AN: Well, I wanted to get this out by the first anniversary but life had other plans.

Chapter 26: Two Fallen Friends

She couldn't apologise enough.

As they trudged out of the forest, dripping wet from head to toe, Ruby had to wonder where her sense of direction had gone. What should have been a 'quick' fourteen-hour trek had slowly morphed into a three-day adventure as disaster after disaster popped up. The first issue was the map had accidentally blown away in a strong gust of wind that had come after a particularly deafening explosion. Pyrrha's first impulse had to turn around and run back to the Graveyard but she had been restrained by Kenzaki and Qrow, the veteran Kamen Rider explaining that it was a sign that they had managed to triumph over their attacking enemy. They still had compasses though and Ruby knew her father's house was somewhere along the north-west coast via a ferry. What they had forgotten about was Pyrrha's magnetic Semblance and Jaune telling them months ago that they didn't use compasses because of it. About a day passed before they realised and the red-headed Rider had been left looking like a ripe tomato for several hours afterward. The reason for the subsequent two-day delay and their drenching had been the discovery of a fairly slow-moving river that seemed to lead all the way to the coast.

"Ruby," Yang began, squeezing the last dregs of water out of her hair, "next time you get a good idea like that, please make sure all of us have the correct experience for that task."

"Sorry sis…" Ruby meekly stated as she wrung her cape out for the millionth time.

So, building a boat and attempting to steer it down didn't go so well. She should have stopped after the first set of rough rapids but she had insisted everything would be fine. However, what none of them had counted on was the waterfall or the ten-hour ride down the river that ended in a reservoir that was the watering hole for a herd of Goliath Grimm. One five-hour battle later with several dives back into said reservoir for cover and they were finally dragging themselves into civilisation a bit worse for wear than expected. Seeing the Goliath Grimm outside Mountain Glenn had been one thing but to actually fight such towering creatures and come out on top – without the use of their Belts – was an experience she never would have thought she would ever have. As they passed the main docks, nodding at the people gawking at them, Kenzaki looked out into the deceptively still waters and shivered internally. Before the drop down the waterfall, he had gotten a single SMS message on his magically-protected phone from Kaito. It was a wonder the former Overlord remembered to use the phone at all these days but any contact with his one-time saviour was nice. The message, however, wasn't so nice.

Dark Tendrils are spreading.

To everyone in Remnant, even the Hunters he was with, those words would mean absolutely nothing. They would see them as a common interpretation to the evils, horrors, and Grimm that were congregating on the train wreck that was Beacon Academy these days. What they were doing there was anyone's guess, though his money would have been on making it an effective base of operations for Cinder, Auric, and Salem to move into. Thinking of the ghastly trio made him pull up short for a few moments. Aside from the Wraith and the Raptor Grimm Monster, there hadn't been as much as a peep from the 'other side'; they hadn't even run into any Grimm on their journey down the river. He would have thought that they would have been attacked by Beowulves, Creep, or even a giant Nevermore by now. And yet…nothing had bothered them on the way. He knew it was puzzling Qrow as well, though the alcoholic Huntsman was busying himself by imparting words of wisdom on each of the Hunters and Riders in his care. Kenzaki would have made a crack about there not being much of anything in Qrow that could be sanitised for the 'kids' but he knew more than anyone how being a Rider made you grow up fast.

No, the only reason why the words Dark Tendrils filled him with uneasiness was one simple fact: the Rider System was one hundred percent evil. He hadn't realised it when the first rumours had been floating around and, when asked, their multiversal Rider seemed to show confusion about it but that all changed around one hundred years ago when, seemingly for the first time, Weihan had laid eyes on pictures of the energy source. Spectral Xonix and the Death Shocker Empire had fled in terror at the explosion of energy that had come from his spirit and the Grimm in the surrounding areas had been instantly destroyed. The Rider had talked a mile a minute about things he hadn't understood at the time and hadn't paid much attention to as things like 'Dark Ultra Crystal' and 'Prime World' didn't really concern them. Once the Raptor Rider had calmed down enough for coherence to become the dominant force in his mind, he had sat all of them down and had told them exactly what those scraps of crystal meant for the balance of power in this dimension. According to the Rider, they had been shaved off an 'evil' Ultra Crystal of sorts that had been connected to a creature known as Discord. There had been some talk of horse Rangers as well but he had dismissed it as it wasn't important.

Anyway, when the creature had finally been destroyed by a combined magic attack, the Dark Crystal had shattered as the evil energy that had been encapsulated inside it was freed. The shards that had been produced had been the size of a small nail and most of them had melted into the ground within seconds – with the exception of three. No one had been able to find the three splinters and, foolishly, they had been deemed forever destroyed. Unfortunately, to use that tired cliché again, it seemed that was simply too good to be true and, once more, a world was tempted by the lure of power inside the original Ultra Crystals. The only good thing that could have come out of this was the fact that Harold Arcanus had managed to seal away the majority of their evil by a DNA lock and one simple rule that could not be broken: that the next Bearer would have to have undergone a large emotional shift and been on the brink of total insanity for more than a few seconds. Thankfully, the power would never be released onto the world as Harold had been killed by a freak lab accident several days after the device had been completed. Alternatively, if he were to believe Browne, Harold had been an unfortunate casualty in Salem's quest to rid the world of her offspring.

It was a moot point anyway as Harold had never lived long enough to produce kids, as depressing as that was. He had a wife at one time but the office gossip was that she had divorced him after a series of increasingly strange and bizarre occurrences. The System had been lost within the chasms of backdoor office politics and had eventually been forgotten about, even by the people who had worked on it. He had also forgotten about it, having been redirected to help Jean and his team with the refinements until the news that the bunker where several blacklisted projects had been kept had been destroyed in 'mysterious circumstances'. For Kaito to send him that message either meant the Dark Tendrils System had been found and was in the process of being repaired or that something else connected to that phrase was underway. He hoped it was more the letter than the former as the threat of the DNA lock on the Dark Tendrils System being lifted was truly something that chilled him to his very core. There was also someone or something very near to them that was broadcasting a slightly disguised aura of evil, malice, and – to his surprise – absolute panic.

"Whoa…I can't believe it." An unknown voice broke through the dark thoughts clouding his mind. "Ruby, is that really you?"

Ruby stopped ringing the last, stubborn, drops out of her cape and looked up at the figure in front of her. Gone was the slightly overgrown and scruffy hair and the grey and black, seemingly armoured, tracksuit he always wore; replaced by hair that was closely cropped to his skull and a loose-fitting grey shirt emblazoned with a small lightning bolt. If she was going to make comparisons, she would have said that Mercury Black was really a superhero in disguise but that was a bit of a stretch. Next to him was the ever-present figure of Emerald, the green-haired girl looking at them with a mix of surprise and amazement on her face. As she stepped towards them, she felt slightly nervous as she knew they had a connection to Cinder. Was all of this just a ruse to lure her out into the open or did they genuinely not know the danger their so-called friend had posed? Mentally shaking her head, Ruby vowed that she would get to the bottom if things right at the start.

For their part, Mercury and Emerald were frozen on the spot. Cinder had asked them to gather some supplies for Auric from a contact in Patch and, with the strange rumblings around the Rider Graveyard, they had thought the Riders and their followers were still in the area. Disappointingly, the Wraith had failed in its endeavour to destroy the Riders and had managed to awaken the legendary RAPTOR Rider from his aeons of slumber but they hadn't been beaten yet. Sequestered in one of the massive warehouses on the grounds of the CSN, the Grimm/human hybrid was busily picking out the information to create new Grimm Monsters from his mind…quite literally. He wasn't ever going to look at a vacuum cleaner or even a pair of tweezers the same way but, if it meant a steady supply of monsters could be made quickly, he wasn't going to lose much sleep over the meaty grinding sounds coming from Auric's corner. Hopping on the first transport out of the southern region of Vale, they had arrived at the port town and had, after several gruelling hours of bargaining, managed to secure the items that were needed. Nervously casting an eye at the bags behind him, he fervently hoped the Huntress Rider wouldn't ask about them or why several of them seemed to be leaking oil. There was also the fact that they were bound to be grilled on their connection to Cinder and their part in the Fall of Beacon. Fortunately, Cinder and Auric had coached them extensively on what to say and to get the first word in.

"Ruby, I don't know what you've heard about Beacon but," Mercury gestured to himself and Emerald, "we knew absolutely nothing about what was going on. Cinder appeared to us after the attack and extended a hand to us – safety and security in exchange for unlimited power and all that stuff. We declined and she dropped us. We don't know where she is now or anything and we've been trying to make a living by doing odd jobs. In fact, we're just in the middle of one right now."

Weiss looked at the pair and slightly narrowed her eyes. It was odd of him to come out with that as the opening line but she couldn't accuse them of anything without seeming overly paranoid. From a certain point of view, though, it did make sense that he would say that as they hadn't really seen each other since the morning of the Fall but there was just something…she couldn't put her finger on it but it was there. Mentally growling at the mental block, she narrowed her eyes as a soft growl reached her ears. The spirit of the Frostbite System was speaking to her and connecting on a much deeper level than she would have thought possible; soft conversations with Kenzaki had affirmed that this was a side-effect of the Grid Supercharge that had happened centuries ago. Right now, it was warning her to be alert and ready for anything. Plastering an obviously fake smile on her face, she nodded her greetings but subtly readied her mind to call upon Myrtenaster when the time came.

"You know," Mercury began somewhat lightly, carefully eyeing the way Weiss was reacting to them, "I know your team and, uh, Jaune's team, but I don't really know the other two that well."

This was extremely bad. Auric had forced them to watch tapes of all the Kamen Riders that had come before and he knew who the person in front of him was. In many ways, he was a monster like Auric but he had willingly sacrificed his humanity for the people he cared about. Unfortunately for them, that meant the Undead Rider had a very good sense for evil detection, which meant that he more than likely already knew on some level that they hadn't rejected Cinder. All he needed to do was ensure nothing untoward or too incriminating came out of his mouth or, if it did, he would have to brush it off as a minor error on his part. Of course, he could see from Weiss' reaction that they were treading on extremely thin ice as it was…which meant that they probably wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise. Well, on one hand, it would be easier in the future if they didn't have to make up crappy excuses for 'bumping' into them. Mind made up, he smirked internally and prepared for the fireworks that were to come – all the while wondering what the hell he was doing.

"You know who one of them is, genius." Emerald forced herself to keep a light tone but was panicking inside. Mercury's expression had also changed into one of grim amusement and she felt a pit open in her stomach at what it meant. "The older guy is the one who had that big bash with one of the Atlas Specialists before one of the matches. The other guy, I don't really know him."

Qrow snorted in amusement as he hadn't been aware that his little altercation had drawn such a large crowd. Of course, he had been preoccupied with things that weren't directly related to the Belts or the Systems. Opening his mouth slightly to drink out of his flask, he glanced at the Undead Rider curiously. Apart from a slight tightness of his eyes, the Japanese man looked the same but his aura had changed drastically. Whereas he had been all but projecting a slight panic combined with worry and nostalgia; now he was brimming with a single-minded purpose and was discreetly staring daggers at the friends of the girls. There was also a strange sort of energy flowing around his waist and the faint outline of a card forming between the fingers of his right hand. Silently sighing to himself, he reached back for the massive sword/scythe combined weapon on his back and waited for the first move to be made. It was at times like this he really thought himself lucky that he had managed to 'burn' away what he had thought was his Semblance – a cloud of bad luck that seemed to linger around him like a bad smell. In reality, it had been a mutation of some ancient virus called 'Game Disease' and Kenzaki had known what to do.

"This guy, we know him, Emerald." Mercury shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "He introduced himself to us a while back – Kenzaki Kazuma, wasn't it?"

Emerald's eyes widened slightly as she realised what the grim amusement was for. Silently cursing the poor impulse controls of her partner, she barely suppressed an exasperated snarl and reached for her weapons. If they were lucky, the Undead wouldn't notice his little slip-up though, based on the way his lips curled into a frown, they weren't going to be so lucky. She could only hope that none of the girls transformed off the bat as they wouldn't stand a chance against the might of the Kamen Riders – as 'green' as they were.

"It is. However," Kenzaki barely noticed the dark heart-shaped buckle materialise on his waist or the Ace Card that materialised in his hand, "I'm wondering how you know that, seeing as how we weren't formally introduced."

To the duo's credit, they managed to keep their façade going for all of three seconds before they acted as one. Whipping out her dual sickle-pistols with an exasperated growl as Kenzaki swiped the card down, Emerald leapt away from the group as she fired a tight clustering of blasts at the group. The Undead blocked most of the shots with his materialising Blay Rouser as the civilians around them started to run for shelter. Leaping towards the green-haired Huntress, Ruby shook her head in confusion as she tried to wrap her mind around what was happening. In the past five minutes, Mercury and Emerald had come back, lied about their connection to Cinder, and were now attacking them with blisteringly fast attacks. Dodging a slash from the blades on the ends of Emerald's guns, the Scythe Rider glanced at the slightly sad look on the face of the other girl, which told her everything she needed to know. Slowly nodding to acknowledge the crazy mess everything had become, Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose and took up a ready stance with the shaft resting against her left forearm. Blake positioned herself at her right, the Gambol Shroud folded into its compact gun mode. With no words spoken, the Huntresses attacked.

On the other side of the coin, Yang and Weiss were battling against lightning-fast kicks and wild manoeuvres as their now-former friend finally cut loose. Pyrrha had tried to get in on the action but a double kick to her chest that forced her out had sent a very clear message to her and the others – no interference. The Undead Rider had hung back after his initial transformation, intent on shielding the unpowered humans and civilians in the area. There was something noble about that sentiment but, ever the strategist, Auric had placed something in his care for such a situation. The psychotic Grimm-thing hadn't really elaborated on what it was but had said that it would go after the Undead Rider with a single-minded drive. Exactly what the meant for the others wasn't for him to worry about as he hoped to be away from the area when the creature was released; hopefully with Emerald and the bags of random machinery for Auric in tow. As it stood, only Yang was able to land blows on his reinforced body at all - Weiss having resigned herself to hanging back and blasting off whatever Elemental magic she could. In practice, what this meant for him was that he was constantly twisting his body in both offensive and defensive positions and it made his movements somewhat predictable. At least, that was the reason that had flashed through his mind the moment armoured fingers had clamped over his outstretched fists.

"Mercury," Yang gripped his fists in hers, looking into his eyes, "was everything a lie? We weren't the best of friends but…"

"Yang, Weiss," The speedster shook his head once before drawing in a slow breath - both in preparation for his answer and to steel his mind as to what he knew he had to do. "Our mission was to infiltrate Beacon and to find the place where the Fall Maiden was kept. Everything else was secondary but, try as we might, we were drawn towards you. Cinder isn't much of a talker outside of business and Roman is a pain in the ass."

He shook his head again and reached into the dark recesses on his mind for the fortitude he would need. Fighting with the Rider with all his might, he twisted both of his arms inward from his shoulder just right and rushed forward. The effect was instantaneous and somewhat sickening to the spectators as twin muted pops sounded through the air for the barest of moments, the mercurial speedster stifled a scream as he purposely dislocated both shoulders. Horrified, Yang released his hands and stepped back as a grey pallor spread over his face but that didn't last for long as Emerald, having seen what her partner was up to, leapt over and took both his limp arms in her hands. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she pushed his arms up violently and shook her head as he collapsed in pain. This wasn't the first time he had done something so incredibly stupid but it was the first time it had happened during a battle. Opening her mouth to deliver a rather sarcastic rebuke to her partner, she closed her mouth as she noticed the slowly disintegrating playing card on the ground. Whether it had been dropped by his idiocy or it had been deliberately placed was a mystery but she did know what the vanishing card meant. However, judging by the shocked and scared look in Mercury's eyes, she could guess it was the former.

"Our rivalry and the friendly banters exchanged weren't lies." Blood rushing in her ears, she forced herself to stay calm. Mercury was slowly summoning Auric's failsafe and the transport portal but it would be close, especially after the Undead realised what had been sent for him. "I'm a solitary girl and the closest friend I have is Mercury, as sad as that is. There is nothing you can say to me that will make me turn my back on him. Also, he doesn't like robbing the cradle when it comes to scoping out potential partners."

Mercury chuckled, forcing himself to make it sound natural. He honestly hadn't meant for the X Card to be dropped during his stunt but there was no pulling back now. The only positive he could think of was that a Return spell had been slaved to the summoning and would be pulling them out of the ensuing battle. Forcing his fingers to grab the sacks at his feet, he looked at the girls with a small measure of regret in his expression. In another life, if he hadn't killed his father, if they had had a stable life...well, they would be genuine friends. However, he had to wrench his mind back to the present moment and the choices that had led him here. Beacon had fallen and the rest of Vale was soon to come but that would happen only if the Huntresses in front of him fell. Shaking his head slightly against the pain still running through his body, he wondered why the atrophied remains of his conscience were flaring up now. Clamping down hard on his thoughts, Mercury walked over to the abandoned sacks and picked them up by the drawstrings. He needed to be touching them for them to be transported with them, otherwise the Riders would clue into their plans too early.

"We…" he paused, slightly unsure of himself, "we're enemies now. I'm honestly sorry it had to come out like this but those are the facts. And, I hate to leave this hanging, but we're too busy to be wasting time with you guys."

A thunderclap split the air as a small rent in the ground opened up; fire and smoke belching from the opening. The Huntresses, Qrow, Kenzaki, and the others flinched away and instinctively covered their faces. With a deep rumbling that was reminiscent of stone grinding on stone, a creature rose up from the depths. Black and gunmetal grey in colour, the being looked like a strange mashup of a Grimm and some sort of Frankenstein Monster. Exhaust pipes stuck out from its body at odd angles and clear piping pumped several strange and viscous fluids around its body. Its head was shaped like a Beowulf but rounded and smooth, like that of a Rider helmet. Around its waist was a chillingly familiar hexagonal buckle - the design of which made Kenzaki unconsciously shiver. Protruding from its palms were thick spikes made of metal. As the Belts flashed into existence, the yellow-ringed red eyes lazily opened to stare at them. Emerald swallowed hard as the transport portal opened underneath them; fighting her panic as they slowly began to sink into the intricately patterned circle. Catching the eyes of Ruby, she nodded sadly. The next time they met on the field of battle, they would be enemies. The other girl returned the nod, looking just as miserable as she felt. Regaining some of his lost cockiness, the speedster folded his aching arms and grinned as they continued to sink into the ground.

"I don't know where Auric got this but it'll keep you guys busy while we slip away." Mercury smirked, looking at the creature. "Until we meet again, Kamen Riders."

With a bright flash of light and a strong wind, the two former friends vanished into the ground; along with whatever had been in those sacks. Kenzaki swallowed hard under his armour as he looked at the creature. He knew exactly what it was but had never thought to see anything like it again. The Rouse Absorber appeared on his left wrist, the card holders snapping open to reveal the Category Queen and King cards. Motioning for the girls to step aside, the Navy Joker stepped forward - pulling out the Evolution cards. Every fibre in his body was screaming at him to run. Taiyuan's house was only a short distance away and he would be able to help him destroy the abomination in front of him. However, he knew that it was a fool's hope. And, yet, he had seen this creature before in old blueprints after the dissolution of BOARD; a plan that had come from the darkest depths of insanity and blind ambition. He needed to destroy the creature in front of him to close the door on that time for good. A thin crimson line stretched on the face of the monster as it spoke.

"Rider of BOARD." The voice was flat and robotic, almost holding a bored tone. "I am Trial Series X; the culmination of all other Trials and created as a failsafe by Hiroshi Tennoji before he fused himself with the Kerberos Created Undead."

Electricity crackled around the creature, its tubes pumping the life-giving Dust formula into its body. The Rider in front of him posed no real degree of threat; Auric had seen to its upgrades personally so the ancient Rider would have to pull out a new form or armour mode for a challenge to be imposed. The Joker form would prove some amusement but, much like the files of the Black Joker it had viewed, it would ultimately fall into the abyss. The female Riders would be next, though it would try to make their deaths as painless as possible. After all, there was no sense in prolonging the suffering of a helpless opponent. Fashioning its mouth into a crude semblance of a smile, it wheezed in dead laughter.

"There is no hope for you."

TBC…