(drawfaggotry by /co/'s Dicknose Jr. unrelated, but damned if it doesn't make Aelita look awesome)
[DenLiner – 2:02:38 PM]
“For a commuter train, this actually looks kinda roomy,” Yumi remarked as the Milk Dipper entourage ushered the ex-Lyoko Warriors aboard the time-traveling train.
“I dunno,” Odd replied, “It still looks kinda cramped to me. They couldn’t have at least made it bigger on the inside or someth-“
“Sssssssssshhhhhhhh!” Urataros bolted out of the ‘Madame Crim’ body to put his hand over Odd’s mouth. “We’re already too close as is to being banned from England for that sort of talk!”
“Banned from England? So, is THIS why a Japanese time-traveling agency needs a European counterpart?” Aelita asked as she pried the Imagin away from the boy.
“Not quite, my lady.” A booming voice from the back of the car made everyone’s heads turn. All eyes leveled on a middle-aged man setting aside the fork he was using to chip away at a plate of piled fried rice. “There ARE certain territorial squabbles at work, yes, but our primary reason for bringing you here is far simpler.”
“And that would be…?”
“DenLiner’s business is protecting the timestream by eliminating creatures who travel into the past from a variety of unrealized futures – they have a NASTY habit of attempting to change the future through the use of mass murder.”
“Creatures? Like the Technicolor freakshow you’ve got going here?” Sissi thumbed at Urataros and Momotaros, the latter of which was currently stuffing his ‘human’ shell under a table.
“You could say that our Imagin cohorts, if you will, are rogues from a previous outbreak of such temporal anomalies.” The old man rose. “Once in the service of a man who attempted to link the Earth’s fate to an apocalyptic Japan riddled with their kind, they decided for a variety of reasons to instead assist us, particularly young Ryoutaro, in preserving the flow of time as we know it. Or are intended to eventually know it, depending.”
“Basically you don’t get dental if you unmake the universe,” Momotaros quipped.
“Bear in mind that Sempai’s idea of ‘dental’ is prying out the teeth of anyone who crosses him and swapping them in as needed,” Urataros retorted.
“As for the task at hand…we’ve received new reports of Imagin-like attacks across Europe, but we have no idea what sort of future they’re coming from.” The man known as the Owner of DenLiner withdrew a passport-sized card and handed it to Aelita. “We have invited you here because you are the only ones who can perceive this new threat…and may very well be the only ones who can stop it.”
Kamen Rider Den-Ae
An always-at-climax Code Lyoko crossover by /m/’s Haken Browning
[LEGAL]
Code Lyoko TM and © The MoonScoop group and subsidiaries.
Original Kamen Rider Den-O concept TM/© Ishinomori Productions/Toei Co. Ltd.
This work is a non-profit, non-commercial combination of the above, with certain elements copyleft Team Phantom Tiger.
Episode 2: Ride of a Lifetime! Awaken, New Densha Rider!
“Wait…it’s because we’re experienced time travelers?” Jeremy chimed in.
“In a word, yes,” the young Japanese male finally joined in the conversation. “Somehow, through a series of anomalies in the flow of time around Europe, almost all of you have become Singularity Points. Like us, you can tell when something has changed in the past – and thus go back and fix it.”
“So how would we go about fixing it? We usually just stop bad futures from happening and rewind accordingly.”
“Ah, you already know how to do it backwards,” Owner replied. “Sadly, we do not have such a luxury. Instead, whoever holds the Liner Pass I just gave your friend is required to neutralize the Imagin in the past. They are formidable opponents, however, so to do this the Pass holder must take the form of a Kamen Rider in order to not only fight, but withstand any temporal tricks that might be thrown at them.”
“’Kamen Rider?’” Aelita stared at the Liner Pass in her hands. “…I didn’t want to continue fighting…and yet-“
“We managed to get SOME information about your situation before contacting you,” Ryoutaro interjected. “So I guess the question is…would you rather know peace, or the truth about your parents?”
“You know…I actually always thought I’d need to find the one in order to have the other. If this is what it takes to figure out why what happened to my parents wound up happening, then maybe…”
“So you’ll take the job, then?”
“Under one condition.” Aelita’s hand snaked behind Jeremy, resting on his shoulder. “Any of my friends who wants to come with me gets to, no questions asked. Believe me when I say I wouldn’t even be here without them.”
“Done.” Owner shot a thumbs-up. “I mean, DenLiner itself already has several non-combat personnel on board, myself included…”
“Who said anything about non-combat?” Ulrich cut in. “We can hold our own, right?”
“Regular humans will barely be effective against Imagin, unprotected Singularity Points even more so.” Owner folded his hands behind his back. “Know that if you wish to accompany Miss Schaeffer, you do so at her discretion and your own risk.”
“Well, what if we were all Kamen Riders, too?” Odd asked. “The more, the merrier, right?”
“If that were even possible, yes,” Ryoutaro said. “But only one Rider can exist per Time Train, barring extreme circumstances such as THAT incident with Gaoh.”
“Gaoh?”
“Some dude who tried to hijack a Time Train that could wipe out whole chunks of reality at once. We wound up having to bring in a bunch of Ryou’s future selves to stop him. Shit was SO cash.” Momotaros chuckled at the memory of four Den-Os at once.
“One Rider per train, huh…” Aelita turned toward her friends once more. “Guys, I know you’re still sort of on the fence about this whole Kamen Rider business, and given the circumstances…if it becomes absolutely necessary, I’ll do this alone. You all have lives, things to go home to. I’d rather not put you in danger if you won’t be able to fight alongside me.”
Silence echoed across DenLiner for a minute.
Then, laughter erupted, drawing everyone’s attention to Ulrich. “What…what the heck’s so funny?”
The boy ceased his guffaw. “Do you honestly think you can scare us off by being so poignant? We never had much of an issue balancing our lives with saving the world before, right?”
“Heck, we might actually gain something ourselves just by coming along, at least for the summer,” Yumi cut in. “It’s either this or I spend the next few months shopping for cram schools in Japan while Hiroki tries to get me and Ulrich in a closet together.”
The German blanched at that one before continuing. “…even THAT aside, I’d rather not spend my summer being chewed out by Dad over grades, either.”
“Trust me, whatever crazy family you have, my sisters are FAR worse,” Odd chimed in. “I’m definitely taking my chances with the Princess instead.”
“And did you forget how madly in love with you I am?” Jeremy ruffled Aelita’s hair a bit. “Besides, getting the whole story about Franz Ho-er, Waldo Schaeffer and Project Carthage is as much my fight as it is yours.”
“Heh, you guys…” The pink-haired girl cracked a smile. “Sissi, William, how ‘bout you? Got any horrible family dysfunction waiting at home that you’re just DYING to escape like the rest of us?”
“Can’t say that I do,” William replied, “but I’ve got at least one good reason to stick around.”
Yumi shot a glare at him. “And that would be?”
“Uhhh…the exercise?”
“I’d have gone with the whole time travel thing,” Sissi interjected, “speaking of which – we won’t exactly HAVE any of these problems with prior commitments if we’re back before we left, right? Is this the sort of time travel that can do that?”
“Uhhh…” Ryoutaro racked his brain for a moment. “…I think the closest that DenLiner has pulled is about an hour on either side. Something about a…what was it, Owner-san?”
“Paradox buffer.”
“Yeah, that. Keeps your existence from exploding everywhere forever by preventing contact with yourself from too close to when you start time traveling.”
“Bwuh?” Odd’s jaw dropped, indicating his failure to parse that sentence.
“It makes it harder for you to convince your past self to do something that makes it impossible for your present self to come back in time and give those directions, and so forth,” Jeremy said. “We used to not even have that problem because the Return To The Past rolled EVERYTHING back, but-”
“RYOUTARO!” Jeremy’s launch into technobabble was aborted by a grade schooler-sized girl barging into the train car. “Big trouble in 2002! Ryuuta and I just got a lock on the Imagin!” The female handed a trading-sized card to the Japanese boy, which glowed with the necessary information as it entered his hand. “Oh? The new guests are still here?”
“Ummm…” Aelita stammered. “…Are we going to have to finish later?”
“Nonsense,” Owner replied. “In fact, we’d like you to stick around for this one. Consider it a training exercise, if you will.”
“You mean, I’ll actually be fighting-“
“Yes, once Ryoutaro guides DenLiner to the proper destination.”
The boy in question pulled a peculiar belt out of nowhere, snapping it around his waist. “Momotaros, let’s go.”
“All right! Time to bust some heads!”
With one forceful motion, Ryoutaro swiped his Liner Pass across the front of the belt’s buckle. “Henshin!”
[Sword Form]
With a flash of light, Ryoutaro was clad in a drab white-and-gray suit of armor with black leggings. Colored plates of armor circled around him, settling on a shade of blood red as Momotaros faded into Ryoutaro, and finally locking onto the core suit. “Next stop, Normandy, 2002! Let’s go, go, go!” Momotaros’s voice booming through the helmet, Kamen Rider Den-O charged towards the front of the train and the means by which DenLiner would reach its destination.
“…THAT’s a Kamen Rider?”
Owner nodded in response to Aelita’s query.
“Well, this might be easier than I thought.”
[Omaha Beach, Normandy – June 6, 2002 – 2:25:02 PM]
An eerie whistle cut through the solemn air as DenLiner roared into existence, beelining for a monstrous humanoid near the edge of the water. The train braked sharply, curving as it stopped to cut the creature away from innocent bystanders.
(Momotaros…did you have to make it such a rough landing?)
*Hey, when you’re always at climax, you gotta be prepared to be rough!*
The front car unfolded to reveal Den-O bursting forth atop DenBird. With one hand on the throttle and another brandishing the DenGashers in Sword configuration, Ryou/Momo made a slashing pass at the kaijin, sparks flying as the blade clashed against rough skin.
Aelita and Hana peeked through the passenger door. “So THAT’s what I’m supposed to be fighting?”
“Mm-hmm. Wanna go help? Can’t exactly leave Momotaros unattended, y’know.”
“I guess if we’ve got everything under control…” The pink-haired girl stepped onto the beach, Liner Pass in one hand. “So…when exactly do I get the belt?”
“Just reach behind you.”
She did so, hand catching against a wide belt whose large buckle featured an eerily familiar design. “So I just snap it on, swipe the pass, and…Henshin?”
Hana giggled. “It doesn’t work if you’re dithering about it! Don’t worry, it’ll feel more natural as you get used to it.”
“That’s what Jeremy said,” Odd snickered from inside the train.
“Oh, shut up.” Taking a deep breath, Aelita steadied herself for a much more deliberate activation sequence. “Henshin.” She brought the Liner Pass down sharply across the belt buckle.
[User Form]
In the same vein as Ryoutaro’s transformation into Den-O, monochrome armor blinked into existence around Aelita’s body…except this time, no colored portions arose. “Funny…this doesn’t feel THAT powerful…”
[…]
Back aboard DenLiner, Owner grimaced. “Tch…without the new train actually at her disposal, our new Densha Rider is only as powerful as Ryoutaro’s Plat Form!”
Jeremy gulped. “Is that…bad?”
“If she’s anything like Ryoutaro was when he first became Den-O, then yes. Especially given that Plat Form has little in the way of attack power.”
“You’re sending her out there without any weapons?” William cried.
“Well, she DOES have the traditional Rider Kick…but unless her confidence outstrips that of Ryoutaro on his first couple sorties, we’d have to rely on bailing her out via possession by another of our Imagin.”
“Was Ryou THAT bad during his first few times out?” Yumi asked.
“I’m told that unless one of us were driving, he’d get his ass kicked easily,” Urataros replied. “Sometimes it’d leave him on the verge of crying.”
“What? Who’s crying?” A burly yellow figure arose from the back corner of the car.
“Ah, Kintaros. I was afraid you’d wind up sleeping through our sales pitch to the newbies.”
[…]
Luckily for the peanut gallery, Aelita gave no quarter to the Imagin. The shortcomings of User Form were outpaced by rehearsed Pencak Silat blows that kept the monster staggering.
“Urgh…Whatever you are, you won’t rob me of my destiny!”
“Likewise.” Another punch to what Aelita was sure was the creature’s solar plexus. “Your first mistake was trying to pull this in MY backyard.”
“And your LAST mistake will be thinking you could get past ME!” A second swipe of Den-O’s Liner Pass sent energy crackling into Ryou/Momo’s sword.
[Full Charge]
“My Hissatsu Attack…Training Day Edition!” The tip of the DenGasher sword flew off, slashing a deep red across the Imagin as Den-O maneuvered his sword. “All right, lady, it’s all you from here!”
Text flickered across the inside of Aelita’s helmet as a course of action was suggested. “Can I REALLY jump that high?...May as well try it!” The gray-armored girl put some 15 feet of air between her and the enemy in a standing leap before swiping her own Pass.
[Full Charge]
Swirls of pink electricity gathered around Aelita’s right foot as she brought it crashing into the helpless Imagin with a resounding “RIDER KIIIIIIIIIICK!” A forward tumble sent her bouncing away from the target, regaining her balance just as it exploded behind her.
“Hmmm…Landing needs a little work, but it’ll do.”
[…]
“Eeeyay, you guys were so COOL out there!” A fourth, purple Imagin greeted the pair of Riders as they stepped aboard DenLiner, clutching a crayon sketch of the previous battle. “Momo-san was all zoom, zooming all over the place, and then you were all bang, crash, kapow, and then you brought both of ‘em together and-“
“I’m just gonna tell Naomi you’ve had enough coffee for today.” Ryoutaro spoke in his own voice once more as his armor faded and Momotaros pulled himself out of his body.
“Do new creatures just keep popping up here or what?” Aelita asked as she also returned to normal.
“Oh, they’ve just had stuff to do in other cars.” Ryoutaro turned to the ‘new’ arrival. “Ryuutaros, this is the new Rider we were sent to look for.”
“Yaaaaay! New friend!” The vaguely dragon-looking Imagin tossed his picture aside and hugged the girl. “Mind if I welcome you? …Wait, don’t answer that!”
“The pleasure’s…all mine, I’m sure…” The embrace finally relaxed as a bell chime resounded throughout the train. All eyes fixed on the source – namely, Owner dangling a diminutive cowbell.
“Your attention, please.” Owner set the bell down and picked up a small box. “I would like to extend a toast to our young guests, and a congratulation in particular to Mademoiselle Aelita Schaeffer – if you would come up here, please?” He opened the box as she did so, revealing a metal case with several cards inside. “These are the passes to travel on the various lines of time that stretch across the world. Just as your Liner Pass and belt designate you as Kamen Rider Den-Ae, so do these proclaim their holder the acting Owner of the time train XANALiner.”
“X…XANALiner?”
The shriek that followed could be heard throughout several centuries.
[END]
[Next Episode Preview]
(clips from the next episode begin rolling)
Toei Announcer: Kamen Rider Den-Ae!
Ulrich: So you’re saying there’s a good reason for the train to be called that?
Owner: Beyond that, it is mere coincidence.
Aelita: I thought you said I’d be more powerful with the train on my side!
Yumi: Either way, we can’t just keep sitting here and doing nothing!
Jeremy: From the looks of this…you won’t have to.
[Title Card: Episode 03: Warriors Together Again! DEN-ARMS Translation!]
Toei Announcer: The truth lies at the end of the line!
“For a commuter train, this actually looks kinda roomy,” Yumi remarked as the Milk Dipper entourage ushered the ex-Lyoko Warriors aboard the time-traveling train.
“I dunno,” Odd replied, “It still looks kinda cramped to me. They couldn’t have at least made it bigger on the inside or someth-“
“Sssssssssshhhhhhhh!” Urataros bolted out of the ‘Madame Crim’ body to put his hand over Odd’s mouth. “We’re already too close as is to being banned from England for that sort of talk!”
“Banned from England? So, is THIS why a Japanese time-traveling agency needs a European counterpart?” Aelita asked as she pried the Imagin away from the boy.
“Not quite, my lady.” A booming voice from the back of the car made everyone’s heads turn. All eyes leveled on a middle-aged man setting aside the fork he was using to chip away at a plate of piled fried rice. “There ARE certain territorial squabbles at work, yes, but our primary reason for bringing you here is far simpler.”
“And that would be…?”
“DenLiner’s business is protecting the timestream by eliminating creatures who travel into the past from a variety of unrealized futures – they have a NASTY habit of attempting to change the future through the use of mass murder.”
“Creatures? Like the Technicolor freakshow you’ve got going here?” Sissi thumbed at Urataros and Momotaros, the latter of which was currently stuffing his ‘human’ shell under a table.
“You could say that our Imagin cohorts, if you will, are rogues from a previous outbreak of such temporal anomalies.” The old man rose. “Once in the service of a man who attempted to link the Earth’s fate to an apocalyptic Japan riddled with their kind, they decided for a variety of reasons to instead assist us, particularly young Ryoutaro, in preserving the flow of time as we know it. Or are intended to eventually know it, depending.”
“Basically you don’t get dental if you unmake the universe,” Momotaros quipped.
“Bear in mind that Sempai’s idea of ‘dental’ is prying out the teeth of anyone who crosses him and swapping them in as needed,” Urataros retorted.
“As for the task at hand…we’ve received new reports of Imagin-like attacks across Europe, but we have no idea what sort of future they’re coming from.” The man known as the Owner of DenLiner withdrew a passport-sized card and handed it to Aelita. “We have invited you here because you are the only ones who can perceive this new threat…and may very well be the only ones who can stop it.”
Kamen Rider Den-Ae
An always-at-climax Code Lyoko crossover by /m/’s Haken Browning
[LEGAL]
Code Lyoko TM and © The MoonScoop group and subsidiaries.
Original Kamen Rider Den-O concept TM/© Ishinomori Productions/Toei Co. Ltd.
This work is a non-profit, non-commercial combination of the above, with certain elements copyleft Team Phantom Tiger.
Episode 2: Ride of a Lifetime! Awaken, New Densha Rider!
“Wait…it’s because we’re experienced time travelers?” Jeremy chimed in.
“In a word, yes,” the young Japanese male finally joined in the conversation. “Somehow, through a series of anomalies in the flow of time around Europe, almost all of you have become Singularity Points. Like us, you can tell when something has changed in the past – and thus go back and fix it.”
“So how would we go about fixing it? We usually just stop bad futures from happening and rewind accordingly.”
“Ah, you already know how to do it backwards,” Owner replied. “Sadly, we do not have such a luxury. Instead, whoever holds the Liner Pass I just gave your friend is required to neutralize the Imagin in the past. They are formidable opponents, however, so to do this the Pass holder must take the form of a Kamen Rider in order to not only fight, but withstand any temporal tricks that might be thrown at them.”
“’Kamen Rider?’” Aelita stared at the Liner Pass in her hands. “…I didn’t want to continue fighting…and yet-“
“We managed to get SOME information about your situation before contacting you,” Ryoutaro interjected. “So I guess the question is…would you rather know peace, or the truth about your parents?”
“You know…I actually always thought I’d need to find the one in order to have the other. If this is what it takes to figure out why what happened to my parents wound up happening, then maybe…”
“So you’ll take the job, then?”
“Under one condition.” Aelita’s hand snaked behind Jeremy, resting on his shoulder. “Any of my friends who wants to come with me gets to, no questions asked. Believe me when I say I wouldn’t even be here without them.”
“Done.” Owner shot a thumbs-up. “I mean, DenLiner itself already has several non-combat personnel on board, myself included…”
“Who said anything about non-combat?” Ulrich cut in. “We can hold our own, right?”
“Regular humans will barely be effective against Imagin, unprotected Singularity Points even more so.” Owner folded his hands behind his back. “Know that if you wish to accompany Miss Schaeffer, you do so at her discretion and your own risk.”
“Well, what if we were all Kamen Riders, too?” Odd asked. “The more, the merrier, right?”
“If that were even possible, yes,” Ryoutaro said. “But only one Rider can exist per Time Train, barring extreme circumstances such as THAT incident with Gaoh.”
“Gaoh?”
“Some dude who tried to hijack a Time Train that could wipe out whole chunks of reality at once. We wound up having to bring in a bunch of Ryou’s future selves to stop him. Shit was SO cash.” Momotaros chuckled at the memory of four Den-Os at once.
“One Rider per train, huh…” Aelita turned toward her friends once more. “Guys, I know you’re still sort of on the fence about this whole Kamen Rider business, and given the circumstances…if it becomes absolutely necessary, I’ll do this alone. You all have lives, things to go home to. I’d rather not put you in danger if you won’t be able to fight alongside me.”
Silence echoed across DenLiner for a minute.
Then, laughter erupted, drawing everyone’s attention to Ulrich. “What…what the heck’s so funny?”
The boy ceased his guffaw. “Do you honestly think you can scare us off by being so poignant? We never had much of an issue balancing our lives with saving the world before, right?”
“Heck, we might actually gain something ourselves just by coming along, at least for the summer,” Yumi cut in. “It’s either this or I spend the next few months shopping for cram schools in Japan while Hiroki tries to get me and Ulrich in a closet together.”
The German blanched at that one before continuing. “…even THAT aside, I’d rather not spend my summer being chewed out by Dad over grades, either.”
“Trust me, whatever crazy family you have, my sisters are FAR worse,” Odd chimed in. “I’m definitely taking my chances with the Princess instead.”
“And did you forget how madly in love with you I am?” Jeremy ruffled Aelita’s hair a bit. “Besides, getting the whole story about Franz Ho-er, Waldo Schaeffer and Project Carthage is as much my fight as it is yours.”
“Heh, you guys…” The pink-haired girl cracked a smile. “Sissi, William, how ‘bout you? Got any horrible family dysfunction waiting at home that you’re just DYING to escape like the rest of us?”
“Can’t say that I do,” William replied, “but I’ve got at least one good reason to stick around.”
Yumi shot a glare at him. “And that would be?”
“Uhhh…the exercise?”
“I’d have gone with the whole time travel thing,” Sissi interjected, “speaking of which – we won’t exactly HAVE any of these problems with prior commitments if we’re back before we left, right? Is this the sort of time travel that can do that?”
“Uhhh…” Ryoutaro racked his brain for a moment. “…I think the closest that DenLiner has pulled is about an hour on either side. Something about a…what was it, Owner-san?”
“Paradox buffer.”
“Yeah, that. Keeps your existence from exploding everywhere forever by preventing contact with yourself from too close to when you start time traveling.”
“Bwuh?” Odd’s jaw dropped, indicating his failure to parse that sentence.
“It makes it harder for you to convince your past self to do something that makes it impossible for your present self to come back in time and give those directions, and so forth,” Jeremy said. “We used to not even have that problem because the Return To The Past rolled EVERYTHING back, but-”
“RYOUTARO!” Jeremy’s launch into technobabble was aborted by a grade schooler-sized girl barging into the train car. “Big trouble in 2002! Ryuuta and I just got a lock on the Imagin!” The female handed a trading-sized card to the Japanese boy, which glowed with the necessary information as it entered his hand. “Oh? The new guests are still here?”
“Ummm…” Aelita stammered. “…Are we going to have to finish later?”
“Nonsense,” Owner replied. “In fact, we’d like you to stick around for this one. Consider it a training exercise, if you will.”
“You mean, I’ll actually be fighting-“
“Yes, once Ryoutaro guides DenLiner to the proper destination.”
The boy in question pulled a peculiar belt out of nowhere, snapping it around his waist. “Momotaros, let’s go.”
“All right! Time to bust some heads!”
With one forceful motion, Ryoutaro swiped his Liner Pass across the front of the belt’s buckle. “Henshin!”
[Sword Form]
With a flash of light, Ryoutaro was clad in a drab white-and-gray suit of armor with black leggings. Colored plates of armor circled around him, settling on a shade of blood red as Momotaros faded into Ryoutaro, and finally locking onto the core suit. “Next stop, Normandy, 2002! Let’s go, go, go!” Momotaros’s voice booming through the helmet, Kamen Rider Den-O charged towards the front of the train and the means by which DenLiner would reach its destination.
“…THAT’s a Kamen Rider?”
Owner nodded in response to Aelita’s query.
“Well, this might be easier than I thought.”
[Omaha Beach, Normandy – June 6, 2002 – 2:25:02 PM]
An eerie whistle cut through the solemn air as DenLiner roared into existence, beelining for a monstrous humanoid near the edge of the water. The train braked sharply, curving as it stopped to cut the creature away from innocent bystanders.
(Momotaros…did you have to make it such a rough landing?)
*Hey, when you’re always at climax, you gotta be prepared to be rough!*
The front car unfolded to reveal Den-O bursting forth atop DenBird. With one hand on the throttle and another brandishing the DenGashers in Sword configuration, Ryou/Momo made a slashing pass at the kaijin, sparks flying as the blade clashed against rough skin.
Aelita and Hana peeked through the passenger door. “So THAT’s what I’m supposed to be fighting?”
“Mm-hmm. Wanna go help? Can’t exactly leave Momotaros unattended, y’know.”
“I guess if we’ve got everything under control…” The pink-haired girl stepped onto the beach, Liner Pass in one hand. “So…when exactly do I get the belt?”
“Just reach behind you.”
She did so, hand catching against a wide belt whose large buckle featured an eerily familiar design. “So I just snap it on, swipe the pass, and…Henshin?”
Hana giggled. “It doesn’t work if you’re dithering about it! Don’t worry, it’ll feel more natural as you get used to it.”
“That’s what Jeremy said,” Odd snickered from inside the train.
“Oh, shut up.” Taking a deep breath, Aelita steadied herself for a much more deliberate activation sequence. “Henshin.” She brought the Liner Pass down sharply across the belt buckle.
[User Form]
In the same vein as Ryoutaro’s transformation into Den-O, monochrome armor blinked into existence around Aelita’s body…except this time, no colored portions arose. “Funny…this doesn’t feel THAT powerful…”
[…]
Back aboard DenLiner, Owner grimaced. “Tch…without the new train actually at her disposal, our new Densha Rider is only as powerful as Ryoutaro’s Plat Form!”
Jeremy gulped. “Is that…bad?”
“If she’s anything like Ryoutaro was when he first became Den-O, then yes. Especially given that Plat Form has little in the way of attack power.”
“You’re sending her out there without any weapons?” William cried.
“Well, she DOES have the traditional Rider Kick…but unless her confidence outstrips that of Ryoutaro on his first couple sorties, we’d have to rely on bailing her out via possession by another of our Imagin.”
“Was Ryou THAT bad during his first few times out?” Yumi asked.
“I’m told that unless one of us were driving, he’d get his ass kicked easily,” Urataros replied. “Sometimes it’d leave him on the verge of crying.”
“What? Who’s crying?” A burly yellow figure arose from the back corner of the car.
“Ah, Kintaros. I was afraid you’d wind up sleeping through our sales pitch to the newbies.”
[…]
Luckily for the peanut gallery, Aelita gave no quarter to the Imagin. The shortcomings of User Form were outpaced by rehearsed Pencak Silat blows that kept the monster staggering.
“Urgh…Whatever you are, you won’t rob me of my destiny!”
“Likewise.” Another punch to what Aelita was sure was the creature’s solar plexus. “Your first mistake was trying to pull this in MY backyard.”
“And your LAST mistake will be thinking you could get past ME!” A second swipe of Den-O’s Liner Pass sent energy crackling into Ryou/Momo’s sword.
[Full Charge]
“My Hissatsu Attack…Training Day Edition!” The tip of the DenGasher sword flew off, slashing a deep red across the Imagin as Den-O maneuvered his sword. “All right, lady, it’s all you from here!”
Text flickered across the inside of Aelita’s helmet as a course of action was suggested. “Can I REALLY jump that high?...May as well try it!” The gray-armored girl put some 15 feet of air between her and the enemy in a standing leap before swiping her own Pass.
[Full Charge]
Swirls of pink electricity gathered around Aelita’s right foot as she brought it crashing into the helpless Imagin with a resounding “RIDER KIIIIIIIIIICK!” A forward tumble sent her bouncing away from the target, regaining her balance just as it exploded behind her.
“Hmmm…Landing needs a little work, but it’ll do.”
[…]
“Eeeyay, you guys were so COOL out there!” A fourth, purple Imagin greeted the pair of Riders as they stepped aboard DenLiner, clutching a crayon sketch of the previous battle. “Momo-san was all zoom, zooming all over the place, and then you were all bang, crash, kapow, and then you brought both of ‘em together and-“
“I’m just gonna tell Naomi you’ve had enough coffee for today.” Ryoutaro spoke in his own voice once more as his armor faded and Momotaros pulled himself out of his body.
“Do new creatures just keep popping up here or what?” Aelita asked as she also returned to normal.
“Oh, they’ve just had stuff to do in other cars.” Ryoutaro turned to the ‘new’ arrival. “Ryuutaros, this is the new Rider we were sent to look for.”
“Yaaaaay! New friend!” The vaguely dragon-looking Imagin tossed his picture aside and hugged the girl. “Mind if I welcome you? …Wait, don’t answer that!”
“The pleasure’s…all mine, I’m sure…” The embrace finally relaxed as a bell chime resounded throughout the train. All eyes fixed on the source – namely, Owner dangling a diminutive cowbell.
“Your attention, please.” Owner set the bell down and picked up a small box. “I would like to extend a toast to our young guests, and a congratulation in particular to Mademoiselle Aelita Schaeffer – if you would come up here, please?” He opened the box as she did so, revealing a metal case with several cards inside. “These are the passes to travel on the various lines of time that stretch across the world. Just as your Liner Pass and belt designate you as Kamen Rider Den-Ae, so do these proclaim their holder the acting Owner of the time train XANALiner.”
“X…XANALiner?”
The shriek that followed could be heard throughout several centuries.
[END]
[Next Episode Preview]
(clips from the next episode begin rolling)
Toei Announcer: Kamen Rider Den-Ae!
Ulrich: So you’re saying there’s a good reason for the train to be called that?
Owner: Beyond that, it is mere coincidence.
Aelita: I thought you said I’d be more powerful with the train on my side!
Yumi: Either way, we can’t just keep sitting here and doing nothing!
Jeremy: From the looks of this…you won’t have to.
[Title Card: Episode 03: Warriors Together Again! DEN-ARMS Translation!]
Toei Announcer: The truth lies at the end of the line!
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