Chapter 1

I Always Wanted To Go To Japan…But Not Like This

"…Ugh, c'mon! The rain is not that bad."

Ken Mason. Average American high school student. Sophomore to be exact. And he was also a huge Anime buff. Specifically anything that had to do with the Sengoku period in Japan. Sengoku Basara is one of his favorite video game franchises. A real shame it didn't get a lot of attention in the states, aside from the third game and…that bastardized version of the first game, "Devil Kings." Seriously, you'd think licensing would know how to deal with culture shock by the early 21st century. Especially with an M rated game. Ugh, the Japanese child audience was WAY more open-minded than that.

His second favorite was the Mega Man franchise. Specifically the Battle Network series.

Right now he was trying to get home from an Anime convention that was in Virginia for only two days annually. A bit of a time crunch because he had class again the next day, but hey it was worth it!

…or it should have been.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEB!

"Move it you jackass!" Ken impatiently yelled. Not at the car in front of him, but four cars down. And his car was just one of many beeps in the automobile choir. Unfortunately there was no response from the receiving end. It had been like this for the past twenty minutes. So, understandably, Ken was get home before night fall so he could finish up the last of his homework before school tomorrow. Finally he got fed up and decided to see what was up.

"Fuck it," he said as he got out of his car and stepped into the afternoon rain. He walked over to the car in front. A red beater that had obviously seen better days. He quickly rapped on the window of the driver's seat. "Hey buddy. This isn't the drive way okay? We got places to go."

No response. Ken looked closer and noticed that the driver…had his head on the steering wheel. "Uuuhhh…dude? You okay?"

Still no response. Now Ken was starting to get more worried than frustrated. Was this guy drunk? Or…dead even? He really hoped in was just the former, but he had no way of knowing for sure unless he checked for a pulse. Ryan tried the door. Unlocked, it would appear, since the door opened, followed by the guy flopping down onto the rain soaked street.

"Uh oh…" Quickly, Ken checked the man's pulse. He had one, and the guy was breathing. Sleeping it looked like, pretty deep one too.

"Great. Drunk." Well at least he wasn't dead. The next step was obvious. Ken pulled out his iPhone and dialed those three numbers that are known for both good and bad reasons.

"Hello? Yeah, I'm calling about a drunk driver on…uhhh…shit I forget the name of the street…uhhhh…yeah…nearby Harper's Ferry…he's passed out. No, he didn't crash he just stopped in the middle of the road. I think he might be drunk…wait how long? C'mon, there's a friggin' line piling up here! Huh? Uhhhh…yeah the keys are still in the ignition…you sure? Okay, I'll move it to the side. Okay thanks…bye—wait hold on, do I need to stick around until the cops get here? No, no one was hurt, no one's car got damaged. It's just a traffic jam here…no, he's out cold, I don't think he'll be getting up soon…alright…okay, thanks. You too."

Ken then hung up the phone and proceeded to pick up the comatose driver and move him over to the passenger side. Ken then got into the driver's seat, closed the door, and drove the beater to the emergency lane on the side of the road. Shortly after, the first two cars in front of Ken started driving immediately, eager to get to wherever it was they needed to go. Home probably. Ken then got out of the beater and went back to his car. After he got in, he immediately applied the accelerator and got back on the speed limit. The other cars follow suite.

Ken kept driving down the road for about hour. By this time it was thundering and lighting and raining REALLY hard. Ken always got nervous whenever he was driving in inclement weather. It was hard to see where he was going, especially since he was driving on a mountainside.

"For once I'd like the weathermen to be accurate in their predictions for once."

He was almost at the point where he would be driving back into Maryland, his home state. If it were not for a bolt of lightning that struck down on the road a few feet in front of him. With the hell scared out of him, Ken applied the breaks hard, but because the road was soaking wet, friction wasn't working. Ken's car swerved around…and dived off the side of the road into the Potomac.

That was the last thing that Ken saw before darkness took him.

…

BANG!

Ken was awoken by the sound of some sort of gunshot. And yelling. Lots and lots of yelling. That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing he noticed was on a grassy field. Groggily he sat up, still not fully aware of where he was or what had happened before this. But he didn't really have time to figure it out. At that moment, two armored men ran up to him, both wielding spears…and pointed at him.

"Whoa WHOA WAIT!" Ken shouted. "What the hell's going on?!"

The two men stopped rushing and stared at the strange boy.

"Kare wa chōdo nani o itta nodesu ka? (What did he just say?)" one of the men asked.

"Yoku wakarimasen (I'm not sure)," the other replied. "Kare wa yaban hitodenakereba naranai. (He must be a barbarian.)"

"Wait," Ken thought to himself. "Japanese? Why are they speaking Japanese?" Come to think of it, now that Ken got a better look at them, they were both wearing armor that you'd see during the Sengoku era in Japan. But what stuck out most to Ken was the banner that both men were carrying on heir backs. An orange banner with a white circle and two lines in the middle of it. Ken knew this symbol well from his World History research project.

Imagawa. One of the warring clans in the Sengoku era. Immediately, Ken was stricken by both confusion and fear. Why was he seeing people from an era that was long gone? Was he dreaming?

"Kanojo no guntai ni gaikoku hito o ninmei suru tame ni sono orokana Nobuna ni makasete kudasai. (Leave it to that fool Nobubna to appoint a foreigner in her army.)"

Nobuna? Did he mean Nobunaga?

"Sorekara kare o koroshimashou. Hinode no ji kara oiharau mōhitotsu no yaban'na obutsu. (Then let's kill him. One more barbarian filth to purge from the land of the rising sun.)"

Uh oh. Dream or not, this was feeling way WAY too real. Ken had to run. He needed to run. But…he couldn't. His mind was screaming at him to move but his body was frozen solid. Was he going to die? Would he wake up if he did? Damn it, none of this made any sense!

The men raised both of their spears in the air and plunged them towards Ken. All he could do was scream as the end was on him.

But it never came, for at that moment, another figure jumped behind them and tackled them both to the ground. The man then ran over to Ken and offered his hand.

"Daijōbudesu ka? (Are you alright?)" the man asked him.

Ken, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, immediately took the man's hand. "Time to put what I've learned in my Japanese class to good use," he thought. "Thanks," Ken said in Japanese.

The man arched his eyebrow at him, as he looked over the strange boy. He was dressed very strangely. A bright blue…yukata of some sort that was split in half with two strands of jagged metal of sorts on opposing sides of the gap. In between the gap there was another piece of clothing with a very strange painting. It showed a boy wearing blue armor of sorts from head to toe, his back facing forward and looking behind him. In front of him were six other sets of armor. Four of them were blue with similar but different designs as the one in front. The remaining two however, were red. As for his leggings, they were blue as well, but they were woven in a very unique fission that the man had never seen before. And his feet…were some sort of blue and black sandals that covered his feet entirely and were held together by black strings. A rather ingenious design. "You look foreign," the man said. "Yet you speak our language?"

"Just a little bit," Ken replied.

"Well I must say you have a very convincing accent," the man replied. "If it weren't for your appearance, you could probably blend right in. Who are you?"

"Ken Mason."

The man was about to give his name in return, but at that point, the other two men were starting to get up. "Introductions later! Let's move boy!" The man then pushed Ken forward, whom took that as his cue to start running.

The shouts were getting louder. Sounds of swords clashing and guns firing filled the air along with them. There was no mistaking it. This was a war zone. Ken new a dream when he thought about one. And this kind of thing was definitely WAY far removed from his imagination. The sounds were real, the air was real, the smell of gunpowder was real, and the adrenaline was real.

This was no dream.

Ken Mason had somehow gone back over six hundred years into the past.

"Okay, so…worry about the how later," Ken muttered in his native langue "Focus on the now."

"What was that?" the man shouted over the noise.

"Oh, it's nothing," Ken replied. "Just thinking to myself in my native tongue."

"I've never had the chance to meet a foreigner before! Where are you from?"

"Ummm…" Ken had to think about this for a bit. The Sengoku era was in the mid fifteen hundreds, and America wouldn't be founded for at least another century or so. "England."

"Engurandou?" the man replied. "Is that a country of the barbarians?"

"Not really sure what you mean by that," Ken replied. "But it's located in Europe. Far removed from the Pacific." To be honest, it wasn't a complete lie. Ken's bloodline on his mother's side did hail from England back in the day. Hell, she even had a photo of the family crest to prove it.

"I've never heard of that place," the man replied. "But judging by your attire, it seems quite exotic."

"…Yeah let's go with that."

"So what brings you to the land of the rising sun?"

BANG!

"Is this really a time to be talking about this?!" Ken yelled as he ducked his head right after he heard a gunshot that sounded way to close to the both of them. "Maybe we should save this for when we're not getting shot at!"

The man gave out a hearty laugh. "It's the life of an adventure, son! We may perish at any moment here, so we might as well learn about each other on the fields of battle. No better place build bonds with brothers in arms!"

"Yeah, except I don't have any arms!" Ken shouted back. "I'm UN-armed!"

"What?!" the man shouted. "Well what in the hell are you doing here without some means of defense?! Are you not part of the house of Oda?!"

"I don't even know how I got here in the first place! The last thing I remember was…" Oh fuck. Was he in a car crash? Wait where was his car?! Where was his stuff?! "Ooooooohhhhh man! If I lost all of my merchandise and electronics I'm going to be so PISSED! I spent years saving up for that stuff!"

"Was what?" the man urged for more information.

"Um…" this man wouldn't know what a car was. If Ken really was blown back into the past, he would have to tread very lightly. One mishap, and all of history could be changed. That would be a huge mess. "Uh, okay, I remember that I was on my way home, and it was raining pretty badly. I got stuck in a thunderstorm. Then this huge bolt of lighting struck down in front of me! Scared the living shit outta me. But…that's the last thing I remember before waking up a few minutes ago in this warzone."

"Hm…that is definitely strange," the man replied. "Perhaps someone brought you here?"

"If they did, I'd love to deck them in the face for dropping me off in the middle of a place like this," Ken expressed his irritation. "So what's the plan?" he asked the man.

"I lost my sword in a fight, so I'm unarmed," the man replied. "And you don't appear to be armed either."

"No, I'm not."

"Then for now we need find Oda. Without effective methods to fight, we're as good as dead! She'll make sure the both of us stay safe in this battle."

Wait…did he say "she?" "You're talking about Oda Nobunaga right?"

"What? No, her name's—"

BANG!

The man suddenly dropped to the ground.

"SHIT!" Ken dropped down on his knees to avoid getting shot himself. "Old man! You okay?!"

The man coughed. "A stray bullet…" The part of the armor where his heart was began to bleed out profoundly. "I don't believe it…"

"Hey, hey, c'mon! You can't die on me yet! We gotta get to your master! Oda will be able to help remember?!" Ken placed both of his hands on the wound trying to stop the bleeding.

The man grabbed Ken's wrist. "No…kid…it's too late…" he said weakly. "K…Ken…Ma…Mahson…am I…pronouncing that correctly…?"

Ken chuckled grimly. "Just Ken is fine, gramps."

The man chuckled back, only to cough some more. "Listen…I…won't be able to live…my dream…of becoming a lord of my own province…"

"Lord…?"

"Yes…heh…it's ironic…ever since I was a child…I dreamed of adventure…I served Imagawa…only to leave them behind to serve…the lord of my birth place…Owari…I dreamed…of becoming my own feudal lord…and being surrounded…by many of the finest women in Japan…" that last part he said with a chuckle.

"Uhhh…okay, I won't judge you if you want to have a harem, cuz that's probably the norm in this era," Ken said, not really expecting that last part. "But there's still a chance you can live that dream!" Ken then proceeded to carry the man, but was stopped by a tighter squeeze on his wrist.

"Leave me, son," he said. "I'll only be a burden to you…listen…I know…this may be asking a lot…especially for a foreigner…but…would you do me the honor…of carrying on my dream…in my stead…?"

After hearing that, Ken wasn't really sure how to respond. "Uhh…I…I don't know…"

"It's…fine if you can't…this isn't your war to fight…but…at the very least…you should stay…with the house of Oda…until you can find a way back to your home land…their ruler…they call her a fool…but…I know…she cares very deeply about her people…so…you'll be in good hands…in this war…"

Again with the "she." Why was he referring to Nobunaga as a female?

"Here…take this…" the man then reached under his collar and took out…something strange…"This amulet was given to me by a friend of mine a long time ago…it's served as a good luck charm to me…but…seems my luck's run out…perhaps…it may serve you well…" the man then started coughing up blood.

Ken, feeling extremely guilty that he couldn't do anything to save him, reluctantly took the amulet. It was a black circle about the average size of a palm. The edges of the circle were colored blue. Ken wasn't really sure what to make of this thing. But more importantly…"Hey…I never got your name gramps…"

"I…am…Kinoshita…Tōkichirō…"

"…hold on…Kino…wasn't that name used by…OH FUCK!"

"You mean you're Toyotomi Hideyoshi?! You can't die here!" Ken yelled in desperation. "You're supposed to serve under Nobunaga and unite all of Japan! If you die here the entire history of the world's going to get screwed up!"

"I've…been trying…to tell you…Nobunaga…is not the name of Owari's leader…it's Oda…Nobu…na…" Hideyoshi gave out one last breath then fell still. He was now dead. One of the most legendary warriors in Japan had just died. And right in front of Ken.

"Shit…SHIT!" Ken was really starting to freak out now. "Okay…okay, think Ken, think! You're stuck in the past and the most prominent figure in Japanese history just died earlier than he should have. Are you absolutely positive this isn't a dream?" Ken then slapped is face as hard as he could. The pain stung his face pretty hard. But in spite of that the scene did not change.

This really wasn't a dream.

"Fuck me…how the hell did this even happen?!" Seriously how does nearly dying in a car crash constitute being dropped in the middle of the Sengoku era? Was this God's idea of some practical joke?

BANG!

A bullet just whizzed past Ken's leg. "SHIT! Okay…none of that's going to matter if I end up biting the dust! I'd better find a place to lay low until this fight blows over." Except…looking around him he didn't really see anywhere that would make a good hiding spot in this battleground. He would have to be extremely lucky to survive this without getting caught in the crossfire. "Luck…" Ken then looked at the amulet that Hideyoshi gave him. "What the heck is this thing anyway?" Ken inspected the amulet more closely. Just then, the black circle started to glow green and lit up like a Christmas tree. Startled from the sudden burst of light, Ken dropped the amulet and shielded his eyes. However as he uncovered them, he noticed something both familiar and bizarre.

The amulet was some how projecting a green wire frame of an object that Ken knew to well in mid air. The Progress PET from Mega Man Battle Network 5 and Rock Stream, the anime. To top it off, the physical matter of said object was beginning to materialize on the frame from left to right. It was the I conic blue PET held by the main protagonist of the series, Lan Hikari. Or Net Hikari, depending on which translation you want to stick to. Yes, Net, not Netto, that's a mistranslation. And above the PET five Battle Chips materialized each bearing a Navi emblem. Ken recognized them right away.

Bass, Guts Man, Search Man, Fire Man, and Charge Man.

"Uh…okay…that's…really out of place for this era…" Ken walked over to get a better look at what was happening. Instinctively, and without even bothering to question what was happening, he grabbed the PET and the Battle Chips out of their mid air suspension. Strangely, they felt…heavier than the toys he had. Actually, they felt like they were actually made of metal than plastic. As a testament to this, the screen of the PET lit up…in a green color, just like in the anime instead of grayscale like the toy.

A pop up message displayed on the screen: "ACTIVATING MATRIX…" The amulet on the ground then displayed a similar message: "ESTABLISHING CONNECTION TO PROGRESS PET…" within a few seconds both devices simultaneously displayed the same message: "COMPLETE!" The display changed once again. "PLACE MATRIX ON BACKSIDE OF RIGHT HAND."

"Matrix?" Ken looked at the amulet on the ground. "This thing?" He leaned down to pick it up. It was displaying the same message as the PET. "So…like this?" Reluctantly, and unsure of what was going to happen, Ken placed the…"Matrix," as it were, on the back of his right hand as instructed. Immediately, spreading from his palms up to his shoulder and the rest of is hand was a set of blue armored plating. It had formed into a gauntlet of some sort.

"Whoa, the fuck?!" It happened so fast that Ken was slow to react before it was done. "Get off!" Ken tried to pry off the gauntlet starting with his shoulder, but it was no use. That thing was stuck on like a giant wad of Gorilla Glue. However, as he was trying in vein to get it off, he noticed something odd about the area on his upper arm. There was a black oval-like indentation, the exact same shape as the Progress PET. "Is…that a docking station?" Why the hell would a gauntlet of any type need one for that?

Ken looked down at the Matrix. Yet another message was displayed this time. "MATRIX INSTALATION COMPLETE. INSERT NAVI CHIP AT WILL TO ACTIVATE HENSHIN PROCEDURE."

"Henshin…? The Japanese word for 'transform'…wait…" Ken took another look at the Battle Chips he had in his hand. "Navi Chips…wait…does this mean…if I insert a Navi Chip…"

He didn't have time to finish that thought. At that moment, a white horse jumped over him. "WHOA, FUCK!" Ken, startled, fell flat on his butt, both from the scare, but mostly to avoid being hoofed in the head. It was the rider of the horse however, that drew his attention. It was a girl…with long flowing blond hair. She was decked out in black armor and decorated with a long flowing red cape.

"A…girl…warrior?" Ken knew there were a few girl warriors in the Sengoku era, but he knew for a fact that there weren't any with blonde hair like that. Who was she? Was she a foreigner as well like him?

Ken watched as the girl charged straight towards a soldier of the Imagawa, whom charged at her too, with a spear aimed straight at her. Both were closing in on each other fast. But then, just as the spear was about to strike the girl, she jumped from her horse and spun around in mid air to avoid the strike; the spear only cutting part of her cape. She counter attacked by drawing out a katana as she spun, slashing the man through the waist, cutting through his armor. Immediately the man, fell off his horse as it ran off, leaving him to die.

As for the girl, she landed safely on her feet, her face filled with confidence and a smirk to go with it. However, another Imagawa soldier in on his own horse, and jumped off to attack with his own katana. Immediately the girl turned around to block the strike. Though successful in avoiding a direct strike, the girl's sword was cut in half by the Imagawa soldier.

The broken tip of the blade flew through the air…and landed right in front of Ken. "FUCK!" Ken yelled as he staggered backwards. "Okay, yeah, if it wasn't clear to me then it is now. This is no dream for sure!"

"I'll have your head on a pike, Oda!" The soldier threatened violently.

"Oda?" Ken thought. "Her?! No, that…that can't be right! Oda Nobunaga is a guy!"

The girl readied what was left of her sword in a defensive stance.

"Shit…she can't fight back like that! A broken sword is way to blunt to do any damage!" Without thinking, Ken grabbed the broken tip of the blade and ran towards the Imagawa warrior. "Take a hike, pal!" Ken shouted in English as he threw the broken part of the blade like a stick.

The soldier turned in the direction of where Ken had shouted, but didn't react in time to avoid being hit in the face by the blade. A vertical cut appeared on the right side of the man's face. "Agh! Who dares?!"

"That'd be me, asswipe!" Ken shouted, switching back to Japanese as he stood in front of the girl. "You wanna fight, try me for a change!"

"You?" the Imagawa warrior just laughed as another soldier rode in on his own horse. "Take a good look at yourself boy! You have no armor, no weapon! What kind of Lord sends a soldier into battle with no means to defend themselves?!"

Ken then realized his mistake…well sort of. "Oh God, if this Matrix thing doesn't work like I think it does I'm so screwed."

"And from the looks of him, he's a barbarian as well!" the other soldier chimed in. "Appointing a foreigner who can't even fight. More proof that that the lord of Oda is the worst! Have you no shame, Nobuna?"

The girl behind him just growled.

"Okay seriously, what the hell is wrong with everyone?!" Ken thought to himself as he looked at the girl in question. "Why does everyone keep insinuating that Nobungaa is…"

"Y'know what? Forget it, I'll come back to it later," Ken said slipping into his native tongue again.

The girl raised her eyebrow at hearing a language that was both familiar to her…yet at the same time not so. His accent was…different from the last foreigner she met. He was saying similar words, but certain vowels sounded…shorter rather than long.

As for the soldiers, they couldn't make heads or tails of what he just said. Not that it mattered to them.

"Okay, so, couple thing's I gotta correct you on," Ken started. "First, I'm not with this 'Nobuna' character I keep hearing about. I'm on my own."

"You're…unaligned?" the soldier on the horse spoke, both confused and skeptical.

"Preposterous," the soldier next to him said. "Why would you be in this battle if not with Oda or Imagawa."

"It's…complicated…" Ken replied, trying to avoid an explanation. "And it's not a story I have time to tell." He was pretty sure these guys weren't in the mood to listen to an origin story. And even if they were, they wouldn't believe him, much less be able to make sense of it. "And second, I am armed." "Sort of," he added mentally as he pulled out the PET, face forward towards the men. "Even if this doesn't work, a simple scare tactic might be enough."

"What…is that?" The foot soldier asked. "A…blue box?"

"Here goes nothing," Ken said in English. "BASS! NAVI CHIP IN! DOWNLOAD!" Ken quickly took the Bass Navi Chip and inserted it into the slot on the right side of the PET. What happened next startled everyone, Ken included.

"SLOT IN! BASS! READY TO DOCK!"

The American baritone voice came from the PET but it was pretty loud. So loud in fact that it might as well have been in stereo. To top off the dramatic announcement, a brief hologram of Bass's Emblem was projected outside the screen, just a little bit larger than the PET. It vanished quickly as it appeared.

The soldiers started looking around for the source of the voice. The girl, just as startled as the Imagawa soldiers but didn't mimic them by looking around. She knew it was coming from…that thing, whatever it was.

Ken on the other hand, was more confused than startled. "Okay…I…definitely don't remember the PET doing that in the game or the anime…wait…did it say 'dock?'" Ken quickly looked at the screen on the PET. The words, "READY TO DOCK," were being displayed under an diagram of the PET being inserted into a vertical docking station on a silhouette of an upper right arm…

"Okay," Ken muttered to himself in English. "So I guess this is next?" Ken then inserted the PET into the space on the gauntlet on his arm.

"LOADING!"

This freaked out the soldiers once more. "Who said that?!"

"Where is that voice coming from?!"

Ken then saw the Matrix on his hand light up showing a display starting at "0%." It quickly started counting up to 100%, accompanied by Bass's emblem being filled in the circle in a clockwise fission. Once it was finished…

"SYSTEM! READY!"

It was at this point that Ken was starting to put two and two together. "So…wait does this Matrix seriously work like a…fuck it, rolling with it." In an attempt intimidate the two Imagawa even further, Ken raised is lower arm in the air with the back of his hand facing front, accompanied by his left hand on his now vertical upper arm. With a serious look on his face, Ken shouted a word he had always wanted to say before slapping Bass's Emblem.

"HENSHIN!"

SLAM!

"ACCESS GRANTED! JACK IN! BASS! POWER UP!"

"YOU ARE NOTHING!" a deep intimidating baritone voice shouted out.

As the last announcement spoke, bright flashes of gold surrounded Ken on his shins, lower arms, shoulders, head, and in front of his chest. The light formed into double ringed golden greaves around Ken's shins, his shoes turning into black boots with a white accent at the bottom. Black gauntlets appeared on his lower arms with golden rings at the top in the elbow areas with a golden spike sticking upwards on the sides of each of them. His hands were then coated entirely in white. On his shoulders, two large golden spikes formed, pointing upwards, and on his head formed a gold and black helmet that had for sharp ends sticking out behind his heard almost looking like bat ears of sorts. The front of the helmet had a blue cross shaped diamond of sorts, and on the sides of his ears were grey circles that were blue in the middle. The sides of Ken's face became outlined in purple, and his eyes changed from a bright emerald, to a vicious crimson. Bass's emblem formed on his torso as a black circle with gold plating on the sides at first. But as soon as it did, an invisible force slashed at the emblem, leaving behind the iconic scar that is known for. A black body suit formed from the emblem covering the rest of Ken's body, with two purple lines descending from the bottom of the emblem in a zigzag form at first, then going straight as they ended right at the greaves. And finally, a brown cloth formed around is neck and extended into a full grown cloak cover the entirety of Ken's body, save for his head. After this, the transformation was complete.

Ken Mason was now assuming the form of .

"Wh-what kind of sorcery is this?!" the foot soldier yelled in fear.

"Akuma!" The horse ridding soldier shouted, equally terrorized. "A devil walks among us!"

"I'm afraid you're wrong on both accounts," the Bass-transformed Ken spoke in a voice that was deep, both polite and intimidating. "This is no form of magic, nor am I some sort of devil from the depths of hell. Although from your perspective, I suppose that assumption is understandable. In any case…" Bass then raised his left right hand vertically from himself. "If you value your life…I suggest you run. BASS BUSTER!"

At his command, Bass's gauntlet split open and mechanically shifted into his default weapon of choice, enlarging the gauntlet by a few inches, and replacing the hand with the gold barrel of the buster. He then pointed it at the two Imagawa warriors and fired a shot.

The bullet of purple plasma flew right between them and exploded into a brilliant purple color. The men turned tail and ran all the while screaming the Japanese word for monster, "bakemono" at the top of their lungs.

"Well," Bass said. "I doubt they'll be coming back anytime soon."

"Wh…what…are you…?" the girl behind him asked. "Are you…some kind of Kishin?"

"If by Kishin you mean some sort of evil spirit, then no," Bass replied. "I'm as human as they come."

"No human that I know of can pull off sorcery like that," the girl countered.

"Like I said with those two imbeciles, what you saw transpire was not the work of some supernatural practice," Bass explained. "At least, not entirely, as far as I'm aware."

"Eh?" the girl raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that…you're not sure what you just did?"

"More like I'm not sure how it was possible for me to do it," Bass corrected. "My transformation you just witnessed; I was unaware I could do that until just a moment ago. In fact, I'm not really sure how I ended up on this battlefield in the first place."

"…you…you don't know why you're in a battle? All of Japan is at war! How could you stumble into a fight without knowing that?!"

Bass just sighed. How in the world was he going to explain this? Unfortunately, before he could even get a chance to do so, someone interrupted him.

"Get away from Nobuna-sama, Imagawa scum!"

Bass turned to the source of the voice. Yet another horseback rider, but this time it was…another girl. She had long burnette hair tied in a pony tail, her face fierce looking with deep sapphire eyes. She was wearing grey armor plating, underneath it, a dark blue yukata. The girl was also wielding a massive halberd, something that Bass was pretty sure the Sengoku era didn't have…at least not from what he researched for that one paper he did in his world history class. However…what stood out most to Bass was…her chest…it was bouncing pretty wildly as she was riding towards them.

"O…kay…?" Ken thought inside his mind. "How…how does a breast plate bounce? It's made of metal! Hell, how are her boobs even able to bounce that much in the first place?! Okay, yeah, she's riding horseback but still, that's like anime girl anatomy right there!"

"Riku! Hold!" the girl said. "This man saved my life!"

The girl, now identified as Riku, pulled back on her horse's reigns, causing her to stop right in front of them. She eyed Bass suspiciously. "Is this true?"

Bass's only reply was a curt nod.

"I've never seen a samurai like you before," Riku commented, making no effort to hide the skepticism in her voice. "Who are you?"

"In this form, I suppose I would be called Bass. And I'm definitely no samurai."

"Bah…su…?" Riku repeated, struggling to pronounce a short "a" instead of a long one. "What do you mean by…'in this form?'"

"Enough," the blonde girl interrupted. "There will be plenty of time for questions later, Katsuie. Get the Imagawa off of my land for now."

"Yes ma'am," Riku replied. She rode off on her horse, a platoon of other horsemen following her.

"Katsuie…" Ken thought. "Wait…as in Shibita Katsuie?! Her?!" It was then that he noticed the flags that the rest of the horses were carrying. Yellow color, with a black silhouette of a lotus flower.

The emblem of the house of Oda.

"The way she was talking to the blonde girl…don't tell me…"

"Am I correct in assuming you're Oda Nobunaga?" Bass inquired.

The girl raised an eyebrow at this. "Who's Nobunaga?"

This caused Bass to raise his own eyebrow in return. "So…you're not the Daimyo of Owari?"

"Of course I am!" the girl replied, irritated that this mysterious figure had very little knowledge of what was happening around them. "I'm the lord of the Oda! Oda Nobuna!"

"Nobun…wait…so…she's a genderbent version of Nobunaga?!" Ken thought. He definitely did not remember reading this in any of his research notes of the Sengoku era. "Then…if Katsuie is gender bent as well...does that mean…" The gears were starting to turn in Ken's head. Out of all of the students in his classes, Ken was always the best at putting two and two together with nothing more than implications.

"If you'll excuse my, milord," Bass said before turning in the direction Katsuie was headed in.

"Wait, where are you going?" Nobuna asked.

"You're enemies are the Imagawa correct? I'll go aid Katsuie and drive them back."

"You…you're fighting with us?" Nobuna was definitely not expecting an unaligned stranger to suddenly become an ally. "Why? What do you have to gain from allying with us?"

"It's not a matter of what I want," Bass said. "I owe a debt to someone who save my life mere moments ago on this battle field, sacrificing himself in the process. And besides…there's something I need to confirm."

"Tokichiro wasn't supposed to die that soon," Ken thought solemnly. "Between his death and my intervention, history is screwed up pretty badly. But…if my assumption is correct…well, until I know for sure, best to make sure history follows its course for now. It'll also give me some good practice using Bass's abilities."

"I'll meet up with you later," Bass said before he dashed forward at inhuman speed, kicking up dust in Nobuna's face, causing her to cough and spit.

After she rubbed the last of the dirt out of her eyes, she looked in the direction Bass had fled off to. He was nowhere to be found.

"That boy…what a strange barbarian…"

…

Shibita Katsuie, the strongest general in Oda Nobuna's court, was striking down warrior after warrior of the Imagawa with her massive halberd while riding on horseback. She had lost count of how many she had struck down. Ten? Twenty? It didn't really matter to her. When it came to the battle field, no one could match her.

Or so she thought.

Just as she was about to take down a few more Imagawa troops, several streaks of purple light flew right by her and struck the horses the troops were riding on at the hooves. This frightened them as they stood up and threw their riders off of their saddles, running away from whatever madness had threatened them.

Katsuie, equally as surprised, was struggling to keep her horse under control as well. "What the hell?! Where did that come from?!"

WHOOSH!

A brown an black blur speed by her and lept into the air. Shielding her eyes from the sunlight, the Oda general looked into the sky…and found the form of the unknown samurai that Nobuna had said saved her. "What's he doing here?"

Bass grabbed his cloak and tossed it aside, the object vanishing into a burst of blue voxels.

"It…disappeared?!" Katsuie observed, quite astonished.

Bass, his right hand still formed into his buster, took aim at the soldiers and fired three more shots at the platoon of Imagawa soldiers. All of them missed. Purposefully, of course.

"If the objective is to just repel the Imagawa," Ken thought as he landed in between Katsuie and the soldiers. "Then scare tactics should be effective enough. Getting to Imagawa Yoshimoto's station might be asking for too much though…but there's gotta be at least one soldier here who can verify my assumption."

"Bahsu?" Katsuie confirmed.

"Shibita Katsuie, correct?" Bass asked.

"Y…yes?"

"I hope you don't mind if I led you my assistance." Bass then morphed his buster back into his right hand.

Both Katsuie and the Imagawa soldiers gasped at this sight.

"His…his hand!" one of the soldiers cried out.

"It can transform into a weapon of the barbarians!" another spoke. "What is he?!"

"Kenmono! (Beast!)" Yet another warrior shouted. "He's some kind of inhuman beast!"

Bass sighed. "I get the feeling that's going to be a trending assumption. I'm no beast. Nor am I a devil or an evil spirit. If you want to find out what I truly am…DARK ARM BLADE!"

Bass held both of his hands out at his sides, and from them emerged blades of dark purple energy. "Then come and face me…if you think you posses the courage."

"Kill him!" one of the soldiers yelled.

All five Imagawa soldier charged straight at Bass. The first one who reached him tried to cut Bass down with a jumping strike, but Bass simply parried the attack by swinging one of his blades against the soldier's sword, cutting it in half. The stunned warrior didn't have time to react as Bass simply kicked him away.

Another soldier tried to come at him from the side, but Bass was too quick. He ducked under the soldier's vertical swing and swung out his leg, causing the victim to trip and fall forward towards Bass. With his blade still in hand, Bass swung an uppercut punch to the soldiers gut. The force sent the soldier flying several feet back into the field.

Bass then went on the offensive, charging at the three remaining soldiers. He slashed the armor of one of them at the side, pushing him to the ground by kicking him in the back, spinning around and performing an upper slash at the front of the next soldier, cutting his front place completely in half, causing him to fall over backwards from the force of the slash.

The last warrior however, managed to get the jump on Bass…almost. As Bass turned to face the last warrior, he saw his sword just inches away from his body. Bass brought up his Dark Arm Blades in and X, blocking the strike from the warrior. The two locked blades, struggling the push the other back. It was a stalemate between the too. Until Bass did something that the warrior wasn't expecting.

He spit in his face.

The soldier gagged, loosing his composure, giving Bass an opening. He forced the soldier back, cutting through his swords, and then through his chest place in an X-slash. When the armor piece fell off, Bass kicked the warrior square in the chest, sending him flat on his back.

Bass then turned to the remaining two Imagawa troops. They looked rather reluctant to face him. Bass pointed one of his blades at them. "Your leader, Imagawa Yoshimoto is the reigning Daimyo of the house of Imagawa, correct."

"Y-yes, she is…why…?"

"So Yoshimoto IS a girl in this world…welp…if Nobuna is a genderbent version of Nobunaga, and ditto Katsuie, then I guess it would make sense that Yoshimoto is a princess as well…wonder if there are other figures in this world that follow that motif."

Bass then dismissed his blades. "Return to your mistress and I suggest you think twice about invading Owari, lest you incur the wrath of—AGH!" He was then interrupted by an arrow struck his left sholder.

Katsuie then lept off her horse to swat away more incoming arrows from striking Bass. "I suggest you be more aware of your surroundings when engaging the enemy, Bahssu."

"I'll keep that in mind," Bass replied. "But for future reference, if you pronounce the 'a' in my name like the last syllable in your name, I would appreciate it."

"Sirabu?" Katsue inquired.

"Wrong word. Character then, pronounce the 'a' in a similar fission as the last character of your name is pronounced."

"Katsui…eh…B…eh..s…Behssu?"

"…close enough."

"What are they talking about?" one of the soldiers asked the other.

"Barbarian things no doubt," the other replied.

BANG! BANG!

Bass and Katsuie looked behind them and saw a few riflemen firing a few rounds into the forest, most likely to subdue the archers.

"Katsuie-dono!" The lead Oda soldier rode in next to Katsuie. "More Imagawa troops have been…spotted…who is he?" The Oda soldier pointed to Bass.

"An ally. B…Bass…he says in name is."

"Correction," Bass said. "It is not my real name. Bass is the name of this form that I have assumed."

"W…what…?" Katsuie spoke, not really understanding

"Form…he…he has different forms?!" one of the Imagawa said. "He really is a beast!"

Bass looked at the soldiers again. "I thought I told you to get lost," he spoke impatiently. "HELLS ROLLING!"

Two large dark rings formed around Bass's arms, who then proceeded to throw them at the soldiers. The rings rolled on the ground and right past the men, scaring them into retreating, screaming at the top of their lungs.

Both Katsuie and the Oda soldiers stared with their mouths agape.

"I believe you said something about enemy reinforcements?" Bass addressed the Oda soldier.

"A-ah…yes, about a thousand men or so."

"A thousand?!" Katsuie exclaimed "There are still that many?!"

Loud war cries filled the air over the horizon. Bass, Katsuie and company turned to the direction of the sound and saw…an army of one thousand Imagawa soldiers.

"No way…" Katsuie said. "We can't defeat that many of them!"

"Of course we can," Bass said nonchalantly.

Katsuie looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Take a look at them! We've got too many wounded and dead on our side! There's no way we can beat their numbers!"

"Numbers do not win battles," Bass insisted. "What matters is how you adapt and overcome."

"Incoming!" one of the Oda called out.

Bass turned to the woods to see more archers fire arrows at them.

"Damn it! Drop and return fire!" Katsuie, Bass and the rest of the Oda soldiers dropped to the ground, as the soldiers began to fire back with their muskets.

"We seem to be pinned down," Bass stated.

"Obviously!" Katsuie shouted back. "Between those archers and the reinforcements, we're sitting ducks out here!"

"So then we need to get rid of the archers," Bass deduced. "And I've got just the form to do it…but…how to I change form…do I just think it or…"

Suddenly a holographic pop up screen appeared in front of Bass, displaying five Navi Emblems, one of them being greyed out, as it was the form he was already using.

"Wh-what is that?!" Katsuie asked, startled by the objects sudden appearance.

"My method of adapting to the situation," Bass said as he stood up.

"Get down! You'll get shot!"

Bass ignored Katsuie's warning as he slammed his hand on the Search Man emblem.

"JACK IN! SEARCH MAN! POWER UP!"

"TARGET LOCKED!"

The loud announcement scared the hell out of Katsuie and the Oda, and quite possibly the Imagawa archers, which would explain why they stopped firing all of a sudden.

Bass's armor, body suit, and emblem disbursed, but the voxels that made up the armor until recently remained. The frame of Ken, which was hard for Katsuie and the others to make out as it was shrouded in a blue light, grew about a foot or two taller. The voxels then formed into green army camouflage colored armor, Ken's legs being almost completely covered in it, with silver plated oval at the knees. A chest plate formed around him that covered his upper torso, and shoulder pads that were silver and outlined in grey formed on his shoulders. His left hand became armored with a green army gauntlet, the Search Man emblem appearing on the back. And as for his right, it morphed into a large and very long sniper rifle, completely coated in camouflage. A three banded grey helmet formed, with one ring around the whole of Ken's head, and a headband on top of it. There was an antenna sticking out on top of the head band. In the spaces between the head band and the base of the helmet, a dark grey dome formed, creating the rest of the helmet. The ears were covered by copies of Search Man's emblem. He then grew shoulder length auburn hair. Ken's eyes remained red, but green face paint appeared down the bridge of his nose and on his chin. Finally, a dark grey body suit spread from the chest plate and covered the rest of his body.

Ken had now transformed from Bass into Search Man.

"Y…you…!" Katsuie was having trouble trying to find the words for what she just witnessed, same for the Oda warriors.

"Transformed," Search Man spoke, in not as deep a voice as Bass, but it was very serious and blunt. "In this form I'm known as Search Man. And spoiler alert: It's not getting old anytime soon."

Search Man then knelt down and pointed his gun at the woods. "Alright…where are you hiding…" he muttered in English.

Katsuie gave a look of confusion, not knowing what he had just spoken in an unfamiliar language.

A clear blue screen slid down from Search Man's helmet over his left eye, a reticle appearing on it. From Search Man's point of view, he was locating the positions of the archers, one by one.

"There you are," he said in English as he found each of them. "SCOPE GUN!"

A bright line of purple light shot from Search Man's gun and into the forest. From there several screams could be heard. Search Man fired again and again, moving is gun ever so slightly, as he targeted the shoulders of the archers.

Eventually, they got the message, and turned tail. Search Man saw it himself.

"That takes care of them," he said, back to Japanese this time.

"You…you shot them all down?" one of the Oda soldiers spoke with bewilderment.

"I only crippled them," Search Man replied. "If the objective is to repeal the Imagawa, using scare tactics is a more effective method."

"But they'll just return stronger!" Katsuie argued back. "They'll come back and invade us at a later time!"

"Not if they know I'm on the side of the Oda. Besides, even if I had killed them, several more would take their place. Imagawa Yoshimoto has the resources to do so. This way, we can make sure that the Imagawa don't work up the nerve to trespass again, at least not while we have an edge over them. Besides…" Search Man then turned to the one thousand men closing in on them. "There's something to be said about living victories being more intimidating than dead bodies."

Search Man then took aim with his gun once more and began targeting the legs of the horses in front. "SCOPE GUN!" He began shooting once more, causing the horses in front to topple, sending the group into somewhat of a scattered mess. However it didn't stop all of them from advancing.

"Musketeers!" Katsuie ordered. "Provide supporting fire for…um…"

"Search Man," the army Navi corrected.

"Se…se…Seruchumahn!"

"…close enough."

The Oda soldiers did as they were told and formed behind Search Man, providing supporting fire. Though primitive, the guns, for this time period anyways, did their job well enough. Not all of them hit their mark, save for the camouflage clad Navi, but those that did ended up severely crippling their targets. But more soldiers were advancing than retreating. Their approach was inevitable.

"Time to switch then," Search man said as he commanded the pop-up to appear again. "Let's see…I could try a crowd control maneuver like Roy Mustang using Fire Man…but then again, that might end up causing a forest fire, and I don't have any aqua type Navis I can transform into…come to think of it, I don't have any aqua Battle Chips, or any Battle Chips with me for that matter. They're all back in my car…whereever that ended up…"

"Another form?" Katsuie asked, this time genuinely curious.

"Yes," Search Man replied. "This time one that's got a bit more oomph, as it were."

"Oomfu?" Katsuie replied, not really understanding what that meant.

"A boost in strength in other words." Search Man than slammed his hand on the Guts Man emblem.

"JACK IN! GUTS MAN! POWER UP!"

"NO GUTS, NO GLORY!"

Once again the armor and body suit vanished, but the voxels remained. Ken's body grew bugger and bulkier. On his feet and shins appeared large yellow greaves with square shaped feet and black pads at the bottom. His hands became covered in yellow armored gauntlets with two yellow dots on each of them, his hands becoming covered in light grey. His chest became covered in a large round red metal chest place, with yellow armored openings at the shoulders, and two large yellow cylinders appeared on Ken's back, and on his chest, the emblem of Guts Man appeared. Several sheets of light grey metal extended from the chest plate, covering Ken's arms. From the bottom of the chest plate, a black body suite formed on Ken's legs, with two bright blue stripes on the sides. Finally a massive metal jaw formed on Ken's face, with Guts Man's emblem on the sides, followed by a large square yellow helmet with a green gem on the brow area. Within the black spaces of the eyes, Ken's eyes changed to green.

Ken was now transformed from Search Man into Guts Man.

"GUUUUUUUUUUUTS!" Guts Man shouted as he rapidly banged his fists against his chest, giving the Imagawa soldiers quite the scare. "GUTS GUTS GUTS GUTS GUTS GUTS GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTS! HEEEEEEEEERRRRE'S GUTS MAN!"

"Wh-what is that?!"

"It's a beast! The Oda have a transforming beast in their army!"

"Guts Man getting really tired of people thinking that first," Guts Man said in a deep burly voice. "But it not matter. Guts Man will send you packing either way. RUUUH!"

Guts Man leapt high into the air and morphed his right hand into a black hammer.

"GUUUUUTS HAMEEEEEEEEEERRRRR!"

Guts Man slammed down on the ground hammer first, sending a shockwave through the ground, causing several horses and soldiers to go flying in the air.

"Kill it!" one of the soldiers cried out. "Kill it, kill it! KILL IT!"

Several soldiers advanced to Guts Mans position to strike him with their swords and spears. But all of them just broke off upon contact.

"Tee hee," Guts man chuckled with a grin. "That tickled."

The soldiers started to back away from Guts Man…only to be blindsided by Katsuie. Guts Man gave a quizzical look at her.

"What?" she said. "You're hogging all the fun."

"Ooooooohhhhh! Warrior girl want to join in on curb stomp?" Guts Man asked excitedly.

"C…curubu…sutonpu?"

"It mean something like one-sided battle," Guts Man said.

"Ah," Katsuie understood. "Well then, how about a contest to see who can scare off the most Imagawa cronies?"

"Oh, it's on, guts." Guts Man then morphed his hand into a yellow clad gun. "GUTS MACHINE GUN!" Guts Man then sprayed a volley of photon bullets at the nearby soldier's horses, scaring the crap out of them and causing them to throw their riders off.

Katsuie charged into the fray as well, swinging her halberd around wildly, knocking aside any Imagawa warrior that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Oda musketeers provided covering fire for the two berserkers, stopping any Imagawa soldiers who were trying to blindside them.

"GUTS PUUUUUUUNCH!" Guts Man threw several punches at the horses, toppling them and their riders like a set of dominos.

This continued on for not even a minute until…

"Retreat! RETREAT! We don't stand a chance against the two of them!" The Imagawa soldiers started to withdraw in total fear and panic, gathering as many of their wounded and incapacitated as they could.

"Yeah that's right, run you cowards!" Katsuie shouted after them, attempting to add insult to injury. "Next time your stupid princes better think twice before picking a fight with the house of Oda!"

"Bye-bye, guts!" Guts Man wave at the retreating Imagawa with a giant grin on his face.

Once all remaining enemy soldiers had left, everyone started to relax. "Finally," Katsuie breathed. "It's over."

Guts Man let out a big yawn. "Booooooored. Guts Man go night-night now…"

"Except…how do I change back to human?" Ken thought. "I pressed the Navi emblems to transform and switch forms…do I just…do the same thing in reverse?"

Guts Man slammed his hand on his Navi emblem, and sure enough, Guts Man's frame got shrouded in blue cubes, spinning around and reforming into two words spelled vertically: LOG OUT.

"GUST MAN: LOGGING OUT."

Once the words disappeared in a burst of pixels and voxels, Ken Masson was seen again in the same attire he had before transforming.

"A…barbarian…?" one of the Oda soldiers said, clearly not expecting this sort of revelation.

They also weren't expecting him to fall over flat on his back. Katsuie ran over to him quickly and placed his hand on his chest.

Rising and falling.

She chuckled. "He's still alive," Katsuie told the soldiers. "I guess he just wore himself out." She then hoisted Ken onto her back. "Alright men, let's report back to Lord Nobuna."

"What about him?" one of the soldiers asked pointing to Ken.

"She can decide what to do with the unknown shape shifting warrior," Katsuie replied. "I'm pretty sure she'll want some answers from him. But for now, I'd say she'll at least give him a place to rest at her camp until we pack up and are ready to go."

Katsuie then draped Ken over the back of her horse, and after she mounted, asked one of the soldiers to help straighten him so that he was leaning on her back.

As they were ridding back to their Lord, a thought occurred to Katsuie that made her chuckle a bit. "We never did find out who pummeled the most men. Oh well…maybe next time…"

She didn't really understand why, especially after having just met him, but she got the feeling that life was going to get a lot more interesting from here on out.

TO BE CONTINUED…

…

AN: What do you get when you combine an underrated anime/manga/light novel series with an underrated game series, with Kamen Rider gimmicks as the God father?

The answer?

THIS TRAINWRECK!

So yeah, I had just finished watching The Ambition of Oda Nobuna and thoroughly enjoyed it, and have started to read the light novels. As I was watching, I thought to myself…hmmm…I wonder if I could do something like this? So I tried it, and I have to say this came out better than I thought it would.

The battle scene I'm kinda…iffy on…I'm not really good a writing fight scenes that aren't curb stomps, not that I don't enjoy writing them of course. So hopefully this sets the stage properly for this story. I have a general idea for where I want this story to go, but keep in mind my knowledge on Oda Nobuna and the Sengoku period in general are very limited. That's why I'm reading the light novels and looking up info on the Wiki when I need to. I actually had to do a little historic research to make sure I was getting some facts right.

That being said, I do think there is some room for improvement, at least in terms of structure and events. So let me know what you think.

Oh and one more thing, if you think this is going to be just a crossover with the Battle Network games…you have no idea how wrong you are.

Until next time. STAY TUNED!

…

VOICE CAST

Ken Mason—Andrew Hindle

Oda Nobuna—Emily Neves

Shibita Katsuie—Carli Mosier

Kinishita Toukichirou—Christopher Ayres

Bass—Dan Green

Search Man—Jonathan Love

Guts Man—Scott McNiel

Matrix System—Maxwell Powers

Additional Voices—Scott Frerichs

Andrew Love

Bryce Buckley

Moran Miguel

Brad Swaile

Bill Karalius

Rick Cruz