Kamen Rider Hansei - Chapter 27

Arc 2 - Aeneus Rising

Chapter 27: Danger! The Deadly Martian Power?!

A purple portal suddenly opened five foot off the ground, spitting Hase out, still in his Inves form.

Hitting the ground with a thud, Hase howled in pain as his body twisted into a half-human form, arm transformed, with red eyes, green veins reaching up his neck and across his cheek.

Lying on his back, as rain pelted down on him, Hase waited for his breathing to return to normal, his Inves arm slowly transforming into it's human equivalent.

Sighing, Hase rolled himself onto his front, water dripping from his hair as the gel's hold began to break. With a grunt, Hase climbed to his feet, looking up, through the evening gloom.

"No fucking way," exclaimed Hase, his eyes not leaving the sight of Yggdrasil Tower in the distance, covered in vines.

"Welcome home."

Spinning around, Hase fell into a fighting stance at the sight of Onyx, standing at the end of the ruined alley, vines covering almost every surface.

"Calm down," drawled Onyx, "You and Yamato are so impulsive, rushing into battles you can't win."

Hase glared at Onyx, "What have you done to him?"

"Why does everyone keep assuming I've maimed or killed someone today?" retorted Onyx, sounding offended.

"You work for Tachibana?"

Onyx's jovial mood darkened, "I have my reasons."

Hase growled, transforming his arm into Inves claws, "If you've hurt him, I'll-"

"You'll what? Transform?" snapped Onyx, before calming, "I didn't hurt him, in fact, I helped him, gave him a little upgrade, in fact."

Hase's head sunk, looking down at the broken Sengoku Driver on his waist, "Why, why help us now?"

"I've been helping you all along," replied Onyx, "I made sure to send Yamato to your world, made sure he'd get more FullBottles, that you'd meet Hina, recruit the other me, get home. I sent you here to save your life."

Hase frowned, "Where is here, where did you send me?"

"Home, your world," responded Onyx, "Zawame City, circa 2014, a few months after your death."

"That was erased," murmured Hase, "The Pandora Box-"

"Doesn't work like that," interrupted Onyx, "In the first timeline, Evolt failed to activate it, a soldier stopped him, but someone meddled in time so that Evolt would succeed."

"The Pandora Box rewinded time to moment the box was triggered on Earth, time jumped from 2017 back to 2007, so I've sent you back in time 14 years, from the changed 2018 to the original 2014."

"You're wrinkling my brain," groaned Hase, shaking his head, "So, what changed, so that this Evol guy touched the box?"

"Yamato."

"Yamato, why?"

Onyx sighed, "In the original timeline, Evolt was stopped from activating the Pandora Box by a Project Cobalt soldier."

"Yamato."

"No, me," muttered Onyx, "The original timeline, Yamato..."

"He died, didn't he?"

Onyx shook his head, "No, he, he was never born."

"In both timelines I became a soldier, a part of Project Cobalt, in the new timeline to atone for my crimes."

"It wasn't your fault," retorted Hase,"You weren-"

"I pushed him," stated Onyx, turning away, "I didn't realise we were so close to the road, I was angry at him."

"I didn't know," muttered Hase.

"In the original timeline, since Yamato was never born I never went to Foundation X to rescue him and I never got sent to the future."

"I went on to rise to a Captain, the security for the Pandora Box ceremony was under my command," continued Onyx, "My squad stopped Evolt, he was secured and imprisoned within the ARC Base below Tokyo, that's why Evolt had Faust destroy Cobalt in the new timeline, revenge."

"Wait, I thought Faust was Stalk and the Bat-guy?" questioned Hase.

"Evolt is Stalk," stated Onyx, clenching his fist.

"The owner opened the Pandora Box?"

"Yeah, but that's enough chit chat for now," spoke Onyx, shifting gears, drawing an item from his jacket, "Take this, a gift from our benefactor."

Reaching out, Hase caught the item thrown to him, look down and opening his hand to see a FullBottle, longer than normal, with gold casing, the translucent middle section blank, coloured grey.

"What is this?" questioned Hase, looking up to see the alley was empty, before sighing, "What a dick."

Turning around, Hase looked up, to the city beyond, if this was during the Inves infestation like it seemed, then maybe he could do something to help.

Tachibana's Lab

Dropping to his knees, Hansei slide under a wave of crimson energy, before rolling back to his feet, drawing back the hammer of the Arrow Slicer, in bow mode.

With a yell, Hansei released the shot, striking Aeneas in the back, making him grunt in pain, turning to face Hansei.

"Using the helmet optics to make up for your missing eye?" sneered Aeneas, raising his HyperSteam Gun.

[HYPERSTEAM BREAK!] [BLOODFIST!]

Reaching out, Hansei summoned the Shell Defender, holding it up to block a blast of red and bronze energy, the shield cracking from the force.

Tossing the shield aside, Hansei flexed his shoulders before drawing one of the FullBottles he'd taken from Elena, examining it.

"Scorpion? Like Masato's?" pondered Hansei.

"The bottle Masato uses is little more than a failed attempt to copy the one you hold in your hand," replied Aeneas.

"The Canvas FullBottle?" questioned Hansei, drawing the white FullBottle, "It was-"

"The second successfully copied FullBottle," interrupted Aeneas, holding up a similar FullBottle, instead coloured a beige hue, "By the interaction of your Martian DNA with Ari's power."

"Second?"

"The first was the Psychic bottle, the one Onyx used before you broke it," answered Aeneas, before sighing, "I can see you trying to sneak up on me Ari, Yamato's attempts to distract me are pitif-"

[SCRAP BREAK!]

With a yell, Ruin raced towards Aeneas, swinging the Caliburn, coated in yellow and sky-blue energy.

Aeneas slammed back against the wall, the plaster cracking, dust raining down on him.

"I wasn't attempting to attack you," spoke X-Caliber Charge, joining Ruin as she handed the Caliburn back.

"We were both distracting you," continued Hansei, stopping on Ruin's other side.

Aeneas chuckled, pushing himself off the wall, "So was I."

[STEAM ATTACK!]

Turning, the three Riders watched a hail of crystal holograms race towards them, before they sliced into them.

Crashing to the ground, Hansei rolled to a stop, still clutching the Arrow Slicer in bow mode, the Caliburn landing next to him, X-Caliber Charge and Ruin falling a distance away.

"Idiots," sneered Aeneas, walking forwards.

Lowering his Transteam Rifle, Crystal Centurion grinned under his helmet, "You thought you could keep me down, brother?"

Reaching out and closing his hand around the Caliburn, Hansei looked down, "You're not my brother!"

A golden glow suddenly lit up the Caliburn and the Arrow Slicer, the latter shifting and twisting, creating a hole in the center grip.

Hansei frowned under his helmet, "Could it be?"

Shifting his grip, Hansei slotted the blade of the Caliburn through the Arrow Slicer, coming to stop just above the hilt.

Gold light encased the weapon as the FullBottle Brace materialised from the OmegaX Driver by itself, attaching to the hilt.

As the light faded, a new weapon was revealed, all coloured white and gold, with traces of purple, yellow and silver.

The curved blades from the Arrow Slicer had merged with the rest of the weapon, one at each side of the Caliburn's blade.

In the hilt, the Sclash Driver elements had vanished, replaced by the FullBottle Brace, the Ankylo Sclashjelly being forcefully ejected, X-Caliber Charge downgrading to the X-Caliber armour.

"The Promethean Blade," murmured Aeneas gleefully, "The panels were lost, scattered through time and space!"

[DANGER ON!]

Yellow energy raced down Hansei's arms, coalescing in the OmegaX Driver, the Boost FullBottle ejecting, the Crystal and Python FullBottles shooting out and inserting themselves into Hansei's Driver directly as Yamato's suit faded.

[CRYSTAL!] [PYTHON!] [SUPER BEST MATCH!]

"Henshin," stated Yamato simply, the handle of the OmegaX Driver cranking itself without input.

[GATA GATA GOTTON!] [ZUTTAN ZUTAN!]

A large black frame, covered in yellow and black danger tape, the shape of a Halfbody in the front, materialised, before it slammed shut around Yamato, as he threw the Promethean Blade into the air, clear above the frame.

[DING!]

The frame opened and folded away to reveal Kamen Rider Hansei in a new all-black form, a helmet with the Crystal and Python eyes, and black horns. Black and yellow warning tape on his arms and ankles.

[ARE YOU READY?!] [RISKY POWER-UP!] [DANGER! DANGER!] [DOKE!]

Catching the Promethean Blade as it fell, Hansei charged at Crystal-Centurion, a simple punch sending him flying through a wall, before turning to face Aeneas.

"I'm not your friend, I'm not your lab rat, I'm not your puppet," sneered Hansei, loading six FullBottles into the Promethean Blade, "My name is Yamato Takahashi, you killed my sister for you twisted experiments, now you will die."

[CRYSTAL!] [PYTHON!] [THUNDER!] [EAGLE!] [SCORPION!] [KNIGHT!]

Hansei dropped into a half crouch as the sword lit up with swirling purple, gold, blue, orange and light blue energy, before he swung it with all his might.

[VOLTECH FUSION!]

With a yell, Hansei watched as a wave of energy slammed in Aeneas, driving him backwards as his suit was ripped away, Hyper Steam Gun shattering, before he smashed back into the restoration device.

"Bon voyage," hissed Hansei, "Dickhead."

The restoration device exploded, vaporising Tachibana in an instant.

Tokyo City, Touto

"This is ridiculous," vented Osamu, from his position at the communications panel, "Still nothing!"

"Whatever that energy wave was, it's done a number on all our systems," called back Ryoma, from outside the hovercraft, led down on the concrete, working underneath it.

"Ms. Minato, the socket wrench, it's already got the right bit," instructed Ryoma, holding his hand out to Minato, who was stood resting against the outside of the hovercraft.

"Here."

"Thank you," replied Ryoma, accepting the tool, before continuing his work, "I've been meaning to say this, but, I'm sorry."

Minato shifted in shock, "What are you-"

"The energy wave was a light show, smoke and mirrors," interrupted Ryoma, speaking softly, "You triggered this to cripple the hovercraft's systems."

A black metallic box bounced out from under the hovercraft, stopping at Minato's feet.

"You're working for the other side," stated Ryoma calmly, as of he were dictating a shopping list, "Your mission is to kill both me and Takahashi."

Sliding out from under the hovercraft, Ryoma pushing himself to his feet, "I'm guessing we weren't supposed to survive the crash, but the emergency landing features I added saved us, you were expected to die with us."

Reaching into his lab coat, Ryoma slowly drew his Genesis Driver, "So, I must ask you."

Minato pulled her Peach Energy Lockseed from her jacket, preparing to fight.

Ryoma's Genesis Driver clattered to the ground, "To take my life, to spare Osamu's."

Minato frowned, "The great Ryoma Sengoku, offering his life in return for someone he barely knows? You won't trick me."

"This isn't a trick," spoke Ryoma, looking Minato dead in the eyes, "I died, I remember it, it wasn't so bad, like floating in a cloud."

"But then Megahex brought me back as a cyborg," continued Ryoma, "Then Foundation X messed with the timeline, to save me before I died, and ever since then I can feel death pulling me back, I feel unnatural, I know I don't belong here."

"But you deserve better, you don't need to be a kingmaker, to stand behind someone, reach into the future and be your own king," urged Ryoma, "As for Osamu, I understand the need to ensure the safety of your creations, in his case, his children."

"You've changed," murmured Minato.

Ryoma chuckled, drawing a USB, "Death can do that to you, now, take this."

Reaching out carefully, Minato took the USB, "What is it?"

"My legacy."

"A new system?"

Ryoma smiled, "Not quite, there's instructions on what to do inside it, and Yoko, I truly am sorry for what I've done to you."

"I know," spoke Yoko, looking up from the USB, "But you took Kaito from me, that's something I can't forgive."

With a grunt, Yamato collapsed to his knees, screws and panels falling from his cybernetic arms as yellow energy wracked his body.

"Yamato," called Ari, cancelling her transformation as she raced to Yamato's side.

"I-I'm fine," grunted Yamato, pushing himself to his feet, metal arm hanging limply at his side, "Looks like I finally wrecked it."

"Yamato, why did you use Danger Form?" demanded Ari, as Elena moved to join them, "If you're defeated in that form, you'll disappear!"

"I wasn't me, the sword," replied Yamato, looking down to where he'd dropped it to see it had returned to its constituent parts, "What was it?"

"The Promethean Blade, incomplete of course," explained Ari, collecting Caliburn, the Arrow Slicer and the FullBottle Brace, "Each of these weapons is rearranged form of a panel from the Promethean Box, or as you know it, the artificial Pandora Box."

"How do you know this?" questioned Yamato, drawing a cloth and using it to collect the Blood FullBottle, the golden hue of the casing faded back to the regular black, from where it'd fallen.

"I remembered my past, from before I became an AI," answered Ari, "I was forced to work for Foundation X to discover the secrets of the Promethean Box, but somehow, I bonded with it, it's how I can purify FullBottles."

Elena started, "You're Dr. Arizona Kobayashi?"

"That was my married name," nodded Ari, "But yes, I am."

"Father, he said that you were my mother," blurted Elena, Yamato's eyebrows shooting up, he could see the resemblance.

"That is true," affirmed Ari, "But Tachibana isn't your father."

"Then who is my father?"

Ari paused, "Yamato."

Greeed no Sekai

Hina slammed down on the ground, rolling over with a drawn out groan.

"Where am I?" muttered Hina, standing and looking up to see a stone castle in the distance, "Not here again!"

"Where is here?" questioned Mira, as she joined Hina.

"Greeed no Sekai," replied Hina, before lowering her voice, "What about your cover?"

"Why aren't you taking her out?" yelled Aoshi, charging at Hina, before Torashi stopped him.

"Right now, we all need to work together," urged Torashi, "If we're trapped in this world it doesn't matter what country we come from!"

Aoshi paused, before standing down, seemingly against his better judgement, "Fine, but I get to say 'I told you so' when she stabs us in the back."

Mira scoffed, "Don't be so dramatic-"

Kenji suddenly lurched forwards, emptying his stomach onto the cobbles under his feet.

"Here," spoke Hina, holding out a tissue to Kenji, "The aftereffects of my first time doing this kind of travel were pretty rough as well."

"Thanks," nodded Kenji, accepting the tissue.

"Weakling," sneered Aoshi, under his breath.

"Shut it, you hair-brained moron!" snapped Mira, "All you care about is getting stronger."

"Aoshi," spoke Torashi.

"Not now," hissed Aoshi, "Strength is the one true attribute in this world!"

"Mira!"

"Zip it, I'm going to pulp this idiot!" yelled Mira, cracking her knuckles.

"Look out!"

With a yell, Torashi launches himself at Mira, pushing her out the way as a stream of Cell Medals, dotted with yellow Core Medals, was about to swallow her, getting Torashi instead.

"Torashi!" yelled Mira, watching in shock as her friend twisted and shook, his body changing into that of a Greeed, themed after a lion, tiger and cheetah.

"Kazari," murmured Hina, in shock.

"Not the body I wanted, but it'll do," sighed Kazari, massaging his neck, "Huh, you're the detective Ankh inhabited's sister?"

"How are you here? In this world?" questioned Hina.

"Simple, OOO brought us here," explained Kazari.

"Us?"

"The broken Core Medals of Ankh, Uva and myself, the Kougami Foundation was able to track them down," added Kazari, "I will become complete and lay waste to all those who oppose me."

"I won't allow that," stated Hina, drawing her OOO Driver, while Mira and Kenji held up an Octopus and Shell HalfBottle respectively.

[TA-TO-BA!] [TATOBA! TATOBA!]

[ARE YOU READY?!]

Launching herself forwards, Hoshii extended her claws, swiping at Kazari as he ducked and dodged out of the way.

Dropping low, Kazari swept the feet out from under Hoshii, before keeping her in place with his foot, "So you're an OOO now?"

"Hina!" called OctoPink, racing in and using her tentacles to throw Kazari off-balance, while ShellGreen barged into him, shield first.

"Annoying ant," sneered Kazari, kicking ShellGreen away.

"Why didn't you choose me?" demanded Aoshi, attempting to tackle Kazari, "Give me your power instead."

"Who messed you up so bad?" pondered Hoshii.

"How boring," yawned Kazari, before blasting Aoshi in the chest with a burst of flame, sending him flying back into ShellGreen, his skin scorched and black.

"W-Why," grunted Aoshi, before passing out.

Grifting his teeth, Kenji managed to stay conscious as his transformation failed, watching on as Hoshii and OctoPink continued to fight the Greeed.

"Why am I so weak?!" cried Kenji, balling up a fistful of dirt.

So you want strength, eh?

"Who was that?" questioned Kenji, looking up.

A mass of Cell Medals, interspersed with green, floated into Kenji's view.

I am Uva, a Greeed like him.

"Do you want to destroy everyone as well?"

No, I did once, but all I want now. Is revenge.

"On him?"

Yes. He aided the man responsible for my Core's destruction, I will return the favour, in kind.

"That's all, just him?"

Yes.

"Then yes," stated Kenji, his face handening, "I want your strength."

Good.

The Cell Medals flowed into Kenji as a force lifted him upright, holding him an inch above the ground.

"No, impossible," intoned Kazari as Kenji morphed into the Greeed form of Uva.

"Kenji, no!" cried Hoshii.

"I had to do it," spoke Kenji, his voice echoing slightly, "I need Uva's strength."

"Together, we'll stop you!" called Uva, before charging at Kazari.

"I can't be her father!" cried Yamato indignantly, as he followed Ari down the corridor, Elena behind him.

"You make it sound like a bad thing," snapped Elena.

"You tried killing me!" retorted Yamato.

"You called me a bitch!"

"Cause you deserved it!"

"Be quiet! Both of you!" yelled Ari, wheeling around, "Elena, you were being a bitch and Yamato, you are her father, I remember the look in your eyes the first time you held her."

"Eye, now," commented Elena, under her breath.

"Then why don't I remember?" asked Yamato, ignoring Elena.

Ari's face softened, "It's because of this."

Opening the door, Ari stepped inside, followed by Yamato and Elena.

On a pedestal in the middle of the room was a box, made from the same patterned material as the Pandora Box, only coloured slightly lighter and shaped like a four-sided pyramid.

Yamato slowly walked forwards, "This is…"

"The Promethean Box," finished Ari, "Foundation X found it, they killed my husband and forced me to experiment with it. I bonded with it, and it showed things I could never dream of."

"How did it take my memory?"

"The Pandora Box was found on Mars, it was used by a being known as Evolt to wipe the planet out," explained Ari, "The scientists of that planet, called Alchemists, they forged the Promethean Box to combat it, the FullBottles from it were given to the Knights of Mars."

Walking forwards, Ari approached the Promethean Box, passing Yamato, "Sedmuz was one of those knights, he used the Flame and Dyvn FullBottles-"

"Dyvn?"

"A animal from Mars, pretty similar to a dog, or a wolf, or a coyote," answered Ari, "Evolt killed the knights one by one until just Sedmuz remained. He protected Queen Vernage with his last breath, activating the full power of the Promethean Box."

"In return for his sacrifice, the Promethean Box split Sedmuz's body, mind and soul equally into three new beings, Iy, Ro and Ha, each granted a different form of immortality," continued Ari, "Iy was blessed with the ability of Revival, his body would heal any injuries, fatal or not, Ro was given Regeneration, where his body would change into an entirely new one at the moment of death and Ha, he was granted Reversal, the ability to regress his mind and body back to infanthood if mortally wounded."

"What happened to them?" questioned Yamato, taking a step towards Ari.

"The Promethean Box transported both them and itself to Earth so they could protect it, so it could one day be used to defeat Evolt," informed Ari, "After hundreds of years, Iy and Ro began to go insane due to repeated use of their abilities, while Ha vanished, lost after he was killed in battle and later found as a baby by villagers, raised as a normal human."

Ari turned around to face the other two, "Yamato, you are Ha."