'd suddenly gone off mission she doesn't show it, that or Gauze had already told her, a moment later she's running a search through the computers for you.

"According to the ship schematics. You're not on the ship anymore."

That's certainly troubling, what could the Saurians be keeping secret from each other? You've investigated a 'little bit', but dare you go further? There doesn't seem to be that many rooms down here, it probably wouldn't be that long of a search if you wing it.

>Keep going

>Return

>Write-in

Alright, I put the choice here for player 2 just incase he doesn't want to commit, this will also give player 1 a chance to go back if he wants to as well. We'll see though. Anyways this is today's post, and I can bring another tomorrow, isn't that neat

>>5659922
>Keep going
Screw it, why not.

>>5659922
>Keep going

>>5659922
>Keep going

>>5659922
>>Keep going

Exploring on, hovering in front of various doors, you peak inside. Several of them appear to just hold equipment, one of them had some kind of workshop or some such, another had a beam of energy spouting from some machinery. Was that last one a possible weapons experiment? Skipping a few doors, you stumble into what looks like a laboratory, the lights are faded at first, then fully brighten as you walk in. A series of cells line the sides of the room, and you see them, your missing prisoners.

There are two groups of cells, one on the left side, and one on the right, all of them are separated from you by yet another glowing light-wall; same as the prison complex, only there's less of them here. One group of prisoners are wearing strange helmets with a large red-lens in the center, they're all standing motionless, simply staring out.

"Hey, are you guys okay!" You call out to them, they don't respond, merely standing still, but their heads all turn simultaneously towards you. Tapping on the light-wall produces ripples of energy that travel out to the emitters, but otherwise no reaction from its occupants. The other group in the opposite facing cells are harder to describe. You see some unmoving bodies on the floor in one, the next cell has a group of prisoners who are up and about, there’s also something else. It’s not only humans inside. Regardless of race, their bodies all have some sort of deformity somewhere, misshapen limbs, even odd growths. Unlike the others, the ones in this cell are hovering around the edges of the light-wall, like they're waiting for an opportunity.

"Is that.. a tentacle?" You mutter to yourself as you examine closer. A thin strand of flesh is protruding from a back, waving back in forth slightly. With the small bulbs at the top it almost reminded you of a flower in the wind, almost.

In the center of the room are a few tables with strange equipment on them, one of them had some sort of spherical object with what seemed to be mechanical grips extending from the center, and a red-lens at the front. Looking away, you spot a terminal, like the one from before, so you do the same as then and find yourself a new recording.

Here, you see a recording involving those red-lens devices, it's not good. Those head-mounted devices you’ve been looking at, they’re some sort of mind control, but why? You're not sure what the invaders were trying to do, you do know that it has to stop here. As you continue trying to search through the files as best you can, you come to a certain realization, one peculiar thing. Bad news is, you haven't been paying attention, too distracted. There's a new set of lungs, belonging to a heavier set of footsteps than yours, and it’s in the room right now.

"Oh, Kamen Rider, you really should have stayed away." A booming voice addresses you, somewhere between calm and mocking you. Turning around, you realize it can only be that same Saurian from the end of your Tokyo encounter. Instead of armor he's wearing a mix of grey and dark-green robes, he wore what must have been his wings around his torso. He's also towering over you by more than a couple meters. "At least then you could have left in peace."

"Who are you!" You put yourself into a loose pose, ready to move, ready to fight.

"The humans didn't tell you? I believe they call my kind Arch-Dragons, I am a member of the Saurian Empire's highest leadership. I am called Ruduhg. If you kill me, I believe you would find great success in your war. However, that is very unlikely, as you will die here." Ruduhg says flatly, then gives you a fierce roar that fills the entire room with a strange pressure. As the room shakes you feel something happen, then it stops, almost like this Ruduhg stopped it. Like it's holding back. Having met enough Saurians you've begun to be an expert on their facial expressions, and you know Ruduhg is now smiling.


What are you going to do?

>Fight
If you take out a Saurian leader it would send a clear message. Humans are not to be messed with.

>Run
You'd love to defeat this Arch-Dragon, but the simple fact is that this is the wrong place, wrong time.

>Buy time
You could call for reinforcements, though everyone is likely occupied. The Ride Hopper should be on its way though.

>Write-in

Ah, a few more viewers than normal I see, I hope you guys are enjoying what you see.

Let's see.. You've finally met one of the big bosses, what will we do, how will we make it out? Find out next time on Kamen Rider 30! (Next episode at 48 or 72 hours.)

>>5660727
>Buy time
Alien reptile infiltrators would be bad, we need to get this info back.

>>5660727
>>Buy time

>>5660727
>Fight

You're aware that the advanced Saurians can use some sort of breathe attack, like dragons from your stories, so you manage to figure out what this one was doing. As his head draws back slightly, power begins to well up in the back of his throat, and you dash to your side, dodging his fire blast by a wide margin. It occurs to you though, that you might not have been the only target. The table full of Saurian notes and that strange device have all been melted down, a bubbling crater and motes of steam are all that is left.

Right now you've got some distance on him from dodging, you backflip away to avoid another fire blast, and find yourself back against the computer terminal from earlier. You can feel power building up inside Ruduhg's body again, this time it comes faster than you expected. As a furious gust of wind blows you backwards, you find yourself crashing into a wall, crumpling some sort of light fixture, along with a shelf of materials. No fire this time? That's right, this is some sort of secret laboratory, he probably doesn't want to destroy everything; looking at the former worktable, you note that he's fine sacrificing some things.

Using what you know now, leveraging this room against him could increase your odds of surviving, especially as you want to buy time. As much as you want to, fighting this 'Arch-Dragon' simply isn't the best idea, not only are you not back to full strength, you also have to stay mindful of the other humans on the ship. Stalling for time is your best bet, since you have the enemy boss in front of you, why not throw him some questions.

"You're experimenting on humans, why!" You question him as you dodge another windblast by the a hair's breadthe.

"You're quite good at beating down the lizard slaves, as good as I even, and the Ark's minions are merely fodder. He admits as much too!" Ruduhg humors you, but in the midst of his sentence he's charging at you and blinding speeds, a swipe of his arm digs into your armor, and throws you into the opposite wall. Your vision is full of static for a brief moment, even so, you're moving, pulling yourself out of the wall, and roll into a dodge. You're not even sure what you dodged, managing to move in the right direction only because of your antennae. Trying to move towards the doorway has you face-to-face with another fire blast that forces you to backflip away from, in its wake you find the door has melted down. He clearly has no intention of letting you leave.

"The mind-controlled humans, are meant to fight you, specifically. The Ark says you're a weapon incapable of harming humans. But what if they're trying to hurt you?"

Your vision is starting to return to normal, the static fades completely and you're scanning the room, looking for options.

Why not pick two?

>Try to use the equipment or the ship against him
There's all sorts of strange equipment in this room, the others on this level as well, why not try using them?

>Free one of the prison cells
(Mind-Controlled prisoners) or (Odd looking prisoners)
You're outnumbered, so even the odds, can't get any worse, right?

>Call for reinforcements
You're outnumbered, so get some help.

>Wait for the Ride Hopper, then escape
It's already on its way, just a little longer and you can use it to leave this room

>Wait for the Ride Hopper, and fight
A rider machine is not to be underestimated, use it to even the gap and fight

>Lead it on a chase
He wants to kill you? Let him try, this ship is plenty big, he can't possibly stay on you at his size

>Write-in


You can throw another question at the Arch-Dragon, will you?

>Write-in

>Leave it to Kamen Rider

So I'll tell you now, one or more of those choices might be a little bit of a trick. just a little....

Ahem, so I can probably get out 1 or 2 more bumps today, how about that eh?

>>5662462
>Call for reinforcements
>Wait for the Ride Hopper, then escape
Now we know

>>5662500
Oh we know? I mean, at least, I know. Sorry about the wait, I didn't see anything for awhile so i went to go take a break.

"So you want humans to fight huh.." You duck and roll as his tail sweeps your end of the room, knocking over whatever items were standing upright, along with any tables between you two. Clicking the side of your helmet you try to contact Mao, only to get static back.

"Oh, you're trying to call for help? Sorry, unfortunately for you, this room is a dead zone." Ruduhg laughs loudly at you, before you can even think about striking him, he's on you, in a blitz of claw and fang you do your best to dodge. His size belies his amazing speed, he's far faster than you, maybe even stronger? But you've got battle instinct and training on your side, you're able to dodge a tail stinger he tries on you, as well as a series of swipes and hooks form his claws. Unfortunately, he manages to bite you in the end.

"Gaagghh.." You grunt in pain as the teeth penetrate the armor, you can feel him trying to gnaw your arm off, and it seriously hurts. Thinking back you've dealt with worse, actually you haven't; regardless, you focus your mind. Willing yourself to push past the pain. As his teeth gnash down on your shoulder you try to fight, force his jaws open, shrug him off, anything, then you realize you do have something in your belt. Slamming down the manual activators with your other arm, the gyro in your belt begins to spin, a high-pitched whistle blows out of it, and a handle appears at the center of your buckle. Grabbing it, you place the tip just between the Arch-Dragon's jaws, then extend it. In the next instant the five-inch handle suddenly grows into a five-foot pole, the ends of which are surrounded by energy that branches off and zaps at anything touching; for example, the giant dragon in front of you.

"RRRUAAAAHHH!" He screams and involuntarily lets you go.

Spinning the staff around in a flourish, you don a flashy pose and gesture for the dragon to make his move.

"You think that's going to be enough to kill me? You filthy dirt-crawler!" He rages at you, spit flies from between his teeth as he yells.

"I always have what I need to defeat an agent of the Ark!"

He rushes you again, you won't survive another hit close quarters, so you won't. Holding the staff up you lock its anti-grav gyros in place, then spin on it like a bar, unlock, then using your momentum you're jumping high over the Arch-Dragon, landing just beside the melted crater from earlier. Clearly angry now, he tries blasting you again, while you try spinning. A good trick.

Bracing yourself, you start spinning your staff, you diffuse a couple of his blasts, one of them nearly catches you off balance, but your plan is mostly successful. In his rage he's stopped using his brain, apparently believing you to be stupid, but you're using his firepower against him. Like your martial master said, 'if you find yourself underpowered, use your opponent’s strength against them!' So, you have, while he's been blasting away you've been trying to deflect his blasts down into the crater from earlier; making it bigger, hotter, and weaker.

Your staff has nearly had it, the casing is warped slightly, the silver-glossy finish has been burnt black, but you've done it, and the Arch-Dragon has stopped. Just in time too.

"What are you hoping to accomplish, foolish ape?"

"It's almost here, so I'll show you." Holding the staff to your side, you raise an arm and snap your fingers. "Come! Ride Hopper!"

In that moment the flooring in-between you are blown upwards, the roaring engine of your motorcycle fills the room, flying in on auto-pilot, it swerves mid-air and slides towards you. Pivoting on the staff, you flip into the air, then seamlessly saddle into the seat.

"Rrroooh! Get him!" Ruduhg hits some kind of switch underneath his robes, and the cells containing the brainwashed humans opens up. It's hard to tell anything about them behind the large red machine, nonetheless, they're all rushing at you arms forwards, while Ruduhg launches himself at you again.

Jamming your foot down the accelerator of your engine, you jet upwards, dodging a flurry of swipes from the Arch-Dragon, and the prisoners. However, he has no problems with moving the fight into the air and follows you up, just as simply as you would climb a ladder.

There's some incoherent shouting from one of the lines, clearly, chaos has broken out during your time here. Jerking your handlebar, you dip your bike into a hard leaning banking maneuver, dodging the Arch-Dragon swiftly. Casting your glance downwards, you can see the prisoners that were chasing you are sort of ambling around below you, clearly unable to get to you. You also note that he didn't let out the mutated prisoners. Without some way to help their minds though it's unlikely you can save them, so you dive back down, swooping just over their heads. A trail of burning mana-exhaust traces your bike as you fly downwards. Revving your engine extra hard again, you break through the once-melted laboratory doors, where you backtrack up the gravity beam. Except, instead of waiting for the beam to gently move you, this time you ascend at your own pace. The power of your bike completely resists whatever the beam is using.

"-ow far away are you?"

"Sure wish I knew where he was!"

"Forget him, we need an exit now!"

Suddenly, static fills your ear as the radio waves come alive again, voices begin calling out from several groups. The room cut you off, but now you're connected again.

"This is Kamen Rider! I was being jammed but I've broken through!" You speak into the radio, for the next few moments a few people are shouting between each other, before a familiar voice addresses you.

"This is Mao! We had to abandon the command center! We're making our way back to the cargo bay, but the Saurians must have been waiting for something, we're getting a lot of resistance!" She says, you can hear several grunts of exertion in-between her sentences, along with the sounds of gunfire and the other hallmarks of fierce fighting.


You escaped the Arch-Dragon, right? Now you need a way off the ship.

>Exit through the cargobay
You got in before through there, get out the same way.

>Make an extra trip
Go back to the command center yourself and call the castle for the extra gunships you'll need.

>Reroute everyone to the Saurian vehicle hangar
You've seen them before, the invaders have gunships too, use theirs to ferry your people back home.

>Write-in

So there it is, this mission is almost complete, just a little bit more, right? Anyways I'm packing it in here, I will very likely be able to give an update tomorrow.

>>5662573
>Exit through the cargobay
>You got in before through there, get out the same way
I'm worried there may not be enough gunships for everyone, or that we'll be in a bad position against the arch-dragon enemy if we take a bunch of pilots inexperienced with saurian gunships...
So let's just leave the normal route.
I wish I was there for the previous vote - I would have freed the other prisoners...

>>5662573
>Make an extra trip

>>5662673
Support

>>5662673
+1

>>5662673
Honestly, I have been rethinking my post frequency, maybe leaving certain things up to decide longer. Some choices matter more than others you know. At that same time I don't want it to feel like i'm dragging things out too long either.

"Alright! I'm on my way!" You say, agreeing to exit through the cargobay.

You're no Saurian architect, but with all the time you've spent running, fighting, and now driving through the halls, you'd like to think you at least have an idea of where the cargo bay was.

Since the corridors were big enough for it, you decide there's no need to switch your bike into drive mode, keeping it in its flight form. Every so often you'd encounter what looked like a barricade or ambush. With a twist or a pull on your handlebars you force your way past, the power of the Ride Hopper completely overpowering whatever walls, barriers, or traps they had planned for you. Its armor also takes the brunt of any gunfire or explosives for you, it starts to look like it might be a smooth drive back home, until you hear the wind behind you pick up. That's right, the halls are for flying, just, not your flying. Pulling your bike into a hard turn you dip into a branching series of doorways. As you drive through several busy rooms, from armories, supply rooms, maybe even living quarters, you try to put some distance on your pursuer. Looking over your shoulder you can see he's every bit as agile as you remember. Banking around pillars, over boxes, between ceiling fixtures, he's doing the same, and he's gaining on you.

You'll need to shake him soon if you want to leave, drawing him straight to all your injured is hardly a plan, and certainly not a choice. Drawing back around, you just barely roll pass the Arch-Dragon as he makes a swipe for you.

"The skies are not for monkeys like you! You can't run forever!"

You can hear his booming voice taunt you as he gets closer and closer. Banking back into one of the armories, then you wait. Only a second or two later the Arch-Dragon glides in and skids to a halt in front of you.

"Finally ready to accept your fate? Natives of this planet of dirt deserve nothing more."

"Why do you think so lowly of us humans?"

"Saurians are the one true race of course! Though I disgusts me that I am forced to work with that man.."

"What man?"

"Ruahaghagh! Oops, it's not often I can speak so freely you see. As a pawn of the Ark, you're the same aren't you?"

"I'm no pawn!"

>>5663333
Revving your bike again, building up your engine's power, you signal that you're going to resist. Instead of the fire blasts from last time, a stream of blinding white-blue energy shoots out of his mouth. It's much faster than his attacks from before, but so are you, as you jet away you swing by a rack of inert power packs and swipe your staff over them. While heavily damaged, the energy arcing around the tips is still active, and more than powerful enough to set off the charged ammo laying around. The power packs begin to charge red-hot, the metal whistling and creaking as the energy begins building up. Jamming your foot down the accelerator as hard as you can you're blasting off, tracing a trail of mana-exhaust in your wake. You can faintly hear the Arch-Dragon behind you becoming aware of what you've done, his shouts and curses of anger echo behind you. Fortunately, he becomes distracted as a giant explosion swallows him, as well as several rooms behind you, in a sea of flames.

Resistance gets heavier eventually, it strikes you strange that they would all suddenly appear now. Though that's hardly your biggest problem. Right now, you need to break through and reunite with the humans. The sounds of gunfire and explosions are enough to guide you closer, wherein you see just a portion of the chaos you've been missing. The loading grav-beam is still active, while the humans have made some sort of makeshift barricade around it.

Gauze and his squad are doing their best to cover the critically wounded, but between the fighting and protecting, they're spread thin. The other soldiers are doing their best too but the injuries are adding up, and not everyone can manage to keep standing.

"Rider! The gunship is clearing the area below us, but not everyone is going to fit!" Gauze addresses you over the radio, Mao is next to him, but the both of them are clearly busy.

You remember him saying as much, that there were more than expected. What are you thinking?

>Call for another gunship
You're out of the deadzone, you might be able to get someone to radio out for help. But you'd have to hold out for longer, not to mention, you might not have permanently taken out that dragon.

>Hijack the Saurian ground vehicles
There are a few alien cycles and buggies. If you take them, you'd have your extra transportation.

>Use the cargo crates
If you empty out the nearby cargo containers the extra freed prisoners would be protected, then you could use your cycle to carry them out.

>Write-in

That'll be it for me today. Idk if i can bump tomorrow but i'll give a schedule update at least.

>>5663335
>Use the cargo crates

>>5663335
>Use the cargo crates

>>5663335
>Hijack the Saurian ground vehicles
>There are a few alien cycles and buggies. If you take them, you'd have your extra transportation.
Now this is a little better. That's extra vehicles for humanity to use, and extra losses for the saurians. Surely staying close to the ground and scattering will reduce the risk of an explosion or similar attack decimating us.

>>5663357
No vehicles for you unfortunately, we'll be using amazon prime for this mission

"Cyclone-1 on station!" The gunship pilot says into your shared radio. In the distance you can hear what must be his guns going off, probably clearing out any Saurians on the ground. Meanwhile, Mao and Gauze are arguing between each other, trying to decide what to do with the surplus of prisoners. Mao is arguing to leave them, she offers to take them in priority of injury as a compromise with Gauze. Gauze, for his part, lives up to your expectations as a commander of a rescue division, and instead is saying he'd load everyone up, even if it meant strapping them around the engine exhaust ports. They'd definitely cook if that happened, and Mao says exactly that. Looking around, you do see a possibility, pulling up near them you offer them your pearl of wisdom.

"We can use the cargo crates!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

Even as lasers whiz past your heads, drakes threatening to burst in, grunts tossing grenades over your heads, the two of them look at you dumbfoundedly.

"We empty out the cargo containers, put our freed prisoners in them, then I tow them home!"

"You have the horsepower for that?" Mao gestures to the couple dozen people behind her, some of them lay unmoving, but even if they never move for the rest of their lives, you'll get them home.

"Absolutely!"

The two of them look at each other, unsure, then whisper to each other, before nodding to you.

"Alright, bughead, we'll get to it. Keep us clear!" Gauze says, and both he and Mao are giving orders to their squad, along with the other soldiers that came along. Nobody can see it through your helmet, but you're a little surprised. 'Bughead'? It didn't seem demeaning, it's not inaccurate though, for certain reasons you look like a grasshopper as Kamen Rider. A friendly enough nickname.

This next part is on you. A pair of drakes bulldoze through a door they had deadlocked, crumpling the giant metal panels, and knocking them onto the floor. Hitting them dead on with the Ride Hopper would probably destroy it, fortunately, you maintain the advantage in agility. One of them charges straight at you, aiming to smash through you with its large mono-horn and large armor-like scales. Drawing back your cycle with one arm, hanging mid-air in a wheelie-like motion, swivel around, then dash off to another side, leaving it to brush past you. Its partner tries to slash at you, seeing what those did to metal you have no intention of letting them hit, driving up you force your bike into a barrel roll, fully clearing the drake. On your way down you flip into a donut and drop the back end of your bike into the rear of the drake.

"Rider Spin!"

You keep rolling your bike, creating a furious, circular motion, as you hit the drake again, along with the other in the side with the full power of your spinning cycle. The both of them cry out in pain as they fly into each other, then the wall, the both of them smash through the plating and into another room.

Grunts are storming the room again, the humans could more or less handle it, and they were! Except, now they're occupied throwing out what Saurian equipment was contained within the containers, so you'll take up their share. Even with a damaged arm you're up for the task. Circling the room from the air you dive down several times, sometimes to run through grunt formations, other times you'd kick the occasional heavy-armored variant you hadn't seen before. One of them arrives with some kind of shoulder-mounted canon, spinning upside down, you watch as it passes where your body used to be, impacting the ceiling behind you. As payment for its missed shot, you drive by and clip it with the back of your cycle, while you spin one-handed on your seat, and kick another grunt with the same launcher.

"Rider, we're ready!"

Mao and Gauze toss you a set of cables, tracing them backwards, you can see they're all tied around or bolted onto various crates and containers, some of them looked to be a similar rectangular shape that humans used, some are egg-like. Grasping your end of the line you hook it around your bike, tying it around your handlebar, as well as an arm.

"Go, go, go!" Gauze and Mao are directing their soldiers as well as close to a dozen of the prisoners down the gravity beam first, they would be the ones who would ride the gunship out, which was waiting just below you with its ramp open. As for everyone else... You knock on the lead container.

"Get ready!"

The Saurians don't want you to leave just yet, trying their best to rustle up enough resistance to keep you around, it's all for naught though. The armor of the containers keeps everyone more or less secure, though you can hear worried and startled shouts from your convoy. As soon as Mao and Gauze leave, you're right behind them, dragging along somewhere between several tons of cargo. While it was going to be a rough ride to begin with, most of the containers had anti-grav modules, probably so the aliens could move them, you would also be making your initial descent inside the gravity beam as well. When you emerge, you bring your downward momentum with you, using it to gain more speed as you quickly pull up into the air, just below the Saurian ship. For the next few seconds, you focus on dodging whatever small arms fire they manage to send your way, along with avoiding the strange bumps or other obstacles on the outside.

Glancing at your rearview mirrors, to check on your train, you're relieved to see everyone is okay, with most of the containers being in one piece. You're reminded of Santa and his reindeer as you look at your strange collection of sleighs, with yourself as Rudolph of course. As you gain more distance from the aliens' ship, you're relieved that they've yet to use the bigger, stronger, starship weapons on you. They're either still under the effect of the chaos your side caused, or they simply weren't armed like that. Well, there is one last option, the word 'pawn' comes to mind, but you push it back out. All's well that ends well.

The gunship holding the rest of your party pulls up beside you. The cockpit window is completely see-through and the pilots look amused, they're smiling, laughing, pointing to your freight haul, then wave. You wave back, then turn your attention to the horizon, the sun was barely setting, still plenty of daylight left. After just under an hour of flying you can see the castle again, after an awkward exchange with the air-control workers you're told to set down just outside the castle.

>[Intermission] Left behind in Tokyo

>[Intermission] A vision for the god of knowledge

>[Intermission] On leather wings

>Continue as Kamen Rider

My schedule is still unclear right now. Same promise as last time, I'll hit up with an intermission in either 24-48 hours or your money back.

>>5664202
>[Intermission] A vision for the god of knowledge
As always, thanks for the fun quest, QM. I'm really enjoying it!

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1.42 MB GIF

>>5664208
And thank you, dear reader!

>>5664202
>[Intermission] Left behind in Tokyo
Man these intermissions sound cool.

>>5664202
>[Intermission] Left behind in Tokyo

Apologies viewers, today's episode is cancelled, we resume broadcast in 48 hours. For now, please enjoy the commercials.

[Intermission] Left behind in Tokyo

All you can see is a blackness that stretches out forever, it's all you know. The things such as sound, smell, or taste, simply do not exist. Right now, all you know is that you are, until a small breeze pushes through, and a voice.

"Isn't that dangerous?" The voice echoes through your clouded mind. It sounds familiar. Is it yours?

"Not at all! These are designed to work symbiotically with you, they'll improve your synchro rates, you'll be better, faster, stronger." Another voice, he sounds much older than you, is he speaking to you?

"What happens when we fill them with Aether? Remember the Sigma experiment, that rogue nano-colony that had to be exterminated?"

"The Sigma experiment was a mistake, I agree, but I believe the documents from those experiments can be used as a learning experience. I believe that if the nanites are kept without programming, receiving it only when you use them, should negate the chances of them going rogue."

"Please give me something more than 'should'. I'll be putting these in my body after all."

"They are absolutely safe. They will never go rogue; they will never grow a mind of their own."

"Okay then. Please, start the operation."

That was your voice! As you come to this realization your foggy, nearly empty, mind becomes cluttered with memories. Thoughts and patterns begin reasserting themselves. When you awaken, you open your eyes to a a series of junctions and streets cluttered with strange machines.

"Whoa!" You scream out startled. For some reason, you're hanging upside down, staring right at the streets of what must have been Old-Tokyo. Looking around, you're stuck in an awkward position, with your torso sticking out of what must have been a maintenance junction. This makes sense, the last thing you remember is charging your fingers with power, then soldering the final wires and parts in. Carefully grabbing onto the railing near you, you notice you're still in your armor. As you gently pull yourself out, you give yourself a stretch, along with a good yawn, your choice of bedding was strange, but apparently the rest did you good.

Looking the gun over, you're proud of your work, it's functioning well, scanning the skies of any threats. Humanity has a place to recover, regroup, and retaliate from. In time at least. However, you do notice a few new armor panels and the fixed ladder leading up the side. The castle must have sent some men to polish up your battlefield repairs, and for some reason they left you? How rude.

Some explosions nearby draw your attention, just a few blocks away. With the help of your blade-antennae you're able to sense the frenetic movements of combat, mana, and... Aether.

'The machine lifeforms again?'

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1.22 MB PNG

You wonder in your mind, then you change your frequency, tuning into the built in radio attached into your helmet, along with your antennae. For some reason you're out of tune, so it takes a few seconds to adjust, a moment later a loud burst of static fills your ears before you finally tap into the human frequency.

"-your call!"

"I need some help here!"

"Damn, he's using that again!"

"Aaagggh!"

They're clearly in combat, having a rough time of it too if their chatter is anything to go by. Well then; sitting around doing nothing will get you nowhere. Time to join in! Spinning around on your heels, you throw an arm up while the rest of your body shifts into a pose.

"Come! Ride Hopper!" You snap your fingers. A strange sensation at the tips of your fingers, like lightning, causes your hand to flinch slightly, but you think nothing more of it. Strange, you're still here in Tokyo, so your bike should be too. But it's not? It takes a few more seconds for it to arrive. As it flies by you flip sideways, landing squarely into the seat. Revving the engine, you ride the accelerator down as hard as you can, the sound of your bike's engine echoes throughout the dead city, and you're off. As you arrive you see a familiar face. The MLFO you thought you'd have to hunt down later, except here he is, making it easy on you. Not even a day later? He sure repaired fast, he's even sporting some upgrades. The Ark sure works fast nowadays.

"What?! How can you be here!?" Bombshell shouts as he turns to face you, no doubt hearing you coming miles away.

"Kamen Rider will always be there to stop evil!" You greet him and drive your bike down at him.

"You can't be here! Ark-Zero said so! You should still be-ack!"

Whatever he's babbling about you don't give him the chance to finish. The Hopper runs into him, a glancing hit, but it's enough to bowl him over, sending him flying some distance, interrupting his bizarre spiel. Following him with the Hopper, you swoop closer, smashing into him with the front of your wheels. Swiveling back and forth, you give him a flurry of motorcycle-styled jabs, before he finally breaks your combo. Slamming his fists together he creates a concussive wave that forces you away.

"Kuh.. Kamen Rider? How can you be here?" One of the soldiers approaches you, holding his side, while another runs up and shoves him aside.

"Doesn't matter! The Machine showed up to take out the gun while you were out on the mission. If you got back early then even better. Help us take him!"

Nodding, you pull the soldier talking to you aside, right as a bolt of lightning cooks the space he was just in. Bombshell has the orbs in his gauntlets revealed, as well as a larger central orb in his torso. Mana lines formed circles of power around his orbs. The lightning then started waving violently, arcing towards the ground, the nearby buildings, tracing burning lines into the metal and cement; sharp lines of electricity drew closer to him, forming a dome of energy around him.

"Fine! I wanted to kill you anyways, get him boys!" Bombshell shouts out to seemingly nobody, then a mob of faceless, armored mannequins begin jumping out of the buildings, from behind alleyways. As they start sprinting up to you the soldiers begin firing on them, with one brandishing a hammer against them, a mighty swing tanks two down in a single blow.

"Rider! You handle him, we'll clean up the small fry!"

"Make sure you do a good job! If I kick it here, I'm haunting you!"
The Soldiers shout and banter with you, they’re prepared to fight, and so are you.

"Tch! Die!" Bombshell obviously feels cornered, he’s not trying to stall you like last time, simply trying to brute force you.

You know it's coming, based purely on what you know of him, as well as the hostility you feel. Kicking off your bike, you send it flying into a machine combatant, while you dive backwards. An explosion fells a building in the distance. To close the distance, you have to stay light on your feet. Rolling forwards, running up one of the machines on the side of the road, jumping off obstacles; you try to make the most of any cover you can to break line of sight, but he gets pretty fed up with that. Explosions start rocking the area as he begins to rapid fire. A stray explosion swallows one of his own minions, while the backdraft of another catches one of the humans, blowing him onto his backside.

"Stop it!" You shout, finally making it up close, you deliver a flurry of kicks and punches. Fast moving jabs, the tornado kick combination, none make it through. You're stopped by the lightning barrier, each punch and kick is repelled, his barrier counters with a zap each time. In the next moment an explosion blossoms on your chest, causing you to rocket backwards into the side of a building. You fly backwards, shouting in pain. As you blast through several walls, a cloud of dust moves in, as well as the debris from the former walls.

'Darn!'

Your body is sore, as you examine your breastplate you briefly note something extremely important. You refocus your mind. Bombshell is just as dangerous as ever, and must be stopped. Your arms both go up at opposing angles, then you circle them clock and counter-clockwise depending on the arm, before you finally cup them around your buckle.

"Rider Storm!"

You're a little hesitant to do this move now, nonetheless, you've decided it's your best move for the situation. An Aether charged vortex kicks up around you as your gyro goes into overdrive, spinning faster and faster, making a high-pitched humming as the winds are directed at Bombshell. In the process all the dust, along with any smaller particulates, are shot his way. Several small sparks flare up a few meters away. Since all he can see is dust, trying to use his explosions merely causes them to short out at a short distance.

"I don't need to see you!" Bombshell yells in his synthetic voice. In the same moment lightning begins to rain in your general direction. One branch manages to hit your shoulder, jerking you to your side slightly, other than that though, most of his shots miss. With his eyesight completely shot, you take advantage of this opportunity.

"Toh!" You run out of the ruined building, then jump off the face of another, and somersault into the air. After a second you unfold, straighten your left leg out, then you dive down at an angle.

"Rider Kick!" Aether begins to empower your foot, the steam jets on your back began to shoot out at full power, giving you maximum speed on descent.

"Nooo!"

Your foot lands on the lightning barrier, branches of lightning scratch and claw at your armor. For the next few moments, you simply hang there, Bombshell is watching, the humans are watching, and nothing happens.

"Hah... hahahah!" Bombshell begins laughing.

"Hiyah!" You put more strength into your kick, relying on your jets to push you through, and then it happens. The side of your foot begins to slowly slide through, even as the barrier burns you, at that moment, you shoot right through. His barrier pops and his lightning is reduced to floating motes of static. The Rider Kick lands squarely on Bombshell's center orb. Launching off his chest, into a backflip, you land flat on your feet, then you turn.

"This-this can't be! I've failed you, Ark-Zerooo!" Bombshell cries out as he falls over, energy from his core begins to seep through the cracks in his armor, the lights become brighter as they consume him, and he goes up in a furious eruption.


>"That's one!"

>"Never stood a chance!"

>"We did it!"

>Write-in

>>5666688
>"We did it!"

>>5666689
"We did it!" You say as you pump both your fists up, and then hold them high up.

"We really got one! We finally got one!"

"We got him!"

"Down annnddd out!"

Those who are able to walk join you, some of them jumping for joy right next to you, some just yelling in excitement, another starts pumping his arms with you. One of the soldiers comes in for a group hug and jumps into the crowd. The one with the hammer is making a batting motion as he celebrates with the others. If anybody felt apprehensive about losing track of the MLFO in the last fight, they aren't anymore. The once powerful and mysterious machines lifeforms have been visibly humbled. There are a few injured though, they're lying nearby while their fellow comrades attend to them. The man from earlier, as well as those who were taken out before you got here.

"How are you guys holding up?"

"Not bad, it could have been much worse though, we almost had a team wipe. A dozen of us gone, just like that, but we survived. Not bad at all."

"Anything else that I should know about? Other attacks?"

The soldier talking to you shakes his head, "nope, other than your mission, and our patrol, I mean. I don't think anything else is happening, we finished cleaning up the lizards yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yeah?"

That's strange, yesterday the castle had only just arrived. Something strange is clearly afoot, the best place to get answers would be back at the landing castle. Saying your goodbyes and get well's, you snap your finger calling the Ride Hopper back over to you. You wave as you mount up and you're off, at least, that was the plan. Suddenly it starts moving in another direction.

"Whoa! Hey! Get yourself together!" You shout at the bike, as if it could hear you. It turns sharply, heading away from the castle, and blasts off towards the horizon with you on it. After a few minutes of you trying to regain control, you entertain the thought of simply removing the auto-pilot, when you suddenly see a giant rock formation growing closer. Fortunately, the Ride Hoppers' auto-pilot is more than up for the job and banks sharply to avoid it. Unfortunately, you had shifted your position to pull out the auto-pilot, therefore you weren't seated properly. Consequently, you were thrown off as the bike bucked.

You were getting used to living at the castle, a regular home away from home, except now that you're lost, you might not see it again. It might have been possible to hold out for a rescue, but your bike moves fast, you're out of radio range, and nobody knew where you were going. They also weren't looking for you back then too. You 'kind of' remember the way back, it's been a long time since you were allowed to simply be a passenger in a moving vehicle, so you pay attention to these things. Still, the way back to the castle is a fairly far.

"Ahh, what the heck.." Collapsing onto your back, you stretch as you stare out at the evening sky.

[Intermission] Left behind in Tokyo End

Hmm, we at studio 30X were a little hesitant about this idea, but how about it? Please call the po box below to determine if Kamen Rider 2 reappears. While we're at it, actual kamen rider does popularity polls too, did you know? Are there any characters you'd like to see more often, or simply see polished?

Next episode begins in 48 or 72 hours.

>>5666715
Did the nanites we used repair the gun turn into a clone? Or did I get it wrong?

>>5666719
[S]That's correct. But also the added presence of a mlfo bleeding his own special radiation nearby, along with the amount of exertion and focus you put in. While under pressure you were imagining fixing it. From number 2s pov he was actually down there. The leftover nanites went off your last thoughts basically.[/s]

Well if you guys don't like him we can vent him.

>>5666739
I like him, I'll vote to treat him as our brother if we ever meet.

>>5666743
You have a real brother yanno

>>5666747
Well, now we have two.
And this one is a twin!

>>5666719
It's what I assume, yeah... That's a fun idea! If used sparingly, of course.
>>5666715
>Are there any characters you'd like to see more often, or simply see polished?
I'd like to see more "smart", or plot-related machine lifeforms, cementing themselves as more than stupid invaders like the Saurians.
Otherwise I like the doctor, and I quite like Kamen Rider!

>>5666752
>That's a fun idea! If used sparingly, of course.
So here's the thing, it can never happen again. Special circumstances that I laid out, etc. He's also not a character mechanically. He's an upgrade path that you can keep or drop.

>I'd like to see more "smart", or plot-related machine lifeforms
Well, this might be a weakness on my part, but I've been planning to sort of drip this stuff at you while slowly accelerating. I show off the enemies one by one in terms of threat and priority. And actually, every enemy so far has done something for the plot. Not always big of course. As a qm i'm not sure how far I should talk about it, but I should probably spend some time with you guys to talk about what we've seen on screen if you want. If you guys have any questions I'll answer.

Alright dev update. I have not had the time to work on the next post, I also expect to be interrupted frequently for the next few hours. I will be making that post soon though. Expect to see it in... (24 hours give or take)

>>5668220
No worries, take your time man.

As you approach the Landing Castle, the command tower tells you to set down in the plains nearby, while the gunship goes on ahead to land at the airport. You wave the pilots off and they you as the both of you go your separate ways in the sky. The command tower sends you some holographic landing lights to guide you to a certain area, sending you in a gentle spiral downwards. Close by are a bunch of medical personnel, they're not wearing lab coats or anything, but the symbolic red cross has maintained a strong presence even in this time period. The medics along with their hover trucks and anti-grav sleds are standing by, all with the appropriate red and white adornments.

"As soon as we saw your bike leave, we knew something had happened so we were got some extra time to prepare. Though, we didn't expect to hear about this when Gauze radioed later." The doctor from the hospital is there to greet you, gesturing to your convoy as he talks. "Some of the soldier's back at the castle are telling a weird story..." While the doctor talks to you, the medics and engineers are opening your cargo containers. Some of the mechanisms prove confusion, fortunately, they seem to make good progress. Before the doctor can finish though, his attention is desperately needed as a man begins to call for him.

"No rest for the weary right? Sorry, I'm sure somebody else can talk to you.."

"No problem, good luck, doc!"

The both of you give a quick and casual wave, then you're giving a hand to the medics too, unloading or forcing open the containers when needed, occasionally moving people onto the hover-sleds if they were in bad condition. While the crates were a good idea, there was no perfect solution, conditions inside weren't exactly comfortable, nonetheless, they do recognize they've been saved.

"Thank you! Whoever you are!" A group of them called out to you, others would walk over to shake your hand, or give you a polite hug. It's a good feeling for sure. Nearly half an hour later though you get a call over the radio.

"Kamen Rider, report to the command tower briefing room, over."

The voice is short with you, possibly tense, but it seems like it's Commander Ordovis. Wonder what that's about? Well you didn't have to wait long, you hitch a ride with a medic-truck that's about to take off, shaving off a significant portion of your journey. The Landing Castle was always a big place, it's something else to see it's massive, towering, walls for yourself. When you get there it's just him, he's wearing his armor just like always, his face is uncovered though. It might be just you but he looks a little stressed, maybe nervous?

"I need you to answer truthfully. Did you or did you not leave the mission area?"

...

"I did not." You're answer truthfully, albeit confused, he might be talking about how he explored the prison ship, even so you certainly didn't leave the mission. He rubs his slightly sweaty face with his hand, then looks back at you.

"So, you did not drive to Tokyo and defeat a machine lifeform?" He asks, this time he sounded slightly gruffer than usual.

"I did not." You answer again. His brows draw closer, in thought, and he frowns. After another moment he pulls up a several text reports from a few soldiers you don't recognize, then simply holds them within the holo-display. He gestures at them, allowing you to read them. You're definitely confused, they're saying you defeated Bombshell after he came back to destroy the gun while you were out. Certainly troubling.

For them to coordinate so precisely, could only mean Ark-Zero is cooperating with the Saurians, right? But to what end, why would the aliens get involved, why would the Ark ally with them at all? Does this have anything to do with why the MLFOs scaled back their attacks? Then there's this Masked double the reports talk about. Apparently, he's completely identical to you, they couldn't tell the difference! Fortunately, his goals aligned with theirs and they were able to emerge victorious, but this Masked double is an unknown quantity. They were lucky. It might be a good idea to meet him.

"So, this absolutely is not you? It's not a... 'Rider Shadow' or something?"

"No such move exists." You nod. Though, if such a move were to exist, if you could create it, how would you even approach it? Regardless, that thought would need to be shelved for now. Ordovis nods, he breathes a sigh of relief before his face reverts to the same stoic look he had previously.

"Where is he now?" You ask as you continue to scroll through the texts.

"After that fight we lost track of him, we have no idea where he went, my boys say he drove off in your bike."

"Impossible. The Ride Hopper is just fine, it's been with me the whole time since I called for it."

Ordovis looks troubled as he stares at the reports, no doubt he's also concerned about the appearance of this strange double. The meeting shifts away from the strange reports, to a normal debriefing, with him asking you what you were doing as well as why. Of course, you tell the truth, there's nothing to hide, your story will also match the others' once they get around to making their debriefings as well. When you get around to reporting the strange Saurian room Ordovis gives an odd reaction.

..

"Strange prisoners you say?" He taps at his chin in thought and turns from you. "We'll have to be prepared for those mind-controlled soldiers in the future. I doubt they can be saved anymore. But those other ones... that one's seriously awful, wonder what on Earth he's thinking.." Ordovis folds his arms and starts mouthing something in his mind, only his lips are moving, no sound. Simply looking up at the ceiling, apparently deep in thought, the both of you spent the next few moments simply existing quietly. The Commander always struck you as a strange one, sometimes joking, sometimes serious, it’s hard to say you have a handle on him, so you don’t crack any jokes during this time; not that you were ever especially clown-like.

With a sharp breathe in he suddenly speaks up again, "I'll have... someone.. look into that last one for you. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it." With that last statement he gives you a smile, it strikes you as strange, maybe it's just his old grizzled face. Your reply is a nod, he likely means Mao, the scout specialist.

While you're here, is there anything you want to say or ask?

>Write-in

Anyways, the meeting isn't likely to drag on any longer, you'll still have the rest of the evening, as well as your night ahead of you. What are you thinking?

>Visit someone you know

>Visit the training simulator

>Visit the kids you'll be taking in

>Go find your 'house' and start working on it again

>Write-in

>>5669272
>Write-in
Might as well make that talk about money to keep the kids fed IC instead of OOC
>Visit someone you know
The woman said her father wanted to meet us, right?

>>5669274
+1

“By the way..” You said, your face adopts a softer touch as you shift the topic.

“Yeah?” Ordovis raises a brow as you meet his gaze.

“About the kids… I’d like to talk about my money, seeing has how I’ll have a few more mouths to feed.”

Ordovis’ face changes as well, he breathes out, then chuckles softly, likely decompressing just like you. His face turns strange for a moment, pained almost; a man as old as him probably has a lot of stories, with not all of them being good. You almost ask if he’s had kids before, but it might not be a good topic to bring up right now. It’s possible the war has hit a little too close to home for him.

“Right. Good job reminding me. Until now I had you listed as something like a volunteer, I just told the mess to feed you free of charge, less paperwork you understand. It actually helps that you spent your nights in the brig or the hospital. Anyways, I’ll send some people by later to check on the condition of the house. Once it’s fixed enough for the kiddos I’ll send’em over, along with an update to your card. I’ll give you a steady salary, you’ll also be listed as a provisional soldier. Less work for when you kick over, or if you manage to take out the boss overnight.” Ordovis says. His switch into a somewhat, laidback, persona has you blinking, it’s not bad though. Whatever’s easy for him is easy for you. Although, you do wish he hadn’t mentioned you dying as an easy solution, that’s asking for bad luck, isn’t it?

“Be careful though. Some of them are pretty rowdy. I think you will get some help from a couple of the older ones, don’t sweat too much.” With that over with, the commander gives you a nod and gestures for you to leave. On your way out he complains about paperwork, that’s nothing you can help him with though.

Still in the command tower, you’re near a window that gives you quite the view. With the workday ending, most civilians were likely on their way home, aside from the ones helping the newly freed prisoners anyways. Looking out over the castle walls you can see the sun just barely peaking over the horizon. The setting sun paints the sky in a vibrant but fading orange, still light out, just a little though. The elevator ride down is quiet, with all the officers still at their posts or having already changed shifts, there’s nobody to keep you company. You briefly note that there was no music either, leaving you some time to think.

The problem with the Saurians and the Ark has grown, you’re also worried that you’re somehow playing into the hands of the Ark. That so called ‘Arch-Dragon’, with the secret lab, called you a fellow pawn, what could it mean? Well, that’s a problem for another day.

There’s also the problem with your Rider power, expending such a large amount of nanites has made you roughly half as effective as normal. Maybe you could find a way to supercharge their production rate? Ideally though, you could take in a batch of inert nanites and assimilate them. For now, though, you make it your next point to find that woman from before. You have no idea who she is or what her job is. She makes bombs, passes out medical items, and handles sudden bacterial outbreaks; alone no less. As soon as you exit the elevator you make your way to the receptionist at the bottom of the command tower.

“Excuse me?” The woman behind the counter gives you a polite smile as you approach, and you tell her you’re looking for someone, with the exact details you were just thinking about.

“Ah, the Alchemist you mean, yes she wears many hats.” She smiles and nods.

“The who?”

Upon your confused query, she goes into a little more detail, telling you her roles. She is indeed an alchemist, working in a workshop between the residential and military districts. Her expertise in chemicals has forced her role, along with her predecessors, and her future disciple, to handle most jobs assigned to someone who can manufacture weapons and tools that rely on said knowledge. Along with limited decryption jobs. Basically, she’s a one-woman army. Why? When you ask that, the receptionist simply shrugs.

“Something before my time. I hear the Commander suggested we should only have one Alchemist and Forgemaster. They’ve done a good job so far, so not many are trying to interfere.”

That sounds a bit strange, you remember the woman complaining about her workload, that was probably all she talked about. Regardless, there’s nothing you can do about that right now, so you just ask for directions and you’re on your way.

“Oh, by the by, mister rider!” The receptionist calls you back to her desk with a fanciful wave.

“I hear you walk to where you need to go. The castle is miles and miles long, are you actually just walking?” She asks you and you nod. “That’s no good. The commander probably forgot to tell you, but if you have a license, you can ride small vehicles within castle walls. We’re big enough to hold thousands of passengers after-all, you’d kind of need something more than legs.”

That’s good to hear. In truth, the only reason you haven't tried it until now is the fact that you used to walk around under armed guard. Not to mention it would probably be awkward sprinting back and forth with no emergency. You'd definitely get a few weird looks.

“I’ll go ahead and upgrade your ID, castle sensors won’t sound the alarm or anything.”

With that out of the way, you really get onto with your day this time. The receptionists’ directions are pretty spot on, aside from some buildings being strangely hidden behind a sign, or misplaced vehicles, you get there without any problems, and with the help of the Ride Hopper (In ground mode) you manage to save time too. When you get there, you nod, to no one in particular; It’s house that woman works in alright, you remember meeting her just outside.

The door is unlocked, inside a powerful smell floats your way, causing you to cough as you try to waft it away with your hand. Pipes above you shutter as some form of liquid begins moving through them. It’s also strangely hot. What draws your attention next is an older man, he’s lowering some sort of ceiling mounted machine closer to his anvil, sparks fill the room as it touches. Clearly, he’s doing something delicate.

“Excuse me, the door was open!” You make yourself known, but he doesn’t turn towards you.

“Ah! I’ll be with ya in a moment!”

Well then, you wait several, very long, moments, before he finally turns towards you, lifting up a pair of goggles as he does, then crosses his arms. You note that his work as left a very distinct imprint on his face. Behind him you catch what he was working on, some sort of large armor plate.

“If it’s an armor repair job you can just put it in the drop-off box!”

He’s loud, you cringe slightly as he bellows at you, actually, this reminds you, he was yelling that night too.

“Actually, I spoke to the alchemist, she told me to come here…”

“Eh?” He makes a grunt then dons his goggles again, rubbing the side of a lens you can see something light up inside. “Ah, so that’s why ya looked familiar.”

Waving you closer, he has you follow him into a backroom, here he tells you what he does. Basically, he’s a modern-day blacksmith, more importantly, apparently, he’s been talking to Dr. Cain on the side. Normally she works with him to restore relics and items she’s found, lately though, they’ve been talking about you. There hasn’t been any real emergency yet, but they’ve been discussing what she’s seen in your time capsule, ideas to adapt weapons or existing items for you. He remarks that he actually worked on your staff the night before, as you present it in its damaged condition, he gives a frown.

“No artist wants to see their work come back ruined…”

“Tell that to the Saurians.”

“Harumph! I will!” He swipes the broken handle from your grip and throws it into some pile behind him, a very rough type of storage, especially in light of what he just said. He continues on and introduces you to a cylinder of some kind. There’s some writing on it but it’s faded.

“This here is a batch of inert nanites. As far as our dust doctor knows, it was made right at the end of 28XX, get a load of this.” He turns it over, and there’s a familiar symbol on it, your Rider helmet. Same as Dr. Hongo’s time capsule. As you accept it, you examine it, as far as you can tell they really are dormant. But they were made in what, 28XX, would they be compatible, would they still function? It’s a question for later, you’ll need a few hours to assimilate them anyways, there’s really no downside, just do it while you’re sleeping.

“While yer here, I wanna run a few experiments on you… how about it?”

This is a good time to leave, how about it?

>Accept

>You’ve got somewhere else to be [Write-in]

Oh jeez, I really wrote that much? I didn't need to, i'm so sorry viewers lmao. Anyways, the options are really the same as last time, it's free time, your personal intermission in-between missions. You could take one of the previous choices or maybe spice it up? Anyways I apologize for the beefy, very heavy talking head type update. I retire for the night but i'll be sure to update again tomorrow.

>>5669378
>Accept
Sure, why not? We can meet the kids or fix the house tomorrow. Hopefully
>>5669385
'till later

>>5669378
>Accept

You tilt your head as you think it over. "Sure, why not?"

"Great! Cain tells me you use a weird type of energy; I want to see what it is!" The man hands you a rod to hold, then has you sit, and you sit for close to an hour. While he does this, he hovers a small flashing device in front of you several times, which you recognize as a similar device as that scanner you saw the woman use.

"So, it's true... you really are loaded with the stuff..."

"What stuff?"

"Nanomachines. This could get dangerous you know; they could go rogue on you! They're also connected to the same network, limited redundancy, if even one part of you is crippled it would bring down the whole system!"

"Yeah. I know." You swallow your throat, while it's not something you like to think about, you are based on the same technology the MLFOs are. In some ways, you're the same. If they were to say, hit you with a Rider Kick, or a similar attack, you would be done for. The same thing that you use to finish off machine lifeforms, could be turned against you with similar results. Without a word he suddenly attaches some kind of wire to your chest and goes back to work.

Looking around the room, you spot a wall lined with armor panels attached seemingly carelessly, most have a note with a date on them. Another corner had a large pile of weapons and equipment sitting on top of each other, including your former Magna-staff, if you want it back you should probably ask, otherwise he might never get to it. In a corner opposite from you, is what looks like a star-panel, military grade maybe? Like the ones they had in your school planetarium, for looking at the stars or constellations. The forgemaster matches your gaze while he works on his computer.

"Ah, that old thing. Apparently, this building was supposed to be bigger, we'd even have a third guy who would monitor the stars, 'cept that duty fell to me. What with the stupid lizards already having landed there's no point in using that anymore! Still, the Commander makes me look at it every now and then. 'In-case we see any more aliens!' he says, well, the more the merrier, couldn't be any worse."

Isn't that too lax? Well, a few more minutes passes, you start to see something on his table come into being. He starts pulling parts from nearby piles, from drawers, even from under your seat, and after a few moments you start to see what he's trying to do, so you give him some pointers. Not too many though, he's the expert, after all. Eventually, his project starts to take form, he has created an artificial arm of sorts, then he slices down the middle, presenting it like a sandwich cross-section. Inside is an intricate pattern of mana circuits, it reminded you of those ancient QR codes that fell out of use.

"You're trying to make a prosthetic based on me?"

"Something like that. I can't dice up your arm for real.."

"No."

"So! I went and created an artificial mock-up! I do want to make stuff based on you, more importantly, Cain has been asking if I could make stuff for you, as you might recall? Well, this is a starting point!" said the Forgemaster proudly. "I might be able to make some armor, but with the tools available to me, I would need those nanites I just gave you. Commit to using them, or give them to me, if you want a heavier, bulkier look."

This was certainly something to think about. You'd recover eventually, there's also the chance the Ark could step up operations against you, so you might need these nanites to better adapt yourself, it might be better to save it for later. Or maybe nothing matters, ever? Back to the topic at hand though.

"You said wanted to study Aether tonight?"

"Indeed." The Forgemaster leaned in to whisper, before continuing. "Cain told me to keep it a secret, I understand, it would seem to me you are made of the same thing, similar construction and parallel patterns. By studying you, we could gain quite the advantage."

This hasn't come up in a while. As you breathe in you must have unconsciously started to look anxious, the man gives you a warm chuckle, along with a few firm pats on the back.

"Don't worry boy! I won't tell, as long as you let me poke and prod you every now and then I'll be happy!" He continued on. "Still, research into, what was it? Aether? Is nonexistent. At the very least, I might be able to make something that can track Aether movements." While looking him in the eyes, surrounded by his messy workshop, plates of cold food laying around, and the two of you working to uncover the Ark's secrets; you're suddenly reminded of many late nights with Dr. Hongo, trading ideas, testing new equipment. Just like you were doing moments ago. You smile back, you would never get those days back, but this is a decent start.

"That's great doctor!" You accidentally blurt out, the man looks confused, he doesn't have time to say anything though as a new, feminine, voice suddenly interrupts the two of you, drawing his attention. You assume it's his daughter having come back. He turns the other way to address her from the other room. Embarrassed from your last outburst, you opt to quietly leave out the back, you nearly trip over a few large cords, even some scattered metals; despite all obstacles, you've escaped. Once outside, you let the warm spring air fill your lungs as you let out a deep sigh. Looking up you can see the sun has gone, despite the fact that night has come, you note the lack of cicadas.

A small observation, but it feels a little lonelier without those guys, maybe Kamen Rider is has become sympathetic to insect life. You reckon you still have some time before you pack it in.

Where are you going?

>Go home, work on the home

>Make a visit

>Work off your stress in the simulator

>Write-in