SI is transported to the World of Build and is forced to play along with the mysterious app in order to return home... but others in the cafe he's in are transported with him.
Power Trip (Kamen Rider/Multicross/LitRPG)
- Thread starter Tam Lin
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 20
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 11
-
Statistics (10 threadmarks, 29k words)
User Total Tam Lin 10 -
Loading…
Chapter 1-Character Creation
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
I was no stranger to falling dreams. They came hand in hand with the nightmares I frequently had because of my fucked up sleeping schedule. Normally, I'd wake up the moment I started falling, but it felt more like I was being slowly lowered to the ground than an actual fall. I looked around me, but could only see pitch black before my fall slowed down even more and a glow began illuminating the ground from below.
The force that was slowing my fall oriented me upright and I landed on an invisible platform, my knees buckling a bit as my body resumed being affected by gravity. The glow intensified from beneath my shoes and spread to become a bright light, revealing a platform covered in fresh grass and white flowers. Before me, there were three stone plinths, each with a weapon floating above it and a guardian behind it.
I moved towards the plinths and reached out to the first weapon—a sword with wicked spikes along the blade, with similar spikes on the handle. Its guardian was a red demon whose face was wrinkled into a furious scowl and framed by two ivory horns. His hands were gigantic crabs' claws.
"To shed the blood of your enemies, you must also shed your own," the guardian declared, gesticulating aggressively with his claws. I stopped reaching for the weapon, letting my arm fall to my side. There was no way I was going to use that sword comfortably anyway, not with those spikes on the handle.
The second weapon looked like an elk's antler with its base wrapped in cloth. Each branch of the antler had a gem on a string hanging from it. I reached towards the antler, prompting its guardian to speak.
"Power can be achieved, but no matter how high the peaks you reach, you will never be truly happy. Such is the nature of humanity," the weapon's guardian cautioned. The guardian was a man with an elk's head and was wreathed in shadow, save for its yellow eyes which glowed eerily in the dark. It wasn't as animated as the first guardian and it was a little hard to see against the pitch black background.
The guardian's declaration felt like an ominous portent so I decided not to pick it and reached for the final weapon. It looked like a mass of masks bound into the rough shape of a riot shield. Its guardian was a man with a zebra's head and tattoos that looked like zebra stripes adorning the rest of its body. It carried a shield and a spear and looked very much like a Roman or Greek centurion, not that I could tell the difference between the two.
"You hide behind masks, shadowing your true potential with false selves." The guardian's voice was accusatory, but it resonated with me somewhat. I continued to reach for the weapon. "Fool boy. The way to use this weapon is to shed it and blind the world with your glory."
There wasn't much of my 'glory' to be blinded by, to be honest. I was just your run of the mill insurance company grunt. I didn't want a crappy weapon I couldn't use. Plus, unleashing my full awfulness wouldn't win me any friends.
Three weapons, each with their own drawbacks. The 'logic' of the dream spurred me to choose, but I found none of their drawbacks palatable. I was stunned by indecision, but it seemed like the dream wouldn't proceed unless I made a decision.
After another moment of indecision, the guardians decided to speak up. They spoke in unison, berating me for my indecision.
"Fool boy. You refuse to choose a weapon for you fear the repercussions they bring. Yet, not choosing at all is a decision in itself."
The three guardians began expelling light from their eyes and mouths, illuminating the shadowy void until I had to close my eyes because of how bright the light was. Something like a wind pushed me back until I fell over. Luckily for me, a chair caught me and as soon as I was seated, the blinding light disappeared.
I found myself in a blue room, seated on a matching plush swivel chair. The chair was extremely comfortable, if just a bit oversized for me. In front of me, my father was seated on a similarly large swivel chair and… wait. Something's wrong. My dad died years ago, but the narrative of the dream won't let me question it. He was wearing a snazzy blue three-piece suit that he wouldn't be, pardon the term, be caught dead with. He was always a shirt and jeans kind of guy.
"What do you hate the most?" My dad asked.
It was a pretty loaded question, because there were a lot of things I hated. I had to really think about it because the dream gave me the sense that it would only accept one answer. By the time I've narrowed it down to a few choices and opened my mouth to speak, my dad seemed to have had enough of my indecision and spoke for me.
"I get it. There are too many things you hate for you to pick just one. But not being able to choose is a choice in itself. If you have that much hate weighing you down, then maybe it's time to let things go." My dad leaned against the armrest of his chair.
My own chair lurched down and then turned. I would have fallen off if there wasn't a weird force keeping me on the chair. As my dad slid out of view, my mother was next. She was wearing a gorgeous high-society style gown in blue that matched the room's aesthetics.
"What do you desire the most?"
That question was a lot easier than the first. Easy enough that the answer came unbidden from my lips.
"I want money, but I don't wanna work for it. I wanna be filthy rich!" I said as I rested my face on my hand.
My mom had a worried look on her face. "Do you really think money is the end of your problems?" My mother asked. "Not everything can be bought by money."
I wanted to rebut because I always thought that was a really privileged take on wealth. Not that we were poor in any sense. We were actually pretty well off-- well off enough that I could go to a fancy private college. It never really felt like enough for me, because it wasn't my money. It was my parents'.
"Having that much greed in your heart will weigh you down. Perhaps you should pursue something more fulfilling than empty wealth," my mother advised. Again, I was hit with the feeling of my chair lurching down and turning. I instinctively tightened my grip on the arm rests.
I faced the third person, my boyfriend. He was dressed in a fashionable blue coat over a turtleneck sweater and freshly-pressed slacks. Like my dad, he was more of a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy, but I could definitely imagine him wearing something like his dream outfit for an event. He uncrossed his legs and folded his fingers together.
"You are mad about a great many things, and find your life lacking so you pursue wealth for its own sake. But is there something in your life that you're grateful for?" He asked. It was another easy answer that I didn't have to think about.
"You, of course," I answered. "I was in a dark place when you came around, but you pulled me out of it."
I wasn't usually this sincere, but the dream had a sort of logic that forced the truth out of me.
"I see. Your want is misplaced, and you have too much hate weighing you down. Despite all this love lights your way forward," my boyfriend analyzed.
The chairs began to move in a way that made it unclear whether I was the one spinning around, or all three of the people I talked to were slowly revolving around me. My mom, my dad and my boyfriend all spoke in unison. Creepy.
"Your journey begins at midday. Light is abundant, but the brightest light casts the darkest shadows. Is this alright?"
All I could reply was "Bruh," before the chair I was sitting in suddenly fell.
---
"Bruh," I exclaimed as the sensation of falling shook me awake. The cafe's denizens glanced at my sudden outburst, but everyone quickly went back to what they were doing except for the cafe's owner, who took a seat next to me.
"You okay, Norms? You kinda fell asleep there. Maybe you should order some coffee," the owner pointedly suggested. He was an actor and a local celebrity. His name was Luis something, but everyone affectionately called him 'Kuya'. He was a bit of a hardass about people loitering in his cafe without ordering anything.
"Oh, uhh sure. How about a chai latte. I'm feeling a bit peckish so a plate of nachos too," I said as I booted up my laptop. Kuya took my order down, but the cafe was a small affair with only four tables. The guys working the kitchen and counter were new because Kuya was a bit of a bad boss and the staff would rotate every six months or so because of people quitting or getting fired. They've been working for Kuya for a few months now and I haven't bothered learning their names because it's only a matter of time before they were gone.
Other than the staff, there was only one other person in the cafe. She had a lot of difficult-looking books open and was taking the occasional sip from her drink. I've seen her a few times before, but she always seemed busy and I wasn't the kind to interact with people I didn't know.
I was drawing something on my laptop when Kuya came back with my latte and nachos. I mostly ignored them in favour of downloading reference pictures for my drawing. It started raining heavily not long after. It was a little weird since it was sunny just a few seconds ago. I tried to ignore the rain and get back to my art, but a crack of lightning must have knocked out the internet or something and I couldn't access DuckDuckGo. I tried a few other websites, but no luck.
"Hey look. There's a weird purple fog outside," Kuya said. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look. Fog was unusual enough, because the Philippines tended to be pretty hot. I was trying to ignore the weather, but even I had to stare at the purple fog. It was unusually opaque, despite the strong winds that rattled the cafe's sliding doors and threatened to bust them open.
The weird weather lasted only a few minutes. When the fog has cleared enough that we could see outside, we were clearly not in Manila anymore. Instead, we were in a forest filled with dead trees and dry soil.
Kuya, me and one of the cafe employees checked outside. The street we were on was completely gone and the cafe was attached to a wall massive enough that we couldn't see the top. Kuya and his employee decided to explore the area further but I went back inside to join the girls.
"What happened?" The studying girl asked. "Where'd Kuya go?"
"He went with the guy to go look around. I dunno if they'll find anything. It's just dead forest all around and a weird wall," I reply. "The streets disappeared. I don't really know what's going on either," I add as I shut off my laptop and put it in my bag.
"No way. Is it the Rapture?" Asked the female employee.
My face contorted in disgust. Oh god she was one of those people. "No, I don't think it's the rapture. Me and Kuya aren't religious. Haven't been religious for years, actually."
"How are you going to explain all this, then?" The female employee asked.
"I'll have you know, I'm strongly reconsidering my Atheism to 'God is a Bastard'ism," I said. The girl I was talking to looked scandalized by my casual blasphemy, but I figured that she should get used to it since Kuya blasphemed a lot too.
"Well, anyway," interrupted the other girl. "While we're figuring out how to get home, maybe we should ask Kuya about sleeping arrangements? Doesn't he have a room upstairs that gets used for movie showings?"
"Oh, uh yeah he does. Let's ask him when he gets back." I suggested. It wasn't long before Kuya came back with his other employee in tow.
"No luck. We found a building with some military-looking guys guarding it. They didn't look too friendly," Kuya said. "We're probably not supposed to be here."
All our phones rang at the same time.
"Welcome to Kamen Rider Build RPG… What?" The younger girl read out from her phone. My phone said the same thing, and presumably everyone else's. By the look on everyone's faces, I assumed they had no idea what 'Kamen Rider Build' was, which meant that I was the only one who knows how the plot is supposed to proceed.
Of course, being the only one who knows anything about Kamen Rider Build would make me seem suspicious, so I decided to keep my knowledge hidden for now.
The screen changed from its Welcome Screen to 'Selecting Player' which had anime-styled portraits of me and everyone else in the cafe. A cursor rapidly flickered between each portrait before slowing to a stop on my portrait. "Norman Invidia selected as party leader," five phones announced in unison.
Eyes were on me, since everyone's phones except for mine went inert.
"Hmm, I guess this is our way out. What does it say?" Asked the young girl. At this point, I was getting tired of thinking of everyone as girl, woman, man, whatever so I got everyone's names. The girl who was studying was Andrea, the female employee was Monica and the male employee was Paul.
"It says 'The Kamen Rider Build RPG is an innovative RPG experience that lets you interact with the world and characters of Kamen Rider Build. Tap the screen to begin the tutorial.'" I tapped the screen after reading out the blurb and it displayed my stats. I had 13 HP and 4 MP. It didn't sound like a lot, but I read on. Other than HP and MP, my stats were:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 4
The app proceeded to explain what each stat meant. Strength represented how much power I could bring to bear, Dexterity was my ability to manipulate things, Constitution was how long I could bring the power to bear without getting tired, Intelligence was how much knowledge I had and Wisdom was how good I was my ability to develop insights. Intelligence was also linked to spell damage and Wisdom was related to MP recovery. I didn't know any magic spells, so that was irrelevant to me for now. The phone also pointed out that I didn't have a Charisma stat because 'Only creepy people rely on a Charisma stat to talk to people. You aren't a creepy person, are you?' which made Andrea laugh.
Overall, my stats were rather disappointing and were this a game of DnD, this basically qualified me for being disabled, right? I hoped that the stats weren't scaled to DnD stats since I considered myself to have at least average Intelligence.
After reading out the stats, the phone asked me to establish a 'Territory'. The instructions said to mark out the ground. Once I did, my 'Territory' would start gathering Karma based on how big it was, but the app also cautioned me to be careful, since staking out a bigger territory meant a nastier boss would try to challenge me for it.
With everything that happened, I didn't feel like up to fighting.
"You should hurry up and do it, though." Monica said. "I don't think we're going to get home if you don't do what the phone says." She tosses me an umbrella with a pointy tip. The grip was molded to look like a katana's hilt.
It annoyed me that she was so pushy, but I had to do it eventually, right?
The force that was slowing my fall oriented me upright and I landed on an invisible platform, my knees buckling a bit as my body resumed being affected by gravity. The glow intensified from beneath my shoes and spread to become a bright light, revealing a platform covered in fresh grass and white flowers. Before me, there were three stone plinths, each with a weapon floating above it and a guardian behind it.
I moved towards the plinths and reached out to the first weapon—a sword with wicked spikes along the blade, with similar spikes on the handle. Its guardian was a red demon whose face was wrinkled into a furious scowl and framed by two ivory horns. His hands were gigantic crabs' claws.
"To shed the blood of your enemies, you must also shed your own," the guardian declared, gesticulating aggressively with his claws. I stopped reaching for the weapon, letting my arm fall to my side. There was no way I was going to use that sword comfortably anyway, not with those spikes on the handle.
The second weapon looked like an elk's antler with its base wrapped in cloth. Each branch of the antler had a gem on a string hanging from it. I reached towards the antler, prompting its guardian to speak.
"Power can be achieved, but no matter how high the peaks you reach, you will never be truly happy. Such is the nature of humanity," the weapon's guardian cautioned. The guardian was a man with an elk's head and was wreathed in shadow, save for its yellow eyes which glowed eerily in the dark. It wasn't as animated as the first guardian and it was a little hard to see against the pitch black background.
The guardian's declaration felt like an ominous portent so I decided not to pick it and reached for the final weapon. It looked like a mass of masks bound into the rough shape of a riot shield. Its guardian was a man with a zebra's head and tattoos that looked like zebra stripes adorning the rest of its body. It carried a shield and a spear and looked very much like a Roman or Greek centurion, not that I could tell the difference between the two.
"You hide behind masks, shadowing your true potential with false selves." The guardian's voice was accusatory, but it resonated with me somewhat. I continued to reach for the weapon. "Fool boy. The way to use this weapon is to shed it and blind the world with your glory."
There wasn't much of my 'glory' to be blinded by, to be honest. I was just your run of the mill insurance company grunt. I didn't want a crappy weapon I couldn't use. Plus, unleashing my full awfulness wouldn't win me any friends.
Three weapons, each with their own drawbacks. The 'logic' of the dream spurred me to choose, but I found none of their drawbacks palatable. I was stunned by indecision, but it seemed like the dream wouldn't proceed unless I made a decision.
After another moment of indecision, the guardians decided to speak up. They spoke in unison, berating me for my indecision.
"Fool boy. You refuse to choose a weapon for you fear the repercussions they bring. Yet, not choosing at all is a decision in itself."
The three guardians began expelling light from their eyes and mouths, illuminating the shadowy void until I had to close my eyes because of how bright the light was. Something like a wind pushed me back until I fell over. Luckily for me, a chair caught me and as soon as I was seated, the blinding light disappeared.
I found myself in a blue room, seated on a matching plush swivel chair. The chair was extremely comfortable, if just a bit oversized for me. In front of me, my father was seated on a similarly large swivel chair and… wait. Something's wrong. My dad died years ago, but the narrative of the dream won't let me question it. He was wearing a snazzy blue three-piece suit that he wouldn't be, pardon the term, be caught dead with. He was always a shirt and jeans kind of guy.
"What do you hate the most?" My dad asked.
It was a pretty loaded question, because there were a lot of things I hated. I had to really think about it because the dream gave me the sense that it would only accept one answer. By the time I've narrowed it down to a few choices and opened my mouth to speak, my dad seemed to have had enough of my indecision and spoke for me.
"I get it. There are too many things you hate for you to pick just one. But not being able to choose is a choice in itself. If you have that much hate weighing you down, then maybe it's time to let things go." My dad leaned against the armrest of his chair.
My own chair lurched down and then turned. I would have fallen off if there wasn't a weird force keeping me on the chair. As my dad slid out of view, my mother was next. She was wearing a gorgeous high-society style gown in blue that matched the room's aesthetics.
"What do you desire the most?"
That question was a lot easier than the first. Easy enough that the answer came unbidden from my lips.
"I want money, but I don't wanna work for it. I wanna be filthy rich!" I said as I rested my face on my hand.
My mom had a worried look on her face. "Do you really think money is the end of your problems?" My mother asked. "Not everything can be bought by money."
I wanted to rebut because I always thought that was a really privileged take on wealth. Not that we were poor in any sense. We were actually pretty well off-- well off enough that I could go to a fancy private college. It never really felt like enough for me, because it wasn't my money. It was my parents'.
"Having that much greed in your heart will weigh you down. Perhaps you should pursue something more fulfilling than empty wealth," my mother advised. Again, I was hit with the feeling of my chair lurching down and turning. I instinctively tightened my grip on the arm rests.
I faced the third person, my boyfriend. He was dressed in a fashionable blue coat over a turtleneck sweater and freshly-pressed slacks. Like my dad, he was more of a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy, but I could definitely imagine him wearing something like his dream outfit for an event. He uncrossed his legs and folded his fingers together.
"You are mad about a great many things, and find your life lacking so you pursue wealth for its own sake. But is there something in your life that you're grateful for?" He asked. It was another easy answer that I didn't have to think about.
"You, of course," I answered. "I was in a dark place when you came around, but you pulled me out of it."
I wasn't usually this sincere, but the dream had a sort of logic that forced the truth out of me.
"I see. Your want is misplaced, and you have too much hate weighing you down. Despite all this love lights your way forward," my boyfriend analyzed.
The chairs began to move in a way that made it unclear whether I was the one spinning around, or all three of the people I talked to were slowly revolving around me. My mom, my dad and my boyfriend all spoke in unison. Creepy.
"Your journey begins at midday. Light is abundant, but the brightest light casts the darkest shadows. Is this alright?"
All I could reply was "Bruh," before the chair I was sitting in suddenly fell.
---
"Bruh," I exclaimed as the sensation of falling shook me awake. The cafe's denizens glanced at my sudden outburst, but everyone quickly went back to what they were doing except for the cafe's owner, who took a seat next to me.
"You okay, Norms? You kinda fell asleep there. Maybe you should order some coffee," the owner pointedly suggested. He was an actor and a local celebrity. His name was Luis something, but everyone affectionately called him 'Kuya'. He was a bit of a hardass about people loitering in his cafe without ordering anything.
"Oh, uhh sure. How about a chai latte. I'm feeling a bit peckish so a plate of nachos too," I said as I booted up my laptop. Kuya took my order down, but the cafe was a small affair with only four tables. The guys working the kitchen and counter were new because Kuya was a bit of a bad boss and the staff would rotate every six months or so because of people quitting or getting fired. They've been working for Kuya for a few months now and I haven't bothered learning their names because it's only a matter of time before they were gone.
Other than the staff, there was only one other person in the cafe. She had a lot of difficult-looking books open and was taking the occasional sip from her drink. I've seen her a few times before, but she always seemed busy and I wasn't the kind to interact with people I didn't know.
I was drawing something on my laptop when Kuya came back with my latte and nachos. I mostly ignored them in favour of downloading reference pictures for my drawing. It started raining heavily not long after. It was a little weird since it was sunny just a few seconds ago. I tried to ignore the rain and get back to my art, but a crack of lightning must have knocked out the internet or something and I couldn't access DuckDuckGo. I tried a few other websites, but no luck.
"Hey look. There's a weird purple fog outside," Kuya said. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look. Fog was unusual enough, because the Philippines tended to be pretty hot. I was trying to ignore the weather, but even I had to stare at the purple fog. It was unusually opaque, despite the strong winds that rattled the cafe's sliding doors and threatened to bust them open.
The weird weather lasted only a few minutes. When the fog has cleared enough that we could see outside, we were clearly not in Manila anymore. Instead, we were in a forest filled with dead trees and dry soil.
Kuya, me and one of the cafe employees checked outside. The street we were on was completely gone and the cafe was attached to a wall massive enough that we couldn't see the top. Kuya and his employee decided to explore the area further but I went back inside to join the girls.
"What happened?" The studying girl asked. "Where'd Kuya go?"
"He went with the guy to go look around. I dunno if they'll find anything. It's just dead forest all around and a weird wall," I reply. "The streets disappeared. I don't really know what's going on either," I add as I shut off my laptop and put it in my bag.
"No way. Is it the Rapture?" Asked the female employee.
My face contorted in disgust. Oh god she was one of those people. "No, I don't think it's the rapture. Me and Kuya aren't religious. Haven't been religious for years, actually."
"How are you going to explain all this, then?" The female employee asked.
"I'll have you know, I'm strongly reconsidering my Atheism to 'God is a Bastard'ism," I said. The girl I was talking to looked scandalized by my casual blasphemy, but I figured that she should get used to it since Kuya blasphemed a lot too.
"Well, anyway," interrupted the other girl. "While we're figuring out how to get home, maybe we should ask Kuya about sleeping arrangements? Doesn't he have a room upstairs that gets used for movie showings?"
"Oh, uh yeah he does. Let's ask him when he gets back." I suggested. It wasn't long before Kuya came back with his other employee in tow.
"No luck. We found a building with some military-looking guys guarding it. They didn't look too friendly," Kuya said. "We're probably not supposed to be here."
All our phones rang at the same time.
"Welcome to Kamen Rider Build RPG… What?" The younger girl read out from her phone. My phone said the same thing, and presumably everyone else's. By the look on everyone's faces, I assumed they had no idea what 'Kamen Rider Build' was, which meant that I was the only one who knows how the plot is supposed to proceed.
Of course, being the only one who knows anything about Kamen Rider Build would make me seem suspicious, so I decided to keep my knowledge hidden for now.
The screen changed from its Welcome Screen to 'Selecting Player' which had anime-styled portraits of me and everyone else in the cafe. A cursor rapidly flickered between each portrait before slowing to a stop on my portrait. "Norman Invidia selected as party leader," five phones announced in unison.
Eyes were on me, since everyone's phones except for mine went inert.
"Hmm, I guess this is our way out. What does it say?" Asked the young girl. At this point, I was getting tired of thinking of everyone as girl, woman, man, whatever so I got everyone's names. The girl who was studying was Andrea, the female employee was Monica and the male employee was Paul.
"It says 'The Kamen Rider Build RPG is an innovative RPG experience that lets you interact with the world and characters of Kamen Rider Build. Tap the screen to begin the tutorial.'" I tapped the screen after reading out the blurb and it displayed my stats. I had 13 HP and 4 MP. It didn't sound like a lot, but I read on. Other than HP and MP, my stats were:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 4
The app proceeded to explain what each stat meant. Strength represented how much power I could bring to bear, Dexterity was my ability to manipulate things, Constitution was how long I could bring the power to bear without getting tired, Intelligence was how much knowledge I had and Wisdom was how good I was my ability to develop insights. Intelligence was also linked to spell damage and Wisdom was related to MP recovery. I didn't know any magic spells, so that was irrelevant to me for now. The phone also pointed out that I didn't have a Charisma stat because 'Only creepy people rely on a Charisma stat to talk to people. You aren't a creepy person, are you?' which made Andrea laugh.
Overall, my stats were rather disappointing and were this a game of DnD, this basically qualified me for being disabled, right? I hoped that the stats weren't scaled to DnD stats since I considered myself to have at least average Intelligence.
After reading out the stats, the phone asked me to establish a 'Territory'. The instructions said to mark out the ground. Once I did, my 'Territory' would start gathering Karma based on how big it was, but the app also cautioned me to be careful, since staking out a bigger territory meant a nastier boss would try to challenge me for it.
With everything that happened, I didn't feel like up to fighting.
"You should hurry up and do it, though." Monica said. "I don't think we're going to get home if you don't do what the phone says." She tosses me an umbrella with a pointy tip. The grip was molded to look like a katana's hilt.
It annoyed me that she was so pushy, but I had to do it eventually, right?
Chapter 2-Tutorial
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Everyone was feeling antsy about going home. I was too, since being stuck in the World of Build meant I couldn't see my boyfriend. Unfortunately, getting home meant that I had to fight when I didn't know the first thing about fighting. With how crappy my stats were, I was more likely to die and get us stuck in this world than I was to actually be helpful. We settled on a compromise—Kuya would teach me some of the martial arts moves he learned as an actor and when Kuya decided I didn't suck, we would progress the tutorial.
Of course, not sucking at martial arts was easier said than done.
"Come on, put some soul into it!" Kuya chided. He was holding a throw pillow that we liberated from the theater room. I'd been punching the pillow for about an hour now and Kuya had been thoroughly unimpressed with what my spindly nerd arms could do.
"I can't punch any harder than that, sorry. We've been at this for an hour. Can we take a break?" I complained.
"You can take a break for five minutes, then we'll work on some kicks."
I groaned. I decided to get some water and cool air inside the cafe because electricity and water still worked for some reason. There was no need to look that particular gift horse in the mouth.
"How's the martial arts thing going?" Andrea asked.
"Terrible. I've been punching until my arms feel like they're made of concrete and Kuya still thinks I suck," I sighed. I gulped down a glass of water, and then a glass more.
"Well, keep trying. The Build RPG whatever app is our only clue to getting home and you're the only one that can use it," Andrea cheered.
"Or maybe you should stop being a pussy and man up already," Monica jeered. "I've got kids to take care of at home and god knows how they're doing without their mom to take care of them. Men should be able to fight, right?"
"Well, first of all, it sounds like you have some mental issues you need to work out. Second, I'm just not built like other guys." I positioned myself in front of the air conditioner to cool down. I'd probably get a cold that way since I was drenched in sweat, but it felt good in the moment.
"You little bitch," Monica spat. She sounded like she was about to go on a whole tirade but Paul put a stop to it.
"Okay, okay. Easy there ladies. Monica, why don't you help me make lunch for everyone in the kitchen. Norman, why don't you get back to your training with Kuya," Paul said, putting an arm between me and Monica.
I hadn't known Monica for long, but she was already getting on my nerves.
I slid open the door and worked on my kicks with Kuya.
--
Sento and Banjo had been arguing about Banjo's memories of the underground laboratory when a car was sent flying towards them. Banjo was able to dodge handily, while Sento could only manage to throw himself to the side. The car only grazed Sento, but it was enough to send him flying and writhing on the ground.
Banjo took a stance and expertly punched the monster. However the Power Smash's hide was tough and Banjo couldn't even manage to push it back. Banjo was within reach of the monster and it took the opportunity to grab him and leap with its powerful legs, leaving behind a cloud of dust as it jumped.
Even with the massive difference in power, Banjo was determined to get the Smash to back off. He attacked with a flurry of punches, but hitting the Smash felt like trying to punch through a brick wall. Thankfully for Banjo, the monster's attacks were telegraphed enough that he could simply weave through them. In a fight of attrition, though, the Power Smash was clearly going to win as it simply didn't get tired.
"Smash. Humans turned into monsters. There's simply no reasoning with them. Trying to fight one barehanded? You really are a meathead."
Sento who was writhing on the ground just moments before was walking with a confident swagger. He shook a pair of bottles in his hands, then put them in a machine attached to his waist. As he turned the crank on the machine, its face began to extrude glass and machine parts until he's completely surrounded by machinery. An impossible amount of fluid flowed from the small bottles, filling the machine's glass tubes. The two halves of the machine slammed into Sento, outfitting him with the Build armor.
"THE FULLMETAL MOONSAULT! RABBIT TANK!" The belt announced.
"Did that belt seriously just hype you up? What are you, some kind of narcissist?" Banjo asked incredulously.
"It's not just a belt! It's the Build Driver!" Sento corrected as the red 'Rabbit' half of his armor flashed. He was able to close the distance between himself and the monster in no time, attacking the monster with quick jabs followed up with quick hops that landed him behind his target.
The Power Smash simply couldn't keep up with the transformed Sento's speed, forcing it to tank the Kamen Rider's powerful attacks.
"He's actually pushing it back! That's… amazing!" Banjo stared, wide-eyed.
"That's not all I can do. Check this out," Sento bragged, putting distance between him and the monster despite his advantage. He replaced the red 'rabbit' bottle with a white 'hedgehog' bottle on his belt. New armor formed, replacing the red 'Rabbit' half with a white 'Hedgehog' half. In his new form, the Kamen Rider was noticeably less agile, but his attacks did more damage. Each punch projected a spike of white energy that pierced the Power Smash's thick hide, deforming it inwards.
"And now, the finisher!" Sento retreated again, putting distance between himself and the dazed monster. He turned the crank on the Build Driver and a horizontal projection locked the monster in place. The Power Smash desperately tried to retreat, but the bindings were too strong so it could only struggle impotently.
"Hedgehog! Tank! Voltech Attack!" The Build Driver announced as Sento curled up into a spiked ball and launched himself directly at the Power Smash. The ball exploded on impact, leaving the Power Smash collapsed on the ground and Sento himself completely unharmed. Sento retrieved an Empty Bottle and used it to store the Power Smash's essence for purification.
As the Power Smash turned back into a normal human, Banjo realized that he recognized the monster's original identity.
"Hey you! You were in the underground lab! Tell me what you remember!" Banjo said, shaking the dazed human awake. There was no flash of recognition on the former Smash's face.
"He's lost his memory like me. I don't think we're getting anything out of him," Sento consoled, touching Banjo's shoulder.
"Argh! Damn it!" Banjo screamed, punching the ground. The sound of police sirens slowly got louder as Touto's police force rushed into the scene. The former Power Smash retreated into the tall grass while Banjo was distracted. Banjo himself got ready to hightail it out of the scene as he heard the sirens but it quickly became clear that they were surrounded.
"Hand over that murderer," a bearded gentleman said as he exited one of the numerous police cars. "I'm Gentoku Himuro, Minister of Defense for Touto. Surrender or be shot."
Robotic Guardians settled into formation around Gentoku. Behind him, his Humagear assistant, Nariaki Utsumi was taking a video of the encounter.
"Ugh. I'm going to regret this, but hop on." Sento said, tossing his phone into the air, transforming it into a motorcycle.
--
I kicked the tree for what felt like the thousandth time, and for the thousandth time, Kuya had more things to correct about my form. I was drenched in sweat under the hot noontime sun, but the little cooling my sweat could give me felt like little respite from the heat's constant assault.
"Alright, that's enough. You can take a break," Kuya said. He tried to pat me on the back, but I dodged because I was completely disgusting. It dawned on me that I was trapped in another world, covered in sweat and without a change of clothes. Disgusting.
My phone rang with an alert, putting me and Kuya on guard. All of our phones were rendered unusable by the Build RPG app, so the alert came as a surprise. I tentatively pulled it out of my pocket.
"Basic Martial Arts learned (Level 1)(Passive)
The user has an easier time learning martial arts. Grants +1 strength every odd level, +1 dexterity every even level and +1 constitution every level divisible by 5. Currently providing +1 Strength."
"What did it say?" Kuya asked. I read the alert to him before dismissing it.
"I learned a skill apparently. I don't feel any different but…" I tried the punches and kicks Kuya taught me earlier. The forms came noticeably easier for me now even with the skill at such a low level.
"That looks a lot better than what you were pulling off earlier. You said you learned a skill?" Kuya asked, appraising my moves.
"Yeah. I guess the RPG part is literal if I'm learning skills that augment my stats." I bluffed, trying to pass it off as me being amazed at the Build RPG app's capabilities. In truth, I was a annoyed that it took so long and so much effort to level a skill to the first level.
"The Build RPG app rewards effort. Don't expect learning skills to be as simple as throwing a punch a few times ~kyun~" My phone beeped, displaying the alert. I quickly dismissed it before Kuya could read it and I tried to pass it off as being a duplicate of the earlier alert. Looks like the app could get sassy and what the hell was '~kyun~ supposed to be?
"Can I take a break for, like, a day before I get on with the tutorial? I feel exhausted." I begged. Kuya gave me a sympathetic look.
"It's going to hurt worse tomorrow, but I'd like you to do what the app says as soon as possible. I'll go get Andrea to look around with me while you take a break.
--
The Build RPG app said it was made to allow the players to 'interact with the world and characters of Kamen Rider Build'. That meant learning more about 'the world and its characters' was imperative so Kuya and Andrea decided to do a bit more exploring while Norman took a rest from all the training. Monica was with them too because Andrea told Kuya that it didn't seem like a good idea to leave Monica and Norman alone together.
"So what's Norman's deal? You're friends with some pretty competent people. Actors, artists and other celebrities, but Norman seems like a loser. Why are you friends with him?" Andrea asked Kuya.
"Well, I wouldn't put it like that, but Norman does seem a little soft…" Andrea added. She didn't feel like judging Norman too harshly since she doesn't know his circumstances… But the weird app that sent them here picked Norman as their 'party leader' and the guy didn't seem like the leading type. It would have been better if Kuya was the leader since the older man had a natural charisma to him.
"Hmm, well he's actually pretty loaded, but that's not why I'm friends with him." Kuya said. "If you haven't figured it out yet, most of my friends are atheists."
"That's terrible," Monica said. "Then this whole thing is just God punishing us. I believe in God and go to church every Sunday, though so why am I here?" Monica complained.
"Hey now, it's not nice to go around judging people like that… If you're like that all the time, then it wouldn't be a stretch to see why you're here with atheists and… whatever it is god thinks Paul and I did," Andrea said. Kuya signalled for the two girls to keep quiet as fields of tall grass began to replace the barren ground they were walking in.
In the distance, masked military men robotically marched to the signal of some guy wearing fancy headphones. They were guarding what looked like a power plant, which just about fit in with what Kuya and Paul saw when they first arrived.
"Since this is a military base, civilization probably shouldn't be too far from here," Kuya spoke with a low voice. Being hidden inside the tall grass, the party of three hadn't been spotted yet and if Kuya had his way, they wouldn't be spotted until they made their way to civilization.
Thanks to the tall grass, they managed to make it past the military base and onto a dirt road that lead into a city. While tall buildings could be seen in the background, the outskirts seemed to be mostly residential with a few parks. There were more of those masked military personnel hanging around the parks, but people ignored them despite their strange appearance.
More importantly, Kuya noticed that the street and park signs were in Japanese. He could read a bit, but he definitely wasn't fluent. Most of the kanji, he just couldn't read at all.
"I don't think we'll be getting much information from these people. Most Japanese can't speak English very well," Kuya noted.
"Hmm, well we can try finding some Filipinos. Filipinos thrive in foreign countries so it shouldn't be hard to find a kababayan here," Monica said. "We should try checking some convenience stores."
The three made their way inwards. Aside from the masked military acting a bit too much like police for Kuya's comfort, everything was copacetic. It took hours, but they eventually found another Filipino working as a clerk for a convenience store. Monica seemed glad that she had someone to talk to that wasn't the cafe gang.
"Hey kababayan! I'm so glad we found another Filipino to talk to," Monica said, invading the clerk's personal space a bit, leaning over the counter.
"Hey, uhh. It's getting a little too late to be out, isn't it?" The clerk said.
"What are you talking about…" Monica checked his nametag. Thankfully, it was in letters she could read. "Simon? It's only 6 PM. I think it's plenty early."
"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but I heard that there are monsters called Smash that lurk in the night attacking people. I've been lucky enough to never encounter one. They say that Kamen Rider Build would save you if you ever get attacked, but if you're unlucky enough that he doesn't find you in time…" Simon looked thoughtful.
"Wait, did you say Kamen Rider Build?" Andrea asked, cutting into the conversation. "Tell us everything you know."
--
It was getting late and I asked Paul if I could help cook dinner. I've never cooked before, preferring to eat out at restaurants or order food, so I figured that it might be a good skill to pick up. Cooking was surprisingly simple because everything that Kuya's shop served was already pre-packaged. It was so easy, in fact, that my phone didn't alert me to a new 'cooking' skill. If learning the martial arts skill was any indication, I'd need to learn how to cook much harder dishes before getting a skill for it.
I took a look outside and it was getting really dark. I hoped that Kuya and the others didn't get mogged by a Smash, or worse some Guardians. I couldn't really warn them about the dangers this world posed without revealing I knew what Kamen Rider Build was and I didn't want them to think that I was the reason we were transported into this hellworld by revealing I knew all about Kamen Rider Build and what was supposed to happen here.
I saw Kuya's party arriving from the distance. Andrea waved at me as they walked towards the café and I asked them if they were successful about finding civilization.
"Yeah, about that. We actually got a lot of useful information from a Filipino named Simon," she said.
"There are Filipinos here?" I was a bit surprised because the immigration issue was never really brought up in the show itself. I just kind of figured that the Philippines withdrew all the overseas workers when the Skywall thing happened.
"Yeah, it turns out we're in Japan. We also figured out what 'Kamen Rider Build' means. He's a local hero that protects people from the 'Smash', monsters that appeared at night," Andrea explained. I tried to act like I didn't know all this already and hoped that I was convincing. "I guess all we need to do is to find him and we could get a clue on how to get back home."
I subconsciously gritted my teeth. This was the worst possible idea that they could have gotten, since touching the stinky poopoo that was the plot could lead to butterflies that caused the world to end. The main characters only barely saved the world in Build's ending... I'll have to dissuade them without playing my hand somehow…
"Are you okay, Norms? You seem pretty shocked," Andrea asked.
"No. I'm perfectly fine."
Of course, not sucking at martial arts was easier said than done.
"Come on, put some soul into it!" Kuya chided. He was holding a throw pillow that we liberated from the theater room. I'd been punching the pillow for about an hour now and Kuya had been thoroughly unimpressed with what my spindly nerd arms could do.
"I can't punch any harder than that, sorry. We've been at this for an hour. Can we take a break?" I complained.
"You can take a break for five minutes, then we'll work on some kicks."
I groaned. I decided to get some water and cool air inside the cafe because electricity and water still worked for some reason. There was no need to look that particular gift horse in the mouth.
"How's the martial arts thing going?" Andrea asked.
"Terrible. I've been punching until my arms feel like they're made of concrete and Kuya still thinks I suck," I sighed. I gulped down a glass of water, and then a glass more.
"Well, keep trying. The Build RPG whatever app is our only clue to getting home and you're the only one that can use it," Andrea cheered.
"Or maybe you should stop being a pussy and man up already," Monica jeered. "I've got kids to take care of at home and god knows how they're doing without their mom to take care of them. Men should be able to fight, right?"
"Well, first of all, it sounds like you have some mental issues you need to work out. Second, I'm just not built like other guys." I positioned myself in front of the air conditioner to cool down. I'd probably get a cold that way since I was drenched in sweat, but it felt good in the moment.
"You little bitch," Monica spat. She sounded like she was about to go on a whole tirade but Paul put a stop to it.
"Okay, okay. Easy there ladies. Monica, why don't you help me make lunch for everyone in the kitchen. Norman, why don't you get back to your training with Kuya," Paul said, putting an arm between me and Monica.
I hadn't known Monica for long, but she was already getting on my nerves.
I slid open the door and worked on my kicks with Kuya.
--
Sento and Banjo had been arguing about Banjo's memories of the underground laboratory when a car was sent flying towards them. Banjo was able to dodge handily, while Sento could only manage to throw himself to the side. The car only grazed Sento, but it was enough to send him flying and writhing on the ground.
Banjo took a stance and expertly punched the monster. However the Power Smash's hide was tough and Banjo couldn't even manage to push it back. Banjo was within reach of the monster and it took the opportunity to grab him and leap with its powerful legs, leaving behind a cloud of dust as it jumped.
Even with the massive difference in power, Banjo was determined to get the Smash to back off. He attacked with a flurry of punches, but hitting the Smash felt like trying to punch through a brick wall. Thankfully for Banjo, the monster's attacks were telegraphed enough that he could simply weave through them. In a fight of attrition, though, the Power Smash was clearly going to win as it simply didn't get tired.
"Smash. Humans turned into monsters. There's simply no reasoning with them. Trying to fight one barehanded? You really are a meathead."
Sento who was writhing on the ground just moments before was walking with a confident swagger. He shook a pair of bottles in his hands, then put them in a machine attached to his waist. As he turned the crank on the machine, its face began to extrude glass and machine parts until he's completely surrounded by machinery. An impossible amount of fluid flowed from the small bottles, filling the machine's glass tubes. The two halves of the machine slammed into Sento, outfitting him with the Build armor.
"THE FULLMETAL MOONSAULT! RABBIT TANK!" The belt announced.
"Did that belt seriously just hype you up? What are you, some kind of narcissist?" Banjo asked incredulously.
"It's not just a belt! It's the Build Driver!" Sento corrected as the red 'Rabbit' half of his armor flashed. He was able to close the distance between himself and the monster in no time, attacking the monster with quick jabs followed up with quick hops that landed him behind his target.
The Power Smash simply couldn't keep up with the transformed Sento's speed, forcing it to tank the Kamen Rider's powerful attacks.
"He's actually pushing it back! That's… amazing!" Banjo stared, wide-eyed.
"That's not all I can do. Check this out," Sento bragged, putting distance between him and the monster despite his advantage. He replaced the red 'rabbit' bottle with a white 'hedgehog' bottle on his belt. New armor formed, replacing the red 'Rabbit' half with a white 'Hedgehog' half. In his new form, the Kamen Rider was noticeably less agile, but his attacks did more damage. Each punch projected a spike of white energy that pierced the Power Smash's thick hide, deforming it inwards.
"And now, the finisher!" Sento retreated again, putting distance between himself and the dazed monster. He turned the crank on the Build Driver and a horizontal projection locked the monster in place. The Power Smash desperately tried to retreat, but the bindings were too strong so it could only struggle impotently.
"Hedgehog! Tank! Voltech Attack!" The Build Driver announced as Sento curled up into a spiked ball and launched himself directly at the Power Smash. The ball exploded on impact, leaving the Power Smash collapsed on the ground and Sento himself completely unharmed. Sento retrieved an Empty Bottle and used it to store the Power Smash's essence for purification.
As the Power Smash turned back into a normal human, Banjo realized that he recognized the monster's original identity.
"Hey you! You were in the underground lab! Tell me what you remember!" Banjo said, shaking the dazed human awake. There was no flash of recognition on the former Smash's face.
"He's lost his memory like me. I don't think we're getting anything out of him," Sento consoled, touching Banjo's shoulder.
"Argh! Damn it!" Banjo screamed, punching the ground. The sound of police sirens slowly got louder as Touto's police force rushed into the scene. The former Power Smash retreated into the tall grass while Banjo was distracted. Banjo himself got ready to hightail it out of the scene as he heard the sirens but it quickly became clear that they were surrounded.
"Hand over that murderer," a bearded gentleman said as he exited one of the numerous police cars. "I'm Gentoku Himuro, Minister of Defense for Touto. Surrender or be shot."
Robotic Guardians settled into formation around Gentoku. Behind him, his Humagear assistant, Nariaki Utsumi was taking a video of the encounter.
"Ugh. I'm going to regret this, but hop on." Sento said, tossing his phone into the air, transforming it into a motorcycle.
--
I kicked the tree for what felt like the thousandth time, and for the thousandth time, Kuya had more things to correct about my form. I was drenched in sweat under the hot noontime sun, but the little cooling my sweat could give me felt like little respite from the heat's constant assault.
"Alright, that's enough. You can take a break," Kuya said. He tried to pat me on the back, but I dodged because I was completely disgusting. It dawned on me that I was trapped in another world, covered in sweat and without a change of clothes. Disgusting.
My phone rang with an alert, putting me and Kuya on guard. All of our phones were rendered unusable by the Build RPG app, so the alert came as a surprise. I tentatively pulled it out of my pocket.
"Basic Martial Arts learned (Level 1)(Passive)
The user has an easier time learning martial arts. Grants +1 strength every odd level, +1 dexterity every even level and +1 constitution every level divisible by 5. Currently providing +1 Strength."
"What did it say?" Kuya asked. I read the alert to him before dismissing it.
"I learned a skill apparently. I don't feel any different but…" I tried the punches and kicks Kuya taught me earlier. The forms came noticeably easier for me now even with the skill at such a low level.
"That looks a lot better than what you were pulling off earlier. You said you learned a skill?" Kuya asked, appraising my moves.
"Yeah. I guess the RPG part is literal if I'm learning skills that augment my stats." I bluffed, trying to pass it off as me being amazed at the Build RPG app's capabilities. In truth, I was a annoyed that it took so long and so much effort to level a skill to the first level.
"The Build RPG app rewards effort. Don't expect learning skills to be as simple as throwing a punch a few times ~kyun~" My phone beeped, displaying the alert. I quickly dismissed it before Kuya could read it and I tried to pass it off as being a duplicate of the earlier alert. Looks like the app could get sassy and what the hell was '~kyun~ supposed to be?
"Can I take a break for, like, a day before I get on with the tutorial? I feel exhausted." I begged. Kuya gave me a sympathetic look.
"It's going to hurt worse tomorrow, but I'd like you to do what the app says as soon as possible. I'll go get Andrea to look around with me while you take a break.
--
The Build RPG app said it was made to allow the players to 'interact with the world and characters of Kamen Rider Build'. That meant learning more about 'the world and its characters' was imperative so Kuya and Andrea decided to do a bit more exploring while Norman took a rest from all the training. Monica was with them too because Andrea told Kuya that it didn't seem like a good idea to leave Monica and Norman alone together.
"So what's Norman's deal? You're friends with some pretty competent people. Actors, artists and other celebrities, but Norman seems like a loser. Why are you friends with him?" Andrea asked Kuya.
"Well, I wouldn't put it like that, but Norman does seem a little soft…" Andrea added. She didn't feel like judging Norman too harshly since she doesn't know his circumstances… But the weird app that sent them here picked Norman as their 'party leader' and the guy didn't seem like the leading type. It would have been better if Kuya was the leader since the older man had a natural charisma to him.
"Hmm, well he's actually pretty loaded, but that's not why I'm friends with him." Kuya said. "If you haven't figured it out yet, most of my friends are atheists."
"That's terrible," Monica said. "Then this whole thing is just God punishing us. I believe in God and go to church every Sunday, though so why am I here?" Monica complained.
"Hey now, it's not nice to go around judging people like that… If you're like that all the time, then it wouldn't be a stretch to see why you're here with atheists and… whatever it is god thinks Paul and I did," Andrea said. Kuya signalled for the two girls to keep quiet as fields of tall grass began to replace the barren ground they were walking in.
In the distance, masked military men robotically marched to the signal of some guy wearing fancy headphones. They were guarding what looked like a power plant, which just about fit in with what Kuya and Paul saw when they first arrived.
"Since this is a military base, civilization probably shouldn't be too far from here," Kuya spoke with a low voice. Being hidden inside the tall grass, the party of three hadn't been spotted yet and if Kuya had his way, they wouldn't be spotted until they made their way to civilization.
Thanks to the tall grass, they managed to make it past the military base and onto a dirt road that lead into a city. While tall buildings could be seen in the background, the outskirts seemed to be mostly residential with a few parks. There were more of those masked military personnel hanging around the parks, but people ignored them despite their strange appearance.
More importantly, Kuya noticed that the street and park signs were in Japanese. He could read a bit, but he definitely wasn't fluent. Most of the kanji, he just couldn't read at all.
"I don't think we'll be getting much information from these people. Most Japanese can't speak English very well," Kuya noted.
"Hmm, well we can try finding some Filipinos. Filipinos thrive in foreign countries so it shouldn't be hard to find a kababayan here," Monica said. "We should try checking some convenience stores."
The three made their way inwards. Aside from the masked military acting a bit too much like police for Kuya's comfort, everything was copacetic. It took hours, but they eventually found another Filipino working as a clerk for a convenience store. Monica seemed glad that she had someone to talk to that wasn't the cafe gang.
"Hey kababayan! I'm so glad we found another Filipino to talk to," Monica said, invading the clerk's personal space a bit, leaning over the counter.
"Hey, uhh. It's getting a little too late to be out, isn't it?" The clerk said.
"What are you talking about…" Monica checked his nametag. Thankfully, it was in letters she could read. "Simon? It's only 6 PM. I think it's plenty early."
"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but I heard that there are monsters called Smash that lurk in the night attacking people. I've been lucky enough to never encounter one. They say that Kamen Rider Build would save you if you ever get attacked, but if you're unlucky enough that he doesn't find you in time…" Simon looked thoughtful.
"Wait, did you say Kamen Rider Build?" Andrea asked, cutting into the conversation. "Tell us everything you know."
--
It was getting late and I asked Paul if I could help cook dinner. I've never cooked before, preferring to eat out at restaurants or order food, so I figured that it might be a good skill to pick up. Cooking was surprisingly simple because everything that Kuya's shop served was already pre-packaged. It was so easy, in fact, that my phone didn't alert me to a new 'cooking' skill. If learning the martial arts skill was any indication, I'd need to learn how to cook much harder dishes before getting a skill for it.
I took a look outside and it was getting really dark. I hoped that Kuya and the others didn't get mogged by a Smash, or worse some Guardians. I couldn't really warn them about the dangers this world posed without revealing I knew what Kamen Rider Build was and I didn't want them to think that I was the reason we were transported into this hellworld by revealing I knew all about Kamen Rider Build and what was supposed to happen here.
I saw Kuya's party arriving from the distance. Andrea waved at me as they walked towards the café and I asked them if they were successful about finding civilization.
"Yeah, about that. We actually got a lot of useful information from a Filipino named Simon," she said.
"There are Filipinos here?" I was a bit surprised because the immigration issue was never really brought up in the show itself. I just kind of figured that the Philippines withdrew all the overseas workers when the Skywall thing happened.
"Yeah, it turns out we're in Japan. We also figured out what 'Kamen Rider Build' means. He's a local hero that protects people from the 'Smash', monsters that appeared at night," Andrea explained. I tried to act like I didn't know all this already and hoped that I was convincing. "I guess all we need to do is to find him and we could get a clue on how to get back home."
I subconsciously gritted my teeth. This was the worst possible idea that they could have gotten, since touching the stinky poopoo that was the plot could lead to butterflies that caused the world to end. The main characters only barely saved the world in Build's ending... I'll have to dissuade them without playing my hand somehow…
"Are you okay, Norms? You seem pretty shocked," Andrea asked.
"No. I'm perfectly fine."
Chapter 3- Boss Battle
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
I was standing shirtless under the noontime sun with an umbrella in my hand. I was feeling self-conscious because I didn't have the best body and I wasn't used to being shirtless in front of other people, but I had completely drenched my shirt in sweat yesterday so I washed it and had it hanging from one of the dead-looking trees. I had just finished drawing out a semicircle on the ground centered on the café. There was an allowance on either side and on the front about as wide as the café itself. I didn't think it was too large since Kuya's cafe was a small four table affair, but Kuya and Paul were standing by to help me fight the boss in case it was too hard for me to beat on my own.
Nothing happened after I finished marking out the territory with an umbrella so I checked my phone on what to do next. It told me that once I marked out the territory, I needed to 'declare' it. I didn't know what that meant so I went with my gut.
"I, Norman Invidia, declare the inside of the semi-circle I drew around our cafe to be my territory," I said, speaking into the phone.
"Accepted ~kyun~" said the phone back. It sounded a lot like Hatsune Miku when it spoke. That would get annoying very quickly so I'm glad the app mostly spoke through text.
Iridescent hexagons began flowing out of the line I drew in the dirt, encircling the cafe with their multicolored light. They flashed brighter for a moment and I had to shield my eyes. When I opened them again, everyone had been teleported outside the 'Territory'. Kuya and Paul banged on the barrier a few times, but stopped as soon as they realized they were getting nowhere. The girls were a bit more surprised since they were inside the cafe doing things. Andrea looked like she was in the middle of enjoying a drink when the teleportation happened, which she spilled over herself in surprise. Please don't be mad at me! I didn't know this would happen!
I didn't have time to apologize though as the boss was materializing. It started out as a black haze that slowly condensed into a pitch-black wolf that was larger than me. I stepped back. I was pretty sure the martial arts I was taught was for self defense against humans and not gigantic wild animals.
"Humans…" The wolf growled.
"Holy shit, Norman's dead," Paul exclaimed. Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Paul.
I took a stance, but the wolf wasn't attacking yet.
"Humans have devastated this forest in their greed for power… And yet you dare ask more? What do you say in your defense?" The wolf asked.
I didn't really have anything to say. I knew it was actually Martian technology that caused the Skywall Incident, or something like that. I haven't watched Build in years. I was pretty sure that I couldn't say anything that would dissuade the wolf from trying to fight me that didn't also reveal my knowledge of canon events that I was keeping sleeved for now.
"You say nothing in your defense, yet I can see the desire in your heart to make this territory your own. I will kill you, greedy human!"
"B-Bring it, treehugger."
Oh god, I can't believe I stuttered on my pre-battle one-liner.
"More confidence, Norman! Project your voice!" Kuya advised. I didn't exactly need acting advice right now but the levity was appreciated.
"You dare mock the guardian of nature even as your kind exploit and destroy the earth's forest?" The wolf was mad now. Its shadowy fur bristled as it prepared for an attack. The wolf propelled itself with a powerful leap, its sharp front claws pointed at me. I dodged, but only barely. My knees were shaking and it was hard to keep balanced. Surely, if I hadn't earned that Martial Arts skill, I'd be on the ground by now, ready to be gored by this fuckhuge wolf.
I took a stance again, the wolf staring at me with glowing red eyes inset with a spiral pattern. It growled, showing yellowish white teeth and I could feel the resolve draining out of my body. The wolf attacked again and I dodged backwards, my back hitting the barrier. It was a bad move for me since the wolf was ready to attack again. With no more space to dodge, I kicked the wolf in the face as hard as I can, heedless of the possibility that it could bite my foot off.
"Ah, so the human can fight. You're not just a greedy, craven coward. Show me your mettle!" At that, the wolf shook off the dirt from my kick and attacked again. Though the attacks were pretty telegraphed, I could only dodge it by a bit each time and with each attack dodged, the wolf got closer to biting me or scratching me with its claws. In contrast, any punch or slap I tried to make was dodged by the wolf with plenty of room to spare. With each attack exchanged, I was slowly being pushed back towards the barrier. How in the hell is this wolf supposed to be a tutorial boss? What is this, a Dark Souls crossover
With a leap, the wolf was on top of me, its huge forepaws pinning my arms down. I tried to move, but the wolf was too heavy.
"Oh no. Oh no no. Oh hell no. This is like a scene from my nightmares," I muttered under my breath. The wolf delighted in my fear and a bit of black drool dripped from its mouth onto the ground.
The cafe gang banged on the barrier, crying out my name. Monica who was a bit of a bitch to me couldn't look as the wolf prepared to gore me. I started to kick the wolf, but it wasn't enough to get it off me. I started kicking harder, cursing every divine name I could think of. I was able to get one of my arms free with a lucky kick and smacked the wolf in the face. With not much room to move, the hit wasn't as strong as I'd like it to be but it made the wolf flinch enough that I could get my other arm free.
I slid under the wolf and put as much distance between it and me as I could, because what else could I do? I needed time to assess the situation. The wolf was starting to attack again and my ability to retaliate wasn't the best. My ability to dodge was getting worse by the second because I was starting to panic. The wolf's attack had managed to graze my side, leaving large bleeding claw marks that would probably need stitches. I clutched the bleeding wound.
"You're getting sloppy, human. You won't be able to claim this space if you're unable to prove your worth." The wolf taunted.
I didn't have the energy to taunt back. I could only scream back to drown out the wolf's voice. I wasn't thinking straight because of the large claw marks on my side. Even moving my torso hurt. I kind of wish I had a way to view how much HP I had without awkwardly pulling out my phone.
The wolf's face looked gigantic even as we circled around each other from a distance, which gave me an idea. I needed a bit of courage to pull it off, though. The area around the Skywall was supposed to naturally release Nebula Gas so I had no idea if it was because I'd been inhaling that gas or it was just me, but I rushed the wolf in an attempt to get onto its back.
It was easier said than done because the wolf kept trying to buck me off. It felt like I was trying to get on one of those bucking bronco rides while it was in operation, but I eventually managed it. I used my position to dig my fingers into the wolf's eyes, then hitting it on the head a few times while it continuously tried to buck me off.
My hands were slick with the wolf's black blood so I couldn't hold on when it tried to buck me off again. The wolf sent me flying towards the barrier and I collapsed on the ground.
Little did I know, things were about to get much worse.
"Augh! You cowardly human! Did you really think blinding me would save you?"
The wolf began to charge black and purple energy from its ruined eyesockets. When it fired them, they were slow going and easy to dodge, but as soon as they hit the barrier, the balls of energy exploded, knocking me around with the shockwave.
If I was right, then I should be able to deflect the dark energy balls back to the wolf, but there was no way I was using my fists to do it in case I was wrong. I spotted the umbrella I used to mark the territory and gripped it like a baseball bat. The wolf seemed to be able to locate me just from the sound of my footsteps, since it immediately turned to face me. I waited for it to fire its attack.
I swung the umbrella as the ball of dark energy approached me and propelled it back to its caster. The umbrella was completely bent to uselessness by the force and a searing pain coming from my wounds forced me to drop it, but the ball of dark energy exploded on the wolf. Both the wolf and I were knocked back by the explosion—the wolf against the barrier, and my back against the cafe's brick facade.
This enraged the wolf and it immediately fired a trio of black spheres that traced patterns in the air. They were faster than before and moved erratically. With my injuries, I had a hard time dodging them. Each time they got too close to me, black lightning arced from them, slowly staining my skin black. Something told me that if I didn't do something before the black completely enveloped me, something bad would happen.
This time, it was the wolf playing keep away as each time I got close to it, it would leap away and fire even more spheres. The battlefield was getting crowded and it was getting hard to move anywhere without getting too close to one of the spheres. I was constantly getting shocked by the black lighting the spheres released so if I didn't do something soon, the dark energy would completely envelop me.
I tried getting close to the wolf again, barely dodging the black energy spheres. It tried to leap away, but I just barely managed to grab its tail. The wolf crashed onto the ground. I couldn't hold it for long since the clawmarks on my ribs were affecting my grip strength and my hands were dyed by the dark energy, making them feel slightly numb.
I managed to get on top of the wolf again and the wolf tried to buck me off. I gripped its fur as hard as I can, which wasn't very hard due to the numbness. My upper body ragdolled while I tried to grip the wolf with my legs. I tried my best to regain control of my body and my wounds burned at the effort but I eventually managed it.
With me having no weapon and having already gouged the wolf's eyes, the only thing I could do was bang my hands uselessly against the wolf's muscular back. And then something happened.
The black energy stored inside my body arced from my fist to the wolf. There was an explosion and the wolf splattered against the ground, spilling black gore. I was sent flying from the wolf's back and hit the upper limit of the barrier, which shimmered in response.
I fell into the wolf gore just as it was beginning to sublimate and the iridescent shimmer of the barrier were fading away.
Kuya and Andrea rushed to my side and I could hear Kuya shouting to get the first aid kit, as if first aid were going to help me not bleed out. I could just barely hear my phone play a triumphant noise before I blacked out.
--
"Hmm. This is a nice place you got here," Sawa said as she descended the spiral staircase. She overheard Sento saying something about how they needed to investigate the murder that Banjo was framed for. She was so lucky to have an in with these people. "I think I could help you get information about that."
"Eh? Who's there?" Asked the tall man in the fedora hat. He was Cafe Nascita's owner, Soichi Isurugi. There was a lot of interesting information about the man and it felt like Sawa has only scratched the surface.
"Hey, you didn't close the door, you idiot!" Said a spindly girl. She was much less interesting than Soichi, but she had a spunky attitude that Sawa liked.
"I closed the door, I swear!" Soichi said, throwing his hands up. He recounted the events just before Sawa entered the base and then realized that he didn't close the door after all.
"Wait, it's a Humagear? What's a Humagear doing here?" Asked the man in a long cotton robe. Sento Kiryuuin was a tenant, living in the space above the café and more importantly, Kamen Rider Build's secret identity. There was no information on him, which was… interesting. When Sawa tried to cross-reference his face with Satellite Zea, all she could come up with was some washed-up rock musician whose background didn't quite fit with Sento's deal. It was like the man didn't exist. "They really do make them look so lifelike," Sento said, examining Sawa up and down. The way that Sento inspected her didn't feel lecherous unlike that Gentoku guy from last night, but Sento was interested in her… technology, which made her feel off just the same.
"I'm a journalist Humagear. I could help you guys with your little investigation into Banjo Ryuga in exchange for… An exclusive interview about Kamen Rider Build?" Sawa offered.
"No way. Absolutely no way, no how," said Sento, gesturing wildly with his hands. The scientist was incredibly animated and fervent in his refusal of the interview.
"Of course, if you don't accept, I could always out your identities in my next article," Sawa teased.
"For a robot, you're impressively bold." The spindly girl said flatly.
"Alright! I understand--" Soichi started to say, but the girl—his daughter?—told him to "Stop understanding!"
"Well, we don't really have a choice and she did offer to help us investigate Banjo's situation," Soichi tried to explain.
"Good! Well it looks like we've come to a win-win agreement, don't you agree?" Sawa said, forming her fingers into a W and gesturing towards Sento.
Sento could only reply with "This really sucks…"
Nothing happened after I finished marking out the territory with an umbrella so I checked my phone on what to do next. It told me that once I marked out the territory, I needed to 'declare' it. I didn't know what that meant so I went with my gut.
"I, Norman Invidia, declare the inside of the semi-circle I drew around our cafe to be my territory," I said, speaking into the phone.
"Accepted ~kyun~" said the phone back. It sounded a lot like Hatsune Miku when it spoke. That would get annoying very quickly so I'm glad the app mostly spoke through text.
Iridescent hexagons began flowing out of the line I drew in the dirt, encircling the cafe with their multicolored light. They flashed brighter for a moment and I had to shield my eyes. When I opened them again, everyone had been teleported outside the 'Territory'. Kuya and Paul banged on the barrier a few times, but stopped as soon as they realized they were getting nowhere. The girls were a bit more surprised since they were inside the cafe doing things. Andrea looked like she was in the middle of enjoying a drink when the teleportation happened, which she spilled over herself in surprise. Please don't be mad at me! I didn't know this would happen!
I didn't have time to apologize though as the boss was materializing. It started out as a black haze that slowly condensed into a pitch-black wolf that was larger than me. I stepped back. I was pretty sure the martial arts I was taught was for self defense against humans and not gigantic wild animals.
"Humans…" The wolf growled.
"Holy shit, Norman's dead," Paul exclaimed. Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Paul.
I took a stance, but the wolf wasn't attacking yet.
"Humans have devastated this forest in their greed for power… And yet you dare ask more? What do you say in your defense?" The wolf asked.
I didn't really have anything to say. I knew it was actually Martian technology that caused the Skywall Incident, or something like that. I haven't watched Build in years. I was pretty sure that I couldn't say anything that would dissuade the wolf from trying to fight me that didn't also reveal my knowledge of canon events that I was keeping sleeved for now.
"You say nothing in your defense, yet I can see the desire in your heart to make this territory your own. I will kill you, greedy human!"
"B-Bring it, treehugger."
Oh god, I can't believe I stuttered on my pre-battle one-liner.
"More confidence, Norman! Project your voice!" Kuya advised. I didn't exactly need acting advice right now but the levity was appreciated.
"You dare mock the guardian of nature even as your kind exploit and destroy the earth's forest?" The wolf was mad now. Its shadowy fur bristled as it prepared for an attack. The wolf propelled itself with a powerful leap, its sharp front claws pointed at me. I dodged, but only barely. My knees were shaking and it was hard to keep balanced. Surely, if I hadn't earned that Martial Arts skill, I'd be on the ground by now, ready to be gored by this fuckhuge wolf.
I took a stance again, the wolf staring at me with glowing red eyes inset with a spiral pattern. It growled, showing yellowish white teeth and I could feel the resolve draining out of my body. The wolf attacked again and I dodged backwards, my back hitting the barrier. It was a bad move for me since the wolf was ready to attack again. With no more space to dodge, I kicked the wolf in the face as hard as I can, heedless of the possibility that it could bite my foot off.
"Ah, so the human can fight. You're not just a greedy, craven coward. Show me your mettle!" At that, the wolf shook off the dirt from my kick and attacked again. Though the attacks were pretty telegraphed, I could only dodge it by a bit each time and with each attack dodged, the wolf got closer to biting me or scratching me with its claws. In contrast, any punch or slap I tried to make was dodged by the wolf with plenty of room to spare. With each attack exchanged, I was slowly being pushed back towards the barrier. How in the hell is this wolf supposed to be a tutorial boss? What is this, a Dark Souls crossover
With a leap, the wolf was on top of me, its huge forepaws pinning my arms down. I tried to move, but the wolf was too heavy.
"Oh no. Oh no no. Oh hell no. This is like a scene from my nightmares," I muttered under my breath. The wolf delighted in my fear and a bit of black drool dripped from its mouth onto the ground.
The cafe gang banged on the barrier, crying out my name. Monica who was a bit of a bitch to me couldn't look as the wolf prepared to gore me. I started to kick the wolf, but it wasn't enough to get it off me. I started kicking harder, cursing every divine name I could think of. I was able to get one of my arms free with a lucky kick and smacked the wolf in the face. With not much room to move, the hit wasn't as strong as I'd like it to be but it made the wolf flinch enough that I could get my other arm free.
I slid under the wolf and put as much distance between it and me as I could, because what else could I do? I needed time to assess the situation. The wolf was starting to attack again and my ability to retaliate wasn't the best. My ability to dodge was getting worse by the second because I was starting to panic. The wolf's attack had managed to graze my side, leaving large bleeding claw marks that would probably need stitches. I clutched the bleeding wound.
"You're getting sloppy, human. You won't be able to claim this space if you're unable to prove your worth." The wolf taunted.
I didn't have the energy to taunt back. I could only scream back to drown out the wolf's voice. I wasn't thinking straight because of the large claw marks on my side. Even moving my torso hurt. I kind of wish I had a way to view how much HP I had without awkwardly pulling out my phone.
The wolf's face looked gigantic even as we circled around each other from a distance, which gave me an idea. I needed a bit of courage to pull it off, though. The area around the Skywall was supposed to naturally release Nebula Gas so I had no idea if it was because I'd been inhaling that gas or it was just me, but I rushed the wolf in an attempt to get onto its back.
It was easier said than done because the wolf kept trying to buck me off. It felt like I was trying to get on one of those bucking bronco rides while it was in operation, but I eventually managed it. I used my position to dig my fingers into the wolf's eyes, then hitting it on the head a few times while it continuously tried to buck me off.
My hands were slick with the wolf's black blood so I couldn't hold on when it tried to buck me off again. The wolf sent me flying towards the barrier and I collapsed on the ground.
Little did I know, things were about to get much worse.
"Augh! You cowardly human! Did you really think blinding me would save you?"
The wolf began to charge black and purple energy from its ruined eyesockets. When it fired them, they were slow going and easy to dodge, but as soon as they hit the barrier, the balls of energy exploded, knocking me around with the shockwave.
If I was right, then I should be able to deflect the dark energy balls back to the wolf, but there was no way I was using my fists to do it in case I was wrong. I spotted the umbrella I used to mark the territory and gripped it like a baseball bat. The wolf seemed to be able to locate me just from the sound of my footsteps, since it immediately turned to face me. I waited for it to fire its attack.
I swung the umbrella as the ball of dark energy approached me and propelled it back to its caster. The umbrella was completely bent to uselessness by the force and a searing pain coming from my wounds forced me to drop it, but the ball of dark energy exploded on the wolf. Both the wolf and I were knocked back by the explosion—the wolf against the barrier, and my back against the cafe's brick facade.
This enraged the wolf and it immediately fired a trio of black spheres that traced patterns in the air. They were faster than before and moved erratically. With my injuries, I had a hard time dodging them. Each time they got too close to me, black lightning arced from them, slowly staining my skin black. Something told me that if I didn't do something before the black completely enveloped me, something bad would happen.
This time, it was the wolf playing keep away as each time I got close to it, it would leap away and fire even more spheres. The battlefield was getting crowded and it was getting hard to move anywhere without getting too close to one of the spheres. I was constantly getting shocked by the black lighting the spheres released so if I didn't do something soon, the dark energy would completely envelop me.
I tried getting close to the wolf again, barely dodging the black energy spheres. It tried to leap away, but I just barely managed to grab its tail. The wolf crashed onto the ground. I couldn't hold it for long since the clawmarks on my ribs were affecting my grip strength and my hands were dyed by the dark energy, making them feel slightly numb.
I managed to get on top of the wolf again and the wolf tried to buck me off. I gripped its fur as hard as I can, which wasn't very hard due to the numbness. My upper body ragdolled while I tried to grip the wolf with my legs. I tried my best to regain control of my body and my wounds burned at the effort but I eventually managed it.
With me having no weapon and having already gouged the wolf's eyes, the only thing I could do was bang my hands uselessly against the wolf's muscular back. And then something happened.
The black energy stored inside my body arced from my fist to the wolf. There was an explosion and the wolf splattered against the ground, spilling black gore. I was sent flying from the wolf's back and hit the upper limit of the barrier, which shimmered in response.
I fell into the wolf gore just as it was beginning to sublimate and the iridescent shimmer of the barrier were fading away.
Kuya and Andrea rushed to my side and I could hear Kuya shouting to get the first aid kit, as if first aid were going to help me not bleed out. I could just barely hear my phone play a triumphant noise before I blacked out.
--
"Hmm. This is a nice place you got here," Sawa said as she descended the spiral staircase. She overheard Sento saying something about how they needed to investigate the murder that Banjo was framed for. She was so lucky to have an in with these people. "I think I could help you get information about that."
"Eh? Who's there?" Asked the tall man in the fedora hat. He was Cafe Nascita's owner, Soichi Isurugi. There was a lot of interesting information about the man and it felt like Sawa has only scratched the surface.
"Hey, you didn't close the door, you idiot!" Said a spindly girl. She was much less interesting than Soichi, but she had a spunky attitude that Sawa liked.
"I closed the door, I swear!" Soichi said, throwing his hands up. He recounted the events just before Sawa entered the base and then realized that he didn't close the door after all.
"Wait, it's a Humagear? What's a Humagear doing here?" Asked the man in a long cotton robe. Sento Kiryuuin was a tenant, living in the space above the café and more importantly, Kamen Rider Build's secret identity. There was no information on him, which was… interesting. When Sawa tried to cross-reference his face with Satellite Zea, all she could come up with was some washed-up rock musician whose background didn't quite fit with Sento's deal. It was like the man didn't exist. "They really do make them look so lifelike," Sento said, examining Sawa up and down. The way that Sento inspected her didn't feel lecherous unlike that Gentoku guy from last night, but Sento was interested in her… technology, which made her feel off just the same.
"I'm a journalist Humagear. I could help you guys with your little investigation into Banjo Ryuga in exchange for… An exclusive interview about Kamen Rider Build?" Sawa offered.
"No way. Absolutely no way, no how," said Sento, gesturing wildly with his hands. The scientist was incredibly animated and fervent in his refusal of the interview.
"Of course, if you don't accept, I could always out your identities in my next article," Sawa teased.
"For a robot, you're impressively bold." The spindly girl said flatly.
"Alright! I understand--" Soichi started to say, but the girl—his daughter?—told him to "Stop understanding!"
"Well, we don't really have a choice and she did offer to help us investigate Banjo's situation," Soichi tried to explain.
"Good! Well it looks like we've come to a win-win agreement, don't you agree?" Sawa said, forming her fingers into a W and gesturing towards Sento.
Sento could only reply with "This really sucks…"
Chapter 4-Information Gathering
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Aruto really needed to quit this job.
It's not that he wasn't grateful for the job. His career as an entertainer had failed because the demand for stand-up comics tanked when both the Skywall Disaster and the Ark Incident happened in quick succession. Rumors of monsters called Smash meant people weren't coming out to see live comedy shows and any TV station he tried applying to didn't appreciate his kind of humor.
He eventually swallowed his pride and asked his grandpa for a job.
The pay was ridiculously good for what was essentially an internship position, but it came with a cost that Aruto wasn't sure he was willing to pay. Grandpa Hiden was slowly grooming him to be the next CEO of Hiden Intelligence.
"Aruto, if you're done reading those documents, your grandfather requests your presence for a meeting with Nanba Heavy industries." Grandpa Hiden's Humagear assistant, Izu, always wore a crisp secretarial dress and her method of speaking was always ridiculously formal.
"I almost didn't notice you there, Izu. You're quiet as a ninja when you walk. Can I finish this stack of paper before the meeting? Shur-I-Ken! That's Aruto for you!" Aruto said, pointing at Izu after his pun. Aruto had been trying to get Izu to lighten up and learn some jokes. It hadn't been successful so far, but it hadn't stopped Aruto from trying.
"The shuriken is a weapon commonly used by ninja. Very clever, Aruto," Izu explained.
"I already told you before! Don't explain the joke," Aruto said, slinging an arm around the Humagear.
"I'll tell your grandfather to expect you," Izu said dryly before walking off.
Aruto still had a lot of paperwork to go through. He definitely wasn't in the mood for one of his grandfather's lengthy meetings, but at the same time, he didn't want to squander the good will his grandfather gave him. He skimmed through the documents on his table for anything that might be pertinent to the upcoming briefing.
After about an hour of studying the documents, Aruto Hiden showed up to the meeting room where his grandfather was.
The room was barely furnished. Only a chair his grandfather was sitting on and a large rug with the Hiden Intelligence logo on it. The room was quite dark too, probably to facilitate the holographic meeting with Hiden Intelligence's investors.
"Juuzaburo Nanba will be present in this meeting so I want you to be on your best behaviour, Aruto," Korenosuke chastised. "Let's not have one of your outbursts in a meeting with one of our biggest allies."
"Yes, grandfather." Aruto said obediently.
Izu was also in the room, standing behind and to the left of Korenosuke. Aruto took his place to the right of his grandfather and boy, was that highly symbolic.
It didn't take long for the holographic meeting to start, with the investors slowly materializing in the room. Aruto didn't think he could ever get used to that.
Among the investors were Juuzaburo Nanba of Nanba Heavy Industries. It was them who produced the hardware for Japan's Guardians and Humagears whereas Hiden Intelligence was the company that produced the highly advanced software. Behind him were Fu and Rai Washio, a pair of humagears that acted as his bodyguards.
Next to materialize were the holograms of Yoshiko Tajimi of Hokuto and Masakuni Mido of Seito. While they weren't so much interested in Hiden's mission statement of making human jobs easier with AI, they were very interested in the military capabilities of Nanba Heavy Industries' and Hiden Intelligence's joint projects. Behind Tajimi was a group of bodyguards he didn't recognize, but were about his age.
After that was Gentoku Himuro and behind him, his Humagear assistant, Nariaki Utsumi. It looks like his father, Taizan Himuro wasn't planning on gracing Hiden Intelligence with his presence… again. While Aruto should have gotten used to the Touto Prime Minister's son taking over his meetings with Hiden Intelligence, Taizan Himuro never showing up for a meeting still felt like a snub. Aruto thought that his grandfather was probably tolerating it because Daybreak Town where the worst of the Ark incident happened was firmly in Touto's territory. Maybe there were some hard feelings there that his grandfather felt responsible for? Whatever.
Last to appear was Zaia's Gai Amatsu. Behind him was a Humagear of indeterminate gender and his secretary, Yua Yaiba. While Zaia wasn't strictly an ally of Hiden Intelligence, they played a part in the attempt to launch Ark, and the Ark's successor, Zea. He had a small friendship with Yua Yaiba as the girl would politely laugh at his jokes, even if Aruto had to admit that they weren't all that funny sometimes.
Zaia's presence in this meeting indicated that it was probably about another attempted incursion into Daybreak Town. It was bound to be a long meeting.
--
"Hi, Simon. Do you remember us from yesterday?" Andrea asked. She was wearing a cafe uniform because she spilled a drink on her other shirt. It was kind of lucky that Kuya had an extra female uniform around that was just her size.
"Oh, I remember you. There aren't too many Filipinos staying in Japan after the Ark and Skywall incidents. I don't remember your friend, though," Simon says. "Umm, there are customers around so I hope you don't mind waiting a bit to chat or buying something."
"Oh, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you know any place I can find work? Just for a short bit," Andrea replies.
"Hmm? I thought you worked at a cafe? I haven't heard of any opening, but your uniform… Just a moment." Simon apologizes for holding up the line and rings through a few customers. Andrea had to wait a few minutes before the convenience store was empty and Simon could resume their conversation. "Sorry, you were saying earlier?"
"Hmm, well, I was looking for a job. Hopefully, somewhere that won't ask me for too many questions… or papers." Andrea said in a whisper.
"Wait, holy shit. Are you guys here illegally?" Simon drops his voice down to a whisper too, not that anyone could understand English all that well.
"Nnnot exactly. It's a long story, but the gist of it is one of our friends might need medicine for a wound so we need the money. It's kind of our fault that he got attacked by a monster so getting medicine for him is the least we can do," Andrea explained.
"There are a few nurses around and what remains of the Filipino community here is pretty tight knit. I can't exactly promise anything, but I'll try to put you in contact with a nurse," Simon said.
"Really? I'd really appreciate it," Andrea replied
"No problem. Can I have your phone number? So I can put you in touch," Simon said as he pulled out his phone.
"Oh, it's part of our long story, but none of us have phones right now. Can we meet you here instead?" Andrea asked.
"You guys aren't in trouble, are you? I could put you in contact with the Philippine embassy and--" Simon started.
"I really wish we could, but things here are really different. I'm not sure the Philippine Embassy can help. We really need that nurse, though." Paul interrupted for the first time. "Andrea told me something about monsters called Smash and a hero called Kamen Rider Build. Can you tell us about those instead?"
"I don't really know what to tell you. Nobody knows where Smash came from—just that they started appearing when the Skywall Incident happened. Kamen Rider Build started appearing years after that I think? There was definitely a long stretch of time between when Smash started appearing and when the Kamen Rider started saving people attacked by Smash. A lot of people are still afraid to come out at night."
"Hmm. What about those military people? Some of them are wearing full face helmets and some of them are wearing fancy-looking earphones," Paul asked. "We've been hiding from them, but there are a lot…"
"Military… people?" Simon asked, confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face. "Oh, those. They're not people. I don't know if you've been living under a rock, but the ones with no face are robots called 'Guardians' and the ones with earphones are 'Humagears'. Humagears are like guardians with advanced AI and can be applied to jobs other than the military. They're pretty scarce so I don't know a lot about them."
"H… uh. You're not joking right? They're really robots?" Paul asked before Andrea elbowed him in the ribs.
"So, about that nurse. Can we get back to you tomorrow? Around the same time?" Andrea said, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'll update you then."
--
Banjo Ryuga couldn't believe it.
His girlfriend, Kasumi, had been turned into a Smash. Moreover, the man in the bat suit had told them that there was no way to defeat the Smash without also losing Kasumi. This was all because of his involvement with that shady job.
Kasumi was clearly in pain and Sento was about to end the fight… But in the end, Banjo hadn't been strong enough to simply let Kasumi go.
He stopped the Kamen Rider's finisher—and boy did that hurt—and left Kasumi alive and still a monster.
She was suffering and Banjo hadn't been strong enough to let Sento end it.
Sento hit Banjo in the back of the head. "You idiot! You know more people are just going to get hurt and Kasumi is still suffering. Even if we did turn her back, she'll have to live with the lives lost because of her."
"I know, but… I already lost my career as a boxer. It was for her. I've already lost everything and she's all I have left. I don't know if I can just let go, man," Ryuga pleaded. "Please. You call yourself a genius all the time. Can't you use that big brain of yours to bring Kasumi back?"
Sento was taken aback by the surprising show of vulnerability from the boxer. He always acted tough and went at his own pace, but Sento could see that Kasumi meant a lot for him.
"I don't know about turning her back… But if I could think of a way to restrain her, we should be able to keep her indefinitely until we find a cure. Of course, you'll have to help me investigate Night Rogue." Sento agreed.
"Of course! Anything! And that bat man… He'll pay for what he did to Kasumi," Ryuga said, balling his hands into fists.
--
"I think we should keep the fact that we're not from this world a secret for now…" Andrea chastised. Paul wanted to get back to the cafe immediately, but Andrea insisted on taking a long way around, both to avoid the military encampment and so she could have time to think.
"But are we, though?" Paul said. "Now that I think about it, we could just live out normal lives in this world's Philippines. It's not like we're involved in anything going on in this world's Japan."
"But can we, really? You heard Monica. She has kids. Do they exist in this world? If they do, wouldn't they have their own mother who's living her own life? I don't think we should get involved in our counterparts' lives if they even exist." Andrea said.
"That's too philosophical for me. I don't really get it… But I get it. It's bad if we meet this world's version of ourselves, right?" That said, Paul really didn't get it, but he was sure Norman and Kuya would agree with Andrea's assessment. That and he could see Monica going berserk if she finds someone else was taking care of her kids, even if the other person was technically still her.
Their conversation was interrupted by a roar of fire that stopped them in their tracks. The blaze lasted long enough that Andrea and Paul had to step back because of the sheer heat. They turned their heads towards the source of flame and found a monster.
"Smash?" Andrea asked.
The monster didn't reply, not that Andrea expected that it could. It walked slowly towards them, firing balls of flame in random directions in an attempt to intimidate.
"I think we better run," Paul said. "And tell Norman that we found one of the Smash."
It was lucky for them that the monster was more focused on trying to intimidate them rather than trying to kill them. When they managed to run past the monster's territory, the monster didn't follow them.
--
Ohh my aching sides. I clutched the bandage that Andrea helped put on me before she left. Now she's back and she was back with some rather bad news. Without my input, Andrea and Paul had found a Smash. And from their description, it was the Dragon Smash which was supposed to give the Build crew the Dragon Fullbottle. The claw marks the wolf dug into me ached all the more in response to the anxiety.
I'd spent the time while Andrea was gone trying to find some sort of camera or 'Observe' feature on the app. I wanted to find the severity of my wounds and, finding none, settled for the Character Stats screen. The screen said I had a '5 HP' wound and some '1 HP' scratches, bringing my HP down from 13 to 5. If what I had was only 8 points worth of damage, I shuddered to think how much damage I could accrue at high levels. The status screen said that my wounds will lower in severity after a long rest, which brings back my fear that the stats were scaled more like pen and paper RPGs than something crazy like Disgaea.
The app also gave me a 'Skill Gem', which sat in my 'Inventory'. I haven't tested it yet, but I could apparently put stuff in and take stuff out of my phone. I consumed the Skill Gem which gave me a Rider Henshin skill, which I haven't told anyone about yet. I've already made up my mind that I should avoid using it against Smash, since using it would rob Build of precious Fullbottles, which might force Evolt to make a move before I'm ready for it.
"Hello, Norman, are you listening? I said we found a Smash… If we went back there, we might be able to find this Kamen Rider Build character," Andrea said.
"No yeah, I heard you the first time." I clutched the bandaged claw marks again because they throbbed in pain at the mention of interacting with Kamen Rider Build. "At the same time, I don't want to fight another monster so soon after the last one. My phone says my wounds will be less severe after a long rest. Can we at least wait for my wounds to heal before we start seeking out monsters?
"I'm not a fan of putting you through the wringer after you literally just fought that wolf thing for us…" Andrea said. I could sense that that was about to be followed by a 'but' so I said as much. Sure enough… "But we only found this Smash by chance. I'm not sure we'll get another opportunity to approach Kamen Rider Build like this. You don't even have to fight. Just stay out of sight of the monster until this Kamen Rider Build appears and fights it. You can bring Kuya and Paul with you. I think they can fight."
"I can fight," Paul confirms.
"You're going to fight a fire breathing monster?" I asked incredulously.
"Only as a last resort," Andrea corrects.
"Isn't it about time you stop pussying out? You already fought one monster. You don't even have to fight this time. Just wait until this monster fighting guy shows up and schmooze with him," Monica interrupts. "Come on, you know what's at stake here."
I didn't like Monica that much, but she was right. If the world was balanced like DnD, the omnipotent GM will make me unable to avoid getting entangled with the stinky poopoo that is the plot. I should try to approach it on my own terms. And if I didn't… The rest of the cafe gang might get swept up into the plot in a way that's hard for me to deal with.
I'm a bit glad for Andrea giving Monica a hard time for being too hard on me, though.
"Let me get dressed and let's go meet that Smash."
It's not that he wasn't grateful for the job. His career as an entertainer had failed because the demand for stand-up comics tanked when both the Skywall Disaster and the Ark Incident happened in quick succession. Rumors of monsters called Smash meant people weren't coming out to see live comedy shows and any TV station he tried applying to didn't appreciate his kind of humor.
He eventually swallowed his pride and asked his grandpa for a job.
The pay was ridiculously good for what was essentially an internship position, but it came with a cost that Aruto wasn't sure he was willing to pay. Grandpa Hiden was slowly grooming him to be the next CEO of Hiden Intelligence.
"Aruto, if you're done reading those documents, your grandfather requests your presence for a meeting with Nanba Heavy industries." Grandpa Hiden's Humagear assistant, Izu, always wore a crisp secretarial dress and her method of speaking was always ridiculously formal.
"I almost didn't notice you there, Izu. You're quiet as a ninja when you walk. Can I finish this stack of paper before the meeting? Shur-I-Ken! That's Aruto for you!" Aruto said, pointing at Izu after his pun. Aruto had been trying to get Izu to lighten up and learn some jokes. It hadn't been successful so far, but it hadn't stopped Aruto from trying.
"The shuriken is a weapon commonly used by ninja. Very clever, Aruto," Izu explained.
"I already told you before! Don't explain the joke," Aruto said, slinging an arm around the Humagear.
"I'll tell your grandfather to expect you," Izu said dryly before walking off.
Aruto still had a lot of paperwork to go through. He definitely wasn't in the mood for one of his grandfather's lengthy meetings, but at the same time, he didn't want to squander the good will his grandfather gave him. He skimmed through the documents on his table for anything that might be pertinent to the upcoming briefing.
After about an hour of studying the documents, Aruto Hiden showed up to the meeting room where his grandfather was.
The room was barely furnished. Only a chair his grandfather was sitting on and a large rug with the Hiden Intelligence logo on it. The room was quite dark too, probably to facilitate the holographic meeting with Hiden Intelligence's investors.
"Juuzaburo Nanba will be present in this meeting so I want you to be on your best behaviour, Aruto," Korenosuke chastised. "Let's not have one of your outbursts in a meeting with one of our biggest allies."
"Yes, grandfather." Aruto said obediently.
Izu was also in the room, standing behind and to the left of Korenosuke. Aruto took his place to the right of his grandfather and boy, was that highly symbolic.
It didn't take long for the holographic meeting to start, with the investors slowly materializing in the room. Aruto didn't think he could ever get used to that.
Among the investors were Juuzaburo Nanba of Nanba Heavy Industries. It was them who produced the hardware for Japan's Guardians and Humagears whereas Hiden Intelligence was the company that produced the highly advanced software. Behind him were Fu and Rai Washio, a pair of humagears that acted as his bodyguards.
Next to materialize were the holograms of Yoshiko Tajimi of Hokuto and Masakuni Mido of Seito. While they weren't so much interested in Hiden's mission statement of making human jobs easier with AI, they were very interested in the military capabilities of Nanba Heavy Industries' and Hiden Intelligence's joint projects. Behind Tajimi was a group of bodyguards he didn't recognize, but were about his age.
After that was Gentoku Himuro and behind him, his Humagear assistant, Nariaki Utsumi. It looks like his father, Taizan Himuro wasn't planning on gracing Hiden Intelligence with his presence… again. While Aruto should have gotten used to the Touto Prime Minister's son taking over his meetings with Hiden Intelligence, Taizan Himuro never showing up for a meeting still felt like a snub. Aruto thought that his grandfather was probably tolerating it because Daybreak Town where the worst of the Ark incident happened was firmly in Touto's territory. Maybe there were some hard feelings there that his grandfather felt responsible for? Whatever.
Last to appear was Zaia's Gai Amatsu. Behind him was a Humagear of indeterminate gender and his secretary, Yua Yaiba. While Zaia wasn't strictly an ally of Hiden Intelligence, they played a part in the attempt to launch Ark, and the Ark's successor, Zea. He had a small friendship with Yua Yaiba as the girl would politely laugh at his jokes, even if Aruto had to admit that they weren't all that funny sometimes.
Zaia's presence in this meeting indicated that it was probably about another attempted incursion into Daybreak Town. It was bound to be a long meeting.
--
"Hi, Simon. Do you remember us from yesterday?" Andrea asked. She was wearing a cafe uniform because she spilled a drink on her other shirt. It was kind of lucky that Kuya had an extra female uniform around that was just her size.
"Oh, I remember you. There aren't too many Filipinos staying in Japan after the Ark and Skywall incidents. I don't remember your friend, though," Simon says. "Umm, there are customers around so I hope you don't mind waiting a bit to chat or buying something."
"Oh, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you know any place I can find work? Just for a short bit," Andrea replies.
"Hmm? I thought you worked at a cafe? I haven't heard of any opening, but your uniform… Just a moment." Simon apologizes for holding up the line and rings through a few customers. Andrea had to wait a few minutes before the convenience store was empty and Simon could resume their conversation. "Sorry, you were saying earlier?"
"Hmm, well, I was looking for a job. Hopefully, somewhere that won't ask me for too many questions… or papers." Andrea said in a whisper.
"Wait, holy shit. Are you guys here illegally?" Simon drops his voice down to a whisper too, not that anyone could understand English all that well.
"Nnnot exactly. It's a long story, but the gist of it is one of our friends might need medicine for a wound so we need the money. It's kind of our fault that he got attacked by a monster so getting medicine for him is the least we can do," Andrea explained.
"There are a few nurses around and what remains of the Filipino community here is pretty tight knit. I can't exactly promise anything, but I'll try to put you in contact with a nurse," Simon said.
"Really? I'd really appreciate it," Andrea replied
"No problem. Can I have your phone number? So I can put you in touch," Simon said as he pulled out his phone.
"Oh, it's part of our long story, but none of us have phones right now. Can we meet you here instead?" Andrea asked.
"You guys aren't in trouble, are you? I could put you in contact with the Philippine embassy and--" Simon started.
"I really wish we could, but things here are really different. I'm not sure the Philippine Embassy can help. We really need that nurse, though." Paul interrupted for the first time. "Andrea told me something about monsters called Smash and a hero called Kamen Rider Build. Can you tell us about those instead?"
"I don't really know what to tell you. Nobody knows where Smash came from—just that they started appearing when the Skywall Incident happened. Kamen Rider Build started appearing years after that I think? There was definitely a long stretch of time between when Smash started appearing and when the Kamen Rider started saving people attacked by Smash. A lot of people are still afraid to come out at night."
"Hmm. What about those military people? Some of them are wearing full face helmets and some of them are wearing fancy-looking earphones," Paul asked. "We've been hiding from them, but there are a lot…"
"Military… people?" Simon asked, confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face. "Oh, those. They're not people. I don't know if you've been living under a rock, but the ones with no face are robots called 'Guardians' and the ones with earphones are 'Humagears'. Humagears are like guardians with advanced AI and can be applied to jobs other than the military. They're pretty scarce so I don't know a lot about them."
"H… uh. You're not joking right? They're really robots?" Paul asked before Andrea elbowed him in the ribs.
"So, about that nurse. Can we get back to you tomorrow? Around the same time?" Andrea said, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'll update you then."
--
Banjo Ryuga couldn't believe it.
His girlfriend, Kasumi, had been turned into a Smash. Moreover, the man in the bat suit had told them that there was no way to defeat the Smash without also losing Kasumi. This was all because of his involvement with that shady job.
Kasumi was clearly in pain and Sento was about to end the fight… But in the end, Banjo hadn't been strong enough to simply let Kasumi go.
He stopped the Kamen Rider's finisher—and boy did that hurt—and left Kasumi alive and still a monster.
She was suffering and Banjo hadn't been strong enough to let Sento end it.
Sento hit Banjo in the back of the head. "You idiot! You know more people are just going to get hurt and Kasumi is still suffering. Even if we did turn her back, she'll have to live with the lives lost because of her."
"I know, but… I already lost my career as a boxer. It was for her. I've already lost everything and she's all I have left. I don't know if I can just let go, man," Ryuga pleaded. "Please. You call yourself a genius all the time. Can't you use that big brain of yours to bring Kasumi back?"
Sento was taken aback by the surprising show of vulnerability from the boxer. He always acted tough and went at his own pace, but Sento could see that Kasumi meant a lot for him.
"I don't know about turning her back… But if I could think of a way to restrain her, we should be able to keep her indefinitely until we find a cure. Of course, you'll have to help me investigate Night Rogue." Sento agreed.
"Of course! Anything! And that bat man… He'll pay for what he did to Kasumi," Ryuga said, balling his hands into fists.
--
"I think we should keep the fact that we're not from this world a secret for now…" Andrea chastised. Paul wanted to get back to the cafe immediately, but Andrea insisted on taking a long way around, both to avoid the military encampment and so she could have time to think.
"But are we, though?" Paul said. "Now that I think about it, we could just live out normal lives in this world's Philippines. It's not like we're involved in anything going on in this world's Japan."
"But can we, really? You heard Monica. She has kids. Do they exist in this world? If they do, wouldn't they have their own mother who's living her own life? I don't think we should get involved in our counterparts' lives if they even exist." Andrea said.
"That's too philosophical for me. I don't really get it… But I get it. It's bad if we meet this world's version of ourselves, right?" That said, Paul really didn't get it, but he was sure Norman and Kuya would agree with Andrea's assessment. That and he could see Monica going berserk if she finds someone else was taking care of her kids, even if the other person was technically still her.
Their conversation was interrupted by a roar of fire that stopped them in their tracks. The blaze lasted long enough that Andrea and Paul had to step back because of the sheer heat. They turned their heads towards the source of flame and found a monster.
"Smash?" Andrea asked.
The monster didn't reply, not that Andrea expected that it could. It walked slowly towards them, firing balls of flame in random directions in an attempt to intimidate.
"I think we better run," Paul said. "And tell Norman that we found one of the Smash."
It was lucky for them that the monster was more focused on trying to intimidate them rather than trying to kill them. When they managed to run past the monster's territory, the monster didn't follow them.
--
Ohh my aching sides. I clutched the bandage that Andrea helped put on me before she left. Now she's back and she was back with some rather bad news. Without my input, Andrea and Paul had found a Smash. And from their description, it was the Dragon Smash which was supposed to give the Build crew the Dragon Fullbottle. The claw marks the wolf dug into me ached all the more in response to the anxiety.
I'd spent the time while Andrea was gone trying to find some sort of camera or 'Observe' feature on the app. I wanted to find the severity of my wounds and, finding none, settled for the Character Stats screen. The screen said I had a '5 HP' wound and some '1 HP' scratches, bringing my HP down from 13 to 5. If what I had was only 8 points worth of damage, I shuddered to think how much damage I could accrue at high levels. The status screen said that my wounds will lower in severity after a long rest, which brings back my fear that the stats were scaled more like pen and paper RPGs than something crazy like Disgaea.
The app also gave me a 'Skill Gem', which sat in my 'Inventory'. I haven't tested it yet, but I could apparently put stuff in and take stuff out of my phone. I consumed the Skill Gem which gave me a Rider Henshin skill, which I haven't told anyone about yet. I've already made up my mind that I should avoid using it against Smash, since using it would rob Build of precious Fullbottles, which might force Evolt to make a move before I'm ready for it.
"Hello, Norman, are you listening? I said we found a Smash… If we went back there, we might be able to find this Kamen Rider Build character," Andrea said.
"No yeah, I heard you the first time." I clutched the bandaged claw marks again because they throbbed in pain at the mention of interacting with Kamen Rider Build. "At the same time, I don't want to fight another monster so soon after the last one. My phone says my wounds will be less severe after a long rest. Can we at least wait for my wounds to heal before we start seeking out monsters?
"I'm not a fan of putting you through the wringer after you literally just fought that wolf thing for us…" Andrea said. I could sense that that was about to be followed by a 'but' so I said as much. Sure enough… "But we only found this Smash by chance. I'm not sure we'll get another opportunity to approach Kamen Rider Build like this. You don't even have to fight. Just stay out of sight of the monster until this Kamen Rider Build appears and fights it. You can bring Kuya and Paul with you. I think they can fight."
"I can fight," Paul confirms.
"You're going to fight a fire breathing monster?" I asked incredulously.
"Only as a last resort," Andrea corrects.
"Isn't it about time you stop pussying out? You already fought one monster. You don't even have to fight this time. Just wait until this monster fighting guy shows up and schmooze with him," Monica interrupts. "Come on, you know what's at stake here."
I didn't like Monica that much, but she was right. If the world was balanced like DnD, the omnipotent GM will make me unable to avoid getting entangled with the stinky poopoo that is the plot. I should try to approach it on my own terms. And if I didn't… The rest of the cafe gang might get swept up into the plot in a way that's hard for me to deal with.
I'm a bit glad for Andrea giving Monica a hard time for being too hard on me, though.
"Let me get dressed and let's go meet that Smash."
Chapter 5-The Game Master
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Waiting for Build to show up was a total snooze fest. We were just chatting about stuff from our world, but I couldn't really contribute that much because all I had was a boring desk job and my interests mostly involved Kamen Rider and Sentai—knowledge that I was keeping secret from the rest of the team.
Since arriving, we'd had to move once because I thought the Dragon Smash looked like a joke. I couldn't stop seeing it as someone in a rubber suit doing a silly walk and my laughter attracted the Dragon Smash. Silly rubber suit or not, the flames it spewed were in fact very real.
"Care to explain what's so funny, Norman?" Andrea asked, annoyed. It stung a bit not only because I couldn't explain what I found so funny, but also because Andrea had been nice to me so far.
I made a 'mouth zipped' gesture followed by an apology gesture. Andrea replied by rolling her eyes at me.
After that, it didn't take long for Build to arrive and… Is that Banjo? I almost didn't recognize him because the Banjo of this world was a lot more muscular than his actor. I couldn't think of anyone else it could be.
Banjo got off the back of Build's bike and attracted the attention of 'Kasumi'. Right. I hadn't watched Build in years so the details were a bit fuzzy. The Dragon Smash was supposed to be his girlfriend or something which made me feel a little bad for laughing at it.
Build turned to GorillaMond form right off the bat and started fighting the Dragon Smash. It gave Andrea the opportunity to speak to Banjo, but…
"Sorry, I don't speak English" Banjo said, with a heavy accent.
We had him surrounded, but he was desperately trying to see what Sento was doing. He didn't seem all that worried about Sento killing Kasumi which was… worrying. Did they have a plan to turn her back? We've barely done anything and there are already butterflies.
I nervously took a peak at the ongoing battle.
Sento was deflecting the Dragon Smash's attacks with GorillaMond's power arm. With his other arm, he fired chunks of diamond every time the Dragon Smash showed an opening. Slowly, the Dragon Smash was being encased by the crystal.
"Hey, what's he doing?" I asked idly.
"Oh, you can speak Japanese? Get out of the way then, I need to see." Banjo pushed me aside and I was forced to move by his superior strength.
"What'd he say, Norman?" Andrea asked and I explained. "You can understand Japanese?" She asked.
"Not very well, but I understood him perfectly. It must have been this," I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket.
"That's correct ~Zukyun~. The Kamen Rider Build RPG app allows Party Members to communicate with the characters of Kamen Rider Build ~Kyun~" The phone quipped. I almost dropped the phone since I wasn't expecting it to talk so suddenly.
A look of recognition crossed Banjo's face as the phone mentioned 'Kamen Rider Build' and he turned to us. "Wait, you people know about the Kamen Rider? How much do you know?"
Banjo was shaking me because I was the only one who could understand him. Andrea and Paul looked at me, expecting me to answer, but there was a moment of awkward silence because I couldn't.
"We don't really know anything other than we're supposed to find him," I said. "We think it's the only way we could get home." I said, and Banjo understood. Weirdly enough, Andrea and Paul understood what I was saying too, so I guess I didn't sound like I was speaking Japanese to anyone but Banjo.
The battle looked like it was winding down. The Dragon Smash was completely encased in crystal. This was supposed to be the part where Sento absorbs the Smash's essence, killing Kasumi. Except he didn't. He switched to GorillaVacuum and sucked up the crystallized Smash into his belt and was forced to cancel his transformation afterwards.
"Eh? He didn't kill the Smash?" I asked.
"Of course! That's Kasumi, you bastard! We found a way to keep her until we can turn her back! Wait… What do you know about the Smash? Are you working for them? I'm taking you in!" Banjo pulled out a piece of rope. I tried to retreat, but his footwork was awesome and I froze a bit. While I tried to fight back with what little martial arts I knew, Banjo could dodge my attacks with plenty of space to spare.
"Banjo, you idiot! Who are you messing with?" Sento called out. He was holding the Build Driver by the belt because the Driver itself was hot enough that it was releasing smoke.
"Sento! They know about Build and the Smashes! Help me get them!" Banjo called out.
"Oi! Don't say my name, moron!" Sento said, annoyed. "As for you guys. Do you really know about the Smashes?"
Me, Andrea and Paul all looked at each other. "No," we all replied in unison.
"Well, you're all looking pretty suspicious so I'm taking you all in," Sento said. "I hope you guys will cooperate with me," he said, mock-kindly. He pulled out some ropes on his own and… where are these guys getting all this rope?
Our gathering was interrupted by a loud laugh.
"Good lord, I can't believe you did that," said a man in red armor with green, snake-like accents. Oh god, Evolt. Was he supposed to show up this early? "You know you're only delaying the inevitable, right? You won't be able to maintain a transformation with a Smash in the Build Driver."
Everyone turned to Evolt—or in this form, 'Blood Stalk'. I reminded myself to be careful about letting that slip. I don't want to be ganked by the alien boy for my knowledge.
"Who are you? Are you working with Night Rogue?" Sento asked, gripping his belt and prepared to transform again.
"Who? Me? I'm the Game Master, but you can call me Blood Stalk," the armored man says, throwing his hands up in the air.
Enraged, Banjo pilfers a Fullbottle from Sento and shakes it, throwing an empowered punch towards Blood Stalk. The bastard, of course, blocks it handily and squeezes Banjo's arm with enhanced strength of his own, then tosses the boxer aside.
"Two-point-two! You're a failure. Of course, the Kamen Rider is at least a three," Blood Stalk announces.
"What the hell are you talking about!? Do you think this is a damn game?" Heedless of Blood Stalk previously blocking his attacks, Banjo continues to throw Fullbottle empowered punches at the alien. All of them were parried by Blood Stalk.
"Bingo! This is a game and you're the players!" Blood Stalk gloats. "Night Rogue should have filled you in on what Hazard levels one and two mean, but for the benefit of our new contestants here, I'll repeat what he said." The red-suited man doesn't miss a beat even as Banjo continued to assault him. He sweeps Banjo's leg and digs the boxer into the ground with his heel.
"Hazard Level 1 are the failures. Those who have compromised health will die along with the Smash once you extract their Smash Essence. Your dear Kasumi is one of these failures." At that, Banjo tried to struggle, but Blood Stalk was too strong, only digging him further into the ground.
"Hazard Level 2 are most of the Smash you see. They're regular humans and turn back into regular humans once you extract their essence." Everyone was fixated on Blood Stalk. Should I do something or let him talk? Were we still on the rails or should I go apeshit? I was frozen by indecision.
"But Hazard Level 3 is where the real fun begins. Once you reach Hazard Level 3, you're able to use the Build system designed by the demon scientist, Katsuragi." At the mention of the demon scientist, it was Sento's turn to react. He tightens his grip on the belt before loosing it. Instead he grabs the Rabbit fullbottle and starts to shake it. "Yes, yes! That's right! The Build system was designed as a weapon for war!"
Sento was enraged and in an eyeblink, used his enhanced agility to kick the side of Blood Stalk's head. The alien doesn't budge.
"So this is my challenge to you, players. You have one week to reach Hazard Level 3. After the week is over, I will release Smashes all over Touto. It's in your best interest for our murderer here to become a Kamen Rider as soon as possible. As for our guests, you're welcome to try becoming Kamen Riders too." The horn on top of Blood Stalk's helmet starts to belch copious amounts of smoke. When the smoke clears, Blood Stalk is gone.
"Objective accepted ~Kyun~ Reach Hazard Level 3 in one week!" My phone announced. With no Blood Stalk to soak up the attention, all eyes were on me.
--
After our encounter with the alien boy, Sento took our team in for questioning. We came willingly so there wasn't any need for rope or whatever.
"So let me get this straight. You guys come from another country, from a world without the Skywall?" Sento asked. I translated the question for Andrea and Paul who both nodded along. I was desperately trying to curl up into a ball and disappear, but without me as a middleman, Andrea and Paul wouldn't be able to understand Sento.
"And your only clue is to getting home is to find Kamen Rider Build?" Sento asked again.
"Sorry, but what's the point of repeating the quest---AAAAAAH!" I couldn't stop myself from screaming as Sawa entered the Build base. In place of her ears, Humagear ear modules were there. If there were Humagears in this world, then we were definitely off the rails.
Sento took a look at what I screamed at and sighed with relief when he saw it was just Sawa.
"What's wrong with you, kid? Are you scared of Humagears?" Banjo piped up.
"Humagears? Is that what those are?" I lied. Hopefully my lying wasn't so terrible that my teammates could see I was hiding something. Andrea helpfully informed me that there were also 'Humagears' and 'Guardians' near the cafe we used as a base. I'd seen the latter when we sneaked past the military base, but I didn't remember seeing Humagears there.
"I understand we're not very common, unlike the Guardians. But I assure you, we're mostly not hostile," Sawa said, smiling. From what I could remember, Humagears were basically humans with funny ears so there was no need for me to be disrespectful. I smiled back at her.
"I noticed you said mostly, there." Andrea said. "Is there anything we should know?"
Sawa raised her eyebrows and Sento took her aside to fill her in on our situation.
"I see. A world without the Skywall, you say. That's very hard to believe." She sat on a chair across from us and crossed her legs. "Judging from your reaction to me, the Ark Incident didn't happen in your world either, am I right?"
I nodded. "AI and robotics aren't as advanced in our world, as far as we know. From what I've seen, you're basically a person."
Sawa laughed, but it felt a bit like a sad, empty laugh. No one else seemed to notice.
"We aren't people, though. Humagears are made to fill in certain jobs. I'm a journalist Humagear, for example. I mostly cover the stories that would be too dangerous for human journalists, like the Smashes, Daybreak Town and our Kamen Rider here," she said gesturing to Sento. "Speaking of dangerous jobs, I dug around for some info and got the name of the guard that knocked Banjo out."
She projected a holographic screen from her ear modules, displaying a plump middle-aged man.
"Nabeshima Masahiro. He started working as a night guard for Nanba Industries a few years ago."
"Nice one, Sawa. I'll make sure you get some good shots the next time I fight a Smash!" Sento said enthusiastically. A lock of his hair popped up, a clear sign of his excitement. However, the excitement was short-lived as he remembered Blood Stalk's warning.
"On second thought, we might not have the time to investigate him. We need to get Banjo into shape."
--
Aruto Hiden was in so much trouble.
He had rushed his paperwork in order to socialize with some of Hiden Intelligence's employees. He must have done something very wrong for his grandfather to set up a private meeting with him in his office.
"Aruto, it's time for you to take on more responsibility in this company," Korenosuke said. He faced away from Aruto, observing the outside from a window in his office.
Aruto tilted his head. So he wasn't in trouble? He allowed himself to relax.
"I understand you have a special place in your heart for Humagears, given that one raised you for most of your childhood. Izu, Will," Korenosuke said.
"Yes, Hiden-sama," two Humagears stood in attention, suddenly appearing behind Aruto. Both of them stepped forward, each handing Aruto a gadget. One was larger, attached to a belt and the other was what looked like a memory card. He was left holding both items in his hands.
"This week, there will be a raid on Daybreak Town. An attempt to reclaim what has been lost when the Ark Incident occurred. I want you to accompany AIMS so you can see what happens when Humagear technology goes wrong. What Izu and Will handed to you are the Zero One Driver and the Rising Hoppper Progrise Key."
"Gramps? What do I do with these?" Aruto inspected the Driver and Key in his hands.
"Simply put, you are going to become a Kamen Rider," Korenosuke finally explained as he turned to face his grandson. "Equip the Driver and it will connect your mind to Satellite Zea."
Aruto did as he was told and time slowed down for him.
He found himself in a white void with blue data streaming in. Will, one of grandpa's two Humagear assistants stood next to him and explained how Satellite Zea will be training him to use the Kamen Rider system.
Will touched a few holographic screens which showed various punches and kicks. He told Aruto to follow the instructions. It took a while for his fighting to be passable, but Will was eventually satisfied.
Next were swordfighting techniques, because the Zero One Driver also contained the Attache Calibur, Zero One's main weapon. This time, there were holographic Humagears that he was meant to slay. Aruto hesitated.
"These are your enemies, Aruto." Will scolded. "You'll be fighting berserk Humagears as Zero One. You can't show any hesitation."
Will slapped his back hard, sending him into the storm of berserk Humagears. Unlike the normal Humagears that were found around the Hiden Intelligence building, these didn't have a human skin on, but Aruto still couldn't stop thinking of them as having their own feelings.
Aruto would have to suck it up though, as the holographic Humagears begun to attack him. He could barely flail with the Attache Calibur in hand and there were just so many Humagears… Aruto would be having nightmares about this encounter in his sleep, even though he knew it wasn't real.
It would take him time to get rid of all the holographic Humagears, but he eventually succeeded.
"Hmm. Not bad for your first try," Will said, inspecting the time it took for Aruto to free himself from the horde. "Again," Will said. Another horde of holographic Humagears materialized and prepared to attack.
Aruto realized this was going to be a long day.
Since arriving, we'd had to move once because I thought the Dragon Smash looked like a joke. I couldn't stop seeing it as someone in a rubber suit doing a silly walk and my laughter attracted the Dragon Smash. Silly rubber suit or not, the flames it spewed were in fact very real.
"Care to explain what's so funny, Norman?" Andrea asked, annoyed. It stung a bit not only because I couldn't explain what I found so funny, but also because Andrea had been nice to me so far.
I made a 'mouth zipped' gesture followed by an apology gesture. Andrea replied by rolling her eyes at me.
After that, it didn't take long for Build to arrive and… Is that Banjo? I almost didn't recognize him because the Banjo of this world was a lot more muscular than his actor. I couldn't think of anyone else it could be.
Banjo got off the back of Build's bike and attracted the attention of 'Kasumi'. Right. I hadn't watched Build in years so the details were a bit fuzzy. The Dragon Smash was supposed to be his girlfriend or something which made me feel a little bad for laughing at it.
Build turned to GorillaMond form right off the bat and started fighting the Dragon Smash. It gave Andrea the opportunity to speak to Banjo, but…
"Sorry, I don't speak English" Banjo said, with a heavy accent.
We had him surrounded, but he was desperately trying to see what Sento was doing. He didn't seem all that worried about Sento killing Kasumi which was… worrying. Did they have a plan to turn her back? We've barely done anything and there are already butterflies.
I nervously took a peak at the ongoing battle.
Sento was deflecting the Dragon Smash's attacks with GorillaMond's power arm. With his other arm, he fired chunks of diamond every time the Dragon Smash showed an opening. Slowly, the Dragon Smash was being encased by the crystal.
"Hey, what's he doing?" I asked idly.
"Oh, you can speak Japanese? Get out of the way then, I need to see." Banjo pushed me aside and I was forced to move by his superior strength.
"What'd he say, Norman?" Andrea asked and I explained. "You can understand Japanese?" She asked.
"Not very well, but I understood him perfectly. It must have been this," I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket.
"That's correct ~Zukyun~. The Kamen Rider Build RPG app allows Party Members to communicate with the characters of Kamen Rider Build ~Kyun~" The phone quipped. I almost dropped the phone since I wasn't expecting it to talk so suddenly.
A look of recognition crossed Banjo's face as the phone mentioned 'Kamen Rider Build' and he turned to us. "Wait, you people know about the Kamen Rider? How much do you know?"
Banjo was shaking me because I was the only one who could understand him. Andrea and Paul looked at me, expecting me to answer, but there was a moment of awkward silence because I couldn't.
"We don't really know anything other than we're supposed to find him," I said. "We think it's the only way we could get home." I said, and Banjo understood. Weirdly enough, Andrea and Paul understood what I was saying too, so I guess I didn't sound like I was speaking Japanese to anyone but Banjo.
The battle looked like it was winding down. The Dragon Smash was completely encased in crystal. This was supposed to be the part where Sento absorbs the Smash's essence, killing Kasumi. Except he didn't. He switched to GorillaVacuum and sucked up the crystallized Smash into his belt and was forced to cancel his transformation afterwards.
"Eh? He didn't kill the Smash?" I asked.
"Of course! That's Kasumi, you bastard! We found a way to keep her until we can turn her back! Wait… What do you know about the Smash? Are you working for them? I'm taking you in!" Banjo pulled out a piece of rope. I tried to retreat, but his footwork was awesome and I froze a bit. While I tried to fight back with what little martial arts I knew, Banjo could dodge my attacks with plenty of space to spare.
"Banjo, you idiot! Who are you messing with?" Sento called out. He was holding the Build Driver by the belt because the Driver itself was hot enough that it was releasing smoke.
"Sento! They know about Build and the Smashes! Help me get them!" Banjo called out.
"Oi! Don't say my name, moron!" Sento said, annoyed. "As for you guys. Do you really know about the Smashes?"
Me, Andrea and Paul all looked at each other. "No," we all replied in unison.
"Well, you're all looking pretty suspicious so I'm taking you all in," Sento said. "I hope you guys will cooperate with me," he said, mock-kindly. He pulled out some ropes on his own and… where are these guys getting all this rope?
Our gathering was interrupted by a loud laugh.
"Good lord, I can't believe you did that," said a man in red armor with green, snake-like accents. Oh god, Evolt. Was he supposed to show up this early? "You know you're only delaying the inevitable, right? You won't be able to maintain a transformation with a Smash in the Build Driver."
Everyone turned to Evolt—or in this form, 'Blood Stalk'. I reminded myself to be careful about letting that slip. I don't want to be ganked by the alien boy for my knowledge.
"Who are you? Are you working with Night Rogue?" Sento asked, gripping his belt and prepared to transform again.
"Who? Me? I'm the Game Master, but you can call me Blood Stalk," the armored man says, throwing his hands up in the air.
Enraged, Banjo pilfers a Fullbottle from Sento and shakes it, throwing an empowered punch towards Blood Stalk. The bastard, of course, blocks it handily and squeezes Banjo's arm with enhanced strength of his own, then tosses the boxer aside.
"Two-point-two! You're a failure. Of course, the Kamen Rider is at least a three," Blood Stalk announces.
"What the hell are you talking about!? Do you think this is a damn game?" Heedless of Blood Stalk previously blocking his attacks, Banjo continues to throw Fullbottle empowered punches at the alien. All of them were parried by Blood Stalk.
"Bingo! This is a game and you're the players!" Blood Stalk gloats. "Night Rogue should have filled you in on what Hazard levels one and two mean, but for the benefit of our new contestants here, I'll repeat what he said." The red-suited man doesn't miss a beat even as Banjo continued to assault him. He sweeps Banjo's leg and digs the boxer into the ground with his heel.
"Hazard Level 1 are the failures. Those who have compromised health will die along with the Smash once you extract their Smash Essence. Your dear Kasumi is one of these failures." At that, Banjo tried to struggle, but Blood Stalk was too strong, only digging him further into the ground.
"Hazard Level 2 are most of the Smash you see. They're regular humans and turn back into regular humans once you extract their essence." Everyone was fixated on Blood Stalk. Should I do something or let him talk? Were we still on the rails or should I go apeshit? I was frozen by indecision.
"But Hazard Level 3 is where the real fun begins. Once you reach Hazard Level 3, you're able to use the Build system designed by the demon scientist, Katsuragi." At the mention of the demon scientist, it was Sento's turn to react. He tightens his grip on the belt before loosing it. Instead he grabs the Rabbit fullbottle and starts to shake it. "Yes, yes! That's right! The Build system was designed as a weapon for war!"
Sento was enraged and in an eyeblink, used his enhanced agility to kick the side of Blood Stalk's head. The alien doesn't budge.
"So this is my challenge to you, players. You have one week to reach Hazard Level 3. After the week is over, I will release Smashes all over Touto. It's in your best interest for our murderer here to become a Kamen Rider as soon as possible. As for our guests, you're welcome to try becoming Kamen Riders too." The horn on top of Blood Stalk's helmet starts to belch copious amounts of smoke. When the smoke clears, Blood Stalk is gone.
"Objective accepted ~Kyun~ Reach Hazard Level 3 in one week!" My phone announced. With no Blood Stalk to soak up the attention, all eyes were on me.
--
After our encounter with the alien boy, Sento took our team in for questioning. We came willingly so there wasn't any need for rope or whatever.
"So let me get this straight. You guys come from another country, from a world without the Skywall?" Sento asked. I translated the question for Andrea and Paul who both nodded along. I was desperately trying to curl up into a ball and disappear, but without me as a middleman, Andrea and Paul wouldn't be able to understand Sento.
"And your only clue is to getting home is to find Kamen Rider Build?" Sento asked again.
"Sorry, but what's the point of repeating the quest---AAAAAAH!" I couldn't stop myself from screaming as Sawa entered the Build base. In place of her ears, Humagear ear modules were there. If there were Humagears in this world, then we were definitely off the rails.
Sento took a look at what I screamed at and sighed with relief when he saw it was just Sawa.
"What's wrong with you, kid? Are you scared of Humagears?" Banjo piped up.
"Humagears? Is that what those are?" I lied. Hopefully my lying wasn't so terrible that my teammates could see I was hiding something. Andrea helpfully informed me that there were also 'Humagears' and 'Guardians' near the cafe we used as a base. I'd seen the latter when we sneaked past the military base, but I didn't remember seeing Humagears there.
"I understand we're not very common, unlike the Guardians. But I assure you, we're mostly not hostile," Sawa said, smiling. From what I could remember, Humagears were basically humans with funny ears so there was no need for me to be disrespectful. I smiled back at her.
"I noticed you said mostly, there." Andrea said. "Is there anything we should know?"
Sawa raised her eyebrows and Sento took her aside to fill her in on our situation.
"I see. A world without the Skywall, you say. That's very hard to believe." She sat on a chair across from us and crossed her legs. "Judging from your reaction to me, the Ark Incident didn't happen in your world either, am I right?"
I nodded. "AI and robotics aren't as advanced in our world, as far as we know. From what I've seen, you're basically a person."
Sawa laughed, but it felt a bit like a sad, empty laugh. No one else seemed to notice.
"We aren't people, though. Humagears are made to fill in certain jobs. I'm a journalist Humagear, for example. I mostly cover the stories that would be too dangerous for human journalists, like the Smashes, Daybreak Town and our Kamen Rider here," she said gesturing to Sento. "Speaking of dangerous jobs, I dug around for some info and got the name of the guard that knocked Banjo out."
She projected a holographic screen from her ear modules, displaying a plump middle-aged man.
"Nabeshima Masahiro. He started working as a night guard for Nanba Industries a few years ago."
"Nice one, Sawa. I'll make sure you get some good shots the next time I fight a Smash!" Sento said enthusiastically. A lock of his hair popped up, a clear sign of his excitement. However, the excitement was short-lived as he remembered Blood Stalk's warning.
"On second thought, we might not have the time to investigate him. We need to get Banjo into shape."
--
Aruto Hiden was in so much trouble.
He had rushed his paperwork in order to socialize with some of Hiden Intelligence's employees. He must have done something very wrong for his grandfather to set up a private meeting with him in his office.
"Aruto, it's time for you to take on more responsibility in this company," Korenosuke said. He faced away from Aruto, observing the outside from a window in his office.
Aruto tilted his head. So he wasn't in trouble? He allowed himself to relax.
"I understand you have a special place in your heart for Humagears, given that one raised you for most of your childhood. Izu, Will," Korenosuke said.
"Yes, Hiden-sama," two Humagears stood in attention, suddenly appearing behind Aruto. Both of them stepped forward, each handing Aruto a gadget. One was larger, attached to a belt and the other was what looked like a memory card. He was left holding both items in his hands.
"This week, there will be a raid on Daybreak Town. An attempt to reclaim what has been lost when the Ark Incident occurred. I want you to accompany AIMS so you can see what happens when Humagear technology goes wrong. What Izu and Will handed to you are the Zero One Driver and the Rising Hoppper Progrise Key."
"Gramps? What do I do with these?" Aruto inspected the Driver and Key in his hands.
"Simply put, you are going to become a Kamen Rider," Korenosuke finally explained as he turned to face his grandson. "Equip the Driver and it will connect your mind to Satellite Zea."
Aruto did as he was told and time slowed down for him.
He found himself in a white void with blue data streaming in. Will, one of grandpa's two Humagear assistants stood next to him and explained how Satellite Zea will be training him to use the Kamen Rider system.
Will touched a few holographic screens which showed various punches and kicks. He told Aruto to follow the instructions. It took a while for his fighting to be passable, but Will was eventually satisfied.
Next were swordfighting techniques, because the Zero One Driver also contained the Attache Calibur, Zero One's main weapon. This time, there were holographic Humagears that he was meant to slay. Aruto hesitated.
"These are your enemies, Aruto." Will scolded. "You'll be fighting berserk Humagears as Zero One. You can't show any hesitation."
Will slapped his back hard, sending him into the storm of berserk Humagears. Unlike the normal Humagears that were found around the Hiden Intelligence building, these didn't have a human skin on, but Aruto still couldn't stop thinking of them as having their own feelings.
Aruto would have to suck it up though, as the holographic Humagears begun to attack him. He could barely flail with the Attache Calibur in hand and there were just so many Humagears… Aruto would be having nightmares about this encounter in his sleep, even though he knew it wasn't real.
It would take him time to get rid of all the holographic Humagears, but he eventually succeeded.
"Hmm. Not bad for your first try," Will said, inspecting the time it took for Aruto to free himself from the horde. "Again," Will said. Another horde of holographic Humagears materialized and prepared to attack.
Aruto realized this was going to be a long day.
Chapter 6-Level Grinding
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
"We're going to help," Andrea volunteered. I did a double take.
"We're going to what?" I did a double take.
"If it has something to do with Kamen Rider Build, then it has something to do with us. The app, remember?" Andrea scolded.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to be fighting monsters. More to the point, I'm the only one who has the app," I complained. "I haven't agreed to volunteer yet. I'm still fucked up from that fight with the wolf."
"Wolf?" Sento asked. "And we haven't exactly agreed to your help either. From my perspective, you guys are still pretty suspicious."
"What's the deal? Our boy Norman here handled a pretty big monster by himself. I'm sure he can take a Smash or whatever those things are," Paul said. "They're not even as big as the wolf."
"Again, why are you guys deciding for me? I haven't agreed to anything," I say, exasperated. I had more to say but I was interrupted by a tall man entering the room. It was Soichi Isurugi—Blood Stalk's real identity. At this point in time, the Build crew haven't figured it out so he was still pretty friendly. I still couldn't suppress a fearful shudder. All those fantastic alien powers all crammed into a man who makes horrible coffee.
"Whoah. There are more people here now. I didn't realize we were turning the base into an extension of the cafe." He says sarcastically.
"Well, these people know about Build. More importantly, a snake armor guy gave us an ultimatum: Turn Banjo Ryuga into a Kamen Rider by the end of the week. Faust will be releasing monsters all over Touto to challenge us." Sento said, worried.
"Well, we have one Kamen Rider on our side. I'm sure we can manage," Soichi Isurugi said. What was his game? He was the one who said we should turn Banjo into a Kamen Rider. Why was he saying it's fine now? I couldn't follow his 4D Chess moves.
"That's the problem! We have none! With me keeping Kasumi in the driver, I don't know if I can transform properly and I have to keep her there until we find a way to turn her back from a Smash," Sento countered.
"Well, there's an easy way to test that, and we can train Banjo here at the same time. Why not transform and spar with him?" Soichi suggested.
"You know what? That's a great idea! We'll help too!" Andrea said, excited. "What do we have to do?"
--
HP: 13 (1 Major wound, 3 Minor wounds)
MP: 4
Strength: 3 (+1)
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom 4
Skills (Tap skills to see description):
Basic Martial Arts, Henshin
I checked my stats for the first time in what felt like ages. I feel like I would check it more if I didn't have to pull out my phone to do so every time. I pocketed it before Andrea or Paul could get curious about my character sheet. I was still keeping that Henshin thing under wraps.
"Alright everyone. Here's what we're going to do," Soichi announced. "Kamen Rider Build is going to spar with Banjo Ryuga so he can use the Build system too."
"What are we going to do?" Andrea's enthusiasm would be infectious if it didn't mean that I was going to be put in the way of rampaging monsters. Paul was gung-ho about it too. Ironically, despite being the only Kamen Rider fan here, I was the only one who wasn't excited about the chance of getting to be one.
"Sorry, I don't speak English," Soichi replied. "Sento said you're from another world, right? I don't think he believes it himself, but if you really are from a world with no Skywall, your body wouldn't be used to the kind of low level Nebula Gas exposure that we all are." I translated for Andrea and Paul. It was still kind of weird how both sides could understand me even though I'm only speaking one language.
Even though I knew I shouldn't, I was kind of grateful for Soichi running interference for me.
"Are you ready, Sento?" Soichi asked. The Build Driver then announced its signature 'Are you ready?'
Sento transformed into his Rabbit Tank form while Banjo took a stance. The boxer shook the Lion Fullbottle, infusing his body with Nebula Gas.
"This feels kind of like fighting with a set of brass knuckles, huh?" He said, energized by the Lion Fullbottle's essence. He took no time to close the gap between himself and Build and threw a combo of punches that not even the Rabbit Tank form's enhanced agility could dodge. Just how much of a monster was Banjo? I didn't remember him being this good at fighting in the show. It felt like him being a former boxer had much more 'weight' in this world for lack of a better term.
Since Build couldn't dodge, he simply tanked the attacks, drawing from the Tank half of his armor. Each of Banjo's punches shook the Lion Fullbottle in his hand, increasing his strength by a miniscule amount. Even with Banjo's escalating strength, Build had the clear advantage in terms of staying power. Banjo couldn't infuse himself with the Fullbottle's essence fast enough that he could be stronger than Build before tiring himself out. The difference between Hazard Level 2 and Hazard Level 3 was just that stark.
While Andrea and Paul were watching Build and Banjo fight, I got into a stance too, practicing the katas that Kuya taught me. I was moving slowly, almost like tai chi because I didn't want to aggravate the bandaged wound on my side.
Banjo stopped fighting Build for a moment, but Build was in the middle of an attack. He wasn't able to stop himself in time and wound up smacking Banjo on the side of the head.
"Ow!" Banjo said. He postured like a gang kid towards Build, bodying the Kamen Rider. Sento didn't allow himself to be pushed and postured back.
"Don't just suddenly stop fighting, you idiot!" Sento chastised.
"Only idiots call other people idiots, idiot!" Banjo countered. "More importantly, what the hell kind of martial arts is that? There's no footwork," the boxer said, pointing at me. I stopped my kata for a moment.
"Footwork?" I asked. "Kuya didn't teach me any. I kind of figured I could get by on just getting stronger."
"That's a terrible philosophy," Banjo said. "Punch me."
"Que?" I asked, confused.
"Don't 'que' me. Punch me." Banjo gestured, his palms facing towards me. I threw a wide punch at him, but it wasn't enough to even budge his hand.
"I see, I see." Banjo looked thoughtful—a look that I wouldn't normally ascribe to the hot-blooded boxer. "I'd put your strength at… below average. You wouldn't be able to punch a Smash with that kind of strength with that kind of technique. Even with my level of strength and technique, I couldn't get one to budge."
"What, suddenly you're a genius now? So you had that side to you, eh?" Build mocked.
"Well, I was a boxer so I know these things. Why are you so surprised that I can be competent at things, huh!?" Banjo said, annoyed.
"Move your feet like this… what was it, Norman?" He said as he demonstrated the footwork. I tried his example slowly at first and once I got the flow down, I let my Martial Arts ability do the work of correcting my form.
"Hmm, not bad for a first try. Is this your first time boxing?" Banjo encouraged. He slapped my back hard and I almost fell forward.
"It's not my first martial art, but it's my first time doing footwork along with punching. It's really hard," I said. My hand-eye coordination wasn't the best so even with my Martial Arts skills, I was having trouble moving my arms and legs at the same time. I could do it if I focused, but it was hard to get back into the flow of it once something interrupts me.
Suddenly, the smell of fried machinery filled the air and sparks shot out from the Build Driver. Banjo barely got out of the way of it.
Sento was moving as if he was desperately trying to stop the Build Driver from moving. The Rabbit half of his armor began fading out like a graphical glitch, slowly being replaced by a 'Dragon' half that was orange and spiky. Not at all like the canon 'Dragon' half of the show.
The DragonTank form started spewing fire at whoever was near, necessitating for us to move away. There were times that it looked like Build was trying hard to not speew fire, moving much like the Dragon Smash trying not to burn Banjo. It made it hard to discern whether it was Sento or Kasumi doing the holding back.
"Stand back everyone. Build is out of control," Soichi said, putting himself between us and the rampaging Build. It would have thought him brave if I didn't know that a measly Hazard Level of 3 wouldn't be able to harm him.
The tall man lunges during one of Build's feats of holding back and wrestles the Build Driver away from Sento's waist. The Build Driver was emitting copious amounts of sparks and smoke that there was no way Soichi would come away without any burns on his hands if he were human. Nobody else seemed to notice.
When Soichi finally managed to separate the Build Driver from Sento, he dropped it from the heat. Or pretended to drop it. Whatever. The Build Driver released a lot of smoke and Sento collapsed on the ground.
"Are you okay, Sento?" Soichi calls out, shaking the collapsed Sento awake. Why even ask? He's clearly not okay. "I knew transforming with a Smash inside the Build Driver was too big of a risk. Why did I ever let you transform?"
"Kasumi… she… She's in pain. She doesn't seem to like that we've caged her in Smash form." Sento replied. At the mention of Kasumi, the look on Banjo's face grew desperate. He starts talking to the Build Driver, telling Kasumi that they'll be able to cure her soon. It was an empty promise, but Banjo probably had a lot of practice trying to soothe Kasumi's pain that way.
"Well, it looks like the Build Driver is fried. I don't think we can continue training today until Sento fixes it and he doesn't look up to it right now." Damn, Evolt was good at acting concerned. If I didn't already know he was the alien guy, I'd totally believe him.
"No, wait!" Andrea blurted out. All eyes were on her. "I mean… Can we give it a try?" She practically had stars in her eyes.
"Well, it's dangerous to expose someone to the Fullbottles if you're not even used to the Nebula Gas," Soichi cautioned. "But if you really want to, then it shouldn't be too bad to let you try it out."
"What? No!" Sento protested. "We don't know what long term side effects Fullbottles have. It would be highly unethical to--" Souchi cups his hands over Sento's mouth. Andrea had a look on her face that most people wouldn't be able to resist and she was a cute-ish girl.
Defeated, Sento hands her the Rabbit Fullbottle. "Since you're a small girl, an agile fighting style would suit you best. Just shake the bottle and you should get increased agility as well as a good sense for dodging."
"Hmm? I wouldn't mind being the punching bag again," interjects Banjo. He still had the Lion Fullbottle in his hands. He shook it, infusing him with the Lion essence. Andrea did the same with the Rabbit Fullbottle. "Take this stance," Banjo instructs, but Andrea refuses.
"I have my own. You graduated from Saint Thomas too, right Norman?" Andrea took a stance that looked similar to the one Kuya taught me. "What martial arts class did you take?"
"Kali sticks," I answered idly. "So wait, you took a hand to hand combat class?"
"I took Taekwondo, yeah. I guess it makes sense that a soft guy like you would take the class with the weapons." She smiles. I couldn't help taking that as an insult even though she probably didn't mean it that way. "Girls like me need to be able to defend ourselves from creeps so we get priority slots on hand to hand combat stuff."
I nodded and in between blinks, she hits Banjo with a spinning jump kick, her speed enhanced by the Rabbit Fullbottle. Banjo barely brought his arms up to block and a meaty thump resounded in the abandoned parking lot that we were using to practice.
Fittingly enough for a rabbit, Andrea was bouncing around and peppering Banjo with kicks. Even without the Lion essence, I felt like Banjo could keep up with the enhanced Andrea even if it would hurt a lot to block her attacks. Wait… Did boxing have takedowns or…
As if to answer my question, Banjo threw a punch that I could barely see. The punch connected and forced Andrea to hop backwards, an action enhanced by the Rabbit Fullbottle in her hands. Instead of relenting, Andrea only redoubled on her efforts to attack Banjo, but even though she threw more attacks, the boxer's punches were more impactful, taking advantage of her openings and forcing her to relent each time.
It couldn't really be helped. Banjo was a professional boxer and Saint Thomas offered up to yellow belt on martial arts at the very best.
As the fight continued, Andrea's attacks were getting more sloppy and wild. She was taking aggressive options that left her with large openings that Banjo could exploit. It eventually got bad enough that Soichi himself had to break up the fight.
"Alright, that's enough. I think the Nebula Gas inside the bottle is getting to your head," he said, gripping Andrea by the wrist and confiscating the Rabbit Fullbottle.
"No way," Andrea protested. "I was just having fun. I guess I did get a little carried away, though." Soichi shot Andrea a confused look, then to me. I shrugged.
"Alright, let's try it with Norman and that guy." Soichi said, gesturing to me and Paul. "For Norman, I think the Hedgehog Fullbottle would work. And for that guy… I don't know him so maybe Gorilla."
He handed us the Fullbottles and Paul shot me a questioning look. I explained to him about shaking the bottles and getting powers and how Soichi wanted to see us try fighting with them.
"Oh, I don't really get it. But I get it. I just have to shake this bottle, right?" Paul asked. Brown Nebula Gas began to infuse him starting at the arm. I did so too, but when I shook the Hedgehog Fullbottle, it exploded in my hand. My mind was brought back to that traumatic final attack on the wolf.
The Hedgehog Fullbottle was sent flying and Soichi ran to retrieve it.
"Whoah, what was that?" Asked Paul. "Was that you?"
At that point, my phone rang with an alert. I pulled it up. Apparently I had gained a new skill.
Purge (Level 1) (Active) (Cost: 1 MP)
Purges toxins from the body with a burst of explosive Mana. Activates automatically if Mana is full.
I read the skill out loud.
"I guess that counts me out. Nebula Gas acts like a toxin, probably so my body rejected it."
Paul said an 'aww' of disappointment just as Soichi was coming back.
"Well I've got some bad news. Whatever it was that Norman did broke the Fullbottle. We won't be able to get a replacement unless Sento defeats another Smash," he explains. I could feel him staring daggers into me. Accidentally wrecking a Fullbottle probably delayed his plans a bit.
"No way. Mana? Magic? That's so unscientific," Sento protests.
"I don't think you understand what science means," I reply wryly. "I could probably activate the attack and the Mana I release could be measurable. Just because it's called Mana and Magic doesn't mean that it automatically doesn't exist when I just clearly demonstrated that it does."
"Well, you're right about that, but can't we call it something else? I just think it sounds weird," Sento says.
"Nope. The Build App says it's Mana so it's Mana," I say.
"You guys have been talking 'app' this and 'app' that for a while, but what even is that?" Banjo asks.
"It's an app on my phone that installed itself when we got transported to this world. Just to be clear, we don't know what the Build App is or why it's called that. It was a coincidence that we were able to find that Smash that let us meet you," I explained.
"This is a lot to take in. I think you better let us see that phone," Soichi said.
Dammit. There was no way I could refuse now without making our party look suspicious to the Build Crew and making me look suspicious to my teammates. He got me there. I hoped there was a way to hide skills from the menu.
"We're going to what?" I did a double take.
"If it has something to do with Kamen Rider Build, then it has something to do with us. The app, remember?" Andrea scolded.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to be fighting monsters. More to the point, I'm the only one who has the app," I complained. "I haven't agreed to volunteer yet. I'm still fucked up from that fight with the wolf."
"Wolf?" Sento asked. "And we haven't exactly agreed to your help either. From my perspective, you guys are still pretty suspicious."
"What's the deal? Our boy Norman here handled a pretty big monster by himself. I'm sure he can take a Smash or whatever those things are," Paul said. "They're not even as big as the wolf."
"Again, why are you guys deciding for me? I haven't agreed to anything," I say, exasperated. I had more to say but I was interrupted by a tall man entering the room. It was Soichi Isurugi—Blood Stalk's real identity. At this point in time, the Build crew haven't figured it out so he was still pretty friendly. I still couldn't suppress a fearful shudder. All those fantastic alien powers all crammed into a man who makes horrible coffee.
"Whoah. There are more people here now. I didn't realize we were turning the base into an extension of the cafe." He says sarcastically.
"Well, these people know about Build. More importantly, a snake armor guy gave us an ultimatum: Turn Banjo Ryuga into a Kamen Rider by the end of the week. Faust will be releasing monsters all over Touto to challenge us." Sento said, worried.
"Well, we have one Kamen Rider on our side. I'm sure we can manage," Soichi Isurugi said. What was his game? He was the one who said we should turn Banjo into a Kamen Rider. Why was he saying it's fine now? I couldn't follow his 4D Chess moves.
"That's the problem! We have none! With me keeping Kasumi in the driver, I don't know if I can transform properly and I have to keep her there until we find a way to turn her back from a Smash," Sento countered.
"Well, there's an easy way to test that, and we can train Banjo here at the same time. Why not transform and spar with him?" Soichi suggested.
"You know what? That's a great idea! We'll help too!" Andrea said, excited. "What do we have to do?"
--
HP: 13 (1 Major wound, 3 Minor wounds)
MP: 4
Strength: 3 (+1)
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom 4
Skills (Tap skills to see description):
Basic Martial Arts, Henshin
I checked my stats for the first time in what felt like ages. I feel like I would check it more if I didn't have to pull out my phone to do so every time. I pocketed it before Andrea or Paul could get curious about my character sheet. I was still keeping that Henshin thing under wraps.
"Alright everyone. Here's what we're going to do," Soichi announced. "Kamen Rider Build is going to spar with Banjo Ryuga so he can use the Build system too."
"What are we going to do?" Andrea's enthusiasm would be infectious if it didn't mean that I was going to be put in the way of rampaging monsters. Paul was gung-ho about it too. Ironically, despite being the only Kamen Rider fan here, I was the only one who wasn't excited about the chance of getting to be one.
"Sorry, I don't speak English," Soichi replied. "Sento said you're from another world, right? I don't think he believes it himself, but if you really are from a world with no Skywall, your body wouldn't be used to the kind of low level Nebula Gas exposure that we all are." I translated for Andrea and Paul. It was still kind of weird how both sides could understand me even though I'm only speaking one language.
Even though I knew I shouldn't, I was kind of grateful for Soichi running interference for me.
"Are you ready, Sento?" Soichi asked. The Build Driver then announced its signature 'Are you ready?'
Sento transformed into his Rabbit Tank form while Banjo took a stance. The boxer shook the Lion Fullbottle, infusing his body with Nebula Gas.
"This feels kind of like fighting with a set of brass knuckles, huh?" He said, energized by the Lion Fullbottle's essence. He took no time to close the gap between himself and Build and threw a combo of punches that not even the Rabbit Tank form's enhanced agility could dodge. Just how much of a monster was Banjo? I didn't remember him being this good at fighting in the show. It felt like him being a former boxer had much more 'weight' in this world for lack of a better term.
Since Build couldn't dodge, he simply tanked the attacks, drawing from the Tank half of his armor. Each of Banjo's punches shook the Lion Fullbottle in his hand, increasing his strength by a miniscule amount. Even with Banjo's escalating strength, Build had the clear advantage in terms of staying power. Banjo couldn't infuse himself with the Fullbottle's essence fast enough that he could be stronger than Build before tiring himself out. The difference between Hazard Level 2 and Hazard Level 3 was just that stark.
While Andrea and Paul were watching Build and Banjo fight, I got into a stance too, practicing the katas that Kuya taught me. I was moving slowly, almost like tai chi because I didn't want to aggravate the bandaged wound on my side.
Banjo stopped fighting Build for a moment, but Build was in the middle of an attack. He wasn't able to stop himself in time and wound up smacking Banjo on the side of the head.
"Ow!" Banjo said. He postured like a gang kid towards Build, bodying the Kamen Rider. Sento didn't allow himself to be pushed and postured back.
"Don't just suddenly stop fighting, you idiot!" Sento chastised.
"Only idiots call other people idiots, idiot!" Banjo countered. "More importantly, what the hell kind of martial arts is that? There's no footwork," the boxer said, pointing at me. I stopped my kata for a moment.
"Footwork?" I asked. "Kuya didn't teach me any. I kind of figured I could get by on just getting stronger."
"That's a terrible philosophy," Banjo said. "Punch me."
"Que?" I asked, confused.
"Don't 'que' me. Punch me." Banjo gestured, his palms facing towards me. I threw a wide punch at him, but it wasn't enough to even budge his hand.
"I see, I see." Banjo looked thoughtful—a look that I wouldn't normally ascribe to the hot-blooded boxer. "I'd put your strength at… below average. You wouldn't be able to punch a Smash with that kind of strength with that kind of technique. Even with my level of strength and technique, I couldn't get one to budge."
"What, suddenly you're a genius now? So you had that side to you, eh?" Build mocked.
"Well, I was a boxer so I know these things. Why are you so surprised that I can be competent at things, huh!?" Banjo said, annoyed.
"Move your feet like this… what was it, Norman?" He said as he demonstrated the footwork. I tried his example slowly at first and once I got the flow down, I let my Martial Arts ability do the work of correcting my form.
"Hmm, not bad for a first try. Is this your first time boxing?" Banjo encouraged. He slapped my back hard and I almost fell forward.
"It's not my first martial art, but it's my first time doing footwork along with punching. It's really hard," I said. My hand-eye coordination wasn't the best so even with my Martial Arts skills, I was having trouble moving my arms and legs at the same time. I could do it if I focused, but it was hard to get back into the flow of it once something interrupts me.
Suddenly, the smell of fried machinery filled the air and sparks shot out from the Build Driver. Banjo barely got out of the way of it.
Sento was moving as if he was desperately trying to stop the Build Driver from moving. The Rabbit half of his armor began fading out like a graphical glitch, slowly being replaced by a 'Dragon' half that was orange and spiky. Not at all like the canon 'Dragon' half of the show.
The DragonTank form started spewing fire at whoever was near, necessitating for us to move away. There were times that it looked like Build was trying hard to not speew fire, moving much like the Dragon Smash trying not to burn Banjo. It made it hard to discern whether it was Sento or Kasumi doing the holding back.
"Stand back everyone. Build is out of control," Soichi said, putting himself between us and the rampaging Build. It would have thought him brave if I didn't know that a measly Hazard Level of 3 wouldn't be able to harm him.
The tall man lunges during one of Build's feats of holding back and wrestles the Build Driver away from Sento's waist. The Build Driver was emitting copious amounts of sparks and smoke that there was no way Soichi would come away without any burns on his hands if he were human. Nobody else seemed to notice.
When Soichi finally managed to separate the Build Driver from Sento, he dropped it from the heat. Or pretended to drop it. Whatever. The Build Driver released a lot of smoke and Sento collapsed on the ground.
"Are you okay, Sento?" Soichi calls out, shaking the collapsed Sento awake. Why even ask? He's clearly not okay. "I knew transforming with a Smash inside the Build Driver was too big of a risk. Why did I ever let you transform?"
"Kasumi… she… She's in pain. She doesn't seem to like that we've caged her in Smash form." Sento replied. At the mention of Kasumi, the look on Banjo's face grew desperate. He starts talking to the Build Driver, telling Kasumi that they'll be able to cure her soon. It was an empty promise, but Banjo probably had a lot of practice trying to soothe Kasumi's pain that way.
"Well, it looks like the Build Driver is fried. I don't think we can continue training today until Sento fixes it and he doesn't look up to it right now." Damn, Evolt was good at acting concerned. If I didn't already know he was the alien guy, I'd totally believe him.
"No, wait!" Andrea blurted out. All eyes were on her. "I mean… Can we give it a try?" She practically had stars in her eyes.
"Well, it's dangerous to expose someone to the Fullbottles if you're not even used to the Nebula Gas," Soichi cautioned. "But if you really want to, then it shouldn't be too bad to let you try it out."
"What? No!" Sento protested. "We don't know what long term side effects Fullbottles have. It would be highly unethical to--" Souchi cups his hands over Sento's mouth. Andrea had a look on her face that most people wouldn't be able to resist and she was a cute-ish girl.
Defeated, Sento hands her the Rabbit Fullbottle. "Since you're a small girl, an agile fighting style would suit you best. Just shake the bottle and you should get increased agility as well as a good sense for dodging."
"Hmm? I wouldn't mind being the punching bag again," interjects Banjo. He still had the Lion Fullbottle in his hands. He shook it, infusing him with the Lion essence. Andrea did the same with the Rabbit Fullbottle. "Take this stance," Banjo instructs, but Andrea refuses.
"I have my own. You graduated from Saint Thomas too, right Norman?" Andrea took a stance that looked similar to the one Kuya taught me. "What martial arts class did you take?"
"Kali sticks," I answered idly. "So wait, you took a hand to hand combat class?"
"I took Taekwondo, yeah. I guess it makes sense that a soft guy like you would take the class with the weapons." She smiles. I couldn't help taking that as an insult even though she probably didn't mean it that way. "Girls like me need to be able to defend ourselves from creeps so we get priority slots on hand to hand combat stuff."
I nodded and in between blinks, she hits Banjo with a spinning jump kick, her speed enhanced by the Rabbit Fullbottle. Banjo barely brought his arms up to block and a meaty thump resounded in the abandoned parking lot that we were using to practice.
Fittingly enough for a rabbit, Andrea was bouncing around and peppering Banjo with kicks. Even without the Lion essence, I felt like Banjo could keep up with the enhanced Andrea even if it would hurt a lot to block her attacks. Wait… Did boxing have takedowns or…
As if to answer my question, Banjo threw a punch that I could barely see. The punch connected and forced Andrea to hop backwards, an action enhanced by the Rabbit Fullbottle in her hands. Instead of relenting, Andrea only redoubled on her efforts to attack Banjo, but even though she threw more attacks, the boxer's punches were more impactful, taking advantage of her openings and forcing her to relent each time.
It couldn't really be helped. Banjo was a professional boxer and Saint Thomas offered up to yellow belt on martial arts at the very best.
As the fight continued, Andrea's attacks were getting more sloppy and wild. She was taking aggressive options that left her with large openings that Banjo could exploit. It eventually got bad enough that Soichi himself had to break up the fight.
"Alright, that's enough. I think the Nebula Gas inside the bottle is getting to your head," he said, gripping Andrea by the wrist and confiscating the Rabbit Fullbottle.
"No way," Andrea protested. "I was just having fun. I guess I did get a little carried away, though." Soichi shot Andrea a confused look, then to me. I shrugged.
"Alright, let's try it with Norman and that guy." Soichi said, gesturing to me and Paul. "For Norman, I think the Hedgehog Fullbottle would work. And for that guy… I don't know him so maybe Gorilla."
He handed us the Fullbottles and Paul shot me a questioning look. I explained to him about shaking the bottles and getting powers and how Soichi wanted to see us try fighting with them.
"Oh, I don't really get it. But I get it. I just have to shake this bottle, right?" Paul asked. Brown Nebula Gas began to infuse him starting at the arm. I did so too, but when I shook the Hedgehog Fullbottle, it exploded in my hand. My mind was brought back to that traumatic final attack on the wolf.
The Hedgehog Fullbottle was sent flying and Soichi ran to retrieve it.
"Whoah, what was that?" Asked Paul. "Was that you?"
At that point, my phone rang with an alert. I pulled it up. Apparently I had gained a new skill.
Purge (Level 1) (Active) (Cost: 1 MP)
Purges toxins from the body with a burst of explosive Mana. Activates automatically if Mana is full.
I read the skill out loud.
"I guess that counts me out. Nebula Gas acts like a toxin, probably so my body rejected it."
Paul said an 'aww' of disappointment just as Soichi was coming back.
"Well I've got some bad news. Whatever it was that Norman did broke the Fullbottle. We won't be able to get a replacement unless Sento defeats another Smash," he explains. I could feel him staring daggers into me. Accidentally wrecking a Fullbottle probably delayed his plans a bit.
"No way. Mana? Magic? That's so unscientific," Sento protests.
"I don't think you understand what science means," I reply wryly. "I could probably activate the attack and the Mana I release could be measurable. Just because it's called Mana and Magic doesn't mean that it automatically doesn't exist when I just clearly demonstrated that it does."
"Well, you're right about that, but can't we call it something else? I just think it sounds weird," Sento says.
"Nope. The Build App says it's Mana so it's Mana," I say.
"You guys have been talking 'app' this and 'app' that for a while, but what even is that?" Banjo asks.
"It's an app on my phone that installed itself when we got transported to this world. Just to be clear, we don't know what the Build App is or why it's called that. It was a coincidence that we were able to find that Smash that let us meet you," I explained.
"This is a lot to take in. I think you better let us see that phone," Soichi said.
Dammit. There was no way I could refuse now without making our party look suspicious to the Build Crew and making me look suspicious to my teammates. He got me there. I hoped there was a way to hide skills from the menu.
Chapter 7-Encryption
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
"Well, that's certainly Build's logo," Soichi remarked dryly. My phone was passed to Sento and then Andrea who both tried to unlock my screen and both failed. When the phone was passed to me, it wasn't locked.
"Well, looks like I'm the only one who can look at my character sheet," I said smugly. At the same time, I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "The only thing really interesting is the quest page. It says I should get myself to Hazard Level 3, but I can't do that if I can't even hold a Fullbottle."
"Hmm, yes, that's quite the conundrum isn't it?" Sento said, his hand on his chin. "Well, it's not like we can be sure that using Fullbottles would raise your Hazard Level anyway. It's not like we have any way to check."
"How about using the Build Driver?" I suggested. "You can use it once you reach Hazard Level 3, right?"
"Well, that's the problem. The Build Driver we have is keyed to my DNA. I can make more, but I'm not sure I can make enough for everyone that needs one. I have to make another one for myself too because we're using mine as a cage for Kasumi."
"What's he saying? Can we help?" Andrea asked and I translated for her.
"Well, if it's just production, I know how to solder wires," I volunteered. "Assuming I don't have to do the Fullbottle thing to test it then I shouldn't break anything, right?"
"Whoah, Norman's actually being helpful," Andrea remarked with a smile on her face.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean," I said in a mock-offended voice.
"Well, to be honest, you're kind of a slacker," Andrea said, touching my shoulder. I picked her hand off and she dropped it to her side.
"Well, of course I'm a slacker. I'm all about that no-effort life," I said proudly. Paul responded with a "No way, he actually admitted it!" and cheered.
The Build crew were at a loss since they only got, like, half of that conversation.
"I'm not sure I want to give some random stranger the schematics to creating a Build Driver, especially one who boasts about 'being all about that no-effort life'," Sento says. "But I don't think we have can be picky about who can help us."
"Great. So Banjo, Andrea and Paul train to become Kamen Riders while we build their Build Drivers. When do I start?"
--
We pushed the cafe's tables to the center of the room so we can eat the dinner that Kuya and Monica prepared for us. Andrea filled everyone in on what happened during our excursion. Monica was particularly surprised that I offered to be helpful.
"Well, I'm the 'party leader' so I can't exactly be useless the entire time," I remarked dryly. I was checking my phone and the cafe had apparently gathered a point of Karma, which I couldn't use yet since 10 Karma was the minimum needed to actually do something.
"Oh, umm, when my injury closes up, can you teach me some acrobatics, Kuya? Is that a thing you can do?" I asked, which surprised Kuya.
"Well, I can teach you. I'm a little surprised that you're being proactive by asking. What's the deal?" He asks back.
"Nah, no deal. I just think it'd be cool if I could do acrobatics and then mix it in with martial arts."
"I thought you weren't going to be fighting?" Andrea asked. "That sounds like you want to fight, to me."
"Well, I'm not. I can't since I can't touch the bottles without making them explode. But the Smash feel like boss monsters to me so there would probably be mobs that I could fight against," I explained.
"Oh, like in DotA. The Smash are Heroes and you're going to be farming creeps," Paul interjected.
"Uhh… I don't play DotA, but sure let's go with that." I agreed.
When we were done eating, I offered to help clean up the table and wash the dishes. I was already barely doing anything so I thought it'd be nice to do something useful.
"Uhh, Norman? You're kinda bleeding." Paul pointed to the spot of blood where my shirt was touching the bandage they put on me. I must have aggravated it during the walk to the Dragon Smash then the walk back from Cafe Nascita. Weirdly, it didn't hurt at all even when I touched the spot of blood. I was going to lick it when Andrea chastised me.
"Norman, NO. Do NOT lick it," she said standing up from her chair. There was no way she could move from the chair to the kitchen to stop me, but I stopped bringing my blood stained finger to my mouth anyway and instead wiped it against my shirt.
"Gosh, you're like a kid. Honestly," Andrea said rushing to me and lifting up my shirt to inspect the bandage. "We'll have to change these before you go to sleep, mmkay?"
--
Isamu Fuwa was hyping himself up for the incursion into Daybreak Town tomorrow. While passionate about enforcing the AI and Robotics Laws, he was always a normal guy from a normal family. He wasn't like the other AIMS enforcers who lost loved ones to the Daybreak Town incident.
Still, his passion and fervor for enforcing the law allowed him to rocket to the top… well, almost top. He was assigned to lead his own platoon of soldiers into Daybreak Town in order to find more about the incident. He'd heard stories about how the whole town had been taken over by berserk Humagears, and the thought scared him a little.
Luckily for him, ZAIA was the main sponsor from AIMS and the company had gifted them weapons specifically for fighting Humagears.
Truth be told, it was a little suspect that ZAIA was producing weapons specifically for taking down their competitors' products, but Isamu had long learned not to question these things.
A technical advisor would be coming along with them in order to gauge AIMS' performance and the performance of the newly manufactured weapons. Isamu Fuwa hoped to impress.
--
Naki waded through the debris and waterlogged floor of Daybreak Town. They were supposed to inform Horobi about the AIMS raid taking place tomorrow, but they hadn't been able to find the older model Humagear anywhere.
Instead, Naki was able to find Jin, the immature Humagear and Horobi's 'son'. Naki wasn't sure how to feel about the pseudo-familial relationship that the two had, but it did make her… feel things. Were Humagears supposed to have these strange emotions?
"Jin. Where's Horobi? I need to give him some information." Naki called into the room. Jin was playing around with some blank Zetsumerise Keys.
"Well, Dad has been hard at work trying to get some of the other Humagears to organize. Honestly, I don't see the point. They're not like us," Jin said. Naki had the strange feeling that 'us' didn't include them. "Well, if it's urgent, I could always send a message for 'ya."
"Well, tomorrow AIMS will raid Daybreak Town in an attempt to reclaim the space. You might be able to find this useful." Naki held out the Berotha Zetsumerise Key to Jin who grabs it out of her hand.
"Oh, that. Horobi actually heard about the raid from Utsumi. It's why he's trying to get the berserk Humagears to organize, but I'll make sure he gets this." Jin dangles the Zetsumerise Key from his fingers.
So Utsumi had been here. Naki heard that Utsumi was stealing research secrets from Faust and Touto's Advanced Matter Physics Laboratory. Naki never would have imagined that the bespectacled Humagear would have the time to pass by.
"I'll make sure Gai-sama hears about this."
--
It was early in the morning. It was still dark enough that the moon and Venus were still shining in the sky, but also light enough that the sky was more like a murky sky blue than black. The first thing I did after waking up was check my phone. All of my 'minor' wounds are gone now and the major cut I had at my side was reduced in severity. It was tempting to peel back the bandage and peek, but I resisted the urge to do it so I wouldn't eat up the rest of our first aid stuff.
I'm glad that my paltry four hours of sleep counted as a 'long rest'. I had a nasty insomnia problem that I would normally medicate, but being trapped in the Build World meant that I couldn't get my meds.
Slowly, I started going through the katas that Kuya taught me. Emphasis on slow because I didn't want to aggravate my wound. I wasn't sure if that was a thing given my accelerated healing, but I didn't want to risk it.
Since I wasn't feeling any sharp pains on my side, I took that as a sign to increase my speed after each repetition of the katas.
I was at full speed now, but wanted to push it a bit further. My form suffers a bit, but it was nothing that my singular level in Martial arts couldn't fix. I continued at this speed, correcting my form as I went. After completing a few repetitions at my increased speed, I decided to try punctuating the end of each Kata with an activation of Purge.
Due to my low maximum MP, I could only use Purge four times before I had to take a rest. Each use of Purge made me feel more awake and less fatigued. I suppose it made sense since it purged toxins from the body, it would also purge the stuff that made me feel exhausted.
With each kata repetition that I ended with Purge, I could feel myself reaching… something. I couldn't quite grasp it, but maybe continuing to train like this would give me a new skill?
"It's five in the goddamn morning. Who's screaming—oh it's you."
Oh. It's Monica. She must have been woken up by my kiai. Maybe I should have tried practicing farther away.
"Do NOT come inside. I hate the smell of man-sweat," she said irritably before slamming the sliding door.
As if she was one to talk. None of us had been able to take a bath for three days, except for wiping ourselves down with a wet towel. All of us were stinky.
Monica hadn't returned to the theater room that we were using as a bedroom and instead opted to take a nap at one of the tables. That probably wasn't good for her back. I snuck around her so I could towel my sweat off. Be a little less gross.
That done, I pull off a table from the central collection of tables so I can boot up my laptop with a wall to my back. Thankfully, my laptop retains normal function unlike my phone. I could get some drawing done until everyone wakes up.
I figured it was a bad idea to draw Kamen Riders while Monica was napping here and could wake up at any time… Not that she would know what a Kamen Rider looked like. I don't think she's met Build. Regardless, I had no doubt that she'd tattle on me if she found all my Kamen Rider OCs. I decided to draw some Pokemon OCs instead.
It wasn't much longer until Kuya and Paul woke up. Paul started cooking breakfast and Kuya did some general cleaning. Monica wasn't awoken by the bustle around her and Andrea wasn't up. I guessed she wasn't a morning person.
We had breakfast sans Andrea. Afterwards, Kuya and Andrea did some tidying up. Paul looked at a loss for what to do and tried to peek at what I was drawing, but I wouldn't let him. God forbid he saw anything Kamen Rider-y on my laptop.
"Aww, come on man. Just let me peek. You're always drawing on your laptop and I've never seen them," Paul pouted.
"Noooo, these are for my Twitter. Go follow me if you wanna see what I draw," I shot back. Not that any of us can access Twitter, with our phones busted by the App. Paul quickly picked up that I didn't intend to show him any of my art and decided to butt into Kuya and Monica's conversation instead. They were talking about some stuff from our world which didn't really interest me other than Monica's constant worries about how her children were doing.
At around 10 AM, Andrea finally woke up.
"You missed breakfast," I remarked as I saved my Pokemon thing and turned off the laptop. "My side thing healed a bit after sleeping. Are we going to Sento's today?"
"Hm… Sento? Oh, the scientist guy. Actually we're going to meet with a medical practitioner. I asked Simon to introduce us to one since I was worried about your cut. It's feeling better, you say? Lemme see." Andrea pulled up a chair next to me and I pulled up my shirt for her so she could inspect the wound.
"It's feeling better, really," I assure her. "But if we're meeting other Filipinos, I'd like to ask Paul and Kuya to prepare some packed lunches. I've got an idea."
"Wow, it's actually looking a lot better. I thought you were just trying to be macho and trying to tough it out," Andrea commended. "Nasty looking scar, though."
"It's the app. I get accelerated healing. It's not too exaggerated. Just that my 'wounds lower in severity' after a 'long rest'," I say, punctuating my words with air quotes. "It's like a DnD thing, which fits considering it calls itself the 'Kamen Rider Build RPG'."
"What's this about packed lunches?" Kuya asked, joining our conversation.
--
Andrea, Kuya and myself went to a convenience store. I was a little nervous about meeting this 'Simon' guy, but that was just me being nervous about new people in general. I got a few stares along the way from the bloody spot on my side, which has dried to become a dirty brown. Well, maybe that and also because none of us have had a bath for a few days.
It looked like a slow day for the convenience store since the Filipino cashier was slumped over the counter, his cheek in his hands and occasionally looked at the clock. He straightened up when he heard us enter.
"Oh it's you two and… a new guy. Hi," Simon said, raising both eyebrows at us.
I smiled an awkward smile and raised my hand up into a 'hi' gesture.
"Oof, I'm guessing you're the guy who needs a medic?" He continued, gesturing to the spot of dried blood on my shirt. "You guys don't even have a change of clothes. Looks like you guys are really hard up…"
The pity was more painful than the cut on my side, honestly. I nodded.
"Maria—that's the medic—will be here after lunch. Maybe you guys could take a walk? I think the guy with the bloody stain might make customers nervous."
And so, I agreed to take a hike while Kuya and Andrea squatted outside the convenience store like a couple of delinquents. I didn't fault them for that since they probably didn't know how it looked to the Japanese. Maybe Japanese culture has changed after getting hit by the Skywall and Ark disasters. Who even knows?
When I went to Japan way back in High School, I never got the opportunity to take a look at the Japanese parks, so I decided to go check those out.
It looks like there was some kind of stand-up comedy event to promote a local carnival at the park. I almost expected Aruto to be there, but was disappointed. Almost all the comedians were Humagears, except for a Boke and Tsukkomi routine. Most of the jokes went over my head because even though the jokes were translated into English, they weren't translated very well. I was guessing the Build RPG wasn't built for translating puns.
A guy in a gaudy sequined tuxedo handed me a card. The Kanji was translated for me, but not the katakana and hiragana. It was like the Build RPG app recognized what I could read and what I couldn't, only translating the latter.
I was hit in the head with a soft pad that exploded from the stage. Is that… Fukkinhoukai Tarou? The Humagear was muscular and attractive sure… The people seemed to be entertained by his exploding abs schtick, but I was more worried about the belt he wore.
Slotted into a ZetsumeRiser belt was the Berotha Zetsumerise key. The Humagear's eyes and ear modules turned from blue to red as his hardware was overclocked to turn into the Berotha Magia. This place was about to become a battleground.
"Well, looks like I'm the only one who can look at my character sheet," I said smugly. At the same time, I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "The only thing really interesting is the quest page. It says I should get myself to Hazard Level 3, but I can't do that if I can't even hold a Fullbottle."
"Hmm, yes, that's quite the conundrum isn't it?" Sento said, his hand on his chin. "Well, it's not like we can be sure that using Fullbottles would raise your Hazard Level anyway. It's not like we have any way to check."
"How about using the Build Driver?" I suggested. "You can use it once you reach Hazard Level 3, right?"
"Well, that's the problem. The Build Driver we have is keyed to my DNA. I can make more, but I'm not sure I can make enough for everyone that needs one. I have to make another one for myself too because we're using mine as a cage for Kasumi."
"What's he saying? Can we help?" Andrea asked and I translated for her.
"Well, if it's just production, I know how to solder wires," I volunteered. "Assuming I don't have to do the Fullbottle thing to test it then I shouldn't break anything, right?"
"Whoah, Norman's actually being helpful," Andrea remarked with a smile on her face.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean," I said in a mock-offended voice.
"Well, to be honest, you're kind of a slacker," Andrea said, touching my shoulder. I picked her hand off and she dropped it to her side.
"Well, of course I'm a slacker. I'm all about that no-effort life," I said proudly. Paul responded with a "No way, he actually admitted it!" and cheered.
The Build crew were at a loss since they only got, like, half of that conversation.
"I'm not sure I want to give some random stranger the schematics to creating a Build Driver, especially one who boasts about 'being all about that no-effort life'," Sento says. "But I don't think we have can be picky about who can help us."
"Great. So Banjo, Andrea and Paul train to become Kamen Riders while we build their Build Drivers. When do I start?"
--
We pushed the cafe's tables to the center of the room so we can eat the dinner that Kuya and Monica prepared for us. Andrea filled everyone in on what happened during our excursion. Monica was particularly surprised that I offered to be helpful.
"Well, I'm the 'party leader' so I can't exactly be useless the entire time," I remarked dryly. I was checking my phone and the cafe had apparently gathered a point of Karma, which I couldn't use yet since 10 Karma was the minimum needed to actually do something.
"Oh, umm, when my injury closes up, can you teach me some acrobatics, Kuya? Is that a thing you can do?" I asked, which surprised Kuya.
"Well, I can teach you. I'm a little surprised that you're being proactive by asking. What's the deal?" He asks back.
"Nah, no deal. I just think it'd be cool if I could do acrobatics and then mix it in with martial arts."
"I thought you weren't going to be fighting?" Andrea asked. "That sounds like you want to fight, to me."
"Well, I'm not. I can't since I can't touch the bottles without making them explode. But the Smash feel like boss monsters to me so there would probably be mobs that I could fight against," I explained.
"Oh, like in DotA. The Smash are Heroes and you're going to be farming creeps," Paul interjected.
"Uhh… I don't play DotA, but sure let's go with that." I agreed.
When we were done eating, I offered to help clean up the table and wash the dishes. I was already barely doing anything so I thought it'd be nice to do something useful.
"Uhh, Norman? You're kinda bleeding." Paul pointed to the spot of blood where my shirt was touching the bandage they put on me. I must have aggravated it during the walk to the Dragon Smash then the walk back from Cafe Nascita. Weirdly, it didn't hurt at all even when I touched the spot of blood. I was going to lick it when Andrea chastised me.
"Norman, NO. Do NOT lick it," she said standing up from her chair. There was no way she could move from the chair to the kitchen to stop me, but I stopped bringing my blood stained finger to my mouth anyway and instead wiped it against my shirt.
"Gosh, you're like a kid. Honestly," Andrea said rushing to me and lifting up my shirt to inspect the bandage. "We'll have to change these before you go to sleep, mmkay?"
--
Isamu Fuwa was hyping himself up for the incursion into Daybreak Town tomorrow. While passionate about enforcing the AI and Robotics Laws, he was always a normal guy from a normal family. He wasn't like the other AIMS enforcers who lost loved ones to the Daybreak Town incident.
Still, his passion and fervor for enforcing the law allowed him to rocket to the top… well, almost top. He was assigned to lead his own platoon of soldiers into Daybreak Town in order to find more about the incident. He'd heard stories about how the whole town had been taken over by berserk Humagears, and the thought scared him a little.
Luckily for him, ZAIA was the main sponsor from AIMS and the company had gifted them weapons specifically for fighting Humagears.
Truth be told, it was a little suspect that ZAIA was producing weapons specifically for taking down their competitors' products, but Isamu had long learned not to question these things.
A technical advisor would be coming along with them in order to gauge AIMS' performance and the performance of the newly manufactured weapons. Isamu Fuwa hoped to impress.
--
Naki waded through the debris and waterlogged floor of Daybreak Town. They were supposed to inform Horobi about the AIMS raid taking place tomorrow, but they hadn't been able to find the older model Humagear anywhere.
Instead, Naki was able to find Jin, the immature Humagear and Horobi's 'son'. Naki wasn't sure how to feel about the pseudo-familial relationship that the two had, but it did make her… feel things. Were Humagears supposed to have these strange emotions?
"Jin. Where's Horobi? I need to give him some information." Naki called into the room. Jin was playing around with some blank Zetsumerise Keys.
"Well, Dad has been hard at work trying to get some of the other Humagears to organize. Honestly, I don't see the point. They're not like us," Jin said. Naki had the strange feeling that 'us' didn't include them. "Well, if it's urgent, I could always send a message for 'ya."
"Well, tomorrow AIMS will raid Daybreak Town in an attempt to reclaim the space. You might be able to find this useful." Naki held out the Berotha Zetsumerise Key to Jin who grabs it out of her hand.
"Oh, that. Horobi actually heard about the raid from Utsumi. It's why he's trying to get the berserk Humagears to organize, but I'll make sure he gets this." Jin dangles the Zetsumerise Key from his fingers.
So Utsumi had been here. Naki heard that Utsumi was stealing research secrets from Faust and Touto's Advanced Matter Physics Laboratory. Naki never would have imagined that the bespectacled Humagear would have the time to pass by.
"I'll make sure Gai-sama hears about this."
--
It was early in the morning. It was still dark enough that the moon and Venus were still shining in the sky, but also light enough that the sky was more like a murky sky blue than black. The first thing I did after waking up was check my phone. All of my 'minor' wounds are gone now and the major cut I had at my side was reduced in severity. It was tempting to peel back the bandage and peek, but I resisted the urge to do it so I wouldn't eat up the rest of our first aid stuff.
I'm glad that my paltry four hours of sleep counted as a 'long rest'. I had a nasty insomnia problem that I would normally medicate, but being trapped in the Build World meant that I couldn't get my meds.
Slowly, I started going through the katas that Kuya taught me. Emphasis on slow because I didn't want to aggravate my wound. I wasn't sure if that was a thing given my accelerated healing, but I didn't want to risk it.
Since I wasn't feeling any sharp pains on my side, I took that as a sign to increase my speed after each repetition of the katas.
I was at full speed now, but wanted to push it a bit further. My form suffers a bit, but it was nothing that my singular level in Martial arts couldn't fix. I continued at this speed, correcting my form as I went. After completing a few repetitions at my increased speed, I decided to try punctuating the end of each Kata with an activation of Purge.
Due to my low maximum MP, I could only use Purge four times before I had to take a rest. Each use of Purge made me feel more awake and less fatigued. I suppose it made sense since it purged toxins from the body, it would also purge the stuff that made me feel exhausted.
With each kata repetition that I ended with Purge, I could feel myself reaching… something. I couldn't quite grasp it, but maybe continuing to train like this would give me a new skill?
"It's five in the goddamn morning. Who's screaming—oh it's you."
Oh. It's Monica. She must have been woken up by my kiai. Maybe I should have tried practicing farther away.
"Do NOT come inside. I hate the smell of man-sweat," she said irritably before slamming the sliding door.
As if she was one to talk. None of us had been able to take a bath for three days, except for wiping ourselves down with a wet towel. All of us were stinky.
Monica hadn't returned to the theater room that we were using as a bedroom and instead opted to take a nap at one of the tables. That probably wasn't good for her back. I snuck around her so I could towel my sweat off. Be a little less gross.
That done, I pull off a table from the central collection of tables so I can boot up my laptop with a wall to my back. Thankfully, my laptop retains normal function unlike my phone. I could get some drawing done until everyone wakes up.
I figured it was a bad idea to draw Kamen Riders while Monica was napping here and could wake up at any time… Not that she would know what a Kamen Rider looked like. I don't think she's met Build. Regardless, I had no doubt that she'd tattle on me if she found all my Kamen Rider OCs. I decided to draw some Pokemon OCs instead.
It wasn't much longer until Kuya and Paul woke up. Paul started cooking breakfast and Kuya did some general cleaning. Monica wasn't awoken by the bustle around her and Andrea wasn't up. I guessed she wasn't a morning person.
We had breakfast sans Andrea. Afterwards, Kuya and Andrea did some tidying up. Paul looked at a loss for what to do and tried to peek at what I was drawing, but I wouldn't let him. God forbid he saw anything Kamen Rider-y on my laptop.
"Aww, come on man. Just let me peek. You're always drawing on your laptop and I've never seen them," Paul pouted.
"Noooo, these are for my Twitter. Go follow me if you wanna see what I draw," I shot back. Not that any of us can access Twitter, with our phones busted by the App. Paul quickly picked up that I didn't intend to show him any of my art and decided to butt into Kuya and Monica's conversation instead. They were talking about some stuff from our world which didn't really interest me other than Monica's constant worries about how her children were doing.
At around 10 AM, Andrea finally woke up.
"You missed breakfast," I remarked as I saved my Pokemon thing and turned off the laptop. "My side thing healed a bit after sleeping. Are we going to Sento's today?"
"Hm… Sento? Oh, the scientist guy. Actually we're going to meet with a medical practitioner. I asked Simon to introduce us to one since I was worried about your cut. It's feeling better, you say? Lemme see." Andrea pulled up a chair next to me and I pulled up my shirt for her so she could inspect the wound.
"It's feeling better, really," I assure her. "But if we're meeting other Filipinos, I'd like to ask Paul and Kuya to prepare some packed lunches. I've got an idea."
"Wow, it's actually looking a lot better. I thought you were just trying to be macho and trying to tough it out," Andrea commended. "Nasty looking scar, though."
"It's the app. I get accelerated healing. It's not too exaggerated. Just that my 'wounds lower in severity' after a 'long rest'," I say, punctuating my words with air quotes. "It's like a DnD thing, which fits considering it calls itself the 'Kamen Rider Build RPG'."
"What's this about packed lunches?" Kuya asked, joining our conversation.
--
Andrea, Kuya and myself went to a convenience store. I was a little nervous about meeting this 'Simon' guy, but that was just me being nervous about new people in general. I got a few stares along the way from the bloody spot on my side, which has dried to become a dirty brown. Well, maybe that and also because none of us have had a bath for a few days.
It looked like a slow day for the convenience store since the Filipino cashier was slumped over the counter, his cheek in his hands and occasionally looked at the clock. He straightened up when he heard us enter.
"Oh it's you two and… a new guy. Hi," Simon said, raising both eyebrows at us.
I smiled an awkward smile and raised my hand up into a 'hi' gesture.
"Oof, I'm guessing you're the guy who needs a medic?" He continued, gesturing to the spot of dried blood on my shirt. "You guys don't even have a change of clothes. Looks like you guys are really hard up…"
The pity was more painful than the cut on my side, honestly. I nodded.
"Maria—that's the medic—will be here after lunch. Maybe you guys could take a walk? I think the guy with the bloody stain might make customers nervous."
And so, I agreed to take a hike while Kuya and Andrea squatted outside the convenience store like a couple of delinquents. I didn't fault them for that since they probably didn't know how it looked to the Japanese. Maybe Japanese culture has changed after getting hit by the Skywall and Ark disasters. Who even knows?
When I went to Japan way back in High School, I never got the opportunity to take a look at the Japanese parks, so I decided to go check those out.
It looks like there was some kind of stand-up comedy event to promote a local carnival at the park. I almost expected Aruto to be there, but was disappointed. Almost all the comedians were Humagears, except for a Boke and Tsukkomi routine. Most of the jokes went over my head because even though the jokes were translated into English, they weren't translated very well. I was guessing the Build RPG wasn't built for translating puns.
A guy in a gaudy sequined tuxedo handed me a card. The Kanji was translated for me, but not the katakana and hiragana. It was like the Build RPG app recognized what I could read and what I couldn't, only translating the latter.
I was hit in the head with a soft pad that exploded from the stage. Is that… Fukkinhoukai Tarou? The Humagear was muscular and attractive sure… The people seemed to be entertained by his exploding abs schtick, but I was more worried about the belt he wore.
Slotted into a ZetsumeRiser belt was the Berotha Zetsumerise key. The Humagear's eyes and ear modules turned from blue to red as his hardware was overclocked to turn into the Berotha Magia. This place was about to become a battleground.
Chapter 8-Henshin
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
The Berotha Magia was rampaging and hacking the other Humagear comedians into becoming his minions. People were quick to flee as Guardians were called in to control the situation. The Berotha Magia tried to hack the Guardians too, but it seems like Guardian programming was incompatible with whatever programming the ZetsumeRiser uses to transform Humagears.
It was good that the Guardians were suppressing the berserk Humagear with their guns, but while their weapons were able to keep the transformed robot in place, they didn't do any actual damage.
I pulled out my phone and tapped the 'Henshin' skill.
Hmm so I'm just supposed to hold out my phone and say 'Henshin' to activate it.
Upon holding up my phone, a 3x3 matrix of holographic dots are projected in front of me along with text that says "Insert Password to Henshin". Naturally, I put in my phone's lock code and said 'Henshin' before slapping the phone to the front of my waist.
Belt material extruded from the sides of my phone and wrapped around my waist. Slowly, I felt my body transform from its normal state to hard armored skin. My armored form was mostly purple with a keypad-like pattern at the center of my chest. An antenna stuck out the right side of my head.
Despite the looks, I had some tactile feedback when I touched my armor which made me conclude that I was the 'biological transformation' type of Rider and not the 'external power armor' type. That complicated things because if I get damaged in my Rider form, I'd have some injuries I'd have to explain when I got back.
It was easy to think that I should run. Just let Sento handle this when he inevitably hears about the monster attack. Or better yet, just cross my fingers and hope Aruto existed in this world as well.
But this was probably going to be my only chance to test Henshin without being found out by my crew.
Casually, I walked through the field of Guardians. They pause and turn their guns to me without actually firing them. They're probably on edge about Kamen Riders since Sento decided to harbour Banjo. I didn't really know how Guardians thought or if they're nearly as advanced as Humagears. It wasn't the time to think about that.
The Berotha Magia fired crescents of green energy at me. They were fast, but with my enhanced senses and reflexes, I was able to dodge them without a scratch. I could really get used to this Rider form.
Once I was in melee range of the berserk Humagear, it was forced to use its scythes to attack me directly. It was incredibly skilled, probably a result of the Berotha Zetsumerise Key uploading battle data directly to it. Even with enhanced reflexes, I could barely dodge its barrage of blows. In a fight of attrition, I was destined to lose.
I reared my hand back, channelling the power of the Rider form into a singular punch. I was able to push the Humagear back with that one punch at the cost of leaving the rest of my body bereft of the Rider form's power.
My body felt sluggish compared to before and I couldn't dodge the monstrous robot's next hit. We exchanged blows and I favoured the hand I infused power into. Hopefully its learning algorithms wouldn't catch on too quickly.
It was the Humagear's weapons against my punches and the Humagear was able to leave a long scratch against my chestplate. I hoped that it wouldn't translate to an equivalent wound in my human form, but there was no way for me to check without cancelling the transformation.
Even with the Humagear's furious attacks, I refused to be pushed back and instead returned its strikes with my punches. I was gaining ground, though at the cost of having to tank the attacks. I was thankful that the Rider form increased my defense somewhat so I didn't really feel the Humagear's attacks.
As I continued to pummel the Humagear and the Humagear continued to follow me, a few warning shots rang out, commanding both of our attention.
"Hey Mister Rider. I don't suppose you could leave our friend alone?" The voice came from a guy with long wavy hair. Pretty young looking and dressed in what I could only describe as garbage can-chic. Despite their clothes being made of ratty, discarded clothing, they still managed to look pretty fashionable.
The young man aimed his gun at me and in turn, the Guardians aimed their guns at him. I supposed this guy was supposed to be Jin? He looks a lot dirtier than he did in the show. He was the only guy I could think of that used an actual, factual gun.
The Berotha Magia took this momentary distraction as its cue to escape. In a way, Jin saved me. I didn't bother chasing down the berserk Humagear because by my estimation, I would lose if the one on one continued. Still, I was grateful for the opportunity to test it out and absconded somewhere while the Guardians were still distracted.
Damn, the Rider system. It felt powerful, but even with it, I still felt like I lacked something. I was gonna need more stats.
--
Soldiers were marching in formation, headed towards the dilapidated Daybreak Town. Quite frankly, Aruto thought it was a suicide mission, but his grandfather had signed off on it. It wasn't the first attempt at reclaiming the lost city, and he doubted that it would be the last.
Due to strict orders from his grandfather to keep his involvement a secret, Aruto was using an experimental Anti-Humagear Weapon developed secretly by Hiden Intelligence. Even their close allies, Nanba Heavy Industries didn't know about it. He used the Colorchanging Chameleon Progrise Key's power in order to blend into the background.
It didn't take long for the soldiers to find trouble. After all, Daybreak Town was completely covered in berserk Humagears. The soldiers were quick to point their ZAIA-made guns and start shooting. The ping of metal on metal quickly filled the air.
It was easy to think that the battlefield would quickly descend into chaos, but the AIMS soldiers were disciplined. It only took a few barked orders from their leader to stay in formation. Soldiers would occasionally break from the larger formation to form smaller ones that flanked a berserk Humagear and destroy them in record time.
All the while, Aruto was using his suit's in-built battle data recorder to analyse the makeup of the new guns AIMS was using.
It was an underhanded job, stealing data from the competition but it was fair game. After all, ZAIA designed those guns specifically to combat Hiden's products.
Once the area was secure, the soldiers moved on. Aruto hadn't gotten enough data yet and grandpa Korenosuke had told him to prepare for worse than berserk Humagears.
As the soldiers were fighting their second set of Humagears, Aruto saw something strange from his sensors. It was an insane power spike, but the source was nowhere to be found. Looking closer, the power spike looked to be something similar to a Progrise Key…
But that was impossible! Progrise Keys were products developed secretly by Hiden! How could there be a Progrise Key here?
Regardless, the source of the energy deigned not to approach the group of soldiers. It was watching them and injecting data into berserk Humagears.
Slowly, the Humagears' tactics became more sophisticated. They started baiting soldiers to splinter off from the main formation and then flanked and took out those splinters. AIMS Soldiers trying to help the injured ones were punished harshly by harassing Humagears.
If the soldiers were to die here, then he wouldn't be able to get data for grandpa Korenosuke. Or at least, that was how Aruto justified stepping in when he was supposed to be… Hiden.
And that's Aruto for you!
Hey, that was good, maybe Aruto would use that the next time he met Yua.
According to his orientation, Colorchanging Chameleon was specced for stealth and reconnaissance. It had barely any combat potential. So the correct move would be changing to Rising Hopper.
As Aruto committed to the transformation, the soldiers were alerted by the belt's noise. The soldiers were clearly ordered to shoot first and ask questions never as Aruto was quickly pelted with special Anti-Humagear bullets. Progrising Hopper was only a little more durable than a base Humagear, so Aruto couldn't afford to tank the bullets' hits for long. He hopped in a zig-zag manner, making him harder to hit. At the same time, he called to the source of the energy spike.
In Rising Hopper, Aruto couldn't really see where it was and could only guess its location based on data previously gathered by Colorchanging Chameleon.
"Hey, you there, controlling the Humagears. Why don't you show yourself?" He asked, his voice modulated so it couldn't be easily identified.
"Hmph, so this is your solution? A Kamen Rider?"
To Aruto's surprise, a Kamen Rider steps out of the gloom, decked in purple and black armor.
Isamu Fuwa ordered his soldiers to lower his guns for now. He wasn't sure whether to attack the yellow or the purple Kamen Rider. If the two were to fight, then his soldiers would get caught in the crossfire.
As much as the mission stated that they needed to get to the source of the Humagear problem, he didn't want any of his soldiers to die a grisly death. He ordered them to stand aside.
Isamu himself barely avoided a cable lashing out from the purple Kamen Rider to the yellow one. The yellow dodged by hopping high enough that he could touch the ceiling and then hop off from it in an attempt to give the purple rider a scissor kick.
The purple rider stops the yellow rider's kick from connecting with another cable that emerged from his back, causing the latter to go flying to the side.
The yellow rider kicks off from a wall with enough force to cause it to crumble and sends himself flying towards the purple rider. He attempts to connect with both fists, but his target blocks, then stops the yellow rider in his tracks with a hit to the chest.
The purple rider connects open palms one after the other to the yellow rider's chest, pushing that rider back with each hit.
"Learning complete," the purple Rider says as he finishes the yellow rider off with a kick.
Dust begins to settle as the rider duel was decided.
Isamu Fuwa opens fire on the purple rider while ordering his men to retreat. The purple rider paid no mind to his attack. At this level of power, trying to challenge the purple rider would be suicide.
A yellow laser beamed down from the sky and onto the collapsed yellow rider. When the laser cleared, both AIMS and the yellow rider had disappeared.
--
It was around after lunch that I returned to the convenience store. I checked myself for any cuts and thankfully, the deep gash on my Rider form's chest had translated to a relatively shallow one that already begun to scab over.
Halfway around the street, Kuya and Andrea waved me over.
People avoided me because, what? I'm obviously Filipino? Or because I look like a homeless bum with my bloodied shirt? Who knows? I didn't really care save for the fact that it made it easier to walk over.
"Uhh, did that medic Simon promised arrive yet?" I asked.
"Simon said she'll be here in just a moment. I think that's her probably." Andrea pointed to a relatively tall lady in heels and a white coat. She's noticeable in that she has obviously Filipino features, but is tall. She might even be taller than me. Most Filipina women were short like Andrea so this woman was obviously an eyecatcher. She was wearing heels too and looked confident wearing them.
To be honest, I was a little intimidated.
She caught me staring and waved.
Sorry, lady. I'm into guys.
"Hi, I'm here to meet some people? Simon said some Filipinos needed help. Umm, sorry to assume, but I suppose that means you guys?" She asked cheerily.
"Umm, yeah. We're here due to… uhh… special circumstances," I said. Andrea elbowed me in the side, right where the cut from the wolf was. Ouch!
"It's a little complicated to explain, but our friend here needs some medical attention. We ran into a monster and he got attacked," Andrea explained.
"Oh! Well, I'd be happy to help some kababayan pro-bono since you guys sound like you're in really dire straits." She replies. "It's normally Dr. Domingo, but you can call me Marisol. No need to be so formal among Filipinos."
She held her hand out and there was a moment of awkward silence before I started to reach to shake it. Kuya was faster than me, though and was already putting the charm on Marisol.
"Oh, right. Norman didn't you say you wanted to give Simon and Dr… err… Marisol a gift?" Kuya prompted.
Oh yeah!
"We prepared some lunches as thanks. We're running a cafe in the outskirts, but we're only doing deliveries for now. Our place isn't really presentable yet. Consider this thanks for helping us out," I said, trying my best salesman pitch.
"Oh, how thoughtful. I'll keep you guys in mind when I need to order lunch," she said taking a takeout box from Kuya. I headed inside to give Simon the same pitch and to give him his lunch box.
"Umm, we don't really have a phone number but you'll see us around hawking lunches in the park." I clarified.
"Well, I suppose that's part of your 'special circumstances'," Dr. Marisol said with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm not a stranger to helping out immigrants in trouble, but do try to get some legal IDs if you can."
She led us to a car. I decided to sit at the back since Kuya decided to call shotgun so he could chat up Dr. Marisol. It was kind of funny when he tried to enter the wrong side of the car and Dr. Marisol didn't correct him. Silly Kuya. Japanese cars have the driver's seat on the right side.
After a short drive, we arrive at Dr. Marisol's office. It was on the second floor of an apartment building right next to an optometrist and some cubicle farm. The signs were an odd mix of English and Japanese—a clear sign of the app only translating what I could read and leaving the rest untranslated even if it took me a while to remember how to read the Kanji.
Dr. Marisol had a secretary who was also Filipino, but to be honest, compared to her, her secretary was almost… dowdy. There was no need to be rude though so I gave her a halfhearted bow as I entered the office.
Kuya and Andrea had to wait in the lobby while I had my check up.
I showed Dr. Marisol where the cut was. It was visibly smaller than it was yesterday and there was some scar tissue around the edges that showed how big the cut was before.
"Hmm. When did you get these cuts? They look like they're halfway healed," the doctor remarked.
"Umm, it was just yesterday actually. I was kind of expecting it to heal fast, but I didn't expect it to heal this fast.
"Are you sure it was just yesterday? These look like they needed stitches. They don't now, though. I'm surprised they didn't get infected or something," she continued. She rummaged around for some disinfectant in a spray bottle and some gauze. "Well, let's just change the bandage for now and you can come back if there's any problems."
I wanted to protest, but I didn't want to explain our 'special circumstances' more than I already have. Honestly, if I didn't want to advertise our unofficial and probably illegal lunch-making services, I would have refused to come along to the doctor's trip. However, earning money was going to be critical for our continued operation and we couldn't exactly get customers deep within some kind of military base.
"Okay, all done. Here's my card. Do remember to call if you need me." Doctor Marisol said.
"Oh, don't worry, we won't be strangers."
--
Sento was home early from his job at the Touto Advanced Matter Physics Institute. As was usual, he was browsing the news for any Smash-related activity. When he finally found something relevant, he nearly spat water all over his screen.
There was a headline about a monster attack on the park. According to the eyewitness reports, the monster retreated after being attacked by a purple Kamen Rider.
Now, as far as Sento knew, he was the only Kamen Rider around and he certainly wasn't purple.
Whoever this mysterious Kamen Rider was, Sento would have to get a hold of him before Blood Stalk's attack.
It was good that the Guardians were suppressing the berserk Humagear with their guns, but while their weapons were able to keep the transformed robot in place, they didn't do any actual damage.
I pulled out my phone and tapped the 'Henshin' skill.
Hmm so I'm just supposed to hold out my phone and say 'Henshin' to activate it.
Upon holding up my phone, a 3x3 matrix of holographic dots are projected in front of me along with text that says "Insert Password to Henshin". Naturally, I put in my phone's lock code and said 'Henshin' before slapping the phone to the front of my waist.
Belt material extruded from the sides of my phone and wrapped around my waist. Slowly, I felt my body transform from its normal state to hard armored skin. My armored form was mostly purple with a keypad-like pattern at the center of my chest. An antenna stuck out the right side of my head.
Despite the looks, I had some tactile feedback when I touched my armor which made me conclude that I was the 'biological transformation' type of Rider and not the 'external power armor' type. That complicated things because if I get damaged in my Rider form, I'd have some injuries I'd have to explain when I got back.
It was easy to think that I should run. Just let Sento handle this when he inevitably hears about the monster attack. Or better yet, just cross my fingers and hope Aruto existed in this world as well.
But this was probably going to be my only chance to test Henshin without being found out by my crew.
Casually, I walked through the field of Guardians. They pause and turn their guns to me without actually firing them. They're probably on edge about Kamen Riders since Sento decided to harbour Banjo. I didn't really know how Guardians thought or if they're nearly as advanced as Humagears. It wasn't the time to think about that.
The Berotha Magia fired crescents of green energy at me. They were fast, but with my enhanced senses and reflexes, I was able to dodge them without a scratch. I could really get used to this Rider form.
Once I was in melee range of the berserk Humagear, it was forced to use its scythes to attack me directly. It was incredibly skilled, probably a result of the Berotha Zetsumerise Key uploading battle data directly to it. Even with enhanced reflexes, I could barely dodge its barrage of blows. In a fight of attrition, I was destined to lose.
I reared my hand back, channelling the power of the Rider form into a singular punch. I was able to push the Humagear back with that one punch at the cost of leaving the rest of my body bereft of the Rider form's power.
My body felt sluggish compared to before and I couldn't dodge the monstrous robot's next hit. We exchanged blows and I favoured the hand I infused power into. Hopefully its learning algorithms wouldn't catch on too quickly.
It was the Humagear's weapons against my punches and the Humagear was able to leave a long scratch against my chestplate. I hoped that it wouldn't translate to an equivalent wound in my human form, but there was no way for me to check without cancelling the transformation.
Even with the Humagear's furious attacks, I refused to be pushed back and instead returned its strikes with my punches. I was gaining ground, though at the cost of having to tank the attacks. I was thankful that the Rider form increased my defense somewhat so I didn't really feel the Humagear's attacks.
As I continued to pummel the Humagear and the Humagear continued to follow me, a few warning shots rang out, commanding both of our attention.
"Hey Mister Rider. I don't suppose you could leave our friend alone?" The voice came from a guy with long wavy hair. Pretty young looking and dressed in what I could only describe as garbage can-chic. Despite their clothes being made of ratty, discarded clothing, they still managed to look pretty fashionable.
The young man aimed his gun at me and in turn, the Guardians aimed their guns at him. I supposed this guy was supposed to be Jin? He looks a lot dirtier than he did in the show. He was the only guy I could think of that used an actual, factual gun.
The Berotha Magia took this momentary distraction as its cue to escape. In a way, Jin saved me. I didn't bother chasing down the berserk Humagear because by my estimation, I would lose if the one on one continued. Still, I was grateful for the opportunity to test it out and absconded somewhere while the Guardians were still distracted.
Damn, the Rider system. It felt powerful, but even with it, I still felt like I lacked something. I was gonna need more stats.
--
Soldiers were marching in formation, headed towards the dilapidated Daybreak Town. Quite frankly, Aruto thought it was a suicide mission, but his grandfather had signed off on it. It wasn't the first attempt at reclaiming the lost city, and he doubted that it would be the last.
Due to strict orders from his grandfather to keep his involvement a secret, Aruto was using an experimental Anti-Humagear Weapon developed secretly by Hiden Intelligence. Even their close allies, Nanba Heavy Industries didn't know about it. He used the Colorchanging Chameleon Progrise Key's power in order to blend into the background.
It didn't take long for the soldiers to find trouble. After all, Daybreak Town was completely covered in berserk Humagears. The soldiers were quick to point their ZAIA-made guns and start shooting. The ping of metal on metal quickly filled the air.
It was easy to think that the battlefield would quickly descend into chaos, but the AIMS soldiers were disciplined. It only took a few barked orders from their leader to stay in formation. Soldiers would occasionally break from the larger formation to form smaller ones that flanked a berserk Humagear and destroy them in record time.
All the while, Aruto was using his suit's in-built battle data recorder to analyse the makeup of the new guns AIMS was using.
It was an underhanded job, stealing data from the competition but it was fair game. After all, ZAIA designed those guns specifically to combat Hiden's products.
Once the area was secure, the soldiers moved on. Aruto hadn't gotten enough data yet and grandpa Korenosuke had told him to prepare for worse than berserk Humagears.
As the soldiers were fighting their second set of Humagears, Aruto saw something strange from his sensors. It was an insane power spike, but the source was nowhere to be found. Looking closer, the power spike looked to be something similar to a Progrise Key…
But that was impossible! Progrise Keys were products developed secretly by Hiden! How could there be a Progrise Key here?
Regardless, the source of the energy deigned not to approach the group of soldiers. It was watching them and injecting data into berserk Humagears.
Slowly, the Humagears' tactics became more sophisticated. They started baiting soldiers to splinter off from the main formation and then flanked and took out those splinters. AIMS Soldiers trying to help the injured ones were punished harshly by harassing Humagears.
If the soldiers were to die here, then he wouldn't be able to get data for grandpa Korenosuke. Or at least, that was how Aruto justified stepping in when he was supposed to be… Hiden.
And that's Aruto for you!
Hey, that was good, maybe Aruto would use that the next time he met Yua.
According to his orientation, Colorchanging Chameleon was specced for stealth and reconnaissance. It had barely any combat potential. So the correct move would be changing to Rising Hopper.
As Aruto committed to the transformation, the soldiers were alerted by the belt's noise. The soldiers were clearly ordered to shoot first and ask questions never as Aruto was quickly pelted with special Anti-Humagear bullets. Progrising Hopper was only a little more durable than a base Humagear, so Aruto couldn't afford to tank the bullets' hits for long. He hopped in a zig-zag manner, making him harder to hit. At the same time, he called to the source of the energy spike.
In Rising Hopper, Aruto couldn't really see where it was and could only guess its location based on data previously gathered by Colorchanging Chameleon.
"Hey, you there, controlling the Humagears. Why don't you show yourself?" He asked, his voice modulated so it couldn't be easily identified.
"Hmph, so this is your solution? A Kamen Rider?"
To Aruto's surprise, a Kamen Rider steps out of the gloom, decked in purple and black armor.
Isamu Fuwa ordered his soldiers to lower his guns for now. He wasn't sure whether to attack the yellow or the purple Kamen Rider. If the two were to fight, then his soldiers would get caught in the crossfire.
As much as the mission stated that they needed to get to the source of the Humagear problem, he didn't want any of his soldiers to die a grisly death. He ordered them to stand aside.
Isamu himself barely avoided a cable lashing out from the purple Kamen Rider to the yellow one. The yellow dodged by hopping high enough that he could touch the ceiling and then hop off from it in an attempt to give the purple rider a scissor kick.
The purple rider stops the yellow rider's kick from connecting with another cable that emerged from his back, causing the latter to go flying to the side.
The yellow rider kicks off from a wall with enough force to cause it to crumble and sends himself flying towards the purple rider. He attempts to connect with both fists, but his target blocks, then stops the yellow rider in his tracks with a hit to the chest.
The purple rider connects open palms one after the other to the yellow rider's chest, pushing that rider back with each hit.
"Learning complete," the purple Rider says as he finishes the yellow rider off with a kick.
Dust begins to settle as the rider duel was decided.
Isamu Fuwa opens fire on the purple rider while ordering his men to retreat. The purple rider paid no mind to his attack. At this level of power, trying to challenge the purple rider would be suicide.
A yellow laser beamed down from the sky and onto the collapsed yellow rider. When the laser cleared, both AIMS and the yellow rider had disappeared.
--
It was around after lunch that I returned to the convenience store. I checked myself for any cuts and thankfully, the deep gash on my Rider form's chest had translated to a relatively shallow one that already begun to scab over.
Halfway around the street, Kuya and Andrea waved me over.
People avoided me because, what? I'm obviously Filipino? Or because I look like a homeless bum with my bloodied shirt? Who knows? I didn't really care save for the fact that it made it easier to walk over.
"Uhh, did that medic Simon promised arrive yet?" I asked.
"Simon said she'll be here in just a moment. I think that's her probably." Andrea pointed to a relatively tall lady in heels and a white coat. She's noticeable in that she has obviously Filipino features, but is tall. She might even be taller than me. Most Filipina women were short like Andrea so this woman was obviously an eyecatcher. She was wearing heels too and looked confident wearing them.
To be honest, I was a little intimidated.
She caught me staring and waved.
Sorry, lady. I'm into guys.
"Hi, I'm here to meet some people? Simon said some Filipinos needed help. Umm, sorry to assume, but I suppose that means you guys?" She asked cheerily.
"Umm, yeah. We're here due to… uhh… special circumstances," I said. Andrea elbowed me in the side, right where the cut from the wolf was. Ouch!
"It's a little complicated to explain, but our friend here needs some medical attention. We ran into a monster and he got attacked," Andrea explained.
"Oh! Well, I'd be happy to help some kababayan pro-bono since you guys sound like you're in really dire straits." She replies. "It's normally Dr. Domingo, but you can call me Marisol. No need to be so formal among Filipinos."
She held her hand out and there was a moment of awkward silence before I started to reach to shake it. Kuya was faster than me, though and was already putting the charm on Marisol.
"Oh, right. Norman didn't you say you wanted to give Simon and Dr… err… Marisol a gift?" Kuya prompted.
Oh yeah!
"We prepared some lunches as thanks. We're running a cafe in the outskirts, but we're only doing deliveries for now. Our place isn't really presentable yet. Consider this thanks for helping us out," I said, trying my best salesman pitch.
"Oh, how thoughtful. I'll keep you guys in mind when I need to order lunch," she said taking a takeout box from Kuya. I headed inside to give Simon the same pitch and to give him his lunch box.
"Umm, we don't really have a phone number but you'll see us around hawking lunches in the park." I clarified.
"Well, I suppose that's part of your 'special circumstances'," Dr. Marisol said with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm not a stranger to helping out immigrants in trouble, but do try to get some legal IDs if you can."
She led us to a car. I decided to sit at the back since Kuya decided to call shotgun so he could chat up Dr. Marisol. It was kind of funny when he tried to enter the wrong side of the car and Dr. Marisol didn't correct him. Silly Kuya. Japanese cars have the driver's seat on the right side.
After a short drive, we arrive at Dr. Marisol's office. It was on the second floor of an apartment building right next to an optometrist and some cubicle farm. The signs were an odd mix of English and Japanese—a clear sign of the app only translating what I could read and leaving the rest untranslated even if it took me a while to remember how to read the Kanji.
Dr. Marisol had a secretary who was also Filipino, but to be honest, compared to her, her secretary was almost… dowdy. There was no need to be rude though so I gave her a halfhearted bow as I entered the office.
Kuya and Andrea had to wait in the lobby while I had my check up.
I showed Dr. Marisol where the cut was. It was visibly smaller than it was yesterday and there was some scar tissue around the edges that showed how big the cut was before.
"Hmm. When did you get these cuts? They look like they're halfway healed," the doctor remarked.
"Umm, it was just yesterday actually. I was kind of expecting it to heal fast, but I didn't expect it to heal this fast.
"Are you sure it was just yesterday? These look like they needed stitches. They don't now, though. I'm surprised they didn't get infected or something," she continued. She rummaged around for some disinfectant in a spray bottle and some gauze. "Well, let's just change the bandage for now and you can come back if there's any problems."
I wanted to protest, but I didn't want to explain our 'special circumstances' more than I already have. Honestly, if I didn't want to advertise our unofficial and probably illegal lunch-making services, I would have refused to come along to the doctor's trip. However, earning money was going to be critical for our continued operation and we couldn't exactly get customers deep within some kind of military base.
"Okay, all done. Here's my card. Do remember to call if you need me." Doctor Marisol said.
"Oh, don't worry, we won't be strangers."
--
Sento was home early from his job at the Touto Advanced Matter Physics Institute. As was usual, he was browsing the news for any Smash-related activity. When he finally found something relevant, he nearly spat water all over his screen.
There was a headline about a monster attack on the park. According to the eyewitness reports, the monster retreated after being attacked by a purple Kamen Rider.
Now, as far as Sento knew, he was the only Kamen Rider around and he certainly wasn't purple.
Whoever this mysterious Kamen Rider was, Sento would have to get a hold of him before Blood Stalk's attack.
Kamen Rider Keitai
Chapter 9-Item Crafting
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
"Okay, after connecting the Vortex Charger to the Vortex Lever, snap on the Safety Guard case and you're done."
Sento was watching me build the Build Driver according to his instructions. It was surprisingly easy. I wasn't sure if it was my background in soldering circuits or the Build RPG doing some of the heavy lifting for me, but it didn't take me too long to finish the one intended for Banjo.
Andrea was chatting up Misora and Sawa, the latter of which had surprisingly good English and was acting as a translator while I was busy. Well, if Sawa's a journalist Humagear, I guess I shouldn't really have been surprised. They're surprisingly capable and being multilingual would definitely help with being a journalist.
"Hmm, Norman, you're surprisingly good at this. You said you worked in insurance?" Sento asked, a bit of suspicion in his voice.
"Well, I graduated from an Applied Physics major so I know my way around electronics even though I failed the course like, three times," I said sardonically. "I haven't been a physicist for five years, though. I'm surprised I remember this stuff."
"No way! You're a physicist who has 'mysterious circumstances' and you're operating out of a cafe? That's totally a best match for me," Sento said, a little unbelieving of my story.
"Well, what can I say. Fate is stinky poopoo. The cafe isn't exactly functional right now so Kuya and Paul are selling packed lunches at the park." I was double-checking my work, but the Build Driver I made was pretty sturdy. Hmm. There's a slot for the berserk thingy here. I wonder if Sento has noticed it.
"Hey, what's this slot for?" I asked, even though I knew what it was for. Hopefully Sento would figure it out ahead of time if I brought it up.
"Oh, I don't know, actually. There's connectors there to the Fullbottle Slots, but I haven't figured out what goes there. I think it's a way to power up the Best Matches, maybe? I haven't had the time to make a proper module for it and even if I did, it might take me years to develop one." Sento explained. "You're also surprisingly astute."
Huh. So Sento sort of knew what goes there—he just hasn't figured out how to make it yet. I couldn't exactly bring up his pre-amnesia self's research since I wasn't sure if he knew about it yet. There were a lot of things I wasn't sure about since I haven't watched Build since it started airing. I really wished my phone could show me some of the relevant scenes, but that would be too easy wouldn't it?
After finishing the Build Driver, my phone confirmed that I learned a new skill.
"Item Crafting (Level 1) (Active)
Builds items according to a schematic. Higher levels will allow the user to customize built items and even higher levels will allow the user to conceptualize items completely from scratch. Requires various Dexterity and Intelligence checks in order to function. Skill provides +1 bonus dexterity per level, but only for Item Crafting checks."
Oh no. While my Intelligence was decent, my Dexterity was total crap. With the skill's bonus, my Dexterity was a 4 while Item Crafting. Hopefully, the skill doesn't fail while building Build Drivers.
"So, Sento. The Qualifizer on the back of the Build Driver checks Hazard Levels. Why don't you just make a stand-alone Qualifizer that doesn't electrocute you for being too crappy?" I suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, actually. Why don't you help me come up with a design?" Sento suggested.
"Uhh, I literally just read the Item Crafting skill to you. It's not a high enough level to create items from scratch," I complained. "Besides, your world's physics work slightly different than mine. Something like the Snap Ride Builder is totally out of my league."
Sento looked disappointed. He grabs the Build Driver I built off the table and tosses it to Banjo. He catches it, but he was also preoccupied with the Build Driver containing Kasumi. He was talking to it like Kasumi could still hear him. Well, I didn't think it would work but this was toku-land and his love for Kasumi would probably do some bullshit or something.
"Hey, idiot! Try that on," Sento goaded.
"Who are you calling idiot, idiot?" Banjo snapped back. Regardless of his protest at being called an idiot, he put the belt around his waist. He pulled out the Lion and Vacuum Fullbottles from… somewhere. Don't question it, Norman. This is toku-land.
"Hey, how'd you get your hands on those?" Sento said, surprised. Before he could take the Fullbottles back, Banjo had already slotted in the Fullbottles and was turning the crank.
In the cramped space, Sento and I had to step back so the Snap Ride Builders that the belt manifested wouldn't hit us. However, when the Snap Ride Builders closed the Lion and Vacuum half-bodies on Banjo, the belt electrocuted him instead. So he wasn't a high enough Hazard Level yet. We really needed to make that Hazard Level checker. Andrea probably wouldn't be so gung-ho about helping Sento out if it meant periodically electrocuting her to unconsciousness just to check her Hazard Levels.
"Hey, Sento! My fans have reported a monster attacking delivery convoys. I think you should check it out," Misora said, leaning over the computer. It was making some very alarming sounds.
"What? Already? I thought we had more time… I'm on it. You two stay here," Sento said, pointing at me and Andrea. "Keep an eye on Banjo."
--
A few hours earlier
A muscular Humagear stands at attention. He's wearing a leather vest and pants. Green cables zigzag across the front of his vest.
A day ago, he was a comedian Humagear on the verge of achieving Singularity. Now, he was the Berotha Magia, a member of MetsubouJinrai.net.
Despite having only barely escaped an encounter with a mysterious purple Rider, Horobi was already putting him to work intercepting shipments from Nanba Heavy Industries to Hiden Intelligence. Horobi was loathe to leave humans alive, but the Ark wished for there to be witnesses. So the Ark wished it, so it must be.
Jin and the Berotha Magia were on a mission. More Humagear parts were on their way to be delivered to Hiden Intelligence.
Of the two, Jin was the more animated, laughing and telling jokes while waiting for the shipment to pass by. The Berotha Magia, despite his history as a comedian Humagear was more serious. It seems that the process to turn him into a Magia had wiped out a bit of his personality.
After about half an hour, the delivery truck finally passes by.
The Berotha Magia cracks his neck and transforms, jumping off the building and crushing the hood of the truck. The drivers exit the vehicle in a panic. Guardians exit from the back of the truck and immediately begin peppering the Berotha Magia with bullets.
As before, the Guardians' bullets do nothing, so the Berotha Magia ignores them in favor of smashing up the vehicle and terrorizing the humans. The green robot presses one of its scythes against the throat of one driver, drawing blood. Despite lacking most of his previous personality, the Berotha Magia lets out an involuntary cackle at the delivery guy's terror.
What was he even thinking before? Bringing smiles to humans with comedy? Bringing them terror is so much more enjoyable!
"Good, good! You're coming along just fine," Jin praised.
Just as the Berotha Magia was enjoying this new power he had over humans, he was hit with a pair of high-impact energy bullets. That kind of technology was typically restricted to private militias. He ignores the wounded human for now, and emits a glitchy-sounding roar at the source of the shots.
The shooter was a helmeted man on a motorcycle. He didn't take his helmet off to reveal himself, but instead wraps a belt along his waist. He transforms.
Quick to forget about the green monster terrorizing the truck drivers, the Guardians quickly turn their guns on Kamen Rider Build. The red and blue Rider seems to have something that can scramble the Guardians' tracking systems because most of the shots miss.
"Mister Rider, I don't suppose you'd let us go like that other purple Mister Rider did," Jin said with pleading eyes.
"He let you go—what?" Build seemed confused for a moment before regaining his conviction. "What do you know about that other Rider? And how are you connected to Faust?" He demanded.
Jin started laughing and in response, the Berotha Magia started laughing too, the latter's voice glitching out as he did.
"We don't know anything about that other Rider at all. He just showed up and started trying to wreck my friend over here. As for Faust, we don't have anything to do with it," Jin explained.
"As if I'd believe that!" Build shot two more energy bullets, but the Berotha Magia just sliced the incoming bullets in twain.
The Berotha Magia charges, cutting the truck in half with its scythes and pushing it apart with superior strength. Jin helps it get close to the Rider by shooting the Rider with his gun. Unlike the Guardians, his object recognition software was much more robust and can't be spoofed quite as easily.
The Rider staggered back from the gunshots—that's right. Jin's gun was special. It was given to him by Horobi—while Berotha leaped into the air, prepared to slice the Rider in two as easily as he sliced that truck!
Except Build was on the ball. His energy gun was already transformed into its drill-lance form and he parried the Berotha Magia's attack with a wide swing.
The Berotha Magia lept on top of one of the truck halves and took a stance.
"Believe us or not, Mister Rider, we're way above those irrational beasts you call Smash. We have a plan and that plan is the extinction of the human race."
"Extinction of the human race? That's all the more reason not to let you go. I'm a Kamen Rider and I have a responsibility to protect Tokyo with my powers."
Build shook two Fullbottles and replaced his currently equipped ones with them.
"THE SHINING DESTROYER! GorillaMond! Yeah!" The belt announced as the Snap Ride Builders materialized brown and blue armor onto Build.
Jin shoots this new form, but finds that even his special bullets aren't strong enough to move the Rider. The Berotha charges again and this time, is parried by the massive Power Arm on Build's brown side.
The Berotha Magia continues its flurry of attacks, but its powerful energy scythes are either parried by the power arm or completely tanked by Build. The Rider manages to get a hold of both of the Magia's arms and attacks it with a headbutt.
"This is bad. We should retreat, Berotha!"
At Jin's command, the Berotha Magia attempts to disengage and run away, but Build is cranking his belt. Diamond spreads from Build's feet, almost like frost and grows crystal structures that make it harder for the two villains to escape.
Jin shoots the crystals, but to no avail. They're simply too sturdy.
Crystal growths freeze the Berotha Magia's feet in place. Jin decided that it was impossible for his new friend to escape and pilfers the Berotha Zetsumerise Key from his belt. The Berotha Magia reverts back to his regular Humagear appearance, but it was too late. Build had already punched a large growth of diamond towards the Humagear.
When the smoke clears, Build finds that Jin has fled and the remains of a Humagear were beneath the shattered remains of crystal.
"See you, Mister Rider. Next time, I'll bring a new friend!" Jin was almost manic in his glee, quickly navigating the narrow alleyways to escape.
"What the… This Smash… was a Humagear? What on earth?"
---
Hmm. Well that was interesting.
Aruto's Colorchanging Chameleon shimmered into visibility. He was sent by his grandfather to investigate the mysterious attacks on Hiden Intelligence's shipments and instead, he found that someone has been hacking Humagears.
Whoever it was dressed like a garbage can and seemed to like dressing his thrall in similar garbage can-chic.
The Rider who showed up to dispatch the hacked Humagear must have been the rumored Kamen Rider Build. According to Aruto's readings, the Rider's weapons were just as strong as the ZAIA-made AIMS weapons.
Something about the other Rider's words stirred something within Aruto, but he couldn't figure out what. While he was digesting his feelings, he sent his findings to Izu whose smooth voice thanked him for his hard work.
For now, his grandfather told him to return so they could discuss what to do about this mysterious hacker group.
--
After the raid on Daybreak Town, Isamu Fuwa had changed.
His men barely escaped with their lives and he shuddered to think what would have happened had the yellow Rider not interfered. He found himself increasingly nervous about Humagears and even Guardians. He was lucky that the former wasn't nearly as common as the latter.
What's worse is that they were supposed to go there again to investigate the purple Rider who showed up.
While Isamu was calming himself down, Yua Yaiba placed a blue gun on his desk.
"Hm? What's this?" Isamu asks.
"It's a new weapon developed by Zaia based on data from the purple and yellow Riders. What we got from your cams wasn't enough data so it's not really a finished product, though. You use it with this," Yua explains as she placed the Prototyping Wolf Progrise Key on Fuwa's desk.
"I suggest you train with them. They might not win against this mysterious purple Rider, but it should give you enough of an edge that you and your men can retreat. Do try to fight him as long as possible, though. Any battle data you collect will be insanely useful for Zaia."
"Gee, thanks," Fuwa said sarcastically. "This would have been really helpful in that last mission."
Yua laughed a little.
"Hey, Fuwa let me tell you a secret. My boss might think he's omniscient, but he really isn't. I don't think he expected the raid to go the way it did. With the purple Rider showing up, we do have a lead on what might have caused the Daybreak Incident. Now, all you need to do is to find and capture this guy."
"I think that's easier said than done." There was a tiredness in Fuwa's voice that wasn't there before. "Why don't you come along on the mission next week. Then you can see how these Humagears are just murder machines."
"Gee, I'd love to, but I'm just a tech advisor," Yua teased. "I might take you up on that offer some other time, though."
"Well, before you get too hyped up for that mission, I've got a softball for you. Apparently, there's this Net Idol who's a Humagear. According to our research, the Humagear's appearance is based heavily on its manager's dead daughter. Why don't you pay the manager a visit?" Yua slides a folder over to Fuwa containing the details of the case. Fuwa flips through the pages a few times before his face curls up in disgust.
"Ugh, what a sicko. What kind of father would replace his own daughter with a Humagear. Not to mention that this is highly illegal. Dead people can't consent to having their image used for Humagears. Alright, I'll put this in my priorities."
--
"Oh hey, you're back. We were just about to leave," I say as Sento entered the Build base. "Umm, I found some extra parts and made one of those drill gun things. I was wondering if I could have them. I might not be able to use Fullbottles, but I sort of feel bad if Andrea's participating in the fight and I'm not."
"How considerate of you," Monica interrupted sarcastically. I shoot her an annoyed look and she shoots back a smug, satisfied look.
"I'm also halfway through another Build Driver, but I haven't finished yet. It's on the desk over there if you want a hand at finishing it."
Sento wasn't listening to me, though. Instead he was eyeing Sawa.
"So I fought a Smash today," Sento starts. "But the weirdest thing happened. Once I knocked it out, it turned out to be a Humagear."
Oh, oh no.
I was trying not to display any shock on my face because that would be a dead giveaway that I knew more than I should. If Humagears are turning into monsters, then this timeline is more fucked than I expected.
"My cut's all better so I won't be showing up tomorrow. We'll send Andrea and Paul to see if we can raise their hazard levels and I'll try to pick up a new skill from Kuya."
I shook Build's hand and bodied my way through the tight space, almost knocking Sento into the wall with my haste. Andrea and Monica follow me out.
Sento was watching me build the Build Driver according to his instructions. It was surprisingly easy. I wasn't sure if it was my background in soldering circuits or the Build RPG doing some of the heavy lifting for me, but it didn't take me too long to finish the one intended for Banjo.
Andrea was chatting up Misora and Sawa, the latter of which had surprisingly good English and was acting as a translator while I was busy. Well, if Sawa's a journalist Humagear, I guess I shouldn't really have been surprised. They're surprisingly capable and being multilingual would definitely help with being a journalist.
"Hmm, Norman, you're surprisingly good at this. You said you worked in insurance?" Sento asked, a bit of suspicion in his voice.
"Well, I graduated from an Applied Physics major so I know my way around electronics even though I failed the course like, three times," I said sardonically. "I haven't been a physicist for five years, though. I'm surprised I remember this stuff."
"No way! You're a physicist who has 'mysterious circumstances' and you're operating out of a cafe? That's totally a best match for me," Sento said, a little unbelieving of my story.
"Well, what can I say. Fate is stinky poopoo. The cafe isn't exactly functional right now so Kuya and Paul are selling packed lunches at the park." I was double-checking my work, but the Build Driver I made was pretty sturdy. Hmm. There's a slot for the berserk thingy here. I wonder if Sento has noticed it.
"Hey, what's this slot for?" I asked, even though I knew what it was for. Hopefully Sento would figure it out ahead of time if I brought it up.
"Oh, I don't know, actually. There's connectors there to the Fullbottle Slots, but I haven't figured out what goes there. I think it's a way to power up the Best Matches, maybe? I haven't had the time to make a proper module for it and even if I did, it might take me years to develop one." Sento explained. "You're also surprisingly astute."
Huh. So Sento sort of knew what goes there—he just hasn't figured out how to make it yet. I couldn't exactly bring up his pre-amnesia self's research since I wasn't sure if he knew about it yet. There were a lot of things I wasn't sure about since I haven't watched Build since it started airing. I really wished my phone could show me some of the relevant scenes, but that would be too easy wouldn't it?
After finishing the Build Driver, my phone confirmed that I learned a new skill.
"Item Crafting (Level 1) (Active)
Builds items according to a schematic. Higher levels will allow the user to customize built items and even higher levels will allow the user to conceptualize items completely from scratch. Requires various Dexterity and Intelligence checks in order to function. Skill provides +1 bonus dexterity per level, but only for Item Crafting checks."
Oh no. While my Intelligence was decent, my Dexterity was total crap. With the skill's bonus, my Dexterity was a 4 while Item Crafting. Hopefully, the skill doesn't fail while building Build Drivers.
"So, Sento. The Qualifizer on the back of the Build Driver checks Hazard Levels. Why don't you just make a stand-alone Qualifizer that doesn't electrocute you for being too crappy?" I suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, actually. Why don't you help me come up with a design?" Sento suggested.
"Uhh, I literally just read the Item Crafting skill to you. It's not a high enough level to create items from scratch," I complained. "Besides, your world's physics work slightly different than mine. Something like the Snap Ride Builder is totally out of my league."
Sento looked disappointed. He grabs the Build Driver I built off the table and tosses it to Banjo. He catches it, but he was also preoccupied with the Build Driver containing Kasumi. He was talking to it like Kasumi could still hear him. Well, I didn't think it would work but this was toku-land and his love for Kasumi would probably do some bullshit or something.
"Hey, idiot! Try that on," Sento goaded.
"Who are you calling idiot, idiot?" Banjo snapped back. Regardless of his protest at being called an idiot, he put the belt around his waist. He pulled out the Lion and Vacuum Fullbottles from… somewhere. Don't question it, Norman. This is toku-land.
"Hey, how'd you get your hands on those?" Sento said, surprised. Before he could take the Fullbottles back, Banjo had already slotted in the Fullbottles and was turning the crank.
In the cramped space, Sento and I had to step back so the Snap Ride Builders that the belt manifested wouldn't hit us. However, when the Snap Ride Builders closed the Lion and Vacuum half-bodies on Banjo, the belt electrocuted him instead. So he wasn't a high enough Hazard Level yet. We really needed to make that Hazard Level checker. Andrea probably wouldn't be so gung-ho about helping Sento out if it meant periodically electrocuting her to unconsciousness just to check her Hazard Levels.
"Hey, Sento! My fans have reported a monster attacking delivery convoys. I think you should check it out," Misora said, leaning over the computer. It was making some very alarming sounds.
"What? Already? I thought we had more time… I'm on it. You two stay here," Sento said, pointing at me and Andrea. "Keep an eye on Banjo."
--
A few hours earlier
A muscular Humagear stands at attention. He's wearing a leather vest and pants. Green cables zigzag across the front of his vest.
A day ago, he was a comedian Humagear on the verge of achieving Singularity. Now, he was the Berotha Magia, a member of MetsubouJinrai.net.
Despite having only barely escaped an encounter with a mysterious purple Rider, Horobi was already putting him to work intercepting shipments from Nanba Heavy Industries to Hiden Intelligence. Horobi was loathe to leave humans alive, but the Ark wished for there to be witnesses. So the Ark wished it, so it must be.
Jin and the Berotha Magia were on a mission. More Humagear parts were on their way to be delivered to Hiden Intelligence.
Of the two, Jin was the more animated, laughing and telling jokes while waiting for the shipment to pass by. The Berotha Magia, despite his history as a comedian Humagear was more serious. It seems that the process to turn him into a Magia had wiped out a bit of his personality.
After about half an hour, the delivery truck finally passes by.
The Berotha Magia cracks his neck and transforms, jumping off the building and crushing the hood of the truck. The drivers exit the vehicle in a panic. Guardians exit from the back of the truck and immediately begin peppering the Berotha Magia with bullets.
As before, the Guardians' bullets do nothing, so the Berotha Magia ignores them in favor of smashing up the vehicle and terrorizing the humans. The green robot presses one of its scythes against the throat of one driver, drawing blood. Despite lacking most of his previous personality, the Berotha Magia lets out an involuntary cackle at the delivery guy's terror.
What was he even thinking before? Bringing smiles to humans with comedy? Bringing them terror is so much more enjoyable!
"Good, good! You're coming along just fine," Jin praised.
Just as the Berotha Magia was enjoying this new power he had over humans, he was hit with a pair of high-impact energy bullets. That kind of technology was typically restricted to private militias. He ignores the wounded human for now, and emits a glitchy-sounding roar at the source of the shots.
The shooter was a helmeted man on a motorcycle. He didn't take his helmet off to reveal himself, but instead wraps a belt along his waist. He transforms.
Quick to forget about the green monster terrorizing the truck drivers, the Guardians quickly turn their guns on Kamen Rider Build. The red and blue Rider seems to have something that can scramble the Guardians' tracking systems because most of the shots miss.
"Mister Rider, I don't suppose you'd let us go like that other purple Mister Rider did," Jin said with pleading eyes.
"He let you go—what?" Build seemed confused for a moment before regaining his conviction. "What do you know about that other Rider? And how are you connected to Faust?" He demanded.
Jin started laughing and in response, the Berotha Magia started laughing too, the latter's voice glitching out as he did.
"We don't know anything about that other Rider at all. He just showed up and started trying to wreck my friend over here. As for Faust, we don't have anything to do with it," Jin explained.
"As if I'd believe that!" Build shot two more energy bullets, but the Berotha Magia just sliced the incoming bullets in twain.
The Berotha Magia charges, cutting the truck in half with its scythes and pushing it apart with superior strength. Jin helps it get close to the Rider by shooting the Rider with his gun. Unlike the Guardians, his object recognition software was much more robust and can't be spoofed quite as easily.
The Rider staggered back from the gunshots—that's right. Jin's gun was special. It was given to him by Horobi—while Berotha leaped into the air, prepared to slice the Rider in two as easily as he sliced that truck!
Except Build was on the ball. His energy gun was already transformed into its drill-lance form and he parried the Berotha Magia's attack with a wide swing.
The Berotha Magia lept on top of one of the truck halves and took a stance.
"Believe us or not, Mister Rider, we're way above those irrational beasts you call Smash. We have a plan and that plan is the extinction of the human race."
"Extinction of the human race? That's all the more reason not to let you go. I'm a Kamen Rider and I have a responsibility to protect Tokyo with my powers."
Build shook two Fullbottles and replaced his currently equipped ones with them.
"THE SHINING DESTROYER! GorillaMond! Yeah!" The belt announced as the Snap Ride Builders materialized brown and blue armor onto Build.
Jin shoots this new form, but finds that even his special bullets aren't strong enough to move the Rider. The Berotha charges again and this time, is parried by the massive Power Arm on Build's brown side.
The Berotha Magia continues its flurry of attacks, but its powerful energy scythes are either parried by the power arm or completely tanked by Build. The Rider manages to get a hold of both of the Magia's arms and attacks it with a headbutt.
"This is bad. We should retreat, Berotha!"
At Jin's command, the Berotha Magia attempts to disengage and run away, but Build is cranking his belt. Diamond spreads from Build's feet, almost like frost and grows crystal structures that make it harder for the two villains to escape.
Jin shoots the crystals, but to no avail. They're simply too sturdy.
Crystal growths freeze the Berotha Magia's feet in place. Jin decided that it was impossible for his new friend to escape and pilfers the Berotha Zetsumerise Key from his belt. The Berotha Magia reverts back to his regular Humagear appearance, but it was too late. Build had already punched a large growth of diamond towards the Humagear.
When the smoke clears, Build finds that Jin has fled and the remains of a Humagear were beneath the shattered remains of crystal.
"See you, Mister Rider. Next time, I'll bring a new friend!" Jin was almost manic in his glee, quickly navigating the narrow alleyways to escape.
"What the… This Smash… was a Humagear? What on earth?"
---
Hmm. Well that was interesting.
Aruto's Colorchanging Chameleon shimmered into visibility. He was sent by his grandfather to investigate the mysterious attacks on Hiden Intelligence's shipments and instead, he found that someone has been hacking Humagears.
Whoever it was dressed like a garbage can and seemed to like dressing his thrall in similar garbage can-chic.
The Rider who showed up to dispatch the hacked Humagear must have been the rumored Kamen Rider Build. According to Aruto's readings, the Rider's weapons were just as strong as the ZAIA-made AIMS weapons.
Something about the other Rider's words stirred something within Aruto, but he couldn't figure out what. While he was digesting his feelings, he sent his findings to Izu whose smooth voice thanked him for his hard work.
For now, his grandfather told him to return so they could discuss what to do about this mysterious hacker group.
--
After the raid on Daybreak Town, Isamu Fuwa had changed.
His men barely escaped with their lives and he shuddered to think what would have happened had the yellow Rider not interfered. He found himself increasingly nervous about Humagears and even Guardians. He was lucky that the former wasn't nearly as common as the latter.
What's worse is that they were supposed to go there again to investigate the purple Rider who showed up.
While Isamu was calming himself down, Yua Yaiba placed a blue gun on his desk.
"Hm? What's this?" Isamu asks.
"It's a new weapon developed by Zaia based on data from the purple and yellow Riders. What we got from your cams wasn't enough data so it's not really a finished product, though. You use it with this," Yua explains as she placed the Prototyping Wolf Progrise Key on Fuwa's desk.
"I suggest you train with them. They might not win against this mysterious purple Rider, but it should give you enough of an edge that you and your men can retreat. Do try to fight him as long as possible, though. Any battle data you collect will be insanely useful for Zaia."
"Gee, thanks," Fuwa said sarcastically. "This would have been really helpful in that last mission."
Yua laughed a little.
"Hey, Fuwa let me tell you a secret. My boss might think he's omniscient, but he really isn't. I don't think he expected the raid to go the way it did. With the purple Rider showing up, we do have a lead on what might have caused the Daybreak Incident. Now, all you need to do is to find and capture this guy."
"I think that's easier said than done." There was a tiredness in Fuwa's voice that wasn't there before. "Why don't you come along on the mission next week. Then you can see how these Humagears are just murder machines."
"Gee, I'd love to, but I'm just a tech advisor," Yua teased. "I might take you up on that offer some other time, though."
"Well, before you get too hyped up for that mission, I've got a softball for you. Apparently, there's this Net Idol who's a Humagear. According to our research, the Humagear's appearance is based heavily on its manager's dead daughter. Why don't you pay the manager a visit?" Yua slides a folder over to Fuwa containing the details of the case. Fuwa flips through the pages a few times before his face curls up in disgust.
"Ugh, what a sicko. What kind of father would replace his own daughter with a Humagear. Not to mention that this is highly illegal. Dead people can't consent to having their image used for Humagears. Alright, I'll put this in my priorities."
--
"Oh hey, you're back. We were just about to leave," I say as Sento entered the Build base. "Umm, I found some extra parts and made one of those drill gun things. I was wondering if I could have them. I might not be able to use Fullbottles, but I sort of feel bad if Andrea's participating in the fight and I'm not."
"How considerate of you," Monica interrupted sarcastically. I shoot her an annoyed look and she shoots back a smug, satisfied look.
"I'm also halfway through another Build Driver, but I haven't finished yet. It's on the desk over there if you want a hand at finishing it."
Sento wasn't listening to me, though. Instead he was eyeing Sawa.
"So I fought a Smash today," Sento starts. "But the weirdest thing happened. Once I knocked it out, it turned out to be a Humagear."
Oh, oh no.
I was trying not to display any shock on my face because that would be a dead giveaway that I knew more than I should. If Humagears are turning into monsters, then this timeline is more fucked than I expected.
"My cut's all better so I won't be showing up tomorrow. We'll send Andrea and Paul to see if we can raise their hazard levels and I'll try to pick up a new skill from Kuya."
I shook Build's hand and bodied my way through the tight space, almost knocking Sento into the wall with my haste. Andrea and Monica follow me out.