Kamen Rider Advent - Imbalance of Power
Created and written by: Kamen Rider Advent
Edited and revised by: DragonKnight410
Riders Contributed by: Kamen Rider Requiem, Kamen Rider Neptune, Kamen Rider Frost, And DragonKnight410.
Chapter 4 - Maternal Ties, Part 1
As night fell over the land, the fog grew thick over the river. Despite this fog, my instincts focused on any movement in the area around me as I surveyed the area around my house. My name is Leo, also only known to a select few as Kamen Rider Lunar. My Advent beast is Silver Wolf, and it is because of my Advent beast that my senses are as sharp as a wolf. Surprise, surprise. I came upon my Advent deck many years ago when I found out that I was a foster child because my mother passed away during childbirth. The only thing I have left to remind me of her is a pendant that I’ve had since I could remember. I remember that day very clearly as if it were yesterday:
"Leo, come down here!" called Julie, my foster mom. "There's something we need to talk about."
"What is it, mom?" I asked innocently as I walked into the room.
"Leo, dear. You know we love you, don’t you?" she asked.
"Yes. I know this already, and I always will love you both," I replied. My mom had a sad look in her eyes, as did my father.
"What’s wrong?" I laughed half-heartedly, trying to lighten the mood as the rain fell softly outside.
"Leo, your father and I," she spoke slowly, taking my hand while my dad stood behind her, "think that it is about time you know this: we're not your real parents." As she said this, she broke into tears while I stood there, stunned at what I had just heard.
You see: I was only 11 at the time, and this devastated me. All I can remember is running outside and as far away as my legs would carry me, blinded by my own tears. By the time my legs had given out, it was very late at night, but yet that night was the night that would change my life for good:
The rain began to pick up, drenching me from head to toe. Scared and not knowing where I was, I started wandering back in the direction I came from, hoping that I could find my way back home. After what felt like hours, I realized I was lost and didn't know my way home. As I walked, the fear of the unknown grew inside of me. I felt like I was being watched, but I didn’t see anybody or anything in the streets. Not knowing what to do, I grabbed the pendant around my neck as I fell to the ground in despair, and the little boy inside took over as I started to cry.
"Mommy!!!" I cried, but my cries fell in vain. Then I heard it: a low terrifying growl that seemed to emanate from all over.
"HA HA HA HA! Is this really the power that I must defeat? What a weak child…he isn't even worth my time!" spoke the strange voice.
Not knowing where it came from, I started running in a direction away from the voice, hoping that my legs would not give in and fail me now.
"You won't be able to get away from me!" boomed the mysterious voice.
Not seeing where I was going, I ran down a dark alley and didn’t the wall in front of me. SMACK!! I hit the wall at full speed and fell down to the ground, clutching my nose. Then the hysterical laughter resounded again. I turned around to see the laugh coming from a monster in the reflection of a broken window.
"Wow! That was a classic! If only you could've seen your face!" laughed the monster. “Whew! That was good."
Upon seeing and hearing the monster, I started to rub my eyes, hoping that it was just a hallucination. But by the time I realized that I wasn’t hallucinating, an arm shot out from the window and grabbed my throat as I tried to scream.
"No, no, no. We must not have that, must we?" spoke the monster in a playful tone as it lifted me off the ground while still covering my mouth with its hideous hand. "Come on! I mean, couldn't Xaviax have given me someone more powerful? I mean, for Pete’s sake, I am the third most powerful general he has, and yet, he sent me after a KID?!?" After he spoke these words, he suddenly let out a piercing shriek as lightning clapped the sky, letting go of me. I fell to the ground, but yet I hadn't realized that I was on the ground until I saw his severed arm on the ground, flailing.
"That's all I needed to hear," called a voice from in the sky. Then he appeared: a warrior in silver armor with a flowing cape. At that instant, my fear had disappeared from within me as I just stared in awe.
"And you, monster" he said, directing his attention to the creature, "Your usefulness has run its course." As he said this, I heard a voice: KAMEN RIDER ADVENT:
SWORD VENT. Out of the sky, a silver sword came down and in one fell move before I had a chance to look, it was already over. The mysterious warrior slashed the monster in two.
"With this, I am certain....." spoke the knight, sheathing his sword. He turned to me and from his mouth came those fateful words:
"Leo, your destiny lies in the moon and the sun's connection. It is your choice whether or not you wish to seek this destiny. But I implore you: please choose wisely, for this decision will change your life." After he finished speaking, he vanished in a flash of lightning, leaving behind no trace of his presence except a silver deck with a golden wolf emblem embedded on the front.
Sitting there in the alleyway and looking at the deck that glowed in my hand, I wondered how it would change my life. Deciding to keep the deck, I got up and started heading home, although I didn't know my way. As I walked along the street, a set of headlights came up from behind me. It was my foster parents. Apparently, they had come looking for me. Realizing the opportunity destiny had presented, I went home with my mom and dad, explaining that I would always love them, even if they weren’t my real parents.
A couple days later, the silver knight visited me again and explained that I would have to fight a being known as Xaviax. I was still trying to come to grips with what had happened earlier and the knight’s presence at such a time like this definitely caught me by surprise. The fact that he said that I would need training in the martial arts shocked me even further because I was no fighter. I still remember the chilling words he said:
While I was outside in my back yard, thinking about everything that just happened the night I found my Advent deck a couple days before, a flash of lightning boomed in the night sky, and then he came again: the same silver knight that saved me from that hideous monster I saw in the mirror and gave me the Advent deck. He began slowly: “Leo, I applaud your bravery and courage in accept this as your destiny, but you should know that it will not be an easy path for you to follow. As a Kamen Rider now, you are now bound to your Advent beast for the rest of your life. Your quest has begun. But in order to complete this quest, you must first train yourself in the martial arts.”
“Why would I need martial arts? You haven’t even told me the reason why you gave me the deck in the first place!” I cried, confused and scared.
“Calm down, Leo,” the knight replied, “That is why I came to visit you again. You must know what your quest is and why you must train yourself in the martial arts.”
After he said this, my parents opened the back yard door and called me in to go to bed, since it was getting late, and yet to my surprise, they could not see the knight that was standing behind me, as if he did not exist. I called to them and told them to go ahead and go to bed without me, as I needed to hear what the knight wanted to tell me.
“Now that that fiasco is over and done with, I just realized that I haven’t even introduced myself to you. My identity is not important. All that I know is that the other Riders have called me Kamen Rider Advent. I am the being that dwells in the Advent Void and the creator of the deck that you now hold…”
“Whoa, slow down!” I exclaimed. “First of all, what is a Kamen Rider? How many other Riders are there? What is the Advent Void?”
“I know you have many questions, but please, hear me out first, child,” Kamen Rider Advent replied, “all your questions will be answered as I explain.”
“Now, I will not go into any detail about anything, but first you must know about your quest. Now that you have become a Kamen Rider, your quest is this: there is an evil general named Xaviax and he wants to take over your world. He has already enslaved the people of Ventara…”
“Ventara?” I questioned, interrupting the knight again.
“Ventara is the world behind the mirrors, the world you see. The Advent Void separates your world from Ventara. Only a select few can actually see the world from Earth by looking into mirrors or windows. The Kamen Riders are warriors who use the Advent decks I created are the defenders of Ventara. But now, Ventara is empty because Xaviax’s plans to take over Ventara have succeeded. The original Kamen Riders were vented by Xaviax thanks to a traitor in their ranks, and now, I am going around, looking for new Kamen Riders to help defend this world from Xaviax’s plan. Even though I reside in the Advent Void, I cannot do anything to bring them back from the Advent Void for now. The monster that attacked you the night I gave you your deck was one of Xaviax’s monsters that he can create at will, and these monsters are terrorizing your people every day. As we speak, more people are being kidnapped by his monsters and enslaved. If no one stops him soon, then your world will become as desolate as mine, but his monsters are tough, well-versed in fighting off any resistance. Only you and a few others have the power to stop Xaviax, but you must learn how to fight in order to survive.”
I stared at him incredulously as he spoke, now knowing what I got myself into. I was never capable of fighting, let alone defending myself from even a punch. Kamen Rider Advent seemed to have sensed my uneasiness and knew that I didn’t have much time to learn martial arts because he said: “Do not worry, Leo, I shall give you the knowledge of how to fight, but this alone will not do, but at least now, you will be able to accelerate your training and thus become a fighter in less time. The other Riders need your help. Please help them!”
He then walked up to me and laid his armored hands on my head and began to recite an ancient chant in a language that I could not understand. As he chanted, my vision began to blur and suddenly, my vision went white. I seemed to just be floating down a cascade of visions of martial arts, from the basic punches and kicks to defending from an attack. It then suddenly stopped, and when I got up, Kamen Rider Advent was nowhere to be seen. I looked at my hands and saw his mark on both of my palms. A voice boomed, “Go, my child, your quest is at hand.”
Thinking of that name and the incident that led me to where I am now brought back the horror I felt so many years ago. Back then, I couldn’t fight back, but now I can, and I plan to fight with all of my might. With a new resolve, I set out to finish what I had started: track down and defeat Xaviax. Lately, there have been reports and rumors online of a man in stingray-looking armor appearing around the same time the kidnappings have taken place, but only recently. Being the Kamen Rider I am now, I had to figure it out for myself. Time slowly went on, creeping second by second. Tick, tick, tick. Then it came. My ears perked up when I heard the Advent Void flux. Poised and ready to strike, I waited to see what would emerge from the shadows, hoping that I can find the source of the kidnappings and put an end to it all. Looking through my backyard window into Ventara, I witnessed something that would change the Riders’ battle drastically, but was it for the better or the worse? That was something that I was about to find out.
Chapter 4 - Maternal Ties, Part 2
As I looked at the window, I saw what looked like a squid monster walking stealthily, as if it was stalking someone. When it disappeared, I followed the flux as I drew closer to the true source. I soon found the source of the flux: the docks near my house. I jumped down from the cliff and landed smoothly on a nearby wooden pole. As I looked around and tried to find the monster that I had seen, my eyes came across a dock worker walking to the parking lot after a long day. “Finally! I was getting tired of waiting.” I thought to myself. “I just hope Xaviax shows his face soon.”
But my hopes fell on silent ears as I watched the worker walk in a kind of hurried fashion, as if he felt like he was being watched by some unknown force. I knew this feeling all too well, after my first encounter with the mirror monster and Kamen Rider Advent. Step by step, the worker got closer to his car. As he walked on, I noticed a ripple in the water. Thinking that it was just the wind, I dismissed it as a minor nuisance, but as soon as I turned my head away from the water and back to the worker, a tentacle instantly shot out from behind and grabbed the worker.
“No!” I gasped as I ran to help the worker. But before I could get there, I heard another splash from the lake. I turned to see a mechanical stingray fly out from the lake and rammed the tentacle, knocking the worker free from the monster’s tentacle. But after setting the worker free, it turned in midair and came after me, surprising me.
“What the?!?” I yelled as I dove for cover behind a container. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked to see where the stingray was going: another rider!! As I looked in awe as Sting went over to check on the worker, I suddenly heard a voice in my head: “Do not be afraid, that is Kamen Rider Sting.”
But when I snapped back after that momentary lapse, I looked around and did not see Sting there. I came out from where I was hiding and looked around in surprise. Then my ears picked up the sound of footsteps. I stealthily followed the sound and found Sting again, but what I saw was startling: the same worker that I saw Sting save was fighting him.
“What the...” I thought to myself, but apparently I didn’t notice that I had accidentally said that same phrase out loud. Both Sting and the worker heard me. It was then that I noticed that the worker was being controlled by the same monster that I had seen. The monster fled the scene with the helpless worker, and I was half-expecting Sting to run after it, but instead, he turned to me and began to chase me. “Shoot!” I exclaimed as I tried to flee. But before I could run any further, Sting caught up to me and pinned me down to the ground.
“What are you doing here?” questioned Sting as I struggled to break free.
“I...I...I thought that there was a man in trouble, so...I…” I stammered as Sting increased his strength to keep me pinned.
“Ran in to help him without even assessing the situation.” a mysterious voice rang.
Sting released his grip on me, and I took that moment to get back up and try to assess the situation. But before I could do anything after I got back up, the door of a cargo container behind me flew open, and out stepped Kamen Rider Frost. As I stared at him, I started to feel chills running down my back. I began to back up slowly as Kamen Rider Frost advanced toward me. As I was backing up, I suddenly remembered the ringing words that Kamen Rider Advent told me: “The other Riders need your help. Please help them!” I remembered Kamen Rider Advent telling me that Xaviax was using the other decks to convince his Riders to fight for him, but he did not tell me who was fighting for which side. I suddenly became uneasy as I backed myself into another cargo container. I did not know who was on what side; all I knew was that Kamen Rider Advent was helping me out. This was not doing me any good, cornering myself not only physically between two cargo containers but also mentally as I tried to figure out who was on which side, and as they say: a cornered wolf will bite.
Kamen Rider Frost was almost in my face when I finally yelled: "But that monster had a human!"
“What human?!?” roared Frost as he grabbed me and pulled me very close to his mask, “Even an amateur can tell that it was a trick vent!”
Frost roughly threw me back down to the ground. As I struggled to take this in, my uneasiness began to increase at an alarming rate. It grew to the point where I could not even move a muscle, afraid to admit that both Frost and Sting could be working for Xaviax. “What was I thinking? How could I think that these two Riders are fighting against Xaviax?” I thought to myself Frost readied himself to knock me out for good.
But before he could finish me off, a voice called out: “Take it easy Frost. Can we even judge him just yet?” I managed to snap out of my momentary paralysis and turned to see another Kamen Rider, this time in dark armor with hints of blue with his sword drawn.
“Wing Knight!” Frost exclaimed in surprise. “I did not think that you would be watching me.”
Frost instantly left his spot and jumped up to Wing Knight as I fell back to the ground, relieved that he did not attack me, but I was still worried about Sting potentially attacking me as he kept an eye on me as Frost spoke to Wing Knight. “So this is the fabled Wing Knight that I’ve been hearing about,” I thought to myself, “I know he’s fighting against Xaviax. Maybe I should try and convince him that I am on their side.” But before I could make a move, my ears picked up the soft conversation between Frost and Wing Knight, and I heard those disturbing words from Frost: “I told you we should have vented him from the beginning...”
“Wait, vent me?” I asked the two Riders. When I finally got their attention, I continued, “What does ‘vent’ mean?”
Both riders sighed before Wing Knight began to explain: "Venting...is what happens to a rider who is defeated in battle. You are sent to the Advent Void, which is almost equivalent to death itself because once you are sent there, you can never come back."
"What?!? You want to kill me?" I screamed in horror. Clearly shocked from hearing this, I instinctively pulled a card from my Advent deck and quickly used it.
KAMEN RIDER LUNAR: STRIKE VENT: "Well, I won’t let you!" I screamed as I charged at the two Riders. I swung my weapon at them, only to see that Sting had stepped in and taken the full blow. Sting tried to get back up, but his asthma attack got to him and when I realized this, I dropped my weapon and tried to help Sting as he tried to regain his breath, but Kamen Rider Frost, thinking that I was trying to take advantage of Sting’s condition, pulled out a card from his Advent deck and used it on me.
KAMEN RIDER FROST: FREEZE VENT. I suddenly felt a cold chill running through my body, as if I was frozen. As I tried desperately to move, fear began to settle in me and it kept building to the point where it began overwhelming my mind. I wanted to help Sting so badly after he intercepted my attack but I could not move as Frost and Wing Knight advanced on my stiff body, poised to vent me. Out of frustration, I let out a piercing scream that could be heard for miles. Then it came: a brilliant flash blinded my vision and a loud bang deafened my ears to any sound around me. Then I heard a gentle female voice call out to me from inside my head: “Run, Leo, get out of there!”
Since I did not have a whole lot of time, I turned and ran as fast and as far away as I could. When I finally thought that I ran far enough, I stopped in an abandoned alleyway and tried to catch my breath when I heard the voice again. But this time, it wasn't in my head but seemed to come from behind me. I turned around to see another Rider in bright yellow armor with white stripes. At first, the mysterious Rider seemed to be just staring at me, paralyzing me for a few seconds until I heard her voice in my head again. And then, I suddenly recognized the voice. “It can’t be…” I thought to myself. When the mysterious Rider recognized my disbelief, she walked up to me and only said these few words:
"It’s been a long time, hasn't it, Leo?" And all I could do is just stare at her in astonishment and surprise…
Next: Chapter 5
Prev: Chapter 3
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