A/N: Hello, hello! Sorry for being inactive for quite a while – first of all real life issues. With me being in my final semester in my university, it's high time for me to write my thesis…which leaves me little to no time at all to work on my stories. Secondly, I was testing out this story at AO3, and the response was amazing. I appreciated the great feedback there, and I hoped I could get the same here…instead of me being called a moron for having an actual real life.

Long story short, this story used to have a couple of reviews from this guy called "The Movement." He said that Kanan was OOC in the prologue and he suggested me to get a beta reader for my story, but since I had no time to work on my story, I kinda left it as it is for a while. And then he came back and called me a moron. Because of that, I discreetly deleted his reviews. When I said no flames, I literally mean no flames. But still, thank you for your criticisms, The Movement, and as a reward…I might slip you into the story as a cameo appearance.

However, I did take The Movement's criticisms into heart and rewrote the entire prologue while working on the first chapter for this story. I got a Facebook friend of mine from the Philippines to proofread both the revised prologue and the first chapter of this story to make sure that it's good enough and there's no OOC characters within them. My friend likes both Kamen Rider and Love Live just like me, however in terms of the latter he's quite a veteran compared to me, meaning that he's the perfect guy to be my beta reader (unfortunately he's not on this site). However, my friend also had his own real life issues – he ran into a few problems at his workplace, had to resign, and had to find a new job, hence he was quite slow in proofreading my work. That, and the fact that I've uploaded this story to AO3 first instead of posting them straight away here, contributed to the undeserving hiatus that Build Up to the Sunshine! got. But the positive reviews I got from the AO3 story got me all pumped out to see how the guys at FFN would react to this!

Anyway, enough with the long-winded author's note, let's get the show on the road!

Disclaimer: I don't own neither Kamen Rider or Love Live! Sunshine!. They're owned by their respective owners.

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Build Up to the Sunshine!

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Experiment 1: I Have Found My Best Match, Desu Wa

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OP: Be the One - PANDORA feat. Beverly

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Downtown Numazu City, East Shizuoka Prefecture

That morning was just like any other morning in the city of Numazu. People going about with their daily activities, children going to school with their friends, salarymen rushing for the first bus to work that they could find. And just like everyone else, 48-year old Shinnosuke Kurosawa started his daily activities in the mornings as well.

Nestled within the complicated alleyways of Numazu's Nakamise, the city's shopping boulevard, was the Kurosawa Kopitiam. It was a simple Malaysian/Singaporean-themed eatery, with paraphernalia from the region such as a framed Kedah FA home jersey, a wooden statue of the Merlion, and a wallpaper of Langkawi Island adorning the interior of the kopitiam. Shinnosuke patiently swept and cleaned the place every morning, before rounding off preparations by placing the kopitiam's menu outside the door, ready to invite anyone exploring Nakamise to enjoy a cup of teh tarik (Southeast Asian hot milk tea) with a plate of delicious, delicious char kway teow (Southeast Asian stir-fried rice noodles), the kopitiam's specialty.

"There we go!" Shinnosuke said after he had placed the sign outside the Kurosawa Kopitiam, the somewhat slender yet average-built man dusting off his palms in delight. Clearly pleased with his hard work, Shinnosuke adjusted his round-framed glasses and his straw hat before he took a deep breath, allowing the fresh morning air to enter his nostrils and fill his lungs, "Aaaah, nothing like some fresh Numazu air to start off the day. Now, I wonder what those sleepyheads are up to right now..."

xxx

Underneath Kurosawa Kopitiam

While Kurosawa Kopitiam looked and felt like just your average Southeast Asian coffee shop from both the outside and the inside, underneath it was anything but.

Hidden from the public eye and underneath the feet of both Shinnosuke and the kopitiam's customers was a hi-tech laboratory, boasting technology way beyond its time. A huge metallic machine was present in the heart of the laboratory, resembling a small portable dressing room with a microwave oven installed on it. An array of different gadget and gizmos were scattered across the various tables in the lab, some of them even being embedded on the lab's walls. Whiteboards of different shapes and sizes were present in the laboratory, all of them having a number of complicated equations scribbled on them, while two large blackboards, also filled with equations, served as portions of the laboratory's walls. To say that the laboratory was a train-wreck would be an understatement, but whoever's working there needs to work on their tidiness.

A medium-sized room located within he lab, however, was noticeably different than the rest. Divided from the rest of the lab by a bronze spiral staircase, the room was a rather messy-looking living quarter, although the mess there wasn't as bad as the laboratory. A king-sized bed was present in the room, with a multitude of stuffed animals on top of it, while two typical nightstands were seen on both sides of the bed. A small dressing table complete with its mirror was seen opposite to the bed, while a small bathroom was also present in the room, located a few meters away from the dressing table.

And the protagonist of our story was dozing off on the room's bed as we speak.

22-year old Dia Kurosawa cuddled her stuffed bear tightly in her sleep, seemingly oblivious that it's already morning outside. Clearly tired from her activities the previous day, Dia smiled to herself in her sleep, unaware that the alarm clock that she had set up on the nightstand next to her was about to ring.

*RIIIIIINNNGGGG!*

Immediately Dia's eyes shot open and the young woman jumped out of her bed, tossing aside her stuffed bear in the process. Turning off her alarm clock, Dia yawned slightly, stretching her body a couple of times, before making her way towards the dressing table. As she combed her jet-black hair, Dia noticed something strange on her face upon seeing her reflection in the mirror.

"That Ruby," Dia sighed, knowing all too well who's crazy enough to scribble a clown's nose, a mustache, and cat-like whiskers on her face, "I'll pay her back for this later!"

Grabbing a small towel from a nearby towel rack, Dia went to the room's bathroom to clean up herself, but not before placing a marble on a small Hot Wheels track that leads out of the room and into the lab. As Dia disappeared into the bathroom, the marble slid its way along the track, performing a couple of loop-de-loops before knocking over several domino cards. The cards collapsed on top of each other, with the final card toppling a small statue with a thread tied to its neck. The weight of the cards caused the thread to snap, allowing two slices of bread to fall out of its container and into a waiting toaster, which in turn has been activated by the same statue that got struck down by the domino cards.

A few minutes later Dia emerged from the bathroom, all fresh and cleaned up, and at the same time the toaster has finished toasting the bread slices within it. Grabbing a plate, a small packet of butter, and a knife, Dia went over to the lab, a delighted smile on her face upon seeing the fresh slices of toast on the toaster.

"Hmm, crispy, just the way I like it," Dia commented as she munched down her toast with butter, having sat down in front of the lab's metallic machine a few moments earlier.

*DING!*

"YES!" Dia exclaimed happily upon hearing the loud "ding" noise coming out from the metallic machine.

Placing her plate on a nearby table, Dia quickly rushed towards the metallic machine. The door of the machine's microwave oven burst open the moment Dia approached it, unleashing a thick cloud of white smoke that momentarily blinded Dia. Wiping way the smoke obscuring her eyesight, a look of satisfaction made itself known on Dia's face once she saw what's inside the machine's microwave oven.

It was a small, translucent bottle, colored white and themed after a hedgehog.

"Magnificent, desu wa!" Dia exclaimed excitedly as she picked up the bottle, "This Fullbottle has been refined perfectly…just the way I like it! It's always enjoyable to see the fruits of your hard work turning out perfectly in your hands like this…"

As Dia continued to gawk and admire the bottle in her hands, a large portion of the metallic machine slid open, revealing a sleepy-looking 19-year old girl with cherry red pigtails and a golden bracelet on her right wrist inside it. Clearly looking weary, the girl stepped out of the machine, before she noticed Dia dancing around with the bottle in her hands.

"Onee-chan," the girl called out, "I'm tired. Ruby wants to take a nap."

"Hold on for a second and admire this Fullbottle that we made with me first, Ruby," Dia said, immediately embracing her sister with one hand and holding the newly created bottle in the other, "We made a pretty good team, right Ruby? With your ability to purify the essence of those Smash creatures combined with my intellect that has given the Fullbottle Purification Machine life, we, the Kurosawa sisters, are always working hard together to make sure that Build is always up and running to save the city! Can you feel my excitement right now, Ruby? I'm so eager to see what this Fullbottle can do and what it's Best Match is! Yet another exciting experiment awaits us, desu wa!"

"Ruby knows that you're excited and stuff," Ruby said, yawning a little bit before continuing, "But can Ruby go to sleep now? Ruby had stayed up all night long to create that, you know."

"Sure, just take some rest, you've worked very hard today. And as we all know, overworking in the Kurosawa household is a very big no-no, desu wa. That's what Papa has always taught us," Dia said, winking at the sleepy Ruby.

"Oyasumiii~" Ruby yawned, quickly scuttling her way to the bed in the lab's living quarter and threw herself on top of it. Within seconds, Ruby was sound asleep, with Dia's stuffed bear clutched tightly in her arms.

Dia lets out a small chuckle as she saw Ruby sleeping peacefully on the bed. Even though she and Ruby shared the same family name, they were not actually sisters by blood, but by adoption. Shinnosuke, the Kurosawa siblings' adoptive father, adopted Ruby first around a year and a half ago, with Dia being adopted by him only two weeks after he had adopted Ruby, and the trio had happily lived together as a family ever since. Dia had considered Ruby as a little sister that she never had and vice-versa, Ruby saw Dia as an older sister figure that she needed in her life. Dia cared for Ruby's wellbeing very much and can be very protective towards her, which is why Dia only allowed Ruby to be in the lab whenever she needed her help the most, which is when Dia needed to operate the Fullbottle Purification Machine. Most of the time, when Dia's busy with her experiments, Ruby would either watch some YouTube videos or take a nap in the lab's living quarter, or up in the kitchen helping out Shinnosuke with his customers.

Dia could vaguely remember the first time she met Shinnosuke and Ruby – she was sitting in the rain on an alleyway behind the Kurosawa Kopitiam, when Shinnosuke, out on a walk to his usual barber, found her there. Being the kind man that he was, Shinnosuke adopted Dia as he felt that with his busy schedule in his kopitiam, someone should look after Ruby when he's busy serving customers. A former member of INSET before its disbandment following the Skywall Disaster, Shinnosuke had previously used the laboratory underneath his kopitiam for his researches before abandoning it following INSET's disbandment to pursue a career as a kopitiam owner to keep himself afloat, only for him to allow Dia to use it for her own experiments after she had impressed him by cracking a few difficult equations that only experienced physicists such as Shinnosuke himself could solve. There she was introduced to Ruby, who had lived in the lab's living quarter ever since she moved in with Shinnosuke. Shinnosuke was also the one who taught Dia how to create Fullbottles from the essences of mysterious creatures that had been attacking Numazu and East Shizuoka of late – the Smashes. He also provided Dia with a Build Driver, a device designed to harness the full capability of the Fullbottles to transform its user into a powerful warrior capable of protecting the people of Numazu and East Shizuoka from the Smashes, a warrior simply called Build. Dia personally tweaked the Build Driver to suit her specifications and she was also the one who discovered that two certain Fullbottles, when used on a Build Driver, would create a powerful combination for Build, a "Best Match." The title "Kamen Rider" was given to her by the people of Numazu, as Dia, as Build, often came to the scene of Smash attacks while riding a motorcycle and Build's armor also included a mask that concealed Dia's face, hence, "Kamen Rider," or "Masked Rider" in English.

However, the day she met Shinnosuke and Ruby was also the furthest Dia could remember about her own life. When she was discovered by Shinnosuke, she had no idea about her own identity, her own whereabout, as well as the one, diamond-themed Fullbottle that she had on her person when Shinnosuke found her. Hence the name Shinnosuke gave to her after he had adopted her as his eldest daughter – "Dia," short for "Diamond." The only glimpses of Dia's memory of her life before her adoption were images of her being restrained against her will inside a tank of water, several strange-looking men wearing white hazmat suits and black hazmat masks watching over her, as well as a disturbing figure wearing a bat-themed armor watching and enjoying her every plight. Those nightmarish images will sometime pop up in Dia's head at random times especially when she's spacing out, making Dia feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Ah," Dia muttered, placing her left index finger against her left temple. She had just experienced another flash of those nightmarish images in her mind, recalling how she struggled within the confines of the water tank with her wrists and ankles restrained tightly as the mysterious bat man laughed at her misery and plight. The last glimpse of her past that she remembered was a cloud of white gas that enveloped the entire tank, and the next thing that she knew, she was found sitting in the rain with no memory whatsoever by Shinnosuke.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those disturbing images, Dia turned her attention to Ruby, who was still fast asleep on the bed in front of her. The teenager snored quietly in her sleep, unaware that Dia had noticed a black marker lying idly on a nearby table. A mischievous smile made itself known on Dia's face as she knew exactly what she's going to do with Ruby.

A few minutes later Dia was on the lab's staircase, a small black backpack on her back and her toast in hand. Before she went out of the lab, Dia took a few seconds to admire her handiwork – a random set of equations, all scribbled on Ruby's innocent-looking face.

"That's what you get for drawing stuff on my face earlier," Dia chuckled quietly as she went upstairs.

xxx

Kurosawa Kopitiam

Shinnosuke was placing his broom and dustpan in the kopitiam's storage room when he noticed that the doors of a seemingly inauspicious refrigerator behind the counter had started to open by itself. Quickly tossing the broom and dustpan into the storage room and slamming the door shut, Shinnosuke hid himself behind one of the tables in front of the counter.

Dia stepped out of the refrigerator, which apparently acted as a secret doorway to the underground laboratory. With her toast in her mouth, Dia slowly closed the refrigerator door and made her way out of the counter, when…

"Selamat pagi!" (good morning in Malay and Indonesian)

A surprised Dia almost choked on her toast as she stumbled back awkwardly before quickly regaining her footing, much to the amusement of the laughing Shinnosuke.

"Papa, please do not ever do that again," Dia sighed once she had swallowed the toast inside her mouth, "You almost made me choke on my breakfast!"

"But at least I woke you up," Shinnosuke smiled, tipping his straw hat mischievously.

Dia sighed once again, "Papa, I'm already awake. I woke up like an hour ago, desu wa. Anyway, I have something to show you."

"What is it?" Shinnosuke asked, grabbing a chair in front of the counter and sitting on it as Dia sat next to him.

Once she had sat down, Dia immediately took out the newly created Fullbottle from her pocket, showing off the bottle to Shinnosuke with a delighted smile on her face.

"Excellent!" Shinnosuke praised happily after seeing the Fullbottle in Dia's possession, "Wonder what this Fullbottle could do…"

"It's based on a hedgehog, so probably it would have something to do with spikes, quills, or needles," Dia replied, munching on her toast as she pocketed the hedgehog Fullbottle once again, "After all, last night's Smash had needles as its weapon…but yeah, the best way to find out what that Fullbottle could do is by trying it out by myself, desu wa."

"Whatever its abilities are, I'm proud of you, my daughters," Shinnosuke smiled proudly, patting Dia on the shoulders, "You two did well last night. Another Smash taken care of, another Fullbottle created, and the city of Numazu is once again safe."

"Thanks, Papa."

As Dia swallowed the last of her toast, Shinnosuke decided to shift the conversation topic, "So, have you remembered anything?"

"Remember what?" Dia blinked.

Shinnosuke slapped his own forehead, "Your memories, Dia, your memories! Your 22 years' worth of memories that you lost before I adopted you! Have you recovered any of them?"

"Well…scientists in gas masks, human experimentation, and a mysterious bat man. Those are the pieces of my old memories that I had right now, desu wa," Dia replied.

Shinnosuke sighed, "That's exactly what you told me the last time I asked you that."

"Sorry," Dia said rather uneasily, "I haven't gotten any new flashbacks of my old memories so far…"

"You became Build to recover your old memories, right?" Shinnosuke asked, "Have you got anything from the Smashes that you've defeated?"

"Well, I've purified a lot of them recently, but unfortunately once they were defeated, the Smashes would lose any memory of what had happened to them," Dia sighed, pouring herself a glass of water and drinking it, "So yeah, unless something happened to the next Smashes that I face, I'm afraid that we're at a dead end, desu wa."

"Well, if you say that…" Shinnosuke sighed in disappointment, "Guess we have to be more patient then. Anyway…today's your first day at your new job, right? Are you excited for it?"

"What new job?" Dia blinked once again, earning herself a glare of dismay from Shinnosuke, before she quickly realized it, "Ah yes, the job at the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics! Of course I'm excited, desu wa. It's a huge honor for me to work at such a prestigious institution."

"I still cannot believe you absolutely destroyed their entrance exam," Shinnosuke said, "50 questions, 50 correct answers, 0 mistakes. Heck, even a man of above average intelligence like myself would only dream to get a 50% mark on their notoriously difficult entrance exam!"

"What can I say? I've emerged out of that exam room with the confidence that I've pulled off a flawless, perfect victory," Dia smirked confidently, "And I'm happy that I've got myself that job…it'll lessen the financial burden that we have right now!"

"That's true. Speaking of which…aren't you late for work?"

Dia blinked, before she quickly glanced at her wristwatch, specially tailored for her with equations instead of numbers on it.

"Oh no!" Dia gawked after she had saw the time, "I'm late!"

Dia immediately rushed towards the door, before suddenly pausing.

"That's something I would say if I had to walk to work, desu wa," Dia said, taking out two items from her pockets. The first item was a custom-made touchscreen smartphone, with a Fullbottle-sized slot installed on the back of the phone, while the second item was a Fullbottle, colored translucent marigold with a lion theme to it, "Behold, my lovely inventions."

"Oh, are you going to call in sick today?" Shinnosuke asked casually.

"Well of course," Dia replied in an equally casual manner, "Hello, Numazu Institute of Advanced Physics? I would like to call in sick…buu buu desu wa (wrong)! These are my ticket to work."

Dia quickly inserted the lion Fullbottle into the phone's slot before proceeding to throw the phone to the ground.

BUILD CHANGE!

Immediately, to the amazement of Shinnosuke, the phone configured itself in mid-air, transforming into a heavily modified Honda XR230 motorcycle that landed perfectly on both of its wheels on the floor. The motorcycle was predominantly red in color with black accents that resembled hazard lines, with a set of yellow boosters attached to the back of the motorcycle and a large black-and-silver gear being mounted above the motorcycle's headlight. Dia lets out a smug smile as she stood next to the motorcycle, while Shinnosuke kept on gawking at the vehicle in front of him with sheer amazement.

"Meet the Machine Builder," Dia introduced the motorcycle next to her, "By combining my Build Phone with the Lion Fullbottle, I was able to create an easy-to-carry motorcycle that would enable me to go around the city without any difficulty! Yet another testament of my genius, desu wa."

With Shinnosuke still utterly speechless, Dia reached for the motorcycle's LCD screen on where the speedometer was supposed to be, with an array of apps being put on display there. The young woman then proceeded to tap an app icon that resembled a helmet, causing yellow energy to materialize itself on the motorcycle's boosters. The energy soon solidified itself into a white and red motorcycle helmet, which Dia immediately put over her head.

"Alright, here we go!" Dia exclaimed confidently once she had secured herself on the Machine Builder, "Next stop…"

"…nowhere," Shinnosuke interrupted, standing in front of the Machine Builder with his hands on his hips, "You're still inside the kopitiam, remember?"

Taking off her helmet on her head, Dia blinked as she looked around her, before she quickly realized that she had just summoned the Machine Builder inside the Kurosawa Kopitiam building when she's supposed to summon the motorcycle outside it.

"Oh shit."

xxx

Meanwhile, in the sewers underneath Numazu City…

As Dia rode her way to the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics on her Machine Builder, she was unaware that in a few hours, her fate would intertwine with the fate of a certain individual who was currently on the run from the law. While Dia pulled her Machine Builder to a stop at an intersection to wait for the traffic lights like any other law-abiding citizen, at the same time, right underneath the wheels of the Machine Builder and hidden from the outside world by the thick asphalt road covering it, that certain individual stumbled her way through the complicated sewage system of Numazu, trying her best to evade the ones who are trying to catch her.

And that someone, was none other than 22-year old Mari Ohara.

With her shoulder-length blonde hair and amber eyes, Mari stood out like a literal sore thumb within the darkness of the sewers, despite the amount of mud splashed across both her hair and the white overalls that she's wearing right now. An exotic mix of Japanese, Italian, and American, Mari had lived a life that would draw the envy out of everyone, yet in the space of only a year and a half, all of those were taken away forcefully from her and now she's on the run, navigating her way through the dark and damp sewers of Numazu, a place that she had never imagined would ended up at a year and a half ago.

Panting heavily as she leaned herself against a nearby wall, Mari noticed a set of iron ladders nearby, leading to a partially opened manhole. Seeing this as an opportunity to finally escape the sewers, Mari made a mad dash towards it.

xxx

Twenty minutes later

Having ended up emerging near a public parking garage, Mari silently sneaked her way into it, whisking off the mud from her hair and clothes in the process. As her eyes scanned through the multitude of vehicles parked within the garage, Mari noticed a lone black Honda XR230 parked at a corner.

"Gotcha," Mari thought, a smirk appearing on her face.

Quickly and silently, Mari made her way towards the motorcycle. Once she had gotten close enough, Mari quickly hotwired the vehicle, a skill that she had acquired during the hellish period that she's undergoing right now. As the motorcycle that Mari's working on started to splutter and cough into life, the blonde noticed that several motorcycles and a black Humvee had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, stopping right in front of the parking garage. Several humanoids either emerged from the Humvee or dismounted their motorcycles, all of them garbed in dark gray uniform from head to toe with the symbol of East Shizuoka, a lotus blossom with a dove on each side, emblazoned on the left chest region. The humanoids' heads were robotic in design, colored in the same shade of dark gray as their uniforms, with a smooth, dark green triangular faceplate and a set of visual sensors around it. On the humanoids' hands were black assault rifles with bayonets attached to their front ends, the bayonets' silver blades glistening underneath the sunlight.

These were the Guardians, robotic soldiers built by the East Shizuoka government to uphold peace and security in the region.

Realizing that if she doesn't leave the garage immediately she would be caught, Mari quickly finished up her hotwiring, just in time to notice a bayonet being pointed at her back.

"Fugitive detected," said the Guardian brandishing its weapon at Mari, its voice robotic, soulless, and monotonous.

Cursing in her mind, Mari quickly mounted her newly hotwired motorcycle and made a quick escape, evading the Guardians who had locked their sights on her. Knowing that the garage's exit had already been sealed off, Mari decided that to escape the garage, she must do something daring. And oh boy did she found the way almost immediately.

Parked neatly in front of the garage's wall was a pickup truck carrying a set of wooden planks that had been arranged diagonally. The truck's driver was unloading the planks when he suddenly had to go to the garage's toilet to relieve himself, leaving behind the planks that he had inadvertently arranged into an impromptu ramp.

And that ramp was Mari's ticket out of the garage.

With the Guardians hot on her heels, Mari accelerated her motorcycle, making a mad dash towards the planks. Using the sheer momentum that she had, Mari drove over the planks with surprisingly no effort at all, before launching herself over both the garage wall and the iron fence surrounding the garage building, much to the surprise of the Guardians chasing her.

Soon Mari landed her bike on the ground and quickly made her way to the road, where a large platoon of Guardians, who had stood by on guard in front of the garage, almost immediately pursued her. Determined to not let the Guardians catch up with her, Mari rode her bike on the opposite side of the road, zig-zagging through incoming traffic with ease. This caused the traffic on the road to descend into chaos almost instantly, as the drivers who were surprised by Mari's utterly reckless driving were unprepared for the Guardians chasing after her, resulting in a huge pile-up between their vehicles and the Guardians' vehicles.

Witnessing the crash from her rearview mirror, Mari lets out a relieved sigh, but she knew that she must keep going. She might be in the clear for now, but Mari's not out of the woods yet.

xxx

Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics

"You answered every question on our test correctly, right?"

Dia nodded almost immediately. Right now, she was at the director's office of the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics, having been instructed to head over there by the receptionist after she had arrived at the Institute building. Sitting in front of Dia and behind his desk was Kensei, who lets out a smirk after hearing Dia's enthusiastic response. Standing next to Kensei was a young woman, aged around 19 with shoulder-length light brown hair. On her hands were a set of black folders, ready to be given to Kensei when the man asked her to do so.

"Incredible," Kensei said, his tone full of admiration, "This is the first time that I've heard someone completing a perfect run of our incredibly difficult entrance exam. Dia Kurosawa, you are indeed a very talented person. I really hope that you would become an integral part of our organization."

"It is an honor for me to work for the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics," Dia said, before she paused for a few seconds, "Er…pardon me for asking, but what's your name again? I'm not that good with names. It comes with the amnesia."

"Amnesia?" Kensei blinked, however he quickly shrugged it off, "Never mind, as long as it doesn't affect your performance here. Let me introduce myself. My name is Kensei Himuro, head of the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics." After he had introduced himself, Kensei proceeded to introduce the young woman next to him, "And this is Kanako Utsumi, my trusted intern secretary."

"Nice to meet you, zura!" Kanako greeted cheerfully, "I hope that we could get along together!"

"Right, Himuro-san and Utsumi-san. Noted, desu wa," Dia nodded, having memorized the two people in front of her, "It's very nice to meet you two. I promise that I'll do my best since day one in this prestigious institution."

"That's the spirit. We were doubting your commitment for us at first after we saw that you've written 'a physicist, probably' in your resume, but hearing you talk to us in person easily quells away those doubts," Kensei smiled as he stood up from his seat, "Now if you may, please come with us. We will show you what we've been working with for the past few years or so."

xxx

Five minutes later

Both Kensei and Kanako took Dia to the heart of the Institute building, where the Pandora Box was being kept underneath maximum security. Immediately as the trio approached the heavily guarded chamber that contained the Pandora Box, Dia rushed her way towards the chamber's locked door, much to the surprise of the guards standing by the chamber. Seeing that the guards had started to prepare their assault rifles, Kensei quickly motioned the guards to stand down.

"It's okay, she's only here to look at the Box," Kensei told the guards.

With the guards now in a more relaxed stance, Dia approached the chamber containing the Pandora Box without any resistance, peeking through the small window built into the chamber's door. Almost instantly Dia's eyes went wide in amazement as she saw what's behind the door – the Pandora Box, sitting quietly within its transparent, airtight container inside the chamber, a steady blue glow emanating from the Box.

"The Martian artifact, known commonly as the Pandora Box," Kensei said as he stood next to the awestruck Dia, "The research done by the NASA, JAXA, and INSET members who had found the Box on Mars as well as our very own research in this very Institute have determined that the Box contained a brand new, powerful energy source that the world has never seen before. It is even more powerful than nuclear energy."

"Magnificent, desu wa," Dia commented as she and Kensei stepped away from the chamber, "To imagine that there's a civilization more advanced than ourselves outside Earth…"

"Have you done your research on the Skywall Disaster?" Kensei asked.

"Of course! It is one of the mandatory things that I should do before my first day here," Dia replied swiftly, "The Skywall appeared during the Mars mission return ceremony in a flash of red light."

"It's not just the wall," Kensei told Dia, "The Box also altered the behavior of everyone present. The mayors, the district heads, the village chiefs, and last but not least, innocent civilians. Everyone in that event…had their aggressive impulses enhanced hundredfold by the Box's mysterious light. Which is why, our beloved prefecture, now divided into three, has been fighting with each other over this potentially massive energy source."

"And what about the Japanese government? Did they do anything about this?" Dia asked.

"We've been maintaining constant contact with the Japanese government over the resolution of the Skywall crisis," Kensei replied, "In fact, the government of East Shizuoka has been the only government of our divided prefecture to have established contact with Tokyo. Unfortunately, the central government did not have any data or knowledge whatsoever regarding Pandora Box, so they have no idea on how to handle the situation. It's up to us to safeguard this powerful artifact and it is our utmost duty as well that we constantly research the Box and send our findings to the Japanese government so that they could assist us in this situation. I believe that the energy contained within the Box would not only benefit East Shizuoka or Shizuoka, but also Japan as a whole."

"Sounds like a noble goal indeed, desu wa," Dia nodded.

"You have got to be kidding me, zura!"

Kanako, who was on her phone while Kensei and Dia were discussing, frantically went towards the former, her face clearly showing panic. Seeing that his intern was in a state of distress, Kensei immediately calmed Kanako down.

"Kanako, calm down," Kensei told the frantic young woman, "Just tell me what happened."

"The warden of the Izunokuni Central Women's Prison just called, zura," Kanako said once she had regained composure of herself, pausing for a few seconds to take several deep breaths before continuing, "There was a prison break there. An inmate convicted of double murder had just escaped prison and is now on the loose, zura."

"A murderer? On the loose?!" Kensei gasped, "Show me the news regarding the issue, Kanako. I need confirmation."

Kanako nodded, quickly opening the news app on her phone and showing it to both Kensei and Dia. The app showed a video of a newscaster reading out the news, along with Mari's mugshot next to him.

"An inmate from the Izunokuni Central Women's Prison has escaped. The suspect's name is Mari Ohara, 22-years old. She's presumed to have killed Ms. Satsuki Katsuragi, 21-years old, and Mr. Yasuyuki Isurugi, 46-years old, around a year and a half ago. Ms. Ohara, a former socialite and heiress of the famous Awashima Corporation, was sentenced to fifty years in prison for her crimes in a highly publicized trial six months ago."

"Mari Ohara…" Kensei muttered, clearly showing some discontent towards the person in question, "That girl had killed two of our best researchers here…so she's escaped…"

The video feed on Kanako's phone then switched to the epic bike chase between Mari and the Guardians that happened earlier that day, taken from one of the Guardians' head-mounted cameras.

"A group of Guardians was able to locate her during their search this morning, however she managed to destroy the Guardians sent after her and is now on the run again."

"Amazing!" commented a guard who had joined Kensei and Dia in watching the news broadcast on Kanako's phone, "The way that girl rode her motorcycle…it's so inhuman! I wonder if she had a career as a stuntwoman underneath her former glitz and glamour…"

Dia couldn't help to agree with the guard's statement. Mari's skills with her motorcycle were beyond comprehension, mastering a few stunts that little had dared to try. And to imagine that she had used her incredible motorcycle-riding skills to cause a huge pile-up that took out most of the Guardians going after her…made the guard's comment about Mari moonlighting as a stuntwoman before her scandal somewhat valid.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

Dia's train of thought was suddenly derailed by her Build Phone's notification alert. As Kensei and the guard continued watching the news broadcast, Dia silently sneaked away, taking out her Build Phone and opening its notification.

The notification was from Shinnosuke, who had sent Dia a text message. The message reads:

"Did you see the news about that escaped convict? Mari Ohara is giving off Smash readings. – Papa."

xxx

Kurosawa Kopitiam Underground Lab

"Mari Ohara, 22-years old," Shinnosuke said, reading aloud the information that he had quickly gathered on Mari from the Internet after Dia had called him via Skype, "She used to be a very famous socialite in the prefecture…Shizuoka's very own Paris Hilton, safe to speak. She was the heiress of the Awashima Corporation, who owns both the Awashima Marine Park and Awashima Hotel in the city as well as a number of other properties across Shizuoka Prefecture."

As Shinnosuke spoke, Ruby was seen leaning herself against a wall behind her adopted father. Surprisingly she was completely oblivious of all the equations that Dia had scribbled on her face earlier this morning and instead she was playing with her pigtails as Shinnosuke continued his explanation.

"Mari used to be on the tabloids almost every week," Shinnosuke continued, "Ranging from gossips regarding her relationship to her philanthropic exploits, she was quite the generous and kind-hearted girl, you know. I heard that she donated a sizeable sum of her savings to a children's hospital in Uchiura while at the same time bonding with several of the patients there. But at the same time, Mari was also known as…quite the eccentric, safe to speak. I mean inviting Dream Theater, Metallica, and Rammstein to perform in her private sweet seventeen…absolutely ludicrous featuring Mystikal."

"Tell me about it," Dia said from the other side of the line, "I could barely even remember my own sweet seventeen…"

"Anyway, Mari's fall from grace was quite swift…and brutal. After she had been implicated in the double murder of Satsuki Katsuragi and Yasuyuki Isurugi, her parents immediately disowned her on the spot. That's it, she's not their daughter anymore. They even refused to hire lawyers to represent Mari in court. Again, absolutely ludicrous featuring Mystikal…DJ Ruckus remix."

"Damn, that's quite harsh."

"Tell me about it," Shinnosuke sighed, "Looks like Mari's parents were more concerned about the Awashima Corporation's reputation over the innocence of their own daughter. Disgusting. Back to the topic at hand, I'm pretty sure that you've already know a thing or two about Mari's trial, it was very highly publicized, you know. She was sentenced to fifty years in prison, twenty-five years for each victim, around six months ago." After he had finished his sentence, Shinnosuke glanced over his shoulder to see Ruby sitting next to him, the sight of the equations written all over the redhead's face was more than enough to startle him, "Good grief Ruby, what happened to your face?"

"Onee-chan had mistaken Ruby's face as one of her whiteboards again," Ruby pouted.

"Yare-yare," Shinnosuke sighed once again.

xxx

Outside the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics building

"The sensors are reacting, but there are no reports of a monster," Shinnosuke told Dia, who was now standing outside the Numazu Institute of Advanced Matter Physics building, "Maybe she hasn't turned into a Smash yet?"

"Probably," Dia nodded, "But I better investigate before it's too late, desu wa. Do you have her location?"

"As the matter of fact, I do," Shinnosuke replied, "I've hacked into the GPS on the stolen motorcycle that Mari's using right now. I've pinpointed the location and I'm sending it to you as we speak."

"God bless our prefecture's policy to install GPS on every vehicle in East Shizuoka," Dia smirked to herself, "Right, talk to you later, Papa!"

After hanging up, Dia immediately inserted the Lion Fullbottle into her Build Phone, summoning the Machine Builder once again. With the GPS data from Mari's stolen motorcycle on the Machine Builder's screen, Dia wasted no time in tracking the fugitive down, riding her motorcycle past the gates of the Institute and into the main road.

xxx

Thirty minutes later

Dia had been following the signal from Mari's stolen motorcycle on her Machine Builder for about half an hour and it had taken her out of the Numazu city center and into the city's sleepy suburbs. The imposing Skywall in the background provided a rather intimidating backdrop as Dia navigated her way through the suburb's streets. Before long, the signal had taken Dia into a small neighborhood, its streets narrow with many identical houses arranged neatly on the sides of the street. It seems like the neighborhood that Dia's in right now was part of a planned housing project.

"Now where could she be…" Dia thought as she rode her Machine Builder slowly deeper into the neighborhood. The entire neighborhood was quiet, with the noise of the Machine Builder, birds flying overhead, and a local dog barking being the only ones accompanying Dia right now.

Suddenly a surprised look washed over Dia's face once she glanced at the Machine Builder's screen. The signal that she has been following for so long has suddenly stopped, only a few blocks away from where she's at.

"Gotcha," Dia smiled as she revved her Machine Builder, wasting no time in heading towards the signal's location.

xxx

Nothing could have prepared Dia for what she found at the signal's location.

Mari Ohara was nowhere to be found. Instead, her stolen motorcycle was standing idly on the curbside, it's engine still running. It has been abandoned by its thief, most likely not too long ago judging by the fresh footprints present on the patch of grass near the motorcycle.

Parking her Machine Builder behind the abandoned motorcycle, Dia followed the footprints, her right hand reaching for her coat pocket. Taking out a yellow and black handgun with a silver, funnel-shaped muzzle engraved with cylindrical accents, Dia slowly tiptoed her way, making sure that she did not make any unnecessary noise that might alert Mari of her presence. Dia's dealing with a dangerous criminal here, regardless of her previous background, and the fact that she has a Smash signal emanating from her means that Dia won't be taking any chances.

The footprints had led Dia off the streets and into a dark alleyway. Gripping her handgun even tighter, Dia slowly sneaked her way into the alley…

…only to suddenly pause once she heard someone crying from inside the alleyway.

With her handgun still in hand, Dia slowly inched herself towards the alleyway's entrance. Making sure that whoever's inside the alleyway wouldn't notice her, Dia took a quick peek of the alleyway and almost immediately her eyes went wide with surprise.

Mari Ohara was inside the alleyway. And she was crying.

A far cry from being the dangerous escaped convict that everyone said, Mari was an absolute wreck, tears flowing endlessly from her eyes as she sobbed into her knees. Her entire look was a mess, with her once majestic blonde hair now dull in color, no thanks to the mud that had been splattered all over her head. Mari's overalls had lost its shiny whiteness, now in the same shade of dull as her hair. Black pockets had made themselves known underneath Mari's eyes, partly because she had been crying for quite a while, while Mari's body reeked of sewage, due to the amount of time that the young woman had spent inside Numazu's sewers.

This was no murderer that had taken the lives of two people. This was a shattered shell of a human crying for help, help that would never come to her.

Taking pity at Mari's condition, Dia pocketed her handgun back into her coat before she slowly and warily made her way towards the crying young woman.

"Hey."

Mari slowly looked up to see Dia standing over her, her amber eyes making contact Dia's emerald ones. A look of defeat and resignation soon made itself known on Mari's face, with the young woman seemingly consigned to the fate that awaits her.

"Are you here to arrest me?" Mari asked, forcing herself to speak up between her sniffles and tears.

Dia shook her head gently, "No. In fact, I came here to help you."

"Help me?" Mari asked again, wiping her tears as Dia sat next to her, "Help me on what? My life is over. There's nothing that I could do now. My family won't even acknowledge me as their daughter again. My friends had probably cut off all ties with me. I should've never gone to that apartment on that fateful day…"

"What happened?" Dia asked gently. She knew what had happened, but she felt that it was better for Mari to tell her about her case from her own mouth. Perhaps there's something more to the murder case that Mari's been implicated in than meets the eye.

"I did not commit those murders, you've gotta believe me!" Mari cried, bawling into her knees once again. Immediately Dia patted the sobbing young woman on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.

"There, there," Dia smiled gently, taking out her handkerchief from her coat pocket and using it to wipe away Mari's tears, "Just tell me what happened. Don't worry, I'll believe you."

"And why should I do that?" Mari asked, using Dia's handkerchief to clean her eyes from any remaining tears, "I don't even know who you are…I don't know if it's wise to trust you or not…"

"I'm not with the police," Dia said reassuringly, carefully emptying her pockets to convince Mari that she's telling the truth, "See, I don't have a badge with me…"

But as careful as Dia was, she forgot that her handgun was still in her coat pocket and the moment Dia emptied her pockets, she accidentally dropped her handgun on the ground. A shocked look was engraved on Mari's face as she saw the handgun lying near her feet with Dia looking equally mortified as well.

"Shit," Dia cursed mentally. If only she had placed her handgun somewhere more discreet…

"You've got a gun with you," Mari said, her voice filled with terror, "And it doesn't look like the guns that police officers or those Guardians usually carry with them…don't tell me…you're with them?!"

"Them?" Dia blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to me!" Mari screamed out, "You're with those gas mask freaks, aren't you? Are you here to take me back into that hellhole?!"

Gas mask freaks. The three words that Dia wanted to hear the least. Hearing them coming out of Mari's mouth triggered something that Dia has been longing to suppress for so long, yet at the same time it was also the very thing that she's been seeking out for the most. The memories of her being strapped in that tank of water, the memories of those men with hazmat masks watching over her, the memories of that disturbing bat-armored man enjoying her suffering…

And then, it hit her.

Could Mari be the key to solving the mysteries of Dia's past?

"Answer me, damn it!" Mari suddenly grabbed Dia by her coat, "Those gas mask freaks had turned me into a guinea pig!" Mari cried loudly as she tightened her grip, before cursing out, "A fucking guinea pig!"

"Calm down!" Dia said quickly and sternly, pushing Mari away from her, "Just calm down, okay? We can talk about this like civilized people, no need to use physical violence. Tell me, what happened?"

Mari sighed. Her head was in a mix of emotions and she's still unsure whether she should trust Dia or not, but at times like this, she need to pour everything in her head out to someone.

"The moment I stepped into that prison…my entire life was turned to shambles. I was implicated in a crime that I did not commit, my parents refused to clear my name and even disowned me, their beloved daughter, for the sake of their damn company's reputation. Apparently, Papa and Mama didn't want their company and family to be associated with some criminal like me, even though I didn't do anything. And then…on that fateful day, one of the prison's guards asked me to eat with her while I was out in the prison cafeteria for lunch…"

xxx

"Ah, Ohara-san!" a well-dressed woman in her late 30s waved from her table to Mari, who had just arrived at the prison cafeteria, "Come over here, please."

"Yes, Guard Ozora?" Mari asked as she sat in front of the woman, "How may I help you?"

Sayuri Ozora was the guard in charge of the prison section where Mari was detained. A friendly and outgoing individual, she was well-liked by the inmates in the prison and Mari was no exception.

"Going to have you lunch, I see?" Sayuri smiled as she whipped out a small red bento box from her handbag, "Here, have this."

"Oh, thank you Guard Ozora, thank you!" Mari said gratefully as she accepted the box from Sayuri, "I wonder what's this…"

"It's shrimp tempura with rice," Sayuri replied, that sweet smile of her still on her face, "And please, call me Sayuri."

"Again, thanks. Saves me the time queuing up for my lunch," Mari said happily as she opened the bento box, exclaiming in English the moment she saw the contents, "Sembra delizioso!" (looks delicious in Italian)

"You sound cute when you speak Italian," Sayuri chuckled as she handed Mari a pair of chopsticks, "Here you go. I hope you enjoy your lunch."

"Thanks," Mari accepted the chopsticks from Sayuri, before she proceeds to dig into the bento box.

The bento that Sayuri had made was perfect. The rice was soft and fluffy, the tempura was crisp but at the same time juicy, while the sauce was an excellent companion for the dish. Sayuri watched on in delight as Mari enjoyed her lunch enthusiastically, but the latter was unaware of a malicious-looking grin appearing on Sayuri's lips…

"Oh my God Sayuri, this dish you made was perfection!" Mari praised after she had finished her bento, "I hope that you…"

Suddenly without warning a feeling of drowsiness overtook Mari's body, the young woman letting out a mighty yawn as her eyes became heavy suddenly. Struggling to keep her eyes open, Mari slowly teetered on her seat as she lets out another yawn.

"Is it me or I'm feeling extra sleepy today…" Mari muttered before she slumped over the table, tipping over her empty bento box in the process. Within seconds Mari was snoring quietly, fast asleep on her seat, with the other inmates in the cafeteria paying little to no attention whatsoever towards her.

A wicked grin made itself known on Sayuri's face as she slowly stood up from her seat, before she proceeded to pick Mari up by her arms…

xxx

The radiating white light pierced through Mari's eyes, causing the young woman to slowly stir out from her stupor. Dazed, confused, and with her head and eyes still heavy and drowsy, Mari slowly blinked her eyes to allow her vision to adjust herself to her alien surroundings.

"Where am I?" Mari asked quietly, before much to her surprise, she saw several men clad in white hazmat suits and black hazmat masks peering over her.

As if that wasn't enough, Mari found herself bound to a tank of water, her arms and legs shackled to the tank by black clamps and silver chains. Mari could not move at all, the restraints on her limbs were too tight for her to break free from, meaning that she could not do anything as one of the hazmat men watching over her forcefully placed a black oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.

"Get off me!" Mari yelled as the mask was placed on her face, the young woman thrashing around in vain inside the tank as both the restraints on her limbs and the other hazmat men forcing her down prevented her from doing anything significant.

With Mari secured inside the tank, the hazmat men placed a transparent tube into the tank before closing the tank up, much to Mari's horror.

"Let me go, please!" Mari cried once again as a hazmat man typed in several commands into a set of computers situated next to the tank. The screens on the computer displayed a complete array of Mari's vitals, ranging from her heart rate, her oxygen levels, to her body temperature.

Meanwhile, an array of beds was seen near the tank where Mari was being held against her will. On the beds were people clad in white hospital gowns, men, women, and children alike, their limbs restrained to their bedframes by white ropes. All of them were screaming for their hazmat-clad captors to let them free, with the loudest being an intimidating looking-man with a mohawk and a set of metallic earrings on his right ear, with the man being placed on the bed nearest to Mari's tank.

The next thing Mari saw was a cloud of white gas being pumped into the tank through the tube. The gas slowly but surely obscured Mari's vision, enveloping her eyes with a white, hazy mist that prevented her from seeing anything. Immediately Mari began to thrash erratically inside her tank once again, trying her best to avoid inhaling the unknown gas within the tank. However, the more she struggled, the more she inhaled the gas unknowingly, the hazy white substance slowly filling up Mari's lungs and entered her bloodstream.

Suddenly Mari's eyes shot open, her pupils fully dilated. A surge of energy coursed throughout her body the moment the gas made itself known in her bloodstream, giving her this strange feeling…that she could do anything. Mari felt that her energy levels quadrupled within seconds, her adrenaline rushing like never before. Letting out an almighty roar, Mari tore her way through the clamps and chains restraining her with little effort at all, something that was unimaginable considering that Mari had struggled to move within her restraints only minutes earlier. Casting aside her oxygen mask, Mari proceeded to punch through her tank's cover, using the cover to shove away the hazmat men surrounding her tank.

As the other hazmat men watched on in shock, Mari jumped out of her tank, prompting several of the hazmat-clad captors to surround her. Much to their horror, Mari easily fought them off, her survival instincts going on overdrive as she easily punched and kicked her way through the hazmat men before shoving one of them through a nearby wall. The impact was so hard, not only did the hazmat man died upon hitting the wall, but his body also blew a hole through the wall, with the hole being large enough for Mari to escape through. Without hesitation and knowing that more of the hazmat men would come after her, Mari made her way out of the location through the hole, before finding herself in Numazu's sewage system seconds afterwards.

xxx

"Did that really happen?!" Dia gawked out in surprise, clearly taken aback by the fact that Mari had superhuman strength that belittled her appearance, "If it's true…then you must have seen the bat man too!"

"Bat man? What are you talking about?" Mari asked.

"A man wearing a bat-themed suit of armor, desu wa!" Dia replied quickly, "Listen, I know that this sounds crazy, but I think…I think what happened to you…happened to me as well."

Suddenly the conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming into the alleyway. Both Dia and Mari turned around to see an imposing male humanoid standing in front of the alleyway, colored purple with several yellow accents on the torso with a set of dull metallic gray legs. The humanoid was muscular in build, with a torso that resembled a lump of muscle being molded into a fist. Lacking a neck whatsoever, the humanoid had three black spots that acted as his face, while his fists were quite oversized, ready to pummel anyone foolish enough to stray in his path. The humanoid wasted no time in announcing his arrival by punching a nearby wall with those oversized fists, sending a cloud of debris and rubble towards both Dia and Mari.

"Look out!" Dia warned.

Both Dia and Mari ducked just in time to avoid the incoming attack, with Dia quickly grabbing her handgun and firing off several bullets of yellow energy at the humanoid. Sparks flew from where the bullets had hit the humanoid, however they did nothing but to enrage the creature even further. Wading through more shots that Dia had fired from her handgun, the humanoid swung a punch that struck Dia in the chest, sending her flying a few meters away.

The humanoid then turned its attention towards Mari, who immediately cowered in fear upon seeing the creature.

"What is that thing?" Mari asked, clearly terrified of the creature in front of her.

"A Smash, desu wa," Dia replied groggily as she slowly stood up, shaking away the sheer pain that she had received when the creature punched her, "A Strong Smash to be exact."

"Smash?" Mari asked again as the Strong Smash slowly made his way towards her.

"A human that has been transformed into a monster with violent tendencies," Dia told Mari, dusting herself off as she prepares her handgun again, "Leave it to me! They cannot be reasoned with unless you beat them!"

Mari quickly nodded, her mind set on getting out of the alleyway as soon as possible. Her motorcycle was still waiting nearby, so she would need to fetch it and leave the area immediately before the Strong Smash could do any harm to her. However, the muscles in Mari's legs were petrified out of fear and no matter how hard Mari tried to run away, she was unable to move her legs at all, leaving her as a sitting duck.

The Strong Smash lets out a deep, guttural growl as he lifted up his right fist, ready to punch the daylights out of Mari, with the young woman closing her eyes and bracing herself for the incoming attack…

…until several yellow bullets struck the Strong Smash in the torso. The Strong Smash was sent reeling to the ground, allowing Mari to slowly open her eyes to see her savior.

It was Dia, her handgun in hand with smoke billowing out from its muzzle. The young woman aimed the weapon at the recovering Strong Smash, while her emerald eyes were focused at Mari.

"Here's your chance!" Dia yelled out, "Run!"

Mari immediately obliged, mustering the strength and courage to make a dash out of the alleyway. The Strong Smash noticed Mari running away from him and prepared to give chase, only for Dia to suddenly jump on his shoulders in an attempt to restrain him.

"Your opponent…will be me, desu wa!" Dia exclaimed as she struggled to prevent the Strong Smash from chasing Mari.

xxx

Running as fast as her two legs could take her, Mari emerged out from the alleyway and went straight towards her stolen motorcycle. But just as she was about to hop on her vehicle, a loud boom was heard from the alleyway and Mari saw Dia being thrown out of it, landing on her back just near her Machine Builder.

"Hey!" Mari called out, rushing to the downed Dia, "Are you okay?"

"Been through worse," Dia gritted her teeth in pain as she slowly stood up, her clothing stained by dirt and small bruises can be seen all over her body, "But it's a good thing that Smash threw me all the way here."

"And why's that?" Mari asked.

A rather pained smile made itself known on Dia's face, with the young woman slowly backing up towards her Machine Builder. At the same time, the Strong Smash emerged out from the alleyway, those huge fists of his pounding together against one another. Mari gulped, imagining what would happen should one of those fists land a hit on her. She then took a glance of the slightly battered Dia, who had opened the Machine Builder's seat to reveal a secret compartment underneath it. With Dia currently rummaging for something from inside the compartment, Mari looked on in worry as the Strong Smash slowly advances closer towards them, his oversized fists slamming against one another menacingly.

However, it did not take long for Dia to found what she had been looking for.

Slamming the Machine Builder's seat shut, Dia revealed what she had been rummaging for to the world – a black device with red crank on its right hand side. A pair of slots were seen on the device, with a translucent silver circle sitting between the slots and the crank. Wasting no time, Dia placed the device on her waist, prompting a pair of yellow straps to pop out from the device's sides and secure it on her body.

The Build Driver is now ready to see some action.

"Now, shall we begin the experiment, desu wa?" Dia asked.

"Experiment?" Mari blinked, "What experiment?"

"You'll see," Dia smirked, taking out a pair of Fullbottles from her trouser pockets – a red one themed after a rabbit and a blue one themed after a tank.

With the Strong Smash approaching closer and closer, Dia quickly shook the Fullbottles in her hands, prompting a series of white equations to appear all over the area out of nowhere. Both Mari and the Strong Smash looked around them as the equations floated in front of their eyes, clearly confused by what's happening right now. Dia, however, looked undeterred as she twisted the lids of her Fullbottles, before inserting them into the slots on her Build Driver, a symbol of a red rabbit and a blue tank appearing once the Fullbottles had been inserted to their respective slots, causing a computerized male voice to announce out of the Driver,

RABBIT! TANK!

Seconds afterwards, a pair of projections forming the letters "R" and "T" appeared in front of the Driver.

BEST MATCH!

A techno tune was played out of the Build Driver as Dia quickly spun its crank, with the device's translucent circle flashing out glows of red and blue as it spun in the same rhythm as the crank. Suddenly a pair of translucent tubes came out from the Driver, startling Mari as a metallic platform made itself known underneath Dia's feet. Red and blue liquid flowed into the tubes as they form a pair of frames not too dissimilar to the ones found in plastic model kits that were supported by the metallic platform underneath them, with the red frame standing in front of Dia and the blue frame standing behind her. Each frame had what appears to be half of a suit of armor being formed within them. Once the halves in each frame were completed, the Build Driver lets out another announcement,

ARE YOU READY?

"Henshin!" Dia exclaimed as she assumed a fighting pose, her left fist clenched tightly as her relaxed right hand was outstretched in front of her.

Dia then proceeded to cross her arms in front of her chest and threw them to her sides, prompting an invisible force to push the frames along the platform, heading straight towards Dia. Within seconds both frames sandwiched Dia, with the armor halves fusing with each other around her. As the frames, tubes, and platform disappeared, the newly created suit of armor around Dia's body expelled out a thin cloud of white gas from its joints, the armor's eyes glowing as a sign of its completion.

Dia's suit of armor was colored red and blue in an asymmetrical manner, themed after both a rabbit and a tank. The right side of the armor's helmet was blue with a translucent tank sticking out from where the eye was supposed to be, while the left side of the armor's helmet was red with a translucent rabbit's head extending out from where the eye was supposed to be. However, the armor's right arm was red in color, while the left arm was blue. Adding more to the asymmetry, the armor's right leg was blue in color with what seems to be tiny tank treads beneath the armor's right boot. The armor's left leg was red in color, with what seems to be a metallic right spring installed on the left shin.

Immediately upon the completion of the armor's creation, the newly armored Dia struck a fighting pose, ready to challenge the Strong Smash in front of her and Mari as the Build Driver on Dia's waist announced out,

HAGANE NO MOONSAULT! RABBITTANK! YEAAAAHHH!

Mari's jaw dropped once she saw the newly transformed Dia in front of her. There's something about Dia's shiny new armor that oozes confidence, safety, and power, something that gives Mari a slight hope that the two of them might emerge from this pinch with their lives intact.

Standing in front of Mari was no longer Dia Kurosawa. In the armor that she's wearing right now, Dia Kurosawa was known as…Kamen Rider Build.

Wasting no time, Build crouched down, the spring on her left shin glowing red. Seconds later Build was flying, being launched into the air by the spring on her shin with her right fist ready to land a hit on the Strong Smash. Build's fist connected with the Strong Smash's face, with the force behind the attack enough to send him stumbling back.

That wasn't enough to deter the Strong Smash, however, and he quickly went on the offensive, swinging those oversized fists in an attempt to punch Build. The woman in the two-colored armor wasn't a pushover though, as she gracefully avoided the incoming attacks. Build used the sleek design of her armor to good use, knowing all too well that being the brutish being that he was, the Strong Smash would probably use brute force in all of his attacks. It's up to Build's brains to beat the Smash's brawns, from start to finish.

Mari watched on in awe as Build saw an opening that she had been looking for, the armored lady launching a salvo of punches on the Strong Smash's torso. The Strong Smash retaliated by performing a two-handed punch that went straight for Build's chest, however she nimbly jumped back, avoiding the attack just in time. The Strong Smash wasn't finished there though and sent a right hook heading straight for Build's helmet.

"Watch out!" Mari warned.

Heeding to Mari's warning, Build backed away from the incoming fist, before using it as a platform for herself to jump over the Strong Smash. With the treads on her right boot leaving a mark on the Strong Smash's fist, Build performed a backflip over the Strong Smash's head, landing gracefully behind the creature. Suddenly a pair of multicolored pipes shot out from the Build Driver, the pipes twisting and turning next to her before configuring themselves into a sword. Bearing the same design as Dia's handgun from earlier, the sword had a yellow coloring to it, with its silver blade resembling that of a drill's. The sword's hilt and handle were black in color, with a red and white pressure gauge embedded on the hilt. Present next to the gauge was a small slot, big enough for a Fullbottle to fit into.

This was the Drill Crusher in its default Blade Mode, Build's primary weapon.

The Strong Smash went on the offensive once again, trying to salvage something from this increasingly one-sided affair. Instead, he was greeted by a series of slashes across his head and torso courtesy of the Drill Crusher, with sparks flying every time the sword's drill-like blade made contact with the Strong Smash's body. A spinning slash and a thrust was more than enough to send the Strong Smash reeling back, but Build wasn't finished just yet.

Taking out the newly created hedgehog-themed Fulbottle, Build gave it a thorough shake before twisting its lid around. As the Strong Smash regained his bearings, Build quickly swapped out the Rabbit Fullbottle for the hedgehog one.

HARINEZUMI!

Build quickly spun the crank on her Build Driver, causing flashes of white and blue to appear from the device's translucent circle.

ARE YOU READY?

"Build Up!" Build exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest before throwing them apart to her sides.

This time there were no fancy tubes, frames, or platforms. A white, hedgehog-themed holographic half of armor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slammed itself onto the red half of Build's armor, with the red evaporating into nothingness the moment the white half attached itself onto Build's body. A jazzy tune was played out of the Build Driver as the transformation completed itself.

The left eye of Build's armor has a white, translucent hedgehog sticking out of it, complete with its signature quills to give it a spiky and menacing appearance, while what seems to be a boxing glove riddled with a multitude of spikes on it was present in place of Build's right hand, ready to demolish anyone foolish enough to run afoul of it. Completing Build's new look was a piece of armor adorned with even more spikes on her right shoulder.

Just as Build had finished her transformation, the Strong Smash made the foolish decision of charging head-on towards her, his fists banging against each other rapidly. In contrast, that was exactly what Build had hoped the Smash would do.

The Strong Smash prepared himself for a powerful hook heading straight for Build's helmet, only for the armored young woman to protect her head by raising her right hand over it. Immediately the spikes on Build's right hand extended themselves, jabbing the Strong Smash on his face and torso. Backing away in pain, the Strong Smash was at Build's mercy, who repeatedly punched the creature with her spiked glove.

"Poke! Poke! Poke!" Build exclaimed as she repeatedly jabbed the Strong Smash with her spiked glove, with a few hits even striking the Strong Smash right on his buttocks. Mari could not help herself to let out a chuckle upon seeing the Strong Smash clutching his bum in pain.

Soon the fight shifted from the curbs to the street, with the Strong Smash attempting and failing spectacularly in landing a decent hit on Build's armor, only for the creature to be jabbed repeatedly with Build's spiked glove. A final jab sends the Strong Smash tumbling to the ground, allowing Build to take out the Rabbit Fullbottle.

"And now, the winning formula have been decided, desu wa," Build said, shaking the Rabbit Fullbottle and twisting its cap with a single flick of her thumb.

RABBIT! TANK! BEST MATCH! ARE YOU READY? HAGANE NO MOONSAULT! RABBITTANK! YEAAAAHHH!

Back in her default red-and-blue armor, Build quickly spun the crank on her Build Driver, furious flashes of red and blue appearing from the device's translucent circle.

"Now be a good boy and stay put," Build playfully told the recovering Strong Smash, before she quickly turned around…and hightailed it, much to Mari's utter confusion and bewilderment.

"What is she doing?" Mari muttered to herself as she saw Build running away from the Strong Smash, "She had the advantage throughout the fight! And now, when she had that thing at her mercy, she decided to flee?! Some person you turned out to be."

And then Mari realized it.

Sparks flew from Build's boots every time she stepped on the ground, growing more and more intense by each step. It was as if Build was mustering all the energy that she needed and channeling them to her feet. With one mighty leap powered by the spring in her left shin, Build took off to the skies before plummeting down with her right boot heading straight towards the ground, the treads underneath it spinning wildly. Letting out a yell, Build literally dove feet-first into the ground, while at the same time a white projection of a line chart suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The line within the chart was in a descending curve, with the Strong Smash being restrained at the lowest point of the line.

Seconds afterwards Build burst out from the same hole that she had gone into, being propelled by the spring in her left shin. Once she had reached the highest point of the line chart projection, Build immediately assumed a flying side kick pose, her body going along the descending curve on the chart.

READY, GO! VORTEX FINISH! YEAAAY!

Red and blue energy began to gather on Build's outstretched right boot as she descended down the line chart, heading straight for the restrained Strong Smash with her right boot ready for the kill. Within seconds Build plowed through the vulnerable Strong Smash, the treads on her right boot grinding the Smash's face in the process, before the creature's entire body exploded in a shower of green flames. Build landed gracefully on the asphalt as the line chart projection disappeared and the green flames from the Strong Smash's defeat died out, leaving behind a prone-looking shell of the creature lying motionless on the ground.

"Amazing…" Mari gasped, clearly awestruck by Build's finishing attack.

Pleased at her handiwork, Build took out an empty Fullbottle, twisted its cap, and pointed it at the motionless Strong Smash. A flash of green light appeared from the Strong Smash's body and within seconds, the creature's entire physique was sucked into the bottle, leaving behind a dazed and confused man in white overalls lying on the ground in the Smash's place.

And almost immediately, Mari recognized the man lying in front of her.

It was the intimidating-looking man with a mohawk who had been strapped to the bed closest to the tank where Mari had to endure her ordeals in that hellhole filled with those hazmat men.

"Shimizu?" Mari called out, the blonde rushing over towards the mohawked man's side, "Shimizu, are you okay?"

"Wh…where…where am I?" Shimizu, the man with the mohawk, stammered weakly as Mari crouched down over him.

"Don't joke around!" Mari suddenly yelled out, grabbing Shimizu by his shoulders, "Did you saw those gas mask freaks?!"

"What are you talking about?" Shimizu asked, his voice sounded confused and defenseless, a stark contrast to his somewhat menacing appearance.

As Mari throttled the disoriented Shimizu for answers, Build could not help to notice the similarities that the man had with herself. Both had to endure inhuman experimentations, both had lost most if not all memory of their experimentations, and most importantly, both had been turned into superpowered beings after the incident, with Dia being the armored warrior known as Build that she is now, and Shimizu being the Strong Smash's alter ego.

Adding Mari's superhuman strength that she had exhibited during her escape and her testimony that matched her visions of those hazmat men to the equation, Build's suspicions were practically confirmed.

The three of them, Dia Kurosawa, Mari Ohara, and Shimizu, had been captured and experimented on by the same person. And with Shimizu in the same state of amnesia as she was when she was found by Shinnosuke, the only clear answer to Dia's mysterious past lies within Mari.

"It's true," Mari suddenly spoke out, having realized that she's getting nowhere with Shimizu. Build did not say anything in response, as she was staring blankly at her newly acquired unpurified Fullbottle with her mind still trying to figure out how to get answers regarding her past from Mari. Realizing that the red-and-blue armored being in front of her was still lost in her thoughts, Mari raised her voice as she pointed at Shimizu, "This guy…this guy right here…he's like me. They did something to our bodies!"

Build remained silent, however she diverted her attention from her Fullbottle to the increasingly desperate Mari. It was a tense few seconds, with Build and Mari staring at each other, neither uttering a word, while Shimizu was still on the ground, fidgeting around in confusion.

Frustrated at Build's silence, Mari decided to break the tension by quickly grabbing the armored warrior by her shoulders.

"You gotta believe me!" Mari cried as she shook Build's body, desperation and frustration can be clearly heard in her voice.

Build remained calm despite being throttled repeatedly by Mari, gently releasing the desperate young woman's grip on her much to Mari's surprise.

"I already told you, I'll believe you. You don't need to worry about that around me," Build told Mari calmly, patting the blonde on the shoulders reassuringly, "If everything that you told me is true…then those experiments…were meant to turn people into Smashes…"

However, before Build could continue her words, the sounds of sirens blaring from a distance was heard. Immediately Shimizu stood up, a petrified and frightened look washed all over his face. Without saying another word, Shimizu fled the premises, much to the surprise of both Build and Mari. The two were left dumbfounded by what had just happened, but seconds later, they realized why Shimizu had ran away from the scene in sheer terror.

Heading towards both Build and Mari was a huge convoy of East Shizuoka's security forces. A black Humvee, the same model that Mari encountered at the parking garage earlier, was seen in the heart of the convoy. The heavily armored vehicle was flanked by three motorcycles, all of them driven by Guardians, and a platoon of heavily armed officers and Guardians alike. The convoy stopped just a few meters short from both Build and Mari, with both the officers and the Guardians assuming their respective standby positions around the Humvee.

"So, you're that Kamen Rider person that the people has been talking about," a familiar voice spoke out from the Humvee's backseat.

Immediately Build choked mentally upon hearing those words, not because of what was contained in them, but because of the person who had said them.

"Himuro-san!" Build gasped in her mind, completely surprised by the fact that her new boss has decided to get involved in this situation personally. But then again, since Kensei was an important figure within the East Shizuoka government, she shouldn't be too surprised if he decided to involve himself in situations that would endanger East Shizuoka and its people.

And since Mari Ohara was an escaped convict who had allegedly killed two people, this is such situation.

The window on the Humvee's passenger door rolled open, revealing a calm and collected-looking Kensei. An aura of authority immediately came out of him and despite his rather relaxed expression in his seat, Kensei was not someone that you would mess with.

"I've heard about you," Kensei spoke again as Kanako stepped out of the Humvee, opening the vehicle's passenger door to allow her boss to step out of it.

Stretching his body ever so slightly once he had gotten out of the Humvee, Kensei stood calmly yet menacingly within the heart of his convoy, with Kanako, as usual, standing next to him with her folders.

"Hand the murderer, Mari Ohara, to us," Kensei said, his words clearly emanating the authority that the man had in this situation right now.

"I did not kill anyone!" Mari yelled out as she stepped away from Build and confronted the convoy.

Kensei lets out a smirk, before calmly clapping his hands twice. This prompted the platoon of officers and Guardians around him and Kanako to ready their weapons, pointing them all at Mari. As the platoon marched their way towards her, Mari slowly fell on her knees and closed her eyes, seemingly accepting her impending fate.

"I'm innocent…" Mari muttered underneath her breath, a single tear escaping her eye, "I might be annoying, noisy, and weird…but murdering someone…I could never imagine myself doing such a thing! Maybe this is how it goes…my life has been damaged beyond repair…and maybe…this is how the powers that be decided to put it out of its misery…"

Build couldn't help to feel pity hearing Mari's words. As she looked at the weeping Mari from her red and blue lenses, Dia could felt her eyes water ever so slightly, a single teardrop dripping out of her left eye.

Slowly Build clenched her fists. No. This is not happening. She will not let the only lead to her past to die just like that. She must do something, even if it means that her new boss would brand her as an accomplice to murder and forever tarnish her reputation as the hero of East Shizuoka, a reputation that she had built ever so carefully throughout this year and a half.

"AAAAAAAH!" Build suddenly sighed aloud, "This is the worst possible outcome, desu wa. I'm going to regret this day for sure…"

And with that, Build made a mad dash towards her parked Machine Builder, quickly starting up the engine and gesturing Mari to hop on, much to not only her surprise, but also Kensei, Kanako, and everyone present in the convoy.

"Get on," Build told Mari as she got on her Machine Builder, only for the blonde to stood still in her place out of shock, "Get! On!"

That was more than enough to shock Mari back into reality, a smile of relief appearing on her face. Seizing this opportunity to escape and live another day, Mari quickly ran towards the Machine Builder, catching the helmet that Build had materialized for her with her hands. As Mari put on the helmet over her head, Build revved the Machine Builder's engine and drove off from the area, much to the dismay and anger of Kensei.

"FIRE!" Kensei yelled, prompting the platoon of officers and Guardians to open fire at the escaping Machine Builder.

Realizing that their bullets were not hitting their intended target due to the Machine Builder's increasing speed, one Guardian decided to act bold and leaped its way towards the speeding Machine Builder, grabbing onto Mari in an attempt to knock her off the vehicle in the process.

"Get off!" Mari yelled as the Guardian tightened its grab on her shoulder.

"Move," Build said, pushing Mari's head slightly to the side before knocking away the Guardian clinging onto her with a single punch to the face.

With the Machine Builder disappearing from his sights, a clearly infuriated Kensei turned his attention to the rest of his convoy. Flames of anger can be clearly seen from Kensei's eyes while his fists were clenched tightly, barely able to contain the seething rage within the man. Kanako flinched slightly in fear after seeing Kensei's enraged expression, while the rest of the convoy looked on in obedience.

"Now listen up!" Kensei said furiously, "I want those two to be brought in! I don't care if they're dead or alive…just don't let them get away!"

Immediately the convoy dispersed, with the motorcycle-riding Guardians taking chase while the officers and Guardians on foot spread themselves out throughout the neighborhood. The motorcycle-riding Guardians quickly caught up with the Machine Builder, firing their vehicles' in-built machine guns in an attempt to slow down their target, before one of the Guardians attempted to surround the Machine Builder by driving its motorcycle in front of it.

A still-fuming Kensei made his way back to the Humvee, only for Kanako to stood rather fidgetingly in front of the passenger door.

"What is it, Kanako?!" Kensei barked, causing Kanako to shudder out in fear.

"Himuro-san, wi-wi-with all due respect…" Kanako stammered, clearly frightened at her boss' fury, "If they die…"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Kensei screamed to the top of his lungs in Kanako's face, frightening the intern secretary even further, "We don't need toys that break this easily."

And with that Kensei went inside the Humvee, with a still frightened Kanako following him into the vehicle.

Back to the chase between the Machine Builder and the Guardians, the former had managed to break itself free from the Guardians' attempt to surround it, exiting the neighborhood and heading towards the imposing Skywall standing only a few kilometers away. The Guardians weren't just going to give up, however, and the three motorcycles chasing the Machine Builder are still hot on its trails.

Meanwhile, the Guardians on foot had positioned themselves on the roadside, some of them had rocket launchers replacing their usual rifles. The robots' sensors immediately picked up the Machine Builder coming towards them, prompting them to aim their rocket launchers at the incoming motorcycle.

"Target acquired," the lead Guardian said as the Machine Builder came closer and closer towards them, its rocket launcher ready to create some mayhem.

And as the Machine Builder made its way to the Guardians' firing range, the robots began to open fire, blasting rockets after rockets from their rocket launchers at the motorcycle. Explosions erupted around the Machine Builder as it narrowly missed the first few rockets, but Build knew that under this heavy fire, both her and Mari won't survive this chase for long unless she does something.

Quickly Build extended her right boot outwards, the tank-like treads on it spinning rapidly. Using her right boot to keep herself up with the speeding Machine Builder, Build slowly got off the motorcycle, her hands tightly gripped on the Machine Builder's handlebars while the treads on her right boot prevented her from being thrown off the vehicle.

"Switch with me," Build told Mari.

"What?!" Mari gawked as Build released her grip on the handlebars and grabbed the motorcycle's rear end instead, prompting Mari to grab the handlebars almost instantly out of fear that the Machine Builder would fall out of control if no-one's holding its handlebars.

"Eyes on the road!" Build replied, positioning herself in the back of the Machine Builder with her hands gripping the rear end of the vehicle tightly and both of her feet on the asphalt road below.

Mari obliged, taking full control of the Machine Builder while occasionally looking back to make sure that Build, in the dangerous position that she is right now, doesn't get thrown off. The Guardians on the roadside fired off their rocket launchers again, freaking out Mari to the point that she screamed out in terror. Build remained calm though, and the moment she saw the incoming rocket shells, the spring on her left shin glowed red. With Mari still freaking out in the Machine Builder's driver's seat, Build calmly kicked away the incoming rocket shells, sending them back to the Guardians that had fired them off and destroying the robots in a spectacular show of fireworks.

Minutes later, with Build now back in control of the Machine Builder, the red-and-blue warrior guided her motorcycle towards a ramp that lead up towards the Skywall, literally going up the huge structure with the three Guardian motorcycles still in pursuit. Driving surprisingly well on the narrow surface on top of the wall, Build used the terrain's roughness to her advantage as it forced the Guardians pursuing them to slow down, before proceeding to brake her vehicle suddenly and performing a rapid 12 o'clock stoppie, catching an incoming Guardian motorcycle off-guard. Said motorcycle and its rider were knocked off the wall by the Machine Builder's rear wheel swatting them away like flies, with the two flying straight into the reddish aura surrounding the wall. Both Guardian and its motorcycle exploded upon hitting the aura, a clear evidence that it has some destructive properties.

With the other two Guardian motorcycles still hot on their heels, Build decided that in order to lose them, she must perform an even bolder maneuver than before. With that in mind, Build drove the Machine Builder off the Skywall much to Mari's horror.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Mari cried out in terror as the Machine Builder flew off the Skywall before landing vertically on the gigantic structure's surface, "I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS!"

"Shut up and trust me with this!" Build replied, taking out her Drill Crusher, "Now hang on tight!"

As a terrified Mari continued to scream, she heeded Build's words and wrapped her hands around the warrior's waist tightly. Immediately Build stabbed the Drill Crusher into the Skywall's surface before proceeding to jump off the Machine Builder. Mari dug her nails deep into Build's armor as the red-and-blue hero used the Drill Crusher to halt their fall, leaving the two dangling on the Skywall's surface with the Drill Crusher as their support.

The two Guardians chasing them weren't so lucky, however.

Chasing down the now driverless Machine Builder, the two Guardians were caught off-guard when the Machine Builder suddenly transformed back to its original Build Phone form that landed safely on the ground as the two Guardians and their motorcycles chasing it plummeted down the Skywall, both exploding alongside their motorcycles once they impacted the ground.

xxx

Ten minutes later

With the coast clear and everything under control, it was time for Dia to return home. Having de-transformed from her Build armor and summoned the Machine Builder once again, Dia rode her motorcycle back towards the Numazu city center, this time with Mari riding along with her.

"Great," Dia sighed, "Now I'm a fugitive too, desu wa…"

"Why did you save me?" Mari asked.

Dia sighed once again, her eyes focused on the road in front of her, "I already told you, desu wa. It's because I believe you. That's really it."

"But why? Why did you believe me in the first place?" Mari asked again.

"Remember when I told you that what happened to you happened to me as well? That's why I've decided to believe you. Tell me, do you believe in destiny?"

"Not really."

"Destiny is when two people with similar stories meet each other and during that moment, their fates intertwine with each other," Dia explained, "I don't know about you, but I think there is a reason why we met today. And it's not because of your murder case."

"And what is it?"

"Tell me what, let's make ourselves a deal. I'll help you out in clearing your name and regaining your life back. In return, you're going to help me."

Mari blinked, "Thanks for your offer…but how am I supposed to help you and how you are going to help me?"

Dia smiled, "I have my own team working behind the scenes, desu wa. They helped me in tracking down those Smash creatures, so I bet they could find out what really happened that led to you being wrongfully arrested. As for how you could help me…I need you to help me regain the memories of my past."

"Memories?"

Dia nodded, "That Smash and I…we both lost our memories after being experimented on. However, you managed to escape your captors with your memories intact. The main reason why I fought those Smashes in the first place…was to find out more about my past and why those gas mask freaks experimented on me, as well as finding out why they took away my memories. I hope that you could somehow provide us with a lead in tracking down the very people who did this to us and if we could find them…hopefully…I could get some answers regarding my past…and also put a stop to their acts of human experimentation once and for all."

Mari went silent as she drowned herself in her thoughts. If everything that Dia told her was true, that means she had come across someone who had suffered the same fate as she did and came off worse. Despite being framed for a crime that she did not commit and had her life literally change for the worst because of it, at least Mari managed to escape her captors with her body and memory intact, with the side-effect of having super strength from her experimentation. Dia on the other hand…she had her life taken away from her by her captors. She had no recollection of her past, which means that she had lost all of the precious moments that she had experienced so far, and she's now fighting to get her life back, something that Mari has been doing since she was wrongfully arrested.

"So maybe there is such a thing as destiny," Mari thought to herself, a smile appearing on her face in the process. It took her a while, but finally Mari realized it – she and Dia were fighting the same battle all this time.

"Hey," Dia called out, "You okay back there? You've been spacing out for a while."

"I'm good," Mari replied, "I don't think that I could help much…however I do owe you my life. I'm able to live to fight another day thanks to you. So as my token of gratitude…you got yourself a deal. Thanks for saving me back there, my guardian angel."

"Heh, don't mention it," Dia chuckled, "Let's do our best to…HEY! What are you doing?!"

Much to Dia's surprise, Mari had wrapped her arms around her, embracing the raven-haired beauty in a hug. This however had caused Dia to lose her concentration, resulting in her struggling to maintain control of her Machine Builder.

"I'm soo lucky to have met someone as sweet and kind as you today," Mari said lovingly, tightening her embrace on Dia with each word as she snuggled on Dia's back, "I owe my life to you, my lovely guardian angel. I most certainly do!"

"Save the hugging for when we actually arrive at our destination!"

"But why? I wanna hug you right now to show my appreciation."

"Later!"

As the two playfully bickering young women drove past the Skywall, little did they knew, an unknown figure was watching them from afar, an air of intimidation, malice, and menace coming out from the figure. The figure was a tall, imposing humanoid, wearing a black bodysuit from head to toe with a set of silver armor on the torso that has a series of exhaust pipe-like protrusions on the shoulders and collarbones. Green and red accents that resembled cables were seen on the humanoid's body, adorning the torso and arms, while a huge translucent yellow bat-shaped symbol was emblazoned on the humanoid's chest. The humanoid's head was black in color, with the same green and red cable-like accents and a black-and-white smokestack-like horn sticking out from the humanoid's forehead. Last but not least was the translucent yellow bat-shaped visor that covered the humanoid's demonic-looking eyes, that watched on intently as the Machine Builder ran past the humanoid's location.

A distorted chuckle escaped the humanoid's black mouthpiece, a chuckle that would surely strike more fear to the hearts of those who saw the humanoid with their own eyes. If the humanoid's terrifying appearance wasn't enough to send someone fleeing out of fright, the humanoid's disturbing laugh would.

"The war…has begun," the humanoid spoke out in a distorted male voice, letting out that disturbing laugh of his once again as white smoke billowed out from the exhaust pipe-like protrusions on the humanoid's armor. Within seconds the smoke enveloped the humanoid's entire body, before the cloud of smoke dispersed itself moments later.

And as the last of the smoke disappeared, so was any trace of the humanoid's presence on the Skywall.

xxx

TO BE CONTINUED…

xxx

Next time, on Build Up to the Sunshine!, Experiment 2 – She's An Innocent Runaway, Desu Wa

Kensei: "Looks like the Kamen Rider is now a wanted fugitive."

Mari: "Ryuga…was the reason why I came to the room where those two died in."

Dia: "If they catch you now, people will always think that you're a murderer, desu wa!"

Dia: "She's a best match with my memories."

xxx

A/N: And that's a wrap! I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of Build Up to the Sunshine!, and yes, before you say it, Kanako Utsumi IS INDEED Hanamaru Kunikida. If you watch Kamen Rider Build, you'll know what happened to the character named Utsumi in the 12th episode of the series and in relation to that is the reason why I've decided to call our Zuramaru "Kanako Utsumi" in the early stages of this story. I won't tell you why, because, spoilers, obviously. As usual, tell me what you think about the first chapter via the review section – praises, criticisms, all are welcome (except for flames, because I'll probably delete them as soon as I read them). Since I had my friend proofread this story first before uploading it here in FFN plus the positive reception that it got over at AO3, I'm confident that this and the revised prologue are much more better than the prologue that I hastily wrote on a train a while ago. As usual don't forget to follow and favorite this story~

This is maxpower02, signing out!