Traversing the Worlds: 2

[thekingofkamenriders]

[Action A: 7135 Brooks, locked to housemates and possibly Marvelous and Ambrosia.]

[Tsukasa hasn't had a happy morning thus far. In fact, it could be said that he was in a lot of pain right now, due to the rum from the bonfire that Ambrosia threw the night before. He shouldn't have drank anything, but...well, he had to prove a point. What that point was, who knows.]

I'm going to kill both of them. I mean it.

[Its great to have friends, isn't it?]

[Action B: MacCready & Son's Law Firm]

Look, I just think that John needs to get his dog to stop going on my lawn. Is that so much to ask, Mister Kadoya? I may have to utilize your services soon if it doesn't stop.

[There is a click and a whirr, the drone blinking slightly as Tsukasa puts down his camera.]

Well, if you ever decide to do so, be sure and come back.

[As the drone leaves, Tsukasa just lays his head down on the desk, still suffering from the effects of a hangover. This day couldn't get any worse.]

[Action C: Around Mayfield]

[Tsukasa had lived through the hangover and the boring day at work, but now is the time to finally do what he really wanted to do: Walk around and take pictures. If anyone would like to be his subjects, they just need to talk to him!]

Comments

[the_end_run]

[She looks around sharply after hearing someone yell out. Spotting the young man who's waving at her, she jogs over to him to see what he needs.]

Is something the matter?

[thekingofkamenriders]

No, I just thought I recognized you from the meeting a little while ago. I don't think that we were formally introduced, though.

[He pauses, thinking, then smirks slightly.]

I'm Tsukasa Kadoya, and I will capture this world on film.

[the_end_run]

I'm Shepard. Nice to meet you Tsukasa, though I'm afraid you might just end up with a horror vid if you decide to record this town.

[thekingofkamenriders]

Trust me, considering some of the places that I've been, this place is a cakewalk. After all, there aren't giant monsters killing people and eating their life force.

[the_end_run]

[Oh, now you've got her interest.]

Where and when is home for you, Tsukasa? I take it that you're Japanese by your name, but knowing how this town works, you might be from a different universe than mine.

[thekingofkamenriders]

Well, the year is easy, 2010. The where...is a bit harder to explain. I've been traveling the worlds for a while, trying to find my home. And I am from Japan, though.

[the_end_run]

Humans didn't have that advanced tech back in 2010 in my home. I'm from 2285. So you're stranded in worlds you don't know, trying to find the one you're originally from?

[thekingofkamenriders]

Well...where we get the technology is very odd. I come from a world where full body cybernetics are possible, if not all that common. One of the original Riders had that done to him.

2285? That's...interesting. So, you can travel through time here, as well as through different worlds?

[He thinks for a moment.]

I'm stranded in the different worlds because I had a mission to connect the worlds, and stop everything from being destroyed. Or, so I thought, anyway.

[the_end_run]

Time travel hasn't been invented yet, and while we have mass relays that help us get from galaxy to galaxy in the Terminus System, we don't have the tech to go to different "worlds" yet.

Sounds like you had a very hard mission.

[thekingofkamenriders]

Don't try to develop it. It's generally more trouble than its worth. Think of what might happen if all the bads from all the different universes teamed up.

[A pause.]

That's what I had to deal with, and it wasn't a fun scenario.

[the_end_run]

It could work both ways. What if all the good guys got together instead? But I get what you mean. We don't need another race bent on destroying the whole of humanity in my world.

[thekingofkamenriders]

From my experience, heroes don't always get along well. When given the chance, the different Riders tried to fight each other, rather than working together. Everyone has their own ways of doing things.

[the_end_run]

"Riders"? I get a feeling you're not talking about people who ride motorcycles around town, are you?

[thekingofkamenriders]

Well, we do ride motorcycles...but being a Rider is something else entirely. We're heroes, usually lone heroes, who fight monsters that threaten our worlds.

[He pauses and thinks.]

Well, most of us do. I was slightly different.

[the_end_run]

[She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.]

What did you do that was different?

[thekingofkamenriders]

[Tsukasa thinks for a moment. He starts to say one or two things before closing his eyes and shaking his head.]

I make sure that the Riders will never fade from memory. I'm there to make sure that they won't die, in a sense.

[the_end_run]

So if people forgot about the Riders, they'll just disappear?

[thekingofkamenriders]

[He looks at Shepard with a very sober expression.]

Isn't that true of just about anything, when you think about it? When they pass from the realm of memory, what's to say that they ever existed, no matter what good they've done.

[the_end_run]

[That's...that's deep Tsukasa. Shepard nods solemnly.]

I get what you mean. There are lots of kids out on the streets; nobody knows who they are, nobody really cares. They could just die one day and nobody would even know.

[thekingofkamenriders]

[Tsukasa is a much deeper person than one might think. He nods slowly to her statement.]

Exactly. I don't like it when that happens, not to the least of them, or the heroes that protect the world. It would just be a shame. That's why I exist. My story is to save their stories.

[the_end_run]

...

You got any stories for me then? I think I got time for one or two.

[thekingofkamenriders]

[Tsukasa looks down at his camera, then back up at Shepard. He nods once.]

My friends and I went to somewhere called 'The World of Kabuto'. This was an earth where Kamen Riders were part of a government security force called Zect, who was protecting the population from monsters called Worms, who could assume the form and memories of anyone.

[He pauses.]

Worms were able to shift into something called 'Clock Up', which made them move very quickly, faster than light speed, and the Riders had a system that countered it, letting them move at the same speed. The greatest Rider on that world is named Kabuto, and his Clock Up system was malfunctioning, causing him to be stuck at super speed, and to become something like a ghost story to the people of his world. They feared him, because he seemed to strike at random and without warning.

The fact of the matter is that Kabuto's actions were calculated. He was protecting his sister, or, rather, the person he thought was his sister. He found out that she was another Worm, though she didn't know. He didn't care, because she was family. At the end of it, despite being dragged out of Clock Up for a while, he had to return to that mode, if only so that the rest of the Riders of that world would be able to stop the Worms. He continues to protect his sister to this day, unable to communicate with her, just watching from a distance.

[He clears his throat a little bit, then looks at Shepard again.]

And that's the story of one of the greatest men I've ever met. I don't think that I would have been able to do that.

[He looks like he'd be willing to tell another story, if she'd like.]

[the_end_run]

[Tales of sacrifice and love always strike a chord in people. Shepard listens to the story and when Tsukasa finishes, she solemnly nods.]

He does sound like a great person. I work in the military back home; you hear a lot of stories like this the longer you're around. Someone has to do the hard work to keep others safe, and sometimes these people go unnoticed.

[She's one of the luckier ones.]

Got any other stories?

[thekingofkamenriders]

[Tsukasa thinks for a moment.]

I've got another one, I think.

[A pause. This one seems...hard for him to talk about.]

Where I come from, there is a converged world, called the World of Rider War. On that world, great heroes banded together to stop a single villain. He was the greatest among them, but had fallen into rage and hatred. One by one, he destroyed them and took their powers, sealing their memories into cards. The villain did not like his job, but he knew that it was his destiny to do so.

[He pauses.]

He had worked with them, once, but that time was over. He had cast away his friends and his family, so that his only goal would be the destruction of the others. It wasn't until one of his oldest friends took on the mantle of Rider, that she was able to face him.

[He stops, shaking his head. Again, this looks like a painful story for him.]

[the_end_run]

[She's silent throughout the whole story. This sounds like something she shouldn't interupt.]